Chapter 1449: Falling into Formation
The laughter was extremely elated. Buried within the crowd, it instead ignited Li Qingshan’s battle spirit. He felt his weakness vanish slightly. Hehe, others recover by resting. I recover by fighting!
“Hah!” With an explosive bellow, Li Qingshan raised his arms, and the pile of people collapsed.
“Ahh!” Several hundred soldiers were sent flying, such that only Li Qingshan was left on the ring again.
His black hair drifted through the snowy winds as he smiled flagrantly, giving off a sense of childish stubbornness at the same time. His eyes shone as he glanced down the ring in interest. If earlier was only venting in the heat of the moment, then now was as if he had just found an interesting toy.
Thump! Thump! Thump! Thump! The soldiers all fell on the ground. Everyone was shocked. They never expected him to be so powerful.
There were far more than several hundred people weighing on Li Qingshan earlier. There was the army qi condensed by the entire army, which he destroyed with ease. The morale of the army immediately wavered.
Someone called out, “Don’t panic! He’s just one person!”
Li Qingshan followed the voice and looked over. He immediately recognised him to be the overseeing colonel from earlier.
They truly were an experienced army of elites. Their morale stabilised very soon, and the army qi condensed together once more. Twenty to thirty thousand people had already gathered on this tiny drilling ground. The surrounding barracks, streets, walls, and trees were all filled with people too. There were almost a hundred thousand people there, constantly providing fresh troops.
“Very good! I can have a little more fun like this!” Li Qingshan licked his lips and smiled. “Just one person?”
With a flash, black figures layered together, all turning into Li Qingshan. They were his thought clones, amounting to over a hundred.
The clones either advanced or retreated, remaining by Li Qingshan’s side. In the blink of an eye, they established a military formation.
“Military formations? I know them too!”
Li Qingshan had done a lot of homework, and military formations happened to be a part of it. They were not some secret either. Military formations were clexible, but they still came nowhere close to the complexity of regular formations. It placed emphasis on the training and various forms of coordination between the soldiers. The better trained they were and the better they coordinated together, the more stabilised their morale would be and the more consolidated their army qi would be.
And what could coordinate better than clones?
As the military formation took shape, it was only assembled from a hundred people, yet it seemed like an entire army, confronting the soldiers.
Chao Tianjiao raised her eyebrows slightly. “A clone formation!”
This move was not an original creation by Li Qingshan. Any cultivator who was skilled with clone techniques would consider how to organise weaker clones against a powerful enemy. Clone formations were the simplest and most convenient choice.
However, these cultivators would always discover in the very end that while this move seemed very powerful, there were actually many limitations.
First of all, the number of clones was limited, so the scale of the military formation they could establish was limited as well. It would take tremendous energy and power to control and maintain them, so perhaps they were better off casting some other technique.
Secondly, it was not suited for individual clashes. Military formations were powerful, but they moved slowly and had a limited range of attack. Unless it was a direct confrontation, the enemy only needed to keep their distance and the military formation would collapse by itself. Even using it to defend would only provide temporary relief and make things worse later on.
As a result, this move was not too common, but it was extremely suited for Li Qingshan right now. He ordered, “Charge!” Finally, he had experienced how it felt to be a great general. As the commander, he charged in the front, rushing into the army of thousands with his group of a hundred.
Immediately, like he was unstoppable, countless opponents were thrown into the air with surprised cries wherever he reached.
Like a sharp plough digging through the ground deeply, the loose, opposing military formation was unable to stop his charge at all. Most importantly, they had no commander. Their strongest member was only the colonel, whose strength came nowhere close to his.
In other words, they did not have a general unifying them. The general served as the courage of the army. Without a general watching over the army, they were like a wild beast without any claws or teeth. No matter how large they were, the power they could unleash was extremely limited.
Before the overseeing colonel could even return to his senses, Li Qingshan had arrived before him, directly trampling over him. He lay on the ground on his last breath, covered with footprints.
Chao Tianjiao watched as Li Qingshan rampaged through the drilling ground as she sighed inside. If this were a battlefield, this would have devolved into a one-sided slaughter already. There are many reasons why they’re weaker, such as the lack of a main commander and the absence of armour and weapons, but this kid clearly hasn’t been using his full strength either. He’s in a weakened state too.”
With his robust physique and that wondrous Yin Soul, he can both confront enemies directly and launch sneak attacks. If it weren’t for all his feuds, he’d definitely be a great support. He will definitely make great contributions in future battles. As long as he does not die along the way, what’s so difficult about becoming a direct disciple?
When she thought about the duel they had agreed on in thirty years’ time, she smiled gently. “Kid, even I want to nip you in the bud!”
Of course, that was only a joke. Neither she nor Li Liehuo possessed an objective like that. Suppressing their juniors to maintain their own status was an extreme form of foolishness and weakness. It would only wear down their own will powers.
They all advanced with absolute confidence. Even if they wanted to kill Li Qingshan, it was only for revenge, or purely for the sake of venting, not because of a despicable motivation like that.
“Though, I can’t let him continue like this, or their morale will be crushed.”
Chao Tianjiao was just about to interfere when she saw a monk rush over to the drilling grounds. He announced loudly, “Under the Upraised Light abbot’s orders, general Li Qingshan is invited to visit the Pure Land temple!”
His voice boomed loudly. All of the soldiers shuddered as a result, both surprised and overjoyed. “The abbot is awake!?”
Li Qingshan shivered inside as well. He was still shaken from his recent experience in the Pure Land temple.
On top of that, the monk who had come was the same warrior monk who tried to block his path that day. He said Li Qingshan was “invited”, but his face was filled with anger. He had been repelled by Li Qingshan by a single statement, which he viewed as a great humiliation.
If it were not for the Upraised Light abbot’s orders, perhaps he would want to challenge Li Qingshan right now and settle things for good.
Li Qingshan dispersed his clones and leapt down. He asked with a smile, “So it’s you! What’s the Upraised Light abbot calling me over for again?”
“Don’t know!” the protector monk said coldly.
“Anyway, it can’t be anything good!” Li Qingshan shrugged.
“What did you say? Say that again!” The protector monk was furious.
“Anyway, it can’t be anything good. There, I said it again. If you’re so capable, come and beat me up!”
The protector monk clenched his fist that was the size of a bowl as his muscles rippled and bulged with veins. However, the Upraised Light monk had specially instructed him to not fight before he had come, so he suppressed his anger and bellowed, “Are you coming or not?”
“I am. Why wouldn’t I go?”
Li Qingshan felt his strength recover a little. Perhaps he could avoid him this time, but it was not like he could avoid him forever. They resided in the same city, so was he supposed to avoid him at all costs? The monk definitely suffered wounds worse than him anyway, so he probably could not do anything to him any time soon.
And he was already prepared this time. A Skull Prayer Bead was hidden in his clothes. Xiao An had forced him to take it along with him. He would not just endure a palm strike for nothing this time either.
Leaving behind an entire drilling ground full of injured soldiers, Li Qingshan left calmly under the gazes of a hundred thousand soldiers. He arrived at the Pure Land temple again.
