Chapter 506

After days of ominous rain, the sky finally clears. Hei alliance’s army flows toward Cao Fu in a grand formation of vanguard, support and flanking troops around a long middle column. A steel armored twin-headed rhino, a rank four strength beast moving on sixteen pairs of pillar-like legs and controlled by an enslavement path Gu Master, carries Hei tribe’s main tent on its back. Hei Lou Lan sits at its center, black, fat and hairy faced, drinking wine and boasting there is no need to fear Dong Fang Yu Liang. Most of the rank four and rank three peak stage higher-ups in the tent laugh along in agreement. ^{ch. 506}

Fang Yuan sits apart with his eyes resting. He is ignored by no one yet joins nothing, until Hei Lou Lan toasts him as Brother Shan Yin, mentions the assassination, and promises he can deal with Shadow Sword Expert himself once she is captured after the coming victory. When the Gu Master in charge of camp defenses dismisses the assassination attempt as nothing to fear, Fang Yuan snaps at him for letting an infiltrator come and go unchallenged, and the tent falls quiet until Hei Lou Lan smooths it over. Fang Yuan cuts him off to demand the materials and Gu worms he was promised, using the assassination as leverage; Hei Lou Lan, briefly annoyed, says they have already been sent to his tent. Satisfied, Fang Yuan announces he is going to cultivate and to call him when the battle begins, then leaves without waiting for a reply, jumping down from the rhino. ^{ch. 506}

Hei Lou Lan slams down his cup, unable to tolerate Fang Yuan’s arrogance even as alliance leader. Into the silence, Cunning Gentleman Sun Shi Han remarks that he now understands why Chang tribe could not tolerate this Wolf King, and the tent’s expressions show quiet agreement. Hei Lou Lan offers him Fang Yuan’s now empty seat. Sun Shi Han, a rank four initial stage Gu Master extremely shameless yet untouchable behind a plausible excuse for every scheme, knows he is not qualified to sit there, but he has a plan. ^{ch. 506}

He stands, bows, and says he has spent seven days and nights preparing twenty-three ideas for the coming battle, then delivers them one by one, showing deep familiarity with Dong Fang alliance’s forces; Hei Lou Lan praises the result as a good plan. Sun Shi Han then offers a new idea he says came to him just earlier. He calls it expressing weakness to the enemy. The plan holds Wolf King back so that only after Dong Fang Yu Liang’s methods are exhausted against them does Chang Shan Yin strike to finish him off, since Dong Fang Yu Liang will surely try again after the failed soul explosion attempt. The tent reacts with raised brows and silence; Hei Lou Lan calls the plan not bad and says they will see about it. Pleased with this vague approval, Sun Shi Han accepts the offered seat by kneeling and kowtowing to Hei Lou Lan, drawing disdain from many Gu Masters and thoughtful looks from some older tribe leaders. ^{ch. 506}

Elsewhere, three enslavement path Gu Masters, E Xuan Ming, Jiang Wan Shan and Wei Xin, greet Dong Fang Yu Liang in his study. They are the most outstanding of the several enslavement Gu Masters serving different tribes in Dong Fang alliance, though none of them match Fang Yuan. Dong Fang Yu Liang tells them plainly he has called them to discuss how to deal with Wolf King Chang Shan Yin. The three exchange fearful looks at the name. He is an enslavement master who shook northern plains decades ago, who has challenged three mid-sized tribes in one night, has gained the night wolf emperor, and now controls half a million wolves with Hei tribe’s help, able to affect the whole battle alone. Though despite their fear they agree to follow his instructions. ^{ch. 506}

Dong Fang Yu Liang changes the subject and asks about their enslavement path cultivation, and E Xuan Ming admits shame that his crocodile group numbers only about fifty thousand despite his tribe’s support. Jiang Wan Shan explains he only became an enslavement path Gu Master after finding a small inheritance of Blood Sea Ancestor on an expedition, which gave him a group of bladewing blood bats. Gathering the rest of the needed Gu since has gone slowly. Wei Xin, the oldest and strongest of the three, says the soul is the hardest part of enslavement path cultivation, since ordinary strengthening and refining Gu work too inefficiently; twenty years of near daily cultivation have brought him only to eight hundred man crabman soul. ^{ch. 506}

Hearing this, Dong Fang Yu Liang understands from his own cultivation and admits that coptis rhizome Gu and slow slicing Gu cost him ten years to reach a thousand man soul. The three look at him with admiration once they learn what those Gu demand. Coptis rhizome Gu leaves a user unable to taste anything but bitterness, eventually unable to eat at all and wasted thin from long use. Slow slicing Gu refines the soul by removing its impurities at the cost of pain like flesh sliced away piece by piece. Dong Fang Yu Liang’s own rank five cultivation at his young age came at just such a cost. He turns serious and asks whether they know Dong Fang tribe’s three person killer move, Three Hearts Combination Soul, a technique the three recognize at once by reputation. ^{ch. 506}