Chapter 7180 The Root of Everything

Chapter 7180 The Root of Everything
Chen Xi and Ruan Gong both know that the Commandant of the Guards manages some of the oddities of the Southern Army. However, the problem is that Chen Xi doesn't know exactly how many Southern Army units are currently roaming the Central Plains. Chen Xi only has a rough estimate, but Ruan Gong has an accurate and chilling number.

Because he took over the job from Huangfu Song, and the Commandant of the Guards did indeed have this responsibility, Ruan Gong made a special effort to find out more. Then he discovered something that left him speechless: compared to the past four hundred years, the number of veterans of the Han Dynasty who should belong to the Southern Army was several times, or even ten times, greater than before!
After all, the generals and officers who used to be in charge of the Southern Army basically knew what kind of thing the Southern Army was, so they would try their best to suppress the Southern Army's talents and prevent them from spreading indiscriminately. In addition, with the repeated self-destructive actions and optimizations of generations of Han Dynasty elites, all kinds of variant Southern Army talents have the so-called "natural" decline.

In other words, if you practice this variant of the Southern Army talent, you will definitely die after a certain period of time. Even if you are not dead yet, it will be close to your death. There is no possibility of reaching the Demon God realm and still being alive and kicking after practicing this thing.

For example, Dou Xian's killing absorption has its own carrying capacity. Even the miracle soldiers cannot withstand it for a long time. But at this stage, some people have the normal will to break the limit and have self-adaptation. In addition, the living standard is very high and there are subsidies. They can ignore the cost of living and study how to return to normal every day. Over the decades, they have been able to withstand it!
For example, the Rui Shi's Hidden Spirit Sword Nourishment has its own carrying capacity. Those who use Rui Shi also know when to send Rui Shi to the most dangerous places to break the formation. Moreover, Rui Shi who barely survived the most tragic era, due to the real environment, should not live to see the emergence of the Demon God after leaving the battlefield. They will probably be injured and killed by various troubles, and the problem will be solved.

Then there are the self-destructive talents like Berserk, Power Collapse, and Heavenly Demon Disintegration. If some top veterans could barely survive after using Berserk, their lack of healing and subsequent nutrition meant that even if they didn't die, they would be severely depleted of qi and blood, and would definitely die sooner. So it didn't really have any impact.

But now, for many extremely robust guys, the Berserk talent is practically an explosive, normal talent. At most, they'll cough up a couple of mouthfuls of blood after using it. As for other issues, they're not problems at all. As long as they don't die on the spot, there are plenty of ways to save them.

With the adaptive ability and Liu Bei's invincible monarch talent that can enhance the ability of his loyal subordinates to resist various negative effects, many strong and strong veterans use the Berserk talent as a normal talent. Dude, think about it honestly, don't you know how the Imperial Guards died?
That's because he died from the backlash of the Berserk talent!

If we also take into account the human-to-human transmission of defensive accumulation and the rampant transmission of Oath Talents, the scale of the Southern Army that the Nguyen Cong had to manage was absolutely the largest in history.

In particular, if we really want to calculate the Oath Talent, then the problem becomes huge. At this stage, as long as a veteran who has reached the fifth level of forging is a little older and realizes that there seems to be no hope for his own family, he will ask his older brother to teach him the Oath Talent on his own!

When Nguyen Cong learned of this, he was completely stunned. Didn't these people know that Oath Talents were forbidden? Didn't these people know that Oath Talents required royal approval?

And that Guo Zhao guy, what were you thinking, daring to create the Oath Legion? What's even more outrageous is that you actually made it happen.

There are some things that Ruan Gong doesn't want to say, but faced with reality, Ruan Gong no longer knows what to say.

In short, things are getting serious now. After understanding the real situation, Nguyen Cong realized that even if he chose to focus on the big picture and ignore the veterans of the Oath Clan, and only manage the other mentally unstable individuals who seemed to have problems, the number of them would still be considerable.

So he went to Liu Ai to discuss it. Liu Ai said that he didn't want to get involved with the Southern Army. If you want money, I don't have any. I can help you inform Liu Yu and ask him, the former Zongzheng, to contribute some money. But if you ask me to manage the Southern Army, I'm sorry, I'm not suited to leading an army.

It was a clear case of shifting the blame, and Nguyen Cong was furious, but there was nothing he could do. Liu Ai simply wouldn't do anything about it, but the matter had already fallen on his own shoulders, and he couldn't ignore it either. If the Southern Army really got out of control, something big would happen sooner or later, especially after learning about the practice of offering sacrifices to the dead. Nguyen Cong simply couldn't turn a blind eye to it.

After all, given the recent phenomenon of veterans passing on their knowledge to each other, Nguyen Gong didn't even dare to imagine what outrageous things might emerge if these people continued their independent research.

The talents of the Southern Army can also be deduced, but where did so many top veterans come from before? So even if a veteran had an idea, he might not be able to come up with it. But now it's different. Now if a veteran has an idea, with hundreds of sixth-level veterans, they might actually be able to come up with it.

It's not scary for an idea king to come up with ideas; what's scary is when his brothers can actually implement those ideas. That's truly terrifying.

The Southern Army had only been released for twenty years, and the Oath-based talents had increased by seven. When Nguyen Cong was sorting them out, he almost couldn't hold back. He didn't even want to know how they had increased.

Anyway, Nguyen Gong was clear on one thing: he couldn't let these people continue to get mixed up and develop things. Who knew what they could develop? Oh right, there was also super-fast regeneration. The more they studied it, the more abnormal it became. What was even more abnormal was why it could spread!
"No, are there really this many more now?" Chen Xi paused for a moment, looking at Ruan Gong with some doubt and asking. He listened to Ruan Gong's rambling and only now realized how big the problem was. So the Southern Army was really that rampant?
"Yes, it's actually more serious than I said. Almost all the six-fold smelting and the current mainstream five-fold smelting understand the Oath Talent. I don't know if they've tried it, but they definitely all know now, and in just the last few years, they all know it." Ruan Gong said wearily. Anyway, it's just word-of-mouth. If they think it's useful, everyone rushes to use it. The successful ones will even explain how to optimize it.

"The issue with the Oath talent isn't too big; we can put that aside for now," Chen Xi said after thinking for a moment. He could still manage the Oath talent; the real trouble lay with the others.

"There are quite a few others as well. Recently, the defensive accumulation has increased by more than a dozen." Ruan Gong said wearily. Huang Xiu's performance made many of the older brothers feel that this talent had great potential. Then they worked hard to correct their own talents and optimized their defensive talents into defensive accumulation.

From a certain perspective, this can be considered proof that the talent tree does indeed exist, but frankly, Ruan Gong doesn't want to prove it that way.

"The defensive accumulation thing is pretty normal, I guess." Chen Xi's expression was somewhat subtle. He knew about this talent and had witnessed it, and thought it was alright.

"The Berserk talent is used by many strong and adaptable veterans to enhance their combat capabilities," Nguyen Cong added.

“I think the Berserk talent is normal,” Chen Xi said after thinking for a moment. “It’s not a big problem. It doesn’t cause any damage or have any mental impact. It’s just a regular talent. At most, it has a slight connection with the Twenty-Four Gods.”

"The Berserk Talent is a simplified version of the Twenty-Four Divine Bodies, while the Heavenly Demon Disintegration is an enhanced version. Both of them have a characteristic: if you activate them and don't die, they will continue to deepen. Believe me, if you activate the Berserk Talent too many times, you will unlock the Twenty-Four Divine Bodies and then activate them." Ruan Gong said with a raised eyebrow, his voice carrying a hint of warning.

Berserk is not actually a simplified version of the Twenty-Four Gods. To be precise, Berserk forcibly activated a portion of the Twenty-Four Gods and then detonated them like explosives.

This leads to powerful combat strength. Therefore, the Berserk talent only needs to be activated in part to reach the strength of the Twenty-Four Gods developed by Wu Qi. However, since the Twenty-Four Gods have a metaphysical aspect, that is, the aspect of one's own imagination and will, they belong to the category of spiritual spirit. Once detonated, they will cause damage on the spiritual level.

This is also why the Berserk talent brings a comprehensive boost to one's qualities and will after use, resulting in a huge increase in combat power, but the death is also very tragic. Before Liu Bei appeared, very few veterans could survive the Berserk talent. There were only a few in each era, and even if they survived, they were crippled.

But since Liu Bei's monarch talent, the enhancement potion, the adaptive talent, and sufficient nutrition, the number of veterans who survived the berserk talent has been increasing.

At this stage, many adaptive veterans who came from the Shield Guardian class use the Berserk talent as their trump card, and are the type who will forcefully activate Berserk and fight back when they encounter a tough opponent.

This is very reasonable in Ruan Gong’s view. The logic of this move is to activate the Twenty-Four Gods, use the Twenty-Four Gods as cannonballs, and then explode. After it is used up, both qi and blood will be depleted. But who would have thought that people’s foundation is so strong now that they can withstand such losses?

This is outrageous.

"What about the disintegration of the Heavenly Demon?" Chen Xi asked with some curiosity.

"All twenty-four divine bodies were absorbed into the body. Then, instead of seeking externally, it chose to seek internally. The difference between this and berserk mode is that the first step is to fully activate it, which is a higher and more perfect level of berserk mode. Well, for normal people, it's just a different kind of berserk mode, because if you can't fully activate all twenty-four divine bodies, you'll explode." Ruan Gong recalled and explained.

Normal people's basic physical abilities are insufficient to withstand the full activation of all twenty-four body spirits on the first try. Whether seeking inward or outward, there is basically no difference; they will all explode on the spot.

This is also why, over the years, only Jiang Guang has survived the Heavenly Demon Disintegration talent, as everyone else perished during the process.

"No, I feel like you have a deep understanding of this talent." Chen Xi was a little stunned, feeling that something was not quite right.

"Why do you know this?" Ruan Gong's lips twitched upon hearing this, and he glanced sideways at the veterans in the southeast corner of Weiyang Palace. "Because this is the result of research by those two hundred veterans recently. They have been researching how to popularize the Heavenly Demon Disintegration, and the test subject is Jiang Bin. They also found a doctor."

Jiang Bin is unable to use the Heavenly Demon Disintegration Technique. His foundation is extremely abnormal, with a muscle density of 1.5, which is not a level that humans should have. However, because of this muscle density, there are many things he cannot actually use.

But recently, many experts have gathered together and exchanged ideas, which has gradually brought results to many things that the owners only half understood. In particular, Wan Zhen, that lunatic, likes to delve into it, which has greatly increased the difficulty of management for Ruan Gong.

Even if other veterans have the knowledge and can use this talent, it is not easy to transform it into refined language, or even into a systematic and repeatable experimental process. But for Wan Zhen, it is a very simple thing.

Wan Zhen can indeed strip away the special attributes of veterans one by one, and then compare and summarize them to come up with an effective solution. In particular, the existence of the talent tree makes it even easier for Wan Zhen to do this. As a result, Wan Zhen has recently been leading a group of younger brothers to work on talent breakthroughs.

Berserk, Twenty-Four Gods, Power Collapse, Heavenly Demon Disintegration, Blood Burning and God Burning, etc., are all considered negative talents. In Wan Zhen's summary, they are all classified as variations of the Twenty-Four Gods. After all, each of the Twenty-Four Gods has its own unique uses, various ways of using and activating them, and different effects.

With this foundation, Wan Zhen began his research. With the idea king leading the way, the other guys were also willing to help him find test subjects, and the results came out quickly.

The weakest yet most promising berserker in history has emerged. Wan Zhen has developed a berserker that can ignite only one of the twenty-four body gods. What's worse is that after igniting one, it can be repeatedly developed to try to ignite the next one. Although Wan Zhen has not yet found the most suitable way to ignite the next body god, nor has he found a suitable next body god.

Given Wan Zhen's extraordinary research abilities, it's only a matter of time before he devises an effective way to ignite the twenty-four divine bodies.

To be fair, when the Binshi Demon God was in Wu Qi's hands, using the Twenty-Four Body Gods was merely instinctive. However, when Jiang Bin was in Wan Zhen's hands, he actively activated and ignited the Twenty-Four Body Gods. Therefore, in terms of the Twenty-Four Body Gods, humanity's future will inevitably surpass that of the Demon God.

"Ah, does that mean they're doing research?" Chen Xi glanced in the direction Ruan Gong was looking and immediately guessed a possibility.

"Yes, they found a way to ignite one of the Eight Upper Realms Gods, the Niang Sui God. And with the physical strength and willpower of that group of people, igniting only one of the Twenty-Four Body Gods is something some guys can maintain normally." Ruan Gong's expression was somewhat complicated. He felt that it was best not to study this thing from the Southern Army too much. This wasn't about breaking the code; it was about walking the path of demons.

"A constant talent is normal, and smelting is also constant." Chen Xi nodded, not seeing any problem. He had seen the collapse of permanent power and the disintegration of the Heavenly Demon, so he didn't care about having another permanent minor berserk talent. It was nothing.

"I just feel that if we keep doing this research, something bad will happen sooner or later," Nguyen Cong said, sounding somewhat weary.

"Actually, it's not necessarily a bad thing," Chen Xi said with a smile. "Unlocking certain talents is not so bad, and it does strengthen the foundation of our army."

The fact that only one of the twenty-four Divine Body ignites a weak Berserk talent is equivalent to a powerful talent boost for a veteran who has just joined the Imperial Guard. Although for someone of Jiang Bin's level, it's probably less than 10%, and that's only because Jiang Bin has a strong foundation and his Divine Body and Will are well-nurtured. Otherwise, the improvement that a veteran at the first level of Refinement could bring would be much greater...

“If this thing is lit one by one like this, by the eighth one, most veterans will have already completed their Berserk talent,” Nguyen Cong said cautiously.

"There shouldn't be any problem, right?" Chen Xi thought for a moment. He didn't think there was anything wrong with the Berserker talent. As long as it didn't produce a demon god, then it wasn't a problem.

“The body and spirit will continuously grow stronger in the process of repeated destruction.” Ruan Gong probably sensed Chen Xi’s thoughts and quickly added.

"Huh?" Chen Xi was taken aback, then her brows furrowed.

“A body god is still a god. Although it is an extension of one’s own will, if it is destroyed too much, there will be fragments left behind. For the old soldiers, this was not a problem. They would die after using it once, and even if they didn’t die, they would not have the chance to use it a second time.” Ruan Gong said helplessly, “But for the old soldiers who can use it repeatedly now, this is a problem that must be considered. I specifically looked through the records of the former Weiwei’s management of the Southern Army. The twenty-four body gods were also the feed for the demon gods.”

"..." Chen Xi's expression was somewhat strained, but she still managed to take a couple of breaths. "Is there any good solution? But I don't think Jiang Guang seems to be in any problems."

“Breaking through the limits of normal will is of course no problem. Let alone just being a remnant, even if you really gave him a demon god, as long as he doesn’t feed on himself, it’ll be fine,” Ruan Gong said with slanted eyes.

“Actually, I’ve thought carefully about the problems the Southern Army is facing at this stage. The main problem is that they live too long. Theoretically speaking, the Southern Army’s veterans, except for those who have accumulated defensive experience and those who have been deprived of their talents, should not live to be fifty years old.” Nguyen Cong said with a solemn expression, “With some other measures, even if some of them live to be fifty, they will not become a threat.”

Chen Xi started to squint. "What are you saying? Are you trying to pin this on me? Our army has layers upon layers of elite soldiers over fifty years old!"

“At this stage, I think it’s necessary to control the exchange of certain special talents among those veterans,” Nguyen Cong said solemnly.

The current problem of the Han Dynasty's Southern Army having an abundance of talents is mainly because they live too long. Even the least dangerous Oath Talent wasn't widely learned before, precisely because most people don't live long enough to need it to restore their youth...