Immortality begins with meditation puppets

Ah San's health condition is not ideal.

As one of the first lizard knights created by its master, A-San was inherently inferior to its current lizard colleagues.

Its owner was poor at the time. The lizard knights that were born at the same time as it were all first-tier, so they didn't have any armor to wear, and their warhorses were just ordinary black armor horses.

Back then, although they were weak—so weak that a few dozen spirit crystals were enough to feed them—they were one of the types of puppets that the master relied on most. Unlike now, the puppets that the master controls are just like his women, so many that Ah San has lost count.

Ah San knew that if Tiger Egg and Bear Two's elite puppets hadn't been away from their master today, their lizard knights might not have had the chance to fight.

Ah San cherishes every opportunity to serve his master. From the first-tier puppet to the present day, he has fought until his body is broken. His master is very kind to him and mends him. When his master remodeled and upgraded the Lizard Knights last time, his master also pitied his many wounds and could not bear to scrap him and remelt him. He took special care to reforge him into a third-tier Lizard Captain. Ah San knows that in this process, his master spent much more materials on him than he did on other Lizard Captains. Because Ah San's foundation is not good, in Ah San's opinion, his master should not waste materials on him anymore.

Since Ah San couldn't speak, it couldn't even communicate with its mind. It could only think wildly and had never communicated with anyone, nor did it want to. The only orders its master gave it were to fight. Ah San felt that as a puppet, it should just dutifully carry out its master's orders. The overstepping and offensive actions of Tiger Egg and Bear Two were completely unacceptable to Ah San. It was only because its master was kind-hearted that it tolerated them.

Ah San never thought he was anything special. In his opinion, he had a lot of ideas in his mind, and the other lizard riders should be the same. It's just that the old lizard soldiers from back then had all died in battle or were scrapped. These newly made lizard riders had not experienced as much as he had, and they did not have as many ideas in their minds. Therefore, when carrying out their master's orders, they seemed a bit dull compared to him.

Or rather, none of them have their own ideas?
In today's battle, the Indians have more ideas than usual.

Because it was different from any battle I had ever fought before.

The master is in danger, and today, the only fighting force under his command is the Lizard Knights. The master's safety may depend on them. This is something that Ah San has never experienced before. Even when the master was still a nobody and had not yet risen to power, the master had the Explosive Hammer War Bear Team as his main force. Most of the time, the Lizard Knights were just an auxiliary force to clear out the minions.

In the cavalry battle, the Indians had never faced a cavalry force like their Lizard Knights before. Whether human, demon, evil, or cunning, they all preferred to rely on individual strength and compete with Taoist arts and combat skills. They lacked the sense of unity and discipline that this chariot force before them possessed.

Outnumbered and outgunned, Ah San had never fought a battle against the odds under his master's command. His master, skilled in puppetry, was adept at mass-producing troops, often overwhelming the enemy with puppets several times larger than his own. But today, the opposing demonic undead outnumbered his master's puppets far more. If they couldn't deal with the wheeled chariot army and allow the treasure ship's cannons to continue firing, even more demonic undead would inevitably board the treasure ship.

As for the position of general, Ah San didn't know if he was qualified to be a general, but he was tired of being a soldier and wanted to experience being a general and serve his master better. It didn't seem like a problem.
Ah San felt he should do something.

And when it has this idea.

Without even knowing it itself.

The Indians have changed.

[The lizard captain, Ah San, awakens his independent consciousness and mutates into a creation-type cavalry general puppet.]

"Ah San? Who is Ah San? How did he change?"

"As expected, pressure breeds progress. The Lizard Knights rarely face fierce battles; is this the result of the immense pressure unleashing their potential?"

The moment the panel notification sounded, Su Qing, who was monitoring the battlefield situation, was taken aback.

Looking at the lizard riders who had already charged out, each of them was a green-skinned lizard, equally ugly and equally imposing. Even he, their master, couldn't tell them apart, let alone identify which one was Indian.

But that doesn't matter. Now that the Indian has made progress and become the third puppet under his command to develop self-awareness, if he doesn't die in this battle, he will naturally be well nurtured in the future.

As for withdrawing this precious treasure from the front lines to prevent its loss on the fierce battlefield, Su Qing had no such idea.

Since it is a cavalry-type puppet, it has developed self-awareness and is born to charge into battle. If it is not allowed to perform in the current situation, when will it be allowed to perform?
Puppets are meant to be used, not treasured. Su Qing uses Xiong Er and Hu Dan as needed, and wouldn't keep Ah San as a mascot just because Ah San has developed consciousness.

Soon after, Su Qing spotted Ah San, one of the group of green-skinned lizards who all looked pretty much the same.

Because the Indians are too eye-catching.

"All, listen to my command! Archers, break away from the ranks on the left and right, draw your bows and fire your arrows, clearing the way for the lancers with explosive arrows."

The Indian guy spoke up; it turns out speaking is so simple.

But after speaking, the Indian was a little embarrassed because no lizard rider paid any attention to what it had said.

He overstepped his bounds! He's just a captain, not a general! He has no authority to command lizard knights outside his own squad!
Damn it, are all talking puppets cursed, like Tiger Egg and Bear Two, to overstep their bounds and offend their masters every day?

The Indians don't want this to happen!
That was purely instinctive; Ah San felt that doing so might better accomplish his master's task!

Just as the Indian was feeling bewildered and disgusted,

A gentle yet resonant voice rang in its ears.

"Ah San, my loyal and brave Ah San, from this moment on, I appoint you as the Lizard General and entrust you with the authority of the Lizard Knights. Ah San, are you confident that you can lead this army well for me?"

"Ah...Ah San...has...confidence!"

When Ah San replied to his master for the first time, he was so nervous that he could barely speak.

Immediately, once it sensed its master entrusting it with command of all the lizard knights, it had no time to be nervous. "I, Ah San, am a general now!"
"The mounted archers shall act according to my previous orders. The rest of the soldiers shall move closer to me, with me as the spearhead. The third-tier lance captains, second-tier lance knights, third-tier slash captains, and second-tier slash knights shall form ranks in that order. Once the formation is broken, we shall immediately change formations. The lance knights shall continue to charge, while the slash knights shall disperse and attack in groups of ten, separating all the chariots and then devouring them one by one!"

Ah San roared. Now a general, it suddenly gained the ability to communicate with all the lizard knights. It could perform extremely subtle operations on the battlefield and respond in the most timely and rapid manner according to the situation on the battlefield.

In addition, the Indian discovered that it had many other abilities it had never had before.

As the lizard knights approached it, it emitted a red and blue light that affected the entire knightly order, granting all the knights various buffs such as speed, attack, and defense, more than doubling their overall combat power.

In addition, Ah San discovered that he seemed to be able to gather the power of the entire Lizard Knights into himself, and unleash three or four unique skills exclusive to knights with unpredictable power.

Bang!
When the Indian knights were only a few miles away from the charging chariot army, he threw his spare lance on his back before the mounted archers could fire.

The lances were ordinary, and since they were spares, Su Qing hadn't bothered to equip them with high-level ones; they were just second-tier weapons worth only a few spirit stones.

But this seemingly ordinary lance, the moment Ah San threw it, transformed into a ferocious and raging dragon, skimming along the ground and plundering the earth. Every treasure ship it passed was torn open with a gaping hole. If Su Qing hadn't jumped up and cursed, prompting Ah San to react in time and move the lance from its ground-skimming flight state to a high-flying firing state, who knows how many more treasure ships would have been destroyed by that single shot.

Bang!
The lances moved like a whirlwind, piercing through the first chariot, the second, and the third, rendering the chariots' defenses meaningless. This horrified the opposing wheeled demons, and the lances fiercely tore a gaping hole through the wheeled chariot army.

Before the chariot demon could even wave his flag to order the reinforcements, the mounted archers, following Ah San's instructions, unleashed a barrage of arrows, trailing blue flames, onto the gash that Ah San had just torn open with his spear.

Bang bang bang!
A series of loud explosions echoed from the exterior of the four-wheeled chariot.

With the defensive capabilities of the four-wheeled chariot's outer armor, ordinary arrows simply could not penetrate its defenses.

But the arrows of the mounted archers were no ordinary arrows!
Spirit Burst Fire Arrow, Oracle Frost Arrow, Swift Rate Arrow.

These three types of arrows are not weapons, but rather puppets.

It is a combat puppet specially developed by Su Qing for mounted archers using the crafting techniques of combat puppets.

The Spirit Burst Flame Rocket normally possesses the Spirit Burst Flame Cannon's power. If it hits a target and explodes at the target's vulnerable center, it can rival the power of a third-tier Spirit Burst Flame Cannon.

The Divine Oracle Frost Arrow is inscribed with the Mother River and frost runes. Within its range, the entire arrow releases water vapor, condensing into a fog of war that obscures the enemy's vision, making it difficult for them to track the arrow's trajectory and evade it. Upon hitting an opponent, it releases a large amount of frost spiritual energy, which can either slow down the opponent's movements or freeze them to death.

The Swift Arrow has three sections of spirit explosion runes engraved on its arrow. The explosive force generated by the spirit explosion continuously accelerates the arrow. The initial acceleration makes the arrow speed comparable to the escape speed of an ordinary Foundation Establishment cultivator. The mid-stage acceleration slows it down, making it difficult for even a peak Foundation Establishment cultivator skilled in escape techniques to escape. The final acceleration makes it so fast that even a Golden Core cultivator can only defend against it head-on.

At this moment, the arrows fired by the mounted archers were all Spirit Burst Fire Arrows. Each arrow pierced into the chariot, tearing a hole in its defensive aura, and then suddenly exploded, blasting the hole open completely.

Just as they used their Spirit Explosion Rockets to widen the opening that the Indian lancers had torn open, so that the lancers would collide with the chariot legion, this weak opening was easily broken open by the lancers and they broke into the chariot formation.

The rainbow-clad steeds galloped like a torrent, their hundred-times-forged spears flashing silver light. The cold, hard lizard knights, with their ferocious offensive power, easily tore through the outer defenses of chariots on this bloody battlefield of close combat. When the soldiers inside were left without the protection of their chariots, and faced with the bloodthirsty twin blades of the long-awaited mounted knights, the ancient undead soldiers were so terrified by these lizard knights that their legs trembled. It's a pity they didn't have that ability, otherwise, countless undead soldiers would have wet themselves in fear.

This is also one of the Indian army's combat techniques: Fearless Vanguard!
If we fight to the death without fear, the enemy will surely lose heart and be terrified!

Do the undead not know fear?
Now they know!

Of course, the ancient chariot legion, as the essence of warfare that the Chariot Demon learned from the ancients during their self-cultivation, also has its merits.

Even with the elite Lizard Knights led by the Indian warrior who suddenly unleashed his full potential in battle, they had been at a significant advantage since the start of the war, but they also encountered some minor troubles.

For example, the triangular front of the chariots, when it collides with them, is no less than a swordsman attacking with a level-one sword technique. Even though the lizard knights are all wearing black armor, they are all ordinary and cannot withstand its sharpness. At the beginning of the battle, the chariot legion was overturned and killed, and many lizard knights were also thrown off their horses and fell, cut in half by the chariots.

Su Qing, who was watching the battle from a distance, had more time to observe the battlefield because he had given command of the battlefield to A-San. At the moment the chariot legion clashed with the lizard knight legion, his True Eye of Truth captured the methods of the opposing wheel demon.

[The Peerless General (Wheeler Demon) bestows upon his troops the following troop skill: Unstoppable Force (Tier 3 troop skill; skill tier depends on the quantity and quality of troops, as well as the commander's aptitude!)]

"This isn't right. He, a demon of chariots, can even get a military skill. Am I, Su Qing, less talented than a demon? How come I've never awakened such a skill when I command troops in battle!"

Upon seeing this, Su Qing was first relieved that the previous barrage of missiles had reduced the number of wheeled chariots by more than half; otherwise, the Lizard Knights might be facing fourth-tier troop skills now.

After feeling relieved, he became indignant again. How come it was possible for anyone with men and guns to awaken a legion skill? He, Su Qing, had several legions under his command, so why didn't he have one?

"Master, don't be angry. How can you be just a general? You should be a marshal! When the opportunity arises, release all your troops and have a grand battle. You will definitely awaken your troop skills. Even third-tier troops are not worthy of your marshal status!"

The villain took a lick at the opportune moment. He had no choice but to think that the Lizard Knights were just low-level cannon fodder and would be used for a while, and would be eliminated and scrapped after this battle. Unexpectedly, a loud bang in the sky and the Indian appeared in a dazzling manner, which made him develop self-awareness and truly become a cavalry general with his sword in hand!
This made the villain incredibly envious. You see, despite its cunning heart and seemingly clever mind, it's all thanks to the Creation Runes, which are man-made creations of its master. Fundamentally, the villain is still just an inanimate puppet, while A-San has already become an independent being, recognized by heaven and earth.

If the master were to terminate the master-servant contract for him, Ah San could now work on his own, unlike himself, who has no choice but to grovel before his master!

Su Qing glanced at the villain but didn't say anything. In his opinion, the villain was the puppet under his command most likely to develop self-awareness. After all, it was a puppet he had created mainly with creation-type runes, and it was considered exceptionally talented among puppets.

But who would have thought that even a poor family could produce a top scholar? This cannon fodder lizard, Ah San, was born with self-awareness even earlier than it.
Seeing that the Indian warrior had used his troop skill, adding another layer of blood energy barrier to the lizard knights' armor and barely managing to block the opponent's triangular thrusts enhanced with the Unstoppable effect, Su Qing felt relieved and glanced at his personal panel. (End of Chapter)