CHAPTER 686: CHAPTER 173 UNEXPECTED VISITOR

"Yes."

Lei Sai’s response made Lu Hong’s eyes light up, "What have you found? Speak quickly!"

Lei Sai organized his thoughts before speaking, "Firstly, the military configuration of the beast tribe is wrong. As you know, the beast tribe has always had two major military echelons, the family armies and the noble armies. Throughout the hundred wars we initiated, even among the nobles who clearly sided with family powers, we have barely seen many of the beastman family troops, which doesn’t make sense."

"Could those family armies be occupied with resisting the elf tribe and thus stretched too thin?"

Lei Sai shook his head, dismissing Lu Hong’s guess, "The beast tribe has always used the regular tribal armies to resist the elves, similar to the self-defense forces we are about to form, which are born from the family and noble armies and are national armies. Such forces always have plenty of reservists, and even if they were all defeated, forming new troops wouldn’t involve tapping into those private family forces. Moreover, a beastman family would not send all of its private forces to serve the state."

"So you’re saying that the beast tribe’s private family armies have now disappeared."

"Yes, in my travels and investigations over the past few years, I have never seen any main force of the private family armies. They have vanished without a trace, which I fear is the main reason for the beast tribe’s defeat and withdrawal from the central region."

"Mm." Lu Hong nodded solemnly, taking note.

Lei Sai took a sip of tea and continued, "Secondly, it’s the strength of the Beastman Deity."

"What about it?"

"A year ago, I encountered a Beastman Deity—a Winged Heavenly God, who has been a deity for over a millennium and was definitely more powerful than me. Yet during our battle, I found that the opponent seemed as if they had just entered the Heavenly God Realm and were severely outmatched by me, which is highly abnormal. Therefore, I sought out two more Beastman Deities and, after battling each, I found they were just like the Winged Heavenly God. Though they became deities early on, their strength hadn’t progressed at all, and they couldn’t even defeat me, who had just ascended to the God Realm. What do you make of this?"

Lei Sai glared at Lu Hong, "You’re asking me again? I haven’t even become a deity, so you want me to judge the Heavenly God Realm? Are you joking?"

"Yes, yes, my bad, I asked the wrong person. Wasn’t I inquiring on your behalf?" Lei Sai said grumpily, "Had I known, I wouldn’t have ventured deep into the beastmen territory. That trip was a waste."

"It wasn’t wasted." Lu Hong sat down and pondered deeply, "Now that the beastmen private forces are unseen and the Deities of the beast tribe are mysteriously weakened, could it be internal strife within their ranks?"

"If it were so, some news would have leaked out. The beast tribe comprises hundreds of races, with private armies amounting to millions, and family private armies are crucial to the rise and fall of a family. It wouldn’t make sense for them to fight covert battles. Besides, a civil war goes against the current interests of the beast tribe; they definitely wouldn’t fight amongst themselves."

"In that case, the private armies are hiding, and the Beastman Deities are feigning weakness, aiming to let the hundreds of races fight first and then leap out to reap the benefits."

"That seems to be the only explanation." Lei Sai nodded, "That aligns with our previous discussion, so accordingly, we must prepare and be vigilant against the beast tribe’s counterattack."

Just as the two were discussing, Lei Sai felt something instinctively and furrowed his brows, barking out, "Who’s there? Show yourself!"

Under Lei Sai’s rebuke, a figure emerged within the room.

It was the Great Elven King, Agaso.

"Old friend, it’s been a while."

In the presence of the True God Lei Sai, the tone of the Great Elven King had changed, lack the former arrogance he held in Nansha Town.

"Agaso? What brings you here?" Lei Sai was perplexed by the unexpected visit from the Great Elven King.

"There are some matters I wish to discuss with you." Agaso sat down, poured himself a cup of tea with a familiar air, and began sipping it.

"Out with it, then."

"Nothing much, really. It’s just that the behavior of the beast tribe seems far too strange." Agaso began after listening to their previous conversation, "It appears you’ve noticed it too."

"Yes, since you’ve already heard, I won’t go into detail. May I ask, what else have you discovered, Lord Agaso?"

"I discovered the anomalies in time and space," Agaso said solemnly. "To be precise, it was the Great Sacrifice of my elf tribe who probed the very essence of truth at the cost of his life."

Time and space anomalies?

Lu Hong and Lei Sai exchanged a glance, both seeing shock in the other’s eyes.

Agaso continued, "As for the second question you’re puzzled about, I can explain why the gods of the beast tribe generally appear to be weaker in strength."

"Actually, the reason is quite simple—they are not their true forms."

"Not their true forms? How can that be?" Lei Sai exclaimed in surprise. "Does that mean all gods of the beast tribe have the ability to create avatars?"

"No. Someone has used time to help them regress, creating an avatar that represents their initial ascension to godhood. The person capable of casting such magic must possess a supreme understanding of time. Ever since our tribal sacrifice glimpsed this truth at the cost of his life, I have been searching for years, probing into the secrets of the gods of the beast tribe. To date, I have encountered thirty-two such gods, all of whom were created using this regression in time."

"Then where are the true gods of the beast tribe?"

Agaso glanced at Lu Hong. "Who am I supposed to ask if you’re asking me? Isn’t that the reason why we came to cooperate in this investigation?"

What exactly are the beast tribes up to?

Lu Hong suddenly had a thought and spoke up. "Could it be that the beast tribe is waging war in other dimensions?"

That’s actually possible!

Agaso gave Lu Hong a look. "Are you joking?"

"I’m not kidding. The Star Sea is vast, and apart from our current dimension, there are many others," Lu Hong quickly explained to them.

Lei Sai listened with utmost seriousness and couldn’t help but marvel. "So, there are other worlds besides this one. Truly magical. Perhaps those gods of the beast tribe really are venturing to conquer foreign territories."

"Conquer my ass," Agaso said irritably. "Where did you hear such nonsense?"

"I didn’t hear it; I witnessed it with my own eyes," Lu Hong replied. "Beneath the Star Sea, there are countless dimensions, each nurturing its own unique race."

"Stop, stop, stop!" Agaso interrupted. "Can you please stop making up such nonsense? I admit that besides this continent, there indeed exist many others, but those lands have extremely harsh environments. Except for heavenly gods, no one can live there for long. Unless the beast tribes have lost their minds, why would they want to take over those places? Besides the continent filled with demon beasts, none of the other explored continents are suitable for habitation."

"What?"

This time, it was Lu Hong who was perplexed. Agaso’s words meant that they were aware of other dimensions besides the God Realm, but those planes were incomplete and uninhabitable. Now, Lu Hong understood why, in the Era of the Gods, so many heavenly gods emerged, vying for control over a single continent—it was because no other place was habitable.

Seeing that Lu Hong had nothing more to say, Agaso snorted. "It’s not like that bunch of beast tribe gods have gone mad and decided to challenge the Demon Beast Continent, right?"

As for the Demon Beast Continent Agaso mentioned, Lu Hong had an idea of what it was. It should be the future Endless Forest, teeming with demon beasts and frequented by powerful monsters; even if the beast tribe had over three hundred gods, it wouldn’t match up to the number of those beasts.

"Could they have gone to Abyssal Hell?" Lu Hong made another guess.

Agaso looked at Lu Hong with interest and laughed. "I didn’t expect someone of your young age to be so well-informed, even knowing about the Abyss."

Lei Sai was confused again. "What’s the Abyss?"

Agaso spoke with a hint of nostalgia. "This goes back a long way. At that time, I had just stepped into the realm of the heavenly gods, and a spatial tunnel suddenly appeared in the southeast corner of the continent. My elf tribe controlled the southeast, so the previous Great Elven King ordered us to enter and investigate. There wasn’t much inside, the environment was hostile, but it was barely habitable."

"We initially planned to relocate some elves there to develop and live, but the beast tribe, for some reason, learned of it and launched an attack, dead set on claiming that dimension. The beast tribe was too powerful at the time, and we had to choose to retreat."

"Later on, it was said that many humans entered it to escape the beast tribe’s persecution. For some unknown reason, the spatial tunnel collapsed, and the beast tribe failed to enter. We elves called it Abyssal Hell, and almost no one knows about it except those who were involved," Agaso said as he fixed his gaze on Lu Hong. "So, I would really like to know... how exactly did you come to be aware of these secrets?"