Three days later, deep into the night.

The alarm bell of Iron Wall Pass tore through the night sky without warning.

"Enemy attack! Sector C, all personnel, prepare for battle!"

A piercing roar erupted alongside the blare of war horns.

Su Ming practically leapt up fully clothed, snatched the formation plate by his pillow, and charged out of Stone Hut Number Seven.

The world outside was already in chaos.

Under the black curtain of night, countless greenish glowing dots drifted outside the pass like will-o'-the-wisps, accompanied by the grating sound of claws scraping and low, rumbling growls.

"It's Crimson-Eyed Wolf Demons! Over a thousand! And there are Wind Jackals behind them stirring up the wind!"

Zhao Tiji, holding that massive formation clamp, stood at the very front of the defense line and bellowed, "Old Liu, take some men and hold the left flank! Chen Chuan, don't let any that slip through get inside! Su Ming, keep an eye on the formation nodes! The light barrier must not break!"

"Understood!"

Su Ming crouched low and quickly ducked into a semi-underground bunker located behind the defense line.

This was the formation control position for the Third Squad of Bing Battalion.

Through the observation slit, Su Ming saw the snowfield outside the pass swarming with dense masses of Crimson-Eyed Wolf Demons surging forward like a tide. These wolf demons were the size of oxen, with crimson eyes, and as they ran, they spewed foul, poisonous smoke from their mouths. Behind the wolf pack, several scrawny but winged "Wind Jackals" were crouched on the backs of the alpha wolves, emitting sharp shrieks that whipped up blades of wind, slashing viciously against the defensive light barrier.

Boom! Boom! Boom! 𝘧𝘳𝘦ℯ𝓌𝘦𝒷𝘯𝑜𝑣𝘦𝓁.𝒸𝘰𝓂

The light barrier trembled violently, rippling in layers.

"Damn it, why are there so many this time!" Zhao Tiji smashed the head of a wolf demon that had squeezed through a gap in the barrier with a hammer, splattering himself with blood and brains. "Brother Su, can the formation hold?"

"It can hold, but we can't just take the beating!"

Su Ming's voice, transmitted via a sound transmission talisman, sounded in the ears of the squad members, unnervingly calm.

He sat cross-legged inside the bunker, both hands spread open, his fingertips connected to over a dozen faintly glowing blue spiritual energy threads.

These threads passed through the ground, connecting to the twenty-four formation plate nodes buried at the forefront of their defensive sector.

Over the past few days, Su Ming had studied the *Thesis on Formation Hub Management* and combined it with Lin Yu's "programming mindset," weaving the originally independent formation plates together with spiritual energy threads into a dynamic "formation net."

"Let them in a little," Su Ming commanded in a low voice.

"What?" Zhao Tiji was taken aback.

"The first three light barriers are overloading with spiritual pressure. Taking the hits head-on will cause them to blow. Let them into the buffer zone. I'll handle it."

Su Ming didn't explain further, his fingers giving a slight hook.

The originally impenetrable first light barrier suddenly split open a gap.

Dozens of Crimson-Eyed Wolf Demons, already blood-crazed, roared and charged through the opening, heading straight for Chen Chuan and the others behind the line.

"Looking for death!" Chen Chuan snorted coldly, his longsword leaving its sheath.

But before he could strike, Su Ming moved.

"Trap."

Su Ming's left-hand fingers pressed down violently.

The ground beneath those wolf demons suddenly became soft as mud, the originally frozen, hard earth instantly turning into quicksand.

The dozen or so wolf demons at the front, caught completely off guard, sank their front legs into it. Their massive momentum sent their bodies pitching forward, tumbling over each other like dumplings dropped into a pot.

"Frost Mist."

Su Ming brought two fingers of his right hand together and flicked them upward.

The formation plates buried on both sides instantly spewed forth massive amounts of white, frigid mist.

This wasn't ordinary fog, but a heavy mist mixed with viscous water-attribute spiritual energy.

The wolf demons, coated in this mist, instantly slowed down. Their originally fierce pounces turned into slow-motion replays.

"Kill!"

Though astonished, Zhao Tiji reacted with lightning speed. He would never pass up an opportunity to beat a drowning dog.

His giant hammer swung, stirring up a bloody whirlwind.

The wolf demons, trapped in the quicksand and coated in frost, had no way to dodge. They could only let out miserable howls as they were smashed into pulp.

Chen Chuan's sword was even faster, a flash of lightning specifically aimed at the throats of the still-struggling wolf demons.

This wave of assault ended without a single injury in Squad C-Seven.

"Damn satisfying!" Zhao Tiji wiped the blood from his face and laughed heartily. "Brother Su, your formation is incredible! Those beasts practically stuck their necks out asking to be slaughtered!"

Inside the bunker, Su Ming wasn't smiling.

Sweat beaded on his forehead. The movements of his hands grew faster and faster, his ten fingers dancing as if playing a fierce, impassioned symphony.

This "formation net," while flexible, consumed an immense amount of divine sense and spiritual energy. The slightest tremor of each spiritual energy thread required his precise control.

"Watch out, the Wind Jackals are about to launch wind blades! Position Qian-three, evade!"

Su Ming suddenly warned.

Zhao Tiji and Chen Chuan instinctively rolled to either side.

The instant they left their original spots, three crescent-shaped wind blades shrieked past, slamming into the ground and carving three bottomless trenches.

"There!"

A cold glint flashed in Su Ming's eyes.

He had pinpointed the location of those Wind Jackals.

"Rise!"

Su Ming's hands suddenly clapped together.

Several discarded formation plate fragments, seemingly useless and scattered at the edges of the battlefield, suddenly glowed with a faint light.

Several sharp icicles erupted without warning from the snow, their angles extremely tricky, piercing precisely into the abdomens of those Wind Jackals preparing to cast their spells again.

"Awooo—!"

The Wind Jackals let out shrill screams, tumbling from the backs of the alpha wolves.

With the Wind Jackals' support gone, the wolf pack's offensive power instantly weakened by thirty percent.

"Nicely done!"

A squad leader from a nearby sector, witnessing this, couldn't help but roar in approval.

For a full hour.

On the defense line of Bing Battalion, the sounds of battle cries shook the heavens.

While other squads were struggling desperately to hold on, the defensive sector of Squad C-Seven, though appearing precarious with its light barrier flickering open and closed, saw any demon beasts that broke through being controlled, divided, and efficiently slaughtered almost immediately.

Su Ming was like an invisible commander, weaving a net of death with those unseen spiritual energy threads.

When the dawn's light finally pierced the darkness, the wolf pack retreated like the ebbing tide, leaving behind a field littered with corpses.

Zhao Tiji plopped down on a pile of dead bodies, gasping for breath, the giant hammer in his hand slightly deformed.

"It's over…"

He looked around and realized that while every member of his squad was wounded and spiritually exhausted, not a single one had fallen in battle.

In a medium-scale demon assault, this was practically a miracle.

Su Ming crawled out of the bunker, his face as pale as paper, his steps somewhat unsteady.

"Brother Su."

Zhao Tiji struggled to his feet and walked over to Su Ming.

This usually loud and boisterous man now looked at Su Ming with an unprecedented gravity in his eyes.

"I used to think formation masters were just guys hiding in the back, patching things up."

Zhao Tiji extended a large, blood-stained hand and gave Su Ming's shoulder a heavy pat. "Today, I'm convinced."

Not far away, Chen Chuan, who was wiping his longsword, also looked up.

That usually silent, ice-like swordsman fixed his gaze on Su Ming and gave a rare, slight nod.

"Thank you."

Chen Chuan's voice was still cold and hard, but only those who knew him well understood the weight of those two words.

Su Ming waved a hand dismissively, trying to force a smile, only to find the muscles of his face somewhat stiff.

"We're all just trying to survive," Su Ming said softly.

*Beep.*

The token at his waist vibrated.

Su Ming looked down. The Military Merit value ticked upward.

In addition to the basic defense merit, a small line of text appeared below:

"Outstanding tactical coordination, inflicted heavy enemy casualties with minimal losses. Additional reward: Three hundred points."