Chapter 1777: The Formation Is Broken!
Bang!
With the addition of Wang Chong's white piece, the world shook and groaned, and a battle that had seemed settled also became turbulent and uncertain.
Rumble! The earth shuddered so fiercely that the chess board and the pieces upon it began to tremble.
Not only that, Wang Chong's Origin Immortal Formation and Hou Junji's Hundred Thousand God-Devil Execution Formation, which had been like two grinding gears constantly wearing each other out, suddenly began to fuse together!
If one could look down from the sky, they would see that the Origin Immortal Formation based on the Qian, Center, and Kun gates was beginning to slowly transform. It was fusing with the energies of the soldiers stationed at the East, West, and North Gates, creating an enormous and slowly turning ring.
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 thirty 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!