Generally, a dreadnought had a crew of over a thousand men.
The other ironclad ships had somewhat fewer.
But with eight ships in a fleet, there were certainly more than four thousand people aboard. Of those four thousand, aside from the ones brave enough to stand on deck with guns and fire to hold off the enemy, the rest basically hid behind the thick Ship Equipment. Huo Yuanjia and Geng Liangchen boarded the ships carrying the Dharma Swords Lan Yi had given them...
Could they kill all four thousand?
Or rather—
Could two Spirit Cultivation Practitioners, relying on Dharma Swords and the power of their minds, kill four thousand soldiers?
The answer was yes.
An ordinary aspect expert, even in ancient times, could withstand encirclement by thunderfire and an armored army. Unless two thousand soldiers died, there was no way to exhaust their mental power. As for a dharma aspect expert, they could take the head of a commander amid ten thousand troops and come and go freely. Unless faced by an expert of the same level—or an ordinary aspect expert fighting to the death—they could not be stopped.
In other words, to wear down an ordinary aspect martial artist to death, without excellent restraints, even the deaths of two thousand people would at most leave him feeling dizzy and mentally scattered.
Daoist arts were different.
Lan Yi was currently resting and gathering his strength in a private cabin.
Memories of enlisting in the Artificial Divine Realm, practicing martial arts, and rising through the ranks flashed through his mind. Because he had an excellent foundation and a clean background, he had quickly been promoted to centurion. His first battle had been accompanying an elite army to exterminate a martial sect that had defied the king's command.
That was the first time Lan Yi had witnessed a grand clash between martial artists and an army of tigers and wolves.
Those ordinary aspect martial artists were like Vajra Arhats and Heaven's Soldiers and Generals in the eyes of ordinary people. Not only did they possess boundless strength, they could also command wind, earth, and fire; control water and condense ice; wield thunderfire; and employ all kinds of unbelievable methods.
And then...
The army rolled over them, and the martial sect and its ancestor were reduced to ashes together.
The ordained Daoists cast Daoist arts, effortlessly weakening the besieged martial artists one by one before easily finishing them off. This was certainly related to the sect having no expert above the dharma aspect realm, but it was enough to show the advantages of Daoist arts in another respect.
Lan Yi did not favor Daoist arts and disparage martial arts.
Quite the opposite. As a psionic cultivator, he practiced Dual Cultivation of Dao and Martial Arts, which gave him an even clearer understanding of how terrifying martial arts became when refined to profound depths.
The journey would take some time.
He did not waste the time spent traveling. Through Cang Hua, burning lines onto white paper, he began listing the martial arts techniques and resources he would need later.
As for Geng Liangchen and Huo Yuanjia—
According to Lan Yi's calculations, even if they were defeated, they would not die as long as they did not act foolishly. Spirit Cultivation Practitioners were not so easy to kill. Of course, if their luck was terrible and they happened to be hit by naval artillery, then they could only blame their bad luck. After all, this was war. What war did not claim lives?
Lan Yi's attainments in martial arts were fairly ordinary.
Of course, this was only ordinary compared with the martial prodigies from before his rebirth. After all, martial arts emphasized aptitude, and too many true martial arts required talent.
At present, Lan Yi's martial cultivation was at the Spirit Cultivation ordinary aspect realm.
He had not practiced martial arts.
The reason he possessed ordinary aspect cultivation was, firstly, that he already had the experience. Even without cultivating a martial arts method, his will, augmented by psionic energy, could form mental attacks. Secondly, Cang Hua had transformed his Innate Qi, and after reaching Qi Cultivation Grand Completion, he had naturally achieved the ordinary aspect realm.
In essence, the martial cultivation of the Blue Demon Head was actually a bonus granted by cultivating Daoist arts. Even his mental landscape was merely a stretch of primordial, berserk thunder.
Three sheets of white paper floated in the air before Lan Yi.
At the very top of each sheet was a large title.
Nansheng Sect, Shenxiao Peak, North Demon Sect
These were the three major powers Lan Yi had encountered while training in the Artificial Divine Realm. The Daoist arts he possessed had basically originated from these three sects. Unfortunately, although the names of the three sects still existed, they had long since been destroyed, with only scattered inheritances remaining. Lan Yi had searched for them many times but never found anything.
Since his Daoist arts originated from these three sects, if he was going to practice martial arts, Lan Yi also intended to choose from their inheritances.
The North Demon Sect's martial arts were the first to be eliminated.
The reason was simple. The North Demon Sect's true martial inheritance was too fragmented, and it mostly used Golden Radiance Power—in other words, nuclear energy—to temper the body and achieve killing moves.
Golden Radiance Power was far too domineering and extreme.
If he practiced this martial art, Lan Yi would basically have to bid farewell to Daoist arts during the early stages. His life cluster and psionic energy would both be damaged, while the Solidified Daoist Arts would be destroyed completely.
Daoist arts were so convenient and useful.
There was no way Lan Yi would discard the watermelon after picking up a sesame seed.
That left choosing between the Nansheng Sect and Shenxiao Peak's true martial inheritances.
This involved another troublesome matter.
He remembered some of the true martial inheritances, but remembering them was useless for others. They involved the inheritances of predecessors, void-refining wills, and the prerequisites of the true methods. He might have to make a special trip to the corresponding Artificial Divine Realm.
"Practicing martial arts really is troublesome." Lan Yi complained softly, but his expression remained calm and composed.
He had already made his choice.
In the blink of an eye, the sheet for the North Demon Sect was burned into drifting ash by Cang Hua. On the sheets for the Nansheng Sect and Shenxiao Peak, the numerous tiny characters were blacked out one after another. In the end, only two martial arts remained.
Nansheng Sect true martial inheritance: Dragon Sparrow Swallowing Whale Diagram
Shenxiao Peak true martial inheritance: Primordial Magnet Star Dou Technique
Both of these true martial arts belonged to the type that would not affect the circulation of life clusters and psionic energy, while also complementing the use of Daoist arts. One focused on using Innate Qi, while the other focused on tempering the mental landscape.
As for killing power—
They were about the same. Before the void-refining realm, they were still worth using for amusement. Bullying some children would not be a problem. If he returned to the main world and did not want to leave traces or cause too much commotion, martial arts were actually far more convenient than Daoist arts. In any case, Lan Yi did not care. Whichever was more useful, he would use.
"The Dragon Sparrow was born divine, but lost its mother and was left amid the dust. Its heart at ease, it sought no contention, and achieved nothing in a hundred years. One day it rose with the wind, and sun and moon alike fell silent. It grappled the dragon and swallowed the whale's bait, while wind and rain stirred its will..."
Cang Hua suddenly stopped while writing.
Lan Yi turned his head slightly.
Zhao Sikong's figure silently appeared at the cabin door. He was like a ghost, appearing and disappearing without a trace. Aside from Lan Yi, hardly anyone could catch his movements.
"Immortal Master, something has happened."
"What is it?"
"A fleet has arrived near us. It should be part of the foreigners' fleet heading south that broke away and came around. They are preparing to launch a surprise attack on Puhai."
"Go deal with it." Lan Yi knew the foreigners planned to bombard the harbor, and they might even shell the urban district. Since they had crossed paths, he might as well kill them.
"By the Immortal Master's Order." Zhao Sikong cupped his hands.
"Wait." Lan Yi suddenly changed his mind. "I'll go instead. This ship is too stifling. It will be good to stretch my muscles and bones—and give them some publicity material."
The people Lan Yi referred to were the journalists, gentry, and others whom the martial artists had brought aboard the ironclads, whether willingly or not. They had already gathered plenty of publicity material about the martial artists, but there was not much about Immortal Master Lan Yi.
They could not keep writing gossip tabloids about Immortal Master Lan Yi forever, could they?
This was also a perfect chance for Lan Yi to test the coordination between the two martial arts and Daoist arts.
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