It was the height of summer, but the feel of the Ten-Year Snowstorm was already thick. The sky was often overcast, cold winds blew, and the frost grew heavier day by day.
Throughout the Northern Plains, the contest for the Imperial Court was raging in full force.
At Mirror Lake, the Ma clan army and the Song clan alliance went to war. The Ma clan held an enormous advantage, breaking through two of the Song clan's defensive lines in a row.
During this time, the Song clan alliance leader, Song Qing Yin, took the lead and personally led a counterattack. The Ma clan fell into an ambush and had to give up a defensive line.
But afterwards, Ma Zun, the Ma clan's Slave Path grandmaster, made his move. He deployed his trump card, the flock of Heavenly Horses, which surrounded and killed Song Qing Yin from the air. The Song army, leaderless and weakened by the Ma clan's secret sowing of discord, finally collapsed.
The Ma clan swallowed up most of the tribes, leaving only scattered remnants fleeing in all directions.
In this battle, the Water Fairy Song Qing Yin, one of the rare flying-type Gu Masters on the Northern Plains at the early Rank Five stage, fell, cementing Ma Zun’s reputation as a Slave Path grandmaster.
The strength Ma Zun displayed was astonishing. Some people were already quietly hailing him as the "Number One Slave Path Grandmaster of the Northern Plains."
At Meng Qiu, Nue Er Tu fought Jiang Bao Ya.
Nue Er Tu was not originally a Slave Path Gu Master but had taken it up later. Leading his leopard horde, he actually managed to suppress the veteran Slave Path grandmaster Jiang Bao Ya and eventually defeat him.
With this single feat, Nue Er Tu joined the ranks of the Northern Plains Slave Path grandmasters, alongside Jiang Bao Ya, Yang Po Ying, Ma Zun, and Chang Shan Yin. They were collectively known as the Five Beast Kings.
However, while Nue Er Tu achieved his battle of fame, it came at a heavy price.
Jiang Bao Ya's counterattack inflicted heavy losses on Nue Er Tu's army. Although he absorbed the remnants of the enemy forces and received war reparations afterward, his army's momentum was severely hampered.
The Rat King, Jiang Bao Ya, managed to narrowly escape. Gathering his remaining forces, he found that his original army of over six hundred thousand rats had been reduced to less than thirty thousand.
Yet, despite being a defeated general, he was still courted by various major powers. Over a dozen factions had already sent him letters of invitation.
As for Unicorn territory, Ye Lv Sang was empowered by an Immortal Gu. With his formidable personal strength as a peak Rank Five Fire Path master, he suppressed all his rivals, sweeping away the final obstacles. He successfully dominated the Unicorn region.
However, just as Ye Lv Sang's army, like a prairie fire, began to spread in all directions, seven armies spontaneously coordinated to launch a pincer attack against him.
Each of these seven armies had at least a hundred thousand soldiers. Although none of them were super clans, they all boasted famous powerful Gu Masters.
These seven armies, united, were ferocious and imposing. The Ye Lv army, which had just opened up the situation, found itself in a perilous position.
At the same time, the Hei clan army was also facing a great enemy and had no time for others.
The Liu clan! Liu Wen Wu was personally leading his army, closing in on the Hei clan day by day!
It turned out that Gu Guo Long had requested aid from Liu Wen Wu. Delighted by the letter, Liu Wen Wu saw a rare opportunity. As long as Gu Guo Long could hold out, the Liu clan army could attack the Hei clan from the rear, seizing the upper hand and forcing the Hei clan onto the defensive from the very start.
But as it turned out, things changed too quickly. Just as the Liu army arrived at the halfway point, a battle report arrived: the Gu clan had been defeated and, with no other choice, had joined the Hei clan. The key figure behind all this was Tai Bai Yun Sheng.
Liu Wen Wu was stunned when he received this battle report.
A legendary figure like Tai Bai Yun Sheng had willingly appeared to help Hei Lou Lan. With such a person on his side, Hei Lou Lan had gained the equivalent of an army of thousands!
Liu Wen Wu quickly realized that this was the influence of the Hei clan's Immortal Gu masters operating behind the scenes.
According to the rules set by the ancestor Ju Yang, during the Imperial Court contest, Immortal Gu masters can provide some help to mortals to a certain extent. Of course, this help had its limits; at the very least, the Immortal Gu masters could not personally intervene.
Both the Immortal Gu on Ye Lv Sang's body and Tai Bai Yun Sheng, who went to support Hei Lou Lan after receiving the letter, were the handiwork of Immortal Gu masters.
Liu Wen Wu naturally had the right to seek help from the Immortal Gu master supporting him.
In Liu Wen Wu's eyes, Hei Lou Lan gaining Tai Bai Yun Sheng's assistance was even more terrifying than gaining the Wolf King Chang Shan Yin!
Tai Bai Yun Sheng's reputation was immense. Many people, from both righteous and demonic paths, were indebted to him. If even a fraction of these people sought to repay him, their combined strength would be formidable.
Moreover, once the Hei clan grew stronger, the wandering demonic Gu Masters who were still observing from the sidelines, seeing the hope of entering the Imperial Court, would actively flock to them.
Tai Bai Yun Sheng's presence inclined them to choose Hei Lou Lan.
This way, the Hei clan grew stronger and stronger. As time went on, they were bound to leave all their other competitors in the dust.
"Hei Lou Lan defeated Dong Fang Yu Liang and obtained war reparations from a super tribe. He's already made a huge profit. On our side, we did defeat several allied armies, but they were all composed of large tribes. The war reparations we got are inherently inferior to the Hei clan's. Now the Hei clan has Tai Bai Yun Sheng as their living advertisement. If we give them time to grow, they will likely become difficult to deal with."
Liu Wen Wu pondered for a moment and then decisively issued a military order. The Liu clan army would stick to its original plan and advance against the Hei clan.
When Hei Lou Lan received this news, he laughed heartily and declared, "Well met!" He immediately ordered a defensive line to be built on the spot.
After the first line of defense was constructed, the army moved slowly towards the Liu clan army. Every thousand li, they would stop, set up camp for a few days, and build a new defense line.
Twelve days later, the Hei clan army set out from their fourth defensive line, marched five hundred li, and arrayed against the Liu clan army.
The two armies deployed their ranks and began the open challenge.
Hao Ji Liu, the Hei clan's senior general, was the first to rush to the front without hesitation.
Seeing this, Liu Wen Wu sent out Pei Yan Fei.
Hao Ji Liu was at the late stage of Rank Four, and Pei Yan Fei was the same. They exchanged twenty rounds of combat without either being able to gain the upper hand.
Hao Ji Liu's attacks were overwhelmingly vast, making hearts tremble with fear. Pei Yan Fei, however, was sharp and fierce, charging back and forth through the turbulent flow, sweeping aside everything in her path.