Chapter 95: Testing the Trap-and-Kill Formation

Translator: DragonRider

“There was such a big fire on the Lee Mountain. Zhang Chong’s army will soon return to the encampment. I worried that you might not be able to get out of there in time,” replied Ling Zhang frankly.

Yuwen Tong gave a smile. “I was on the Grand Mang Mountain.”

Ling Zhang had a vague idea what it was that Yuwen Tong took advantage of the opportunity going to the Prefecture Encampment to investigate the night before, but he had never expected that Yuwen Tong would travel all the way from the Prefecture Encampment to the Grand Mang Mountain.

“Are those armaments hidden on the Grand Mang Mountain?”

“Yeah. They’re well concealed. It took me a long time to find them.”

“Well, how do you plan to get them out of the mountain?”

“I can’t touch those armaments and I ’won’t bother to think about how to move them either.”

“You can’t touch them? What do you mean?”

“It has to be the emperor who finds out about the existence of those armaments. After the account book is forged, all Zhang Chong’s purchases of ore is recorded. There will be some other proofs as well. Anyway, currently, the emperor is keeping a weather eye on me. He will surely find out even if I take only one weapon from that place, which is why not only I should not transfer those armaments, I have to make sure that nobody else move them before any of the emperor’s men take over.”

‘This is so tricky. Even Yuwen Tong has to be so cautious about it. That emperor in the capital city thousands of miles away is really a…’ Ling Zhang thought.

“Yao Yi didn’t come back. Is he still there staking that place out?”

“Yeah. I told him to look for something while at it. If things go smoothly, this matter of ours in Tanyang will soon be over. By the way, I promised you I’d help you test the Trap-and-Kill Formation. Let’s go there and see it done while I have the time.”

Seeing that he was walking outside, Ling Zhang asked in surprise, “You want to do it now? But you have just returned and barely had any rest.”

Yuwen Tong paused, turned around to look at him and heaved a sigh. “If you keep caring about me so much, I might misunderstand it.”

It took Ling Zhang a moment to understand the undertone contained in Yuwen Tong’s words. “What are you talking about? You’ve helped me so much. Isn’t it a natural thing that I care about you?”

“I know,” said Yuwen Tong resignedly. “Let’s move.”

‘Just like this?’ Watching Yuwen Tong walking away, Ling Zhang felt that Yuwen Tong’s reaction was somewhat incredible. He had already steeled himself for Yuwen Tong’s teasing him.

“Hurry up,” Yuwen Tong in front urged him.

Ling Zhang had no choice but to quickly follow him.

After entering the guards’ yard, Ling Zhang told Wang Dashan to gather all security guards with the intention to test the Trap-and-Kill Formation for power.

“Wait. You are doing this yourself?”

“I’m of far greater use than they are.”

‘Who talks about himself like this? Besides, I’m just worried that he might tire himself out. He can totally have one of his men handle this trifle for me,’ thought Ling Zhang.

However, Yuwen Tong seemed to have made up his mind to do this himself. After Wang Dashan gathered all guards together, Yuwen Tong said, “Come on. I won’t use my lightness skills. Perform your formation and see if you can trap me.”

All security guards were fully aware that this honored guest was not the average man, that he had a group of bodyguards with excellent kung fu skills, but none of them had ever seen Yuwen Tong himself use his martial arts, so they exchanged glances with each other in uncertainty after hearing Yuwen Tong’s words.

On the one hand, they felt that Yuwen Tong was arrogant, but on the other, they were concerned that they might hurt the honored guest.

“Hey. Stop dithering. Just bring it on.”

Seeing that Yuwen Tong was determined to test the formation himself, and that his security guards were taking the opponent lightly, Ling Zhang reminded them.

“Brothers, today let’s show Young Master the fruit of your several days’ training. Don’t disappoint Young Master,” said Wang Dashan.

Inspired, all security guards responded in unison, “Yes!”

Ling Zhang was speechless.

‘I’m bound to be humiliated today,’ he thought.

Ling Zhang had selected the Trap-and-Kill Formation of Twelve from a variety of formations that his mother had left him. It was designed mainly for multiple soldiers to trap and kill enemies. The power of the Trap-and-Kill Formation of Twelve increased as the proficiency of each unit of the formation improved. If every unit of the formation was a kung fu expert as powerful as Yuwen Tong, then there was probably nobody that this formation could not trap. However, currently, it was twelve common security guards that were performing this formation.

Standing amid the formation, Yuwen Tong could distinctly feel the ingeniousness of it. Though the kung fu skills of these security guards were merely average, their teamwork was impressive. After encircling him, they had managed to react to his every strike. In his eyes, the reflexes of these security guards were mediocre, but he believed that they were more than enough to trap the average kung fu expert.

Wang Dashan and the others were also in shock. Ever since they started practicing this formation, they had been well aware of its power. At least in their sight, there was no way anyone who got trapped by this formation could break through it. However, in face of Yuwen Tong, they could tell that there was a manifest strength gap between them and Yuwen Tong.

They had to make strenuous efforts every time they fought back, but Yuwen Tong seemed to be casual and at leisure when he attacked.

“Good. You’re the quickest.”

Yuwen Tong flicked a glance at Liu Yi, a faintly thoughtful look in his eyes.

The expression on the face of Liu Yi fell slightly unnatural and with that he rapidly launched a counterstrike. “Thank you. I’m just a little more proficient than they are.”

Yuwen Tong gave a smile and then concentrated his attacks on Liu Yi, regarding him as a breakthrough point.

Gradually, a layer of fine beads of sweat appeared on the forehead of Liu Yi. Beside him was Wang Dashan. Among all the twelve security guards, these two had the best kung fu skills, and the teamwork between them was also the strongest. Though the two of them joined hands, after Yuwen Tong quickened his blows, they still began to feel that their strength fell short of their will. Both of them were under great pressure.

At first, the directions from which Yuwen Tong attacked them were common, but gradually, his blows started to come at them from unexpected angles. Every one of his attacks was unpredictable and very hard to guard against.

Slowly, Wang Dashan were caught short, and Liu Yi also seemed to be running out of strength.

Yuwen Tong squinted his eyes and made a couple of moves in quick succession. His attack speed had exceeded the speed at which those security guards fought back or parried, so it was natural that he broke out of the encirclement.

The defeat of one man meant the breach of the integrity of the Trap-and-Kill Formation. Soon, all others were defeated as well.

It had been merely the duration of burning joss stick (roughly 5 minutes) since Yuwen Tong entered the formation.

It was so quick. And the opponent still had plenty of strength to spare.

All twelve people, except for Wang Dashan and Liu Yi, went limp and lay down on the ground with exhaustion. This fight with Yuwen Tong turned out to be more tiring than a full day’s training.

“We lost, Young Master.” Even Wang Dashan couldn’t help admit defeat in depression.

“I warned you not to underestimate your opponent,” said Ling Zhang, a sullen look on his face.

Nobody dared to utter a word. At the beginning, they had indeed taken the opponent lightly, but afterwards, even though they had realized this mistake, they were still unable to save the day, because the opponent was too powerful.

“This is one of the most ingenious trap-and-kill formation that I have ever seen. Even if one man is down, the other eleven can still keep the formation operating, but just now, after one of you was defeated, the others panicked, which was why you barely lasted five minutes before all of you went down,” Yuwen Tong said as he looked at those twelve security guards, a calm look on his face.

“We…We lost merely because of a momentary lapse of alarm. This is only the first array of the formation. We will definitely be able to trap you after we master all three arrays,” one of the guards was unconvinced.

“Judging from your current skills, you still have a long way to go. Next time I’ll have one of my bodyguards to spar with you. Only after you are good enough to trap him will you be deemed qualified to challenge me again. I won’t waste my time on a bunch of good-for-nothings,” observed Yuwen Tong in a cold tone of voice. With that, he turned around and left.

Ling Zhang knew he was deliberately trying to provoke the emulation of these security guards, but hearing Yuwen Tong’s tone of voice, even he couldn’t help but feel great pressure.

All twelve security guards remained silent, their faces sullen. Clearly, they were unconvinced, but Yuwen Tong’s words were beyond contradiction. The ambience on the drill field instantly fell oppressive.

After Yuwen Tong left, Ling Zhang asked, “You’re going to give up just like this?”

Twelve security guards kept silent for a while. Qiu Bing was the first to stand up. “No. I won’t give up!”

“Me neither!” Zhou Xiang stood up in the wake of him and declared aloud, “Young Master, please teach us the next two arrays. We’ll surely be able to trap him after we master them.”

“That’s true, Young Master. Please teach us.” All others agreed with Zhou Xiang.

“This is how you express your unwillingness to give up?” Ling Zhang knitted his brows, staring at them with a sullen look on his face. “You haven’t even mastered the first array yet, but you want to start learning the second and the third? Let me tell you something. It was not because you haven’t learned all three arrays that you were defeated today. Not to mention three arrays, even if you manage to memorize all twelve arrays, you still don’t stand a chance of trapping him. Do some careful thinking and figure out why you failed. Your failure doesn’t trouble me, because Lord Yuwen is a very powerful man. I’m fully aware of this, and I’ve also anticipated the result of your fight with him, but if you can’t see your weaknesses and what you should do to overcome them, I’ll be very disappointed.”

“Today you don’t have to train. Go and have some rest. Think about this after you calm down. I’ll come here tomorrow morning and I want to hear your opinions.”

All twelve men remained silent with heavy hearts. After Ling Zhang left, Zhou Xiang, who blushed scarlet, gave the giant rock on the side of the drill field a good hard kick and cursed.

“Zhou Xiang.” Wang Dashan walked up to him. “Calm down.”

“I’m just unconvinced. Do you believe it? That we can’t trap that Lord Yuwen even if we manage to master three arrays? Young Master thinks so highly of him, as if we are really just a bunch of good-for-nothings compared with that Lord Yuwen.”

“Why do you think Young Master went to so much trouble to teach us this formation if he really perceives us as a bunch of good-for-nothings?”

Zhou Xiang swallowed back the words on the tip of his tongue.

“I think you still remember how Young Master taught us rudimentary knowledge of formations in the guards’ yard on a daily basis over the past few days. At that time we didn’t know anything about formations and our skills were far poorer. Did Young Master give up on us at that time?”

Zhou Xiang’s mouth tightened.

“To be honest, Lord Yuwen is indeed very powerful, but he is only a guest of Ling family. What Young Master wants is for us, security guards of Ling family, to toughen ourselves and be more competent so that he can rely on us. He puts so much effort into training us because he expects us to become a sharp blade in his hand. If you give up at this point, Young Master will really be disappointed.”

Zhou Xiang gradually collected himself. “I didn’t say I gave up.”

“Then cool down.”

Seeing that he had already settled down, Wang Dashan said aloud to everybody, “I think all of you heard Young Master distinctly when he said that this formation consisted of twelve arrays, didn’t you?”

On hearing this, all other men, who had been depressed and unreconciled, pulled themselves together, “Yes. I heard that.”

“I thought that this formation had only three arrays. There are actually twelve?”

“Goodness me! It took us such a long time to get to where we are in the learning of merely one array. Can you imagine how long it will take us to master all twelve?”

“Calm down!” yelled Wang Dashan. “I just want to ask you one question – do you want to continue learning or not? If any one of you who doesn’t want to learn any more, just tell me. I’ll report to Young Master and he’ll grant you the permission to leave. But once you leave, your place will be taken by someone else immediately. Don’t forget that we have another twelve brothers in the herb farm. They can substitute you at any time! If they do, they’ll become stronger and stronger, while you will become a coward who doesn’t have the courage to challenge yourself!”