The center of this circle was the same as the core of the Hundred Thousand God-Devil Execution Formation!
These two formations shared the same core!
Bang!
With a resounding boom, the large and small formations, outer and inner, fused together.
“This is impossible!”
Hou Junji sensed this shift, and his composure instantly fell apart.
He was the creator of the Hundred Thousand God-Devil Execution Formation, and understood its attributes and energy flow more than anyone else.
Others could only sense that the two formations were slowly fusing into one, but Hou Junji could tell that this was not a simple fusion.
The small and complex channels used by the Hundred Thousand God-Devil Execution Formation had connected with the ones used by Wang Chong’s formation. In other words, Wang Chong’s Origin Immortal Formation was no longer drawing energy from the mountains and rivers around the capital. It was using the same source of power as the Hundred Thousand God-Devil Execution Formation… the Three Emperors Formation!
“How could this be?!”
Hou Junji gave that distant youth a flabbergasted stare.
Wang Chong had managed to shift around his formation so that it was completely in sync with his Hundred Thousand God-Devil Execution Formation!
This wasn’t even considering how excruciatingly difficult it was to completely align the energy flows of two different formations. Reaching this mastery of formations was realistically impossible.
And just theoretically speaking, connecting two energy channels together required the same level of understanding in the Hundred Thousand God-Devil Execution Formation as Hou Junji’s, but this couldn’t be!
This was Hou Junji’s first time using this formation!
Hou Junji was proud of his intelligence, but this was not something even he could possibly calculate.
“Milord, I’ll go and inform His Highness!” Fei Yuhan suddenly said. As the Eastern Palace guard captain, he was very familiar with the Hundred Thousand God-Devil Execution Formation. He turned around and immediately began to make his way toward the depths of the palace, but he was quickly called back.
“There’s no need. It’s too late,” Hou Junji calmly said, staring at Wang Chong as he waved his hand.
Given how long Wang Chong had planned for this, there could be no flaw in this step, no opportunity given to his foe to adjust. Anything done was simply too late.
“Heh, Senior is truly observant. It really is too late!”
Wang Chong looked away from the board and at Hou Junji. He slowly began to stand up, a smirk on his face.
Soldiers were trained for a thousand days to be used in a single moment. Wang Chong had waited a very long time for his men to be perfectly positioned, so how could he have allowed Hou Junji to adjust the formation as he pleased?
Qiqin, it’s about time. What comes next will depend on you! Wang Chong silently said as he glanced in the direction of the Center Gate. He had made a copy of the Origin Immortal Formation diagram and given it to Xu Qiqin some time ago, and she understood all of his strategic objectives. Given her intelligence, she presumably understood how to proceed.
Creee!
As if in response to Wang Chong’s thoughts, a sharp whistle came from the direction of the Center Gate.
Boom!
The earth began to tremble, and massive booms and bangs could be heard from all around the Imperial Palace. Deep down within the earth, those two formations fusing together beneath the earth suddenly began to turn in reverse.
This sudden shift immediately caused the destructive energy within the formation to clash against itself.
Buzz!
After what seemed like an eternity, the screams of panic and fear seemed to die away for a moment. In that brief period of silence, the Hundred Thousand God-Devil Execution Formation suddenly stopped, and then the vast and chaotic energy within it broke free.
Boom!
Geysers of energy rocketed up from the Imperial Palace, accompanied by choruses of screams. A second later, the Hundred Thousand God-Devil Execution Formation shattered like a mirror, and its energy completely vanished.
“Wh-what’s going on here?”
At the Kun Gate, Duan Zhuyan had been locked in battle with Li Siye. He had just been in the middle of raising his sword, coating it in destructive energy so that he could bring it down on Li Siye’s head. But at this moment, the Stellar Energy in Duan Zhuyan’s body explosively scattered, immediately dropping his energy level.
Duan Zhuyan had initially been weaker than Li Siye, and he had been relying on the formation to just barely keep up with him. This sudden drop in strength left him startled and shocked. At this level of strength, he was no match for Li Siye! But there was still much more for him to be shocked about.
Clangclangclang!
A metal clattering came from behind, and when Duan Zhuyan turned his head, he saw that the three formation halos around his soldiers had begun to flicker and shatter. As these halos rapidly lost power, his men cried out in alarm and his ranks fell into chaos.
At this moment, Duan Zhuyan also heard a tsunami-like roar coming from the depths of the palace.
“The formation is broken…”
Duan Zhuyan understood what had happened, his heart sinking like a stone. On the other side, Li Siye bellowed as he raised his sword and slashed down.
At the Center Gate and Qian Gate, similar scenes were taking place.
It was like a core piece of a vast and complicated war machine had suddenly exploded, causing the entire thing to fall apart. The Hundred Thousand God-Devil Execution Formation had thoroughly collapsed! And without the formation’s power, the Imperial Army was suddenly weakened and found it hard to hold the line.
“Kill!”
At the three gates, Wang Chong’s soldiers surged forward like a torrential flood, blasting through the opposition and charging deeper into the palace.
In the distance, Fei Yuhan and the other Eastern Palace soldiers heard the sounds of fighting and paled. In the end, Wang Chong had managed to break through the Imperial Army.
“Wonderful!”
The Fifth Prince and his Jinyang Palace soldiers were elated. No one had expected Wang Chong to reverse such a dire situation, destroying the Hundred Thousand God-Devil Execution Formation in the blink of an eye.
“Your Highness, this is great! The King of Foreign Lands is truly too formidable!”
Li Jingzhong looked at the Fifth Prince, his fists clenched in excitement. Just a few moments ago, he had thought that everything was over, but now, the balance had suddenly tipped in their favor.
“Your Highness, wonderful!”
Miyasame Ayaka’s eyes were bright as she sighed in relief.
No matter how bad the situation was, she was confident that Wang Chong would always be able to reverse the tides, and reality had not let down her hopes. In this world, there was nothing that her liege could not handle.
This was a conviction held by every member of the King of Foreign Lands Residence.
“I truly underestimated you!” Hou Junji gravely said, staring at Wang Chong. “The Tongluo Cavalry were stopped at the palace gates, but once the Tongluo were dealt with, those soldiers did not head for the Center, Qian, or Kun Gates. Did you send them to the East Gate?”
“Heheh, yes. As I expected, I can’t hide anything from Senior!”
Wang Chong faintly smiled, his body exuding a natural confidence and majesty. In the younger generation, he was probably the only one who was able to compare to the bearing of the Army-Shattering War God.
Even Fei Yuhan and the other Eastern Palace soldiers couldn’t help but look at Wang Chong in reverence.
“In order to increase its strength, Senior restricted your Hundred Thousand God-Devil Execution Formation to a smaller area that only covered the region between the Qian, Center, and Kun Gates and Taiji Palace. Trying to force one’s way through Senior’s formation in th
irty minutes is not possible, so I could only think of a detour. Fortunately, Senior’s formation was small enough that I only needed to cover the South, East, West, and North Gates. By using them as the perimeter and the Three Emperors Formation as a core, with Senior’s formation as the inner ring, I was naturally able to fuse the formations together.”
Wang Chong smiled as he casually explained.
“Most importantly, Senior was completely focused on those three gates, thinking that I would try to force my way through them. You didn’t guard any other places, so this junior had enough time to arrange everything.”
Buzz!
Hou Junji and Fei Yuhan scowled.
It wasn’t that Hou Junji had been too careless with regard to Wang Chong, nor was it that he had never thought of this possibility. It was just that Wang Chong’s plan was too absurd. No one besides him even understood the essence of the Hundred Thousand God-Devil Execution Formation. Putting a formation around a formation and then detonating the internal formation was theoretically sound, but such a proposition could only exist on paper.
Hou Junji had never even considered this possibility in his plans!
Even when it came to someone like the Army-Shattering War God, Wang Chong’s style of fighting was truly unconventional!
Putting aside Hou Junji, Wang Chong slowly looked toward the depths of the Imperial Palace, where the sounds of fighting could still be heard. Li Siye and the others were currently advancing at full speed, and the defensive live that Hou Junji had gone through such great pains to establish was collapsing on all fronts!
Everything was going perfectly according to plan!
Chapter 1778 - Chongsheng Gate!
Chapter 1778: Chongsheng Gate!
Translated by: Hypersheep325
Edited by: Michyrr
“By the way, Senior, those officials the First Prince imprisoned in Taihe Palace? You don’t need to worry about them anymore.”
Wang Chong looked toward where the sounds of fighting were loudest and smiled.
“Senior is known as the Army-Shattering War God, so this lowly one did not dare to be careless. But this junior’s reinforcements were never outside Taihe Palace. They were always inside!”
“What?!”
Hou Junji and Fei Yuhan instantly paled.
“This is impossible!”
The one who had said this was not Hou Junji, but Fei Yuhan.
“There are only officials and the general we assigned to guard the area inside Taihe Palace! You can’t have possibly inserted soldiers within! There’s nowhere to hide in that place!”
The matter of Taihe Palace was extremely important, as even if the rebellion succeeded, the First Prince would still have to obtain the acknowledgment of the people of the realm to become the true successor of the Sage Emperor. This necessitated the acknowledgment of the major officials, and so those officials imprisoned inside Taihe Palace played a critical role in the First Prince’s plans. More importantly, the First Prince had given Fei Yuhan the duty of carrying out this mission!
Fei Yuhan’s men had been the ones to move those officials out.
“And we inspected all those people! There’s no way you could have pulled any tricks!” Fei Yuhan sharply said.
Hou Junji said nothing, but his face slowly turned grave. Although he wasn’t responsible for this matter, he had specifically instructed Fei Yuhan to investigate all the officials Wang Chong was on good terms with to prevent any tricks. Logically speaking, Wang Chong could never have succeeded in any plan.
“Haha, of course, you would investigate those officials I was on good terms with or who opposed the First Prince, and this really wouldn’t take much effort. However, did you also investigate those officials the First Prince was on good terms with? If I recall correctly, the Grand Preceptor didn’t come to today’s morning court session!”
Wang Chong glanced at Fei Yuhan and smirked.
Whoosh!
Upon hearing this, the man turned ghastly pale. Wang Chong was right. While more than half of the capital’s top nobles and officials had participated in today’s morning court session, the Grand Preceptor had not appeared. But as the Grand Preceptor was very old and was on the First Prince’s side, there was little need for him to appear.
But Fei Yuhan clearly recalled that though the Grand Preceptor had not come, he had sent someone to observe and listen in his place. Could it be…
Fei Yuhan once more looked at Wang Chong’s smirk, and he instantly understood what had happened. Despair surged over him. He had done his best to defend against any tricks, but he had never expected this move from Wang Chong.
“Withdraw!”
Hou Junji called out and then quickly turned to look at Wang Chong.
“To think that after sixty years, an individual like you would appear amongst the youth of the Great Tang. The Grand Preceptor is of extremely high status and is on good terms with the First Prince, so no one would take notice of him, and you exploited this very fact. If my guess is correct, those officials in Taihe Palace were already taken away by your infiltrators!”
“Heh, those soldiers were merely a distraction. Naturally, those officials were taken away by my infiltrators, so Senior has no need to continue worrying about it,” Wang Chong indifferently said.
“In addition, the Four Quarters Embassy, the Wang Clan Residence, and the King Song Residence? Senior doesn’t need to keep worrying about them either. Thanks to Senior, this junior long ago made plans, and those places should be safe and sound. The soldiers Senior sent probably won’t be coming back! And Senior also does not need to concern yourself over Zhang Zheng’s army…”
Wang Chong faintly smiled.
Whoosh!
Hou Junji could still salvage the matter of the officials being saved from Taihe Palace, but when Wang Chong mentioned Zhang Zheng’s army, he couldn’t help but shiver.
“What do you mean?”
Once this night was over, the news of the rebellion in the Imperial Palace was certain to cause even greater turmoil. In any dynasty, a changing of governments was bound to cause an uproar in society, and when done poorly, would cause uprisings amongst the populace. In these situations, the armies on the border would play an important role.
Only with the combined efforts of the Imperial Army and the border armies could the situation be stabilized. This was why Hou Junji had mobilized Zhang Zheng’s Beiting Protectorate army. But Wang Chong was indicating that things were not as simple as he had imagined.
“Heh, has Senior not noticed that Zhang Zheng’s army has yet to enter the capital?” Wang Chong nonchalantly asked.
Hou Junji, Fei Yuhan, and all the Imperial Army soldiers grimaced. Yes, nearly thirty minutes had gone by, so Zhang Zheng’s army should have already entered, but now that they listened, they found the capital rather quiet. A city through which tens of thousands of soldiers were marching could never be so quiet.
“What did you do? Did you still have soldiers?” Hou Junji suddenly asked. He had been observing Wang Chong this entire time and had determined that there was no way he could still have soldiers. Moreover, Zhang Zheng had already reached Gold Bull Mountain. If someone had come to stop him, it wouldn’t be so quiet outside the capital. The sounds of such a battle should have been audible from the palace.
“Heh, dealing with Zhang Zheng doesn’t need that many soldiers. I simply sent Senior… a piece of paper!”
A vicious light flashed in Wang Chong’s eyes.
The mention of this piece of paper caused Hou Junji and Fei Yuhan to tremble in shock and understanding, and they were rendered speechless.
Silence!
The entire area fell into an eerie silence!
Wang Chong and Hou Junji silently stared at each other, both their eyes gleaming as brightly as stars and as sharply as swords.
When evil grew one foot taller, the righteous would grow by ten feet. In this ‘chess game’, Hou Junji and Wang Chong had been scheming against each other, but th
e one thing Hou Junji had not expected was that the letter he and the First Prince had received from Zhang Zheng was a forgery.
To think that Wang Chong’s plans would be this meticulous…!
His calculations had seemingly begun even before the start of this game.
“Good, good, good!”
Hou Junji finally broke the deathly stillness.
“Truly amazing! As expected of Su Zhengchen’s disciple! You forged a letter from Zhang Zheng, and if my guess is correct, you’ve also taken control of the capital’s outer gates.”
Wang Chong said nothing, as there was no need to answer. Neither he nor Hou Junji could have left any obvious flaws in their plans. By now, the outer gates of the capital had naturally fallen into his hands.
“You’ve truly got a good head on your shoulders, and even I must express some praise for your abilities. Su Zhengchen went his entire life without taking a disciple, but he was truly fortunate to find someone like you in his twilight years. So what a pity it is that despite your outstanding abilities, you chose to stand on the wrong side.”
Hou Junji placed his hands behind his back, took in a deep breath, and regained his composure.
“Even though you forged Zhang Zheng’s letter, broke my Hundred Thousand God-Devil Execution Formation, and saved the officials in Taihe Palace, you still can’t change anything. The Imperial Army is still within the Imperial Palace, and you will need several hours to break through them. In addition, I have also stationed a force at the gate leading to Taiji Palace, Chongsheng Gate, commanded by Grand Marshal Bai Hanzhou. You will need even more time to break through that force. But alas… you don’t have the time. If all goes as expected, the battle at the heart of the Imperial Palace will soon be over. Once all the Dragon Guards fall, no one will be left to stop the Imperial Army!
“Despite all you’ve done, in the end… you will still lose!!”
Hou Junji shook his head and shot Wang Chong a pitying gaze.
The Human Emperor c1-2382 Page 1089
