Chapter 1025: Setting Up Army Formations (III)

“So this means to say that Great Li’s strength is mediocre?” Li Hao raised an eyebrow.

“Not entirely,” explained the old man. “They don’t have that many premier powerhouses in their army, but their priests and royal guards are absolute heavyweights! The strongest cultivators of the tribes are recruited into the divine temple and royal guards.

“Those people are their strongest existences. According to Golden Spear’s categorization, they’re all Arcanus! There’s at least one hundred members in their divine temple and even more royal guards! That is where the bulk of their best forces are, they are incomparably strong!

“We need to strengthen our organs to set foot into Arcanus, they do not. The bodies of Great Li citizens are different from ours, they might have inherited the physical constitution of New Martial citizens...”

The divine temple, royal guards...

Li Hao inclined his head. Unfortunately, they did not have an exact count. All they knew was that there were several hundred Arcanus, but they didn’t know precisely how strong these people were.

“In addition, Great Li martial masters know more than just martial arts,” the old man continued. “Many of them are skilled in mental attacks and can even summon the wind, rain, thunder, and lightning. That makes them a bit similar to supernaturals, but they’re stronger than supernaturals because their physical bodies are so much stronger.”

Li Hao inclined his head again and offered his own insight. “We probably face more than just Great Li powerhouses, there might be some foreign experts among them. Those who betrayed New Martial must be part of the group as well!

“Even if it’s only core origin replicas among them, they will be seven element Arcanus at least. We killed fourteen of them before, but it’s unknown how many of them there are. These people are very difficult to deal with!”

His words caused many expressions to shift with dismay. Seven elements, seventh level Mountain and Sea! That would be cultivators that’d opened seven dao meridians and more than two hundred acupoints. Only then would one reach seventh level Mountain and Sea. There weren’t many yet in the world with this level of strength.

The situation would be dire if the two sides were working together.

“The Great Li king and their main priest...” Li Hao murmured. “They’re probably very strong—I can sense a thing or two from them. Their king carries a few hints of a heavenly aura, probably because he is the master of a dynasty. I’ll have to fight him to know which of us is stronger.

“The main priest with the army is probably another powerhouse of a similar level...” The young man looked around at the group. “I need at least another seventh level Mountain and Sea to match the priest. Maybe even eighth or ninth level would be best...”

His words set off a round of headaches.

“Director General Zhao, can you handle the priest?” Li Hao looked at the old man.

“Me?” started Director General Zhao.

Li Hao nodded.

“Um...” the old man began helplessly.

“Can you not?”

“If reality is what you say and they are eighth or ninth level Mountain and Sea, or even stronger...” Director General Zhao shook his head. “It will be difficult for me to handle it alone.”

The young man furrowed his brows.

“Also, I’m an official in charge of civil matters...” What the old man meant to say was that his job didn’t depend on strong battle strength.

“This is no time to be humble when enemies are at our doorstep, Director General Zhao.” Li Hao waved him off. “How about this, you can coordinate with Director General Wang. A priest is no match for you when the two of you fight together!

“In addition, Silver Moon martial masters will be in charge of the divine temple delegation and the Evenround Martial students will handle the royal guards!”

“And... what if there are vast numbers of ancient experts participating in the battle?” asked Yao Si. “Their replicas are exceedingly strong...”

Not all of the Evenround Martial students were present. Only part of them were here, and they could easily take down any Arcanus opponents. But what should be done about the ancient replicas?

In Yao Si’s view, the Evenround Martial students should focus on the ancients.

“Those ancient replicas contain dense core origin power, so we’ll set core origin against core origin!” Li Hao smiled. “I’ve asked teacher to bring large numbers of plant spirit replicas to the front lines!”

He’d subdued quite a few plant spirits before this, so it would be replica against replica in this campaign. Under the restrictions of the world, everyone’s abilities were limited to the same. Even if there were differences in strength, a victor would not be determined so quickly.

“In addition, I’ve commandeered one hundred supernaturals from the central region, ten thousand from Battle Heaven, ten thousand from the Demon Hunter Army, and various supernaturals from the northern continent. We should have more than one hundred fifty thousand supernaturals on our side , possibly even more than two hundred thousand!

“Liu Long will be in charge of leading the Demon Hunter Army.

“The Ninth Division leader will be in charge of the Battle Heaven Army.

“Yao Si will lead the central supernatural army. The armies rushing from various parts of the northern continent will be under Commander Huang Yu’s command.

“The commander-in-chief of the four armies will be...”

This conclusion brought everyone up short. Was there anyone more suited for this position apart from the Ninth Division leader or Huang Yu? Even those who’d already been named looked around quizzically.

In Huang Yu’s eyes, putting him in charge of consolidating the assorted variety of local armies was also a token of trust. This wasn’t an easy assignment, but... who did that leave for commander-in-chief?

The Ninth Division leader was a good candidate. He was strong enough, skilled at battle, and had kept his skills sharp leading men all this time. There would be no confusion with him in charge. Was there anyone else up for the task apart from them?

“Hong Yitang!”

𝕗𝗿𝕖𝐞𝐰𝗲𝕓𝐧𝕠𝕧𝗲𝐥.𝚌𝐨𝚖

The group blinked collectively. Hong Yitang wasn’t here, but the key was... he was just a martial master. He’d never led any troops; this wasn’t a good time for Li Hao to be playing favorites.

“Why is it him?” protested Sky Sword, despite being on good terms with the man. “Commander, the army is several hundred thousand strong and they’re all supernaturals. We cannot take this assignment lightly!”

Whether it was Huang Yu or Li Daozong, or even Yao Si or Chen Zhongtian would do in a pinch. If they really were out of options, even a weakling like Hu Dingfang had more leadership experience than Hong Yitang.

Sky Sword would voice this objection even if Hong Yitang was physically present. The latter was better off fighting some royal guards or divine priests. It was a bit of a joke to have him be the commander-in-chief of the armies.

“Gan Wuliang will be the strategist,” Li Hao continued in the face of everyone’s obvious reluctance.

No one had an opinion about that appointment, but they wished to say another word or two regarding Hong Yitang.

“The army will be focused on defense!” explained the young man when he saw that the group remained staring at him. “But when we need to break through the enemy’s frontlines, we’ll need to do so with one swift move. Hence, I need Martial Uncle Hong’s Earthturner Formation to fortify our defenses. He’ll sit in residence at the four armies to make adjustments on the fly...”

“But he’s just one man,” Huang Yu hummed. “We face an army of one million, not enemies in single combat!”

“I know, so Martial Uncle Hong will have to put his back into it.” Li Hao nodded. “I’ll help him make adjustments and will discuss the arrangements with him when he arrives.”

That wasn’t enough reassurance. No one had anticipated that Hong Yitang would be the commander-in-chief. Possibly even the man himself hadn’t expected this.

However, Li Hao insisted on this course of action because he had his own thoughts in mind. He didn’t need to give a full explanation at present, that Earthturner Sword’s dao meridians were very unique and could flicker through a variety of changes.

The man’s defensive abilities were also truly strong. But no matter how capable one person’s defense was, that wasn’t much on a battlefield. And yet, what if there was a divine replica helping him? An earth attribute divine replica!

Li Hao wasn’t planning on using the replica against the Great Li king. He was more interested in learning how strong it was outside of the ruins. With it supporting Hong Yitang, the two were bound to put together an airtight defense. That would give them plenty of space to select the proper timing to crash through the enemy’s lines.

On his side, he had roughly two hundred supernaturals in his command, disregarding the raggedy crew gathered from other places. That was only one-fifth compared to the enemy. Charging straight into them would lead to heavy losses, a result that Li Hao did not wish to see.

They needed to defend first and wear down their opponent.

“Battle Heaven’s army and the Demon Hunter Army will be the vanguard,” Li Hao announced. “The one hundred thousand supernaturals from the central region can bring up the rear. The northern supernaturals will be placed on the flanks to avoid them disrupting the formations!

“I would look to the various generals to discuss the particulars. I have no experience leading troops, nor does Martial Uncle Hong. Although he is the commander-in-chief, he will not interfere with leadership or battle tactics. What he will do is issue commands at critical moments. Everyone is to follow them then.”

That clarification prompted sighs of relief. They understood. Earthturner Sword wouldn’t be a commander-in-chief in the conventional sense of the term. He was just there to take action at a certain timing and needed the various armies to coordinate their movements around him. That was why he was the commander-in-chief.

“I won’t participate in the details, I wouldn’t understand them either,” said Li Hao after he assigned all of their missions. “Send scouts to probe their exact condition. There’s an expanse of flat plains between Silver City and Ash Mountain. It’s best to fight there and not have the battlefield engulf Silver City!

“It’d be even better to stop them at the foot of the mountain...”

“That would not be wise.” Li Daozong shook his head. “They will have the advantage of terrain when they descend the mountain. It’s negligible for powerhouses, but very dangerous for the soldiers. It’s better to engage with them in the plains as they’re well versed in mountain combat. We’d be the ones caught on the wrong foot.”

“Then I’ll listen to you guys!” Li Hao nodded. He was just giving suggestions. These guys were much more experienced than him when it came to actual combat.

“I only have one mission,” grinned the young man. “I will kill their king, douse their morale, and break their spirit!”

The others snapped to solemn attention. That was not an easy task. The Great Li king was certain to be formidable if he could unify his nation and lead one million troops to attack his neighbor.

“Then... the ancient experts within our borders...” raised Director General Zhao after some hesitation. They needed to be on guard against those people.