A sense of urgency, warning signs!

After hearing what Qian Yang said, Feng Shan quickly understood why the three great families were sending their descendants to join the garrison.

"Then should we stop them?" Feng Shan asked.

"It's nothing serious. Let them join the garrison for now, and assign them more missions."

"Once the city lord and the young city lord come out of seclusion, I'll report this to them."

Qian Yang said, "If the city lord and the young city lord don't want them in the garrison, all it will take is a word."

Feng Shan's eyes lit up. How could he not understand what Qian Yang meant?

The descendants of the three great families normally used excellent resources, and they were no weaklings themselves.

With these descendants joining them, the garrison's losses during missions would also be greatly reduced.

Once the city lord and the young city lord came out of seclusion and learned about this, if they disapproved, they could simply expel these people from the garrison. It would amount to having the three great families' people work for free.

"Understood. We don't need to deliberately target them, but since they're in the garrison, they naturally have to obey military orders," Feng Shan said with a smile.

Qian Yang nodded and chatted with Feng Shan a little longer before Feng Shan left.

A month passed in the blink of an eye.

[The rankings have been settled. Please claim your rewards before the next settlement.]

Hearing the notification, Lin An opened his eyes as he cultivated.

Time really does slip away during cultivation. A month has passed already.

Lin An thought to himself.

Over the past month, neither he nor Lin Xiao had left the meditation chamber.

As a Gold Realm expert, Lin Xiao had long since reached the point where he no longer needed food.

Although Lin An had not yet reached that point, absorbing the spiritual energy of heaven and earth allowed him to go two or three months without food or water without any trouble.

Then Lin An opened the rankings.

[Server-wide Realm Rankings]

[First place]: Lin An, realm: silver sixth grade (can be hidden)

[Second place]: None

[Third place]: None

...

(Note: The rankings are settled once a month. Players ranked in the top 100 will receive additional rewards.)

After reaching the silver realm, his rate of advancement had slowed considerably. A whole month had only brought him to the sixth grade.

Fortunately, he was not far from silver seventh grade and would be able to break through within the next few days.

It's September now. The Sin Beasts will attack the city next month. By then, I should have reached silver ninth grade too.

As Lin An thought, he claimed the ranking settlement reward.

[Congratulations on taking first place in the Server-wide Realm Rankings at silver first grade. You may freely choose your reward type: attribute points, cultivation techniques, weapons, or pills.]

Lin An chose attribute points again.

[You have chosen attribute points as your reward. Congratulations on receiving attribute points x1,000.]

The thousand attribute points arrived, bringing his total to 133,259.

Glancing at Lin Xiao, who was still cultivating in a state of unity with heaven and man, Lin An could sense that his comprehension of the Lin Clan Cultivation Technique had improved considerably.

Going from major accomplishment to perfection required fifty million proficiency points. Lin Xiao should have accumulated around twenty million by now.

That's about what I estimated before. In another two months, he'll reach perfection, then attempt to break through to platinum.

I can't fall behind either. The players' arrival is drawing closer and closer.

And there are only two years left before the Sin Abyss World connects with the real world on Blue Star.

At that thought, a sense of urgency rose within Lin An.

In two years, he had to at least gain the strength to protect himself amid the chaos.

Lin An immediately closed his eyes again, took a pill, and began cultivating.

Several days later, Lin An broke through to silver seventh grade.

But he did not stop, continuing to cultivate instead.

In the blink of an eye, more than half a month passed.

While Lin An was cultivating, a ten-man squad lay prone on a hillside outside Shenglin City.

"Something's not right. There weren't this many Sin Beasts around here when we came. Why are there so many now?"

Zhao Tao frowned slightly as he watched the thirty-odd Sin Beasts not far away.

Not long after leaving the Spirit Realm, he had broken through to bronze ninth grade. He had also joined the garrison half a month ago.

Although he was the Zhao Family's young master, Feng Shan had not given him any special treatment, instead making him start as an ordinary soldier.

Zhao Tao did not mind. Over the past half month, he had taken members of his family out on missions and accumulated a fair amount of military merit.

Once he returned this time, he would have enough to exchange for the position of fifty-man commander, allowing him to lead fifty men.

This time, he had once again taken his squad out on a mission. Everything had been fine on their way out, but on their way back, they discovered that the number of Sin Beasts nearby had increased considerably.

This was already the fifth group of Sin Beasts they had encountered.

"Young master, why do I get the feeling these Sin Beasts are heading toward Shenglin City?" someone beside him asked.

"Call me squad leader. But you're right. These Sin Beasts are indeed heading toward Shenglin City."

It would have been one thing if only some of the Sin Beasts were approaching Shenglin City, but every Sin Beast they had encountered along the way had been deliberately heading toward it. That was rather strange.

Is it a coincidence, or...

As Zhao Tao thought, alarm stirred in his heart.

If this was not a coincidence, it meant that Sin Beasts were approaching Shenglin City from other directions as well, not just theirs.

With so many Sin Beasts heading toward Shenglin City, their purpose went without saying. A powerful Sin Beast was directing them from behind the scenes, intending to attack Shenglin City.

But this was only his conjecture. After all, the last Sin Beast siege had been ten years ago.

Whether it's a coincidence or deliberate, I have to report this when we get back, Zhao Tao thought.

"Come on. Kill these Sin Beasts quickly, then we'll hurry back to the city," Zhao Tao said.

His nine subordinates nodded, then burst into action together, charging at the thirty-odd Sin Beasts.

Although there were quite a few Sin Beasts, their realms were low. Even the strongest was only at bronze fifth grade, and Zhao Tao killed it with a single saber strike.

After dealing with these Sin Beasts, everyone sped toward Shenglin City.

Fortunately, they encountered no more Sin Beasts afterward and soon returned to Shenglin City.

As soon as he returned to the barracks, Zhao Tao reported his findings and conjecture to his superiors.

Inside a tent at the garrison's main camp.

Feng Shan was listening to his subordinate's report.

"So you're saying that it isn't just our direction? The Sin Beasts in the other three directions are also approaching Shenglin City?"

Feng Shan narrowed his eyes.

As the garrison commander, he had naturally received word long ago and had specifically sent people out to investigate.

They had ultimately discovered that Sin Beasts from all four directions were converging on Shenglin City.

"This is a warning sign of a Sin Beast siege."

Feng Shan had experienced Sin Beast sieges before, so he did not panic as he spoke.

"Have the scouts keep investigating. Strengthen patrols and security during this period as well," Feng Shan ordered.

Although there were signs of a Sin Beast siege, sieges varied in scale. They first needed to determine exactly how many Sin Beasts were gathering this time.

If it was only a small-scale siege, there would be no need to report it to the city lord. He could handle it himself.

If it was a large-scale siege, however, he would have to report it to the city lord.

That was because a large-scale siege meant the Sin Beasts would definitely have a Gold Realm expert overseeing them.

Hopefully, it's just a small-scale siege.

Feng Shan thought to himself. Ten years had passed since the last Sin Beast siege.

The people of Shenglin City had finally enjoyed ten years of peaceful lives, and he did not want that peace to be shattered just like this.