I established the Eternal Immortal Clan by taming beasts.

In the main airship command room, where only Fang Wushuang and Fang Zhenshan were present, she stood by the porthole, her gaze fixed on the receding clouds outside.

Below the clouds lies the direction of Burning Bone Pass, the land she has guarded for countless years, the defense line she personally set up, the pass walls she has walked through, and the position she has watched batches of cultivators take turns guarding.

"Are we just going to give up on Burning Bone Pass like this?" Her voice wasn't loud, but it carried a hesitation that had been suppressed for too long.

Fang Zhenshan, who was sitting in the main seat with his eyes closed and circulating his internal energy, did not open his eyes when he heard the deep question.

His breathing was steady and normal, and his spiritual energy flowed slowly through his meridians: "Compared to the land of Hundred Herbs Valley, which is rich in spiritual energy, the Burning Bone Pass is tasteless and cannot be compared at all."

Fang Wushuang fell silent upon hearing this.

It wasn't until recently, after she decisively defeated the combined forces of Baicao Valley and Qingyun Sword Sect, that she learned the cause and effect of this upheaval.

The Demon Palace of Rebellion wanted to break through the Fang family's blockade and advance to the Nascent Soul stage, so it pulled the Xuan Kui Sect along with them.

Initially, they planned to cause trouble at Burning Bone Pass to distract the Fang family, allowing them to retreat into the Fulong Mountains to make a breakthrough and create a time gap.

The success rate seems very low no matter how you look at it.

As it turns out, the Demon Palace of Rebellion somehow approached the other two families, leading to this ambush.

However, what those two families did not expect was that the Demon Palace of Rebellion also approached the Fang family, telling them about their plans, only asking for an opportunity to break through to the Nascent Soul stage.

So the Fang family agreed and began to turn the tables, luring both armies into a trap.

Indeed, capturing the Hundred Herbs Valley area is far more important than the Burning Bone Pass line.

The spiritual veins there are more abundant, the land more fertile, and the resources more concentrated. Once acquired, the Fang family's foundation will be elevated to a new level.

But just giving up the place she had been protecting for so long made her feel uneasy.

"This plan is not just about a piece of territory, but also an opportunity for unification." Fang Zhenshan's voice remained calm and without any extra fluctuations. "As long as we take advantage of this opportunity to completely suppress Baicao Valley and Qingyun Sword Sect, we will have the opportunity to unify the entire Southern Region. At that time, our Fang family will truly have the possibility of taking off. It will not be too late to take back this Burning Bone Pass then."

Fang Wushuang sighed, "I understand. In the upcoming battle, please let me be the vanguard!"

Currently, only the peripheral areas and some small sects within the Hundred Herbs Valley territory have been attacked; its core has not yet been truly shaken.

After all, they are all Nascent Soul cultivators, and their foundation is there for all to see.

The real battle has only just begun!

…………

Listening to the Wind Pass.

The array patterns on the city wall had dimmed considerably. The spiritual light that once twinkled like stars in the night was now reduced to a few scattered spots, barely burning out like an oil lamp. Each flicker reminded the people on the city wall that this defensive line could not hold for much longer.

The faces of the soldiers guarding the city wall were filled with numbness.

Their gazes were fixed on the surging tide of beasts in the distance, but they had no focus.

Even now, they have not seen any reinforcements or received any news of support, and the damaged supply lines have not been repaired to this day.

They received only one order—to hold their ground.

The Crimson Ape stood on a low hill behind the camp, its crimson-gold vertical pupils reflecting the burning fortress wall in the distance, a sinister smile playing on its lips.

His gaze pierced through the flames and smoke, landing on the figures struggling on the city walls, as if inspecting a prize about to be won.

"Tingfeng Pass will surely fall tonight." His voice was not loud, but his certainty made the surrounding ape generals involuntarily straighten their backs.

Behind him, a golden-haired ape king strode over, knelt on one knee, and said in a voice filled with barely suppressed urgency, "Your Majesty, something has happened in Chuyang City."

The Crimson Ape frowned slightly, not turning around, but its voice turned colder: "Speak."

"The 90,000-strong army led by the Iron-Armed Ape King and the Black-Bone Ape King... has been completely wiped out! Both the Iron-Armed Ape King and the Black-Bone Ape King have surrendered, and the garrison of Chuyang City is cleaning up the battlefield and counting the prisoners!" The Golden-Haired Ape King's voice grew lower and lower until it was almost just a vibration in its throat, as if even it was unwilling to repeat those words.

The Crimson Ape's body stiffened slightly.

His fingers slowly clenched at his sides, the knuckles making a creaking sound, like an iron chain being slowly tightened.

The silence lasted for a long time, so long that the surrounding ape generals dared not raise their heads or breathe, and the air became heavy.

"Surrender?" His voice was soft, but that softness carried a layer of ice colder than anger, like magma churning beneath a calm surface, yet burning intensely beneath. "Iron Arm and Xuan Bone... surrendered?"

The Golden-haired Ape King lowered his head, not daring to look directly into those crimson-gold vertical pupils: "Yes, there are a large number of spirit beasts in Chuyang City. After the Iron-Armed Ape King was captured alive under the city, the Xuan-Bone Ape King, seeing that the situation was hopeless, also chose to surrender. And... that fox also rebelled. He led the tribes on the outskirts of the Fulong Mountains to Chuyang City."

The Crimson Ape remained silent for a long time.

The light from the fire crystal danced in his crimson pupils, like two dark red flames that had been ignited.

He didn't roar, he didn't smash anything, he just stood there, like a volcano with its magma suppressed, every inch of his skin holding back the scorching heat that was about to erupt.

"Good...good." His voice suddenly regained its composure, like the cold glint of a blade being slowly polished. "If they had died in battle, I wouldn't have said anything, but they actually surrendered? Very good! Really good!"

He turned around, his gaze falling on the burning Tingfeng Pass in the distance: "Order the entire army to advance. Tingfeng Pass must be taken by tomorrow evening. After that, the main force will turn towards Chuyang City." His voice was not loud, but it clearly reached the ears of every ape general. "I want to personally twist off the heads of those two and that fox, and crush that city."

"Yes!" the demon kings responded in unison, their voices echoing in the night.

A day later, the eastern section of the city wall at Tingfeng Pass collapsed with a roar.

The ape army surged in through the breach like a black tide, engulfing the defenders who were still fighting to the death in the beast horde.

The flags on the city wall were torn to shreds, the light of the formation was completely extinguished, and the cultivators who were still desperately resisting were divided, surrounded, and defeated.

Some turned and retreated, some were still desperately swinging their knives, and some were dragged into the horde of beasts and never got up again.

The battle lines at Tingfeng Pass completely collapsed at this moment.

The defenders who had held out for several days were finally breached by the Red Ape's final all-out attack.

But the Crimson Ape did not enter the city, nor did it even glance at the fortress that was falling.

His gaze swept past the rout of the defending troops, past the smoke and fire, and landed squarely in the southeast, his eyes burning with dark red fury: "All troops prepare. We will march south in one hour, with Chuyang City as our target."

…………

Chuyang City, Shattered Star Lake Command Post.

The morning light was already filtering through the cracks in the window, spreading a patch of soft, bright yellow light across the ground.

The lights in the command center had been burning all night, but no one felt tired.

The data on those glowing panels continued to fluctuate, the flags representing troop distribution moved across the sand table, and the glowing lights on those communication arrays flickered.

The entire city of Chuyang was operating silently, like a machine with every screw tightened.

Zhihei stood in front of the projection array, his finger lingering for a moment on a newly lit spot of light, then turned to look at Lin Xuanqi, who was removing his battle armor at the door: "Tingfeng Pass has fallen, and the main force of the Burning Sky Crimson Ape is marching south, heading for Chuyang City. The army is expected to arrive within three days."

Lin Xuanqi paused slightly.

Although he already knew that the Fang family had given up on Burning Bone Pass, the news that the formidable pass had actually been breached still filled him with emotion.

That fortress had stood for over a thousand years, enduring countless waves of beast tides without ever truly collapsing, but now, it had fallen.

"We need to hurry." Zhihei's voice came from behind the mask. "The beast tide and the Rebellious Demon Palace are probably going to happen around the same time. We only have these three days to get through this window of opportunity."

"Alright." Lin Xuanqi walked to the sand table, his gaze falling on the small flags marking the distribution of troops. "Then we'll turn Chuyang City back into an impregnable fortress in these three days."

For the next three days, Chuyang City was like a machine that had been wound up again, running non-stop.

The repair work on the Spirit Trapping Array continues day and night.

The cracked array bases were replaced one by one, the broken spirit patterns were reconnected, and the nodes that had been repeatedly trampled on were thickened and reinforced.

The array masters worked on the city wall from dawn till dusk, and from dusk till dawn again, their magic pens almost never stopping.

Some people get tired and simply lean against the wall to meditate and rest, then continue working when they wake up.

The defensive array patterns on the city wall were reactivated, and the output power of the Four Symbols Returning to Origin Array was adjusted to the maximum.

As those rays of light flowed across the wall, they resembled veins infused with new blood, gleaming with a warm and steady luster in the night.

The flagpoles on the city wall were reinforced, and the flags were replaced with new ones, fluttering in the morning breeze, the Lin family emblem on the flags shining in the sunlight.

The supplies in the logistics warehouse were recounted, the crossbow bolts were neatly stacked, the recovery pills were categorized by grade, and the spare spirit armor was wiped clean one by one.

Lin Xuandong led the logistics troops on three consecutive trips to Qingze, transferring all the spiritual materials, herbs, and animal feed stored deep within Qingze to the front-line camp to ensure that there would be no shortages in the warehouses.

Lin Xuanfeng worked for two whole days without closing his eyes in a makeshift workshop inside the city walls.

There was also Master Tie Wushuang, who escaped from Burning Bone City. Instead of retreating with the Fang family, he broke through the defenses and arrived in Chuyang City.

The two studied the three controlled war puppets repeatedly.

The runes carved on the puppets by the Xuankui Sect were disassembled, studied, and reassembled one by one.

In Lin Xuanfeng's calm eyes, those complex spiritual patterns were like maps being unfolded, each line being re-marked, re-understood, and redrawn by him.

Tie Wushuang, on the other hand, focused on modifying joints and mechanical structures.

This allows components that were originally limited to a single function to have more possible forms, and embeds new transmission pathways into metal joints that were originally only able to carry array patterns.

"Here, the direction of the array patterns is deviated, not for stronger defense, but to leave a channel for concentrated spiritual energy at a certain node." Lin Xuanfeng's finger slowly traced a fine spiritual pattern, stopping at a certain node. "If a reverse spiritual path is connected here, when they combine, I can implant an instruction at the core."

Tie Wushuang looked at it for a long time and nodded: "I'll help you reforge this joint to ensure that its spiritual energy circulation is consistent with your command frequency."

Lin Xuanqing then used the Zhao family's array masters to secretly plant a very subtle foreshadowing in the Blood Fiend Soul Refining Array.

She did not disrupt the formation's trajectory, but instead embedded a tiny jade piece engraved with reversal runes at one of the key nodes.

That's right, the two of them had the same goal: to fight against the Demon Palace of Rebellion for control of the monster that might appear!

On the third day at dusk, Lin Xuanjing suddenly raised his head, his gaze piercing through the churning dust in the distance: "They've arrived."

On the gray-yellow horizon, a dark red tide is slowly surging in.

Unlike ordinary beast tides.

It was an elite army, ignited by fury and bathed in dark red flames.

Their steps were heavy and orderly, each landing causing the ground to tremble slightly, like war drums being struck simultaneously.

A scorching heat filled the air, the smell of dark red spiritual light scorching the air as it gathered in large quantities, mixed with dust and the pungent stench of beasts, creating a suffocating sense of oppression in the twilight.

At the forefront, the Crimson Ape's figure resembled a moving beacon, with dark red spiritual light flowing around it, slightly distorting the surrounding air.

With each step it took, the ground cracked beneath its feet, the cracks spreading outwards like a spider web, extending from its feet to hundreds of feet away, even the distant meadows curling and withering in the heat.

On the city wall, the defenders gripped their weapons tightly, and some of them involuntarily swallowed.

The dark red figures drew ever closer in the twilight, their oppressive presence growing ever heavier.

Lin Xuanjing stood atop the south gate, his gaze fixed on the approaching dark red tide. His voice, though not loud, was clear and distinct: "All personnel in position, prepare for engagement!"

The crossbows on the city wall began to turn, their heavy bodies making a dull thud as they moved along the wall.

The crossbowmen crouched behind the battlements, nocked their crossbows, and pointed the arrows at the dark red tide.

The array masters stood beside the array base, their hands forming hand seals, spiritual light flowing from their fingertips, maximizing the array's output power.

The Crimson Ape stopped a thousand feet away from the city wall.

It did not order a charge, nor did it launch a probing attack; it simply stood there, like a silent volcano, scrutinizing the target it was about to crush.