Northern Plains Calendar, mid-June.
It should have been the height of summer, but the chill of a decade-long blizzard already hung heavy in the air. The sky was frequently overcast, cold winds swept across the land, and the frost grew denser with each passing day.
Meanwhile, the battle for the King's Court across the Northern Plains raged on with fierce intensity.
At Mirror Lake, the Ma Family army clashed with the Song Family coalition. The Ma Family held a decisive advantage, breaking through two of the Song Family's defensive lines in succession.
During the fighting, Song Family Alliance Leader Song Qingyin—known as the Water Fairy—led the charge personally. Her forces launched a counterattack and sprang an ambush on the Ma Family, forcing them to concede one defensive line.
But soon after, the Ma Family's Servant Path Grandmaster Ma Zun stepped forward, deploying his ace—herds of heavenly horses—that surrounded and killed Song Qingyin in the air. With their leader slain, the Song Family army fell into disarray. Compounded by secret instigation from the Ma Family, the coalition ultimately collapsed entirely.
The Ma Family absorbed the majority of the tribes. Only scattered remnants fled in all directions.
Through this battle, Song Qingyin—the Water Fairy, one of the few flight masters in the Northern Plains and a Fifth Transformation Initial Stage cultivator—fell, cementing the威名 of Servant Path Grandmaster Ma Zun.
The strength Ma Zun demonstrated was staggering. Already, whispers were spreading that he deserved the title of "Northern Plains' Number One Servant Path Grandmaster."
At Mengqiu, Nu Er Tu clashed fiercely with Jiang Bao Ya.
Nu Er Tu had not originally been a Servant Path Gu Master—he had taken up the path later in life. Yet leading his pack of leopards, he managed to overpower the veteran Servant Path Grandmaster Jiang Bao Ya and ultimately defeated him.
By this feat alone, Nu Er Tu earned his place among the Northern Plains' Servant Path Grandmasters, standing alongside Jiang Bao Ya, Yang Po Ying, Ma Zun, and Chang Shanyin as the Five Beast Kings.
However, Nu Er Tu's fame-earning battle, though victorious, came at a steep cost.
Jiang Bao Ya's counterattack inflicted devastating casualties on Nu Er's army. Although Nu Er absorbed the enemy's remnants after the battle and received war reparations, his army's momentum had been significantly checked.
Jiang Bao Ya, the Rat King, managed to escape by a narrow margin. He gathered his remaining forces—of his original rat horde of over six hundred thousand, fewer than thirty thousand remained.
Even so, as a defeated but still formidable commander, he remained sought after by numerous powers. More than ten factions had already sent him invitation letters.
As for Dujiao, Ye Lu Sang carried the blessing of an Immortal Gu. With his overwhelming personal strength at the Fifth Transformation Peak Stage of the Fire Path, he crushed all opposition, swept away the last obstacles, and successfully established dominance over the Dujiao region.
But just as the Ye Lu army, like a wildfire spreading across the plains, began expanding in all directions, they were struck by a coordinated assault from seven armies attacking simultaneously.
Each of the seven armies numbered at least a hundred thousand strong. Though none belonged to a super clan, each had renowned Gu Masters among their ranks.
The seven armies combined, their momentum overwhelming. The Ye Lu army—which had just broken through and was gearing up for a major campaign—found itself thrust into a perilous crisis.
At the same time, the Hei Family army also faced a formidable enemy and could barely manage its own situation.
The Liu Family—Liu Wen Wu personally led the army, pressing ever closer to the Hei Family!
It turned out that Gu Guo Long had sent a plea for reinforcements to Liu Wen Wu. Upon receiving the letter, Liu Wen Wu was delighted, recognizing it as a rare opportunity. As long as Gu Guo Long's forces could hold out, then his Liu Family army could strike the Hei Family from behind, seize the upper hand, and put the Hei Family on the defensive from the very start.
But events unfolded far too quickly. Halfway through the march, battle reports arrived stating that the Gu Family had been defeated and, left with no choice, had submitted to the Hei Family. The key figure behind this turn of events was none other than Tai Bai Yun Sheng.
When Liu Wen Wu received this report, he was stunned.
A legendary figure like Tai Bai Yun Sheng had appeared of his own accord to help Hei Lou Lan! With such a person on his side, it was as good as having an army of thousands!
Liu Wen Wu quickly grasped what had happened—a Gu Immortal backing the Hei Family had made their move.
According to the rules set down by Ancestor Giant Sun, Gu Immortals were permitted to provide a certain degree of assistance to mortals during the King's Court battle. Naturally, such help had its limits—at the very least, a Gu Immortal absolutely could not intervene personally.
Whether it was the Immortal Gu carried by Ye Lu Sang or Tai Bai Yun Sheng's decision to support Hei Lou Lan after receiving the letter, both were the handiwork of Gu Immortals.
Liu Wen Wu naturally possessed the same right to call upon the Gu Immortal backing him.
Hei Lou Lan gaining Tai Bai Yun Sheng's assistance—in Liu Wen Wu's eyes, this was even more terrifying than gaining Wolf King Chang Shanyin!
Tai Bai Yun Sheng's reputation was immense. On both the Righteous Path and the Demonic Path, countless people had received his kindness. If even a fraction of them harbored a desire to repay that debt, the resulting force would be formidable beyond measure.
Moreover, once the Hei Family grew stronger, the Demonic Path Gu Masters still lingering on the sidelines would see hope of entering the King's Court and rally to their cause of their own accord.
Tai Bai Yun Sheng's presence tipped the scales further in favor of choosing Hei Lou Lan.
If this continued, the Hei Family would only grow more powerful. Given enough time, they would inevitably leave all other competitors far behind.
"Hei Lou Lan already defeated Dongfang Yu Liang and extracted war reparations from a super clan—he's made a massive profit. Meanwhile, we've defeated several allied armies, but they were composed of merely large clans, so the reparations we received are inherently weaker than the Hei Family's. Now the Hei Family has Tai Bai Yun Sheng as a living banner. If we give him time to consolidate power, dealing with him in the future may become impossible."
After a moment of deliberation, Liu Wen Wu issued his command with decisiveness. The Liu Family army would maintain its original plan and advance toward the Hei Family.
When Hei Lou Lan received this news, he laughed heartily and declared, "They come—how wonderful!" He immediately ordered defensive lines to be built on the spot.
Once the first line of defense was completed, the army moved forward slowly toward the Liu Family forces. Every thousand li, they would halt, camp for several days, and construct a new defensive line.
Twelve days later, the Hei Family army set out from their fourth defensive line, marched five hundred li, and met the Liu Family army face to face.
The two armies arrayed their formations, and the selection of champions began.
The Hei Family's great general Hao Ji Liu stepped forward without hesitation, charging to the front of the battlefield.
Liu Wen Wu dispatched Pei Yan Fei to meet him.
Hao Ji Liu was a Fourth Transformation High Stage cultivator, but so was Pei Yan Fei. The two clashed for twenty rounds, neither gaining the upper hand.
Hao Ji Liu's attacks were vast and overwhelming, enough to shake the courage of any onlooker. Pei Yan Fei, on the other hand, was sharp and fierce, cutting through the torrent of attacks and surging back and forth with unstoppable force.