After leaving Wang Yueyao's tent, Master Li returned to his own tent.
As soon as he came back, he immediately asked his attendant to call Lai Huer. When Lai Huer hurried over, without waiting for him to bow and pay his respects, Li Fazhu asked him, "General Lai, how have you done with the things I asked you to do before the hunt?"
Lai Huer's face immediately became serious when he heard this, and he clasped his hands and replied, "Don't worry, General. I have already notified Liang Bo of the alliance and asked him to bring the three evil generals to help."
"According to Shanying's report, Liang Bo and his two companions will arrive here tonight."
"In addition, I also followed the general's instructions and persuaded the three generals Zhu Mei, Gu Yanlang, and Yang Shouliang. They selected a thousand elite veteran soldiers from the army early in the morning for the general to use at his will."
"Okay, that's great. What about the military equipment?" Lai Huer's answer made Li Fazhu very satisfied. He immediately stopped asking about the manpower and turned to ask about the preparations for the military equipment.
Lai Huer looked around upon hearing this, obviously worried about whether the attendants around him were reliable.
When Master Li saw his expression, he immediately knew what he was worried about and comforted him, "General, please feel free to speak. I believe these servants will never gossip."
As soon as he finished speaking, Master Li glanced coldly at the attendants around him. The warning in his eyes was self-evident. The cold eyes immediately frightened the attendants around him, their faces turned pale, and they all lowered their heads in fear.
Since Master Li said so, Lai Huer naturally had no scruples. He looked gloomy and said indifferently, "General, all the spare weapons and armor in the army are poisoned."
"I guarantee that if anyone is pierced by these weapons and their skin is even slightly pierced, I cannot say that they will die immediately, but they will definitely die."
"Good, well done, hahaha!" Upon hearing this, Master Li stood up excitedly, his eyes radiating an incomparably vicious light.
"Zhu Li, I hope you won't disappoint me. Isn't Heshuo famous for its brave generals and soldiers? Then come on. If you dare to break into the formation, I will make sure you never return."
“Hahaha, the so-called man of destiny, as long as Li is here, destiny is just a joke!”
———
The next day, all the vassals gathered in the central stronghold.
Depending on the candidates they supported, these local officials were divided into two groups.
One group supports Prince Ji, led by Wang Yueyao and Li Keyong; the other group naturally supports Prince Shou, led by Zhu Li.
The high-ranking officials of the vassal states took the lead, followed by their subordinate generals and elite guards. The two groups of people were separated by several miles and faced each other from a distance.
In the open space between them, there was a military formation of thousands of people, standing in the middle.
The formation was arranged in an octagon and was slowly rotating. Looking around, one could see swords and spears like a forest, cold lights flashing, and a murderous aura that was so strong that the warm sun of early summer seemed to be covered with a layer of cold autumn frost.
This group of people seemed to be not an army from the human world, but came from the underworld of hell.
Master Li, dressed in military uniform, with Li Kuangba and Lai Huer, stood in front of the formation, facing Zhu Li and others.
At this moment, Master Li Fa, unlike his recent embarrassment, appeared to be extremely high-spirited. He looked as excited as if his wife had given birth to a younger brother for him.
"Hey, listen carefully, General Zhu Li of Huaihua. I, Li, heard that the general joined the army when he was young and has never been defeated in all these years. The general's reputation is known to the world, but I don't know if there is any water in it?" Just as Zhu Li and others were looking at the octagonal military formation, Master Li started shouting in this direction.
The man had a playful look on his face and said sarcastically, "Zhu Li, I am here today to line up my troops in front of you. If you are really as invincible as the legend says, you might as well come and give it a try. I really want to know, did you get such a big reputation by bribing some village women and letting them brag for you?"
"Asshole, Mr. Li, are you looking for death?"
"You are a defeated general, yet you dare to come out and embarrass yourself. If it were me, I would have hit my head against the wall and died!"
"Old man Li, the feng shui of the Kunming Lake is good. Do you like this place? If so, I, Zhu Ya, don't mind helping you."
... ...
It was obvious that Master Li was trying to provoke Zhu Li, but before he could finish his words, he was immediately scolded by Zhu Ya, Yi Jiangnan, Li Gufeng, Yue Yun and others.
However, Zhu Li himself turned a deaf ear to Master Li's shouting. He turned his head with an indifferent expression and looked at Han Zhi beside him.
This person was also no ordinary person, a military god known to all in later generations; Zhu Li could not see the strangeness of the military formation, but it did not mean that no one around him could see through it.
"Manager Han, can you tell what kind of formation this is?" Looking at Han Zhi, Zhu Li asked directly.
Before Han Zhi responded, Wang Yanzhang beside Zhu Quanzhong suddenly said, "This formation is a bit like Zhuge Wuhou's Bagua formation, but it seems slightly different."
"No, in my opinion, this should be the Eight Gates Golden Lock Formation." He Ruobi, who was beside Yuchi Jin, spoke immediately before Wang Yanzhang finished speaking.
"Whether it's the Bagua Formation or the Eight-Gate Golden Lock Formation, they all remain essentially the same."
"Don't the eight phases of the Bagua formation, 'Qian, Zhen, Kan, Gen, Kun, Xun, Li, and Dui', correspond exactly to the eight gates of 'Xiu, Sheng, Shang, Du, Jing, Si, Jing, Kai'?" Guan Yu stroked his long beard, squinted his eyes, and said nonchalantly.
“No, the Eight Gates Golden Lock Array is a strange array arranged according to the stars and topography; and the Eight Trigrams Array is an eight-array diagram created by Zhuge Wuhou himself based on the Eight Gate Golden Lock Array. The two are related, but definitely not the same.” After listening to the argument between the three, Han Xin frowned and immediately corrected himself.
Before he finished speaking, he was still frowning, and continued seriously: "Whether it is the Eight Formation Diagram or the Eight Gates Golden Lock Formation, it will leave people with a glimmer of hope."
“For example, in the Eight-Gate Golden Lock Formation, the Sheng, Jing, and Kai gates are the auspicious gates. Enter the formation through these three gates, kill the commander in the center, and then rush out through these three gates to break the formation.”
"As for the eight-sided military formation that Mr. Li set up, with my attainments, I can't even tell that any of the gates or sides are auspicious gates. So, in my opinion, although this formation is very similar to the Eight Formations Diagram and the Eight-Gate Golden Lock Formation, it is definitely not one of the two formations."
"This formation is a death formation!" Han Xin's face was gloomy, and he finally said it decisively.
"Death array?" Zhu Quanzhong, Guan Yu, Wang Chucun, Wang Rong and others immediately cried out in surprise upon hearing this.
It’s no wonder they made such a fuss, because they had never heard of the term “death array” before.
In their perception, a military formation, no matter who arranges it, will have flaws; in other words, no matter who arranges the military formation, people can find a way to survive and charge out.
But is a death formation a military formation where there is only death and no life
If that's the case, then the person who set up the formation is really amazing!
In Chinese mythology, the most powerful Zhuxian Sword Formation and the Twelve Heavenly Gods and Demons Formation, etc., could all be broken by people. If this death formation cannot be broken, then the person who set up the formation must be more powerful than the legendary god-man Taoist
"The death array, as the name suggests, means that once you go to break the array, no one will come back." Just when all the senior officials were suspicious, Zhu Qia beside Zhu Li suddenly spoke up and confirmed everyone's speculation.
There were exactly ten troops from the vassal states supporting Shou Wang Li Jie, and they all gathered around Zhu Li. Even Yuchi Jin, who was in a bad mood with Zhu Li, quietly moved over while everyone was talking, pricked up his two small ears and listened non-stop.
There is no doubt that she also heard what Zhu Qia said. Somehow, when she heard the news, Yuchi Jin's heart suddenly shuddered, as if something she extremely didn't want to see was about to happen.
"Master, is there no way to break this death formation?" The old rogue Zhu Quanzhong seemed to be unconvinced. He believed that there was actually an unbreakable formation in the world. Not only did he not believe it, but most other people also found it hard to believe.
"That's right. I have lived for thirty or forty years and have never heard of a military formation that cannot be broken." Zhu Xuan echoed.
Upon hearing this, Zhu Qia glanced at the two of them indifferently and said indifferently: "Have you ever heard of the art of looking at qi?"
"What does 'looking at qi' mean?" Everyone was talking about the military formation, why did this old Taoist priest suddenly mention the qi-looking technique used by those quacks to cheat people? Zhu Quanzhong blurted out subconsciously.
“Humph, if you two have mastered the art of seeing qi, just look at the formation behind Master Li, and you will understand why I said that it is a dead formation with no way out.”
"The entire formation was filled with deathly aura, and there was also a faint smell of poisonous stench. It was obvious that this formation was definitely not something that a living person could break out of.
”
"What's more, this is a martial arts performance. Both sides have limited forces. If we force our way in, we will definitely die."
"Don't be so skeptical, everyone. Why not take a closer look at the palace guards forming the military formation? Don't you think their walking movements are too stiff?"
Although what Zhu Qia said was very horrifying, everyone still turned their heads and carefully observed the palace guards in the square formation following his voice.
It is not difficult to see that the palace guards forming the square formation are all veterans of the battlefield. From their ferocious expressions and indifference to life and death, it can be determined that these people are definitely brave soldiers who have experienced hundreds of battles.
However, after Zhu Qia's reminder, everyone immediately discovered that the movements of these old soldiers seemed very uncoordinated.
To be precise, their movements are like those of puppets in a puppet show.
They followed the rules with a hint of awkwardness and stiffness. Rather than saying they were a group of tough soldiers, it would be better to say they were some stiff corpses moving around.
When they thought of the corpses, they couldn't help but feel a chill in their hearts; they shuddered for no reason. Was that really an army
The scene of a hundred demons parading at night seemed less terrifying than the square formation on the opposite side.
"Is that still a human being?" Dong Chang from Hangzhou screamed with a look on his face as if he had eaten dog shit.
When he saw everyone, he finally noticed something wrong in the enemy's army formation. Zhu Qia suddenly looked up to the sky and sighed, saying with an unpleasant expression: "Those are definitely not human. Those fierce soldiers are all human puppets."
"Human puppet?" This word was very unfamiliar even to Zhu Li. He immediately looked at Zhu Qia in surprise and suspicion.
Facing Zhu Li's gaze, Zhu Qia sighed again and said, "General, a human puppet, as the name suggests, is a puppet made from humans."
"You can't say these veterans are dead, because they are not completely dead. They still retain their faith and fierce spirit from their lifetime."
"But you can't say they are still alive, because they have all been planted with a special poisonous insect. The man and the insect have become one, and the actions of all the guards are controlled by the insect."
"Under the influence of the poisonous insect, their limbs become stiff and hard as iron and stone, and are invulnerable to swords and knives. However, once the battle is over and the poisonous insect leaves their bodies, their lives will come to an end."
"What's even more terrifying is that the armor and weapons of these palace guards are all poisoned with a deadly poison that is more deadly than corpse poison. If anyone who breaks the formation is injured by them, they will die immediately due to the poison. Even if a Daluo Jinxian were alive, it would be difficult to save them."
"Ah, how could this happen?"
"It was just a small spring search and martial arts exercise, but the other side actually sacrificed the lives of three thousand elite soldiers. This, this, this..." After listening to Zhu Qia's explanation, the young Wang Rong screamed in disbelief with a pale face.
"Isn't the Li guy afraid of having a son? Doesn't he have an anus? He set up such a vicious formation. Isn't he afraid of retribution?" Wang Chucun was a well-informed vassal. After hearing the news, he also turned pale and looked terrified.
"Hmph, is it worth being so serious about it?" Zhu Quanzhong said with a gloomy and meaningful look on his face.
Although he did not finish his sentence, all the high officials in the vassal states could naturally hear what he wanted to say; what he wanted to say was, no matter whether Prince Ji or Prince Shou came to the throne, what did it matter at this moment
No matter who comes to power, they can't escape the fate of being a puppet. Who would treat the Li family's men as dishes now? It would be a bit inhumane to sacrifice the lives of three thousand elite soldiers for this.
"Is there really no way to crack it?" Zhu Li frowned and pondered helplessly.
Naturally, he thought of more than others; since Master Li was willing to sacrifice the lives of three thousand elite soldiers to set up this formation, he would never allow them to admit defeat easily.
In other words, if they want to avoid this battle, it should be impossible; since it is impossible to avoid it and there is no way to break it, can they just die
"This is the Death Formation, one of the four ancient vicious formations. It is named after death, which shows how vicious it is. As far as I know, Master Li himself should not be able to set up this formation."
"In the Shanhai Alliance, there is only one person who can set up a death formation. That person is called Liang Bo, and he is the Left Envoy of the Shanhai Alliance. Since this formation appears here, it means that Liang Bo and his three fierce generals should have arrived."