Understanding the Opponent

Chapter 47: Understanding the Opponent

"Good!"

Zhang Xianzhong, who had already returned to the temporary camp at the foot of the mountain, looked at the young Martial Artists dragging back over twenty Iron-Toothed Pigs of various sizes to report their success, and nodded with satisfaction.

"Everyone, put down the spoils first and eat lunch."

Generally speaking, people in this era mostly ate two meals a day, but for soldiers on campaign, physical exertion was much greater than usual.

Well-equipped armies would implement a three-meal-a-day system when campaigning far from home to ensure they could handle the immense physical demands, stabilize morale, and prevent their combat effectiveness from declining.

Since Zhang Xianzhong was determined to vigorously train these orphaned youths and wasn't short on supplies or money in the short term, he certainly wouldn't be stingy.

After eating a round of Spirit Food lunch prepared by the Logistics Camp soldiers, everyone sat and rested for about the time it takes for a stick of incense to burn before starting to load the spoils from this trip onto the carriages.

It was also fortunate that the rear compartments of these large carriages were significantly taller than the carriages Li Dingguo knew from his previous life's history, allowing them to fit the more than twenty Demonic Beasts here.

Clearly, this was something Zhang Xianzhong had already calculated, having thoroughly scouted the enemy situation beforehand.

"Let's go! Hurry back to Dingbian City!"

"We're going home!"

"Depart!"

About half an hour later, everyone had completely dismantled the temporary camp, packed up their belongings, and lined up. With a command from Zhang Xianzhong, he waved his hand, and this cavalry troop, loaded with spoils, began its journey home.

In the evening, the young Martial Artists who had returned to the Wang Family Courtyard in the county town first fed their horses, then dispersed to wash up, and reassembled in the front courtyard.

Several large, covered pots had already been set up here, and over a dozen cooks were busy working. Inside the pots, Demonic Beast bones were being simmered with water and spices.

There were also some large basins placed on the ground, filled with thinly sliced Demonic Beast meat.

Generally speaking, for families not of the great wealth and status, Martial Artists mostly had only two ways of cooking Demonic Beasts: one was to stew them in a large, covered pot with water for over an hour.

This was mainly because the meat quality of Demonic Beasts was much better than that of ordinary wild beasts; it needed to be stewed for at least an hour for the bones or chunks of meat to be chewable, and the nutrition was also better.

The other method was to slice the Demonic Beast meat thinly and roast it, and it couldn't be roasted for too long, otherwise, it would become tough and dry.

Divided into their respective small teams, the young Martial Artists, who had been busy all day, gathered around several large, brightly burning charcoal basins. They excitedly picked up the thinly sliced meat skewers from the large basins nearby and began their barbecue feast.

After brushing the skewers that were about to be cooked with a little thick saltwater and roasting them further, they began eating as they grilled.

"Delicious! This is too delicious!"

"Right, right! I've never eaten meat this good before, it's so fragrant!"

"I feel like I could eat at least three to five catties."

"Yeah, the cooks who came here to help said that the Demonic Beast bones and meat the King gave us should last at least seven or eight days."

"That's true! But starting tomorrow, we won't be able to eat it this fresh. The Demonic Beast meat we don't finish today will be made into jerky, and the bones will also be salted to preserve them longer and ensure they don't spoil too quickly."

"Jerky is also great! It's better than having no meat to eat, and besides, after slicing it thinly and roasting it, it should be quite tasty."...

Night had fallen, and the firelight reflected on their smiling faces. Everyone was eating and drinking heartily, while also chatting non-stop.

"Boss, the King said we'll continue training here tomorrow, and we'll only go out of the city the day after tomorrow for the next round of practical training."

Tang Guangqiang, sitting next to Li Dingguo with his mouth full of grease, suddenly brought up another topic.

"Yeah, the King also said that the target for practical training the day after tomorrow will be some low-level Malevolent Spirits."

Cao Yongxiang, sitting on Li Dingguo's other side, also spoke up, "I heard that Malevolent Spirits are formless and intangible, and ordinary attacks are ineffective against them."

"Without a Spirit Weapon in hand, using Tiger Roar Fist is more effective."

"Moreover, once a Malevolent Spirit gets close and possesses you, it's very easy for them to devour your soul!"

There was some tension in Cao Yongxiang's voice.

None of these young Martial Artists had any experience fighting Malevolent Spirits, and just thinking about it made them feel uneasy.

There was no other way; in this world, after all living beings die, if their resentment from their life is too great, their souls can turn into Malevolent Spirits.

Moreover, Malevolent Spirits can continuously strengthen themselves by devouring the souls of living beings.

These young Martial Artists had previously read many miscellaneous books, some of which contained descriptions of ghosts and spirits.

Because the conditions for Malevolent Spirit formation are relatively harsh, the number of Malevolent Spirits in this world is not very large.

Fortunately, this was the case, otherwise, the survival situation of humans would be even more difficult.

According to the ranking of Malevolent Spirits, they are also divided into levels one to nine.

Corresponding to the three major realms of human Body Tempering Realm Martial Artists are: Level 1 Spirit Soldier, Level 2 Spirit Warrior, and Level 3 Spirit General.

Among them, Level 1 Spirit Soldiers appear as grayish-white phantoms, Level 2 Spirit Warriors as white phantoms, and Level 3 Spirit Generals as black phantoms.

Once they break through to become Level 4 Malevolent Spirits, a qualitative change will occur. Not only will their forms become substantial, but they will also awaken the sentience they had in life, and they will be able to cultivate by absorbing Moon Essence Power and awaken their innate abilities!

This type of Malevolent Spirit is called an Anomaly, and compared to low-level Malevolent Spirits, they are much more powerful.

In any case, Malevolent Spirits of the same level are much harder to deal with than Demonic Beasts of the same level.

They can hide better and can ignore the obstruction of objects, able to pass through freely except in some special environments.

Fortunately, aside from hunting and feeding, they usually spend most of their time in places heavy with Yin energy, not daring to carelessly approach human settlements where Yang energy gathers.

The more living beings there are, and the more Yang energy gathers in a place, the greater the impact on them, and the weaker the combat power they can exert.

Therefore, when a large army travels, their surging blood and Yang energy are what Malevolent Spirits are most unwilling to provoke.

Especially the Blood Fiend Qi formed by the military formation, which basically has a crushing advantage over Malevolent Spirits of the same rank.

"Okay."

Although Li Dingguo felt uncertain inside, as he had never come into close contact with a Malevolent Spirit, he now had a bit of confidence and wouldn't fear any Malevolent Spirit of the same rank.

After Cao Yongxiang finished speaking, he nodded and instructed the two people beside him, "When our squad goes out of the city for training the day after tomorrow, remember that neither of you nor your teammates should leave our squad."

"Otherwise, if someone gets separated, they are very likely to suffer misfortune, be possessed by those Malevolent Spirits, and have their souls devoured!"

"According to some related books we read a few days ago, these mysterious things like ghosts, except for the Yin Spirit Lands with particularly dense Yin energy in the world, it's impossible for large groups of Malevolent Spirits to appear elsewhere."

"As long as we are careful, when Zhang Xianzhong leads us out of the city next time and chooses some Malevolent Spirits for combat training, we should be able to handle it."

As long as Zhang Xianzhong wasn't foolish, he wouldn't assign such a near-death combat mission to this orphan Youth Camp.

So, although Li Dingguo was a little nervous now, he wasn't flustered at all.