“Now, use the Horse Stance!”
Horse Stance?
That was a bit too elementary, right? Who amongst them had not advanced from the Body Refining Tier? Who had not practiced the Horse Stance and stood on stumps before?
The majority stood in the Horse Stance, but there were still a few that showed obvious disdain.
“Get lost!” Xiao Yong Nian immediately apprehended those few, and with a few tosses, xiu, xiu, xiu , these people were sent flying out of the main entrance, where they fell pitifully.
Everyone felt their hearts freeze. This was actually an elite in the Spiritual Infant Tier!
Teng, teng, teng , ten soldiers matched out of the barracks. They were only in the Spiritual Pedestal Tier. They were pushing a small cart, on which there lay multiple talisman papers.
“Do you think the Horse Stance is simple?” Xiao Yong Nian bared his teeth in a grin. With a wave of his hand, those ten soldiers immediately circled round to the back of the masses, and began sticking paper talismans on their backs.
“So heavy!” those that had had talismans stuck onto their backs exclaimed. There were even a few that dropped on their backsides.
“This is a Weight Talisman; different people will have different Spiritual Talismans attached. I guarantee that it is within the capacity you all can withstand,” Xiao Yong Nian announced coldly. “All of you, get back to your feet and stand back in the Horse Stance position. Within three breaths, if anyone’s posture is still not up to standard, I will throw him out!”
Those that had fallen onto the ground hurriedly got onto their feet. Some managed to get firmly into the Horse Stance, but there were some that once again flopped onto the ground. Three breaths later, Xiao Yong Nian indeed began to cast people out again, throwing those that did not meet the standards out of the barracks.
Ling Han saw this and nodded internally. A cultivator was individually very strong, but to become a soldier, mere individual battle prowess was useless.
If the Purple Moon Empire was unable to defeat the five great sects, or failed to split open the skies, then he would have to take on this mission. Thus, he began to be interested in commanding and training troops. Learning secretly from the Purple Moon Empire was undoubtedly the best means available.
In terms of ability, he obviously dominated over Xiao Yong Nian, yet still behaved seriously and obediently, not putting on any airs because of his superior ability.
Everyone had a Spiritual Talisman attached respectively. Because Ling Han only showed cultivation of the Flower Blossom Tier, and no one here was capable of identifying his true ability, a Spiritual Talisman of Flower Blossom level was naturally slapped onto him. It was as if a mosquito had landed on him; what effect would such miniscule weight have on him?
However, even if he had had a Spiritual Talisman on the level of Spiritual infant Tier stuck onto him, it also would have been all right. With his terrifyingly powerful physique, at most, it would have been like an egg’s weight had been added on.
But others did not have this kind of physique, and so had to stimulate their Origin Power to resist the weight.
This was not something as simple as delivering a palm strike or throwing a punch; one had to continuously resist, and this would greatly exhaust one’s reserves of Origin Power. Furthermore, most cultivators did not cultivate Body Arts. It was fine if they had to stand in the Horse Stance for two to four hours, but as time passed, even if they were not short on Origin Power, their bodies would still feel weary.
And what caused their hair to stand on ends was the fact that they had to maintain the Horse Stance for a whole day and night!
In the meantime, they could not rest, eat, nor drink. In merely half a day’s time, 17 people could not last, and were subsequently thrown out of the barracks. And when the day ended, a total of 49 people had been cast out.
It had only been a day, and about a tenth of the participants had been disqualified.
Ling Han was learning. In martial arts and alchemy, he was a genius, but in commanding and training troops, he was still a blank piece of paper, endlessly soaking in experience. Actually, establishing his own nation was still extremely beneficial as power of the nation could greatly increase his battle prowess and speed up the rate of his cultivation. Although he was advancing very quickly at the moment, that was because he had walked this path once before in his last life. But once he stepped into the Immortal Realm, even if he was unprecedentedly talented and a genius, he would definitely no longer be able to maintain this rate of advancement.
I’ll let Fatty Ma hold the fort first. If he can no longer manage, then I’ll step up. However, even after we reach the Immortal Realm, I will still have to consider establishing my own country and speed up the rate of my cultivation.
In the Immortal Realm, it would naturally be even more difficult to establish one’s own country, because everyone knew the benefits of establishing one’s own country. As a result, parties with even the slightest bit of power would be fighting tooth and nail to establish their own nations. The competition would be incredibly fierce.
Chapter 739 - Conflict
Translator: Henyee Editor: Henyee
After ten days, half of the people was already eliminated. After two months, there might not be even half of that number that could remain here.
Yet precisely after these ten days, those that were left were the ones not only with better tenacity and strength, but also displaying the initial fostering of military discipline. Although they were still not comparable with experienced soldiers, they demonstrated the early signs of being extremely promising.
One month later, the elimination rate had dropped drastically; there were still a hundred people who managed to stay.
“Three days later, all of you will be separated into ten small groups, and each group will be assigned to carry out a task. I shall then assess you and give the score, and the group with the lowest score will then be eliminated!” announced Xiao Yong Nian.
Everyone was startled by this, and even more so felt it somewhat unacceptable.
If I am being assigned to a group full of incompetent teammates, wouldn’t I be affected and be doomed to fail as well? they thought.
“Heng, this is precisely a test of the unity and team spirit among your group. If a group can’t even coordinate well among themselves, how could we even talk about joining into the army?” Xiao Yong Nian snorted. “I would rather choose a teammate with good rapport over one who is a lone hero!”
Ling Han secretly nodded. At that time, the cultivation of the hundred veteran soldiers that were headed by the Lunar King were only at the Deity Transformation Tier, yet the concerted efforts of these hundred people actually withstood the aftermath of a battle on the level of the Shattering Void Tier. What sheer terror.
This was the power of unity. Of course, this group of hundred people certainly must have used some kind of array to combine together their defensive strength; otherwise, that would also be something unimaginable.
How nice it would be if I was able to secretly learn this array, Ling Han thought to himself.
Their mission this time was to wipe out a group of bandits.
Actually, those bandits used to have legit and lawful businesses, and were the forces of a Deity Transformation Tier. As the army of the Purple Moon Empire swept across, the senior elder of the Deity Transformation Tier was slaughtered, yet others actually chose to surrender.
However, recently, the five great sects secretly instigated a rebellion among them. They entered into the complex mountainous area and became bandits, and time and again preyed upon the common people and wreaked havoc—naturally, they did so with the sole purpose of wrecking the power of nation of the Purple Moon Empire.
If there were strifes among the people, it would only bring about a negative impact on the power of the nation!
This kind of remnant party with only a few cultivators at the Spiritual Infant Tier was certainly not enough to make the Purple Moon
Empire start a real war campaign; thus, it was being used as a training target for new recruits like them.
Frankly, even if that Deity Transformation Tier senior elder of this gang of bandits was still alive, Ling Han could also single-handedly crush them with ease. But, this time, for the sake of cultivating the teamplay within their group, Ling Han also did not intend to make any move to showcase his strength, and decided to honestly behave as per his “Flower Blossom” Tier.
They were being imparted with knowledge of an array that could fuse the strength of ten people, achieving a fifty percent power.
Don’t think that it’s merely fifty percent, For a cooperative attack, it had always been the more the people, the poorer the effect. Otherwise, as long as they were enough in number, wouldn’t Body Refining Tier warriors also be able to kill Shattering Void Tier ones?
In reality, there was only the Heaven Tier elites who could rely on numbers to crush Shattering Void Tier opponents. For the Deity Transformation Tier, no matter how many, they were all only cannon fodder—imposing aura of the Shattering Void Tier was already enough to eliminate them.
Therefore, to retain half of all 10 people’s strength could simply be said to be terrifying.
They only had three days’ time. Three days later, they’d need to depend on this array to meet head on that gang of bandits. Allegedly, the numbers of the Spiritual Infant Tier were no less than four, exceeding the “two” of their hundred-man group.
Everyone was a mass of fear and trepidation, putting all efforts and going all out to cultivate; else, not only would they be eliminated, but they would also lose their lives.
Every group had their strongest person to act as the formation’s eye, merging the strength of the other nine together and taking command. Ling Han’s strength was the strongest, so he naturally served as his team’s leader, taking up the duty of being the crux of the array.
The strength of every group was well-balanced. For instance, as to the formidable strength of two individual Spiritual Infant Tier, the teammates they were assigned in respect of holistic strength would need to be inferior to other groups’.
Without doubt, Zhu Xuan Er would not possibly be assigned to the same group with Ling Han; there was only a total of six cultivators at the Flower Blossom Tier and above, so, of course, they would all be split to each lead a separate group, while the rest of the other four groups didn’t even have anyone at the Flower Blossom Tier to assume command.
But, they also did not have to confront anyone at the Spiritual Infant Tier, as there was a fixed task arranged for every group—those groups that were weak would be assigned to fend off random soldiers, and the results would not be affected because of this reason.
Three days later, they set out.
That gang of bandits was not far from them, only half a day’s travel. Upon reaching the place, Xiao Yong Nian then commanded them to launch their attack.
It was also the first time Ling Han witnessed the styles of attack of the Purple Moon Empire. Before this, he was looking upon it from the perspective of the five great sects, but now, becoming a puny private of the Purple Moon Empire, he get to personally participate in it—the feeling was naturally different.
A group made up of ten people was practically all-conquering; now, after layering the strength of the ten and striking out with half their combined power, even the weakest group would possess the combat strength of the Flower Blossom Tier.
All the way, they advanced with an overpowering force, forcing out the four Spiritual Infant Tier elites of the bandits, which sparked a fierce battle.
Ling Han’s performance was quite moderate as he merely elevated his battle prowess to roughly about two Battle Stars of the Spiritual Infant Tier, leading his nine teammates to engage the opponents.
The fight went on for close to three days. In the end, these bandits’ forces were thoroughly wiped out. The armed forces also paid the price of seven killed in battle, while 18 were injured as well. Taking into account that there was altogether only a hundred of them, and moreover that the number of elites was much less, this combat success was practically amazing.
Even Ling Han also nodded in approval. This was definitely a typical example of a match where the weak defeated the strong. If he were to similarly lead such a large group of people to battle, unless he displayed his true prowess, it would only cause the whole troop to completely perish.
“Heng, seven people actually died!” Xiao Yong Nian’s face was grim. “You lot are really too useless. Aamong these seven, three killed were in Gong Fei Yang’s team, two killed were in Su Cheng Wen’s team, and another two killed in Jian Qi Zheng’s team. Don’t think I have not noticed. Were it not for you lot coveting merits in extreme, would your teammates have died?”
Gong Fei Yang and Su Cheng Wen were both at the Spiritual Pedestal Tier. When they heard such words, they could only admit their faults—how would they dare to refute a Spiritual Infant Tier elite. But Jian Qi Zheng was actually that old man in the Spiritual Infant Tier, and he gave a snort, then retorted, “With the sacrifice of three Spiritual Ocean Tier cultivators, we have slain a Spiritual Infant Tier one. Don’t tell me that it is not worth it?”
“What right do you have to decide who lives and who dies?” Xiao Yong Nian’s expression darkened. “On this battlefield, teammates are your sole support, and you actually treat them as chess pieces that can be sacrificed? Who would have the confidence to trust their backs to the likes of you? Scram, you are dismissed.”
“What?!” Jian Qi Zheng nearly jumped in a fit of anger. He was an impressive Spiritual Infant Tier elite, entirely worthy of being the number one ace in this training camp! To actually be dismissed now… How did you expect him to accept it?
He swept his sleeves out, and remarked, “Want me to leave? Also fine, hand over a complete Eighth Tier cultivation technique! You think I am willing to suffer here?”
All cultivators fought alone, hence they were used to living in an unconstrained manner. Many naturally could not adapt to the lifestyle of a military camp.
Xiao Yong Nian laughed with a sneer, and countered, “You did not even pass through the New Recruit Training, yet still want to ask for cultivation techniques?”
“Are you referring to me?” Jian Qi Zheng said thickly. “If you don’t hand out the cultivation technique, I shall then slaughter every single one of you!” He then drew forth a black-colored sword, which looked just like an evil blade—there was already a dark aura twining around the sword’s blade, looking incomparably frightening.
Chapter 740 - Seventh Elder of the Yu Family
Translator: Henyee Editor: Henyee
Xiao Yong Nian put both his hands behind his back and challenged him. “Are you seeking death?”
“Hahahahaha, I have hidden my actual strength in these recent days all along, yet you…” Jian Qi Zheng laughed while pointing his finger at Xiao Yong Nian. “I have had you thoroughly figured out and learned of your actual strength already; furthermore, I have also distinctly seen through the secret to this array of cooperative attack, so in my eyes, there are weaknesses everywhere and it’s a piece of cake to break such an array!”
“I am giving you the last chance, hand over the cultivation technique if you don’t want to die by my hand!” he demanded in a stern voice, his expression absolutely horrifying.
He gave the black sword in his hand a jerk, and, immediately, the fearful aura circulated.
Xiao Yong Nian could not help the abrupt change in his expression. This person was already at the great perfection of the Spiritual Infant Tier, and moreover had a frightening Spirit Tool, so his battle prowess absolutely exceeded ten stars! While he was only at the seventh layer of the Spiritual Infant Tier, his battle prowess was also only eight stars, and he was absolutely not his match.
There were not many geniuses among the military officers of the Purple Moon Empire, but in the case of drawn-out combat at close range, they had all developed an ironclad discipline. Team
work was also well-coordinated; more skilled in fighting on a battlefield, they could perfectly layer up the combat strength of many people and triumph over an enemy that originally could not possibly be defeated.
However, individual combat strength… they were really mediocre unless they attained the level of king or at least general—at least those could battle an opponent five Battle Stars superior to themselves, and their battle prowess would be monstrous.
The problem was, he was only by himself now, and these new recruits had just received training, so could they be of any use? And the opponent was even aware of certain secret combinations of the array, which were extremely easy to break.
“The lot of you return to the training camp at once!” He came to a prompt decision.
“Instructor!” everyone shouted.
“Obey the command!” Xiao Yong Nian barked sternly.
Jian Qi Zheng laughed scornfully as he jeered, “Want to leave? Heng, no one can leave!” He would not want to be pursued everywhere and killed by the elites of the Purple Moon Empire; thus, he wanted to kill off everyone to silence them—in that way, naturally, no one would know about what happened today.
“Run!” Xiao Yong Nian shouted. “I will hold him back!”
“Would you be able to hold me back?” Jian Qi Zheng sneered as he raised his black sword and held it high, but he did not strike it downwards, and was appearing to be seeking a target.
Everyone’s hearts were full of alarm and fright—this was the combat strength of a peak level Spiritual Infant Tier. With a Spirit Tool in his hands, who could oppose him? This was practically like he could look at anyone and that person would die, so how could they not feel intimidated?
Ling Han prepared to strike forth—everyone had trained together for two months, so no matter what, they had also developed certain camaraderie.
Weng!
At this moment, a terrifying aura whisked by, drawing a feeling of constriction in everyone’s hearts—it was so uncomfortable that they felt like spitting blood.
Alchemy Emperor of the Divine Dao c1-1294 Page 379