Gathering X Training X Success

Jiang Ye opened the door.

Shattered Eye stood outside, his light-colored pupils reflecting the firelight coming from the direction of the camp's sentry post, a fine layer of sweat clinging to his forehead.

"Alliance Leader."

He lowered his voice and spoke twice as fast as usual.

"Just got a report from the northern outpost; Grey Elder's side has made a move."

Jiang Ye didn't reply, but stepped aside to let the doorway pass.

As Shattered Eye stepped in, the container door closed behind him, and he finally finished speaking.

"The entire scavenging area in Dark Red has been cleared out, and Grey Elder's men are gathering there."

"The man with the Shattered Eye reached the outer perimeter and counted; it had already exceeded one hundred."

"And they're still going in."

Jiang Ye walked to the iron bunk bed and sat down, his fingers resting on his knees, his expression blank.

The gathering of over a hundred people was not a large undertaking for Grey Elder.

What really caught his attention was Shattered Eye ' next sentence.

"Those people didn't go empty-handed; they had rifles and cannons, and several modified pickup trucks with things on the truck beds covered with tarpaulins, so we couldn't see what they were."

Jiang Ye looked down at his own shadow.

The outline of the Max Elephant lies deep within, calm and quiet, with smooth edges, completely devoid of the trembling that once threatened to break at any moment.

With five Shikigami at your disposal, you can take on over a hundred armed gang members; it's possible, but it will take time.

Besides, Grey Elder wouldn't only give him a hundred people.

"Knew."

Jiang Ye raised his eyes.

"Move the northern outpost another 300 meters outwards. I need to know as soon as Grey Elder's men leave the dark red area."

"Also, tell Gray Beak that starting today, the inventory of supplies will be changed to twice a day, especially the raw materials for ammunition and Molotov cocktails. I need to know where every barrel of waste oil went."

Shattered Eye nodded and turned to leave.

"Etc."

Shattered Eye stopped in his tracks.

"Go to Iron Wall yourself and have him reinforce the outer defenses of the steel casting workshop with another layer. It doesn't need to be a major overhaul; just add an angled barbed wire fence in front of the existing shield wall, enough to hold people back."

"Yes."

Shattered Eye pushed open the door and left.

Jiang Ye sat alone in the container, listening to the wind outside seeping in through the gaps in the metal sheet.

He raised his right hand, interlocked his fingers, and arched the back of his hand outwards.

It's exactly the same hand shadow used to summon Max Elephant.

This time, however, he didn't push the air into his fingertips. Instead, he let the air rise from his abdomen, spread out, and extend along the metal walls and floor of the container.

The shadow emerged from beneath my feet, spread along the ground, climbed the wall, and stopped when it reached half a foot high.

Same as last time.

Only the floor and half of the walls were paved; the ceiling was still empty, and the edges were still sagging.

Jiang Ye stopped his hand gestures and looked down at the ground, which had returned to normal.

"Not enough."

He said it in a low voice.

The Grey Elder wouldn't wait for him to practice slowly.

One hundred people are just an appetizer; when Grey Elder feels the time is right, there may be three hundred or five hundred people coming.

He must build the Chimera Shadow Garden before the Grey Elder takes action.

Even if he can only hold out for a few dozen seconds, that's enough for him to do a lot on the battlefield.

Jiang Ye stood up, took off his coat and draped it over the headboard, then stretched his wrists a couple of times.

In the days that followed, he set two lines for himself.

One is the realm, the other is the physical body.

Before dawn the next day, Jiang Ye stood on the open ground north of the camp.

When Bago was dragged out of bed, he still had a sleepy and irritable look on his face, clutching two wooden sticks in his hand. He was yawning halfway when Jiang Ye stopped him with a look.

"Starting today, one round every morning and one round every afternoon."

Jiang Ye picked up a wooden stick from the ground and weighed it in his hand.

"You attack, I defend; no holding back."

Bago blinked, and his morning grumpiness completely vanished.

"Leader, are you serious?"

When have I ever joked with you?

Bago grinned, stretched his neck, and twirled the wooden stick in his hand.

"Then hold on tight."

He pressed down on me before I could finish speaking.

The first blow was aimed at Jiang Ye's left shoulder, with only 30% of the force applied, clearly a test.

Jiang Ye stepped aside, the wooden stick brushing past his clothes, and struck Bago's forearm with a backhand.

"I told you, don't hold back."

Bago shook his arm, his expression changing.

The second strike was delivered with full force, nearly twice as fast as the first, and the angle changed from a slanted chop to a slanted sweep, aiming straight for the ribs.

Jiang Ye didn't dodge completely this time; the end of the stick grazed his side, causing a burning pain.

But instead of retreating, he took a half-step forward, slapping the wooden stick across Bago's wrist, forcing him to loosen his grip for half a second.

The two fought back and forth in the open space for nearly twenty minutes.

Two of Bago's sticks broke, and Jiang Ye was hit four or five times, leaving several bruises on his forearms and sides.

But later on, Bago clearly sensed that something was wrong.

Jiang Ye's reaction speed is getting faster, or rather, his judgment of distance and timing is becoming more accurate.

At first, Bago could hit six or seven out of ten blows, but later he could only hit two or three out of ten blows. Moreover, those two or three blows were deliberately created by Jiang Ye to gain a closer counterattack position.

"I'm not playing anymore."

Bago threw the broken stick to the ground and gasped for breath, supporting himself on his knees.

"Leader, your progress is so fast, I can hardly keep up!"

Jiang Ye ignored him, walked to the edge of the open space, picked up his coat, took out a piece of monster jerky wrapped in oil paper from his pocket, and took a bite.

"Continue this afternoon."

He chewed on the jerky as he walked back, his mind already wandering to things in the field.

Physical training cannot stop, but the domain is the most critical thing right now.

For the next two weeks, Jiang Ye divided his time into three parts.

This morning I sparred with Bago, practicing close combat and reaction speed.

In the afternoon, I went to the steel casting workshop and found someone practicing their technique inside.

In the evenings, I handle the affairs of the Rust Remains Alliance, listen to Gray Beak's report on industry and supplies, and listen to Shattered Eye' report on Grey Elder's movements.

The practice in this area is not going very smoothly.

He pushed the images in the Shadow Space outwards countless times, and each time it was just the ground and half a wall; the ceiling and the boundary never aligned.

Once, he forced himself to push the screen an extra foot, and as a result, the shadow began to shake violently. The screen on the wall rolled up and fell down like a plastic sheet scalded by boiling water. He instantly lost 40% of his breath and had to lean against the wall to catch his breath for a long time before he recovered.

Jiang Ye sat on the cement floor of the steel casting workshop and wiped the sweat from his forehead with the back of his hand.

What's the difference?

He closed his eyes and went through the whole process in his mind again.

He was very familiar with the scenes in the Shadow Space.

The gray-black ground stretched out in all directions, with no end in sight.

The five Shikigami lay in their respective corners, their shadows slowly flowing beneath their feet, and a layer of grayish-white light shining down from above.

He could identify these things even with his eyes closed.

But when he pushes the image outward, he always subconsciously tries to "draw" a more complete scene.

He would think that the ceiling should be higher, the edges should be tighter, and the light should be dimmer.

The result was that none of them matched.

"It shouldn't be changed."

Jiang Ye opened his eyes and looked at the steel frame above his head.

"What the Shadow Space looks like, that's what it should look like when it's unveiled."

"I don't need to change anything, I just need to move it."

He stood up and began to form the hand seals again.

This time, he didn't draw anything in his mind. Instead, he immersed himself in the Shadow Space and pushed out the scene that was happening inside exactly as it was.

The ground, walls, ceiling, flowing screen, and the silhouettes of five Shikigami.

They were all moved outwards according to their positions in the Shadow Space, not a single foot off.

A layer of blackness rose from the floor of the container—no, the steel casting workshop—spreading across the concrete surface.

The projection screen on the wall climbed up, one foot, two feet, three feet, until it stopped at the seam of the sheet metal.

Several thin shadows hung down from the steel frame of the ceiling, just like last time.

But this time, dark shadows began to seep from the gaps in the ceiling, flowing down the steel frame and connecting with the shadows on the wall.

Jiang Ye opened his eyes.

The entire steel casting workshop was darkened, not in the way the lights were off, but in the way the light was half-eaten by the shadows that surged up from all around.

The floor softened slightly underfoot, feeling exactly the same as the texture in the Shadow Space.

The projection screens in the corners, on the ceiling, and on the floor form a complete shell that encloses the entire workshop.

It's done.

Jiang Ye said softly.

But as soon as the words left his mouth, his temper began to falter.

He gritted his teeth and held on for nearly twenty seconds. Then the screen began to shake, the blackness on the ground thinned, and the shadow threads on the ceiling broke off one by one.

He withdrew his hand gesture, the shadow retracted to his feet, and the steel casting workshop returned to its original brightness.

Jiang Ye plopped down on the ground, panting heavily.

"Twenty seconds, half-full of energy."

He wiped his face.

"Better than last time, but still far from it."

However, the direction is right.

He's reached the threshold; now all that's left is to step over it.