Turtleback Wolf Group
An investigative Gu Master reports a large turtleback wolf group three thousand li ahead, estimated at ten thousand wolves, and Ge tribe leader orders another look. The elders judge the group a difficult bone to chew, and all of them realize Man tribe is unwilling to let them go. Most troops halt and form a circular formation, and Gu Masters nervously raise high walls, archer towers and many layers of defense. The higher-ups watch from the central tent. Ge tribe leader sends his son Ge Guang to invite Lord Chang Shan Yin, unwilling to waste any battle strength in a fight for the tribe’s survival. ch. 451
Ge Guang meets Fang Yuan outside the tent and reports that the wolves will arrive in about eight minutes. Inside, the leader thanks the Wolf King for his help and shows him a map of the terrain and defensive lines. Fang Yuan praises the arrangement. He points to a river beside the camp as a defense. The leader answers that most troops move too slowly to reach the river and set up new defenses in time. On laden big stomach horses the mortals would fall behind and might be annihilated, and mortals are the cornerstone of every tribe. ch. 451
Fang Yuan replies that if they cannot go to the river, the river can come to them, and the higher-ups seize on digging a canal. Turtleback wolves are heavy and cannot swim, so those falling in will sink and drown. The leader orders the first, seventh and eighteenth troops, led by Ge Cui, Ge Xiang and Ge Mi, to stop their tasks and dig the canal. The third, fifth and sixteenth troops take over their unfinished work. Letter Gu fly out to carry the order. The leader thanks Fang Yuan again from the heart; this suggestion alone could save around a hundred Gu Masters and cut casualties. The elders’ gaze at him changes faintly into praise and admiration. ch. 451
Scouts count over thirty-eight thousand wolves. The canal is finished with the river water drawn in when the wolves are five hundred li away, and three defensive lines are done at three hundred li. The northern defensive line meets the attack first, and Gu Masters cut down dozens of wolves with wind blades before switching to fire Gu and lightning Gu. Countless turtleback wolves are bruised or die on the spot against earth walls reinforced with copper and iron, yet wave after wave presses on. The southeast and northeast lines join in, and Ge tribe moves very orderly thanks to its preparation. An enormous turtleback myriad wolf king appears and divides the wolf group into five to six groups circling the camp for a hole in the defense. ch. 451
On a nameless hill outside the battlefield, Man tribesmen conceal themselves and watch through investigative Gu. Man Hao smiles at Ge tribe’s calamity, and Man Hong, Man Tu’s eldest son at rank three middle stage, calls Ge tribe leader an old fox for the canal but expects serious losses against over thirty thousand wolves. Man Hong is not truly the young tribe leader, but Man Hao, his zealous supporter, flatters him with the title. Man Hong accepts it, saying that finishing the important task his father gave him will earn great merit and might make him young tribe leader. He regrets that Man Duo did not come, since he could have removed that rival, and Man Hao replies that Man Duo is no match for Man Hong. Hundred wolf kings then move, the casualties rise sharply, and two to three hundred wolf kings smash the earth walls and pierce the defense. Man Hong smiles at the dying Ge tribe Gu Masters. ch. 451
His smile stiffens when he sees a wolf enslavement Gu enter a hundred wolf king through the investigative Gu. The king changes its alignment and howls, throwing nearby wolves into chaos, and these turtleback wolves follow it to the Ge tribe camp and gather under a Gu Master. Man Hong asks whether the Gu Master is the Wolf King, Chang Shan Yin. Man Hao confirms it. Man Hong scoffs that his father called Chang Shan Yin the greatest uncertainty and says he will see what ability the man has. ch. 451
