Chapter 528 - Ability of God
After several consecutive days and nights of forced marching, even the ardent flower night wolves displayed some signs of fatigue.
Xing Shan did not continue to move forward, but chose to rest and recuperate. As the distance between the two parties drew closer, the level of danger increased dramatically, and they might confront the enemy at anytime. The speed of advancing became unimportant, and the key factor was not to make any mistakes.
He bet that Shi Xueman and others would not retreat even with the imminent arrival of the Dread Division and Judgement Division. As the saying went, "newborn calves are not afraid of the tiger." Furthermore, they had just won a battle and morale was high. There was no reason for them to choose a conservative strategy.
The vengeful response from the Blood of God was as expected.
Due to their involvement in the previous war, Shi Xueman and Silver Soldier were all proficient in warfare. It was not surprising that Shi Xueman performed very well as she was from a distinguished family.
It was the performance of Silver Soldier which surprised everyone.
The sudden appearance of Silver Soldier, who wore the title of Karakorum Polaris’s senior, gave everyone the impression of him being just a skilful fighter without utilizing military strategy. Many people were waiting to see Madam Ye make a fool out of herself since being skilful in martial arts alone was not enough to qualify as a combat division leader.
In actual fact, even the status of Master was exaggerated. Combat divisions could be found everywhere and were already considered worthless. That’s why in order to qualify as a division leader, military expertise was a requirement.
The performance of Silver Soldier on the battlefield revealed his vast experience and one could easily tell that he was a veteran warrior. Even though the amount of casualties was relatively large, it did not lower their evaluation of him. With a bunch of new rookies on the battlefield, a large number of casualties was unavoidable. Even the most powerful division leader would not be able to immediately get a group of new recruits to reach the level of battlefield veterans.
Silver Soldier had no problem with attacking or providing support whenever necessary. It was obvious that he had excellent tactical training.
In contrast, the more renowned first sword master Karakorum Polaris’s performance was a far cry when compared to her senior. She was more like an assistant to Silver Soldier who firmly executed his advice. Of course, good execution was also beneficial in the battlefield.
Her strong personal strength was like a cold and flickering unsheathed sword.
According to the accounts from the battlefield, almost no one could block Karakorum Polaris and the number of experts who died under her sword was at least 17.
Among them were three powerful men who had comprehended the Ability of God!
The strength of the blood elementalists originated from fresh blood which contained blood spiritual force. Through special mixing and refining, different types of beast blood would blend with the blood elementalist’s blood. This process was called blood refinement.
Xing Shan experienced the blood refinement of the Beast Venom Temple. It was a major blood refinement where a variety of different types of beast blood were combined, enhancing the effect of the process. Correspondingly, the risk of major blood refinement was also very large and a slight mistake might inadvertently lead to death by explosion.
Xing Shan had undergone 12 major blood refinements which had been extremely difficult and was only second to Red Devil in number.
Apart from major blood refining, the typical cultivation for a blood elementalist was also equivalent to blood refinement. In intensity and effectiveness, it was far less powerful than major blood refining. Of course, the risk was almost negligible and hence very safe.
Major blood refining was like a shortcut. If one was uncommonly gifted and extremely fortunate, he would succeed instantly. Just like Red Devil who had no record of merits from any battles, but became one of the giants of the Blood of God who built his own palace after surviving an unprecedented 21 major blood refinements.
Minor blood refinement was mild and harmless. With perseverance, there would also be similar results.
Whether it was a mild minor blood refinement or a radical major blood refinement, they were basically two different pathways, but their nature was still to enhance the blood in the blood elementalist to increase his or her power.
When blood in the body of a blood elementalist continued to grow stronger, the Ability of God would be activated. It was like a "key," capable of unlocking the mysterious power lurking in the bloodstream and discovering the unique skills of each person.
There were great differences between the ancestral mark of different people because of different blood types. Yet after becoming a blood elementalist, a variety of blood and especially the blood of various beasts was further absorbed into the bloodstream. These huge differences made the Ability of God extremely diverse
Some blood elementalists with the Ability of God were able to grow wings on their back and, like the incarnation of birds, roamed among the clouds.
On the other hand, some blood elementalists with the Ability of God were capable of listening to the wind and hearing movements that were very far away.
There was also the ability to grow horns that were super strong and unbeatable.
How many kinds of Abilities of God were there? No one knew.
Blood elementalists who could comprehend the Ability of God were the best experts and their statuses were equivalent to a Master. Whether it was the blood division or the god division, blood elementalists with the Ability of God were the backbone supporting the divisions.
Xing Shan, himself, was a blood elementalist with the Ability of God and had seven such subordinates under him.
The combat power of these blood elementalists were powerful and comparable to a Master. Even as a secondary combat division, the Ardent Flower Blood Division contained eight blood elementalists with the Ability of God. This showed that a combat division from the Blood of God was way more powerful than its Beyond Avalon counterpart.
Even so, the ability to kill three blood elementalists with the Ability of God in a single battle was extremely alarming and had a great impact on the war.
This was why, even though Karakorum Polaris had limited tactical acumen, nobody dared to underestimate her. Whoever owned such a large lethal weapon had a great fighting advantage. In particular, when both sides were deadlocked, a sharp sword capable of tearing up the enemy’s defenses was often the key to victory.
Xing Shan did not want to encounter Karakorum Polaris. He knew that even if he won the battle, half of his generals would get killed. There were no benefits to be reaped and such victories meant nothing to him.
Just as he was eyeing the leader position of the God Wolf Division, someone else was also secretly coveting his Ardent Flower Division leader position behind his back.
In contrast, Shi Xueman was a much more enticing and worthwhile target.
A very high reward made Xing Shan willing to take the risk. As long as they were able to capture Shi Xueman, they were not afraid if the war sapped their strength. This was because the reward reaped would be worth it.
It was a good deal.
He had already done some preparations beforehand.
He shouted at his two subordinates, a bold man and one dressed like a scholar. The bold man was Kan Yong and the scholar was Wu Wenyi. Both of them were blood elementalists with the Abilities of God.
Xing Shan commanded ,"You two, each lead a small team and go separately. Your task is simply to disrupt the enemy and mislead them into thinking we have three combat divisions."
Wu Wenyi said, "Aren’t we going to launch a surprise attack on them? Won’t our strategy be exposed?"
Kan Yong also gazed at Xing Shan.
"The other party knows that we will take revenge and definitely will take precaution. As long as we get slightly closer to the enemy, they will be alarmed. It is impossible to ambush them. I also suspect they have their traps ready and waiting for us to arrive."
Both of them nodded. Boss’s analysis was probably correct.
Xing Shan continued, "Therefore, we are going to disrupt their arrangement to ensure they do not know our actual situation. If both of you encounter enemies, just harass them, but do not engage them. As long as you stay active, they will be unable to sleep and eat well. No one knows how many people we will send for revenge. They can’t figure out how much depth we have and will definitely take strict precautions, exposing their plan. It will be better if you can mobilize their battle divisions. Let’s first muddy the water before fishing in troubled waters."
Both said in unison, "We understand!"
They felt that what Boss said was absolutely right. Only if they confused the enemy would they then be able to grab an opportunity to attack. His brilliant achievements in wars and his previous record proved that his strategic insights were excellent, so they were very convinced by Boss.
The two teams disappeared into the mountain forest.
Zu Chun looked at their backs and sighed with emotion, "Hope their luck will improve."
Xing Shan said coolly,"It will."
Then, he said to Zu Chun,"We are now slowing down the speed of advance, but by increasing the number of scouts, we need you to take command. Our target is Shi Xueman."
Zu Chun was startled. Now that he understood the true intention of Xing Shan, he could not help but ask, "Only Shi Xueman?"
"Only Shi Xueman," Xing Shan emphasized again. He noticed the change in Zu Chun’s expression and said coolly,"I did not tell you beforehand for fear of information leaks. You can imagine the benefits of capturing Shi Xueman. Deploy all the scouts. There is only one target, and I only need to know where Shi Xueman is located."
Zu Chun calmed down and admitted that the concerns of the division leader were not unreasonable. The competition between the different divisions of the Blood of God was a lot fiercer than the gentle competition of the 13 divisions of Avalon of Five Elements.
Each of the scouts soared into the sky or disappeared into the mountain forest.
Zu Chun looked solemn, his spinal column lit up, and indescribable power emitted from him.
There were three kinds of blood elementalists. The most common were god guards, followed by god shamans, and in the minority were god priests.
Both Zu Chun and Xing Shan were god guards. When compared to elemental energy, the effect of using blood spiritual force to temper the body was much better. At the beginning, the physical fitness of the god guards would have an all-rounded enhancement. Speed, strength, dexterity, and self-healing ability were greatly improved. With training, the blood essence of the whole body began to converge on the spine and condensed as spinal blood.
The spine was like the trunk of a tree and was the source of power.
The coagulated spinal blood started from the coccyx and moved steadily upward, just like climbing a ladder. A spine had a total of 33 vertebrae and these were known as the 33 pillars to the sky. It was said that if a god guard could get through the 33 pillars to the sky by traversing the whole spine, he would become a Master.
However, none of the god guards had managed to get through the 33 pillars as of now.
Zu Chun only surpassed 17 pillars, and among the god guards, he was already considered a very tough guy. From the ninth column onward, the strength required to get through each column was multiplied and the difficulty was exponentially increased.
The glistening spine was naturally curved and entrenched like a dragon.
The blood spiritual force in the body converged at an alarming speed toward his back and a dense scar appeared on his back, just like an ancient emblem. The expression shown by Zu Chun was like someone undergoing tremendous pain.
It stung.
The huge black wings rose slowly from his back, growing and extending toward both ends.
Throughout the whole process, Zu Chun was grim until the wings ceased to grow. The pain on his face vanished, replaced with indifference.
His eyes no longer had focus.
Without any nonsense, Zu Chun flapped the wings behind him and disappeared all of a sudden.