Chapter 643 - 640: This is Bad

Chapter 643: Chapter 640: This is Bad

This scene was witnessed by Yun Duo, who was following the Clan Leader after just completing her part in the ceremony.

The sadness and resentment in her red-rimmed eyes were instantly replaced by a flicker of impossible hope.

’Does he regret it?’

Her heart pounded wildly, her gaze locked on Jinying as she waited for him to say the words she longed to hear.

However, her meager hope was soon crushed by reality.

Jinying’s attention wasn’t on her at all. His eyes, sharp as an eagle’s, scanned the surging crowd below. His body was tense, poised for battle.

When the Elephant Clan Leader saw the brief flicker of light in his daughter’s expression dim and give way to deeper sorrow and humiliation, the rage he felt toward Jinying became irrepressible.

He shot to his feet, heedless of the occasion. Raising a hand and gathering his power, he prepared to strike the insolent young brute who had hurt his daughter again and again.

’He refused to mate with Yun Duo, yet he still came up here just to break my daughter’s heart.’

’Does he really think I won’t get angry?’

In that split second,

In the crowd below, the dozen or so Beastmen Bai Wanwan had pointed out—the ones with vacant eyes—sprang into action as if on a single command!

Like wild animals breaking their chains, they exploded with a speed and power that betrayed their previous stiffness. Their target was clear: the Elephant Clan Leader on the main dais!

Vicious attacks flew in from all sides, cutting off the Clan Leader’s every path of escape!

Ever vigilant, Jinying reacted the very instant they moved to attack.

He moved like lightning, yanking the Clan Leader back and shielding him. At the same time, his other hand became a blur, parrying the first claw strike while a sweeping kick forced back two assailants from the side.

His movements were fluid and brutal, narrowly neutralizing the perfectly coordinated killing blow meant for the Clan Leader.

"Ambush! Protect the Clan Leader!"

Only then did the other Elephant Clan guards snap out of their shock.

They roared in shock and fury, rushing forward to leverage their superior numbers and strength. Together, they subdued the dozen or so attackers, binding them tightly with specially made Beast Tendon Ropes.

The heart-stopping assassination attempt had been nipped in the bud, but the festive atmosphere was gone. All that remained was the lingering terror of what had almost happened and a blazing rage.

The Elephant Clan Leader was still shaken. He looked at his subdued kinsmen on the ground, his heart aching as he saw their vacant eyes and ceaseless struggles.

He strode forward and demanded, "Who ordered you to do this? Why betray the clan?"

But no matter how he questioned them, the Beastmen didn’t seem to hear. They gave no response, only continuing their mechanical struggles.

Enraged, the Clan Leader decided to invoke the harshest of clan laws to punish these "traitors." His voice was ice-cold as he announced, "Since you refuse to speak, you will be treated as traitors! Bind them to the altar’s Stone Pillars and let them bake in the sun until the Beast God reclaims their souls!"

It was an exceptionally cruel punishment, a slow death by dehydration under the blazing sun.

Just then, Bai Wanwan made her way through the crowd, approaching the dais under the strict protection of Chou Rong, Jin Yi, and Yin Ze.

She spoke up just in time to stop him. "Clan Leader, please wait! You can’t kill them!"

The Clan Leader’s expression was complicated as he looked at her. But remembering that she had a hand in saving his life, he suppressed his anger. "Holy Female Bai Wanwan, why not?"

Bai Wanwan’s tone was calm and confident. "Clan Leader, they aren’t acting of their own free will. Their minds have been seized by a mysterious Dark Energy. They have no idea what they’re doing—they’re like puppets on a string. But I have a way to dispel this energy and bring them back to their senses."

Having just been pulled back from the brink of death thanks to her warning, the Elephant Clan Leader had immense faith in her words. He was visibly moved, asking uncertainly, "They... they really didn’t mean to betray the clan? They’re truly being controlled?"

"Yes," Bai Wanwan nodded firmly. To make her words more convincing, she elaborated, "This isn’t the first time this has happened. We’ve seen Beastmen controlled in the exact same way before—in the Tiger Clan, the Leopard Clan, and the Golden Lion Clan. Part of the reason Chou Rong and the others are traveling with me is to track down the evil force behind all this."

Her expression turned grave. She scanned the area, raising her voice so the surrounding Elephant Clan leaders could hear. "The priority right now is to bring them back to their senses. Also, I suspect their decision to attack you now was no isolated incident. This was likely a signal. The next step will be a full-scale assault on the Elephant Clan!"

Her words were like a boulder dropped into a calm lake, causing an immediate uproar.

They had heard rumors of chaos across the Beast World Continent, but the Elephant Clan was a Super Tribe, and there had been no such disturbances in their territory.

They had complacently assumed those forces wouldn’t dare to trouble them.

As if to confirm her worst fears, no sooner had she spoken than a commotion erupted at the edge of the square. An Elephant Clan Beastman from the patrol, covered in wounds, burst through the crowd. He stumbled and crawled his way to the dais, his face a mask of terror, and rasped out his report:

"Clan Leader! It’s terrible! Our clan... our clan is surrounded! Outside... there are so many Beastmen, a massive, dark horde of them..."

The Beastman’s terrified, raspy report sent a fresh wave of panic through the Elephant Clan’s square, like cold water hitting a pan of boiling oil.

The color drained from the faces of the Beastmen who had, only moments before, been enjoying the celebration. Panic spread like a plague.

The cries of the cubs, the terrified screams of the females, and the angry, helpless roars of the males wove together into a cacophony. The scene was spiraling out of control.

Though he had just survived an assassination attempt, the Elephant Clan Leader’s mettle as a chief remained.

Forcibly suppressing the tempest in his own heart, he leaped onto the high platform. His voice boomed like a great bell, cutting through the chaos. "Silence! All guard units, on my command! Immediately escort all females and cubs to the underground defense caves! Move quickly and safely! Now!"

The well-trained Elephant Clan guards sprang into action, forming a sturdy cordon to guide and escort the panicked females and cubs toward the solid mountainside behind the settlement where the caves were.

The Clan Leader’s gaze darted to the heavily guarded Bai Wanwan. He opened his mouth, about to urge her to follow the other females to the absolute safety of the underground shelter.

But before he could speak, disaster struck again.

The sky, which had only been dimming with twilight, was suddenly plunged into darkness.

It wasn’t the fall of night. The sky had been blotted out by a vast, moving shadow.

Everyone looked up in terror. The sky was filled with a dense, staggering number of Eagle Beasts that had appeared from out of nowhere.