Village Head's Debauchery - Chapter 1274

Chapter 1274: Floating Frost Valley, Celestial Spirit Court
“Ahem!” Orion cleared his throat, the sound reverberating across the area, silencing the Spirit Beasts. “While we are interested in forming contracts, we are also keen on learning about the current state of this territory. Once we’ve settled that, we will move on to discussing contracts,” he said.

Suddenly, five individuals stepped forward from the crowd and halted before Orion.

The Spirit Beasts were standing atop a transparent platform they had created with divine power, a gesture meant to show they intended no harm while also subtly displaying their strength.

“I am Iy’yra, also known as Scattered Plume, of the White Winged Gryphon Tribe!”

“I am Hor’vang, also known as Titan Stampede, of the Silver Winged Rhino Tribe!”

“I am Thrys, also known as Thorn Gale, of the Quill Hedgehog Tribe!”

“I am Tundril, also known as Feral Horn, of the Wingless Horned Gryphon Tribe!”

“I am Va’korr, also known as Midnight Prowler, of the Black Feathered Winged Monkey Tribe!”

They swiftly introduced their names, titles, and Spirit Beast tribes one by one.

“I will tell you everything you need to know about the current state of this region. However, I beg of you, please do not listen to those from the Silver Winged Rhino Tribe, the Wingless Horned Gryphon Tribe, and the Black Feathered Winged Monkey Tribe,” Iy’yra said, her voice filled with pleading as she glanced at Orion before casting a wary look at the Spirit Beast tribes she had just mentioned.

“I agree with Scattered Plume. You shouldn’t listen to anything they say, especially the members of the Wingless Horned Gryphon Tribe. They are all deceivers and backstabbers,” Thrys chimed in.

“I believe it would be more unreasonable to listen to any of you,” Hor’vang retorted sharply. “We are the ones with the highest numbers here, so wouldn’t it be reasonable for them to listen to us?”

“I agree,” Tundril added. “Listening to you all might create unnecessary problems that should be solved immediately.”

“It is fortunate that I also stepped forward. If not, you would have shown your foolishness to these individuals from the Material Realm, degrading the existence of us Spirit Beasts in their eyes,” Va’korr chimed in.

Hearing the others’ words, Iy’yra’s gaze burned with rage. Just as she was about to speak, a sharp, stern voice reverberated through the surroundings, causing the already cold air to grow even chillier.

“Be silent!” Ilse commanded, narrowing her eyes at the Spirit Beasts who had stepped forward. “If any of you utter another word, we will leave you to whatever fate you’ve found yourselves in and search for another, less problematic tribe of Spirit Beasts to obtain the information we desire and form contracts.”

Instantly, the Spirit Beasts fell silent, none daring to utter another word.

Witnessing this, Ilse sighed inwardly. In truth, there was no such thing as a less problematic group of Spirit Beasts—they were all ridiculously annoying and challenging to handle in their own ways.

Orion then gestured to Iy’yra, signalling for her to speak. He chose to start with her and would move on to the others one by one to hear what they had to say.

…..

After they had all spoken, Orion nodded thoughtfully. This region was called the Floating Frost Valley because the entire area floated atop a clear, icy land that froze everything it touched unless one was powerful enough to resist it.

The valley was inhabited by the White Winged Gryphon Tribe, Red Winged Gryphon Tribe, Wingless Horned Gryphon Tribe, White Furred Horned Fox Tribe, Fire Salamander Tribe, Ice Salamander Tribe, Frost Quill Hedgehog Tribe, Inferno Quill Hedgehog Tribe, White Twin-Headed Bear Tribe, and Long-Neck Penguin Tribe.

Despite being called a valley, the lands in the Spirit Realm were incomparable to those in the Material Realm, spanning several hundreds of thousands of kilometres. The valley also housed many solitary Spirit Beasts who were either unaffiliated with any tribe by choice or had been cast out to survive on their own.

However, for the past 600 years, the region has been at war with a growing force known as the Celestial Spirit Court. The Celestial Spirit Court sought to annex their territory, consume the inhabitants to grow stronger, and leave a few alive to replenish their numbers, treating them like livestock waiting to be slaughtered.

Once they were done, the Court would move on to the next region and repeat the process. Unfortunately, despite their best efforts, the war ended after 400 years, with the residents of the region losing.

The Celestial Spirit Court seized their territories and stationed their forces there to implement their plans. Among those forces were the Silver Winged Rhino and Black Feathered Winged Monkey tribes.

However, the defeated tribes refused to accept their fate and spent the next 200 years plotting rebellion. But on the day of their final attack, it was revealed that the Wingless Horned Gryphon tribe had betrayed the alliance, leading to an ambush by the Celestial Spirit Court forces.

The rebellion, consisting of fewer than ten thousand Spirit Beasts from the allied tribes, a number far smaller than it could have been due to them being treated as livestock, was swiftly crushed. The survivors fled, but over the past two weeks, they had been hunted down one by one. Their numbers dwindled every day until only 50 Spirit Beasts from the rebellion and 100 from the Celestial Spirit Court’s forces remained to continue the pursuit.

Fortunately, Orion’s wives’ clones had captured the remaining Spirit Beasts and brought them here for interrogation.

This was why the Spirit Beasts wasted no time offering themselves for contracts after Orion’s introduction. They knew their time was running out, and if they didn’t secure support, no matter from whom, their tribes would fall into an even worse state, forever under the oppressive rule of the Celestial Spirit Court until they were deemed useless.

The Silver Winged Rhino, Wingless Horned Gryphon, and Black Feathered Winged Monkey Spirit Beasts claimed they were simply following orders from their superiors, fearing that if they did not, their own tribes and families would suffer the same fate.

Orion had questioned more of the Spirit Beasts to verify their responses. After confirming that he had gathered all the accurate details, his opinion of them improved, realizing the situation was far more complicated than he initially thought. They weren’t acting cowardly without reason.

Orion fell silent as he processed the information.

Meanwhile, Lyndon and the Four-eared Elves sighed inwardly, realizing their earlier judgments were wrong. Even Spirit Beasts had a survival instinct and would grasp at any means of escape when faced with overwhelming odds.

Their ancestral teachings weren’t pointless after all!

“I want to have a private conversation with you all about the Celestial Spirit Court,” Orion said, addressing the Silver Winged Rhinos, the Wingless Horned Gryphons, and the Black Feathered Winged Monkeys.

He nodded to Ilse and Zera, commanding the Prismerion Divine Apostles to follow while the others remained behind.

The Silver Winged Rhinos, Wingless Horned Gryphons, and Black Feathered Winged Monkeys exhaled inwardly in relief. They assumed that Orion and his group were in awe of the Celestial Spirit Court’s strength and wanted to learn more about it, probably trying to gauge whether it was a force worth antagonizing during their time in the Spirit Realm.

It was a wise decision!

They nodded in response, their anxiety fading. Smiles spread across their faces as they cast glances at the other Spirit Beasts as if to say, ‘Wait for us—we’ll be back soon.’

The expressions of the allied Spirit Beasts morphed into fear.

Iy’yra’s face twisted into a grimace as she glared hatefully at the Silver Winged Rhino that had been chasing her, seeking to devour her. She ignored his gaze and focused on the mysterious group before her, her mind racing for a way out of their dire situation, which worsened by the moment.

From what she could tell, the group had entered the Spirit Realm through the Spiritual Link Point that had recently appeared nearby. Just as Spirit Beasts’ strength was halved when they materialized in the Material Realm, the strength of beings from the Material Realm was also significantly reduced here.

Despite that, one of them had been strong enough to subdue both her and her pursuer with a mere wave of the hand, which was no small feat. And with the strength of the rest of the group still unknown, it would be a mistake not to consider them all as equally powerful.

Iy’yra sighed in defeat. No matter how hard she thought, she couldn’t come up with a solution.

Orion, the Prismerion Divine Apostles, Maeve’s and Willow’s clones, and the forces of the Celestial Spirit Court disappeared into the distance.

“Tell me everything you know about the Celestial Spirit Court in detail,” Ilse said, looking at the miniature Spirit Beasts.

Iy’yra swiftly nodded and began recounting everything she knew about the Celestial Spirit Court.

…

Meanwhile, in the distance, Orion had also questioned the other Spirit Beasts, asking them to provide every single detail they knew about the Celestial Spirit Court.