Tank Infantry 2

On the battlefield,

The paper men had all reached the late Qi Refining stage, and their leader had already reached the peak of the ninth level of Qi Refining.

Likewise, they were extremely well-equipped with concealment spells and concealment artifacts. Separated by such great distances, Hua Bing could no longer pinpoint their exact locations and concentrate fire with a single scan from the Electromagnetic Induction Wave Technique.

She often had to scan repeatedly several times before determining precise coordinates and issuing attack orders.

Yet in those few seconds of delay, the enemy had already advanced several hundred meters, rendering the original coordinates obsolete.

"Fire a probing barrage at these coordinates!"

There was a hint of panic in Hua Bing's voice.

The tank artifacts' main cannons switched to high-explosive shells. Sun Xiao and the other five immediately understood the order and each fired probing shots toward an area.

Boom!

The shell exploded in midair at close range. Hundreds of high-speed fragments with spell-breaking properties covered an area more than thirty meters across, while the heavy machine guns fired twenty consecutive bursts, weaving a net that created a hundred-meter field of fire.

In one patch of empty air, transparent ripples appeared, followed by a spray of blood, shattered limbs, and a shield artifact flying backward.

Several other figures also emerged—faint silhouettes lying prone among the trees and close to the ground.

They were extremely spread out, with at least a hundred meters between each person.

"Fire at these coordinates!"

Hua Bing's expression calmed. A high-explosive shell bombarded the target point, while the other six heavy machine guns rattled in continuous fire, forming an airtight net of death that engulfed the cultivators using shallow earth-escape techniques. Soil mixed with blood.

Boom!

Rat-a-tat-tat!

Shell casings flew through the air. The tank main cannons fired methodically, and the heavy machine guns kept up their relentless bursts. One late Qi Refining cultivator after another whose traces had been exposed was torn apart by concentrated fire.

"That's how it's done."

Zhang Dingjun nodded slightly. "Information is the life of us Immortal Sect cultivators. We must obtain information on the enemy by every means possible, at any cost."

"To lose battlefield information is to lose your life."

There was meaning behind his words.

On the battlefield, Hua Bing's expression changed. Panic appeared on her face as she hurriedly formed hand seals, raising a shield that completely covered her.

Whoosh!

At that very moment, a cyan flying sword appeared abruptly. Carrying a shrill whistle through the air, it nimbly bypassed the heavy artifact shield and pierced through her seventh-level Qi Refining spell shield as easily as breaking an eggshell.

It lightly touched her throat.

Then, at a speed impossible for those in the Inner Qi realm to follow, it circled around once, visiting Sun Xiao and the others in turn.

They only felt a chill at their necks and had no choice but to stop pulling their triggers.

"We lost."

Hua Bing, Sun Xiao, and the others wore bitter expressions.

The observing students fell silent. They had been massacring their enemies just moments ago, so how had it suddenly ended?

Not one of them had been able to detect the sword cultivator lying in ambush.

"Let's review it."

After Hua Bing's squad returned, Zhang Dingjun projected a large screen before everyone, displaying a third-party recording of the battle just now.

Jiang Ding watched carefully.

The cultivator squad was a standard twelve-person team, with the strongest at the ninth level of Qi Refining and the weakest at the seventh level.

At the very beginning, a sword cultivator had separated from the main force at a great distance and moved to encircle them from another direction.

It was clear that this sword cultivator had attained great mastery in aura concealment and invisibility spells, and he was also wearing high-quality concealment artifacts.

The first-tier infantry Spirit-Particle Radar built into Hua Bing's tank, working with the scouting waves emitted by the Electromagnetic Induction Wave Technique, had scanned over him twice, yet both times he evaded detection.

An opponent like this could only be found by repeatedly scanning with focused radar waves.

And so, under the cover provided by his comrades, the sword cultivator infiltrated to within five hundred meters of Hua Bing. A cyan flying sword carrying a concealment spell shot out, remaining hidden until it neared its target, where it suddenly burst forth and took the leader's head.

"The data is wrong, Teacher."

Wu Tianli suddenly pointed at the sword cultivator.

"This distance is wrong. A ninth-level Qi Refining cultivator's divine sense only reaches around ninety meters. Even if this offworld cultivator had a fortunate encounter, a little over a hundred meters should be his limit. How could he launch an attack from more than five hundred meters away without the slightest drop in power?"

Zhang Dingjun smiled but said nothing.

"It's a blood-refined artifact."

Hua Bing said softly, "It's something similar to a natal artifact, refined using additional essence blood. The Immortal Sect Science and Technology News recently published an article saying that offworld cultivators have begun trying to popularize these blood-refined artifacts among their low- and mid-level cultivators to increase their attack range."

As for a ninth-level Qi Refining cultivator breaking her shield with a single strike, there was nothing surprising about that.

His cultivation was already two levels higher than hers, and he specialized in offensive spells, unlike the Immortal Sect cultivators' less specialized defensive and offensive spells.

"So that's how it is."

Zhang Dingjun sighed. "Offworld cultivators have continued evolving over the years as well. The glorious days when Qi Refining cultivators launched attacks in dense battle formations are gone forever."

"Especially their sword cultivators and elite spell cultivators. They were already powerful to begin with, and with concealment artifacts and sophisticated concealment spells, first-tier infantry radar waves can no longer easily detect them. Once they close the distance, it becomes a slaughter."

"Teacher, that's not necessarily true. You don't need to scare us."

Hua Bing was unconvinced. "In actual combat, several squads usually fight together. At those times, we have specialized second-tier armored radar command vehicles, along with commander-type cultivators who graduated from Big Dipper University and other institutions among the Seven Sons of National Defense and specialize in the Electromagnetic Induction Wave Technique. Those few offworld cultivators would be wiped out instantly."

The students' pale faces improved somewhat.

Though school and television repeatedly mentioned such matters, when faced with a truly bloody battlefield, they still could not help feeling afraid.

Zhang Dingjun neither confirmed nor denied it, and did not refute Hua Bing's words.

Compared with the nine great Immortal Sects, the Immortal Sect's foundations were far too weak!

The Immortal Sect, with a cultivation history of barely ten thousand years and scarce resources, only gathered thirty-six tank detachments into a tank battalion equipped with second-tier Spirit-Particle Radar armored command vehicles and professional commanders under one circumstance—

When facing Foundation Establishment cultivators!

There was no helping it. Whether low-level, mid-level, or high-level, Immortal Sect cultivators lagged behind in numbers across the board. Their opponents would not agree to fight them only at the same realm.

There was no need to tell these students, who were still enjoying their beautiful campus lives, any of that.

His own teacher had done the same back then.

"Alright, the review discussion ends here."

Zhang Dingjun waved a hand. "Wu Tianli, take over the second squad. Zhou Lingjun, take over the third squad. The exercise will continue. The first squad will rest for one round, then rotate like that. This is a rare opportunity, and everyone must participate in the exercise at least once this class."

"Yes!"

The students answered in unison.

Men and women alike held heavy machine guns in their arms, draped with four or five belts of ammunition, and followed their temporary commanders onto the battlefield.

As for Jiang Ding, who held an anti-materiel sniper rifle, he was called aside.

"After observing that round of exercises, what do you understand about the role of reconnaissance infantry?"

Zhang Dingjun asked succinctly.

"This..."

Jiang Ding carefully considered the battle scene from just now.

"Counter-reconnaissance? Sniping important targets with strong concealment capabilities, moving outside the battlefield, protecting our commanders, and killing the enemy the instant they expose themselves while attacking?"

"Of course, it's best to have the Innate realm. Otherwise, one shot takes ten or even dozens of minutes, making it useless."

Jiang Ding added.