Free Web NovelChapter 465: Chapter 61: Merit Quest: Healing Shennong
"Leader, the Youxiong army has withdrawn."
Soon, the Celestial Dao Demon Venerable received the news, or rather he didn’t even need to receive it.
He could sense the aura belonging to Xuanyuan moving away.
"Leader, this is a great opportunity for us. If we continue our pursuit, we can definitely capture several of the Youxiong Tribe’s territories."
The Wind God said excitedly, as this was a massive success. The resistance from Youxiong exceeded the Jiu Li’s expectations of its strength.
The special array of the Youxiong Tribe could actually allow less powerful soldiers to combine with cultivators of higher cultivation.
The two sides cooperated, managing to be numerous without disarray, complex yet not chaotic.
This prevented the Jiu Li’s firepower from achieving consecutive victories like when they fought the Lie Mountain Vanguard Army.
Of course.
The power of the cannons was still formidable, given they combined witchcraft and the cores of exotic beasts to unleash their might.
Continuous bombardment still caused Youxiong casualties, but Xuanyuan had no way to retaliate.
Unless they sent cultivators to destroy the artillery, but in that case,
when it comes to individuals, the Jiu Li are no weaker than Youxiong. Without arrays centered around cultivators,
the casualties among the lower-ranking soldiers would be substantial when facing Jiu Li.
Yet with the turtle formation set by the Wind Queen, many from the Jiu Li Tribe were deeply frustrated.
It was difficult to achieve significant results, and people like the Wind God realized their victory over Lie Mountain was already assured.
They even successfully made the Common Lord submit to Jiu Li, a great achievement.
However, they’re still stuck on the front lines, and now there’s an opportunity.
The eager Wind God wanted the leader to order a pursuit, even if they couldn’t annihilate Youxiong entirely.
But the gains would surely compare favorably to achieving nothing on the other front.
Yet the Celestial Dao Demon Venerable merely shook his head and said, "Their march is orderly; they are merely withdrawing, not in a rout."
"If we pursue them, we will inevitably endure a tough battle."
"Moreover, the main logistics line is supplying the other side. If we venture deep into Youxiong’s territory,
once the logistics are cut off, it may be insignificant for us, but what about those below?"
"Furthermore, our strategy this time was to hold off Youxiong to buy time for the High Priest."
"Now the mission is complete; continuing pursuit would be unwise."
The Celestial Dao Demon Venerable spoke, though he was puzzled.
Even so, they were the ones to retreat first, despite having some advantage, they’d only launched a probing attack initially.
Afterwards, they were mostly defensive.
Understanding their true aim was defensive, the Demon Venerable had thought before,
if Youxiong Tribe was too weak, he could directly pursue victory and strike the heart.
But the Youxiong Tribe, a northern powerhouse, was formidable, with strong cultivators and tribesmen.
They were elite, unlike the varying quality he saw in Lie Mountain.
Moreover, their arrays boasted superior defense, and several times Jiu Li and others resorted to counter-attacks.
Originally, the Youxiong army had been partially depleted, but once they established their arrays,
the results they achieved were sparse, with exceptionally low cost-effectiveness.
This showed that the Youxiong Tribe hadn’t fallen into an evident decline.
However, this proactive withdrawal made the Celestial Dao Demon Venerable ponder further.
Now he wasn’t that same Demon Venerable who just punched people.
Now, those he wished to crush weren’t much weaker than himself.
He was talking about Xuanyuan.
He could only use his brain more now.
Xuanyuan probably knew what happened at Lie Mountain, hence the orderly withdrawal."
"Could Xuanyuan have another trump card?"
The Celestial Dao Demon Venerable recalled the reminder from his master about Xuanyuan having a figure behind him, someone who seemed like a background but wasn’t.
Guang Chengzi.
Though historically, Guang Chengzi hadn’t intervened in any Human Race affairs.
Yet traces of Guang Chengzi were everywhere in Xuanyuan’s growth, from his initial cultivation to studying military strategy.
Including Xuanyuan’s ascension, linked with Guang Chengzi.
This indicated a deep relationship between Xuanyuan and Guang Chengzi.
"Order the troops to organize and retreat."
The Celestial Dao Demon Venerable pondered for a moment and chose to retreat, since the strategic objective was already achieved.
There was no need to over-expend their strength.
"According to the master’s plan, we must first heal Shennong."
...
"Is it troublesome?"
Shen Fei frowned deeply, looking at Duan Xiu, who had just examined Shennong, entering the room with a constant worried expression.
"Very troublesome." Duan Xiu didn’t hide it and said, "I have studied the Soulbreaking Aconite before.
Finding a way to remove it is not that hard.
But the issue is, the Soulbreaking Aconite’s toxicity has been in Shennong’s system for too long."
"Many changes have occurred, far beyond the original state of the Soulbreaking Aconite."
"Even if we use past methods, we would still need to test the medicine."
"If we test medicine, it can only be on Shennong, and any failure may further burden his body."
"If we don’t succeed within a certain number of tries, Shennong might not even witness the Common Lord’s ascension."
Shen Fei, having listened, grasped the situation. Duan Xiu indeed had several ways to remove the Soulbreaking Aconite from Shennong.
But they’d still need to test which method could neutralize it.
"Discuss this with Shennong first; he’s studied his condition for a long time and likely tried many methods himself."
"Moreover, the leader has already begun his return, and with two True Immortals working together, they might minimize harm to Shennong."
Duan Xiu nodded, saying, "That’s the only way. Though complete healing is difficult, extending his time is relatively simple.
I’ll go prepare the medicine now."
[Trigger Merit Task: Heal Shennong]
[Task Requirement: Heal Shennong to full recovery]
[Task Reward: 5000 Merit, ’Shennong’ Exchange Qualification (usable for Professionals or Summoned Beasts)]
Seeing the merit task’s reward, Shen Fei didn’t pay attention to the merit itself.
He was interested in the exchange qualification.
"So, if this task is completed, even if the final faction task isn’t completed, the Medicine Ancestor can still become Mythical Level?"
Shen Fei speculated that indeed the Merit Repository could exchange things with merits.
However, items above the divine level required completing faction tasks to gain exchange qualifications.
But completing this task could potentially allow the Medicine Ancestor to directly advance to Mythical Level Summoned Beast in the Ancient Secret Realm.
This was a huge temptation.
Originally, healing Shennong was one of his plans to eventually defeat the Youxiong, but if it was impossible, then it was.
But now, not succeeding wasn’t an option!
Shennong must be healed!
