182: Chapter 182 The First Lesson in Immortality

"Set out."

Two cold words fell from the general-command platform, without any earth-shattering Aura or impassioned mobilization.

It was merely a calm statement, a settled fact.

Yet, these two simple words acted like an invisible command, branded deep into the Divine Soul of every one of the hundred thousand soldiers below.

"Rumble—!"

No further words were needed.

After the Heavenly Emperor's decree spread throughout the Immortal Domain, facing the naked contempt and slaughter of the Dark Titan, a raging fire had long been burning in the chest of every Heavenly Court soldier.

Now, they were just waiting for one command!

"Kill!"

"Avenge our comrades!"

"Those who offend our Heavenly Court shall be executed!"

Following the order from Great Demon-Slaying Marshal Li Changsheng aboard the zhou tian star boat, the atmosphere of the entire Star Domain instantly tensed up.

"Roar—!"

The black torrent formed by the ten thousand Dragon Guard Army took the lead. Abandoning the large-scale battle Formations they were not adept at, they followed the combat instincts of the ancient Dragon Clan, forming small, assault Dragon Formations.

For a moment, ten thousand Dragons roared. The Void Realm behind them rippled under the endless Dragon might, converging into a massive, black, spectral Dragon that spanned the Universe, lunging with bared fangs and brandished claws toward that darkness.

Their Physical Body was the strongest weapon, and their Dragon breath was the strongest Divine Ability!

The Immortal Dao battle Formation formed by the hundred thousand soldiers of the Yuhua Immortal Dynasty followed closely behind.

They did not charge recklessly like the Dragon Clan; instead, their Formation was as steady as a mountain, advancing slowly.

Countless Immortal light runes lit up within the Formation, and each ten-thousand-man military Formation turned into a dazzling nebula.

Within the nebula, Immortal swords emerged in unison, Dao techniques roared, and countless colorful torrents of energy wove into a world-destroying web of light, covering the boundless Dark Demon Legion first.

This was a completely different fighting style, the most classic battle Formation tactic passed down by the civilization of the Immortal Domain.

And at the very top of the army, the thirty thousand hot-blooded Disciples of the Heavenly Court Academy formed a massive, incomparably sharp sword blade.

They were the new force of the Heavenly Court, the die-hard fans of the Heavenly Emperor.

Shouting the slogan "Long live the Heavenly Emperor," they merged with their swords, pouring their own Immortal Essence and Sword Intent into the core of the sword Formation without reservation, waiting for the Marshal's command, ready to strike the enemy hard at any moment.

Countless subsidiary force fleets, like stars surrounding the moon, were distributed on the outer perimeter, forming a massive net covering billions of miles of the Void Realm.

The entire Heavenly Court expeditionary force was like an awakening star beast, baring fangs capable of tearing apart the Universe!

The war erupted!

...Darkness and light collided violently in the dead, silent Void Realm.

"Splurt!"

A True Dragon of the Golden Immortal Realm, relying on its powerful Dragon body, withstood several slashes of Dark Demon power, its sharp Dragon claws directly crushing the skull of a fallen Golden Immortal.

But the next moment, dozens of fearless Dark Demon soldiers pounced like mad dogs, clinging to its Dragon wings and tail, gnawing with their teeth, and frantically stabbing with weapons imbued with dark Law.

Golden Dragon blood mixed with filthy black blood, splattering across the Void Realm.

The True Dragon let out a painful roar, its Dragon body shaking violently, shattering the "attachments" on it into blood mist, but it left dozens of wounds on its own body that were deep enough to see the bone and constantly emitting black Qi.

On the other side, the combined Dao techniques of the Yuhua Immortal Dynasty rained down like a brilliant meteor shower, instantly clearing a large area of the Dark Demon Legion.

Those ordinary Dark Demon soldiers, under the attack of the battle Formation led by Taiyi Golden Immortals, were incredibly fragile, evaporating in droves.

However, this did not make the Dark Demon Legion retreat in the slightest.

"Hehehehe..."

Accompanied by strange hissing, more and more Dark Demons and Vicious Beasts poured out from the pitch-black Boundary Sea Rift behind. They stepped on the remains of their companions, unhesitatingly filling the gaps, with strange and satisfied smiles on their faces, as if death to them was a kind of relief and glory.

Their numbers were simply too many!

The entire battlefield turned into a huge flesh-grinding mill.

Every second, thousands of living beings were dying.

Heavenly Court soldiers were falling; their Immortal Souls either ascended to the Heavenly Court investiture of the gods or were instantly polluted by the dense dark Aura, turning into new Dark Demons.

The monsters of the Boundary Sea died even more; their remains, under the traction of dark power, turned into the purest dark energy, nourishing this battlefield in reverse, making the dark erosion even more severe.

Although the Dragon Guard Army was valiant, each capable of taking on a hundred, in this endless war of attrition, their powerful Physical Body began to show signs of fatigue, and many Dragon Clan warriors were already wounded.

Although the Yuhua army's battle Formation was stable and their output powerful, maintaining such a massive Formation consumed a massive amount of Immortal Essence.

Some soldiers with weaker cultivation had already started to turn pale and had to swallow Medicinal Pill to maintain it.

This was a contest of will and foundation.

Aboard the zhou tian star boat.

Li Changsheng stood quietly at the bow of the ship, his eyes reflecting the tragic battlefield below, calm as an ancient well, showing no emotion whatsoever.

Behind him, the Taiyin cold Qi around Li Qingyue grew increasingly intense; she seemed unable to bear this kind of pointless sacrifice.

Li Daoyan opened his big, curious eyes. The world in his eyes was different from others; the entire battlefield, in his view, was composed of countless dense energy lines representing life and death, dazzling him.

"Marshal..." a Taiyi Divine General of the Yuhua Immortal Dynasty could not help but speak, his tone carrying a hint of anxiety, "The enemy's numbers are too great, and our soldiers are consuming too much. Do we need to contract the Formation and temporarily avoid their edge?"

In his opinion, this young Marshal might have Heaven-Defying personal strength, but in commanding such large-scale legion warfare, he might still lack experience.

If they continued to fight head-on like this, even if they could win, it would likely be a pyrrhic victory.

However, Li Changsheng ignored him completely.

He was just watching, learning.

This was the first war of his life, and also the first lesson his father gave him.

He was learning what war was.

War was not a duel, not a confrontation between two peerless experts.

War was a confrontation of Systems, a consumption of resources, a competition of iron wills.

He wanted to see with his own eyes where the limit of this army under his command lay, and how strong their resilience was.

He wanted to let these Dragon Clan and Immortal Dynasty soldiers, who had grown up in comfortable environments, truly smell the scent of blood.

Without experiencing true blood and fire, they would forever be a rabble.

Just then, the situation of the battle changed abruptly!

From the camp of the Boundary Sea army, which had been holding back and only using cannon fodder to consume the Heavenly Court's effective strength, suddenly rushed out hundreds of black shadows with exceptionally powerful Auras and actions as swift as lightning!

These black shadows all had Golden Immortal level cultivation. They were not mindless Dark Demons, but elite assassins transformed from fallen Immortal Dao assassins and Yao Race experts.

They formed an incomparably sharp piercing Formation, like a dagger dipped in deadly poison, seizing the momentary misalignment at the junction of the Dragon Guard Army and the Yuhua army, and plunged in fiercely!

"Not good! It's an elite enemy squad!"

A Dragon Clan Elder responsible for the defense of that area was greatly alarmed.

He wanted to go and intercept, but was tightly entangled by three fallen Vicious Beasts, all at the Peak Golden Immortal level, and could not break away at all.

The Yuhua army's battle Formation wanted to change Formation to support, but it was already too late!

The speed of that "dagger" was too fast, and the target was too clear!

Their purpose was not to kill how many people, but to be like a scalpel, precisely cutting off the connection of the Heavenly Court army's Formation, separating the Dragon Guard Army and the Yuhua army!

Once they succeeded, the fragile flank of the Yuhua army would be completely exposed to the iron hooves of the Dark Demon Legion, and the Dragon Guard Army, accustomed to charging into battle, would instantly fall into a dangerous situation of being surrounded.

By then, the entire Heavenly Court front line would collapse like a mountain!

"It's over!"

The Taiyi Divine General who had just spoken turned deathly pale.

Such a seasoned and precise tactical penetration—this was definitely the Boundary Sea commander making a move!

Just as everyone was feeling desperate.

On the general-command platform, Li Changsheng, who had been standing still, finally made a move.

He did not draw his sword, nor did he even speak.

He just lifted his eyelids.

The next moment, his Sword Intent, restrained to the extreme, divided into hundreds and thousands of invisible threads of Divine Thought, crossing the Void Realm, and silently landed in the Sea of Consciousness of every frontline commander of the hundred-man and ten-man squads!

A Dragon Clan centurion fighting bloodily on the left flank suddenly heard a cold and majestic voice explode in his mind:

"Retreat thirty zhang to the rear right, concentrate Dragon breath fire, target, Xuanhuang coordinates 374!"

A Yuhua army squad leader maintaining the Formation on the right flank also heard the same instruction in his ear:

"'Solid as Golden Soup' rune Formation, shift one hundred zhang to the left, concentrate energy on one point, no need to attack, only defense!"

A sword Formation squad leader of the Heavenly Court Academy received an even more concise instruction:

"Follow my command, after three breaths, 'Meteor Sword Rain', cover the Void Realm ahead!"

...Hundreds and thousands of instructions were precisely transmitted to every tiny corner of the battlefield at the same instant.

These instructions were simple and crude, even making the soldiers who received them feel a bit confused.

But, this was a direct order from the Great Demon-Slaying Marshal!

Out of absolute trust and awe for the son of the Heavenly Emperor, they did not hesitate in the slightest, completely relying on instinct, and executed the command instantly!

Thus, a very strange scene appeared on the battlefield.

The weak link of the Heavenly Court army that seemed about to be pierced through suddenly underwent an inconceivable change.

Several Dragon Guard squads that had been charging forward suddenly retreated inexplicably, revealing a huge "flaw."

And the Yuhua army behind their flank not only did not fill the gap, but also moved their defensive position aside, making that "flaw" even larger and more tempting!

The elite Boundary Sea squad that had driven straight in saw this and thought that the Heavenly Court's command System had collapsed and their Formation was in chaos, and they were overjoyed.

The leading fallen Golden Immortal let out a grim laugh, leading his subordinates to dive into that huge "pocket" without hesitation!

They had been dreaming of doing something big; wasn't this it?

This young man was still too green!

However, when they had all rushed into the pocket Formation, the grim smiles on their faces froze.

The Dragon Guard squads that had just "retreated" suddenly turned 180 degrees, their cold Dragon eyes filled with mockery, and hundreds of blazing Dragon breaths erupted from all directions at the same time, sealing off all their paths of retreat!

The Yuhua army Formation that had just "moved aside" burst into dazzling golden light, and indestructible walls of light rose from the ground, completely cutting off their hope of breaking through forward!

Above their heads, the Disciples of the Heavenly Court Academy had long been ready.

"Release!"

With a cold instruction, countless meteor-like Sword Qi poured down, aiming at the completely sealed area, and carried out an indiscriminate covering strike!

"No!! This is a trap!"

The leading fallen Golden Immortal let out a desperate roar.

But it was all too late.

Front, back, left, right, up, down—all paths were blocked!

Where was this any flaw?

This was clearly a fatal trap carefully prepared for them!

An almost perfect "counter-penetration"!

No, this was no longer penetration, this was... closing the door to beat the dog!

"Boom—!!!"

Dragon breath, Sword Rain, Dao techniques... countless destructive attacks exploded within that small space.

Those hundred-plus Golden Immortal level Boundary Sea elites couldn't even make a decent splash; in an instant, they were torn apart and annihilated by the torrent of energy, not even leaving behind a single drop of black blood!

The noisy battlefield fell silent for a moment.

Everyone who saw this scene, whether enemy or friend, was stunned on the spot.

"I... what the f*ck? You can play like this?"

In the Yuhua army Formation, a young soldier looked at the cleared area in the distance, his mouth agape in shock.

That flowing operation just now was simply incredibly cool!

And the Taiyi Divine General who had just harbored doubts about Li Changsheng was now flushed with shame, feeling extremely ashamed.

He finally understood now that it was not that the Marshal did not know how to command.

It was that the Marshal's art of command had already surpassed the scope of what he could understand!

Such command was simply god-like!

Aboard the zhou tian star boat, Li Changsheng lowered his eyelids, as if he had only done a small thing.

His first lesson was over.

And his gaze had already crossed the flesh-and-blood battlefield below, falling far away onto those three Dark Titan, like demon gods, who had remained unmoved.

It was as if he was silently declaring: Warm-up over, it's your turn.