Chapter 322: Practical application

Li Qi won, and he won very decisively.

This battle lasted only one hour, and even the preliminary troop deployment was not used.

Yes, troop deployment, including ambushes, and assessing the strengths and weaknesses of the enemy and ourselves, was all useless.

Li Qi simply charged with his men.

Li Lieqi found it difficult to understand.

How did he do it?

Li Lieqi mobilized the entire military force of the Northern Kingdom; it could be said she was engaging in excessive militarism.

Her troop strength and available combat power were at least thirty percent higher than Li Qi's, and this was even because Li Qi used the method of perfection to reduce losses, allowing him to maintain more troops.

If calculated normally, Li Lieqi's troop strength would be more than double Li Qi's!

With similar soldier quality, similar equipment and weapons, and similar cultivation method levels, more than double the troop strength represented an absolute advantage!

However, this absolute advantage was crushed by Li Qi's full-army assault.

Neither side had time to deploy troops, nor to employ their respective military strategies, nor even to make pre-battle mobilizations; Li Qi directly led his army in a突击, and in one wave, he directly pierced through an enemy force thirty percent larger than his own, directly leading to Li Lieqi's uncontrollable rout, with countless routed soldiers directly collapsing the entire Formation Plate!

There weren't even many casualties.

Because they didn't directly enter a meat grinder, it merely caused a great rout.

"Impossible!" Li Lieqi's eyes widened.

Without the slightest hesitation, upon realizing that the situation was beyond salvation, she unhesitatingly rose, abandoned the personal guards still surrounding her, and directly left the Grotto-Heaven.

She wanted to see the replay!

How did she lose? The entire battle didn't even last an hour, and her soldiers couldn't be this fragile; these were all Ninth-Rank regular soldiers!

After leaving the Grotto-Heaven, she rushed quickly to the teacher who was recording nearby and urgently said, "Teacher, I want to see the replay! I want to see Li Qi's situation!"

And that Youqi General, who had always been calm and rarely showed any emotional fluctuations, simply nodded silently as usual, then took out a Jade Slip, within which Demon Qi could vaguely be seen shifting and leaping, as if a small person was peeking out from inside.

Jade Slips contain 'book Qi,' which can record information, and the Demon Qi comes from 'book demons.'

These are small demons that cultivate by means of books, usually residing in Jade Slips, bamboo slips, or books, where they help record information.

This is also part of the book demon's cultivation; the more things they record, and the higher the level, the more benefits the book demon receives.

There was once a book demon who often followed a Great Power, copying books, recording messages, and so on for him. On the day the Great Power finally attained the Dao, the book demon also achieved Ascension, reaching the Fourth-Rank.

Therefore, the position of book demon in the Imperial Academy is quite popular; many book demons scramble to sign up to record documents or course materials at the Imperial Academy, and this was the case at this moment.

Leaving these minor matters aside for now, Li Lieqi directly grabbed the Jade Slip, and then her Evil Qi vibrated, and a small book demon, similar to a butterfly, was directly flung out, falling heavily onto the table, coughing several times, looking quite weakened.

Li Lieqi found the book demon in the way; she wanted to browse the records herself.

The other students hadn't come out this early, so currently, there were only the teacher, Li Qi, and Li Lieqi, who had just finished their battle, in the classroom.

The Youqi General glanced over but said nothing, remaining as silent as a stone statue, quietly waiting for the students to do their own things.

Aside from necessary matters, this Youqi General never spoke half a word more.

However, Li Qi, who had just come out, frowned and gently flicked a finger of wood Qi, lifting the small book demon and stimulating its vitality to prevent it from suffering a permanent injury.

Being flung away by an Eighth-Rank Evil Qi could be fatal for these unranked book demons if they were unlucky.

She hurriedly opened the Jade Slip, immersed herself in it, and began to experience the detailed information recorded within.

The scene returned to one hour ago.

Li Lieqi was swaggering among the three armies.

On Li Qi's side, however, he said nothing; he merely arranged his soldiers according to his plan, instructing each soldier to stand in a different position, with each position responsible for a specific area.

Unlike Li Lieqi's passionate and domineering way of leading troops, Li Qi was as polite as he usually appeared, yet he had his own set of plans, and everything was orderly.

Then came the moment Li Lieqi understood the least.

Both sides had already reached the front line. At this point, they should have been probing the enemy's strength, assessing the situation, and setting up suitable camps and Formation Plates for their side.

Especially since Li Qi was the defender, this should have been even more so.

But at that very moment, Li Qi directly led his army in a full-scale assault, charging out in a chaotic mass.

Li Lieqi, seeing this, was overjoyed, thinking Li Qi had lost his mind, and immediately set up her formation to meet the attack.

But the well-arranged formation collapsed at the first touch, directly pierced through by Li Qi's soldiers.

"Yes, this is it! What happened?! Why did my front line collapse so quickly?!" Li Lieqi clenched her fist and slammed it on the table.

Then, she repeatedly went back and forth, looking from various angles.

No matter how she looked, she couldn't understand.

Finally, she put down the Jade Slip, walked up to Li Qi, cupped her hands, and bowed: "Li Student, may I ask where I lost?"

Li Qi pondered for a moment after hearing the question.

He was considering how to explain.

Because he was afraid of offending someone.

To be honest, Li Qi didn't have a good impression of this woman.

From the inexplicable provocations at the beginning, to her arbitrary anger later, he initially thought it was just a childish temperament, but then he looked at her military tactics...

Recklessly treating human lives as consumables, engaging in excessive militarism solely for victory, and now being so rude to a recording book demon...

How to put it, Li Qi wouldn't comment too much on others' behavior, but Li Lieqi's various behaviors clearly showed she was an easily angered and easily offended woman.

At this point, it was still necessary to choose his words carefully, as Li Qi didn't want to offend anyone casually.

So he said, "I was just trying it out; I don't know why the results were so pleasing. Please ask the teacher to explain."

He simply threw the troublesome matter to the teacher.

Li Lieqi didn't doubt him and looked at the Youqi General again: "Teacher, could you also enlighten me?"

"As a teacher, it is my duty to enlighten you. Actually, there's nothing special. You only looked at his Formation Plate, deployment, and military tactics, so you might think there's nothing special. But what if you look at Li Qi's military Qi?"

"Military Qi?" Li Lieqi frowned, then picked up the Jade Slip and opened it again.

With a target in mind, she carefully examined it bit by bit and finally discovered a clue.

Although Li Qi's military appearance wasn't vastly different from hers, in terms of military Qi, he possessed a different demeanor.

His troop deployment, military drills, and the arrangement of his ingenious and orthodox strategies were all inferior to Li Lieqi's.

Not to mention, his choice was to temporarily disregard these things and forcibly charge, which caused his originally disciplined formation to become disorganized and chaotic.

However, even though it was already so chaotic, the military Qi gathered by Li Qi's soldiers was not chaotic at all; in fact... it grew even stronger!

"How can this be? This is impossible... No, it's not impossible." Li Lieqi rubbed her face, giving up on saying 'impossible.'

This wasn't impossible; it was a reality that had already occurred. Saying 'impossible' was purely escaping reality; she couldn't do such self-deceptive things.

Since it had already happened, there must be a reason.

How did Li Qi achieve something so contrary to common sense?

Li Lieqi forced herself to calm down and think, recalling what she had seen.

It is well known that military Qi is a collective force formed when soldiers gather as a whole, capable of combining the strength of countless soldiers into one to exert greater power.

Therefore, a group of Ninth-Rank soldiers, in most cases, can suppress or even kill an Eighth-Rank Cultivator.

This is the meaning of the army's existence: it allows lower-level Cultivators to contend against higher-level Cultivators, making numbers an advantage rather than being slaughtered by others relying on their cultivation advantage.

The difference between a disorganized mob and elite, strong soldiers lies precisely here.

So, the key to military Qi lies in being able to integrate the power of these disorganized mobs, allowing them to form a tangible entity and use it to counter the enemy. This is a hallmark technique and a signature skill of the Military School of Thought of the Human Dao.

No matter what strange tricks Li Qi's military Qi had behind it, it could not deviate from this foundation; this was the root of the Military School of Thought.

If Li Qi could Breakthroug this point, then he would be establishing his own school, doing the same thing as the Military School of Thought.

Within the Human Dao, this would be considered a sect-founding level achievement, absolutely impossible for Li Qi to accomplish.

Therefore, the military Qi must be based on the Human Dao Military School of Thought, and the key lies in how to maintain strong military Qi when the formation is not orderly?

The Human Dao places the utmost importance on rules; without rules, the collective strength of the people cannot be combined into one force. Ordinary military Qi relies on formations; if the formation is disorderly, the military Qi will naturaly be scattered.

Li Qi's ability to maintain strong and orderly military Qi amidst a chaotic full-army charge, even stronger than Li Lieqi's own, must lie in this mystery.

She continued to scrutinize the few minutes of the army's collapse, back and forth.

However, even though she had realized where the problem lay, she couldn't discern any clues.

There was nothing more tormenting than this.

She clearly knew where the mistake was, she had already been told that this problem was wrong and the key was here, yet she couldn't understand it.

This made Li Lieqi feel a sense of humiliation, as if she had been insulted.

Fortunately, although she had a quick temper and was easily angered, it was impossible for someone who had cultivated to the Eighth-Rank to be a fool.

So she temporarily suppressed her irritation and took a deep breath.

Then, she decisively put away the Jade Slip, walked over to Li Qi, and raised her hand: "I am completely perplexed; I dare to ask Li Student to enlighten me."

Li Qi couldn't very well refuse, after all... this concerned his next plan.

He needed Li Lieqi to initiate it so that he wouldn't be suspected of having ulterior motives.

So, Li Qi sat down at the desk and said to Li Lieqi, "This is natural. We agreed to share knowledge; how could I hoard it? Li Lieqi Student, please listen carefully as I explain."

Then, with a wave of his hand, wood Qi combined with mountain Qi, producing small wooden splinters.

These small wooden splinters then combined with water Qi, gradually growing into thumb-sized models. Although they weren't necessarily lifelike, they at least resembled people.

"Military Qi comes from collective effort. So, what exactly is collective effort, and what are its boundaries?" Li Qi asked Li Lieqi.

However, he merely asked, not expecting this woman to answer, because he knew Li Lieqi most likely wouldn't be able to.

So, in reality, Li Qi's explanation was helping himself clarify his thoughts.

What is collective effort?

Li Qi had studied physics, and his thinking from another world helped him open up his mind in this area.

In physics, any force is essentially a resultant force composed of countless component forces.

In other words, if force is not exerted in one direction, then the collective strength of people cannot be utilized and will conflict with each other.

This is the function of Human Dao rules: they define the direction of collective effort, so that the strength of all people can be used together.

So, the question arises.

What is the 'boundary' between resultant force and component forces?

Or, to rephrase the question, since military Qi cannot be possessed by an individual and requires a collective, how many people constitute a collective?

One person is definitely not a collective.

Are two people? Are three people?

At what number of people does it become a collective?

These were the questions Li Qi had been pondering these past few days.

Although he hadn't grasped the essence, he hadn't done all those experiments for nothing; Li Qi still had some收获.

This was the trick he used today.

He continued, "Since the boundary between individual and collective cannot be clearly distinguished, can this point be utilized?"

Li Qi arranged the models, dividing them into many small collectives.

"Each of these teams can condense military Qi," Li Qi said, pointing to the models divided into small collectives.

Then, he connected all the small collectives: "From the perspective of this large collective, these small collectives can be regarded as individuals."

Li Qi felt this was very easy to understand.

What is a person composed of? If you cut a piece of flesh from a person, why can't this piece of flesh possess the nature of a person? Clearly, it is part of a person, so why do bones, flesh, skin, brain, and Spirit Soul, when combined, become a person, but when separated, they are not?

The military Qi of a legion is also like this.

If a single person cannot form it, can it be formed in the form of a group?

As long as small collectives can form military Qi, then by treating small collectives as individuals and then using these 'individuals' to form other collectives, will there also be similar military Qi?

Then, extending this further, is it possible to abandon the order formed by the most basic individuals, and as long as the order formed by small collectives is established, then, from an overall perspective, will the combined force still maintain its original appearance?

In other words, as long as the small collectives maintain order, there is no need for the large army's neat formation, and military Qi can still be reproduced.

Thus, a scattered, chaotic charge can also carry complete, even stronger, military Qi!

This is the practical application of the concept of boundaries, and it is Li Qi's latest achievement!

Not understanding the principle doesn't mean it can't be applied to a certain extent!