Chapter 226: Chapter 202: Metamorphosis Complete, Super Strong

And just then, Li Tiannan and the others arrived.

"Yichuan, prepare to retreat." After landing, Li Tiannan wasted no words. He came from a Military Department background and was naturally direct.

"Retreat? Aren’t we going to war?" Chen Yichuan was slightly taken aback.

"What war?! The alien races sent thirteen Strongest this time. Add the two from the Celestial Race, and that’s a total of fifteen Strongest. How are we supposed to fight that?" Li Tiannan was also stunned for a moment.

’What is he thinking!’

There was one thing he was too embarrassed to say.

The Celestial Race had two Strongest, and neither of them were ordinary. On top of that, the Beast Race’s Sword of Ultimate Strength was also present this time.

Just those three alone would be difficult to deal with.

Not to mention the Strongest from the other races.

"That many? Then, Elder Li, Elder Wang, for you to come all this way... I understand. We’ll withdraw the troops immediately!" Chen Yichuan’s eyes narrowed slightly before he came to a realization.

"Yes, and be quick about it. Retreat to the City of Hope at once, before they arrive. As for this mission, it’s temporarily canceled. There are more important tasks ahead," Li Tiannan nodded.

"The reform?" Chen Yichuan hesitated for a moment before asking in a low voice.

Li Tiannan glanced back. Only after seeing Elder Qin and the other Strongest give a slight nod did his expression turn solemn.

"This will be made public soon, so it’s not much of a secret. This reform will no longer be limited to the Military Department. The sects and aristocratic families will be joining in as well!"

"They agreed?! ...Yes, this subordinate understands!" Chen Yichuan’s face lit up with joy. He truly hadn’t expected this matter to be settled so quickly.

After all, it had been several years since the Military Department first proposed this plan.

But the reform plan had been a subject of endless debate.

It never led to any results.

Even now...

The reform was only being temporarily implemented within the Military Department.

And that was only because the Military Department’s stance was firm, forcing the Federation Government to make concessions. Otherwise, it would have been impossible to implement at all.

But now?

Li Tiannan was actually saying they had agreed!

What did this mean?

It meant that the Strongest had reached a consensus. In that case, not even the higher-ups in the Federation Government could oppose it any longer.

The reform...

It was really happening!

"Regarding the alien race gathering, have you received any new intelligence on your end?" Li Tiannan patted Chen Yichuan’s shoulder, a faint smile on his face.

’If not for this sudden gathering of the alien Strongest...’

’The reform plan probably wouldn’t have been finalized so early. It’s... rather ironic, really. Humanity’s reform is being pushed forward by the alien races?’

"No, the ten squads we sent out haven’t returned yet... Oh, right. If we withdraw our forces now, those ten squads will probably be in some danger," Chen Yichuan shook his head.

"We can’t worry about that now. Leave a message for them and tell them to return directly to the City of Hope." Li Tiannan was naturally aware of this.

But they couldn’t possibly wait here for three days.

It was too dangerous.

"Mm, that’s all we can do." Chen Yichuan didn’t make any demands. This didn’t mean he was cold-blooded; there simply was no other solution.

"Withdraw!"

"Withdraw!"

"..."

The military order was given.

The Military Department elites, who had been resting, immediately snapped to attention and began to form ranks.

「Five minutes later.」

The Celestial Eagle Camp was empty.

The Military Department was traveling light this time, carrying no heavy-firepower weapons. They were relying entirely on the fifty high-tier experts, so the retreat was naturally extremely fast.

The route back was just as simple.

First, they would return to the highlands via the same path, then head straight for the Eastern District Fortress.

The eight Strongest carefully guarded the rear.

「A few hours later.」

The Military Department withdrew successfully.

Aside from a few wild monsters, they encountered no other obstacles along the way.

"It seems... the alien Strongest weren’t targeting this unit after all!" Li Tiannan let out a sigh of relief. This was a pretty good outcome.

But it also proved that the alien races had gathered for something more important.

’What could it be?’

Li Tiannan couldn’t figure it out.

However, by the next morning, he discovered that the Strongest who had gathered in the Celestial Race Royal City had already left, as quickly as they had come.

The territories of the Elf Race and the Celestial Race returned to peace once more.

But as for what had actually happened there...

...very few knew.

...

「In the Dark Night Elf City.」

Four human squads snuck in through four different city gates.

And then...

...they were caught.

In the other two cities, the same thing was happening.

The human Military Department had attacked the Celestial Eagle Camp.

The three Dark Night Elf clans did not send troops to attack as originally planned, nor did they fall into chaos. Instead, they had naturally strengthened their defenses.

The ten human squads were annihilated.

Thus, no one would be reporting the matter of the Seventh Princess’s marriage selection to the Military Department.

In the blink of an eye, another day passed.

When the sky brightened once more.

In a remote corner of the Elf Race’s territory, a cocoon slowly fell away, and a cascade of beautiful, jet-black hair drifted out.

Fang Tangtang climbed out from inside the cocoon.

She took a deep breath of the crisp morning air and felt an incredible sense of comfort. The blood flowed through her body with a newfound ease.

If the blood in her body was a stream before, now it was a great river.

The meridians throughout her body had expanded by at least threefold.

"I feel so much stronger now, truly strong... My whole body has been completely magnetized. I’ve reached Tier Three Late Stage at least. I wonder if I broke through to Tier Four?" Fang Tangtang tried to control the power of her magnetic core and release it outward. Then, she felt a stream of energy emerge from it.

Slowly, it seeped out.

Little by little.

It soaked through to the surface of her skin...

And then, it stopped.

"Tier Three Late Stage. I’m just one step away from Tier Four. I can already make my power seep out of my body, but I can’t truly project it yet. I guess in another ten days or half a month, I’ll officially step into Tier Four!" Fang Tangtang confirmed her power increase, which made her extremely excited.

’Less than three days!’

She had gone from Tier Two Late Stage to Tier Three Late Stage, and was even close to a breakthrough.

"I, Death God Fang Tangtang, am truly exceptionally talented, beyond the reach of any ordinary person!" Fang Tangtang stretched lazily, and then she saw a pair of deep blue eyes.

"Meow," Gao Xiaomeng called out lazily. 𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝚠𝕖𝐛𝗻𝗼𝐯𝕖𝚕.𝚌𝗼𝗺

"How strange. I clearly saw you drink from the Spring of Life too, so why didn’t you transform? And the energy in your body didn’t form a cocoon either. So weird. What kind of cat are you, exactly?" Fang Tangtang had actually been aware of her surroundings during her transformation, which was why she was now even more curious.

Because Gao Xiaomeng had shown no reaction at all.

She was exactly the same as before the transformation.

It felt like she had drunk the Spring of Life for nothing.

"Meow..." Gao Xiaomeng seemed too lazy to bother with her and casually stroked her whiskers with a paw.

"Alright, how could I possibly expect a cat to talk? I’ll ask a different question, then. Do you know where Gao Neng is right now?" Fang Tangtang looked at Gao Xiaomeng again.

"Meow." Gao Xiaomeng shook her head, her two eyes looking at Fang Tangtang as if she were an idiot.

"So you really don’t know. Could it be that guy Gao Neng wasn’t lying to me? You’re just an ordinary cat who got stronger after drinking from the Spring of Life... But that’s not right. If you drank the Spring, why didn’t you transform like I did? Oh... I get it! You’re a cat, so you transformed earlier than I did. You transformed as soon as you drank it, while we humans need to ’break out of our cocoons.’ I’m such a genius for figuring that out." Fang Tangtang muttered to herself.

In fact, her and Gao Xiaomeng’s escape this time had been quite thrilling, because they had been buried underground together.

She didn’t know if Gao Neng had done it on purpose.

But what was certain was that not long after she and Gao Xiaomeng had burrowed underground, the Earth Dragon stopped moving. After that, they naturally had to dig their way out on their own.

When they finally managed to claw their way back to the surface, they discovered they had emerged in a wolf’s den.

There were so many wolves!

What happened next was simple.

Fang Tangtang and Gao Xiaomeng started killing wolves. Kill, kill, kill... After venting most of the explosive energy in her body, Fang Tangtang finally began her transformation.

And Gao Xiaomeng had stood guard by her side.

"I was transforming for a day and two nights!" Fang Tangtang took out her phone, glanced at the date, and was a little stunned.

She remembered that her transformation had started at night.

But now...

It was already the morning of the third day.

This meant that the Military Department would be retreating today.

"Gao Neng is probably transforming too. If I go looking for him now... I’m afraid there won’t be enough time. I should just go back to the fortress and wait for him!" Fang Tangtang quickly made a decision.

Searching for someone on a battlefield, especially someone who was hidden away and transforming, was simply too dangerous. There was no need to take such a risk.

Besides, the Military Department was retreating today.

She couldn’t possibly stay on the battlefield any longer.

She had to return to the City of Hope.

"Meow!" Gao Xiaomeng seemed a little dissatisfied.

"We won’t be able to find Gao Neng. We can only go back to the City of Hope and wait. Besides, he might have already gone back. We can meet him once we’re in the City of Hope," Fang Tangtang coaxed.

"Meow!" Gao Xiaomeng shook her head and then prepared to walk away.

"Hey, don’t go." Fang Tangtang scooped Gao Xiaomeng up in her arms. "Gao Neng told you to stay with me, have you forgotten? Besides, I can’t just leave a cat like you here. What if Gao Neng goes back and can’t find you... Wouldn’t he demand compensation from me, Death God Fang Tangtang?"

"MEOW MEOW MEOW!" Gao Xiaomeng struggled a couple of times, waving a paw as if wanting to scratch Fang Tangtang’s face. However, just as it was about to touch her skin, it finally stopped.

"Alright, be good now. I’ll take you back to the City of Hope and buy you the most delicious cat food, how about that?" Fang Tangtang immediately switched to bribery mode.

"Meow meow!" Gao Xiaomeng shook her head vigorously. Then, she used both paws to make a scissor-like gesture above her head.

"Are you a cow? Oh... wait, you want to eat beef?!"

"Meow!" Gao Xiaomeng nodded rapidly.

"Wow!!! You’re actually a cat that was raised on beef!" Fang Tangtang was utterly astonished. She then patted Gao Xiaomeng’s head. "Since you like beef, I’ll find you the best chefs when we get back and have them cook you the best beef. Don’t you worry, besides being beautiful, my greatest strength as Death God Fang Tangtang is that I’m rich! Plus, you helped me kill a lot of wolves this time, so I have to thank you!"

"Meow meow meow!" Gao Xiaomeng’s eyes gradually lit up.