Chapter 447: A Virtuous Cycle

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation  Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

For three days and four nights, 100,000 Wizard Li warriors galloped on the first outer island, which had a curved length from east to west of not more than 250 kilometers after it was straightened and a width of only 70 kilometers on the widest part from the north to south, and miraculously annihilated all foreign tribes that they laid eyes on, conquering the entire island.

By the time the expeditionary army made one full sweep and returned to the Hellfire tribe called Qiluang, which they first assaulted after they made a forced embarking, 3000 fellow tribesmen had already lost their lives in the battles. Even though they had only rested for less than two nights in this three-day, four-night continuous battle; and even though everyone’s armor was covered with mottled blood and muddy water, the morale of the Wizard Li warriors was still sky high that it could almost pierce the sky.

Zhang Lisheng walked into the former Qiluang tribe’s dwelling. Compared to the Hellfire tribesmen, who were kneeling on the ground wrapped in animal skins while burying their heads in the mud respectfully, the young man, who only had a leaf, covering his nether region, appeared to be even more barbaric and unsophisticated.

In spite of the shouts and praises of the tribe that echoed through the clouds, he whispered and gave his orders, “Tell all four-feathered chief warriors to see me.”

Then, he entered the largest bark house next to the totem pole. Soon, under the leadership of the dispatch warriors, the ten chief warriors who had the most powerful position in Wizard Li’s expeditionary army respectfully came to see him.

“My brave warriors and devout believers, it looks like all of your spirits are still high,” Sitting in the animal leather chair, Zhang Lisheng looked at the ten brave warriors with four feathers on their heads and said calmly. “We’ve conquered this island and obtained a massive number of spoils. I’m very satisfied with your valorous bravery… That’s right, Tukansa, these most distinguished warriors among my followers still haven’t been informed about the harvest obtained by Wizard Li in this battle. Go tell them.”

“Yes, Great Conqueror!” One of the skinny-looking middle-aged warriors, who appeared weak but also had four feathers on his head, the same as the chief warriors, and standing beside the young man, announced out loud in his boisterous voice, “First of all, I’d like to inform all of you four-feathered chief warriors that the island we’re standing on now has already been renamed to ‘Moon Island’ by the Conqueror. In this battle of Moon Island, the Wizard Li expeditionary army has annihilated 21 foreign tribes and obtained two black iron mines, a hunting ground of more than 100,000 steps, and a tribe population of 432,723!”

After conquering the outer island across the ocean, it was naturally impossible for the Wizard Li headman to handle the daily internal affairs of all its territories. This skinny middle-aged aborigine was one of the candidates he proposed to the Conqueror to handle the Wizard Li’s outer island’s swelling.

This person had just been awarded his fourth feather by Zhang Lisheng during the expedition voyage to be in charge of the first conquered outer island. Now that he had successfully become the headman of more than 400,000 Hellfire Tribesmen, as though he was having a dream, no matter how hard he tried to suppress the emotions in his heart, he still appeared to be very excited.

When the middle-aged aborigine’s words left his mouth tremblingly, one of the kneeling chief warriors, who appeared to be much bigger and sturdier than an ordinary Hellfire tribesman, could not help but raise his head and shouted loudly, with his flat nose twitching, “Great Conqueror, you’ve led us to an incredibly epic victory! The sacrifice of 3270 tribesmen in exchange for more than 400,000 outer island’s Hellfire tribesmen to convert to our Wizard Li! Looks like we can swallow all of the surrounding islands here with just this 100,000 troops…”

“Lebana, a Western Region war is not arithmetic. The fact that this island can be obtained by just sacrificing over 3000 Wizard Li warriors doesn’t mean that the next island would be this cheap as well. It’s impossible for luck to always be on our side. On top of that, other than these 3270 casualties, there were many Wizard Li warriors who were wounded as well. I’m already very satisfied that there are still 90,000 warriors who can return to the battlefield right away,” Zhang Lisheng refuted the sturdy chief warrior but his expression and tone was very lenient. Right now, except for some occasions that he needed to show his majestic and tyrannical sides, he had started to show his benevolent side gradually through his words.

However, the more he did so, the Conqueror, who had spread great wisdom in the tribe and always won glorious great victories in all his battles, was even more worthy of worship in the hearts of these Wizard Li tribesmen. For this reason, even though Zhang Lisheng merely refuted in a casual tone, Lebana had already buried his head deeply in the mud in terror as he whispered, ‘I-I was wrong…”

“There’s no need to be so nervous, Lebana.” Upon seeing the Wizard Li’s chief warrior seized by terror, Zhang Lisheng chuckled. “Actually, your confident morale is very desirable too. The five diagonal islands nearest to Moon Island are not too big so if they all have the same tribal disputes as Moon Island, swallowing them in one go is actually a very good option. However, we can never take anything lightly in the face of war. The reason I summoned all of you is to tell you to calm down the warriors’ passion. The entire army will take a rest for the night and prepare for sailing at any time tomorrow morning.”

“Yes, Great Conqueror!” Upon hearing the young man’s command, the chief warriors replied in unison.

“You can go settle the warriors now if you understand. Tukansa has already ordered the men to prepare delicious food and comfortable wooden beds!” Zhang Lisheng said and waved his hand. After watching the ten warriors, who had the highest positions in the Wizard Li expeditionary army, leave, he suddenly turned his head and asked the Wizard Li Moon Island’s dwelling headman, “Tukansa, is there anybody among the new converts who know the situation of the nearby islands? ”

“Yes, Great Conqueror! Some of the fishermen have been washed up to the islands on the east and northeast because of typhoons and have been fortunate enough to use their catches and fishing nets in exchange for their small lives. According to them, there are no powerful tribes on the two islands. Also, the Tatuka tribe on Moon Island has actually fled from their powerful enemy from the northern island. Many converted Tatuka tribesmen said that there’s a tribe called Samonitu Tribe at the northern island that’s powerful but 30 years ago has already passed since the report…” Tukansa, who had long been prepared, reported in an unusually detailed manner.

Cleverly, he reported everything that he had learned and investigated without amiss. As for which information was useful or useless, it would be up to the omnipotent Conqueror to decide.

“It looks like I have been overly optimistic about the maritime skills of these primordial Hellfire tribes. Fishing offshore is already their upper limit…” After listening to Tukansa’s string of words, Zhang Lisheng became silent for a while before curling his lips. “However, as the old saying goes, the oil obtained from dry branches can still make the fire bigger. Tukansa, go ask those fishermen and those converted Tatuka people to draw out the shape of the islands that they know. Oh, and send two ships back to the Wizard Li ancestral land. Tell Tugra that no matter what he does, I want Moon Island to have its shoreline filled with docks and fisheries. There should be iron ships moored in the sea and airships flying in the sky, just like how Wizard Li is now.”

“Yes, Great Conqueror!” Upon hearing the Tribal Conqueror’s description on Moon Island’s future, Tukansa was filled with longing immediately. With his voice trembling again, he answered and immediately retreated to give out the order.

Soon, it was only Zhang Lisheng who was left alone in the bark house. Joy lit up his eyes right away as he took out an animal skin pouch from his waist. Opening it, he took out a handful of Gold Cores from spiritual monsters and rubbed them for a while before keeping them away again. Then, he commanded a small red worm that had eight snake heads hidden underneath his skin to crawl out of the flesh of his palm.

After savoring the wizard power that had not increased for a long time under his skin but had tremendously grown at an alarming speed in this short span of three to four days, a satisfied smile crept upon the corner of the young man’s lips as he muttered, “As expected, war is the best way to accumulate negative emotions. If I continue to raise my wizard power in this speed, I’ll definitely be able to make a breakthrough to Rank-10 Wizard no matter what after I conquer the five islands around Moon Island. By that time, I’ll transform Red Mountain and Rank-11 Wizard will just be before me after I conquer all of the more than ten islands in this sea region. With the help of these faith stones, my Witchcraft’s Gate of Sacrifice will also make a breakthrough to Rank-6 Wizard and I’ll obtain the ancient spirit’s power! After that, I’ll slowly reorganize the army and produce a large batch of Super Hellfiremen using the newly obtained Gold Core fragments and the next round of conquest can begin again. A virtuous circle, this is a virtuous circle…”

After muttering to himself for a while, Zhang Lisheng proudly kept the wizard gu back in his body and shut his eyes to cultivate the secret method.

Time passed by unknowingly. When the sky became dark, Tukansa carefully held onto a few roughly sketched maps depicting the outline of the islands as he opened the curtain into the dark bark house.

When he faintly saw the Conqueror sitting on the animal skin chair with fog rising behind him from afar, a sudden and inexplicable gush of desire to worship rose in Tukansa’s heart, causing him to kneel down on the ground and be in a daze for a long time. After that, he retreated from the tree house in a panic.

With nobody disturbing him, Zhang Lisheng only opened his eyes slowly the next morning.

He jumped out of the animal leather chair and slowly walked out of the bark house. He took a few deep breaths of the wet and salty air of the island in the early spring and walked leisurely towards the beach, before looking at the sun rising just above the sea, slowly displaying its round body as it radiated a radiant glow.

“The sunrise here is even more beautiful than the Giant Wood Harbor. Ah, life is really full of surprises…” Muttering to himself with a smile on his face, the young man abruptly raised his arm and said, “Dispatch, all expeditionary army board the ships.”

The dispatch warriors, who had kept a suitable distance behind ever since the tribal Conqueror walked out of the tree house, immediately scattered and disappeared from the shore the instant Zhang Lisheng gave his order.

More than ten seconds later, a series of tumbling red tides began to surge from the Hellfire tribes adjacent to the coast as they hastened towards the huge steel ships anchored in the natural harbors hundreds of meters away.

Running beside the endless red tide of armored Wizard Li warriors riding on the giant spiders, Tukansa held the map of the islands’ rough outline and kneeled in front of Zhang Lisheng, getting goosebumps from the killing aura filling the beach air. “Great Conqueror! The steamships returning to the Wizard Li ancestral land have already set sail last night. Also, the outlines of the three islands near Moon Island have also been drawn.”