Chapter 558: Self-Forgetfulness

As Hua Changxi gradually adapted to not controlling, the honing of the ten-man formation went even more smoothly than she had expected.

In just a few days, the spiritual power circulation of the ten people was as smooth as an arm moving a finger.

Only then did Duan Jishan start arranging for them to practice the hundred-man formation.

The hundred-man formation and the ten-man formation might seem like just an increase in numbers, but in reality, it was a qualitative leap.

Among ten people, spiritual power could still be perceived by intuition and connected by tacit understanding; but with a hundred people, each person's spiritual power was just a weak stream, and once it flowed into the formation, it became a drop of water in a mighty torrent.

Hua Changxi deliberately suppressed her inner desire for control, forcing herself to sense the flow of the nine hundred and ninety-nine others' auras, her footsteps trying to keep up with the rhythm, and her spiritual power struggling to merge into the formation's flow.

And then—

She found that she had "disappeared."

Not a physical disappearance, but her sense of presence had been diluted.

In the ten-man formation, even if she didn't control, she was still a clear individual, an indispensable link in the formation; but in the hundred-man formation, her bit of spiritual power was like a drop of ink falling into the sea, not even causing a ripple.

She couldn't find herself.

More accurately, she didn't know how to anchor herself in this vast ocean of spiritual power.

The panic returned!

"Bang~"

The muffled sound of spiritual power clashing rang out again.

Hua Changxi was thrown out by the formation's inertia, stumbling back a few steps before stabilizing her figure.

She didn't immediately stand back in, but stood where she was, looking at that crimson formation, her thoughts heavy.

In the ten-man formation, she had learned to let go of control and let spiritual power flow naturally; but in the hundred-man formation, after letting go, she didn't know where to put herself.

Duan Jishan walked over, looking at her with a calm gaze: "What is the problem this time?"

Hua Changxi was silent for a moment and spoke slowly: "I seem to... not be able to find myself."

The strange feeling that had lingered in her heart when practicing the hundred-man formation in the Flame Mountain was this.

There was the panic of not being able to find herself, but also the peace of water returning to the sea.

Very contradictory, very strange.

Duan Jishan thought for a moment and said: "You have always existed; there is no need to look for it specifically. You have already merged with others; others are you, and you are others."

Hua Changxi nodded and turned to walk back into the formation.

This time, she didn't control, didn't guide, and didn't deliberately look for herself.

But the result was the same—she was thrown out.

The third time, the fourth time, the fifth time...

Spiritual power surged and flowed in the formation, and she was like a fallen leaf, wrapped in the rotation and tossing, but could never merge into that torrent.

Ye Liyue, Yan Guichen, and a group of thousand-man and hundred-man commanders stood in the formation, watching Hua Changxi, who was thrown out and walked back silently time and time again, all waiting in silence.

They knew this wasn't a problem of strength, nor a problem of attitude.

This was another kind of predicament.

This kind of predicament was something they had all experienced before.

The ten-man formation required learning to let go; the hundred-man formation, on the basis of letting go, required reaching a balance of "neither losing the self nor refusing to become a part of the whole."

This required constant practice.

Hua Changxi stood outside the formation, looking at the crimson, and suddenly realized one thing—

All her previous training pointed to "the problem of how she acts as herself"; but the military formation practice pointed to "how to act as oneself among a group of people."

The gap between the two was like a chasm.

"Alright, that's it for today."

"From now on, your group's formation drills will all be arranged at night."

The ninety-nine people Duan Jishan arranged to accompany Hua Changxi in training were basically thousand-man and hundred-man commanders; they all had their own teams to train and couldn't accompany Hua Changxi in practice all the time.

Hua Changxi looked at Ye Liyue and the others, who were grimacing, limping, and supporting each other as they left, and thinking about how they had been thrown out of the formation in various ways during this time, she felt a bit guilty and immediately took out a batch of Soul Power Fruits.

Each fruit was round and plump, its skin flowing with a lustrous sheen, and a rich soul power aura leaked out from the gaps in the skin, condensing into a faint mist in the air.

One for each of the ninety-nine training partners; eat one, and gain a million soul power.

"Thank you all for your hard work these days!"

The crowd was stunned at first.

Immediately after, those who were grimacing just a moment ago no longer had aching waists; those who were rubbing their legs no longer limped; those who were clutching their chests could breathe smoothly.

One by one, their eyes shone, staring tightly at the fruits in their hands.

Yan Guichen even said righteously: "Xiao Hua, you are too polite. The Zhu Que Army is a whole; your business is our business. There is no such thing as hard work; let's continue training tomorrow."

Others echoed: "Exactly, exactly."

After Yan Guichen and the others left, Hua Changxi looked at Duan Jishan and gave him a larger Soul Power Fruit, which could increase soul power by ten million if eaten.

"Handle the affairs of the Martial Arts Hall; in a while, the Hall Master will have a task arranged."

After saying this, Hua Changxi flashed away, ignoring Duan Jishan, who was about to speak but stopped.

For the next month, Hua Changxi refined pills in the main hall during the day and handled some affairs reported by various departments and Nanxiang County; at night, she practiced the hundred-man formation with Ye Liyue and the others.

The more she trained, the more she discovered that in the short term, she simply couldn't cross the psychological hurdle and merge completely with others in the formation.

The hundred-man formation was already this difficult, let alone the subsequent thousand-man and ten-thousand-man formations.

If she really had to wait for her to overcome her psychological obstacles, she didn't know how long it would take.

Therefore, she decided to take Duan Jishan into the Flame Mountain and let him accept the trial to win the token of the Flame Mountain.

Thanks to the near-cruel training experience in the Flame Mountain, after a whole month of day-after-day falls and honing, Hua Changxi finally found a way to merge and truly formed a hundred-man formation with the other ninety-nine people.

With the "letting go" of the ten-man formation and the fusion of the hundred-man formation, she had thought that entering the thousand-man formation would be smoother than in the Flame Mountain, but after being thrown out of the formation more than ten times, she found that her sticking point was still firm.

This time, Hua Changxi did not force herself to continue.

Duan Jishan walked to her side, his gaze cast toward the center of the Martial Arts Plaza, and he pointed out in a deep voice: "Don't be in a hurry to enter the formation."

"Just stand aside and watch how others train."

"To form a thousand-man formation, you must not only engrave the formation shape into your brain without a single error, but also open your body and mind to feel—feel how the aura and spiritual power of a thousand Zhu Que soldiers intertwine, flow, and finally merge into one."

He paused, his tone serious.

"The hundred-man formation is practiced enough; even if you can't achieve complete fusion, relying on the small number of people and high fault tolerance, the formation can barely take shape."

"But when it comes to the thousand-man formation, even if just one person makes a slight, imperceptible mistake, it will trigger a chain reaction, causing the entire formation to collapse instantly."

As soon as he finished speaking, drums sounded on the Martial Arts Plaza.

"Dong~"

Accompanied by the dull and deep war drums, one thousand Zhu Que soldiers moved at the same time.

They advanced and retreated with measure, attacked and defended in sync, their footsteps without a single error, and the formation was seamless.

The battle formation unfolded like a unified crimson torrent, with murderous intent linking and moving between attack and defense.

Not one person advanced or retreated without authorization, not one person disordered the formation, as if this were not a thousand independent individuals, but a single behemoth with thousands of arms.

When the drums stopped abruptly, in an instant, the thousand people retracted their momentum.

Tens of thousands of soldiers stood still in unison, their breathing unified, their auras completely retracted.

This was extreme discipline and absolute unity.

Hua Changxi watched all this, her heart shaken.

At this moment in her eyes, that was no longer a group of Zhu Que soldiers, but a fighting machine precise to the point of suffocation.

Every soldier was like the tightest gear in it, their movements completely synchronized, without a trace of unnecessary swaying.

They clearly knew their positions and responsibilities; they didn't need to think, didn't need to hesitate, they only needed to execute.

Absolute obedience, absolute self-forgetfulness!

Before this, she hadn't paid close attention to the Zhu Que Army's training, but now that she had practiced it herself, she knew how hard the Zhu Que Army's day-after-day, year-after-year strict training was.

Hua Changxi withdrew her gaze from the Martial Arts Plaza and turned to look at Duan Jishan, who was watching the formation with a satisfied face beside her.

She was silent for a moment and asked: "Is there any trick to practicing the thousand-man formation?"

Hearing this, Duan Jishan withdrew his gaze from the field and pondered for a moment before speaking: "For the thousand-man formation, both body and mind must complete a fundamental transformation—from 'small self' to 'great self'."

He paused, his tone deepening.

"And the most critical step in the transformation from 'small self' to 'great self' is 'self-forgetfulness'."

"In this step, the stronger the strength and the more distinct the personality, the harder it is to break through."

Duan Jishan looked at her: "The strong are accustomed to control, accustomed to perceiving, judging, and making decisions with themselves as the center."

"But in the military formation, these are all obstacles; it doesn't ask how strong you are, but whether you can completely hand yourself over."

"Only by achieving 'self-forgetfulness' can there be the fusion of a thousand people."

Hua Changxi's eyes flickered: "Self-forgetfulness..." She couldn't do it!

After a silence, Hua Changxi looked at Duan Jishan: "Have you handed over the affairs on your hands?"

Duan Jishan looked at her and then said "Hmm."

Hua Changxi: "Go to the mountain gate and wait; the Hall Master will go find you in a while." After saying this, she turned and left the Martial Arts Plaza.

Duan Jishan watched her back, his mouth twitched, and after taking out a communication jade and sending a few messages, he went to the mountain gate to wait.