Chapter 1088: Hundred-Thousand Strong Armies in Battle
In the drill ground, Qin Wentian and his comrades familiarized themselves with the battle formations.
There were many kinds for battle formations. Varieties included battle formation for teams like theirs consisting about hundred plus people and there were also major formations which needed the effort of ten thousand people. Each team was the foundation of the formation, combining their power to unleash boundless might. However at this location, none of the other teams were practicing. Only Qin Wentian’s hundred plus immortal battle team was currently here.
The comprehension abilities for immortals were exceedingly high. They only needed to roughly study the circulation of energies for a battle formation and they would understand how to combine their power and unleash their might.
The formation they were using was something passed down by General Ox. It was a titan ox formation that emphasized on boundless strength.
"Tianwen, Jun Mengchen, what do you all think?" After the practice, Ye Qing directed the question at them.
"Captain, there’s no issue." Qin Wentian replied. A combination battle formation didn’t require the individuals to each be proficient in the Dao of Formations. If not, how could everyone be able to join their strengths together?
Jun Mengchen and the rest all nodded. Ye Qing then continued, "This battle is extremely dangerous. It’s best that you guys don’t exit the city if there’s nothing important or you might be hunted down by the enemy forces. If there are no battles in the meantime, you can do what you want be it increasing your cultivation or finding others to spar to sharpen your combat prowess. Understand?"
"Yes Captain." Jun Mengchen replied in a loud voice, causing Ye Qing to glance at him while he grinned.
"Little fellows, the battlefield is no joke. You guys would do better to be more serious as lives can be lost at any time." From the side, a middle-aged immortal-foundation expert reminded. "My name is Xiao Yehan, I’m your vice captain. Where do you guys come from?"
"We came from the Cloud Prefecture City, from the Thousand Transformations Immortal Sect." Qin Wentian replied.
"Yo." The eyes of everyone flashed as they stared at Qin Wentian and his comrades. Xiao Yehan then asked in bewilderment, "You mean all of you are from the Thousand Transformations Immortal Sect? But why would they send you to join our team?"
"Captain Xiao, what do you mean?" Qin Wentian curiously asked.
"You don’t know?" Vice Captain Xiao stared at Qin Wentian as he laughed. "Seems like you guys are the less important disciples. You don’t even know this? In this army of a hundred thousand, only a minority are people from the Thousand Transformations Immortal Sect. A majority of the people here are recruited from throughout the immortal realms for the purpose of this war."
"You guys are not people from the Thousand Transformations Immortal Sect?" Jun Mengchen also started in surprise. He initially thought that everyone here were subordinates of the Thousand Transformations Immortal Sect.
"This army consists of a hundred thousand immortal-foundation experts and is merely for a single battle. Currently, it’s impossible for the Thousand Transformations Immortal Sect to be comparable to the Eastern Sage Immortal Sect. The Eastern Sage Immortal Sect has too many years of foundation and has built up many armies. The army they sent here is merely the one under the Dream Demon King’s control - the Dream Demon Regiment. But even so, the Eastern Sage Immortal Sect would also recruit more people to join this regiment, they wouldn’t use the experts belonging purely to the Dream Demon Regiment for this battle. If not, in the long term, they wouldn’t be able to afford the loss."
"What? Then why Vice Captain Xiao, are you willing to participate in this battle?" Jun Mengchen asked.
"Little fellow, are you truly a fool or are you playing me for a fool?" Xiao Yehan stared at Jun Mengchen. "Or could it be you are a disciple of a famed sect? I’m just an unaffiliated cultivator and if I wish to obtain cultivation resources, I can only depend on myself. Even if I joined a sect, as long as I’m not of the direct line of descent, everything would still depend on my own talent. If you don’t participate in the war, how else would you be able to obtain enough merit to exchange for resources? Right now, I’m at the seventh-level of immortal foundation. Do you know how terrifyingly astronomical the amount of resources needed for me to step into the eighth-level is? Without any fortunate encounters, participating in an immortal war to obtain merits is undoubtedly the fastest path."
"Naturally for many powerful characters, other than obtaining merit they also use this chance to temper themselves. There are even some among the army who has an extraordinary background joining in order to temper themselves at the borders of life and death. A true expert would always yearn for more strength and how to increase their combat prowess." Xiao Yehan solemnly stated. He then continued, "As for me, my goal is to become an immortal king and establish a power where I can be the sect leader. However, this goal seems to be a little too difficult."
Qin Wentian stared at Xiao Yehan. Although he looked middle-aged, his actual age should be pretty old. An ancient air bespeaking of the vicissitudes of time could be seen in his eyes, most probably, he was a character that had lived for thousands of years.
His words were true, the majority of people Qin Wentian has met in the immortal realms, could all be considered geniuses. Each of them had their own experiences and the path of many were filled with obstacles. For those with lesser ambitions, they could simply head to some particle worlds and become the hegemon there. But if one wanted to grow stronger unceasingly, they can only strengthen themselves through combat, fighting together with other geniuses on their same level.
"Wouldn’t that mean that it’s very easy for spies to infiltrate?" Zi Qingxuan asked in a low voice.
"Yes, but so what of it?" A person at the side spoke. "When the war starts, immortal kings would observe the battle. Given an existence on the level of an immortal king, nobody would dare to try anything funny in front of them. Do you dare to murder people on your side in front of their eyes? They could destroy you with the ease of a single strike. Would the spies throw their lives away so stupidly? Are they tired of living?"
"Indeed." Qin Wentian nodded. "This is our first time participating in an immortal war. How does the immortal war proceed? With immortal kings, wouldn’t immortal-foundation experts be redundant? Immortal-foundation experts wouldn’t be able to withstand a single strike from immortal kings."
"The immortal realms naturally have its own set of rules regarding immortal wars, it wouldn’t be so chaotic. This is like both the Eastern Sage Immortal Emperor and the Thousand Transformations Emperor Lord. Their strengths are equal if not Eastern Sage would never give up six prefectures to the Emperor Lord. But for the war between their two powers, these two immortal emperors wouldn’t interfere. If they did, all their subordinates would simply die together. For this immortal war, the strength of the Dream Demon King and General Ox were equivalent. This is why the war could go on. If not, the commander on one side simply has to kill the other commander and victory would be theirs.
Xiao Yehan explained, "Hence, these rules are strictly followed. For immortal kings, they must only fight with immortal kings. Immortal Emperors cannot interfere in this at all. So, the main forces of each army are the immortal-foundation experts. In a war where immortal-foundation experts are fighting, immortal kings similarly cannot interfere. If not, the immortal-foundation characters on both side would die the moment an immortal king steps in. If anyone breaks the rules, the outcome would simply be total annihilation for both sides. This is simply a waste of life, nobody would prefer such an outcome. If the immortal-foundation army of one side was vanquished, immortal kings would then fight. If they cannot win, they will then take the initiative to retreat. These are the rules of the battlefield but of course, if the immortal kings on one-side are able to win the immortal-king level battle, immortal-foundation experts wouldn’t need to fight."
"What if those defeated are unwilling to accept their losses and decides to break the rules, going all out to kill immortal-foundation characters?" Jun Mengchen asked.
"That would be killing for the sake of killing. If the immortal kings of one side did so, the other side would surely retaliate. Both parties would be engaged in a frenzied slaughter, leading to a lose-lose situation that would only stop when both sides are completely annihilated." Xiao Yehan spoke. "Those who could reach the immortal king realm, are all extremely proud characters. They wouldn’t defy these silent rules. But of course, if there’s a very important person of extremely high status in the opposing army, things might be different."
"Understood. Many thanks for the Vice Captain’s guidance." Qin Wentian clasped his hands. Seems like he still had to hide his identity when on the battlefield. If any immortal kings from the opposing side recognized him, they might use all sorts of methods to kill him. Qin Wentian knew his name was on the top of the kill list of the Eastern Sage Immortal Sect.
"The battlefield is the battlefield after all, it’s governed by strict rules both sides have to follow." Jun Mengchen shook his head.
"This is the immortal realms, the participants of this war are all immortals and there naturally would be rules. Nobody would conduct an all-out massacre. Back then all those years ago, when the Thousand Transformations Emperor Lord wanted six out of the thirteen prefectures, didn’t the Eastern Sage Immortal Emperor give it to him after they fought to a draw? In addition, the Thousand Transformations Emperor Lord also agreed that as long as the Eastern Sage Immortal Sect was able to cause the power established by the Thousand Transformations Emperor Lord to collapse within a hundred years, the Emperor Lord would return the six prefectures back to Eastern Sage and he would leave the region immediately. These are the rules between immortal emperors.
Ye Qing walked up and added, "Naturally you have to understand that the prerequisite of these rules if that firstly, the strength of both parties are equal. If not, back then if the Eastern Sage Immortal Emperor had the strength to kill the Thousand Transformations Emperor Lord, would he still need these rules? He would definitely exterminate the entire Thousand Transformations Immortal Sect, razing it to the ground."
"Haha, captain is right. The prerequisite of any rules is truly to first have equal strength with your opponent. But as long as the peak-level character of any of the two powers died, the other party would be the strongest, and he, would be the rule maker."
"In the end, strength still speaks the loudest." Jun Mengchen spoke. The group of them chatted but all of a sudden, a booming sound pierced the air, resonating through a thousand mile radius. Ye Qing’s expression changed as she listened intently. The booming sound echoed out three times as her expression grew even heavier. Staring at Qin Wentian and the others, she spoke, "You guys are truly ’lucky.’ The first day that you are here, the booming sound echoed three times."
"What does it mean?" Qin Wentian asked.
"The hundred-thousand strong army of the Thousand Transformations Immortal Sect are to all mobilize for battle." Ye Qin spoke, her words causing Qin Wentian’s eyes to flicker. "It’s tough to differentiate allies from opponents. Put on the armor with our allied colors and prepare to head out for battle."
"Okay." Qin Wentian and the others wore the armor Ye Qing passed to them. After which, the over hundred members of this battle team soared into the air. They saw that not only for them, the entire regiment of troops was flying up into the air, exuding waves of terrifying might, as thunderous sound waves blasted out from their battle roars, akin to the scene out of an apocalypse. A fearsome pressure swept over heaven and earth, causing the hearts of those who saw them to shudder.
"What power." Jun Mengchen stated in shock.
"A hundred-thousand immortal army can shatter mountains and break rivers with a single roar." Qin Wentian’s heart trembled. If the army focused their vocal shouts at a single area, even immortal kings would be affected by the power.
"BOOM!" In the air, a beam of terrifying light descended. Over there, a sturdy figure of about ten thousand meters in size appeared before the army. Everyone could see this man clearly, it was none other than the Commander-in-Chief, General Niu.
He glanced at the army below him and spoke, "Prepare the formation, we ride to war!"
His voice boomed like thunder, travelling around the region as the army of immortals began marching forward in tandem, exuding an overwhelming imposingness. From afar, the people who saw this scene felt their souls trembling. This scene constituted too much of a rush of impact.
A hundred-thousand strong army rushing outside the city, causing golden sand to drift about in the wind from the force of their steps. The ranks of troops were neat and orderly and there was plenty of space between them. After all, this was a war of immortals. Once the war erupts, they would all need space.
Up ahead in the distance, there was a terrifying tempest that was gushing over. Despite the people being far away, they could still feel the pressure the waves of might were generating. Everyone knew that was the army from the Eastern Sage Immortal Sect. It was evident both armies had spies and had information on each other’s movements or they might fall into their opponent’s trap easily. These spies might have infiltrated the city controlled by the opposing side and pretend to be ordinary humans.