Chapter 2906 - 2909: Inflexible
The blazing battles on the Extraterritorial Battlefield had already been raging for a full year.
Over this year, both sides had gone all‑in, gathering around the regions encircling the Secret Realms to wage bitter, life‑and‑death struggles.
Yet the one regret was that even with the Blood Wolf Army directing them, the Five Great Continental Legions only managed to steadily suppress the Extraterritorial Alien Race; they still couldn’t rout them.
"We’re out here risking our lives, and they’re off cultivating—what the hell is that supposed to be?"
"Exactly. As vice commander, he controls the strongest Battle Array Legion, but he doesn’t join the fighting. What kind of vice commander is that?"
In a certain mountain range, a platform halfway up the mountain held a host of several hundred thousand troops.
This force was a legion personally led by Li Yuan. They had been grinding against the enemy throughout this mountain range for a year, losing tens of thousands of soldiers, yet they still couldn’t take the enemy camp, couldn’t break through into the Secret Realm.
This situation was happening around every Secret Realm. Even the legion led by Zhang Sanfeng had charged into a Secret Realm, only to be trapped inside, unable to get out!
And over this year, the various legions finally learned what their vice commander Jiang Chen was doing. He had taken two thousand Blood Wolf Army troops and gone off to those Secret Realms that they had already seized, the ones the Extraterritorial Alien Race wasn’t attacking at all anymore, and was cultivating inside them—switching from one Secret Realm to another over the year and never once appearing on the battlefield.
Repeated setbacks, coupled with this intense psychological imbalance, sparked all kinds of dissatisfied voices from every legion.
"Shut up! How can you casually gossip about the vice commander?"
A cold bark rang out. A commander from the Blood Wolf Army who was on patrol glared fiercely at the soldiers who were grumbling and complaining, though a trace of puzzlement also showed in his eyes.
The Blood Wolf Army knew Jiang Chen’s character very well. He absolutely wasn’t the type to let others charge while he stayed back enjoying himself. So why was it like this now? Just what was he doing?
What was Jiang Chen doing?
In truth, Jiang Chen was just cultivating. They had all just broken through—not only Jiang Chen but all the Blood Wolf Army were recent breakthroughs. After the frontline warriors captured a new Secret Realm, they could in turn guard the entrance and then cultivate. Jiang Chen, meanwhile, brought the Blood Wolf Army to the stable Secret Realms in the rear to cultivate.
Cultivation and combat complement each other; only by combining the two can one advance faster.
Previously, among the entire hundred thousand Blood Wolf Army, the only ones who had never had a proper chance to comprehend and cultivate were the two thousand Blood Wolf Battle Array Legion. They were always charging at the very front. Others could cultivate; when they were in the Secret Realms, they even had to help Jiang Chen as protectors, never truly cultivating themselves. That was why Jiang Chen was doing this.
But Jiang Chen hadn’t expected the war to fall into a stalemate.
"Commander Sun, it’s not that we’re just whining. Look, we’re all fighting here, yet he’s off leading people to cultivate. What is that supposed to be?"
The soldiers had grown quite familiar with the Blood Wolf Army commander. They knew that as long as they didn’t go too far, it wouldn’t be a big problem, so they took the chance to mutter a few lines to vent their frustration.
"The vice commander has always led the Blood Wolf Battle Formation Legion in battle throughout the Void Refinement Realm, never once stopping to rest. After coming here, he’s also been constantly fighting, never resting. Have any of you fought continuously for several years without a single break?"
Commander Sun spoke in a deep voice.
The faces of the soldiers changed, and one after another they showed looks of surprise.
"Commander, you’re saying that ever since the vice commander came to the Extraterritorial Battlefield, he’s been fighting nonstop and has never rested? Seriously?!"
One soldier cried out in astonishment, and everyone around stared at Commander Sun in shock.
"Of course it’s true! Even within the Void Refinement Realm Secret Realms, he was guiding the Power of the Great Dao inside the Secret Realms for us to cultivate, even opening up his own insights for us to comprehend."
Admiration flickered in Commander Sun’s eyes. "He himself really hasn’t cultivated much at all. When we were cultivating, he was helping us cultivate. When we were fighting, he was always the first to charge. I’ve never seen a commander like him. When it comes to his brothers, there’s just nothing bad you can say!"
"The vice commander broke through to the Unity Realm Stage and came to the Integration Path Domain right away, and here he started fighting immediately, without even taking time to stabilize his realm. Now he’s taking a short rest—what’s wrong with that?"
The soldiers were speechless. With a vice commander like that, what right did they have to complain?
"Who goes there?!"
𝕗𝚛𝚎𝚎𝐰𝗲𝗯𝗻𝚘𝚟𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝕞
"On guard!"
Suddenly, several sharp shouts rang out from the other side of the peak, and the hundreds of thousands of troops all sprang to their feet, alert.
After a year of continuous war, the vigilance of every legion had risen considerably.
"Not bad! You’re nice and alert!"
A voice tinged with a light laugh sounded from the sky as a group of two thousand people flew in from the distance.
"We’ve seen the vice commander!"
"Greetings, vice commander!"
A chorus of shouts rose from the front of the mountain.
"The vice commander is here!"
Commander Sun’s eyes lit up. He looked out toward the group flying through the air and respectfully clasped his fists and bowed.
Whoosh!
A figure shot out from the temporary main tent, quickly flying toward the two thousand men in the air, meeting Jiang Chen and his group just above Commander Sun and the others.
"Li Yuan greets the vice commander!"
Li Yuan clasped his fists toward Jiang Chen and bowed.
"Senior Li, no need to be so polite. Let’s talk on the ground."
Jiang Chen smiled lightly as he helped Li Yuan up, then led everyone down to the camp where Commander Sun and the others were resting.
Everyone bowed in salute.
"Brothers, dispense with the formalities!"
Jiang Chen waved a hand toward Commander Sun and the others, then looked at Li Yuan in puzzlement. "Senior Li, why are you all stuck here?"
"We’ve let the vice commander down. The enemy has five hundred thousand troops hidden in the forested mountains. We couldn’t break through."
Li Yuan said guiltily.
"Huh?"
Jiang Chen froze for a moment, then said with a faintly amused tone, "You couldn’t break through with two hundred thousand men, so why didn’t you redeploy the more than one million troops under your command to launch an assault?"
Li Yuan stared blankly, then asked, confused, "Isn’t the order to assault..."
"The order was for each Supreme General to lead troops to capture four Secret Realms. No one said you had to attack them all simultaneously. Attacking all at once is obviously harder. The Extraterritorial Alien Race has more people than we do. If the soldiers under you five Supreme Generals gather together, you’re telling me you still can’t smash through the defenses of a single Secret Realm?
If the enemy also concentrates their forces, then your main army can stretch out your line, pin them down, and send out several small corps of hundreds of thousands to slip into the rear and strike at the Secret Realms. By the time they react and pull back troops to reinforce, you should have taken at least one Secret Realm, right?
Holding a Secret Realm is always simpler than attacking one.
Even if you end up surrounded, you can defend while cultivating. There’s no need to waste yourselves out here like this!"
Jiang Chen looked at Li Yuan with a face full of bafflement, his eyes full of confusion. "Why are you insisting on butting heads with them like this?"
Li Yuan was stunned in place, and Commander Sun and the others around them were all dumbstruck as well. For a moment, everyone was utterly at a loss!
Jiang Chen swept his gaze around them and immediately understood, shaking his head with a helpless smile. "You lot have all had your thinking locked in place by your old battle patterns. A little flexibility you can still manage, but once it requires a few more changes in tactics, you just can’t think of it."