It was late at night in the Taoist priest's dormitory.
Wang Jixuan finished his meditation and stood up, stretching slightly. The three-foot flying sword that was revolving around him vibrated like a spiritual snake, then transformed into a silver-white sword pellet, which遁入 Wang Jixuan's palm.
This sword pellet seemed to be both tangible and intangible, floating and sinking in his Qi Sea, continuing to be nourished by the Qi Sea's Yuan Shen.
The flying sword was complete.
But Wang Jixuan found that he wasn't as happy as he had expected, as if he had just completed a small task that had already been planned.
And it was indeed a small matter.
Cultivators emphasize incantations, talismans, formations, techniques, pills, and weapons for self-protection. This was just a small boost in the Dao of Weapons.
'With the flying sword, I can launch a few sneak attacks when encountering an S-class.'
Taoist Wang felt refreshed, with a peaceful mind. Looking back at this cultivation, a smile appeared on the corner of his mouth.
His spiritual consciousness instantly extended more than seven miles, then instantly returned to his body, and many pieces of information appeared in his mind.
Peony was hurrying back from downstairs, holding a food box containing a steaming bowl of egg noodles.
'How did she know when I would stop cultivating?'
Wang Jixuan was a little strange, but he didn't think too much about it.
He went to the balcony and looked at the scenery of the late night for a while, waiting for Peony to bring back the noodles so he could feast.
'From now on, this humble Taoist should reduce his intake of food. After the foundation is established, I will enjoy this pleasure of the palate again.'
Unfortunately, the added egg was an industrially produced one. It wasn't lacking in nutrition, but the taste was ultimately a little lacking.
When Wang Jixuan was almost finished eating, Peony stood aside and began to report:
"Sir, there are no abnormalities around Fortress 76 for the time being. Professor Shen Qionglin is temporarily staying on the surface. She looked for you before, wanting to apply to observe and study Big Sister Red Serpent. I helped you push it back to tomorrow to reply to her."
"The Buddha Hall squad has arrived at the border and entered the battlefield. They are all performing quite well."
"In addition, Commander Ling Tong sent a message a few hours ago, saying you can call her whenever it's convenient."
Wang Jixuan held the bowl and took a sip of the noodle soup: "Then ask Sister Wan if Ling Tong is resting... How are the battles in various places going?"
"On the six battle lines, the Blade Beast's offensive has been repelled. Take a look at this."
Peony put her hands together, pulled them apart, and the palms of her two hands formed a projection screen, which showed a short video of dozens of seconds.
In a hilly terrain, hundreds of mounds suddenly arched on the ground, and then the mounds were pushed open by lid-shaped objects, and one silver-gray 'skeleton' after another crawled out from inside.
This was not a skeleton rebirth, but...
A mechanical army!
From this hidden secret base, tens of thousands of autonomous robots with no extra decorations on their bodies quickly crawled out!
They ran to the troop carriers parked in front, skillfully drove the heavy firepower provided by the D5 war zone, remained silent, and rushed to the battlefield.
"The Commander-in-Chief has activated a full 160,000 mechanical bodies!"
Peony said excitedly:
"Mechanical bodies can be awakened in turn and maintain each other. After entering the underground base, as long as there are functional and accessory supplies, 95% of the machines can be kept in a state of readiness."
"This should only be a small part of the mechanical bodies stored in D5!"
"They have changed the course of the battle! With accurate judgment and a characteristic of not fearing sacrifice, they tore a gap in the Blade Beast front and successfully used the suicide nuclear bomb truck tactic to injure the King-level Blade Beast over there!"
"Uh... Sister Wan has replied."
"She said that Commander Ling Tong has been resting for a few hours, and she also said that if you send a message, she should be woken up immediately. There are important things to communicate. Do you want to wake her up?"
"Wake her up," Wang Jixuan said with some worry, "I'll check her status."
"Okay!"
Peony tapped a few times in the air with her fingers.
Soon, she brought a three-dimensional projector and placed it in front of Wang Jixuan, consciously going to stand on the balcony.
She was being well-behaved and sensible.
On the next balcony, Gao Huating, who was staring blankly at the darkness to find inspiration, curiously looked at the maid she had met several times, lowered her head, walked back to her room, and locked the sliding door of the balcony.
Peony didn't observe this ordinary person much.
Inside the room;
Ling Tong's heroic half-body image turned into a moving image.
She was obviously just woken up, with a few sensors attached to her mechanical arm. She was wearing a dark green short sleeve and simple shorts, with her dark black long hair scattered behind her back, and there were still some pillow marks on her swan neck.
Ling Tong inconspicuously licked her somewhat dry lips with the tip of her tongue, and her whole person actually exuded a bit of a cute temperament.
This kind of moment was rare for Ling Tong.
She lacked the usual fortitude and seriousness, carrying a bit of a rare laziness of not wanting to get out of bed. A pair of dark black eyes slightly swayed, and her tall nose gently twitched a few times.
"Did I disturb you?" Ling Tong asked.
"Isn't it obvious that I disturbed you?" the Taoist priest replied with a smile.
Ling Tong grabbed a tissue from the side, rubbed her eyes, pressed some kind of refreshing spray twice, quickly regained her spirit, and then sighed with her head down.
"What's wrong?" Wang Jixuan asked puzzledly, "Didn't you say you won? And there were few sacrifices."
"It's not because of the war."
Wang Jixuan immediately realized the seriousness of the matter.
She was actually sighing!
This frontline battle machine who didn't blink an eye at a mountain of knives and a sea of fire was actually worried!
"Don't scare me," Wang Jixuan said jokingly, "Your forehead is almost getting wrinkles."
Ling Tong didn't care about these things, she just said: "The Commander-in-Chief talked to me in the evening."
"Talked about what?"
"Heroes, commanders, politicians."
Wang Jixuan was confused: "What do you mean?"
"This is the Commander-in-Chief's successor plan."
Ling Tong summarized succinctly:
"According to my own understanding, the Commander-in-Chief wants to choose at least three successors."
"Heroes must shape a righteous image for the common people and guide everyone to believe in the future and hope;"
"Commanders must have the most outstanding military command ability, have enough prestige in the army, and have the courage to abandon everything for the sake of the overall situation at critical moments;"
"Politicians must be smooth and adhere to the bottom line of justice to integrate various forces and resources."
"The Commander-in-Chief is playing these three roles alone. His meaning should be to cultivate three successors in three aspects."
"I have become a candidate for the next generation of heroes."
Wang Jixuan pondered slightly and suddenly thought of what Fu Jian had said before...
Ling Tong's summary was quite reasonable.
Fu Jian had been looking for a successor for fifty years, but he never found one.
The success of the Devil Commander-in-Chief could not be replicated. A powerful half-human mecha, a ruthless commander, guarding human civilization with an iron will, selfless dedication, and extreme stress resistance, and risking everything for the future of mankind.
The environment that humans will face next is still extremely harsh, and Fu Jian's successor must not be too much weaker than Fu Jian...
Cultivating three successors in three aspects is quite in line with Fu Jian's character.
However...
Fu Jian won't collapse in the next ten years...
'Should I engrave a Soul-Fixing Restriction for Old Fu? Refine Old Fu into a magical treasure in advance? However, Old Fu's willpower is too strong, and this humble Taoist is only in the Returning Void Realm, so I may not be able to suppress him.'
These thoughts quickly flashed through Wang Jixuan's mind, and he smiled: "This is a good thing, did you agree?"
"I thought about refusing," Ling Tong explained simply, "but I was more afraid that my hesitation would disappoint him. He taught us half-human mechas to be decisive and believe in our combat intuition. I chose to believe in my intuition at the time... Well, I agreed."
Wang Jixuan said sternly: "This is great. Your charm is very dazzling, and you are very suitable to take on this responsibility."
Ling Tong leaned back on the chair: "Then, the Commander-in-Chief assigned me three tasks, all of which are related to you."
"Related to me?"
"Complete the teaching of the first three formations of the Sword Formation Transformation in the D5 half-human mecha as soon as possible. This is the first thing."
Ling Tong looked aside:
"Second, I need to go to various places to give lectures, that is, to focus on showing my own charm, preferably to let you see the videos of these lectures... Although I don't think I have this use other than fighting."
"The third thing should be a joke from the Commander-in-Chief."
"What?"
"We have to go on a few dates and gradually deepen our relationship," Ling Tong turned to look at the projection screen and the camera, "Just treat it as completing a task."
Wang Jixuan: ...
Good fellow, Old Fu, you're serious!
As expected of the Commander-in-Chief, he is ruthless enough and does what he says!
The Taoist priest inconspicuously changed the subject: "Private matters and public affairs must be separated. These can all be done when you have time... And I think you may have misunderstood the Commander-in-Chief's meaning."
"Why?"
"Heroes, commanders, and politicians seem to be different, but in fact, they are interconnected."
Wang Jixuan tutted:
"A hero who is not good at commanding the entire army, commanding battles, and winning people's hearts is just a powerful warrior, or a star in the army."
"Such a person is not worthy of becoming the next Devil Commander-in-Chief."
"He should be cultivating several successors in three directions. At the beginning, each successor has his own emphasis and mutual backup."
"When the situation requires it, there will always be someone who stands up, becomes the backbone of everyone, shoulders all the pressure and responsibility, and can, like him today, decide where the fate of mankind should go with a single thought."
"So, next, you can't think about problems from the perspective of an army star, otherwise you will definitely fail in this trial that the Commander-in-Chief gave you."
Ling Tong's eyes bloomed with soaring fighting spirit.
She nodded solemnly: "That's right! This is a trial!"
“I was just talking nonsense, just listen casually.”
Daoist Wang continued, “You still have a lot to learn, and there's not much I can help you with here.”
“When are you coming back?”
“I can give you a deep massage now to improve your combat power a little bit.”
Having entered the Void Return Realm, he can naturally help Ling Tong improve even more.
A trace of longing appeared in Ling Tong's eyes: “I probably need about a week. Sister Wan has already started scheduling, and the battle lines everywhere are tight. I have to be ready to fight at any time.”
“Hasn't the Blade Beast offensive been repelled?”
“They just retreated temporarily,” Ling Tong explained softly, “If you compare the Blade Beasts to a fist, then this fist has retracted to gather strength, and it is estimated that a new offensive will be launched at dawn.”
“Okay,” Wang Jixuan sighed, “Now it really is a case of external and internal troubles. The Spirit Energy Capital wants to deal with us, and the Blade Beasts are also stepping up their offensive.”
Ling Tong asked, “I saw in the intelligence that you guys accidentally brought back a professor. Does this professor have advanced spirit energy infusion technology?”
“Yes, she's quite powerful, in a way,” Wang Jixuan said with sincere emotion.
“This may trigger a real spirit energy war.”
“I also have this consideration. I'll be busy for a few days, trying to improve the defense of Fortress 76.”
“Teacher Wang, you're working hard.”
Ling Tong rarely made a joke and reminded, “I analyzed the newly obtained intelligence before going to bed.”
“Regarding the Spirit Energy Capital, the Fifteen-Person Council has reached a consensus. They intend to force the Six Elders to express their position, thereby comprehensively pressuring D5 or even launching a full-scale war.”
“The Spirit God Sect's spirit energy users have crystal cores in their bodies, and I discovered a detail in the combat footage that Mudan passed on to me.”
Wang Jixuan asked in confusion, “What detail?”
“Master.”
Daoist Wang frowned and said, “Let's be serious, there's no need to pursue this kind of stimulation.”
Ling Tong seemed to be a little embarrassed and muttered softly, “This is intelligence…”
“Ahem,” Wang Jixuan raised his hand to his forehead.
A certain loyal wingman on the balcony almost laughed out loud.
“These Spirit God Sect spirit energy users are describing an existence, calling that existence Master.”
Ling Tong adjusted her state and said quickly, “Think about it carefully. If this Master is just a King-level Blade Beast, is it capable of raising these spirit energy users to the S-level?”
Wang Jixuan stroked his chin and thought carefully.
S-level spirit energy users are, in a sense, comparable to ordinary King-level Blade Beasts.
— The former's destructive power is far inferior to the latter, and the King-level Blade Beasts command a terrifying number of Blade Beasts of all levels, which is the most troublesome existence.
The Daoist asked, “How are the Pillar-level Blade Beasts doing now?”
“I checked, the awakening level of the Ninth Pillar has risen to twenty-six percent, and there is no obvious exchange of information with the outside world.”
“Then who else could be the master of these Spirit God Sect spirit energy users?”
Wang Jixuan stood up immediately:
“I'll interrogate them. There are still six crystal cores here, with some residual souls inside.”
“Remember to rest more,” Ling Tong urged, “The intelligence I've compiled will be sent to Mudan.”
“Okay, hero!”
Wang Jixuan hung up the communication.
He casually put on a sports jacket, wearing slippers and loose shorts, called Mudan and went out immediately, heading straight to the surface military camp.
In order to maintain secrecy, Wang Jixuan put on a mask and a sun hat.
This outfit is even more strange.
…
A few minutes later, outside Fortress 76.
A sand dune a dozen kilometers away from the surface military camp of Fortress 76 was slightly sunken, and the outline of a footprint appeared.
Immediately afterwards, footprints appeared on the sand, as if a ghost army was marching.
There was a chattering man's voice, constantly saying to these transparent figures in a way similar to sound transmission:
“Pay attention, we can't repair equipment now. This kind of sneak attack can only happen once. The damage rate of holographic belts is too high. This kind of technology product is not reliable at all.
“Try to capture this traitor later. The Master is very interested in it. Kill it if you can't capture it.
“In addition, pay attention to finding the trace of that awakened spirit cultivator. The Master has suspected that humans have the help of a newly awakened spirit cultivator.”
“Quick, everyone lie down and crawl forward close to the ground, trying to avoid the other party's radar detection.”
In the distance, the surface main camp of Fortress 76.
Wang Jixuan took Mudan out of the elevator, and a team of soldiers came forward to salute.
