A Path Revealed: Guidance of the Huhuhu Beasts

This is untenable! It's no longer merely a localized skirmish; the entire Food Chain of the City of Penance has been irrevocably inverted. No mortal power can halt this cataclysm!

Du Chen gritted his teeth, landing swiftly beside Chek, who was frantically marshaling the troops. "This is a lost cause! I've already extracted the Old Matron. You must immediately organize an evacuation to the bunkers for shelter. Concurrently, gather as many Huhuhu Beast carcasses as you can; dissect them for emergency food stores. Understood!?"

Chek had long since succumbed to panic, his mind a jumbled mess, utterly devoid of any coherent thought beyond a blind resistance against the Huhuhu Beasts. It was just as the Old Matron had lamented: "All the capable members of our clan have been slain; only the feckless remain!" Now, upon hearing Du Chen's counsel, he latched onto it like a drowning man to a lifeline. He immediately roared at the others, "What are you gaping at?! Did you not hear Mr. Alex?! Execute his orders, now!" In a single breath, he implicitly ceded command of the family's forces to Du Chen.

The elders and middle-aged members of the Brockman clan wasted no words; they were accustomed to deferring to their leaders. They immediately began fighting a strategic retreat under Du Chen's command. However, the faces of the younger generation were a tableau of displeasure.

*You, Alex, may possess formidable power,* they mused inwardly, *but who are you to issue commands to the Brockman clan!? Hmph! By what right do you presume to order us? Are we to be your vassals from this day forward? And should the Brockman clan fall under your sway, will our lives truly prosper? We are the rightful heirs to the clan's Prerogative! You? Away with you!* Not a single one of these youths deigned to acknowledge Du Chen! *You're merely a guest consultant,* their defiant stares seemed to say, *would you truly dare lay a hand on us, the Young Masters and Young Ladies of this clan?*

Du Chen carved open a bloody swath with practiced ease, then roared at the obstinate youths who stood unmoving, "Did my command fail to reach your ears?!"

A young woman, her tone dripping with passive aggression, retorted, "Oh, we heard you, *guest consultant*. But we're rather preoccupied, you see. I'm busy slaughtering Huhuhu Beasts. Oh, cousin, do come and assist me!"

"Coming right up, dearest cousin, do wait a moment! Third Brother, Sixth Brother, lend a hand over here!"

Another maiden echoed the sarcasm, brimming with a self-assured belief that she was not yet in peril. She brazenly rallied her siblings into a self-appointed squad, utterly refusing to cooperate with Du Chen's command of the main force, and even outright ignoring Chek's desperate pleas!

One even dared to fix Du Chen with a frigid, disdainful glare!

*These wretched scoundrels truly are irredeemable!* Du Chen seethed. *No, worse than useless—they're utterly clueless imbeciles, throwing privileged Young Master and Young Lady tantrums heedless of time, place, or looming annihilation!* Du Chen, internally cursing their foolishness, cast a chilling gaze over the defiant youths and the surging tide of Huhuhu Beasts. His form vanished in a blink, only to reappear instantly amidst the recalcitrant young noblemen and women, directly before the most vociferous maiden. His Azure Eyes fixed upon her with an unnerving intensity.

The young woman, though betraying a flicker of trepidation, stubbornly asserted, "What is the meaning of this? Do not forget, you are merely a guest consultant to my family, whereas *I* am the Third Young Lady!"

"Third Young Lady?" Du Chen's gaze sharpened on the haughty maiden. Suddenly, a Frost Aura erupted from him, pulverizing dozens of Huhuhu Beasts in its immediate vicinity. He snarled, his voice laced with frigid menace, "Those who impede the retreat shall face execution without mercy!"

As he spoke, his eyes turned colder still, and his frost-laden finger slowly, deliberately, rose once more, its tip leveling directly at the Third Young Lady...

"I—I—Hmph! Only for the sake of your Eldest Brother, who once saved my sister Heidi, will I deign to obey you this once!" Though her words were defiant, the Third Young Lady's eyes refused to meet Du Chen's. With her head bowed, she hastily rejoined the main body of troops.

Swiftly, everyone cooperated, fighting with unified purpose under Du Chen's guidance to break out of the valley. Yet the Huhuhu Beasts pursued them relentlessly, streaming out of the mountain pass in an unending torrent. It seemed they would not cease their hunt until they had their fill of flesh!

Du Chen's brows furrowed deeply. "Chek, over here!" He entrusted the Old Matron to Chek. "You will immediately lead the others back to the bunkers. You are forbidden to emerge until the Old Matron awakens. I shall cover your retreat!"

Chek, cradling his mother, paused for a moment, then gave a heavy nod. "I, Chek, possess no great talent; all relies on your esteemed self!" He abruptly dropped to one knee in a gesture of profound respect, then gritted his teeth and spun on his heel, hurrying away.

Du Chen stood solitary at the mountain pass, his arms trembling as they shimmered into shimmering ice walls, single-handedly repelling the relentless pursuit of the Huhuhu Beasts.

...

After Chek and his company had put considerable distance between themselves and the threat, he glanced back at the frost-shrouded valley and let out a heavy sigh. "Fortunate indeed that Mr. Alex was here. Otherwise, I doubt any of us would have seen the dawn again!"

"Indeed!" the others echoed, sighing in agreement. But then the very Young Lady who had just faced Du Chen's veiled threat snorted derisively. "What *is* he, after all? Nothing more than a powerful battle qi-wielding lackey! Does potent strength grant him the right to defy his betters?"

Chek exploded in a fit of righteous fury. "What utter rubbish are you spewing?!" He lunged, intent on striking her.

The Third Young Lady, ever stubborn, declared, "Look at what he just did! He brazenly seized control of our family's army! Grandmother always said the military is our very lifeline for survival in the City of Penance—it must *never* fall into outsiders' hands, and *must* be inherited by us!"

"You—you—" Chek spluttered, choked by rage. He also silently cursed his own ineptitude. *Who was he to talk? Who could he blame for lacking such power? His capable Eldest Brother was long dead, and his formidable Second Brother was still a fugitive in the mortal realm, dragging his daughter along!* "Enough, Third Brother, let us depart!" Under the mollifying words of his kin, Chek shot a scathing glare at the Third Young Lady. "I'll deal with *you* later! For now, understand this: Mr. Alex saved your Grandmother's life, and indeed, the lives of our entire family!" He then swept his gaze across the third-generation nephews and nieces. "And *you*! I have taken note of your disruptive behavior! Remember this: Mr. Alex is no mere guest consultant, but an esteemed luminary, a treasured guest of our clan. Should any of you dare to slight him in the future, I will personally cripple them!"

"He's only courageous when lecturing us!" someone muttered under their breath, though the speaker remained unseen.

Chek's face flushed crimson with indignation as he stormed ahead, leading the retreat. The Brockman clan's third generation trailed at the very end, each face etched with palpable resentment, as if they had endured the gravest of injustices!

Nevertheless, they simultaneously engaged in furtive whispers, seemingly conspiring. Their voices were hushed, inaudible to others, yet one could surmise, even with a modicum of wit, that their discussion undoubtedly concerned Du Chen, and was most certainly not complimentary!

At the valley entrance, Du Chen stood as a lone sentinel, besieged by a tidal wave of Huhuhu Beasts. Gradually, a profound weariness settled into his limbs; the sheer multitude of the creatures was overwhelming. By a rough estimation, over half of the eighteen thousand Huhuhu Beasts present had mutated, meaning nearly ten thousand possessed the formidable might of at least a Two-Star Fighter!

With a renewed surge of battle qi, he annihilated another wave of Huhuhu Beasts. Glancing back, he confirmed that Chek and the others were now safely distant. Du Chen let out a piercing howl, preparing to unleash a devastating, large-scale Secret Technique to carve out a path for his own retreat...

But just at that critical juncture, a furious gale once again swept through the pallid skies above the City of Penance. It felt like a grim reprise of an earlier event; the wind escalated in ferocity, gradually coalescing into a swirling vortex above the Central Atrium. Then, the Atrium erupted in a violent geyser!

The previous eruption had triggered the Huhuhu Beasts' horrific mutations. This time... what fresh horror awaited?

Du Chen suddenly felt the crushing pressure around him dissipate. He glanced around to see that the mutated Huhuhu Beasts had all ceased their attacks, instead swiveling their gazes towards the cyclonic vortex above the Central Atrium. Each beast wore an expression of bewildered awe, like fervent zealots prostrating themselves before a True God!

Du Chen, perplexed, halted his movements, watching intently to see what new strangeness these Huhuhu Beasts would unleash.

The largest-tailed leader bounded atop the valley's precipice and bellowed, "Heh-gakka! Can you all sense it? It's the Mother's presence!"

One Huhuhu Beast, utterly bewildered, questioned, "Mother? My mother, along with my father, was long ago stewed into a Yin-Yang Claypot Delicacy!"

The leader snarled, "You're truly *heh-gakka*! I—er—*this* leader speaks of the Mother's presence! Do you not feel that profound, *heh-gakka* sensation emanating from the Atrium, drawing us towards it?!"

The questioning Huhuhu Beast concentrated, then nodded vigorously. "Yes! It's like—it's like there's something... *heh-gakka*! I must investigate!" With that, it bolted, and in its wake, every other Huhuhu Beast joined the stampede!

The leader, naturally, led the charge, tearing across the landscape in an eager frenzy, as if Du Chen had vanished from its very memory.

Du Chen's gaze followed the stampeding Huhuhu Beasts, realizing that their trajectory formed the sole Clue to an exit: the Central Atrium! Not daring to tarry, he concealed himself within his Precious Lotus Scripture, tailing the Huhuhu Beast leader like an insignificant speck of dust.

Hordes of Huhuhu Beasts thundered across the Great Wilderness, seemingly impervious to fatigue, hunger, or thirst. Moreover, their numbers swelled with every stride, for it wasn't merely the beasts from the Kursk base; it appeared every mutated Huhuhu Beast in the City of Penance was converging on the Central Atrium.

After half a day's relentless journey, Du Chen found himself utterly incapable of estimating the sheer volume of Huhuhu Beasts that had joined this throng from the Kursk base. He could only perceive a boundless sea of beasts, covering mountains and plains alike...

Whenever they passed an inhabited bunker, the Huhuhu Beasts showed no mercy, their massive tails sweeping, flattening structures with brutal indifference! Such a widespread Huhuhu Beast Disturbance could not possibly escape the notice of the City of Penance's inhabitants. Initially, many scouts from various factions had attempted to shadow the horde, hoping to uncover its purpose. But as the beasts grew so dense they formed an undulating carpet across the land, these spies found nowhere to conceal themselves, and were swiftly and decisively `heh-gakka`'d by the creatures.

Only Du Chen, still hidden within his Precious Lotus Scripture, managed to shadow the Huhuhu Beasts all the way to their enigmatic destination!

By then, the tornado that had accompanied the earlier eruption had dissipated, revealing the Central Atrium in its entirety before Du Chen's eyes.

The Huhuhu Beasts began to slow their relentless pace a full kilometer before reaching the Atrium, advancing with deliberate, almost reverent steps, as if prostrating themselves before an unseen deity.

Yet, before them lay merely a rather ordinary, albeit massive, deep well—spanning forty to fifty meters in diameter! And within it, there was nothing but water! Du Chen was utterly baffled. "Damnation," he muttered, "what in the blazes are these Huhuhu Beasts trying to achieve?!"

"They were stimulated to evolve by my *Old Mother*," a voice suddenly echoed in Du Chen's mind, "their bodies now contain my *Old Mother's* aura, and thus... they've mistaken my Old Mother for their own!"