Chapter 524: Number one in prestige and merit Translator: ChibiGeneral Editor: ChibiGeneral Tai Bai Yun Sheng was tall with a strangely ancient appearance. The hair near his temples had turned white and his face was filled with deep wrinkles. He was already over eighty but his eyes were not dim and blurred, instead had a gentle look that seemed to pity the fate of mankind along with a calmness that had seen through the secular world. Since he was seven, he had been determined to travel the northern plains to help common people. His life was full of turmoil, as he was frequently toyed by fate. He became an enslaved Gu Master after his tribe was annihilated, then he was betrayed by his wife and became a captive of variant men. Then in a fortuitous encounter, he obtained a time path Gu Immortal’s inheritance and was rescued by his brothers when he was at the verge of death... Now, he had already become a living legend. Although he was a loner, he was publicly accepted as a great righteous path Gu Master. His benevolence reputation had entered the depths of northern plains’ people, the level of his prestige far surpassing people like Chang Shan Yin, Hei Lou Lan and Liu Wen Wu. Right as Hei Lou Lan was at his wit’s end considering the battle situation and had the thought of retreating, Tai Bai Yun Sheng came to the camp by himself, holding a letter in his hand. Hei Lou Lan read the letter and immediately realized the reason. Back then, Hei tribe’s supreme elder Hei Bai took a fancy to Tai Bai Yun Sheng, guiding and rescuing him many times. Now that Hei tribe army had fallen into a predicament, Hei Bai who had been secretly observing all along sent a letter to Tai Bai Yun Sheng to provide assistance. Hei Lou Lan knew the ability of Tai Bai Yun Sheng and was thus overjoyed. He arranged a banquet that night to serve Tai Bai Yun Sheng. On the second day, the sky had just become bright; Hei Lou Lan impatiently arranged his army formation and requested Tai Bai Yun Sheng to make his move. Under everyone’s expectant gaze, Tai Bai Yun Sheng slowly walked to the front and looked at the tall mountain in front of him. Gu tribe was specialized in earth path and were long famous for it in northern plains. Piling stones to form a mountain, this would be an unimaginable and impossible tactics in Earth. But in this world, this mountain formed in about ten days proved nothing was impossible. The alliance leader Gu Guo Long looked at the foot of the mountain from the summit. When a white clothed, white hair old man walked in front of the formation, the Gu Masters around him roared in laughter and made disdainful comments, but Gu Guo Long, however, had a bad feeling in his heart. He was well aware this mountain that they had formed by piling stones was built on many foundations constructed by his tribe’s earth path Gu Masters. Other tribes might find it hard to imitate, but it was not like there were no ways to break through it. After being defeated repeatedly for several rounds by Hei tribe army, Gu Guo Long’s military force had suffered damage and his ambition of vying for supremacy had dimmed down. He pondered over this and had decided to side with Liu tribe. Liu tribe’s Liu Wen Wu was wise and benevolent, treating his people leniently and being strict to himself; his reputation was much better than Hei Lou Lan’s. Several days ago, Gu Guo Long had secretly sent a letter to Liu Wen Wu express his intent to side with Liu tribe. "Lord Liu Wen Wu has already replied and agreed to my tribe’s request to seek refuge, and is leading his army to reinforce us. As long as I defend for seven more days, this predicament before us will part like clouds and allow me to see the clear sky." Just as Gu Guo Long was inwardly encouraging himself, Tai Bai Yun Sheng slowly extended his hands. His large palms were covered with callus and wrinkles, just like an old tree bark. He slowly transferred his primeval essence, a weak silver light blossomed forth from his hands. The silver light was weak at first but soon turned brighter and brighter, and in a few seconds, the silver light was so dazzling that people could not look at it directly. "Mountain as before." Tai Bai Yun Sheng slowly chanted, his voice resonating in the air. On the summit, Gu Guo Long heard this voice and a shocked expression appeared on his face: "Oh no, he is Tai Bai Yun Sheng!" At the very same moment, silver light burst out, transforming into a straight light pillar that directly rammed into the mountain peak. Countless Gu Masters saw the situation turning awry and immediately activated their defense Gu or attacked to intercept the light pillar. But the silver light disregarded all interception and shone on the mountain peak. Both humans and beasts were unscathed, but the mountain stones below Gu tribe - regardless of how enormous or thick they were - under the silver light, were like snow under scorching sun, as they turned into nothingness in a visible speed, seemingly like they had never even existed! As Gu tribe army lost the support under their feet, they started falling down one after another. It was a crushing defeat, countless died as they crashed down to the ground from a height of five hundred to six hundred feet. Even if Gu tribe masters were stupid, they would become aware of their crisis at this moment. They exclaimed in shock one after another. "Such strength, this is Lord Tai Bai Yun Sheng’s mountain as before!" "Heaven, why is old sir Tai Bai helping Tyrant Hei Lou Lan?" "Lord Tai Bai Yun Sheng helped us restore our tribe’s spirit spring back then, he is our tribe’s benefactor. Now, we need to fight with him?" The mountain was the source of Gu tribe’s army’s confidence and now it was loudly crumbling apart. But even more than that was Tai Bai Yun Sheng’s prestige that shook their will to battle. "Hahaha, Tai Bai Yun Sheng is indeed worthy of his name; once he moves, it will be out of the ordinary." Hei Lou Lan laughed wildly as he looked at this scene from the main tent. Even he had not expected there to be such a hidden expert in the tribe. But each super tribes’ supreme elders would occasionally fancy someone from demonic and righteous path’s mortal Gu Masters, they would then select these seeds to cultivate. In case these seeds were able to become Gu Immortals, they would often be taken in by the super tribes and become their external supreme elder. This was one of the tactics the super tribes used to preserve their position and develop themselves. Clearly, Tai Bai Yun Sheng was a seed the rank six Gu Immortal Hei Bai thought highly of and believed he had hopes of advancing to Gu Immortal realm. Seeing the sorry figure of the enemy army, Hei tribe army’s morale surged; many started laughing loudly and there were even more who shouted of slaughtering everyone in the enemy faction even the old and the young. The Gu Master experts in the main tent were also excited with only Fang Yuan having a calm expression. Tai Bai Yun Sheng’s appearance was already within his expectation. In his previous life’s five hundred years of memories, Tai Bai Yun Sheng had joined Hei tribe army from this point onwards and provided an enormous assistance to Hei Lou Lan. Hei Lou Lan being able to become the winner in the end was mostly because of Tai Bai Yun Sheng. But Tai Bai Yun Sheng had a benevolent character and during the expedition, he became deeply aware of Hei Lou Lan’s savage and brutal nature. Thus, when he entered Imperial Court blessed land and advanced to Gu Immortal, he did not agree to Hei Bai’s request to become Hei tribe’s external supreme elder. "Kill! Kill these bastards, they actually dared to pile stones into a mountain to make a stand!" Hei Lou Lan excitedly shouted. 𝘧𝓇ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝘣𝓃ℴ𝓋𝑒𝑙.𝑐𝘰𝑚 Tai Bai Yun Sheng who was at the front of the troops, heard Hei Lou Lan’s words and frowned; he heaved a deep sigh and did not continue to attack, instead transmitted his voice to Hei Lou Lan to persuade him: "Alliance leader, heaven care for every living thing, why the need to kill? Throughout history, the struggle for Imperial court has always been accompanied by blood dying the land and disastrous deaths. Since alliance leader wants to enter the Imperial Court, it might be better to take in Gu tribe army, I am willing to persuade them on your behalf!" Gu tribe piled up stones to form into a mountain and used it to contend against Hei tribe, but against Tai Bai Yun Sheng, this mountain they created instead became a fatal trap to themselves. The current situation was Hei tribe army tightly surrounding Gu tribe army. If Tai Bai Yun Sheng just made a casual move, he could reduce Gu tribe by over half. Gu tribe would naturally not sit and wait for their death, but when the mountain was completely collapsed, they would have almost no battle strength left and their final charge would contain no threat. However, Tai Bai Yun Sheng did not do this. Hei Lou Lan’s eyes flashed with an ominous glint, although his heart raged with killing intent, he needed to think about Tai Bai Yun Sheng’s face. Tai Bai Yun Sheng was not an ordinary Gu Master. He was one of the extremely rare time path Gu Masters, and had rank five peak stage cultivation. His prestige in northern plains was like the sun in daytime, his influence was spread throughout the entire region. Hei Lou Lan thought to himself before replying: "Then I shall listen to old sir, but it is too dangerous for old sir to go up the mountain alone. I will send six rank four experts to escort old sir!" Tai Bai Yun Sheng nodded his head and climbed up the mountain under heavy protection. He had great prestige and his benevolent reputation had spread into the depths of people; as he climbed up the mountain, the enemy troops spontaneously parted way to reveal a passage in middle. "I did not think I would meet benefactor at such a time." Gu Guo Long laughed bitterly as he went forward and greeted. Back then, Gu tribe’s spirit spring had dried up and they were pushed aside by several large tribes. It was very dangerous for them to migrate and thus they requested Tai Bai Yun Sheng to help them. Tai Bai Yun Sheng helped them without taking any fees and became a benefactor to everyone in Gu tribe. Under Tai Bai Yun Sheng’s persuasion, although Gu Guo Long admired Liu Wen Wu - circumstances are more powerful than individuals - he had no choice but to lower his head. Tai Bai Yun Sheng had only been on the mountain for a quarter of an hour before he descended. When he climbed up, there were six people with him. When he descended, there were over a hundred thousand! Evidently, Tai Bai Yun Sheng’s persuasion was successful; Gu tribe army pledged allegiance to Hei Lou Lan, thus Hei tribe army’s military strength increased sharply. Tai Bai Yun Sheng changed the battle situation by himself. And with his deep prestige, he saved over a hundred thousand lives and also established great merits for Hei tribe. On the very first day Tai Bai Yun Sheng came to Hei tribe army, he reached the top position in battle merit list. And exactly opposite to him was Fang Yuan. Wolf King Chang Shan Yin’s name was listed at the last on the battle merit list, in scarlet red color and was negative, forming a stark contrast with Tai Bai Yun Sheng’s battle merit. That very night, Hei Lou Lan sent command for a celebratory banquet and also a welcoming reception for Tai Bai Yun Sheng. The moon was bright and stars were few; as bonfire raged high. It was a festive scene with cheerful sounds resounding throughout the place and beautiful young girls in northern plains’ clothings embroidered with gold, silver and precious jewels, danced around the bonfire. Hei Lou Lan repeatedly toasted towards Tai Bai Yun Sheng and praised: "With old sir assisting us, all defense lines are useless!" Tai Bai Yun Sheng had two rank five Gu that were recognized by all northern plains’ people. One was ’mountain as before’ and another was ’river as before’, both were time path Gu worms. The former could restore earth, hills, mountains, mounds and valleys to their original appearance; and the latter could restore rivers, lakes, streams, springs and waterfalls back to their original appearance. Gu Guo Long created the mountain on a land that was originally a flat grassland. Thus, under the effect of mountain as before Gu, it returned to its original form. Gu tribe’s spirit spring had been restored to its original state by river as before Gu, being able to create primeval stones again. In the battles between great armies, defense lines needed to be created and this usually relied on earth path Gu worms to create long and tall defense walls. These defense walls would be restored to flat grassland under the effect of mountain as before Gu. Thus Hei Lou Lan’s words ’all defense lines are useless’ had deep reasoning behind them!