Chapter 996: A Huge Arena
The Minotaurs of the Blood Hoof Clan were famous for their st.u.r.dy bodies, their endurance, and their madness at the sight of blood.
The wild boar men’s defense and madness, the Centaurs’ precision and weight, the barbarian elephant men’s trampling and charging… these were all the most important characteristics of winning a war.
Hence, the Blood Hoof Clan was definitely the main force of the entire Turan army.
However, the Gold Clan had the characteristics of wolves, tigers, leopards, and lions.
They were the top predators on land.
Obviously, they had more power than the Blood Hoof Clan.
In the past few thousand years, the Blood Hoof Clan and the Gold Clan took turns to occupy the supreme throne of the War Chief.
Most of the time, the mighty Turan army was led by the lions and tigers of the Gold Clan.
The Gold Clan’s main city became the heart of the entire Turan civilization.
And in the memory of Meng Chao’s previous life, the winner of this five-clan struggle was still the Gold Clan.
Though there had been minor lapses, hegemony still slipped through the fingers of the lion men and the tigermen.
However, the “attack on the land of Holy Light” war bugle, was still blown in the Red-gold City, and it resounded throughout the land of Turan.
Apart from this and the destruction of Bright Sh.e.l.l Village, there was another factor that made Meng Chao very unwilling to cooperate with the Blood Hoof Clan.
That was, the Blood Hoof Clan was a bunch of brainless brutes.
It was true that the wild boar men were irascible lunatics, but the Turan were not much better.
Just a bit of blood would ignite the desire to kill and destroy in their hearts, burning away all their rationality, causing them to charge forward like crazy. They would either trample all their enemies into meat paste.., or they would crash into an iron wall and bleed their brains out. There was no third outcome.
Meng Chao did not think that he could convince a bull that would go mad at the sight of blood, or a wild boar that was howling and jumping up and down to delay the start of an all-out War by a year and a half.
On the contrary, if he really managed to get the Blood Hoof Clan and Dragon City civilization to cooperate fully, with Dragon City civilization a.s.sisting the Blood Hoof Clan with a large amount of ammunition, so that every Turan could carry a heavy machine gun… if every wild boar man carried a rocket launcher on his shoulder, and every barbarian elephant man had grenades wrapped around their waists…
The Blood Hoof Clan, whose confidence had exploded, would certainly rush to the land of holy light impatiently and launch a more fierce and uncontrollable battle than in his previous life.
They would force the Holy Light Camp to invest more power than in his previous life into the Eastern Front battlefield, so that the Eastern Front would be upgraded from a meat grinder in his previous life to a joint meat processing factory.
When the b.u.t.terfly’s wings flapped slightly, no one could predict and control the direction and intensity of the storm.
After his rebirth, his experience in Dragon City had told Meng Chao this countless times.
Therefore, he had to be careful.
Compared with the mad cows, wild boars, and wild elephants of the Blood Hoof Clan, he was more inclined to cooperate with the Gold Clan.
It was not that the chiefs and priests of the Gold Clan were good men and women who ate vegetarian and chanted Buddhism.
Instead, top predators such as wolves, tigers, and leopards were usually calmer than mad cows and wild boars.
At first glance, this conclusion was against common sense.
However, if one thought about it carefully, predators in nature often had more ability to hibernate, lurk, wait patiently, judge the timing, a.n.a.lyze the environment, and make plans than herbivores.
For most of the past thousands of years, the Gold Clan that had always ruled Picturesque Orchid Lake had a more leisurely aura of a king than the Blood Hoof Clan, which was the second most powerful clan in the past thousand years, all the resources in Picturesque Orchid Lake had a stronger ability to collect, integrate, manage, and distribute.
Therefore, after repeatedly calculating and weighing the pros and cons, Meng Chao decided to go to Red-gold City.
He wanted to kill the person who was about to start a war between worlds and turn the eastern front into a b.l.o.o.d.y slaughterhouse.
He wanted to find the person who could change the course of the war, save Picturesque Orchid Lake, and save Dragon City.
If they could not find him…
Then they would create one with their own hands.
Ice storm stared deeply at Meng Chao.
From Meng Chao’s determined eyes, it could be seen that he was not lying.
The two of them really had the same destination.
This made the snow leopard warrior’s ice-cold eyes light up with a flame of joy.
However, she did not ask Meng Chao, the black-haired, black-eyed outsider, what he wanted to do in Red-gold City.
It was just like how Meng Chao did not ask her why she wanted to escape from the Black-corner City and go to the Red-gold City?
According to her own words, two years ago, didn’t she escape from the territory of the Gold Clan and go through a lot of trouble to escape to the main city of the Blood Hoof Clan, Black-corner City?
Moreover, as a free gladiator, if she wanted to leave the black-corner city, she should have countless better opportunities in the past two years.
Why did she have to wait until this critical moment before she was ready to leave?
Also, the five clans were about to start their battle. The thousand-year battle between the Blood Hoof Clan and the Gold Clan was about to happen again. If she returned to Red-gold City now, wouldn’t she be walking into a trap?
Meng Chao did not ask about these things.
He believed that when the right time came, Ice Storm would naturally tell him.
Just as he didn’t mind telling her more secrets after seeing more trustworthy potential in Ice Storm, he would also develop her into a part of the hot-selling products of Superstar Resource, a first-level agent at Picturesque Orchid Lake.
Meng Chao was only concerned now. “When do you plan to leave? How much time do we have to prepare?”
“Half a month.”
Ice Storm said, “This morning, Blood Hoof, Ironhide, Fire Song, Trident… and more than twenty other major clans under the Blood Hoof family agreed that in half a month’s time, they will gather in the largest and oldest temple in Black-corner City and swear an oath to the common ancestor spirit of the Blood Hoof Clan. They will wipe out all the conflicts and grudges within the clan over the past decades, and fuse their blood together again to form an unbeatable force. They will challenge the supreme throne that controls the entire Picturesque Orchid Lake and seize the highest glory for the common, oldest ancestral spirit!”
“Understood.”
Meng Chao nodded. “At that time, the Blood Hoof Army will be on the move, right?”
“Yes, they will be on the move soon.”
Ice Storm said, “The recruitment team brought back news from all directions. Even in the territory of the Blood Hoof Clan, behind the most remote mountain village, the last mandrake tree has already bloomed. This means that within a decade or even a few decades, all the mandrake trees in the entire Orchid Lake will not be able to bear even half a mandrake fruit.
“Although the warehouses in Black-corner City are already full of food.
“But we can’t just sit around and eat.
“The Blood Hoof Clan is also the most gluttonous clan among the five major clans.
“In order to solve the food problem, the earlier we set off, the better
“It makes sense. Whether we take more food or consume a large number of people, we can alleviate the food problem…”
Meng Chao pondered for a moment and said, “I don’t understand. The Blood Hoof Clan and the Ironhide Clan seem to be incompatible with each other. Can they really put aside their grudges and work together?”
“Yes, you don’t understand the personality of the Turan people. They’ve been like this for thousands of years. The two major clans, which usually fight each other, will become comrades in the temple as long as they pledge their blood to each other. In the battles of the five clans and the battles of honor, they can rest a.s.sured that their backs will be guarded by the other side. Anyone who still cares about the trifles in the clan when they are on a larger battlefield will be despised by everyone and punished by the ancestral spirits.”
“However, the main point is not that the entire Blood Hoof Clan will unite in half a month, but that we haven’t made a blood pledge yet!
“Be careful. In this half a month, Black-corner City will be doomed to a b.l.o.o.d.y storm. The Blood Hoof Clan, the Ironhide Clan, and the other major clans will be involved in the b.l.o.o.d.y battle!”
Meng Chao raised his eyebrows.
“Is it because I killed Big Buck and set off a chain reaction?” he asked.
“Not exactly. Whether you killed Big Buck or I destroyed and robbed the Ironhide Clan’s One Million Steam Hammer, they are only the fuse. The deeper purpose is to determine the ranking of the major families in the Blood Hoof army, their commanding authority, and the Order of distribution of the spoils of war.”
Ice Storm explained, “The era of prosperity that just pa.s.sed was too long. It grew until the last era of glory, when the experts that everyone was convinced of were old, dead, and almost all of them perished.
“Now, the core forces of the major families are all the new generation that grew up in this era of prosperity.
“Although they have shown their strength in the small conflicts between the families and even the clans, and even led small hunting teams to go deep into the land of Holy Light, they have caused a great disturbance.
“However, it was not a real war after all. It was not enough for them to acc.u.mulate real prestige.
“The new powerhouses of the Ironhide Clan were not satisfied with the new powerhouses of the Blood Hoof Clan.
“The new powerhouses of the barbarian elephant people were not satisfied with the new powerhouses of the wild boar people either.
“The local powerhouses boasted that they often fought with totem beasts in the depths of the forest. They were even more dissatisfied with the old aristocrats in Black-corner City who lived in luxury.
“If you refuse to submit to me, I refuse to submit to you. If we really fight a war, it will be fatal.
“It is also very simple to make these unruly advanced orcs submit to you. Advanced orcs are all very simple. If your fist is big, they will submit to you. If your fist is the biggest, everyone will submit to you the most.”
Meng Chao said, “You mean, in the next half a month, we will partic.i.p.ate in more battles. Through the battles, we will decide who is the leader of the Blood Hoof Clan and who should the Blood Hoof army listen to?”
“More or less.”
A cold and excited smile appeared on Ice Storm’s face as she said, “But not in the two battles that you have partic.i.p.ated in before.
“You know, many spectators find the battles in the arena too fake, too boring, and too many rules. The number of people on both sides is the same, and the weapons and equipment are roughly the same. Many gladiators have a tacit understanding that they will stop when it is necessary. There are also adjudicators who will stop the compet.i.tion at any time. What’s the point of this? There’s no way to simulate a real battle, and no way to determine who is the real strong one.
“Therefore, in the next half a month, the frequency and cruelty of the fights will increase a lot. More experts will be involved in the fights. The loser may be stained with blood and sand. The winner will be respected and followed by everyone and become a hero in the eyes of the public.
“Such a grand fight cannot be held in the small Blood Skull Arena.”
“Oh?”
Meng Chao asked, “Where will it be held?”
“Black-corner City.”
Ice storm calmly said, “In the next half a month, the entire Black-corner City will become a huge arena.”