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Where the Pearl River Army had originally stood, they left behind piles of miscellaneous belongings, cattle and horses, and one solitary carriage.
Two races, four battlefields.
Xun Tianling and the Silver-Tent Barbarian King Hu Ding fought farthest to the east. Both were already fighting in earnest. From the outset, Xun Tianling had deployed his Ritual Literary Platform to establish order and define human relationships.
The Barbarian Race prized slaughter above all else. The Silver-Tent Barbarian King Hu Ding pressed the attack with his fierce blood-and-qi weapon, yet Xun Tianling not only refused to retreat at first, but occasionally advanced, forcing Hu Ding to dodge backward.
Still, Hu Ding was a Silver-Tent Barbarian King, while Xun Tianling had only just become an Investigative Realm Grand Academician. Only a Grand Academician at least one level higher, in the Attaining Knowledge Realm, could hope to contend with Hu Ding.
Before long, Xun Tianling began retreating, using human wisdom to counter barbarian brute strength.
Nearest to Xun Tianling and Hu Ding lay the battlefield where over four hundred thousand human troops faced one hundred thousand barbarians.
One side relied on formidable coordination, the other on extraordinary individual prowess. They fought to a deadlock, and even at the very beginning, corpses already littered the field and blood stained the sands of battle.
Most of the Barbarian Marquises, however, had yet to act. They stood far behind the barbarian army to hold the line, for Hu Ding had ordered them to wait until his battle with Xun Tianling was decided before beginning the slaughter. This also prevented the humans from breaking out and fleeing. If half the human army stayed behind to cover the retreat while the other half scattered, the barbarians' plan to slaughter both armies would fall short at the final hurdle.
West