The Lineage's Shortcomings and Crisis

In the midst of all the hustle and bustle, several months have passed in the blink of an eye.

Summer has passed, autumn and winter have arrived, leaves are falling, all things are withering, and the world is filled with a desolate scene.

Great White Residence, Study.

Before the mahogany table, Yang Tianyou held the Creation Brush, but each stroke did not produce any extraordinary phenomena that would startle wind and rain; only a faint, ordinary light spread out.

An hour later, he put away the Creation Brush, and the Talisman Crafting jade in front of him suddenly came to life, transforming into a White Tiger that roared to the sky, its roars filled with the joy of being reborn.

Yang Tianyou beckoned, and the palm-sized White Tiger obediently landed in his palm. Then it flipped over, revealing its soft, snow-white belly to him, like a cute little kitten.

However, as the creator of the Talisman Soldier, Yang Tianyou was unaware of just how bloodthirsty this little guy was.

The biggest difference between the White Tiger Talisman Soldier and the other three types of Talisman Soldiers is that a large amount of Weapon Sha Qi condensed by the Purple Moon Army was added during the forging process, allowing it to integrate into the Purple Moon Army and become the pillar supporting the latter to unleash its Sage Manifestation power.

Each of these White Tiger Talisman Soldiers is a killing god, yet they only appear docile in front of their creator, Yang Tianyou.

"The Purple Moon Army has accumulated seventeen years of Weapon Sha Qi, yet it has only managed to refine six White Tiger Talisman Soldiers at the Spirit Transformation Early Stage realm, far fewer than expected. Is it because they haven't participated in enough wars?" Yang Tianyou pondered for a moment, then shook his head to himself.

"No, it's probably because the Purple Moon Army isn't strong enough."

This is the consequence of expanding the army too quickly. The lower-level soldiers of the Purple Moon Army are not strong enough. The proportion of Qi Refining and Foundation Establishment Realms is too high, while there are too few Golden Core and Nascent Soul Spirit Transformation.

Apart from the White Tiger Talisman Soldier, who possessed the combat power of Spirit Transformation, none of the Yang Household Members were at the Spirit Transformation Realm.

Even the Army Commander Yang Yusheng, who has the highest cultivation level, is only at the Nascent Soul Late Stage. He still needs at least twenty or thirty years of honing his skills before breaking through to the Spirit Transformation stage, and this is under the condition that he has no shortage of cultivation resources.

Despite having over 20,000 men, in terms of quality, the Purple Moon Army ranks only at the bottom among the Prefecture-Level Army Corps in the Lu Wu Realm.

According to Yang Yusheng's calculations, the Purple Moon Army would need at least 13,000 soldiers to unleash their Sage Manifestation power, with no fewer than five of them being Spirit Transformation level experts, and at least one Nascent Soul level expert in the mid-to- Late Stages of Spirit Transformation level in charge.

In addition, the Nascent Soul Cultivators in the army must not be less than thirty, the number of Golden Core Cultivators must not be less than one hundred and fifty, and the proportion of Foundation Establishment Cultivators must exceed one-tenth.

Only in this way can one fully unleash their Sage Manifestation power and possess a sufficiently long duration of continuous combat capability.

However, the Yang Household's Purple Moon Army can only meet the last two requirements; the first two require the White Tiger Talisman Soldiers.

The Nascent Soul is somewhat better for Nascent Soul cultivators. There are already twenty-one Nascent Soul Cultivators in the Purple Moon Army, and it is estimated that it will not be long before they meet the requirements.

There wasn't a single Spirit Transformation cultivator, let alone those in the Late Stages of the Spirit Transformation.

However, if one wants to refine a high-level White Tiger Talisman Soldier, two major problems lie ahead.

First, it requires a huge amount of resources.

The resources required to Talisman Crafting soldier are comparable to those required to craft three Law Treasure of the same level.

The Yang Household could still meet this request. Not to mention the treasure trove of the White Tiger Lineage, the ever-increasing commercial and trade revenue after the Heavenly Prodigy Assembly alone made the Yang Household extremely wealthy.

It's more than enough to support the forging of dozens of Nascent Spirit Transformation Talisman Soldiers.

What troubled Yang Tianyou the most was the second problem: the Weapon Sha Qi.

To integrate the White Tiger Talisman Soldiers into the Purple Moon Army and enable them to play their proper supporting role, it is necessary to incorporate the Weapon Sha Qi produced by the Purple Moon Army into them during the refining process.

It must be the Weapon Sha Qi produced by the Purple Moon Army; otherwise, although the White Tiger Talisman Soldiers possess considerable strength, they cannot be integrated into the Purple Moon Army.

Only the White Tiger Talisman Soldiers, forged using the first type of Weapon Sha Qi, can form a seamless fusion with the Purple Moon Army, becoming inseparable and thus fully unleashing their Sage Manifestation power.

However, it is important to understand that the Weapon Sha Qi produced by the Purple Moon Army is limited.

Especially given that the Purple Moon Army is not yet strong and its foundation is not deep enough, it will take more time to accumulate Weapon Sha Qi.

More than a decade has passed since the creation of the Talisman Soldier System.

The accumulated Weapon Sha Qi of the Purple Moon Army was only enough for Yang Tianyou to refine six White Tiger Talisman Soldiers at the Spirit Transformation Early Stage.

He only managed to forge two Nascent Soul White Nascent Soul White Tiger Talisman Soldiers. After that, he concentrated all the remaining Weapon Sha Qi into the Spirit Transformation Talisman Soldiers. Otherwise, he estimated that one of the six Talisman Soldiers would have been lost.

At this rate of accumulation of Weapon Sha Qi, it is estimated that after the start of the First-Tier of the Interface War, the fully-equipped 30,000 Purple Moon Army will be able to deal with at most two or three Early Sage Manifestation warriors.

The White Tiger Boat can handle both of them, Lineage's Clan-Guarding Array, enhanced by the Golden Jade Black Crystal Tree, can also cope with two Early Sage Manifestation warriors.

All things considered, if the Yang Household goes all out, they can still hold their own against six Early Sage Manifestation (the most ordinary kind).

Even among Province-Level Power, this strength would be considered top-tier. Forces like the nearby Mountain and River Hall and Heavenly Sword Pavilion are probably roughly on par with the Yang Household.

Heavenly Separation Palace, White Cloud Sect, and Fire Spirit Palace are somewhat weaker, but they can still withstand attacks from three or four Early Sage Manifestation.

Of course, all of the above refers to positional warfare, under the condition of having home-field advantage.

If we were to leave the sect's stronghold and focus solely on mobility Sage Manifestation prowess, these figures would be halved.

First, there's the issue of morale. Defending one's homeland is the best way to boost morale. Just look at the Ye Household of Xuan Province back then. They fought against a stronger enemy and managed to wipe out 70-80% of their fighting strength. In terms of achievements alone, that was quite remarkable.

Secondly, there's the Defense System. The strongholds of every major power are fortified and equipped with various defensive measures, making them easy to defend and difficult to attack.

The strongholds of upstream Province-Level Power are generally capable of withstanding the combat power of about two Early Sage Manifestation.

The Early Sage Manifestation here is the most ordinary kind. If they encountered someone like Wuhuang, who had extremely strong talent and extraordinary combat strength, just one of them could directly clash with a mid-level Province-Level Power like White Cloud Sect.

(In positional warfare, Wuhuang is at a disadvantage, but outside the mountain gate, Wuhuang has the advantage while White Cloud Sect is at a disadvantage, so it's barely a 50/50 situation.)

As for Province-Level Power like the Qin Household, which ranks at the bottom, Wuhuang could wipe them out single-handedly. Even hiding inside the mountain gate wouldn't work; with Wuhuang's combat power, she could break through the Clan-Guarding Array in less than half an hour.

Based on this calculation, the Yang Household's current fighting strength is already quite considerable, and it seems there is no need to worry too much.

But Yang Tianyou hadn't forgotten that his Lineage had already been targeted by the higher-ups of the Nine Phoenix Realm at the Heavenly Prodigy Assembly.

Later, they even used Fishing Operation to outmaneuver the Nine Phoenix Realms.

In this situation, would the latter simply give up?

It's impossible for them to let the Yang Household go. Even though they don't value the Yang Household as much as before because their Fortune is obscured, they will still bring out enough power to destroy Province-Level Power to attack them.

Once the Realm Gate expands and opens, many of the Sage Manifestation powerhouse from the Nine Phoenix Realms who flood into the Lu Wu Realm will definitely be there for the Yang Household.

No need for many; given the current situation, four or five Sage Manifestation could easily turn Purple Moon Commandery upside down.

Even if the Yang Household can hold onto Purple Moon Mountain, without their core base, how can they develop rapidly?

Note (Author's explanation): Wuhuang's combat power is equivalent to 2 to 3 of the most ordinary Early Sage Manifestation combat power, which is what the text refers to Early Sage Manifestation combat power.

In addition, all combat power units mentioned by the author in the text, unless otherwise specified, shall be calculated according to the most common standard for the same realm.

Taking the Early Sage Manifestation as an example, the Dao of Heaven and Earth Divine Ability not yet reached the Domain Realm, the cultivation of supernatural powers is only so-so, breakthroughs mainly rely on luck (which accounts for a large proportion) and resources, and there are no powerful Law Treasures or trump cards. Such Sage Manifestations are the most numerous and the most common.

The same applies to other realms; ordinary people always make up the majority and are the basic unit for calculating combat power in the text.