####PATREON####Visit my patreon to support this novel at www.patreon.com/ramzeyramzo
-PAYMENTS ARE MONTHLY-
Tier 1 (Fans of UIU) = $2.00
-Ent.i.tled to basic contents.
Tier 2 (Loyal Reader) = $5.00
-Ent.i.tled to early release.
Tier 3 (n.o.ble Reader) = $10.00
-Ent.i.tled to early & double release.
Tier 4 (Royal Reader) = $15.00
-Ent.i.tled to advance chapters.
Tier 5 (Quasi Aurthor) = $50.00
-Submit one chapter worth story plot with your name on it.
Tier 6 (Half Author) = $200.00
-Submit ten chapter worth story plot with your name on it.
####################
Next day early in the morning, everyone woke up early for the training session. At first, they felt a little bit unmotivated since the monster stampede was still at least a week away.
However, when their communication jade slip sent them a direct message from the academy itself, that they will have to depart in the afternoon today as the monster stampede will arrive tomorrow, all of them let out a surprised reaction and their faces turned grim.
This timing is too soon!
Thus, as their anxiousness built up under that pressure, it gave them a high dose of adrenaline that fired up their motivation to train properly in these last few hours before they were required to depart simultaneously!
Positioning themselves into the formation that was agreed on yesterday, each began to line up with their roles as vanguards and rear-guards respectively.
Shen Lu made some small adjustments to the overall distances between each member that was suitable with their roles, and everyone was starting to get the hang of it.
Suddenly however, an unfamiliar voice spoke out.
"This group formation you guys are using is not too bad, but there are several fatal flaws in it!"
Hearing this comment, everyone turned their head into the direction of that voice to found out that a lady whom they"ve never met before, seemingly in her forties and shorter than an average woman"s height, was looking at them while shaking her head, standing at the balcony on the first floor.
It was Meng Yue.
"Who are you? How did you get in?" w.a.n.g Xiolun put up his guard as he said this.
From his senses, he couldn"t detect the spiritual Qi of the other party to determine her strength at all, and this could only happen because of one reason; that she purposely reigned in her aura so skillfully such that not a single trace of it could be felt, and what this practically meant was that - this short lady was stronger than them by a huge gap!
One has to know that, although a Core formation realm cultivator did not have the exclusive ability of Soul Sense that a Nascent Soul realm cultivator has just yet, their senses were still extremely sharp and could usually detect what realm a person was currently in!
Therefore, he felt extremely wary that an unknown person with such means to suddenly appear before them and quickly took position to cover Duan Li from the front with the rest following suit behind him.
However, w.a.n.g Xiolun couldn"t help but to have a strange gut feeling that, he somehow knew who this lady actually was.
Why does she seems so familiar?
Where have I seen her before..?
"Ohh? You"re not too bad." Meng Yue said after she witnessed w.a.n.g Xiolun"s loyal action and nodded in satisfaction.
The fact that this man was the first to take action to protect her son on the first sign of danger, has won her approval!
"Who are you? And what do you mean by fatal flaws? I see no problem with it myself and in fact, it was a much better formation when compared to the subjugation squad I was in back then." Fei Longwei said, being an experienced person in group formations before.
Seeing that his party was slowly getting riled up by his mother, Duan Li was just about to tell them who she was when the latter then threw him a gaze to not say anything first and let her handle it.
Meng Yue chuckled when she heard Fei Longwei"s reply, "You"re an ex-member at one of the Subjugation squads? At such a young age and low realm too.."
"If I am not mistaken, you must be practicing some form of special skill arts or the sorts and was recommended by one of the Senior Teachers? Impressive!"
Shen Murong then suddenly snorted, "Hmph! Flattery would not deceive us from the fact that you are a suspicious person to intrude into someone else"s residence court like this. Eventhough I can see that you are strong and we won"t be a match for you, but if you don"t state your business soon, I will call for reinforcements from my Shen clan!"
Meng Yue"s brows shot up as she found something amusing.
"Hmm? You are from the Shen clan? That group of brutes with dragon bloodline flowing in them? Sorry to say but, back in the old days, your elders used to run errands for me. If you were to call them here, I"m afraid they"ll just run back to your clan"s residence and shut their gates tight such that, not even ants could come through from the crevices!" Meng Yue replied with a wide and smug grin.
Pu!
"Y-You..!" Shen Murong"s veins popped out from his temples as he choked on himself.
Just what kind of existence was his Shen Clan?
Even in the whole Jiu Empire, in terms of pure battle prowess, their clan came in second after the Royal family, the Jiu Clan"s phoenix bloodline!
In addition, their glory dated back since the ancient past, even before the founding of the Jiu Empire itself, and whenever wars were fought, the enemy would run between their tails just from hearing rumors that the Shen clan was partic.i.p.ating in the battle!
Yet, this short lady claimed to have made his powerful elders, her errand boys back then?
How impudent!
"Let me go! I"ll teach her a lesson!" Shen Murong shouted out in indignance as he struggled to break free from w.a.n.g Xiolun"s arm lock.
"Senior, I don"t know who you are.. but please leave.. we are short on time to practice our group"s formation as we have to depart this afternoon.." Xiahou Yu gently said.
Meng Yue"s attention turned to the other party as she scanned the latter up and down before nodding in satisfaction.
En! She"s a fine woman!
That lady behind her is quite the voluptuous beauty as well!
And oh.. what"s this? There is another lady hiding under my son"s shadow? His personal a.s.sistant?
Looks like my son isn"t hopeless after all!
"Calm down, I"m not your enemy. When I said that your group"s formation has several fatal flaws in it, its not referring to the formation as per say.. but more towards the individuals!" Meng Yue said calmly as she exuded the disposition of an elder giving out pointers to the junior generation with her hands clasped behind her back. She then gently floated down from the balcony, causing her robes to sway with grace like a real expert.
Eh? My mother is even better in her "expert mode" than the Princ.i.p.al!
Duan Li"s jaw dropped as he stared at his mother doing this. Although it was similar, but the disposition that she currently radiated out was on a higher level than their Princ.i.p.al whenever the latter was trying to say something profound!
Hearing this unexpected answer, Shen Lu"s brows furrowed.
The formation isn"t the one with flaws but us?
"Could you tell us more in detail, Senior?" Shen Lu asked politely.
Everyone here was more tactful than the wild Shen Murong. They knew that she must be some respective figure in the Empire to be able to casually claim that the elders from the Shen Clan used to run her errands back in the past.
However, just like w.a.n.g Xiolun, it seems like he had once saw her before too..
But where?
"It"s simple. One of the flaws lies in the vanguard"s stamina. From everyone"s positioning here, I could tell that you guys are planning to be on the defensive later on, which is a good choice against a monster stampede of huge numbers like this time around."
"But you have to consider that while vanguards are strong, their stamina are limited and would deplete faster against rapid incoming of monsters!" Meng Yue explained.
"This.. I haven"t thought of it that way.." Shen Lu said in realization as he cupped his chin.
Indeed, he hadn"t taken into consideration of their stamina in a prolonged battle, and fatigue would cause the effectiveness of their vanguard to inevitably decrease!
Furthermore, while pills and elixirs could help them temporarily, but with rapid usage, their effects would be drastically reduced as well!
"To resolve this issue, all you have to do is to shorten the distance between the vanguards and the rear-guards. Instead of 30 steps in-between them, it should be reduced to 20 steps!" Meng Yue continued.
"Then, after the vanguards did their job for at least 30 breaths, switch with the rear-guards and let them recover their stamina naturally. Next, switch them back again after 15 breaths and repeat this process. If needed, consume some pills and elixirs."
Only after Meng Yue said these did everyone came into the realization that she was correct!
"I understand now.. but why did the vanguards needed to switch again after 15 breaths instead of 30 breaths? Wouldn"t more rest time means more effective recovery?" Shen Lu asked.
Meng Yue nodded.
"In normal circ.u.mstances, that would be ideal. But think about the scale of this upcoming battle.. 6,000 of you versus 30,000 monsters or more if you are unlucky, and those numbers alone would sap the surrounding spiritual Qi dry when everyone is using it!"
Hissss!
Everyone sucked in cold breath in realization once more.
Since they were used to being surrounded by spiritual Qi all the time, they hadn"t thought the possibilities of running low on it!
Regardless of one"s Qi efficiency in absorbing Spiritual Qi from the surrounding, if it was low, their recovery would be slow too!
While the surrounding Spiritual Qi would technically not run out and only ran low due to everyone was constantly using it, with low recovery while constantly using their spiritual Qi, would quickly drop their stamina to rock bottom!
Thus, resting time was needed by using the switch method!
"Hmph! I still don"t understand why we could only rest for 15 breaths though." Shen Murong chimed in as he crossed both arms on his chest.
"I think I get it.. perhaps its because of the roles? I mean vanguards are supposed to attack.. while rear-guards are to watch their backs.. even with this switching method, their roles wouldn"t really change.." Xiahou Yu answered.
Meng Yue nodded again, impressed with Xiahou Yu"s comprehension!
"Indeed. Rear-guards must not be exhausted equal or more than the vanguards! This is because they are the last line of your defense. Thus, they must remain in top condition at all time or at least better than your vanguards!"
"Remember, in a defensive battle, everyone"s collective roles would be translated into a single goal, and that is to hold out for as long as you can! Do not ever go for the offense!"
Everyone nodded in agreement.
It seems like this short lady in front of them was truly an expert and were well-versed in the art of war against a monster stampede!
Who is she actually?!
Unable to hold out their curiosity any longer, Shen Lu asked out, "If its not inconvenient for Senior, would you please tell us who you are?"
Meng Yue smiled wide as she puffed her chest slightly.
"The younger generation might no longer know who I am.. but I am Meng Yue, an ex-member of the Ninth squad of the Subjugation squad!"
"Oh and also, your Lord over there, I am his mother!"
...