As production developed in both tribes and their populations grew, conflicts between them became increasingly frequent.
The Xuanyuan Tribe finally learned that the tribe in the distant north was called the Chiyou Tribe.
They had split off during the reign of the fourth Yan Emperor and moved to the wild lands of the north.
At first, the Xuanyuan Tribe thought it was only a small tribe and sent several hundred warriors to subjugate it. Only one warrior returned.
Xuanyuan Huangdi flew into a rage. He gathered several thousand elite warriors and marched north to fight the Chiyou Tribe. Not only did the Xuanyuan Tribe find itself at a disadvantage, but the Yellow Emperor also keenly noticed that the Chiyou Tribe possessed bronze weapons.
Watching from the rear, the Yellow Emperor saw everything clearly. The Chiyou Tribe was formidable in battle. The man leading the charge appeared to be its chief, surrounded by a band of brave warriors clad in bronze armor and wielding bronze battle-axes. They fought with a beastlike madness, heedless of danger, staking their lives on every blow.
The more blood flowed, the more frenzied the Chiyou Tribe's soldiers became, and their fighting strength soared.
The Yellow Emperor's expression darkened as he watched his soldiers being slaughtered. Their enemies fought like barbarians, while his own troops used battle formations—the very trump card that had allowed him to defeat the Yan Emperor Tribe so easily.
In the end, the Yellow Emperor hastily withdrew his troops and fled in disgrace amid Chiyou's roaring laughter.
Finally, Chiyou shouted, "Yellow Emperor, in ten days, we'll fight again and decide who owns this continent! Wash yourself clean and wait for me! Hahahaha!"
Over the next ten days, both sides readied their troops. The Xuanyuan Tribe ultimately fielded 12,000 men, with some of its elite soldiers clad in bronze armor and holding bronze weapons and shields, ready for battle.
The Xuanyuan Tribe dug numerous trenches. Some soldiers carried wooden bows, while others carried bronze bows, and all their arrows were fitted with razor-sharp bronze arrowheads.
With dinosaurs roaming the world in this era, no horses had been discovered, and no one had yet managed to tame wild beasts and ride them into battle.
The only animals they could domesticate were small, docile creatures incapable of attacking.
Before long, sounds rose in the distance. The ground shook as large numbers of the Chiyou Tribe's elite troops slowly advanced toward them.
Once an army numbered over ten thousand, it stretched as far as the eye could see. The Yellow Emperor ordered his men into formation to await the enemy.
The Yellow Emperor's expression grew grave as he watched the densely packed soldiers of the Chiyou Tribe approach, carrying enormous shields, spears, stone axes, and bronze blades, with many more behind them bearing bronze bows and other weapons. He had no confidence at all that he could defeat them.
What Xuanyuan Huangdi did not know was that, seeing the Human Race's burgeoning population, Zhang Yang had already withdrawn the divine laws governing the north and no longer gave the Human Race special protection.
That special protection meant that when the Human Race was weak, Zhang Yang had altered the planet's laws so that many apex beasts avoided humans, as though suppressed by their bloodline. All of this was the power of divine intervention.
On top of that, the Human Race had been designated the "destined race," making its development seem divinely aided.
Under this protection, the Human Race had made enormous strides, but it had also grown somewhat complacent.
War lay at the heart of planetary civilization. As a civilization advanced, it would inevitably wage Star Wars against other civilizations.
The Human Race, living in peace and contentment, could not defeat other races.
Thus, he first withdrew the divine laws governing the Northern Continent. Its beasts were especially savage and frequently attacked the Human Race on their own initiative. Zhang Yang also guided the Chiyou Tribe through dreams, imparting knowledge of bronze and related subjects to them early on.
The humans who survived in the northern Chiyou Tribe were generally far more savage in temperament than those of the Human Race on the Central Continent.
One side was living; the other was surviving. Naturally, they could not be spoken of in the same breath.
This also served as a trial. Early on, Zhang Yang had discovered that after Shennong appeared and the planetary civilization's combat power reached a peak of 9,000 points, it never increased again.
That meant he had hit a bottleneck-or rather, a level cap.
When the Xuanyuan Tribe defeated the Yan Emperor Tribe without any increase in combat power, Zhang Yang formed a hypothesis.
A major breakthrough was needed, so he passed knowledge of bronze applications to both the Chiyou Tribe and the Xuanyuan Tribe.
During the reign of the fourth Yan Emperor, the chief of a large tribe headed north under the influence of Zhang Yang's will.
Along the way, he continually brought the tribes he encountered under his control. Eventually, they settled on the Northern Continent to live and multiply, and Zhang Yang withdrew the protection of its laws.
Dinosaurs and other large carnivores began reverting to their true nature and attacking the Human Race. Life was difficult for the Human Race at first, but they adapted quickly and began fighting the beasts.
Through teamwork, they grew ever faster at hunting dinosaurs. Even when a Tyrannosaurus Rex appeared, a hundred or more of them dared to charge it with bronze spears, fearless of death, until even the Tyrannosaurus Rex fled in pain.
After more than two hundred years, the Chiyou Tribe, surviving in the savage northern lands, had long since grown accustomed to this life and no longer feared death.
Even the farmers tending the Chiyou Tribe's fields dared to seize stone axes and charge wild beasts to fight them.
Because they knew that people had to rely on themselves.
And now, with the Xuanyuan Tribe and the Chiyou Tribe developed to this point, the combat power rating had risen to 9,995 points-ample proof that Zhang Yang's method worked.
Watching the Chiyou Tribe draw closer, the Yellow Emperor commanded, "Throw!"
The many warriors standing behind the shields gathered their strength and hurled their javelins into the distance.
At the same instant that gaps opened in the Xuanyuan troops' shields, Chiyou also ordered, "Throw!"
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
A mass of javelins flew toward both sides. The Xuanyuan shield bearers hurriedly raised their shields to form a rectangle, while the warriors in the middle held theirs overhead. Their shields overlapped into a battle formation, blocking almost every javelin.
The Chiyou Tribe was slower to react. Its soldiers could only hold their shields overhead or at an angle, unable to coordinate with one another.
"Aah! Aah!"
Javelins shot through the huge gaps and struck the Chiyou Tribe's soldiers, bringing them down one after another.
Seeing this, Chiyou bellowed, "Stay calm! Follow me and charge their formation!"
"Kill! Kill!"
Clad in bronze armor and a horned bronze helmet, Chiyou charged forward with a massive bronze axe in his right hand and a bronze shield in his left.
Chiyou ran ahead of all his soldiers, flanked by nearly a hundred tall, exceptionally powerful, well-equipped warriors who raced along at tremendous speed.
The archers on both sides exchanged volleys. Many arrows were blocked by shields, while Chiyou kept dodging with remarkable agility.
He soon reached the Xuanyuan formation. Seeing the shields barring his path, he sneered and swung his axe with all his strength, cleaving straight through a shield and cutting the soldier behind it in two.
The warriors behind him also possessed immense strength and broke through the formation one after another. The Yellow Emperor's expression changed, and he sent his elite personal guards charging forward. Both sides began fighting at close quarters.
After only a short while, the Yellow Emperor could clearly sense his troops beginning to crumble. Above all, Chiyou and the eighty-one warriors at his side were too ferocious, with something of the might of men who could each take on ten thousand enemies.
The two sides fought a long, bloody battle. Xuanyuan's forces retreated step by step, plainly at a disadvantage.
Seeing this, Chiyou threw back his head and roared, "Lads, follow me and break their formation! With me here, none can stand against us!"
"God of War! God of War!"
The Chiyou Tribe's soldiers grew even more frenzied, their attacks quickening further.
Just as the Chiyou Tribe's soldiers had pushed roughly halfway into the Xuanyuan formation, the sound of orderly footsteps came from the distance, and the earth trembled with them.
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