Chapter 112

Sister Qing Ling handed the cat tribe chieftain's letter to Meng Ying.

Meng Ying began reading it.

Then came Sister Qing Ling's mother, the centaur chieftain, Bai Ling, and the dwarf queen, one after another.

And they all read the letter.

About half an hour later, they had all finished reading it.

Meng Ying spoke first: "Holy Maiden, we need population—more population. Though there are many human kingdoms to the west, we cannot yet turn our eyes there; my god has not opened a passage through the Mist Mountains, and I believe this is precisely why."

The fox maiden Sister Qing Ling nodded in agreement, siding with Meng Ying's words.

Meng Ying continued: "Our best course is surely to first swallow the entire beastman nation and place it beneath my god's glory, then plan our next move!"

Her simple words carried far from simple implications.

In the City of Miracles, Meng Ying deferred to Sister Qing Ling in all matters, appearing to have little will of her own—but she was in fact very clever.

In the City of Miracles, Meng Ying was human.

And she was the only human in the City of Miracles.

Human interference in fox clan affairs, in Meng Ying's view, was undesirable.

So Meng Ying deferred to Sister Qing Ling in all matters.

And quietly strengthened her own power.

For Meng Ying knew that one day, her god would need her to act within the human kingdoms!

Sister Qing Ling nodded again in agreement, still saying nothing, for she knew Meng Ying had more to say.

Indeed, Meng Ying continued:

"If we can absorb the cat tribe's population, it would be a great supplement—but we must consider the threat of the lion tribe. If we accept the cats, it means openly opposing the lion tribe."

Sister Qing Ling then spoke: "The cat tribe has long been under the protection of the tiger tribe, and the tiger tribe, to allay the lion tribe's suspicions, chose to worship the lion tribe's god—so did the cat tribe. Now that the tiger tribe is extinct, the cat tribe no longer worships the lion tribe's god. Once they witness the miracles of this city, their faith in my lord will not be an issue."

Her words resolved the first problem.

The problem of faith.

This was in fact a crucial issue.

If the cat tribe were utterly devoted to another god, aiding them would be meaningless!

It would be pure charity.

If that happened, Sister Qing Ling might, out of sentiment, offer protection to Princess Luodi and her mother—but she would never offer protection to the entire cat tribe!

She was the Holy Maiden of the Flame Lord—not a "Holy Mother."

Fortunately, this problem was easily resolved!

Seeing everyone listening intently, Sister Qing Ling continued:

"The second issue: the lion tribe. If we aid the cat tribe, it means becoming enemies with the lion tribe—but we will inevitably clash with them sooner or later. The lion tribe is powerful, but our current gap with them lies only in troop numbers. As the largest tribe, the lion tribe has hundreds of thousands of people, nearly a hundred thousand warriors, by all accounts—we are far inferior!"

Here, her tone shifted:

"Yet precisely because of this, we must draw every force opposed to the lion tribe into our ranks! The lion tribe suffered heavy losses in its war against the tiger tribe; there must be one or two tribes already eyeing the lion tribe. If we act swiftly, before the lion tribe notices, and help the cat tribe relocate en masse, the lion tribe may not be willing to launch a full-scale assault."

Her voice turned cold: "If the lion tribe does not launch a full assault, we can give them a great surprise. Even if they do launch a full assault, the City of Miracles need not fear them!"

The walls of the City of Miracles were already complete.

The City of Miracles now possessed a large number of archers.

The towering walls, over ten meters high, combined with these archers, meant the lion tribe could not possibly breach them.

Such a city would be hard for even a human kingdom to take.

And the lion tribe, unlike humans, was not skilled at constructing siege machinery!

So the City of Miracles truly had nothing to fear from a lion tribe assault.

Moreover, they had one final safeguard.

Their god!

Sister Qing Ling did not rely on the Flame Lord for everything.

She was the god's Holy Maiden.

She harbored boundless ambition to carve out a vast realm for her god!

If she relied on the Flame Lord to accomplish everything, she felt her own existence would be meaningless.

All churches on the continent operated this way.

These churches actively waged wars for their gods, conquering lands to win more believers.

Sister Qing Ling refused to fall behind those church followers!

Moreover, a god should not frequently intervene directly in battle.

Sister Qing Ling was very thoughtful of Lin Yan's behalf!

"Holy Maiden, you are right. Now is no bad time to confront the lion tribe. We already have many warriors equipped with new armor—armor that even magic strikes cannot easily penetrate. Our warriors have also received new weapons forged by the dwarves; even one-on-one, our warriors can defeat those of the lion tribe."

Said the centaur chieftain.

As for the centaur Holy Maiden, the lovely young centaur Bai Ling, she listened quietly beside them.

She had little tactical instinct.

So she wisely said nothing, only listened.

The centaurs' combat strength was not weak.

Their earlier helplessness against the fox tribe was due to the centaur chieftain's overconfidence and being ambushed.

Plus the fox tribe's sudden surge in power.

Now, with the armor designed and forged by the dwarves, these centaur warriors were far more terrifying than human heavy cavalry.

Each centaur warrior was fully covered in sturdy armor.

These armors, after being optimized by the dwarves, weren't especially heavy, yet their defensive power was excellent.

Moreover, after being tempered by lava fire, they also possessed no weak magical protection.

Then the weapons carried on the backs of these centaur warriors had also changed greatly.

Every centaur warrior carried on their back a long spear with an iron tip, a greatsword, and a shield wrapped in iron sheet.

Hmm, in fact, they would also carry quite a few long spears whittled from wood — these spears were for throwing!

Some centaurs skilled at archery would also carry a bow and plenty of arrows!

Their combat power had already taken a qualitative leap.

And the fox-folk's mages on this side were also growing stronger and stronger.

By now over ten First Rank mages had already been born, and the remaining magic apprentices were also very close to being First Rank mages.

Besides, there was still Meng Ying, the Fifth Rank mage holding the trump card!

Additionally, the dwarves could also field some warriors — don't look down on these dwarven warriors; they forge all year round, so their strength is considerable.

Of course, the fox woman Sister Qing Ling did not intend to let the dwarves go into battle.

These are precious forging craftsmen — losing even one would be a pity!

The fox-folk side had not only mages, but also a large number of archers.

It could be said that Miracle City's combat power was already quite formidable.

The only shortfall was the number of warriors!

Even at full stretch, the centaurs could only muster a force of ten thousand.

The fox-folk could field another seventy or eighty thousand.

Altogether, fewer than twenty thousand.

Yet the Lion Tribe possessed close to a hundred thousand warriors — even if many died in the war with the Tiger Tribe, they still had at least several tens of thousands!

Though the enemy's numbers were great, not one person present was afraid.

They were all racking their brains for a plan.

The Dwarven Queen also spoke: "If the Lion Tribe really attacks, my dwarven race can still field ten thousand warriors. In fact, taking advantage of the current opposition with the Lion Tribe to make a name for ourselves would be good too. Best of all would be to fight the Lion Tribe once — as long as we defeat the Lion Tribe even once, Miracle Wastes and Miracle City will become famous throughout the beast-folk realm. With my Lord's might, it would be enough to win the allegiance of some tribes! Our Shilijiu Society will grow stronger and stronger!"