As soon as the experts heavily hired by the major Chambers of Commerce stepped onto the battlefield, several blooms of blood instantly sprayed into the air, and one Exotic Beast after another collapsed to the ground with a wail. Third Stage Sword Master, Fourth Rank, Fifth Rank... Great Sword Master—yes, Mu Hanyan even spotted figures of Great Sword Masters among them. If she guessed right, they should be Great Tributors or Great Ministers of some large Chamber of Commerce. To lend Beining Pass a hand, these Chambers were really going all out.

Beyond their formidable strength, these experts’ combat experience against Exotic Beasts was astonishingly rich. No wonder—anyone the major Chambers were willing to hire at great expense had to be a famed veteran. Many of them had long lived the kind of life where their swords licked blood, slaughtering and tempering themselves in Long Yan in their early years. Some had even made a living in the Longyan Mountain Range by hunting Exotic Beasts. When it came to Exotic Beasts, they couldn’t be more familiar.

By comparison, the teachers and Academy Disciples of Long Yan Academy, led by Nie Fangsheng, were not that strong. Nie Fangsheng and Gan Qiyi were known for Sword Casting Technique and Array Formation Technique; their own cultivation was nothing exceptional. The Academy Disciples were, after all, young, and compared with those Chamber experts, they clearly lacked experience.

Of course, the weakest were still the Heishi City Mu Family Branch Family and the Yuan Family and the others. But just like the Long Yan Academy teachers and students, this was only in comparison. Back when they suffered the Zhao Family calamity, the Mu Family Branch Family was almost wiped out, and it was only thanks to Mu Rui’an, Mu Hanyan, and Mu Hanfeng, father and daughters, turning the tide that they escaped that disaster. After that, the Great Elder and the others learned their lesson the hard way and threw themselves into cultivating the younger generation. The Mu Family Branch Family now was no longer what it used to be. In terms of strength, they were not much weaker than the Qi Family, the number-one family of Nanxi City.

With the guards of Nanyan Commerce and the Fang Family Disciples charging at the front with their Sword Pets, and the experts from Anyun’s major Chambers holding the center of the formation, the Academy teachers and students and the Family members of the Mu Family and the Qi Family at the rear were never in much danger to begin with. Huddling together in tight formation, supporting one another in attack and defense, they advanced and retreated with virtually no risk.

The several thousand Exotic Beasts were actually pinned down by them inside the gorge, unable to approach Beining Pass by even half a step.

After a brief moment of shock, Fang Zhe and the others turned their heads in unison and looked deeply at Mu Hanyan, their eyes full of respect.

Despite the deafening roar of battle all around, they could still hear and see the stewards leading the teams of each Chamber of Commerce, the elders and Young Masters of each family, as well as the Long Yan Academy teachers and Academy Disciples shouting Mu Hanyan’s name at the top of their lungs when they saw her. Obviously, they were not here for Beining Pass, but for Mu Hanyan.

This must be what the ancient Saints meant by "those who follow the Way gain much help, those who lose the Way receive little help."

Looking at Mu Hanyan, who drew all hearts to her not far away, then thinking of Dan Tai Xuan and the others watching the fire from the other side at Qingyang Pass, Fang Zhe and the others felt both emotional and contemptuous. Of course, this was not the time for sentimentality. With a tiger-like roar, they too charged into the gorge to kill.

Giant stones rained down, arrows poured like rain; on the steep slopes leading to Beining Pass, Exotic Beasts fell one after another, and fewer and fewer were able to charge up to the gate.

Finally, when that Iron-Backed Saber-Toothed Tiger that had braved the giant stone and arrow stone, surviving nine deaths and one life, was miserably and helplessly slain by Mu Hanyan, Huayue, Zirong, Jiang Yuzhe, Tang Bufan, and the four Sword Pets working together, the Exotic Beasts in the distance let out whimpering cries and no longer dared to advance a single step.

"Kill!" Mu Hanyan pointed her Longsword toward the gorge and took the lead in charging down.

They had finally waited for the chance to counterattack. The noble family’s sons and the gate-guarding soldiers behind her also roared furiously and charged down from the pass.

With fewer and fewer Exotic Beasts attacking the gate, they had taken advantage of that rare lull to swallow Elixir pills and recover some strength. Now, the hatred and anger that had been pent up for so long in their hearts burned fiercely, their blood was boiling, and their momentum and fighting spirit were even stronger than before the battle.

Seeing that the reinforcements in the gorge were still fighting the Exotic Beasts to the death, the commoners were moved to tears. Many of them also picked up weapons and followed closely behind them.

Fortunately, the Fifth Prince had not lost his reason. Only after leaving most of the City Guard soldiers to hold the gate in case of unforeseen changes did he himself charge into the gorge.

"In the name of Aolai, I command the beasts of the world: those who follow me shall prosper, those who oppose me shall perish!" Mu Hanyan once again recited the Divine Beast Contract.

In fact, when the situation had been most critical earlier, she had already tried using the Divine Beast Contract, but she was disappointed to find that the Divine Sense of these Exotic Beasts was under the control of that Netherworld Beast. The Divine Beast Contract had only a negligible effect on them, so she had stopped wasting her spirit.

But now things were different. Under the instinctive fear in their hearts, they were no longer as crazed and enraged as before. Perhaps the Netherworld Beast’s spiritual control also had a time limit; after such a long, intense battle, that time should be about up.

The Beast God’s Heavenly Might from ancient times descended upon them. Just as Mu Hanyan had guessed and hoped, the Exotic Beasts no longer had the slightest will to resist. They obediently knelt on the ground and even voluntarily offered up Master-Servant Contracts.

"If you see any that suit you, take them as Sword Pets," Mu Hanyan tossed a sentence over her shoulder to the Fifth Prince and the others behind her, then flashed past those Exotic Beasts without another glance.

The reinforcements in the gorge were still fighting for their lives. Her family and friends were among them; she had no time to waste on these Exotic Beasts.

Anyway, since those Exotic Beasts had already offered up Master-Servant Contracts, whether they could be taken as Sword Pets would depend on the Fifth Prince and the others’ own luck. If those Exotic Beasts refused to submit, she trusted the Fifth Prince and the others knew what to do.

The battlefield is merciless; at this moment Mu Shouyan naturally felt no pity whatsoever.

Soon, a few Exotic Beasts’ dying wails came from behind her. Although the Fifth Prince, the gate-guarding soldiers, and that group of noble family’s sons had long been drooling over Sword Pets, they also knew this was absolutely not the time to dawdle. For Exotic Beasts unwilling to submit, they simply killed them on the spot to remove future trouble.

This was precisely the essence of Mu Hanyan’s Beast Taming Technique anyway: if you don’t submit, I’ll beat you until you do—no, wrong, I’ll kill you until you do!

Having already lost their fighting spirit, cowed by the ancient might of the Aolai Divine Beast, and now seeing their companions’ miserable deaths, how would the remaining Exotic Beasts dare resist? One after another, they formed Master-Servant Contracts with the Fifth Prince and the others, becoming their Sword Pets.

The Fifth Prince forcibly suppressed the wild joy in his heart and struck while the iron was hot, leading his newly tamed Sword Pets in an assault on the gorge.

The battle in the gorge had already entered a stalemate. However, the reinforcements were clearly being commanded with great skill; they did not rashly seek quick victory, but used the narrow terrain of the gorge to block the Exotic Beasts’ advance route. With the extraordinary strength and rich experience of the Chamber experts, and the Sword Pets of Nanyan Commerce and the Fang Family Disciples, though people were constantly getting injured and falling, the wounded would quickly be protected by their comrades and withdraw from the battlefield, sent to the rear of the line. The gaps they left were immediately filled.

So although this fierce battle seemed tragic and heroic, up to this moment, not a single person on the reinforcements’ side had died in battle, and none of the wounded had damage to their foundations; after being healed, their Cultivation would not be affected. 𝒇𝓻𝓮𝓮𝙬𝙚𝒃𝒏𝓸𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝓬𝓸𝒎

She had no idea who the commander of these reinforcements was, to be so formidable! Mu Hanyan secretly felt admiration.