Mythical Three Kingdoms

Although Chen Xi’s Military Formation system and Zhuge Liang’s approach run completely counter to each other, Chen Xi’s formations have already proven to be genuinely effective and internally self-consistent. All the more so after being revised by people like Xun Yu and Zhou Yu, and then tested in the Han and Huns war; naturally, there isn’t the slightest problem.

A solid, true Ultimate-level Military Formation directly grants several hundred thousand men an effect equivalent to an Elite Talent. Although the nested Unity layout causes each sector’s formation effect to differ, in hard terms it really can match an Elite Talent.

As for Li Youu’s Infinite Change, it can stably control the formation’s effects and can also keep switching them, practically perfect. The actual results need no further comment; both Zhuge Liang and Li Youu have verified it countless times, equally real and reliable.

These two types of Military Formations almost represent two extremes: one is Infinite Change, the other is using the unchanging to respond to ten thousand changes. As for other formations such as the one Ju Shou uses, although they also count as Ultimate Xuanxiang, in essence they’re still within the conventional range.

The Ultimate Xuanxiang that Chen Xi and Li Youu proposed is more like a concept, a direction—two completely opposed paths whose results are both correct.

"Neither of these is wrong; they represent the two directions of an Ultimate Battle Formation." Zhuge Liang looked at Sima Yi, sighed, and said, "I chose the former, Infinite Change."

Sima Yi’s gaze flickered. It was obvious that he now understood Zhuge Liang was no longer talking about ordinary formations, but about a more core theory. Once he learned it, he’d be able to create a Military Formation suited to himself.

"I’m not asking you to choose now, just telling you these two directions. After you finish learning, after you truly set foot on the path, we’ll talk about choosing. Besides these two, there are a few others as well; once you’ve finished learning, you’ll realize these two are just directional concepts." Zhuge Liang saw Sima Yi about to speak and immediately cut him off.

"Very well." Sima Yi replied respectfully.

"Then I’ll continue." Seeing a trace of a strange light flash in Sima Yi’s eyes, Zhuge Liang was secretly delighted. Being able to make Sima Yi refrain from butting heads with him was also a kind of progress.

"What are Zhongda and Kongming doing?" Pan Zhang asked Lyu Meng beside him with some curiosity. The two of them were currently lying on the camp wall, secretly watching Sheni Pei direct Gao Lan’s drilling of soldiers.

"Why bother with those two? Just watch properly, I went through a lot to find this place." Lyu Meng replied to Pan Zhang without even turning his head.

"Military Formations, huh. I want to learn too." After Lyu Meng said that, Pan Zhang also pressed himself against the wall, staring unblinkingly at Sheni Pei’s drills.

Truth be told, Sheni Pei had already noticed this direction several times; he’d long since seen Lyu Meng and Pan Zhang, he just didn’t feel like bothering about them.

After watching the probing battle between Parthia and Rome, the Han Army also developed the desire to enhance their own strength. And compared to things like Legion Talent and Elite Talent, formations are still the most reliable; with every drill you can feel the returns.

So Sheni Pei began researching the Ultimate Battle Formation Chunyu Qiong had given him. Although there were only six changes, once truly mastered it could, in hard terms, give the army nearly a full Elite Talent’s worth of improvement.

Speaking of which, Elite Talent, Legion Talent, and Military Formations can all drastically strengthen one’s own legion. It’s just that, if you have to say which is the most stable, it’s definitely Elite Talent.

Because Legion Talent has obvious fluctuations: the higher the army’s recognition of the commander, the stronger its effect.

Military Formations, on the other hand, come with issues of proficiency and formation level. Once an Ultimate Xuanxiang is deployed, it basically equals an Elite Talent. But ever since Dong Zhuo plunged the court into chaos, there have only been two truly full-scale wars where it was fully deployed.

Elite Talent arises naturally once training and combat reach a certain level, but that doesn’t mean the same talent will have the same effect. The Soldiers’ quality has a huge impact on it. Even if they’re both Elites, the gap can actually be enormous.

As for the higher tier, Super Elite—meaning Dual Talent—once you reach that, there’s already an essential difference from a normal legion. It’s not that an Elite unit that deploys Ultimate Xuanxiang can directly possess Super Elite-level strength; in reality, the path upward is extremely difficult.

Although a truly complete and perfect Ultimate Xuanxiang can indeed let an Elite Legion possess Super Elite-level combat power, the difficulty involved is such that even Li Youu, commanding the Xiliang Iron Cavalry he’s most familiar with, can only barely reach it.

Normally speaking, as long as they don’t court death, a reorganized Super Elite Legion is basically impossible to completely annihilate. If they decide to run, even if they’re being chased and hacked at by a Military Spirit Legion, they still have a chance to get away. Thus Dual Talent means that both of their talents have already been pushed to the limit.

The power of this kind of legion has already fully blossomed. The effects manifested by other methods always contain some portion of external power. Whether Legion Talent, Belief Blessing, Glory of the Empire, or the Roman Eagle Banner, in essence, all of them involve some degree of external force.

Elite Talent and Military Spirit, by nature, are transformations from inside to outside. This is also the key reason Sima Yi has no way to erase them.

Likewise, the degree of a soldier being Elite in essence affects the upper limit of the blessings they can bear. Dual Talent Super Elite units can withstand far greater blessings than normal Elites.

You could say that the main reason Wei Yan’s Soldiers under his command back then could withstand five talents was because they came from the Jingling Guard.

This group of Soldiers was essentially equivalent to a Military Spirit Legion while stationed in a city with heroic-spirit sacrificial rites. Once outside the city, they still possessed quality no weaker than the current Bingzhou Wolf Cavalry.

If they didn’t have such a strong foundation, there’s no way Wei Yan mirroring Zhuge Liang’s five talents would have pushed this group’s momentum up to near Military Spirit Legion level.

You could say that a Military Spirit Legion’s normal-state strength is roughly equivalent to a legion with a very real three-and-a-half Elite Talents.

The Han Dynasty’s Ultimate Xuanxiang, in an extremely perfect state combined with regular Wolf Cavalry, only then equals the strength of Super Elite-level Soldiers.

If both sides are granted Legion Talent with the same degree of recognition, Super Elite Soldiers are definitely stronger than that previous setup. Those so-called seven or eight talents—in fact, if you really count every kind of ability, it’s not impossible to stack that many blessings.

But battles aren’t calculated like that. Miscellaneous Soldiers, no matter how many blessings you stack on them, only become a bit stronger trash. There are only a scant few ways in this world to truly cross the standard thresholds.

The first way: relentless training and fighting, surviving a hundred battles without dying; everything that should emerge will emerge.

The second way: the Han Dynasty’s Mao Jie’s Cloud Qi Army Formation solidification combined with Ultimate Xuanxiang, which can guarantee you cross one standard threshold.

The third way: Legion Talent, Glory of the Empire, Eagle Emblem Belief, Belief Blessing—any one of these four; as long as the Soldiers completely and utterly recognize it, they can directly cross a standard limit.

However, that being said, aside from the Eagle Emblem’s blessing being pure Will, for the others, as long as humans are involved, no one has been able to maintain that kind of perfect state up to now.

The fourth way is the Will of the Empire. As long as it can bloom forth, crossing that threshold is no problem at all.