Early morning, Iron Soul City.
"What on earth are those Green Ghost Bandits up to? They've been in the city for several hours now, why haven't they come out yet?"
Ge Rao led a dozen or so experts, who lay in ambush in the bushes. They were anxious but dared not make any rash moves, and could only keep looking around.
Just then, intense gunfire, explosions, and shouts of battle erupted within Iron Soul City.
"The people of Iron Soul City have retaliated!"
Hehe, I knew Iron Soul City was no simple matter. The Green Ghost Bandits might not even be able to handle them.
Ge Rao revealed a sinister smile. With his keen senses and experience, he had already guessed what had happened inside the city.
It seems that a powerful mechanical array has been activated within Iron Soul City, and its power is gradually suppressing the Green Ghost Bandits.
However, for him, whether the Green Ghost Bandits breached Iron Soul City or Iron Soul City annihilated the Green Ghost Bandits, the result was the same.
He's now just waiting for the two sides to decide the winner before making his move and reaping the benefits.
"Damn it! Chief, it seems the reinforcements from Iron Soul City have returned."
One of Ge Rao's men seemed to have seen something and anxiously pointed in a direction.
Ge Rao immediately followed his subordinate's directions and looked into the distance.
On the main road, Gao Fenghai led an elite force of over a thousand men, charging aggressively into Iron Soul City and completely cutting off the retreat of the Green Ghost Bandits.
"What happened? How come they're back so quickly?"
Ge Rao muttered to himself, an expression of disbelief on his face.
He was a decisive man, and knowing that now was not the time to dwell on these issues, he immediately ordered his men, "It seems the Green Ghost Bandits can't escape. We can't handle Iron Soul City, let's go!"
However, they were too late. They had only taken a few steps when nine identical young men blocked their way.
"Gentlemen! Now that you're here, why rush off? Come in and have a seat!"
Chen Mu, leading his clones, extended a warm invitation.
Ge Rao recognized Chen Mu the moment he saw Chen Mu. Without saying a word, he immediately led his men into action.
The group of experts brought by Ge Rao were all quite powerful. In addition to Ge Rao himself being at the Mid Core Formation Realm, he also had two Early Core Formation Realm, and the others were all True Spirit Realm experts.
However, this poses no threat to Chen Mu in his current state. With the enhancement of Little Blue's flames, the weapon in his hand can suppress the Death Spiritual Power in terms of attributes, allowing him to exert his strength beyond his normal level.
In addition to his extensive combat skills, apart from Ge Rao who withstood dozens of moves from one of his clones, his other subordinates were defeated in just a few exchanges.
Meanwhile, within Iron Soul City, the fully revived intelligent fortress quickly routed the Green Ghost Bandits.
The arrival of Gao Haifeng and his men later became the final straw that broke the camel's back. Seeing no hope of escape, Han Xiao had no choice but to lead his men to surrender.
Two weeks later.
On the Iron Soul City training ground, thousands of soldiers were practicing, their every move as one, displaying an extraordinary aura.
On the city wall, Chen Mu looked down at the scene below and a satisfied expression appeared on his face.
" Han Xiao, Shi Xing, you did a good job."
This is the battle formation training method I designed for you. Starting today, each of you will select one thousand soldiers to practice the battle formation.
He tossed two scrolls into Han Xiao's and Shi Xing's hands, where they gripped them tightly.
"Thank you, sir!"
The two bowed deeply, both appearing very excited.
Battle formations have always been a secret tradition passed down by top powers. They never dreamed that one day they would have the opportunity to cultivate such a tradition.
"Alright! You guys keep up the good work, I'm off."
Chen Mu waved his hand, turned around and walked down the city wall, heading straight back to the automated workshop.
Two weeks ago, after Chen Mu captured the Green Ghost Bandits and Ge Rao's group, he dealt with them accordingly.
Shulie City, ruled by Ge Rao, is only about 20 kilometers away from Iron Soul City. It is a relatively wealthy settlement within the sphere of influence of Nine Yama City. Chen Mu simply made Shulie City use strategic resources to ransom the people. After ripping off Shulie City, he released them, since Chen Mu didn't care about these people anyway.
The Green Ghost Bandits were penniless and only had strength. After inquiring, Chen Mu discovered that they had a good reputation among the people.
For example, during the attack on Iron Soul City, many of the Iron Soul City's residents were scattered in their residential areas and unable to enter the automated workshop. However, the Green Ghost Bandits did not pursue or kill them or take them hostage; they were only focused on seizing the magical artifacts.
They only seek wealth, do not easily take lives, and do not go to extremes; this is their bottom line.
After much deliberation, Chen Mu finally accepted their surrender, scattered their men, and integrated them into several units of Iron Soul City.
In the past two weeks, Chen Mu noticed that both Han Xiao and Shi Xing had excellent leadership skills, especially Shi Xing. Although Shi Xing was not very strong, he had a calm demeanor and was willing to sacrifice himself, making him a rare talent.
Han Xiao, on the other hand, prefers unconventional approaches and has an active mind, making him an ideal surprise force on the battlefield.
Therefore, Chen Mu planned to focus on training the two of them and specially designed two battle formations for them. Shi Xing used the Yin Five Elements Battle Formation, while Han Xiao used the Rushing Thunder Battle Formation.
The Yin Five Elements Battle Formation is naturally derived from the Five Elements Battle Formation of the Chen Kingdom, but it has been adjusted based on the environmental characteristics of the Nine Nether Netherworld. In essence, they are almost the same.
The Rushing Thunder Battle Formation is derived from A Huo's Demon-Slaying Battle Formation. Its lightning attribute can restrain most cultivators of Death Spiritual Power, making it more advantageous for venturing into the Nine Nether Netherworld.
The machines in the automated workshop are now packed together, so it seems that it won't be long before it needs to be expanded again.
" Li Wei, how's the production of the new equipment the Yan Manor requested coming along? How long until it's finished?"
Chen Mu arrived at the control room and asked Li Wei a question.
With the central AI now in place, Iron Soul City needs far fewer people to do its jobs.
Multifunctional refining machines, food synthesis machines, rune imprinting machines, artificial Spirit Stone machines, and so on can all use the design blueprints stored in the central intelligent brain to produce parts from the automated workshop, completing more than 90% of the work, while human labor is only required to do the final assembly and debugging.
Previously, only Chen Mu could assemble and debug the equipment, but after these days of training, three talisman masters can now share some simple tasks. These people are now all managed by Li Wei.
Although Li Wei is not a talisman cultivator, it does not prevent her from managing the entire automated production department. She only needs to know some basic knowledge of runes, and the rest will be handled by talisman masters.
"Reporting to you, sir, since the equipment this time consists of fourth-grade magic weapons, the rune masters are slow at embedding runes, so only 20% has been completed so far. To finish it all, it will probably take another month."
Li Wei tapped a few times on the rune keyboard, and the work progress chart of the Artifact Refining Department appeared on the large screen. It showed the details of the daily parts production, the number of runes inscribed by rune masters, and so on, making the daily work clear at a glance.