In the eyes of the crowd, this place was located behind a row of taverns, but in Fang Yun’s eyes, it was enveloped in a swirling white dragon aura, as if wrapped in white clouds, filled with deadly intent.
The two hundred demon soldiers blocked the exit tightly. Both sides were filled with dangerous white dragon aura. The only chance to break through the blockade was to charge from the front.
Fang Yun took a deep breath, slowly scanned the crowd, and said slowly, “The Dragon King originally planned to ambush during the Demon Suppression Literary Meeting, but because the Holy Land started early, the Dragon King had to launch an early attack from the sea. If none of us can break out and send a warning, when the Dragon King retrieves the Hollow Tower Beads, we will all die.”
The crowd slowly nodded, no one doubted Fang Yun’s words.
“As long as we break through the obstruction of the two hundred demon soldiers, we can tear the official seal and send a warning to the Holy Temple. However, the demon clan commander will not give us a chance to break out. Once we appear in large numbers, they will definitely send more demon soldiers. Who among you now has a way to break out?”
No one responded.
“Since no one responded, let me tell you my method. I have a military strategy book that can disguise us two hundred people as ten or so, making the demon clan unable to see the rest of us. This way, the enemy will let their guard down, but these ten people will also face great danger. But as long as these ten people charge to the front of the demon soldiers, we two hundred people will appear together, we can quickly break through the demon soldiers’ blockade, and rush out of the exit together. Now, we need to select a dozen people as bait.”
The crowd was overjoyed, and they no longer doubted Fang Yun’s identity as a military strategist.
Someone asked, “Can you disguise those ten people as demon soldiers?”
“No, I can now disguise many as few, few as many, and even one person as a demon soldier, but I can’t disguise two hundred people as a dozen and then disguise those dozen as demon soldiers at the same time. That’s ‘Double Layer Military Strategy’, my literary position is not enough, I can’t use it.”
Captain Shi said, “Fang Yun is indeed a descendant of the military strategists. A dozen soldiers are the main force, and the two hundred people hidden by the military strategy are the surprise. At this time, using the main force to cover the surprise is the best strategy. Otherwise, if we alert the demon clan by any chance and they send hundreds of demons in, we have no chance of winning. Now we will select a dozen people as bait. Pretend to break out. Also, select thirty of the strongest child scholars as vanguards. Once they reach the front of the demon soldiers, these thirty child scholars need to break a path and then attack the demon general. Let others rush out of the exit and tear open the official seal for rescue.”
“It’s up to the captains to decide, I’ll prepare the military strategy book.”
Fang Yun said, considering in his heart how to use the strategy of deceiving the sky and crossing the sea.
“This military strategy book is not like the War Poetry. It can be used as long as the talent is exhausted. As long as the military strategy is in use, it will continue to consume talent. This is the first time I use the strategy of deceiving the sky and crossing the sea for more than two hundred people. I don’t know how long I can hold on, I can’t waste a bit of talent before that.”
Soon, the five captains selected fifteen people as bait. Although these fifteen people didn’t want to die, they all volunteered to participate, with a sense of righteousness in their hearts, they were ready to die.
And the rest of the two hundred people had no illusions of luck. Except for a very few people who were scared, most people were prepared for death.
Fang Yun looked at these ordinary people, his heart was filled with warmth. The ones who might lead the trend might be those sages and heroes, but the ones who truly push the world forward are ordinary people. They are the cornerstone of this world.
Everyone might die in this battle. Fang Yun couldn’t help but blurt out, “Confucius said to achieve benevolence, Mencius said to take righteousness, only when righteousness is fulfilled, can benevolence be achieved.”
These words are the first four sentences of the “Praise of the Belt” by Wen Tianxiang, a great scholar of the Song Dynasty, before his death. It means that Confucius said that a man of ambition achieves benevolence through sacrifice, and Mencius said to exchange life for righteousness, but as long as the way of “righteousness” is carried out to the extreme, then naturally the highest realm of the way of “benevolence” can be achieved.
As soon as these sixteen words came out, Fang Yun seemed to hold the power of the saints and the mandate of heaven in his hand, and the solemn and tragic voice of the Path of the Saints spread in all directions.
These sixteen words are profound in meaning. Many soldiers originally didn’t understand, but under the power of the Path of the Saints, everyone understood. They were saying that everyone was now bravely sacrificing themselves. If they could break through the demon clan’s blockade, send out a warning, rescue tens of thousands of soldiers and civilians in Jade Sea Port, and complete the great righteousness, they would have achieved great benevolence, and they would not be inferior to the saints before their death.
Every soldier’s mind was infected by these sixteen words, and the fear, hesitation, and negative emotions in their hearts were all dispelled.
Almost all the child scholars suddenly felt as if a door had been opened in front of them, as if they had been enlightened. Everyone felt that if they could survive today, they would surely pass the imperial examination as a talented scholar next year, and they might even become a presented scholar in the future.
The two accomplished scholar captains were the most excited, because both of them felt that they would surely pass the examination as presented scholars within three years.
They looked at Fang Yun gratefully. This was almost the legendary “Thunderous Holy Sound” and “Enlightenment of the Saints”. If it weren’t for the critical moment, they would have to kneel down and worship Fang Yun as their benefactor.
The demon clan didn’t feel anything, but this place was near the sea, and the sound of the Path of the Saints entered the sea and finally reached the main gate of the Dragon Palace.
The golden main gate of the Dragon Palace was a thousand feet high, but at this moment it suddenly rose by a foot, the gate was radiant, and divine light was emitted in all directions.
Many fish within a hundred miles swam towards this place like mad, jumping towards the dragon gate with their lives.
Inside the Dragon Palace, a woman dressed in palace clothes let out a soft exclamation, turned her head to look in the direction of Jade Sea City. She had two small dragon horns on her forehead that looked like white jade.
Also looking towards Jade Sea City were all the pure-blooded dragon clan demon kings and great demon kings in the Dragon Palace.
However, a cold snort came from the depths of the Dragon Palace, and the gaze of all the demon kings and great demon kings was blocked by an invisible force. Only the woman in palace clothes could see through the sea and see what was happening outside Jade Sea Port.
Inside the Li Prefecture in Jade Sea City, Li Wenying slowly opened his eyes and slowly sat up from the bed.
Inside the Mirage City, after the two accomplished scholar captains finished reciting the inspiring poem “Ode to Xing Tian” and the protective poem “With You in the Same Robe”, Fang Yun looked at the soldiers’ determined eyes and said, “Everyone, let’s go!”
After speaking, Fang Yun stretched out his hand, and the military strategy book “The Thirty-Six Strategies” appeared in his hand. He infused his talent into it, and saw the book automatically turn pages. The words “First Strategy: Deceive the Sky and Cross the Sea” flew out in a line. Each word was surrounded by the light of the Path of Wisdom, absorbed a large amount of the world’s energy, and turned into a white light that enveloped everyone.
Except for the fifteen people who were selected, the other two hundred people completely disappeared in the eyes of others, all their images and voices were covered by the power of “Deceive the Sky and Cross the Sea”.Fang Yun was among them, and those who were deceived by the illusion emitted a faint white glow.
Except for a few who had seen the power of the military books and remained calm, most people were very surprised, but they suppressed their astonishment.
Fang Yun felt his talent energy rapidly draining from his body and said, “Hurry, I can’t hold on much longer!”
“Attack!” The stone team leader shouted.
More than ten people revealed their figures in the front, followed by over two hundred people hidden by the illusion. They all moved forward according to Fang Yun’s instructions.
At this moment, Fang Yun was surrounded by everyone, and they didn’t want him to suffer any harm.
After bypassing the tavern formed by dragon energy, they saw a city gate, guarded by over two hundred river demons. Behind the demon soldiers, three demon generals were watching closely.
The soldiers pretended to be terrified when they saw the fish demons, some even couldn’t hold their weapons, but then they gritted their teeth and charged.
“Let us out!”
“Let us go!”
“Kill all the demons!”
Fifteen people charged at the two hundred demons. It was a tragic sight from the human side, but the demons found it laughable. The demon soldiers laughed, but they were well-trained and still held their weapons, waiting for the humans to charge.
Among these demon soldiers, there was a group of fish demons that could spit fish spines. But seeing only a dozen people, they just held the spines in their mouths and didn’t spit them out. The three demon generals had just killed two teams of humans and had consumed a lot of energy, so they didn’t plan to intervene.
The fifteen people quickly reached the fish demons. The fish demons in the front immediately raised their weapons, while those in the back held their weapons and prepared to watch the show.
Suddenly, more than fifty sharp arrows flew out of nowhere, all aimed at the vulnerable parts of the fish demons. Those fish demons with spines in their mouths suffered the most severe attacks and all died.
At the same time, over seventy spears stabbed out of nowhere. The fish demons in the front row were all pierced through, and some in the second row were seriously injured.
Amid the wailing, demon blood splattered.
The fish demons were frightened by this bizarre scene. Only the three demon generals reacted, calling for help while using demon techniques.
Then, strong men with shields in their left hands and knives in their right suddenly jumped out. Their shiny long knives, like the teeth of monsters, plunged into the ranks of the fish demons.
Dozens of fish demon heads flew up, and bodies fell in swathes.
More than half of the fish demons died in a few breaths. The fish demon team collapsed instantly and retreated continuously.
The three demon generals were very calm, jointly using demon techniques. Three torrents attacked the invisible team.
Without hesitation, Fang Yun consumed a large amount of talent energy. The energy contained in the illusion exploded outward, colliding with the water.
The demon technique turned into a flood, scattering everywhere, but it didn’t hurt anyone. The illusion was broken, revealing all the human soldiers.
The fifty strongest Child Scholar veterans, either with knives or spears, charged out like tigers. Some attacked the demon generals, while others cleared the way for Fang Yun and the people behind him, allowing them to escape at the first opportunity and tear the official seal.
Each demon general was surrounded by ten Child Scholar veterans. Some Child Scholar veterans were injured, but it was hard for the demon generals to break through their blockade in a short time.
Among the five teams, there were only two Talented Scholar team leaders. The two Talented Scholars had finished writing the “Yi River Song”. Two ghost-like smoke assassins ignored the demon generals and killed the blocking demon soldiers. The two Talented Scholars practiced this War Poetry every day, and the smoke assassins were even stronger than many Presented Scholars.
Without the obstruction of the demon generals, nearly a hundred soldiers pierced through the demon soldiers like spears and rushed out of the exit.
As they rushed out, more than ten people took out the official seal from their bosoms, tore it together, and sent a warning to the Holy Temple and the officials.
Fang Yun was among these people, wiping the sweat from his forehead.
The two strands of talent energy in his body had originally exceeded nine inches, but now one strand was exhausted, and the other was only one and a half inches left.
“The remaining talent energy can write a strong bow poem ‘Capture the King’.” Fang Yun took out the demon-sweeping brush he carried with him. Li Wenying’s follower had told him to always carry it, but he found that his identity was a common soldier, and he was not wearing armor.
At the same time, an angry roar came from the nearby sea.
(To be continued.)