I established the Eternal Immortal Clan by taming beasts.

"Father." Lin Xuanjing's voice came from behind. He no longer had the clear voice of a boy, but instead had the composure and mellowness unique to an adult man.

Lin Che turned around.

Lin Xuanjing was dressed in a blue spirit armor today, with his long hair falling under his helmet. He looked like a long sword drawn from its sheath, with a restrained sharpness but an imposing aura.

That once flamboyant and handsome face now bears the marks of time, with fine lines around the eyes and a more defined jawline.

"The garrison has been assembled, and the patrol routes for the city's defenses have been planned." Lin Xuanjing walked to his father's side, unfolded the map, and said swiftly, "Please inspect it, Father."

After three months of seclusion, Lin Che has initially mastered the power of the Nascent Soul stage, and his cultivation has stabilized at the early Nascent Soul stage.

The nascent soul in the dantian sat cross-legged, its body surrounded by five-colored light, its aura deep and restrained.

Today, Lin Che began his inspection plan.

For his first stop, Lin Che chose Chuyang City's city defense system and garrison.

Lin Che took the map and his gaze fell on the map, which was covered with runes.

The map was hand-drawn by Lin Xuanqing himself, with meticulous brushstrokes and every annotation written clearly in tiny characters.

The outline of Chuyang City is at the very center, with Shattered Star Lake, Qingze, and the locations of various families all vividly depicted on the map. Mountains, rivers, spiritual veins, and road routes are all clearly marked.

This picture is not much different from the one when Lin Che first came to Chuyang City. At that time, Chuyang City was just a lonely little town, surrounded by wilderness and swamps, without even a decent road.

Of course, the biggest change is in the boundaries.

A new wall has been added to the boundary of the 800-mile-long expansion zone of Chuyang City.

The wall meandered along the mountain ridge, enclosing the entire territory of Chuyang City, like a sleeping dragon coiled on the outer edge of the Fulong Mountains.

"Did you design this?" Lin Che asked curiously, lifting his gaze from the map and landing on his son's face.

Lin Xuanjing shook his head, a proud smile appearing on his lips.

"It was planned by my eldest brother and fifth sister. I was responsible for execution, my eldest brother oversaw the overall situation, my fifth sister designed the formation, and various families and Chuyang City assisted in the construction."

He paused, then added, "Just coordinating the manpower and materials from each family took my eldest brother countless trips. Not to mention my fifth sister, she carved almost all those array patterns by herself, squatting on the city wall for a full five years."

Lin Che nodded and rolled up the map, putting it into his sleeve.

"Let's go take a look."

The two rose into the air on their swords, transforming into two streaks of light that swept across the sky above Shattered Star Lake and flew towards Chuyang City.

The morning sunlight spills onto the lake, shattering into countless golden scales that ripple gently with the waves.

Startled from the reeds, the ducks flapped their wings and scattered in all directions.

……

The garrison's camp was set up on an open plain outside the north gate of Chuyang City.

This place was originally a wasteland overgrown with weeds, dense with thorns, and littered with jagged rocks, so much so that even the wandering cultivators in the vicinity were unwilling to stay here for long.

There is only one first-order spiritual vein above, with thin spiritual energy, barely enough to grow some low-level spiritual herbs.

Now, this place has been leveled into a huge training ground spanning several miles, and the spiritual veins have also been upgraded, making the spiritual energy several times more concentrated, enough for the soldiers to cultivate.

The ground is paved with thick bluestone, and the stone surface is engraved with anti-slip patterns, so it will not be slippery even on rainy days.

Dozens of tall flagpoles stood around the drill ground, with the Lin family's clan flag hanging from the top of each pole.

With a blue background and gold patterns, the character "林" (Lin) flutters in the morning breeze, and the corners of the flag crackle in the wind.

It wouldn't be an exaggeration to describe the garrison of Chuyang City as the Lin family's private army.

This is outside the pass.

Here, in this testing ground of the Fang family, the Fang family did not invest too much and did not choose to station troops.

Only the Xuankui Sect sent a city lord to manage daily affairs; the rest of the Xuankui Sect ignored them.

You could say this is a semi-autonomous region.

If the Fang family doesn't care, surely we can save ourselves?

This garrison was established without any obstacles.

If this were inside the Great Wall, people would have come to question the Lin family long ago: What is the Lin family trying to do? Are you planning a rebellion?

Thinking this, Lin Che landed steadily on the ground.

The 8,000 garrison troops have already formed ranks.

Eight thousand cultivators, eight thousand uniform orange-red spirit armors, and eight thousand standard spirit weapons.

The spirit armor was all crafted by the Sun family, forged from a mixture of second-tier spirit beast hides and refined iron, which could resist physical attacks and neutralize magical damage.

The spirit soldiers also have a unified standard, with spears, swords and shields, and bows and crossbows. Each type of soldier is issued different equipment, and each piece of equipment is engraved with a number that corresponds to a person.

The sunlight shone on them, making their orange-red armor look like a flowing ocean of steel.

No one spoke, no one moved, only the flags fluttered in the wind, and the occasional low growl of a mythical beast could be heard from afar.

Lin Xuanjing walked to the reviewing stand, faced the army, and his voice boomed like a bell: "All generals, listen to my command! Today, the head of the Lin family, the guardian of Chuyang City, Master Lin Che, has come to inspect us!"

All eight thousand eyes fell on Lin Che.

Those gazes held curiosity, awe, anticipation, and nervousness.

Most of them had only heard of the head of the family, but had never seen him in person.

Lin Che did not release any pressure or deliberately display any imposing aura.

He concealed his Nascent Soul stage aura completely, standing there like an ordinary person.

He simply walked up to the command platform, stood with his hands behind his back, and slowly swept his gaze across the neatly arranged military formation.

Those eyes were calm as still water, yet every cultivator whose gaze swept over them involuntarily straightened their backs.

"Eight thousand people." His voice was not loud, but it clearly reached everyone's ears, as if whispering in their ear, or rising from the bottom of their hearts.

"You come from different families and different places. Some are natives of Chuyang City, some are rogue cultivators from within the pass, and some are guards trained by the Lin family since childhood. But today, you all share a common name—the Chuyang City Garrison."

He paused, his gaze growing even more profound.

"Beast tides are an age-old issue in our Southern Region. People within the pass have room to maneuver, but for every one of us in Chuyang City, it's a countdown to life and death."

In the army formation, some people gripped their spears tightly, their knuckles turning white;

Some people gritted their teeth, their cheeks tensing into hard lines;

Some people held their breath, their chests no longer rising and falling.

The air seemed to freeze.

"I know some of you are afraid." Lin Che's voice suddenly softened a bit. "Afraid of the beast tide, afraid of death, afraid that even if you fight with all your might, you won't be able to protect your homeland. That's not shameful. Living is the most important thing."

He paused for a moment, his gaze sweeping across the faces, then suddenly raised his voice, like a drawn sword, its sharpness fully revealed:

"But I, Lin Che, hereby assure you all that my Lin family will never be the first to flee. The Lin family will fight to the very last moment, vowing to live and die with Chuyang City!"

"We swear to live and die with Chuyang City!"

The voices of eight thousand people merged into a torrent, like a thunderclap, shaking the flags on the drill ground and making the ground tremble slightly.

That voice contained passion, determination, and an unstoppable, ignited power.

Lin Che nodded slightly, took half a step back, and gave up the center of the command platform.

"Alright! The inspection begins!"

Lin Xuanjing waved the command flag, and the crimson flag unfurled in the morning breeze with a crisp "whoosh".

The military formation began to change.

The first formation practiced was the "Thousand Machine Formation".

The eight thousand cultivators were divided into eight battalions according to their cultivation level and military branch, with one thousand people in each battalion.

The brigade is further divided into squadrons and platoons, nested in layers and linked together.

When the formation changed, the cultivators moved in unison, their spiritual light flashing, like a sophisticated machine in operation.

Lin Che stood on the command platform, his divine sense spreading out and covering the entire training ground.

The divine sense of a Nascent Soul cultivator is like an invisible tentacle, taking in and perceiving every cultivator's spiritual energy fluctuations, the landing point of each step, and the rhythm of each formation change.

He could "see" the spiritual energy resonance between those cultivators, how those threads of spiritual light flowed within the formation, and the energy flow of the entire formation.

"This formation was designed by Fifth Sister," Lin Xuanjing said in a low voice, his eyes following the changing formation with admiration.

"With a thousand people as one base, the eight bases can fight independently or be combined into a larger 'Eight Trigrams Locking Heaven Formation'."

When the formation changes, each base array has its own task.

Some were responsible for frontal containment, some for flanking maneuvers, some for long-range support, and some for rearguard rescue.

Fifth Sister said that this formation is best suited for dealing with large-scale beast tides, maximizing the advantage of numbers.

Lin Che nodded.

He figured out the trick.

The cultivators' positions were not arbitrary; each person's position was precisely calculated to create a spiritual resonance with their companions.

Between the eight base arrays, visible threads of spiritual light connect them, like a giant spider web, gathering the power of eight thousand people together.

Faced with a horde of beasts, one person's strength is like an ant, the strength of a thousand people is like a torrent, and the combined strength of eight thousand people is enough to shake mountains.

"Ranged attack squad, step forward!"

With a wave of the command flag, a thousand cultivators emerged from the formation and lined up in neat rows.

They were armed with the same "Spirit-Breaking Crossbow".

The second-tier weapon specially made by Tie Wushuang uses spirit stones as energy and can continuously fire spirit power arrows with an effective range of up to 500 zhang.

The crossbow body was cast from black steel, and the crossbow arm was engraved with acceleration array patterns, each pattern shimmering with a pale blue spiritual light.

"put!"

A thousand Spirit-Breaking Crossbows fired simultaneously, emitting a unified buzzing sound, like the flapping of a swarm of bees.

A thousand arrows of spiritual energy pierced the sky and exploded on the shooting range five hundred feet away.

Stone fragments flew everywhere, and dust filled the air. The targets, forged from ironwood and spirit iron, were instantly torn to pieces, with wood chips and iron pieces flying in all directions, leaving not even a trace.

Those targets were cast from ironwood and spirit iron, and were half a foot thick, simulating the defensive power of a Foundation Establishment stage demon beast.

But under that dense rain of arrows, they were instantly torn to pieces, with wood chips and iron fragments flying everywhere, leaving countless pits on the ground.

Lin Che raised his eyebrows slightly.

The power of this Spirit-Breaking Crossbow was even stronger than he had anticipated.

The demon beast army was mainly composed of first-tier demon beasts, followed by a considerable number of second-tier demon beasts.

Chuyang City is located at the easternmost part of Burning Bone Pass, so the monster tide it encounters will definitely not be too terrifying.

A distance of five hundred feet is enough to reduce the number of demonic beasts by 30% before they can reach the front of the formation.

Thirty percent means several thousand demonic beasts and several thousand enemies who fell before they could even reach the city walls.

"Defense Battalion, step forward!"

Another thousand cultivators stepped forward.

They carried enormous, jet-black shields, each three feet wide, five feet high, and two inches thick.

The shield was covered with earthen-yellow array patterns, which were Lin Xuanqing's "Mysterious Earth Array Patterns," capable of increasing the shield's defensive power several times over.

The shields can be connected by spiritual energy locks to form a steel wall that is hundreds of feet long.

"combine!"

A thousand giant shields landed simultaneously, producing a muffled, thunderous sound that made the bluestone on the training ground tremble slightly.

The array patterns on the shields lit up, and a yellowish-brown aura flowed between the shields, connecting each shield together to form an impenetrable light curtain.

The surface of the light screen displays illusory images of mountains and rivers, layer upon layer, giving people a sense of immovable solidity.

Lin Xuanjing walked to the shield wall and slapped the light screen with his palm.

The full-force attack from the early stage of the Golden Core realm only left a faint ripple on the light screen, like a pebble thrown into a deep pool; the ripples spread a few times and then disappeared without even a crack appearing.

The light screen remained completely still, without even a hint of dimming.

Lin Che nodded slightly.

This shield wall, formed by first- and second-tier cultivators, is sufficient to withstand the frontal assault of a third-tier demonic beast.

A third-tier demonic beast possesses the combat power of a Golden Core cultivator. Under normal circumstances, one of them would be enough to wipe out an ordinary team of cultivators.

But against this shield wall, it could only be kept outside.

Next, several dispersed military formations were practiced.

Faced with the beast tide, the garrison will definitely prioritize defense, and these 8,000 men will most likely be dispersed on the city walls.

The garrison troops also focused on this during their training.

Each squad has its own defensive zone, and the cultivators in each zone are familiar with every inch of the city wall beneath their feet, the firing range of the arrow towers, and the operation of the beacon towers.

Then there were several other subjects, including cavalry assault, air support, and logistical support. Each subject was carried out in an orderly manner, and each link was closely connected.

When the cavalry charged, the Wind-Treading Steed galloped across the plains, its hooves thundering and its spears like a forest, like a torrent of steel.

During the aerial support, the Azure-Eyed Eagle swooped down from the sky, its wings spread wide, blotting out the sun. The cultivators on its back drew their bows and nocked arrows, raining down arrows.

During logistical resupply, the spirit beast convoy shuttled back and forth, unloading and distributing supplies box by box.

The entire training ground was like a sophisticated machine, with every component operating precisely.

Lin Che read it from beginning to end, not missing a single detail.

His gaze shifted from one team to another, from one formation to another, from one person's actions to another's expression.

He saw the soldiers' focus and the fatigue on their faces, but no one was slacking off or complaining.

After so many years of training by Lin Xuanjing, this garrison, which was mostly composed of independent cultivators, is finally ready to be used!

After the inspection, Lin Che gave an evaluation.

"good."

There were only two words, but Lin Xuanjing's lips couldn't help but curl up.