PCJ – Chapter 767 The Real Battle

Zhang Jiaohua watched as the Battle Hall cultivators methodically cleaned the battlefield. These spirit beasts were valuable resources for the cultivators; after a fight, designated personnel would tally the spoils and the logistics department would transport the haul back to the Battle Hall’s storehouse. Although the Immortal Realm lacked refrigeration equipment, simple formation techniques could produce preservation effects even better than cold storage for cultivators’ needs.

The opponents in the first battle had been relatively weak. With the coordinated effort of the First and Second Combat Squads, they achieved a result of zero casualties — a result that did not surprise Zhang Jiaohua. What did displease him, however, was that some cultivators had still sustained minor injuries during the engagement.

“Although the fight ended with no casualties, that’s nothing to boast about. On the contrary, any injuries caused by poor coordination must be examined immediately. In the Immortal Beast Mountains we can’t expect every battle to be this overwhelmingly favorable. Future fights may be a hundred times tougher. Have the First and Second Combat Squads rest now and hold a collective debrief.” Zhang Jiaohua said this to Wen Xiaoqun.

Wen Xiaoqun had been preparing to report the glorious outcome to Zhang Jiaohua — a victory like this would have been unimaginable before — but he hadn’t expected Zhang to be unsatisfied with the result.

“There are indeed many things still unsatisfactory,” Wen Xiaoqun muttered to himself as he watched Zhang Jiaohua stride away.

Ning Yi and Li Linwei saw Wen Xiaoqun arrive and hurried to meet him; both were old acquaintances of his. Even though Wen had become the hall master, their relationship remained the same as before.

“Hall Master Xiaoqun, we did okay in the first fight, right?” Ning Yi asked with a smile.

Li Linwei quickly chimed in: “Yeah, tell the Master some good things about us — help us get promoted to Battle Hall elders.”

“Good things? With such weak opponents you still had injuries. Were you only after credit on the battlefield? Where’s the tactical training we practiced? I didn’t see any of it. If you two had not ignored inter-team tactical coordination while scrambling for glory, would those injuries have occurred? These were the weakest beasts in the mountain. If we faced stronger foes, your actions could directly cause casualties among Battle Hall cultivators. After performing like this, you expect me to petition the Master for you? I can’t embarrass myself! Tell me — can you show me our practiced tactics in the next battle? The Master doesn’t want to see one team rack up huge merit; he wants to see our overall Battle Hall execute coordinated tactical drills. So tell me, will you two not disgrace me in the next fight? If not, I’ll put someone else at the front. We have many squads — I can’t favor you two.” Wen Xiaoqun, emulating Zhang Jiaohua’s style, gave Ning Yi and Li Linwei a severe dressing-down.

“Hall Master, rest assured — we won’t disgrace the Battle Hall. Next battle, don’t leave us out! I command the First Combat Squad; if we’re not first in, how could we lose face?” Ning Yi protested.

“My Second Squad is no worse than their First Squad — we won’t back down either!” Li Linwei added.

“I’ll let you go. The next battle won’t be just one or two squads — it will be the entire combat camp’s first large-scale coordinated operation. Recon already reported hundreds of Copper-Skinned Golden-Hair Boars ahead; the Boar King is at late-stage Qi-to-Spirit transformation. You two squads will be responsible for restraining the Boar King. The other squads will coordinate the fight. All squad captains, gather for a briefing — we’ll deploy the battle plan.” Wen Xiaoqun said.

Copper-skinned golden-hair boars are usually at early-stage Qi-to-Spirit transformation; some leaders reach mid-stage. Only the Boar King had advanced to the later stage.

That didn’t mean these boars would be easy to handle. They were actually much tougher than the Wind-Chasing Wolves. The difficulty lay not in raw power but in their defense: though they might be early-stage in strength, their defenses could exceed some late-stage spirit beasts. Ordinary attacks felt like mere scratches. Moreover, these boars are gregarious — hundreds or even thousands gather together. Even many spirit beasts at the Peak or Return-to-Emptiness stages avoid direct clashes with them. If a boar is hurt, it can easily fall into a berserk state; a single ordinary boar can spike from early-stage to mid-stage strength. Once berserk, a Copper-Skinned Boar will fight its enemy to the death.

At first Zhang Jiaohua thought the plan to encircle hundreds of Copper-Skinned Boars was overly rash. But then he considered that a brutal battle might accelerate the Battle Hall’s combat awareness. It might be cruel, but it was a rare chance to speed up their growth.

Of course, letting the Battle Hall improve gradually would reduce casualties. But a troop that had never experienced harsh combat would be of dubious effectiveness in a real war.

Because the first battle had been too easy, the Battle Hall had developed a kind of overconfidence. Wen Xiaoqun wanted to apply a stronger remedy.

“Strictly speaking, this is the Battle Hall’s real first battle,” he said. “I don’t want to see any more rushing for credit or individual grandstanding in this fight. Everyone — including squad captains, the Battle Hall elders, and stewards — must obey the tactical plan and fully demonstrate our practiced coordinated maneuvers. Only by strictly executing tactical cooperation can we minimize casualties in this battle. The Battle Hall command will deploy the operation now; we launch the attack in one hour.” Wen Xiaoqun left no room for argument.

Everyone thought Wen Xiaoqun was mad. With the Battle Hall’s current strength, they were ill-prepared to face hundreds of Copper-Skinned Boars — heavy casualties seemed inevitable. Many elders prepared to persuade Wen to abandon the encirclement, but Wen was resolute.

At the Battle Hall command, the elders worked on the deployment.

“I think we shouldn’t fight by squads this time. We should concentrate our ranged attackers and melee fighters into formations to face the boars’ charge,” elder Zhao Qi suggested.

“I agree with Elder Zhao. Facing so many boars, we must use our advantages — strike them from beyond their attack range as much as possible. We should also employ trenches, defensive spells, and so on to slow their advance,” Yuan Yansong explained as he illustrated the attack formation on the sand table.

“Hmm, we’ve practiced this tactic in training — the cultivators won’t be unfamiliar. Only by doing this can we greatly reduce casualties. Also, the Boar King is a severe threat to ordinary fighters; if it suddenly charges, our defenses could be passive,” Zhang Yuan nodded.

Within less than thirty minutes the command finalized the tactics and quickly issued orders.

Engineers prepared the defensive positions at the chosen optimal site. After the fortifications were ready, the command sent a small squad to provoke the boar herd; they soon succeeded in enraging the boars, and a huge group of wild boars charged after them. That squad easily lured the boar herd into the battlefield the Battle Hall had prepared.

Before the boar herd even approached, the thunderous ranged assault had already begun!