On the vast water, beside the water city which was being pulled to the north by starry void spirit turtles, Yi Ren stood on a drifting deadwood, holding the ‘cicada-falling bow’ which was the inherited magic treasure of his family. He was the one who had been shouting loudly with a bland face.
However, his heart was filled with anxiety.
In the recent couple of days, in all Eastern Wasteland clans, especially in the army of Ten Sun Country, undercurrents had been growing up. Within a short span of time, Yi Ren and his trusted warrior commanders discovered this bad trend.
Because of those super powerful spell symbols arrows Ji Hao provided, Yi Di suddenly gained an amazing attraction. High-grade commanders from all Eastern Wasteland clans and Ten Sun Country all went to Yi Di, just like a group of flies which had sensed the smell of blood. Even some neutral clans, which had never been involved in the power struggles of Ten Sun Country, now swung to Yi Di.
Spell symbols arrows, everyone wanted spell symbols arrows from Yi Di. Everyone wanted those spell symbols arrows provided by Ji Hao, which were many times greater than the ones made by the most powerful master arrow crafters in Eastern Wasteland.
To an Eastern Wasteland man, a top-grade, powerful spell symbol arrow could serve as an inherited magic treasure of his family. For a top-grade spell symbol arrow, an Eastern Wasteland man would be willing to give all he had.
To warriors from Southern Wasteland, West Wasteland and Northern Wasteland, a small spell symbol arrow might not be attractive at all. However, in the eyes of an Eastern Wasteland man, that could be as important as his life.
Yi Ren clearly sensed that in the past few days, those Eastern Wasteland clan elders and commanders who used to be close to him had changed. When talking to Yi Di, those people started to avoid giving direct answers, neither were they willing to make direct eye-contact with him anymore. Moreover, warriors under those people’s commands had now been running into Yi Di’s barrack every single day, mingling with his warriors and calling them brothers.
Even those warriors under Yi Ren’s direct command, who shared the same bloodline with him and were related to him, started to have different thoughts. These warriors now gathered in small groups, whispering to each other. Everything they said was about those spell symbol arrows.
Before, in this water city, Yi Di and Yi Ren each had fifty percent of all Eastern Wasteland people as supporters. But in merely two to three days after Ji Hao threw out those spell symbols arrows, around seventy percent of all Eastern Wasteland people chose to support Yi Di, while around thirty percent were left as Yi Ren’s supporters.
Afterward, Yi Di made his move again. He made all kinds of promises; he even promised someone his unborn daughter. In return, he gained a giant amount of rare materials from those Eastern Wasteland clan elders and high-grade commanders. Soon, Yi Ren discovered in a great shock that as Yi Di made a series of ridiculous promises, united by mirages and various kinds of interests, Yi Di’s approval rating had suddenly raised to over eighty percent.
Only less than ten percent of all Eastern Wasteland people in the water city remained to be Yi Ren’s unwavering supporters, while the others seemed to be neutral. But, they were actually hesitating, as their warriors had also been heading to Yi Di’s barracks all the time.
This situation was extremely bad. Eastern Wasteland in this city were all top-grade elites from all Eastern Wasteland clans and Ten Sun Country, who were used to station in Pu Ban City. These elites were rather influential in their own clans, which meant their att.i.tudes could represent a big half of their clansmen. If one let these elites’ att.i.tudes affect the standpoints of their clans, Yi Di would be able to defeat Yi Ren and become the future owner of Ten Sun Country quite easily.
Yi Ren was too anxious; he couldn’t let this terrible situation continue.
When he saw Yi Di walk into the headquarters once again, seeming to be planning something with Ji Hao, he couldn’t help but fly out of the water city. He trod on the water while shouting out loud.
Yi Di was wearing the splendidly glowing swan cloak, and holding the thunder running bow, which was coiled with sizzling thunderbolts. A handful of spell symbols arrows were slantingly held in the quiver tied around his waist. Visible and twisted gusts of winds swished around his body, which allowed him to fly across barracks, tents, then airily land on the water surface, three-thousand meters away from Yi Ren.
A withered leaf was shaking intensely on the water surface. Treading on the leaf, Yi Di’s body began shaking along with it.
Ji Hao walked out of the headquarters and flew up into a watchtower. Crossing his arms over his chest, he narrowed his eyes while looking at Yi Di and Yi Ren, who were facing each other.
"Feng Xing, Yi Di, and his families have nothing to do with what happened to you back then. Now that he’s one of us, you go help him." Yi Hao spread out his spirit power and soon found Feng Xing on another watch tower, that was a short distance away. Ji Hao hurriedly sent his voice to Feng Xing’s ears by using his spirit power.
Feng Xing narrowed his eyes, took a glance at Yi Di and Yi Ren, then slowly nodded, "My enemies are Yi Shen and his families, not Yi Di. Since Yi Di’s one of us now…I know what to do."
Ji Hao waved his hand to Feng Xing, then turned to Yi Di and Yi Ren again.
Two-hundred-thousand elite archers under Yi Di’s direct command were now mounting on iron feather eagles. Yi Ren’s family was slightly stronger than Yi Di’s family. He also had two-hundred-thousand elite archers under his direct command, mounted on blood-eyed vultures. Blood-eyed vultures were faster than iron feather eagles, and were more flexible on battlefields.
In terms of general strength, archers under Yi Ren’s direct command were slightly stronger than those under Yi Di’s direct command. But things were different now, and Ji Hao couldn’t help but smile. Those archers under Yi Di’s command now had new equipment, and were powerful enough to crush Yi Ren’s troop.
"Why are you yelling?" Yi Di landed on the water. He was two years older than Yi Ren. Therefore, he put on an elder-brother-like face and shouted harshly, "Do you know that we’re governed by military discipline? You shouldn’t be yelling nonsense in here. If the morale of the army is shaken by you, you would be suffering Minister Hao Tao’s lashes…Do you actually want to be punished?"
Yi Ren’s face blushed slightly. He glared at Yi Di and shouted, "Yi Di, you know clearly what you have done!"
Yi Di spread his hands, showed an honest face, and said, "What have I done? Did I do any nasty thing? Say it out, what have I done that made you shout so loud at me?"
Yi Shen popped up his eyes and yelled loudly, "You colluded with Ji Hao…"
Yi Di laughed out loud, interrupted Yi Ren, and said, "How ridiculous! Marquis Yao Ji Hao is the chief commander of this great army. I am reporting to him, and this is perfectly reasonable! Did you say that I ‘colluded’ with Marquis Yao? What do you mean by that?"
Yi Di suddenly raised his voice and growled, "You used the word ‘colluded’…Are you seeing Marquis Yao as an enemy? Yi Ren, you’re with bad intentions! You are perfidious! Are you with Gong Gong? Are you betraying your own kind?!"
A huge blame landed on Yi Ren’s head, instantly throwing him into a panic.
He looked at Yi Di in shock. Suddenly, Yi Ren pulled out an arrow, cracked it, and threw the broken arrow heavily towards Yi Di.
"Yi Di, I am vowing with this broken arrow, I want to make a bet with you! I’ll bet with my life!"