However, the new Peerless Battalion soldiers had already started Consolidating their Consolidated Bows, with some lucky ones already successful. Besides that, all of them were already equipped with the longbows that all the older soldiers had as well.
However, the thing that had shocked the new recruits the most would definitely be when Shangguan Fei’er and the strongest hundred of the older Peerless Battalion soldiers had started helping those new recruits who had not Awakened their Personal Jewels to do so.
In just the mere short two months of time, the entire Peerless Battalion, all five thousand odd of them had already Awakened their Power Jewels. Such a magnificent feat was truly unbelievable. After completing that, Shangguan Fei’er had been so exhausted that she fell ill for three days before recovering. By this time, her prestige in the Peerless Battalion had reached such a height that rivaled or perhaps even exceeded Zhou Weiqing, who had not appeared for two months. No matter how arrogant or unbridled ruffians were, they were still humans with feelings, and the gratitude they held for Shangguan Fei’er was in their hearts. Furthermore, this military instructor of theirs was so beautiful, and it could be said that she had become the Goddess in the hearts of the entire Peerless Battalion.
Despite their advancements, the Peerless Battalion definitely still needed much time to continue growing. The current five thousand men were still far from the unity that the original one thousand five hundred held, and what they needed was time to work together and develop feelings. Of course, time waited for no man… according to reports from scouts, the WanShou Empire was already starting to gather their troops. The time for the annual attacks would soon come, and it would also be the time for the Peerless Battalion to truly ascend their stage for the first time.
…
The snow gleamed white, covering the entire mountain peaks. The temperature was extremely cold, more than forty degrees below zero.
One did not even need to drip water to form ice, even exhaling a breath could form little ice particles that dropped down to the ground.
Right on the top of the snowy mountain peak, there was a massive old castle. The castle was totally white, as if it had been fully carved out of ice.
The castle seemed to be conjoined with the peak itself, rising far up and above. From the distance, when there was sunlight, it seemed as if it was adorned with a halo of gold.
The tranquil peak of this majestic snowy mountain, with only the shrill sound of wind around. This was the heart of the entire WanShou Empire… the grand temple and sanctuary of the WanShou Empire hearts. The Heavenly Snow Mountain.
Indeed, this was the Heavenly Snow Mountain, one of the five Great Saint Lands. Here, the Strongest in the world resided.
No one dared to come here easily to offend the owner of the castle. In the WanShou Empire, the Heavenly Snow Mountain Mountain Lord was like a god. In fact, he did have the power of the Heavenly God Tier… amongst the entire Heavenly Jewel Master powerhouses of the land, he was the only one who had reached the Heavenly God Tier! Undefeated!
The Heavenly Snow Mountain Mountain Lord had already reached such a stage for several dozen years. Legend spoke that if not for the Heaven’s Expanse Palace having a large number of powerhouses, as well as the Blood Red Hell and Passion Valley supporting the Heaven’s Expanse Palace, along with the Boundless Infinitum Set and the sheer wealth of the Heaven’s Expanse Palace… perhaps the Heavenly Snow Mountain would be the First amongst the Great Saint Lands. More so… the WanShou Empire would have been led by them to conquer the entire world.
There was a saying in the WanShou Empire: In the hearts of the WanShou Empire citizens, there was a mountain in everyone’s heart, a Heavenly Snow Mountain. From that, one could imagine what kind of status the Heavenly Snow Mountain held in the WanShou Empire.
…
In any case, currently, this stately Heavenly Snow Mountain had two visitors, and they were climbing up towards the peak with much difficulty.
To be more accurate, it was not two men climbing, but one climbing as he carried the other on his back.
The two men were extremely large and muscular, with faint greenish grey fur barely visible around their bodies. The one climbing looked to be rather old, his ears show what Tribe he was – the Wolfman Tribe. Indeed, he was a Wolfman, and along his head fur, there was a mix of gold, clearly showing his noble status.
Similarly, the one on his back was also a Wolfman, even stouter and more muscular than himself, though his features held some similarities to this old Wolfman. However, he was currently ashen and with an ugly expression on his face. His eyes were closed, his entire body shuddering violently uncontrollably. Yet, it was somehow clear that this shivering was not due to the cold, as his face constantly flickered with three different colours… black, grey and blue.
This Wolfman was none other than the Regiment Commander of the Swift Wolf Regiment, the heir to the Wolfman Tribe, Prince of the Wolves, Butler. And the old Wolfman carrying him up was none other than the current Wolfman Tribe Leader, Batulu.
That day, when the Swift Wolf Regiment had received their first utter defeat and returned, Butler had not even had the time for regrets and heartache from it. That was because he had to deal with his own current physical condition.
When he had first been struck with Zhou Weiqing’s Dark Demon God Lightning, Butler had not thought much about it. Although he could sense that this energy was extremely strange, it was after all from a mere four-Jeweled Heavenly Jewel Master. No matter how strong his attack was, Butler believed that it was only a four-Jeweled offense, and with his own Heavenly Energy, at most it would take a large expense of energy to deal with and to force it out.
As such, when he returned to his tent, Butler had quickly started to force out the venom with his Heavenly Energy.
Very soon, Butler realised that something was wrong… his Heavenly Energy was unable to influence the venom at all. His cultivation level was extremely powerful, and his Nine-Jeweled Heavenly Energy was able to greatly slow the advance of the Tri-Attribute Venom of the Dark Demon God Lightning. Alas, slowing was one matter… but he was unable to get rid of it!
Butler had been shocked to find that as time passed, although the venom did not move faster, it continued slowly eating away at his body, a slow but unstoppable juggernaut of invasion. Even his Heavenly Energy was slowly being eroded by this strange venom, and no matter what he tried, he was unable to force it out of his body. This was extremely shocking; after all, he was not only a Wolfman, but also with Royal Blood, and his physique was much tougher and stronger than any human. Despite all that, he was slowly falling under the power of the Tri-Attribute Venom.
When his subordinates found that Butler was unable to make it, they did not dare delay, hurriedly sending him back to the Wolfman Tribe. The Wolf King had no time to blame his son for the loss, and he sent all around for the best doctors in his tribe to come and heal Butler. Alas, was the Dark Demon God Lightning so easily removed?
The Wolf King Batulu had many children, but of them all, only his eldest son was the most promising, the most talented and outstanding one. He was already old, and he had planned to pass the mantle of Wolf King to his son after another few years. Who knew such a thing would happen at this point. He no longer had the time to lament over the great loss of the Swift Wolf Regiment, and could only hope that his son could recover.
For this matter, Batulu did not even care about his old face, going to some of the stronger Beastmen tribes of the WanShou Empire to beg for help, even to the noble tribes. Alas, even as they examined Butler’s body, the only answer Batulu got was a shaking head. No one was able to remove this strange fusion Tri-Attribute Venom.
Batulu could not afford to lose this son, his chosen heir. After an entire month of seeking help, Butler’s body was getting worse every day, his Heavenly Energy also weakening constantly, and more so, it was visible that his Life Force was slowly draining from him. At last, after begging the WanShou Empire Royal Family, he was given the chance to seek help in the Heavenly Snow Mountain.
In the eyes of the Beastmen, the Heavenly Snow Mountain Mountain Lord was their greatest leader, all powerful, almighty, even omnipotent. For this eldest son of his, Batulu would risk everything to come to beg for help, even if it might draw the ire of their greatest leader.
Batulu’s cultivation level was actually the same as his eldest son, Butler, at the nine-Jeweled stage. He had been stuck at this stage for a long time, never managing to break through to the Heavenly King Stage.
The weather at the Heavenly Snow Mountain was just too cold, and as they ascended the slopes, the lower the temperature grew. This was a major contrast from the Ten Thousand Beast Heavens right below with its warm and welcoming temperature. The highest peak of the Heavenly Snow Mountain was about six thousand metres, even higher than the Heavenly Jewel Island. Although Batulu was a powerful Heavenly Jewel Master, but carrying his son on his back while having to constantly use his Heavenly Energy to protect his son and keep him alive, it was getting tougher and tougher for me to climb up.
“Halt.”” A low, magnetic sounding voice rang out abruptly. The voice was not loud, but it seemed to explode in Batulu’s ears like a bomb.
Batulu looked up quickly in shock, only the realise that not far ahead from him, there stood a man, though he did not know when that man had appeared.
Dressed in snow white robes, with a closer look he seemed to only be wearing those, a single layer of clothing. A head full of fiery red, gold hair with natural curls, a stark contrast from the cold white world around him. He was tall and slender, seeming to be not particularly muscular, but as he stood there, it gave the feeling as if he was the core of the universe.
Looking at the luscious head of long gold-red hair that seemed to twirl around against the backdrop of snow like the dancing of flames, Batulu’s body began to shiver. Such a hair colour… in the entire WanShou Empire, only one Tribe had that. It was the current Royal Lion Tribe, the ruler of the WanShou Empire, the Heavenly Divine Earth Spirit Lion Tribe!
In the WanShou Empire, there was a rule passed down from the beginning – the Mountain Lord of the Heavenly Snow Mountain could only be from two Tribes. One was naturally the current Lord’s Divine Heavenly Spirit Tiger Tribe, and the other was Heavenly Divine Earth Spirit Lion Tribe. However, since the Divine Heavenly Spirit Tiger Tribe had been so powerful for so many generations, many had already forgotten that the Heavenly Divine Earth Spirit Lion Tribe could also inherit the position of Mountain Lord. They, too, had highly noble bloodlines amongst all the Beastmen. As tradition went, when the Divine Heavenly Spirit Tiger Tribe held the position of Mountain Lord, then the Heavenly Divine Earth Spirit Lion Tribe would hold the position of ruler of the WanShou Empire; and vice versa.
Without even asking, Batulu was able to guess the status of this young man in front of him. With his own cultivation level, a person of that age who could remain undetected by himself in the entire Divine Spirit Flame Lion Tribe of the Heavenly Snow Mountain could only be one person.
“You, you are the Lion Prince, Your Highness right? This old wolf Batulu greets His Highness.” As he said that, Batulu bowed respectfully towards him, helping his son down from his back.
Hearing the words Batulu, the Lion Price’s face eased up. “So it is you, the Wolf King. My Father has already sent word to me previously about your situation, and I have come here to wait for you.” Naturally, with his rank and status in the Heavenly Snow Mountain, he would not come to the middle of the mountain side for no reason.
Hearing those words, Batulu was immediately filled with gratitude, tears sliding down his cheeks. The Beastmen were normally all very straightforward in character, and seeing how the Lion Prince, the future ruler of the Empire, would actually wait for the two of them here in the cold windy mountain side, although Batulu knew that he was trying to draw them to his side, it did not stop him from feeling gratitude.