Chapter 490: Training the Machines

The mechanical puppets formed two long lines, silent and still.Ning Zhuo and Sun Lingtong stood at the front of each line respectively.Using their divine sense, they manipulated these mechanical puppets.As the mechanical puppets advanced with the formation, they twisted their heads a few times and then detached them.When they reached Ning Zhuo and Sun Lingtong, they were all headless. The mechanical heads were held in their hands.Sun and Ning each took out a Mind-Dividing Mirror, and using divine sense and magical power, slightly modified these mechanical puppets, finally inserting the Mind-Dividing Mirrors.The surface of the Mind-Dividing Mirror resembled crystal, clear as a deep pool, reflecting a vast blue light, as if starlight flowed within.The frame was made of smooth jade, brilliant like the green waves kissed by the morning sun, with slightly upturned corners resembling the cloud motifs drawn by ancients, graceful and distant. Through the frame, one could discern the network of channels within, like the roots of an ancient tree.This was one of the precious mirrors recorded in the Foundation Establishment chapter of the Mirror Platform Spirit Attunement Technique, capable of receiving and dividing divine sense.Among all precious mirrors, the Mind-Dividing Mirror was the cheapest to produce. This was a meticulous design by the Three Sect Supremes, done with intention. For among all precious mirrors, the Mind-Dividing Mirror had the greatest demand.What Ning Zhuo was doing now was installing Mind-Dividing Mirrors in all the mechanical puppets.These over four hundred Mind-Dividing Mirrors were painstakingly crafted by Sun and Ning over these past few days, without rest.The entire installation process did not take much time.Ning Zhuo and Sun Lingtong attempted to manipulate them, their faces showing delight. Ning Zhuo released his divine sense, needing only to project it onto the nearest mechanical puppet to see it amplified slightly within the Mind-Dividing Mirror.Ning Zhuo could not only connect with and control this mechanical puppet, but the excess divine sense was divided into six or seven portions, spreading outwards.These six or seven portions of divine sense were attracted by the other Mind-Dividing Mirrors, and after entering the mirrors, they too were amplified somewhat, with the excess divine sense further divided into several portions and projected outwards.After a few rounds of such projection, Ning Zhuo controlled a large number of mechanical puppets.He fully channeled his divine sense, spreading it everywhere, and quickly covered all over four hundred mechanical puppets."Let me try, let me try."Sun Lingtong, seeing how interesting it was, eagerly gave it a try.His divine sense could also enter the Mind-Dividing Mirror, but although his total amount was clearly more than Ning Zhuo's, the degree of amplification by the mirror was less than half of Ning Zhuo's, and the divine sense divided out was at most three or four portions.The Mind-Dividing Mirror also helped Sun Lingtong control the mechanical puppets, but not significantly.After all, the Mirror Platform Spirit Attunement Technique and the Mind-Dividing Mirror were designed to be used together.This made Sun Lingtong genuinely exclaim once more: The Three Sect Supremes possessed extraordinary talent. The Supreme Arts they pioneered were rarely seen in this world. Not only could they cultivate all three Dantians simultaneously, but even taking out just one aspect, the content was rich and the配套完善 (配套完善 - well-matched/complete supporting set).Ning Zhuo was both excited and tired.To rush the production of enough Mind-Dividing Mirrors, he had been working continuously for several days, almost without rest.Both Ning Zhuo and Sun Lingtong had deep dark circles under their eyes. Ning Zhuo yawned: "Let's sleep first, Elder Brother. I'm so tired my eyes can barely stay open."Sun Lingtong nodded: "You sleep first, I'll stay up for a while."When traveling outside, he and Ning Zhuo cooperated, trying their best to stagger their rest and cultivation, so that one of them could always maintain vigilance against the outside.Ning Zhuo nodded naturally.From childhood to adulthood, Sun Lingtong would always let Ning Zhuo sleep first while he kept watch. Ning Zhuo had grown used to this arrangement.Young people have excellent sleep quality.Ning Zhuo was exhausted to a certain extent. After lying down on the bed, he immediately fell asleep.After sleeping soundly, he opened his eyes in bed, his gaze gradually becoming brilliant and full of spirit, sweeping away the previous fatigue.He immediately swapped with Sun Lingtong to rest, then, with the Ten Thousand Mile Roaming Dragon belt around his waist, he lifted the tent flap and stepped out, greeting the afternoon sun.He went to see Liu, Guan, and Zhang, the three generals, training their troops. Seeing them diligently practicing without cease, he transmitted his divine sense to greet them, then left the camp.Ning Zhuo also needed to train his troops!However, after receiving investment from Ning Zhuo, the Three Generals' camp was already at full capacity. The camp space itself was not large, only enough for the three generals to maneuver.Ning Zhuo pondered for a moment and came to the Red Flower Camp.Now, when entering and leaving the Red Flower Camp, he only needed to show his waist token. Sometimes, before even reaching the camp gate,he would be spotted by the soldiers, who would immediately and voluntarily open the camp gate for him.In the Red Flower Camp, Mu Lan was also training her troops.In fact, after the ambush battle, these few armies returned to Cyanwood Immortal City for rest and replenishment, and they were actively recruiting and buying horses, and after replenishing their troops, they were training with all their might, racing against time.At this time, the amount of sweat shed was very likely to determine life and death on the battlefield.Therefore, both generals and soldiers were willing to practice diligently and painstakingly. It was well known that they would still be going to the front lines.Compared to the Three Generals' camp, the Red Flower Camp was much more spacious.On one hand, the standard of the Red Flower Camp meant its area was very large, much higher in grade than new armies like the Three Generals' camp. On the other hand, although the Red Flower Camp also replenished its troops, they were all carefully selected, and the number was not rashly increased.This was because the difficulty of the Red Flower Battle Formation far exceeded that of most battle formations. In this situation, simply increasing the number of people would instead hinder and cause the battle formation to be unable to form, greatly reducing the combat effectiveness of the entire army.Seeing Ning Zhuo approach, Mu Lan immediately withdrew, letting her deputy take over the troop training, while she herself proactively went to welcome Ning Zhuo."Ning Zhuo—Young Master." Mu Lan's expression was calm, but her eyes flickered, revealing her inner turmoil. Ning Zhuo waved his hand and stated his purpose, which was to use the open space in the camp to train his troops.Mu Lan immediately agreed.She arranged and personally led Ning Zhuo to the open space.Since Ning Zhuo chose to train his troops in the Red Flower Camp, there was no need to hide anything from Mu Lan. Therefore, he openly took out all the mechanical puppets.A slight glimmer appeared in Mu Lan's eyes.She knew that Ning Zhuo had spent heavily to purchase a large number of mechanical puppets."But in the ambush battle, Ning Zhuo controlled the mechanical puppets as individual units.""Controlling a single unit and controlling a group are two different matters. How are his skills in this regard?"A strong curiosity surged in Mu Lan's heart.After several interactions, Ning Zhuo, by chance, had become her husband, so of course she was interested in her husband.More importantly, as the daughter of a general, she had been sensitive to and cared deeply about all matters concerning the army since childhood.With Mu Lan observing from the side, Ning Zhuo began his first drill.His expression was solemn, and he released his divine sense.Through the continuous projection and reception of the Mind-Dividing Mirrors, Ning Zhuo quickly gained full control of all the mechanical puppets.He felt as if he had many extra limbs, and a close connection was formed with the mechanical puppets. Commanding their movements only required the consumption of his divine sense.Ning Zhuo first attempted the simplest movement, which was to make these mechanical puppets walk together.Seeing over four hundred mechanical puppets suddenly start moving, Mu Lan was surprised and couldn't help but glance at Ning Zhuo,thinking to herself: "He is only in the Foundation Establishment stage, yet he connects with so many mechanical puppets very quickly."Controlling so many mechanical puppets simultaneously was a first for Ning Zhuo.Before, although he had accumulated quite a few mechanical creations in Fire Persimmon Immortal City, those were painstakingly gathered over a dozen years, purchased intermittently from the market.His level was not high enough then. How could the mechanical creations bought from the market compare to the over four hundred mechanical puppets before his eyes now?Previous mechanical creations were mostly animal-shaped, with simple structures and easy to control.But these mechanical puppets now were military-grade, with more complex structures, requiring more control ability, and capable of performing more free and agile movements.Ning Zhuo was completely focused.He felt like a toddler learning to walk, first crawling, then slowly standing up,and then beginning to walk unsteadily.Mu Lan, observing from the side, quickly noticed this."So, Ning Zhuo has never controlled so many mechanical puppets before."Mu Lan frowned slightly, deciding to find a suitable time to persuade Ning Zhuo to give up training troops.Using such immature techniques on the battlefield was not only irresponsible to himself, but also irresponsible to allies and comrades.Especially since Ning Zhuo was her husband, the son-in-law of General Mu's residence, he could not act recklessly.Ning Zhuo took out spirit food from his storage belt, put it into his mouth, chewed a few times quickly, and swallowed it.Soon after, he took out a pill and swallowed it. Both the spirit food and the pill were helping him recover his divine sense faster.His divine sense was consumed rapidly, making his head heavy, as if an anvil was placed inside.Ning Zhuo took a deep breath and slowly closed his eyes.Mu Lan had been evaluating from the side. Seeing this scene: "Ning Zhuo is only in the Foundation Establishment stage after all, his divine sense is limited.It's already quite good that he can last this long.""Although he is quickly getting the hang of it, this level is still far from being ready for the battlefield.""I must persuade him to stop.""Taking this to the battlefield is simply a joke."However, the next moment, Ning Zhuo opened his eyes.He once again mobilized his divine sense to control these mechanical puppets. And unlike before, this time he was not only controlling them with divine sense, but doing so with both methods, using the My Buddha Heart Demon Seal!Ning Zhuo had already planted Heart Seals on all the mechanical puppets respectively.Dual control with divine sense and Heart Seals!The mechanical puppets immediately became more agile, like the mentally disabled becoming normal people."How is that possible?!" Mu Lan's pupils constricted slightly, feeling shocked.She never would have expected that Ning Zhuo, after merely closing his eyes to rest for a moment, would have made such terrifying progress when he opened them again!The advancement and retreat of the entire mechanical army were no longer scattered as before, but quickly became uniform and orderly.Mu Lan also noticed a detail—different puppets could even adjust the distance between each other!This was a situation that would absolutely not have happened before."Since Ning Zhuo can perform such micro-control, it means he still has a lot of remaining energy.""How did he suddenly make so much progress? It's as if he's a different person."A complete transformation!Ning Zhuo was also quite pleased.After fully activating the Heart Seals, his consumption of divine sense plummeted sharply, less than one-tenth of what it was before.His control became effortless, with ample remaining energy, and very smooth.A moment later, after adapting to this state, Ning Zhuo stretched out his hands, spread his fingers, and activated magical power threads.Ten threads fell onto the nearby mechanical puppets.In an instant, it was as if souls were injected into them. The speed of each movement was several times more agile,and the demonstrated combat power also increased significantly."In this way, I can control some relatively powerful mechanical puppets.""But I don't need to yet."The leader Ning Zhuo assigned to this mechanical army was Ghost Shadow Blade - Night Tiger. The latter's spiritual intelligence was even higher than that of Heavy-Armored Blood Ape - Great Victory.Meng Night Tiger did not need Ning Zhuo's control at all; moving freely, it could perform exceptionally well."But matters related to spiritual intelligence should be concealed as much as possible and not exposed.""When using Ghost Shadow Blade - Night Tiger in the future, I'll just pretend to have a thread of magical power connected to it."While Ning Zhuo was thinking, Sun Lingtong woke up in the Ten Thousand Mile Roaming Dragon.He came to the dragon's head cabin, still groggy with sleep, and saw the scene of Ning Zhuo training his troops. The more he watched, the brighter his eyes became."Little Zhuo, Little Zhuo, quick, quick, let me play!"Sun Lingtong showed a considerable interest in training mechanical soldiers."Okay, Elder Brother, I'll give you a portion of the mechanical puppets. You must catch them immediately!" Ning Zhuo secretly instructed.Sun and Ning had been together since childhood, for over a decade, and their cooperation was naturally incredibly tacit.Many mechanical puppets changed their controllers, from Ning Zhuo to Sun Lingtong. The transfer process was very natural and smooth.Mu Lan was watching from the side the entire time and was completely unaware of the secret understanding between Sun and Ning.Sun Lingtong's own cultivation technique and talent were quite outstanding, and he had learned the records and secret manuals of mechanical arts left behind by Meng Yaoyin a long time ago. Therefore, his control of these mechanical puppets was also quite decent.It was just that he was slightly unfamiliar at first, leading to some bumps and stumbles.Seeing these bumps and stumbles, Mu Lan looked at Ning Zhuo: "Training troops takes a long time. Ning Zhuo is about to reach his limit."As a result, as Sun Lingtong's control became more proficient, the performance of the mechanical army also became better and better.Mu Lan found that she had misjudged again.Ning Zhuo transmitted his divine sense: "Hahaha, Elder Brother, with your help, the pressure on my control has dropped by at least forty percent."Sun Lingtong said: "Little Zhuo, this is so fun."Ning Zhuo: "Elder Brother, let's not play anymore. After you get familiar, we'll start practicing battle formations.Without a battle formation, an army is just a pile of loose sand. In battle, they will become cannon fodder and sacrifices."After another half a stick of incense's time, both Sun and Ning became much more proficient.Forming a formation.The battle formation—Light Body Swift Wind Formation!Sun and Ning joined forces to form the battle formation!It was almost successful, but at the last moment, two or three mechanical puppets were controlled improperly and did not reach their corresponding positions in the battle formation in time.Seeing that it was about to fail, Ning Zhuo immediately remedied the situation, shooting out magical power threads.He deliberately controlled them, increasing the infusion of magical power, and finally caught up at the last moment, making these three mechanical puppets perform the correct movements and reach the correct positions.With a soft sound, the Light Body Swift Wind Formation was successfully formed.Around the entire mechanical army, countless light breezes swirled. The light breezes lifted and wrapped around the mechanical puppets,making them faster, more agile in movement, and almost silent.Seeing this scene, Mu Lan finally could not hide the change in her expression.Being able to successfully form a formation, this mechanical army immediately became a reliable new force to be reckoned with."I underestimated Ning Zhuo.""He is indeed a rare genius! His talent in controlling mechanical arts is something I have never seen in my life."Mu Lan stared at Ning Zhuo, her expression becoming even more complex.The more she interacted with Ning Zhuo, the more advantages she discovered in him.These advantages accumulated in her heart, causing her impression of Ning Zhuo to increase repeatedly.