Planning for War

The Star Plain Province was vast. There were 49 main tribes located on this grassy plain, but the tribes were spaced far apart, with large stretches of open land between them. Within these stretches, smaller outposts and branch tribes of the main tribes could be found, but all of these smaller branches were not particularly valuable, they existed mostly for the sake of providing refuge and stop-off points for tribesmen when they were travelling in the outside world. Because of this, these smaller branches were rarely targeted by other tribes, unless those tribes were looking to weaken their opponents during war.

There were three tribes positioned relatively close to the Bloody Totem Tribe. These were the Rising Sun Tribe, the Burning Lotus Tribe, and the Star Night Tribe.

The Rising Sun Tribe was a branch tribe of the greater Aztec Tribe, but this didn't matter much, because the greater Aztec Tribe was too massive and spread out thinly across the Blood Plane, they would neither notice nor care if a single minor branch tribe was subdued and enslaved.

The Star Night Tribe was a lone tribe without much prominence in the province, they had no backer, low status, and they generally struggled to survive. They were also the most recently formed of the 49 tribes, with only a few centuries of history.

The Burning Lotus Tribe was actually a vassal tribe of the Grand Martial Tribe. The Grand Martial Tribe was known as the most war-loving tribe in the province. They constantly pushed the boundaries of the war flower law, seeking battle and war wherever possible, dominating and enslaving all the tribes around them!

The Grand Martial Tribe was the strongest tribe in the Star Plain Province. They were led by a 5-Star Realm body temperer, and it was rumoured that they had another 5-Star Realm body temperer ancestor! Not only that, but of the 49 tribes in the province, five of those tribes were actually vassals of this war mongering tribe…

The Burning Lotus Tribe was one such unfortunate vassal. 170 years ago, they lost a bloody war to the Grand Martial Tribe.

The war flower law prevented the strong from completely suppressing the weak, but only to a certain extent. For example, a tribe with a 5-Star Realm warrior was not permitted to start a war against a tribe without a 5-Star Realm warrior, unless the weaker tribe started the conflict first.

There was some ambiguity regarding what constituted 'starting a conflict', and the Grand Martial Tribe made excellent use of this uncertainty.

It was said that they deliberately targeted the Burning Lotus Tribesmen when they were outside of their tribe and travelling. Doing this to an excessive extent was banned by the war flower law, and eventually, the Burning Lotus Tribe could not continue swallowing this injustice.

The moment they fought back, the Grand Martial Tribe shamelessly declared that the Burning Lotus Tribe had initiated the conflict!

With that, they were more or less justified in their crusade, and before long, the Burning Lotus Tribe fell into their hands.

Naturally, such a tribe would also have no qualms about declaring war on a tribe that attacked one of their vassal tribes, and indeed, this was entirely permitted under the war flower law.

"This war flower law is quite interesting." Yaan smiled lightly as the tribe elders stared at him with pale faces.

"S-senior, attacking the Burning Lotus Tribe, is this really a good idea…?" The tribe leader forced a smile, hinting at the fact that they were all terrified of drawing the attention of the Grand Martial Tribe.

"Of course it is." Yaan nodded. "Like this, the Grand Martial Tribe will definitely attack us in retaliation. It will be much easier to defeat their warriors if we fight on our own home ground, and like this, we will be able to weaken them before we go on the offensive, and wage our true war against them."

Seeing everyone turn even more pale after learning that he intended to target the Grand Martial Tribe, Yaan glanced at the tribe leader and raised an eyebrow.

"I thought that you had an ambition? Is this…the full extent of your resolve?"

The tribe leader's expression changed. She immediately became solemn, asking Yaan:

"Senior, are you confident that you can defeat the Grand Martial Tribe?"

"Mm." Yaan nodded. "It is only a bit tedious to attack their tribe, which is protected by high level formations. Weakening them first, challenging them to an official war, and then attacking, will make things easier."

The tribe leader's eyes shone, and once again, her heart rate sped up as she felt like she could see a glimpse of the future…

A future where her Bloody Totem Tribe ruled supreme!

The other elders still looked unwilling, but the tribe leader did not care. Her ambitions went past this small fragment of the world, this small Star Plain Province…how could she back down here? Why would she back down here?!

"Senior, we will accompany you to attack the Burning Lotus Tribe, please rest assured."

"Good." Yaan nodded.

He knew that the other elders didn't approve, but so what? They could only go along with his wishes, they did not dare to openly speak out against him.

Yaan didn't intend to pressure them into doing his bidding forever, eventually, he hoped that they would become more willing. Until that time though, he could only act overbearingly. Perhaps after seeing him attain success a few times, their attitudes would undergo a change.

The following day, Yaan and the other Bloody Totem Tribe Elders set out.

Yaan learned from their last war against the Rising Sun Tribe, this time bringing the weaker tribesmen along with them. The weaker warriors, those with 3-Star Realm vital cultivation or high class physical bodies, trailed behind Yaan and the elders; they would arrive at the tribe around half a day later. This way, the tribe could be subdued with greater ease and haste.

An individual could run rampant with enough strength in this world, but to properly conquer and integrate another group, capable subordinates were essential.

"So this is the Burning Lotus Tribe."

Yaan paused in the air and stared down at the visible formation in front of him. Most formations which aimed to protect and defend a region of land were concealed, such that the formation would not become visible unless it was under attack. The Burning Lotus Tribe Formation had no such concealment ability, in fact, it was completely opaque, blocking view of the tribe within.

The formation was like an enormous dome, covering the circular tribe entirely. Images of flaming lotuses expanded and shrank on the surface of the formation. Each of these lotuses emitted a powerful heat, it was clear that these lotuses contained the core of the formation's offensive abilities.

This was Yaan's first time seeing the Burning Lotus Tribe in person. He had read about the tribe and listened to the tribe leader's description, but seeing and hearing were too different things.

His eyes shone as he silently stared down, assessing the formation patiently, in no rush to make a move. He could tell at a glance that this was a powerful defensive formation, even more powerful than the Rising Sun Tribe's formation…but it had a clear flaw.

In exchange for a greater level of defence, this formation had extremely limited detection abilities. In fact, this flaw was so large that even the tribesmen within the dome could not see past the formation to the other side!

This meant that right now, despite Yaan and the other elders standing there right beside the formation, the Burning Lotus Tribe Elders were totally oblivious to their presence.

Of course, if someone were to be stationed outside, keeping an eye on the surrounding situation, they could quickly enter the tribe and inform everyone within of the danger.

Truthfully, there really were a few outposts dotted around the outer circumference of this formation, but the tribesmen stationed in these places were all below the 4-Star Realm, so they were unable to detect Yaan's group. Yaan's tactic of bringing only the strongest elites with him to attack was surprisingly uncommon, so he had unknowingly touched upon the Burning Lotus Tribe's fatal weakness.

On the Star Plain Province, it was common to break open the opponent's formation, then to send in the warriors below the realm of 4-Star Realm to battle it out amongst themselves. Sometimes, the two sides would use this battle to wager their victory or defeat; the losing party would admit defeat to the winning party without the 4-Star Realm elites getting involved in the battle personally, thereby preventing a large amount of damage.

Of course, tribes often broke the agreement, so the battle would sometimes devolve into all out war between both sides.

Actually, Yaan's tactic of attacking the tribe in their homeland wasn't all that common in the first place. More common was to agree on a place and time to engage in war, outside of the tribe, so as to not implicate innocents.

This was a common means of warfare in the War Flower Empire, battles conducted in this way were known as 'flower wars'.

If a tribe was challenged in this way, and they were equal to or stronger than the challenger, they were obligated to accept. However, losing a war such as this did not necessarily mean losing their entire tribe.

Yaan had multiple reasons for not issuing a flower war declaration - for one, winning a flower war did not guarantee that he would gain possession over the opposing tribe smoothly.

The reason he didn't do this against the Aztecs, was because Yaan saw no reason to do so. He had already seen their tribal formation when he was captured and brought back to their tribe, he knew that it would not be an issue to break through. Issuing them a challenge of war would only give them time to prepare, and he would still need to capture the tribe itself afterwards, it wasn't really worth it.

Against the Burning Lotus Tribe, Yaan also avoided using the flower war tactic. He wanted to incite the Grand Martial Tribe to attack the Bloody Totem Tribe, but if he challenged the Burning Lotus Tribe and they engaged in fair open battle, the Grand Martial Tribe would still be restricted under the war flower law. They could not intervene in the organised battle, nor could they attack the Bloody Totem Tribe afterwards.

The easiest way to draw out the Grand Martial Tribe was to attack the Burning Lotus Tribe on their own turf.

After analysing the formation for around half an hour, Yaan had more or less deduced the most efficient way to break through. Compared to the formations skills that he had learned from the Fragment of Qi, these tribal formations seemed quite simplistic…

Yaan raised the abyssal blood sword above his head, preparing to make his second move, a move which would once again shake the other tribes across the Star Plain Province.