I Don't Agree to the Terms
Chapter 496 - 274: Petitioning the Imperial Court for an Official Position

Chapter 496: Chapter 274: Petitioning the Imperial Court for an Official Position

In the span of a year, the rise of Wen’an City was unstoppable, capturing many prefectures and occupying most of Liang State.

During this period, Gu Shanhai did not interfere either, as he had also realized that the conflicts in Liang State, in the grand scheme of the world, were truly just petty squabbles, and had not even affected the allied forces.

Not long ago, Taihe Pass fell, and the allied forces marched directly into Si Li Province, Yong’an. Unfortunately, they were a step too late. The military leader responsible for the chaos had already relocated Emperor Long, leaving behind only an empty city for the allied forces. Luckily, they did not burn down Yong’an or plunder the imperial tombs. Of course, they also took a large amount of treasure and people with them.

Gu Shanhai almost laughed out loud. This move by the enemy must have been planned for quite some time. No one expected the allied forces to be held up outside Taihe Pass for nearly half a year. In nearly six months’ time, the enemy had enough opportunity to accomplish a great deal.

It was probably also because they received intelligence about the relocation of the emperor that they attacked the city so urgently. Otherwise, they could have continued dragging their feet.

Gu Shanhai wasn’t too clear about the subsequent events, as new intelligence had not yet arrived.

Compared to the matter of Jiang Lu, who through the use of force took control of most of the territory within Wen’an City, it was not outstanding at all in the grand scheme of Dalong; such instances were not unique to Liang State, as many states were witnessing similar situations, creating a prototypical form of regional governance.

During this year, Gu Shanhai had not wasted any time either; he improved many of the abilities of the Heart Demon Dao Soldiers. Besides the Heart Demon’s ability to bewitch, he developed a series of abilities, reaching eight in total. He was currently perfecting the last one, called the Heart Demon’s Life Exchange, which was the most core ability among them all.

In terms of form, this ability could connect allies and enemies, helping allies endure damage and transferring that damage to the enemy.

With this ability, more people could help bear damages for Gu Shanhai. Additionally, when there were enough Heart Demon Dao Soldiers, a special ability would manifest.

This effect was known as Heart Demon Revival. As long as there were a thousand Heart Demon Dao Soldiers, Gu Shanhai could be resurrected by consuming one Dao Soldier after dying. However, he would be weak after revival, and if he wanted to recover more of his strength, he would need to consume more Heart Demon Dao Soldiers. How much he would recover depended on how many Dao Soldiers were consumed.

Besides, Heart Demon Dao Soldiers could also revive on other Heart Demon Dao Soldiers. If one died, they could climb out through their comrades, effectively enabling mutual resurrection.

The revival effect was only average, but the advantage was having multiple lives.

Gu Shanhai certainly wouldn’t be satisfied with just nurturing three or five Heart Demon Dao Soldiers. Currently, there were a thousand Heart Demon Dao Soldiers within the Spiritual Vein·Longevity Mountain, and their strength was considered to be of high rank.

The reason they were of high rank was that only after completing the last ability, Heart Demon’s Life Exchange, could they be considered top-tier.

Gu Shanhai also realized that top-tier was the limit for Daoist Soldiers; breaking past this limit was very difficult.

That is to say, one could only have a maximum of nine abilities and one group effect. Any more would not be feasible.

Fortunately, Gu Shanhai did not have any plans to break through the upper limit so easily. Top-tier Daoist Soldiers were just a beginning. He had only perfected one aspect of the military arts; there was still weaponry, military momentum, and strategy left to study. Moreover, besides these, the strength of Daoist Soldiers also greatly depended on their numbers; the more there were, the stronger the Dao Soldiers became.

Essentially, this is a Dao Soldier proliferation system.

"At most another three days, and the last ability will be completed," Gu Shanhai was quite satisfied with the progress, and once the ability was complete, he could accelerate Dao Soldier proliferation.

Without claiming too much, he would first cultivate ten thousand Heart Demon Dao Soldiers. As long as he wasn’t killed in an unconventional manner, he essentially didn’t have to worry about truly dying.

Unconventional means things like certain rules, powerful treasures, and Cultivation Techniques that could cause special effects. He currently did not possess enough strength to counteract these.

If he had the strength to easily erase such unconventional abilities, Gu Shanhai would not have needed to develop abilities for revival and rebirth.

Right now, he was, at best, considered a low-tier player; at least the ability to revive after death had been set up.

Someday, when his capabilities were more substantial, perhaps not even other players could match his ability to revive.

"I have to say, nurturing Daoist Soldiers really burns through resources." Gu Shanhai checked his recent expenditures and, with his ongoing development, the costs were continuously rising.

Actually, this was just the beginning; future expenses would only be greater.

Later on, a significant portion of the costs were shifted to the expenditure of Gu Shanhai’s mana, which was much more convenient, mainly because it was hassle-free.

The maintenance of the various abilities of the Heart Demon Dao Soldiers would certainly consume Gu Shanhai’s mana, as they were part of him. If it didn’t come from him, he would not dare to use them, unsure of what would be used as compensation for supposed zero consumption.

If he were a player, he wouldn’t need to worry, with "The First Epoch" bearing everything; but Gu Shanhai didn’t have that, hence he always avoided such obviously unreasonable abilities.

Stuffing anything into oneself without a strong backing usually spelled certain death.

"Mr. Gu, the latest intelligence." A Sun and Moon Daoist Soldier hurried over and delivered a piece of new intelligence.

Without a doubt, it must be related to the allied forces.

As Gu Shanhai read it, his expression revealed a hint of surprise.

"A coup, the Pseudo Emperor executed, many forces taking over the court, the restoration of Dalong. The allied forces have profited enormously. This swift?"