The encounter between the two parties could be described as a perfect match.
A free-for-all battle ensued immediately.
Ji Zhan had initially planned to let the opponents struggle for a while before personally intervening.
To suppress them with his invincible strength.
But he never expected.
That from the very beginning, things were going wrong.
The few individuals he had initially considered as peak Transcendent Realm cultivators barely able to exert Immortal Realm combat power.
Suddenly, with a murmured incantation, their bodies blazed with light, their auras skyrocketing.
They instantly surged to a level that made even him feel a trace of alarm.
In just the first probing attack.
Under the full might of the opponents, his side suffered heavy casualties.
A force of over a hundred people was instantly routed.
Even a dozen Immortals were killed on the spot.
Although.
The divinity of the Immortals dispatched this time was complete, possessing the characteristic of resurrection.
However, the enemy's firepower was so fierce that it far exceeded his expectations.
Even.
In the brief moment of his hesitation.
The second wave of attacks launched by the enemy was even more terrifying.
This time, twenty Immortals were killed.
At this point, Ji Zhan could no longer remain seated.
He decisively entered the fray.
He could not tolerate these native inhabitants being so arrogant!
He would show them what a Level Fourteen Immortal was.
As Ji Zhan joined the battle, the situation on the battlefield instantly changed.
At least, where he was present, the enemy could not attack with impunity, instantly killing his subordinates.
But that was all.
He had rushed out, brimming with anger, only to find that each of the eleven opponents seemed to have transformed.
Each of them possessed a mysterious power that inexplicably made them stronger.
Although their offensive techniques were not yet proficient enough to inflict fatal blows on him.
His ordinary Immortals, in direct confrontation with the enemy, were almost certain to die upon contact.
Especially the man in white, whose strength was exceptionally outrageous.
If not for the fact that his offense and defense still employed ordinary techniques.
And did not possess any particularly divine or miraculous qualities.
He would have suspected the man to be a powerful Sovereign Realm cultivator.
That suffocating pressure made him uneasy.
This battle, which had started quickly, ended even faster.
Seeing that his side's confidence had been completely shattered by the opponents, and that many were terrified.
Ji Zhan knew that he had lost this round.
He risked injury, forcibly rescuing a few Immortals in critical danger from the enemy's grasp, and then hastily ordered a full retreat.
Watching the army flee in disarray, Tan Fen was still eager to pursue.
But he was stopped by Yang Jun.
"Brother Jun, aren't we going to press our advantage?"
Tan Fen felt that crushing the enemy just now was too exhilarating and he hadn't had enough.
A strange expression appeared on Yang Jun's face, as if he couldn't believe it.
"Do you all feel like your strength has increased a little?"
His question was peculiar, but Yang Tian quickly replied.
"Big Brother, you feel it too?"
Tang Xiaowan and Han Qingqing exclaimed in unison, astonished.
"So it wasn't just our imagination?"
Tan Fen was completely bewildered.
"Are you speaking in riddles?"
"What are you talking about? I don't understand."
"How can our strength increase for no reason?"
Yang Jun asked in surprise, "You didn't feel it?"
Tan Fen shook his head in a daze.
Zhu Yan slapped his thigh, "It's exactly as I thought!"
Yang Jun's eyes lit up.
"Little Fatty, do you know what's going on?"
Zhu Yan immediately put on a mysterious demeanor again.
It wasn't until Yang Tian went over, patted his shoulder, and called him Brother Zhu a few times that he satisfiedly revealed the answer.
As it turned out.
The increase in strength that everyone had just felt simultaneously was not an illusion.
It was the effect of the **Combat Addict** buff, enjoyed by those at the **Fanatic** level of the Believer System after it was activated.
Although this effect was not guaranteed to trigger 100% of the time.
At their level, the probability was significantly higher than for Devout Believers.
Earlier, Zhu Yan had pulled Tan Fen along to fight together, precisely to experiment with this aspect.
Speaking of which, Zhu Yan scratched his head uncertainly.
"At our level, there seems to be an enhanced version of a Heavenly Dao divine ability, but I haven't figured out how to use it yet."
Yang Jun mused, "A blessing received as a Believer?"
"If that's the case, then calm your mind and try to sense it."
The group split into two, closing their eyes one after another, sinking their minds, and sensing from the Believer System.
After a few minutes.
Everyone's faces were filled with joy.
They took turns sharing what they had seen.
"I saw a line of text indicating that I triggered the Combat Addict effect, killing an opponent whose universal cosmic level was higher than mine, and gained a 10% boost!"
"Why did I only get a 1% boost? Is it because the enemies I killed were weaker than yours?"
Compared to the bickering between Yang Tian and Tang Xiaowan.
Tan Zhan and Tan Yongguo were regretful.
They had faced very strong opponents, and in solo combat, both had only managed to defeat them.
They received combat power boosts of only 1% and 0.1% respectively.
By sharing the prompts they saw from each other, they gradually deduced the corresponding rules.
That is, this Combat Addict effect was not always triggered.
Although through the Believer System, they could review the combat power comparison between themselves and their opponents when facing them, as well as the prompts after each kill or defeat.
However, the Combat Addict buff appeared relatively infrequently.
It was triggered roughly once every ten times.
Moreover.
Killing and defeating opponents were like night and day.
Taking their current Level Twelve Transcendent Realm strength as an example.
Killing an Immortal, a Level Thirteen Immortal, and a Level Fourteen Immortal would grant combat power increases of 0.1%, 1%, and 10% respectively.
But defeating them only yielded 0.01%, 0.1%, and 1%.
A full tenfold difference.
Even so, it was enough to excite everyone.
They started competing with each other to see how much combat power they had accumulated in this round of battle.
Seeing the excited crowd, Tan Fen felt like crying.
He hadn't gained any combat power at all.
Zhu Yan also felt some regret.
If he had known the benefits were so great, he should have had Yang Tian and Tan Fen do the experiments earlier.
That way, he would probably have increased his strength by at least 10% by now.
However, after Yang Jun and the others came over to thank him profusely, praising his contribution to the team.
Zhu Yan began to feel a sense of smugness.
It seemed his contributions weren't in vain.
Even Tan Fen's mood lessened considerably.
He secretly resolved that in the next battle, he would charge to the front.
And make up for the part he had fallen behind!
However, the experiments conducted by the two of them also made it easier for the team to formulate plans.
Since jointly killing or defeating opponents did not count as effective combat.
Then.
Solo combat became the only tactic.
However.
How to maximize the benefits of this powerful Combat Addict buff became a problem they needed to research.
After all.
Although solo combat seemed to yield greater returns.
It also came with correspondingly greater risks.
Because the overall strength of the opposing faction was actually far superior to theirs.
This round's great victory and quick win.
It was mainly due to the immense increase in combat power under Lin Feng's protection, fueled by consuming faith power, catching the enemy completely off guard.
Although this enhancement had increased everyone's strength by at least three levels.
All reaching the peak of the Immortal Realm.
The puppet Xiao Feng could even exert power close to the Sovereign Realm. But after all.
This was achieved by consuming faith power and could not be maintained.
If they adopted a solo combat tactic and were surrounded by the enemy, once this enhanced state disappeared, they would be no match for the opponent.
After deliberation, everyone offered their own opinions.
They did come up with quite a few corresponding combat techniques.
And on the second day.
When they reorganized the team and led a larger force than before to launch an attack.
The battle entered a state that they found peculiar.