Chapter 159: Chapter 157: True Man List (Extra Chapter 2/5 for book friend Polar Bear 2018, as a reward to the Alliance Leader)

When choosing people, many Foundation Establishment Cultivators wanted to fill the thirty-person roster, but Zhouyang stopped after selecting only fifteen.

This kind of command–organizing cultivators for city defense battles–was something he had never experienced before. Commanding too many people at once with only one hour to get acquainted, he might not manage it well.

However, with fifteen people, one hour is sufficient for Zhouyang to understand their fighting styles and the magic they’ve learned, allowing him to be well-prepared in mind.

Simultaneously, Zhouyang noticed that Dong Jianping also didn’t select a full thirty people. Instead, he picked all his family members, then selected more than ten people to make twenty, and took them to a nearby tent for communication and exchange.

“Fellow cultivators, come with Zhouyang. I have matters to discuss with all of you.”

Imitating this, he led his fifteen-member team into an empty tent, set up a soundproof barrier, and began detailed communication with them.

An hour later, all members of the third defense squad on the city wall ascended the wall using the stone steps inside the wall, led by Jia Yunzhen.

With over a thousand people on the thirty-plus-foot-wide walls, it didn’t seem crowded at all.

Once Zhouyang and the others arrived, the original Defense Army of Zhenyue Immortal City on the wall withdrew to another section, leaving the thirty-plus li stretch of the wall to be managed by their third defense squad.

Guarding over thirty li of wall with over a thousand people–only cultivators could accomplish such a task.

“Now, let’s proceed to the first training session. All teams move to the outer wall edge, with a limit of five breathing times, cast rounds of attack magic to the ground outside within this time frame. Each team must release five rounds within sixty breaths to take a break.”

“Let me warn you–if I see any team’s members’ magic colliding before landing, the team’s leader will receive one lash, and the related member will receive three lashes!”

On the wall, after those Defense Army members from Zhenyue Immortal City withdrew, Jia Yunzhen immediately began issuing orders.

Holding a whip that glowed faintly green, his gaze was stern, enveloping Zhouyang and the cultivators with an intangible aura, making people unable to ignore his words.

Upon hearing his orders, Zhouyang immediately began instructing his team members individually.

“Sima Qiong, for the first round, use the Tier Two Middle Grade Fire Element magic [Fire Snake Technique], then switch to Tier Two Middle Grade Earth Element magic [Earth Spike Technique] for the second round, and switch back to [Fire Snake Technique] for the third round.”

“Deng Kai, for the first round, use Tier Two Middle Grade Earth Element magic [Falling Rock Technique], then switch to Tier Two Lower Grade Earth Element magic [Earth Sinking Technique] for the second round, and change back to [Falling Rock Technique] for the third.”

“Gao Tai, just keep using Tier Two Lower Grade Fire Element magic [Fire Bomb Technique].”

“Everyone listen, I’ll count the time. When you hear the first round prepare, immediately get ready for the first round of magic. Upon hearing release, cast the magic immediately. When you hear the second round prepare, prepare the second round of magic again. Remember one thing–right after casting magic, operate the cultivation technique to stabilize the fluctuation of magical power to prevent failure in subsequent castings. I will give you time for this!”

…

The fifteen members within Zhouyang’s squad varied in cultivation level, with the lowest being only at the Fifth-Layer Qi Cultivation. Fearing some might not adequately manage the choice of magic release, he painstakingly explained to each one.

The results of the subsequent training proved that his cautious approach was beneficial; after an hour of training, neither he nor his team received a single lash.

Almost seventy percent of the other teams, however, received lashes from Jia Yunzhen.

Jia Yunzhen was judicious with his actions; whether a Foundation Establishment Cultivator or a Qi Cultivation Stage Cultivator, getting hit by his whip would only result in temporary pain, not hindering further training.

Nonetheless, being whipped in such a public manner was quite embarrassing for those cultivators, motivating the Foundation Establishment team leaders to emulate Zhouyang’s methodology and adjust their team’s training accordingly.

After half a day of training, everyone basically met Jia Yunzhen’s requirements; eventually, no one received lashes anymore.

Once the Qi Cultivation Stage team members finished their magic synchronization session and began meditating to recover magical power, Zhouyang and the other Foundation Establishment squad leaders were called by Jia Yunzhen to the thirty-plus “Demon-Hunting Divine Crossbows” on the wall to learn directly from him how to operate and use them.

This “Demon-Hunting Divine Crossbow” is a Tier Three High-Grade Spiritual Artifact specially created by the Artifact Refining Masters of the Liuyun Continent Cultivation Realm to counter the “beast tides” during city sieges.

A “Demon-Hunting Divine Crossbow” consists of a base, crossbow mechanism, and crossbow bolts. The base includes a Spirit Stone slot, serving as the artifact’s power source, the crossbow mechanism is the main part, acting as the control center, while the crossbow bolt offers offensive power.

The crossbow bolts of the “Demon-Hunting Divine Crossbow” are disposable spiritual artifacts. Each bolt is a Tier Two High-Grade Spiritual Artifact. When paired with the “Demon-Hunting Divine Crossbow,” their power is enough to pose a lethal threat to Tier Three High-Grade Demon Beasts!

Zhenyue Immortal City is equipped with twenty bolts and four blocks of middle-grade spirit stones for each “Demon-Hunting Divine Crossbow,” which means that one block of middle-grade spirit stones can only fuel the “Demon-Hunting Divine Crossbow” for five uses, and each crossbow mechanism will be damaged after firing twenty times and will require repairs by a knowledgeable artifact refiner to be used again.

When Jia Yunzhen trained Zhouyang and others, he certainly didn’t use real bolts for shooting, merely using ordinary iron spears as substitutes so that the training wouldn’t cause significant damage to the crossbow mechanism.

However, in the same vein, since they weren’t real bolts, the training effect was certainly not as good as actual bolt shooting; this kind of training merely familiarized Zhouyang and others with the operation process of the crossbow mechanism.

With over thirty crossbow mechanisms, each averaged out to about one for every two people. Zhouyang’s and Dong Jianping’s teams were adjacent, so the two of them shared a crossbow mechanism.

And because Zhouyang’s divine sense was stronger, capable of locking onto enemies further away, his performance in shooting training significantly surpassed his peers, Dong Jianping voluntarily ceded the crossbow mechanism operation position to him, choosing instead to protect him as a guardian.

After this consecutive two-day training, a thunderous roar like a tsunami quickly spread from the depths of the Broken Cloud Mountain Range toward them.

Standing atop the towering city wall over a hundred zhang high, Zhouyang looked out into the distance, seeing countless ant-like specks rapidly approaching Zhenyue Immortal City from the remote horizons between towering mountains.

Those specks first appeared the size of soybeans, then as the distance closed, gradually becoming the size of eggs, then heads… finally morphing into colossal beasts measuring several zhang, dozens of zhang long!

Flying in the sky, running on the ground, crawling on the earth, various kinds of demon beasts, numbering in the tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands, formed a terrifying beast tide capable of toppling mountains and splitting peaks, charging toward Zhenyue Immortal City.

The carnivorous demon beasts and herbivorous demon beasts, who would typically fight upon meeting, had now become comrades on the same battle line, jointly charging toward their common enemy, humans!

They galloped as they came, flattening mountains and trampling forests, leaving a wide avenue ten miles across and tens of thousands of miles long in their wake.

This avenue would exist among the mountains for decades, before eventually being refilled by flourishing vegetation.

Clang, clang, clang–

On the battlements of Zhenyue Immortal City, the warning bells chimed, and all the cultivators on the battlements or on the immortal mountains within the city took out their magical artifacts, stepping onto the battlements, leaving their dwellings, and solemnly eyeing the incoming beast tide outside the city.

Simultaneously, several terrifying auras rose abruptly from the three immortal mountains within Zhenyue Immortal City, and the Golden Core Stage cultivators who had never revealed themselves now finally all appeared.

One, two, three, four, five!

The surprise flickered in Zhouyang’s eyes atop the city wall; he hadn’t expected that apart from Zhenyue Immortal City’s City Lord and the three Deputy City Lords, there was yet another unknown Golden Core Stage Cultivator present, who could have come as aid from the rear, or perhaps a cultivator coincidentally passing through Zhenyue Immortal City.

“Look, that one is our Zhenyue Immortal City’s City Lord Ren Tianxing, City Lord Ren, whose cultivation not only reached the Ninth-Layer Golden Core but he is also the favored disciple of Kunwu Sect’s Master Kunhua, and has once deep into the Broken Cloud Mountain Range, single-handedly slain a Tier Five High-Grade Demon Beast!”

Knowing Zhouyang had only been in Zhenyue Immortal City for a few days and was unfamiliar with everything there, Dong Jianping enthusiastically pointed out that Golden Core Stage Cultivator above Zhenyue Peak, offering a bit of education on his identity.

After three days of reading, Zhouyang was no longer entirely unfamiliar with the Liuyun Continent Cultivation Realm. He had seen “Kunwu Sect” and “Master Kunhua” mentioned in the jade scrolls, knowing it to be a Major Sect comparable to the Profound Sun Immortal Sect and an Nascent Soul Stage Great Divine Power Cultivator.

“Zhenren” was originally a respectful term for Tribulation Crossing True Immortals, but in this realm, such True Immortals rarely emerge even in ten thousand years, so in the absence of Tribulation Crossing True Immortals, some Ninth-Layer Nascent Soul Stage “Half-Step True Immortals” began bestowing upon themselves the title of “Zhenren.”

Later, other Nascent Soul Stage cultivators imitated this, each conferring upon themselves the “Zhenren” title, leading to the current state in the cultivation realm where any Golden Core Stage cultivator achieving Nascent Soul Formation could immediately append the “Zhenren” title to themselves.

Even in the Liuyun Continent Cultivation Realm, a place of advanced cultivation civilization, Nascent Soul Stage cultivators remain at the pinnacle of the pyramid, with each appearing Nascent Soul Stage cultivator quickly having their name spread throughout the entire cultivation realm, then recorded in the “True Man List.”

Zhouyang knew of “Master Kunhua” thanks to purchasing a copy of the “True Man List,” a list that records only the names of living Nascent Soul Stage cultivators and provides a brief introduction to the life experiences of each listed Nascent Soul Stage cultivator, allowing for a clear overview.

“Everyone, keep your spirits high, the beast tide has split into groups, the first wave is about to arrive!”

As Zhouyang was listening to Dong Jianping, watching the sky where the City Lord of Zhenyue Immortal City hovered while contemplating, suddenly Jia Yunzhen’s emotionless command cut into his ear like a falling dagger.

Upon hearing this command, he reflexively looked outside the city, seeing the beast tide split into five groups upon entering the hundred-mile range of Zhenyue Immortal City.

Then the largest group of the beast tide continued to charge toward Zhenyue Immortal City, while the remaining four smaller groups, each led by a Tier Five Demon Beast, bypassed the immortal city and headed toward the genuine Liuyun Continent Cultivation Realm at the rear.