Chapter 210: Straw Men Form, Formation Breaks; Qi Yuanzi's Shock! (6K)

Zhao Xing was also impressed by Liu Tianning.

If it were Tian Shan, he would probably say: "Don't rush, don't be under so much pressure, look at it more openly."

But with Liu Tianning: "Your pressure isn't enough; I'll push you a bit harder."

Liu Tianning's style is just like that; he suffers from stupidity intolerance and simply cannot stand seeing people act foolishly.

His demands on direct disciples are even stricter, almost to the point of perversion, because his own self-demands are already perverse.

If you can't learn it? Then just die!

Continuously applying extreme pressure to himself, constantly splitting his life soul to control more self-straw men and manifest ten thousand techniques.

Such a person... even Old Master Zhao, a pervert himself, thinks he's a pervert.

"If you can't learn it, the mission will definitely fail."

"You will not only lose battle merit, but the entire morale will be severely hit. If you do not retreat and this continues, sooner or later the people of the Holy Spirit Wang Ting will successfully ambush you, deducting at least several hundred thousand battle merit."

"If you retreat, the Six Armies Alliance will collapse, all previous efforts will be wasted, and you will be blocked before the Soul Sacrifice Pass." Liu Tianning said calmly.

Zhao Xing's breathing also became rapid.

He was already under immense pressure; now, after Liu Tianning said this, his nerves went completely taut, and the pressure reached its maximum!

"I understand. Go ahead."

Liu Tianning nodded, extending a hand as white and smooth as jade: "Perfectly uniting the Five Methods essentially requires the Five Elements within the straw man to generate each other in an unceasing cycle."

"The Self-Straw Man Method is thus verifying the 'Yin-Yang Self-Original Sutra'."

"Reversing the Five Elements into Yin and Yang, you must not only perfectly control the Five Elements Qi of the straw man method, but also adapt it to the dual Yin-Yang souls; therefore, the foundation for the Self-Straw Man's Dao-Integration must not lack the 'Soul-Restraining Straw Man'."

"The life soul resides in the womb; now, this straw man must serve as your second flesh vessel, providing a dwelling for a strand of your life soul."

As Liu Tianning spoke, his body began to disintegrate.

Normally, a straw man's collapse happens all at once, but this 'disintegration' of Liu Tianning's was a slow unraveling of the straw man's skin, flesh and blood, meridians, and bones.

He controlled the speed, slowing it down many times over so Zhao Xing could see it clearly.

The skin of the Self-Straw Man resembles human skin, but it has no flesh and blood; when the skin cracks, it reveals the 'meridians'.

The materials used for this Self-Straw Man of Liu Tianning's were extremely ordinary, as if specially prepared for demonstration.

Its meridians were actually stalks of third-rank Yuan Rice, hollow rice stalks one by one, stretching and flexible, weaving through each other and twisting together, resembling human meridians.

Its internal 'bones' were also relatively common fourth-rank materials: pithy softwood branches.

The Five Elements Qi flowed inside the rice stalks, passing from one segment to the next.

Liu Tianning's left-hand fingers disintegrated, while his right hand began to cast spells.

Zhao Xing could see how the primal energy flowed within his body and how it finally formed the spell.

"Voom~"

A cloud appeared in the palm of his right hand.

"Clouds Walking in the Palm!"

This move was very familiar to Zhao Xing; Gucheng's first teacher, Xue Wenzhong, had demonstrated Clouds Walking in the Palm when he first taught him cloud techniques.

Only Liu Tianning's cloud movement was faster and stronger than Xue Wenzhong's, and he was casting it using the Straw Man Method!

It's possible Xue Wenzhong learned the cloud technique from the Liu family.

"Watch carefully."

Next, Liu Tianning stopped explaining, because all the principles that needed to be said had already been spoken.

Now it mainly depended on Zhao Xing to realize it himself.

The left hand disintegrated while the right hand cast spells.

After one shi, the left arm had completely disintegrated but still maintained the shape of an arm, only enlarged because it had been taken apart.

Zhao Xing was fully focused; from the very beginning, he had activated the 【Heavenly Eye Method】, opening the eyes of the life soul in his sea of consciousness.

Observing Liu Tianning's demonstration from different angles.

Immersed in this demonstration, Zhao Xing felt no passage of time.

At some point, everything before his eyes stopped moving.

When even the toes scattered.

"Crash~"

A pile of materials scattered on the ground.

This straw man of Liu Tianning's had completely vanished.

Zhao Xing looked up and saw a phantom shadow; that was a strand of life soul power separated by Liu Tianning.

However, without the protection of the straw man's body, this strand of life soul power quickly dissipated.

"Old Liu has treated me well," Zhao Xing couldn't help but sigh.

This Self-Straw Man of his could originally have been recovered, and its life soul power would not have been damaged.

The life soul power remaining inside this straw man body was very strong!

But now, separated by ten thousand li, with the life soul power dissipated, it would take quite some time to replenish.

Liu Tianning had no intention of fighting; thus, this separated soul was specifically here to teach him.

Now that it has scattered like this, it will take at least one or two years to recover, and it will also require spending quite a few precious treasures.

A heavy pressure surged in his heart; Zhao Xing began to draft a straw man using the materials nearby.

"Rise!"

Zhao Xing attempted to unite the Five Methods again; the five straw man methods were Divine Courage, Sky-Soaring, Suicide Explosion, Invisibility, and Soul-Restraining.

A single straw man method involves balancing the Five Elements across multiple body parts.

When two methods are united, the difficulty of the internal Five Elements circulation increases exponentially. For every additional method united, the difficulty becomes ten times greater than before.

Zhao Xing already knew over a dozen high-grade techniques, but for other high-grade techniques, their limit was merely high-grade.

The Self-Straw-Man Technique, high-grade is merely the threshold; it is hailed as the 'Ultimate Technique'! All spells can be stuffed into it!

The Self-Straw-Man Technique is the most difficult spell Zhao Xing has ever learned! Without exception.

"Merge!" With both hands, he manipulated five types of straw-man techniques, performing a fusion.

Every step, he walked unsteadily; even a region the size of a grain of rice, he had to control the circulation of the Five Elements Qi within it.

Perfectly fusing five spells was extremely taxing for Zhao Xing; soon, he reached a limit.

A seemingly complete straw man appeared before his eyes, but abnormal repulsive forces emerged in every part; the Five Elements vortices either spun slower and slower, or accelerated faster and faster.

Zhao Xing was like a firefighter; fires broke out everywhere on the straw man; maintaining this spot, that spot would have a problem; stabilizing the upper part, the lower part would begin to show signs of collapse.

Unable to support both sides, a feeling of helplessness surged into his heart.

He was too familiar with this feeling; he had failed over ten thousand times, and every single time he failed at the final stage.

"Five Techniques Merge, give it to me and succeed!" Zhao Xing roared internally, holding on with all his might.

Under immense pressure, at this moment, his Essence, Qi, and Spirit all reached their peak.

Regardless of how the Five Elements Qi inside the straw man ran wildly, he did his utmost to salvage it, pulling the spell fusion back from the brink of collapse time and again.

Such repeated manipulation placed enormous pressure on his mind; the Origin Dantian's Qi vortex also spun wildly; the Solar Term Talisman and the Later Earth Gravel were both teetering on the verge of falling; he had truly reached his limit.

Suddenly—

"Thump~" A muffled sound came.

Zhao Xing's vision went black, his whole body relaxed, and his heart sank to the bottom.

That sound was as if the straw man had exploded again.

Did it fail again?

Opening his eyes, Zhao Xing saw 'himself' kneeling on the ground.

"Hmm?"

The strange scene immediately made Zhao Xing realize something.

He looked down, but saw a pair of hands rough like tree bark textures.

"The Five Techniques Merge succeeded! This is the perspective of the Ten Thousand Spells Straw Man!"

Zhao Xing was overjoyed.

"Hahahaha!"

He laughed heartily at the sky.

But he forgot that this straw man was still rather crude and had no mouth.

In his excitement, the straw man collapsed directly.

A wisp of life soul that had inadvertently merged into the straw man returned to the original body.

"Huff~"

Zhao Xing let out a long breath; looking at the straw man's broken limbs before him, he smiled.

Collapse didn't matter; he had already learned it.

Once this hurdle was crossed, what followed was merely a matter of perfecting small details!

At this moment, a new spell had already been added to his panel.

【Ten Thousand Spells Straw Man (High-Grade)】

【Progress: First Turn】

【Effect: Five Techniques perfectly merged, achieving the Ten Thousand Spells Straw Man. When this straw-man technique is cast, a wisp of life soul splits off and can exist for a long time. As the realm improves, other spells can be infinitely stacked!】

"The strongest straw-man technique has been learned by me." Zhao Xing grinned, "This is an ultimate technique of the Qi Era; by the time of the Spirit Qi Resurgence, its effect will be even stronger, like a divine ability, bringing boundless benefit."

The Ten Thousand Spells Straw Man was a life-saving divine skill of the Minister of Agriculture; Liu Tianning, during the Wu Di era, suffered so many assassinations yet lived well, eventually dying of old age.

As long as he himself did not wish to die, no one could kill him.

Because no one could distinguish which one was Liu Tianning's true body, nor could they find where his true body was.

Of course, this excluded the Wu Di.

If the Wu Di in his prime wanted to kill Liu Tianning, he could still manage it.

After a certain period, it would no longer be possible.

"If I reach Liu Tianning's position, get my hands on Mi Fu's 'Mysterious Yellow Analysis Origin Art', nourish my spirit with the Lingshan Technique, break the drawbacks of the straw-man technique, then go to the various grotto-heavens to raise my luck to the level of Ten Expansion, and obtain a few treasures, even the Wu Di in his prime could not kill me," Zhao Xing thought secretly.

For him to become a First-Rank Grand Minister of Agriculture, and for Liu Tianning to become a First-Rank Grand Minister of Agriculture, were completely two different concepts.

For Zhao Xing to become a First-Rank Grand Minister of Agriculture would be far stronger than Liu Tianning!

"It seems now, this karmic debt from Old Liu is one I must accept."

Liu Tianning taught with utmost care, even damaging his own life soul; in any case, the reality of master and disciple had been established; this karmic debt was far heavier than Tian Shan's kind of monetary investment.

"You chose me; I will certainly not let you down; I will surely carry forward your Liu family's straw-man technique!" Zhao Xing thought secretly.

One of Liu Tianning's greatest wishes was to ensure the Liu family's straw-man technique would not be lost.

Having mastered the Self-Straw-Man, Zhao Xing sent a message of good news to Liu Tianning via the Earth Mirror.

Liu Tianning, located in the Ten Thousand Spells Palace, upon seeing the message in the Earth Mirror, revealed a faint smile.

It was not only because Zhao Xing's talent was astonishing, having truly learned the Ten Thousand Spells Straw Man, but also because Zhao Xing addressed him as 'Master' in the letter; since Liu's transmission of the straw-man technique now had a successor, he was naturally happy.

On the other side, Zhao Xing was urgently perfecting the Ten Thousand Spells Straw Man. He quickly reached the level of High-Grade Third Turn.

After mastering the Ten Thousand Spells Straw Man, fusing other straw-man techniques became much easier for him.

Including the low-grade techniques learned at the very beginning, such as 'Reconnaissance', 'Return Walk', and 'Great Strength', could all be merged in.

Even, some other spells could be fused, such as the Bright Eyes Technique, which could allow the straw man to see farther.

Of course, at the level of High-Grade Third Turn, Zhao Xing could only accommodate mid-grade techniques, unable to accommodate high-grade techniques.

However, in terms of efficacy, this true body is not necessarily as useful as the straw man.

Because Zhao Xing cannot cast spells like Illusion Form or Invisibility, but the straw man can.

"I can now summon three True Self straw men simultaneously; any more would place great pressure on my Life Soul, and these three straw men cannot be casually damaged."

"If they are damaged, it will injure my Life Soul." Zhao Xing looked at the three straw men before him.

Since it possesses 'Illusion Form', the straw man's appearance now is identical to the true body, especially when wearing a straw rain cape and a bamboo hat, holding a bamboo staff; ordinary people simply cannot tell the difference.

"It is time to break through the Soul-Confusing Array on the Anping Road and the Nanxiang Road!" Zhao Xing hesitated not, immediately summoning the Junshu Ling of Tonghuocheng for a meeting.

"From today on, the supply transport units will still pass through the Anping Road and the Nanxiang Road!" Zhao Xing issued the order. "I, this official, will lead the team personally."

The Anping Road and the Nanxiang Road, as long as one passes the Soul-Confusing Array, are far safer than the other routes.

Because these two routes can be supported in time by the three large armies at the front line.

If the Sacrificial Soul Pass wants to harass?

Then that is perfect; no need to besiege the city, just conduct targeted ambushes on the reinforcements.

A commotion spread among those below, because Zhao Xing's order seemed somewhat incredible.

He was only one person, yet he intended to lead several transport units.

Moreover, the current Soul-Confusing Array was more powerful than before, guarded by ghost armies; many felt Zhao Xing had gone mad.

But, Zhao Xing was the number one authority here!

Even if someone opposed, what he wanted to do, he could accomplish.

The order was issued and executed on the very same day.

Transport units on the original routes that had not yet departed were all halted; those that had departed recently were all chased down by dispatched personnel, ordered to return to Tonghuocheng, and not to detour through enemy-occupied zones.

With this move of his, the front line reacted immediately.

Liao Ru, Xia Jing, Chen Shijie, Wen Shaoyang and others, upon learning the news, immediately opened a temporary meeting via the Earth Mirror.

"You intend to take the Anping Road and the Nanxiang Road? Is it feasible?" Wen Shaoyang asked.

"It is feasible!" Zhao Xing said, "You must pay attention to the movements on both roads, striking the reinforcements sent by the Sacrificial Soul Pass at any time. I am changing the routes this time; the Sacrificial Soul Pass will not remain indifferent, and this is also an opportunity."

Seeing Zhao Xing so confident, no one questioned anything further.

Xia Jing and Chen Shijie both urged Zhao Xing to be careful, then hung up the communication to discuss the ambush plan.

On the other side, Qi Yuanjun, Yi Yue, and Nangong Ye also held a small private meeting.

"Zhao Xing of the Divine Might Army says he intends to retrace the Anping Road and the Nanxiang Road, asking us to support the transport units at any time and strike the reinforcements of the Sacrificial Soul Pass," Qi Yuanjun said. "Nangong, what do you think?"

"Can he pass the Soul-Confusing Array?" Nangong Ye frowned. "If he cannot pass, it will not only waste our forces in vain but also cause the supply line to collapse."

"Let him try," Yi Yue said. "He has already promised that if he fails, he can send our own people over."

"Very well, then we shall accompany him in taking this risk this time," Qi Yuanjun said. "His and the Divine Might Army's current performance are both quite commendable. If he cannot make it, we will propose other options."

To be honest, fighting until now, Qi Yuanjun, Yi Yue, and Nangong Ye were relatively satisfied with the entire Divine Might Army.

Except for Yi Yue having some objections to Zhao Xing's previous delays, overall, Zhao Xing's work was done very thoroughly.

If their own people were sent, they probably could not do any better.

If Zhao Xing succeeds, then maintain the current state of cooperation.

If Zhao Xing fails, then they will have an excuse to increase troops, raise their voice in the Six Armies Alliance, or even simply act alone.

The generals on the Sacrificial Soul Pass side were also discussing at this moment.

Malike and Qiyuanzi, responsible for a section of the Anping Road Soul-Confusing Array deployment, had just received the ambush order from the coalition leader.

"Zhao Xing of Tonghuocheng, does he really intend to break through the Soul-Confusing Array?" Malike received the order and found it incredible. "Does he really dare?"

"The fact is that the transport units on the other routes have all withdrawn," Qiyuanzi said. "As for whether he is truly breaking through or feinting, and whether there is any scheme, we will know once we try."

"Malike, we must take this seriously. Once he truly walks out of the Anping Road formation, we must retreat." Qiyuanzi frowned tightly. "I always feel this person is not simple. Prepare to withdraw back into the Sacrificial Soul Pass."

Over this past month, Zhao Xing, despite immense pressure, still managed to ensure the front-line grand army's supplies did not fall short, which also exceeded Qiyuanzi's expectations.

Saturation transport methods are not something anyone can play with; Tonghuocheng's transport capacity and military supply production and reserves all exceeded their calculations.

If he can also solve the Soul-Confusing Array, then he and Malike's wild barbarian army should not think about staying along the Anping Road; it would be best to withdraw quickly inside the pass.

Among the tribal coalition of the Sacrificial Soul Pass, Malike's numbers and voice ranked last; if the Sacrificial Soul Pass were lost, they would not bear the main responsibility.

"If the Sacrificial Soul Pass is lost, it can be retaken later; if life is lost, it cannot be retrieved."

"You are right." Malike deeply agreed. He was from the Wang Ting of the Holy Spirit, guarding the Fire Demon Clan territory under the command of the Jin Yu Wang Ting; he truly had not much determination, as it was not his own hometown.

"All Dragon Bone Warships advance one thousand two hundred meters; the Land Flying Boat Camp retreats six hundred meters!"

"Cover-Sea Tower Ship hard to port, turn!"

On the Anping Road, aboard a warship in the low sky, Zhao Xing stood on the dragon head of the deck, constantly issuing orders.

"Che Shihai, you are flying too high; descend two hundred meters!"

"Boss, but if I descend another two hundred meters, I will crash into the mountain!"

"I told you to descend, so descend! That is an illusion!"

"Yes!!" Che Shihai gritted his teeth, widened his eyes, descended two hundred meters, and flew straight toward the Shanfeng ahead.

Strange to say, though it felt as if he was about to crash, the flying boat he controlled flew right past it.

The lead flying boat passed, and the ones behind followed suit, flying past together.

"Damn, this is truly uncanny." Che Shihai felt a cold sweat on his palms.

He had already flown for two shichen, experiencing this kind of thing several times.

But every time, he could not help but tremble.

It was purely the illusion given by the Soul-Confusing Array, affecting his Life Soul.

Making him instinctively feel fear and terror.

"Wang Ji, have the Fire Crossbow Camp of the Dragon Bone Warships prepare!"

"Left cabin, aim at the fourth trigram position, Gen position, mid-wind zone. Saturate and fire in ten breaths!"

"Do not stop until I tell you to."

"Yes!" Wang Ji immediately roared at the artificer controlling the warship: "Left cabin fire crossbow camp, take position! Adjust the crossbow cannon to the fourth trigram position for charging. Target area: Gen position, mid-wind zone!"

"Fire!"

The Great Zhou's fire crossbow camp generally refers to a warship fire crossbow camp; only warships of at least the fifth tier, supreme grade, can be equipped with one.

Because if the ship is too small, there is truly no place to put it; a single crossbow cannon is one hundred and eight meters long and fifteen meters wide.

The crossbow cannon consists of five parts: the base, the firestone, the trigger mechanism, the firing port, and the crossbow bolt.

A fifth-tier crossbow cannon is of the one-thousand-six-hundred-shot type; it can fire eighty fire crossbow bolts per second. Though called bolts, they are more like giant spears.

Fifth-tier bolts possess extensibility; before firing, they are five meters long and wrist-thick, but after launch, they expand to thigh-thick and fifteen meters long.

The fire crossbow bolt is a three-stage design; the rear two sections are carved with artificer formation arrays totaling one thousand two hundred and eighty-five lines. These provide propulsion to the very tip of the bolt during flight, accelerating it to at least five 'Ming' speed or higher!

The bolt's tip is a three-layer sleeve design; it can break barriers and penetrate warships. Moreover, upon hitting an object, the internal array does not explode immediately but detonates a few seconds after penetration.

Its inner two layers, or core layer, are made precisely of fifth-tier firecrackers.

Only strong armies can equip a fire crossbow camp; ordinary armies would run out of materials before long while fighting.

Because to build them, the artificer must be an elite like Wang Gong; ordinary craftsmen cannot master such exquisite artificer formation array craftsmanship. Furthermore, fifth-tier firecrackers cannot be mass-planted by ordinary Agricultural Officials.

"Vwoom~" Streams of cyan light fired out from the left rudder of the Dragon Bone warship.

There was no sound of breaking the air, because the wind resistance was eliminated by the Wind-Running formation array on the bolts; the reason they appeared cyan was precisely this.

Only upon hitting the target would the bolt's tip turn red.

After giving the order, Wang Ji also stared at the target area ahead.

Because the place Zhao Xing wanted to bombard appeared to him as a completely unobstructed high altitude.

But after the crossbow cannons fired, he quickly saw red flames bloom, which meant the target had been hit.

Yet Wang Ji still could not see what had been hit.

Zhao Xing stood on the deck with his Heaven's Eye open; he saw that in that spot in the sky, a group of flying boats, entirely black and hung with Ghost-Head Soul Sails, had been shot down.

"This is the aerial array base of the Confusing Soul Formation; it possesses the effect of bewildering the mind and also has offensive power. As long as one approaches, the Life Soul will be impacted; lightly, the Life Soul is damaged, turning one into an idiot; heavily, the Life Soul dies directly," Zhao Xing thought silently.

"Three hundred flying boats were hovering along the route; with so many, it seems I am about to fly out of this Confusing Soul Formation."

Sure enough, after the fire crossbow camp on the Dragon Bone warship shot down these flying boats.

In less than two quarter-hours, Zhao Xing saw the city ahead; the Heavenly Timing returned to normal, the Almanac no longer warned, and the directions and times all returned to their proper positions.

This signified that his team had walked out of the Confusing Soul Formation.

"Old Liu is indeed awesome; he is even proficient in the Way of Formations," Zhao Xing could not help but praise.

"This person is an Army Agricultural Official, yet he is also proficient in the Way of Formations; indeed, he is extraordinary!"

After Zhao Xing's warship fleet flew past, in a valley below.

Malik watched helplessly as black Soul Sails fell one by one from the sky, his expression shocked; this was a deployment they had prepared long ago.

"This person is not simple; using the Five Elements of Heaven and Earth as the foundation and Yin Ghost Sails as the array, he still managed to pass through," Qi Yuanzi said, his eyes filled with shock. "This formation of our Xuantian Sect, which blocks the heavens and obstructs the earth, actually could not stop him."

"Malik, let us retreat. Do not think about ambushing him anymore; we must withdraw immediately, or we will likely be surrounded by the great army ahead! If we are late, we will not be able to escape this encirclement!"