One Single Flare

The red signal flare had not yet faded from the sky when the thunder of Sa Ma hooves rolled across the sand from the southeast.

Hoa Duong led nearly one hundred Hoa Van warriors out from behind the rocky ridges.

No banners were raised, and no battle cries rang out. The entire force maintained a long spearhead formation, driving straight toward the eastern wing of the besieging army, where most of the archers, long-range artifacts, and formation flags that linked the outer defensive line had been concentrated.

Earlier, a force of only one hundred would have had little chance of striking such a position without being surrounded.

Now, however, the battlefield had changed.

Several Foundation Establishment experts in the north had been drawn away by Hao Nhien. Those who had left the eastern front to pursue him had not yet returned, while in the south, the beast formation was being thrown out of rhythm by the Bloodscent Lure.

For a brief moment, the eastern wing had lost the strongest layer of protection around it.

Hoa Duong saw it immediately.

“Archers, fire!”

More than twenty bowstrings snapped at the same time.

The first volley did not target the soldiers in front. The arrows arced over their heads and fell directly toward those holding formation flags, controlling the heavy crossbows, and organizing the counterattack.

One formation bearer had only just looked up when an arrow pierced his shoulder and knocked him backward into the sand. The man beside him reached for the falling flag, but the next arrow forced him to retreat.

The Hoa Van archers shifted targets continuously as the formation advanced. They ignored enemies who had already turned to flee and focused only on those capable of organizing resistance or keeping the eastern wing from collapsing.

Confused shouts quickly rose from the enemy ranks.

“Reinforcements!”

“Southeast!”

“Turn the formation!”

But most of the besieging army's attention had been fixed on Cat Loi. Reorienting an entire battle line in such a short span of time was not something a few shouted commands could accomplish.

Hoa Duong had no intention of giving them that time.

“Charge!”

The Sa Ma surged forward together.

Nearly one hundred Hoa Van warriors crashed into the flank of the eastern formation. The first line of archers had barely completed half their turn before the charge shattered their ranks.

One Hoa Van warrior swung his long saber and severed the support leg of a heavy crossbow. The warrior beside him immediately threw a fire talisman into the exposed mechanism.

Flames erupted violently.

Hoa Duong continued to drive the formation forward.

A group assigned to formation-breaking split off to the left, while the archers remained farther back. The main force stayed close to Hoa Duong, maintaining enough distance to support one another at any moment.

One formation flag was cut down.

Then another.

The web of spiritual light connecting the eastern defensive positions immediately trembled. Gaps appeared between locations that had previously reinforced one another, and the entire line began losing its cohesion.

On the city wall, Cat Thanh had been waiting for exactly this moment.

He looked at the fading red flare in the sky, then at the Hoa Van formation emerging from the southeast, and finally at the entire eastern wing being forced to turn and respond.

The opportunity Hao Nhien had been creating had arrived.

Cat Thanh raised a hand.

“East gate, open!”

The heavy gate trembled, then slowly lifted from the ground.

“First squad, second squad, with me! Push out three hundred zhang. Do not cross that line!”

The two elite squads that had been waiting in readiness answered as one.

“Understood!”

Cat Thanh charged through the gate first. Spiritual energy surged with each step, while violet-gold lightning began condensing around both of his arms.

The two Cat Loi squads followed closely behind him. The other sections of the wall remained fully manned according to plan.

The entire counterattack focused on a single point.

Luu Thanh remained on the wall.

He did not descend, because from this position he had a far wider field of fire than he would have inside the charging formations below.

His longbow bent into a full arc.

The first arrow pierced the throat of an archer who had just turned a crossbow toward Hoa Duong.

The second struck the throat of a man trying to raise a fallen formation flag.

The third shot toward someone controlling a cone-shaped artifact and drove through his shoulder. The spiritual energy in his hand collapsed at once, and the artifact plunged crookedly into the sand.

Luu Thanh did not look back to see the result.

Another arrow was already on the string.

The longbow had always been the weapon he understood best. On the battlefield below, the distance was favorable, his line of sight was wide, and the enemy was being forced to turn back and forth between two directions.

All Luu Thanh had to do was choose the right target.

A bowstring snapped.

Another arrow left his hand.

Cat Thanh struck outward from the city while Hoa Duong pressed inward from outside, trapping the eastern wing of the besieging force inside an increasingly narrow strip of battlefield.

One group turned to face Hoa Duong, only for Cat Thanh to appear behind them.

Others pivoted to block the Cat Loi forces and immediately exposed their flanks to the Hoa Van archers.

At this moment, the eastern wing lacked experts strong enough to stabilize the entire formation.

An early Foundation Establishment cultivator charged forward.

He had barely formed a spiritual barrier in front of himself when Cat Thanh appeared directly before him.

Lightning erupted around Cat Thanh’s fist.

Boom!

The barrier caved inward before shattering.

The cultivator took the strike head-on and was hurled backward into the troops behind him.

Two Cat Loi warriors immediately tried to press the advantage, but Cat Thanh shouted:

“Leave him! Break the formation!”

The elite squad changed direction at once.

The three formation flags ahead were the real targets.

Two explosions sounded in rapid succession. Two more flags fell, and sections of defensive spiritual light along the eastern wing began to go dark.

Hoa Duong saw the change immediately.

“Another fifty zhang!”

The Sa Ma accelerated again.

The Hoa Van formation moved like a blade across the eastern rear line, tearing through positions that had never been arranged to withstand a direct charge.

“Burn the wagons!”

Several warriors hurled fire talismans toward the supply train.

Two wagons carrying spirit stones burst into flames, and the fire quickly spread to another wagon loaded with arrows. Within a few breaths, a series of explosions threw the rear of the formation into even greater chaos.

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To the south, the roars of spirit beasts continued without pause, but the pressure on the walls had clearly weakened.

Some of the beast pack had already been drawn away from its original line by Hao Nhien. The remaining beasts required more Sa Manh handlers to restrain, breaking the continuous rhythm of the siege.

When several Sa Manh experts were also forced to leave their positions to deal with Hao Nhien, some of the formation plates began to fluctuate, blood flags repeatedly changed hands, and the grade-three beasts struggled more violently than before.

The opening on the eastern wing only widened.

The forces led by Cat Thanh and Hoa Duong continued pressing forward, but both remained within the limit that had been set in advance.

The counterattack extended to one hundred zhang, then two hundred, and finally reached the three-hundred-zhang line measured from Cat Loi’s original defensive position.

By that point, the eastern wing of the besieging army had nearly been torn away from the main formation.

Bodies lay scattered across the sand. Formation flags had fallen at crooked angles. Crossbow frames burned red, and two siege-artifact wagons had been reduced to blackened skeletons.

The surviving soldiers began retreating in scattered groups, unable to restore their original formation.

Hoa Duong saw the signs but showed no desire to push farther.

He immediately turned his sword.

“Hold the line!”

Across from him, Cat Thanh raised a hand at almost the same moment.

“Stop!”

The Cat Loi force halted at once.

Only a few dozen zhang separated the two groups now, and for the first time they could clearly see one another across the battlefield.

Hoa Duong cupped his hands from a distance.

Cat Thanh answered with a brief nod.

The opportunity Hao Nhien had created had been pushed to its limit, but the battle was still far from over.

A powerful streak of spiritual light suddenly appeared from the north.

Then came a second.

Farther northwest, several other strong auras also began changing direction.

Cat Thanh understood after a single glance.

The opening that had just appeared was closing rapidly.

He immediately lowered his hand.

“Cat Loi, withdraw into the city!”

Almost at the same time, Hoa Duong shouted:

“Hoa Van, withdraw southeast!”

Their advantage had existed because the enemy’s stronger cultivators had been drawn away. Once those people returned, the balance of power would change immediately.

The Cat Loi forces withdrew toward the gate in the formation prepared beforehand.

Hoa Van also began pulling back toward the rocky hills in the southeast, refusing to let the counterattack turn into a reckless pursuit.

Behind them, the eastern wing of the besieging army had been reduced to a chaotic battlefield.

A large section of the previously tight siege formation had been torn open, but the encirclement itself had not yet collapsed.

Cat Thanh was the last to return toward the gate.

He looked back across the battlefield, with no sign of triumph on his face.

More than a thousand enemy troops still remained outside the city. The beast formation had not been completely broken, and stronger Foundation Establishment cultivators were already returning to their positions.

Even so, this was the first time since Cat Loi had been surrounded that the enemy had been forced to retreat from an entire front under direct pressure.

Cat Thanh looked northwest.

Cat Loi had finished its part.

Hao Nhien was still out there.

Far to the northwest, Hao Nhien had yet to gain even a single stretch of time long enough to regulate his breathing.

The eight Foundation Establishment auras he had forced to reveal themselves earlier were still spread around the area.

Three remained relatively close behind him, two maintained higher positions to block the most favorable escape routes, while the other three stayed farther away but moved in parallel, preventing him from returning easily to the main battlefield.

Among those eight were already two late Foundation Establishment cultivators.

Most of the others were at the middle stage.

Against one or two, Hao Nhien still had ways to respond.

He had fought late Foundation Establishment cultivators often enough to understand that, by relying on speed and terrain, he could withstand one for a short period.

Eight people working together were something entirely different.

Being faster than any one of them did not mean he could ignore eight directions of containment.

The flying sword beneath him suddenly tilted sharply.

A streak of sword qi sliced past from behind.

The airflow around Hao Nhien had already split apart in a long trail before the actual attack arrived, so he simply pulled the flying sword lower.

The sword qi passed overhead and exploded in front of him.

The distance between Hao Nhien and his pursuer widened by more than ten zhang.

Two breaths later, however, a gray seal pressed down from ahead.

Hao Nhien swept around the edge of it.

Boom!

Sand erupted below.

A Sa Lang chasing the scent of the Bloodscent Lure was thrown sideways by the shockwave.

The remaining beasts became even more agitated, roars rising one after another beneath him.

The scent of the lure still clung to his outer robe, both shoulders, and the strips of cloth wrapped around his arms.

Whenever Hao Nhien lowered his altitude, the beast pack beneath him was dragged forward as well.

Their presence forced the Foundation Establishment cultivators behind him to hesitate before using wide-area attacks, but it also meant Hao Nhien had to keep moving to avoid the very beasts being driven into a frenzy by the scent.

A grade-three Fire Sand Tiger sprang from the sand.

Its claws came within only a few feet of the flying sword.

Hao Nhien immediately pulled the sword upward.

The beast crashed back into the sand, roared, and continued the chase.

The late Foundation Establishment swordsman behind him had already closed the distance.

“How much longer can you run?”

Hao Nhien gave no answer.

The Fire Spirit Sword reversed in his hand.

Clang!

A streak of sword qi was knocked aside.

The impact traveled through his arm and numbed his shoulder.

Hao Nhien immediately widened the distance again instead of continuing the exchange.

Every moment he was forced to stop became an opportunity for the others to close the net.

At that moment, a powerful aura suddenly erupted below.

Hao Nhien glanced down.

A Sa Manh cultivator had just used a long saber to cut down two frenzied Sa Lang.

His middle Foundation Establishment aura was not weak.

After temporarily stabilizing one section of the beast formation, the man looked up.

His eyes immediately locked onto Hao Nhien.

“It’s him!”

Elsewhere, another Sa Manh cultivator rose into the air.

Then a third.

A fourth.

Four streaks of spiritual light left the beast formation in quick succession.

One of the four carried the aura of late Foundation Establishment.

Hao Nhien understood after a single glance.

The eight from earlier were only the experts he had forced to expose themselves while harassing the various wings of the siege.

The Sa Manh beast-control group still had its own Foundation Establishment cultivators responsible for restraining the stronger beasts, and the four who had just left their positions belonged to that layer of strength Hao Nhien had not directly seen before.

That meant twelve Foundation Establishment cultivators were now present around the area.

At least three of them were at the late stage.

The moment four Sa Manh experts abandoned the beast formation, the consequences below appeared immediately.

One formation plate tilted when no one strong enough remained to stabilize it. Two blood flags shook violently under the repeated struggles of grade-three beasts, while an Iron-Armored Lizard King pulled against its chains so hard that the entire control team was forced back several steps.

But at this point, the priorities of the Sa Manh cultivators had changed.

A cold shout rang out.

“Kill him! Then throw his corpse and the Bloodscent Lure out of the battlefield!”

The command immediately changed the way the pursuers coordinated.

Instead of continuing as scattered individuals, they began drawing into a wide arc.

Two climbed higher.

Three circled left.

Two pressed from the right.

Four held the rear.

The newly arrived late Foundation Establishment cultivator moved directly into Hao Nhien’s path.

Hao Nhien needed only a few breaths to understand the intent.

All twelve Foundation Establishment cultivators had now fixed their attention on him.

If the encirclement fully closed, even his speed would no longer be enough to guarantee escape.

A chill ran down his spine, his body’s instinctive response to danger that had truly closed in.

Hao Nhien immediately studied the distance between each pursuer, then looked down at the sand.

His objective had already been achieved.

Continuing deeper into the desert would only cut him farther away from Cat Loi, while the pursuers could gradually compress the space around him.

If he wanted to end this chase, he had to bring the very experts pursuing him back toward the area where their army had just been broken apart.

Hao Nhien looked southeast.

Only faint firelight remained along the horizon.

If Hoa Duong had arrived in time, the eastern wing should already be in turmoil.

Whatever the exact situation there, Hao Nhien needed to return toward the main battlefield rather than allow himself to be isolated in the desert.

He drew in a deep breath.

The flying sword suddenly plunged.

The late-stage cultivator ahead shouted:

“Stop him!”

Three artifacts pressed down at once, almost completely sealing the route below.

Hao Nhien maintained his direction.

The Tieu Dao Sword shot out from beneath his feet and slammed directly into the artifact on the left.

Clang!

It was not enough to break the artifact, but the collision knocked it off course.

At the same moment, the Fire Spirit Sword slashed down at the artifact on the right.

Boom!

Hao Nhien’s arm shook violently from the impact, but the artifact was also forced aside.

He immediately lowered his body.

Spirit Wings erupted.

His entire frame aligned almost completely with the flying sword’s trajectory, without forcing any part of his body to fight against the direction of movement.

Fifteen days of being repeatedly broken out of position by the Black Wind had made this movement far more natural.

A streak of red-orange light instantly shot through the narrow gap he had created.

The third artifact came from behind.

The distance was too short.

Hao Nhien could not completely avoid it.

Boom!

The wave of spiritual power struck his back and hurled him forward.

Blood spilled from the corner of his mouth, but the force of the impact also helped throw him through the first layer of the blockade.

The twelve auras behind him immediately changed direction and continued the pursuit.

Hao Nhien did not look back.

He drove the Tieu Dao Sword directly toward Cat Loi’s eastern gate.

This time, he no longer circled around to drag his pursuers farther away. He withdrew straight from the combat zone while maintaining enough distance for the beasts stimulated by the Bloodscent Lure to continue following the general direction.

Before long, the eastern battlefield appeared ahead.

One glance was enough for Hao Nhien to know that the opportunity he had created had not been wasted.

Cat Thanh had already withdrawn his forces into the city, and the eastern gate was slowly closing behind the final elite squad.

Hoa Duong had also pulled the Hoa Van formation back toward the southeast according to plan.

Across the sand between them, the once-tight siege formation had been smashed apart. Formation flags lay fallen, crossbow frames were charred black, supply wagons and spirit-stone carts were still burning, while surviving groups hurried to retrieve their people and pull the wounded away from the area.

This siege assault had been broken.

Hao Nhien gradually reduced his speed.

His objective from the beginning had been to draw the enemy experts away from their positions and create an opening for Cat Loi and Hoa Van to destroy one wing of the siege.

Now that the battlefield had stabilized, continuing to flee deeper into the desert no longer served any purpose.

It was time to settle matters with those truly responsible for the siege.

Hao Nhien reached up and tore off his outer robe.

The strongest concentration of the Bloodscent Lure still clung to the fabric.

He wrapped the robe around a piece of wood and hurled it toward the empty western sands.

The bloody scent immediately shifted direction.

The Sa Lang reacted first and abandoned the pursuit at once.

The stronger beasts took several breaths longer, but once the main source of the scent moved away from Hao Nhien, the entire pack gradually turned west and away from the city gate.

Hao Nhien watched until he was certain they were no longer charging toward Cat Loi, then turned the flying sword back.

He stopped a short distance from the eastern gate, with the city’s still-glowing formation behind him.

Twelve streaks of spiritual light stopped one after another ahead.

Three late Foundation Establishment cultivators separated into different positions, while the others spread to both sides, quickly forming a wide arc that sealed Hao Nhien off from the front.

Behind him, Cat Thanh had already taken position before the gate.

Luu Thanh remained on the wall.

Farther southeast, Hoa Duong had also halted his formation.

A late Foundation Establishment cultivator carrying a great saber slowly stepped out from the arc of people.

The strip of red cloth around his wrist fluttered in the wind, while his cold gaze locked onto Hao Nhien.

“You’ve run long enough.”

Hao Nhien raised a hand and wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth.

The Fire Spirit Sword slowly lowered beside him.

This time, he truly had no intention of running.