The World that Tao Rules, Volume 17, page 16
To be honest, others didn't have high hopes for this Nine Blood Chain Array.
Looking at the formation, the grouping of nine people made the army look messy and scattered, not as neat and orderly as the formations they were familiar with.
Some couldn't help but shake their heads in disbelief. Although Jiang Yun brought some surprises, when it came to military tactics and strategy, he seemed lacking.
Moreover, many believed that this formation wouldn't stand a chance against the Seven Killing Formation's attack.
However, as Jiang Yun's gaze swept over the entire Nine Blood Chain Array, a rare look of satisfaction appeared on his face.
Judging from the reactions of the people, the time taken to deploy the formation, and their precise positions now, he could tell that they weren't lying.
In the more than a year that he was absent, they not only did not become unfamiliar with the Nine Blood Chain Array, but also became more skilled at mastering it.
Actually, according to Jiang Yun's original plan, he was prepared to personally control the bodies of these ten thousand Desolate Soldiers using his powerful divine sense and terrifying multiple skills, in order to unleash the power of the Nine Blood Chain Array.
But now, he knew that perhaps he didn't need to take action himself!
In fact, Jiang Yun's next words made everyone who heard them feel terrified and chilled to the bone!
"Ezheng, since you were attacked by their people just now, I will now let you lead your team to fight back."
"Remember, it's about fighting back, can you do it?"
Jiang Yun meant for Ezheng to lead his small team of a thousand people to face Huang Kun's attack with ten thousand soldiers.
At that moment, Ezheng felt his blood boil and it was as if he was back when he and nine others faced Mo Fancheng's attack of a thousand soldiers.
Immediately, he shouted, "I can do it!"
Jiang Yun coldly said, "Alright, I will lead the charge for you all. If we fail, we will face military punishment and go to battle!"
Following Jiang Yun's command, a thousand Desolate Soldiers immediately formed ranks, marched towards the center of the platform, and prepared for battle.
Since they drew the defensive sign, they needed to block the attack from Huang Kun's team.
At this moment, Huang Kun struggled to stand up after Jiang Yun's punch. Though Jiang Yun held back, the blow still caused him some injury, fortunately not enough to affect his command.
Taking a deep breath, Huang Kun entered the Seven Killing Formation, glaring fiercely at Jiang Yun, his eyes almost shooting fire as he gritted his teeth and said, "Attack!"
Huang Kun now harbored deep hatred towards Jiang Yun.
Jiang Yun not only punched him in front of everyone, but he was also now facing a thousand people with his ten thousand, showing complete disregard for him.
However, knowing he couldn't defeat Jiang Yun on his own, Huang Kun had to seek revenge through this battle.
"*buzzing sound*"
Under Huang Kun's command, the Seven Killing Formation made up of ten thousand Desolate Soldiers immediately started rolling.
The seven blood-stained sharp blades seemed to come to life, filled with fierce killing intent, stabbing ruthlessly towards Ezheng's Nine Blood Chain Array.
At that moment, everyone's gaze was fixed on Ezheng and the others in the group of a thousand, including Huang Junyan and Lv Piaomiao.
Although they didn't believe Jiang Yun could withstand the strong attack of the Seven Killing Formation with a thousand people, they knew Jiang Yun must have some confidence since he dared to speak out.
Of course, if they knew that Ezheng and their group of nine had once blocked the attack of a thousand people, they wouldn't have had such thoughts now.
Nine people blocking a thousand, with each person facing attacks from nearly a hundred, now a thousand facing off against ten thousand, each person only needing to endure attacks from ten.
For Ezheng and the group, there was no pressure at all.
However, because of Jiang Yun's orders, their task was not just to defend but to, after defending, defeat Huang Kun's group of ten thousand.
"Kill!"
When the first roar sounded, two squads with different formations finally clashed fiercely together.
Chapter 942: The Flower of Blood
As the two groups engaged in close combat, in the eyes of the onlookers, the messy and disorderly Nine Blood Chain Array suddenly turned into a flurry of snowflakes.
These snowflakes seemed weightless, floating in the air effortlessly.
Although the seven blood blades of the Seven Killing Formation continuously surged with powerful force, they were unable to touch the snowflakes.
Whenever the blood blades approached the snowflakes, the strong waves they caused would blow the snowflakes into the air, perfectly avoiding all attacks.
As a result, despite the Seven Killing Formation's efforts, eager to create holes in Ezheng and the others with each charge, they couldn't even touch their opponents' bodies.
Although the current Nine Blood Chain Array and Xue Mucheng's Nine Snow Loop Array are quite different now, Jiang Yun still retained the essence of the snowflakes in the formation.
Among the spectators, who had originally doubted this formation, their views changed immediately upon witnessing it firsthand, and they began to praise and discuss it.
Even some people who were also skilled in formations nodded in agreement, saying, "So this is what Nine Snow meant!"
"By using nine as the base number, when the formation is activated, the person arranging it becomes like a snowflake, increasing the defensive power!"
"Exactly, this is like strength against strength, a gentle breeze sweeping the mountain, a classic way of using softness to overcome hardness!"
The discussions of these people reached Jiang Yun's ears, making him smile and mutter to himself, "Nine blood of snow is not from snowflakes, but from the blood of blood!"
Jiang Yun's voice was not low, so it naturally reached the ears of those discussing, making them show confusion, clearly not understanding the meaning of Jiang Yun's words.
However, they soon understood!
Because as Jiang Yun's words fell, the formations consisting of Ezheng and a thousand people, after successfully blocking seven attacks from the Seven Killing Formation's seven blood blades, suddenly changed their positions and directions.
They were just defending, but now they were attacking!
Although each person still floated in the air like a snowflake, they were no longer just defending, but had started to attack!
Originally, the snowflakes they turned into were almost round with smooth edges, so they could be completely unaffected by the wind.
Now, even though they still looked like snowflakes, they had nine sharp protrusions along the edges!
Each protrusion was like a sharp blade!
One flower, nine blades!
The snowflakes with blades whirled and swirled, rushing towards the ten thousand Desolate Soldiers forming the Seven Killing Formation.
"Ah! Ah! Ah!"
In an instant, cries of agony rang out among the ten thousand Desolate Soldiers.
As soon as their bodies were touched by the snowflakes, even a light brush would immediately cut deep wounds, causing blood to gush out.
Countless streams of blood shot into the air, then fell to the ground, looking from afar like blooming flowers.
Blood flowers!
Flowers of fresh blood!
This is the true meaning of the name "Nine Blood"!
Each blooming blood flower means that a Desolate Soldier has fallen.
Although Ezheng and his team showed mercy and did not take their lives, they left them powerless to fight again.
The Desolate Soldiers falling one after another, and the blood flowers blooming endlessly in the air, looked very bloody.
However, within this bloodiness, there was a kind of unique beauty that left everyone speechless.
One quarter of an hour!
The time that Huang Kun had boastfully declared to defeat Ezheng's team of ten thousand men now appeared to be working against them.
Ezheng led a team of a thousand people, and they only took fifteen minutes to not only block the attack of the enemy's seven thousand strong formation, but also to counterattack and injure them all.
The seven thousand people all fell down in a jumbled mess, with multiple wounds on each person's body.
Especially Huang Kun, who was covered in wounds from head to toe, with not a single spot untouched!
Looking down from a height, one could see that even the way they fell on the ground formed shapes resembling blooming flowers!
Looking at Ezheng and his unharmed team of a thousand, they confidently approached Jiang Yun. Ezheng respectfully bowed and said, "I have completed the mission, sir!"
Jiang Yun nodded in approval and said, "You may rest now."
"Yes!"
Observing Ezheng's team maintaining their formation even as they retreated, the entire space fell silent, with no one speaking or even breathing loudly.
The only sound was the cries of pain from the wounded soldiers on the ground, a reminder that a battle where a thousand triumphed over seven thousand had just ended here.
Those who used to think Jiang Yun's Nine Blood Chain Array wasn't powerful and that Jiang Yun was too arrogant, got a harsh reality check at this moment.
The most shocked person was Huang Ning, who had just recently fled into the midst of his people!
When Ezheng proposed using their own formation to confront him earlier, Huang Ning had let Ezheng make the decision.
Now, he finally realized what a huge mistake he had made.
If he had agreed back then, not only would he not have offended Jiang Yun, but he might have had a chance to share some glory.
Even Huang Yu, Huang Tu, as well as Elder Huang, Huang Yongfeng, Huang Junyan, and others, all wore expressions of shock.
They had all been through countless battles and had experienced the baptism of numerous fires. But they had never seen such a strange and terrifying formation.
Now, only Lv Piaomiao and Lv Ze looked at Jiang Yun with a light in their eyes that others didn't understand.
The Desolate World tribe had a large number of Desolate World Lord Slaves, while the Samsara clan, every member had several reincarnation avatars.
If they can also set up the Nine Blood Chain Array, then their clan's strength will surely increase significantly.
Now, they completely believed Lv Lun's words, realizing that Jiang Yun is indeed very important to their Samsara clan!
After a long time, everyone gradually recovered from their shock.
Despite Huang Yongfeng looking very angry, since the ten thousand Desolate Soldiers lying on the stage were his subordinates, he had to quickly have all ten thousand of them taken away so they wouldn't embarrass themselves lying there.
As the platform was finally cleaned up, Elder Huang stepped forward again, gazing deeply at Jiang Yun and saying, "The first round of the competition has ended. The fifty winning squads can rest for a bit before starting the second round."
At the same time, a huge stone tablet stood up on the platform with a bang.
On the stone tablet, names and a series of numbers began to appear.
This is the Military Merit List!
The names displayed are the Desolate Guard Chiefs of each squad, and the numbers behind them represent their military achievements.
When looking at the Military Merit List, everyone couldn't help but shake their heads and even whispered softly, "This Military Merit List seems a bit unfair."
"Yes, before Jiang Yun appeared, the ranking on this Military Merit List was indeed reasonable, but now with Jiang Yun, the ranking on this Military Merit List doesn't make sense!"
"It's not exactly unfair, as everyone's military achievements on there are earned through hard work in completing missions and battles. It's just surprising to see this group of underdogs performing so remarkably!"
The reason why everyone made such comments is very simple.
On the Military Merit List, Huang Yongfeng still holds the first place, while Lie Ye remains in second place.
Jiang Yun, on the other hand, is still at the bottom!
Chapter 943: A Grown-Up's Tolerance
According to the rules of the Military Merit Competition, the team that wins in the competition will receive all the military achievements of the losing team.
However, in the first stage, due to Huang Yu's protection of Jiang Yun's team, they only received a small amount of military achievements.
Compared to other teams, there was a big difference.
Even though Jiang Yun's team now had all the military merits from Huang Kun's team, other winning teams also received the merits from their opponents.
Therefore, overall, Jiang Yun's team still ranked last.
And those who thought quickly had already calculated the current military merits of each team, even if Jiang Yun's team could defeat all opponents next.
Even if they got first place, their total military merits would still be lower than Huang Yongfeng's.
This means that both Jiang Yun's team and Huang Yu, one of the Desolate Generals, could only achieve second place in this big competition.
Looking at the Military Merit List, Jiang Yun squinted his eyes slightly, with a glint in them.
After calmly scanning the surrounding people, Jiang Yun suddenly spoke up loudly, "Elder Huang, I have a question to ask!"
Jiang Yun's sudden question naturally caught everyone's attention, and all eyes were on him again, wondering what he would ask this time.
Elder Huang glanced lightly at Jiang Yun and said, "Tell me!"
Jiang Yun asked in a serious tone, "Do we gain all the military merits of the defeated teams by defeating them?"
Jiang Yun's question left everyone confused.
This was something that didn't need asking; even outsiders knew this rule.
Elder Huang calmly replied, "Yes."
Jiang Yun continued, "My team currently has the least military merits and ranks at the bottom. Even if we fight all the way to the end, we still won't be able to get to first place."
"Therefore, I dare to suggest that my team of misfits challenges the remaining forty-nine teams!"
"If I manage to win, all the military merits they have obtained so far will be mine, and this is my only chance to rank first on the Military Merit List!"
Jiang Yun's words once again plunged the entire space into silence.
Everyone looked at Jiang Yun as if he was a monster!
Although Ezheng and his team had just won against a thousand people with ease, it did surprise everyone greatly.
Especially the power of the Nine Blood Chain Array, it amazed everyone.
But at this moment, Jiang Yun was going to challenge nearly five hundred thousand people with just ten thousand!
There was absolutely no chance of winning!
Then Jiang Yun's voice sounded, "However, the condition is that each team's Desolate Guard Chief, during the challenge, can only control their own team and not attack me individually!"
This is where Jiang Yun showed his cleverness.
Forget challenging five hundred thousand people, even if he challenged a million, he was confident.
But if the Desolate Guard Chiefs of each team attacked him directly, then winning would be impossible for him.
The weakest among the Desolate Guard Chiefs are at the level of Dao Realm, not to mention that there are also Huang Yongfeng, Huang Yu, and Huang Xun, who are Desolate Generals, including strong individuals like Lie Ye.
Huang Yongfeng is at the level of Seven Desolates Realm, equivalent to Daoxing.
Huang Yu and Huang Xun are at the level of Seven Desolates Realm, equivalent to Sky Blessed Realm.
And Lie Ye is even a strong individual at the level of Daotai Realm!
Any one of them, if they were to attack Jiang Yun alone, even if Jiang Yun is not afraid, he would definitely not be able to focus on controlling the entire formation.
Therefore, with Jiang Yun adding this requirement, he no longer needs to worry.
