Long Chen grinned and said "Good." Cross grinned and said "Qingyun!" Mu Qingyun got up and saluted, Cross pursed his lips and shot her a funny look. She laughed dryly and put her hands down, Cross pointed to the wooden sword and said "That's your new sword, take it."
Mu Qingyun was stunned but took the wooden sword anyway. The rest of the wooden pole turned to ashes, leaving only the sword. Cross threw her into a corner and made her sit down with the sword on her lap as he said "Feel the sword. You are it, it is you. Breathe through the sword."
Mu Qingyun was confused but did as she was told and started meditating with the sword.
Cross went off and started teaching the other disciples, he got them all when Long Chen left to go get some herbs from the Alchemy Garden.
Cross shouted "Line up! Rows and columns! 500 focused disciples in the front, the rest behind them!" the 2000 disciples got into rows and columns, Cross smiled and said "I don't know what Long Chen told you, but if the 500 in the front aren't the best in the group then they will be replaced. It can be 1, 10, 100, or all of them. I couldn't care less."
He snapped his fingers and Beanpole said "Yes, Lord Fifth?" Cross said "Beanpole tell them what I taught you." Beanpole faced the group of disciples and shouted with a murderous aura "If you're insulted, KILL! If you're slapped, EXTERMINATE!"
The disciples trembled and Cross grinned, revealing his sharp canines as he leaked bloodlust "I'm not Long Chen. He still has scruples, I don't care. You will all be mad killers when I'm done with you." he pointed at a kid at the back and said "You there, all the way at the back! Are you upset you didn't get picked? Tell me the truth."
The kid at the back said meekly "Not really... They're better than me..." Cross spat on the ground and sneered "That's why you're at the back. That goes for all of you that aren't in the 500 focused spots." he paced in front of the class and continued "Your mindset is fixed on this thought that you're not better than someone else. How can you be a top expert like this? Spoilers, you won't be. You might not ever even leave the outer academy. Honestly, if it wasn't for Long Chen, I wouldn't even help you."
Cross shook his head and said "In terms of Alchemy, Long Chen is better than me. In terms of controlling himself, he is better than me. But in everything else, I am King!" he looked at the disciples and said "A bunch of wet rags don't even have the confidence to stand up for themselves to get stronger, how are you going to stand up to an enemy? How are you going to shed your fear of death and charge into millions of enemies alone with only your fists?"
Cross punched out, blowing a blast of air through the group as he shouted "When you're standing in a field of corpses and the only thing between the enemy and your wives, kids, and family is you, what are you going to do?! Complain that someone is better than you? Wish that it was them instead?!"
He clapped and all the disciples entered a daze, seeing the illusion of Cross' words. Cross tied them all up, so that they wouldn't start slashing the person next to them by accident. He shouted into their minds "The enemy is a million strong! The person who you thought was stronger than you is a corpse at your feet! The only thing to stop the enemy is you! ARE YOU GOING TO FIGHT?! OR ARE YOU GOING TO RUN, LEAVING YOUR FAMILY BEHIND TO DIE!!"
The disciple's eyes all turned red and in the illusion the million strong army charged, shouting a bunch of hateful things about the family and women behind the lone disciple. Some disciples charged head first into the army and started a slaughter, roaring like beasts. Some of them made traps before luring in the army. Some hesitated but the family behind them was also part of the illusion, the lovers and family cried and cooed the disciple to retreat and leave them to die.
After that, who would leave their family to die? They all fought, even if some hesitated at the beginning.
It had to be said, Cross' illusion was extremely real-like. He corpses looked real, the murderous spirit was real, the tears were real, and the pressure was real as well. It was a fight or flight simulation. Cross could see all of the illusions, he was satisfied with most of their reactions. Some of them hesitated but he gave them a second chance with the family persuading, if they still ran after that, then he would kill them himself.
A person who abandons their family doesn't deserve to live in this world in Cross' eyes. The main goal of the formation wasn't to kill the enemy, it was to tap into the primal instincts and slaughter! The longer they went the better the results. Even if a beast died completely outnumbered, it would take as many as it could with it.
Cross was trying to make them into beasts. If they died they died with their family, or they killed all the enemies and survived. There was no in between, the army was coming to kill the family, they didn't even respond to taking one life to save the rest.
A while later
Long Chen came back and saw everyone in a daze with red eyes, he walked to Cross and was confused. Cross tapped his forehead and Long Chen saw the illusions, Long Chen said "You can even do this?!" Cross grinned and replied "This only works once. I manipulated them to believe they had been on the battlefield already and my words were a brief memory from a long time ago."
Long Chen's eyes brightened as he said "Like their lives flashing before their eyes!" Cross grinned and said "Exactly!" Long Chen sighed and said "Amazing, this'll cut their training by half!" Cross sighed and said "Hopefully. At least all of them fought, though some of them needed a push from their family..."
Long Chen looked at the disciples and said "It's only natural, they have never seen blood and war." Cross sighed and said "What a mess.." Long Chen chuckled and the disciples started waking up, looking around with killing intent.
A few minutes later
They all woke up and still had the murderous aura. Cross chuckled and said "Not too bad for a bunch of greenhouse flowers..." he looked at the 6 and said "None of you killed the entire army. Do you expect me to be there every time? Or your mothers? I won't be there every moment of your lives."
The 6 looked down in shame and Long Chen smiled as he said "You all did the best out of the group." he looked at Cross and said "There was only between 100 and 5 enemies for the 6 of them." Cross said "They should be able to kill them all." Long Chen shook his head, while the other disciples looked at the 6 like they were monsters, 100-5 left?! There was a million of them!
Lord Fifth's kids sure are scary!
Long Chen said "Let's call it a day." Mu Qingyun said "Third Brother.. it's only been half a day." Long Chen smiled and said "Let's go to the Hunting ground, this progress is too slow. There's no sense of crisis. You can only be in one illusion all your lives, if you know it's an illusion next time then you won't try your hardest no matter what."
Mu Qingyun nodded and left to get a flying boat.
Cross waved the 6 over and said "Sit." the 6 sat down and Cross said "I'm not satisfied with your performances. Do better in the hunting grounds." the 6 nodded before leaving, a bit frustrated. Long Chen came over and sat next to Cross.
Cross took out two bowls and poured wine, Long Chen drank as he said "You're really not satisfied?" Cross sighed and said quietly "Of course I'm satisfied. 1 against 1,000,000 and taking 99.99% with you? I'm proud!"
Long Chen chuckled and Cross said "I can't tell them that, or they'll get arrogant and stop working hard, thinking they're great." he shook his head and added "How many Young Master types have you seen in your life? How many of them were cut down by a single blade?" Long Chen thought about it and said "I can't even count them all..."
Cross said "Exactly! I don't want them to become like that. They don't have to be humble, but they can't brag either. They don't have to yield or bow their heads to anyone, but they can't go around challenging everyone under the sun! What if they make an Immortal King angry? I can fight to the death only once for them."
He sighed and continued "I don't mind them being arrogant, but going out of their way to insult someone that never offended them is not acceptable. I don't go around barking like a mad dog at people who don't say anything to me..."
He drank from his cup and chuckled "I bark like a mad dog when someone speaks first." Long Chen laughed and drank from his cup before saying with a smirk "You do look like a mad dog when you do that." Cross punched out with a grin saying "Fuck off." Long Chen dodged and laughed.
Mu Qingyun came back, but there was someone else with her. Everybody's eyes turned to the woman, who looked so beautiful they couldn't put it into words. Naturally, the woman was Ying'er. She walked through the crowd, pushing the disciples away with strings and eyes full of disdain.
Cross drank from his cup and looked at Ying'er, who was now standing in front of him. He said "Yes?" Ying'er smiled and sat "Master, the rest are done." Cross raised a brow and Ying'er poured wine for them as she said "They all got abilities as well."
Cross looked at her and said "Well.." Ying'er said "Xue'er can become fire, even if you punch her in the face, you'll just go right through. Though it only works with pure physical attacks, any Qi attacks will hit her, she's also able to upgrade her flames by eating Immortal flames."
Cross nodded and walked with her to the Flying ship. Long Chen brought them all to the ship to go to the hunting grounds. Cross boarded the ship and Ying'er continued "The Heavenly Star Slaughter God is able to turn completely invisible at will, without even using a technique! Her presence, figure, even things she's holding completely vanish."
Cross hummed and Ying'er added "And Jie Yuan is able to sprout limbs from anything! Arms, legs, eyes, ears, mouth, anything!" Cross nodded and said "You?" Ying'er smiled and showed the strings from her hands. Cross nodded and the boat flew away as he said "Familiarize yourself with your new power, and find your 'Dao' or element. Your root is bright silver, maybe you're more compatible with Metal."
Ying'er nodded and stood next to him in her maid outfit, Long Chen walked over and said "You know what to do?" Cross smiled and said "You can do it, no? I'll just be support." Long Chen laughed and said "Alright."
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