Blood of the Army

by Tinalynge

  Xue Wei nodded his head. When he learns the Kick of Forgotten Kings, he would indeed become an all-rounded martial artist.

  The only thing that he would be lacking was a spiritual attack, one like the Mind Infestation, but that one required spiritual energy or soul power. Because of that, Xue Wei was not sure if he was suitable to learn it.

  "I will gift you one last thing," Lan said as he sighed. "You will have to owe me a favor for this though," he continued.

  "The thing I will give you is a Soul Crystal. Soul Crystals are crystals that resonate with one's soul; the brighter the light is, the stronger your soul is, and the more spiritual power you possess."

  "This Soul Crystal can be used multiple times, and it is very sturdy. Just don't break it and you should be able to have use of it for quite some years," he continued, and Xue Wei nodded his head. His heart was heavy; he knew that this had to be a great treasure, but Lan still gave it to him.

  "If you feel bad, then become a part of my collection," Lan snickered, but Xue Wei just snorted. He had no interest in becoming the property of someone else.

  Lan shrugged his shoulders and did not mention it anymore. Instead, he tossed a small, transparent, faceted gem towards Xue Wei who caught it a bit awkwardly, fearing that he might drop it.

  "Okay, now add some of your spiritual power to the gem," Lan said, and Xue Wei did as he was told. The gem started glowing with an azure light, and it became brighter and brighter until they were blinded by the bright light of the gem.

  "Your soul is definitely strong," Lan said with a perplexed look. "But I should have guessed such, as special physiques often require a strong soul, so it makes sense for you to have such a strong soul. You can use Spiritual Energy to overcome many of your opponents," he said smilingly.

  "With this amazing result, I would even suggest that you try out the Mind Infestation before you learn Kick of the Forgotten Kings," Lan decided.

  "The next couple of days, we will focus on the Mind Infestation, and you will continue to train it while I am gone until you have it under control and can kill someone with only a glance," Lan said, and his words caused Xue Wei's eyes to widen in surprise.

  "Is the Mind Infestation that great?" He asked, remembering that it was ranked as a superior grade technique with the potential to become a profound technique.

  "Yes," Lan nodded his head seriously. "If your soul is strong enough and you have a useable technique, you will be able to make others fall into a deep slumber or even extinguish their soul. It is difficult to fend off an attack from a cultivator with great spiritual power unless your martial heart is extremely calm and determined, or your own spiritual force is stronger."

  "You are one of the cultivators with a naturally strong spiritual force, but your martial heart is still being tempered as you are not aware of just what your goals in life are yet. You do not know your own martial path, and thus the shape of your martial heart is still in its infant stages."

  Xue Wei nodded his head. He had some goals in life, but he understood that he needed to temper himself to grow a martial heart.

  Xue Wei wanted the Soul Crystal so that he could assist Luo Zhirou and Shen Mu later on with their own soul power. If they had strong spiritual power, then he wished to teach them the Mind Infestation.

  Although Xiao Lei had left the attacks for him, he believed sharing it with his best friends was acceptable.

  He was worried about them. While it is true that the mortality rate of the Genius Camp was equal to the other camps, he felt that his chances of survival were much higher than theirs, so he wanted to help them as much as he could.

  Because of that, he promised himself that he would go to visit them soon and see if he could teach them the Mind Infestation. If he could not, he would think about some other ability to impart to them.

  Lan smirked as he saw Xue Wei in deep thought, but he said nothing. The prophet just waited for him to finish his thoughts.

  "I want to learn the Mind Infestation," Xue Wei said after a bit of time, and then he hesitated to continue, but Lan nudged him on. "What's wrong?" he asked.

  "You have had the Soul Crystal for a long time... how come you did not want to reveal it to me until now? You could easily have done so back when we were planning the order in which I learned my new skills from the Heritage Ring, and when we talked about the Kick of Forgotten Kings being the next skill I practice?"

  Lan's one eyebrow rose in surprise when he heard the question, and then he nodded his head. "Makes sense that you are wondering about this," he said.

  "A Soul Crystal is very important and very rare. I only have around twenty of them," Lan said. "My decision to give one to you was based completely on your comprehension. If you were able to learn the Seed of Mirage before I was gone, I would help you examine your potential in regards to spiritual power, but if you did not have the necessary talent, then I concluded that it was better for you to not attempt the spiritual energy attacks. They require not only great spiritual energy but also a great amount of comprehension," Lan explained.

  "I did not want to give you any pressure, so I said nothing, but you made it in time. So I will gift you the Soul Crystal as intended, and you can spend the next couple of days to gain an elementary insight into Mind Infestation."

  Xue Wei understood this and nodded his head. He then kowtowed to Lan. "Thank you so much for all your assistance," he said with sincerity. "’You have been my first teacher, and I will forever remember your care and consideration in my heart. When, and if, I get strong enough to repay your kindness, I will walk over a sea of flames and cross a mountain of knives if need be."

  Chapter 25 - Guinea Pigs

  Seeing Xue Wei’s humble behavior, Lan snickered. His eyes blazed with amusement, but he said nothing to destroy the mood.

  Xue Wei felt very complex emotions. He could not wholly forget his original hesitation when it came to this prophet, but at the same time, he had been a benefactor to Xue Wei.

  When someone showed him such kindness, even if Xue Wei felt that he had some secrets that made him incredibly dangerous and someone to stay away from, he could not help but display his gratitude.

  He would also make sure to repay this gratitude later on when he was strong enough to be relied upon, but he was already starting to fear that he would be told to go collect some rare materials for him in some godforsaken place where he was too lazy to go himself.

  Still, Xue Wei knew how much the assistance he had been given meant to him, and thus he would go herb hunting without complaints if it ever came to that.

  Xue Wei rose again and sighed. He could see that Lan's eyes were gleaming with excitement, but he had no interest in knowing why the prophet was having so much fun or what he was planning.

  Instead, he sat down and contemplated the Mind Infestation Spiritual Technique and tried to figure out the tricks, the difficult passages, and the theory behind it.

  Instead of cultivating that night, he spent all the time trying to understand the Mind Infestation technique.

  Lan did what he usually did during the night; he laid down on the bed and slept through the night. It was clear that cultivating was not a priority for the prophet anymore, and as to why Xue Wei had multiple theories.

  One was that he was so strong that it did not matter any longer, as he could not reach a higher realm. Another was that he had reached a realm where even when he slept his body would naturally consume the energy of the surrounding air and convert it into Qi.

  Xue Wei had long since decided not to worry about Lan's decisions and training. By putting his mind to the task at hand, he managed to gain quite a few insights into the Mind Infestation Spiritual Technique by the time morning arrived.

  "We will stay in the tent today," Lan declared as they awoke to the sound of birds in the sky and the scent of breakfast from the dining hall.

  "In the tent?" Xue Wei asked curiously, and Lan nodded his head. "Mind Infestation is a Spiritual Martial Arts, a technique that depends on
your mind and your soul."

  "When you practice such techniques, it is paramount that you are in quiet and calm surroundings, or it might backlash and wound you in the process."

  "The field is good for training physical techniques," Lan said, "but when it comes to spiritual martial arts, it is important that we find a calm place first. In this camp, the most secure place is in the tent."

  Xue Wei nodded his head in approval. After thinking about it, he understood the reasoning and could not wait to get started.

  "Okay, we have no one to attack," Lan contemplated. "If you try to use a spiritual martial arts on me, it will cause a backlash and seriously wound your soul, if not kill you since my soul is many times stronger than yours at the current point in time."

  "Well, for now, you need to learn the difference between spiritual power and Qi," Lan began.

  "I already described what spiritual energy is: it is the power of your soul and mind. The more you use it, the more mentally exhausted you will become."

  "It will be restored when you've used it, but you run the risk of corrupting your mind if you use too much. If you want to become a strong spiritual martial arts user, you will need a steady martial heart to keep you from becoming corrupted."

  "Although the use of spiritual martial arts is very difficult and has quite a few requirements, it is still a good idea for you to learn Mind Infestation. Although your martial heart is still growing, you are not weak, and your determination is great. You shouldn't be corrupted by one single spiritual martial arts."

  Xue Wei sat down and searched inside of himself. He almost saw a full picture of himself from the inside; he saw his meridians, his dantian, and his head.

  He could see the gleaming azure Qi run through his meridians, and then he found a golden light that had gathered in a ball in his mind.

  This ball of golden light was growing larger at one moment and smaller at another. When Xue Wei tried to spread his senses, he saw that the golden light started turning into halos that spread from his body and out towards the rest of the surroundings.

  "Oh, so it's like this," Xue Wei muttered. He then focused on sensing Lan, who was right next to him, and he felt how this golden energy gathered around Lan.

  "So everything that has to do with my senses, everything that has to do with my mind, is spiritual energy. I found my reserves, but how do I use it?"

  Lan said nothing; he just sat there watching Xue Wei with a small smile on his face and a calculating look in his eyes.

  Xue Wei was unaware of this calculating look that flickered in Lan's eyes, just as he did not see the smug smile that crossed his face.

  "Naive child, far too naive," Lan whispered as he looked at Xue Wei, and his words caused Xue Wei to startle awake. "Did you say something?" Xue Wei asked. He had been too focused on his spiritual energy to hear what the other had said, but he was sure that Lan said something.

  "Oh, don't mind me," Lan smiled. "I just thought that the weather is great today. Anyway, how is it? Have you found your spiritual energy?"

  Xue Wei frowned but nodded his head. "I found it," he said. "I was trying to figure out how to convert it into energy to be used though. I can understand how to make it when I am using my senses and other things like that, but I do not know how to actively ask for it to work."

  "It’s simple," Lan explained. "With a simple thought of yours, it should be responding. The reason it hasn't done so is that you are too obsessed over it, so it is overloaded. Try sitting down and emptying your mind. Then find a suitable target in the camp, and try using the Mind Infestation against them."

  "The further away they are, the better it is," Lan explained. "The further away, the weaker the attack will be, and many won't even be affected by the attack, but you will get used to it and get a feel for the attack."

  "Later on, when you use it against someone close by, you will know how to do it."

  Lan smiled, and Xue Wei nodded his head hesitatingly. "Is it okay to try it on random people in the camp?" he asked, a little confused. Using someone as a guinea pig without their permission was not his style, but Lan had said they would not even notice it, and he could learn from it. As long as they did not notice or experience any discomfort, it could not be considered too bad right?

  "Just do it, they will be fine," Lan ensured and encouraged Xue Wei, and he finally nodded his head, closed his eyes, and took a deep breath.

  He spread his senses and noticed how his spiritual energy was floating out of his body in waves of golden light.

  It came into contact with one expert after another, but Xue Wei remembered that Lan had ordered him to pick someone far away, and thus he continued to send out his waves of spiritual energy until he got a complete understanding of how far his range was.

  He could spread his senses to a full five hundred meters around him, sensing every living being within these five hundred meters, and although he could not hear or see what they were doing, he could pinpoint their location.

  Xue Wei found many experts in his range, but he picked a young one layer Earth Warrior that was located around four hundred and seventy-five meters away from him.

  This expert had a strength similar to his own. His stature was similar to his own, and his distance was suitable.

  Xue Wei remembered the Mind Infestation and all the insights he had gotten during the night of contemplation. He knew that he would be able to invade the mind of his opponent if they were close to one another and that he should be able to take over.

  He sent out a stream of spiritual energy that penetrated the mind of the young man who he had targeted, and the moment the spiritual energy penetrated his head, Xue Wei suddenly felt as if he could stir the mind of his target.

  He could just sense the possibilities. He could sense that if he wished, he could take over the mind of this expert and control him. He could roam through his memories, and he would be able to put him to sleep or even cut off his dantian, break his meridians, and make him commit suicide by self-detonating the dantian.

  Xue Wei was scared when he realized how much power he had over this other person, so he instantly cut the connection between them.

  In all this time, it was as if his soul had been split into two; half of it had been in his own body, and he was able to control it as he wished, and the other had been in his target, but he was deeply shocked.

  "I thought you said they would not notice anything!" Xue Wei hissed at Lan who just shrugged his shoulders.

  "He won't notice anything," he said with his carefree attitude. "He will just feel dizzy for a bit. It cannot be helped since you are much stronger than the target you chose. You have to at least go against the third layer Earth Warriors before you are able to see any resistance."

  Xue Wei grumbled, but he also felt rather powerful. He could not help but feel excited about this Mind Infestation.

  "Does it work for Fierce and Primordial Beasts as well?" he asked breathlessly, and Lan contemplated for a moment.

  "It works against anyone who has a soul," he said with a decisive nod of his head. "If you are against someone who has a soul, then you can use your Mind Infestation."

  "Some beasts have really low spiritual energy, whereas others are specialized in spiritual energy, so you need to be careful about what you are attacking, but you can try it when you feel sure of yourself," Lan warned him.

  Xue Wei understood it naturally. If he encountered a Fierce Beast specializing in spiritual energy, he would be in for a serious battle, one that he might even lose.

  While he had strong spiritual energy, Xue Wei understood that he did not specialize in spiritual martial arts, and thus he would be at a disadvantage if he encountered one who specialized in it.

  "Well, try again!" Lan encouraged him, and Xue Wei chuckled while shaking his head. Lan clearly did not care about what happened to the other experts in the camp.

  "I would even suggest you try and make your next target fall asleep. It is a harmless joke after all," Lan grinned, and Xu
e Wei found himself completely shocked by these words.

  "Is that not, a little bit too, uh, you know, wrong?" Xue Wei asked, and Lan just grinned. "No," he said.

  "Have these geniuses ever done anything for you?" Lan asked and put a lot of pressure on the word ‘geniuses’ to make Xue Wei understand that he clearly did not mean that they were geniuses, and Xue Wei shook his head. Although many of them had been ignoring him completely, a few had been interested in him, but no one had tried to make friends with him.

  "Since that is the case, why not just use them as guinea pigs? It’s not like they will be harmed."

  Chapter 26 - My Darling

  Hearing Lan describe it as such, Xue Wei could not help but agree. Although many of the experts were completely ignoring him, a few were even rather hostile.