Outside the Royal City, horn calls rose and fell one after another as column after column of warriors marched northward in lockstep — toward the direction where the great battle would erupt.
The Wuniu Tribe's three thousand men — ten regular squads, one aerial cavalry unit, one guard detail — were all assembled and ready. Twelve squads in total, three thousand strong, gathered in one place, yet not a sound broke the silence.
At the head of the formation, two shamans from the Shaman God Temple, four shaman warriors, and nine shaman disciples lifted their gazes upward.
Yang Kai sat astride his Eagle King like a true commander, his sharp gaze sweeping across the entire assembly. Every clansman straightened his back, presenting his most imposing aspect.
No further words were needed. Yang Kai waved his hand. "Move out!"
The cry of eagles rang out as the aerial cavalry took to the sky first, wings spread wide.
Led by Yu and Lu, numerous shaman warriors and disciples joined forces to cast a large-scale Levitation Spell. After the light enveloped them, its power was distributed throughout the three-thousand-strong force, making every clansman's body far lighter.
With a thunderous rumble, the Wuniu Tribe departed the Royal City at tremendous speed. Despite their numbers, they moved in perfect order.
High in the sky, Yang Kai sat cross-legged atop his Eagle King, wasting not a single moment, constantly meditating in Cultivation.
Back in the Royal City, Wu Dang's orders had been simple. The Demon Race was currently laying waste to the land and raising defensive lines, apparently trying to buy time so that their strongest fighters could recover fully.
The barbarian tribes had no intention of sitting idle, so every major tribe had mobilized, hoping to reclaim the four territories that the Demon Race had seized while their strongest members were recuperating.
On the Southern Barbarian side, one to two hundred teams led by Great Shamans would encircle the Demon Race from the south, slowly eating away at their forces and driving them back into a concentrated pocket. After that, the Shaman Kings of the major tribes would strike, leading everyone into a decisive battle against the Demon Race.
This strategy made the early phase of the war highly flexible. None of the Great Shamans' teams had specific assignments — whenever they encountered the Demon Race, they simply hunted them down and wiped them out. It was entirely free-form engagement.
This suited Yang Kai perfectly. His current strength still needed urgent improvement, and if he'd been given a specific task, he'd surely have been stretched thin. The present situation couldn't be better for him.
As long as he could raise his strength to a sufficient level before the decisive battle, there would surely be a place for him on the battlefield to come.
Having spent so long in this primordial world, Yang Kai had unconsciously come to view things from the barbarians' perspective. Drawn into a war like this, he could no longer remain a mere spectator.
Over a hundred and fifty teams led by Great Shamans departed the Royal City, and as time passed, they continued to disperse toward different destinations.
At first, the faint outlines of allied forces could still be glimpsed around the Wuniu Tribe, but ten days after leaving the Royal City, no friendly unit remained within the aerial cavalry's scouting range.
Hundreds of thousands of warriors had scattered entirely across the vast land, the barbarians pressing forward toward that brutal battlefield with the conviction that it was either victory or death.
Ten days later, Yang Kai — who had been meditating atop his Eagle King — suddenly opened his eyes. Ahead, A Hua was piloting his own giant eagle toward them. Upon reaching them, he halted abruptly, stabilizing his mount with practiced ease, and spoke without a hint of strain: "My lord, there's a village up ahead."
"Did you find anything?" Yang Kai asked.
A Hua shook his head. "Completely empty."
Yang Kai nodded. "Have everyone rest there for a bit. Once we push further, things probably won't be so peaceful. Eat your fill, drink up, and prepare for a real fight."
"Yes, sir!" A Hua departed with the order.
The column pressed on.
A couple of hours later, they spotted a small village. It was slightly larger than Cangnan Village, but not by much. Inside, most of the structures were wooden huts built from timber and stone, and the perimeter was surrounded by an earthen wall.
Once inside, some immediately took up watch positions around the perimeter while others began lighting fires to cook. Everything proceeded in orderly fashion.
Though this force had been assembled only recently, it had already become a well-trained army.
Yang Kai had been looking forward to finding a spot to rest, but the moment he entered the village, a subtle sense of wrongness washed over him. Faintly, as though an invisible gaze were fixed upon him.
A jolt of alarm ran through him, and he silently released his spiritual sense, carefully probing the village's surroundings.
Yet to his surprise, he detected nothing unusual, and that feeling of being watched vanished as suddenly as it had come. He shook his head and called for Butterfly. "Tell everyone to stay on guard. Something might happen."
Butterfly stared at him, taken aback. "You sensed something?"
Yang Kai said lightly, "Caution never hurts. We're no longer in peaceful territory."
Butterfly nodded. "Understood."
After Butterfly relayed the order, the clansmen grew noticeably more alert.