High Martial Arts: Enlightenment after Practices

Chapter 398: Chapter 398: Celestial Wolf Council

The warriors behind him followed closely. There were no tactics, no formations—only the grim determination to fight to the death.

Xu Wuyi raised his long spear, but Hong Nianyi stopped his hand.

"I’ll handle this."

She drew her Long Saber and walked toward the charging Werewolves.

A flash of her saber.

Within ten breaths, over a dozen Werewolf Warriors fell, their blood staining the rocky ground. Hong Nianyi showed no mercy; every strike was precise and lethal.

Finally, she stood before the old werewolf captain.

The old werewolf was already grievously wounded, kneeling on the ground with a broken War Axe in his hand. He looked up, his crimson eyes fixing on Hong Nianyi as a garbled howl escaped his lips.

Hong Nianyi read his lips.

It was the Celestial Wolf word for "why."

Why did the humans have to invade their home? Why did they have to slaughter them all?

Hong Nianyi watched him in silence. After a long moment, she spoke slowly.

"Because you struck first."

Her saber fell.

The old werewolf fell, the final confusion in his eyes frozen forever.

Hong Nianyi sheathed her saber and turned back to the squad.

"Clear the mining area." Her voice was calm, but Xu Wuyi could hear the suppressed emotion within it.

Lin Jue silently began to set the bombs.

This time, no one spoke.

That evening, Mining Area Five was reduced to ruins in a massive explosion.

With that, all five major mining areas in the Celestial Wolf Four Star Realm had been destroyed. The precious Crimson Blood Star Iron ore would be impossible to mine for years to come.

Mission accomplished, and then some.

The five of them stood before the last sea of flames, gazing at the billowing smoke.

"Time to head back," Hong Nianyi said.

She brought up her personal terminal. The extraction coordinates Pan Yan had provided were already marked on the map.

It was a hidden aircraft hangar, located in the mountains in the northern part of the Star Realm, about three hundred kilometers from their current position.

"We’ll travel through the night and arrive before noon tomorrow," Hong Nianyi made the decision. "No breaks. We don’t want any unexpected trouble."

No one objected.

The constant fighting and travel had left them all exhausted, but the desire to return home overpowered their physical fatigue.

The five of them organized their gear, checked their supplies, and then set off on their journey home.

Beneath a dark red sky, five figures moved swiftly through the barren hills.

...

「Celestial Wolf Civilization Homeworld, Wolf God Mountain.」

This mountain range was not a natural formation. It was a sacred sacrificial site, built up over countless generations by Werewolves using massive stones and bones.

The mountain was steep and dark red, as if soaked through with blood.

Atop the peak stood a majestic Divine Hall built entirely of black basalt. The roof was carved with the totem of a giant wolf howling at the sky, and beneath the dark red heavens, it radiated a heart-pounding pressure.

At this moment, deep within the Divine Hall, in the Wolf God Council chamber, the atmosphere was as heavy as iron.

The council chamber was circular, over fifty meters in diameter. Thousands of glowing skulls were embedded in the surrounding walls.

They were the remains of past Divine Beings and Divine Sons. Eerie green soul-fire danced in their eye sockets, casting a sinister and strange light upon the entire space.

In the center of the circular hall, nine figures sat around a massive round table made of bone.

These were the members of the Wolf God Council, the highest decision-making body of the Celestial Wolf Civilization.

Every one of them was an ancient Divine Being. The youngest was two hundred years old, and the eldest had even lived through the first border war with the Federation three hundred years ago.

Seated at the head of the table was an old werewolf whose fur was almost entirely white.

He wore a long robe embroidered with golden runes and held a bone staff inlaid with three blood-red Crystal Stones.

This was Umon, chief of the Wolf God Council, the oldest living being in the Celestial Wolf Civilization and the only living fossil to have experienced three civilizational wars.

"Is the information confirmed?"

Umon’s voice was as hoarse as sandpaper scraping against rock, but every word carried a heavy, oppressive weight.

His crimson eyes swept over the eight Divine Beings on either side of the table, finally landing on the third seat to his left—on Grue, the Divine Being in charge of intelligence and Star Realm affairs.

Grue was a one-eyed werewolf, with a deep saber scar where his left eye should have been.

He stood, placed his right hand over his chest in a salute, and spoke in a low voice, "Chief, it has been confirmed. The Celestial Wolf Four Star Realm was raided by humans. The two stationed Priests—Batu and Har—are confirmed dead."

For a moment, the council chamber was deathly silent.

Then, a nearly tangible wave of fury erupted from all nine Divine Beings at once.

The eerie green soul-fire flickered violently. The skulls on the walls made grinding, clicking sounds, as if they might come alive at any moment.

"Humans..." The Divine Being in the second seat on the right spoke. He was an exceptionally burly werewolf, a full head taller than the others even while seated. "How dare they? Celestial Wolf Four is one of our core resource Star Realms!"

"They did more than dare." A cold light glinted in Grue’s single eye. "According to the report from a War General who escaped, there were only five assailants, all human Martial Artists. They first created a diversion in the outer mining areas to draw away the patrols, then infiltrated the base and overwhelmed and killed Batu and Har."

"Five people?" The Divine Being in the first seat on the left, an old werewolf with a face covered in black tattoos, asked in a sharp voice. "Batu and Har were Priests. With the base’s defenses to back them up, how could they possibly be overwhelmed and killed by just five people?"

"Because those five humans weren’t ordinary Martial Artists." Grue projected a screen of light, displaying a blurry combat recording. It was footage extracted via memory runes from the War General who had escaped. "At least two of them have fighting power at the level of Great Success in Heart Image."

In the recording, a flash of dark golden Flame burned through a defensive rune, followed by the image of a long spear piercing a Priest’s heart.

The council chamber fell silent once more.

After a long silence, Umon finally spoke. "The Federation’s Innate Martial Artists cannot enter Celestial Wolf Four. It’s a low Energy Level Star Realm, restricted by the Rules."

"Which means either these Martial Artists are exceptionally powerful," Grue said, "or... they’ve found a way to circumvent the Rules."

"But regardless, the outcome is unchangeable. All five major mining areas have been destroyed. The core Crimson Blood Star Iron veins have been contaminated by a special solvent and will be unmineable for the next ten years. Our Star Energy crystal reserves will be cut by a quarter."

BANG!

The Divine Being in the second seat to the right slammed his fist on the bone table. A web of cracks appeared on the hard, beast-bone surface. "Those damned humans! They can’t gain an advantage on the front lines, so they resort to these despicable tactics to raid our rear!"

"This wasn’t a raid. It was retaliation." Umon lifted his bone staff and tapped it lightly on the floor, producing a dull thud. "For the ’Broken Star Belt’ operation on the front lines, we joined forces with the Feathered People and killed three of their Grandmasters. This is the humans’ revenge."

The human Federation, the Celestial Wolf Civilization, and the Feathered People Civilization were precisely the three nearest civilized Star Realms.

Their borders touched in many surrounding Star Realms, large and small, making them the three civilizations that clashed and skirmished the most.

Among them, the human Federation was the strongest, followed by the Feathered People, who possessed over seventy Grandmaster-level combatants. The Celestial Wolf Civilization was the weakest, with only twenty-some "Divine Beings."

However, the human Federation didn’t just face these two civilizations; it also had to confront the pressure from Star Beasts on the Star Realm Battlefield.