With the castle having transformed fully, Lin Wu stood within the auditorium that had been formed form its newly risen walls.
They now had a 'proper' place to converse with someone of a high identity like Lin Wu. freewe(b)novel.c(o)m
"Bring in the refreshments for King Lin Wu!" King Yun Guiren ordered before turning to the beast king. "While they arrive, may I ask what are you here for King Lin Wu?"
"I just happened to be passing by and thought it might be a good opportunity to visit your kingdom as well." Lin Wu answered plainly. "I recalled your emissaries visiting me in the past too."
"Ah yes… I regret that we could not give you an offer that would be up to your standards." King Bai Guiren replied.
He knew that the status between the two had only widened in the past two years. The identity and power of Lin Wu had greatly risen, having been solidified not only in the resistance against the Calamity Fiend, but also in the supply of precious resources.
The Millennium Forest Kingdom now supplied Spirit herbs, spirit fruits, beast materials, as well as allowed people to utilize the inheritance that's as located within its borders. It had brought a level of prestige that was unseen so far in the history of the world.
After all, there had never been a beast kingdom before this, thus everything that Lin Wu did was setting a standard for generations to come. And since he was making the human kingdoms and sects lack in several aspects, the impact was even greater.
Though for Lin Wu too, the alliance offer of the Wide Crag kingdom was confusing.
"It is not exactly that." Lin Wu replied to the man.
"Pardon?" King Yun Guiren was confused.
"It isn't that I rejected your offer because I did not like it, but rather because I could not understand the reasoning behind it." Lin Wu replied.
"The reasoning…" Hearing this King Yun Guiren became silent.
Lin Wu could now tell that there was some deeper reason behind their choice.
"Also which son did you intend to let me adopt? The one I see here seems to be married already." Lin Wu asked curiously.
"Ah! It is my third son. He has the best cultivation talent out of all my children and has been spending his time in seclusion since then." King Yun Guiren answered.
"Oh?" Lin Wu checked his map and was sure that there was no other son of the king here. There was the second son, but he was in the crowd as well, but he didn't seem to be as eye catching. "Where is he?" he questioned.
"My third son, Yun Ren lives in seclusion in the Frozen mountains. He's spent the past two years cultivating and fighting beasts." King Yun Guiren answered with a hint of sorrow.
"So he's not here… makes sense." Lin Wu nodded his head. "Still… you haven't mentioned the reasoning behind it." He asked again.
~SIGH~
King Yun Guiren let out a long sigh before nodding his head.
"I guess, there is no need in hiding it now." King Guiren spoke before looking at Lin Wu. "You must've seen the condition of my kingdom… it isn't ideal."
"That's true. It is cold and the number of resources here are also less." Lin Wu agreed.
"If it was just that it would be fine. Our ancestors have been living here for thousands of years. It is all that we know." King Yun Guiren stated. "If it was just that, I wouldn't have asked for an alliance. The issue was that even the minimum of what we need to live here is now falling." He revealed.
"Oh? How so?" Lin Wu asked feeling interested.
"Our kingdom is reliant on fishing as our main source of food as well as income. But in the recent years, that has become quite difficult. The number of fishes in the ocean here have fallen and the danger has increased too." King Yun Guiren explained. "Of course, we tried to resolve it on our own. This wasn't the first time it had happened, and in the past too there were a few years that were similar to this. But then… that beast appeared." He stated.
"What beast?" Lin Wu furrowed his brows.
"The Cruel Helm Octopus!" King Yun Guiren said out loud, a mix of frustration and sadness in his voice.
Hearing the name, Lin Wu found it to be a bit familiar.
'Where have I heard that before? System, check on that.' Lin Wu ordered in his mind.
And while he thought that, King Yun Guiren continued speaking.
"The Cruel Helm Octopus was a beast that was said to be a myth in our kingdom legends now. It has not appeared for over two thousand years and was the reason why the Cragfall city was built like this. All these arrays are for its defense against the Cruel Helm Octopus." King Yun Guiren explained.
Hearing this, Lin Wu was quite surprised.
'No wonder the walls face the ocean and are tall. Its defensive mode should be meant to defend from the beast.' Lin Wu thought but then spoke. "And this beast attacked your city? Were you not able to repel it?" he asked next.
"We did indeed." King Yun Guiren nodded. "The last time it had appeared was a year ago and we had barely managed to repel the beast. But it came at the cost of the array. It has grown and we can no longer repair it. We have no masters that have the skill for it.
The offensive arrays that were part of it all were destroyed in the defense again and only a fraction of them are now left. If the Cruel Helm Octopus appears again, we won't be able to last against it." He explained in detail.
Listening to all this, Lin Wu started to understand their predicament. But it had not resolved the original confusion for him entirely.
"I get all this, but then why the alliance between the Steel Frost Island too?" Lin Wu inquired. "What is their side in all this?"
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