War was on the very brink of breaking out.
The opening move of an entire war carried weight no less significant than the process itself—especially in a situation where the two sides’ strength was so vastly mismatched.
At this moment, Nanzhao’s northern city gate was packed densely with troops.
If one counted each beast as a single soldier, saying there were five hundred thousand troops here wasn’t an exaggeration at all.
Five hundred thousand troops—what did that even mean? Consider that all the forces currently under Situ Haonan’s and Yelu Qianqian’s combined command didn’t exceed three hundred thousand.
Even all of Jun Beiyue’s forces across Da Zhou’s four borders combined amounted to only around five hundred thousand.
And here Nanzhao had amassed five hundred thousand troops at this single gate alone—this was practically the pace of wiping out all of Da Zhou entirely.
At the moment, they stood right beneath Nanzhao’s northern gate.
Only Elder Sheng accompanied them along the way, with no guards at all, but they knew perfectly well that the moment they released the Jiaoren clan head and Medicine Clan head, and stepped beyond Nanzhao’s northern gate—
Elder Sheng and Elder Yao would jointly command these five hundred thousand troops here, the Beast Clan and poison forces, and declare the great war begun.
Even with all this force amassed here, it wouldn’t be enough to stop the Beast Clan army from invading Da Zhou, would it?
“Your son should know how important this gate is,” Ziqing murmured softly.
“Your son should know how important this gate is too,” Jun Beiyue said just as quietly.
Ziqing’s son and Jun Beiyue’s son were the same person, weren’t they… These two had been so confident in Xiong Xiaobao before, but now, faced with this scene, they found themselves wavering—how heartbroken Xiong Xiaobao would be if he knew!
Heartbroken or not, this opening move truly mattered—it determined who seized the initiative, and even more importantly, morale.
So Ziqing and Jun Beiyue grew cautious, showing no sign of releasing the Jiaoren clan head or the Medicine Clan head anytime soon.
“You two, we’ve brought you all this way—surely you trust Prince Nanzhao by now?” Elder Sheng said patiently, earnestly.
He believed that Han Ziqing and Jun Beiyue’s word carried real weight—they wouldn’t go back on it, wouldn’t refuse to release their captives now that they’d come this far.
But truthfully, at this moment Ziqing genuinely felt like reneging.
As the saying went, deception was fair play in warfare. If they took the Medicine Clan head and Jiaoren clan head hostage now, it would save them at least half the trouble ahead.
So Ziqing ignored Elder Sheng, gazing at Jun Beiyue instead, hoping he’d take the lead.
She was a woman, after all—if Jun Beiyue cared about his reputation, let her be the villain here.
She didn’t mind tricking Prince Nanzhao once.
Seeing the look in Ziqing’s eyes, Jun Beiyue knew exactly what she was thinking, a flash of doting affection crossing his eyes.
But this time, he didn’t want to break his word—not because he cared about keeping faith with Prince Nanzhao, but because he didn’t want to break faith with Nanzhao’s various clans.
Seeing the look in Ziqing’s eyes, and then Jun Beiyue’s gaze, Elder Sheng suddenly grew alarmed—surely these two weren’t actually planning to renege!
He immediately tensed up, and at the same moment, the Jiaoren clan head and Medicine Clan head grew panicked as well.
If they were taken hostage now, under these circumstances, Prince Nanzhao would have no reason to make any concessions for their sake—someone would surely be appointed to replace them as clan head, and at that point, no one would care whether they lived or died.
All three elders were alarmed. Jun Beiyue remained composed, seemingly hesitating, when suddenly the Meng Clan head leaned in close and whispered something to him—no one knew what he said, but a flash of amusement immediately crossed Jun Beiyue’s eyes.
“Very well. Prince Nanzhao does keep his word after all. Let’s settle this on the battlefield, then!” Jun Beiyue suddenly became quite agreeable.
Ziqing looked at him suspiciously but didn’t say anything more.
They let the Meng Clan head and his people pass through Nanzhao’s northern gate first, entering Da Zhou’s southern border gate. Only then did the couple simultaneously release the Jiaoren clan head and Medicine Clan head, giving them both a hard shove that sent them stumbling toward Elder Sheng.
Jun Beiyue immediately wrapped an arm around Ziqing and leaped into the air, landing high atop Nanzhao’s northern gate.
“This king keeps his word as well. If the three of you ever come to your senses, Da Zhou’s gates will always be open to you.”
With that, his figure flashed and vanished into thin air.
At almost the same instant, Elder Sheng shoved the Jiaoren clan head and Medicine Clan head aside, letting out a sharp, piercing note on his sheng. In an instant, “beasts of every kind surged forth like a flood of monsters, all pouring out beyond the northern gate! At the same time, tens of thousands of ferocious flying beasts took to the sky, and looking up, it seemed like a rain of arrows filling the heavens, all shooting toward Da Zhou!”
The great war between Da Zhou and Nanzhao had begun.
The Jiaoren clan head and Medicine Clan head were still reeling in shock, but Elder Sheng made a swift decision—he knew perfectly well how critical this opening move was, and Prince Nanzhao had specifically instructed that the fighting must be pushed into Da Zhou’s territory from the very start.
More precisely, the battlefield had to be drawn into Da Zhou’s own land.
Only this way could Nanzhao’s homeland remain secure, while simultaneously putting pressure on Jun Beiyue—after all, this wasn’t an ordinary war, but one involving beast armies.
Once the common people panicked, those in power would find their footing unstable.
Under Elder Sheng’s command, the Beast Clan army surged out through the northern gate, and soon the Medicine Clan head unleashed the poison sealed within his own body, ordering the poison army to advance.
The Medicine Clan’s poison army consisted mostly of various poisonous insects and creatures rather than poison masters themselves—small, yet extraordinarily toxic and nearly impossible to defend against.
The Jiaoren clan head’s forces weren’t stationed here at all; he immediately began retreating.
The Jiaoren’s forces were in the sea. Even with him held captive, it hadn’t stopped the Jiaoren army from mobilizing—while the Beast Clan army and poison army surrounded this location, the Jiaoren forces would move even faster, likely having already surrounded Da Zhou’s coastline!
More precisely, they had probably already surrounded the entirety of Longyuan’s coastline.
As the Jiaoren clan head made his way to the coast, he kept mulling over just how much of what Jun Beiyue had said was actually true.
Was that dagger really forged from silver Jiaoren reverse scales?
Did golden Jiaoren truly still exist?
The Jiaoren clan head couldn’t wrap his head around it, unable to believe that golden and silver Jiaoren still existed in this world.
He shook his head—until he saw it with his own eyes, he wouldn’t believe it.
Regardless, reaching the front lines as quickly as possible was what mattered most right now.
Because of his and the Medicine Clan head’s carelessness, they’d delayed the opening strike and been coerced by Jun Beiyue and Han Ziqing—already a great humiliation for Prince Nanzhao. This time, he absolutely had to achieve something significant, or else the Jiaoren clan would struggle to hold its own standing among the three clans.
With this thought, the Jiaoren clan head quickened his pace.
But when he reached the coast, what would he find, what would he see? That, he would have to wait and witness with his own eyes—seeing was believing, after all.
Meanwhile, in the small stretch of land between Nanzhao’s northern gate and Da Zhou’s southern gate, chaos had already erupted.
The Meng Clan’s people had all safely crossed the border, and Jun Beiyue and Ziqing stood high atop the city gate, looking down upon the Beast Clan army and poison forces.
Xiong Xiaobao truly hadn’t let them down—the entire southern gate of Da Zhou had been sealed and protected by a barrier that no creature except humans could pass through.
No matter how arrogant the Beast Clan army and poison forces might be, right now, they had no choice but to obediently wait outside the gate before Ziqing.
“So it’s a barrier!” Ziqing said with a smile, guessing that the Meng Clan head must have just told Jun Beiyue about the barrier, which was why he’d been so generous about releasing the captives.
At the moment, the entire Meng Clan—whether the clan head, Old Meng Five, Old Meng Two, or Old Meng Three, whether highly cultivated disciples or those just beginning their training—were all working together with Meng Duo’er to reinforce the barrier they’d hastily set up.
And within the southern gate, several armies could clearly be seen standing fully equipped and ready for battle—yet Xiong Xiaobao was nowhere to be found.
Where was that child?