CHAPTER 1448: CHAPTER 1396: I AM THE MILITARY SPIRIT

"I had heard before that he was formidable, but to be this formidable truly came as a surprise," Chen Dao said with a heavy expression. "His sword technique is somewhat similar to General Guan’s, both walking the path of the divine. However, General Guan emphasizes intent, while he emphasizes force."

"Forget it, being able to take out a thousand or so is not bad at all," Yu Jin said, having no particular thoughts about the realm of Inner Qi Manifestation. A man must know his own limits, and when he didn’t have Legion Talent, he indeed felt some dissatisfaction, but not achieving Inner Qi Manifestation was not really a problem for Yu Jin.

"Go back and report to the strategist, I always feel somewhat uneasy leaving the strategist alone in the rear camp," Yu Jin sighed and said, though Chen Dao placed half of his elite force by Liu Ye’s side, truth be told, he still wasn’t all that reassured.

"Don’t worry, there will absolutely be no problems," Chen Dao said with utmost determination. Both he and Yu Jin were experts in drilling soldiers, so it was easy for the two to mingle together. However, the difference was Yu Jin excelled in training large armies, while Chen Dao excelled in training small groups of elites.

In reality, there’s not much difference between Chen Dao’s training methods and Yu Jin’s; it’s just that Chen Dao’s Legion Talent could be considered as half a waste. Not adding any attribute would be fine, but the number it covered was especially limited. Despite his many years of effort, in the end, Chen Dao barely managed to have his Legion Talent affect nearly a thousand men.

Nevertheless, Chen Dao, being a man of perseverance, although he completely didn’t understand what the purpose of his Legion Talent was, still spent considerable energy researching it. He eventually confirmed that his Legion Talent was indeed half a waste.

If we say that normal Legion Talents involve changes in will and Cloud Qi, then after years of research, Chen Dao determined that half was missing in his Legion Talent. His Legion Talent lacked the Cloud Qi change part.

Upon learning this fact, Chen Dao almost lost his composure; not being able to use Cloud Qi essentially turned his Legion Talent into a joke. All attribute enhancements of Legion Talents stem from Cloud Qi; without Cloud Qi, no attributes can be enhanced!

Yet, even so, Chen Dao did not give up, continuing to use it diligently, hoping one day his Legion Talent might suddenly pick up Cloud Qi and break through this wasted state.

"Heaven rewards those who persevere," Chen Dao finally discovered one day that not only did his Legion Talent not pick up Cloud Qi, it actually was destroying it. The Cloud Qi formed by his stationed army was being obliterated by his own Legion Talent.

In other words, Chen Dao realized he hadn’t just veered off the right path but was straying further down a wrong one. What was only a half-waste Legion Talent before had not only become a waste but was also suppressing his side’s strength.

However, reaching this extent, Chen Dao’s resilient and unyielding mindset began to entertain other ideas. Since it was a wrong path, he might as well continue down it; in the worst case scenario, he could just lead a different batch of soldiers.

No matter how flawed a Legion Talent is, in essence, it’s the soldiers’ will recognizing the general’s will and using this will to stir Cloud Qi and Heaven and Earth Essence to achieve the chief general’s desired outcome.

Though Chen Dao’s Legion Talent doesn’t stir Cloud Qi or Heaven and Earth Essence, in essence, it’s still the soldiers’ will recognizing the general’s will.

Embracing a mindset of things being bad enough not to worsen, Chen Dao, amidst continuous training, finally broke open another path—one of highly condensed will. I’m not playing with you in Cloud Qi, my will has penetrated into the nine hundred plus soldiers covered by my Legion Talent!

If at first, Chen Dao did not understand what it meant when projecting his will into his soldiers, then now he understands. His Legion Talent has disappeared, or rather, it has become part of the Military Spirit of the White Spear Soldiers.

Juo Yi once spoke of what Military Spirit is and mentioned how Military Spirit can be independent. But until Military Spirit becomes independent, even Juo Yi didn’t truly understand why it separates, or why, once independent, it reignites like a spark as long as one person remains undying.

This is a question that perhaps only Gao Shun could answer before. But now, Chen Dao, after projecting his will into the soldiers’ wills, suddenly comprehends.

Military Spirit is the manifestation of will; its independence signifies the original chief general has merged his will into all soldiers’ wills.

This way, even if the chief general is cut down, the will is inherited onward, and as for the manifested independent Military Spirit, its essential purpose is to better connect all soldiers.

However, merely that manifested part of the Military Spirit, in the now enlightened Chen Dao’s eyes, is more frightening than a Legion Talent; its meaning lies in coordination, enabling all soldiers with Military Spirit to cooperate as one entity.

This is also why the military formation for Gao Shun and Juo Yi is like eating and drinking, and even Hua Xiong, whose intelligence was in negatives, now perfectly masters the ultimate transformation formation of Xuanxiang, because this part of the Military Spirit has coordinated all the soldiers.

This is also another significant reason why Military Spirit Legion is so fearsome. Besides the inherent differences in power of both sides, Military Spirit Legion instinctively understands coordination in combat, inheriting from the chief general, inheriting experience from every soldier in the legion.

Even with equally strong troops, or even if they’re all miscellaneous soldiers, those inheriting parts of Juo Yi, Gao Shun’s combat will, or even combat consciousness can face three on one under similar qualities. Moreover, the essence of Military Spirit greatly enhances all soldiers’ strength.

Meaning, Chen Dao, after forging ahead blindly, finally unearthed the ultimate treasure—he himself became the living Military Spirit, and the nearly thousand soldiers under him, after his will penetration, in essence, have become the Military Spirit Legion.

However, the biggest difference from other Military Spirit Legions is that Chen Dao’s Military Spirit Legion will be constrained by the usage duration of his Legion Talent, possessing their own limitations, and his Military Spirit cannot truly stand alone.

Unlike other Military Spirit Legions, Chen Dao’s White Spear Soldiers’ Military Spirit is simply Chen Dao’s will, not a collective of all other wills. This results in only one path to take for an independent Military Spirit—to sacrifice his own will, then fall himself.

More importantly, Chen Dao estimates that even if he sacrifices his will it wouldn’t do much good; if he dies, what remains is just blank will, not high-quality aggregated will with its own attributes like other legions.

With just blank will, the Military Spirit Legion likely has only the path of failure to take. But despite the restrictions, Chen Dao is already extremely satisfied.