Li Yan's arrangement greatly increased Gong Yuantai's chances of survival by several fold. He could now delegate some dangerous tasks to others.
"In that case, the three Grand Squads that were reorganized the day before yesterday will need to be adjusted. The First Grand Squad will be led by Senior Sister Tantai Dongyue . In a moment, I will select three people from each of your three Grand Squads to be responsible for guarding the 'Yin-Yang Realm River Formation' . Of course, these nine people will be rotated every three days or so, at which time another nine members will be drawn from the three squads to replace them."
Over the past three days, Li Yan had already broken up the personnel of the Green Sixteen Squad and reformed them into three Grand Squads , each with about thirty members.
The advantage of doing this was to disperse the old members of the Green Sixteen Squad into each Grand Squad. Once these old members arrived in their new squads, if they didn't want to fight alone, they would have to share their experience from previous battles with the Demon Clan with the newly conscripted cultivators.
Otherwise, on the battlefield, unless they were an army of one, they would surely die.
Secondly, it was to prevent the old members of the Green Sixteen Squad from forming an independent team within a single Grand Squad. In their hearts, they looked down on the new members and were even resistant to Li Yan. Therefore, from every perspective, they had to be broken up.
Although Li Yan had never truly participated in army combat, he had spent time in the military back then. All that he knew was learned from Liu Chengyong at Green Mountain Pass .
Every time Liu Chengyong drank with him, he would recount many military affairs. He was eager to climb the ladder through his connection with Strategist Ji , so he would naturally boast about his abilities in managing troops, hoping to prove he was capable of a higher rank.
The three Grand Squads were initially led by Gong Yuantai , Wuye , and Wang Ning . Upon hearing this, Bu Luo was initially disgruntled and wanted to challenge Wang Ning for a position, but a voice transmission from Li Yan silenced him.
From the bottom of his heart, Bu Luo was grateful to Li Yan for saving his life, and he was even somewhat in awe of him. He was also afraid of displeasing Li Yan right after his arrival at the Green Sixteen Squad .
Zuo Qiudan had once cautioned him after hearing Bu Luo's account of how Li Yan had saved him.
"Bu Luo, you are untamed by nature and pay little heed to worldly affairs. The number of people you can truly befriend can be counted on one hand. This is due to my neglect in your upbringing. If you have the chance to meet this Jianghai again in the future, you must befriend him with sincerity. No one can truly be alone for a lifetime. When the time is right, I will have my own path to follow and will surely be unable to take you with me. Your personality worries me the most. In the future, when you meet people, you must not be so arrogant as you have been in the past. Remember this, remember this!"
But no matter how well Zuo Qiudan spoke, it was too late. Bu Luo only half-listened to his words. How could a haughty disposition be changed overnight?
He only remembered the part about befriending "Jianghai ." Besides, "Jianghai " had indeed saved his life once.
Tantai Dongyue was also one of the original cultivators from the Green Sixteen Squad and a cultivator of the Malevolent Spirit Sect . Like that handsome male cultivator with the refined face, she was a disciple of Never-Parting Peak .
This woman was also in the Pseudo-Core Realm . She was beautiful, but she carried herself with a mature and steady demeanor, and her speech was sharp and capable.
Now that Gong Yuantai was the vice-captain, he naturally could no longer be in charge of his original Grand Squad. But Li Yan didn't choose a cultivator close to Gong Yuantai either, to prevent the First Grand Squad from becoming Gong Yuantai's private team.
Upon hearing Li Yan's order, Tantai Dongyue did not refuse. She simply gave a slight nod and accepted.
Within the entire Malevolent Spirit Sect , the relationship between Little Bamboo Peak and Never-Parting Peak was considered the best. This was likely related to the ambiguous relationship between their two Peak Masters.
Seeing the matter settled, Li Yan scanned the crowd with his Divine Sense and named nine people. Among them, three were Malevolent Spirit Sect cultivators. The rest were a mix of newly conscripted members and original Green Sixteen Squad members.
In truth, everyone knew that although these nine would have the greatest consumption of Divine Sense and Spirit Power from constantly controlling the operation of the "Yin-Yang Realm River Formation" and would have the hardest job, they were also the safest.
The nine of them wouldn't have to directly face the Demon Clan army; they only needed to maintain the formation. That was why Li Yan had mentioned a three-day rotation; otherwise, others would have objections.
Li Yan planned to ensure that there were always three Malevolent Spirit Sect cultivators among the nine assigned each time. Ultimately, he still didn't trust the cultivators from other sects, fearing that some among them might harbor malicious intent.
If the grand formation at "Mutual Destruction Ridge" were to be breached from within at a critical moment, it would be difficult for them to defend this place. It would likely cost a massive number of cultivators' lives to do so.
However, Li Yan was just doing his best and leaving the rest to fate. He couldn't guarantee that all the Malevolent Spirit Sect cultivators were trustworthy either, but he couldn't think of a better solution at the moment. This was all he could do.
Among the nine people Li Yan selected, the expressions on several of their faces couldn't help but relax. Even though it was only for three days, after seeing the state of the Heavy Peak Battalion's Second Squad and thinking about the fate of the successive batches of cultivators sent up—a death rate akin to reaping wheat—three days was enough to give them some peace of mind.
"Brother Li, can I not go to the formation maintenance side? I'd rather stay in the squad!"
At this moment, a dissonant voice emerged. It was the book-boy with the bamboo basket on his back from among the nine—Bu Luo !
Li Yan had included him in the nine just now. Li Yan felt that Bu Luo could be trusted, at least not to betray the Desolate Moon Continent .
Moreover, he felt that with Bu Luo's endless stream of magical treasures, his presence at the formation's core could also serve to intimidate anyone with ill intentions.
Bu Luo's action not only surprised Li Yan but also caused the others present to cast strange glances at him, especially Qiao Baiye , whose eyes were filled with contempt.
'Truly an idiot!' That book-boy had actually refused such a good thing. Who knew what was going on in his head.
"Oh? In that case, let's just switch to someone else!"
Li Yan was only stunned for a moment and wouldn't dwell on the matter. Since Bu Luo himself felt it wasn't necessary to stay in the rear, he would just pick someone else.
He quickly selected another cultivator from Bu Luo's squad. After being chosen, this person's face lit up with joy, and he even cupped his fists towards Bu Luo .
"For now, let's start with Tantai's side. Select a ten-person team to conduct patrols. Every two hours, a team from another Grand Squad will take over the patrol duty. Senior Brother Gong will lead the remaining cultivators to familiarize themselves with the entire environment here as quickly as possible. In one hour, Senior Brother Gong, Senior Sister Tantai, Fellow Daoist Wang, and Fellow Daoist Wuye will meet me in the main cave we were in earlier. As for the ten caves here, apart from the main cave and the formation core, each Grand Squad will be assigned two caves. Of course, if any fellow Daoists find the main cave spacious and wish to meditate and rest there, they are free to do so. However, apart from myself, try to keep only ten people in the main cave at any given time. The remaining two caves will be kept as reserves."
Li Yan quickly arranged matters. He did not choose to follow the Heavy Peak Battalion's previous practice of gathering all combat-capable cultivators in the main cave.
The reason was simple: the entrances to the ten caves were only so large, allowing at most five people to fly out at the same time. Their numbers were not like the Heavy Peak Battalion's final fighting force of only around thirty men.
And that was after excluding the nine maintaining the formation and those on patrol. In truth, there were only about ten cultivators left inside the cave.
Therefore, Li Yan decided to disperse his personnel. If trouble arose, several cultivators could rush out from each cave simultaneously, preventing any delay that might affect the battle.
Although for cultivators, these were actions that could be completed in an instant, Li Yan still wanted to save every bit of time. He understood the principle that the battlefield could change in a flash.
At this moment, Li Yan felt that his past idle chatter with Liu Chengyong had truly been of some use.
After arranging these things, Li Yan no longer concerned himself with trivial matters. Those would naturally be handled by Gong Yuantai ; otherwise, what was the point of him being an assistant?
Li Yan then directly led the nine cultivators towards the main cave at the corner of the platform. The proper functioning of the "Yin-Yang Realm River Formation" was of the utmost importance, and he did not feel at ease entrusting its arrangement to others.
Aside from his closest kin, Li Yan trusted almost no one. Therefore, he would not hand over the compass that controlled the "Yin-Yang Realm River Formation" to anyone; it had to remain in his own hands.
Outside the cave housing the core of the "Yin-Yang Realm River Formation," he would personally deploy the "Great Dragon-Elephant Formation" and have the Little Purple Divine Dragon-Elephant keep an eye on the nine people inside.
With the added layer of protection from the "Great Dragon-Elephant Formation," Li Yan could rest assured. Without his command, he believed no one could sneak into the formation's core unnoticed, and of course, no one could walk out of it.
Just as Li Yan had finished arranging matters at the formation core cave and was heading towards the main cave in front, the token issued by Windy Cool Mountain at his waist suddenly began to buzz, emitting a series of "weng weng weng" sounds and flashing with a dazzling red light.
"Enemy attack !"
Li Yan's heart tightened. The cultivators stationed at Windy Cool Mountain came from all over, so their only common method of communication was through their tokens.
They had agreed long before their arrival on the meaning represented by each color the token emitted. This way, in an emergency, they would know what was happening at a glance without even needing to inspect the information within the token.
A red glow meant an enemy was attacking!
Without time to think, Li Yan stomped on the ground and vanished from his spot like a ghost. He quickly passed through the main cave and arrived on the crude platform.
At this moment, Gong Yuantai and the other cultivators were also flying towards the platform from several directions. In the sky, a ten-person flying squad was peering into the distance under the cover of the formation. Each of them had a tense expression; the warning just now had been issued by them.
Seeing Li Yan emerge, the leader of that squad had yet to speak when Li Yan's figure had already shot out from the platform, flying straight to their side.
"What's going on?" Li Yan demanded in a low shout before he could even release his Divine Sense .
"The Demon Clan army is attacking!" The leader of the patrol squad was an old member of the Green Sixteen Squad picked out by Tantai Dongyue . Although he was still a bit nervous at the moment, his tone was relatively calm.
While he was asking, Li Yan's Divine Sense had already flown out of the grand formation. Without even needing the patrol squad to answer, Li Yan's Divine Sense detected a vast, dark mass in the southern sky, rolling towards them like black clouds pressing down on a city.
It was composed of squads of cultivators, including both demons and humans. Rushing towards their position was a contingent of about two hundred cultivators.
In all the squads, including those on the flanks, the figures of human cultivators were visibly more numerous than those of Demonic Cultivators . They were like livestock being herded, flying expressionlessly in the front few ranks of the formation.
On either side of the contingent rushing towards Li Yan's position, the space was filled with even more cultivator squads. Those were the Demon Clan armies attacking the other defensive points.
Like a black giant beast spreading its wings, they swooped down on their respective targets with boundless oppressive force.
Such a formation truly created a sense of overwhelming pressure in the minds of cultivators like Li Yan, who were seeing such a large Demon Clan army for the first time.
Li Yan glanced at Gong Yuantai , who immediately said, "We can't fight them head-on. The Demonic Cultivators have strong combat power, and this time the enemy force attacking us numbers over two hundred, giving them a clear advantage. We can only defend our position and counterattack."
Li Yan nodded in agreement. He shared Gong Yuantai's view. Moreover, the cultivator contingent currently rushing towards them had not yet fully separated from the other squads on the flanks and could coordinate with them at any time.
If they were to go out now, they would be surrounded by the enemy in coordination with their other squads and would be defeated from the outset.