Chapter 302: Guild Welfare, Battle Arrays Debut (Seeking Monthly Tickets)

Li Zheng monitored the entire campaign to contain the Kongdong Peak node from behind the scenes.

In this campaign, he observed numerous shortcomings of the player system under war Cultivation Mode.

The most obvious flaw was that when facing powerful opponents, individual strength failed to twist into a single rope.

This problem was not without solutions.

One could refer to the Nichao Legion.

Every warrior of the Nichao Legion, no matter how weak, could inject power into the collective through the formation array method.

The Monster World possessed countless powerhouses; their strength could move mountains and fill seas, causing heaven to collapse and earth to split with a wave of their hands.

Yet even if the weak exerted their utmost effort to develop, they would still struggle to withstand a wisp of pressure from a Divine Realm powerhouse.

Therefore, many races concentrated their resources on the top tier, developing their strongest few warriors and using their power to expand territory.

However, the Nichao Legion broke this iron law with the Dao of Battle Arrays, creating a war Cultivation Mode where "countless ants can also devour gods."

As Instructor Shi Xiuluo of the Nichao Training Camp said: "Unite the many into one, defy the trend to strike heaven."

The characteristic of the Battle Array system was allowing Nichao Legion warriors to gain cluster strength capable of opposing Demi-gods and even Divine Realm powerhouses by gathering their forces.

It transformed every warrior into a screw within the battle array, coordinating operations during the process so that individual strength became part of the sublimation of collective power.

It could also achieve the effects of shared damage bearing and unified output.

This amplification was not as simple as mere addition.

If the strength of 100 warriors were simply added together, the total strength would only be 100 units.

The battle array model, through coordinated resonance, allowed the gathered strength of 100 warriors to reach 1,000 units or even higher.

Once the battle array was formed, the consciousness of all members blended together, using array patterns as the guide, blood and qi as the bridge, and will as the edge.

The weak were like streams, the strong like rivers; streams within the battle array could borrow the momentum of rivers to surge, while rivers could absorb the might of hundreds of streams.

It truly achieved unity of heart and mind, with sharpness capable of cutting through metal.

When the killing intent, fighting spirit, and beliefs of all warriors were highly unified, a "Legion Soul Phantom" could even condense above the battle array.

While studying this system, Li Zheng had the Guide analyze the source of the battle array system.

He learned that the source of this system came from the "Fire Ant Clan" of the Pale Continent region, a race that had long exited the stage of the Monster World.

The individual strength of this race was extremely weak; a single ant fighting alone could not even pierce the skin of a fierce beast from the outside world.

But when millions formed an array, their interwoven blood and qi released a "Heaven-Burning Fire Net," and their condensed will manifested as the "War God Fire Ant Phantom."

It could spew fire that burned the world, making it difficult even for Demi-god realm powerhouses to resist, easily burning through their surface defenses.

The Nichao Legion used this as a reference, through constant exploration, adjustment, and even testing in actual combat.

They finally developed the Battle Array system.

It allowed individuals to become a driving force within the torrent of war.

The strong created the momentum to advance, while the weak followed the trend to push forward, with forces from all sides "cooperating" to create a destructive force.

This was also the future direction Li Zheng saw for the player legions.

It allowed guilds and groups, through the blessing of the battle array system, to gain the strength to defeat the strong with the weak.

But since they were going to do it, they had to do it best.

Imitating the Nichao Legion was not enough; he sought perfection and transcendence.

With the Guide possessing the ability to analyze all things, he had solutions to many problems the Nichao Legion faced.

At the current stage, the development of the battle array system was still in its infancy, and there were very few battle array templates with perfected settings.

Moreover, it required investing massive amounts of sacrificial power every day.

The performance of the United Warband led by the God King during the containment of Kongdong Peak gave Li Zheng the idea to release this function early.

He felt that perhaps, like the Growth-type Pet System, they could continuously perfect the battle array system through updates that added new content.

Secondly, he considered that the focus of many player guilds was shifting toward the Adventurer Dungeon Cultivation Mode.

He felt it was time to introduce some welfare measures.

The popularity of the Adventurer Dungeons was simple to explain.

Compared to the main world scenarios, the dungeon Cultivation Mode allowed players to acquire strategies through repeated exploration without needing to outwit external forces like the Nian Eba.

Regarding rewards, the random reward setting gave players a sense of anticipation for every dungeon challenge.

Under the influence of multiple factors, the popularity of the Adventurer Dungeons continued to climb.

Li Zheng did not feel that the development model of the Adventurer Dungeons was unfeasible.

As long as it produced tax revenue and improved player strength, players could play however they liked.

What he considered was that a gap already existed between the combat yields of the main world and the output yields of the Adventurer Dungeons.

This was especially true for those groups in the middle tier of the player camp in terms of strength.

The Blue Lamp Clan gave too much, keeping player enthusiasm for dungeons continuously high.

To balance this point, and also to encourage groups to actively contain different domain nodes,

he decided to launch a support welfare measure regarding guild development.

It would ensure that every containment of a territory node brought benefits to the guilds participating in the campaign.

Taking the containment of resource nodes as an example.

After each containment, a portion of the output yield from the resource node could be rewarded to the participating guilds.

This allowed these actively fighting guilds to continue profiting from campaign victories in the future.

Li Zheng already had a clear conception of the specific plan in his mind.

After contacting Jiu Yin and Chao Wei to understand in detail the research progress of the battle array system, he decided to begin preparing for the new function update immediately.

That day, at 3:00 PM.

The Challenger Prompt rang in the minds of all players, and the forum simultaneously released an update post.

[Challenger Prompt (All-Channel Notification): The game is about to undergo a version update; the content is as follows]:

Poster: Guide (Officially Certified)

Update Content One: Guild Rights and Interests

Content Introduction: To encourage players to actively participate in domain node containment actions and strengthen the group combat experience, this update will launch a new Cultivation Mode: Node Yield Permission.

Henceforth, guilds that successfully participate in containing domain nodes will automatically acquire the permanent output yield of that node.

Example: After Guild A participates in containing the "Dark Steel Mining Area" resource node, that guild will permanently enjoy 2% of the mining area node's output yield as continuous dividends.

The specific method is: when a player mines spiritual ore produced by the Dark Steel Mining Area within the Dizhongcun mining district and lists it on the Exchange, for every piece sold, 40% of the transaction fee (5%) will belong to the guild that participated in the containment.

Note: When multiple guilds participate in and successfully contain a resource-type node, the guild percentage rights will be allocated according to campaign contribution (command points, output points, damage taken points, sacrifice points, support points, etc., calculated comprehensively), distributed from the 2% permanent rights.

Update Content Two: Battle Array Cultivation Mode goes online.

Specific Content: Players can go to the newest functional building in Dizhongcun, the "Battle Array Plaza," to learn about related content in detail.

Update Content Three: Battle Array Challenge Event.

Event Duration: 72 hours (Countdown: 71 hours 59 minutes 57 seconds.)

Event Details: After this update concludes, players can participate in a limited-time event through the new functional building "Battle Array Plaza"; players can edit the battle array systems they participate with in the scenario to challenge endless levels, and those who enter the leaderboard when the event ends will receive generous rewards.

(The Battle Array Challenge is divided into three rankings: Ten-Person Battle Array Ranking, Hundred-Person Battle Array Ranking, and Thousand-Person Group Battle Array Ranking.)

After entering the event space, all Soul Soul levels are set to Level 30, with 5 Star Vein Slots, allowing free combination and inlaying of Soul Souls.

Players who reach the top hundred in the number of cleared levels can receive event rewards.

Comment Section:

Whiteboard Limit Counter-kill: Is the Battle Array Cultivation Mode in Update Two similar to the battle arrays of the Nichao Legion? That stuff is way too hard to learn; I've watched the course editing videos on the forum several times, and rehearsed with the brothers in my warband multiple times without success; it's all difficult points. I hope the domestically produced version is a one-click battle array Cultivation Mode, skipping the tedious coordination and the blood-qi entanglement process; I've studied until I'm numb.

Monster World is Really Fun: Does the permanent yield rights for containment mentioned in the update include domain nodes contained previously? Although rewards were already distributed for nodes contained early on, I feel that since this function is being updated, the rights for early contained nodes should be added too (because my guild participated in several early node containment campaigns, *drools*).

Like a Dream, Like an Illusion: Permanent profit rights look satisfying; top-tier guilds like Shentang can lie down and earn yields in the late game. It's just that 2% is a bit low; if a hundred guilds participate in containment together, splitting this 2% is too meager. Fortunately, guilds can be inherited; I fight for the world, then pass the permanent rights to my descendants. However long this game, Monster World, lives, the next generation can enjoy it for that long. This isn't just rights; this is means of production like land in a new era.

Raven: I haven't gone to the new functional building to check yet, but I feel lone-wolf type players won't need this update content at all; neither the battle array system nor the guild permanent rights have even a tiny bit of relation to lone-wolf players.

Knife in the Rainy Night: Actually, the yield from node containment still depends on the efforts of the Miner Party players; the more miners mine, and the more ore they sell on the Exchange, the higher the yield the guilds participating in containment can obtain from it... Also, on a side note, the mining area has been very lively recently, full of newbies from Yongji Binghu; it seems many newbies plan to start by accumulating sacrificial power in the mining area. These players who haven't done physical labor in the real world are actually quite hardworking in the game (*carrying bricks and laughing.jpg*).

The update content sparked heated discussion on the forum.

At the same time, the eastern district of Dizhongcun shook, and a brand-new plaza rose from the ground.

In terms of styling, the plaza's layout followed the Nine Palaces and Eight Trigrams pattern; the ground was paved with black stone slabs, each carved with dark red array patterns, resembling dried bloodstains or burning flames.

In the central array eye stood a ten-zhang tall bronze giant stele, its surface imprinted with golden seal script: "Unite the many into one, defy the trend to strike heaven."

And this sentence was precisely the core of the battle array system.

At the four cardinal directions of the plaza, stone statues of the Azure Dragon, White Tiger, Vermilion Bird, and Black Tortoise guarded the four sides; ghostly fires danced in the statues' eyes, as if they might come alive at any moment.

But veteran players all knew that the appearance of all functional buildings was merely decoration; the key was the content inside the functional buildings.

Just as players were engaging in heated discussion about this,

Hei Ye Jiang Zhi, hearing the update prompt, decisively put down the book in his hands, walked out of the Dizhongcun Library, and headed toward the location of the new functional building.

Updates in the Monster World were always sudden, without any advance notice.

Usually, he needed to return to the village via a "convenient method" for updates.

This time, since he was consulting materials in the Dizhongcun Library, he saved the resurrection cooldown time.

Passing along the resurrection teleportation point, he could see player figures constantly emerging from it.

The teleportation point, which had already been expanded in area multiple times, showed signs of pressure again after the previous round of recruitment, requiring the containment of more domain nodes for expansion as soon as possible.

Otherwise, if millions of players rushed into Dizhongcun simultaneously, the resurrection teleportation point would likely erupt like popping popcorn, with figures surging upward.

The previous person teleported in hadn't even walked out of the resurrection point before being pushed toward the sky by the players continuously emerging afterward.

A few minutes later, Nightfall arrived at the "Battle Formation Square."

Before his feet had even left the flying skateboard, as he entered the functional building scene, a Challenger Prompt rang out in his mind:

[Challenger Prompt: Enter Battle Formation Space? This teleportation consumes 2 points of Sacrificial Power: Yes/No.]

After confirming, an intense sensation of weightlessness washed over him.

In the darkness, he heard the sound of war drums beating, gradually growing clear and loud, the shockwaves making the qi and blood in his body boil.

The darkness before his eyes dispersed, revealing a magnificent training ground.

Beneath him stood a high platform of black stone, its surface carved with patterns of various weapons.

A wild wind whipped sand grains against his Iron Face, carrying the scent of rust mixed with sweat.

Looking around, the entire training ground featured a circular sunken structure, visually estimated to be twice the size of a soccer field.

The ground here was paved with dark red stones smoothed by training, with dark brown, old bloodstains congealed in the cracks.

Eight coiled-dragon bronze pillars stood at the field's edge; the surrounding walls were stuck full of tattered war banners that snapped loudly in the wind, the dark red character "War" on their surfaces seeming as if written in fresh blood.

Directly in front of him were three neatly arranged square formations.

In the foremost first formation stood ten heavy-armored warriors like iron pagodas; they wore pitch-black battle armor from which jagged barbs extended at the joints, resembling Asuras crawling up from hell.

The ghost-Iron Face helmets on their heads were cast in the likeness of evil gods, with ghostly green flames flickering in the hollow eye sockets.

Though unarmed, both fists of each warrior were wrapped in spiked gauntlets, their knuckles protruding like wolf teeth; currently standing still as sculptures, only when they breathed did white mist hiss from the gaps in their faceguards, tearing through the wind.

Extending backward, a hundred-man formation stood like a moving wall of steel.

Their heavy armor was even thicker, with roaring black-armored snake patterns cast upon the shoulder guards; the ghost faces on their visors differed from one another, eyes wide with rage, Sende white fangs stabbing out from between their lips.

At the very rear, a thousand-man formation spread to the limit of his vision, a dense black mass like a demonic army surging from the abyss.

Their armor was covered in blood grooves, their ghost faces uniformly featureless, smooth as mirrors.

A thousand men stood in silence; only the sound of war drums resonated with their heartbeats, emitting a low "thump-thump" noise.

Just then, on the command platform to the side, twelve Kui-ox war drums were beaten by bare-chested warriors.

A figure towering like an iron pagoda stepped out from the drum formation; he lifted his faceguard to reveal a Iron Face carved as if by knife and axe, a jagged scar slanting from his left eye down to his jaw.

He dropped to one knee, clasped his fist toward Nightfall's position, his arm guards clanging loudly, his voice booming like a great bell:

"General, the formation is ready; please inspect the troops!"

Following his low shout, a semi-transparent blood-red light screen interface unfolded before Nightfall's eyes.

"This opening has some interest."

Nightfall chuckled lightly, his gaze focusing on the battle formation combination list before him.

[Battle Formation System]:

Content Introduction: Players can use the training ground warriors to simulate and test the combination and application of battle formations; different formations possess different group buff effects, and additional combination bonuses can be obtained through the Soul Soul characteristics of the players forming the formation.

Main Formation Introduction:

Ten-Man Formation: Asura Assault Formation (Level 1).

Main Formation Introduction: Requires a minimum of ten players to form a formation (maximum 99); all player attributes merge, granting an additional two-fold comprehensive attribute buff.

Price: 100,000 Sacrificial Power.

Hundred-Man Formation: Great Luo Iron Wall (Level 1).

Main Formation Introduction: Requires a minimum of one hundred players to form a formation (maximum 999); all player attributes merge, granting an additional five-fold comprehensive attribute buff.

Price: 300,000 Sacrificial Power.

Thousand-Man Formation: Formless Ghost Black Tide.

Main Formation Introduction: Requires a minimum of one thousand players to form a formation (maximum 9,999); all player attributes merge, granting an additional five-fold comprehensive attribute buff.

Price: 1,000,000 Sacrificial Power.

Ten-Thousand-Man Formation (Unlocked...).

After a brief moment of thought, Nightfall selected the "Ten-Man Formation" as his test target. Immediately, the interface switched, and scaled-down models of the ten black-armored warriors appeared within it, with embeddable Star Vein Slots beneath each warrior's avatar.

Each warrior possessed five Star Vein Slots; on the right was the selectable Soul Soul Library, with all Soul Souls set to Level 30.

At the very bottom was a clickable "Battle Formation Attribute Compendium."

Filled with curiosity, Nightfall touched the option with his consciousness, and immediately, lists of attributes for different combinations floated up on the interface.

Bone-Eroding Blood Poison (Formation Attribute): Level 1.

Requirement: The formation must contain ten Black Armored Snake Soul Souls; the Formation Dharma Image will gain the "Vicious" effect buff, all attacks will carry the Bone-Eroding Blood Poison effect, dealing continuous poison-attribute damage to targets and restricting the life self-healing speed of hit targets (as the number of Black Armored Snake Soul Souls increases, and as the comprehensive level increases, additional characteristic buffs can be obtained).

Blood Fiend Army Breaker (Active): Level 1.

Requirement: Thirst for Blood Soul Soul (x10), Blood Ignition (x7).

Attribute Effect: Continuously releases a destructive air current, dealing continuous storm damage to targets within a 500-meter radius outside the formation; the bleeding damage caused will be absorbed and converted by the "Thirst for Blood" air current, continuously restoring life consumption for members within the friendly formation and greatly increasing the lethality of the Formation Dharma Image.

Rakshasa Wrath Aspect (Active): Level 1.

Requirement: Gang Qi (x10), Ink Flame (x10), Force Brute (x10).

Attribute Effect: On top of the main formation's buffs, gain an additional 1-fold attribute increase, condensing into a Rakshasa Dharma Image.

The Battle Formation Attribute Compendium in the list contained a full 328 entries.

Players forming the formation must activate them through the Soul Souls they have embedded themselves.

In Nightfall's view, the Battle Formation System was like opening a new Battle Formation Star Vein system on top of the existing Star Vein foundation.

But the requirements were higher than for Star Veins.

Players forming the formation could be analogous to "Soul Souls"; the Soul Souls carried by the embedded players must be added together to meet the requirements in the Attribute Compendium to activate the corresponding attribute buffs and special skills.

No matter how one combines them, one must follow the Compendium.

Without additional attribute buffs, a battle formation is like a blank slate; aside from attribute amplification, it has no other effects.

Although the main battle formation has attribute multiplier buffs, the effect is not necessarily better than fighting individually.

After all, a battle formation is like a prison, restricting the actions of all players inside.

In combat, some damage can be avoided by dodging, but under the battle formation system, everyone must collectively take the beating.

From this preliminary understanding, he felt this newly launched system was extremely complex; currently, the mainstream Star Vein combinations only have 10 Soul Soul slots.

But the Battle Formation System starts with 100 Soul Soul slots.

Browsing the Compendium library reveals that the activation requirements for some formation attributes even start at 10,000 identical Soul Souls, plus the need to combine other types of Soul Souls; it is simply a super Star Vein system.

This makes the combination of battle formations even more complex than Star Veins.

Especially those attributes requiring mixed-type combinations.

For example, the "Formless Demon Kingdom" attribute he saw in the Attribute Compendium library.

It requires combining 39 types of Soul Souls, with each type needing over a thousand units.

Therefore, the characteristic of the Battle Formation System is: the more players, the higher the strength.

For every additional player, the formation gains a number of formation slots equal to that player's Star Vein slots.

For instance, if a player possesses 10 Star Vein Slots.

After joining the formation, the formation gains 10 additional slots capable of embedding different types of Soul Souls.

If a formation were constituted by 100,000 players, it could activate all formation attributes in the current Compendium, with no need to worry about how to reasonably utilize the slots.

From this preliminary understanding, he could be certain that the Battle Formation System had only launched part of its content.

Just like growth-type pets receiving irregular updates, the Battle Formation System also has a large amount of content yet to be unlocked.

For example, the Ten-Thousand-Man Formation, the Hundred-Thousand-Man Formation, the Million-Man Formation, and so on.

The number of activatable formation attributes on the Compendium will inevitably increase in the future.

This is a brand-new gameplay style that gradually increases in strength as the player faction develops.

But exactly how effective it is in actual combat remains to be tested.

Facing this kind of complex combination gameplay, Nightfall immediately became interested.

Back in the day, publishing Star Vein combination guides on the forum was also done out of interest.

He began to combine the first set of battle formations according to the attribute requirements on the Compendium.

For the 10 warriors, totaling 50 Star Vein Slots, he first chose the Rakshasa Wrath Aspect attribute, embedding Gang Qi, Ink Flame, and Force Brute Axe Soul Souls into each warrior.

This consumed a total of 30 card slots.

For the remaining 20 card slots, he embedded the "Demon Flames Surging to the Sky" attribute, consuming 18 slots to embed Ink Flame plus Roar Soul Souls.

The extra 2 slots could not combine to form a formation attribute, so he prioritized the Rock Shield Soul Soul, which had higher growth attribute values, to increase attribute numerical strength.

After completing the combination, he touched "Confirm" with his consciousness.

Immediately, the interface dissipated, and a vigorous shout full of vitality exploded beside his ear:

"Obeying the General's order, Asura Formation, activate!"

Looking up, the ten black-armored warriors lined up in front of the high platform suddenly stepped forward.

Among the ten-man squad, the burly figure at the front suddenly raised his right arm, and a Battle Formation Brand appeared in his palm.

As he stomped his foot, the green bricks beneath cracked; a complex crimson-gold spiritual diagram emerged from underfoot and spread outward.

Rapidly interlacing spiritual runes formed the Asura Battle Formation diagram on the ground; with the center as the node, the outer circle was divided into 7 layers, totaling 98 star positions (a minimum of 10 people can form the formation).

"Form up!"

The other nine black-armored warriors surged forward, their iron boots precisely stepping onto the star positions of the innermost circle of the formation.

With each person landing, a pillar of blood flame ignited at the corresponding star position.

When the last warrior took his position, the entire formation diagram suddenly rotated and floated three inches into the air; nine blood lines shot out from the star positions, linking the ten men into a jagged Asura constellation.

After the formation activated, the diagram collapsed, turning into points of starlight that floated in the air.

The black-armored warriors' qi and blood resonated within their bodies like a dragon's roar, causing crimson steam to rise from their skin.

This steam wove into a net in the air, reaching a state where qi and blood were interconnected, forcibly synchronizing the heartbeats of all ten.

The battle formation took shape.

Boom!

Ten streams of blood energy shot skyward from the crowns of their heads, tangling mid-air into a crimson hurricane.

The Luo Sha Furious Aspect attribute activated first.

At the center of the spreading qi and blood ripples, an eight-armed Luo Sha phantom slowly rose, enveloping the ten black-armored warriors below.

The moment it fully formed, the Luo Sha phantom threw back its head and roared; the sound waves turned into visible crimson rings that swept across the martial arts arena.

Cracks on the ground continued to spread.

The second battle formation attribute, "Demon Flames Surging to the Sky," activated immediately after.

Ink-black flames erupted from the ten black-armored warriors, coiling around the Luo Sha phantom's surface like living creatures.

Instantly, the crimson Luo Sha phantom was ignited by the ink flames, transforming into a body of ink-fire demon, its attacks now imbued with the power of ink flames.

Once perfectly synchronized, the ten black-armored warriors punched the ground in unison, and the eight arms of the Luo Sha phantom slammed down accordingly.

Thud!

Centered on the battle formation, a violent storm ripple of interwoven ink and crimson expanded outward.

Wherever it passed, the earth shattered; the tattered war banners on the arena walls were instantly ignited, turning to ash in the gale.

"So cool!" Nightfall couldn't help but exclaim.

In this initial combination test, the battle formation's special effects were truly stunning.

But looking good was useless in the Monster World; what mattered most was combat performance during actual battlefield tests.

His consciousness tapped the "Combat Test" option on the interface, selected a low-difficulty ancient battlefield map, and confirmed.

Immediately, a prompt appeared in his mind:

[Combat Test Initiated. Please select test Cultivation Mode: Spectator Cultivation Mode / Captain Cultivation Mode (In Captain Cultivation Mode, you will lead the battle formation squad into combat).]

After a brief moment of thought on how to choose, Nightfall decided to experience it first in Spectator Cultivation Mode.

Once the choice was made, the scene of the martial arts arena twisted and dissolved like fading ink-wash painting.

When his vision cleared again, a biting northern wind carrying the scent of blood hit his Iron Face, while earth-shaking battle cries flooded his ears like a Black Tide.

The ground beneath his feet trembled; looking up, he saw a black, dense enemy array surging forward like a tidal wave.

A charging formation of thirty thousand heavily armored infantry, spears forming a forest that gleamed with cold light in the twilight.

The ground shook under the trampling of the enemy's iron boots, raising dust that blocked out the sun and sky.

In Spectator Cultivation Mode, no control was needed; the ten-person black-armored squad that had entered the combat test scene with him began to act autonomously.

"Enemy attack, form up!"

The squad leader of the battle formation shouted fiercely, raising his hand to summon the battle formation imprint; the ten instantly formed their array.

A crimson-gold spiritual map reappeared beneath their feet, with nine blood lines connecting everyone.

Blood energy shooting from the crowns of their heads intertwined in the air; before the Luo Sha phantom could fully form, the enemy's arrow rain had already arrived.

"Defend!"

The Luo Sha phantom instantly enveloped the ten-person squad; arrows struck the battle formation's dharma aspect, creating a dense sound like rain beating on banana leaves.

The Luo Sha phantom took a step forward, cracking the earth; the crimson phantom instantly transformed into a burning figure wreathed in ink flames.

Enemy spears that stabbed at it melted upon contact.

The falling arrow rain turned to powder.

The dharma aspect punched out, generating an energy shockwave of ink flames, gang qi, and roaring sound.

The heavily armored enemy soldiers in the front ranks didn't even have time to scream before their bodies disintegrated while flying backward.

With a reverse swing, its arm swept across; rows of mounts along with the warriors on their backs were sliced in half at the waist, various severed limbs thrown high into the air, only to be burned to ash mid-flight by the burning ink-flame ripples released by the dharma aspect.

The enemy general roared and charged, raising a giant rune sword to strike down, but the dharma aspect, cooperatively controlled by the ten black-armored warriors, simply slapped it away casually.

The enemy general, sword and all, was smashed into the ground, leaving only a blurred pool of flesh and blood embedded in the cracked earth and stone.

The ten black-armored warriors began advancing in sync, driving the Luo Sha dharma aspect enveloping them forward; wherever they passed, the enemy forces scattered.

When some warriors tried to flee, the dharma aspect opened its mouth and roared; the sound waves, solid as matter, crushed over them, causing the fleeing soldiers to explode into blood mist one after another.

One foot stomped down, making the ground undulate like waves; hundreds of enemy soldiers were shaken into the air, burned to charcoal by the released ink flames before they could even hit the ground.

At the center of the battle formation, the ten black-armored warriors maintained the output of qi and blood energy; the dharma aspect they cooperatively controlled moved like a complete life form, its actions devoid of any stutter.

During the spectator process, Nightfall was also recording relevant information about the dharma aspect.

This was all information needed for the strategy guide post he would publish next.

The battle continued; accompanied by a roar, a giant war elephant clad in black-iron heavy armor crushed the earth as it appeared, charging forward like a moving mountain range.

Three energy ballistae on the elephant's back simultaneously locked onto the ten-person squad in formation, their gunners turning winches to adjust their aim.

The front sections of the ballistae charged rapidly.

Facing the onrushing giant elephant, the Luo Sha dharma aspect controlled by the black-armored warriors slowly raised its hand; a abyss-like giant mouth split open in its palm, where endless ink flames surged and gathered, condensing into a giant fireball.

The cold-colored ink flames seemed to compress the fury of the entire hell within them.

The dharma aspect closed its five fingers; the fireball suddenly collapsed to its extreme limit, then transformed into a black rainbow that pierced through the sky.

Boom!

Upon contact with the compressed ink-flame fireball, the war elephant's thick metal armor melted through as if it were thin paper; the moment the fireball penetrated its cranial cavity, the entire elephant head exploded from the inside out into a sky-filling rain of fire.

Burning bone fragments shot out, piercing their own warriors and leaving blood holes smoking with black fumes.

The headless elephant corpse still charged forward by inertia, then crashed to its knees with a thunderous sound.

Ink flames gushed from its seven orifices; the steel armor melted like wax, revealing a body inside that had already been burned to charcoal.

The three ballista gunners on the elephant's back didn't even have time to escape before the wildly spreading ink flames coiled around their bodies; they had just begun to scream when they were roasted into charcoal.

The ink flames did not extinguish, still burning fiercely across the land; the war elephant's remains were burned into molten iron slurry, slowly seeping into the earth.

The Luo Sha dharma aspect, controlled by the ten-person squad, withdrew its hand and stood still, surrounded by swirling and surging ink flames, resembling a demon god descending upon the world.

The battlefield, originally approached by thirty thousand enemy troops, was now dead silent.

The combat test ended; the battlefield scene twisted and shattered, returning to the martial arts arena.

Data related to this battle surfaced in Nightfall's mind; he recorded all this information in his personal document on the forum.

From this spectator session, it could be seen that the strength of the battle formation system was extremely high.

But the most important point had not yet been revealed.

That was, under the battle formation system, what exactly was the state of connection between the players.

Could every player participate, fighting through cooperative control, or was it dominated by the captain's will, with other players becoming mere charging attachments providing energy?

If it were a battle formation similar to the Ni Chao Legion, all warriors would be parts of the whole, able to participate in control together.

This was also why, in the Ni Chao Training Camp, every warrior needed to constantly train in battle formation modes before graduation, to ensure they would not become a drag on the formation.

But whether the battle formation in the player system was similar to the Ni Chao Legion remained unknown for now.

Filled with curiosity, he next decided to get hands-on himself, participating in the combat test in Captain Cultivation Mode.

(End of Chapter)