Chapter 1376: The Northern and Southern War (VIII)
Chapter 1376: The Northern and Southern War (VIII)
On Tawantin’s side, Huangfu Ji, who had arrived at Monclova, stood within a concealed bunker to observe the battlefield. He saw mechanical puppets as far as the eye could see, moving in strange, unnatural ways.“The Westerners have deployed their puppet legion. These things are not only expensive but also costly to maintain. They’re usually kept in trains. Now that they’ve been sent to the battlefield, it shows they’re truly desperate,” Huangfu Ji remarked.
“The defining trait of the puppet legion is fearlessness in the face of damage. But that’s also their weakness. The puppets don’t fear destruction, but their controllers do, since every unit is built from Gold Crowns,” a strategist added.
Huangfu Ji nodded. “War is about burning money. Since the Steam Evangelical Sect has deployed its puppet legion, we ought to respond in kind. We won’t fill the battlefield with human lives. Where is our Rakshasa legion? Deploy them all.”
This was the era of large-scale warfare. Armies numbering in the hundreds of thousands were not just conscripts filling ranks. They were all elite forces. Beyond top-tier weaponry, even ordinary soldiers were highly capable, with many veterans nearing Xiantian Beings. Higher-ranking officers were even more formidable. In addition, both sides fielded special units. The Holy Court relied on steam machinery, while the Daoist Order specialized in creations.
Thus, a single Immortal could not wipe out hundreds of thousands of troops. Even if an Immortal’s attack spanned an entire army, its effect on each soldier would be limited.
Moreover, factors like blood qi and formations came into play. The more people gathered, the stronger the collective blood qi, rivaling even Manly Immortals, so it could greatly diminish the power of spells. There were also large-scale Eastern and Western formations, using individuals as nodes. The most classic example was the Wuxing Mountain Formation, where the Daoist Order had to deploy Spirit Guards to dismantle the nodes before Madam Qi could banish The Inn’s Owner to the depths of Donghai, allowing other pseudo-immortals to enter the battlefield.
Immortals could influence the course of battle, but they could not decide the outcome alone. Especially when it came to actual territorial control, victory depended on the army.
In such circumstances, the power of the organization became evident. Even among Immortals, a lone wanderer could not compare to one who commanded vast armies. That was why Immortals also pursued, wielded, and competed for power.
The Rakshasa legion Huangfu Ji referred to was the Daoist Order’s creation.
The term “Rakshasa” came from Buddhist lore, referring to malevolent spirits that fed on human flesh. The males were grotesquely ugly, while the females were extraordinarily beautiful. They were capable of flight and were terrifyingly swift on land.
At its peak, the Gezao Sect was unrivaled in the mortal world, so it had its sights on other realms, setting out to create beings from Buddhist mythology.