Returning from the abyss

Chapter 1410 The Laws of Humanity

When Qin Luo came to visit, Lu Ning had already removed some of the bandages, and her injuries had mostly healed. Apart from losing an eye, she had no other aftereffects.

Qin Luo came here personally for two reasons: first, to re-record the selected soldiers for the Frost Array for Lu Ning; and second, at Ye Cong's request, to provide Lu Ning with further guidance on the use of the array.

"You finally realize that you chose too few people before." Qin Luo looked at the list that Lu Ningxin handed over and showed a satisfied expression. "Putting everything else aside, with your own ability to control the ice array, even if there were two hundred people present at the time, you wouldn't have been overwhelmed by those few demon kings."

"Please enlighten me, General." Lu Ning was well aware of her shortcomings in using the ultimate formation, and it was all the better to have an experienced senior to guide her.

"This time, including your remaining old subordinates, um... 153 people. Is there a reason for choosing them? You chose newcomers who have entered the city recently?"

"General, are you aware that the late Emperor conducted a celestial ceremony in Xingyin City to select talented individuals to align with the celestial stars and serve as guardians of the city?"

"Oh? You mean..."

“The Heavenly Court is gone, and those special powers have naturally faded away, but it is still a good choice to have someone who is capable of withstanding the power of the Heavenly Stars,” Lu Ning said.

Qin Luo had nothing to say about the late emperor's choice; Lu Ning's ability to snatch it was her own skill. He immediately skipped over that topic and moved on to today's main subject.

"Lu Ning, I've been entrusted by Ye Cong to give you some pointers on how to use the Frost Array. Don't blame me for adopting a senior's attitude; your understanding of the Frost Array is indeed rather rudimentary. Of course, this is related to your age and experience, but unfortunately, the war is urgent, and you must learn these techniques as soon as possible."

"Please speak freely, General."

"I know you have a background in martial arts and have been wandering the martial world for some time. You're used to being alone and solving all problems by yourself, aren't you?"

"That's true. To be honest... I only feel stronger when I'm fighting alone."

"That's normal, but it's not the mindset of a general. Every soldier under your command should fight for you and be a powerful ally in your battles against the enemy. If they only provide you with the power of the Frost Array, that's not enough."

"When they were wiping out the demon army in several villages earlier..."

“That’s not enough.” Qin Luo shook his head. “When they form a formation, the Demon King will also stop in front of the formation. When they charge, the demon army will also be torn apart. This is the foundation of my Blazing Flame Formation, which is enhanced in terms of offensive capabilities—this allows my soldiers to withstand demon generals and even the Demon King with their own strength, even without relying on my power.”

“There isn’t enough time, General Qin.” Lu Ning was well aware of the problem. “Your soldiers need long-term training, the tempering of war, and experience between life and death to be able to do this. This cannot be acquired in a short time. It’s not that I’m unwilling to give them this power, but if I force it on them, it might just backfire.”

"Don't be impatient. I'm just explaining the construction method of the Blazing Flame Array to you. The construction of the Ten Deadly Arrays varies from person to person. The will that wields it is the way to shape the array. Or, to give you an example, the way the Frost Array was used was completely different when Ye Cong was in charge of it before."

Lu Ning had never heard of this kind of thing.

"Ye Cong specializes in defensive, formation, and deception techniques. Before him, the one who developed the Frost Array focused more on offense. Every time he attacked, frost spikes would sprout up within the array, and frost would be forged into soldiers, instantly multiplying the number of soldiers within the array several times. Each of his soldiers would also use secondary proliferation. At that time, it could be said that when the Frost Array appeared, the land was frozen for thousands of miles."

"...Please allow me to ask a somewhat presumptuous question."

Qin Luo's expression was serious: "You want to ask how he died, right?"

Lu Ning nodded.

“The exact opposite of you. As I said, he was too good at making the Frost Formation into a military formation and spreading it to all soldiers. Ten years ago, he could lead his troops to attack a city, and the Northern Army was completely unable to stop the Frost Formation—which led to his assassination attempt.”

"Insufficient personal strength..."

"Yes, his weakness lies in the fact that his strength is not much different from that of the soldiers. However, no one can break through the frozen ground beneath his feet to reach him, so this weakness is naturally overlooked. But the one who carried out that assassination was perhaps the strongest among the demons, named Li Ji."

Lu Ning felt a chill run down her spine. She could admit that her own Frost Array had been broken because she hadn't mastered it for long. But the Frost Array was a true, deadly array, and the demon king who could single-handedly charge into it... that Li Ji didn't seem that strong at all.

"Don't be so nervous. Li Ji didn't kill the former leader in battle, otherwise we'd be losing sleep over it." Qin Luo waved his hand. "That demon king found an opportunity after the battle to infiltrate the city. He precisely located his target at the very beginning of the Ice Array's activation, and somehow managed to make the leader leave the array's core to launch an attack. Then, he killed him based on the difference in strength. After that, it became a rule that one of the three cities must have a leader who is proficient in defensive techniques, completely sealing off any possibility of demons entering the city."

Lu Ningshen agreed with Gou Chen and Ling Jiang's identity verification methods.

"Therefore, I am not advising you to focus all your energy on training your subordinates. Your own strength is indeed necessary. However, it is not a good decision to completely exclude your subordinates from combat. We can only give you a reference: those who are about to take command must have their own understanding of the ultimate formation."

"But what you're saying confuses me. What should I do?"

"I hope you can consider what you need them to do in the actual offense and defense on the battlefield. What kind of army do you want to have, and what level do you want them to achieve? Simply put, you can't let soldiers become a burden to you."

"I--"

Lu Ning wasn't quite sure.

She had tried her best to get her soldiers to cooperate in battle, but from a tourist's perspective, it was still too difficult to get them to the point where they could fight alongside her. It wasn't that they lacked strength, but rather that Lu Ning always subconsciously fought very alone, which required others to understand Lu Ning's thinking and cooperate with her.

However, she knew she still had to give it a try, especially since the men she had gathered this time were even more elite warriors. "Also, let's go back to the initial question: the number of people you chose. The Ten Deadly Formations isn't like a large military formation; my Blazing Flame Formation only has about five hundred people, so it certainly doesn't need that many. But for you, that number is still too few. The power of a formation is directly related to the number of people within it. You might be thinking of selecting elite soldiers and prioritizing trusted troops, which is what we told you at the time. But you seem to have set that standard too high."

"You mean I should relax my criteria for selecting soldiers?"

"Within Gouchen, there are only warriors willing to die alongside this city. I cannot guarantee the thoughts of the common people, but if they are selected for the army, even the most special Shangxuan Camp, their loyalty to the Great Wei is trustworthy."

"They're clearly planning something more..."

“Lu Ning, their confusion stems from uncertainty about the future. Giving them a definite answer is what we need to do,” Qin Luo said. “Their problem is easy to solve—the laws governing humanity are about to take shape.”

This is indeed exciting news.

=
The effects of the "all things" sacrifice are still spreading.

Jiang Yao stabilized people's hearts, but the influence of all things is not limited to just people's hearts. Even if Ning Ke and Li Duanyu worked together to destroy a few altars, making the ritual incomplete, it could not stop a formation with such a large coverage area and so many offerings from taking effect.

"Cognitive confusion".

The three tourists, who rarely gathered in one place, exchanged information. Li Duanyu, who was at the forefront, could naturally see the effect of the core of the formation, but seeing it did not mean that he could solve it; he was not the research type of tourist.

On the first day, people perceive their situation as loneliness. Starting from the second day, they begin to experience various forms of hysteria. Some may mistake objects for people, while others may experience various hallucinations. Even in the military, there have been instances of soldiers mistaking people for training dummies and attacking them. What's more troublesome is that this confusion is not continuous but intermittent, making it impossible to readjust based on temporary cognitive errors.

“This is quite suitable for a city like Guanyuan with a large population. They don’t have the strength to directly breach the city from the outside, so it’s better to let internal strife occur first,” Jiang Yao said.

"It's not that easy. Grand Tutor Qin is in charge." Ning Ke shook his head slightly.

The biggest difference between Guanyuan and other places is that the presence of Grand Tutor Qin has absolute deterrent power. No matter what opinions you have, they will be dealt with according to the law when they reach Grand Tutor Qin. And all these problems brought about by "all things" have already been dealt with by a set of emergency regulations, which no one can object to.

"Mr. Li, can your team deter the demon army?" Jiang Yao looked at Li Duanyu. This senior is now the biggest support for tourists in Guanyuan. Although she is not in the same organization as him, she will still subconsciously ask him for his opinion in times of crisis.

However, Li Duanyu simply shook his head.

"The enlightenment can only give them what I cultivate in this scene. Under this premise, the power they gain is at most enough for two or three people to contend with a demon king. And the demon kings mentioned here are not the top ones, such as the one I met in Xingyin. Now, no matter how many of these people come, it will be useless."

“The current battles are all about stalling for time,” Ning Ke said.

The outcome of war lies not in the battlefield, but in whether any race can discover new laws to replace the harmful ones and restore order to the world, amidst the increasingly chaotic natural order. The war is fought partly to crush the opponent and gain absolute advantage as soon as order is restored, and partly because the countless lives lost on the battlefield provide excellent material for observation.

Ning Ke, being the one among the three who had the most contact with Grand Tutor Qin, was fairly aware of the research progress and understood even more clearly what the race against time was for. However, none of the tourists seemed to be truly involved in the research… Perhaps only Wen Rong's friend had truly mastered this aspect, but that person wasn't in Guanyuan.

"Tomorrow..." Li Duanyu was about to speak when a melodious bell rang out, spreading from the center of Guanyuan outwards, lasting for a long time. Upon hearing this sound, all three showed joy. Only major events would be announced to the entire city with the sound of bells. In the current situation, even bad news would be kept secret. Therefore, only good news that could boost morale would be announced so widely.

Ning Ke knew very well that these days, apart from handling official business, Grand Tutor Qin and a group of people specializing in various ritual formations had been studying the patterns almost day and night. The information she had captured in the city, the patterns of the demon race obtained from the battles in the three major cities, and the things that Wen Rong had presented earlier, all of these were enough to be integrated into a new pattern.

"I'm afraid we're about to move on to the next step, which will probably be the final step for us tourists." Li Duanyu smiled, a rare occurrence. "This scene is about to end."

After the bell tolled, it was time to announce the news. The people of the city spontaneously gathered at the high towers, which could transmit every word announced from the central tower.

Just as Ning Ke had expected, Grand Tutor Qin announced the exciting news—the Law of Man had been completed.

Then, Grand Tutor Qin gave a general explanation of the purpose of this law.

He wasn't exaggerating, and this law for humans didn't alter the rules of reincarnation like the law for demons. He simply said that everything would return to normal.

That alone is enough to make people celebrate.

But regardless of the type of law, they all face a common problem: expansion.

Just as Huang Kui's Ice Lake Laws could only protect the area around the Ice Lake, and all reincarnations must return to the Ice Lake, the new laws, though born, need to be implemented throughout the world. The brilliance of Grand Tutor Qin's approach lies in this: compared to the demonic laws that require various stringent conditions, necessitate Huang Kui's personal implementation, and ultimately only protect a small corner, the laws of humanity have simpler formation conditions, a wider scope of application, and once formed, they do not require prolonged protection, evolving spontaneously.

This is precisely the decisive difference caused by the differences between the two ethnic groups.

As for the difficulties, Grand Tutor Qin would naturally not speak of them. The difficulty was something the army needed to face—laying out the laws governing people.

Needless to say, within Guanyuan, someone still needs to deliver the nascent form of the law to Lingjiang and Gouchen to solidify the foundation of Lingzhou before discussing further matters. However, to accomplish this, elite troops cannot be selected to leave the city yet, because even if one is intercepted by the demon army and the law of humanity is leaked, Huang Kui's ability to counter it would not be difficult.

To be strong enough, one must at least be at the level of the commander of the Ten Deadly Formations.

Upon hearing this news, Li Duanyu had Ning Ke send a message to Grand Tutor Qin—he could be in charge of one city, but passing through the barrier of "all things" would surely be detected, and it would be difficult to deliver two cities in one go.