Chapter 126: Targeting and Countermeasures

Observing the expressions on Xu Ying and the others, Liu Zong felt a sense of foreboding.

"Has something happened?"

Xu Ying looked grave. "Due to Akara's intervention, the situation in the forest has shifted. They are no longer targeting only the Ancestral Spirits. On the way to the mines, I found the corpse of Zhateng."

Zhateng? Liu Zong was startled. Since Zhateng first appeared, he had assumed the man was backed by the conspirators, arriving to probe how much they knew or to see if he could stir up trouble. He had not expected Zhateng to be dead on the road so soon. Judging by Xu Ying's demeanor, the problem went deeper than that.

Indeed, Xu Ying continued, "Zhateng’s lower body is gone; only his head and part of his torso remain. The body was hung from a tree. None of his servants were in sight. Many Kurast dwarves passed by at the time, and they were quite agitated upon seeing the corpse. If we don’t handle this properly, it could trigger a dangerous reaction from them."

Liu Zong understood what kind of reaction Xu Ying meant. He realized that if he did not show decisiveness now, he would lose control of his team.

Liu Zong glanced at the ores Xu Ying had brought back. "Even if we weren't involved, they will assume we were. We can only do two things now: first, notify Akara to maintain our relationship with her; second, protect Pine-Needle and Acorn. I believe they are the ones we need to win over."

Xu Ying was no fool; he immediately understood Liu Zong's intent. "Are you planning to pit the heroes from the Ancestral Camp against those in the forest?"

Liu Zong nodded. "It is the only way we can regain control of the situation."

As Xu Ying was about to speak, Lu Shang suddenly interjected, "Actually, that might not necessarily be the case."

Liu Zong looked at Lu Shang, curious about what he had to say.

Lu Shang seemed to have been deep in thought. "I have been wondering: why did we feel such a strong sense that we were the ones who killed Zhateng when we found him? And why are we so worried about the Kurast dwarves’ hostility?"

Liu Zong and Xu Ying were both stunned. Neither had considered this angle. They exchanged glances, realizing they had been manipulated. What stung most was that, as experts in soul-related arts, they had failed to notice the influence at work.

Finally, Xu Ying sneered, "I suspect not only us, but the Kurast dwarves were influenced as well. Explanations will be useless; they won't believe us."

"I am not afraid that they won't believe us," Liu Zong said, his face cold. "They suspect us only because they know their own people do not waste corpses. In their minds, only outsiders like us would leave a body like that. So, we shall show them exactly how we handle corpses without wasting them."

Xu Ying smiled. He understood Liu Zong’s intent. When it came to corpse management, no profession surpassed those of the Yin-attribute players. Necromancy was their foundational craft, and most other magical professions in their group were extensions of that base. Previously, they had left the forest remains untouched because they needed to eat, Liu Zong disliked wild animal carcasses, and Xu Ying had no need for new servants.

The situation had changed. They didn't need to actually achieve anything; they simply needed to demonstrate their demand for corpses and prove they were less wasteful than the Kurast dwarves.

This was simple enough. Liu Zong set his tools aside, picked up his spear, and walked into the nearby forest. "It seems my practice of the secret spear technique will have to take place in the forest from now on," he remarked.

Xu Ying followed him out of the camp. "Your secret technique is too high-level and requires complex coordination; you can't display its true power right now."

"This will be enough," Liu Zong said. He thrust his spear forward. Though the motion appeared steady, the tip vibrated, tracing a strange pattern in the air. As the tip passed through the pattern, a whirlwind generated spontaneously, and countless yellow sand particles appeared at the spearhead, swirling like red tassels. These sand particles transformed into ribbons, growing in volume as the spear danced.

With the final strike, the spear, accompanied by a massive cloud of yellow sand, crashed down. A black panther was knocked from the brush. By the time it hit the ground, its fur was a mixture of yellow and red, and blood flowed from its wounds until it died before Liu Zong’s eyes.

Liu Zong scanned the surroundings. Noticing Kurast servants lurking nearby, he turned to Xu Ying. "Do you need this?"

Xu Ying did not stand on ceremony. He walked to the panther, grabbed its spine, and forcibly ripped it out to fuse it into the bone lion behind him.

Once Xu Ying had taken the spine, Liu Zong approached the carcass. He didn't want to create a new undead servant, so he summoned the Ogre Loli. She hadn't grown much and remained at Level 0 (12 stars). The giant bear on her back was caked in blood, and the chains binding it to her were rusted.

Seeing the panther, the Ogre Loli understood. She placed the giant bear on the ground, unzipped its belly, and used its forepaws to process the panther. The process was simple: she cut the carcass into pieces, stuffing the flesh into the bear's belly, and stitched patches of panther hide onto the bear's fur, making it look increasingly ragged.

In a blink, only the bones remained. The Ogre Loli pulled out her iron chains, swept them over the bones, and a new link appeared on the chain. The panther was completely consumed.

Having finished, Liu Zong looked at the forest and said to Xu Ying, "I'll handle the rest myself."