I established the Eternal Immortal Clan by taming beasts.

As the Lin family's banner unfurled in the morning light, Lin Che had already returned to the bow of the flying boat.

His gaze passed over the wasteland that was being repeatedly turned over by the war, and landed on the gray-black outline of the city walls in the distance.

The walls of Burning Bone City are higher than those of Burning Bone Pass. The walls are built of black basalt and covered with a dark luster polished by wind and sand.

Traces of the array patterns left by the Fang family's garrison remain on the wall. Although most of it is damaged, the wall's former sturdiness can still be seen from the broken lines.

He estimated the distance; at the Dawn Army's marching speed, it would take about two hours to reach the outskirts of Burning Bone City.

Footsteps sounded behind me.

Lin Xuanjing stepped onto the deck of the flying boat. His battle armor still bore the scratches left from the battle just now. There was a thin white mark on the edge of his shoulder armor, which was the mark left when the Gale Eagle's wind blade grazed him.

Without exchanging pleasantries, he walked directly to Lin Che's side, his gaze also falling on the approaching outline of the city: "Father, the clearing of Burning Bone Pass is complete. I left two reserve battalions to guard the main pass to prevent us from being surrounded, and the rest of the troops are assembling and ready to depart at any time."

"The spies under Gale Eagle's command should have already relayed the news of our recapture of Burning Bone Pass back to Burning Bone City." Lin Che's gaze did not waver. "Their reaction speed will be even faster than before. In this battle, there will be no chance for a sneak attack."

"I know." Lin Xuanjing's fingers lightly gripped the hilt of his sword. "Burning Bone City is not Burning Bone Pass. It is the main stronghold of the Gale Eagle tribe. In addition, they have been operating in Burning Bone City for nearly three years, so the defenses on the city walls should be more complete than those of Burning Bone Pass. But the purpose of this battle is not to annihilate them, but to drive them out of Burning Bone City. Once they lose their nesting base in the city, their threat will be greatly reduced."

Lin Che nodded, his gaze slowly moving across the airspace above the city's outline.

The sky above Burning Bone City was more empty than he had expected.

No large flocks of eagles were seen circling overhead; only a few scattered black dots moved up and down above the city wall.

The emptiness made him feel uneasy. A city that had been occupied by the Gale Eagle tribe for three years should have such a small number of patrol forces in the airspace above it.

"Their main force isn't here." Lin Che's voice lowered a few decibels. "After the news of the fall of Burning Bone Pass was sent back, the Gale Eagle Demon King should have reacted by now, but no troops have come to besiege us. Obviously, their main force isn't here."

Lin Xuanjing's eyes flickered: "It seems the plan is working! But just in case, it would be best to send Xinqing to send scouts ahead to continue reconnaissance."

Lin Che nodded: "Where are the reserve force and the spirit beast legion?"

The previous battle was a surprise attack, but now that the Lin family's intentions have been exposed, the main force can make its appearance.

"They've already set off from Chuyang City and are expected to catch up with us in three hours."

"Alright, let's continue now that the scouts have finished their reconnaissance."

"Understood!" Lin Xuanjing nodded, turned and walked away, his pace quickening as he came, his boots making short, continuous footsteps on the deck.

An hour later, the Dawn Army began its advance towards Burning Bone City.

The formation maintained a tight formation as it moved, with a stable distance between the shield-bearers in the front and the archers in the back, keeping the formation ready to deal with any air attacks even while moving.

In the air, the flock of Azure-Eyed Eagles spread out in a loose arc ahead, maintaining a flight altitude that allowed them to overlook the city walls and the surrounding ground. If they detected any unusual movements, they would transmit the information back through the array plate.

At the same time, tremors gradually came from behind.

The tremor was initially very slight, like a deep, resonant rumble of thunder coming from the depths of a distant mountain.

But as time went on, the vibrations became stronger and closer, traveling from the soles of my feet to my calves, and from my calves to my chest.

Everyone in the Dawn Army sensed it, but their strict military discipline prevented any of them from turning back, and they continued to advance side by side.

Lin Che, who was aboard a flying boat above the rear of the battle formation, could see everything clearly.

The first thing to appear in sight was a line of moving dark silhouettes—the vanguard of the Lin family's spirit beast legion.

The alligator snapping turtles strode heavily at the front, their shells, as large as small mountains, gleaming with a thick, dark yellow sheen in the sunlight. Each step they took left a footprint several inches deep in the ground, the soil at the edges of the footprints being pressed outwards, like small dams that had been repeatedly compacted.

Behind them followed a swarm of azure dragons, hundreds of them slithering and swimming in the low sky, their whiskers fluttering in the wind, their scales reflecting a flowing blue halo in the sunlight, like a stretched galaxy.

The golden lions spread out in a golden arc on their sides, moving forward with slow and even steps. The scales on their shoulder armor collided constantly as they moved, producing a soft metallic friction sound that created a continuous and low rustling sound in the air, like a forest of gold foil being blown by the wind.

Behind the spirit beast legion was a vast, dark sea of ​​people.

One hundred thousand reserves, the reserve forces of the Dawn Army, spread out in a square formation, stretching from the near side to the edge of the horizon, like a dark river flowing slowly.

Most of them were at the Qi Refining stage, their spirit armor was a slightly lighter color than that of the regular troops, and the spacing between their formations was also larger than that of the regular Dawn Army. However, the visual impact of their sheer size was enough to cause any cultivator to pause briefly upon first glance.

"The Fang family really went all out this time." Lin Xuandong also arrived on the deck of the flying boat at some point. He stood half a step behind Lin Che, looking at the moving sea of ​​people behind him, a smile unique to businessmen appearing on his lips.

Since someone is paying for it, how could the Lin family possibly train eight thousand people?

In addition to the six battalions of the officially formed Dawn Army and the two thousand newly trained reserve battalions, the Lin family also has these one hundred thousand Dawn Army reserves.

These reserves are the source of manpower for the Dawn Army. They can be replenished at any time if any cultivators of the Dawn Army die in battle, and they can also be trained into a new Dawn Army unit at any time.

The reason they are in the reserve is mainly due to insufficient strength, with most of the personnel being around the Qi Refining stage.

However, the Lin family reported these people as Foundation Establishment stage cultivators.

In other words, the half of the cultivation resources and military equipment provided by the Fang family was almost equivalent to the consumption of the entire army.

Does the Fang family not know?

The exact number is unknown, but they could definitely guess that the Lin family reported an overstatement, but they never expected that the Lin family would report such a large overstatement!

But now that the money has been spent, it's too late to pursue the matter, and the goal has already been achieved.

The Lin family was indeed tied down by the Burning Bone Pass and did not participate in the battle.

Of course, the most crucial thing is that the Fang family still has a very important thing to do—a decisive battle with Baicaogu.

Three years have passed, and the Fang family's allied forces have conquered and plundered the heartland of Baicao Valley, the very place where they started their business.

It can be said that if this battle is won, the Southern Region human race will no longer have the power to resist the Fang family's allied forces, so they cannot investigate the matter of their own concealment at this critical juncture.

"They can't afford to investigate these details right now." Lin Che's gaze remained fixed on the direction of Burning Bone City. "The decisive battle between the Fang family and Hundred Herbs Valley could break out at any moment. They need us to maintain pressure on the eastern front to ensure that the beast tide doesn't threaten their rear. At the same time, they need our army to threaten the Rebellious Demon Palace. If we can break through Burning Bone City and occupy the Southern Camp, it will be the greatest help we can give the Fang family!"

"That's right, the Fang family will not only not pursue the matter, but will also thank us!" Lin Xuanjing added with a smile.

Lin Xuandong chuckled and said nothing more, but followed his father's gaze to look at the city outline that was gradually becoming clear in the morning light.

The outline of Burning Bone City gradually became clearer as they advanced, and the damage to the city walls was more severe than expected.

Several sections of the wall showed obvious dents, as if they had been repeatedly struck by some kind of heavy impact.

The airspace above the city wall remained empty, with only a few scattered black dots rising and falling intermittently, as if conducting some kind of low-frequency patrol.

The scouts returned half an hour earlier with the news: there were indeed demonic birds lurking in Burning Bone City, but their numbers were far fewer than expected.

Based on the distribution of footprints, nests, and the density of residual scents, it is estimated that the number of Gale Eagles remaining in the city is between 30,000 and 40,000, and the main force is indeed not there.

This figure differs significantly from the size of the "main base" estimated by Xuanwang at the time.

The intelligence from Zhihei was correct; the Gale Eagle King had led its main force to support the beast tide army at Green Water Gorge.

"Their nesting density is highest in the southern part of the city." Lin Xinqing's voice came from the communication array, accompanied by slight breathing sounds, as if he were moving quickly.

"From a distance of 500 feet outside the eastern city wall, I observed that the frequency of take-off and landing of the demonic birds in the southern area of ​​the city was significantly higher than in other areas. Approximately every ten breaths, a batch would take off or land. The frequency of take-off and landing in the other three directions was less than one-third of that in the southern area."

Commander-in-Chief Lin Xuanjing's gaze swept across the outline of Burning Bone City: "First, cut off their retreat route, then press in from the east, south, and west simultaneously, forcing them to retreat northwards. The northern area was marked as a storage area on the city defense map back then. It has low building density and open space, which is not conducive to the nesting of demonic birds. Once they are compressed into that area, our air superiority will be greatly weakened."

The instructions were transmitted in all directions within a few breaths.

The Dawn Army's formation began to unfold along the outer perimeter of the city wall, advancing simultaneously from the east, south, and north.

The spirit beast legion was deployed on the southern outskirts of the city. The group of crocodile turtles carrying the mountain were lined up along the foundation of the city wall, and the dark yellow spiritual light on their carapaces lit up one by one in the morning light, like a row of heavy lamps that had been lit.

The airspace above Burning Bone City underwent a noticeable change a few dozen breaths after the Dawn Army began its advance.

The sentries that were originally hovering low in the sky began to retreat towards the south of the city, and more and more black dots rose from above the wall, converging in the same direction at an increasingly faster frequency.

The initial gathering process maintained a relatively orderly rhythm, but as the western and eastern formations gradually approached the city wall, that order was gradually replaced by urgency, and more and more sentries abandoned their patrol positions and took off directly to join the forming cluster in the south of the city.

Lin Che looked at the dark cloud layer that was gradually forming in the sky above the south of the city. It was larger and thicker than the one at Burning Bone Pass, as if it had lowered the sky above half of the city by several feet.

The archers of the Dawn Army began to nock their crossbows in formation, the arrows pointing diagonally towards the sky.

Under Lin Xuanfeng's command, the flock of Azure-eyed Eagles began to spread out to both sides, forming a flowing azure barrier between the gathering dark clouds and the city wall.

The first wave of attacks was launched simultaneously from the south of the city.

The ground attack and the air attack were launched almost simultaneously.

The group of alligator snapping turtles from the south of the city began to advance towards the foundation of the city wall. Their heavy footsteps made a continuous, muffled sound like drumming when they landed on the ground. The giant turtles stopped at the same time after reaching the foundation of the city wall, pressing their carapaces against the wall. Dark yellow spiritual light continued to gather on their carapaces, forming a slowly advancing, continuously exerting lateral pressure.

Under that sustained pressure, the rubble on the surface of the city wall began to peel off, sliding down the wall and accumulating into a pile of small stones at the base of the wall.

At the same time, the flock of demonic birds in the sky above the south of the city began to swoop down.

Nearly ten thousand Gale Eagles and Ironfeathered Eagles simultaneously lowered their altitude, their dark figures appearing in the morning light like a swarm of arrows released from the clouds, swooping down on the advancing Dawn Army formation.

The flock of blue-eyed eagles met them in their swooping path, their blue and dark wings intertwining in the air, like a tearing shadow covering a flowing light.

The continuous crashing sounds, like a mixture of breaking planks and scraping metal, echoed across the airspace above the city walls.

The spirit beast troops on the ground also joined the battle at this time.

The Dawn Army's ground attacks also commenced simultaneously in the other three directions.

The shield-bearers on the east and west sides advanced along the base of the city wall, followed closely by the spearmen. Upon reaching the base of the wall, they began to continuously damage it, using the spiritual energy of their spears to strike the weak points, causing the rubble to peel off and gradually forming crevices that could be climbed.

Large numbers of demonic bird corpses fell to the ground, blood began to spread, and the Dawn Army also began to suffer casualties...

The fighting intensified.

The battle on the south side was the most intense part of the entire siege.

The Storm Eagle tribe has the highest density of nests in the southern part of the city, where their resistance is also more concentrated.

The demonic bird no longer simply swooped down and then rose, but instead descended directly into the gaps in the array to attempt close combat.

In the close-quarters combat, where feathers and flesh were mixed together, individuals of the Azure-Eyed Eagles were constantly being dragged to the ground and then taken back into the air.

Lin Xuanfeng's sword light swept across the airspace above the southern array, tearing a new rift at the edge of the dark clouds each time.

As the commander, Lin Xuanjing observed that the frequency of the demonic birds taking off and landing there was decreasing, indicating that the defenses were weak.

He immediately ordered his third brother, Lin Xuanfeng, to move to the west side of the city wall, opening a new breakthrough for the ground troops.

Upon receiving the order, Lin Xuanfeng immediately led a small elite squad away from the southern battlefield and moved quickly along the west side of the city wall.

While the battle raged on at the front, the engineering corps stopped at a section of the road in the southeast that was relatively less collapsed, and began to set up the battle formation.

Then, streams of spiritual energy surged out, and under the continuous directional impact, the cracks on the wall expanded, connected, and penetrated at a speed visible to the naked eye.

As the first real breach opened in the southeast, the swarm of demonic birds in the south of the city was attempting a third large-scale dive attack on the eastern array.

Their attention was drawn to Lin Xuanfeng's feint attack force in the west, so the opening in the southeast was met with no resistance in the first few dozen breaths after it was opened.

The vanguard of the Dawn Army received orders and began to pour into Burning Bone City through the southeast rift, followed closely by the Spirit Beast Legion, which rushed into the city through the rift.