I established the Eternal Immortal Clan by taming beasts.

Outside Chuyang City, the morning light gradually lengthens.

The first rays of sunlight crossed the eastern ridge of the Fulong Mountains, spreading a layer of dark golden light across the city walls.

The flags on the city wall fluttered in the morning breeze, and the Lin family emblem on the flags appeared and disappeared at the intersection of light and shadow.

The Iron-Armed Ape King's army of 50,000 demon beasts had already besieged the city, like a black tide slowly surging in from the horizon.

They were lined up in neat rows, a stark contrast to the chaotic beast tides of the past.

Arranged according to population distribution, the vanguard of the Bone-Crushing Apes was at the front, like the tip of a blade.

The middle section consists of the Iron-Armed Ape's elite direct line, like the spine of the blade;

The flanks are flanked by the Wind Apes and Fire Mane Apes, like the two sides of a knife's blade;

Behind them was a rear guard of hundreds of third-tier demonic beasts, like a heavy counterweight on the hilt of a sword, pressing down at the very back of the entire blade.

Instead of attacking, they first arrayed themselves outside the city. The black beasts spread out along the terrain, like a giant net that was slowly tightening, encircling Chuyang City.

The Iron-Armed Ape King stood at the forefront of the army, arms crossed, dark gray spiritual light flowing around him, slightly distorting the surrounding air, like an invisible force field that pressed the dust within a few feet of his feet to the ground.

He was over ten feet tall, with broad shoulders and back like a door panel. His arms were twice as thick as those of an ordinary ape, and his knuckles were covered with a layer of dark gray keratin, like natural gauntlets.

His mocking gaze fell on the city wall, on the soldiers who were forming ranks, and on the array patterns that were in operation. A disdainful sneer appeared on his lips.

The defensive formations of that city were vastly different from the formidable barrier of Burning Bone Pass.

In his view, the spiritual light of those array patterns was thin and scattered, the formation of those defenders was loose and slow, and the crossbows on those arrow towers that had not yet been fully deployed were nothing more than a few wooden sticks stuck in the wall.

I glanced at it casually and then stopped paying attention.

So he turned his gaze back to the outer camp to the southeast.

That was the territory of the Blue-Faced Fox King. The flags in the camp were lowered and the firelight was sparse, as if deliberately trying to reduce their presence. Even the sentries on guard were few and far between.

A clear look of disdain flashed in the eyes of the Iron-Armed Ape King.

He had disagreed with the king entrusting the task of crushing Chuyang City to that fox from the beginning.

What can a fox from the outer mountains accomplish?

After several days of siege warfare, they probably didn't even get close to the city walls, and a large number of monsters died. Looking at it now, they really are a bunch of useless trash.

And those monsters on the outskirts of the Fulong Mountains were indeed useless. They lost thousands of lives just to test the defenses of a small city, which was a complete waste of resources.

Once he takes over Chuyang City, he'll deal with these bastards!

"My minions!" His voice boomed like thunder, drowning out the morning breeze and the rustling of banners, echoing across the empty plain, making the pebbles on the ground tremble slightly. "Follow me to raze this city to the ground! Let these overconfident and utterly incompetent humans witness the wrath of the Demon Emperor!"

Before the words were even finished, the first wave of attack had already begun.

Leading the charge were thousands of Bone-Shattering Apes, which surged out of the formation like a black tide, heading towards the city wall.

The Bone-Crushing Apes are the vanguard of the ape tribe in the Crimson Ape Territory. They are a size larger than ordinary apes, with bulging muscles and protruding bones all over their bodies, resembling small, moving hills. Every step they take leaves deep footprints on the ground.

They are the most commonly used siege spearheads of the Burning Sky Crimson Ape. They are thick-skinned and fearless, and each charge is like a mountain of rolling rocks, unstoppable.

With limbs flying, the Bone-Crushing Apes left deep claw marks on the ground with each stomp, kicking up clouds of grayish-yellow dust that resembled a moving sandstorm in the morning light.

On the city wall, orange-red spirit armor, symbolizing the color of the rising sun, filled every crenellation.

A thousand archers were all in position, each crouching behind the crenellations, their Spirit-Breaking Bows fully drawn, arrows pointed at the black tide surging in from outside the city.

Their breathing was steady, their eyes fixed on the approaching figures, waiting for the order to be given.

The array masters stood beside the array base inside the city wall, their hands forming hand seals, spiritual light flowing from their fingertips, adjusting the energy of the array patterns to their optimal state.

"All hands on deck..." Lin Xuanjing's calm and clear voice came from the communication array, "Fire!"

Thousands of spiritual energy arrows were fired simultaneously, tracing dark blue paths in the morning light, falling like a rainstorm into the charging beast horde, exploding into sprays of blood.

Although the Bone-Crushing Apes are physically strong, arrows can still significantly reduce their speed, and many are even hit in vital areas.

Some had arrows pierce their eyes, some were shot in the throat, and some suddenly fell during the charge, trampled into a bloody pulp by their comrades behind them.

One was particularly unlucky, being hit by more than a dozen arrows at the same time. Its massive body tumbled twice in the momentum of its charge before falling into the dust and dying without a sound.

What is the biggest difference between humans and monsters? It is that humans can use weapons.

Ordinary cultivators of the same level are almost no match for demonic beasts, but once a cultivator possesses a magical artifact, the situation changes.

The spirit bow, paired with spirit arrows, allows them to deal maximum damage with minimal mana.

This is why cultivators in this world still use bows and arrows to attack when defending a city.

The spell consumes too much energy; the spiritual power of a single spell is enough for a cultivator to fire a spiritual arrow for half an hour.

Spells are used as a last resort, a trump card, while bows and arrows are the most durable and reliable weapons on the battlefield.

……

When the Red Ape Territory's vanguard army was still 500 feet away from Chuyang City, more than a dozen Bone-Shattering Apes had already fallen, and the speed of the vanguard began to slow down.

At four hundred feet, the number of casualties was increasing, the density of arrows was rising, and the speed of the herd was continuously decreasing.

At two hundred paces, two-fifths of the vanguard had fallen on the way of the charge, their corpses forming a long, dark red line behind them.

Until the last hundred miles, after they entered the area of ​​the Spirit Trapping Array, their speed slowed down completely.

A look of bewilderment appeared on the faces of the Bone-Shattering Apes. They felt as if their bodies were sinking into some kind of invisible quagmire. Their limbs became heavy, their steps became slow, and even their breathing felt as if it were being suppressed by something.

They didn't understand what was happening; they just instinctively wanted to speed up, but the harder they tried, the deeper they sank.

Those distances that could have been easily crossed now seem like insurmountable barriers.

Those defenses that could have been easily torn apart now seem impossibly distant.

They were right; on the city walls, the defending soldiers gave them no time to think.

In mid-air, hundreds of dark blue arrows once again pierced the air. With the precise aiming of the cultivators' divine senses, each arrow struck the weak point of each Bone-Shattering Ape.

Eye sockets, throat, heart, joint gaps.

Within moments, not a single one remained standing.

The area outside the city fell silent.

The corpses of the Bone-Shattering Ape Vanguard were scattered haphazardly across the ground, their dark red blood soaking into the earth, glistening damply in the morning light, like a wasteland stained red.

The first phase of the defense plan has now been achieved.

The main force of the beast tide from Red Ape Territory has already started fighting the garrison at Listening Wind Pass, so Chuyang City no longer needs to hold back.

Now it's Chuyang City's turn to help Tingfeng Pass attract the attention of the Burning Sky Crimson Ape.

After all, a stalemate between the two sides is the most advantageous situation for Chuyang City.

Once Tingfeng Pass is breached, the pressure on Chuyang City will increase exponentially!

On the other side, the Red Ape-led beast tide army began to slow down after seeing the tragic state of the vanguard, and silence began to spread among the beasts.

They never imagined that their powerful vanguard would be wiped out like this.

But the Iron-Armed Ape King's roar instantly shattered the silence.

"Don't stop! Take this city before noon!"

Without the slightest hesitation, the various ape armies continued their charge towards Chuyang City.

This time, it was no longer a single race charging forward, but a coordinated effort by multiple races.

The Bone-Crushing Ape continued to act as a meat shield in front, while the Iron-Armed Ape followed closely behind, preparing to break through the city wall. The Gale Apes flanked from both sides, attempting to disrupt the defenders on the city wall, while the Fire-Mane Apes gathered strength in the rear, ready to launch a ranged attack.

The roars of the apes blended together, causing the bricks on the city wall to tremble slightly. The defenders, seeing the dark mass of apes, couldn't help but grip their weapons tighter.

…………

On the other side, in the outer beast horde's stronghold, several demon kings were watching the battle from a distance.

The Lava Lizard King lay on a protruding rock, its dark red vertical pupils fixed on the battlefield. Its expression changed in a complex way, its brows sometimes furrowing and sometimes relaxing, and its tail swishing restlessly on the ground.

"Old fox, are we just going to stand by and watch? Really not going to help?"

The Blue-Faced Fox King helplessly spread its front paws, its amber eyes filled with resignation:

"Help? How can we help? With the strength of those guys in the Red Ape Territory, they don't need our help at all. They've completely ignored us."

In their eyes, our camp is not even a flank.

"If we go there now, we'll only anger them, making them think we're here to steal their credit. You all know what kind of temper that Iron-Armed Ape King has."

"What are we going to do then?" The Lava Lizard King's tone was starting to get anxious. "This isn't what you planned at all. Didn't you say the Demon Emperor would give us time? Why is the Demon Emperor sending reinforcements now? If they really take down Chuyang City, all the credit will go to them, and we won't get a single thing!"

The Blue-Faced Fox King offered no explanation, simply watching the battlefield in silence.

His gaze did not fall on the charging apes, but on the city wall, on the moving array patterns, and on the defenders who were rapidly deploying their defenses.

Until the vanguard began to suffer casualties.

"See? What did I tell you?" The Blue-Faced Fox King's voice suddenly rose a few decibels, "This Chuyang City is indeed a trap!"

As soon as he finished speaking, all the demon kings looked over.

On the battlefield, one after another, bone-crushing monstrous apes fell.

First there were a dozen or so, then dozens, then hundreds.

The rain of arrows in the air was completely different from when they were besieging the city.

The density, precision, rhythm, and timing of the attack are all completely different.

The soldiers' breathing and movements were filled with a well-trained composure, and the true strength of this garrison was definitely not what they had seen a few days ago.

Finally, a hundred miles from the city wall, the speed of the Bone-Shattering Apes suddenly decreased, as if they had crashed into an invisible wall, and were then completely wiped out by a dense rain of arrows.

There was no one left standing on the wasteland, only the still convulsing corpses and the ever-blooming blood mist.

The demon kings remained silent for a few seconds.

They looked at the battlefield strewn with corpses, at the wasteland soaked in blood, and at the once ferocious Bone-Shattering Apes now all lying dead beneath the city walls, not a single one intact.

Shock surged through my heart, followed by lingering fear, and a chilling thought that went deep into my bones: "What if it had been us rushing up there?"

The Lava Lizard King's expression changed the fastest; before the Blue-Faced Fox King could explain, he preemptively made his judgment:

"It's all thanks to you, Old Fox! If we had foolishly charged in, we would have suffered heavy casualties. Now, by waiting for them to take the toughest part of the city wall, and then we've stormed in, we won't be rewarded, and we'll definitely avoid being punished by the Demon Emperor later!"

His voice carried a sense of relief at surviving a disaster, and his tail no longer wagged restlessly.

The other demon kings nodded repeatedly, their eyes filled with relief.

Isn't the current situation the best proof?

It wasn't that they weren't trying, but rather that the enemy's garrison was simply too strong.

Even the Red Ape Territory's elite vanguard was completely annihilated under the city walls. These peripheral forces can't win, so what can anyone say?

Even if the Demon Emperor asks about it, they will have something to say: It's not that we are afraid of war, it's just that the city is too dangerous.

Of course, they obviously hadn't considered the possibility of "failed siege".

The Demon Emperor has dispatched his elite troops, 50,000 strong, with the Iron-Armed Ape King personally overseeing the operation.

There is absolutely no chance that this small Chuyang City can be defended.

It's only a matter of time.

Even if Iron-Armed Ape King loses a small portion of his vanguard, his remaining 50,000 elite troops are enough to crush this city.

These peripheral forces only need to wait for the right moment, the moment the city wall is breached, and then rush in to get a share of the spoils.

As the Crimson Ape army drew ever closer to Chuyang City, the Blue-Faced Fox King narrowed his eyes slightly.

When he spoke with Lin Che, the master of the Lin family, he did say that he "believes in the strength of the Lin family".

After all, the two sides had been cooperating for many years, and the intelligence network of Qingfeng Gorge and the resource exchange with the Lin family had continued for decades. He knew better than anyone how many trump cards the Lin family had hidden.

However, the Demon Emperor's considerations were not yet complete.

This siege by the Red Ape army was a test given to the Lin family by the Demon Emperor.

Only by holding on to her can he be qualified to cooperate with her, and only then will he be able to continue his plans.

If we can't hold on, then everything is just empty talk, and most of the previous plans will have to be changed.

In a voice only he could hear, the Blue-Faced Fox King murmured softly, so softly that even the Lava Lizard King beside him couldn't hear it: "I hope the Lin family... can deliver a perfect answer."