I established the Eternal Immortal Clan by taming beasts.

Inside the main tent of the Burning Sky Crimson Ape's camp.

The light from the fire crystals enveloped the entire tent in a dim red halo, making the faces of the ape generals appear as if flowing lava, their rugged outlines appearing and disappearing in the light and shadow.

The Crimson Ape leaned against the obsidian chair, its five fingers as thick as iron pillars, with a dark red light flickering at its fingertips, each flash synchronized with the muffled breathing in the tent.

His gaze fell on the Swift Wind Ape messenger kneeling in the tent. He didn't speak, but the invisible pressure he exuded made all the demons in the tent dare not look him in the eye.

The messenger pressed his forehead to the ground, not daring to let out any extra breaths, and even the hair on his back was trembling slightly.

It had given a complete account of the Iron-Armed Ape King's encounter in front of Chuyang City.

How could that dark black defensive barrier have stopped their four-day assault?

How the elite Iron-Armed Apes fell in droves before the barrier, how the array patterns were repaired as new after nightfall, and how the guards' arrows accurately harvested the charging monsters from a distance.

Its voice grew softer and softer until it was almost entirely just the vibration in its throat, as if it itself no longer wanted to repeat those numbers.

After listening to the entire report, the Crimson Ape remained silent for a moment.

His gaze passed over the messenger, through the tent, and landed in the direction of Chuyang City. His crimson-gold vertical pupils reflected the flickering firelight, like two ignited spirit stones.

"That idiot Iron Arm can't even take down a small town like this? And now he dares to ask me for reinforcements? Ha..." His voice wasn't loud, but there was no warmth in his laughter, only a layer of mockery colder than anger.

The other ape generals in the tent also sneered.

"This iron arm is getting more and more useless every day!" A golden-haired ape king tapped the armrest with its paw, its voice full of disdain, its knuckles making a dull sound as it struck the hardwood.

"I suggest we remove him from his leadership position as soon as possible; it's utterly shameful!" Another red-eyed ape king grinned, revealing its gleaming white fangs. Firelight danced in its eyes, reflecting a gloating glint.

"Exactly! They haven't been able to take that small town for so many days, and now they have the nerve to ask for help. If it were me, I would have killed myself by now!"

The voices of the demons rose and fell, like a flock of vultures fighting over the same piece of rotten flesh, greedily tearing at the last remaining dignity of the Iron-Armed Ape King.

Hearing the various doubts from inside the tent, the Xuan Gu Ape King sighed inwardly and slowly rose to his feet.

Unlike the other ape kings who echoed their mockery, its voice remained as steady as a mountain: "Your Majesty, I think we should give Iron Arm Ape King a chance. You know him best. He would never ask for help unless he was truly desperate. The defenses of Chuyang City don't seem as simple as they appear."

If it were just the battle report from the Green-Faced Fox King, the demon kings and demon emperors present would naturally not believe it.

Who would take the words of a sly fox seriously?

But Iron Arm had fought alongside them for many years, knew them well, and knew that he wasn't the type to easily bow down and ask for help.

Now that the old demon king has pleaded for him, they said no more and waited for the demon emperor to speak.

The Crimson Ape remained silent for a moment.

The light from the fire crystal danced in his pupils. After a long while, he finally nodded slightly: "Alright, I'll give him another chance. You take the tribe to support him. If..."

The Xuan Gu Ape King knelt on one knee, clasped his hands in a fist salute, and his bony carapace made a slight grinding sound as he moved: "Rest assured, Demon Emperor, there are no 'ifs'! We will not fail again!"

Having said that, it got up and walked out of the camp.

The sound of troops being mobilized rang out from afar, short commands, heavy footsteps, and the crisp sound of armor clashing together mingled under the night sky.

After he left, the demon kings began discussing the Listening Wind Pass that was before them once again.

That's what they should be focusing on right now.

Once Tingfeng Pass is breached, Chuyang City will be nothing more than an isolated and helpless prison, and there are countless ways to deal with it.

What kind of trouble can a mere border town possibly cause?

"We need to speed things up now!" the Crimson Ape said in a deep voice, tapping his fingers heavily on the armrest, making a dull sound.

Of the five battlefronts at Burning Bone Pass, Listening Wind Pass is currently the slowest progressing.

Their slow progress is actually related to Chuyang City.

The original campsite was no longer available, which caused the construction of the main camp to be half a day slower than expected.

The ape soldiers had to find a suitable location, level the land, and rebuild their camps, each step of which was half a day behind schedule.

This allowed Tingfeng Pass to be better prepared, giving the garrison more time to reinforce the array patterns, stockpile supplies, and mobilize troops. To this day, the defensive barrier has not been destroyed by them.

And most importantly, they have no reinforcements.

The neighboring front is occupied by those damned vixens. It's good enough that they don't cause trouble; how could we possibly come to their aid?

As for the demon races further away, they will not come to their aid. They each guard their own territory, each with their own goals and their own calculations.

If it weren't for the saint's command, they might not even have the order to attack the city together now. Asking those guys to help is simply wishful thinking.

Even if they break through the Burning Bone Barrier, they will not come to help them.

So, to break through the barrier, they have to rely on themselves.

"Get ready! Starting tomorrow, we will launch a full-scale attack. No more probing, no more attrition. Take Tingfeng Pass in one fell swoop!" The voice of the Burning Sky Crimson Ape exploded in the tent, like rolling thunder sweeping across the wasteland, causing the light of the fire crystals to flicker.

"Yes!" the demon kings responded in unison, their voices echoing in the tent, causing the light of the fire crystal to tremble slightly, like a candle flame flickering in the wind.

…………

The dawn of the fifth day since Chuyang City was besieged.

Heavy footsteps echoed once again on the plains outside the city.

This time, the sound was more intense and heavier than when the Iron-Armed Ape King came, like a moving thundercloud slowly pressing down from the horizon, tearing the morning mist into pieces and casting moving shadows on the earth.

Eighty thousand apes, led by the Black Bone Ape King, a direct subordinate of the Burning Sky Crimson Ape, meandered along the valley to the south.

Their carapaces and fur gleamed with a dull luster in the morning light, like a slowly moving, iron-gray tide, leaving a long, deep trail across the land.

The Xuan Gu Ape King was even more robust than the Iron Arm Ape King.

Its entire body was covered with a layer of dark gray bone-like shell, as thick as a stone slab, covered with fine cracks that gleamed with a cold white light in the morning light, like an ancient suit of armor that had been repeatedly repaired.

Its head was half-lowered, its gaze indifferently fixed on the dark barrier in the distance. In its bone-white pupils, there was no contempt, no anger, only calm contemplation.

The Iron-Armed Ape King personally came out of the camp to greet him, a smile on his face that contained both exhaustion and a relieved sense of accomplishment: "Xuan Gu, thanks to you this time!"

It had a deep friendship with the Xuan Gu Ape King. Before seeking help from the Demon Emperor, it sent a special message to this old friend, asking him to mediate with the Demon Emperor.

The Xuan Gu Ape King did not respond. Instead, it stopped and its gaze lingered on the Iron Arm Ape King for a moment before sweeping over the remaining tribes behind it.

The fur of those iron-armed apes was still stained with dried blood; some had missing arms, some were lame, and some still had lingering fear in their eyes from yesterday's battlefield, like an army that had been repeatedly crushed.

The Xuan Gu Ape King watched for a long time, his voice carrying a complex meaning: "Iron Arm, you've certainly made quite a scene."

The Iron-Armed Ape King's lips twitched slightly, but he did not refute it. He simply stepped aside to make way for him, saying, "Xuan Gu, please come in."

Soon, inside the main tent, the Blue-Faced Fox King stepped into the Iron-Armed Ape King's main tent for the second time.

This time, the Xuan Gu Ape King was also present in the tent.

The enormous figure sat down beside the main seat, its dark gray bone shell gleaming coldly in the firelight, like an unfinished bone sculpture, silently watching everything.

Its gaze lingered on the Blue-Faced Fox King for longer than it did on the Iron-Armed Ape King.

Those emotionless pupils, like two over-polished bone fragments, gleamed with a faint, cold white light, sweeping inch by inch over the Blue-Faced Fox King's fur, ears, and tail, not missing a single detail.

The air inside the tent seemed to freeze at that moment, and even the flames stopped flickering.

It was the Iron-Armed Ape King who broke the tense atmosphere by introducing the Blue-Faced Fox King's identity and his proposed "three-pronged attack" plan.

After hearing this, the Xuan Gu Ape King did not immediately express his opinion, but simply glanced at the Qing Mian Fox King with his bone-white eyes.

"Are you that fox?"

"Indeed." The Blue-Faced Fox King bowed slightly, his posture composed and neither humble nor arrogant.

"I've heard about your three-pronged attack plan," the Xuan Gu Ape King said, his voice devoid of any praise or criticism. "It is indeed smarter than a single-pronged assault. I will continue to use your siege plan. My men will attack from the east, while you will continue to attack from the south and west!"

Its gaze calmly fell upon the Iron-Armed Ape King and the Blue-Faced Fox King. Its bone-white pupils held no ferocity, only an unyielding weight: "This time, only victory is permitted; defeat is not an option. I'm sure you don't want to witness the Demon Emperor's wrath, do you?"

"Understood!" the two replied in unison, their voices echoing briefly in the tent.

The Iron-Armed Ape King should be decisive, and the Blue-Faced Fox King should be composed.

But after that "I understand," a very faint glimmer of light flashed deep in the eyes of the Blue-Faced Fox King.

On the fifth day, the attack began again.

Before the morning light had fully spread, the sound of hurried footsteps echoed across the plain.

This time, the attack was launched from three sides simultaneously, no longer a series of probing moves, but a single, overwhelming push against the city walls, like a net being tightened at the same time, slowly closing in on Chuyang City from three directions.

The iron-gray beast tide mingled with the morning mist, swallowing the outline of the city wall into the approaching shadows.

…………

Shattered Star Lake Temporary Command Post.

The army of the Xuan Gu Ape King has already appeared on the sand table east of Chu Yang City.

The small flags representing the ape tribes were spread out densely, like a tide of iron gray converging, stretching from the edge of the sand table all the way to the marked point on the city wall.

Lin Xuanqi stood beside the sand table, his hands resting on the edge of the table, his gaze fixed on the moving markers. His Adam's apple bobbed as he said, "The estimated number of tribes is 80,000. We can make our move now."

Zhihei nodded, lifting his gaze from the sand table to the still-shining spiritual light in the center of the projection array: "We don't have time to continue attracting attention. Burning Bone Pass is about to fall."

Although the beast tide swept through all lines of the Bone Pass, the network of spies planted by Zhihei continued to transmit intelligence from various defense lines and within the pass.

It was thanks to the special spirit beasts cultivated by the Lin family—the Qingpu Mingchan clan!

They can transmit information over long distances through special chirping patterns, much like a radio.

Using sound waves as carrier waves, messages are compressed into specific frequencies to penetrate battlefield interference and array shielding.

Silently, the news from thousands of miles away was brought back to the command center in Chuyang City inch by inch through the chirping toads.

In this way, the Lin family was always able to know the course of the entire Battle of Burning Bone Pass.

The defensive formations at the three passes have now been destroyed, and the defending troops are fighting hard against the monsters, relying on the natural barrier and city walls.

Without the defensive formation, the defenders suffered increasing casualties, with cultivators falling on the city walls every moment.

The battlefield where the Southern Camp army clashed with the Qingyun Sword Sect and the Hundred Herbs Valley cultivators was also discovered by the spies.

The situation on the battlefield is continuously being communicated.

The Qingyun Sword Sect and the Hundred Herbs Valley cultivators seem to be unable to hold out much longer under the combined attack from both inside and outside.

Their formation was shrinking, their banners were decreasing, and those sword cultivators who had once clamored outside the trap were now being harvested layer by layer by the Fang family's cultivators.

Once they are dealt with, the garrison at Nan Daying can support Fengu Pass, so it seems that Fengu Pass can still be defended.

But problems also arise.

According to intelligence gathered by spies, Black Wind Ridge has already been sealed off.

The flags on those passes were replaced with the deep black insignia of the Demon Palace of Rebellion, which intertwined with the blood-red array light in the night sky to form an ominous dark red.

Clearly, the Demon Palace of Rebellion and the Mysterious Puppet Sect have no intention of hiding anymore.

Of course, given the current situation, their betrayal can no longer be hidden.

It seems that the Zhennan Camp did not intend to be attacked from both sides, and the cultivators of the South Camp and Burning Bone City have begun to migrate eastward.

They seemed to be preparing to cross the mountain range bordering the Hundred Herbs Valley's territory and return to the southern plains from its influence.

In other words, they have already abandoned Burning Bone Pass.

Therefore, defeating the Burning Sky Crimson Ape army is also a way for the Lin family to save themselves.

Then, with the Nine-Tailed Celestial Fox Demon Emperor mediating with other demonic beast armies, the Lin family will truly be able to establish itself, have the opportunity to develop, and truly step onto the stage of the Southern Region.

This is not an option, but a task that must be completed.

As long as the army of the Burning Sky Crimson Apes survives, a sword will forever hang over the Lin family's rear.

If the territory of the Burning Sky Crimson Ape is not annexed, the Lin family will never have true strategic depth and buffer.

On the sand table, the small flags representing the ape army near Chuyang City were pushed down one by one.

This war has now truly entered its most critical phase.