Chapter 125: Hidden Enemy

Li Bucai couldn't help feeling a bit embarrassed; this hardly counts as a clever plan. The Goblins are stronger than imagined and numerous; in fact, he was ill‑prepared, and this was merely a helpless measure to make up for it. Most of the credit goes to the Young Marshal—if the cavalry were not commanded by the Young Marshal, swapping in anyone else would make this tactic impossible. The Young Marshal is the kind of girl who fears neither heaven nor earth, yet does not obey him completely; those cavalry are her troops, so she can mobilize them more easily. Because of her, the infantry did not retreat, nor did they fall back to the Key Pass.

Li Bucai specifically exploited the Young Marshal's distinctive personality, and with the terrain favoring his side, he lured the Goblins before the Young Marshal. As long as she scatters that Goblin squad, he can stabilize morale and then strike back.

"It's just a helpless act; let the past stay in the past, no need to bring it up again. Do you know those glowing trees on the mountain?" Li Bucai shifted the conversation: "Did they exist here originally?"

"I intended to remind the Lord about this; such trees only appear within the Tree Elf's domain. When we fought for the Life Spring, this place was a barren mountain, all the rocks exposed. In less than a month, vegetation covered the slopes. It seems the Goblins have allied with the Tree Elf, and I am puzzled—there have never been Necromancy Priests among the Goblins before; it appears the Tree Elf helped them cultivate one."

Li Bucai exclaimed, "Tree Elf and Goblin alliance?" In Li Bucai's mind, Tree Elves have always been a noble and holy kind of elf; he had only guessed at some connection before, but it is unimaginable that they would ally with Goblins. #This chapter was hand‑typed on the wind SHOUDA8. com#

Yue Ji nodded: "Goblins are a race despised by many peoples on this continent. They are countless; the ones before us are merely the tip of the iceberg within Huachi. Sometimes they act independently, sometimes they gather, and regardless of an opponent's strength, they always manage to steal food from them, causing great headaches for other races..."

Li Bucai interrupted: "Do Goblins have good lightness skill?" From the ones in front of us, it doesn't seem so; many are even weaker than an eighth‑rank archer.

"No, they can't be said to have any lightness skill; they mostly rely on Guileful Deception, not like Dark Night Elves who use swift hand‑theft. In this Lotus Flower Valley, the forces are tangled; perhaps the Tree Elf wants revenge on the Dark Night Elf but doesn't wish to expend much energy, so they bought off the Goblins."

"You mean the Tree Elf bought off the Goblins?"

Yue Ji nodded: "Yes, Goblins are a greedy race; only by offering them what they like can they be bought to cooperate with members of other races."

"Do you know how to buy the Goblins over?"

At present our strength is too weak; with fewer than a thousand troops under our command, we cannot assault and retake the Life Spring. Since we can buy them, offering a price higher than the Tree Elf's will let us reclaim the Life Spring without shedding blood.

Yue Ji shook her head: "The Undead have always kept away from other races; although they are often harassed by Goblins, our knowledge of their habits is very limited."

The Goblins were already formidable, and now they are linked with the Tree Elf; without explanation, Li Bucai also knows that Tree Elves are an excellent archery race and can command Nature elements, and their archers and Mages have always been powerful.

"You say, did the Goblins seize the Life Spring for themselves, or did the Tree Elf buy off the Goblins to capture the Life Spring? Does the Life Spring work for other races as well?"

Li Bucai must determine who is actually taking the Life Spring. If it is the Goblins, he can try to negotiate with the Tree Elf and use a divide‑and‑conquer scheme to isolate the Goblins; but if the Tree Elf wants the Life Spring, the Goblins are already defending the mountain, and after driving them off, a war with the Tree Elf would still loom. In the latter case, a series of preparations must be made in advance to have any chance of winning.

Yue Ji said: "Although we know little about Goblins, their reproductive capacity is huge, so they seemingly have no need to seize the Life Spring. The Tree Elf, however, has been clashing with us over the Life Spring for tens of thousands of years; they claim the Life Spring is their holy spring. So I think the Tree Elf is behind the Goblins. In an earlier battle, I already sensed the Tree Elf's assistance."

In fact, in ancient times the Life Spring was originally the Tree Elf's spring; the Undead ancestors stole it from the elves to avenge their tribe that had been harmed. Later, when humans went to Sky City, the Undead's power grew. Undead have no males and cannot reproduce, relying on the Life Spring. Thus the Undead ancestor—who lies in the Empty Void Phantom Stone Coffin—forcefully seized the spring. Of course, he never told his descendants this disgraceful act, instead claiming the Undead were a gift from the heavens to rescue the world, so the spring naturally became the Holy Spring specially bestowed upon the Undead by the gods.

Of course, aside from the Tree Elf, Li Bucai, Yue Ji and the others know nothing of this story.

Indeed, it is the Tree Elf seizing the Life Spring, and this time the problem has become complicated. As the Undead clan leader, Li Bucai must retake the Life Spring; even setting aside that role, the Lotus Flower Valley is only a hundred li from his Territory, posing a huge threat. If left unchecked, first the hearts of the Undead will waver and eventually abandon him. As a lord, Li Bucai will eventually have to absorb the entire Territory, inevitably clashing with the other races here. By then the Tree Elf will have grown even larger, making matters even harder to handle.

But at present there are fewer than a thousand troops; Li Bucai suddenly recalled her earlier words and hurriedly asked, "You mean the Tree Elf wants revenge on the Dark Night Elf? What ancient feud exists between them?"

Yue Ji replied: "Legend says that long, long ago, Dark Night Elves and Tree Elves were the same people. Apparently, two chieftains fought over the clan leader's position and began killing each other. One chief was defeated; to avoid extermination, he led his followers away from the elven lands, found an underground world, and survived there. Because they saw little sunlight for years, their appearance gradually changed, and later, since they often moved at night, they were called Dark Night Elves. Over the years, wars between the two elf tribes have erupted continuously, far more frequently than any wars between other two races."