## Chapter 38
Just as Chen Qing sharpened his weapons and fed his horses, preparing to lead his army northward and drive straight at the Northern Mang Royal Court, an invisible cold current had already silently spread from the depths of the Northern Mang Royal Court, flowing south.
Northern Mang Royal Court, Sacred Mountain Forbidden Grounds.
This was a valley blanketed in ice and snow that never melted year-round. The freezing wind was like blades, scraping to the bone and gnawing into the marrow. Deep within the valley stood nine enormous black stone pillars carved with bizarre wolf-shaped totems. At their center stood an altar sculpted entirely from ice.
At this moment, three figures clad in pure-black wolfskin cloaks stood atop the altar. Their bodies were shrouded beneath the shadows of their cloaks, their faces impossible to see. Only three pairs of eyes, devoid of all human emotion and cold as ten-thousand-year ice, gleamed faintly in the darkness.
No powerful aura leaked from their bodies, as though they had melded into this world of ice and snow. Yet merely standing there was enough to make even the howling wind around them freeze in place.
These were the Northern Mang Royal Court's most mysterious and most feared force—the Azure Wolf Death Warriors.
Below the altar, the Northern Mang National Preceptor, an old man clad in elaborate shamanic robes with his face covered in paint, bowed deeply. His voice carried an unprecedented gravity:
"Three honored ones, an urgent report has arrived from the Left Virtuous King. Chen Qing, the Great Yan's 'Baleful Tiger,' has captured Wolf Fang Fortress and slain Bater in battle. His cultivation is suspected to have broken through to the late Meridian Condensation Realm. The Black Tiger Camp under his command has now taken shape and threatens the safety of the Royal Court. The Left Virtuous King begs the honored ones to head south and kill this beast, thereby securing the foundations of the state."
Upon the altar, the Azure Wolf Death Warrior standing in the center slowly raised his head. From beneath his hood came a hoarse, dry voice, like ice grinding against ice:
"Chen Qing... Baleful Tiger..."
He seemed to savor the name. Then his icy gaze turned southward, as though it had pierced through boundless space and seen the land that would soon be dyed red with blood and fire.
"Yes."
A single word, yet it carried a chill that could freeze one's soul.
The next moment, the three Azure Wolf Death Warriors vanished from the altar like ghosts, as though they had never been there at all.
Northern Frontier, Black Tiger Camp garrison.
A murderous atmosphere had nearly solidified into substance. Five thousand fierce Black Tiger soldiers stood ready, awaiting only Chen Qing's command.
Yet Chen Qing did not immediately send out the army. Standing atop the watchtower, he frowned slightly as he looked north.
An inexplicable agitation lingered in his heart. It was not fear, but rather the vigilance of encountering his own kind—or perhaps encountering a predator capable of threatening his very existence.
"Do you feel it?" he murmured.
Old Niu and Sun Quezi behind him were both startled. They immediately focused their senses, yet discovered nothing.
"General, what is it?"
Chen Qing did not answer. His gaze merely grew sharper. His spiritual senses far surpassed those of others at the same level. Especially after breaking into the late Meridian Condensation Realm, and after the further fusion of the Fierce Tiger Domain and Black Tiger True Intent, his perception of danger had become razor-sharp.
He sensed three exceedingly concealed yet incomparably cold and powerful auras rapidly approaching from the north. Those auras were like venomous snakes slithering through the shadows, utterly without worldly traces, yet brimming with lethal threat.
"Pass down the order. Cancel the original plan. The entire army is to remain on alert. Without my command, no one is to attack without authorization," Chen Qing said gravely.
Though Old Niu and Sun Quezi were puzzled, they had never questioned Chen Qing's orders. They immediately accepted their commands and departed.
Chen Qing remained alone atop the tower. He slowly closed his eyes and pushed the Fierce Tiger Domain's perception to its limit. Like an invisible net, it spread northward.
Ten li... fifty li... one hundred li...
Finally, at the edge of his perception, he "saw" them.
They were three black specks almost completely fused with their surroundings, silently crossing the wilderness at a speed beyond all reason as they headed toward the Black Tiger Camp. Their auras were restrained to the utmost degree. Were it not for Chen Qing's exceptional spiritual senses, they would have been impossible to detect.
"They're here." Chen Qing opened his eyes, and the two dark-red whirlpools in his pupils slowly began to spin faster.
He could feel that these three men were terrifyingly powerful! The aura of any one of them was no weaker than that of Wugutuo, the Northern Mang High Priest—perhaps even more condensed and pure, carrying the dead silence of beings born solely for slaughter.
These were absolutely not ordinary generals of the Northern Mang army.
"Azure Wolf Death Warriors..." The legendary name of Northern Mang flashed through Chen Qing's mind.
It seemed Wuwei had truly been driven into a corner, to the point of even mobilizing the Royal Court's deepest reserves.
Good.
A cold, cruel curve lifted at the corner of Chen Qing's mouth.
Your blood will serve perfectly as the foundation stone for my path to the Aperture Opening Realm!
He turned and walked down from the watchtower.
"Old Niu, Sun Quezi."
"Present!"
"You two will each lead fifteen hundred men and lie in ambush on the left and right flanks of the camp. Without my signal, do not act rashly."
"Yes!"
"The remaining two thousand will stay with me and hold the central army."
"General, are you..." Sun Quezi seemed to have guessed something.
"They have come to kill me, so I will give them the chance." Chen Qing's tone was calm. "Pass down the order. Open the camp gates."
"What? Open the camp gates?" Old Niu was greatly alarmed. "General, that's far too dangerous!"
"Do it." Chen Qing's tone allowed no doubt.
Old Niu and Sun Quezi exchanged a glance and could only grit their teeth as they accepted the order.
Very soon, the Black Tiger Camp's gates were thrown open. Apart from the necessary sentries, the camp appeared exceptionally "empty." Chen Qing sat alone before the central command tent, with a jug of wine and two cups placed before him, as though awaiting guests at his door.
As the sun set in the west, it stretched his shadow long behind him.
On the distant horizon, three black dots drew near from afar. Like three black bolts of lightning tearing through the twilight, they appeared silently outside the camp.
They looked at the open gates and the lone figure seated before the tent, their steps pausing slightly. A minute flicker passed through those emotionless eyes.
They seemed somewhat surprised.
Chen Qing raised his wine cup and offered a distant toast to the three outside the camp.
"Guests who have come from afar, why not enter the camp for a talk?"
Before you continue