The deaths of so many members of the northern tribes early on was not acceptable to the elders. By now they had lost nearly 40% of their numbers, which was far more than they had ever expected.
They knew that a war would ensue some time after they entered the Great Zhou Continent. Even if it was not right away, there would certainly be a reaction some time later from the southerners.
And this would inevitably lead them to lose their people.
But losing them right at the cusp of entry was simply unthinkable to them. And that too without any of the southerners actually suffering either. It was one of the worst insults that could have been delivered to them.
"ENOUGH!" Master White Mountain could not take it anymore and made a few hands seals, erecting a dome around the army.
~RUMBLE~
Ice rose like saplings sprouting from the ground and twirled around the northern tribesmen, forming a large dome that not only defended from the incoming swords, but also repelled the ones that were already there.
All the weaker swords were pushed back almost instantly and only those that were either mid grade or high grade were still holding their ground. The short sword even managed to carve out a part of the ice dome before it was forcefully blasted away by an icicle.
"DIE!" The Master White Mountain shouted as he sent serveral palm imprints towards where he had sensed the sword intent from.
After all, Lin Mu's sword intent was oppressive for most and could be felt easily. It was like a beacon of light shining in the darkest of nights.
~BOOM!~
But before the attacks could reach Lin Mu, they were stopped. In fact, the attacks had not even reached the barrier, they were stopped by the Centennial Sword Ancestor. He himself had jumped in front and nullified the attacks with a flick of the sword.
No damage was done and the force was only reversed.
"Attacking juniors now? Even being a tribal, you must have some honor, right?" The Centennial Sword Ancestor taunted.
"Humph! You southerners are not worthy of that." Master White Mountain retorted.
"I see… Then I must force you then." The Centennial Sword Ancestor stated before raising his sword.
~HUMM~
A blue glow covered the sword as turbulent winds shook the area. Even the barrier started to tremble and crack under it, and this was when it wasn't even being targeted.
"Ten Lakes Splitter!" Centennial Sword Ancestor slashed out.
~WOONG~ WOONG~ WOONG~
It was as if ten slashes were done, but only one was performed. The ten slashes rained down upon Master White Mountain, who was forced back. The intensity of the attacks made it so that he could only defend and not attack.
"Ten Lakes Splitter!" The Centennial Sword Ancestor didn't stop there, though.
He kept up his tempo and continued to use his sword skill, not letting Master White Mountain have time to react.
A few attacks later, the two Immortal Ascension realm cultivators had traveled over a hundred kilometer away while fighting.
"Come on now! Time to join in ourselves!" Lin Mu called out.
"YEAH!!!" All the alliance members shouted as the barrier lowered.
Tens of thousands of cultivators were revealed to the Northern Tribe's army as the alliance joined the fray.
Elder Gunkao and Ku Mi were surprised at seeing such numbers.
"They have almost the same number of experts as us." Elder Ku Mi spoke.
"Hmm… but the number of lower leveled cultivators among them is lower." Elder Gunkao replied.
"Seems like we are gonna have an open battle." Elder Niu said as he readied himself.
Pulling out a huge mace from his spatial storage treasure, he directly rose into the sky.
"ATTACK!" He yelled as the mace exploded with great power.
"ATTACK! JOIN THE ELDERS!" The commanders of the army also ordered.
The army of the northern tribes moved, and the soldiers unleashed their fury.
~SHING~ SHING~ SHING~
Lin Mu released his sword intent once more and the hundreds of swords all joined him once again. Gesturing with his hand, the swords shot toward the army.
"Not so fast." But before they could reach the army, the were interrupted.
Elder Niu of the northern tribes, moved in before the attack could reach the soldiers and swung his mace.
~HONG~
His mace rocked the very air, and several orbs of energy spread out from it. Each of these orbs transformed into what looked like beetles and blocked the swords.
The clash of the swords and energy beetles was fierce, but Lin Mu was still blocked in the end.
'He's not weak…' Lin Mu thought to himself.
He knew how much power was in the swords, but all of them were still blocked by the man alone. This was something that another Dao Treading realm expert, Elder Ku Mi was unable to do so and had needed the help of Master White Mountain to block.
"Who might you be? I don't think I've heard about you." Elder Niu questioned.
The elders of the northern tribes certainly knew about the strong experts of the Great Zhou continent. It was the basics of what they needed to know after all, since they were going against them.
Especially when considered those that were in the Dao Treading realm, everyone needed to be aware of them.
But Elder Niu was sure that Lin Mu wasn't mentioned in any of the information. Anyone with such strong sword intent should have been well known. Not to mention, they had seen him appear earlier as well when he had thrown the ball of Beast Qi at the army.
They were still confused about what that was, as they were actually not harmed by it.
Even Elder Niu had a drop of beast Qi in his body from that surprise attack, and didn't know what that was.
"I am Lin Mu." He said before disappearing.
Elder Niu's eyes narrowed as his senses alarmed him.
~shua~
"And I am the alliance leader of the Great Zhou." A voice spoke from behind him.
