Tank Infantry

After explaining it several times,

and confirming that Jiang Ding understood most of it, then having him record it with the miniature computer built into his camouflage combat suit, Zhang Dingjun left.

The Qi Refinement squad still needed him.

After a round of questions and answers, Jiang Ding suddenly saw the light regarding the Minor Breath-Concealing Technique. He instinctively circulated the inner force through his meridians, forming one complex structure after another.

Everything went incomparably smoothly. None of the spell structures suddenly collapsed.

Jiang Ding's heart stirred. He controlled the military drone that came with his camouflage suit and projected its view onto himself.

It found nothing.

After searching around, he could see Li Junhao, Sun Xiao, and the others. After zooming in, he could even see freckles on their faces, but he could not find anyone named Jiang Ding.

Jiang Ding sent a command. The military drone repeatedly scanned this small area with miniature radar waves, and only after a full minute did it detect a vague humanoid phantom at a firing position.

That strong?

Jiang Ding froze for a moment, then immediately understood why.

[Scout-1 Camouflage]

A high-grade special artifact, woven and inscribed with a Tier-One Breath-Concealing Formation. It needed to be used alongside the Minor Breath-Concealing Technique. Once cultivated to minor success, it could conceal one from the divine sense scans of Qi Refinement Level Nine cultivators, and could also, to a certain degree, evade scans from the Tier-One infantry radar built into tanks.

The set he wore was not ordinary camouflage for line-filling infantry. Used together with the Minor Breath-Concealing Technique, it was simply terrifying.

Of course, that was only against mortals.

At present, within the range of a Cultivator's divine sense, under the reconnaissance of an Immortal Sect Cultivator operating a tank's built-in Spirit-Particle Radar in conjunction with the Electromagnetic Induction Wave Technique, this stealth was little different from having none at all.

Jiang Ding gained an insight.

As he carefully experienced the Minor Breath-Concealing Technique under the enhancement of Reconnaissance Camouflage, countless realizations surged into his mind. Many spell structures that had seemed obscure and difficult, which he could only copy by rote, revealed their principles when compared and understood this way.

Who knew how much time passed.

Rumble—

Rumble, rumble—

The heavy roar of tank engines came from the horizon. Steel fortresses in sandy-yellow camouflage drove in from afar, more than ten of them charging together in a massed assault with a momentum that could topple mountains and overturn seas.

Looking closer, a Qi Refinement student sat cross-legged atop the turret of every tank.

"Everyone, assemble."

Zhang Dingjun jumped down from a tank and clapped his hands. "Today's lesson is tanks and accompanying infantry. The tank's roles are cover, fire support, and precision target elimination."

"Six accompanying infantry are responsible for using heavy machine-gun fire nets to disrupt formations, clear hostile martial artists and low-level cultivators with poor mobility, assist tanks in killing high-value targets with fire nets, or use fire nets to help deplete the mana of extremely high-value targets."

"First squad, you will follow Hua Bing's tank."

Zhang Dingjun pointed.

"Yes!"

Sun Xiao and the others answered loudly, excitement flickering across their faces.

Training under an early-stage Qi Refinement cultivator was vastly different from training under a late-stage Qi Refinement cultivator.

The tank drove off. Sun Xiao and five other students followed behind it, moving parallel to the tank without the slightest deviation—the standard marching formation.

Jiang Ding and the others watched with rapt attention.

He noticed Hua Bing, seated cross-legged atop the tank, form a hand seal. Wisps of green breeze appeared around Sun Xiao and the others, and their footsteps immediately became much lighter.

The Tier-One Gale Technique, a group military formation enhancement.

Her deft display of this group spell revealed her superb spellcasting skill. Even the direct Golden Core disciples of those sects beyond the realm might not be able to accomplish this.

"Combat formation!" Zhang Dingjun shouted.

The six people behind the tank spread out, forming two small triangular formations to the rear flanks, each separated by more than twenty meters.

Jiang Ding and the other observing students no longer watched with their naked eyes, instead focusing on the views from their respective military drones.

Four or five kilometers away, twelve paper figures suddenly rose from the ground. They lurked among the forest and brush, moving carefully as they vividly imitated a mid-stage Qi Refinement cultivator leading eleven early-stage Qi Refinement cultivators into battle.

Training paper puppets, products of industrialized cultivation manufacturing. They had no offensive power whatsoever, but could simulate the speed and movements of various enemies. They cost dozens of times more than target dummies.

"Area (214, 22), fire a volley."

Hua Bing's cool voice sounded over First Squad's communications channel. Jiang Ding and the others could receive it too, but could not speak. It was for observation and study.

"Yes!"

Without the slightest delay, Sun Xiao's group of six fired into that area, unleashing ten-round bursts.

In an instant, from the drone's view, sixty heavy machine-gun bullets with faint spell-breaking properties flooded that patch of forest. Trees snapped with cracks, and wood chips flew everywhere.

The paper figures representing Qi Refinement cultivators were torn to pieces in an instant—the shields of early- and mid-stage Qi Refinement cultivators were thinner than paper before heavy machine guns.

Only the paper figure emanating the aura of a mid-stage Qi Refinement cultivator had been alert beforehand, dodging most of the bullets.

Another sheet of paper representing a defensive artifact fluttered out, barely deflecting a bullet that was about to hit him. He survived by sheer luck, but the defensive artifact was instantly scrapped.

The paper figure fled the area even faster.

"The script is exaggerated,"

someone complained over the public channel. "Mid-stage Qi Refinement cultivators aren't that alert. Their divine sense only reaches thirty or forty meters at most; it's not much use at all."

"Not necessarily. According to battlefield recordings, mid-stage Qi Refinement cultivators with instinctive warnings in the moment between life and death do occasionally appear."

Jiang Ding did not join the discussion. He stared intently at that paper figure.

A cultivator capable of such a setting counted as an elite no matter what.

Bang! Bang!

Two shots rang out from the vehicle-mounted high-low dual-purpose artifact machine gun. They were rapid, precise bursts that happened to seal off the mid-stage Qi Refinement paper figure's only escape route. Every shot hit, blasting it into a sky full of paper scraps.

"Good!"

The crowd could not help cheering.

"Not bad."

Zhang Dingjun also praised them over the public channel. "Qi Refinement students possess divine sense, calculation, and observation abilities far beyond ordinary students, so they must make use of them. Predict the gaps in the squad's encircling fire net, where the enemy might escape, and so on."

After that, the enemy types kept changing, growing stronger.

There was a group of paper figures all carrying the aura of martial artists. They moved slowly, but were numerous, carrying sabers, spears, swords, halberds, bows, and other cold weapons as they surrounded the tank from every direction.

"This is something you must also keep in mind."

Zhang Dingjun said coldly, "Among cultivators beyond the realm, the gulf between immortals and mortals is enormous. Even ants are not enough to describe it. Cultivators of both the righteous and demonic paths have examples of driving vast numbers of mortal martial artists before them. They do not even limit themselves to martial artists—old people, the weak, women, and children can be simply processed in batches into monsters such as zombies and ghosts, then used to wear down our ammunition reserves."

Many students showed expressions of reluctance.

"You only need to remember one thing: people beyond the realm have nothing to do with us. Forget enemies who step onto the battlefield—even civilians, if they stand in our way, what does it matter if we kill them all?"

Jiang Ding frowned.

He heard a sea of blood and mountains of corpses in those words.

But he could not say anything. Zhang Dingjun's words did not conform to the Immortal Sect's political correctness of immortals and mortals as one. If someone reported him, Zhang Dingjun would face some trouble too. It was also well-intentioned advice.

Hua Bing's squad fought its way through every obstacle.

There was a twelve-person squad composed entirely of mid-stage Qi Refinement cultivators. Most of them could use spells such as invisibility and earth escape, yet Hua Bing still easily scanned them out with the Tier-One Spirit-Particle Radar built into the tank, then annihilated them with tank cannon bombardment and concentrated fire from anti-air artifact machine guns and heavy machine guns.