Very quickly, Mu Hanyan and her group arrived beneath the city wall. Below, several thousand Exotic Beasts were madly pouncing toward Fang Town. The vast majority of them only possessed strength equivalent to a Third and Fourth Rank Swordsman, with a few slightly stronger, but very few exceeded an Eighth Rank Swordsman. However, the few running at the very front were far, far above their kin.

Among them were two Sword-toothed Iron-Backed Tigers, two Dragon Scale Fire Pattern Rhinoceroses, and one Earthly Ferocious Bear. The first three all possessed strength comparable to a Ninth Rank Sword Master, while that last Earthly Ferocious Bear was obviously different from the other Earthly Ferocious Bears. Its fur carried a faint golden hue, and it had also reached the Eighth Rank Sword Master.

Beside her, all those guards and Fang Family Disciples responsible for defending the city had turned pale, their legs even trembling nonstop.

From the first time Exotic Beasts attacked the city, they had already been taking part in the battle, and had a deep understanding of how powerful these beasts were. But the initial wave of Exotic Beasts had been far fewer and much weaker—only a few hundred in total, with the strongest merely equivalent to a Sixth and Seventh Tier Swordsman. Later, however, they grew more and more numerous and more and more powerful, from a few hundred to over a thousand. Especially after a few powerful beings of Eighth Rank Ninth Rank appeared among them, they were simply unable to resist and only managed to hold Fang Town thanks to Dan Tai Xuan and the others taking action.

And this time, not only were there as many as several thousand Exotic Beasts charging over, but the powerful beasts leading them had also increased from four to five, with an additional Sword-toothed Iron-Backed Tiger at the level of a Ninth Rank Sword Master.

Seeing how powerful this wave of Exotic Beasts was, even Family Head Fang’s expression changed drastically. He hesitated, wondering if he should persuade Mu Hanyan to leave first.

"Mu Hanyan, now you know how terrifying these Exotic Beasts are, right? Want to see our strength?" Noticing the change on Family Head Fang and the others’ faces, Dan Tai Xuan said complacently.

"Oh?" Mu Hanyan glanced at Dan Tai Xuan. She certainly knew their strength, but she was still somewhat curious about their true Combat Power.

"Brother Wu, Senior Brother Luo, Wei, I’ll trouble you to make a move and give that Sword-toothed Iron-Backed Tiger a lesson, and let Lady Mu witness our true strength." Dan Tai Xuan waved his hand as he spoke.

The three men behind him stepped out, let out a long roar, and charged toward the Iron Armor Saber-Toothed Tiger at the very front.

Three streaks of Sword Light shone brilliantly, stirring up swirling currents of dust. In just a blink, the three had already tangled into fierce combat with that Iron Armor Saber-Toothed Tiger.

Ordinary saber-toothed tigers were known for their offense, but their defense wasn’t all that strong, so they didn’t count as top-tier Exotic Beasts. But the Iron Armor Saber-Toothed Tiger was an aberration among them. Not only was its attack power far beyond that of a normal saber-toothed tiger, its defense had also increased severalfold, hence the word "Iron Armor" in its name.

If it were those Chamber of Commerce guards, even if they went all out, they might not be able to injure it in the slightest. However, of these three senior and junior brothers of Dan Tai Xuan, one was a Ninth Rank Sword Master and two were Eighth Rank Sword Masters. Their Combat Power was indeed impressive. With a single combined strike, they left a half-inch-deep wound on the Iron Armor Saber-Toothed Tiger’s spine, which was as hard as refined iron. Although they did not manage to damage its internal organs, they still shook it into retreating repeatedly, and afterward, under their combined siege, it was left scrambling to defend itself.

Mu Hanyan frowned slightly. Though these three were indeed not weak—one Ninth Rank Sword Master, two Eighth Rank Sword Masters—their strength still surprised her.

She had originally thought that, since these few were Dan Tai Xuan’s senior and junior brothers, they must also be people of the Holy Court. Their true Combat Power should at least exceed that of ordinary cultivators of the same rank. Yet their sword power was clearly just so-so, utterly lacking in anything remarkable.

They were only on par with ordinary experts of the same level, and actually worse by a margin compared to many natural-talent-overflowing sons of great families. It was just that for ordinary cultivators, even scions of major families, it was very difficult to have Eighth Rank Sword Master and Ninth Rank Sword Master strength at their age.

Could it be that their strength had been forcibly raised by elixir or some other Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures? Mu Hanyan secretly guessed.

Dan Tai Xuan, however, had no idea what Mu Hanyan was thinking. Seeing her frown, his expression grew even more complacent.

"Mu Hanyan, now you’ve seen others’ strength, right? It’s still not too late to change your mind." Park Donghan, seeing the strength of Dan Tai Xuan’s senior and junior brothers, started blabbering again.

Mu Hanyan smiled faintly, sizing up those Exotic Beasts, too lazy to even bother with him.

With that Iron Armor Saber-Toothed Tiger pinned down, its companions seemed utterly oblivious, still howling toward the sky and crazily charging at Fang Town. For a while, dust billowed as if the whole Earth were trembling slightly.

Even though they were still several hundred zhang away, it seemed as if one could already smell the bloody stench spraying from their mouths and feel their frenzy and savagery.

Seeing this, the guards atop the city wall grew all the more Anxious, yet did not dare speak out of turn. They could only stare pleadingly at Mu Hanyan.

"Mu Hanyan, what are you still waiting for? If you want to die, fine, but I sure as hell don’t want to be your cushion!" Park Donghan could no longer hold back and cursed loudly.

"Relax, you won’t die." Mu Hanyan shot him a cold glance, then turned to look at Huayue and the others.

The strength of those few Exotic Beasts in the lead was on par with Huayue and the rest—another excellent chance for tempering themselves.

Huayue and the others understood, nodded slightly, and leaped off the city wall together.

"What do they think they’re doing?" Seeing Huayue and the others’ actions, everyone was stunned.

Mu Hanyan’s strength was at Sixth-level Sword Master. Although that already counted as expert level among people her age, she still couldn’t contend with those several powerful Exotic Beasts. Huayue and the others were merely her followers, and rumor had it they’d been guards. No matter how strong they were, they absolutely shouldn’t be stronger than Mu Hanyan. Charging down like this was nothing but throwing their lives away, wasn’t it?

"Mu Hanyan, it’s one thing for you to be willful on your own, but how can you let your followers die such a pointless death!" One Chamber of Commerce steward thought Mu Hanyan simply didn’t care about her followers’ lives and couldn’t bear to watch anymore, so he shouted angrily.

"I know you are the Mu Family Patriarch’s Changsun and that your status is above others, but you can’t trample on lives like this!" The other stewards also shouted furiously.

Most of them were of common birth, just like Huayue and the others. So seeing Mu Shouyan treat their lives as nothing and send them to their deaths, they were filled with righteous indignation.

"Everyone, don’t be so hasty. I, Mu Hanyan, am not the kind of person who stubbornly clings to her own opinion and ignores her friends’ lives." Seeing that these people were all speaking out of good intentions, Mu Hanyan did not get angry at their accusations. Instead, she smiled as she spoke.

"Mu Hanyan, at a time like this you still..." Seeing that Mu Hanyan showed not the slightest sign of coming to her senses and was even smiling so nonchalantly, the Chamber of Commerce stewards felt all the more that Huayue and the others were being wronged and spoke in grief and indignation.

However, before they could finish, they all stared in shock, eyes wide, unable to utter another word.