Chapter 970

Slightly behind was a strangely-featured alien lord whose facial features were very poorly proportioned — that person was Master Mu Chang.

Zhao Chi had seen him up close once before.

This time he looked even uglier.

Beside Master Mu Chang were two alien women on horseback — honestly, even uglier.

They had very obvious wolf-tribe features.

If they really turned into wolves, it would be far more acceptable than how they looked now.

Their current appearance was really awkward.

Behind them were fifty alien lords.

All on horseback, wearing various types of armor — probably all special armor worth a fortune.

Behind the lords were several hundred alien soldiers, all clad in alien armor.

Zhao Chi was a bit puzzled — don't they turn into werewolves when they fight?

Then what's the point of them wearing armor and carrying weapons?

Could it be that they fight in human form too?

Or is it that when they transform into werewolves, this armor and these weapons can all fuse directly into their bodies?

Oh!

That's possible!

No wonder they could never be hurt when attacking those werewolves before — could it be because they had fused with their armor?

Looking like the strike landed on the werewolf, but actually hitting the armor?

And the reason Rock Screen was so hard to kill — was it because his armor had extremely high durability? Or some even more special effect?

Zhao Chi didn't know.

Everything was still just speculation for now.

But he felt it was at least one of the possibilities.

And this time fifty lords actually came? What for?

So many alien lords definitely weren't coming for Creek Village — with these aliens' strength, flattening Creek Village wouldn't need this many people.

Just the twelve lords under Captain Wu Lang and the others could probably manage it.

Maybe just passing through?

Zhao Chi kept guessing, but had no clue at all.

Master Mu Chang and the others drew closer and closer.

Captain Wu Lang and the others at the front rendered the wolf-tribe military salute.

The human lords on both sides began waving yellow flags.

Master Mu Chang seemed to be in a decent mood — grinning, he rode his horse in, waving to the lords on both sides as he went.

As the horses passed, yellow dust drifted up.

A bit choking.

Wonder why they don't ride spirit-energy vehicles?

Maybe riding horses like this looks more imposing?

Master Mu Chang and the others didn't stop, riding straight into the village.

Captain Wu Lang and the others immediately followed.

"You lot can disperse!"

Captain Wu Lang waved his hand and also entered the village.

The lords on both sides looked at each other, none of them knowing what was about to happen next.

But there were only three possibilities: war, taxation, or suppression.

It might be one of them, or it might be all three together.

The villagers dispersed.

Zhao Chi saw Fourth Uncle Zhao Qiye head straight to the Xiao family, and several others from other families also went to the Xiao family's side.

Probably to discuss the caravan situation.

Although the four families had plenty of conflicts before, fortunately they all maintained decorum on the big-picture issues and hadn't completely torn off all pretense and gone to war.

Now that a greater conflict had invaded, everyone could actually sit down and cooperate for their common interests.

The lords all dispersed.

Su Qin stayed by Zhao Chi's side.

She didn't speak, just kept following.

Zhao Chi smiled and said: "You go back first and open the permissions for me. I'll come find you at your territory in a bit."

Su Qin said happily: "Mm, it's already past five now, so why don't you eat at my place before heading back?"

"Mm, alright."

"What do you mean 'alright'? Why do you sound so reluctant?"

"No… I'm worried about Master Mu Chang and those people — I reckon our burden's going to get heavier again."

Su Qin nodded: "Yeah, nothing good ever comes from seeing them. But at least you coming to my place for dinner today counts as something good — I'll head back first then, you come quickly too."

"Alright, I'll be right there."

Su Qin immediately opened the permissions for him, then left.

Zhao Chi also quickly returned to his territory.

Gu Qing and the others were also preparing dinner.

A few days ago, Fang Li and the others had already finished building the kitchen.

The kitchen was very spacious, and although the stove inside was an ordinary one, its design and layout were extremely reasonable.

There were ten independent stoves, and each stove had two auxiliary burners.

Cooking for several hundred people was more than enough.

But for now there were no specialized female chefs who had changed class, so the female villagers these past few days had all changed class into female militia.

For the time being, Yang Lu's hunting group was in charge of cooking.

Gu Qing also often went in to help out.

Although she was not a chef, over this past month she had cooked for Zhao Chi every day, and her cooking skill had accumulated to 4 points.

Today, Zhuang Ya had actually also entered the kitchen.

It looked like she was quite professional, and Gu Qing was also assisting her.

These past few days, Zhuang Ya had been continuously practicing Fireball and Sea of Fire, extremely diligent.

An inwardly sensitive woman's self-esteem was generally very strong.

Moreover, she also had the personality trait of pride.

This made her self-esteem even stronger, even more unyielding.

Originally, he had thought that pride and sensitivity together made for a fairly ordinary personality.

But now it seemed these two personalities could actually complement each other.

Because of sensitivity, her self-esteem was strong.

Because of pride, her self-esteem was even stronger.

These two personalities stacked together, elevating Zhuang Ya's self-esteem to a very high level.

This was both a good thing and a bad thing.

The good thing was that it gave her abundant motivation, driving herself to keep improving.

But the bad thing was that she was prone to collapse.

She might very well completely collapse and give up on herself.

But here with Zhao Chi, Zhuang Ya would not collapse.

With the Carefree Spring's +125% mood, it was impossible for her mood to drop low.

Added to that, Zhao Chi had now learned the Encouragement Art, which could directly increase Zhuang Ya's morale by 60%, ensuring her morale would not sink either.

This way, Zhuang Ya would only be affected by positive effects.

After these past few days of training, Zhuang Ya could already control fire quite skillfully.

Not only could she spray fire from her palms, she could also spray fire from her fingers.

She was extending her index finger, a wisp of flame shooting from its tip, roasting the meat in front of her until it sizzled with oil.