After a brief moment of daze, the crowd in the square, spurred by the loud reprimands of the silver-armored middle-aged man, hastened the process of distributing weapons.
Soon, someone arrived to reorganize Han Li and the other private armed forces and body refiners into small teams. Given the imminent battle, these usually unruly body refiners became remarkably cooperative. In no time, they were divided into over a dozen squads of two hundred each.
The Tian Dong Trading Company, with its two hundred-plus members, naturally formed one of these independent squads.
The ordinary able-bodied men were held in reserve, while the body refiners—trained in various techniques—and the disciplined private forces were immediately dispatched to the city walls to assist the Anyuan City soldiers in defending against the beast tide.
Coincidentally, perhaps due to their conspicuous presence, the Tian Dong Trading Company’s group was among the first batch assigned to the walls.
Thus, Han Li and the two hundred Tian Dong guards were stationed on a section of the wall, joining the thousand soldiers already there to defend it.
Standing atop the wall, Han Li gazed into the distance. The green wolf pack had ceased their howling and were now advancing slowly, resembling a shifting grassland that stretched endlessly.
The synchronized movement of so many wolves created a rustling sound, both rhythmic and imposing, exuding an overwhelming pressure that weighed heavily on the defenders.
Many soldiers paled, but no one bothered with pre-battle speeches. For ordinary people, if the city fell, their fate—and that of their families—would be death by wolf fangs. Despite their terror, these soldiers would fight desperately when the time came.
Low-ranking officers along the walls issued brief commands, and then silence fell as everyone steeled themselves for battle.
Though the wolves seemed to move slowly, they gradually drew closer, revealing their forms clearly. Among them were mutated wolves, twice the size of ordinary ones, their eyes glowing an eerie emerald green, flickering with a semblance of intelligence.
Han Li frowned slightly. These mutated wolves appeared troublesome, especially given their numbers.
He stood behind an Anyuan City officer alongside a towering, muscular man—two zhang tall—a suggestion made by Zhang Kui, who had survived multiple beast tides. Their task was to protect this commander, as his loss would disrupt the defense.
The giant was Du Xiao, a body refiner from Tian Dong Trading Company, who practiced a peculiar technique that enlarged his body and granted immense strength. The larger he grew, the more formidable his power.
Before Han Li’s arrival, Du Xiao had been the company’s top warrior. Initially defiant, he had challenged Han Li—until Han Li effortlessly lifted and tossed a boulder weighing thousands of jin. After that, Du Xiao conceded defeat.
Now, Han Li held an unremarkable broad-backed saber, while Du Xiao wielded a two-zhang-long spiked club. They flanked the officer, ready to act.
The officer, in his thirties, wore iron armor and carried a sword. Though unremarkable in appearance, his sharp gaze exuded authority. Clearly, he was no ordinary soldier but a skilled body refiner.
This was unsurprising—most accomplished body refiners in the Spirit Realm joined human armies, some even reaching levels that even high-level cultivators dared not underestimate.
As Han Li coldly observed the approaching tide of wolves, a series of deep booms erupted from behind. Over a hundred massive fireballs, each several zhang wide, soared from the city and crashed into the wolf pack a few li from the walls.
Explosions roared as flames engulfed hundreds of wolves, reducing them to charred corpses. Though ordinary fire, it was lethal to these beasts.
Han Li glanced back and saw rows of trebuchet-like machines in an open area, manned by soldiers loading crimson spheres. At a command, the devices launched another volley of fireballs, decimating more wolves.
Two waves of attacks wiped out nearly twenty thousand wolves—a devastating display.
But after these two strikes, the fireballs ceased.
As Han Li pondered this, the distant wolf pack, enraged by the assault, erupted into frenzied howls. Led by dozens of mutated wolves, they surged forward, shaking the ground with their charge.
In moments, they reached the walls, launching a ferocious assault along the ten-li stretch. Wolves leaped, their claws digging into the smooth stone, scaling the walls like spiders.
From the battlements, arrows rained down, piercing countless wolves mid-air. Yet the sheer numbers overwhelmed the defenders, and soon wolves breached the walls.
Human guards, lying in wait, skewered the first wolves with spears and halberds, then hacked them apart before they could retaliate.
The battle raged—arrows below, blades above, howls and war cries mingling in chaos.
Han Li remained passive, shadowing the officer as he directed defenses, shifting troops where needed. In his view, these initial waves were manageable; the true struggle would come in the following days.
From the distant direction facing the crimson pythons, faint sounds of battle suggested another assault was underway.
The fight, which had begun at noon, dragged into the afternoon, the city steeped in the stench of blood.
As the sky darkened, the suns vanished one by one, replaced by crescent moons. Yet the wolves pressed on, their frenzy escalating.
The officer Han Li guarded, initially composed, now wore a grim expression. Half a day of battle had cost a third of the wall’s defenders, including over twenty Tian Dong guards.
Then, from the wolf pack’s rear, two sharp howls—one long, two short—pierced the air. The mutated wolves, absent since the assault began, reappeared at the base of the walls.
With effortless leaps of five to six zhang, they scaled the walls like lightning, shrugging off arrows. Guards lunged, but the wolves dodged with eerie grace, pouncing on soldiers with fangs bared.
Blood sprayed as casualties mounted.
On Han Li’s section, several mutated wolves breached the defenses, killing over a dozen in moments.
The officer ordered Tian Dong’s body refiners to engage, leaving ordinary soldiers to handle the regular wolves.
Zhang Kui and a dozen others charged, stabilizing the line.
But then, nearby soldiers shouted as two more mutated wolves vaulted onto the wall—one plunging into the ranks, the other lunging straight for the officer.
They had singled out the commander, employing diversionary tactics.
“Seeking death!”
Du Xiao roared, swinging his club with hurricane force at the attacking wolf. Even a mutated beast would not survive such a blow.
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