The Flame Demon Tribe’s expansion continued. Every day, several hundred Near-Human refugees came to join.
Many hands make light work, so the entire tribe’s construction speed also kept accelerating.
One and a half months after the great battle, the Flame Demon Tribe’s population broke through forty-one thousand.
This population was already about the same as the surrounding Rakshasa tribes. Fortunately, Lanling had carried out a great raid, obtaining massive amounts of grain and meat, as well as countless cloth and clothing.
Otherwise, Lanling would probably have found it truly difficult to provide food and clothing for over forty thousand people.
Moreover, because the Chimera Tribe had effectively been destroyed, and the Ankara Tribe also lacked defensive strength, within three to four hundred li of the Flame Demon Tribe, everything was the Flame Demon Tribe’s hunting ground. Duolong led hunting teams rampaging everywhere. Moreover, his hunting teams grew increasingly large, rising from over one hundred people to several hundred. Every day’s harvest was enormous.
The Flame Demon Tribe now was completely thriving, changing with each passing day.
The new outer city wall was six to seven li long, and its height and width had both increased. After one and a half months, all the earthen walls had been completed. The earthen walls alone were four metres thick and over nine metres high.
This wall could already compare to those super cities of ancient China.
But there was no helping it. The martial power of this world was far greater, even if they were just ordinary soldiers.
Moreover, inside the wall, ironwood was used as the skeleton. It was extremely sturdy.
Over half of the Flame Demon Tribe’s population participated in wall construction. At peak times, twenty thousand people built the wall every day.
Moreover, the division of labour was already very clear.
Digging earth, transporting earth, pounding walls, felling ironwood, quarrying stone, cutting stone, firing lime, and so on.
Once the earthen wall was completed, it already had basic defensive functions. Next, they would attach stone slabs to the earthen wall.
This time, the stone slabs would be thicker, harder, and larger.
Fortunately, both the Chimera Tribe and Ankara Tribe had lost their combat strength, so the Flame Demon Tribe’s sourcing was not limited to within the tribe. They could quarry from anywhere within three hundred li.
By now, the flat ground outside the Flame Demon Tribe had been dug full of holes.
After all, this was an earthen wall three thousand five hundred metres long, nine metres high, and four metres thick, and it was a wall that had been pounded with all their might, highly compressed. Just this wall, plus many houses, required hundreds of thousands of cubic metres of earth.
However, this time Lanling did not plan to dig large pits anymore.
So, after digging a relatively deep reservoir, they adopted a shallow earth-digging method.
During the earth-digging process, they also carried out farmland reclamation. The planting of grain and flax had also begun deployment.
Moreover, the carpenters had already built the looms. Once the flax was harvested, they could begin large-scale weaving.
Furthermore, the planned brickworks and tile kilns had already begun firing.
To obtain earth suitable for firing bricks and tiles, several dozen potters had dug through the earth within a hundred li, finally finding a suitable location for a brick and tile kiln on a hillside over thirty li away.
Therefore, Lanling had already suspended building houses with stone, waiting for bricks to be mass-produced before carrying out dense house construction.
By that time, the Flame Demon Tribe’s houses would surpass any surrounding tribe, directly skipping past wooden and earthen houses to enter the era of blue bricks and large tiles.
And the first brick and tile house within the tribe had already begun construction. This house naturally belonged to Lanling.
Lanling had temporarily abandoned the Chimera Tribe’s mine.
But the mine slaves inside, including the smelting slaves, Lanling had all brought to the Flame Demon Tribe.
Apart from casting the city gate, these several hundred to a thousand people were all assigned to forge weapons and armour.
The surrounding tribes did not like wearing armour, feeling it was unmanly and cowardly.
But Lanling would forge armour and fine weapons for his elite troops.
Because the population had expanded too quickly, housing was indeed insufficient. There was no other way. For the time being, they could only use large communal sleeping arrangements, with over twenty people sleeping in one room.
After having their own home, these Near-Human refugees erupted with unprecedented productivity and ingenuity, pushing the Flame Demon Tribe’s construction frenzy to wave after wave of peaks.
Now, the Flame Demon Tribe’s army had already exceeded fifteen thousand people.
The original two thousand cavalry were now planned to expand by another thousand, so war horses were once again in short supply.
However, the griffins had increased to nineteen.
During the last great raid on the Chimera Tribe, they had naturally not forgotten to loot all the griffins too.
And it just so happened that those dozen or so griffins were all in a cave, locked with foot chains. Even the two young griffins that Suomo had presented to Constantine were retrieved.
Little Yaya was overjoyed. Originally she had only one little companion, now she actually had three.
Everything before their eyes seemed to be developing in a good direction.
The Flame Demon Tribe developed every day, grew stronger every day, full of enthusiasm and happiness.
But a trace of gloom in Lanling’s heart began to gradually accumulate. He sensed danger slowly approaching. He had not received any intelligence. It was merely a kind of intuition.
…
“Fly, fly, fly…” The little girl clapped her hands and shouted, commanding the three griffins to learn to fly.
These three young griffins were already seven or eight months old, weighing over a hundred jin. The feathers on their wings had also fully grown, but they just could not fly.
Other griffins learned to fly at four or five months.
The one Little Yaya had been raising all along was spoiled, eating until it was plump and round, too lazy to learn to fly.
And the two raised in the Chimera Tribe were because the Chimera Tribe’s situation had been constantly turbulent and unstable, and no one had taught those two young griffins to fly, so all three griffins were delayed.
Lanling did not want to raise these three griffins into silly, cute pets, so he found a rare moment of rest and brought the little girl to train the three young griffins in flying.
The three little fellows were truly very stupid. When told to fly, they just flapped their wings, or ran while flapping their wings, never able to get airborne.
“So stupid, so stupid, so stupid…” The little girl was furious, then went up to them one by one and gave them a smack on their bottoms.
The three young griffins let out a mournful cry and took their beating with dirt on their faces.
“You look at me…” Then the little girl flapped her wings and flew up wobbling.
The three young griffins looked enviously at the little girl flying in the air, then also flapped their wings along. Unexpectedly, their bodies actually left the ground, learning the first step of flight.
It seemed the power of example was truly infinite.
Lanling toyed with Ali’s bottom and said, “Fortunately they learned to fly. Otherwise I would find a cliff and directly throw them off. They would have to fly or they would fall to their deaths.”
The scars on Ali’s face had almost completely disappeared. Lanling had searched for the best medicinal ointments, finally using his own blood to rub on the scars on her body and face.
Every time he saw the scars on her body, Lanling would bring Gouli over and fiercely whip her in front of Ali to vent Ali’s anger.
The death of her daughter Gouli had brought Ali a huge blow.
Although this daughter was a scoundrel, not only vain and foolish, but to seek enjoyment, she had actually sold out her own biological mother.
But after all, she was her biological daughter.
Dina was understanding, so she voluntarily gave the little girl to Ali to care for, giving her maternal love an outlet.
Sure enough, Ali quickly recovered, then poured all her maternal love onto the little girl. Moreover, Little Yaya was far more lovable than her daughter Gouli, far more intelligent, and also kind and beautiful.
“Annoying, don’t scare people!” Ali said coquettishly.
Lanling’s hand grew heavier and heavier, touching Ali until she panted for breath. She struggled lightly and said, “Don’t be like this, there are people around.”
But right at this moment, Lanling’s heart suddenly tightened, then his expression changed slightly.
He sensed the arrival of danger.
“Dina, Ali, take the little girl back into the cave. Do not come out,” Lanling said.
Dina was currently watching the little girl flying in the air while caressing her swollen belly. When she heard Lanling’s words, her face paled, then she nodded without asking anything.
“Yaya, come down.”
Little Yaya had not finished enjoying her flight, but she only pouted and flew directly into Dina’s arms.
Dina held her and brought Ali, walking towards the cave deep in the tribe.
And the three young griffins closely followed behind.
…
From very, very far away, Lanling sensed an extremely powerful, extremely dangerous energy aura.
Normally, his energy sense did not reach this far. This time he sensed it from four to five thousand metres away.
Because this intruder was extremely arrogant, not hiding his energy aura in the slightest, instead releasing it arrogantly.
This was like an aeroplane invading a country’s airspace. Generally speaking, it would have to evade that country’s radar, so either it was a stealth aircraft or it flew very low. In short, it would have to desperately hide its tracks.
But this intruder was like a cosmic warship from the planet Top, rampaging around. Not only did he not hide himself, but he arrogantly and wantonly announced, “I am here.”
A few minutes later!
A golden shadow appeared on the horizon. A person, riding a griffin, came from the west.
Closer and closer, closer and closer.
His energy aura grew increasingly intense, increasingly powerful.
Finally, he flew to the sky above the Flame Demon Tribe, looking down at everything below.
The legends of this Ghost Domain world were so terrifying, yet he had rampaged straight in like this.
This was a very handsome man, but his appearance was very contradictory.
A bewitchingly beautiful face, feminine features on a male, slanted long eyes, yet he had a long, large nose.
The muscles on his body were explosively good.
Moreover, he only wore a black silk robe, with nothing underneath.
His hair hung loosely, appearing especially unrestrained.
He looked down at everything on the ground with contempt and said coldly, “Where is Lanling? I have come to take his head!”
His voice resounded through every place in the Flame Demon Tribe.
His energy aura suppressed every place here.
“Where is that bastard Lanling? I have come to take his head!”
He was alone, without a single soldier at his side.
Just like this, single-handedly, he broke into the Flame Demon Tribe to take Lanling’s head. Truly extremely arrogant!
…
Time returned to two years prior.
Zhili and Ashi Liren escorted Zhining and her child, and Fang Qingzhuo and her daughter, leaving the royal capital Zhidu overnight to head north, towards the Eastern Li Kingdom.
Along the way, the group travelled by day and moved by night, trekking nearly over twenty thousand li, walking for a full month and more, before reaching the Eastern Li Kingdom’s royal capital Lijing.
The Fury Wave Kingdom’s royal capital was called Zhidu, the Yelan Duchy’s capital was called Landau.
Only the Flame Empire was called Yanjing, the Eastern Li Kingdom was called Lijing.
From this one could see that the Eastern Li Kingdom and the Flame Empire’s statuses were almost equal. It was just that the Eastern Li Kingdom still remained loyal to the Flame Dragon Empire, loyal to His Majesty the Dragon Emperor, so it was unwilling to call itself an empire, remaining a kingdom.
After entering the Eastern Li Kingdom, it was as though entering another world.
The architecture here was very simple and ancient, carrying a special charm. The clothing of every person here was also not as complicated and eccentric as in other countries.
In short, they still followed the traditions of the former Flame Dragon Empire.
Moreover, everywhere here, one could see sculptures of His Majesty the Dragon Emperor.
Everywhere here, the flags of the Flame Dragon Empire fluttered.
That’s right. This country’s national flag was even that of the Flame Dragon Empire, not the Eastern Li Kingdom.
Whether on city walls or on army flags, first the tall, towering imperial flag of the Flame Dragon Empire stood, and beside it, slightly shorter, was the Eastern Li Kingdom’s royal flag.
Moreover, slogans could be seen everywhere here.
Celebrating the three thousand two hundredth anniversary of the Flame Dragon Empire.
His Majesty the Dragon Emperor, may you live as long as the boundaries!
In short, after entering the Eastern Li Kingdom, there was a strong feeling that His Majesty the Dragon Emperor had not died, that the Flame Dragon Empire still existed.
Now Lanling finally understood why the Eastern Li Kingdom, despite being so powerful, would have a feeling of being cut off from the world.
First, the Eastern Li Kingdom felt that propriety had collapsed and music had deteriorated, that other nations had betrayed His Majesty the Dragon Emperor, so it voluntarily severed relations.
And other countries were all under the shadow and control of the Divine Dragon Temple, while in the Eastern Li Kingdom the Divine Dragon Temple’s power was very small, like a pure land, so of course they also did not want other countries’ people to enter the Eastern Li Kingdom and sense all this.
Suppressing, even eliminating the Dragon Emperor’s influence, had always been the Divine Dragon Temple’s highest objective.
Outside Lijing!
“You are already safe. I shall escort you to here,” Zhili said. “Then, farewell!”
Having spoken, Zhili was about to turn and leave.
“Wait…” Zhining called out.
Zhili stopped and stood in place.
Zhining asked, “May I ask, who are you?”
For a full month and more, Zhili had been silent, escorting the group to Lijing, not only not speaking, but even always maintaining a certain distance.
“A Hell Knight, a follower of His Majesty Demon Emperor Soren!” Zhili said.
Zhining said, “Then… then is he still alive?”
“He will come back to life. You will be very safe in the Eastern Li Kingdom, waiting for His Majesty the Demon Emperor’s return,” Zhili said.
Zhining bowed to him and said, “Thank you.”
Then she grasped the baby’s chubby little hand and said, “Say goodbye to uncle!”
“Goodbye uncle…” Baby Zhiyu said in a childish voice.
Zhili’s face without skin twitched slightly. He first looked at Baby Zhiyu, then looked towards his own two daughters.
The two little girls had endured wind and dew on this journey, their little faces red. At this moment they were looking at him with curiosity and attachment.
Zhili truly wanted to cry, but he no longer had tears.
When he was their father, his two daughters were not close to him at all, and later even hated him, because he had hit Fang Qingzhuo. Girls naturally stood on their mother’s side.
And now, the two little girls had actually developed attachment towards him.
He instinctively stretched out his hand, wanting to touch Baby Zhiyu’s little face, to touch his two daughters’ little faces.
However, he could not.
After being touched by his hand, human skin would directly melt.
“Goodbye…”
Zhili said hoarsely, then mounted his skeleton horse and headed east.
He was going to the Eastern Sea to see the Faceless One to obtain Demon’s Tears, to undergo his second transformation.
Time was already extremely urgent!
…
The Headless Knight!
After leaving the royal capital, he did not immediately go to resurrect Ashi Luo.
Instead he went to the southeastern area of Zhidu.
He went there to save a person, Demon Emperor Soren’s aunt, also one of his nominal wives, Queen Yan Chuoer!