The crowd on the plaza, after a moment of stunned silence, finally began to move when the middle-aged man in silver armor raised his voice in command. People gradually came forward, organizing the private military units and body-builders into smaller, more structured groups. With the approaching battle, these once-impetuous body-builders proved remarkably cooperative. Within just a short time, the force had been divided into several squads of two hundred each. The Tian Dong trading house, with its own group of over two hundred, naturally formed its own distinct unit. The younger, ordinary civilians were held back as reserves, while the body-builders who had trained in various techniques and the more experienced private guards were promptly assigned to the city walls to assist the soldiers of An Yuan in defending against the herd of beasts. It happened to be a fortunate coincidence—perhaps due to the noticeable presence of the Tian Dong group—that among the first wave of reinforcements, their members were clearly visible. Thus, the 200 guards from the Tian Dong merchant guild were assigned to a section of the city wall, joining the over a thousand soldiers stationed there to jointly defend that stretch. Standing atop the wall, Han Li gazed toward the distance and saw the pack of gray wolves had ceased their howling, slowly advancing toward the city, forming a vast, shifting expanse of gray like a moving grassland that seemed to stretch endlessly. With so many gray wolves moving in unison, the continuous rustling sound rose and fell in waves, creating a remarkably orderly and imposing scene—an atmosphere of awe that brought an unspoken, immense pressure to every soldier on the wall. Many soldiers grew pale. Yet, no one made a formal pre-battle speech. For ordinary people, if the city fell, their only fate would be to be devoured by the wolves. Even though they were deeply afraid, once the wolf horde began to approach, they would surely fight with all their might. Thus, after the captain-level junior officers stationed at various sections of the city walls issued a few orders preparing for battle, no one else spoke—everyone simply remained silent and vigilant. Though the wolf pack initially appeared to move slowly, it gradually began to take shape as the observers watched. Several mutated wolf beasts, notably larger than ordinary young wolves, became clearly visible. These massive wolves were scattered throughout the pack; though their bodies were still pale green, their eyes had transformed from black to an eerie emerald green, giving them a certain sense of spirit that shimmered with each movement. Seeing this, Han Li's brow unconsciously furrowed. These mutated wolves seemed genuinely difficult to handle, and their numbers were truly overwhelming. At this moment, he stood behind one of the An Yuan city's officers in charge of this section of the wall, alongside another towering, broad-shouldered giant—two statures high—whose suggestion had been specifically proposed by Zhang Kui, someone who had personally endured several waves of the beast invasions. Have them two specifically responsible for protecting this commander... After all, any issue with him could cause a certain degree of disorder in the defensive line. The giant in question is Du Xiao, a Body-Forging cultivator from Tian Dong Trading Company. He practices a rare technique that allows his body to grow immensely large while simultaneously generating tremendous strength—the greater his stature, the more powerful his strength becomes. It's said he has reached an extremely high level of mastery. Before Han Li arrived, he was the strongest physical force among the company's guards. Han Li, serving as deputy head of the guard team, had several members who were initially不服气 and eager to challenge him. However, when Han Li effortlessly lifted and tossed a mountain-sized boulder weighing several thousand catties with just both hands, Du Xiao was left stunned and immediately acknowledged his inferiority. Now, Han Li is single-handedly holding a seemingly ordinary thick-backed sword, while the giant is wielding a specially crafted, two-zhang-long wolf's tooth staff. The two stand on either side, closely following the officer. The officer was in his thirties, slightly broad-shouldered and lean, clad in full iron armor, a long sword at his waist. Though his face was unremarkable, his eyes sparkled with vitality, radiating an aura of quiet authority that did not require him to speak. It was clear he was no ordinary military officer—he was a well-versed physical cultivator. This was not surprising, as among the common folk of the spiritual realm, the majority of those who had achieved notable progress in physical cultivation joined the human city's military forces. Indeed, many had refined their physical cultivation to such an extent that even high-level immortal cultivators could no longer overlook them. A thunderous roar erupted, and hundreds of fire clouds burst forth among the wolf pack, instantly engulfing nearby over a hundred young wolves, reducing them to splinters and ashes in an instant. Though the flames were ordinary, the wolves—being no exception to the natural vulnerability of beasts to such intense heat—were utterly helpless against them. No more than two waves of assault had been launched, yet nearly twenty thousand young wolves were instantly eliminated—this was no small feat. Just as Han Li was somewhat surprised, he suddenly noticed that after the second wave, the attacks ceased entirely, and no further massive fireballs appeared. As Han Li pondered this with a thoughtful expression, the wolf pack seemed stirred to anger. With a series of powerful, resonant howls, the entire herd began to move under the leadership of several mutated giant wolves that leapt forward. The ground trembled with a deep, resonant rumble. In a short distance, the wolves swiftly converged, and the entire force launched a fierce assault against the walls of the ten-mile-long fortress. One by one, the young wolves rose into the air, using their claws—sharp as blades—to press firmly into the smooth city walls, embedding themselves several inches deep. Then, retracting slightly and springing forward, they launched themselves like climbers, soaring across the walls and directly charging toward the battlements. At first, upon receiving a single command from the officers stationed at various points along the city walls, arrows were launched in a relentless rain, their "puff-puff" sounds continuous and unceasing, piercing countless Qing Lang and sending them crashing down. Even ordinary mortals from the Spirit Realm possessed far greater strength than their counterparts in the Human Realm, and thus their impact was no trivial matter. However, the sheer number of Qing Lang that favored the city walls proved overwhelming—this modest damage could not shake the core of the beastly ranks. Under the relentless, unrelenting assault with minimal casualties, wolves surged up onto the city walls within moments. The human defenders stationed atop the walls had been waiting patiently. As soon as a Qing Lang reached the parapet, several spears and long lances immediately struck it, easily flipping it over. A single slash from a sword then reduced the wolf to pulp, leaving it no time to mount a defense. For a brief while, arrows rained down from the city walls, while swords and blades flashed above, the cries of battle and the howls of the wolves blending into a continuous symphony. Han Li did not intervene. Instead, a junior officer from his retinue moved back and forth along this stretch of city wall, giving continuous orders to the soldiers on how to defend, and occasionally adjusting the strength of the defensive forces. In his judgment, the ordinary young wolves now appearing seemed remarkably fierce, yet the human forces, having rested and prepared for a long time, could not have been easily overwhelmed. The real intense fighting would likely unfold over the coming several days. As for the direction of the Red Serpent, though the distance made it impossible to see clearly what was happening there, faint sounds of combat were gradually reaching them—indicating that the Red Serpent's herd had also launched an attack. The battle had erupted in the midday and continued through the afternoon, and the entire city of Anyuan now seemed enveloped in a thick atmosphere of blood and violence. The sky began to grow dim, with one sun after another fading from view, while the crescent moons gradually multiplied in number. Yet the wolf pack's assault never ceased, growing more fierce and violent by the moment. As creatures still unawakened to spiritual consciousness, once their bloodthirsty nature was stirred, their true terror began to fully reveal itself. The officer guarding Han Li, who had previously maintained a composed demeanor, now grew increasingly grim. Over just this half-day of battle, one-third of the ordinary soldiers defending the city walls had fallen, and among the guards of Tian Dong Trading House, over twenty had perished. At that very moment, a sharp, two-note wolf howl—long followed by two short ones—suddenly echoed from the rear of the blue wolf pack. The mutated giant wolves, which had vanished from sight since the beginning of the siege, reappeared once more beneath the city walls. These colossal wolves, easily reaching five or six zhang in height with a mere flick of their bodies, moved with the speed of lightning. The crossbow arrows fired by the regular soldiers barely made an impact, as if swept away by a breeze, and effortlessly reached the city's ramparts. The soldiers stationed at the city wall naturally launched their weapons without hesitation, but these massive wolves, with only a slight sway, mysteriously rose high above the guards, then, with their sharp fangs revealed, twisted their bodies and launched a counterattack against the soldiers. In an instant, blood erupted everywhere, and all sections of the wall struck by the mutated wolves suffered heavy casualties. The stretch of the city wall under Han Li and his team's responsibility also saw several mutated wolves surge up, causing over a dozen casualties within moments. Upon seeing this, the officer immediately ordered the body-builders from Tian Dong Trading House to rush forward and eliminate the wolves, while the regular soldiers were only to handle ordinary young wolves, without disrupting the guards' formation. Indeed, including Zhang Kui's group of fifteen body-builders, they quickly stabilized the situation as soon as they advanced. But suddenly, the nearby soldiers gasped as two streaks of green flashed at the city wall—two mutated giant wolves leapt up from just beyond the section of wall closest to the officer. One vaulted straight into the crowd, causing the soldiers to panic, while the other surged forward with a gust of腥风, charging directly at the officer. They seemed to recognize the officers wearing standard armor as commanders and even employed the strategy of feigning an attack elsewhere to draw attention. "Die!" roared Du Xiao, the giant man, swinging his wolf-headed staff. A fierce gust of wind surged forth, pressing down on the charging wolf. Though this wolf was far more resilient than a typical young wolf, it had no chance of survival against the officer's well-aimed blows. (First update!)