Northern Barbarians

Biodata

Power Progression

Society and Organization

Homeland and Population

The Northern Barbarians have long lived amid ice and snow and possess practical knowledge of snowy terrain. Their ordinary population includes nomads and hunters capable of joining battle with little preparation 115 197.

Northern Barbarians and Shenzhou people look sufficiently alike that some Northern Barbarian civilians attempt to impersonate Shenzhou slaves during the conquest of their homeland. Fresh slave brands, rather than physical appearance, expose the deception 195.

Leadership and Social Hierarchy

Slavery

• Deportation: Occupying forces send able-bodied Shenzhou men and women to the North Sea Kingdom as slaves 67 139.
• Branding: Grand Lords use lineage marks below a slave’s shoulder; lesser and middling lords generally place identifying marks inside the arm 195.
• Control of Beast Tamers: Captives are repeatedly bled to weaken their bodies and disrupt the concentration needed to command Beast Pets 72 110.
• Permanent disarmament: After ownership is confirmed at the City of Eternity Military Camp, enslaved Beast Tamers are forced to release their pets so the animals can be killed 110.

Abilities and Military Capabilities

Snow Wolf Beast Taming

Snow Wolves are the army’s most common Beast Pets, serving in combat, reconnaissance, and transport 68 82 100.

• Mounted combat: Riders attack with curved sabers while their wolves bite and claw opponents 56.
• Tracking: Snow Wolves locate hidden people by scent and detect lingering blood traces after a night has passed 68.
• Transport: They pull supply carts along concealed routes 82.
• Limitations: Ordinary Snow Wolves struggle to climb slippery fortification walls, unlike fused Werewolves 151.

Werewolf Fusion

Northern Barbarian Beast Tamers fuse with their wolf pets to become large Werewolves 83.

• Physical capabilities: Fused fighters can climb sheer cliffs, leap at elevated enemies, and scale city walls 83 151.
• Size: Documented forms stand nearly four meters tall, with others reaching four or five meters 83 197.
• Defensive function: A fused pet can absorb much of an incoming attack’s damage; its death ends the fusion 83.
• Battlefield role: Werewolves push siege vehicles and form defensive lines against enemy Beast Tamers 171 197.

Frost Snow Wolves

Frost Snow Wolves are advanced forms of Snow Wolves. Only Snow Wolves at the Mountain Moving Realm or above have a chance to evolve into them 128.

• Absolute Ice Seal: Their ultimate skill can kill groups of soldiers whose strengthened skin resists ordinary weapons and claws 128.
• Distribution: They are uncommon relative to ordinary Snow Wolves, although He Qin’s hundred-thousand-strong army contains at least a thousand 100 128.
• Limits: Particularly resilient opponents, including Guo Dundun, can survive the ice seal 145.

Blood-Sacrifice Rituals

Northern Barbarian camps use altars to strengthen Beast Pets with prisoners’ blood 71.

• Preparation: Sacrificial blood collects in carved grooves and is mixed with herbs until it condenses into a thick mass 71.
• Result: Two Snow Wolves advance directly from the Fusion Realm to the Golden Body Realm after consuming the mixture 71.
• Infrastructure: A rescued prisoner reports at least three such altars near one camp 72.

Aerial Operations

• Windriding Birds: Used to transport supplies and intercept airborne attempts to resupply besieged Wuji City 67.
• Glider assaults: Troops launch from elevated siege-tower runways, glide onto walls, then release their Beast Pets and perform Fusion 200.

Weapons and Equipment

• Curved sabers and scimitars: Standard close-combat weapons. Zhang Jun judges captured Northern Barbarian blades sharper than his side’s swords and sabers 56 74.
• Bows: Camp defenders use arrows against Jiang Hao’s airborne attacks 71.
• Fortified camps: Documented defenses include fences, corner watchtowers, concealed sentries, patrol routes, and cleared ground to deny attackers cover 73 106.
• Siege equipment: Siege vehicles, long ladders, battering rams, glider-launch towers, and plank bridges assembled across moats 171 197 200.
• Ritual equipment: Altars, Totem Banners, sacrificial grooves, and herbs used in blood preparation 71.

History

Invasion and the Fall of the City of Eternity

Northern Barbarian troops assault the City of Eternity’s defenses, where Gongsun Qianxue’s recruits encounter Snow Wolf riders and Werewolves 56. After being held outside for more than two months, the invaders enter the city and massacre civilians, committing widespread looting, arson, torture, and sexual violence 66.

They subsequently surround Wuji City and occupy nearby towns. Thousand Mountain Town and Dusk Snow Town are preserved as garrisons blocking Shenzhou reinforcements, while other settlements are stripped of valuables and devastated 67.

Wuji Mountains Occupation

The Northern Barbarians establish guard posts across the Wuji Mountains’ outer defensive line and hunt scattered Shenzhou soldiers. Their pursuit fragments General Wang’s forces and keeps Gongsun Qianxue’s survivors moving between hiding places 70 80.

Wuji Pass becomes the occupation’s logistics hub: captured people and plunder pass through it, while supplies from the North Sea Kingdom are distributed to surrounding camps. Weak or sick captives are executed during screening 82.

Resistance and the Loss of Wuji Pass

Jiang Hao begins raiding camps and freeing prisoners, including captives intended for blood sacrifice. Repeated attacks destroy three large camps and seven or eight smaller ones, prompting an unsuccessful five-thousand-man search from Wuji Pass 71 74 86.

A later convoy ambush kills Wei Chong and ultimately frees seventeen thousand prisoners 91 92. Jiang Hao then disrupts enemy camps with Army Ants and a Fire Pig Formation. Wang Jun’s death breaks his troops’ morale, and the Northern Barbarians lose Wuji Pass despite using prisoners as shields and hostages 106 109.

Battles for Shenzhou

The Northern Barbarians continue operations around Wuji Peak, where Jiang Hao attempts to exploit the Dense Fog Zone and an avalanche against Cheng Feng’s army 115 119.

At Shenzhou, He Qin commands one hundred thousand troops against the Self-Defense Army. Zhang Jun’s Eight Gates Golden Lock Formation inflicts severe casualties, although Frost Snow Wolves threaten the defenders with Absolute Ice Seal. He Qin’s injury triggers a retreat 127 128 129.

The Self-Defense Army later retakes Ghost Gate City. Under Jiang Hao’s no-prisoners policy, the Northern Barbarian garrison fights until its last defender dies at daybreak 137.

War in the North Sea Kingdom

Guo Dundun’s capture of Baishan Town brings the fighting into Northern Barbarian territory. His forces kill the town’s men, confine its women, and free tens of thousands of Shenzhou slaves; Grand Lords mobilize troops to recover the town and endangered relatives 148.

Jiang Hao subsequently captures Zuo Xianning and his surviving forces 162. At Wumeng, Xiao Lin launches a major offensive but is defeated. His routed army withdraws into the City of Eternity with fewer than three hundred thousand troops 171 177.

Grand Lord Coalition and Final Defeat

During the conquest, Northern Barbarian civilians and surviving forces organize resistance under their Grand Lords. Three Grand Lords and hundreds of lesser and middling lords assemble an alliance of at least two million outside the Han Palace Royal Court 196 197.

Their assaults breach walls and gates, using massed infantry, Werewolves, siege equipment, and gliders. Jiang Hao repeatedly blocks their entry with fire attacks and Army Ants, while the coalition continues attacking despite enormous losses 198 200 201.

After further fighting turns against the Northern Barbarians, Jiang Hao leaves the remaining campaign to Han Su and Cai Tianming’s three hundred thousand New Shenzhou Army troops. He calls for eliminating the remaining Grand Lords and absorbing the North Sea Kingdom, while ordering its men killed or castrated 205 207. Guo Dundun later describes the kingdom as having been wiped off the map; General Shangguan credits Jiang Hao rather than Guo with that achievement 254.

Relations with Shenzhou

• Jiang Hao — Their principal military opponent. His father’s death and the massacre at the City of Eternity deepen his hatred; Northern Barbarian soldiers eventually call him the “God of Slaughter” 69 198.
• Self-Defense Army — Conducts camp raids, prisoner rescues, territorial reconquest, and the invasion of the North Sea Kingdom. Its strengthened soldiers and coordinated formations counter many ordinary Northern Barbarian attacks 86 120 127.
• Shenzhou civilians — Victims of massacre, enslavement, and occupation. Civilians actively aid resistance forces in Ghost Gate City and Worry-Free City 67 137 139.
• Gongsun Qianxue — Captured and severely abused before Jiang Hao finds her at Wuji Pass. She later saves He Qin from a potentially fatal attack 109 129.
• Qin Shu — Described by Jiang Hao as at least half Northern Barbarian, yet determined to fight them; Jiang Hao sends him to train with Zhang Jun’s Infantry Regiment 183.