Chapter 5: The Harpy’s Thoughts

Hearing the words of the harpy, Li Mingxing, who had just pulled out the silver spear and healed his wounds, immediately stood up, his eyes burning with anger as he fixed his gaze on the creature. The harpy, however, simply smiled in the face of Li Mingxing’s glare. “It seems the chieftain’s guess was right. Tell us the reason you’ve come here—otherwise, none of us will allow you to enter our territory.”

It was only then that Li Mingxing understood the harpy’s intentions behind her earlier words. He stared at her for a long while before finally replying, “I have come here to upset the balance of power among the great factions in this place.”

The harpy was taken aback by his words. Of course, she understood the opportunities this might present, but she also knew that if she truly allied herself with Li Mingxing, their tribe would face the united wrath of all the forest’s clans. For the sake of their own, the harpies could not take such a risk. The harpy simply replied, “We cannot help you with this. Your army will soon arrive; if you truly wish to proceed, I advise you to seize that territory while the unicorns are migrating. Perhaps you can survive here in the forest. With the strength of those young women under your command, perhaps it will not take long before you achieve your goal.”

“I do not have that much time,” Li Mingxing replied coolly. “I must accomplish this in the shortest time possible. If you refuse, then I’ll turn to the centaurs. They attacked me just now, and I won’t let them go.”

“You intend to use this as a pretext to attack the centaurs, then seek out their enemies with your victory to aid you? It’s a clever idea—but it won’t work. No one will challenge the three great cities for your sake. They are far too powerful. You know, the centaur sergeant who attacked you today is only of middling rank among the three cities. They have dragons, and even sword saints among them,” the harpy said loudly.

“I know. But I never thought I could defeat them outright. I have only one goal: to disrupt the balance between them. Once that balance is lost, the three cities will turn on each other. That alone is enough,” Li Mingxing said with certainty.

Having said this, Li Mingxing himself was startled. He did not quite understand why he had revealed so much to these harpies. With this doubt lingering, he looked up—and among the harpies, he saw one with sapphire-blue feathers pointing both hands at him.

Li Mingxing understood instantly. He let out a furious shout and lunged at the harpies like lightning. Seeing their ruse discovered, the harpies took flight in all directions. Li Mingxing now saw the division among them: the white-feathered harpies were all close-combat warriors, drawing bone rapiers from their backs as they scattered, stabbing at Li Mingxing and his followers. The blue-feathered harpies, on the other hand, were mages. After chanting for a minute or two, they could launch devastating lightning orbs.

Under such an assault, the consequences of Li Mingxing having sent the “Forest Nymph Legion” to seek out the harpies became apparent. He now had not a single full unit at hand, forced to rely on the dwarven saboteurs and the dwarven gunners to hold the line. As more and more harpies gathered, Li Mingxing suddenly thought of something. He let out a wild roar to the sky, then rallied his warriors and focused on fighting the harpies together.

Noticing this sudden change, the harpies attacking them sensed something was amiss, but could not tell what had gone wrong. Nonetheless, they stuck to their original plan and launched a full assault on Li Mingxing.

At this point, Li Mingxing avoided direct confrontation with the harpies. They fell back to a wall of trees, where Blackstone the Brave and two Graystone warriors engaged the enemy in close combat, while the others hurled ranged weapons from behind. Aisha, who should have been tending to the wounded, was sweating profusely as she handled a bottle given to her by Li Mingxing. It contained a poison gas he had concocted himself. If not for the unfavorable wind, Aisha would have thrown it into the midst of the harpies long before.

Her actions did not escape the notice of one of the harpies—the very one who had first spoken with Li Mingxing and also the tribe’s wise woman. Her original plan had been to kill Li Mingxing outright and recruit the “Forest Nymph Legion” as an auxiliary force, which would allow the harpies to overcome their greatest weakness: the lack of healers. But the chieftain had other ideas, wanting to discover Li Mingxing’s intentions and see if they could be used to the harpies’ advantage. Thus, a harpy adept at mental manipulation was sent to deceive Li Mingxing—and inadvertently gave him a chance to strike back.

Now, the wise woman knew she could not let Aisha throw that bottle. She believed it was the key to Li Mingxing’s reversal of fortune. So, despite her lack of combat prowess, she stealthily crept toward Aisha, waiting for the right moment to knock the bottle from her hands.

But Li Mingxing noticed her movement. He had long harbored resentment against this harpy, and now that she made a move, he would not let her go. He lunged, his newly sprouted wings flapping hard. Though he could not yet fly, the wings gave his leap extra height. The harpy realized the danger too late. Having snuck out alone, with no allies nearby, she could only charge at Li Mingxing, unleashing the electricity she had gathered into his still-healing wound.

The pain tore open his wound once more, but Li Mingxing seized the opportunity to stab his scorpion tail into the harpy’s body, robbing her of her ability to fly. Dragging her down from the air, Aisha acted as well, tossing the poison gas bottle to the ground. Within five minutes, all the once-fierce harpies had fallen to the earth.

After Aisha had re-bandaged his wound, Li Mingxing did not linger. He ordered her to lead him to the harpy tribe’s lair. As for the defeated harpies, Li Mingxing only bound their wings—he did not kill them, for he still hoped to make use of their strength.

But when Li Mingxing reached the harpy encampment, he realized he had been too lenient. The harpies left to guard the camp were locked in battle with the “Forest Nymph Legion.” Judging from the scene, the young druid girls had already lost eleven of their number—nearly a mortal blow to Li Mingxing’s force.

Seeing this, Li Mingxing shouted, “Have them all surrender at once, or I’ll kill every harpy I’ve captured!”

There was no need for his subordinates to relay the message; the harpies guarding the camp had already seen Li Mingxing approaching with their captured kin. Their aggression faltered, giving the “Forest Nymph Legion” a chance to retreat to Li Mingxing’s side.

Once his people were safely back, Li Mingxing shouted again, “Surrender, all of you! If you do, I’ll let this go. Otherwise, your tribe will be wiped out!”

This only enraged the harpies further, and they shrieked as they brandished their weapons, ready to charge at him. Li Mingxing snorted coldly. The dwarves behind him acted at once, beheading more than a dozen harpies on the spot. The effect was immediate—the rest halted midair, unable to advance or retreat.

At that moment, Li Mingxing saw the focus of their attention: a white-feathered harpy with a blue-and-white crested crown. She was flanked by two blue-feathered harpies and four white-feathered warriors, her retinue clearly marking her as the chieftain.

As expected, the chieftain stepped forward and said coldly, “You may have defeated us, but surrender is out of the question.”

“Is that so? I’ve heard about your kind. All harpies are oviparous, and after hatching, your chicks can fly within three days and fight in fifteen. Even if you all die, your eggs will survive, won’t they? As it happens, I now command three harpies—I can have them train your hatchlings…”

Before Li Mingxing could finish, the chieftain cried out, “Kill those three traitor harpies at once!”

Li Mingxing only smiled coldly. His three harpy followers took flight, poison gas bottles crafted by his own hand clutched in their talons.