Chapter 622: The killing team

The Human-Shaman War had entered a stalemate.

On Shen Shuibi’s side, just as she was about to collapse, over a dozen Shaman Dao Five-Rank Cultivators descended from the sky in a Five-Rank flying boat that was on the verge of exploding.

These individuals immediately recognized friend from foe.

Humanity was the enemy.

Then, they swarmed forward, and the dozen-plus Cultivators, working together, pressed General Zhou and that Mohist Cultivator to their deaths on the ground.

There was no tragic outburst, no script of a deathbed enlightenment battling a dozen people; everyone was a top-tier Five-Rank Cultivator. When a dozen of us fight two of you, you two simply can’t have a chance to retaliate. They were thus suffocatingly beaten to death here.

Shen Shuibi watched, dumbfounded.

Is this… Shaman Dao reinforcements finding me?

But then, the leading Invoker said, “Lady, I see this vicinity… was a bitter battle. You’ve worked hard. It’s just that a few of us were hit by a spell, and our minds are still a bit muddled. We can’t distinguish the path. Please lead the way; take us back to the Shaman Dao main camp.”

“Alright… it’s just a bit far, so we might have to run for a while. We don’t have such a good flying boat,” Shen Shuibi said, supporting herself, a hint of exhaustion in her voice.

“Far? Where is this? Isn’t this Shaman Dao territory?” The Invoker seemed a bit surprised.

He still hadn’t figured out his bearings!

“No, this is Humanity’s heartland. We’d best run quickly, or more reinforcements will come,” Shen Shuibi said, then began to regulate her Qi to suppress her injuries.

She suppressed them to make it easier to escape.

“Humanity’s heartland? You ran here to repair a detector? Shouldn’t such a thing be repaired in one’s own heartland!?” The Invoker was shocked.

He was truly shocked. Generally speaking, such things would be built under heavy guard in one’s own territory, making it easier to respond if the enemy launched a surprise attack.

After all, such a detector was enough to reverse the situation, exposing all of the enemy’s ambushes and reserve units. Under normal circumstances, no one would build such a thing.

Building this meant a decisive battle, a hard assault.

Humanity was even less likely to build one, as there was no need. If Humanity built this, they would have to gather troops to guard the detector, which would instead give Shaman Dao an opportunity for a decisive battle, effectively tying their own hands.

Shen Shuibi, however, merely shook her head and urged, “It’s a long story; we can talk on the way. Let’s leave now. The distraction on the main battlefield cannot last too long. Once the intensity of the war decreases and Humanity can free up their hands, we won’t be able to leave.”

“Alright, let’s depart quickly.” This Invoker was also not one to procrastinate. Although he had some doubts, once they arrived, all questions could be asked. There was no need to waste time here.

Saying this, the group quickly set off, moving through the Void Realm, heading towards the Shaman Dao front lines according to Shen Shuibi’s direction.

Although it was Humanity’s heartland, they were, after all, over a dozen Five-Rank Cultivators, a formidable force even on the main battlefield. They wouldn’t be obstructed by scattered reconnaissance teams along the way.

After about ten days, they finally returned to the front line.

Of course, along the way, Shen Shuibi also told them about the predicament Li Qi faced, the method to break through it, and why they decided to build the detector behind enemy lines.

It wasn’t until these Shaman Dao reinforcements witnessed the main battlefield that they realized the immense price Shaman Dao had paid due to their absence.

It was truly a great price.

Not to mention the blood sacrifices, just speaking of the losses, all reserve units of the entire army launched a strong, head-on assault, using a battle loss ratio of thousands to one, forcibly compelling Humanity to be unable to send reinforcements…

How many people must have died?

With just this one assault, Shaman Dao lost nearly a tenth of its worlds; a large number of worlds shattered, and the Death Qi from the blood sacrifices was so dense that the front lines could smell the stench.

A tenth of Shaman Dao’s overall combat strength…

The death toll would have to be measured in trillions.

An assault, regardless of losses, was this brutal.

But fortunately, the results were also significant.

Massive sacrifices led to decisive battle results, and with the arrival of reinforcements, it was now Humanity’s turn to have a headache.

This unit of reinforcements, introduced by Shen Shuibi, came together to the half-dead world where Li Qi was located.

The war was still ongoing, but its intensity had significantly decreased, so Li Qi also had some free time to receive these guests.

Of course, the reinforcements were secondary; the important thing was that Shen Shuibi had returned safely.

Li Qi sat in the world, having cleared a clean area.

There was no other way; the entire world had been submerged by a sea of blood, so he could only clear a few places to sit, so as not to be overwhelmed by the smell of blood.

An area of over a hundred li was cleared, and the Death Qi and blood Qi had disappeared, restoring the world to its original state.

Of course, its original state wasn’t much better; it was already a dying world, originally a rocky desert, devoid of life, with no living beings, much like the Martian wilderness.

But good enough was fine. Conditions were limited during wartime; just cleaning it was enough. There was no need to build palaces for people.

After Li Qi finished these tasks, he quietly waited for Shen Shuibi’s arrival.

Before long, Shen Shuibi arrived here with over a dozen Shamanes.

The list had already been sent to Li Qi through the ‘Alliance’, and all identities had been verified one by one.

There were men and women, led by a male Invoker named Yi Ben. By seniority, he was Li Qi’s grand-disciple’s grand-nephew.

That’s right, he had to call Li Qi ‘Great-Grand-Junior Martial Uncle’, one generation higher than ‘Great-Grand-Martial Uncle’.

There was no other way; Li Qi’s seniority directly inherited from Zhu Fengdan, and Zhu Fengdan’s seniority was absurdly high. One could say that Li Qi, purely in terms of seniority, could stand shoulder to shoulder with a Four-Rank Cultivator.

However, this kind of seniority was mostly for amusement and unlikely to grant actual status. Shaman God Mountain generally still respected a certain degree of natural competition and did not enforce strict etiquette.

Seniority was seniority, cultivation was cultivation, knowledge was knowledge, and status was status; each was discussed separately. One would not be able to suppress an excellent junior just because one had high seniority; there was no such principle.

Not to mention that this junior’s cultivation and age were much higher than Li Qi’s. He was a true Five-Rank Cultivator, a solid Five-Rank peak Cultivator, whose cultivation was no less than Shen Shuibi’s.

When the Shamanes arrived in this world, the leader, Yi Ben, frowned and surveyed the world.

A world surrounded by a sea of blood.

This indicated that Li Qi had forcibly devoured a large amount of blood sacrifice power, and the leaked portion had already seeped into the world.

As an orthodox Invoker, Li Qi should have known the drawbacks of doing so, but he still did it…

Indeed, the battle situation must have been even more intense than he believed.

This made him feel a bit ashamed.

He and his companions had been ambushed, losing their ability to determine direction in Outer Void, and had been trapped in Outer Void for so long. It was difficult for this battle zone commander, who was only a Six-Rank Cultivator.

So, as soon as he landed, Yi Ben immediately cupped his hands and said, “Commander—”

However, before he could finish his sentence, he saw Li Qi immediately step forward to greet him.

Hmm?

Yi Ben was a bit surprised. Was this commander so enthusiastic? So he also took two steps forward, extending his hand, wanting to shake Li Qi’s hand.

But then, he saw Li Qi brush past him, directly embracing Shen Shuibi.

Ignoring the gazes of others, Li Qi let out a long breath: “Thank goodness… thank goodness.”

Shen Shuibi also smiled: “Alright, let’s do the important business first.”

Yi Ben was a bit awkward, but he didn’t resist. He just coughed awkwardly to the side and said, “Your deep affection for each other is truly enviable.”

“My apologies. It’s just that we’ve just experienced life and death, so there’s always some worry. During wartime, just use our titles. Yi Zhang Lu, you truly came late this time,” Li Qi said, releasing Shen Shuibi, then smiling.

Zhang Lu, Yi Ben’s position in this battle, was responsible for slaying enemy spies and fighting them.

His duty was to kill, and after killing, he would dismember the bodies to cut off all of the opponent’s fallback options, similar to a special operations squad. He was not responsible for specific matters but was a complete sharp blade, directly dispatched by the battle zone commanders in various regions.

This was indeed reinforcement, but not a ‘military’ force. It seemed that Shaman Dao truly had no regular army; everyone did their own thing normally, and only worked together under the command of the Shaman Gods when something happened.

Moreover, the higher-ups should also be very clear about the advantages and disadvantages between Humanity and Shaman Dao. With the Zhang Lu, Shaman Dao could resist Humanity’s ‘dog-walking’ tactics and compensate for its weaknesses.

The Zhang Lu used their powerful individual combat strength to intercept Humanity and delay their advance, which would facilitate Shaman Dao’s gathering and deployment of troops.

Of course, in actual operation, there would certainly be various problems, and Humanity would also find ways to deal with the Zhang Lu. For example, Liu Junyi directly, before the battle began, used meticulous arrangements to make the Zhang Lu Small Team under Li Qi’s command directly lose their way.

But no matter what, having an extra card in hand was always a good thing.

If Li Qi had had such a Five-Rank Zhang Lu Small Team earlier, he wouldn’t have been forced to fight desperately by Liu Junyi, nor would he have had to let Shen Shuibi personally venture into danger.

However…

If the Zhang Lu Small Team had been there from the beginning, would Li Qi now be able to force Humanity into their fortresses, unable to advance an inch?

It’s hard to say.

Every action has its consequence, and every consequence leads to another cause. So intertwined and complex, who can truly distinguish them?

Hearing Li Qi speak, Yi Ben smiled bitterly and shook his head: “It was indeed my oversight. For a moment, I was not careful and fell for Humanity’s trick, delaying important matters. I ask the commander for punishment.”

“Punishment is useless; let’s get to work. Now that Humanity has retreated, the matter of attacking their strongholds needs long-term deliberation. We must strive to compress Humanity’s living space as much as possible. As long as this momentum is maintained, Humanity’s defeat is only a matter of time,” Li Qi said.

“I obey the commander’s orders,” Yi Ben said, cupping his hands.

The other members of the Zhang Lu Small Team also bowed in unison.

After that, Li Qi sat down and discussed the specific implementation with the Zhang Lu.

How to leverage the advantages of the Zhang Lu Small Team was a technical skill, very difficult, requiring strict consideration of every single detail.

Fortunately, Li Qi was best at considering details.

The conversation lasted a full six days. During these six days, Li Qi meticulously arranged the combat strategy, and its meticulousness left everyone in the Zhang Lu Small Team in awe.

No wonder this commander could turn the tide in a desperate situation.

He truly managed to ‘consider everything that could be considered’.

Although many things were considered, there were no solutions, as capabilities were limited. However, knowing about the risk meant one could predict and avoid it, which was also useful.

It was just that this level gradually solidified the suspicions in Yi Ben’s heart.

When Li Qi finally finished his arrangements and stopped, Yi Ben looked at the star map Li Qi had used to plan the tactics and said, “So meticulous. Is this… the result of your examination of the Karma lines?”

“No, it’s all derived from analysis and reasoning. After all, without the support of blood sacrifices, I couldn’t use such an advanced Divine Ability,” Li Qi smiled.

Yes, his current cultivation was still too shallow; he simply couldn’t truly manipulate Karma or control the will of heaven.

If he didn’t rely on world-cluster level blood sacrifices to sustain the consumption, he wouldn’t even be qualified to examine Karma. The energy level required was simply too high.

“So it’s true… To be able to perceive Karma lines at the Six-Rank… As expected of a direct descendant of Grand Invoker. No… even among Grand Invoker’s direct descendants, the commander is unique. At least, I’ve never heard of such a feat before,” Yi Ben shook his head, unable to help but exclaim.

It was indeed astonishing. Could a Six-Rank Cultivator truly achieve this? He, a Five-Rank Cultivator, hadn’t even come close!

Manipulating destiny itself and becoming ‘Heaven’s Will’ was a typical Three-Rank trait, just as ‘longevity’ was a Seven-Rank trait.

To be able to do it at the Six-Rank…

Unbelievable, inconceivable.

“Let’s not talk about these things. Anyway, I can’t use it, and there aren’t always large-scale blood sacrifices. Moreover, if there are too many blood sacrifices, I can’t bear it either. Let’s just pretend I don’t have this ability,” Li Qi smiled.

Yi Ben said no more. He simply rose, then waved his hand, putting away the star map covered with various markings behind him. This would now be his guide for mission operations.

“Then I shall take my leave. The mission is important. However, Commander, you have just presided over the blood sacrifice. Please rest well; your health is important. Also… I see your body is somewhat ethereal. Be careful of Karma backlash, and your own existence fading away,” Yi Ben admonished before leaving.

Li Qi nodded, indicating that he understood.

In reality, no one understood this better than him.

After three consecutive attempts to glimpse Karma, he had already tangled his own Karma lines. Now, he had to establish as many connections as possible to stabilize his existence.

Otherwise… he would truly detach from the great web of Karma.

The Zhang Lu Small Team left to participate in the operation.

And Li Qi sat down.

Shen Shuibi also sat beside him, taking his hand.

“The People of No Return… should be completely dead, right?” When they were finally alone, Li Qi didn’t rush into intimacy but instead asked Shen Shuibi.

“Yes, after all, it was in enemy territory. I was only able to return because of good luck,” Shen Shuibi nodded.

“In a Five-Rank battlefield, probably very few can enter Reincarnation. However… let’s add the name People of No Return to the public memorial. The memorial position will be the second memorial position in our battle zone. This position, after the war, will at least have a Ordained Invoker personally preside over the main sacrifice, so they won’t be No Return even after death,” Li Qi nodded and said.