I established the Eternal Immortal Clan by taming beasts.

Fang Lie stood on the city wall, with not a single intact soldier left beside him.

His left shoulder was slashed open by the wind blades, the gash so deep that bone was visible, and blood gushed out, with white bone fragments peeking out from the flesh.

The monster bit his right leg, tearing off a large chunk of flesh. Every step he took was excruciatingly painful, and blood gushed from the wound, leaving a trail of crimson footprints on the bluestone beneath his feet.

But this is only physical; his golden core hasn't shattered, so he can still persevere.

He continued to wield his sword as he channeled spiritual energy.

The longsword has been replaced several times.

This is a second-tier spirit sword that I picked up from a dead cultivator. The sword is covered with rust and cracks, and the blade is dull. It can still be used with his Golden Core stage spiritual power.

A sword pierced the head of a red-eyed demon wolf, but the blade became stuck in the bone and could not be pulled out.

Without hesitation, he released his grip, bent down, picked up the knife from the ground, and continued hacking.

With another slash, he cleaved open the neck of a Wind Howling Beast, the blade chipping.

Drop the knife, pick up the gun, and thrust it out.

The gun broke, so he picked up the shield, rammed a steel-backed bear aside, and pushed it off the city wall.

The giant bear bared its fangs and claws in mid-air, letting out a defiant roar, before crashing heavily against the base of the wall, onto the pile of monster corpses.

The shield shattered, so he picked up a rolling stone and smashed it against the head of another monster.

The rock hit the wolf on the head, and the wolf shook its head before lunging at him again.

His hands were a bloody mess, his nails were broken, his knuckles were exposed, and blood was dripping from between his fingers.

But he is still fighting.

"Where are the reinforcements?!" The lieutenant's voice had turned into a sob.

After five hours of fierce fighting, less than two-tenths of those remaining on the city gate were still standing. With the monsters below still climbing up and the remnants of souls in the sky still shrieking, the deputy general could no longer hold on.

"Wait a little longer!" Fang Lie gritted his teeth, panting heavily, and stood up, leaning on his broken sword. His body was covered in wounds, but his eyes were filled with determination. "Even if it means death, I'll hold out for a little longer!"

"We swear to live and die with the Burning Bone Pass!"

"We swear to live and die with the Burning Bone Pass!"

One by one, the guards and rogue cultivators struggled to their feet, raising their magical artifacts without a trace of fear in their eyes.

Just then, the southern sky suddenly brightened.

A silvery-white light flashed across the sky, like a giant shooting star.

The light grew brighter and brighter, accompanied by a deafening roar that made the ground tremble slightly.

The reinforcements—the White Tiger Battalion—have finally arrived.

Hundreds of flying boats sailed in from the southern night sky, their hulls engraved with white tiger totems. Their silvery-white bodies shone brightly in the spiritual light, like a silver mountain floating in the sky.

The crossbows at the bow of the ship were all cocked, the giant arrows gleaming coldly in their slots, and the acceleration array patterns on the crossbows were all lit up.

On both sides of the flying boat, tens of thousands of White Tiger Camp cultivators, clad in silver-white spirit armor, stood in formation, their spirit weapons unsheathed, their killing intent soaring to the sky.

They moved silently through the night sky like a silvery-white steel forest.

No one spoke, no one moved, only the White Tiger flag fluttered in the wind, and only the engine of the flying boat emitted a low hum.

On the flagship at the head of the group, Fang Wushuang stood with his hands behind his back, his silver-white armor resembling a silver flag.

Her face was cold and stern, her gaze like two unsheathed swords piercing through the night, landing on the blood-stained city wall, and on the defenders who were still fighting to the death.

"All troops, listen to my command—attack!"

Her voice was like thunder, exploding in the night sky, drowning out the roars of monsters, the wails of the dead, and the clash of weapons.

Hundreds of flying boats accelerated simultaneously, like a silvery torrent, rushing towards the flank of the demon beast army.

The city-breaking crossbows at the bow of the ship were fired simultaneously, and thousands of spiritual energy arrows tore through the night sky, pouring down like a torrential rain, drawing countless silver-white trajectories in the night sky, like a meteor shower, magnificent yet deadly.

The arrows landed in the dark mass of beasts, exploding into blooms of blood.

The iron-backed bear was pinned to the ground, its massive body pierced by several giant arrows, blood gushing from the wounds and staining the ground beneath it red.

The red-eyed demon wolves were pierced through the body by arrows, which pierced through their chests and pinned them to the rocks;

The Wind Howling Beast was blasted into pieces, its limbs and fragments flying everywhere, drawing dark red arcs in the night sky.

The cultivators on the flying boat leaped down, surging into the battlefield like a silver-white waterfall.

Their movements were perfectly synchronized. The moment they jumped from the airship, everyone adjusted their posture in mid-air and landed in battle formation.

The cultivators of the White Tiger Camp are all at least at the Foundation Establishment stage. They wear standard spiritual armor, wield uniform spiritual weapons, and cooperate seamlessly, advancing and retreating with perfect discipline.

They formed a square formation, with spearmen in front, swordsmen and shieldmen on the flanks, and archers and crossbowmen at the rear.

Each formation is an independent combat unit, like a sophisticated machine, cutting, surrounding, and annihilating the demon army.

A giant bear with an iron back charged towards a square formation, its heavy footsteps shaking the ground.

The spearmen simultaneously thrust out their spears, and more than a dozen spears pierced the Ironback Bear's body from different directions. Some pierced its forelegs, some its abdomen, and some its neck.

The giant bear let out a mournful roar, and with a sudden jerk, it broke several spears, but the swordsmen and shieldmen had already charged forward.

The shield blocked its body, and the long sword slashed at its neck.

One slash, two slashes, three slashes, and the Ironback Bear's neck was severed in half, blood gushing out like a dark red fountain. The behemoth finally crashed to the ground, raising a cloud of dust.

The archers' arrows accurately struck the red-eyed wolf's eye sockets, throat, and abdomen.

The demon wolves didn't even have time to get close to the formation before they fell on the way.

The spirits attempted to attack the cultivators of the White Tiger Camp, but the White Tiger Camp's spirit armor was engraved with talismans to ward off evil.

The moment the spirit touched the spirit armor, a wisp of green smoke rose from it, accompanied by a sharp screech, and it was forced back several steps.

A highly skilled spirit attempted to force its way through, but the White Tiger Camp cultivators immediately focused their fire, unleashing a barrage of attacks including fireballs, lightning strikes, sword light, and arrows, which shattered its spirit.

Fang Lie's eyes reddened.

He stood atop the city wall, covered in blood, his robes torn, and clutching a long sword he had picked up from who-knows-who.

His gaze fell on the silvery torrent, on the White Tiger Camp cultivators leaping from the flying boats, and on the defenders still fighting bitterly on the city walls.

He opened his mouth, as if to say something, but his throat felt blocked by something, and he couldn't utter a single word.

"Reinforcements have arrived—!" The lieutenant's voice was hoarse, but it carried a kind of ecstatic joy of surviving a disaster.

He raised his only remaining right hand high, waving the knife in the air as if to salute the flying boat in the sky, or as if to declare to death—we are not dead yet.

"Reinforcements have arrived!"

The sound traveled along the city walls, from one cultivator to another, from one rogue cultivator to another.

Like a pebble thrown into a calm lake, it stirred up ripples that grew larger and wider until they eventually swept over the entire city wall.

On the city wall, someone laughed first, and then more people laughed.

That laughter contained tears, blood, the relief of surviving a catastrophe, and the pride of fighting to the death.

Some people laughed and then cried, some cried and then laughed again, some hugged their comrades, and some collapsed on the ground, panting heavily.

Fang Lie slowly sat down, leaned against a pile of corpses, and closed his eyes.

The pile of corpses included both demonic beasts and humans.

Some were still bleeding, while others were already cold.

His back was pressed against the belly of a giant bear, whose carcass was still warm and whose rough fur hurt his back.

His head rested on the shoulder of a dead monk next to him. The monk's eyes were still open, his pupils were dilated, and his mouth was slightly open, as if he had shouted something before he died.

Fang Lie didn't push him away, but just leaned against him quietly, feeling the corpse gradually grow cold.

His hands were still bleeding, his nails were broken, his knuckles were exposed, and blood kept dripping from between his fingers, dripping onto the bluestone under his feet with a soft "plop" sound.

But he could no longer feel the pain.

"General!" The lieutenant rushed over from another section of the city wall, staggering, covered in wounds, his face smeared with blood. "You're injured!"

"Cough cough, it's nothing." Looking at the sky, Fang Lie's lips curled into a bitter smile.

"We've held Burning Bone Pass."

…………

On the flying boat, Fang Wushuang did not go down to comfort the garrison, nor did he personally oversee the defense or repair the defensive line. Those matters were sufficient for Fang Zheng, the commander of the White Tiger Camp.

Fang Zheng is a seasoned veteran, mature and prudent. Entrusting him with the post-war reconstruction and defense reorganization of Fen Gu Guan will not cause any problems.

She stood calmly at the bow of the airship, her face as hard as iron, her gaze piercing through the night and landing on the battlefield that had just ended.

She was thinking about the monster attack.

After learning the whole story, she immediately realized that something was wrong.

Although the main city wall of Burning Bone Pass was damaged in many places, the defending army suffered more than half of its casualties, and countless independent cultivators were killed or wounded.

This surprise attack inflicted heavy losses on the main pass of Fen Gu Guan, but it did not truly shake the foundation of Fen Gu Guan.

But that's where the anomaly lies.

Under normal circumstances, when a beast tide is approaching, there will be Nascent Soul cultivators guarding each defensive line. With the support of formations, this situation will not occur at all.

But the problem lies in the monster's sudden attack.

This is something that has never happened in hundreds of years.

Monsters also have their own thoughts; they are not mindless beasts. Especially high-level monsters, whose intelligence is in no way inferior to that of humans.

But this surprise attack was tantamount to suicide for them.

Burning Bone Pass was built to take advantage of its location, with a sheer cliff in front of it. The pass walls were sturdy and covered with array patterns.

For a monster to breach such a defensive line, it would inevitably have to pay a heavy price.

But they still came, one after another, fearless and brave, piling up a path with their blood and flesh.

This unexpected attack, stemming from a counterintuitive mindset, led to this tragedy.

The planners of the raid clearly had this in mind.

Because under normal circumstances, there are no Nascent Soul cultivators guarding Burning Bone Pass, and there isn't even a Burning Bone City.

The reason is the spiritual vein.

The fourth-order spiritual veins along the Burning Bone Pass are concentrated in the Zhennan Camp.

Whether it's the commanders of various armies, the Nascent Soul cultivators in various affiliated forces, or even the city lord of Burning Bone City himself, they all cultivate in the Zhennan Camp.

This move can be seen as a method used by the Fang family to manage these Nascent Soul cultivators, concentrating their strongest combat power under their noses, making it convenient to deploy and control them.

This is why the raid was successful.

Because the Nascent Soul cultivator is not on the wall, without the Nascent Soul cultivator in charge, the power of the defensive formation cannot be maximized, and the souls of the high-level demonic beasts cannot be suppressed immediately.

If a Nascent Soul cultivator had been stationed at the pass at that time, those few fourth-tier undead souls would never have been able to cause such a huge disturbance.

But problems arose.

If the other side knew this, why did they still send out the monster army first, revealing the information that the beast tide was coming ahead of schedule, and then launch a surprise attack?

If they were to launch a surprise attack with overwhelming force, catching the defenders completely off guard, and if a fourth-tier demon king were to infiltrate the attacking beasts, the main pass of Burning Bone Pass might already have fallen.

They seemed perfectly capable of it, but they didn't.

Fang Wushuang's brows furrowed slightly.

There are two possibilities.

First, there was a problem with the leadership within the demon beasts; some wanted to carry out this surprise attack, while others did not.

Secondly, the enemy's real objective was not to break through the Burning Bone Pass.

If it's the second scenario, then this large-scale raid was merely a cover.

Having considered this, Fang Wushuang immediately ordered his personal guards, "Burning Bone Pass must be placed under immediate martial law. No one is allowed to leave. Thoroughly investigate the identity of everyone and bring the person who disrupted the formation here. I will interrogate them personally..."

The unusual occurrences during the monster attack made her suspect that the attackers had ulterior motives and were most likely sneaking in during the chaos.

But she hadn't finished speaking.

Five hundred miles away, three crimson meteors flew rapidly from the east towards this place.

The light left a long, blood-red trail in the night sky, rapid and blinding.

Behind them, there were more than a dozen people chasing on swords, their swords flashing and attacking the three meteors from behind.

Despite the distance, Fang Wushuang, being in the Nascent Soul stage, was able to perceive it instantly.

Those three shooting stars were messengers from the Vermilion Bird Camp, covered in blood. The wings of the third-tier Crimson Feathered Black Eagles were already tattered, with feathers falling off with each flap, yet they were still desperately flying this way.

The dozen or so pursuing sword lights were engraved with the emblem of the Qingyun Sword Sect and the runes of the Hundred Herbs Valley.

The next second, a white light flew out from behind Fang Wushuang.

The white light was incredibly fast, like lightning slicing through the night sky, leaving no afterimage.

The next moment, the dozen or so pursuing cultivators were instantly pierced through by a bright silver spear.

The spear pierced through the first, then the second, and through the third, penetrating all the pursuers in one go. It created a cloud of blood mist in mid-air, then suddenly retracted, like a long silver dragon, drawing an arc in the air before returning to Fang Wushuang's hands.

The spear was as white as the moon, its tip gleaming with a cold light. The spear was covered with fine array patterns, which shimmered with a faint glow under the light.

On the gun handle, the two characters "无双" (Wu Shuang, meaning peerless) are simple and solemn.

Soon, three Vermilion Bird Camp soldiers, covered in blood, flew to the main ship.

Their spirit armor was mostly shattered, revealing deep, bone-revealing wounds from which blood continued to seep.

The captain of the Vermilion Bird Battalion, who was in the lead, flipped off the Crimson Feathered Black Eagle, staggering and almost falling to the ground.

His face was covered in blood, his lips were cracked, and his voice was hoarse.

Before he could even salute, he immediately began to report, his voice broken and intermittent, interspersed with violent coughing: "Cough cough, Commander... cough cough... Two hours ago we were ambushed! It was... it was the Qingyun Sword Sect and the Hundred Herbs Valley! They cut off communications on the battlefield... Commander Fang Yan risked his life to tear open a gap, allowing our First Battalion to break through and transmit intelligence... cough cough..."

His body shuddered violently, and a mouthful of blood spurted from his mouth, landing on the deck of the airship and spreading a small patch of dark red.

"Of the two thousand men in the First Battalion... to hold off the pursuers, now only the three of us remain!"

His voice trembled by the end, his eyes were red, and tears mixed with blood streamed down his cheeks.

The two soldiers behind him were also speechless, just standing there, their bodies trembling slightly, as if they might collapse at any moment.

Fang Wushuang's hand, gripping the gleaming silver spear, suddenly tightened at the knuckles, turning them white.

Her face grew increasingly cold, as if frozen solid.

"Qingyun Sword Sect, Hundred Herbs Valley?" Her voice was not loud, but carried a calm that was suppressed to the extreme, making it even more terrifying. "So it's you."

Without hesitation, she immediately gave the order, her voice firm and resolute: "Inform the commander-in-chief of the situation here immediately! Leave 5,000 men of the White Tiger Battalion behind, and have the Azure Dragon Battalion provide support at any time! The main force of the White Tiger Battalion will immediately march with me to support the Vermilion Bird Battalion!"

"Yes!" The guard accepted the order and turned to run quickly toward the communication array.

The White Tiger Camp's airships began to turn, and the roar of their engines suddenly rose, like the roar of a herd of beasts.

Fang Wushuang turned around again, her gaze fixed on the eastern sky swallowed by the night.

A cold smile curled at the corners of her lips.

"Qingyun Sword Sect... Hundred Herbs Valley... Good, very good."