Ten thousand I am across the heavens

Lan Cheng gazed at the so-called holy city bathed in distant light. He took a deep breath with a solemn expression, then sat cross-legged on the spot and silently closed his eyes.

The Templar Knights around him stared at him in disbelief, yet dared not approach. What they had just witnessed was astonishing. While they were still fighting with melee weapons, the demigod beside them had summoned weapons far beyond their time, displaying a terrifying destructive power capable of instantly annihilating a nation's capital. Such power would likely be difficult for even the entire nation to withstand.

"Hey, hey, hey? Wake up! Did you overexert yourself? How did you pass out on the spot? Are you going to die? I've heard that some powerful moves come at a great cost. Did you just use a move that cost you your life? There's no need to risk your life for us like this."

The noisy female warriors were still chattering around his ears, but his words seemed to have no effect on them at all. Lan Cheng remained sitting there motionless.

The attack had indeed left him exhausted, but it also allowed him to discover a pattern in how this world operated. This pattern was that spiritual power accounted for an extremely high proportion in this world. If the influence of spiritual power in the Gu Realm on the real world was negligible and could be considered as one, then here the influence was at least six figures, or perhaps even more.

When Lan Cheng first arrived, he hadn't realized this. Although his willpower was very strong, he was influenced by habitual thinking, an influence that actually exists in everyone's subconscious. This manifests in dreams, where, as the protagonist, most people still appear in human form. Even when they become non-human beings, they are mostly animals that people have seen before. Even when they become inanimate, they generally cannot escape each person's perception.

In dreams, most people are subconsciously influenced by gravity. Even if this gravity is merely imagined, not everyone flies in every dream. Common sense binds everyone's thinking and constrains the power of will.

Lan Cheng was initially affected by this constraint, and when he exerted his power, he was still bound by his physical body. Therefore, at first, he only displayed greater strength, faster speed, and superhuman reaction speed, which were not particularly exaggerated abilities.

But as he gradually became familiar with this world, the way he used his willpower became increasingly exaggerated. It was as if he had just summoned a legion-level attack, unleashing a devastating attack on the enemies in front of him.

This undoubtedly took a huge toll on his spirit, but it was also incredibly powerful. It was precisely this experience that made him fully realize the power of will in this world. Now, he closed his eyes to rest, immersing himself in his own mental world, recovering his mental strength through meditation, a method more efficient than sleep, to restore his will. This even incorporated some self-hypnosis techniques, so that he could unleash an even stronger will when needed next time.

This is of great significance in dealing with any unforeseen events that may arise. People are already on their way from the Holy City, and Blue City doesn't consider himself invincible in this world. Since he's recognized as a Holy City warrior, it means there are beings in this world similar to him, or at least with similar combat strength. And those heading from the Holy City are very likely such people. In any case, it's essential to restore himself to his best condition before making contact with them.

Lan Cheng didn't close his eyes to rest for long. The person he was waiting for arrived quickly. The other person traversed the sky, their body transforming into a streamlined shuttle shape, enveloped in an unknown substance, perfectly conforming to aerodynamics. Propelled by an unknown force, they landed not far in front of him at several times the speed of sound.

Gao Wu darted through the air at high speed, intending to use his speed advantage to scout ahead and assess the enemy's situation before attempting to communicate and make contact. However, as he approached the enemy's vicinity, he suddenly felt a deadly sense of danger. Any act of hostility he dared to make would instantly subject him to a barrage of attacks.

A strong sense of crisis forced him to make an emergency landing, landing several hundred meters from the reconnaissance target. He was prepared to return at any moment. In a world dominated by the mind, the relative strengths of two sides can sometimes be judged intuitively without actual combat.

Just like when facing the monster army formed by mountains, even though the disparity between the two sides seemed enormous, Lan Cheng instinctively felt that he could win. And the facts proved that he indeed had the ability to destroy enemies as large as mountains.

Gao Wu now had a feeling as well. His target was definitely no weaker than himself; in fact, if they were to face each other head-on, there was a very high probability that Gao Wu would be killed on the spot. It seemed that, apart from speed, his opponent was slightly stronger than him in every other area.

"So strong. Look at how this guy used his power just now. He's obviously just arrived and hasn't learned how to control and restrain his power yet. Logically speaking, let alone a newly arrived warrior, even top warriors who have undergone adaptive training shouldn't be much stronger than me. This guy is too exaggerated, isn't he? Could it be that some legion's ace was sent in?"

Lan Cheng stood up solemnly, all his mental focus concentrated at his fingertips, from which a three-foot-long sword shot forth. Unlike before, when he was bound by his subconscious and could only fight with melee weapons, he now seemed to have returned to his true nature. Having truly mastered his power, he began to learn to integrate and concentrate it.

"You all step back! The newcomer is very strong; you cannot handle him."

In fact, even without him saying it, the entire Templar Order felt an overwhelming sense of oppression. Even though their mental fortitude was far weaker than the two present, they could still sense the difference in the strength of their wills. The pressure from the beings who had just descended from the sky was almost suffocating.

Lan Cheng walked forward alone, heading towards the smoke-shrouded area ahead. With a wave of his hand, the smoke dispersed to both sides. But what he saw next stunned him; a familiar figure appeared before his eyes.

Gao Wu, the commander of the Seventh Legion, was currently wearing a streamlined mecha suit, watching him warily. The moment he saw his face, the wariness in his eyes instantly turned to astonishment.

"It's you?!"

The two spoke almost simultaneously. Lan Cheng was clearly more confused about the situation, so he was more cautious. He first took a half step back, then raised the attack he had gathered in his hand, ready to strike at any moment.

In a world dominated by the mind, anything is possible. The existence within one's own thoughts can materialize and become reality—that's perfectly normal. However, the appearance of someone from one's memories in this world isn't necessarily a good thing.

"Wait, don't make a move yet. If you do, I'll have to run away first. I don't think I can beat you. But you probably can't catch me either. So I suggest we have a good talk first, starting with how you died."

Lan Cheng's expression remained unchanged. Simply stating that he had died in battle wasn't enough to gain his trust. Whether in the real world or elsewhere, learning of his death wouldn't be too difficult. Moreover, in a world dominated by spiritual will, it was entirely possible to replicate parts of his memories and create a unique individual. He even believed that some unique natural phenomenon of this world could have created an exact replica of himself.

"It seems you really did die in battle. I didn't expect the commander of the 11th Legion to fall as well. It's a pity about the ability to rewind time. Losing this ability means not only the front lines will suffer, but also the scientific research and Gu-refining efforts in the rear will lose a great asset. However, your coming here might not be a bad thing. You might be able to play a greater role here." Gao Wu didn't seem to be in a hurry to introduce where they were. Instead, he was more worried about the situation outside.

"This may disappoint you. The ability to rewind time is no longer with me. If I hadn't successfully transferred the Command skill to my own legion, I probably wouldn't be able to die in peace. The time rewind ability I retain now is probably only one ten-thousandth of the original. If you want to replicate this ability, you'll have to find me at least a thousand warriors from the Eleventh Legion."

I led the training, and after entering a shared state, I let them gradually experience the effect of time reversal at a level of one ten-thousandth. If they were lucky, some of them would be able to figure it out. Then, in future sharing processes, when everyone's power is concentrated on one person, this time reversal ability will also be slightly enhanced with their participation, making it easier for the person sharing to comprehend and understand the source of this ability. After a few positive cycles of major battles, a new time reversal ability can be obtained. However, what will be obtained then will not be a command skill, but rather the awakening of the second war move for the entire army. As for whether I myself can create a new command skill, I am pessimistic.

"I see. I haven't been here long, and this is the first time I've heard of such a method to recreate a legion. This is a good method. Does that mean the more people in the Eleventh Legion, the easier it is to recreate the killing moves you've mastered in a short time? If that's the case, I can find you about 2 former soldiers of the Eleventh Legion."

Even if it were you, after joining the Holy War, you would quickly accumulate enough merit to gain the opportunity to rebuild your legion.

Lan Cheng hadn't expected such an answer, and while puzzled, he seemed to have realized something. The questions the other party had asked and the information he had gathered seemed to piece together a truth.

"Is this the afterlife? Do all the dead come here?" It's no wonder he thought that. After all, only in the world of the dead could 20,000 soldiers of the Eleventh Legion be gathered.

"Yes and no. Essentially, we are still alive, but we can no longer interfere with anything in the world we know. It's not that we lack the ability, but rather that we must consider the bigger picture. We've chosen to live in anonymity; at least our original identities are dead."

I remember you used to hate beating around the bush. Let me be blunt: from the very beginning of the underground base's establishment, a powerful force from the Southern Frontier secretly dispatched top-tier experts, even among immortals, to protect us and other mortals. Anyone who joins our underground base, or shares the same ideals, will be secretly protected by them.

However, the gap in strength between us is too great. We can't even detect that someone is protecting us. And they will only act once. That is the instant we die in battle. They will extract our consciousness from our dead bodies and instantly transfer it into newly cloned bodies.

For various reasons, these individuals, possessing immense individual strength, cannot directly intervene to help us. They must even go to great lengths to conceal their existence. However, they can rescue all those with the ambition to overthrow the corrupt and outdated system, secretly establishing a shadow legion to resist the Golden Court.

For these powerful rescuers, talent is more important than resources, and this is one of the special battlefields where the Shadow Legion fights: the eldest son's spiritual world.

I don't know how you ended up here. When I came in, I was in a time-accelerated secret realm, where I trained for several months before coming out to carry out this mission. You seem to know nothing about the Shadow Legion, which is probably due to special circumstances. I guess you died too badly during your battle with the eldest son, or perhaps the hidden masters just happened to have too many people to help. They had no choice but to throw you into the eldest son's mental world for now.”

Lan Cheng nodded and said, "The Shanhe Republic? It does seem like the style of my original self, but that's still not enough to convince me. It's precisely because I know about the existence of the Shanhe Republic that I'm more likely to conjure up a reasonable explanation for my current situation. I imagine that such a powerful external ally would secretly help us. Therefore, even if I didn't know this information, it wouldn't be enough to prove that everything you said is credible."

Gao Wu sighed: "You're still so cautious. Of course, I can let you see for yourself and give you a proper tour of the Shadow Legion, but in a world dominated by ideology, that might not be enough to dispel your doubts."

However, I happen to have a way to definitively prove that what you heard is true. And this is irrefutable, irrefutable evidence.

[To be continued]

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