I established the Eternal Immortal Clan by taming beasts.

The afternoon sun cast three parallel dark shadows on the wasteland, outlining the airship.

Fang Wushuang stood at the front of the formation, his gaze passing through the sun-baked open space and landing on the three rows of floating flying boats in the air.

She had already discerned the other party's intentions; they had no intention of engaging in a fierce battle with her.

Although the array of flying ships in front remained fully deployed, the crossbows of the city-breaking crossbows never rotated upwards, and the crossbowmen on the decks remained in a ready-to-go posture without drawing their strings. The entire formation hovered in the air like a suspended boundary line, separating her from Green Water Gorge.

Recalling the squad she had encountered in the middle of the passage, they had revealed their position but had not launched an attack. When she gave the order to advance, they retreated in unison, maintaining a delicate distance that neither allowed her to give up the pursuit nor allowed her to engage in combat.

The opponent's movements were always synchronized with her advances and retreats, and with her stops, like a mirror, with each action appearing in sync with hers.

The other party was clearly employing a delaying tactic; their aim was not to stop her, but to waste her time.

The Green Water Gorge defense line is gradually shrinking under the onslaught of the monster alliance. Every moment of delay is causing the casualties of the defenders to rise, and every extra moment she lingers in the passage puts more pressure on the defense line at the pass.

But she really couldn't afford to delay.

He withdrew his gaze, turned around and walked back to the middle of the formation, whispering a few words to the lieutenants behind him.

After listening, the lieutenants turned and walked in different directions, passing instructions to the captains of each squad in a continuous whisper as they moved through the ranks. The whispers spread continuously through the ranks in a relay manner.

The contents of the instructions were then transmitted to the entire unit, maintaining the same structure as the original instructions during the transmission process, without any distortion or deviation caused by multiple retellings.

Fang Wushuang's decision was to split up the forces.

She divided the troops into two groups: the main force, led by her personally, continued to advance towards Green Water Gorge, no longer stopping to deploy due to the Lin family's aerial threat, and used continuous advance to compress the time that had been delayed;

The second force, led by a deputy general and consisting of one-third of the personnel, remained at the exit of the passage to contain the Lin family's airship formation. After the main force left the airspace, they gradually withdrew without initiating combat, maintaining only contact.

The process of making this decision lasted less than ten breaths in her mind.

The pass defenses being attacked by the monster alliance and the supply lines of the Fang family's main force were all tightening her available time window at the same rate, making it impossible to implement any decisions that required more time to weigh on the current battlefield.

Within about twenty breaths of receiving the order, the main force completed its reorganization. The vanguard extended forward with shorter intervals, no longer stopping to adjust due to the airship formation above, and advanced rapidly toward Green Water Gorge with continuous strides.

The diversionary force that remained in place began to retreat after the main force disengaged, with each step slightly longer than the normal stride, so that their retreat speed was just below the reaction threshold of the airship formation, thus avoiding triggering a pursuit while maintaining a continuous state of contact.

Lin Che stood at the bow of the main ship, looking at the split formation at the exit of the passage below, a very faint smile appearing on his lips.

He had anticipated this outcome, or rather, he had already considered Fang Wushuang's division of forces as one of his possible reaction options when setting up the second defensive line.

Fang Wushuang's choice was one of the most probable options in his deductions.

She needs to reach Green Water Gorge quickly, and it's impossible for her to get bogged down in a prolonged stalemate with an air formation at the exit of the passage. Dividing her forces is the only way she can deal with the air threat without sacrificing the main force's speed.

Before long, the enemy's main force advanced toward Green Water Gorge at an accelerated pace, regrouping into a marching formation on the open ground outside the passage exit. The vanguard extended forward with even shorter intervals, no longer stopping to adjust due to the airship formation above.

Lin Che did not order a pursuit.

His gaze fell on the dark line of the main force receding into the distance, and he mentally estimated the time.

These troops, which are marching towards Green Water Gorge, will need approximately two more hours to reach the pass at their current speed.

During those two hours, the first pass in the direction of Green Water Gorge should have already fallen, and the defending troops were redeploying their defenses at the second pass.

The vanguard of the demon beast alliance has compressed the first pass's defensive line to its limit through continuous attacks. If Fang Wushuang's main force reaches the second pass within two hours, the defensive line should be able to hold.

The objective of containing them has been achieved, and for some time to come, this force will likely be firmly locked down in Lushuixia.

Lin Che withdrew his gaze and transmitted a message to Lin Xuanjing beside him: "Prepare the withdrawal plan. When Fang Wushuang's main force enters the area within twenty miles of Green Water Gorge, notify the airship formation to retreat and pull the troops to withdraw simultaneously. Do not leave any traces that can be tracked."

"Understood." The light on the communication array flashed at a fixed frequency for a moment, then returned to its standby state.

The battle situation in the direction of Green Water Gorge changed as expected within the next hour.

The first pass fell after half an hour of continuous attacks by the demon beast alliance. After the pass was breached, the defending troops abandoned the crushed section and retreated to the second pass.

The terrain of the second pass was narrower than the first, with the rock walls on both sides extending upwards at a steeper angle, which further compressed the formation of the monsters when they passed through that valley, giving the defenders extra time.

However, the numerical advantage of the monster alliance continued to play a role in the ongoing attrition.

The scaled monsters took turns applying intermittent heavy pressure to the second pass's defensive line. Each attack pushed the defenders' lines back several feet. As they retreated, the lines constantly readjusted their formations, filling the compressed space with tighter spacing.

Fang Wushuang's main force arrived at the outer perimeter of Green Water Gorge about an incense stick's time before the second pass fell.

As the marching column approached the pass, it was stretched into a narrow, longitudinal line, pressing towards the pass with a more compact spacing.

The Lin family's flying boat fleet began to retreat the moment Fang Wushuang's main force reached a range of twenty miles outside Green Water Gorge.

Moving steadily northeastward, the crossbows at the bow were gradually retracted as the ship ascended, and the archers retreated from the edge of the deck back into the cabin. The entire formation departed from that airspace at a similar pace to when it arrived, forming a dark silhouette receding into the twilight, which was soon covered by the darkening sky.

The diversionary force left at the exit of the passage also began to advance towards the pass after confirming that the airship formation had moved out of the effective contact range.

Lin Che did not wait for further intelligence to confirm how the situation at Green Water Gorge would change after Fang Wushuang's arrival.

After the airship formation completely left the airspace at the exit of the passage, the Lin family's troops advanced northeastward along the predetermined withdrawal route, moving for nearly two hours with the goal of leaving no trace that could be tracked.

As night fell completely, the formation stopped on the shady side of a ridge covered by dense forest, where they awaited the next intelligence report from Zhihei.

The intelligence arrived around midnight.

The message from Zhihei was brief: the allied forces of monsters in Green Water Gorge ceased their all-out attack shortly after Fang Wushuang arrived and retreated to the depths of the gorge. The two sides formed a stalemate at the pass and neither took the initiative to attack again.

On the Baicaogu side, the Fang family's allied forces continued their attacks on the mountain-protecting formation and had already achieved initial success. The Baicaogu side was working hard to reinforce the defensive formation.

After reading the information on the jade slip, Lin Che's gaze fell on the outline of the tree canopy in the distance, illuminated by the moonlight.

The plan to attract attention has been completed; now comes the climax of the whole show.

He stood up, put the jade slip into his sleeve, and turned to the dark silhouette waiting for instructions at the edge of the camp: "Notify Blood Abyss that we have completed the containment of the Green Water Gorge direction, Fang Wushuang's reinforcements have been firmly locked down, and Fang Zhenshan's attention should be completely drawn to the front line and supply line of Hundred Herbs Valley. The real plan can begin."

Lin Xuanjing took a few steps forward, revealing his face in the moonlight: "They'll never guess that everything we've done is to draw the attention of the allied forces' main force! The real killing move is actually the demonic beasts!"

"The Fang family thought the biggest threat was the Lin family and the Rebellious Demon Palace's attack on the supply line, that the Hundred Herbs Valley and the Azure Cloud Sword Sect were the last obstacles they needed to overcome, and that the monster alliance of Green Water Gorge was the only threat on their flank. They saw all the bait, but failed to notice that the real killing move had already been assembled in places they couldn't see."

He paused for a moment, his gaze falling on the outline of the mountain ridge in the southwest, which appeared darker than the sky under the moonlight.

That's the direction of the Qingyun Mountains, the area separating the Qingyun Sword Sect and the Hundred Herbs Valley, and also the location where the main force of the demon beasts is waiting for final instructions after completing their secret mobilization.

The demonic beast forces are the real killer move in this plan!

"The cooperation between the Demon Palace of Rebellion and the demon beasts was definitely not a spur-of-the-moment decision. From the moment the Burning Bone Pass was breached, the main force of the beast tide on the western front has been moving southeast at a slow but continuous pace."

They bypassed the main defense zone of the Qingyun Sword Sect and advanced segment by segment along the narrow gap between the dense forests and canyons on the south side of the Qingyun Mountains.

Each leg of the journey was kept outside the reconnaissance range of the Fang family's scouts, replacing one-off long marches with continuous small-scale movements. This ensured that no large-scale anomalies were detected in the Fang family's intelligence system deployed throughout the western front.

"It's like trying to get something from a tiger," Lin Che couldn't help but sigh.

Clearly, not only the major human powers in the Southern Region understood the Fang family's immense power, but the demon beasts also understood this.

Both the Fang family and the demon beasts understood that eliminating the strongest one first was the best option.

The Fang family decided to first destroy Baicao Valley and Qingyun Sword Sect, while the demon beasts, under the mediation of the Reverse Fate Demon Palace, also wanted to severely damage the main force of the Fang family.

The current plan is, in a sense, weakening the power of the Southern Region's human race, but it is in everyone's interest.

"According to the latest confirmation from Lord Wanyue, this beast tide numbers about 800,000. They have completed their final assembly in the dense forest on the south side of the Qingyun Mountains and are less than two days' march from the rear defense line of the Fang family's allied forces."

Once they begin their advance, and the Fang family's allied forces fail to detect it in time, they will be completely trapped inside Baicao Valley!

With the Hundred Herbs Valley's protective formation in front and the demonic beast army behind, the Fang family's allied forces will be severely damaged and will no longer have the strength to unify the Southern Region in the short term. We will have ample time to develop our expansion zone and strengthen the Lin family's foundation.

Lin Xuanjing's gaze followed Lin Che's pointing finger to the outline of the mountain ridge under the moonlight, pausing for a moment in the night breeze: "So, what's our next step?"

"Wait." Lin Che turned his gaze away from the ridgeline and towards the airship formations that were standing by in the night wind at the edge of the camp.

"It will take the main force of the beast tide about two days to advance from the south side of the Qingyun Mountains to the rear of the Fang family's allied forces. During these two days, what we need to do is to stay in our current position, not expose ourselves, not make any proactive contact, and wait for the main force of the beast tide to complete its final advance."

Once they reach their designated locations, that's when we really need to take action.

During these two days, all units were ordered to remain concealed. Airship formations were to be covered with camouflage arrays when docked on the ground. Personnel were to reduce the frequency of entering and leaving the camp. Communication was to be maintained through regular briefings, activated only when necessary, to ensure that no actions could potentially reveal their position during this period.

"Understood." Lin Xuanjing nodded and turned to walk deeper into the camp.

Two days passed slowly in the waiting.

The airship formation at the Lin family's temporary camp remained docked as dawn and dusk alternated. Camouflage array patterns covered the spiritual arrays and metal frames on the surface of the airships, making them look like dark rock layers naturally formed at the edge of a dense forest when viewed from above.

Personnel take turns staying inside the tents, only conducting necessary resupply and equipment checks at night.

Communication was maintained with the Rebellious Demon Palace and the Black-Holder through regular reports. Each report was brief and precise, only confirming whether the location and status were normal.

At dusk the following day, Lin Che received a confirmation message from Blood Abyss: "The main force of the beast tide has crossed the last ridge on the south side of the Qingyun Mountains. The vanguard has begun to advance towards the rear defense line of the Fang family's allied forces and is expected to enter the contact range by tomorrow morning. All Lin family units are requested to remain on standby and carry out the operation according to the pre-arranged plan before the main force of the beast tide completes the encirclement."

After reading the information on the jade slip, Lin Che's gaze fell on the outline of the mountain ridge in the distance, which was gradually darkening in the twilight.

The direction of that mountain ridge is the southern section of the Qingyun Mountains, which is also the last barrier that the main force of the beast tide is crossing.

He stood up and turned to the dark silhouette awaiting orders at the edge of the camp: "Notify all units, tomorrow morning, take your designated positions. The decisive battle is about to begin!"