With the rise of my family, I can summon the Daoist Soldiers' Nest.

Liu Yun slowly opened her eyes.

He subconsciously sensed the changes within his body: his meridians were wider, his internal energy was more concentrated, and his every move seemed to possess a power he had never had before.

"He broke through so easily?" A surge of joy flashed through his mind.

No wonder people say that combat is the fastest path to cultivation for martial artists; the true edge of life and death often brings out their potential.

However, before his joy could spread, he saw the expressions of the other three people in the tent.

There was both joy at his breakthrough and an unconcealable worry.

Liu Yun's heart tightened, and her brows furrowed involuntarily.

Breaking through now may not necessarily be a good thing.

General Zhenbei has ordered that martial artists of the second rank or above must be grouped together into specialized martial artist squads to deal with surprise attacks by shamanistic martial artists.

That kind of battle was no longer about fighting ordinary soldiers with swords and spears or comparing physical strength, but a pure contest between martial artists, at the very least second-rate, with every move deadly and no room for error.

Liu Yun knew very well that when he was cooperating with ordinary soldiers on the city wall, as long as he was careful not to be surrounded by the Northern Xiongnu soldiers, he could survive.

With his swordsmanship and combat experience, even if he encountered two or three third-rate centurions from the Northern Xiongnu, he could still maneuver around them and even win, despite the risks.

However, the situation is completely different when facing shamanic martial artists.

Many of the martial arts they possessed were no less powerful than the sword techniques of the Qingyuan Sword Sect that they had learned.

One wrong move and you could die on the spot.

No one dared to disobey the General of the North's orders, nor did anyone dare to conceal them.

If he didn't report it proactively and it was discovered, it would be considered deceiving military orders, and he might be made an example of to deter others, or even bring big trouble to the Lin family.

Thinking of this, Liu Yun took a deep breath, composed himself, sat down cross-legged again, and regulated his breathing for a moment to completely stabilize his aura and internal energy, so that there were no more fluctuations after the breakthrough.

Half an hour later, he got up, slung his sword over his shoulder, walked out of the tent, and headed towards the gathering place of the warriors in the city.

Ultimately, Liu Yun was assigned to a seven-person martial arts team.

According to the established rules, a martial arts squad should have ten members, but after a long period of fighting, three have died, leaving only seven. Adding Liu Yun, who recently broke through to the next level, there are exactly eight.

In the team, the captain is a first-rate martial artist, while the other seven are second-rate martial artists, including Liu Yun.

The group simply assigned combat tasks and positions, without any real coordination.

First, time is of the essence; everyone needs to quickly adjust their breathing and restore their internal energy to prepare for the next wave of attacks that may come at any time.

Secondly, these people are all captains in their respective factions. They can command their subordinates normally, but it is unrealistic to expect them to work together into a cohesive team in a short period of time.

Fortunately, there were always reconnaissance soldiers patrolling the skies, and every move on the battlefield was under surveillance.

No one dared to shirk their duties; during battles, teammates would lend a helping hand whenever possible.

Betraying teammates is extremely rare.

After all, a dried-up head still hangs on the flagpole atop the distant city wall.

He was a second-rate martial artist from the Nangong family who hesitated during the battle a few days ago and even deliberately used his teammates as shields.

The aerial reconnaissance soldiers saw everything clearly and immediately reported it to the General of the North.

Without the slightest hesitation, the general ordered the man to be beheaded and his head to be displayed on the city wall.

It should be noted that the Nangong family is a powerful force that controls an entire prefecture and ranks fourth among the nine first-class forces.

Although the man's surname was not Nangong, he belonged to the Nangong family. This strike was tantamount to slapping the Nangong family in the face in public.

Faced with these arrogant and fearful second-rate martial artists, General Zhenbei could no longer afford to worry about anything else.

The defenses of Beiyuan City are already extremely fragile. If anyone hesitates or refuses to come to the rescue and fails to stop the high-level martial artists of the Shamanism, Beiyuan may fall at any time.

After that head was hung on the flagpole, no one in the martial arts team dared to linger or look around anymore.

During the battle, although teammates may not have the tacit understanding to share life and death, they at least have a basic level of trust.

Everyone knows that if they retreat and are discovered by the scouts in the sky, they might be the next ones hanging on the city wall.

On the second day after Liu Yun joined the team, it was finally their turn to go on duty on the city wall.

The group climbed the steps to the top of the city wall, where they saw soldiers sitting densely packed together. Some were dozing against the crenellations, while others were checking their weapons.

At this time, the Northern Xiongnu did not launch an attack, and the soldiers were taking advantage of this rare gap to rest and recover their strength.

Liu Yun and her teammates walked through the soldiers.

The surrounding soldiers all raised their heads, their eyes filled with obvious respect.

To be honest, these martial artists were mostly officers of the rank of captain or lieutenant in their respective armies. They often bullied soldiers and withheld their pay, so the soldiers didn't have a good impression of them.

However, after this battle, under the iron orders and supervision of the General of the North, these warriors were all fearless and always stood in the most dangerous positions.

They forcefully blocked the repeated attacks of the shamanic warriors, giving the originally desperate defenders a glimmer of hope for survival.

That's how the soldiers got their looks.

Not long after, the Northern Xiongnu launched their attack.

Outside the city, catapults roared, sending fireballs arcing through the air as they struck the city walls, sending wood and stone flying and sparks flying everywhere.

The Northern Han defenders were not to be outdone. Catapults and crossbows on the city walls fired simultaneously, and fireballs and arrows rained down on the Northern Xiongnu army below, blasting the ground into a cloud of dust.

Immediately afterwards, dozens of soldiers pushed the siege tower of the Northern Xiongnu against the city wall. The heavy wooden carts screeched against the ground.

The Northern Xiongnu archers in front of the chariot fired arrows wildly to suppress the firepower on the city wall, while those behind took the opportunity to set up ladders and climb up the city wall.

Liu Yun and her teammates stood on high ground, quietly watching this scene, but did not rush up to help immediately.

It's not that they're cold-blooded, but rather that their inner strength is limited and they must use it sparingly.

Currently, the ordinary soldiers and archers below the city walls are dealing with the Northern Xiongnu soldiers who are climbing the walls.

What they were waiting for was a group of shamanic warriors who could descend from the sky at any moment; they would only make their move when facing real warriors.

Just then, the sound of wind breaking came from the horizon, and the flying soldiers of the Northern Xiongnu were rapidly approaching.

On the Northern Han side, there were originally four acquired martial artists, each of whom had also contracted acquired Dao soldiers, but none of them were aerial Dao soldiers and could not take off to intercept.

The few first-class aerial troops that the Northern Han had left had already been torn apart in previous aerial battles with the two Heavenly Sky-Splitting Golden Eagles of the Northern Xiongnu, suffering heavy losses and no longer daring to take to the skies easily.

Therefore, when the Northern Xiongnu's flying troops approached again, the Northern Han did not send out troops to meet them.

Fortunately, according to news from the Zhenbei General's Mansion, the Heavenly Dao Soldier Silver-Winged Black Crane is on its way.

This is a flying Dao soldier bred from the lair of the acquired Dao soldiers under the contract of the Han King of the Northern Han Dynasty. It has strong combat power and can resist the opponent's Sky-Splitting Golden Eagle.

However, the number of silver-winged black cranes is extremely limited.

In the entire Northern Han Dynasty, there is only one nest of Silver-winged Black Cranes. According to the natural breeding pattern of nests, only one bird can be born every eight months.

With the destruction caused by previous battles and the loss of Dao soldiers due to the deaths of contractors, the number of Silver-Winged Black Cranes that can be summoned now is extremely limited.

Similarly, the Northern Xiongnu only have one Golden Eagle Nest, and the number is small. They dare not squander these precious flying soldiers, risking ambushes by martial artists, to directly kill the Northern Han soldiers from the air.

As for having flying soldiers carry stones and throw them, although it could cause some casualties, the damage to a large army would be negligible.

Ground-based catapults could also launch projectiles, and there were more of them, making them more efficient.

Therefore, the Northern Xiongnu flying soldiers chose their usual tactic: a high-speed dive. As they approached the city wall, the shaman warriors on board jumped down and charged into the defenders' ranks.

Although the mountain-splitting crossbows on the city wall quickly aimed, these giant crossbows were too large and slow to turn, making it difficult for them to catch up with the high-speed passing soldiers.

Even if a crossbow bolt occasionally hits, the Taoist soldiers have already descended to a certain height, and the warriors above have already jumped down and entered the melee range.

This is precisely the tactic that the Northern Xiongnu have repeatedly used to succeed: using flying soldiers to leap over the ten-zhang-high city wall and directly send high-level martial artists to the top of the city wall.

The Northern Han tried various methods to block it, but still could not completely break through.

Liu Yun and his teammates had already pinpointed the direction of the Dao soldier's descent. Upon seeing the target, they immediately used their lightness skills to rush towards the nearest landing point.

Upon seeing this, the soldiers along the way quickly moved aside to make way for them.