Chapter 479

Fang Yuan is briefed in Ge tribe’s main tent: Pei, Bei and Zheng tribe have allied against them, with Pei tribe leader Pei Yan Fei, a rank four peak stage fighter already famous across northern plains, Bei tribe fielding two enslavement path Gu Masters, and Zheng tribe backed by its lightning spear battle formation. Fang Yuan judges Bei and Zheng tribe each roughly equal to Ge tribe’s old strength at Hong Yan valley, rating Bei’s enslavement path Gu Masters capable of meeting his wolves head on and Zheng’s lightning spears a trump card not to be dismissed. Fang Yuan wants souls for Dang Hun Mountain. He welcomes the coming fight with a cold smile. ^{ch. 479}

Asked what Ge tribe should do, Fang Yuan rejects retreat and defense alike and orders an immediate strike, arguing offense is the best defense. The elders are stunned, since no one before him had proposed attacking an alliance two to three times Ge tribe’s strength, and Ge Guang meekly questions giving up the camp’s defenses. Fang Yuan reasons the enemy would expect exactly that caution, so surprise is the advantage, and he sets the order of attack by distance: Bei tribe first, then Zheng tribe, then Pei tribe last. He warns the battle will be tragic and calls for sacrifice, promising that devouring all three tribes will leave Ge tribe stronger still. ^{ch. 479}

That night the wolves pour out of camp with Ge tribe’s Gu Masters mixed among them, and Fang Yuan rides out laughing on the white-eyes wolf, calling the weather good for killing. This mount was once an infant wolf aged rapidly by a time path Gu worm; it now stands slim and white-furred, only a little smaller than a hump wolf, but fights no stronger than an ordinary hundred wolf king, since its forced growth left it no time to draw wild Gu into its body. ^{ch. 479}

Fang Yuan reads Bei tribe’s bright watch-lights and sparse guards on the wall as false bravado rather than real strength, and orders the Yan tribe captives to lead the charge under Ge tribe watch, with death for anyone who flees or rebels. Night wolf myriad beast king and turtleback myriad wolf king smash the wall in a rapid assault, the turtleback king’s thick body doing the most damage, and the wall collapses before Bei tribe’s reinforcements can arrive. Seeing two different wild wolf packs fighting in concert, Bei tribe leader immediately names the only person who could command them: Wolf King Chang Shan Yin. Bei tribe’s grass puppet Gu raises a wall of grass sword elite soldiers that holds the wolves back only until the tribe leader’s primeval essence runs dry, and he then orders a retreat toward Zheng tribe to keep the tribe alive. ^{ch. 479}

Fang Yuan declares the first of three battles won, leaves a party to secure the camp, and turns the tens of thousands of wolves toward Zheng tribe instead of chasing the fleeing Bei tribesmen. The fleeing Bei tribesmen, terrified by the size of the army, realize with dread that Chang Shan Yin means to take Zheng tribe as well, and their leader can only watch in helpless fury as the wolves stampede past toward his ally. ^{ch. 479}