Chapter 536

Fang Yuan would not avenge the dead Wolf King even if he learned who ruined him, because Chang Shan Yin is merely a mask. He declares himself Chang tribe’s one and only supreme elder and says the matters from back then need a thorough investigation, but only after the Imperial Court contest ends. Chang Ji You becomes tribe leader and Chang Biao the number one elder, while Ni Xue Tong, whose relationship with Chang Shan Yin is over, stays Chang Biao’s wife. Fang Yuan sends the three away so that he can keep cultivating. ^{ch. 536}

Outside, Chang Biao, demoted from tribe leader, is overjoyed to have survived, believing the matter back then was done flawlessly. Back then he deliberately befriended Chang Shan Yin. Ni Xue Tong, spared the forced return to Chang Shan Yin she had dreaded, still feels a loss she will not admit. ^{ch. 536}

Chang Ji You feels joy, confusion and suspicion. His father called him by name and not son, and made him tribe leader at only rank three. He takes this for a test of whether he can earn recognition as a son, and vows to perform well in the coming fight for the Imperial Court. ^{ch. 536}

In Fang Yuan’s previous life, Chang Shan Yin backed Ma Hong Yun’s rise to Lord of the Imperial Court and held complete control over Chang tribe. Fang Yuan’s first aperture uses rank five peak stage primeval essence and his second has reached rank five middle stage. Earlier he could definitely fight the killer move three heads six arms of Liu Wen Wu and his brothers with strength path. Rank five amplify effect Gu already gives him enough explosive force, but unleashing five hundred jun of strength would definitely crumble his own body first, since impermanence bones and turtle jade wolf skin cannot sustain it. Enslavement and strength path have some conflict, so muscles and tendons modified for one would not serve the other. Lacking Luo Po valley, he defers soul path and must perfect his enslavement-strength route. ^{ch. 536}

Fang Yuan takes out east window Gu, a storage Gu from Lang Ya land spirit, which holds three heads six arms. The move became part of the reparation after Hei tribe defeated Liu tribe, and he exchanged battle merits for it. It needs eighteen Gu worms of rank three to five used together by three Gu Masters. He cannot use it. Studying the recipe gives him an idea of enlarging his body to carry both paths. ^{ch. 536}

In July battles leave fewer than fifty armies. In the middle of the month at Du Jiao region, Ye Lui army defeats the alliance of seven armies, and Ye Lui Sang kills three rank five Gu Masters. The biggest achiever is Wu Ming, a hidden elder of Qi Lian tribe and its leader’s godson, a rank five middle stage dark path Gu Master. Wu Ming sneaks into the enemy camp and kills two rank five experts and thirteen rank four Gu Masters, spreading fear and low morale. ^{ch. 536}

Yang tribe surges in August after recruiting the enslavement master Jiang Bao Ya. Nu Er Tu, the new enslavement master called Leopard King, leads his army against Tao tribe. Alliance leader Tao You, seeing no hope of becoming Lord of the Imperial Court, submits to him, and their combined armies surge. In the middle of August, Hei Lou Lan orders the conquest resumed. By September only five armies hold the highest hopes: Hei tribe, Nu Er tribe, Yang tribe with Rat King and Eagle King, Ma tribe, and Ye Lui tribe, whose Ye Lui Sang holds an Immortal Gu. Nu Er tribe fights Yang tribe in the first half of that month, and after half a month Nu Er Tu loses, his leopards no match for the eagles and rats. ^{ch. 536}

Ye Lui Sang takes Yang tribe at the start of October, as its army, divided over fighting, defending and retreating, cannot execute orders. Ma tribe rushes three days and three nights and defeats Ye Lui army before it digests its gains. Ye Lui Sang escapes with his remaining troops and submits to Hei tribe army. ^{ch. 536}

Hei tribe moves north at the start of November, sets up eight defensive lines, and fights its final battle with Ma tribe in the middle of the month. Only the victor stays in the Imperial Court, and the loser pays reparations and faces the ten year blizzard. Hei tribe holds the advantage in the first few battles, and Ma tribe retreats to its third defensive line after losing two. Ye Lui Sang keeps challenging Ma tribe for revenge until its army can only hide and defend. Ma tribe seeks help from Snowy Mountain blessed land, its backer. ^{ch. 536}