To think that this formation would appear at a time like this…!
Such was the Supreme River Formation’s difficulty that the First Prince was certainly not capable of resurrecting this formation from the last days of the Sui.
Wang Chong quickly turned his gaze to the inconspicuous Hou Junji at the First Prince’s side.
While it might have been impossible for others to revive the Supreme River Formation, it was an entirely different matter if one was talking about the Army-Shattering War God, Hou Junji!
Clang!
With a clashing of metal, Zhao Fengchen and Duan Zhuyan once more swept past each other.
After this clash, Zhao Fengchen became much more serious. No matter where Duan Zhuyan had come from, the fact that he could block the Cutting Formation made him a frightening opponent.
Chapter 1727 - The Rupture Halo!
Chapter 1727: The Rupture Halo!
Translated by: Hypersheep325
Edited by: Michyrr
“Marshal, they’re withdrawing!” a Feather Forest Army officer whispered.
Zhao Fengchen’s Xuanwu Army was truly formidable. After blocking the Cutting Formation, the Feather Forest Army had been ready to counterattack and deal the Xuanwu Army a heavy blow, but Zhao Fengchen had been incredibly sharp. When he realized that his formation couldn’t break the Supreme River Formation, he had changed directions and simply passed through, not even giving them a chance.
“Hmph, let them be! Since they’ve finished showing off, it’s our turn now!”
Duan Zhuyan’s emotionless voice emerged from his thick armor. This was actually the first sentence he had said in today’s battle.
But Duan Zhuyan did not immediately order his men to attack. Instead, he turned to the north, toward the motionless figure of the Ghost King. While this move was subtle, Wang Chong immediately noticed it.
Hou Junji had been rather stingy with his words and actions today, but this time, he subtly nodded at Duan Zhuyan.
‘Begin!’
The Ghost King’s eyes clearly conveyed this message.
“They’re making their move!” Bai Siling nervously said, her intuition warning her of imminent danger.
The Ghost King had basically not intervened in this competition, but their gazes meeting at that moment had clearly been some sort of signal.
Wang Chong nodded, but there was little perturbation in his eyes. Given the importance of this battle, it would have been far stranger if the First Prince and Hou Junji had only come with the one Supreme River Formation.
Wang Chong turned to Zhao Fengchen, and the two exchanged subtle nods of their own.
‘Begin!’ Wang Chong conveyed through his cold eyes.
After two probes, Zhao Fengchen and Duan Zhuyan had basically gotten a measure of their opponent’s strength. It was now time for the true struggle.
On the northern end of the drilling ground, Kim U-Seok announced, “Your Highness, they’re going to make their move!”
Wang Chong and Zhao Fengchen’s subtle exchange had not gone unnoticed.
“I saw it!”
The First Prince clenched his fists and scowled.
Bastard!
The First Prince stared at the nearby Wang Chong, his eyes surging with killing intent. He thought that Zhao Fengchen had spent all his cards after using the Xuanwu Halo and the Cutting Formation, but it seemed as if he still had a few more tricks. This made the First Prince hate Wang Chong down to the bones.
Hmph! This prince doesn’t believe that you can still win!
The First Prince mentally cursed.
Although he had left the entire matter to Hou Junji and didn’t know many of the details, given the importance of the Imperial Army, he still understood a few parts of the plan.
No matter what, Wang Chong could never win!
Meanwhile, on the drilling ground, the winds bleakly howled as the two armies entered another tense standoff.
Boom!
After a seemingly endless few seconds, Zhao Fengchen and Duan Zhuyan charged again.
This time, they had both chosen to go on the offensive, and the stampede of horses threatened to shatter the earth. The energies on both sides soared, and it took only a few hundred feet for both forces to reach maximum speed.
The surrounding space began to warp and twist, the images within growing hazy.
Roooar!
Awooo!
In a flash of light, a massive Zhuyan and a savage Xuanwu appeared above the two armies.
“I can’t tell which army will win!”
The eyes focused on the drilling ground were brimming with tension.
These two armies were simply too strong. By now, the spectators had been unknowingly entranced by this battle.
Clang!
When the two forces were still around one thousand feet away, Duan Zhuyan suddenly pressed himself against his horse, which reared up on its hindlegs and slammed down.
There was a metallic clang, and then a war halo even larger than the Great Zhuyan Halo rapidly began to expand, sweeping over the army like a storm.
“Two halos!”
“He actually has two halos! But how?!”
Cries of surprise came from all sides of the drilling ground, everyone staring in shock at this second halo.
Everyone knew that while one person could train in multiple war halos, unless one had the assistance of some external force like a ritual artifact, they could only use these halos in alternation. Rarely could halos be used together.
This was particularly the case for a top-class halo like the Great Zhuyan Halo. Overlapping two powerful halos was almost impossible.
At least in the Imperial Army, there was no one who could use two powerful halos at once.
Duan Zhuyan was stronger than anyone could have ever imagined, but the crowd was about to be even more shocked.
Neeeigh!
As the halo emerged, numerous warhorses on the eastern side of the drilling ground suddenly widened their eyes in fright, rearing up and fleeing with the Imperial Army soldiers on their backs.
“What’s going on?!”
The Imperial Army soldiers were flabbergasted by this development.
They hastily pulled on their reins and tried to soothe the horses.
“Look over there!”
In the middle of this chaos, this cry of shock was particularly distinct, and everyone instantly turned to look. What greeted the numerous clan scions and high nobles was an apocalyptic scene.
The moment that halo appeared, the five hundred Feather Forest Army soldiers began to blaze with intense flames.
These flames rose to a height of ten-some meters, and even light dimmed upon approaching these flames.
Hiss! Crack!
Silver bolts of lightning erupted from the earth, slicing through the air like swords and sabers, and created countless tiny cracks and explosions.
Those cracks were like mouths, devouring any physical object that got close.
“What is that?!”
On the southern end of the drilling ground, Li Lin cried out in surprise, his face paling.
While Li Lin rarely stepped onto the battlefield, he had a War God for a nephew. Spending time at his side had made him more keenly understand various military strategies and martial arts, but Li Lin had never even heard about this explosive halo rising from Duan Zhuyan’s body.
But there was no questioning this halo’s power.
From a distance, one could sense the destructive energy seething within this halo.
At this moment, a clan patriarch of fifty-some years old cried out in shock, “The Rupture Halo!
“Isn’t this the Rupture Halo used by Army-Shattering War God Hou Junji?!”
He had no impression of the halo that Duan Zhuyan was using, but the tiny explosions in the air and those thin slivers in the fabric of space were identical to the ones in the stories his grandfather had once told him.
The Rupture Halo could be considered one of
the most terrifying halos in the world. It was primarily focused on rupturing, breaking, and pulverizing an opponent’s formation, and was extremely hostile to other formations.
Hou Junji had relied precisely on the Rupture Halo to become the widely respected Army-Shattering War God. But the explosive and rupturing nature of this halo also meant that it could not be fused with other formations, so the Rupture Halo had not been incorporated into the Nine Dragon Blood War Banner.
This legendary halo was said to have been lost with Hou Junji. The clan patriarch had never imagined that he would see it again.
Wang Chong had a grim look on his face, while the gasps of surprise at Duan Zhuyan using the Rupture Halo rang out in his ears.
“Wang Chong!”
Li Lin and Bai Siling nervously looked at Wang Chong.
Unlike the others, they knew the truth about the Ghost King. If this was really the Rupture Halo, then the Xuanwu Halo would not be enough.
Gallop!
Hooves continued to thunder on the drilling ground, pounding against everyone’s hearts. In the middle of all the surprise and consternation, the Feather Forest Army sped up.
The distance of one thousand feet was barely anything to these two extremely fast armies. It would be covered in two or three seconds.
Zhao Fengchen didn’t have much time, and the situation looked extremely bad. In terms of momentum, the Feather Forest Army had completely surmounted Zhao Fengchen’s army.
The power of two halos had made the Feather Forest Army superior to the Xuanwu Army in all attributes, whether it was strength, dexterity, or speed.
But Wang Chong continued to just stare at the drilling ground.
He could see the distance shrink to three hundred feet. Even if Zhao Fengchen wanted to turn back now, it was too late.
Flight would only ensure a swift defeat!
“Now is the moment!”
Just when the two armies were about to collide, Wang Chong’s eyes sharply flashed.
Xuan-Huang Link Formation!
(TN: Xuan means ‘black’ in this context, and it is the same Xuan used in Xuanwu. It can also mean ‘profound’ and ‘mysterious’. Huang is the color ‘yellow’. In this specific context, when Xuan and Huang are used together, they denote Heaven and Earth. Xuan/black is the color of Heaven while Huang/yellow is the color of Earth.)
Boom!
As Wang Chong mentally called out, in the distance, Zhao Fengchen’s five hundred Xuanwu Army soldiers suddenly pulled apart from each other and adopted a new formation.
Chapter 1728 - The Xuan-Huang Link Formation!
Chapter 1728: The Xuan-Huang Link Formation!
Translated by: Hypersheep325
Edited by: Michyrr
Boom!
Zhao Fengchen led his five hundred Xuanwu Army soldiers and rammed right into the Feather Forest Army that was empowered by the Great Zhuyan Halo and the Rupture Halo.
“Ah!”
“What is that?!”
“How… how could this be?!”
As Zhao Fengchen was leading his men in this charge, the spectators on all sides of the drilling ground felt like they had just seen something absurd, and their bodies trembled while their eyes flew open in shock.
Even the members of the Eastern Palace on the northern side clenched their fists, their faces paling.
“This can’t be!”
No one was more shocked at this moment than the ever-composed Army-Shattering War God, Hou Junji.
Naturally, he had been the one who had given Duan Zhuyan the Rupture Halo. This had been the skill that he had relied on to make his name, and it was peerless when it came to offensive power, ranking far above the Supreme River Formation. Not even a peak Supreme River Formation would be able to stop his Rupture Halo.
The greatest source of Hou Junji’s confidence in sending these two complete unknowns into the Imperial Army competition to challenge the Grand Marshals was the Rupture Halo.
But not even Hou Junji could have imagined that there was someone who could break through his Rupture Halo in a direct confrontation.
Bang!
Everyone saw the most absurd event in the world taking place in the center of the drilling ground.
A black and yellow energy erupted from Zhao Fengchen’s body and fused with the auras of the five hundred Xuanwu Army soldiers, transforming them into a pillar of black and yellow energy nearly one hundred meters tall, covered in countless profound and mysterious patterns. With one strike, the pillar blasted a hole through the Feather Forest Army.
But this was far from the only shocking thing.
The moment the massive black and yellow pillar appeared, Duan Zhuyan’s Great Zhuyan Halo and Rupture Halo vanished into the massive pillar.
Not only had these two halos not been able to defend against Zhao Fengchen’s attack, they had even been absorbed and strengthened the five hundred Xuanwu Army soldiers.
And with a metallic clattering, the halos under the feet of Duan Zhuyan and the Feather Forest Army began to melt away like ice cubes under the hot sun. With each vanished halo, the halos under the feet of Zhao Fengchen and the Xuanwu Army grew stronger and stronger.
It was like Zhao Fengchen’s forces were draining their power!
Boom!
With a thunderous explosion and a shockwave of energy, the Feather Forest Army soldiers were blasted in various directions by a terrifying force.
Bangbangbang!
Horses shrieked and people screamed as numerous Feather Forest Army soldiers fell to the ground, their bodies bloodied, their armor in tatters, and even their Stellar Energy pulverized. They had completely lost the ability to fight.
“What formation is this?”
Hou Junji’s face was grim, and he could barely manage to speak.
He had seen many kinds of powerful formations, both offensive and defensive—formations that could make one travel as fast as lightning and even change directions at will without losing speed. But Hou Junji had never seen a formation that could absorb an opponent’s halos and energies to strengthen itself.
Let alone see, he had never even heard about such a formation, or even read the slightest mention in legends or tales.
And this was the first time Hou Junji could remember that anyone had ever destroyed his Rupture Halo. His renowned skill had not been the slightest bit effective.
He had never even imagined it was possible until this match.
Hou Junji instinctively looked toward that distant youth on the other end of the drilling ground.
This is no formation from Su Zhengchen! Where did an eighteen-year-old learn this formation?!
Hou Junji’s face twitched. He had once been ordered by Emperor Taizong to study formations from Su Zhengchen, so he could be completely sure that the formation Zhao Fengchen had used was not from Su Zhengchen.
For the first time, Hou Junji found the young man on the other side unfathomable.
He had always believed that Wang Chong was Su Zhengchen’s disciple, but now, that seemed to be far from the truth.
Rumble!
In the middle of all this, the massive pillar of black and yellow had finished sweeping away Duan Zhuyan’s Feather Forest Army like an autumn breeze sweeping through fallen leaves.
In the blink of an eye, Zhao Fengchen had pierced through the Feather Forest Army, and in a stampede of hooves, the two armies parted. Once he was several dozen feet away, Zhao Fengchen pulled on the reins of his horse, and behind him, he could hear the groans of fallen Feather Forest Army soldiers.
In the distance, Duan Zhuyan also began to turn his horse around. He now only had two-hundred-some Feather Forest Army soldiers left, and even this was mostly because he had used the Supreme River Formation at the last moment to avoid as much of Zhao Fengchen’s assault as possible.
Even though it wasn’t possible to see Duan Zhuyan’s face, from his heaving chest and ragged breathing, everyone could sense just how shocked the Feather Forest Army Marshal was.
>
“This can’t be!”
Duan Zhuyan breathed rapidly as he stared at Zhao Fengchen, his eyes spitting flames of anger.
This was naked humiliation. He had never once imagined that he would lose to someone in such an overwhelming fashion.
“We finally succeeded!”
At the southern end of the drilling ground, Wang Chong subtly nodded at the slightly pale Zhao Fengchen and breathed a sigh of relief.
The Xuan-Huang Link Formation!
In the apocalyptic era, this was one of the three strongest formations, above the Ten Charges Ten Victories Formation, the Eight Desolation Army Shattering Formation, and the Impregnable Fortress Formation.
Amongst the ten great formations of that calamitous era, those ranked in the top three were quintessentially different from those below, unique in power, fighting style, and traits. It was also these reasons that made these three incredibly difficult to cultivate.
Not even Wang Chong had cultivated the Xuan-Huang Link Formation, let alone Zhao Fengchen. Wang Chong had not given him the true version, but a simplified variant.
There was also a faint connection between the Xuan-Huang Link Formation and Zhao Fengchen’s Xuanwu Halo, which rested in the word ‘Xuan’. In truth, the Xuan-Huang Link Formation had incorporated the Xuanwu Halo. This was also one of the reasons Wang Chong had taught Zhao Fengchen its basic version.
But even so, at Zhao Fengchen’s current level of strength, cultivating the Xuan-Huang Link Formation was still an arduous task.
However, in the end, he had succeeded.
End the battle!
Wang Chong gestured at the distant Zhao Fengchen. The incomplete Xuan-Huang Link Formation was incredibly taxing on one’s energy and physical strength, but he would have more than enough to deal with Duan Zhuyan.
Buzz!
In the distance, the earth rumbled as Zhao Fengchen had his forces turn around and charge back at Duan Zhuyan.
This battle was now settled. Once he defeated Duan Zhuyan, his work in this Imperial Army competition would be halfway done.
There was still at least one spot amongst the three Grand Marshals that the First Prince was capable of taking control over, and he already had the fealty of Huang Tianzhao. Thus, Zhao Fengchen was not prepared to challenge Li Xuanyi in the next bout.
The Human Emperor c1-2382 Page 1061