Chapter 138: Playing Second Fiddle
With the Immaculate Cultivation Technique, the Heavenly Might Army’s movement policies had changed — there was much more of an emphasis on killing Vicious Beasts and Demonic Beasts now.
Hunting beasts not only increased their available rations, but it also decreased the amount of time before their soldiers broke through.
As such, the Heavenly Might Battalion was filled with excitement.
This was the first time that they had experienced happiness while behind enemy lines.
Ever since they had entered the Ferocious Race’s territory, they had been constantly under attack. At the time, they all felt like they were about to suffocate under immense pressure. There were even a few soldiers who although they didn’t die in battle, couldn’t handle the pressure and had actually chosen to commit suicide.
Li Chongshan and the others had racked their brains to try and decrease the pressure on the soldiers.
However, they needed to scour their surroundings for rations, evade pursuit, and alleviate the burden on their soldiers all at the same time. As such, the state of the battalion was quite haggard and run-down.
Su Chen’s arrival was like a ray of sunshine, breaking through the dark clouds floating above everyone’s heads and shining down upon them. Everyone’s hearts slowly began to warm up, and they suddenly began to feel a trace of hope again.
Hope!
That was the source of power and the motivation for spirit.
A heart without hope had no way of continuing to press on bravely.
Even Shi Kaihuang hadn’t expected his disciple to be so outstanding. Not only did he save the battalion from fatal danger, but he had also brought rations with him, as well as powerful methods that could increase the battalion’s collective strength.
“Anything else? Do you have any other methods that can increase everyone’s strength?” Shi Kaihuang couldn’t help but ask.
“This……” Su Chen thought for a moment, then nodded. “I do have something like that, but it might be a little difficult to execute.”
“As long as you have a way, just tell us. Whether or not we can do it is something that we can decide on our own!” Shi Kaihuang said.
“Actually, you’ve seen both of them already. The first is my Primordial Blood Incarnation. However, the Primordial Blood Medicine is much more costly to concoct than the Hemolytic Totem, as I had to use Jiang Xishui’s blood as the source material to concoct it. He has a Desolate Beast Bloodline, so if you want to take this route you must at the very least find me a Demonic Emperor Bloodline, and it cannot be lacking in quantity either,” Su Chen replied.
Everyone was rendered speechless.
Li Chongshan said, “Forget about that one then. Is there anything else?”
“Then the other one is the Soul Armament,” Su Chen replied. “Everyone has seen how powerful a Soul Armament is before. With it, a common magic-user should be able to fight against a Qi Drawing Realm cultivator, a Qi Drawing Realm cultivator against a Blood Boiling Realm cultivator, and so on and so forth. If the Heavenly Might Battalion were to use these Soul Armaments, a group of normal soldiers would probably be able to fight against a Yang Opening Realm cultivator, the equivalent of a Ferocious Race soldier with high-tier totems.”
“What are the requirements for producing a Soul Armament?”
Su Chen held up two fingers. “The first condition is that you need a soul. It doesn’t need to be conscious; the Beast Race’s souls will do. The second condition is that you need enough consciousness power, above two hundred units. Without enough consciousness power, it would be impossible to direct a beast soul into a weapon. And even if you did manage to do it, it would only be responsible for part of the battle. At most, it would only be able to play second fiddle to you.”
Beast souls were easy to obtain, since everyone was trying to hunt Demonic Beasts at the moment. As such, the raw ingredients weren’t a problem to get.
The consciousness energy barrier, however, was going to be a bit more difficult to deal with.
Two hundred units of consciousness power didn’t seem like too much, but that was only to Su Chen. To most other humans, this number was too difficult to achieve.
Amongst the current Heavenly Might Battalion, only Li Chongshan was quite a ways above two hundred units of consciousness power. As for the remaining six Light Shaking Realm cultivators, Chu Yingwan and Guo Wenchang also had met the two hundred units required because they cultivated some consciousness techniques. Shi Kaihuang often used his consciousness energy to perform calculations and also took Spirit Sobering Medicines from time to time, so he had also reached the required amount. The remaining three weren’t quite there, but they weren’t too far off; as long as they were willing to put in the effort, it was easily attainable for them.
However, upon hearing that the requirement for consciousness energy was that high, everyone still couldn’t quite believe it.
Lin Shaoxuan especially was a bit dissatisfied. “So you’re saying that your consciousness power is even greater than ours?”
Su Chen chuckled and didn’t answer.
Li Chongshan chuckled. “What? Prince Su has done so much for us, but you still don’t quite have faith in him, Shaoxuan?”
Lin Shaoxuan replied, “Prince Su has done much for the Heavenly Might Battalion. You could say that he’s like our second parent. I, Lin Shaoxuan, am extremely grateful to him, and I would give my life to him if he asked for it. However, this is a completely separate matter to consider. If you mean to tell me that his consciousness power is higher than ours, and even higher than yours, general, I would be at least slightly skeptical.”
Cheng Tianhai nodded. “That’s right! This is a totally separate matter. We’re soldiers, so we just say it like it is; Prince Su, I hope that you’re not offended. We all admit that you are something special, and if you told us to go east we wouldn’t even consider going west. But if you mean to say that your consciousness power is greater than ours, then you’ll need to bring out some proof to convince us.”
Su Chen laughed. “How could I dare claim to have a more powerful consciousness than you all? I just have a few tricks up my sleeve. How about this — I have an Origin Tool and a soul on hand right now. General Cheng, would you want to try and put the Beast Soul into the Origin Tool? Who knows, you might actually succeed.”
As he spoke, he handed over an Origin Tool.
Cheng Tianhai chuckled as he received it. “That’s more like it. Just tell me what to do.”
Su Chen gave him pointers from the side on how to infuse the Beast Soul into the tool.
Cheng Tianhai did as he was instructed. Shortly after, the Beast Soul actually did successfully enter the Origin Tool. The Origin Tool began to float in the air and flew around under his direction. It flew around in a circle before returning back to his hand, and Cheng Tianhai guffawed delightedly. “How about it? I said it would be totally fine, right? It’s just infusing a Beast Soul. How could it possibly have so many strange requirements? Hahahaha!”
However, he didn’t hear anyone else follow-up with what he had said, and he glanced around with some curiosity only to find everyone staring at him with slightly strange gazes.
Even Lin Shaoxuan had some sympathy in his eyes.
Cheng Tianhai was stunned. “What? Is there a problem?”
Chu Yingwan sighed. “Would you believe me if I told you that you aren’t a match for Prince Su in a one-on-one match despite the fact that you’re a Light Shaking Realm cultivator?”
Cheng Tianhai opened his eyes wide and said, “What are you saying?”
Lin Shaoxuan added, “Prince Su’s consciousness power is indeed powerful! I was the one who was ignorant and underestimated Prince Su.”
Li Chongshan patted Cheng Tianhai on the shoulder and pointed at the Soul Armament he was holding. “Take another look.”
Cheng Tianhai glanced in the direction that Li Chongshan was pointing in and discovered that the Soul Armament flashed once before disappearing. What remained in its place was a stone sitting in his palm.
“A stone?” Cheng Tianhai was stunned.
It was only now that he realized that what Su Chen had given him from the very beginning wasn’t an Origin Tool or a Beast Soul but actually a stone. He had been infusing a rock with a bunch of air the whole time, but he hadn’t noticed it at all. The implications of this were very obvious.
Cheng Tianhai’s face was extremely red. “You should have told me earlier.”
Chu Yingwan smiled furtively and pulled out an Origin Formation Disk. “Why would we tell you anything? Actually, not only did we not tell you anything, we also recorded it all down! Our General Cheng wants to turn a rock into a Soul Armament! Shouldn’t other people also have an opportunity to see something like that?”
“What? Give that to me!” Cheng Tianhai hurriedly stepped forward to try and grab the Origin Formation Disk, but Chu Yingwan giggled and easily dodged to the side.
The two of them fought with each other while Li Chongshan said in a leisurely manner, “It seems like we will need to start playing second fiddle to you to ensure that the Heavenly Might Battalion grows stronger.”
Su Chen felt a bit embarrassed. “That’s why I said that we should just forget about it.”
“How could we accept that? Prince Su has done a great favor for the Heavenly Might Battalion; let alone play second fiddle, we would even be willing to become your servants or even your stepping stones. From today onwards, the Heavenly Might Battalion, from top to bottom, will answer to Prince Su!”
Li Chongshan had decided the matter with but a single sentence.