Chapter 514: The Citizen Army Possesses an Army Soul

"Yes, Teacher."

Jiang Ding recalled for a moment.

"You asked if I had the idea of emulating True Person Gu Lin to form the Great Sun Group Army."

"At that time, I said my talent did not lie in this area, that I was somewhat hesitant about these things, afraid of delaying key cultivation, so I hesitated; just as I reached this point, the class ended."

Yuan never dragged the class out.

As soon as the time came, he ended the class decisively and cleanly.

He seemed to have a densely packed schedule for Gong Fa research and deduction; every minute had a specific purpose and was not easily disturbed.

"Hmm, your reasoning makes sense."

"The Dao path must certainly come first."

Yuan thought for a moment and asked, "In your youth, during the innate stage, you comprehended Sword Intent; what do you think of Intent? Sword Intent, Law Intent, and so on."

"Very strong."

Jiang Ding answered without hesitation: "Intent, in my view, is an extremely specialized spiritual sense that provides a powerful amplification to a certain aspect."

"For example, Sword Intent for swords, Law Intent for spells; it can bestow a qualitative change in power."

"Having or lacking Intent creates a huge gap between two cultivators of the same realm."

Jiang Ding recalled the Qingmuxian Sect cultivators he had encountered.

"Qingmuxian Sect has gone very deep in this area; the Five Elements Dao Son's Five Elements Reincarnation True Intent, endlessly generating life, reincarnation undying—even if he cultivates the most basic Gong Fa, it can rival classics."

"Among Qingmuxian Sect's other core disciples and true transmission disciples, many have comprehended Intent."

"In comparison, the Immortal Gate's research in this area is far inferior; we purely rely on warships and military formations to forcibly raise combat power, a bit like the artifact-refining and puppet sects that rely on external objects to dominate the world."

"Of course,"

Jiang Ding smiled, not minding: "These warships were researched and built by ourselves; from the initial materials to the parts to the finished product, it was all so; to call them external objects is merely outsiders' sour jealousy."

"Correct."

Yuan deeply agreed.

"Those Qingmuxian Sect cultivators always talk mystically about the Great Dao, the Dao Heart, relying on nothing external—things that seem profound yet are actually just showing off."

"If we truly discuss it, do we Immortal Gate cultivators not refine our Dao Hearts through day after day of research and exploring the scientific path of cultivation?"

"We do not lack these."

"If we truly speak of external objects, are magical treasures not external objects? Are flying swords not external objects? There is no need to pay attention to such noise."

"Let us return to the matter at hand."

Yuan's voice became more solemn: "You just said that the Immortal Gate's exploration of Intent is somewhat insufficient; this is actually not true. The Immortal Gate also has its own unique achievements in this area."

"Ah?"

Jiang Ding was somewhat bewildered.

In the past hundred-plus years, he had read almost daily on Immortal Dao classics, Gong Fa, spells, sword techniques, array methods, and other knowledge; finishing all the books within the Immortal Gate was unrealistic, but he believed he had some understanding of every direction.

"The Immortal Gate's exploration of Intent lies not in spells and Gong Fa."

Yuan knew his confusion and explained: "Knowledge in this area falls under the military formation command category; due to your talent, you should have overlooked knowledge in this area."

"Military formation command?"

"Yes, a compulsory course for officers in the military formation command category."

Yuan explained: "The Immortal Gate's exploration of Intent is not on the individual level; in terms of the individual, whether in combat, research, or other matters, we are not very skilled."

"We excel at the group level."

"In the exploration and research of Intent, it is the same."

"Our Intent, academically named, is the Immortal Dao specialized phenomenon of the cluster combination of legion will, consciousness, spiritual power, and divine soul."

"A more common name is,"

"Army Soul."

"Army Soul?"

Jiang Ding's heart trembled.

A simple paragraph actually made him smell the scent of blood and fire; vaguely, spanning hundreds or thousands of years, countless citizens sacrificed themselves one after another, rushing to death, and then coalesced into a blood-red flag reaching the sky.

On the battlefield, this blood-red flag, with its majestic will, swept through all heavens and enemies, destroying everything.

"Within the realms, military formations are supreme."

Yuan said slowly.

"Brother Brother Xuanwu Heavenly Palace, Taiyi Taiyi Qingmu, Ten Thousand Beasts Immortal Sect, and others—all these sects have Dao Soldiers."

"What heavenly soldiers and divine generals and heavenly kings sustained by incense offerings, what Taiyi Taiyi Qingmu Dao Soldiers born from ten-thousand-year-old trees reproducing, what desolate blood beast soldiers—these are all extremely powerful; in an era where Void Refining does not appear, they can suppress sects and sweep through regions with weaker Immortal Dao civilization development; even Void Refining great experts might be defeated by them."

"However, the Badaxian Sect cannot deny the Immortal Gate's absolute hegemonic rule over military formations within the realms."

"One very important point is the existence of the Army Soul."

Yuan's voice was calm; he was not emphasizing anything, merely stating a fact.

"What heavenly soldiers and heavenly generals, what Taiyi Taiyi Qingmu, what desolate blood ancient beasts—how can they compare to our legions?"

"Our legions: officers and soldiers engage in production and construction during peacetime, join the army and kill enemies during wartime; we research warships, we lead the Immortal Gate's political development, we set future goals..."

"We are the rulers of the realms."

Yuan said lightly: "Taiyi Taiyi Qingmu Dao Soldiers, formed from ancient trees, hold noble status; heavenly soldiers and heavenly generals enjoy incense offerings, standing high above; desolate blood ancient beasts possess noble bloodlines, naturally standing at the peak of all beasts..."

"Seemingly noble."

"However, they are essentially just servants raised by sects; the core of the ancient tree contains prohibitions existing since the seedling stage, and as the ancient tree grows, the prohibitions spread; heavenly soldiers, heavenly generals, and desolate blood ancient beasts are no different."

"A group of servants who can only show off their power in the lower and middle ranks of sects, whose very lives they cannot control."

"What qualification do they have to compare with us?"

Yuan said calmly.

"A bunch of servants — what kind of spirit could they have to forge a battle soul that unites all hearts, is unyielding and indomitable, bold and inextinguishable?"

"On the open battlefield, our strongest legion could crush the Void Refinement Dao-soldier troops of the Badaxian Sect with overwhelming force, without the slightest effort — wiping them out completely, not a drop remaining, not a divine soul surviving."

Jiang Ding held his breath.

Only at this moment did he catch a glimpse of the once-mighty, sweeping arrogance of this kind-faced old man, who looked like a withered tree.

Recalling those years, it must have been clashing arms and armored steeds, commanding legions, facing alone the Void Refinement great cultivators of the Badaxian Sect, with the legion launching a frontal assault, and ultimately the deterrent of forbidden nuclear weapons — daring to laugh at how the Void Refinement great cultivators of the Badaxian Sect were torn between two minds, each harboring their own schemes, while the cultivators within the sect wavered in their resolve.

"For immortal sects, the strongest thing is the battle formation."

After a long while, Jiang Ding summarized, as if he had understood his meaning.

"Exactly that."

Yuan's once-mighty arrogance faded, and he said helplessly: "All our immortal Dao technology has been invested in it. If you can't make use of it, that would really be a shame."

"Who the future enemies will be, and how many there will be — these are all uncertain matters. Preparations in every aspect must be made as thoroughly as possible."

"Then… what about talent and time? How do we solve those?"

Jiang Ding asked.

"Start with the preliminary preparations first."

Yuan thought for a moment and said: "The establishment of every battle-soul-level legion requires a long time — battle formation design, warship and sky-mothership design, tactics, personnel selection, interfacing with other battle formations and arrays — all of this is work, and it would take at least five."

"Teacher Gu Lin's legion was inherited from the previous generation, with only minor modifications."

"The Ministry of Education's intent is for your current battle formation to be picked back up now, so that by the time you reach the Nascent Soul stage, you can directly form the formation and take part in Soul Transformation-level battlefields."

(End of chapter)