Chapter 19: The Witch’s Cottage on the Edge of Unicorn Prairie

The cry, like that of a night hawk, reached Li Mingxing as well. He looked toward the Amazon side, inwardly wondering whether the centaurs who had fled earlier had brought such a monster down upon them.

At that moment, the harpy witches also flew to Li Mingxing’s side and said to him anxiously, “They have come.”

“You know who they are?” Li Mingxing could tell from the harpy witches’ expressions that something was amiss.

“Yes. Even the people of Dragon City would not dare provoke these monsters. They do not die,” the harpy witch said in alarm.

“Do not die? How can such creatures exist? What rank of power are they?” Li Mingxing grew tense at once.

“No, it is not that. Their existence is bound to the trees. Wherever the trees are destroyed by battle, they will go there to replant them and clear away the corpses. That is why people call them the Cleaners. Usually, once they appear, both sides in a battle will stop.”

“Then their appearance here is because I destroyed the Amazons’ territory?” Li Mingxing asked in confusion.

“No. The trees you destroyed will grow back in a day or two. There is no need for them to come here at all. Since they have appeared, there must be some other reason.” While the harpy witch was speaking, that night-hawk cry surged closer.

Soon Li Mingxing saw the figures of the Cleaners. Before he could even ask their purpose, they ignored him completely, going around him and straight to the wooden totem tower he had built.

After circling the wooden tower for a while, the leader nodded with satisfaction and turned back to Li Mingxing, saying in a strange voice, “This place is good. We are taking it. You may leave now.”

Hearing this, Li Mingxing said in embarrassment, “That may not be possible. We are trapped here. If we leave, the Amazons will attack us.”

“Rest assured. Wherever we are, there will be no battle,” the leader of the Cleaners said loudly. “Everyone here knows it: from now on, fifty miles around this place is our territory. There will be no fighting nearby.”

Hearing that, Li Mingxing immediately understood that this was his best chance to escape. If he did not go now, was he supposed to wait until the Amazons gathered all the nearby tribes before leaving?

Thinking of this, Li Mingxing did not linger. He summoned all his troops and burst out of the place like a whirlwind.

Of course, when passing through the area once guarded by the Amazons, Li Mingxing remained as careful as ever. Yet the Amazons, just as the Cleaners had said, showed no intention of fighting at all and simply let Li Mingxing and the others pass.

Only when Li Mingxing could no longer see the Amazons did he finally breathe out. He looked over his troops and found that the losses among the centaurs and harpies had been devastating. Of the more than five hundred he had brought, barely over two hundred had returned.

If such losses were suffered by a powerful race, it might still be manageable. But for basic races like centaurs and harpies, it was practically the edge of annihilation.

Without needing anyone to tell him, Li Mingxing knew they had become the lowest-ranking race in this forest. If he could not find more people to join him, then once they left the fifty-mile zone, they would all be wiped out within two days.

And behind Li Mingxing still lurked the Amazons, masters of jungle ambushes. If they were allowed to strike from the shadows, Li Mingxing would have no choice but to flee this inner world altogether.

For that reason, after crossing the Amazon line, his first thought was to seize this opportunity and ambush the Amazons in return.

But thinking of the Cleaners’ confidence, Li Mingxing did not have much certainty in his heart. In the end, he could only send people to keep watch from afar, so that the Amazons would at least have no chance to ambush him.

At this point, Li Mingxing naturally did not dare return to the centaurs’ original camp by the road he had taken before. After some thought, he chose instead to make a detour.

The route he chose happened to pass through the territory where the unicorn herd had once stayed. He had chosen this path partly because the region was in utter disorder, so other powers would not easily attack him here; and partly because he wanted to see why the unicorns had chosen this place as their territory.

Li Mingxing felt that the unicorns’ territory ought to be better than the two territories he had occupied. At the very least, it would not be like those two places of his, where aside from wood, there was no other resource at all.

What Li Mingxing did not know was that his choice of route had indeed thrown off the tribes waiting outside to ambush him. Moreover, most of his troops were centaurs and harpies, both swift in movement, so those forces could only follow behind and never catch up, let alone get ahead of him to intercept him.

Thus Li Mingxing’s troops entered the place where the unicorn herd had once lived with ease. And here, for the first time, Li Mingxing saw buildings that were not treehouses, which also showed just how formidable the unicorns had been.

The trees here had actually been shaped according to the unicorns’ will into a vast nest. Thick layers of fallen leaves, still green, had been spread over it.

Outside this enormous nest, some three hundred meters across, Li Mingxing saw a number of corpses that had died in battle. Judging by the direction in which they had fallen, they had all been killed while charging toward the unicorn nest.

From this, Li Mingxing also understood why this place had not been destroyed even after the unicorns had migrated away.

Having understood this, the troops Li Mingxing led did not charge toward the unicorn nest. Instead, they stopped at a distance and set up camp temporarily.

Afterward, Li Mingxing divided his forces into teams of fifteen, each composed of five centaurs, five white harpies, and five blue harpies, sending them out in all directions to search for the temporary bases of other powers here.

As for Li Mingxing himself, he was calculating how he might swallow up all the forces that had come here and were preparing to seize territory.

Just as Li Mingxing was pondering the rules of this inner world and deciding where to begin, one of the teams he had sent out suddenly rushed back with a message.

“What? You’re saying there’s a witch’s hut nearby? How could that be? Even if there is a witch’s hut in this inner world, after so many troops have battered this place, what witch would still remain?” Li Mingxing did not quite believe the report, but the harpy who brought it spoke with complete certainty, which naturally piqued his interest.

After thinking for a moment, he brought along his strongest troops and followed the harpy to the witch’s hut she had mentioned.

About ten minutes after Li Mingxing set out, he finally understood why no one had discovered this witch’s hut. It turned out that the hut was located directly behind the unicorn nest, and the path leading to it twisted and turned through many bends. Without a guide, ordinary people would never have found its existence.

At that moment, Li Mingxing also sensed that something was wrong. He gathered his troops around him and looked at the guiding harpy. “Even from the sky, this place may not be visible. How do you know it exists?”

Before the harpy could answer, a voice came from inside the witch’s hut. “I was the one who controlled her to lead you here. Please do not blame her.”

Li Mingxing turned and saw that the witch had already stepped out of the hut. She was different from the witch Li Mingxing had first seen in this inner world. Though she too wore a black robe, her purple skin and pointed ears revealed that she belonged to the Night Elf race, one of the three great powers of the inner world.

What surprised Li Mingxing even more was her hair. It was already pale, like that of a dark elf, and even carried a certain aged quality, which gave the witch a faintly wise air.

After coming out of the hut, the witch said at once, “I saw your battle with the Amazons. For years, the high elves have been training huntresses with them, and the Amazons have used this chance to raise their status. It is time for them to suffer a setback.”

Hearing this, Li Mingxing suddenly remembered that while he was at the Amazon camp, he had once felt a gaze in the sky watching him.

At first he had assumed someone was observing him from above. Now it seemed that it must have been this woman, watching him from there at the time.

Thinking of this, Li Mingxing’s expression darkened somewhat. After all, no one likes to be watched while going about their business.

The witch also saw what he was thinking. She smiled. “I was sent here to keep watch over the Amazons and the unicorn herd. Seeing your situation was merely incidental. Since you have this strength and can help me, I had someone contact you.”

After this explanation, though the knot in Li Mingxing’s heart had not entirely vanished, he was no longer quite so angry. He lifted his head and fixed the witch with a stare. “May I ask what you brought me here for? What do you want me to do?”