Some Grand Academicians and Great Scholars of the Human Race, after reaching a bottleneck in their studies and finding further progress difficult, would often choose another Sacred Way to test and validate their own. Condensing a Lu Ban Ruler of the Craftsmen School was one of the more common choices.
The seasons never changed at Two Worlds Mountain, but winter had arrived across the Saint Origin Continent, slowing the fighting in the north. Demon Generals and stronger Demon Barbarians were unaffected by heat or cold, but Demon Commoners and Demon Soldiers still suffered their effects, while attacks by the Water Race often made the battlefields even colder.
The Jing Kingdom gained a chance to catch its breath. The powerful Wu Kingdom even seized the opportunity to launch counterattacks, driving the Barbarian Race back step by step in several regions.
The Nu Zhi Tribe, which had long served as a testing ground for humans to tame the Barbarian Race, also assembled a large army to fight beyond its borders and train its troops.
Niu Shan, the Nu Zhi Tribe's strongest Barbarian Marquis, repeatedly distinguished himself in battle. Three months earlier, in single combat against an Ox Barbarian King, he had even torn the newly advanced Barbarian King clean in half, winning himself a formidable reputation. His prestige was approaching that of the Nu Zhi Tribe's chief.
Wherever Niu Shan led his troops, enemy barbarians took detours to avoid him. Ordinary Barbarian Kings did not dare face him in combat at all.
The barbarians of the Nu Zhi Tribe believed that Niu Shan was not only a Moon Guard of His Majesty the Moon God, but very likely a noble Sacred Son as well. An unbridgeable gulf separated Barbarian Marquises from Barbarian Kings, and only a Sacred Son at the Barbarian Marquis