Mythic version of the Three Kingdoms

Chapter 7289 Achieving Self-Improvement
In truth, this isn't really a loan; rather, it's a system of will that fluctuates more than other systems. On the battlefield, many veterans will occasionally unleash a level of willpower that exceeds normal levels due to the battlefield situation, their own mental state, and other reasons.

It can be said that every veteran who has undergone five levels of forging has experienced a breakthrough in their willpower during their more than ten years of fighting. However, achieving this breakthrough and achieving it normally are two completely different situations. The latter means that one can use their willpower to modify everything they control, while the former simply means that one possesses this willpower and can use it to fight brutally.

From a certain perspective, both can be called breaking the limits of will, but breaking the limits of will in a normal state is the real breaking of will. If you can't reach the normal state, you can only achieve it explosively. It's not even a trial version. It can only be said to be a temporary enhancement of your own attack and defense.

It is precisely because of this characteristic of the will system that it is much easier to find loopholes in it and violently improve combat power than other systems. After all, for most people, this system is such that their will strength is high when they are in a good state for a period of time, and low when they are in a bad state for a period of time.

Therefore, theoretically, as long as there is a way to maintain an excellent state, even if one's will is not at its limit, one can still exert power close to that state.

It is based on this point that Bai Qi has his simple and straightforward answer: forget all the fancy stuff, just try to see if he can forcibly maintain the will of these people for a period of time.

Compared to other improvement methods, this method is simple and direct, but the effect is excellent.

The only problem is that normal people simply can't do it. Well, it's not that normal people can't do it, it's that they can't even imagine it.

"A divine oath, a temporary oath?" Chen Xi asked thoughtfully. "Won't this thing have any backlash?"

"There must be someone who owes money and won't pay it back. If they can borrow from the future, then there must be someone who won't repay it," Han Xin said with great experience, almost as if he were guaranteeing it, after all, he had seen such people in the mirror.

“This problem isn’t too big yet. Are there other possibilities, such as the tendencies of law enforcement officers, or something twisted?” Chen Xi said with some concern.

For Chen Xi, dealing with the Yunmeng Demon God was essentially cleaning up the mess left by Sun Wu and Wu Qi. If it were easy to resolve, Chen Xi wouldn't have said anything. But given the current strength of the Yunmeng Demon God, the previous fighting style would have resulted in the deaths of over a thousand elites at the second level of the Fusion Realm. Even with today's fighting style, many at the fifth or sixth level of the Fusion Realm would have perished here.

It's not that soldiers shouldn't die, but rather that dying in the Ganges or fighting for the country is only natural. After all, Chen Xi provided them with a salary and posthumous compensation, so there's nothing to say about dying in battle.

The current situation in Yunmeng, to put it nicely, is called protecting the country, but to put it bluntly, it's cleaning up the mess left by Sun Wu and Wu Qi. Since it's cleaning up the mess and so many people have to die, Chen Xi definitely has to think of some other way to see if there are fewer deaths.

Similarly, following the same logic, Chen Xi was also worried about any moves that could potentially cause serious harm to himself.

“It’s not a big problem.” Liu Tong shook his head and said, “Although it’s said to be a loan from the future, it’s actually anchored by the Oath Seal. As a temporary oath, there shouldn’t be any major issues.”

Liu Tong had been playing with the Oath Seal for a while and had a considerable understanding of its mechanics. Although it was dangerous, as long as it wasn't abused and the superiors were willing to bear some of the costs, its safety was guaranteed.

After all, it was something created by Sun Tzu and Bai Qi. If we were to say that it had strong side effects, it would be an insult to those two.

"Is it similar to the method I used before the New Year?" Chen Xi asked tentatively.

“There’s a difference. You need to transfer this pressure to the user’s future.” Bai Qi shook his head. He wasn’t joking; he genuinely wanted to borrow power from the future.

"This?" Chen Xi and Liu Tong looked at each other in disbelief. This was quite a sophisticated move.

“You should remember the fivefold sacrifice, right?” Han Xin added from the side. Chen Xi and Liu Tong both nodded upon hearing this. When they first learned about it, they thought it was outrageous.

"What do you think is the operating logic of the fivefold sacrifice?" Bai Qi asked Chen Xi and Liu Tong. "What do you think is the basic logic of this talent?"

"A cyclical sacrifice, sacrificing the past to the present, and sacrificing the next second to the present as well." Chen Xi recalled Huangfu Song's or someone else's ramblings, and this simple answer came to his mind.

"Have you found any loopholes?" Han Xin asked with a grin.

"If even the next second has to be sacrificed to the present, then how is the present defined?" Liu Tong asked thoughtfully. Some things don't seem problematic when said, but if someone examines them closely, you'll find that the logic is flawed.

“All talents that are logically contradictory essentially have the effect of distorting reality with their will, so you should understand what I mean,” Bai Qi said very seriously.

"After soldiers participate in this process and successfully borrow power, they will instinctively believe that the power comes from their future selves. In reality, it originates from the power hidden within themselves in the present. With your Oath Seal maintaining the platform, you can easily achieve the effect of breaking the limits of will," Bai Qi explained calmly.

"I thought it was really borrowed from the future..." Chen Xi nodded slightly upon hearing this, feeling that if that were the case, he could accept it.

Upon hearing this, Han Xin twitched his lips, but ultimately remained silent.

"Let's go with this plan then. If everyone's willpower can break through its limits, even if it's only for a short time, many of the problems that had to be solved before will no longer be problems," Chen Xi said with a serious tone.

What does breaking the limits of willpower mean? It means that the life essence of the demon god can be forcibly absorbed by this group of people without causing any backlash. Special first aid methods can be used directly. If an arm or leg is broken, they can take one from the demon god and use it first without any possibility of backlash.

As for forcibly controlling one's own talent for forging and creating extraordinary effects, that's quite ordinary; it's simply a normal application of willpower exceeding its limits.

This is why it is said to be a noble will breaking through limits, because it is indeed special.

"That's the situation. You can proceed now. First, make them swear an oath, then let them fight to stimulate their will. When their will reaches its limit and they start to fall back, this special oath should be able to hold them off for a while. Later, the oath might be penetrated." Bai Qi explained briefly. To be honest, only Chen Xi could execute this plan. For anyone else, a regular oath would be penetrated by the will limit in a couple of hits.

"Okay, this plan is good. I'll arrange it right away." Chen Xi said excitedly. Compared to the other plans, this one was simple and straightforward, even a monkey could understand it.

"I'll go pick up the returning veterans now. You all wait here for a moment." Chen Xi used the Imperial Will to sense that Guan Yu had already arrived outside the city. He greeted Bai Qi and Han Xin and decided to get down to business first.

"Lord Wu'an, are you not telling the truth?" After Chen Xi ran away, Liu Tong looked at Bai Qi and asked with some doubt. Although it made sense logically, Liu Tong's female intuition told her that Bai Qi seemed to be lying.

"I only told part of it, not the whole thing." Bai Qi shook his head. "It would be a bit troublesome to explain, but it's not enough to harm him. This matter does involve future loans, so the soldiers themselves must agree to it."

"Can I not pay it back?" Liu Tong asked with some doubt.

Bai Qi pointed to Han Xin standing to the side. He felt that there should be some reason in this matter. Anyway, Han Xin hadn't paid back last time and had been beaten to a pulp.

"As far as I remember, Chen Xi did borrow money from the future, but I don't think he ever paid it back. Every time I asked if he was out of money, he always said he was lending money to the past, not to the future," Liu Tong asked with some doubt. Bai Qi and Han Xin exchanged glances but didn't say anything. They were confident they could do this now, but according to the Four Sages, ordinary people shouldn't do it.

"Fine, we've finally gotten out. I'll go take a look around Jiangling City. If you hadn't come out, we wouldn't have been able to either. Now that you're out, we can too. We should see how Jiangling is different from five or six years ago." Bai Qi didn't want to get entangled in these things. Having just woken up from his slumber, he wanted to see if there were any new things. After all, Jiangling was the trading center of the world.

"Here's some living expenses for you." Liu Tong reached into his pocket and gave the two some banknotes and gold notes, which included both large and small amounts of pocket money.

"It's rare to see the princess giving us our living expenses. I used to worry that she would steal all of our money," Han Xin said with a hint of recklessness. Liu Tong glanced at him, but didn't say anything, and still gave the two of them their living expenses.

"Then I'm leaving. If you need anything, just let us know. Of course, if you're leaving, remember to let us know too, don't really leave the two of us in Jiangling." Bai Qi gave a few instructions, and then left with Han Xin.

Meanwhile, Chen Xi greeted Guan Yu at the military camp outside Jiangling City, mainly to prove that he hadn't wandered off and was still in Jiangling.

"Zichuan, the situation is not good. If a large army fights a demon god, its ability to decapitate in a short time is greater than that of a single person. However, once a demon god is decapitated, it cannot be killed and will still take a lot of time to be worn down. This will cause the battle line structure to be very different from that of a normal war." Guan Yu said with some caution after dismounting.

If the demons didn't have super-fast regeneration abilities, Guan Yu could have broken through their lines directly. But now that they have super-fast regeneration, some demons who were severely injured and thought to be dead, lying in the mud and trampled into a heap, have accumulated considerable life force and are now resurrected on the Han army's lines. This puts immense pressure on the Han army's lines.

The only problem was that the demon god had some issues with command and coordination; otherwise, this tactic would have been enough to break through Guan Yu's battle lines.

“Such large-scale battlefields are too chaotic, and it’s impossible to be 100% certain whether a demon god has exhausted its life force. In addition, demon gods can devour themselves. Even if a piece of a demon god’s flesh has lost its life force, it might come back to life after being inhabited by a living demon god. This has led to the front lines being pushed forward, and there are many problems to deal with.” Guan Yu explained to Chen Xi with a gloomy face all the problems he had encountered in this battle.

As I said before, Guan Yu never imagined there would be so many unexpected events before facing the demon god head-on. This is why testing and evaluation are necessary before the final battle. After all, you won't know the right or wrong of something until you're on the battlefield.

“I also saw these in the light and shadow, and I also had people accelerate the development of the Xuanxiang Army Formation for detecting life force, so that even if the demon god is pretending to be dead, we can still screen it out.” Chen Xi nodded. His mind was still very clear. The demon god was difficult to deal with due to many factors. What we need to do now is to eliminate these problems in a targeted manner.

“Sun Liang’s flesh and blood is an effective solution to the problem of the Demon God’s super-fast regeneration ability, but it can’t be maintained for long. The Demon God has biological instincts, and when it discovers that it has been eroded or can no longer regenerate, it will abandon the severed part.” Guan Yu said with a headache. He found that although the Demon God did not have self-awareness, its biological instincts would allow these things to do some amazing things.

Guan Yu's Divine Will Slash can cut a demon god in two, and the cracks between the two pieces of the demon god cannot heal because of the divine will.

Originally, this was an effective way to restrain the demon god, so Guan Yu used to kill them one by one with a single strike, and then let the veteran soldiers handle the rest. But later he discovered that after he cut the demon god in half, the demon god would simply regenerate on the spot without needing the severed part.

This move left Guan Yu somewhat dumbfounded, and it also meant that conventional methods of killing had lost their meaning against the demon god. As for the method of restriction, the opponent could also escape by sacrificing part of their body and then regenerating, which would be very difficult.

“I’ve seen all of these. After all, even a demon god is still a living being, even if it’s a very special one.” Chen Xi was quite helpless about this.

"We lost 178 veterans, including one veteran who had undergone five levels of forging," Guan Yu said calmly. Like Bai Qi and the others, Guan Yu was very open-minded about casualties. Generals are bound to die on the battlefield, especially since this was a matter of protecting the country, which was unavoidable.

"I've always been prepared regarding the compensation, but I need to make some adjustments. I've also brought over Lord Wu'an and Marquis Huaiyin, and they've given me new suggestions," Chen Xi said after a moment of silence, with a sigh.

Upon hearing this, Guan Yu nodded. He had originally planned to suggest that Chen Xi bring over as many resources as possible, as the tough guys left behind by Sun Wu were indeed difficult to deal with. There was no need for him to bear the burden alone; if there were resources available, they should be utilized.

"Lord Wu'an's suggestion is to use the Oath Seal to mark each veteran, and then let them stimulate their will in battle, break through the limits of willpower, and maintain the limit of willpower for a relatively long time by relying on the constraints of the oath," Chen Xi explained simply.

"Huh?" Guan Yu looked at Chen Xi with some surprise, but then thought that after all, he was Bai Qi, the creator of the will system, so it was understandable that he possessed such heaven-defying methods. After all, the step he had taken before was actually an attribute stacking in terms of will. Now that Lord Wu'an had gone a step further and created something heaven-defying, it was normal!
Normal my ass! Breaking the limits of normal will is essentially the strength of willpower when divine cultivators separate their internal energy from their bodies. The difference between the two is only in scale, not quality. Yet Bai Qi can actually wholesale this kind of thing. Are all four sages such heaven-defying beings?
But thinking about the trash left behind by the grandson they beat in Yunmeng today, to be honest, it's understandable that the Four Saints performed so amazingly. After all, they are the Four Saints, right?

"Can even veterans who have undergone two or three rounds of forging withstand this method?" Guan Yu asked with some concern. If one's will is too strong, but one's body cannot keep up, there will be problems.

"There shouldn't be any problem. If there really is, Lord Wu'an will tell us," Chen Xi said after thinking for a moment. He still trusted Bai Qi and Han Xin quite a bit.

"Then we can start now. Let's try it on those veterans who have reached the fifth or sixth level of tempering first, and then I'll find a standard veteran who has broken through the limits of willpower and have him try a special treatment plan." Guan Yu said in a deep voice. He was a decisive person in this regard.

"Alright, let's find someone to test it now." Chen Xi nodded, and then Guan Yu quickly began to organize the men. Soon, the veterans who had just returned to the camp, who hadn't washed up yet, were covered in blood and looked somewhat disheveled, were gathered together. When they saw Chen Xi, they bowed to him one after another.

"Zou, you go first, let me try." Chen Xi took out the Oath Seal. To be honest, after understanding the principle, Chen Xi could theoretically verbally inscribe an oath to bless the soldiers even without activating it with the Oath Seal, but this thing was still more convenient.

"Okay." Covered in blood but not at all disheveled, Zou, looking every bit the tough guy, stepped forward. Although he didn't know what Chen Xi wanted to do, he didn't care and would follow his boss's orders.

"Come, let your will permeate out and feel what's inside, then sign your name in your mind." Chen Xi took out the borrowed Oath Seal and placed it in front of Zou Ta. Zou Ta didn't think much of it, and his pure white will emanated from his body. The moment he touched the Oath Seal, Zou Ta felt as if he had entered a special palace, and then a dense array of small characters appeared in the sky in front of him. Heh, I didn't study hard enough, so I don't recognize some of the characters!
No problem, even if I guess, it's pretty much about protecting the country, fighting for the Han Dynasty, fighting for the King of Jin, and fighting for the people. Okay, I don't need to read the rest, I'm going to sign here.

He couldn't sign it; he had to read it all. He forced himself to read to the end, a question lingering in his mind: "What does it mean that my future self voluntarily lends a portion of its power to my present self to achieve self-fulfillment?"

Ran