Beast-Control Formation

From the southern slope of the rocky ridge, Cat Loi City finally came into view.

Hao Nhien and Luu Thanh stopped at the same time.

The fires they had seen from afar when first entering the area now stretched in long bands beneath the western and southern walls. The night wind dragged smoke sideways across the desert, sometimes gathering it into thick black columns, sometimes tearing it apart until even the moonlight became hazy.

A deep explosion suddenly rang out.

The earthen-yellow spiritual light covering Cat Loi City shook violently, sending ripples across the barrier. Several small cracks appeared and were quickly filled by spiritual power from within the city, but the reaction alone was enough to show that the defensive formation was under constant attack.

Hao Nhien lay low behind a large boulder, with Luu Thanh beside him. Neither advanced any farther. Instead, they first observed as much of the battlefield as they could from the southern slope.

The southern gate and the wall stretching toward the southeast were almost entirely visible from their position. Farther to either side, tall dunes and rocky outcrops blocked most of the battlefield, allowing only occasional flashes from artifacts or traces of smoke and fire to be seen elsewhere.

The force gathered before the southern gate alone already numbered more than three hundred.

They were not clustered together in a disorderly mass, but arranged in several distinct layers. The front line continuously attacked the defensive formation, the middle ranks rotated fresh people and artifacts forward, while farther behind stood observers, archers, supply personnel, and reserve forces.

Most of their attention was directed toward Cat Loi City.

That mattered.

Hao Nhien watched for a while longer before saying quietly:

“This is not a temporary gathering of people. Someone is commanding them.”

Luu Thanh nodded slightly.

“Clan Chief, they have truly begun attacking the city.”

“Mm.”

Hao Nhien continued observing.

The report Cat Luc had brought only confirmed more than two hundred people around Cat Loi. Now the southern force alone exceeded that number.

It did not mean the earlier information had been wrong. It only meant that during the days Cat Luc spent reaching Hoa Van, followed by the nearly two days Hao Nhien needed to return, enemy forces had continued converging on the city.

How many more were positioned in the east, west, or around Cat Nguyet Lake was impossible to determine from here.

But what they could already see was serious enough.

Hao Nhien’s gaze shifted toward the open ground before the southern gate.

More than twenty spirit beasts were being forced to the front. Among them were Sa Lang, Fire Sand Tigers, and two Iron-Armored Lizards nearly two zhang long.

Their eyes were bloodshot. Black chains bound their necks and limbs, while thin streams of yin energy continuously flowed through the restraints and seeped into their bodies.

A dull bell rang.

The beasts roared almost in unison.

One of the Iron-Armored Lizards immediately lowered its head and charged straight into the city’s protective barrier.

The earthen-yellow light bent deeply inward before rebounding with tremendous force, throwing the beast several zhang backward. The scales across its forehead shattered and blood poured into its eyes, yet under the influence of the black chains, it merely shook its head several times before forcing itself upright again.

The bell rang once more.

The beast was driven forward again.

Luu Thanh stared at the group behind them.

“Beast control.”

Hao Nhien had also noticed seven people standing apart from the surrounding black-robed cultivators.

Their clothing was completely different. Each had a gray beast-head emblem embroidered across the chest. Two carried bells, three held small flags, while the remaining two managed the chains.

Hao Nhien had once heard Cat Thanh mention several tribes deep within the Western Wastes that specialized in capturing and training spirit beasts.

But what he was seeing now could hardly be called taming.

It was coercion.

Luu Thanh watched the group behind the beasts for several more breaths, and his expression gradually changed.

“Clan Chief.”

“Mm?”

“The way they use the bells, flags, and chains... it looks very much like the Sa Manh Tribe.”

Hao Nhien turned toward him.

“You are certain?”

“I would not say absolutely from this distance, but I am eighty or ninety percent sure.”

Luu Thanh continued studying their clothing and formation.

“The Sa Manh Tribe lives deep in the southwest, very far from Cat Loi. They rarely send people outside their territory, and they have even less reason to bring an entire beast-control unit and war beasts all the way here.”

Hao Nhien looked back at the group below.

“Then either someone hired them.”

“Or they are taking orders from another power.”

Luu Thanh nodded.

“If only a few of them had appeared, it could still be a private arrangement. But bringing the full equipment, war beasts, and handlers into battle like this makes that possibility very unlikely.”

Hao Nhien did not immediately respond.

If Luu Thanh’s judgment was correct, then the army surrounding Cat Loi was not simply a loose collection of people who had gathered by chance.

Someone had managed to pull together forces from regions that were normally far apart, perhaps even convincing a tribe like the Sa Manh to bring its specialty onto this battlefield.

That alone was enough to show that the power behind this was not small.

Hao Nhien’s gaze shifted behind the beast-control group.

A black wooden cart stood in the middle of the area. Mounted upon it was a pillar taller than a man, its entire surface covered in runes. From the top of the pillar, thin strands of yin energy extended outward and connected to the chains restraining the beasts.

Hao Nhien did not rush to a conclusion.

He continued watching the sequence every time the beast-control group issued a command.

The first time, the bell rang, the runes on the pillar lit up first, and only then did the yin energy flow outward.

The second time was the same.

By the third, the order had still not changed.

“Look at the cart.”

Luu Thanh immediately shifted his gaze.

“The pillar?”

“Mm. The bells and flags are probably used to issue commands. The thing maintaining the connection between the handlers and the beasts is most likely that pillar.”

“The formation core?”

“Very likely.”

The beasts continued being forced into the defensive formation.

With every collision, the protective barrier around the city trembled violently, forcing those inside to continuously replenish it with spiritual power and spirit stones.

The enemy was not trading human lives to wear down the formation.

They were spending the lives of spirit beasts instead.

It was slow, but effective.

Cat Loi could endure for some time, but eventually spirit stones would run low, formation masters would tire, and the defenders could not maintain the barrier forever.

If the southern side were breached, those beasts would be the first things thrown into the city.

Hao Nhien watched the barrier shake once more before slowly withdrawing his gaze.

Before arriving, he had still considered the possibility that the entire situation was merely a diversion designed to lure Hoa Van’s main forces away.

But what lay before him proved at least one thing.

The attack on Cat Loi was real.

The enemy had truly cut off water, sealed the routes in and out, gathered a large force, and begun using spirit beasts to exhaust the defensive formation. Even if another objective existed behind all of this, Cat Loi itself was still a genuine target rather than merely bait.

Hao Nhien immediately took out his communication jade token.

Luu Thanh looked over.

“Clan Chief?”

“Call Hoa Duong.”

The signal in the area was already very weak. Hao Nhien had to feed additional spiritual power into the token before he managed to catch an unstable connection to the route behind them.

He sent a brief order.

Hoa Duong was to lead one hundred elite fighters along the eastern route and stop at a rally point roughly half a day from Cat Loi. They were not to approach the encirclement without orders. If the southern force became disrupted as planned, Hao Nhien would send the next route.

He sent another message back to Hoa Van, instructing Quan Khai to keep the defensive forces in place and raise the settlement’s alert level.

Even if Cat Loi was truly under attack, the possibility that the enemy had another objective involving Hoa Van could not yet be dismissed.

The moment the message was sent, the light on the jade token dimmed.

Luu Thanh looked toward the encirclement below.

“Clan Chief still thinks there may be a trap?”

“Nothing is absolute. But if we continue waiting, Cat Loi may not have enough time left.”

At that exact moment, the two Iron-Armored Lizards charged the defensive formation together.

A thunderous explosion followed.

The earthen-yellow barrier bent inward so deeply that small cracks spread across nearly half the southern wall.

Hao Nhien looked toward the black wooden cart.

“We destroy the formation equipment first.”

“Once the southern rear falls into disorder, the people on the wall will definitely see it. Cat Thanh only needs to recognize the opening.”

Luu Thanh asked:

“Then we enter the city?”

“Exactly. We do not linger, and we do not chase anyone who runs. Three objectives only: destroy the formation equipment, throw the beast-control group into chaos, then join Cat Thanh.”

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

Hao Nhien sat down.

“Thirty breaths to regulate.”

Luu Thanh immediately did the same.

Part of the medicinal power from the high-grade Profound Yang Pill Hao Nhien had taken earlier still remained, enough to keep his blood and qi stable after the long journey.

His spiritual power had to recover on its own, but thirty breaths were enough to smooth its circulation through his meridians.

Hao Nhien opened his eyes.

“Move.”

The two left the rocky slope and advanced through the depressions between the dunes, approaching from behind the southern army.

Hao Nhien used Cloud-Wind Steps at a low level, producing almost no visible spiritual light. His wind-aligned spiritual power spread lightly around him, helping him sense unusual disturbances ahead, while Luu Thanh maintained the proper distance and simultaneously watched the terrain, tracks, and potential hiding places.

Two patrol teams passed within less than a hundred zhang of them.

Hao Nhien sensed the airflow ahead change, while Luu Thanh noticed fresh tracks along the dune slope. Both changed direction before either patrol came into sight.

The distance to the wooden cart rapidly shrank.

Two hundred zhang.

One hundred and fifty.

The sounds of the assault against the formation grew increasingly violent.

When they were less than a hundred zhang away, an airflow following the dune suddenly split into several smaller currents.

Hao Nhien stopped immediately.

Not long afterward, three black-robed cultivators emerged from behind a slope and continued in another direction.

The two waited until they had gone far enough before moving again.

When only a little more than twenty zhang remained, Hao Nhien stopped completely.

Most of the southern force was still facing the city.

Although the rear guard remained vigilant, none of them expected two people to suddenly stab straight into their backs while the entire battlefield’s attention was focused forward.

That was the opening.

Hao Nhien looked at Luu Thanh.

“Hold off anyone who can block my path, especially archers and the beast-control group.”

“I will destroy the formation equipment.”

Luu Thanh removed the longbow from his back, already holding three arrows between his fingers.

“Understood.”

Hao Nhien placed a hand on the hilt of the Fire Spirit Sword.

The wind was currently blowing from southwest to northeast, almost perfectly aligned with the direction he intended to charge.

Spirit Wings unfolded behind him.

They did not remain active for long, holding the wind force for only a single beat.

Then they erupted.

Sand exploded beneath his feet.

Hao Nhien shot from the slope, almost erasing the distance of more than twenty zhang in an instant. Cloud-Wind Steps immediately followed the burst, preserving his momentum without allowing his balance to break.

The nearest bell-bearer had only just turned when an arrow reached him.

It pierced through his throat, and the bell fell from his hand before a complete warning could sound.

The flag-bearer beside him had barely turned when Luu Thanh’s second arrow forced him to jerk his head aside.

The arrow did not kill him, but it was enough to disrupt the rhythm of the flag in his hand.

At the same time, a black-robed archer on a nearby slope drew his bow toward Hao Nhien.

Luu Thanh immediately changed targets.

Two arrows collided in midair.

The enemy arrow was knocked aside.

Hao Nhien had already crossed the outer line.

Two black-robed men swung their sabers at the same time to block him, but he did not slow down.

The Tieu Dao Sword left its sheath under the control of his spiritual sense and shot toward the man on the left, forcing him to turn his saber into a defensive motion.

That single instant was enough for Hao Nhien to close on the other man.

One Sword was released directly from his advancing step.

There was no lengthy gathering of force and no unnecessary variation.

The Fire Spirit Sword flashed as a single red line and pierced through the man’s incomplete spiritual defense.

The black-robed cultivator fell, revealing an opening directly toward the formation apparatus.

Only a few breaths after the ambush began, Hao Nhien was already approaching the wooden cart.

The front line was still attacking the city, while the middle ranks had only just begun noticing the chaos behind them. The only people capable of responding immediately were the rear guards.

Three men stood before the wooden cart.

One carried a shield, while the other two wielded artifacts.

The Tieu Dao Sword attacked first, forcing the man on the right to raise his artifact in defense.

Luu Thanh released an arrow from behind at almost the same moment. It passed close enough to the man’s neck that he had to lean aside, opening a gap in his defense.

Hao Nhien did not try to kill him.

He drove one foot into the sand.

Spirit Wings erupted a second time, sending his body diagonally past the edge of the shield.

At the same time, the Tieu Dao Sword swept low and stabbed into the shield-bearer’s calf, breaking his balance and forcing him to one knee.

The wooden cart was now directly ahead.

A black protective barrier immediately appeared around the pillar.

The instant Hao Nhien landed, he slashed.

Firelight struck the barrier hard enough to make the runes shake violently. The protection bent deeply inward but did not break. The backlash numbed his arm and forced his feet to slide across the sand.

The barrier was stronger than he had expected.

Shouts had already begun rising behind him. The enemy was reacting, but the siege formation could not reverse its entire front line in an instant.

Hao Nhien did not have much time.

At his current speed, however, he still had enough for one more strike.

Luu Thanh continuously changed positions between the low dunes. Every time he drew his bow, he targeted only those capable of directly threatening Hao Nhien.

An archer had barely raised his bow when an arrow forced him to duck. Another cultivator trying to circle toward Hao Nhien’s right flank was forced to stop and defend.

Luu Thanh did not waste effort on people who were merely running toward the fight.

His role was not to kill as many as possible.

It was to buy Hao Nhien a few more breaths with every arrow.

“Clan Chief, leave the rear to me!”

Hao Nhien did not answer.

He had already begun shifting his stance.

The previous slash had been fast, but not powerful enough.

This time, he needed Sword Slash to reach the threshold necessary to break through the defense.

His left foot stepped forward, his waist turned first, and his shoulder followed.

Spirit Wings did not lift him into the air. They released only a very brief burst, shortening the transition into the strike without breaking the axis through which his power traveled.

At the same time, fire-aligned spiritual power compressed into a thin layer along the edge of the Fire Spirit Sword.

The second Sword Slash descended on the exact same point.

An explosion rang out.

The black barrier shattered.

The sword still carried enough force to continue into the pillar itself.

A dry crack followed.

The pillar broke in two, and every rune across its surface went dark at once.

The strands of yin energy extending toward the beasts immediately snapped apart.

From the instant Hao Nhien charged down from the dune to the moment the pillar broke, only a little more than ten breaths had passed.

On a battlefield of this scale, that was not enough time for the front line to redeploy.

Chains clattered chaotically.

The spirit beasts being driven into the defensive formation all froze.

One Sa Lang collapsed into the sand and clawed at its own head. A Fire Sand Tiger tore wildly at the restraint around its neck, while the two Iron-Armored Lizards lost direction and slammed into one another hard enough to knock over a nearby wooden cart.

The beast-control group immediately panicked.

“Reserve flags!”

“Hold them!”

Several people hurriedly brought out additional bells and flags, but without the central formation core, the result was completely different.

Some beasts went berserk and attacked anything nearby.

Others turned on the people holding their chains.

Several simply fled, tearing through the formation before disappearing into the desert.

That disorder was far more dangerous than if they had all reacted the same way.

More than twenty large spirit beasts losing control simultaneously in the middle of the rear ranks immediately tore the southern force into several sections.

The defenders on the wall reacted almost at once.

Hao Nhien saw several command flags change direction as a group of soldiers quickly left their positions atop the wall and gathered near the southern gate.

Cat Thanh was there.

He had been watching the raid ever since Hao Nhien charged into the enemy rear, but he had not opened the gate.

Only when the pillar broke, the beasts went wild, and the southern formation began to collapse did he truly move troops downward.

Hao Nhien knew Cat Thanh had recognized the opportunity.

But until the gate opened, the two of them still had to keep themselves alive.

More and more black-robed cultivators had turned toward the rear.

“Kill the archer!”

A shout rang out.

Two people immediately charged Luu Thanh from opposite directions, while farther away a crossbowman began taking aim.

Luu Thanh released an arrow.

The crossbowman fell backward as the shaft pierced through his throat.

But the other two had already closed enough distance that the longbow could no longer maintain its advantage.

Luu Thanh twisted the bow sideways to block.

A saber crashed down and forced him back two steps.

The second attacker had already circled toward his right.

Hao Nhien did not hesitate.

Spirit Wings spread wide and sent him cutting across the battlefield back toward Luu Thanh.

One Sword appeared the instant the distance was right.

The Fire Spirit Sword pierced through the attacker’s back, and the burst of force threw him away from Luu Thanh.

The remaining enemy immediately swung his saber horizontally.

The Tieu Dao Sword curved in from behind and intercepted the blade midway.

Hao Nhien stepped in and reversed the Fire Spirit Sword, forcing the man backward.

“Take the bow.”

Luu Thanh did not hesitate. His sword returned to its sheath, and the longbow was drawn once more.

Hao Nhien stood in front of him.

At that moment, a deep roar sounded from the chaotic beast formation.

Among the disorder, a Fire Sand Tiger much larger than the others was kneeling in the sand.

Although its aura was comparable to a late-stage Foundation Establishment cultivator, the Tiger King was in terrible condition. One shoulder had been torn open, several sections of its flesh were blackened by burns, and its forelegs trembled after being repeatedly forced to charge into the defensive formation.

On the Tiger King’s back sat an early-stage Foundation Establishment cultivator from the beast-control group, holding a blood-red flag.

The central pillar had already been destroyed, and most of the beasts had lost control.

Yet the Fire Sand Tiger King was still being forced to kneel.

Every time the blood flag shook, a rune-covered nail embedded in its forehead lit up.

Hao Nhien understood immediately.

“Luu Thanh, the nail in the Tiger King’s forehead.”

The bowstring behind him tightened at once.

The rider had also heard Hao Nhien’s shout.

He twisted the blood flag, and a red protective layer quickly spread across the upper half of the beast’s body.

At the same time, four more black-robed cultivators charged toward Luu Thanh.

Hao Nhien stepped forward to block them.

“Keep aiming. Leave the front to me.”

The first attacker arrived.

Hao Nhien used Cloud-Wind Steps to slip outside the path of the saber while thrusting the Fire Spirit Sword at the same time.

The blade entered the man’s side just as his protective spiritual power began to form.

The second attacker pressed in from the left.

The Tieu Dao Sword immediately slashed across his path and held him back for a single beat.

Hao Nhien shifted position and used Sword Slash to knock him away from the line of advance.

The remaining two stopped trying to split apart and advanced together.

Hao Nhien did not retreat.

He did not need to kill all of them.

He only needed to hold long enough.

Behind him, Luu Thanh was still waiting.

The nail was too small, the Tiger King kept convulsing, and the protective barrier shifted with every movement of the rider.

Breaking it could not depend on a lucky shot.

Luu Thanh released the first arrow.

It flew with tremendous speed, forcing the rider to raise the blood flag high.

The red barrier thickened across the front.

The arrow struck the defense and ricocheted away.

But Luu Thanh did not stop.

The second arrow followed almost immediately.

This time, he did not aim directly at the nail. Instead, he forced the handler to rotate the blood flag toward the right.

At that exact moment, the Tiger King jerked its head violently, causing the red barrier to waver.

The second arrow still did not touch the nail.

But the defensive layer shifted, exposing a tiny opening that existed for only an instant.

Luu Thanh had been waiting for exactly that instant.

The third arrow left the string.

This was the shot truly aimed at the target.

He had used the first two arrows to judge the distance, the rhythm of the Tiger King’s movements, and the way the protective barrier shifted.

The wind altered the arrow’s path only slightly.

Everything else depended on the archery experience he had refined through countless battles in the Western Wastes.

The rider’s expression changed.

He immediately pulled the blood flag downward.

Too late.

The arrow slipped past the moving edge of the barrier and struck the body of the rune-covered nail.

A sharp crack sounded.

The nail tore free from the Fire Sand Tiger King’s forehead.

Black blood and yin energy immediately sprayed outward.

The beast’s entire body went rigid.

The rider frantically shook the flag, but this time the Tiger King did not kneel.

Its head slowly turned.

The bloodshot eyes, once clouded with chaos, gradually regained focus before settling directly on the man standing on its back.

Hao Nhien needed only one glance to know that the flag-bearer was in serious trouble.

The Tiger King’s roar shook the entire battlefield.

It violently twisted its body and threw the rider into the sand.

The early-stage Foundation Establishment cultivator immediately raised his spiritual defense upon landing, but a massive paw came crashing down an instant later.

The sand exploded.

The blood flag shattered.

The Tiger King roared again, driving the already uncontrolled beasts into even greater chaos.

One of the Iron-Armored Lizards overturned another wooden cart.

Another Fire Sand Tiger leapt directly into the group carrying bells.

The southern formation immediately broke into several scattered sections.

Shouts began overlapping one another.

The earlier order and rhythm were gone.

Hao Nhien swept his gaze across the battlefield.

The formation apparatus was destroyed.

The beast-control group had lost control.

The southern rear ranks were in chaos, and the front line was being forced to divert people backward.

Their objective was complete.

“Luu Thanh, withdraw.”

Hao Nhien had no intention of killing anyone else.

The Tieu Dao Sword immediately flew back beneath his feet.

Luu Thanh began retreating as well, but two black-robed cultivators had already approached from different directions. One blocked the front while the other circled left.

Luu Thanh did not draw his sword immediately.

He rotated his bow and fired at close range, forcing the man on the left to lean away, then used the bow itself to block a saber strike from the front.

The impact drove him backward.

At that moment, Hao Nhien arrived.

“Up.”

He seized Luu Thanh by the wrist.

Spirit Wings erupted in a short burst, sharply increasing the flying sword’s speed.

Luu Thanh was pulled from the ground and landed behind Hao Nhien.

The enemy saber swept through empty air by only the narrowest margin.

Before the two could retreat far, the southern barrier of Cat Loi City changed.

A narrow opening appeared in the defensive formation.

The side gate beneath it began to rise.

Hao Nhien saw Cat Thanh standing atop the wall with more than twenty warriors already gathered behind him.

Cat Thanh saw him as well.

He immediately turned and shouted:

“Third squad, with me! Open a corridor and withdraw immediately!”

The side gate had barely opened wide enough when Cat Thanh led his men out.

He did not pursue deep into the enemy formation.

Instead, he cut directly into the flank of the black-robed groups turning back toward Hao Nhien, creating a corridor between the city gate and their retreat route.

Earth-aligned spiritual power surged.

Stone spikes rose from beneath the sand, forcing several black-robed cultivators to break formation.

Behind Hao Nhien, Luu Thanh immediately drew his bow.

One arrow struck an enemy archer preparing to fire at Cat Thanh, while the next forced a nearby flag-bearer to duck.

Hao Nhien did not turn back to chase anyone either.

The Fire Spirit Sword appeared only when someone truly blocked the path.

A black-robed cultivator charged forward.

One Sword flashed.

The man was knocked out of the corridor.

The flying sword shot through the opening.

The two groups met.

Cat Thanh fought while retreating.

“Into the city!”

Hao Nhien did not stand on ceremony.

The flying sword shot straight through the side gate, with Luu Thanh immediately behind him.

Cat Thanh waited until the last member of his squad had withdrawn before shouting for the gate to be closed.

Two thick walls of sand rose outside, blocking several incoming artifacts in succession.

The stone gate descended.

The defensive formation reconnected.

Earthen-yellow spiritual light sealed the opening completely.

The sound of battle outside immediately became muffled.

Hao Nhien jumped down from the flying sword.

After the long journey, repeated use of Cloud-Wind Steps, two short bursts of Spirit Wings, control of the Tieu Dao Sword, and several uses of One Sword and Sword Slash, a considerable portion of his spiritual power had already been consumed.

Cat Thanh was striding quickly toward him.

Blood stained his armor, and nearly half of one sleeve had been burned away, but his aura remained stable.

The two men looked at one another.

Cat Thanh cupped his hands.

“Clan Chief Hao, my thanks.”

Hao Nhien shook his head.

“This is not the time for that.”

His gaze shifted toward the defensive barrier, which was still trembling under the attacks outside.

“What do they want?”

Cat Thanh fell silent.

It was only one question, yet his expression changed immediately.

Hao Nhien saw it.

Cat Thanh did not answer at once.

Instead, he turned and looked toward the deeper part of the city.

Only after a long while did he speak quietly:

“Before you arrived, I still wasn’t certain.”

He turned back toward Hao Nhien.

“But now, I think I know.”