Exploring Immortality Cultivation

Hearing the Immortal Master's command to practice his move, Zu Zhipeng's spirit was uplifted. He stood at attention, thumped his chest in salute, and said, "Yes, Immortal Master!"

The Centurion turned around, and in that instant of turning, his Qi Mechanism had already changed. The simple and honest man with a look of deep respect on his face had, in this single turn, truly transformed into a soldier, a Centurion of the Zhenhai Navy.

A strong aura of iron and blood emanated from his body, and the Centurion bellowed, "Zhenhai Navy! Atten-hut!"

His voice was extremely penetrating, invigorating anyone who heard it. Nine Zhenhai Navy Soldiers immediately stood at attention, backs ramrod straight.

The first Army of the Immortal Alliance couldn't possibly be made up of conscripted civilians. They had all undergone long periods of training, and their military quality was no less than that of modern Earth's professional soldiers.

Yet behind Zu Zhipeng, Wang Qi showed an expression of surprise.

"Transforming one's own 'temperament'... It's somewhat similar to Martial Arts Fist Intent. But they don't even know how to use the power of the soul, so how could they possibly condense Martial Arts Fist Intent?"

"Heart Demon Curse Power is similar to Heart Power and also matches certain mathematical algorithms of consciousness, far surpassing Martial Arts Fist Intent. It wouldn't be impossible to mimic it temporarily. However, it is hard to imagine that these Zhenhai Navy Soldiers could pull it off—I myself didn't know this move half a year ago, and could only create a bunch of Nyarlathotep images to scare people with Dream Building Technique."

"Perhaps this is a result of Immortal Alliance's modification? As long as certain commands appear in their consciousness, their temperament would automatically change?"

Wang Qi silently invoked Shenzhou, drawing a thread of Spiritual Sense into Zu Zhipeng's body. In his previous investigation, he had left a trace of Mana within Zu Zhipeng. Following this Mana, he once again surveyed the interior of Zu Zhipeng's body, and with the electromagnetic perception brought by Heavenly Song, scanned the electromagnetic activity within Zu Zhipeng, especially that of the soul.

"Soldier Zu," Wang Qi suddenly interjected and interrupted Zu Zhipeng.

Zu Zhipeng took three deep breaths, and the aura on his body completely dissipated. At the same time, Wang Qi caught a "tumbling" in the opponent's soul—a mutated part re-submerged into the depths of the normal soul, as if it wilted. This caused the solid Alien Power that Zu Zhipeng was imbued with to suddenly disperse, merely circulating naturally within the permanently implanted Artificial Law Foundation.

Wang Qi shook his head with a smile, patted the back of each Zhenhai Navy Soldier's neck lightly, and then shook his head: "No harm done, continue."

Wang Qi's sudden stop was puzzling, but fortunately, it happened often, and the Zhenhai Navy Soldiers were getting used to it. Guessing that the other side was really pondering over the Zhenhai Navy's Cultivation, Zu Zhipeng became even more committed: "Atten-hut!"

With a single command, the aura of iron and blood revealed itself once more. This time Wang Qi noticed that these individuals' Qi Mechanism seemed to fuse into one, tough as steel, hot as blood, involuntarily conjuring the image of blood-soaked steel walls in the depths of one's heart.

"Is this, the Zhenhai Navy's Martial Arts Fist Intent?"

This time his feeling was very clear; the intrinsic forms of the soul field within these Zhenhai Navy Soldiers were opening, the mutated parts inside becoming prominent, intersecting with the transformed Heart Demon Curse Power.

"Arms!" the Centurion shouted again. The nine soldiers almost simultaneously, in synch, reached to their waists, their movements uniform.

Three soldiers drew out nine-foot long spears with metallic shafts, each surely weighing over a hundred pounds. Even wielding such a shaft as a club would be enough to easily kill a Fierce Tiger.

Another three soldiers took out a set of Sword and Shield. The sword was two feet and seven inches long, and the broad shield was nearly a Kite Shield, not only able to protect the Sword and Shield Hand himself but also easily guard those beside him.

The remaining three Gunners were singly armed with heavy machine guns.

"Gunners! Flame Devour!"

"Devour!"

Following Zu Zhipeng's command, the three Gunners bellowed in unison, their six hands pounding on the large gun barrels. The red Alien Power surged crazily, the barrels slightly vibrating. The originally cold muzzle instantly burst with intense colored light, like the tongue of a gluttonous beast licking past. Before the surge of Talismans resembling tidal waves, the distant targets could only emit sounds of unbearable burden, and the Spirit Prohibition around the training ground emanated gentle waves like water, catching the attacks that missed their mark.

"Cease!" Zu Zhipeng raised his arm, halting the men from the Lower Capital, and turned to Wang Qi: "To let the Immortal Master know, these Gunners are not very proficient with moves, and genuinely practice only three moves. Apart from this 'Fire Devouring,' the other two cannot be employed when our own are nearby, and are only for self-preservation when engulfed by Demon Beasts."

Wang Qi nodded: "I understand."

In that Fire Devouring move, the power of all Talismans was evenly distributed around the targets. Even without tracer bullets to help grasp the trajectory, for a gunner to operate like this was already quite remarkable, let alone that these three men were handling firearms.

Firearms and cold weapons function differently in battle, and even if this world initially had long-range methods like Sword Qi, the understanding of combat was merely an extension of single-person fighting. But the Zhenhai Navy was different; they were an established Army.

What an Army leverages is the dominance of number over quality. Strong moves have limited use within military formations.

Zu Zhipeng shouted loudly: "Spearmen! Red Tiger!"

The three Spearmen marched forward quickly, shouted low, crouched down, and with their right hands grabbed the middle section of the long spears. The surface of their bodies burst forth with a fiery red wave, turning them into figures of flame. In an instant, these three men and their weapons merged as one, shooting forward like a fierce tiger!

Wang Qi frowned slightly; this feeling was less apparent when the Gunners used Fire Devouring, but it became very different when these Zhenhai Navy Soldiers, who were more focused on Martial Skills, took action.

A portion of their souls had actually taken control of their bodies! After performing the corresponding preparatory movements to trigger the skill, the altered souls within the Zhenhai Navy Soldiers would operate, assisting their movements and alien power, and executing powerful martial skills that were usually difficult to achieve.

Moreover, this "skill" was not lacking in variations. It was deployed according to certain laws and could be adjusted based on the subjective thinking of the Zhenhai Navy Soldiers. Though driven by the Divine Plague Curse Technique's programming, it was not a standardized movement.

This was equivalent to instilling a martial cultivator's martial arts experience into a person's subconscious through the Divine Plague Curse Technique!

"Burning Wood!"

The three soldiers brandished their long spears and the sound of explosions followed their movements. Suddenly, multiple shadows of spears and bursts of flames appeared in the drill ground. The forms of the soldiers mixed with the firelight, just like a blossoming flower of flame!

"Sword and Shield Hand! Split Mountain!"

Three sword and shield hands rolled out, their large shields concealing their figures, standing like insurmountable thousand-ren mountains. Amid the endless shield forms, a chill sword light flashed and vanished, aimed straight for the enemy's neck!

"Stable!"

Immediately, the three soldiers stood their ground, positioning their sharp blades behind their shields, using the power of both hands to resist the oncoming impact, unmovable like a mountain. But Wang Qi could tell that if the enemy's strength waned, the "Heroic Pass" would open, releasing a powerful blade.

Delighted by what he saw, Wang Qi condensed a ball of mana in his hand and threw it. The ball of mana traced a circle in the air, striking a cultivator square on.

Wang Qi's strike did not employ any special cultivation techniques, but the mana ball's impact contained a mixture of vortex force, shock force, yin force, and soft power. These four types of force intertwining and changing could produce sixty-four variations, which even a properly breakthrough Qi Refining Cultivator would find difficult to cope with. These Zhenhai Navy soldiers were essentially mortals who had been endowed with great strength; they were not supposed to have any means of defending against it. Yet, the Zhenhai Navy Soldier who was struck shifted slightly, the shield vibrating perfectly to dissipate a layer of force, neutralizing the subsequent changes, then the shield was raised horizontally, performing a flawless, shield-as-sheath cut!

Wang Qi gently clapped his hands, "An eye-opener indeed."

Zu Zhipeng thought the Immortal Master was praising the Zhenhai Navy's effective training and scratched his head, chuckling, "This... this is really nothing..." He did not realize that what Wang Qi truly meant was their application of various laws.

"It seems that the Divine Plague Curse Technique has indeed made significant progress. Able to take over or correct the movements of limbs."

"So, this is what it feels like when those data and path ranks operate within a human body!"

A mathematician, no matter how skilled in mathematics, could not possibly develop a new language without ever having encountered a computer.

Today, Wang Qi had conceived a new idea for his cultivation, bringing him one step closer to completion.

Zu Zhipeng, seeing that Wang Qi had no other intentions, asked, "Immortal Master, would you like to take a look at the other military equipment of our Zhenhai Navy?"

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Two days later, northwest of Langde and seven hundred miles from the coast, a spirit boat floated on the sea.

Ai Changyuan created several lenses with mana in front of him and looked far into the distance, "Huh, there really is a group of demon beasts."

Feng Luoyi was the controller of the Ten Thousand Immortals Illusion Realm and had knowledge of all information within the Immortal Alliance, including satellite maps. Now Wang Qi was more familiar with all the large demon beasts and demon beast groups in the West Sea than the Guardian Envoys who had spent hundreds of years there.

"As more and more high-order beings are driven to the deep sea, the demon beast groups in the shallow sea are gradually becoming out of control. The West Sea Dragon Clan's strategy is to drive these uncontrollable demon beast groups toward Langde. Even if they can't breach Langde, it will deplete Langde's resources and annoy the cultivators," Wang Qi explained. "The situation in the sea is getting stranger by the day. Brother Ai, we need to speed up the matter of you lending me the spirit boat."

Ai Changyuan shook his head, "Normally, obtaining a spirit boat wouldn't be difficult, but avoiding the Immortal Alliance's internal procedures because you fear possible traitors makes it tough. A medium-sized spirit boat fit for long voyages isn't cheap, and I'm not the son of the Family Head, and being only at the Foundation Establishment Cultivation, I can't just use the family wealth as I please. Besides, it's best to find a few more experts to provide protection..."

"If it really doesn't work out, you can drop me in the Deep Sea Area. I have my own means of survival there."

Ai Changyuan shook his head again, "I've contacted my family, but we have to wait—speaking of which, what did you ask me to come see?"

Wang Qi pointed in the direction of Langdecheng, "The Zhenhai Navy should be about here."

On hearing this, Ai Changyuan turned to look in that direction, but let out a strange cry, "Mama mia, those guys..."

Ai Changyuan's shout was illogically historical.

Because on the other side, riding a giant sword and wielding weapons, the Zhenhai Navy roaring as they charged towards the demon beast group looked utterly unconventional to the cultivators here!

"Take a look, Brother Ai, this is the future direction of Human Dao," Wang Qi said, patting Ai Changyuan's shoulder, pointing towards the Zhenhai Navy. "Those Zhenhai Navy Soldiers."

This was the Zhenhai Navy's first formal engagement.

It was also a symbol of the emergence of a new war model! (To be continued. If you like this work, you are welcome to vote for it with recommendation tickets and monthly tickets at qidian.com. Your support is my greatest motivation. Mobile users please visit m.qidian.com to read.)