Black clouds crushed against one another above the grasslands. War drums thundered, and warhorses neighed.
An endless killing chill shrouded the earth. The two sides advanced slowly like rolling black tides until five miles separated them. From their hastily erected watchtowers, both sides could already see the other's towering command banners.
"Woooo-"
The horns abruptly fell silent, and the allied army of over a million halted in orderly ranks.
The Northern Mang emperor stood upon the Golden Wolf Chariot, holding the hundred-jin Judgment Hammer, his majesty arrogant and unchallenged!
His spirits soaring, he commanded sternly:
"Vanguard, prepare!"
The supreme command passed down through the ranks.
Boom, boom, boom!!! Fierce, resounding drumbeats rang out.
In an instant, ten decrepit Legendary Martial Venerables rose from the ground and hovered in midair.
Nearly ten peak Finger Mystic experts and six half-step Martial Venerables also rushed to the front at speeds almost invisible to the naked eye.
The Northern Mang emperor looked exhilarated as he roared:
"Everyone, slaughter those wild dogs of the Central Plains Martial World!"
"Imperial Blood Wolf Army, charge to the front!"
Within moments, nearly four thousand warriors in blood-wolf armor, each carrying a full-length spiked mace, rode out from the army formation and charged forward with astonishing might!
At the sight of them, every rank-and-file soldier grew excited. Even the Northern Mang generals raised their spears in fervor and proclaimed that timeless saying:
"Northern Mang has the clubs; the Central Plains has the skulls!"
Over two hundred years earlier, a battle-hardened Central Plains general had roared those words in despair.
Against the empire's strongest warriors and their darksteel-forged spiked maces, the Central Plains could only withstand the blows with their skulls. There was no other way!
The resources the empire lavished on each Blood Wolf warrior could have trained twenty