Chapter 156: War preparations
"That newly appointed army of mine? They are just a bunch of weaklings who gave up on themselves because they lost the heart to after suffering a defeat in war. It also turns out that your army was transferred over to me as well, which means that I have to be in command of eighteen thousand soldiers all by myself. Should I thank you for giving me a indirect promotion or should I blame you for the increased workload?" Ash asks, walking towards his army with a cold face helplessly.
"I don't see a need to worry anyways. You are the creator of the imagination law that arose from the ashes. This small setback should be your chance to improve if I have to say. Let me be honest with you though, my army should be full of completion stage Martial Kings and half step Martial Emperors in one month's time. If those soldiers of yours don't make a breakthrough and remain in the first and second gates of the Martial Emperor realm, then even the weakest among my soldiers can gain an advantage over your stronger ones." Nightin says from behind, following behind Ash to meet his army.
If his army merely lost their will for war because they lost their general which was the anchor to their boat, then all he needed to do was bring their morale back up, or so the mission for Ash is at least. With the divine law of imagination which ranks above the divine law of creation, he has the ability to ignite the flickering flames within the soldiers heart by bringing out their worst fears and hopes, giving them the chance to decide between the future they fear most and the future they desire. It is a simple choice, yet it was the one which will cause the biggest trajectory change to their life.
"General Ash! I may not have the authority to question your decisions, but that doesn't mean that you are allowed to invite outsiders into our training camp without any particular reason." One of the soldiers who was on patrol stands out and say without fear, saying coldly as he keeps his sword sheathed and arms kept to the side.
"Soldier, is this how you report to your general?" Being the type of person Ash is, there's no possible way that he'll tolerate his subordinates being disrespectful to him. Even if he's fine with it, he must at least be strict with them until they fully accept him.
Before the soldier can even react, a palm of condensed imagination energy sends him flying backwards as Ash voice followed "Never question your superior!"
"And all you can do is force me to obey through brute force? What kind of leader do you think you're? You're nothing compared to our previous general who died to save your lives!" The soldier question back fearlessly as blood leaks from his mouth.
"And all of you are wasting your precious cultivation time which he fought hard obtain for all of you, is this how you guys decided to repay him?" Ash shuts him down by bringing his painful past up, he needs them to recall the past and embrace it to take a wider step into the future path, onto the path of rainbows with white clouds and sunset as the scenery. A wonderland in their imagination.
It might be a tree house, it might be a garden, it might be the ocean, it might be the flames, it might be their sleep, it might be the sky, it might be the heaven, it might be the darkness, it might be their roots. It doesn't matter, as long as they feel safe and at home, then it's the place where they truly belong, where the anchor or rope belongs to lock them in place, the tides unable to wash them away.
"Lead the way, I'll show you what it means to be a natural leader." Before the soldier can even put up any form of resistance or retort back, his body actually started to lead the way against his will as Ash says from behind "Don't try to resist, you asked for leadership and now I'm showing you what it means to be more than a leader. If you have any questions, I'll address the entire army together as one later."
Leading the way, the soldier kept silent and willed himself to never turn back, or history might repeat and he might end up following another order unwillingly.
Nightin shook his head and chuckled, asking Ash through telepathy "What did you do to him?"
"I didn't do much, he only followed my orders because my mental energy overpowers his by at least ten times. I'll let you in on this because I treat you as a friend that can be trusted. The true essence behind the divine law of imagination is the mental energy based on what many think, but that's only the superficial level of understanding, just the basic of the basic to be exact."
"Oh, care to share more about it?" Nightin asks as Ash nods his head while telling the soldier to gather everyone and get them to report to the main hall.
"To put it simply, imagination doesn't require anything besides thinking, even the next word about to be spoken or the next action about to be performed, all these are thoughts in conclusion. But if you were to overthink of things that aren't possible, then it'll be deceiving, hallucinating, confusing. But all these are just sub branches that leads to the main root, one's imagination."
"General, please follow me. I've gathered everyone in your stead." The soldier reports unwillingly and even though he was still standing, his back was slightly arched and his tone was more formal.
"See, the first step of the conquest has already been achieved. All I need to do right now is get all of them to slay down that heart demon and make the breakthroughs. After that, I just need to get them to build up their foundation and work together as one, making them eighteen thousand men as one with invincible strength."
"Nick! What are you doing over there with that useless general who only made it to his current position through skipping ranks? He only made it up through relations because his master is the moonlight wolf General Silver who dominates the battlefield!"
"Cole, if you really trust me as a friend, then believe in my decisions this time. It may seem like I'm being foolish, but it's about that time we welcome the change. I don't want to spend the rest of my life wallowing in despair like some useless bitch abandoned by her man!"
"Soldiers, I'll issue the first order to all of you right now. I want all of you to forget about your previous general and only remember what he has done for you, I believe that his last wishes was for all of you to live on and continue with life. If so, then why aren't any of you doing it?" Ash interjects in at this time, signalling with his eye for Nick to fall back.
"System scan!"
[Cultivation realm: Martial Emperor sixth gate (Transcendent realm), evolved from the vibrant gates and after the heart demon was slayed, he smashed through five gates at once and even awakened his soul weapon. A whip.]
[Potential: Demigod realm is only the starting realm for him]
"Who do you think you are?"
"You don't even know what the old general did for us! You don't even know how we caused his death!"
"You should just scram right now or even if it means our death, we'll make sure to uphold the pride of the old general!"
"And what were his last words?" Ash shuts all of them down as silence enveloped the room in an instant, allowing the demon to open its mouth widely to swallow the chaos and noise.
The soldiers looked down in guilt, afraid to raise their head up. Ash smirks and says on their behalf "He wanted all of you to live well. But what are all of you doing?"
Saying softly, his next sentence boomed like thunder "Then open your fucking heart up and accept the death and live on with life just as he wished! Will it kill you to abide by his last wishes or are you already disobeying his orders if you truly blame yourselves! Then make your goddamn mind up and grow stronger so that you can avenge him with your own two hands!"
When Ash finished speaking, tears flooded the meeting hall as cultivation spirals exploded one after another as everyone started to make breakthroughs after breakthroughs...
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone