Using Himself as Bait

By the time Hao Nhien returned to the rocky rise southeast of Cat Loi, the sun had already sunk low.

The evening light painted the dunes in deep red, while toward Cat Loi, the siege had truly begun.

Beast-control bells rang continuously between the impacts of artifacts striking the defensive formation. Groups of spirit beasts were being forced toward the city, with Iron-Armored Lizards at the front to ram directly into the barrier, followed by Sa Lang and Fire Sand Tigers. Mixed among them were several third-grade beasts whose auras were clearly far stronger than the rest.

Unlike the previous night, each group now had its own Sa Manh handlers accompanying it, complete with beast-control bells, blood flags, formation plates, and Spirit-Sealing Nails.

There was no longer a single central formation core that could be destroyed to throw the entire beast formation out of control.

The enemy had clearly learned from what happened before.

On the city walls, the earthen-yellow barrier trembled continuously.

An Iron-Armored Lizard lowered its head and slammed into the defensive formation, causing an entire section of spiritual light to bend deeply inward before rebounding.

The beast was thrown rolling across the sand, the scales on its forehead shattered, but before it could even regain its footing, the bells behind it rang in rapid succession and forced it to lower its head and charge again.

Hao Nhien stood atop the rocky rise and watched for several more breaths.

If the beast formation was allowed to continue wearing down Cat Loi like this, the city’s defensive formation would have to pay the price in spirit stones and the strength of its formation masters, while most of the enemy force behind the beasts remained largely intact.

Hoa Duong had still not sent a reply.

Hao Nhien did not know whether his previous order had failed to reach him or whether the response had been disrupted along the way, but he could not keep standing there simply because one reinforcing force had not yet appeared.

He took a porcelain bottle from his storage ring.

Three red characters were written across its surface.

Bloodscent Lure.

Hao Nhien had been using this substance since his days at Tieu Dao Mountain and the Outer Sect Trial, so he understood both its advantages and its limitations very well.

After his previous field experiences, he had given the formula and his observations of spirit beast reactions to Tieu Lan for further refinement.

The current version had not changed the fundamental nature of Bloodscent Lure, but its scent lingered longer, dispersed more effectively through the wind, and its medicinal proportions had been adjusted enough to stimulate the instincts of stronger spirit beasts than before.

Even so, it could not directly control third-grade beasts.

Beasts at that level possessed much stronger wills and intelligence. On top of that, the Spirit-Sealing Nails and Sa Manh formation tools were forcibly suppressing them.

Bloodscent Lure could only stimulate their instincts more strongly, adding another layer of resistance against the Sa Manh’s control.

For Hao Nhien, that was enough.

He loosened the bottle cap.

A very faint scent of blood immediately spread into the wind.

Below, a running Sa Lang suddenly raised its head.

A moment later, a second one began sniffing repeatedly, while a second-grade Fire Sand Tiger turned its entire head toward the rocky rise.

Hao Nhien immediately closed the bottle.

The improved dispersal was clearly stronger than before.

He sprinkled some Bloodscent Lure over his outer robes, both shoulders, and the cloth wrapped around his arms, then stored the remaining liquid back inside the bottle.

The Tieu Dao Sword flew out.

Hao Nhien stepped onto the blade, the Fire Spirit Sword in his hand, while Spirit Wings slowly unfolded behind him.

At that exact moment, three horn blasts sounded across the battlefield.

The beast-control bells immediately rang faster.

More than a hundred spirit beasts roared together before being forced toward the city.

Hao Nhien did not wait any longer.

The Tieu Dao Sword shot away from the rocky rise.

Once his speed had risen high enough, Spirit Wings erupted for a single beat, abruptly lifting the trajectory of the sword.

Hao Nhien swept over the edge of the beast formation at an altitude high enough to avoid most beasts leaping directly at him, yet low enough for the wind to carry the scent of Bloodscent Lure from his body down toward them.

The reaction appeared almost immediately.

The lower-grade Sa Lang were affected first.

One that had been charging toward the city suddenly slowed, lifted its head to search for the scent, then veered sideways.

Two others directly behind it also lost their rhythm, causing the tightly packed beasts to crash into one another.

The second-grade Fire Sand Tigers reacted more slowly, but many began glancing back repeatedly.

The third-grade beasts were still forced to maintain direction by Spirit-Sealing Nails and blood flags, yet the muscles across their bodies visibly tightened and their struggles became more violent.

The Sa Manh handlers immediately noticed the change.

“Hold the beasts!”

“Ring the bells!”

“Do not let them change direction!”

The bells rang frantically.

A Sa Lang that had just broken formation suddenly collapsed into the sand, clutching at its head, but after only a breath it sprang back up.

Instead of continuing toward Cat Loi, it raised its head and stared after Hao Nhien flying above.

Hao Nhien did not stop.

He did not need the entire beast formation to follow him.

He only needed enough of them to lose rhythm so that the pressure on the defensive formation would decrease.

The Tieu Dao Sword curved from south toward west, while Hao Nhien deliberately lowered his altitude further to spread the scent more strongly.

Below him, a Fire Sand Tiger pulled its chain so hard that its handler was dragged several meters through the sand.

Two Sa Lang slammed into one another.

A second-grade Iron-Armored Lizard suddenly twisted halfway around and swept its tail through the ranks behind it.

The beast formation had not collapsed, but the rhythm of its assault was already beginning to break.

“He’s up there!”

“Shoot!”

Rows of archers immediately shifted targets.

Hao Nhien sensed the currents on his right being torn apart one after another, while two pressure waves surged upward from below.

He tilted the Tieu Dao Sword, allowing a volley of arrows to pass behind him.

Immediately afterward, two ring-shaped artifacts spiraled upward from below.

Hao Nhien did not try to smash through them with brute force.

His left Spirit Wing burst once, sharply pushing the Tieu Dao Sword sideways just enough for the two artifacts to spin through the space where he had been a moment earlier.

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Another disturbance appeared ahead.

A favorable airflow was suddenly cut apart.

Hao Nhien immediately looked up.

A wave of sword qi had already arrived.

The Fire Spirit Sword swept horizontally.

The two forces collided in midair, and the combined burst of metal and spiritual power caused the Tieu Dao Sword beneath his feet to shake once.

Hao Nhien did not counterattack.

He accelerated again.

From the north, three streaks of black spiritual light rose at the same time.

Three cultivators took to the air or mounted artifacts and left their positions, with the one in front carrying the aura of a middle-stage Foundation Establishment cultivator.

Hao Nhien needed only one glance to remember them.

Their appearance was not unexpected.

When he had scouted the encirclement earlier, he had already sensed several stronger Foundation Establishment presences in the north. He simply had not known their exact numbers or positions.

The middle-stage Foundation Establishment cultivator in front quickly closed the distance.

“Stop!”

He swung his sword downward, spreading a fan-shaped screen of sword qi.

The attack was not meant to strike Hao Nhien directly.

It was meant to force him to slow down or change direction.

Hao Nhien did neither.

Just before the sword screen closed around him, he stepped off the Tieu Dao Sword.

Spirit Wings immediately spread wide, holding his body in the air for only a brief instant.

Freed from the weight beneath his feet, the Tieu Dao Sword accelerated and shot directly into one point of the sword screen.

Clang!

A section of sword qi trembled violently.

Hao Nhien surged after it with Spirit Wings, while the Fire Spirit Sword slashed down into the exact point the Tieu Dao Sword had just disrupted.

Sword Slash!

Spiritual power exploded at that point and tore open a gap.

The Tieu Dao Sword immediately curved back beneath Hao Nhien’s feet.

He landed on the blade almost at the exact moment Spirit Wings finished holding him aloft, then shot straight through the opening.

The maneuver caused the middle-stage Foundation Establishment cultivator behind him to hesitate for an instant.

Someone traveling by flying sword had actually dared to step away from the sword beneath his feet and use it as an attacking weapon.

The transition lasted only a moment, but it was completely unlike ordinary sword flight.

That single hesitation was enough.

The gap between the three pursuers widened.

Hao Nhien immediately lowered his altitude and flew close above the beast formation.

This was the most troublesome position for those pursuing him.

If they used wide-range attacks, they risked striking the beasts and Sa Manh handlers below. If they did not attack, Hao Nhien would continue using Bloodscent Lure to disrupt the beast formation.

From the east, two more Foundation Establishment auras rapidly rose.

One traveled by flying sword, while the other stood atop a leaf-shaped artifact.

Hao Nhien memorized both their appearances and auras.

Within only a short period of time, five different Foundation Establishment cultivators had already been forced to leave their positions to deal with him.

The enemy clearly had more than that.

Hao Nhien continued descending.

When he was little more than ten zhang above the beasts, the Tieu Dao Sword tilted sharply downward.

Before training in Black Wind Valley, changing trajectory this abruptly would have been enough to throw him off balance.

Now his waist and back moved with the pulling force, while his legs no longer tried to lock rigidly onto the sword.

Just before his downward speed exceeded what he could safely control, Spirit Wings erupted.

His trajectory instantly snapped sideways.

Hao Nhien skimmed above three third-grade beasts.

The scent of Bloodscent Lure fell over them.

An Iron-Armored Lizard King restrained by three sets of chains suddenly roared and twisted violently, dragging its handler out of position.

A formation plate fell into the sand.

The Fire Sand Tiger King beside it shook its head repeatedly. The Spirit-Sealing Nail embedded in its forehead flared violently, forcing two Sa Manh handlers to pour spiritual power into their blood flags at the same time just to keep it restrained.

Bloodscent Lure could not immediately free them from control.

But every increase in instinctive agitation forced the Sa Manh handlers to spend more spiritual power and concentration to maintain that control.

That was exactly what Hao Nhien wanted.

A shout suddenly came from the west.

“Cut him off!”

Three more figures appeared at the same time.

One of them carried the aura of late-stage Foundation Establishment.

Hao Nhien narrowed his eyes.

All three newcomers were different from the five he had already identified.

Counting only those he had personally seen, at least eight different Foundation Establishment cultivators had now been forced to reveal themselves or shift position because of his disruption.

Several had clearly been transferred from other sections of the siege.

The late-stage Foundation Establishment cultivator did not charge directly.

Instead, he curved sideways, while the two nearest middle-stage cultivators pressed in from different directions.

Hao Nhien immediately understood.

This was no longer a simple pursuit.

They were gradually closing his possible escape paths.

All eight Foundation Establishment cultivators could not surround him at once because of their different starting positions and distances, and several had to avoid the beast formation below.

But the three currently capable of forming a direct encirclement—one late-stage and two middle-stage Foundation Establishment cultivators—were already dangerous enough.

Hao Nhien had no intention of testing himself against them.

He continued forcing his flight lower.

The late-stage cultivator immediately shouted:

“Do not let him enter the beast formation!”

But Hao Nhien had already taken out the Bloodscent Lure again.

The drug on his robes remained a moving scent source, keeping the beasts that had already locked onto him chasing in his general direction.

The remaining liquid inside the bottle served another purpose.

He threw the bottle directly into the densest section of the beast formation.

An artifact from behind immediately struck it.

The porcelain shattered before reaching the ground.

Bloodscent Lure exploded outward, spread by the impact and the evening wind into a thin mist over a wide area.

The bloody scent suddenly intensified.

The lower-grade beasts nearest the broken bottle lost their rhythm almost completely.

Some rushed toward the area where the scent was strongest.

Some turned and bit at nearby beasts.

Others yanked violently against their chains and dragged Sa Manh handlers off their feet.

The third-grade beasts did not immediately break free, but their reactions became far more violent.

The Fire Sand Tiger King roared.

The Iron-Armored Lizard King repeatedly tore at its chains.

Another beast rammed into a formation cart behind it and knocked it sideways.

“Hold the third-grade beasts!”

“Stabilize the Spirit-Sealing Nails!”

“Do not let the formation plates break!”

The Sa Manh handlers were immediately forced to split their attention across multiple points of chaos.

Some beasts were drawn toward where the bottle had shattered.

But those that had already been following the scent on Hao Nhien’s body continued chasing him.

At that moment, three attacks descended simultaneously from above.

Hao Nhien tilted the Tieu Dao Sword.

The Fire Spirit Sword deflected an artifact pressing in from the right, then he used the blade itself to block a line of sword qi coming from the front.

The late-stage Foundation Establishment attack arrived immediately afterward.

Hao Nhien barely had time to twist his body and raise the Fire Spirit Sword across himself.

Boom!

The impact traveled directly through his arm.

The web between his thumb and forefinger immediately split, while numbness shot from his right hand all the way into his shoulder.

His blood and qi churned violently inside his chest, and the Tieu Dao Sword beneath his feet lost stability for a beat before being forced off course.

Hao Nhien did not try to resist a second time.

The physique he had tempered through the Body-Soul Fist Art allowed him to endure the impact without immediately losing the ability to fight, but the gap in cultivation was still obvious.

He followed the force of the sword qi instead.

The Tieu Dao Sword swept into a wide arc.

Spirit Wings erupted at exactly the right moment, turning the force that had meant to knock him from his flight path into momentum that widened the distance between them.

The late-stage Foundation Establishment cultivator immediately pursued.

The other two also closed in quickly, while the remaining Foundation Establishment cultivators behind them had been stretched into a long line.

Hao Nhien did not turn back to fight.

This was a battlefield, not a duel.

His objective was to disrupt the beast formation and pull enemy experts away from their positions. He had no reason to stop and fight a late-stage Foundation Establishment cultivator head-on.

Below, several dozen beasts were still following the scent of Bloodscent Lure on his body, including at least two third-grade beasts.

They could not match every sharp change in the Tieu Dao Sword’s path, but as long as Hao Nhien did not pull too far away, the herd continued following his general direction.

A Fire Sand Tiger King leapt upward several times. On one attempt, its claws came within only a few feet of the Tieu Dao Sword, forcing Hao Nhien to rise slightly.

He had no intention of pulling them too far from the battlefield.

Once he had created enough distance from the southern side, Hao Nhien suddenly changed direction.

Instead of turning directly back toward Cat Loi, he curved northward in a wide arc.

The three Foundation Establishment cultivators behind him immediately realized what he was doing.

“He wants to drag the beasts into the northern formation!”

“Stop him!”

Hao Nhien did not need the herd to follow his exact path.

He only needed to guide their general direction close enough to the northern wing.

As the distance shortened, the scents of blood and people, together with the fluctuations of spiritual power from the siege formation ahead, entered the beasts’ awareness.

Already stimulated by Bloodscent Lure, they quickly began shifting their attention away from the target in the air toward the nearer living targets on the ground.

The Sa Lang were the first to break away from the chase.

They charged directly into the formation-flag line.

The cultivators maintaining it were forced to turn and strike at them.

An Iron-Armored Lizard continued straight ahead and crashed into a shield formation that was hurriedly trying to split apart.

An explosion sounded, throwing several people from their positions.

Conflicting orders immediately overlapped.

Some shouted for everyone to avoid the beasts.

Others demanded that the line hold.

Within moments, a section of the northern formation fell into disorder.

Hao Nhien did not remain to admire the result.

His gaze shifted southeast.

The sun had nearly touched the horizon, casting dark-red evening light across the sand.

There was still no marching dust.

No sign of Hoa Duong’s people.

But the opportunity was already opening.

The southern beast formation had been split apart.

Part of the herd had been drawn away from its original position.

At least eight different Foundation Establishment cultivators had been forced to reveal themselves or redeploy.

And the northern wing had just been thrown out of rhythm by the beasts themselves.

If Hoa Duong had already advanced close enough, this was the best possible moment.

Hao Nhien took out the signal flare.

A streak of red fire shot straight into the sky and exploded against the evening light.

The signal was not only for Hoa Duong.

Cat Thanh was waiting for it on the walls of Cat Loi as well.

From this distance, Hao Nhien could not make out individual people, but only a few breaths later, he saw the command flags along the southeastern wall change position.

The forces inside the city began shifting toward the area they had agreed upon.

But the gates remained closed.

The defensive formation stayed active.

Cat Thanh did not rush to attack outward.

He was waiting for the outside force to strike first.

Several breaths passed.

The southeast remained silent.

The late-stage Foundation Establishment cultivator behind Hao Nhien had already closed the distance again, forcing him to turn the Tieu Dao Sword aside to evade another line of sword qi.

Hao Nhien looked southeast one last time and prepared to draw the enemy away from the area.

Then a low rumbling sound traveled through the sand.

At first it was only a faint vibration.

Very quickly, it settled into a steady rhythm.

The pounding of Sa Ma hooves.

From behind the rocky ridges to the southeast, the first ranks of riders began appearing one after another beneath the setting sun.

Their formation did not spread wide.

It remained a long spearhead, still moving at full pace.

Hoa Duong had arrived.