Chapter 1067 – The Legendary Iron-Eating Beast Legion (9)
Jiang Pengji’s body was showing signs of trouble, and everyone dared not let her continue the adventure.
After all, the Gaoyue Tribe and their tamed ferocious beasts had been at each other’s throats, and the former had nearly been wiped out—hardly a cause for concern.
As for the latter—
Meng Hunyun was about to order the entire army to be on guard against a counterattack from the ferocious beasts when Jiang Pengji dispelled his worries.
“If you don’t harm them first, they won’t touch a single soldier of mine.”
A flicker of joy flashed in Meng Hunyun’s eyes—
If that were the case, the last bit of worry would dissipate.
Just as Jiang Pengji had mentioned, the ferocious beasts that had been killing wildly a while ago were now behaving like model citizens.
Some lay down, some stood, and some huddled together; some wagged their tails, others yawned—none of them exhibited a single shred of threat.
Despite this, everyone remained vigilant and would not dare find them cute—after all, the remnants of the Gaoyue Tribe still radiated warmth. With the grim lessons learned from the Gaoyue Tribe, everyone had a clearer understanding of and fear for these fierce beasts.
“What does the Lord plan to do with them?”
Feng Zhen gazed at the ferocious beasts, his eyes flickering with wild enthusiasm. If the Gaoyue Tribe’s legion of beasts could be turned to their side, it would be a tremendous boon!
Jiang Pengji pondered for a moment and coolly declared, “Let’s classify them and release each type back into the wild.”
Release them?
That answer was unexpected, surprising not only Feng Zhen and the others but also leaving the audience in the live stream dumbfounded.
Aside from the Gaoyue Tribe, only Jiang Pengji could effortlessly handle the legion of beasts. Was she really going to toss away such a golden opportunity that was practically served on a platter?
Don’t think the legion of beasts is easy to manage—it’s only because they’ve met their natural predator, Jiang Pengji.
If it were anyone else, the legion would’ve already left them so beaten that their mothers wouldn’t recognize them.
“My Lord, isn’t this a bit too much of a pity?”
Meng Hunyun hesitantly inquired.
Releasing the ferocious beasts trained by the Gaoyue Tribe for many years seemed too extravagant, not to mention “wasteful.”
Having witnessed the combat prowess of the beasts, Meng Hunyun was indeed envious.
Jiang Pengji rolled her eyes in annoyance and threw out a question that left everyone speechless: “Not to mention those few elephants, have you thought about how many chickens, ducks, fish, and geese a mere pack of wolves and tigers would need daily? If you can afford to raise them, feel free to keep them—”
The Gaoyue Tribe could afford it because they’d resided in a fixed place for generations, raising a sizable number of poultry.
If budgets were tight, the Meng Clan would even have to pitch in to fill the Gaoyue Tribe’s gaps.
Jiang Pengji had been at war for so long that she barely spent time at home; the military camp was too fluid.
If they were to keep the legion of beasts, the food they required would undo her logistical efforts.
Could they ever manage that?
Jiang Pengji strongly advocated for land cultivation precisely to solve the problem of food shortages during war.
Although military provisions were relatively plentiful, it was only enough to fill the bellies of tens of thousands of soldiers, with the bulk of their diet being vegetarian. Only every ten days or so would they get a few bites of meat soup. If life was so harsh for them, how could they spare fish and poultry for these wild beasts to keep them in fighting shape?
A simple question left everyone stumped.
After a moment of thought, Meng Hunyun realized his idea was unfeasible.
Raise them?
They certainly couldn’t afford that!
Let them go?
Meng Hunyun felt pained; he would rather skin them all and at least take their pelts for winter gear than return empty-handed.
Intact pelts of fierce beasts were also a precious asset.
“My Lord, releasing dragons into the sea and tigers into the mountains will surely lead to future troubles. We can’t guarantee that the Common People won’t be harmed by them later—”
Jiang Pengji sensed Meng Hunyun’s thoughts and had no intention of reprimanding him.
People in ancient times had no awareness of animal protection.
In their eyes, wild beasts were enemies competing for their survival space.
Incident after incident of beasts attacking humans occurred, and ordinary people generally had little ability to resist against ferocious creatures.
Letting these beasts return freely to the mountains would indeed pose a threat to the populace.
“I’ll give them an order to avoid humans and settle deep in the remote mountains and forests,” Jiang Pengji understood, yet hesitated to proceed. “They rightfully belong to the wilderness. Had the Gaoyue Tribe not captured and confined them, they would already be free—”
Most of the ferocious beasts were locally caught, while some had been smuggled from distant places. Jiang Pengji decided to release most of them back into the deep mountains and forests while giving orders, leaving the rest to be raised in Gaoyue territory, finding them suitable living environments.
With the elite forces of the Gaoyue Tribe completely decimated, the defenses of Luofeng Valley were practically nonexistent—how could they withstand Jiang Pengji’s wolfish army?
Her forces moved swiftly like a whirlwind.
Using Luofeng Valley as a foothold, they flanked and swallowed the remaining two counties of Qianyan Prefecture.
She charged through like a hot knife through butter, while the Gaoyue Tribe, entrusted with high hopes by Meng Zhan, couldn’t even begin to stop her advance.
As the frontline continued to falter, urgent dispatches flooded into Meng County—
The situation was growing increasingly dire, causing panic among the people of Meng County, with Meng Zhan himself losing sleep for several nights.
“Useless—”
Meng Zhan could hardly believe how weak the Gaoyue Tribe was under pressure. This was not a battle; it was an open invitation for the enemy to collect heads.
Despite Meng Zhan also using the Gaoyue Tribe, he never expected them to collapse so dismally.
“The Meng Clan has been nurturing them for nearly three hundred years, and in the end, they turned out to be nothing but an ornamental pillow that looked good but served no purpose!”
Meng Zhan was furious, the veins on his forehead bulging visibly.
He slammed his fist on the table, producing a dull thud.
After a while, he took a deep breath to steady himself, asking, “Any news from Jiang Gang Pass and Yumen Pass?”
One of his subordinates replied, “Nothing yet, but given the time, it should be soon.”
Hearing this, Meng Zhan’s expression lightened a bit, though he cursed Liu Zhi and Jiang Pengji repeatedly in his heart.
The former was living the life of a leisurely retired gentleman.
The latter was turning around to settle scores with the two subsystems.
On that day, Jiang Pengji had controlled the Gaoyue Tribe’s ferocious beasts to turn on each other, only for the two subsystems to seize the opportunity to stir up trouble.
The mental domain was humanity’s strongest yet most vulnerable spot.
Jiang Pengji, relying on her formidable mental strength, had kept the two subsystems confined there for several years.
During this time, both subsystems had been quite obedient.
Had it not been for those two light cocoons in the mental domain, she might have almost forgotten their existence.
In trying to control the Gaoyue Tribe’s ferocious beasts, Jiang Pengji had drawn upon part of her mental strength, leading the two subsystems to develop an illusion—they perceived her mental state as weak, considering it an excellent opportunity for an escape—the two subsystems plotted to unify their efforts to cause a ruckus.
As long as they broke free from their mental prison, Jiang Pengji’s domain would take significant damage.
At that point, not only would they escape unscathed, but they could also find two new hosts to parasitize while helping the system’s main entity to severely injure Jiang Pengji.
Injuries to the mental domain, without specialized methods, took an extraordinarily long time to heal.
As long as the system’s main entity had a stronger mental realm than Jiang Pengji, victory would surely tilt in their favor.
Yet, shockingly, Jiang Pengji was even more cunning than they had assumed.
Even in such circumstances, she never loosened her grip on the subsystems.
