Revolt against the Heavens

The day was approaching. General Sha Lang Hu had stopped his small raids, but he had left several decoys on his way home. During more than three months, he had harassed them relentlessly. But he had also been smart about it so that they would always stay on their toes. From what he could see, it had worked like a charm. In fact, Xin Zhe herself had almost tried to chase them by abandoning her army. Unfortunately, despite all her strength, her army's morale was getting so low that she couldn't leave them alone. Besides she would have been forced to turn over all the sand of the Desolate Dune Desert to find them.

The only consolation she could find for the army was that they were clearly walking in the right direction if the Sand Wolves Tribe were taking so many risks. However, it wasn't much consolation. In fact, because she had failed to extract almost anything out of the few prisoners they had taken, her own strength was now in doubt. As she was growing more impatient and frustrated, Xin Zhe also began to kill some mercenaries and even a few soldiers. Although strength was highly valued by demons, this wasn't a show of strength, but of weakness. A general shouldn't kill his own men before the battle because of personal feelings.

Of course, not a single member of Xin Zhe's army would dare utter those words out loud. Just thinking them too strongly might warrant them Xin Zhe's fury. After all, the powers of an Accomplished Demon were not too well known. Some mercenaries imagined that she could read their minds. But the recent events had shown them that she wasn't as mighty as they had imagined.

Despite the several ambushes and traps, the army hadn't lost many men. In fact, less than a dozen were dead, and a bit more than thirty were injured. Since demons recovered faster than humans, those injuries weren't a problem at all. And soon, they would reach the main settlement of the Sand Wolves Tribe. Of course, some were worried that they would have fled by now.

In the Sand Wolves Tribe, in contrast, morale was higher than ever. Cao Yun had fully embraced his role of Tie Po. Now that he had learned more about the man, he understood the origin of this nickname. Although he had failed in his ambitions, Tie Po had still united the tribes and protected them from complete subjugation and enslavement. Such a fate had come back to haunt them. And suddenly a man had appeared who could break the Curse of Blood and Sorrow inflicted by City Lord Sihe. Obviously, the tribes had used the name of the legends to call him.

Tie Po's achievement was in reality rather minimal. But he had been a figurehead. In fact, his own role was so small that the Nalupu Kingdom had all but forgotten about him. Only the tribes had a tradition with this name, just as they had several oral traditions that still escaped the Nalupu Kingdom. Anyway, Cao Yun had found this name to be quite useful.

Unfortunately, Cao Yun had also completely attached himself to this tribe. Currently, he couldn't abandon them at all. All the tribesmen who couldn't fight had been sent to other settlements. General Sha Lang Hu and Cao Yun had taken care of all the vanguard parties sent by Xin Zhe so the other settlements were safe. But they had to stop her army or they would find every member of the Sand Wolves Tribe. Thankfully, they had had enough time to call some reinforcement from various settlements. In fact, with the name of Tie Po thrown in the mix, a few other tribes had accepted to send some troops.

Among all those new fighters, there was no Accomplished Demon either. The only one they had was the old, and almost dying, Chieftain Sha Chai Ren. A few decades ago, he was still very respected. But by now, he was seen as a senile old man whose daughter was controlling as she saw fit. Although it was so far from the truth that it was ridiculous, Chieftain Sha Chai Ren's reputation had been tainted by those rumors. And it was indeed true that he lacked the strength to correct them. Besides, if his daughter had tried to silence them herself, they would have simply grown worse. Still, the Sand Wolves Tribe was a rather big tribe and remained a bit of respect by most of the neighboring tribes. Moreover, they were aware that City Lord Sihe's threat was also looming over their head.

If the man the Sand Wolves Tribe were talking about really was Tie Po, it could change many things. In fact, many tribes were already prepared to wrestle Tie Po from the Sand Wolves Tribe. Before the battle had even begun, they were seeing him as some form of political tool. Just like the real Tie Po, this new one would probably be pretty useless except in his capacity to unite all the tribes around a single leader. Obviously, each chieftain wanted to be that leader. But they had to make sure that this man was the real deal, and then they had to find ways to lure him to their side.

The last month before the offensive, Cao Yun received many proposals from emissaries sent by seventeen different tribes. Some were so small it was clear they were just trying to curry some favor. But others were obviously playing a political game. Honestly, Cao Yun was completely spent by his time preparing and setting up the 'Golden Cicada Sheds Its Skin' array formation. At the same time, he had pushed his mind cultivation to the brink of a breakthrough. However, he wasn't quite there yet. Thus, he had decided to spend some time working on his martial arts.

Still under the guise of training the fighters, Cao Yun pretended to restrain his cultivation. He could also add that it was a good thing to reserve himself for the real fight.

During those training sessions, all the emissaries were always trying to get him to visit their tribes after the battle. They weren't putting down the Sand Wolves Tribe directly since they were in their ranks. And honestly, they had seen Chieftain Sha Chai Ren. Despite his old age, he was still powerful enough to crush them with his own hands. However, they could all tell that it wouldn't last long, he was clinging to life for this battle. Indeed, there were high chances that he wouldn't be able to survive it. His daughter Sha Chai Gan was painfully aware of that and she was taking more and more responsibilities.

Contrary to their first encounter, Cao Yun and Sha Chai Gan were working well together. To be more precise, she was mostly staying out of his way and he was glad about that. On his end, Cao Yun was upholding the honor of the Sand Wolves Tribe in front of the emissaries from the other tribes, and she was glad about that in return. Their relationship wasn't cordial, and in fact a bit cold at moments, but it was very professional and extremely effective to organize the tribe for the upcoming battle.

-

General Sha Lang Hu informed the High Council about the situation. The High Council was formed of the eighteen tribes of the Crimson Ashes Basin where the Sand Wolves Tribe was mainly located. Although the tribes were called nomadic, they were in fact semi-nomadic. And their settlements were in general in various regions. Thus, it was difficult to form a stable council of several tribes. The current neighbors of the Sand Wolves Tribe would not be the same after the next migration. But for the time being, the High Council was formed of the tribes of this Crimson Ashes Basin.

Xin Zhe's forces would finally reach the 'Golden Cicada Sheds Its Skin' array formation in less than three days. After that, they would get to the settlement in only a handful of days. Everything would be decided at the 'Golden Cicada Sheds Its Skin' array formation. Cao Yun had chosen the spot not just because of the array formation but also with the fight in mind. In particular, he had been careful about the sand there. Many people could hide all over the place. Besides, the 'Golden Cicada Sheds Its Skin' was ingenious enough that it would spare those Cao Yun had marked with a specific seal.

Before the arrival of Xin Zhe though, Cao Yun had prepared a gift for her. It was soon time for the gift to be delivered. Even among the High Council, no one but Cao Yun, not even Chieftain Sha Chai Ren, was aware of that gift.

In the tent they were in, everyone was speaking with a personal dialect. Although they could all understand each other, there were always some nuances lost. Moreover, it really felt strange to the ears. Since they were all used to a specific dialect, hearing some many of them mixed together was strange as they couldn't adapt to them. On the other hand, Cao Yun was very happy to hear so many variations of the same language. And he picked most of those dialects. Even now, he had hopes he would be able to decipher Cleansed Asura's texts.

"Lord Tie Po, is everything ready?"

"Do you ask a wolf if its fangs or claws are ready?!"

"This question is an insult to Lord Tie Po!"

"Indeed, such impudence..."

"Enough! I do think that preventing Lord Tie Po from answering is even more insulting."

Chieftain Sha Chai Ren was old enough that he didn't have to care about the emissaries' sensitivity. Thus, he cut their nonsense as soon as it started. Now wasn't the time to grovel in front of their new political tool.

"Thank you, Chieftain. Everything is ready on my end. Unless someone has anything to add, I do think we can depart immediately. As I already told you all, I won't be able to be of much assistance. This array formation is so complex that it will require my undivided attention. Upon activation, the entire army of Xin Zhe should be divided and easier to deal with. At that moment, I will use the 'Golden Cicada Sheds Its Skin' to not only isolate them, but also to try and free as many slaves as possible. Their number should decrease fast. Besides, I was also able to set up smaller array formations. They wouldn't be much use against even a Golden Blood Child, but they should help us get rid of most mercenaries. Then, the main problem will remain Xin Zhe and her close soldiers."

"Although my blood has lost its luster, my arms retain their strength. I will burn every drop of my blood essence if need be, but if you're able to pin down Xin Zhe, I do think I can lead an assault on her. Hopefully, I'll be able to take her down. After all, she's no fighter."

"Senior Sha Chai Ren, no need to try and prove yourself. We all remember the legends of the past. Boasting about your capacity will only result in us failing to seize the victory."

A young and brazen emissary forgot himself after being rebuked earlier. After those words, he felt as though his flesh was being burned and his blood boiled. Seized by panic and terror, he immediately kowtowed and struck his head to the ground. A second later and Chieftain Sha Chai Ren would have killed him for his insults.

"Chieftain, this stupid one's words betrayed him. This miserable one is ready to lay his life for this insult, Chieftain. My humble tribe has nothing to do with such poor manners."

"Boy, you will be the first blood we sacrifice before we go to war."

"I understand, Chieftain. It will be a great honor for this insignificant one."

This was indeed a tradition of the Desolate Desert Dune Tribes. Before a large battle, it was customary for one to draw a vast part of his blood, even using some of his own blood essence. The blood wasn't drawn to death of course, but losing one's blood, especially for a demon, wasn't a happy occasion at all. For the tribes, it was called 'Soothing the Sand'. Through that ceremony, it was believed that the desert wouldn't ask too much blood from their tribe during the upcoming battle, while their enemies would be bled dry.

By taking part in this 'Soothing the Sand', the young man was not only saving his life, but also his face and the face of his tribe. Indeed, his words would have been taken as insults by any chieftain. Even his own chieftain would have punished him harshly. If there wasn't a terrible battle coming up, Chieftain Sha Chai Ren would have probably demanded his head or his heart. Thus, he was grateful and he resented his stupid tongue and his rotten brain. Besides, he had misspoken in front of Tie Po. Undoubtedly, his own chieftain would punish him once more. So he had to gain as much honor as possible during the battle.

"Before we depart however, I have one final surprise for Xin Zhe. General Sha Lang Hu, I need you and some of your men to send back the prisoners from the vanguard parties. I will add my own prisoner to the mix. You will transmit them the message I have here. Make sure that Xin Zhe finds them as she enters the 'Golden Cicada Sheds Its Skin'. Then we will all wait for the signal. I can assure you you won't be able to miss it."

Everyone was a bit doubtful. In fact, General Sha Lang Hu himself had had some reserves when Cao Yun had asked him to keep some demons of the vanguard parties alive. But he had obeyed without asking any question. Besides those few men, Cao Yun had his own prisoner, the only survivor of the first vanguard he had crossed paths with, the one from which he had free three slaves. During all those months, Cao Yun had been able to develop his art of seals. For that, he had used the seals he had observed in Xixue's bones.

In fact, Cao Yun was getting close to a breakthrough in that domain. It would help him cultivate even faster than before. Of course, his current speed was already impressive so it wouldn't improve it by much. But he was looking for any improvement. However, there was another use for those seals that City Lord Sihe had intended to put to good use. Now, it was Cao Yun's turn to do so.