Chapter 172: Shells Surround My Body

(172 and 173 have been merged.)

A meeting of officers at the regiment level and above was convened.

There was silence.

"The 110th Division had a very bad point."

Xu Jianian did not hide his disdain at all: "Luo Xian and these people, upon discovering that they couldn't solve the opponent, should have immediately summoned friendly artillery, instead of waiting until people were about to die out before calling for help."

"What use would that have?"

"It's not allowed."

Someone frowned.

"There were nearly ten thousand classmates there; under the coverage bombardment of the artillery group, the enemy would at most suffer casualties of a few Foundation Establishment cultivators, consuming some magic power, but they... would all die, die at the hands of their own people."

Coverage bombardment could not solve Foundation Establishment realm opponents.

This was not the casualties of a few dozen people, but a massacre of nearly ten thousand people, dying in a massacre by their own people.

Xu Jianian really dared to say it.

"Historically, when facing racial wars, this is how it was done!"

Xu Jianian sneered: "Anyway, they were bound to die; what's the difference between dying at the hands of the artillery group and the hands of the immortal cultivators?"

"This is too..."

Someone showed displeasure.

Someone seemed moved.

"This is the most efficient approach; let's vote."

Xu Jianian couldn't be bothered to say more.

The voting weight of officers at various levels was different; the Army Group General had twenty votes, the lowest-level regiment-level officers had only one vote, and brigade-level officers had three votes.

"No."

Jiang Ding cast a dissenting vote.

If it were truly a matter of life and death, this would be nothing, but doing so in normal times would be too harmful, causing a devastating blow to the army's morale.

Simulation tests were fine.

If it were a real war, people were not machines; knowing that they could die at the hands of friendly artillery at any time, no matter how iron-willed the army was, it would collapse at the first touch.

What was even more terrifying was that people all had selfish motives.

Once such a large operational space was given, it meant that the lives of a group of citizens were manipulated in the hands of those in power, and could be deprived at any time for reasons like 'emergency situation' or 'tactical efficiency maximization'.

If life could not be completely controlled, how could one guarantee that the foul customs of old-era armies, such as personal attachment and drinking soldiers' blood, would not appear?

"Voting in progress."

"50.3%."

"Combat plan vote passed."

Unfortunately, even though huge dissenting opinions appeared, this plan still exceeded fifty percent.

The timing of war was fleeting; it was impossible for the enemy to pause and let you vote repeatedly; exceeding fifty percent was already enough to become an actual military action plan to be executed.

"Army Group Order: Once encountering an irresistible enemy, military commanders have the right and must lock onto the enemy's coordinates before the main force is annihilated, and summon the artillery group for bombardment."

Jiang Ding passed by the edge of the battlefield silently.

He paused slightly beside the broken zombie of a six- or seven-year-old child wearing a Nine-Dragon Golden Robe and a Nine-Tassel Crown, took a look at the broken limbs and arms of the Golden-Armored General zombies around, and left quickly.

"This is the separation between immortal and mortal... even the emperor is an ant in the eyes of immortal cultivators."

"I'm afraid that when refining, they just find a capital city, absorb people into a large spirit beast bag, and that's it; soul and body are both used and refined conveniently."

He quickened his pace, rapidly approaching Xu Jianian.

He did not like this person, but he truly had real ability, a Tier 2 War Strategist, far exceeding others, and it concerned the outcome of the battlefield; he couldn't let him die just from being ambushed by someone casually.

"112th Division encountered an attack..."

"9th Division encountered an attack..."

"24th Division encountered an attack..."

In just over forty minutes of travel, battle reports came one after another, distributed across a battlefield of nearly a hundred kilometers; a total of seven divisions were attacked simultaneously, each facing dozens of Foundation Establishment cultivators.

"This..."

"The examiner wouldn't be someone who can't stand to see others doing well, setting questions randomly, right?"

Jiang Ding's expression changed.

Just the Eastern Group Army had at least three hundred Foundation Establishment cultivators; this was just the number that had arrived in this area in a short time through flight and teleportation formations, and it wasn't necessarily all of them.

If all four directions were counted, that would be at least over twelve hundred Profound Martial Heaven Palace Foundation Establishment cultivators stationed in the Western Desert!

Was the Profound Martial Heaven Palace's troop strength so abundant?

If it were true, how did the Immortal Sect hold on in the frontal battlefield outside the realm?

"Examiner! What is your child's name?"

"Don't let me know!"

Not just him, almost all the officers of the Eastern Group Army cursed out loud after receiving the battle reports, not afraid of offending anyone.

"Haha!"

Yellow-Haired True Lord watched with great amusement.

"The little guys are very energetic!"

"The fact is indeed like this."

Dinghai True Lord Zhang Zhen's expression was calm: "Over these years, as we have received and excavated the heritage of the Great Sun Sword Pavilion and come into contact with various sects, we have gradually discovered that compared to the Immortal Sect, there are more common points and more similar civilization forms among the nine great Immortal Sects."

"Theoretically speaking, they are more likely to appear united."

"Once this situation appears, they will miss today's battlefield."

"Of course, the probability is extremely small; contradictions are layered among the Immortal Sects, some even lasting for over a hundred thousand years, and which Void Refinement cultivator doesn't want to annex other sects, gather resources to advance to the next realm? I don't know how many Immortal Sect wars have broken out, and the blood feud between the two sides can be called a sea of blood."

The battle between immortal cultivators was really too fast!

In a short time, the battle results had already appeared.

Discovery, casualties, evacuation!

The entire process added up to at most seven breaths of time, regardless of the result.

After years of war training, the Profound Martial Heaven Palace cultivators were seasoned to an incredible degree.

"The 9th Division encountered the big-eared youth suspected to be a core true disciple of the Profound Martial Heaven Palace again, the entire army was annihilated; upon confirming that it was irredeemable, its division commander summoned the artillery group for bombardment, achieving a total result of eleven enemy Foundation Establishment cultivators."

Jiang Ding's heart shook, and he quickened his pace again, flipping through the battle records.

The familiar torrent of zombies and ghosts appeared above the tank armored army, the sound of shelling, the heavy machine gun sound 'da da da' rang out, and the smell of gunsmoke permeated the battlefield.

That big-eared youth appeared again!

He successfully broke into the two-kilometer range again, and accurately locked onto the position of the 9th Division commander; with a single thought, a power suspected to be gravity appeared, and over a hundred Qi Condensation cultivators including the 9th Division commander had their heads collapse to the size of a fist, broken bones and blood foam flying everywhere.

The moment he made his move, other Foundation Establishment cultivators who were fully concealing themselves in all directions also moved.

They maintained basic optical invisibility spells, burst out with terrifying speed, broke into the two-kilometer range of the division headquarters, and each used spells against an area of Immortal Sect Qi Condensation cultivators; with a single strike from any Foundation Establishment cultivator, dozens of Qi Condensation cultivators died.

"Fire!"

The 9th Division commander roared, simultaneously summoning friendly artillery groups for coverage bombardment.

All other Immortal Sect Qi Condensation cultivators who locked onto the enemy with spirit radars also made similar movements.

Swish swish swish!

Within a few breaths, ten thousand white trails came miserably from the horizon, among which over two thousand armor-piercing shells were exceptionally agile, each tracking and searching for enemies, flying toward one clear target after another.

The 8th Division had already entered the thirty-kilometer interference distance!

The Profound Martial Heaven Palace cultivators' expressions changed immediately, and they no longer cared about anything, fleeing crazily in the direction away from the 11th Division, earth-escaping, wood-escaping, invisibility, etc., and soon disappeared without a trace.

Leaving behind eleven corpses of Foundation Establishment cultivators.

Nearly ten thousand Immortal Sect warriors and Qi Condensation cultivators died instantly under the coverage bombardment of over ten thousand shells, ninety-nine percent of them.

The situation of the other six divisions was not so serious; without encountering the peak Foundation Establishment core true disciples of the Profound Martial Heaven Palace, they fought back and forth with the incoming Foundation Establishment cultivators, and all seemed to have suffered heavy casualties.

"The results were not that great at all."

"Immortal Sect citizens should not have sacrificed so easily."

Jiang Ding watched carefully as nearly ten thousand classmates died in the instant of artillery coverage, his brows furrowing even deeper.

"The Profound Martial Heaven Palace cultivators are moving away from the 8th Division's thirty-kilometer interference direction; if it's not a feint, the direction is..." Jiang Ding plotted on the microcomputer, and after a moment, his heart shook.

"The 11th Division!"

"My direction!"

Jiang Ding held his breath, his flying sword vibrated, sword intent low-hummed, fully driving the reconnaissance camouflage to converge all his life aura, waiting quietly.

Over ten minutes later.

The first quiet figure entered the thousand-meter sword intent sensing range.

The destruction sword intent was low-humming.

In his spiritual sense, he outlined the image of a man with dark skin and an eagle nose, wearing an earthy-brown Daoist robe.

His forward speed was not fast, slower than the full-burst speed of a Primordial warrior, and compared to the speed of a Foundation Establishment cultivator, it was simply crawling.

He was also extremely careful and cautious, even if he encountered a blade of grass the size of a hair, he had to carefully detour, not daring to disturb it in the slightest.

He was like a moving withered stone, his aura weak to an incredible degree.

Without the occurrence of spell fluctuations, even a Tier 2 Infantry Spirit Radar could not discover them from several kilometers away.

Many ghost-killing or hidden-stabbing assassins in the immortal cultivation world were not even worthy of carrying the shoes of these Profound Martial Heaven Palace cultivators.

One breath, two breaths... six breaths, no one else passed through the thousand-meter range.

From beginning to end, it was just the dark-skinned eagle-nosed man, and he was about to exit the thousand-meter sword intent sensing range.

"Such army formation width..."

Jiang Ding's expression was ugly.

The spiritual sense of a Foundation Establishment cultivator ranged from one thousand to two thousand meters depending on their cultivation level; if mutual support was not considered, an interval of five or six kilometers was possible!

With such battlefield width, and such mobility, defense, and concealment ability of Foundation Establishment cultivators, how could one lock and bombard them?

"Eastern Group Army Chief of Staff - An Siyan led the 112th Division to join the 111th Division; the artillery accuracy and response speed within a thirty-kilometer radius have been significantly enhanced."

"Copy to officers at all levels nearby."

Jiang Ding's heart shook.

He remembered that quiet woman wearing glasses, whose three jade slip magic treasure embryos were all used to enhance computing power, and whose combat power was very weak compared to other Immortal Sect geniuses.

Connected to her communication channel.

"Great Sun Sword Child? What's the matter? I need to join Xu Jianian as soon as possible to assist his command."

An Siyan's puzzled voice came through.

Jiang Ding's expression darkened.

However, he understood a little; this person's combat professional direction was staff expertise, and she also had not-weak combat command ability.

"If I face a Profound Martial Heaven Palace cultivator head-on, can you protect me?"

"Are you crazy?!"

An Siyan was somewhat incredulous:

"We Immortal Sect cultivators don't fight like this."

"Can your armored command vehicle discover the opponent? There is a Profound Martial Heaven Palace Foundation Establishment mid-stage cultivator within my thousand-meter range; this is within your thirty-kilometer reconnaissance range."

Jiang Ding said faintly.

"My reconnaissance distance is fifty kilometers."

"No... discovery."

An Siyan's voice was somewhat hesitant: "I understand what you mean, but I have never done this kind of thing; there are no Immortal Sect cultivators like you..."

"How about the theory?"

"Theoretically it's possible, as long as you can instantly return the attack node and coordinates, the shells cruising in the sky can achieve real-time response, but theory..."

"That's good."

"Remember, whoever dares to use howitzers, I will kill them."

Jiang Ding's reaction was indifferent, and he undid his reconnaissance camouflage.

During combat, the concealment ability of reconnaissance camouflage would drop sharply; it could deceive Qi Condensation cultivators, but it was meaningless under the spiritual sense of Foundation Establishment cultivators.

"This is?"

The eagle-nosed Foundation Establishment cultivator who was carefully lurking felt his body shake, and he looked back suddenly, looking at the blue-clothed youth who had suddenly appeared within his spiritual sense range.

"Eastern Pole Dongji Dongji Mo Men cultivator... Mortal?!!!"

He even rubbed his eyes.

The reaction was instinctive; under the control of his spiritual sense, the spiritual energy of heaven and earth fluctuated, and an earth spike condensed, shooting toward the head of this mortal.

Out of respect, this earth spike possessed the power of a Qi Condensation peak, and he condensed all his remaining magic power to guard against possible sneak attacks.

Swish!

A streak of azure sword light emerged, silently cutting off the earth spike, turning into a miserable sword light and slashing toward the eagle-nosed Daoist, the intent of destruction appearing and disappearing.

"Sword intent!"

"You Taiyin Qingse Jianzong and Eastern Pole Dongji Dongji Mo Men have colluded together?!"

The eagle-nosed Daoist was horrified.

Taiyin Qingse Jianzong, a sword Dao sect that rose after the destruction of the Great Sun Sword Pavilion, was rumored to have varying degrees of friendship with the eight great Immortal Sects.

While speaking, the sword had already slashed down, an earthy-yellow jade bead blocked in front of the flying sword, under one sword the protective shield wavered, and the spiritual sense brand refined deep in the earthy-yellow jade bead felt a burst of stinging pain.

But in the end, it was blocked.

Foundation Establishment mid-stage cultivator, the tier suppression was too huge.

"No matter what weirdness there is, you are ultimately still just..."

The eagle-nosed Daoist's tone was cold, a yellow earth small seal was thrown out by him, growing to seventeen or eighteen meters high in the wind, falling toward the mortal in the distance.

Swish swish swish!

In the sky, white trails appeared just right, the timing precise to an incredible degree, over twenty armor-piercing shells hit the earthy-yellow large seal simultaneously, breaking its thick mountain body in an instant, the spiritual light collapsed, and a dim small seal fell to the ground.

"Not good!"

The magic treasure was broken, the eagle-nosed Daoist's expression changed drastically, he spat out a mouthful of blood, his face pale.

Confronting such a sword cultivator, he almost forgot that he was currently on the battlefield of the Eastern Pole Dongji Dongji Mo Men!

Without hesitation, not even looking at the top-grade magic treasure he had refined for countless years and with countless efforts, the eagle-nosed Daoist's earthy-yellow escape light rolled, merging into the ground, fleeing toward the distance.

Swish!

The azure flying sword followed accurately, piercing into the soil layer, slashing through the Foundation Establishment cultivator's outer protective shield, and was blocked by a top-grade magic treasure shield in the inner layer.

Swish swish swish!

At the same time, dozens of agile armor-piercing shells attached with the Earth-Splitting spell killed their way into the soil layer together.

Boom!

The shells smashed through the protective shield, blew away the top-grade magic treasure, and shot into his body along with the flying sword, blood mist and fragments splashing, and a large bulge appeared on the ground.

"This is too easy!"

Zhou Lingling, An Siyan, and other officers at all levels of the 111th and 112th Divisions were all shaken.

Having a Great Sun Sword Child to lock onto the direction of the enemy for them was simply no different from hitting a fixed target; there was no need for any guessing or prediction, one hundred percent hit rate, no need to worry about losing the enemy's position.

Swish!

The azure flying sword broke through the soil layer, soaring above the blue-clothed youth's head.

Jiang Ding looked around calmly.

In this instant, he sensed the densely packed killing intent around him; they were all Foundation Establishment cultivators hiding nearby, and it was definitely not just a few or a dozen people.

"It seems it really matches?"

Yellow-Haired True Lord also couldn't help but say: "Back then, if there had been a Nascent Soul-level Great Sun Sword Child who could stand in front of us, guide the enemy's tracks, and annihilate high-concealment high-breakthrough type cultivators, I wouldn't have even dreamed of such a good thing."

"This is a Great Sun Sword Child!"

"That person back then was only at the Nascent Soul level, and he could be invincible on the battlefield; just one person, he killed I don't know how many of our Nascent Soul cultivators, and the army group was annihilated one by one under his sword domain, simply unable to stop him."

"After fighting for decades, there were even faint signs of advancing to the Soul Transformation stage."

"If it weren't for the central formation spirit computer successfully locking onto his spiritual sense, and bombarding that area of space continuously with dozens of eighth-generation forbidden nuclear weapons, blowing that space into a chaotic black hole that hadn't healed for thousands of years, that Great Sun Sword Child back then might not have died."

"Once he advanced to Soul Transformation, the war situation might have shifted..."

The killing intent disappeared.

In just an instant, these Foundation Establishment cultivators restrained the trace of aura they had accidentally leaked.

Even if a mortal was provoking them, they didn't make a move again.

"Good!"

"You seniors are indeed all people of mature and steady character."

Jiang Ding praised, no longer waiting on the spot, his whole body's true Qi burst out, skimming across the ground, using sword intent to constantly sense and search for all living creatures with souls around.

The speed of Foundation Establishment cultivators far exceeded mortals, but after maintaining the highest level of concealment, it was just like that.

In the sky, armor-piercing shells were soaring, occasionally there were shells landing, and a brand new batch appeared rapidly, white trails crisscrossing in the sky, densely packed, the whistling sound endless, death killing intent filled the air.

This was precisely the reason why these Foundation Establishment cultivators were crawling and hiding.

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 173 =====