Chapter 1897: The Army Disbands
The troops of the Freedom Alliance Army are from different sects after all. Moreover, these people didn’t have low status. Some of them were even core disciples of their sects. Naturally, it was impossible for them to always stay in the Freedom Alliance Army. Therefore, only a small number of troops were required to stay in Drinking Elephant Mountain.
Now that the monument has been built and the northern provinces have stabilized, it was time to disband the Freedom Alliance Army. If Zhao Hai keeps being in control of the army, the members of the alliance might not feel at ease.
Thinking that the army was about to be disbanded, Zhao Hai couldn’t help but feel melancholic. The army fought with him for quite some time. He was a bit reluctant to disband it.
Zhao Hai stood on the h.e.l.l King’s s.h.i.+p, watching the people of the army bustling about. He couldn’t help but sigh. He was about to order everyone to gather around and announce the disbandment of the army when he suddenly felt the golden wisp of spiritual force inside him jump.
Zhao Hai stared. He didn’t know what was going on. He thought that the golden spiritual force was just like the normal spiritual force. After using it in the past few days, he couldn’t see what was different about it. But this time, it seems to have gone out of control.
While Zhao Hai was puzzled, he felt the beating of his spiritual force getting more and more intense. He wanted to keep it under control and found that it wasn’t really rampaging. But as soon as his consciousness got in contact with this spiritual force, he immediately noticed that something was different.
Before Zhao Hai used his spiritual force, he felt that there’s nothing different around him. But this time, upon touching the golden spiritual force, he felt another powerful spiritual force sweeping through him. This caused Zhao Hai to be surprised.
Zhao Hai let go of his control over the golden spiritual force and no longer felt anything special from the surroundings. Naturally, when he controlled the golden spiritual force once more, he felt the powerful spiritual force. But this time, the powerful spiritual force was some distance away from him.
Zhao Hai could feel that the powerful spiritual force was doing a scan, sweeping everyone it pa.s.sed through.
Suddenly, Zhao Hai thought of something and his eyes began to s.h.i.+ne. He felt the powerful spiritual force once again and saw that it was already very far from him. And before long, Zhao Hai could no longer sense it.
But this also affirmed Zhao Hai’s thoughts. He believed that he ranked among the best in the Great Realm of Cultivation when it comes to spiritual force. Even immortal experts didn’t have a purer spiritual force than him. His spiritual force was not only due to his cultivation method, it was also reinforced by some of his special abilities.
And now, there was a spiritual force that was so formidable that it was able to scan such a huge area.
n.o.body in the Great Realm of Cultivation had a spiritual force as formidable as this. There was only one place where this kind of spiritual force would exist, and this was the Soaring Dragon Realm.
The Soaring Dragon Realm performs inspections every ten thousand years. It must be the controllers of the Soaring Dragon Realm that swept the Great Realm of Cultivation with their spiritual force. In this way, they would know the overall strength of the realm.
Moreover, such a strong spiritual force couldn’t be discovered by the people of the Great Realm of Cultivation. Only Zhao Hai’s golden spiritual force was able to detect it. Because of this, people of the Great Realm of Cultivation never knew when the inspection came.
Zhao Hai was now quite worried. The Great Realm of Cultivation’s strength was greatly damaged. If the Great Realm of Cultivation fails the inspection, then that would be a huge loss.
Although Zhao Hai was worried, he also knew that he couldn’t do anything about this matter. The decision simply wasn’t in his hands. The qualification to enter the Soaring Dragon Realm was completely under the hands of the realm’s controllers. Most importantly, it was impossible to win this manner through sentiment and hard work. The only criteria for the inspection was the realm’s strength.
Thinking of this, Zhao Hai sighed once more. Then he ordered, “Everyone, line up!”
Hearing Zhao Hai’s order, the people of the army immediately got into formation. After scanning the troops, Zhao Hai said, “Brothers, it has been some time since the army has been established. These days, a lot of things have happened in the Great Realm of Cultivation. And now, the Freedom Alliance occupies four provinces. We can now see ourselves as equal to the nine super sects. By this point, the nine super sects wouldn’t dare to attack the north without proper reason. Our purpose has been fulfilled. I think it’s time for the army to disband.’
Upon hearing Zhao Hai, the army immediately went into a buzz. Some of them did want to go back to their sects, but they were unwilling to disband the army. They liked fighting with Zhao Hai.
At this time, Li Kuangge cupped his fist towards Zhao Hai and said, “Commander, I oppose disbanding the army. The four northern provinces might have been pacified and the nine super sects have been driven off, but the enmity is still there. Maybe, at some point, the nine super sects would attack us once more. Because of this, we cannot disband the army.”
The others followed, “Right, Army Commander, we cannot disband the army.”
Zhao Hai waved his hand, stopping the rest from answering. He looked at everyone and said, “When I said that the army will be disbanded, I don’t mean that the alliance would no longer have an army. The army currently has 7 million people. Meanwhile, we only need a few people to be stationed in Drinking Elephant Mountain. Most of you can go back to your sects. But this doesn’t mean that you will no longer have anything to do with the army. Everyone needs to take a month every year to go back to Drinking Elephant Mountain for training. At the same time, the 100 thousand people in Drinking Elephant Mountain need to be rotated every two months. Do you understand now?”
Upon hearing this, everyone understood what Zhao Hai meant. They weren’t opposed to this. The army would still be there and Zhao Hai would still be the commander. They would have a chance to fight with Zhao Hai in the future. That was enough for them.
Therefore, the people of the army replied, “Understood, Army Commander.”
Zhao Hai nodded, then he looked at everyone and then waved his hand. Jade slips began to fly towards the sect representatives. Then he said, “The jade slips in your hands marks when you will come into rotation. At the same time, it indicates when you need to train in the camp. When the time comes, the representatives will take charge in bringing everyone back. If there’s anyone missing, I will need an answer from you.”
The sect representatives immediately nodded. Although Zhao Hai’s words were somewhat impolite, these representatives were actually happy. The jade slips represented that they were still part of the army.
After the representatives received the jade slip, Zhao Hai said, “Return to your sects and cultivate. I want you all to remember, even if your sects have any enmity, you are all members of the Freedom Alliance Army. You are all brothers. If one is in trouble, everyone has to help. If your sects go into war, stay your hand and remember that you have brothers on the other side. If your sect blames you for this, tell them to come to me.”
When the troops of the army heard this, they all loudly replied. They fully understood what Zhao Hai meant. Even if the troops returned to their respective sects, the Freedom Alliance Army still had its influence. Later on, if people want to deal with someone from the army, they would need to think through it properly. After all, Zhao Hai was still present. In the Great Realm of Cultivation, there wasn’t anyone willing to offend him, this includes the nine super sects.
Zhao Hai looked at everyone’s eyes and said, “Brothers, before you return to your sects, I want to let you know that it has been an honor knowing all of you. If you need my help, don’t hesitate to go to the Black Tiger Gang and ask for me. I definitely wouldn’t refuse. Alright, all of you can leave. The first group to be stationed in the mountain will stay.”
Everyone was moved by Zhao Hai’s words. Although Zhao Hai told everyone that they could leave, n.o.body left. At this time, on behalf of everyone, Li Kuangge cupped his fist and said, “Commander, on behalf of everyone, I want to tell you that the Freedom Alliance would be nothing without you. It is our honor to be your brothers and to fight beside you. We will always be your soldiers. As long as the Commander gives an order, we will go through fire and water to accomplish it.”
The others followed up, “We will go through fire and water. We will never refuse!”
Zhao Hai looked at everyone and couldn’t help but feel warm inside. He even had the urge to tear up. Fortunately, he was strong enough to endure his emotions. He laughed and said, “Alright. This Zhao Hai will never forget all of you. I want to drink with you all, but I don’t have enough spirit wine with me. But I once got wine from the Hundred Flowers Valley. I’ll pour all of the wine into the Jade Belt River and each of us will take a sip of the river’s water. Let me offer all of you a cup!”