Chapter 525

By the northern plains calendar it is now the middle of June, when the season should be summer, but the ten year blizzard’s aura has already thickened the sky. The struggle for Imperial Court keeps spreading like wildfire. ^{ch. 525}

At Mirror lake, Ma tribe breaks through two of Song tribe’s defense lines running, and Song tribe alliance leader Song Qing Yin’s counterattack only wins back one of them. Soon after, Ma tribe’s enslavement master Ma Zun mobilizes his trump card pegasus group and kills Song Qing Yin in the air. Song tribe collapses without him, worsened by discord Ma tribe has secretly sown, and Ma tribe annexes most of the beaten army while the rest scatter. Song Qing Yin, one of northern plains’ few flying masters and a rank five initial stage Water Fairy, dies to become a stepping stone for Ma Zun’s rise. People are already, faintly, calling Ma Zun northern plains’ foremost enslavement path master. ^{ch. 525}

At Meng Qiu, Nu Er Tu’s leopard group unexpectedly overpowers the veteran enslavement master Jiang Bao Ya. The win alone lifts Nu Er Tu, who had only switched to enslavement path midway through his career, into the ranks of northern plains’ enslavement masters. He is now spoken of alongside Jiang Bao Ya, Yang Po Ying, Ma Zun and Chang Shan Yin as one of the five beast kings. The win costs him dearly: Jiang Bao Ya’s rat epidemic counterattack has already devastated his troops, and even after annexing the enemy remnants and their reparations, his army’s momentum stays hobbled. Jiang Bao Ya himself escapes with his life and regathers a remnant army. His rat group is cut from over six hundred thousand to under three hundred thousand. Even as a defeated general, he still draws interest from more than ten forces sending invitations. ^{ch. 525}

At Du Jiao, Ye Lui Sang, empowered by an Immortal Gu and wielding rank five peak stage fire path strength, sweeps past his last rival. He dominates the region. But as his army spreads like an unstoppable fire, an alliance of seven armies, none of them super tribes but each fielding famous experts and at least over a hundred thousand troops, pincers him from all sides and turns his momentum into peril. ^{ch. 525}

Liu tribe, meanwhile, presses closer to Hei tribe every day under Liu Wen Wu’s personal command. Gu Guo Long had earlier begged Liu Wen Wu for rescue, and Liu Wen Wu had seen the chance to pincer Hei tribe from behind. But his army is still only halfway there when word arrives that Gu Guo Long has already lost and sworn allegiance to Hei Lou Lan, all because of Tai Bai Yun Sheng. Liu Wen Wu is shocked, and reads it correctly as Hei tribe’s own Gu Immortal moving from the shadows. Under Ancestor Giant Sun’s rule, a Gu Immortal can give some help to mortals in the struggle for Imperial Court, but absolutely cannot move in person. Both Ye Lui Sang’s Immortal Gu and Tai Bai Yun Sheng’s arrival are exactly such pieces moved from behind the board. Liu Wen Wu can call on his own supporting Immortal in turn. ^{ch. 525}

In Liu Wen Wu’s own judgment, Hei Lou Lan’s gain of Tai Bai Yun Sheng is more dangerous than Wolf King Chang Shan Yin. A man with that much grace owed to him across both righteous and demonic paths could draw a terrifying number of grateful followers. His presence alone would pull wavering demonic Gu Masters toward Hei tribe as their best road into the Imperial Court. He weighs that Hei Lou Lan’s defeat of a super tribe already brought richer reparations than his own wins over lesser alliances. He also weighs that Tai Bai Yun Sheng is now a living signboard for Hei tribe. Liu Wen Wu decides delay only helps his rival. He orders the march to continue. ^{ch. 525}

Hei Lou Lan welcomes the news gladly and has his army build a new defense line at every thousand li. They garrison each line for several days as they advance. Twelve days and four defense lines later, the two armies close to within five hundred li of each other, and the challenge stage opens between them. ^{ch. 525}

Hei tribe’s Hao Ji Liu charges out first, matched against Liu tribe’s Pei Yan Fei. Both are rank four upper stage, and twenty moves leave them still even. As both run low on primeval essence, Hao Ji Liu opens with waterfall Gu, and Pei Yan Fei dodges by taking to the sky. He then unleashes his killer move, Golden Rainbow Strike, a fusion of golden coat, swallow wings and rainbow transformation Gu that bursts him through what should be Hao Ji Liu’s body. It is only a decoy: Hao Ji Liu had read that Pei Yan Fei lacked strong detection Gu, and used the waterfall’s cover to plant a water image Gu double while hiding his real body inside the falling water. Pei Yan Fei senses the trap the instant he bursts through it and flees on swallow wings Gu before Hao Ji Liu can strike; Hao Ji Liu wins, but is unsettled by how close that killer move came. ^{ch. 525}

Mo Shi Kuang wants to fight next, but Liu Wen Wu instead sends his sworn second brother, Ouyang Bi Sang. Ouyang Bi Sang is a demonic Gu Master; he and Mo Shi Kuang met by chance years ago at an inheritance site and bonded with after clearing its trials together. Ouyang Bi Sang offers Hao Ji Liu, known as Water Demon, the chance to rest and recover first. Water Demon declines and withdraws. Word of Ouyang Bi Sang’s record has already spread: he once killed a rank five alliance leader in battle, and as a rank four peak stage transformation path expert, the same rank as Mo Shi Kuang, his battle strength matches a rank five Gu Master’s. ^{ch. 525}

Hei Lou Lan has no easy answer. His own rank fives are unusable, since he cannot leave his post as alliance leader, and Tai Bai Yun Sheng is a healer rather than a fighter. Sending the newly subdued Gu Guo Long against a rank four peak stage opponent would break the etiquette of the challenge and invite ridicule. Of his rank four Gu Masters, Chang Shan Yin and Tang Miao Ming are excluded as enslavement path fighters and Hao Ji Liu has already fought, leaving only Pan Ping, who doubts he can win, and the veiled, cold eyed Bian Si Xuan. Hei Lou Lan turns to her. She agrees only to keep herself alive, promising nothing more, and even bound by her own poison vow, Hei Lou Lan cannot force her to fight to the death. ^{ch. 525}