I established the Eternal Immortal Clan by taming beasts.

Three blood-red eagle cries rose into the sky at that moment.

The Lin family's airship fleet rapidly approached at this moment.

The long-hidden flying boat rose from the shadows on the south side of the valley. The spiritual light array at the bow gradually brightened as it ascended, like a lamp array being lit at the same time, illuminating the night sky at the southern end of the valley with a brief pale blue halo.

The airship formation spread out in three columns, pressing towards the rear of the convoy.

The Dawn Army's crossbowmen crouched on the deck of the airship, and in the first volley, their arrows landed in an arc on the rear of the escorting force's advance, cutting an insurmountable line through their retreat.

The dust at the point of impact was kicked up by the arrow, forming a brief grayish-white mist under the moonlight, like an elongated horizontal line extending outwards.

The shield-bearers in the front row immediately took formation after the airship landed, their shields arranged at an angle to form a horizontal barrier that completely blocked the retreat of the rear guard. The spiritual light at the joints between the shield edges flickered continuously, forming a constantly flowing barrier in the night wind.

The spearmen thrust outwards from the gaps in the shields, their spear tips advancing and retracting rhythmically under the moonlight. Each advance compressed the rear of the guard into an even narrower space. The guards who were stabbed fell backwards under the impact of the spear tips, creating brief dents in the crowd behind them, which were quickly filled in.

Upon discovering that their front and rear routes were under attack and blocked, the commander of the Fang family's logistics and escort forces immediately began to request reinforcements.

A burst of light emanated from the surface of the communication symbol and transmitted outwards along the predetermined frequency, but his plea for help failed to travel an inch.

Communication from this location has been cut off by the Lin family and the Rebellious Demon Palace.

The spiritual light signal, which was originally going to be transmitted along a fixed communication route towards the main force of the Fang family, seemed to hit an invisible barrier in mid-air. After flying to the preset distance, it quickly attenuated and dissipated, leaving no identifiable trace at the receiving end of the communication array.

The commander tried three times in a row, and each time the spiritual signal dissipated at the same distance, like a buoy repeatedly pushed into the water, each ascent only to be pushed back to its original position by an invisible force at the same height.

Seeing that the enemy was too numerous, the logistics commander did not order his troops to fight desperately, but instead tried to break through to the sides, attempting to extend outwards along the edge of the valley in a dispersed formation.

The scattered guards climbed up the gentle slopes on both sides of the valley in small groups of a few people, but the slopes on both sides of the valley had been blocked in advance when the Rebellious Demon Palace and the Lin family troops completed their encirclement.

At the exit of each gentle slope, a group of archers blocked the way with a continuous barrage of arrows, forcing small teams attempting to break through from the flanks to retreat back to the valley floor when they had climbed to about a third of the way up, leaving a dense trail of arrows at the edge of the valley.

The main force of the Demon Palace of Rebellion had completed the task of splitting the convoy in the middle section. The separated guard units could no longer reconnect, and with the Lin family's army having already completed the encirclement from the rear, this move was undoubtedly futile.

The two exits of the valley were blocked as the encirclement was completed, and the breakout attempt by the rear guard forces came to a complete halt after about an incense stick's time.

The guards, who had been separated in the valley, began to retreat towards the center, forming two independent defensive circles in the middle and southern parts of the convoy. They no longer attempted to break outwards, but maintained only a basic defensive posture.

Gradually, the Fang family's logistics forces were compressed into an area at the southern end of the valley, which was simultaneously blocked from three directions by the flying boat formation and the forces of the Rebellious Demon Palace. They were unable to advance forward or spread to the sides.

Their formation was no longer intact. The swordsmen and shieldmen in the front row used their shields to block the continuous thrusts of the forest troop spearmen, while the archers and crossbowmen in the back row had exhausted most of their spirit arrows and began to use ranged spells to retaliate.

However, the two sides only besieged them without attacking, and the army thus trapped them inside, establishing a temporary battle line.

The Lin family's Dawn Army and the forces of the Rebellious Demon Palace continued to compress the space in the valley by advancing in alternating waves.

The guard troops gradually pushed their formation towards the center, each advance widening the line of contact between the two sides, and each contraction shrinking the ground area where the guard troops could operate, but never launching a true all-out attack.

While they were waiting, the supplies left behind by the Rebellious Demon Palace and the Lin family began to be unloaded from the spirit beast carts, box by box, by the troops of the Rebellious Demon Palace and the Lin family.

Each box was filled with storage bags, which contained various military supplies.

Spirit stones, pills, spiritual materials, spare spiritual armor, and standard spiritual weapons are all available.

This batch of supplies is crucial for the Fang family's 600,000-strong army in their decisive battle, and is the core support for the entire Baicaogu front's logistics system.

The spirit stones are enough to support the military pay and formation consumption of the great war, the pills are enough to sustain the wartime consumption for two months, and the spiritual materials are enough to replenish the equipment losses in a large-scale battle.

These things are currently ownerless; whoever takes them can keep them.

The cultivators from the Rebellious Demon Palace began to move between the convoy in small teams, their movements fast and precise, passing the unloaded wooden crates one by one to the rear, like a continuously running conveyor belt.

Under the cover of the Dawn Army, the Lin family's logistics personnel quickly checked the supplies being moved from the opened storage bags according to the pre-arranged list of categories. In the night wind, they reported the category and quantity of each batch to Lin Xuanjing in low voices.

Since they had already decided to take action against the other family, the Demon Palace of Rebellion and the Lin family naturally had no reservations.

However, neither side had any intention of killing the other. After loading the supplies onto the spirit boat, they decisively withdrew.

The news that Fang's supply line had been cut off would inevitably reach the area where Fang's main force was located in the near future.

Once the Fang family's allied forces discovered that the supply convoy had lost contact, the commander-in-chief would have dispatched scouts and messengers along the supply route to confirm the situation.

Once it is confirmed that the supply line has been cut off, the main force will have to split up to defend or adjust the supply strategy on the spot, which will directly affect the troop deployment and tactical choices on the Baicaogu battlefield.

This time, they were just trying to attract the Fang family's attention; they weren't really going to fight them to the death.

After loading their supplies, the troops of the Demon Palace of Rebellion began their retreat. Their dark purple silhouettes moved up the gentle slope on the west side of the valley in the moonlight, advancing rapidly along the planned evacuation route at a speed similar to that during the attack.

Storage containers filled with supplies were scattered throughout the queue to reduce the load density per unit volume.

After loading supplies, the Lin family's airship formation took off. The humming of the engines during takeoff lasted for several breaths before quickly decreasing to a frequency that blended with the surrounding night wind after reaching cruising altitude.

On the battlefield at the southern end of the valley, the surrounded guards, after confirming the enemy's withdrawal, began to regroup, silently watching the receding dark silhouettes and the lights of the flying boats, but did not pursue them.

With their remaining strength, pursuing them would be nothing more than a futile suicide mission...

…………

As the morning light spread along the ridgeline northeast of Baicao Valley, seven generals had already gathered in the camp of the Fang family's allied forces command.

The candles beside the map had burned down to almost nothing, and the wax dripped along the edge of the bronze candlesticks, forming irregular layers that cast flickering shadows on the faces of the generals who were discussing the matter.

The first to notice the anomaly was a messenger responsible for supply line communications.

The spiritual light of the communication jade slip began to flicker irregularly at dawn, gradually changing from a fixed interval to unstable pulses, like a slowly fading pulse.

The supply convoy was scheduled to arrive at the supply station at the northern section of Maple Ridge at midnight and rest, and continue its advance at dawn. However, the positioning signal in the communication jade slip stopped at about eighteen miles south of the northern section of Maple Ridge at the beginning of 1-3 AM, and did not move or change its position further.

At first, he thought the spiritual path of the communication array had become intermittent, but after replacing the backup array plate three times and adjusting the communication nodes of the two adjacent supply stations, he confirmed that the signal had not been interrupted, but had simply remained in place.

When Fang Zhenshan was woken up from his cultivation at 2:45 AM, he was still wearing the casual clothes he hadn't changed out of after the meeting the previous night.

He sat in the makeshift tent, holding the communication jade slip that had stopped flashing in his hand. After listening to the reports from the messenger and the scout captain, he remained silent for a moment.

"Who did it?"

"The Palace of Rebellion Against Fate"

A general in charge of intelligence spread a rubbing of a symbol on a map.

"The scouts arrived at the scene at Chenshi (7-9 AM). There were a large number of boot prints on the gravel ground in the southern section of the valley, characterized by dark spiritual ink residue, which matched the marks left on the gravel surface by the standard spiritual armor of the Rebellious Demon Palace."

The connection between the front and middle sections of the convoy was severed, and the cut marks matched the standard short blades of the Rebellious Demon Palace, with uniform cut angles consistent with a single parallel cut.

Fang Zhenshan's gaze slowly moved along the edge of the dark purple outline on the map.

The fact that the forces of the Rebellious Demon Palace appeared in this location meant that they had bypassed all the Fang family outposts north of Black Wind Ridge and completed their detour along the narrow gap between the outer edge of the Fulong Mountains and Maple Leaf Ridge.

This was not a spur-of-the-moment action, but a well-prepared and meticulously planned raid.

"There's another unit." The intelligence commander spread out another rubbing along the edge of the map. "On the gravel ground at the southern end of the valley, we discovered another set of footprints, different from the boot prints of the Demon Palace of Rebellion. The number of footprints is huge. Based on my deduction, at this time, the only family that can mobilize such a large force without us having taken special precautions is the Lin family."

There was a moment of silence in the meeting room.

Let's not even talk about the Demon Palace of Rebellion... There's no need to guess, they will definitely make some underhanded moves at this critical juncture, and the Fang family will certainly not let the Demon Palace of Rebellion go in the future.

The generals present were aware of the Lin family as a rising power, but they all disregarded them.

The Lin family's foundation is too weak, and it cannot compare with the established Nascent Soul forces. The only reason they are not powerful is because the patriarch is a Nascent Soul cultivator. They only have a puppet with Nascent Soul level power by chance. If they did not have that puppet, they would not even be as powerful as ordinary Nascent Soul forces.

Families of this caliber are utterly insignificant. Once they deal with Hundred Herbs Valley and Azure Cloud Sword Sect, the Fang family will be in charge of the Southern Region, and a small Lin family can be wiped out with a flick of their wrist.

But who would have thought that after the Fang family appeased the other party with great benefits, the other party still dared to be their enemy!

"The Lin family is simply courting death!" A burly general slammed his fist on the table and stood up.

"A small family that made its fortune by picking up scraps dares to mess with us? I think they've been too generous to them. Once this war is over, I'll be the first to lead my troops to crush them."

Fang Zhenshan didn't speak immediately. He shifted his gaze from the area marked "Northern Section of Maple Leaf Ridge" on the map to Fang Wushuang, who had remained silent. His tone was steady: "Wushuang, what do you think?"

Fang Wushuang, who had been silent until now, immediately stood up. Her movements were swift and decisive, and the armor plates made a short, sharp clanging sound as she stood up, which was particularly clear in the quiet tent.

"In response to the commander, I believe that pursuing the Lin family now will not help. The decisive battle with Baicao Valley is the key. We cannot allow the news to spread and disrupt the morale of the army."

The troops at the front have begun to take up their attack positions. If news of supply lines being cut off comes out at this critical juncture, the morale of the soldiers will be affected.

"If the garrison at Baicao Valley notices anything unusual, they will immediately conclude that there is a problem with our logistics, and they might even take some initiative to disrupt our original plans."

Fang Zhenshan nodded slightly; her response aligned with his thoughts: "Well said. Temporarily block this intelligence and prevent the information from leaking out."

His gaze shifted from Fang Wushuang back to the communication jade slip on the table, which had stopped flashing.

"If this information reaches the front lines, it will affect the morale of the various armies. The defenders of Baicaogu will also observe the anomaly on the city walls, which will boost the morale of the enemy."

The order was issued: all intelligence concerning the supply lines was to be temporarily sealed off, and those with knowledge of the matter were to be kept within a small circle. If anyone inquired, the message was to say that the convoy had encountered scattered monster attacks in the northern section of Maple Leaf Ridge and needed to stop for a day to rest.

He paused for a moment, then continued, "But we must solve the logistical problem! Losing this batch of supplies is fine; there will be plenty of time to get them back later. But we must restore the supply line."

Upon hearing this, everyone fell silent again.

To be honest, they already take the Rebellious Demon Palace quite seriously.

That 20,000-strong guard force was specifically configured to prevent the Demon Palace of Rebellion from interfering with logistics. As long as Qin Wudao doesn't take action, the Demon Palace of Rebellion alone cannot easily intercept the logistics troops.

If Qin Wudao dares to make a move, the Fang family is not without Nascent Soul cultivators. If the other party dares to break the unspoken rule that "Nascent Soul cultivators cannot participate in battles at will," the Fang family will naturally not remain indifferent.

To their surprise, the Lin family actually joined the war.

Looking back now, it's clear that the South Camp was indeed quite close to the logistics supply line.

When that supply line passed through the northern section of Maple Leaf Ridge, it was only about a thousand miles away from the direction of the South Camp. At the speed of the spirit boat, if they marched at full speed, they could complete a rapid incursion and withdrawal in less than a day.

The other party's sudden betrayal left them completely unprepared.

But now a problem arises: if the Lin family continues to cooperate with the Demon Palace of Rebellion to raid the supply lines, the supplies still won't arrive.

What if we divide our forces to protect the supply lines and the front lines are under strain?

The protective array of Baicao Valley has not yet been breached, and the array patterns on the city walls are still operating at a continuous frequency. If too many troops are diverted to maintain the security of the supply line, the siege force at the front will be weakened, and the siege period will be prolonged. A prolonged period means more consumption and more variables.

Another possibility is that the enemy's target might be the troops that were detached from the enemy forces.

Setting up an ambush on the supply line, cutting off the retreat of the escorting troops, and then surrounding and annihilating them with superior forces would not only result in the loss of supplies, but also a direct reduction in combat effectiveness!