Chapter 1448: Military Might
Good news went on crutches, while bad news always flew apace.
Everyone in Black Cloud city had heard about the crawling general. He was basically the most famous person beneath Human Sovereign.
At this moment, all one hundred and eight drilling grounds of Black Cloud city were holding their preliminaries. The actions of the soldiers were basically unrestricted.
Through the several hundred military camps in the surroundings and the Formation of Black Clouds and Roaring Thunder, they were completely unafraid of any sneak attacks from the Demon domain. If Demon Sovereigns dared to leave their army and venture here alone, all of them would die here, even if there were ten of them.
As a result, as soon as this news spread, everyone felt like they had to come and take a look. Last time, they had missed out on how the crawling general had piled several hundred thousand corpses of demonfolk on the drilling grounds as a gamble with Li Liehuo, which many people regretted.
Particularly with the drilling grounds nearby, the people in the ring were still competing when the spectators had all vanished already. To the side of the drilling grounds, the colonel and the lieutenants had all disappeared as well.
The two people in the ring glanced at each other and decided to strike up a truce. “Brother, let’s go and take a look as well! There’s no colonel here to preside over the match, so even if we fight, it’s for nothing.”
“Sure, brother! Please!”
“Why don’t you head down first?”
“Why should I head down first?”
The shouts and cries grew louder and louder. “Alright, we’ll head down together.”
“Alright! One, two, three.”
On the turret by the drilling grounds, the overseeing colonel became absolutely flustered as he saw how everything got more and more out of hand. Every minute felt like an eternity. Finally, the lieutenant reported back. He asked in a hurry, “What did the first senior brother say?”
“The first senior brother said to let him fight!”
“What about the first senior sister? What did she say?”
“First senior sister i- is watching right from her window.” And she seemed to be very happy too.
“What?” The colonel only realised that after a moment of surprise. He gazed in the direction of the Xuanwu hall and made out Chao Tianjiao’s vague figure. He clasped his hands and bowed in a hurry.
When he looked at the drilling grounds again, the crowd had already swallowed the ring. Li Qingshan stood among thousands of people like a wall, allowing the waves to slam against him while not budging at all. He calmly fended off all incoming opponents.
As he watched the people surge over from all sides and the cries of, “The crawling general is beating up people!” echo through the streets, he found it both exasperating and hilarious, so he just removed his helmet and tossed it away. He called out, “The crawling general is right here! Who dares to face me!?”
The drilling grounds fell silently, and the surges halted as well. The fists and weapons from the soldiers right in front of him paused mid-air. They all looked at one another.
Even if he was the crawling general, he was still a general. His status completely surpassed any regular solder’s.
Li Qingshan sneered. “What, you’re only bold enough to harass regular soldiers, and you become cowards as soon as you face a general?”
Everyone was furious, grinding their teeth angrily. Within the chaotic army, someone called out, “Kill him!”
That set off a chain reaction. Everyone shouted out in reply, and they swarmed towards him like a rockslide.
“Kill him!”
Courage was the soul of the army and honour was the spirit. They could be sent to their deaths, but they could not be labelled as cowards. Earlier, when they refused to act recklessly, it was not because they were afraid of how powerful Li Qingshan was. They were worried about his identity as a general.
The military law was strict, and the divisions in ranks could not be violated without proper reason. However, he had gone too far with that!
The training they had received had never been about how to run away from danger, but how to fight to the death without retreating, using their own bodies to encircle Demon Kings and Demon Emperors to create an opportunity for their superiors. There had even been Demon Sovereigns that perished at the hands of low-level soldiers before, even though it was at the cost of losing their own Human Sovereign and basically being annihilated.
Let alone the fact that Li Qingshan was only a Yin Soul cultivator, they were bold enough to put up a fight even if it was a Human Sovereign or Demon Sovereign.
Li Qingshan felt his pressure suddenly increase, which made his expression change slightly.
This intense resolve. Is this the war in the six realms of saṃsāra?
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And most of them were not equipped with armour or weapons, nor did they have any superiors to organise the formations and army banners or war drums to gather their army qi.
If they were clad in armour with weapons, assembling military formations and gathering army qi, just how mighty would they be? He could not help but develop a little more respect for these regular soldiers.
And the true battlefield was located at the boundary of the two worlds. Cultivators would be heavily affected, so there was nothing strange about dying to their hands.
When I join the battlefield in the future, I definitely cannot be careless!
With their momentum established, every single soldier felt fearless as their strength multiplied, charging towards Li Qingshan without any regard. The ones at the front threw themselves over, and the ones at the back followed closely, without any fear of death. The fresh troops from other drilling grounds arrived in an endless flow too, such that they gradually reached within five steps of Li Qingshan.
Originally, each battalion had a system of their own. In particular, the Scorching Fire armies and Xuanwu armies were completely different, constantly competing against one another. Now that they heard their opponent was the crawling general Li Qingshan and he had said such angering things as well, they actually just disregarded the system and began working together.
Chao Tianjiao smiled gently. “The unity of Black Cloud city will be completely up to you.”
“Colonel, how bold of you!”
“Hmph, does that bastard really think he’s unstoppable?”
The overseeing colonel crouched in one corner of the drilling grounds as his lieutenants crowded around him, all expressing their admiration. The first shout that had rallied everyone had come from him. In order to avoid Li Qingshan bearing grudges against him, he had specially made a tactical transfer here.
He guessed what the two captains were thinking, in particular, what the first senior brother Li Liehuo was thinking, as he belonged to the Scorching Fire army. The captain must have hated Li Qingshan to the bones, and he would definitely want to teach this bastard a lesson. As such, this could no longer be regarded as ganging up on a general anymore.
“He actually wants to hold off an army alone? Sure enough, he hasn’t witnessed the battlefield before.”
“It’s a pity that we’re unprepared and we can’t form military formations, or we’ll give him more trouble than he bargained for.”
The overseeing colonel struck the ground and stood up. “Fuck him. Go contact the five-man squad leaders, the ten-man squad leaders, and the squadron leaders. Get them to assemble the formations! If we don’t show him some of our power today, he won’t even know what military might is! He walked over this time, so I’ll make him crawl back again!”
“Yes, sir!” The lieutenants accepted the order.
In just a short while, the soldiers began assembling the most rudimentary military formation. They were no longer in a state of chaotic disunity anymore.
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From above, it was possible to see various groups take shape. Groups of five formed five-man squads, groups of ten formed ten-man squads, eventually establishing hundred-men squadrons. They were like individual cells, rapidly assembling into muscles and bones until they turned into a colossal beast of war.
As soon as the military formation took shape, the army qi began to condense rapidly.
The pressure that Li Qingshan was under grew heavier and heavier. There were many soldiers before, but only so many could squeeze in front of him. No matter how furious and hurried the people behind them were, they could only watch.
It was different now. The people squeezed in front of him had lessened instead. They had pulled away from him, coordinating and supporting one another. If that was all, then so be it, but when the rolling army qi gathered on them, they were no longer fighting alone. The army was with them.
On the other hand, the air seemed to grow thick for Li Qingshan, such that his movements became sluggish. Although he could still send them flying one by one, the effort it took had increased by more than ten fold. Gradually, he could not just whirl his arms and legs anymore.
Within the deafening war cry, the army pressed closer to Li Qingshan, four steps, three steps, two steps, one step…
“Press down on him!”
The soldiers lunged over. Some grabbed his legs, some clung onto his waist, while others gripped his arms. Immediately, they formed a small mountain, crushing Li Qingshan firmly down below.
“We’ve won!” The soldiers cheered. Laughter rang out from within the small mountain.
“Interesting. How interesting!”
