The Great Worm Lich

With just one easy leap, he strode over a distance of thirty to forty meters. Tumo’s body that was several times bigger than a male lion agilely leapt on the open space of the harbor, landing in front of Yaj, who was the first to disembark, with just more than ten leaps.

“Dear guests who come from the mainland, the son of the Black Lion King, Tumo, is here to greet you,” As though he was stunned by the woman’s beautiful face for a while, the lion beast paused a little before he greeted condescendingly.

“Mighty, powerful son of the black lion who is favored by the gods, the descendant of the Golden Velvet Flower Trading, Yaj, pays tribute to you,” Even though Yaj had never seen this black lion warrior before, from his unusual body’s huge carriage and self-acclamation, Yaj knew that he must be the son of the headman who had a position in the Nado tribe. Respectfully, she bowed and greeted.

Upon seeing the woman’s respectful manner, Tumo showed a satisfactory look and took the initiative to explain, “I’ve just grown up and obtained this god-bestowed shell, so perhaps you may not be familiar with me. However, from now on, I’ll be guarding the harbor every two days, and we’ll slowly become friends eventually.”

“Isn’t His Highness Adalu the guardian of the several big harbors in Nado?” Yaj blurted out in shock.

“Brother Adalu has led the Armed Guards to settle the revolt in the Firepower Mountain Range. The few harbors that he’s guarding are distributed by the elders to me and several other chief warriors,” The lion beast said with a blank expression, “I heard the chief patroller said just now that you’ve purposely brought him the warrior armors of the mainlanders. Perhaps it would have been able to come in handy had the fleet come a few days earlier.”

“His Highness Adalu has great courage. Even if he doesn’t have the Thunderclap Armor, he’ll still be able to achieve victory,” Sensing that her misstep had elicited some dissatisfaction from this tribal prince who had not obtained the title of ‘His Highness’ yet, Yaj flashed a charming smile, “As for those armors, I hope I can dedicate it to you as a gift of coming of age and becoming a warrior.”

Even though Tumo had high regard for himself, he was still a warrior who had just come out of age from a child and did not understand the subtle word called ‘power’ yet. When he heard that this female merchant wanted to give the armor that she initially brought for his elder brother to himself, he did not know how to answer at once.

As his gaze wavered, he saw that the Bai Li Hong young man standing beside Yaj was squatting rubbing on the ground. He immediately changed the topic and asked, “Miss Yaj, what is your companion doing?”

“H-He’s studying the stones on the ground, I think,” The woman saw through Tumo’s naivety and purposely put on a wry smile before answering, “Chief Tumo, this companion of mine is an obsessed scholar. He would often do some ridiculous things that are incomprehensible. However, he’s indeed knowledgeable. When he was shipwrecked on an island in the Hellfire Archipelago, the native called him a ‘pundit’ there. It’s precisely by using the information he has on that island that he managed to exchange for an opportunity to set sail to Nutao Sea and a token from Chief Lumoluki…”

When Yaj reached here, she patted Zhang Lisheng’s shoulder, “Lisheng, tell Chief Tumo, what are you doing?”

“I’m studying the ground of this harbor. It’s ‘alive’! It’s ‘alive…’” Zhang Lisheng looked up, with excitement and horror on his face as he stuttered.

“What are you saying?” It was apparent that Yaj could not understand the words of the young man. Instead, the tall lion beast by the side looked down at Zhang Lisheng and suddenly said proudly, “It seems like you’re indeed somewhat wise. To think that you can actually see the truth in just one glance. That’s right, this harbor and the city behind me are gods’ masterpiece—they’re all ‘living things’ that are alive.”

“Really? A living city? This is… this is really…” When the young man heard Tumo’s words, he stood up and incoherently spoke with excitement as he took out a string of polished round gems from his pocket to give it to the lion beast, “Great son of the black lion, I’m here with the token I received from Chief Lumoluki. He promised me that I can freely study all the creatures in the Nado territory…”

“But this doesn’t include any god-bestowed items,” Upon guessing what the black-haired young man wanted to say, Tumo shook his giant head and beat him to it as he said decisively. After that, he took the bracelet from Zhang Lisheng’s hand and carefully looked at it before gripping it in his palm, “But this is indeed the token from Brother Lumoluki, so I’ll grant you the ‘freedom’ you want…”

As the lion beast was speaking, he turned around and shouted, “Anuno, send a team of Bucktooth Wolf army to protect this mainland scholar. Obey his instructions.”

“Yes, Sir Tumo!” Not far away, a wolf-headed warrior, who had sawtooth-like sharp teeth which had a height of more than two meters tall when he stood up, replied respectfully.

“Chief Tumo, I can tell you all the pieces of information that I told Chief Lumoluki…” The young man who was rejected added like he was not going to give up.

“You sly mainlander, inquiring about the information of the other islands in the Hellfire Archipelago is Brother Lumoluki’s task, so of course he would have to be the one reporting personally to Father and the elders when he returns to the tribe. I don’t need to know this,” He scorned at the black-haired young man. Waving his sharp claws, several dozens of wolf-headed warriors went up to Zhang Lisheng and followed him to leave the harbor.

In the next few days, this team of Bucktooth Wolf army would spend their entire days with the young man, following behind him as he randomly walked around the Nado territory while testing and verifying his shocking theory.

In his spare time, Zhang Lisheng slowly learned more information about the Nutao Sea from these wolf-headed armies. He learned that this island was the main island of the three islands—two big and one small—that formed a triangle in the upper part of the Hellfire Sea. In this mysterious region that had a territory of ​​3 million square kilometers in total, 99% of the Hellfire tribes were slaves.

They were enslaved by the less than 1% tribes that called themselves with different names but who all claimed to have outgrown the name ‘Hellfire tribesmen,’ who had become a higher ethnic for being favored by the gods.

Here, be it the ‘slave tribe’ or the ‘slave master tribe,’ none of them had any guardian spiritual monster at all. The only weapons they used to counter the fierce beasts and wild beats on the islands were their ‘god-bestowed bodies.’

The only difference was that the ‘slave master tribes’ could produce such a shell, and the power of the ‘god-bestowed shell’ that the warriors were equipping had higher strength and power. The ‘slave tribes,’ on the other hand, could only obtain this powerful weapon from the slave master tribe to protect the survival of their own tribes, by giving up their freedom, dignity, and labor.

These poor slave tribes’ were actually similar to that of the ordinary Hellfire tribes. They had totem poles and tribal books of history as well, but the person who would collect the power of faith was changed from the guardian spiritual monster to the elders of the slave master tribes instead.

These slave master tribes, on the other hand, were jointly ruled by the king chosen by the chief warriors and the tribal elders. The elders had all the power in domestic affairs. Meanwhile, the ‘king,’ who was equivalent to the headman of the tribe, was in charge of the tribal army and the authority for a war expedition under the support of the chief warriors.

For thousands of years, the ‘slave-master tribes’ and ‘slave tribes,’ ‘slave master tribes,’ and ‘slave-master tribes,’ ‘slave tribes, and ‘slave tribes’ had been fighting each other for a long time. This internal conflict had also allowed the most influential tribe in the Nutao Sea to be unable to expand across the sea. Fortunately, the three islands were wide enough, so nobody found it regrettable too.

After learning these secrets intermittently, Zhang Lisheng had already spent an entire week on Rovan Island. Seeing that the mainland caravan was about to complete their trade with the Nado tribe in this evening, he, a few wolf-headed warriors, and a massive group of ragged native fishermen set food on the black reef island nearest to the Rovan Island.

“Dock the ship and clear the campsite immediately. If the camp is still not ready when the sun sets, I’ll tear you apart in half!” The instant they got on the island, the chief Bucktooth Wolf warrior shouted towards the natives who were scantily dressed. After that, with the help of the setting sun’s glory, he looked around and asked the black-haired young man beside him, “Sir Scholar, does this small desolate island also have the creatures you need?”

Although this chief warrior was only a one-feathered chief who was at the lowest rank in the Nado tribe, he still put on an incredible arrogance before the enslaved slave tribe’s fishermen. He only maintained an equal attitude toward Zhang Lisheng.

“Chief Harisa, no matter how desolate an island is, there would still have vegetation, such as lichens here. It’s also a type of living creature,” looking at the ignorance of the ‘wolfman,’ the young man casually answered.

At the same time, the boatman who heard the reprimand began to unscrupulously transport the pre-cut wooden poles and the extremely tough, huge leaves that were stitched together densely from the wooden boat. With the wooden poles as the column and the leaves as the walls, green tents were built one by one in a short time.

The natives of the ‘slave tribes’ always looked very docile, unless there was a rebellion. Of course, as obedient as they were usually, they could be tyrannical and cruel when they rebelled. Therefore, the wolf-headed warriors who had bloodily conquered the rebel tribes before were not deceived by the docile performance of the fishermen.

“Tutula, Musa, Atida, you three will watch the night tonight and don’t take off your shell!” The sky was already dark. The chief warrior pointed at the fishermen gathered together at one side with their heads lowered and said without concealing his malicious, “Watch out for these fishermen. Kill them all if they show any sign of strange movements.”

“Yes, Sir!” The wolf-headed warriors who were called nodded slowly. At this time, the other warriors began to take off their ‘wolf skin’ one by one.

The spines of these wolf-headed monsters split open one by one. Covered in a thick liquid, their bodies automatically twisted and transformed into a ball of flesh covered with beautiful green hair under their feet, before revealing the native warriors hidden in the ‘shell’ one by one.

Looking at how the Bucktooth Wolf took off their ‘god-bestowed shell’ to reveal their bodies that were even thinner than the fishermen, Zhang Lisheng could not help but have a strange glimpse in his eyes, although this was not his first time he witnessed such an odd scene.

“A distorted power of evolution,” The young man turned and walked toward the uninhabited reef island. With his head lowered, he muttered inexplicably, “Biochemical weapons, the ability to manipulate soil and water, life-shaping, and repairing… All of these are intriguing coincidences. If my expectations can be realized, then going against the Atlanteans would no longer be an extravagant hope.”