Forty Millenniums of Cultivation, page 1549
Li Yao, Long Yangjun, and Li Jialing were all experts in using crystal suits. Naturally, there was not a problem for them to put on the standard crystal suits of the Imperium.
Li Xiaoming and Li Wenwen's situation were trickier, but the two kids boasted the naturally-endowed technique of controlling spiritual puppets. Li Yao had specifically chosen two particularly short and exquisite medical crystal suits for them and modified the crystal suits by stuffing a lot of control units to help the limb movements. Then, the kids were able to keep up with the three of them.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
Before the troops attacked, the cannons of the two parties began to have a dialogue again.
To cover the charge of the infantrymen, the reformists had no time to bother with the weak defense of their cannon positions but revealed all their firing points to compete with the heavy cannons of the Kurfürst families.
The warships in the sky were also descending relentlessly against the stormy anti-air firepower, searching for the heavy cannons of the Kurfürst families.
Even though they could not annihilate the enemy, they still needed to disrupt the roars of the enemy's cannons so that the soldiers on their side could march into the enemy's defense line quickly, turning the battle into an inseparable mess. That way, the tragedies where half a legion was wiped out by a few heavy cannons would be impossible.
During the five minutes, at least ten thousand cannonballs left terrifying arcs in the midair.
The cannonballs were in such high density that many of them even collided into each other in the sky, resulting in colorful fireballs. The blasts spread out to all directions like storms.
The soldiers under the storm of cannonballs, despite the protection of their crystal suits, were still shuddering in fear like ants.
In both the armies of the reformists and that of the Kurfürst families, most of the soldiers and bottom-level officers were low-level Immortal Cultivators in the Refinement Stage at best. So much as one or two cannonballs were to explode next to them, it would be the same as the full-strength strike of an expert in the Core Formation Stage or even the Nascent Soul Stage, which was too much for them.
In better cases, their internal organs were shattered, and their faces bled hard.
In worse cases, their crystal suits were torn apart, and they died the most miserable death.
Some of the least fortunate ones, who were at the landing point of the cannonballs, were directly vaporized without leaving the slightest residue.
Li Yao and Long Yangjun had calculated the trajectories and landing points of most cannonballs with their astonishing computational abilities and avoided all the destructive explosions, but they could barely keep themselves steady in the blasts. Their skin was stinging, and they felt bitterness below their tongue.
Xiaoming and Wenwen followed the adults, both confused and excited. Their eyes that were as clear as water and mirrors absorbed every detail on the hellish battlefield.
The self-brutalization of human beings, the marvelous dance of the broken limbs, the mix of blood and guts, the red mist that had been burnt up by the fierce fire, the screams, the moans, the cries, and the devastating roars… Everything they perceived turned into the special curves in their databases, shaping their souls and making them grow more or less like human beings.
Under the cover of the warships and the heavy cannons, the crystal suit legions of the reformists finally marched into the frontal positions of the coalition army of nobles again.
Tu! Tu! Tu! Tu! Tu! Tu!
The previously silent positions immediately turned into a burning forest. The crossfire outlined complicated mazes of death where countless vigorous lives were lost and obliterated. Their bodies that used to be brimming with hot blood fell like weeds blown by wild winds.
The first wave of troops that marched forward was crushed back, but behind them were the supervising team made of the veterans of the Deep Sea Fleet, who shattered the hope of escape of the defeated soldiers with a firepower a hundred times stronger, forcing them to turn around and march at the swirl of death again.
"The firepower of the coalition army of nobles is too fierce!"
Li Jialing couldn't take it anymore. His body was barely wounded, but his nerves were almost breaking down. He was the first to shout, "The commander on the reformists' side is so useless that he doesn't know any way other than marching forward simply? What can it achieve except for reaping the lives of their own soldiers? What commander has Blackstar the Great chosen?"
"He is not useless. This is just a field training."
Narrowing his eyes, Li Yao analyzed the trajectories of the cannonballs in the midair, the firing point configuration of the defense line of the nobles' army, and the movement of the reformists' troops by his side. With extreme calmness beaming out of his eyes, he said, "Haven't you discovered that the troops of the reformists are mainly the regular legions of the Imperial Guards, mixed with tremendous private troops of the local sects and nobles who have surrendered?
"Except for the few elites, the regular legions of the Imperial Guards are just mobs. The private troops of the local sects and nobles perhaps have some combat abilities, but their cohesion and loyalty cannot be guaranteed. It is impossible to train such troops into best warriors through regular approaches in a year.
"The greatest disadvantage of Blackstar the Great is the lack of soldiers. Other than the Deep Sea Fleet and the Astounding Thunder Fleet, he only has the few elite troops of the Imperial Guards who are capable of fighting. They are barely enough to defend the Empyreal Terminus Sector, let alone occupying countless planets in the vast space.
"How can you harvest most elites in the shortest amount of time? Through the bloody battles like what is going on here!
"The qualities of the bodies of the Imperial Guards are not bad. They belong to the royal family with the surname of Wuying after all. No matter how they are short of training resources, their conditions must be a hundred times better than the ordinary people's. If you command a hundred of them to charge forward, not caring whether they will win or fail, as long as ten of them survive in the end, the survivors will be the fervent elites who will be both crazy and stubborn in the next battle.
"I finally understand why Blackstar the Great is slow to remove the enemy's last base when he has controlled the entire capital. He regards this hellish battlefield as the best training ground and is asking the Kurfürsten's troops to whet the Imperial Guards and wake up their brutalities that have been sealed for five hundred years for him!"
Li Jialing was rather shocked. "A hundred soldiers move forward, and only ten return alive… Is that an acceptable price?"
"Why not? You wouldn't think that Blackstar the Great cares about his descendants whose last name is also Wuying, would you?"
Li Yao said, "I assume that in Wuying Qi's eyes, his offspring are no more valuable than a few sperms. He may even be glad that some of the worthless descendants no longer get to waste his precious resources now!
"A well-trained army is better than a large army. The war against the Kurfürst families' army is going to happen soon. He has to get a well-trained army as quickly as possible. Also, I may have exaggerated just now. The sky and the earth are both under Wuying Qi's control right now. So, he can totally control the intensity of the battle. The casualty rate can't be as high as 90%. It's thirty percent to forty percent at most."
Humans were not machines. At least, the humans of the federation and the Imperium were not. Even the most determined troop had to withdraw from the battle with a casualty rate of twenty to thirty percent.
However, with Wuying Qi's brutality and his commanding arts, it was quite possible that he was really training the troops in such cruel ways.
Li Yao and his team, however, found their journey much trickier. They had to maximize their senses and computational abilities to look for the momentary windows in the impassable fire lines of the nobles' army. Most critically of all, they had to conceal themselves well and prevent the two parties at war from noticing their weirdness. The best they could afford was that they were regarded as lucky dogs who survived disasters again and again.
Otherwise, if both parties in the war aimed at them simultaneously, it would be quite awkward.
The reformists launched several charges but failed to break in. They gained nothing after dropping thousands of bodies that were twisted with their crystal suits.
But it did not mean that they did not have more powerful weapons.
Under the cover of the few consecutive charges, weirdly-shaped crystal tanks were finally shipped to the frontline.
The turrets of the crystal tanks looked like silver pans. What they unleashed was not fatal heat or mystic rays, but soundwaves that entailed strong mental interferences.
"Brothers of the illegitimate Kurfürsten's army, stop fighting for your master who is about to be crushed!
"Just look at the highest peak of the Netherwind Mountain behind you. While you are here fighting like caged beasts, your masters whom you pledge your loyalty to and who swear to bring you away with them, those shameless and heartless nobles, have already left with the wealth of the people that they have exploited during the past hundreds of years!
"They would rather load more Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures on the starships or even bring a few more pets than take you away with them! Please think about it. Is it really worth it to sell your lives for such masters?
"Look! One starship, another starship, a third starship! Every starship is taking away the high and mighty nobles, who can escape back to their nests and continue their extravagant and unaffected lives. But what about you? Are you going to die for the nobles when you have never enjoyed any benefits that the nobles promised?
"Wake up, brothers of the illegitimate Kurfürsten's army, my dearest countrymen, and fellow Cultivators! We believe that most of you are the real Immortal Cultivators and the most loyal patriots of the Imperium of True Human Beings. You were just deceived by the unpardonable nobles!
"The door of the Reform Committee of the Council of Elders is always open to all the Immortal Cultivators and patriots. There's still time to embrace brightness and justice. Your action will be regarded as 'battlefield uprising'. But if you hesitate, your precious lives will really turn into meaningless dust!"
Chapter 2435: Total Collapse |
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
Before the reformists' shouting came to an end, dozens of flying swords had already darted out of the positions of the Kurfürsten's army and shot at the heavy tractors that had been boarded with gigantic broadcast rune arrays.
The blast raised by the flying swords turned into visible helical pillars of air as they rushed close like burning stars.
Thankfully, the tractors all carried sturdy defense systems, which condensed glowing spiritual shields in front of the line in time. The powerful airwaves they unleashed voluntarily minced the flying swords into pieces or deviated them from the course.
In the next second, a hoarse voice echoed from the position of the Kurfürsten's army, too. The man cried like a pig about to be butchered, "Brothers, don't believe the bulls*it of those rebels. As long as we persist for another couple of days, five days at most, the main forces of the four Kurfürsten will certainly arrive in our reinforcement and slay all the worthless rebels!
"Hang in there! Just hang in there! Whoever persists in fighting without retreating for a couple of days—no, for only twenty-four hours, will be rewarded with a hundred kilograms of crystals of the highest quality. Their citizen ranks will also be increased by three levels. Three levels!"
After the shouting of the hoarse voice, the slightly damaged morale of the Kurfürsten's army behind the forest of blades was more or less improved again.
Somebody sneered behind the positions of the reformists. His chuckle spread out across the entire battlefield through the broadcast rune arrays. "What 'Kurfürsten'? They are all traitors who stole the places that they did not deserve. The Reform Committee of the Council of Elders represents the highest authority of the Imperium of True Human Beings. We will never admit any knighthood, military rank, or citizen level granted by the old Council of Elders and the four Kurfürst families. Not just an increment of three levels, even if you are improved by thirty levels, you will lose all your rights and end up as slaves and corpses if you are dogged enough to resist us!"
"Bulls*it! Bulls*it! Bulls*it!"
The hoarse voice burst into fury and roared, "What 'Reform Committee of the Council of Elders'? You are just a bunch of regicidal, hypocritical rats. When the main forces of the four Kurfürsten arrive, all the rebels will be executed with their entire families. We will see who is being dogged and who will turn into slaves and corpses by then!
"Brothers, hold your position. This whole mountain has been armed to the teeth. Behind every rock is a crystal cannon and a firing point on our side. Those rebels are all untrained rookies. They haven't broken in during the past half month, and they will not break in in another half month!
"The reinforcements of the four Kurfürsten are already on the way. The prodigious crystals, the rarely-seen Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures, and the powerful magical equipment—the reinforcements are bringing them to you, as long as you can persist for another twenty-four hours!"
The reformists' soundwave tractors were silent for a while, as if they were rendered speechless by what the commander of the Kurfürsten's army said.
But only three minutes later, another voice that was full of mockery and anger echoed again. While it was not as loud as the previous voice, it was well-oriented and very aggressive. "Song Hongchang, stop your bragging. You are still bulls*itting and trying to deceive more people to die for you when things have gone so far?
"Brothers of the Kurfürsten's army, your commander in this battle area is Song Hongchang, the leader of the 'Furious Tide Sect' and a direct descendant of the Song family, right? Let me tell you, you've all been tricked by him! Very badly!
"My name is Zhao Guanglong. I used to be a family warrior of the Song family and the deputy director of the Furious Tide Sector. Many brothers here probably know me. If you don't, ask those around you, and some of them must've heard of my name before. You'll know that Zhao Guanglong is a real person, not someone invented by the reformists!
"I swear that in the past week, I saw with my own eyes that Song Hongchang pushed the disciples of the Furious Tide Sector, as well as the brothers here, to the frontline to be killed, while he secretly sent his family to the starships to escape from this place. Not just his wife and his sons, even his mistress has been sent away by him!
"Did those people leave emptyhandedly? Of course not! They brought all kinds of crystals, magical equipment, and Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures. Some of them were earned through scams in the past decades, and some were looted by him during the past month when other people were in trouble. The worth of his wealth was astronomical, and his wife, his children, and his mistress brought all of it away without leaving a single crystal for you!
"He claims that the reinforcements of the Kurfürsten will arrive if you persist for a couple of days? Hahahaha. That's bulls*it! There won't be any reinforcements, at least not in the next month! Right now, the four Kurfürsten are busy nominating a 'new emperor'. They are bickering with each other hard. Who cares about you?
"Song Hongchang clearly had crystals and Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures in his pocket, but he refused to award you and lied to you that reinforcements would arrive with tremendous assets in a couple of days? The truth is that he is just deceiving you into persisting for another twenty-four hours because he will find an excuse to slip away in twelve hours at most!
"By then, he will continue his luxury life at the edge of the Imperium with the wealth that he exploited from you. He may continue serving as a noble or a commander under the so-called 'new emperor'. But the poor cannon fodder like you would have been rotten into nothingness by then!
"Brothers, I used to be a family warrior and a trusted subordinate of the Song family, which is why I know all the clandestine things he has done. I could've totally left with Song Hongchang, but it would be too unbrotherly. I would not deserve the brothers here and the real Imperium!
"That's why I abandoned the darkness and joined the reformists, siding with justice and loyalty, to reveal the hideous face of Song Hongchang for you.
"The corrupt scoundrel Song Hongchang is a representative of all the big nobles. Brothers, what are you thinking exactly? Are you really going to die for those insatiable, selfish animals?"
The few words were as powerful as three hundred crystal bombs. The frontline of the Kurfürsten's army was seething, and the morale that had just been condensed collapsed again.
The hoarse voice was panicked and did not reply until after a long daze, "Zhao Guanglong, you traitor, spy, shameless scoundrel! This is shameless slander!
"It was you who intended to escape from this place by slipping on a starship after you stole tremendous military assets if you were not caught by me.
"You kneeled before me and cried hard, claiming that you did a stupid thing in your confusion. Considering that you were a family warrior that had been following me since little, I spared you and hoped that you could correct your mistake by making greater contributions.
"I did not know that you would be so shameless as to join the regicidal rebels during the chaos or to come up with such asinine, flawed lies!
"Brothers, don't be fooled by him. It is absolutely untrue and ungrounded! I swear to live and die with the position. I swear to fight side by side with the brothers here until the end!"
"Is that so? Then, it's simple!"
Zhang Guanglong chuckled on the reformists' side and shrieked, "We'll know if it is true when you let your wife and your sons stand before us! Song Hongchang, your eldest son is 27 years old and an Immortal Cultivator in the Building Foundation Stage. Right now, everybody is fighting fiercely in the frontline, and countless fellow Cultivators have died miserable deaths, but where is your eldest son? Is he having a great time somewhere else?
