82 RI

Advancing bitter strength Gu, expend strength Gu and charging crash Gu to rank five was a huge project; Fang Yuan would need to use large amounts of materials and Gu worms.

Thus, often only the Gu Immortals who had blessed lands had the capital to gather a complete set of rank five Gu.

It was very hard for mortals to bear such a price.

Thus, in the mortal world, a lot of rank five Gu Masters did not even have one rank five Gu. Only people like Hei Lou Lan and Dong Fang Yu Liang who had the support of a large force behind them had one or two rank five Gu.

In the information provided by east window Gu, there was only a dark path rank five Gu that could be exchanged with battle merits.

"My enslavement path Gu originated from Chang Shan Yin, almost all are rank four and it will be extremely difficult to raise them to rank five in a short period of time. Thus, I need to concentrate on gathering Gu recipes, just in case."

"As for my strength path Gu, those originate from Southern Border; rather than refining them, it might be better to make direct purchases. After all, these Gu are not my vital Gu, so if the refinement fails, they will perish. And if I want to refine again, I will have to accumulate them again.'

Fang Yuan's plan was the same as the choice many foreign region Gu Masters sensibly made in the troubled times that were to come in the future.

He made his choice.

There was only one rank five Gu among the goods, but there were many rank four Gu including bitter strength Gu, tusita flower and primeval elder Gu.

But there was no charging crash Gu.

Fang Yuan could only opt for the next best choice and choose two pairs of rank three horizontal charge Gu and vertical crash Gu, intending to fuse them himself.

Self-reliance Gu was a perfect match for strength path Gu Masters, and a rare Gu at that. In Hei tribe's enormous list of goods, there was one self-reliance Gu, but unfortunately it was only at rank two, even lower than Fang Yuan's.

Rank three self-reliance Gu could reach a price of forty-five thousand primeval stones which corresponded to forty-five hundred battle merits.

A rank four self-reliance Gu's price could be compared to a rank five Gu, and had a very low possibility of appearing in the exchange list.

Fang Yuan pondered and bought this rank two self-reliance Gu as well. If there was truly no other way, he could only try to refine it.

If the self-reliance Gu was like this, then there was no need to even mention strength qi Gu.

Strength qi Gu was already extinct in the mortal markets, and Fang Yuan's strength qi Gu was obtained by reverse refining rank four atmosphere Gu.

But the atmosphere Gu was rank four, and was not a mainstream Gu, and was also very rare on top of that.

If Fang Yuan wanted to obtain strength qi Gu, he could only use Northern Plains' atmosphere Gu and reverse refine it to rank three strength qi Gu.

He had rank five cultivation now; rank three strength qi Gu was not suitable for him anymore, rank three Gu's help to him now was extremely small.

"Since there is no expend strength Gu, then so be it. After all, this Gu is used for restricting strength path and has few applications. If I don't have strength qi Gu, it will truly be miserable; I will be lacking long range attack methods and land in the most common predicament of present age strength path Gu Masters."

Strength qi Gu might not be treated as a core Gu, but it was extremely important to strength path Gu Masters.

"So I can only try to gather rank four and rank five recipes of strength qi Gu for now. Qi path has already died out, treasure yellow heaven has them but the prices are definitely high. Perhaps my greatest hope is in Lang Ya blessed land. But Lang Ya land spirit is not easy to deal with, I will have to pay a huge price if I want to obtain the recipe."

Just when Fang Yuan was inwardly vexed about this problem, he suddenly had a realization.

"Eh? Wrong." His mind received a slight jolt.

"Even if my strength path doesn't have long ranged attack methods, my enslavement path can make up for it! My situation is no longer the same now, I have two apertures, I cultivate enslavement and strength path, they can complement each other."

Fang Yuan's view suddenly cleared up.

Although he was someone who had been reborn and was meticulous, it was unavoidable for even him to have times of habitual thinking.

He only had one aperture in his previous life and even though he had touched upon other paths, it was mostly after he became a Gu Immortal. But now, he was already cultivating two paths as a mortal.

"Enslavement path Gu Masters are most afraid of beheading the leader tactics, I can use strength path to defend. On the contrary, strength path's weakness can be filled by using enslavement path. Strength qi Gu, there is no need for it."

Because he cultivated two paths, this problem that troubled strength path Gu Masters was easily resolved.

Following after this, Fang Yuan used his battle merits to exchange for many space path Gu and large numbers of Gu refinement materials.

These space path Gu and materials were preparations to enter Luo Po Valley later on.

Thieving Heaven Demon Venerable had sealed Luo Po Valley back then. If one wanted to enter, normal methods wouldn't work; one must have a rank five open door Gu.

Open door Gu could let the fated ones enter Luo Po valley. But to close the passage would require refining a rank five close door Gu, to prevent the exposure of the passage and others entering in.

'Lord Wolf King actually exchanged for so many strength path Gu and space path Gu, and there are also huge amounts of Gu refinement materials.' The goods Fang Yuan wanted to exchange for, caused this female Gu Master to be inwardly surprised.

Exchanging for strength path Gu was still reasonable, after all strength path might be declining but it consumed less primeval essence. In case primeval essence was about to be exhausted, it could act as a Gu Master's last support.

Thus, in Northern Plains where battles occurred frequently, almost all the Gu Masters cultivated some strength path Gu.

'But what is Lord Wolf King going to do with these space path Gu?'

'Maybe he wants to use space path Gu to protect himself? After all, enslavement path Gu Masters are often restrained by beheading leader tactics.'

'There are also these astonishing amounts of Gu refinement materials, is Lord Wolf King interested towards refinement path? Or maybe he is researching a completely new enslavement path Gu?'

The female Gu Master was full of doubts but did not express them.

She was very aware that rashly inquiring about these secrets was an extremely great offense to the Gu Master.

Thus, she did not reveal any curiosity on her face, concentrating only on handling these exchanges.

Fang Yuan soon saw his battle merits decreased by over half on the battle list, immediately falling down from first position.

"Lord Wolf King, these goods you exchanged for will be sent to you one by one today and will be completely delivered by dawn." The female Gu Master informed in a soft voice.

Fang Yuan nodded and was just about to leave when this female Gu Master said in a low voice: "Lord Wolf King, please wait a moment. Here is a Gu recipe which is extremely suitable for you, Lord tribe leader specifically told me to hold it for you."

"Hmm?" Fang Yuan's eyes flashed with a bright light.

There was no need to even guess, the female Gu Master before him was definitely Hei tribe's Gu Master.

In such an important place like the supply camp, Hei Lou Lan could only be at ease if he placed his men inside.

Listening to the female Gu Master's words, Fang Yuan realized this was Hei Lou Lan's goodwill towards him. It was extremely likely that it was because of Hei Xiu Yi deserting in the face of danger, and that Fang Yuan let the bygones be bygones, so Hei Lou Lan was secretly reciprocating for it.

Fang Yuan immediately felt some interest and after understanding about the details, he found that this Gu recipe was truly very suitable for him.

This was a Gu recipe of lurking soul coat Gu.

Lurking soul coat Gu had only one ability, and that was to cover soul fluctuations.

Previously, Fang Yuan was hiding in a corner of the battlefield and had to mobilize the wolf group without being able to use his full strength to prevent being discovered. But with this Gu, he could completely cover his soul fluctuations and mobilize the wolf group with his whole strength while hiding.

This Gu recipe went all the way from rank one to rank five, thus it had very high price.

Fang Yuan used all his remaining battle merits and barely obtained it.

He skimmed through the Gu recipe once and saw the difficulty in refining this Gu was not high, but there were monumental amount of refinement procedures. Moreover, the cost involved was not low, especially one procedure among them required a large number of fresh beast skins as Gu refinement materials.

"Tribe leader has said himself that if Lord Wolf King feels like the Gu refinement is too complicated, you can ask the refinement path Gu Masters to do it. You only need to pay equivalent battle merits to them. If Lord Wolf King has insufficient battle merits, you can borrow five hundred thousand." The female Gu Master timely suggested.

Primeval stones were the currency during normal times.

But during battles, because of Gu Masters using a large number of primeval stones to restore their primeval essence, refine new Gu or so on, primeval stones were in scarcity.

At such times, battle merits were often used as currency.

This was not only in Northern Plains, it was also the same in Southern Border and other regions.

Borrowing battle merits naturally was not a treatment given to ordinary people. Fang Yuan, however, was a crucial battle strength as he could directly raise the strength of the whole Hei tribe army by himself, thus Hei Lou Lan was happy to actively promote such actions secretly.

Fang Yuan nodded and borrowed five hundred thousand battle merits on the spot.

With this, his battle merits went into negative, falling down to the last position on the large battle merit list.

The Gu Masters who saw this scene in the fifteen large tents exclaimed in surprise.

In the enormous battle merit list that was as large as defense walls, the negative five hundred thousand which was written in scarlet was exceptionally dazzling.

From first to last, such a huge discrepancy caused people to be greatly taken aback.

Clamorous discussions rose before gradually quieting down.

The Wolf King's strength and status made them involuntarily accept this fact.

Soon after, several assignments that came from the Wolf King caused the quietened discussions to again turn into a clamor.

The assignments were capturing wolves, gathering souls, peeling off wolf skins and processing them, along with large numbers of Gu refinement assignments; once completed, could give them a lot of battle merits.

These assignments quickly stimulated everyone's enthusiasm.

In the next few days, Fang Yuan continued to cultivate, concentrating mainly on strength path.

Because of turtle jade wolf skin Gu, his body could bear even more strength.

Several days later, Fang Yuan's strength path broke through the hundred jun strength barrier, and he had already successively received ten thousand rank one lurking soul coat Gu.

But to push to rank five, this amount was still far from enough.

Hei tribe army rested and reorganized for a week more before pulling up the camp and pushing forward towards Dong Fang tribe's defense line.

The battle began once more.

Dong Fang Yu Liang relied on tall and firm defense walls to defend tightly, and along with repeated clever plans, he was able to push off the battle to the limit, causing great trouble to Hei tribe.

But it was still very difficult for him to make up for the large gap created by the first battle.

The five defense lines Dong Fang army had built, was broken through by Hei tribe in a row.

In the end, the Dong Fang army had retreated to the final defense line - in the central zone of Cao Fu - and were firmly surrounded by Hei tribe.

"Dong Fang Yu Liang, you are surrounded, your loss is already determined. A wise man submits to fate; as long as you surrender, my army's main military advisor position will still be yours."

Hei Lou Lan stood high on his twin-headed rhino, his voice echoing throughout the battlefield.

-x-X-x-

Facing Hei Lou Lan's offer of submission, Dong Fang Yu Liang went silent.

He was standing on the walls, looking at the black enemy troops, the wind blew his hair and his clothes fluttered lightly in the air.

He sighed lightly.

Even though he had many brilliant schemes and always held the initiative with his predictions, the difference between the two sides was just too overwhelming, in the end, they reached this stage.

Wisdom path was not invincible.

Throughout history, there were a great number of Gu Master path and styles, even qi path and strength path which were dominant in a point in time, did not manage to cause other paths to go into extinction, becoming the sole path of the Gu Master world.

Every path had its strengths and weaknesses.

Especially when Gu Master paths were established on the basis of resources. As times changed, and environments changed, when the resources that Gu Masters needed to cultivate dwindled, that particular path's vitality would go down.

Any Gu Master familiar with history would know that throughout the long river of time, countless paths were buried.

Speaking of which, wisdom path had been popular since the immemorial era, until this day. Even though they were always low on numbers, such an established path could be said to be independent already.

In this world, there were no invincible paths, only invincible Gu Masters.

But to be truly invincible, there were only ten in history.

Dong Fang Yu Liang was only a rank five wisdom path Gu Master, although he was at the peak of the mortal realm, he was far from invincible.

Even though he had his self created killer move, Seven Star Light, the primeval essence expenditure of it was too great, it could not be sustained. Against a huge force like Hei tribe, he was already feeling overpowered and outnumbered.

"If I was an enslavement path Gu Master, there might be a chance of salvaging it. But even enslavement path would need to be worried of beheading the leader tactic. Even Wolf King Chang Shan Yin does not dare to venture out alone, leading his wolves to leave the main troops. Thus, only by ascending to Gu Immortal can one rule above the mortal world." Dong Fang Yu Liang sighed in his heart.

At this time, Water Demon Hao Ji Liu came forward to battle.

"Wind Demon, come out and die!" He shouted out his enemy's name.

Wind Demon was furious, growling: "Hao Ji Liu, don't be arrogant!"

Saying so, he leapt from the defense walls, activating his Gu while in mid air, as two four-leaf wind blades formed, shooting out.

"All you can use are old tricks!" Water Demon laughed, not dodging as he charged head on.

Bam bam bam!

The water and wind demons had battled for dozens of rounds, they were very familiar with each other, thus, the moment they fought, it reached the climax.

Wind blades and water bullets flew on both sides, colliding in mid air as they exploded.

Wind Demon's attacks were sharp and focused on penetrating and kiting, while Water Demon engaged in frontal assault, overwhelming the enemy.

The two were established characters, now that they were engaging with each other, they were displaying great strength as the battle could not be decided easily.

The Gu Masters from both armies focused their attention on these two people.

The strength of a rank four Gu Master was well known by all, but now, it still gave them a great sense of fear and trepidation.

After a while, Water Demon gradually gained the upper hand.

Wind Demon's condition was not good, there were times where a Gu Master's strength fluctuated.

Like now, the conclusion had already been decided, being surrounded by Hei tribe heavily, Dong Fang tribe's warriors had low morale, Wind Demon was affected too.

Seeing his rival of equal strength suppressed by himself, Water Demon shouted in joy as he attacked even more fiercely.

The general was the courage of the soldiers, seeing this, Hei tribe army's morale surged, as Dong Fang alliance army sank into silence on the defense wall.

In the main tent, Hei Lou Lan laughed heartily as he sent another rank four expert into battle.

Dong Fang Yu Liang sent a person to deal with him.

But the battle between these two Gu Masters was not as intense as the battle between demons.

Not only was the commotion smaller, they even talked in the middle of battle, talking about their ancestor's time and their alliance marriage.

Dong Fang Yu Liang's expression became uglier as Hei Lou Lan's smile became deeper.

Dong Fang alliance army had low morale, the troops had lost their sense of belonging. All the forces in the alliance were starting to find a way out of their predicament.

Hei tribe army's morale was high, all the rank four experts requested to battle.

Hei Lou Lan laughed as he approved all their requests.

Quickly, before the two armies, twelve battle rings were created.

"I am Pan Ping, who will battle me?" Pan Ping carried a fierce aura as he became the thirteenth person to enter the battlefield after getting Hei Lou Lan's permission.

Dong Fang Yu Liang was silent.

By now, the rank four experts under him had mostly perished. Many experts were worried for the present and future, they were no longer giving it their all, but instead hiding their strength.

Although when the alliance was made, all the leaders and experts used the poison bow Gu, the content of the vow was not strict, there were many loopholes that could be exploited.

As the alliance leader, although they would want to tie the large tribes closely to them, other forces were not idiots. Thus the content of the poison vow had been passed down for numerous generations, created through many collective agreements.

As Pan Ping requested for battle, Dong Fang Yu Liang found that he had no one to summon already.

He thought about it before sending an order.

"What? Dong Fang alliance leader is order my father to battle?!" In the camp behind the defense walls, Tang Fang saw this messenger and his expression turned ugly, his eyes almost blowing fire.

In the earlier battle, in order to protect his tribesmen, Tang tribe leader was attacked by two Hei tribe Gu masters and suffered grave injuries. After that, he had been bedridden, he had not even recovered now.

"This is the alliance leader's orders, are you trying to defy it? I know your tribe leader is injured and bedridden. But there are so many bedridden tribe leaders, after getting the alliance leader's orders, didn't they participate too?" The messenger's words were rigid as he looked at Tang Fang with disdain.

"You!" Tang Fang was furious, shouting: "They are pretending to be injured, my father is truly heavily injured!"

"Alright, son, enough. As the Tang tribe leader, I have to participate in this battle." At this time, the pale Tang tribe leader walked out.

"Hmph, as long as you obey the orders." Dong Fang tribe's messenger snorted as he walked away.

"But father, your body..." Tang Fang was extremely worried.

"No matter." Tang tribe leader patted his son's shoulders: "I have been recuperating these days, my injures are mostly healed. Today's battle might be the last. If I do not participate, it would be detrimental to our tribe, and our reputation."

Tang Fang gritted his teeth: "Then you have to be careful father, sister is still with them, if there is a chance..."

"Mm, I will do my best." Tang tribe leader frowned as he walked out of the tent.

He came to the defense walls as he met Dong Fang Yu Liang, before going to the battlefield, starting the battle with Pan Ping.

Tang Fang stood at the edge of the wall, staring at his father.

"Young tribe leader, we will be fine. Although lord tribe leader still has some poison in him, today's battle is different, everyone will not go all out." A Tang tribe elder consoled.

Tang Fang looked at his father battling on par with Pan Ping, with neither giving it their all, and the worry in his heart dissipated.

But at this moment, Pan Ping burst out and drew the scimitar by his waist.

Everyone saw a bright white light flash past quickly.

The next moment, Tang tribe leader was beheaded!

"Ah, father!" Tang Fang was stunned before crying out painfully.

This had occurred too suddenly, both sides were shocked for a few breaths' time before starting to discuss fervently.

"Tang tribe leader Tang You has been taken down by me Pan Ping!" Pan Ping's eyes were shining with a bloodthirsty light as he raised Tang tribe leader's head and shouted.

Tang Fang's vision turned dark as he fainted on the spot.

"What was that?"

"I only saw a flash of light, it was too fast! I could not see anything clearly."

"I wonder what Gu or killer move Pan Ping used?"

Pan Ping killed an expert on the same level as him, he gained great fame as even the resting Fang Yuan opened his eyes slightly to give him a glance.

Northern plains was huge, it was a land of battles. Countless wars and battles created numerous experts. These experts might have some unknown trump cards that they had been hiding forever.

Although Pan Ping was a rank four Gu Master, his reputation was not very high, among the rank four Gu Master, he was not outstanding. But after this battle, he rose to fame by stepping on Tang tribe leader's corpse.

Pan Ping's expression was shining like flowers as he returned victorious.

Hei Lou Lan laughed loudly, ordering his men to bring his wine cup and gave the delicious wine to Pan Ping as a reward.

"Thank you lord alliance leader for the reward!" Pan Ping stood in the main tent, drinking the wine in one pulp, his gaze was full of anticipation as his expression was lively.

He got this Gu by accident. Once, there was a market set up by a few tribes, he saw this scimitar and thought it was beautiful, thus he bought it out of interest. @@novelbin@@

But to think that when he was toying with it, he found the secret in this scimitar.

On the blade of this scimitar, there was a cold light. This cold light was actually a mysterious Gu worm.

Pan Ping spent a lot of effort before finally refining this Gu. Although he did not know the name of this Gu, it had executed many strong foes for him, it had an extremely sharp attack.

He had great expectations for this Imperial Court contest.

Originally, during Hei tribe and Dong Fang army's first battle, he had requested to be the first to battle. At that time, he was planning on using this Gu to slay a strong enemy, gaining fame immediately.

But Tang Miao Ming called out the Wolf King Chang Shan Yin and challenged him, it obstructed his plans.

What's worse was, Fang Yuan did not go with the norm, he attacked directly and skipped the challenge, directly causing the war between both sides.

The chance that Pan Ping was looking for was gone like that. Although there were battles later, it was not the environment that Pan Ping was hoping for.

"But today's battle was a huge chance, Tang tribe leader, Tang You, is an established character. After this battle, my status will rise and I would become Hei tribe's number one general. After all, Water Demon Hao Ji Liu had greater reputation, but he had not taken down Wind Demon yet. As for Wolf King Chang Shan Yin, he is an enslavement path Gu Master, there is no point competing with him..."

Pan Ping looked around, feeling that everyone's gaze towards him had changed, the happiness in his heart rose again.

"This is the feeling of a top dog 1 . Hehe, one day, I, Pan Ping, will have my name resound all over Northern Plains!" He shouted in his heart.

-x-X-x-

Ni Yu blessed land.

A long jade-layered walkway led the way along the lake surface towards a pavilion.

Outside the pavilion, there was a light rain and soothing wind.

Different from the outside world, the rain here fell from bottom to top. The name of Ni Yu 1 , came from this.

After the female Gu immortal Tan Bi Ya, there was a new guest in the blessed land.

"Junior Hei Bai pays respect to senior Dong Fang." The person who came looked like an ordinary middle aged man, but he was a true rank six Gu Immortal.

"It has been seventy years since we last met. Back then, you were still Hei tribe leader, a step away from entering the Imperial Court."

Hei Bai stood on the stone bench, bowing slightly: "I am ashamed, back then I was greatly supported by my tribe, but I lost by one move and Liu tribe emerged victorious."

"Hehehe." Dong Fang Chang Fan laughed: "That's right, the Liu tribe leader back then, Liu Yi Feng, had unprecedented talent, he was a genius barely seen in a hundred years."

"Senior has good memory, junior is full of admiration."

Dong Fang Chang Fan shook his head: "Us wisdom path Gu Masters will always collect every single information we can get in order to make our deductions. Although Liu Yi Feng was glaringly talented, he failed when charging towards Gu Immortal realm. Among the people of that generation, the one who remained standing at the end was you, commonly known as 'Hei tribe rockman'."

"Senior is too kind, this junior was lucky."

"No need to put yourself down, becoming a Gu Immortal is as hard as ascending to heaven, out of ten thousand rank five Gu Masters, not even one might succeed. Sigh, to speak the truth, I have observed many juniors these years, and now my hopes are on this child." Dong Fang Chang Fan pointed with his right index finger, and a colorful smoke rose from the stone bench, reflecting the real-time battle situation in northern plains, Cao Fu.

Coincidentally, the two Gu Immortals saw Pan Ping flash his scimitar as he beheaded Tang tribe leader.

Hei Bai frowned, lightly gasping: "This is interesting, if I did not see wrongly, this is the sole blade Gu. Sole blade Gu is unique, once activated, it can ignore all defenses of the same level. This was created by the Gu Immortal Blade Demon, it has a strange form, merely a flash of blade light, and has to be kept on a blade. This Gu eats blades as food, and the blade it resides in will gradually shrink and turn into dust."

Dong Fang Chang Fan nodded: "That's right, sole blade Gu can reach rank six at most. Back then, Blade Demon used the rank six sole blade Gu to hold his own, no one dared to trifle with him. But eventually, he lost to Butterfly Sword Immortal. Blade Demon died in battle, and his blessed land was consumed by Butterfly Sword Immortal. The recipe of sole blade Gu was not passed down, but now there are still many sole blade Gu in the mortal realm, these were handed out when Blade Demon disguised as a mortal and travelled the world back then. It seems this lucky lad obtained one of the gifts from Blade Demon back then."

"Senior is wise, I have learnt much today." Hei Bai said with admiration.

Dong Fang Chang Fan was a famous wisdom path Gu Immortal in northern plains, he had glorious battle results his whole life, numerous Gu Immortal suffered from his schemes.

When he was born, Dong Fang tribe was already declining like the setting sun. When he became a Gu Immortal, he single handedly held them up as he made many schemes against his enemies, he had great methods and eventually caused Dong Fang tribe to rise up again.

He was a rank seven Gu Immortal, a great power in northern plains undoubtedly, and the pillar of support for Dong Fang tribe.

But now, his lifespan was at its end, he was eager to leave his inheritance. In the past, Dong Fang Chang Fan had high expectations, and many did not meet his requirements. Now, Dong Fang Yu Liang might not have met all his expectations, but he was the best candidate out of them all.

Lifespan Gu were hard to find, even for Dong Fang tribe which was a super tribe, one of the largest force in northern plains.

Of course, a part of the reason was that the righteous path Gu Immortal secretly colluded to restrict the selling of lifespan Gu to Dong Fang Chang Fan. Similarly, demonic Gu Immortals who were schemed against by Dong Fang Chang Fan hated him to the bones.

Dong Fang Chang Fan schemed against numerous people, but at the end of his life, he was ganged up on collectively by his enemies.

He was clear about this, he had offended too many Gu Immortals. Even the righteous path did not want to see him live longer.

Hei Bai understood, this meeting with Dong Fang Chang Fan would be the last time he could see this legendary Gu Immortal in northern plains.

The rainbow smoke on the stone bench displayed the battle situation perfectly, showing it to them without any lack of clarity.

Dong Fang army, while already weaker in terms of power, got into an even worse situation after Tang tribe leader was killed by Pan Ping.

Eventually, Dong Fang Yu Liang challenged Hei Lou Lan, entering the battle himself.

He wanted to use his own strength to fight for a bit of chance and hope.

But eventually, he could not emerge victorious as he and Hei Lou Lan ended in a draw.

When night descended, Hei Lou Lan ordered a collective attack.

At night, night wolves surge in battle strength. The wolf tide came waves after waves, under Fang Yuan's manipulation, they broke through Dong Fang army's final line of defense.

Dong Fang army had low morale and the troops were not united, even though Dong Fang Yu Liang made many preparations, the defensive line only lasted for seven minutes before being taken down.

Helpless, Dong Fang Yu Liang could only surrender.

At this point, Hei tribe and Dong Fang tribe's battle ended, as Hei Lou Lan and Dong Fang Yu Liang's personal grudge ended in Hei Lou Lan's victory.

"This young man, Dong Fang Yu Liang, has few flaws, except that he cares too much for his sister. In order to protect her safety, he made a portion of the troops stay at the back to protect his sister. Thus, Dong Fang army became far weaker than Hei tribe, even though they were already disadvantaged to begin with. If not for this, the first battle's victory might not have been like this. Hehehe, this is embarrassing to show you, Hei Bai."

Dong Fang Chang Fan smile lightly at this rainbow smoke.

After Hei tribe army stabilized the battle situation, they entered the camp and starting to take over captives and clean up the battlefield.

"Winning and losing is part of battle, if we failed this time, there is always next time. In my opinion, Dong Fang Yu Liang is already very outstanding. He preserved the strength of his tribe well, he did it even better than I would. His affection and protective nature towards this tribe is very precious." Hei Bai said.

"That's right." Dong Fang Chang Fan's tone was rueful: "So be it if other tribe members die, but we are all descendants of Ancestor Giant Sun. Back then when ancestor set up the Imperial Court, he had one motive, that was to weaken other tribes and preserve our bloodline. Unfortunately, even a grand existence like Giant Sun Immortal Venerable passed away when his lifespan was expended. In this world, what can truly be immortal and indestructible..."

Hei Bai did not speak, he only listened silently.

Dong Fang Chang Fan soothed his emotions, laughing softly as he stretched out his palm towards Hei Bai: "Alright, let's get to business."

"Yes." Hei Bai took out a list from his storage Gu and handed it over to Dong Fang Chang Fan.

There was a great amount of content on the list, there was a huge amount of resources listed.

Dong Fang tribe lost in this Imperial Court contest, and became Hei tribe's captive. According to Giang Sun Immortal Venerable's rules, Dong Fang tribe could pay a certain amount of resources to redeem themselves.

Dong Fang tribe and Hei tribe were super tribes, they had more than one Gu Immortal.

The contest between two giant forces, this 'Imperial Court contest' was merely a game. Most importantly, these battles would weaken other tribes and expand one's own tribe, recruiting and choosing new talents.

This grand scheme engulfing all of northern plains was naturally not created by Dong Fang tribe or Hei tribe's Gu Immortals. It was created by one of the ten supreme invincible beings, Giant Sun Immortal Venerable.

Dong Fang Chang Fan received the list and started browsing through.

The resources on this list were not only a great amount, there were also many aspects that it touched on, like some specialty Gu worms that only Dong Fang tribe had, or some newly created Gu recipes.

But Dong Fang Chang Fan did not show any indignance, he nodded lightly and agreed: "Winner takes all, since we failed, a small price is but fair, we will go with this."

Loser pays the price, this was the rule that Giant Sun Immortal Venerable set.

In history, there were some times when tribes were unwilling to pay this price, but they all ended up being wiped out.

But now, not a single tribe dared to violate the rule.

This was the rule of northern plains' righteous path, if any tribe refused to obey it, they would be ostracized, and become the target of all others.

A giant light ring suddenly appeared in the night sky of the battlefield.

After the light ring stabilized, a giant light door of about 60 meters was formed.

The light shone across a thousand li, as it opened, a jade light path was formed.

From the door, a young female Gu Master walked out. She held a token as she landed before Hei Lou Lan under everyone's gaze.

"I am the envoy, I am here to bring back Dong Fang tribe." She said expressionlessly with a cold tone.

The two finished their business on the spot.

After checking the battle reparation, Hei Lou Lan's brows were uplifted, he had earned a fortune! Using so much resources, he could equip more Gu Masters and especially the tribes that surrendered, after taking them in, his military strength would surge by at least fifty percent of the original!

"We will meet again." Since the results were decided, Dong Fang Yu Liang had no lingering emotions, he bid farewell to Hei Lou Lan calmly and led his tribesmen on the light road, entering the door.

Because they absorbed a lot of tribes, Dong Fang tribe's size expanded by thirty percent.

"How great, even if they lost, they can still hide from the blizzard inside the blessed land!"

"There's no choice, they are a super clan, there are Gu Immortals shielding them."

"Alright, concentrate, it is a turning point for us after submitting to Hei tribe. As long as we win a few battles, our losses would be recuperated. If we are fortunate enough to enter Imperial Court blessed land and obtain those inheritances, we would have a chance of striking it rich!"

Everyone looked at the light ring on the air as they discussed.

Fang Yuan watched this silently.

This ten year blizzard involves the entire northern plains, causing numerous homes to be destroyed and countless people to rise up from battle. It was a contest of the top predators, a game that they engage in together.

Some people immerse themselves in it and chase after fame. Some cry and grief, feeling extreme pain. As for Fang Yuan, as a person within this giant game, he would watch coldly as he make his own plans.

Hehe.

Such is life.

The law of the jungle, it is truly fantastic!

-x-X-x-

In the camp, there was silence.

On a bright red table, books were stacked highly into a pile.

At times, wind would blow through the window and carry the fragrance of the grass with it, as it flips the top few pages of the documents.

It was a bright and sunny day outside, at times, sounds of battle horses or hump wolves could be heard from far away.

This in fact, intensified the silence in the camp.

As Ma tribe's young tribe leader, Ma Ying Jie was sitting on his cushion as he lowered his head, helping his father settle the administrative matters of the alliance army.

Ever since Ma tribe unleashed a sneak attack and exterminated Fei tribe, their largest obstacle in the heroes assembly had been removed.

Thereafter, at Tian Chuan heroes assembly, Ma tribe suppressed Cheng tribe to become the alliance leader. After taking the poison vow, Ma tribe's military force rose to six hundred thousand, they were at the peak of their strength.

After that, Ma tribe ventured west, going southwest from Tian Chuan. Along the way, they found beast groups or stubborn forces to train their troops, sharpening their battle strength. Because of the continuous battles and the absorption of defeated tribes, they expanded once more and their morale was surging.

Right now, Ma tribe had arrived at mirror lake and found an equal — Song tribe alliance army.

At the moment, Ma tribe was building their first line of defense.

"Report!" At this moment, the investigative Gu Master from outside the tent reported.

Ma Ying Jie's eyes shone with brilliance, he knew that this would definitely be some important military information, thus, he placed down his documents and called: "Come in."

The exhausted investigative Gu Master heard the call and was about to enter, but the guard outside stopped him: "Do you know the rules? Change your shoes, don't dirty the carpet inside."

The investigative Gu Master apologised profusely, after changing his shoes, he entered the tent. Upon seeing Ma Ying Jie, he kneeled down on one knee: "Subordinate greets young tribe leader. I have brought important information regarding Yu Tian."

He reported a summary of the events that happened, and after Ma Ying Jie made some inquiries, about fifteen minutes later, he left.

"Hei tribe defeated Dong Fang tribe, that is the first crucial victory they had." Ma Ying Jie's heart was slightly heavy.

The Imperial Court contest had occurred for many times, at his level, he was already clear of the rules of this game.

He knew the importance of victory, after Hei tribe defeated Dong Fang tribe, they would receive a huge amount of compensation. These compensation would include Dong Fang tribe's newest Gu recipes, as well as an ocean of battle resources. As long as they make good use of these gains, and take in the captives, Hei tribe army's battle strength would rise by five times!

"In all the past Imperial Court contests, the first battle is the most crucial. Once the first fight is won, the foundations would be earned. Those who lost the first fight would almost certainly be eliminated, very few could reverse the situation. Hei tribe has already won their first battle, while we Ma tribe and Song tribe are still at a stalemate..."

Fei Cai carefully came to the tent entrance, trying not to make any noise. @@novelbin@@

The two guarding Gu Masters gave him a look before diverting their gaze.

After Fei tribe was wiped out, the blur Fei Cai was chosen by Ma Ying Jie and luckily became his personal servant, avoiding the terrible fates of his tribesmen.

His daily job was to manage the shoes outside the tent.

Ma Ying Jie was a clean freak, every guest that entered his tent would need to change their shoes, so as to not dirty his elegant and beautiful carpet.

After every guest wears the shoes provided, Fei Cai would need to wash it before placing it back in.

But this time, it was different.

Fei Cai held the shoes worn by the investigative Gu Master and hesitated for a moment before stuffing the other pair of shoes in front of his chest.

No one noticed this tiny action of his, Fei Cai managed to leave without any problems, and after ten tents, he came to the water pond.

He squatted beside the pond as he started washing the worn shoes, he was extremely focused and did not even notice that there was one person behind him.

"Hey, big dummy, why are you so serious in washing shoes!" A small hand patted Fei Cai's shoulders roughly.

Fei Cai was shocked, turning around, he saw a girl that resembled jade with pinkish skin, and a pair of crystal clear eyes. It was Zhao Lian Yun.

Zhao Lian Yun used her 'tiger-wolf-sheep' analogy and conceived Zhao tribe leader to leave, after some hurdles, they arrived at Ma tribe camp without casualties, and was welcomed by Ma tribe leader.

Zhao tribe managed to join Ma tribe army and was highly regarded by Ma tribe higher-ups and received warm hospitality.

"It is you, Lady Xiao Yun." Fei Cai saw Zhao Lian Yun and showed an innocent smile. After his father was killed, he sunk into endless grief. By chance, he became Ma Ying Jie's personal servant, and was ostracized by the old servants, thus he did not have a single friend.

After Zhao Lian Yun made fun of him many times, but he acknowledged her as his only friend. Thus when he saw her, he was overjoyed.

"Lady Xiao Yun, I have something for you." Fei Cai lowered his volume, moving his head towards Zhao Lian Yun's ears.

Zhao Lian Yun pushed his head away, muttering unhappily: "Hey blockhead, don't come so close, do you know that there should be prudency between sexes."

Fei Cai almost fell into the water after being pushed, but he did not mind it, he secretly pulled his shirt and exposed the shoes that he were hiding, asking as if he was looking for praise: "Look, what is this?"

Zhao Lian Yun gave him a look of disdain: "A pair of stinky shoes, they've obviously been worn before. Stupid blockhead, why are you so dumb, you actually gave me something like this. It doesn't even fit me, and I wouldn't wear this pair of stinky shoes anyway!"

Fei Cai said: "Lady Xiao Yun, didn't you say you were lacking primeval stones earlier. This pair of shoes is exquisite and beautiful, we can sell it in the black market and exchange it for primeval stones."

Zhao Lian Yun's brows lifted, looking at Fei Cai in another light: "Oh wow, blockhead, you actually thought of abusing your position and smuggling public property? Amazing, I never thought you would think of this. But how much can this pair of shoes sell for? My daily pocket money is ten times of the shoes. I appreciate it, but you should sell it. Change your tattered and dirty clothes."

Fei Cai rubbed his nose, shaking his head: "No need, my clothes are still wearable. Actually, I did not think of this. Those old servants always do this, since there is a large number of shoes constantly worn by different Gu Masters, and lord young tribe leader loves cleanliness so much, he always changes the shoes together at set intervals."

Zhao Lian Yun nodded.

Snakes and rats have their own way of living. Servants might have low statuses, but they also have their own way of living.

Especially someone like Fei Cai, although he is a servant and lost his freedom, he got close to Ma Ying Jie and was most likely the first person to receive information from Ma tribe higher-ups.

Zhao tribe had entered Ma tribe's army, Zhao Lian Yun purposely got close to Fei Cai because she also had the intentions of gathering intel.

At this time, a commotion could be heard.

"Where is Fei Cai? Get out here now!"

"Fei Cai, you're in trouble now, you dared to take young tribe leader's shoes."

"Young tribe leader wanted to walk around the camp, but realized his shoes were gone. Fei Cai, you are too daring, you are unforgivable!"

A bunch of old servants shouted arrogantly, coming out of the entrance as they searched for Fei Cai's whereabouts.

Fei cai's expression paled: "Oh no, I have been discovered. Lady Xiao Yun, quickly leave, this has nothing to do with you. I cannot implicate you, I will go ask for forgiveness from young tribe leader."

"Forgiveness my ass!" Zhao Lian Yun shouted, her expression turning ugly: "You fool, you have been plotted against and you don't even know it! Quickly follow me and run."

"Ah?" Fei Cai had no idea what's going on, but as Zhao Lian Yun pulled him, they entered a narrow alley.

"Damn it, this path has been blocked off." Zhao Lian Yun relied on her familiarity of the area and brought Fei Cai around, finding four exits, but three were blocked.

"Lady Xiao Yun, quickly go, it will be too late otherwise!" Fei Cai was getting dizzy from moving around, he had lost his sense of direction. He was anxious as he did not want to get his only friend into trouble.

Zhao Lian Yun stomped her feet in anger, howling in her heart: "Was it easy for me to find an insider to provide information?! In this day and age, where can I find such a dummy like Fei Cai? These old servants are all shrewd snakes, they will request for money when I want a bit of information, and they would even give half-truth information. Hmph! They are jealous of this newcomer Fei Cai and wants to get rid of him. As expected, any place with humans will have conflicts, and thus schemes. No way! I cannot take this lying down, you are courting death if you want to harm my informant!"

Zhao Lian Yun's expression was full of uncertainty as she tried her best to think of a solution, while the old servants' voices could be heard.

"He's not here, I've searched the water pond, he's not there either!"

"Did he leave?"

"How can that be, we were following him, I'm sure he came here."

"We have not searched there yet, go."

Hearing the old servants' footsteps, Zhao Lian Yun thought of a solution amidst the anxiety.

"Big dummy, you are truly lucky, I just bought some silk from the market." Zhao Lian Yun said as she took out some high grade silk from her pockets.

This silk was meant to be made into clothes for her.

"Big dummy, listen to my instructions and do as I say, this might benefit you greatly!" Zhao Lian Yun placed the silk into Fei Cai's hands.

"Ah?" Fei Cai was dumbstruck.

Zhao Lian Yun quickly told him about her plans.

After a dozen breaths' time, Fei Cai walked out and was discovered by the servants.

They were overjoyed, encircling him as Fei Cai clenched his fists, beating them to a pulp like he was crazy.

"He's revolting, revolting, this dog slave dared to attack us seniors!"

"Fei Cai, you are in huge trouble, young tribe leader is looking for you, we came to arrest you but you dared to resist!"

Fei Cai shouted: "Young tribe leader is looking for me, I will go on my own. Don't touch me with your filthy hands you lowly scum!"

-x-X-x-

The slaves were old while Fei Cai was acting like a crazed man; for the moment, the slaves could only surround Fei Cai without daring to go forward.

Fei Cai stared with wide, furious eyes as he kicked an old slave in front of him: "Filthy bastard, I am going to pay respects to young tribe leader, don't block my way."

The old slaves felt ashamed and furious, sinister glint flashed past their eyes but they still did not dare to go forward.

They had already noticed a bulge in Fei Cai's clothes. Many sneered in disdain in their hearts: ' This stupid kid really has the courage to steal! It doesn't matter if he stole shoes, but he actually stole the young tribe leader's shoes, hahaha, his luck is truly bad. I originally wanted him to be relocated to cleaning the latrine, but now this kid might even lose his little life. Serves him right! Is it so easy to become young tribe leader's personal servant?'

Fei Cai walked towards young tribe leader's tent while being surrounded by the old slaves.

The two Gu Masters guarding the tent saw Fei Cai and looked at him as if he was a dead person.

Ma Ying Jie stood at the entrance of the tent with a solemn expression. He had been tired of handling the various affairs and wanted to take a walk outside, but he found that his shoes had disappeared.

He called for his old personal servant, and the old slave told him the shoes were very possibly stolen by the new young slave to possibly sell them for money. The old slave also informed Ma Ying Jie that this was not the first time Fei Cai had stolen.

Ma Ying Jie was naturally furious. He had never expected that his kindness would bring in a thief.

Fei Cai was extremely anxious with panic already filling his mind, but he firmly remembered Zhao Lian Yun's instructions, and walked towards Ma Ying Jie with his head high like a valiant hero.

Ma Ying Jie was secretly amazed at this sight.

Those old slaves that were following Fei Cai to keep an eye on him, instead looked like they were escorting him. More importantly, Fei Cai did not appear panicked, was it not him who stole the shoes?

Unwittingly, the fury in Ma Ying Jie was replaced by curiosity and doubts.

"Subordinate greets young tribe leader." Fei Cai kneeled on the ground and greeted with a clear voice.

Ma Ying Jie looked at Fei Cai and shouted in an displeased voice: "My shoes, did you steal them?"

"I would never dare to steal lord's shoes even if I had a hundred guts." Fei Cai denied flatly.

"He is lying, his clothes are bulging, he has something there, we will know once we look at it!" The old slaves immediately shouted from behind.

Fei Cai snorted and opened his shirt, revealing a ball of snowy-white, high grade silk.

He carefully took out the silk and opened it, revealing the shoes inside.

Ma Ying Jie looked at this pair of shoes and knew it was the pair which he wore, and he couldn't help but coldly smiled: "Great, great, the proof is here, a thief having such confidence is really hard to come by."

"I implore young tribe leader to investigate clearly." Fei Cai did not refute and placed the shoes on the ground respectfully. He then placed his forehead on the ground like he was willing to take on any punishment.

"Lord young tribe leader, there is clear evidence, please punish this vile bastard fiercely!"

"Yes, he actually dared to steal young tribe leader's shoes. He might steal many more things later on."

"He is such a thief, we should just cut off his hands!"

The old slaves continued to speak extremely sinister words; Fei Cai's heart trembled but remembering Zhao Lian Yun's words, he did not retort.

This scene caused Ma Ying Jie to be somewhat interested.

Killing a slave was nothing, but Ma Ying Jie had always praised himself as 'wise and benevolent' to restrict himself so that when he took over the tribe in the future, he could become a wise ruler of the generation.

Especially now that Ma tribe had become the head of a huge army, their every move was being paid attention to by others. Rashly killing a slave just because of a small matter like stealing shoes, would it not be spread as brutal?

Ma Ying Jie had such misgivings in his heart.

A good reputation was easy to build but difficult to maintain.

Thereupon, he asked: "I have always dealt with things fairly. Fei Cai, I will give you a chance to explain yourself."

Fei Cai immediately let out a breath of relief, he had been waiting for these words just like Zhao Lian Yun instructed him. This gave him a huge confidence and he decided he would reply exactly according to Zhao Lian Yun's instructions.

"My father died because of the internal strife in the tribe, so young tribe leader obliterating Fei tribe can be said to have taken revenge for me. Young tribe leader is so wise and benevolent, how could I do a thing like returning benevolence with enmity?"

When Ma Ying Jie heard the words 'wise and benevolent', his mood immediately took a turn for the better as he asked in a gentle voice: "Hmm, then do you have some ulterior motives?"

Fei Cai, however, shook his head: "No ulterior motives, it is just that I wanted to repay young tribe leader. But what can I do? I am only a mortal, I have no ways to break through the enemy defense lines for young tribe leader. I am very stupid, I cannot bring forward any plans to young tribe leader. I am only your personal servant who can only clean shoes and place them properly. I thought in young tribe leader's place — these shoes have been put outside for so long that young tribe leader's feet might become cold when you wear them, right? So I used all my savings to buy this real silk to cover young tribe leader's shoes and held it in my clothes. With this, young tribe leader won't feel cold when you wear them."

"Eh? So it was like that!" Ma Ying Jie was greatly surprised.

He was obsessed with cleanliness and if Fei Cai had directly held the shoes in his clothes, he would instead be disgusted.

But covering the shoes with silk was different.

Moreover this was a genuine high grade silk. There should not be anyone who used such materials to cover shoes, right?

'This Fei Cai is really a good servant, he is actually so considerate.' Ma Ying Jie's thoughts moved and the gaze he looked at Fei Cai quietly changed.

If what Fei Cai said was true, his devotion was really overwhelming!

At this moment, Fei Cai suddenly kowtowed: "Young tribe leader, I have sinned!"

"Eh? What sin have you committed?" Ma Ying Jie looked at Fei Cai with a clear smile on his face.

Fei Cai replied: "I only thought of keeping the shoes warm for young tribe leader, but forgot it would be extremely inconvenient for you when you go out. I have sinned, please punish me!"

Ma Ying Jie heaved a sigh: "It is not like I only have one pair of shoes, but because I saw that the pair I usually wore had disappeared, I called you over. It is fortunate, I nearly blamed my loyal servant."

"Lord young tribe leader, don't listen to his words!"

"Lord young tribe leader, this kid is deceiving you, he is very crafty and is lying to you!!"

The old slaves experienced a reversal of fortune when they saw the normally stupid Fei Cai speak with such a glib tongue, and thus they began to hurriedly shout.

Fei Cai spoke again at this moment: "Young tribe leader, please inspect clearly. There is indeed a matter of stealing shoes, but I have never done it. Instead, it was these old slaves who did it many times. After I was appointed to this post, these old slaves incited me many times, but I never listened, thus they resent me. I am not afraid of being investigated and also not afraid of punishment. I earnestly request young tribe leader to investigate clearly and give me justice!"

Fei Cai was naturally not afraid of investigation as this was the first time he had stolen shoes! @@novelbin@@

He had heard the old slaves 'carelessly' speaking that a pair of the finest shoes could sell for a high price.

Fei Cai was ignorant; he had followed the young tribe leader for so long but had not paid attention to the look of the shoes young tribe leader wore, and thus was easily plotted against by the old slaves.

Fortunately, he met a crucial person during the crucial time. Zhao Lian Yun became his savior, and under her instructions, Fei Cai made a comeback and averted danger.

When the old slaves heard the request for investigation, their face turned as pale as paper.

Gu Masters had plenty of methods and could easily get to the bottom of this trivial affair.

These old slaves were already regretting their actions, never having expected for them to be the ones landing in deep trouble!

Ma Ying Jie noticed the change in the expressions of the old slaves, and became seventy-eighty percent convinced in Fei Cai. But since his resolve was to become a 'wise ruler', he naturally could not rashly decide based on his thoughts.

Immediately, he summoned an investigative Gu Master and commanded him to get to the bottom of this affair.

Receiving Ma Ying Jie's personal order, the investigative Gu Master investigated enthusiastically. In only five minutes of time, the truth of the matter was brought to light.

As the facts were disclosed, the old slaves kneeled on the ground and began weeping and howling with their bodies trembling in fear, asking the young tribe leader to forgive them.

Ma Ying Jie snorted: "Fawning upon your superiors and bullying your subordinates, you slaves actually dared to deceive me! You should all be put to death, but considering the many years you have served me, and that some of you even having served me since I was a child and also served my subordinates, I will forgive your cheap lives and send you to the supply camp to serve my army. Clean the faeces and latrine!"

"Thank you young tribe leader for showing mercy!" The old slaves kowtowed like they were pounding garlic, extremely thankful for this.

"As for you..." Ma Ying Jie looked at Fei Cai and smiled playfully, "You dared to steal my shoes, you truly are extremely daring! From now on, you shall be punished to be the head of the slaves and redeem yourself by serving me properly!"

Fei Cai was stumped for a long time before he came to his senses; Ma Ying Jie's punishment was actually a promotion!

He immediately kowtowed and expressed his thanks.

Ma Ying Jie laughed heartily and waved his hand: "Alright, now get lost, think properly on the ways to serve me!"

"Yes, my lord." Fei Cai left with a dazed expression the whole way.

Only after a long while did he become clear, he had profited from the disaster and became the head of the slaves!

"This is all thanks to Lady Xiao Yun... ah, right, Lady Xiao Yun told me to report to her quickly if everything went alright." Fei Cai shook his head and promptly change direction towards the secret place.

"What, you actually became the head of the slaves?" Zhao Lian Yun's eyes involuntarily widened when she heard this news, and looked at Fei Cai with surprise.

Her plan might have been ingenious but also carried risks in that it depended completely on Ma Ying Jie's mood.

If Ma Ying Jie was in a bad mood, he would only need to issue a death command and Fei Cai would be done for. But clearly, this big dummy was quite lucky and not only were there no accidents, he even got appointed as the head of the slaves.

-x-X-x-

Although servants were servants, the one tasked to take care of Ma tribe's young tribe leader was definitely a crucial person that was closely related to the tribe in many ways. Having such a role, if the low rank Gu Masters want to find out information about the higher-ups, they would need to go through the servant leader.

"What a huge profit, he became the servant leader, I am truly a genius!" Zhao Lian Yun laughed furiously in her heart, she did not waste her efforts after all.

She stared at Fei Cai with shining eyes, saying gently: "Big dummy, after you become the servant leader, you have to work hard."

Fei Cai shuddered at once, replying truthfully: "Lady Xiao Yun, I don't know why, but that tone of yours made me really nervous."

Zhao Lian Yun immediately changed her expression, kicking Fei Cai's leg as she screamed: "You idiot, now that you are the servant leader, your situation is more precarious than before. I wonder how many people will target you, and among them, there might even be vile and evil Gu Masters."

Fei Cai was shocked: "Then what should I do?"

"Hmph, you're lucky to have a friend like me. As long as you listen to what I say, I assure you, you will live blissfully." Zhao Lian Yun stretched out her hand, wanting to pat Fei Cai's shoulders, but found out that she was too short.

She immediately opened her mouth: "Quick, squat down now."

Fei Cai squatted down obediently, and Zhao Lian Yun succeeded in patting his shoulder, she nodded her tiny head in satisfaction, speaking in an old and experienced tone: "Do you know what to do next?"

Fei Cai naturally shook his head.

"Hmph, you idiot." Zhao Lian Yun snorted: "Since you are the servant leader now, and those old servants have already been sent away, you have to recruit new subordinates first. Otherwise, how can you handle everything alone?"

"Oh? You are extremely right!" Fei Cai realized at once, nodding in agreement.

Zhao Lian Yun snorted again: "But just this is not enough. You need to learn about the young tribe leader's likes, dislikes, and lifestyle habits. You have to ask those old servants for these information."

"What? Ask them? Will they tell me?" Fei Cai stared with wide opened eyes.

Zhao Lian Yun snickered: "You are now the servant leader, your status is different already. They are the lowest of slaves, I'm sure they are afraid of you taking revenge now. If you ask them, they are sure to tell you everything. Of course, if they do not know what is good for them, I have my ways of making them spill everything obediently!"

"Oh."

Zhao Lian Yun looked at Fei Cai's blank expression and rolled her eyes uncontrollably.

Her thoughts had already drifted far away: 'I am not a person of this world, hmph, there are simply too many ways to make these stinking men talk. As long as we learn about Ma Ying Jie's habits and please him accordingly, Fei Cai's current position would definitely be stable. Hehe...'

Cao Fu, Hei tribe camp.

All sorts of tents and Gu houses covered the wide grassland, as tribe flags fluttered in the wind, large numbers of Gu Masters entered and exited. If one looked from above, they would resemble a nest of ants.

In the supply camp, Fang Yuan held the east window Gu as he checked the resources silently.

The female Gu Master in charge of attending to him stayed focused as she stood at one side, waiting for Fang Yuan to make his decision at any moment.

Ever since they received Dong Fang tribe's reparations, the resources that could be exchanged for using battle merits had increased by more than ten times.

Of course, among these resources, not all of them were the compensation from war, other than Hei tribe's previous accumulation, there were also the resources offered by tribes who surrendered and joined the Hei tribe alliance army.

Just a few days ago, Hei Lou Lan organised another alliance meeting, and ordered the newly joined tribe leaders to make the poison vow.

To prevent the good things from being exchanged by others, once the resources were collated, Fang Yuan entered the supply camp at once.

Even Shadow Sword Expert and others, after they joined Hei tribe army, could not affect Fang Yuan's status of being second to only Hei Lou Lan.

Fang Yuan had such authority, the others definitely had issues with it, but no one dared to reprimand him in public.

"Oh? There's a rank four self-reliance Gu?" Fang Yuan's heart was moved, among these resources, he found the Gu that he had greatly desired.

Self-reliance Gu was rather precious, Fang Yuan had a rank three version of it in Southern Border, but after coming to Northern Plains, it was suppressed to rank two. Fang Yuan did not have the relevant Gu recipe, he could not advance it further.

Earlier, he had found a self-reliance Gu in Hei tribe's resources, but it was rank two. Without a choice, he planned to collect the Gu recipe and use these two Gu as the foundation to refine the higher rank Gu.

But this way, it would take eons for him to get a high rank self-reliance Gu. If his luck was bad and he failed the refinement several times, the duration would be prolonged further.

Now, he found this rank four self-reliance Gu, without doubt, he had to get it!

Other than rank four self-reliance Gu, he also found the rank four charging crash Gu. But he had already bought the rank three vertical charge and horizontal crash Gu earlier, and had succeeded in refining them into a rank four charging crash Gu.

Diverting his attention from charging crash Gu, Fang Yuan found several good things, especially Dong Fang tribe's unique Gu worms.

Even with his five hundred years of experience, Fang Yuan was still very interested upon seeing these things.

What attracted him the most was the refine essence spirit Gu.

If it was categorised, this should be a healing Gu worm.

Refine essence spirit Gu could convert the essence of a Gu Master's physical flesh into a mysterious form of energy that could nurture and heal the soul.

There were many Gu worms that could heal the soul, but this refine essence spirit Gu was far superior to its peers. Dong Fang Yu Liang had such a Gu worm, and it was a huge support to his wisdom path deductions.

As for Fang Yuan, this Gu suited him even more.

Different from Dong Fang Yu Liang, Fang Yuan was a dual enslavement and strength path cultivator, his body was strong and his mind was sharp, his soul often felt weakness and exhaustion from commanding the beast groups. The refine essence spirit Gu could be the perfect bridge between his two paths!

Among the resources, other than refine essence spirit Gu, there was also the recipe for it, Fang Yuan took them all.

According to rumors, this Gu recipe was especially created by Dong Fang tribe's Gu Immortal Dong Fang Chang Fan in order to cultivate wisdom path. This meant that Dong Fang tribe had much greater attainments in wisdom path than others.

After Fang Yuan obtains this recipe, as well as the refine essence spirit Gu, it would be the same as obtaining Dong Fang tribe's experimental results for himself.

Gu worms only need one thought from the Gu Master to self-detonate. If this was during normal times, it would not be so easy for Fang Yuan to obtain refine essence spirit Gu.

The Imperial Court competition every ten years was not only a purification and refinement process to weed out the weak, it also assisted in the interactions between all the large forces.

The way of Gu originated from the Immemorial Antiquity era, and Ren Zu was the first Gu Master who used Gu worms. After that, there was the Remote Antiquity era, Olden Antiquity era, Medieval Antiquity era, followed by the Late Antiquity era.

Until today, the way of Gu prospered, in fact it was blooming all over the world, countless paths were created from all the eras like ripples in the river of time, numerous paths flourished at times while vanishing at others.

But because of the harsh living environment, the concept of trading was not very popular with people, all the large forces liked to do their own research and treasured their findings, keeping it from others.

Back then, one of the invincible venerables, Giant Sun, felt this and set up this huge arena. Because of the battle reparations, the Huang Jin family could pass on their learning throughout the ages, grasping the overlord position of Northern Plains throughout history without declining.

After countless Imperial Court battles, Northern Plains became the publicly acclaimed strongest region out of the five in terms of fighting strength.

"But if we look at total power, Central Continent is the strongest, followed by Northern Plains." Fang Yuan had his previous life's memories, he understood clearly the strength of the five regions.

During the battle of the five regions, Northern Plains was the region which resisted Central Continent most fiercely. The other three regions, although having the same terrain advantage as Northern Plains, were suppressed fiercely by Central Continent.

Only Northern Plains managed to organise troops to fight back, invading Central Continent in return.

"Northern Plains has such great strength all thanks to Giant Sun Immortal Venerable's setup. Because he used battles and war, while restricting it to a certain level, it allowed Northern Plains to hone the greatest fighting strength. Unfortunately, his plans were still too restricted, he only cared about his bloodline's benefits. In contrast, Central Continent was strong due to their systemic reforms, it was an advantage that stemmed from their core."

Fang Yuan came from Earth, he had a unique perspective, together with his five hundred years of experience, he had a clear understanding towards the true nature of society.

"Eh, there are over a dozen amplify effect Gu?" Fang Yuan collected his scattered thoughts as he continued looking at the list, finding a new surprise.

Amplify effect Gu was from the rule path, it was used to supplement other Gu worms, to amplify the effects of the chosen Gu worm.

As for the amplification level, it would depend on the rank of the amplify effect Gu. The higher the rank, the greater the effect. Of course, the drawback was that the Gu Master's primeval essence expenditure would be relatively higher.

Amplify effect Gu was very popular among Gu Masters, because it could be used in any path.

Fire path Gu Masters could use it, water path Gu Masters could use it, and for Fang Yuan, both his enslavement and strength paths could use amplify effect Gu.

Among Hei tribe's resources, there was only one rank five amplify effect Gu! There were also one rank four, three rank three, and the rest of the amplify effect Gu were rank two.

Fang Yuan had to pick the best one, he chose the rank five amplify effect Gu, it would boost the effectiveness of a Gu worm by five times! @@novelbin@@

But this way, a new problem occurred.

"Lord Wolf King, you want to take so many Gu, your battle merits might not be enough..." The female Gu Master in charge reminded him as she chose her words carefully.

"Ah, I know. After all one of the rank five Gu is amplify effect Gu. That refine essence spirit Gu is also Dong Fang tribe's specialty Gu worm." Fang Yuan's words were very understanding and accommodating.

But his next sentence was not like this: "Never mind if I do not have enough battle merits, just credit another five hundred thousand."

"Ah?" The female Gu Master was shocked, she carefully said: "Lord, you still owe around three hundred thousand of the previous five hundred thousand battle merits you borrowed. According to the rules, you have to pay them first before borrowing again."

Fang Yuan raised his brows, saying nonchalantly: "So what, rules are made by men, since they can be made, they can be altered. I'll borrow another five hundred thousand, no, eight hundred thousand! I will explain to Hei Lou Lan personally, now give me the goods!"

-x-X-x-

The weather was gradually starting to get cold and gales started blowing over the grassland causing the beast groups to become fretful.

The aura of the ten year blizzard was already manifesting.

And in the majestic northern plains, heroes were rising and vying for supremacy causing the flames of war to burn everywhere.

Mirror lake.

Ma tribe and Song tribe had officially started their battle.

Both of them had erected three to four defense lines before starting this confrontation.

In Ma tribe's main tent, Ma tribe leader Ma Shang Feng was in the main seat looking with a heavy gaze at Song tribe's dense battle formation that was surging battle intent; Ma tribe's military force was stronger than theirs, but it would not be easy getting the victory.

"Lord alliance leader, please send me out to challenge enemy general and raise our army's prestige!"

"Alliance leader, Fei Sheng requests to be sent to battle."

"The first battle belongs to me, no one shall compete with me!"

Gu Masters were very impatient and eager as they requested to be sent to battle one after another,

Ma Shang Feng looked around him before hesitating at Fei Sheng and Cheng Hu.

The two were both rank four Gu Masters. Fei Sheng cultivated wood path and had been taken in by Ma tribe after they annexed Fei tribe. Cheng Hu cultivation transformation path and came from Cheng tribe. Cheng tribe was subjugated by Ma tribe during heroes assembly and was now the second most influential force in Ma tribe army.

Ma Shang Feng pondered and then smiled towards Cheng Hu: "Cheng Hu, you shall go first and stimulate my army's morale."

Cheng Hu was overjoyed as he hurriedly bowed and rushed towards the frontline.

"Hah, I am Cheng Hu, who dares to approach their death?" Cheng Hu challenged loudly.

"Arrogant! Let me Su Yi teach you a lesson!" A rank four expert flew out of Song tribe army.

Cheng Hu did not say anything else but directly pounced towards the other person.

Bam bam bam...

The two were incomparably valiant and attacked with grand momentum. For a moment, the stronger and the weaker side could not be determined; the two continued to exchange moves, sending rocks, grass and mud flying around in their battle ring.

The two armies concentrated on the battle with all their attention.

Lower ranked Gu Masters felt their heart shaking, while the upper ranked Gu Master experts were fired up.

Northern plains was filled with many brave heroes and the blood of warriors permeated the bones of their Gu Master!

"Alliance leader, Fei Sheng requests to be sent to battle!" Fei Sheng shouted with a fierce glint in his eyes. He was a newly subjugated person and was filled with enthusiasm to show his loyalty.

Ma Shang Feng nodded with a smile.

Fei Sheng went to the battlefield and Song tribe army also sent their expert to battle him.

The two had just exchanged three moves when at the other battle ring, Cheng Hu suddenly roared, his whole body giving off dazzling orange light.

After the orange light dispersed, he had unexpectedly transformed into a striped tiger king, the size of an elephant!

Cheng Hu was a transformation path Gu Master and could change parts of his body into a tiger tail, tiger claws, tiger skin and so on. The complete transformation was a killer move!

This was also the superiority of transformation path — every transformation path Gu Master possessed at least one killer move as long as they collected the respective Gu worms!

Su Yi turned pale with fright and started to retreat in panic.

The tiger king pounced on him; Su Yi frantically activated his movement Gu and narrowly dodged this attack.

The tiger king swung his tail without turning around; the tail lashed through the air like a steel whip, producing an explosive sound through the air.

Su Yi quickly activated his defense Gu which created a light barrier over his whole body.

But the tiger whip was very powerful and as it fell on the light barrier, the barrier was broken in an instant.

The defense Gu died and Su Yi spurted out a large mouthful of blood due to the backlash. He hurriedly tried to retreat, but it was too late.

An intense bloody wind pounced on his face and the next moment he only saw a huge tiger mouth shrouding over his head.

Crack!

The tiger king directly bit apart Su Yi's head.

Cheng Hu won, obtaining the first victory for Ma tribe!

Song tribe's higher ups were slightly moved while Ma tribe's troops rejoiced.

'Victory! A great start means half the success! Today, my army will definitely win!' In the main tent, Ma Ying Jie clenched his fists, an extraordinary light flashing past his eyes as his spirits roused to the limit.

And on another battlefield...

In the vast battlefield, one side was shouting in high spirits with their banners fluttering grandly in the air. While the other side's army formation was shaking, their morale low and was already showing signs of defeat.

"Alliance leader Luo, the enemy's momentum is too fierce, we can't hold them back!"

"We need to retreat..."

"A commander needs to be able to judge the situation properly. Right now, Liu tribe's experts are like tigers, our army truly cannot match them."

The several higher ranked Gu Masters shouted hurriedly, all of them panicked.

Luo Bo Jun looked around him and smiled bitterly: "Retreat? Tell me, where can we still retreat to? This is already our last defense line. Sigh... forget it, since the battle with Liu Wen Wu started, which of our defense lines could hold for more than three days? They are way too strong, we might as well surrender!"

In the first battle, Luo Bo Jun was heavily injured by Liu Wen Wu, Mo Shi Kuang and others; he had yet to recover from it.

These days, Luo tribe army kept on being defeated again and again, no matter how much efforts he made, he was unable to reverse the situation. Now, as he completely realized the enormous gap between the two sides, he became disheartened and had already lost any intent to battle.

The higher ranked Gu Masters let out a sigh of relief at this. Because of poison vow, they could not easily say it, but since Luo Bo Jun himself mentioned surrendering, there was no problem.

The command to surrender was quickly spread and the battle also soon calmed down.

"Hahaha, didn't I say it, as long as we three brothers join hands, we can rule the world!" Mo Shi Kuang laughed heartily, extremely proud of himself.

Liu Wen Wu also laughed, his heart filled with huge joy.

Liu tribe alliance had won their first battle!

Now, they would annex the enemy army, take in the captives and increase their strength before continuing forward!

...

Meng Qiu.

The leopard group hissed and growled as they fought a bloody battle with rat group.

The great army of Gu Masters of the both sides instead became a background.

Nu Er Tu held his hands behind his back with his head high; mutated leopards moved beside him, showing their dignity and prestige.

By contrast, his opponent Jiang Bao Ya - who was publicly proclaimed as one of the enslavement path masters of northern plains - was sweating greatly and was as pale as paper.

"Jiang Bao Ya, you have already lost. Do you know how you lost? Your rat group's scale is too large, reaching six hundred and fifty thousand in numbers. Troops are valued for their quality not for their numbers, it is the same with beast groups as well. Now, quietly become a stepping stone for my name to spread in northern plains!" Nu Er Tu lightly spoke but his tranquil voice resounded within everyone's ears.

"No, I haven't lost yet, I still have my trump card!" Jiang Bao Ya let out a hysterical shout, "I will let you gain a first hand experience in my enslavement path killer move which I have never displayed before — Rat Epidemic!"

The moment he finished speaking, hundreds of thousands of rats self-destructed at the same time.

The leopard group suffered disastrous casualties in this chain explosion.

The ground slightly shook, turfs were flipped over, soil and stones splattered everywhere, and huge amount of yellow poison gas started appearing.

The surviving leopard group was covered by this poison gas, immediately becoming sickly with their movement slowed down; their battle strength had sharply fallen.

By contrast, Jiang Bao Ya's rat group moved around in this yellow poison gas without being affected.

"Hahaha, the final winner is me, Jiang Bao Ya! Young man, you want to step on my position, keep on training for five hundred years more!" Jiang Bao Ya howled with laughter.

"Hmph! I had intended to keep on hiding it, but since you want to die, don't blame me." Nu Er Tu snorted, a sinister smile appearing on his face.

He suddenly shouted: "Killer move — Leopard Dash!"

Howl!

Leopard group howled and unfolded an unmatchable mad charge.

"This?!" Jiang Bao Ya's eyes opened wide, the leopard group's battle strength had surged by over two times, furthermore their speed increased by an astonishing eight times!

Under everyone's dumbfounded look, the leopard group quickly charged out of the area covered by the yellow poison gas and breathed in fresh air, before charging forward like a terrifying tsunami, swallowing and engulfing everything!

...

Du Jiao.

A large battlefield had already ended.

Fire blazed towards the sky, the whole battlefield covered by raging inferno.

A Gu Master stood loftily in the inferno like a fire deity.

He played with the fire in his hand, changing it into all kinds of shapes as he looked at the surrounding Gu Masters with his narrow eyes and spoke, his voice appearing extremely cruel and cold in the blazing inferno: "It is your honor to be defeated by my supreme fire path. Surrender, otherwise... all of you and this lowly grass shall turn into ashes."

The surrounding Gu Masters looked dejectedly at each other.

After few breaths of time, they kneeled one after another.

"I... we... surrender..."

... @@novelbin@@

After Hei tribe obtained the first victory against Dong Fang tribe, the curtains to many large battles, that had started over Northern Plains, also fell one after another.

The defeated did not lose everything; some surrendered and some ran away choosing to side with another force. This was only the initial stage of the struggle for Imperial Court, they still had hope and chance.

The winners swallowed the weak, obtaining huge amounts of war reparations and expanding themself.

The countless corpses of beast groups, Gu Masters and ordinary mortals instead became nourishments for the grassland, and in the future would sink down under the snowy land, doomed for eternity.

Winner takes all!

After resting and reorganizing for over ten days at Cao Fu, Hei Lou Lan finished absorbing the captives, expanding his military strength by sixty percent and resumed the expedition.

This time, his target was Guan Xi.

The Gu tribe 1 army stationed there had weak military strength and thus became the optimum target for Hei Lou Lan to expand his force.

Seven days later, Hei tribe army confronted Gu tribe army.

Gu tribe suffered a huge defeat at the first battle. Gu tribe alliance leader Gu Guo Long resolutely gave the order to abandon their three defense lines without using them and retreated to their tribe's main camp.

Hei Lou Lan laughed heartily as he led his army with a crushing momentum.

But at the final battlefield, he was dumbstruck and asked his subordinates: "How is there a mountain here?"

Gu tribe army might be weak but they had their own ways. They built up a mountain by piling stones and garrisoned on the mountain, with countless traps set around the foot of the mountain. They occupied the high ground, having huge geographical advantage. Their intention to defend to the death was abundantly clear.

Hei tribe army attacked several times but were defeated every time, leaving behind large numbers of corpses.

Fang Yuan looked at the battlefield with indifference and did not use his full strength in mobilizing the wolf group, only doing it to show he was putting some effort. Adding in that there were many trees and undergrowth on the mountain, the wolf group could not show their strength properly and were instead separated and killed. Thus, the battle situation might be progressing but it was very slow.

Above all, Gu tribe army was still continuing to add in stones to the mountain, making this mountain become taller and taller.

Hei Lou Lan was furious: "Gu Guo Long is as obstinate as the rumors said. After I win, I will definitely step on him to death!"

However, the situation was still not optimistic.

Just the rocks dropped by mere mortals possessed the strength of a rank one Gu when dropped from such a height.

"If I had known this earlier, I would not have come here to chew on such a hard bone!" Hei Lou Lan had the intent to retreat, but right at this time, a person walked out of the camp.

This person held a letter as he came in front of Hei Lou Lan: "This old man Tai Bai Yun Sheng received benefactor's letter and came to lend you a hand."

Hei Lou Lan was joyous as he grabbed this person's hands: "With old sir helping us, we can definitely succeed!"