Chapter 1854 - 181: The Divine Might of a Single Punch! (Part 2)

On the northern ridge.

The great tent was swept away by the surging airwave and vanished without a trace.

Ashina watched the scene on the distant ridge, her eyes filled with shock and awe.

With just this one punch, no one knew how many warriors of the Eighteen Tribes had been blasted to death.

With the might of this punch, if it had landed on the ridge where she stood, she would have been no different from that drifting mist of blood on the far ridge.

The eight thousand Great Snow Dragon Horses would also have suffered losses beyond counting under this single punch.

In all of this, she truly felt the terror of a mighty expert.

In front of such a strong one, what use is numbers?

No matter how many armies, they would only mean a few more punches.

"No wonder the Martial Saint in those years could suppress the world alone for more than eight hundred years!" Ashina murmured softly.

Yet her voice clearly reached the ears of the leaders of the various tribes.

Just then.

From afar suddenly came two sounds like thunder.

They were the voices of Prince Zhenbei Xu Zhen and the Beicang King.

"By the decree of King Luoshui!"

"Any who raise blades, any who kneel yet refuse to surrender, kill without mercy!"

As the voices fell, the thunder of iron hooves roared on without end.

"It’s the two Northern Emperor Kings, Prince Zhenbei and the Beicang King!!" A tribal elder reacted at once, crying out in shock.

"So they had long since made their preparations!!" Seeing the continuous flames suddenly blazing to the east and west in the distance, a tribal elder understood in his heart.

Under the illumination of the firelight, they saw cavalrymen in full armor, already prepared in every way, charging toward the battlefield.

Those riders held aloft long spears flashing with Cold Light, their expressions solemn and cold, brimming with killing intent.

That was the flame of revenge.

Here in the North, Northern barbarians and Great Xia had slaughtered each other again and again for countless years; both sides had long accumulated deep hatred, and they had brothers, they had kin who had died at the hands of the Northern barbarians.

This time, the Northern barbarians had knocked upon the passes, their army encircling Celestial Palace City; apart from those who entered the city in time, everyone else, as well as the comrades in the watch-fortresses atop the surrounding ridges, had all lost their lives to the Northern barbarians.

...

On the other side.

High in the sky, after Jiang Ning blasted out that punch, he drew back his fist and stood, his gaze calm as he looked down upon the ridge below.

He had already done enough.

It was impossible for everything to depend on him.

Besides, he could feel that those soldiers of Celestial Palace City also wanted to take this chance to vent their rage.

He also understood: with both sides facing off on the frontier for years, how could there be no deaths?

In this battle alone, though Celestial Palace City had not fallen, the dead and wounded were already beyond counting.

Quietly watching below, he soon saw the two iron cavalry forces led by Prince Zhenbei Xu Zhen and the Beicang King, like two sharp blades, stabbing fiercely into the Northern barbarian army from the east and west.

One side was a revenge army, drawn up in strict formation, ranks neat, killing intent boiling.

Spears like a forest, iron hooves like thunder; in every soldier’s eyes burned blazing battle spirit and fury.

The other side was a routed host, whose Heart Spirit had collapsed, thrown into utter chaos.

The soldiers did not know their generals, the generals did not know their soldiers.

Some fled in panic, some screamed in despair, some even threw down their weapons and knelt to beg for mercy, yet were still trampled into pulp by the iron cavalry that howled past.

Soon, blood dyed red the earth at the foot of the mountain; screams, shouts of killing, hoofbeats, the clash of weapons all intertwined.

Then Jiang Ning’s gaze swept across the battlefield and fell upon the ridge to the due north.

That was the ridge where the eight thousand Great Snow Dragon Cavalry were stationed.

It was also the ridge where Ashina and the tribal leaders of the Golden Family were gathered.

The Great Snow Dragon Horses were restless and uneasy on the ridge, yet were still held firmly in place by the riders on their backs.

As soldiers of the Great Snow Mountain, as soldiers of the royal court, they had long since received Ashina’s command.

Then Jiang Ning’s gaze fell upon Ashina above the ridge.

At this moment, Ashina stood on the ridge, looking down at the one-sided slaughter below with a complicated gaze.

Her lips were slightly pressed together, as if she were suppressing certain emotions.

Behind her, several leaders of the Golden Tribe were deathly pale, their whole bodies trembling.

They knew that after tonight, the backbone of their tribe would be almost completely lost; after today, the tribe would lose the qualification to survive independently on the Great Grassland.

Because on the Great Grassland, if you do not have enough strength to guard your tribe—

Then the entire tribe is meat upon the chopping block.

Women and children are all flesh coveted by other tribes.

Yet they also knew that there was no longer any room for turning back.

That figure in the sky, like a god, body like the Great Sun, radiating ten thousand rays of golden light, stood there; the outcome of the entire battle was already decided.

Among the tribal chiefs, there were also a few whose eyes grew vicious as they looked toward Ashina; they had already understood.

All these scenes fell within Jiang Ning’s gaze, not a single detail missed.

"This Ashina is quite a character!" Jiang Ning said inwardly to himself.

From today’s brief contact alone, from Ashina’s actions and decisiveness, he had been able to completely judge that Ashina’s temperament and methods were outstanding.

Normally speaking, letting this woman ascend to power, combined with weakening the strength of the Eighteen Golden Tribes, would surely cause the grasslands to become a dire hidden threat to Great Xia.

But he did not care about this.

Because he was clear: so long as he remained for even one more day, Ashina would never be able to take that step.

So long as he passed the looming crisis, he would be able to long abide in this world, resting with heaven and earth.

By then, Ashina would only be able to act according to his will.

And now, Ashina’s rise to the throne was the most advantageous matter for him.

Having walked to this point, his strength had already reached the Peak; every further advance demanded an ocean of resources.

The resources of a single city or a single region were no longer sufficient to bring him any obvious increase in strength.

Whereas the Great Grassland embodied the power of a nation.

The resources of the Great Grassland concerned the final few steps he needed to take.

By now, he had already begun to glimpse the mysteries of the human body.

What remained that he needed were only resources—and time.

As time flowed on.

On the battlefield below, the outcome of the entire battle had also completely lost any suspense.

The iron cavalry led by Prince Zhenbei and the Beicang King, two mighty experts at the Martial Arts Peak, rode as though through an empty land, charging back and forth in the routed Northern barbarian army; with every charge they reaped swathes of lives.

Those Northern Barbarian Warriors who had originally still tried to organize resistance, after witnessing that Golden Body in the high sky and the terrifying might of Jiang Ning’s punch, had their fighting spirit utterly collapse, leaving only the instinct for survival driving them to flee in all directions.

They could form not the slightest power of resistance.

Coupled with the absence of high-tier combat power, the entire battlefield was completely reduced to one-sided slaughter.

And all of this fell not only into Jiang Ning’s eyes, but also into the eyes of Ashina and those leaders of the Golden Tribe.

Jiang Ning stood high in the air, quietly watching it all, not striking again.

He knew that the remaining battle no longer required him.

Then he slowly withdrew his gaze and looked to the more distant north.

He sensed a familiar aura, faintly present, half-concealed, half-revealed.

He knew that this was the aura coming from the Great Snow Mountain God.

Their words just now had all entered his ears.

"The grassland is the domain of the Great Snow Mountain!"

"On the grassland, the Great Snow Mountain is everywhere!"

He murmured in his heart.

There was a trace of contemplation in his gaze as he looked north.

He could feel that the deity of the Great Snow Mountain was indeed watching this place.

He also knew that in supporting Ashina’s rise to power, the greatest obstruction might be that Great Snow Mountain God.

He had never had contact with this mysterious deity, and did not know what identity that god held, what existence it was, what thoughts it had.

"No rush. First wait until the ransom for these eight thousand Great Snow Dragon Horses is in place. Once my strength rises another level, I will go to the Great Snow Mountain and meet that one." He spoke silently in his heart.

In his mind, however, he was savoring the words of the Great Snow Mountain deity that had just spoken with him across the void.

After pondering for a moment, he cast his eyes downward.

At this point, the battle was already nearing its end.

The iron cavalry of Prince Zhenbei and the Beicang King galloped and rampaged at the foot of the mountain, cutting down the scattered Northern Barbarian Warriors one by one.

The remaining Northern barbarian fighters either knelt to beg for mercy or fled in all directions, completely devoid of any power to resist.

The stench of blood filled the night wind, so thick it made one nauseous.

In the distance, only a few scattered Northern barbarian soldiers took advantage of the chaos to escape toward the grasslands.

Jiang Ning stood high in the sky, his gaze calm as he watched all this, still not striking again.

He did not forcibly interfere with the fate of those lucky ones.