Daichin the Barbarian Warlord of the Frosthral frontlines army was finally disturbed when his last Barbarian Lord was slain.

He could no longer allow the Snowdrifts’ existence to continue, but the moment he moved to attack, Esley suddenly sent out all of his forces to charge at them.

…..

“Excellent, this is the chance we needed,” the Martial King Esley laughed.

He owed that mysterious hooded man his recent surge in cultivation, and in the future, he no longer have problems to slowly increase the amount of contract beasts till he have nine; the limit he could reach.

For this life-changing favour, he bore the blame of ignoring the plight that the Snowdrifts is in.

However, this did not mean that he couldn’t capitalise on the opportunities presented on the field.

When the Snowdrifts led Daichin away, Esley knew that his chance has come.

Their forces struck like a storm rolling in from the horizon.

They appeared slow in advance, but before the barbarians realised, they were already upon them.

Though the barbarians had great resilience, they were given no chance to fight back at all. Without Daichin, the tides of battle can only flow against them.

…..

Daichin clicked his tongue in annoyance.

“Tch, those bastards had been waiting for this all along!”

“Warlord Daichin, should we return and hold them back?”

“It’s too late. My absence gave those cowards the balls to attack. The moment we move to stop them, they will retreat and all the forces we lost would be for naught.”

Daichin could imagine the smile on Esley’s face right now and his blood throbbed with anger.

“What should we do then, commander?”

“Leave them be. Our soldiers are not that weak. We will quickly uproot this thorn in our side and return in a flash.”

As Daichin said, when the frontlines clashed with the Saint Empire troops, they easily held the line.

Although their Ki techniques are weak and they lacked long-ranged killing skills, their bodies were sturdy beyond the southern Internal Practitioners.

As the barbarians around the Snowdrifts ebbed away and his men panting sighs of relief, Kairos returned to the centre of his army and had furrowed brows seeing the poor condition of his companions and compatriots.

The retreating Frosthral army quickly ran into their commander, Daichin.

The Warlord, in an act of rage, burned a row of those who tried to flee with a slow fire and made an example of what happens to cowards.

Their sickening cries pierced through the clamour of weapons clashing and caused everyone to pale at the cruelty.

Disgusting boils formed on his victims, as their whimpering turned into a gurgling plea for relief.

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With their deaths, the soldiers reformed their ranks, and together with Daichin, they swoop in on the Snowdrifts like an all-consuming wave of tsunami.

The soldiers of the Snowdrifts tensed up instinctively, knowing what will happen to them if they were defeated.

Above them, the red moon fades and the world darkens.

But at this time, a silver of orange shone from the horizon, announcing the new dawn, and with it, a smile lit up on Kairos’ face and he announced loudly, “It’s time.”

Hidden from morning’s first light as the sun started rising, a detachment split from the main Saint Empire army charging frontlines.

They crept unseen towards the opening left behind from Daichin’s departure and quickly veered towards the Snowdrifts.

The reinforcements from the northern stronghold that the Snowdrifts had been waiting finally arrived.

Amid the chaos brought by Esley, not many noticed their movements, but a particularly strong Soul Perception that had been searching for them ceaselessly picked it up.

The Snowdrifts perked up at the words of their leader, knowing fully the implications of his words, and as expected, Kairos barked, “Gather into the Grand Bagua Formation Second Variation: Yin-Yang Array!”

They roared together with fearsome fighting spirits, “Yin-Yang Array!”

They had been eagerly awaiting these words for the past three days and nights, and it finally came.

These experienced soldiers moved quickly and in a few breaths they will be ready.

Among them are Soldiers, Elites, Assassins, Clan Elders, Blacksmiths, Healers, Inscriptionists, and Rune Masters. They may be of various vocation and sent from different forces to aid the Snowdrifts, but their movements were swift and precise having undergone strict formation training from Kairos in the past few years.

Few understand that the battles are fought and won off the field. Everything on the battlefield, including the power to overturn situations was determined before the battles were fought.

For all of Kairos’ shortfalls in cultivating talents, he more than make up for it with wisdom beyond his years and wisdom dedicates that he could accurately tell what would be important in the future.

Of all the commanders in the land, there are few that could outdo Kairos in predicting the flow of battle, his ability; near prophetic.

He had studied extensively the information of the war and the character analysis of every prominent figure in Saint Empire as well as the newly formed northern empire to aid him in his decisions.

The hour that each Barbarian Lord attacked was within his range of predictions, and likewise, he held tight control over the timing of their deaths.

The ability to foresee the future and make preparations is the recipe for winning. The more steps one could envision, the likelihood of victory increases until triumph becomes inevitable.

For example, the timely demise of the first Barbarian Lord, Yfirmaour, was by Edward’s hands.

Kairos had not gave his brother any form of heads up, but simply entrusted it to him silently, knowing that the archer would act at the given opportunity. All Kairos had to do was to ensure the chance for him to loose his arrows came at the right time.

It was by finding out everything down to the tiniest details that Kairos could make such precise battle plans so far ahead in time.

And right now he knew, just how much longer could his men last.

It wasn’t only with familiarising with the different battle formations. Their trainings had covered all the situations that Kairos had predicted, and largely centred on building endurance.

The cultivation they used had all been altered by Kairos, and the Origin External Art had been taught to the rank and file.

The food each member ate for the past few years had also been specially prepared by the kitchen of the Gilded Snow. Not only was it nutritious, it is packed with high-energy diet.

The barbarians might be stout and sturdy, but when compared to them, they are frail like dried carrots.

It isn’t a paltry thing to fight three days and nights throwing boulders across the field, summoning explosions of metal shards, flames, or ice that devours the careless, or calling a deluge of acid rain and fiery storms upon one’s enemies. At such intensity befitting cultivators, the Ki that each of them are burning through could easily power all the crystallised lights in a city for days.

The Yin-Yang Array will become their final attack. Afterwards, save for the strength to walk, they will no longer have any energy left.

Beside Kairos, Snow softly counted down, “Ten seconds, nine, eight …”

As the Yin-Yang array was finishing, Kairos scanned through the battlefield with his Soul Perception.

The Frosthral forces gathered to strike at the Snowdrifts, and when they were ready, Snow finally reached Zero.

Without knowing when, Kairos had already locked on to all the enemies in the area and then with a hand raised in the air he roared, “Immolation Rain!”

This day, the north will be stained red.