Chapter Eleven: The Mysterious Bird

  Zhang Zixing said seriously: "These are just some clever gadgets, General. If you really want to subdue the Quanrong and Dongyi, these two things alone will not be enough. The stirrup is easy to manufacture, and the enemy can also imitate it; as for the repeating crossbow, although it is powerful, its production is complicated, and its weight is too heavy. After three consecutive shots, reloading arrows takes too much time, which is also a weakness of these two things."

  He saw Huang Feihu's thoughtful face and said, "Moreover, the military has no fixed form, water has no fixed momentum, we need to use our troops according to the situation, strike the enemy according to the situation, if we over-rely on a certain thing or mode of combat, it will also miss the opportunity to fight, and have the opposite effect."

  "The military has no fixed form, water has no constant shape; to gauge the enemy and use troops, to strike at the emotions of the enemy……" Huang Feihu was shocked, revealing a look of admiration, "Your Highness deeply understands the subtleties of military strategy, in just a few sentences you have grasped the essence of using troops, Flying Tiger has been in the army for over ten years, but is far from being as good as this!"

  Zhang Zixing hastily racked his brains to recall the parts of the military strategy, unfortunately, his super brain was not around, otherwise, the series of military strategies in the database could have knocked Huang Feihu unconscious. Although his memory was incomplete, Zhang Zixing managed to come up with some methods for training soldiers, mainly based on the theory of Wu Qi, a famous military strategist of the Warring States period, "winning by governance". The "Wu Zi Bing Fa" had once said, "When stationed, there is etiquette; when moving, there is might; advancing cannot be stopped, retreating cannot be pursued; advancing and retreating have rhythm, left and right respond to commands; even in desperate situations, they can form a battle array, even in scattered situations, they can form a line." Such an army would naturally be invincible, "no one can match, it is called the 'father-son soldiers'".

  Although Zhang Zixing spoke in a scattered manner, Huang Feihu, an insider, still understood a lot and benefited greatly. The two were more and more compatible, one willing to teach and the other willing to learn.

  Zhang Zixing's knowledge in this area is indeed limited, after talking for half a day, he felt embarrassed and switched the topic back to his forte of military equipment improvement: "To do a good job, one must first sharpen their tools. Military equipment plays a crucial role in warfare. I have been studying this recently and even made some small items privately. If General has an interest, we can discuss it further another day."

  "A good craftsman must first sharpen his tools!" Huang Feihu knew that the "small object" mentioned by the Crown Prince was definitely not an ordinary item, and he was overjoyed in his heart: "The Crown Prince is intelligent and talented, truly a blessing to our dynasty. I believe that before long, the Great General's army will sweep across the land, leaving no opponents!"

  If it were just a regular battle - Zhang Zixing silently added in his heart, this world is not ordinary, and anyone with superior Taoist skills can easily wipe out an entire army with a single magical artifact, no matter how well-armed they are. For now, the only option is to focus on developing and growing stronger while assessing the situation and adapting to changing circumstances.

  Zhang Zixing was lost in thought for a moment, and just as he looked up, he saw Huang Feiyan looking at him. Zhang Zixing smiled back at her, and Huang Feiyan's face suddenly flushed with two red clouds, quickly lowering her head, feeling like a deer caught in the headlights, not daring to look at him again. Huang Feihu saw this and nodded secretly, just about to continue asking questions about military tactics, when he suddenly saw a five-colored light appearing in the distance, getting bigger and bigger, flying towards them, unsure what it was, immediately becoming vigilant: "Your Highness, be careful!"

  Zhang Zixing also saw the colorful light, and hastily rode forward to block Huang Feiyan behind him. This small action made Huang Feiyan's eyes shine brighter, and her gaze at his back added a few more degrees of tenderness.

  The colorful light flew at an extremely swift speed, and soon arrived in front of Zhang Zixing's upper air, but for some reason, the speed suddenly slowed down, and gradually fell, as if it had already exhausted its strength.

  The crowd had already surrounded Zhang Zixing and the other two, their bows and arrows all aimed at the colorful light that had fallen to the ground.

  The colorful light gradually dispersed, revealing the objects inside. It was a large bird with colorful feathers, slowly walking towards this side.

  "Monster bird! Retreat quickly, or don't blame me for being ruthless!" Huang Feihu drew out his long sword and shouted loudly at the big bird, but it seemed to not have heard him and continued to move forward.

  Huang Feihu led the crowd, Zhang Gong wanted to shoot. These few months, Zhang Zixing had been insisting on cultivating the War Soul Technique. Except for physical functions such as strength and speed having some improvement, his spiritual awareness was also gradually forming. On that day in the Zhaoxuan Hall, he had even detected the hidden Wen Zhong. In Zhang Zixing's view, this large bird seemed to possess unpredictable superpower, even if it used a repeating crossbow, it would absolutely be unable to harm it, let alone ordinary weapons. He hastily shouted: "Halt!"

  "This is a bird from outside the domain, I once saw it on an ancient book, its name is called...called..." Huang Feiyan seemed to have forgotten for a moment, and as a woman who loves beauty, she didn't want this beautiful bird to die under the arrow either. But what was her state of mind when she shot and killed the deer with consecutive arrows just now?"

  "It's a peacock." Zhang Zixing, of course, recognized the beautiful "exotic bird" as a peacock and also discovered that there were large patches of dark red bloodstains on the peacock's back feathers, seemingly seriously injured. He quickly ordered his men to put down their bows and arrows, dismounted and walked forward.

  "Your Highness, be careful!" Huang Feihu hastily advised.

  Zhang Zixing shook his head and gestured that it was nothing, then walked up to the peacock and stopped in front of it. He asked, "Peacock, I know you're a spiritual creature, but I don't know why you're so badly injured now. I'm the current crown prince, is there anything I can help with?"

  The peacock seemed to understand human language, and nodded its head towards him. At this time, a faint voice sounded in Zhang Zixing's ear: "I was pursued by the Qiu family and injured here. If Your Highness does not abandon me, please let me hide for a moment until the Qiu family leaves. I will surely repay you heavily in the future."

  "Alright, how can I assist you?" Zhang Zixing thought for a moment, feeling that this shouldn't be too difficult, and nodded in agreement.

  The peacock looked at Zhang Zixing with a glance, chirped softly, turned into a yellow light, and flew towards him. Zhang Zixing instinctively felt that the yellow light was harmless, so he didn't dodge, the yellow light circled to his back, and attached itself. Everyone's eyes fluttered, the yellow light had disappeared, but on the prince's cloak behind, an additional bird-shaped pattern appeared.

  Zhang Zixing knew that the person who could kill the peacock's enemy was not an ordinary person, so he quickly instructed the crowd a few words and continued to pretend to hunt forward.

  Sure, here is the translation:

  As expected, before long, two beams of light appeared on the horizon. One was a dazzling silver light and the other was a burning firelight. The two beams of light seemed to have discovered that the rainbow had disappeared here, so they also descended to the ground.

  The light faded away, revealing a man and a woman approaching.

  The one riding the silver light was a thin, middle-aged Taoist priest with a damaged Taoist robe and large patches of dark bloodstains. In the firelight, there was a young Taoist nun, beautiful in appearance, wearing a long gown, with a golden crown on her head, and a red flame mark between her eyebrows, holding an ancient sword in her hand.

  "You few, did you see a rainbow just now?" The woman looked at the crowd as if Zhang Zixing was the leader and asked loudly, with an extremely arrogant attitude. The others were fine, but Zhang Zixing was secretly shocked. Although this Taoist nun was very beautiful, he had no heart to appreciate her because in his spiritual awareness, he had already felt that both of them possessed incredibly terrifying powers, especially the middle-aged Taoist priest, who was as unfathomable as the peacock just now.

  Huang Feihu could not tolerate this woman's impertinence, so he rode his horse forward and shouted loudly: "How dare you, Taoist nun! The Crown Prince of Dashang is here!"

  A middle-aged Taoist priest heard that the young man was actually the current crown prince, and his eyes flashed with a hint of divine light. He sized up Zhang Zixing from head to toe before stepping forward and bowing: "So you are Your Highness the Crown Prince. I am Duobao Daoren, a disciple of Biyou Palace, and this is my junior apprentice Huoling. Just now, my master and I were chasing after an evil creature that led us here. Please forgive any disrespect."

  Huolindao's heart didn't think much of Zhang Zixing's prince identity, but seeing her master pay respects, she couldn't help but follow suit.

  Duobao! Huoling! Zhang Zixing immediately thought of the origin of this couple and was shocked in his heart.

  In the Investiture of the Gods, the strongest is Hongjun Daoist, who represents the Heavenly Way and is said to be the incarnation of Pangu; second only to him are his three disciples, namely the Three Great Divine Masters - Laozi, Yuanshi Tianzun and Tongtian Jiaozhu, whose powers, although not as great as their master's, have already attained the Mixed Yuan Tao fruit and achieved indestructible bodies that last for myriads of kalpas.

  The person in front of him is the first disciple of Tongtian Sect, one of the four direct disciples of Biyu Palace, rumored to have deeply obtained the true teachings of Tongtian Sect, and is the strongest among the second-generation disciples of Jie Teaching. He can use his physical body to hard-receive the famous treasure of Guang Chengzi, Fan Tian Yin, even if it were Yun Zhongzi, whom Zhang Zixing had met before, he would not be his opponent. Huo Ling Dao Girl is actually Huo Ling Sheng Mu, with profound magical powers, and the golden halo on her head also has the wonderful effect of hiding her body. She once single-handedly resisted the joint attack of Jiang Ziya, Nezha, and Wei Hu, without being defeated. Even Longji Gongzhu, the daughter of Yaochi Golden Mother, was injured by her with a strange technique.

  Zhang Zixing hastily dismounted and returned the courtesy: "It turns out that it is Tongtian Shengren's door, Du Bao Xianchang and Huo Ling Shengmu's Fa arrived here. This humble one has long admired the two great names, and today I am fortunate to see your immortal faces, which is a great blessing from heaven!"

  Although Duobao Daoren was an outsider, under the heavens, everything belongs to the king's land, and all who live on this land are the king's subjects. Cultivators were also within the jurisdiction of the great merchant, so in order to avoid unnecessary trouble, they didn't want to be rude to this future Son of Heaven. Unexpectedly, the Crown Prince was so respectful to his master and disciple that he couldn't help but feel greatly pleased, and Huoling Shengmu's tense face also softened.

  "My humble disciples have always been outside the square, I didn't think that even a thin name could enter the temple and reach your ears, it's truly embarrassing." Duobao Daoren smiled and said, but there was no hint of "embarrassment" on his face.

  "The prince had heard of the various high-ranking individuals in the Jie Teaching, and aside from the respected teacher Tong Tian, he considered Duobao Xianchang to be the most prominent. The Holy Mother was also a renowned master with profound teachings. If it weren't for his royal status, which made it impossible for him to leave, he would have liked to become a disciple of Xianchang. Zhang Zixing's words were sincere and revealed their relationship, bringing the two sides closer together. Duobao Dao Ren listened to the prince's words, which were well-reasoned and convincing, and his trust grew even more. He felt extremely comfortable in his heart and humbly replied with a few words."

  "May I ask your highness, have you ever seen a rainbow pass by?" Similarly, it was Zhang Zixing who asked the question, and this time the Fire Spirit Holy Mother's attitude had become much more polite.

  Zhang Zixing replied: "That's right, indeed there is a five-colored light flying westward. I ask the Holy Mother, what kind of evil spirit is this colored light?"

  "Western?" The Fire Spirit Holy Mother did not immediately respond to Purple Star's question, but instead turned her head towards Duobao Daoren, with an inquiring look in her eyes.

  Duobao Daoren smiled slightly, just about to speak, when his eyes suddenly shone with a bright silver light, falling on the cloak behind Zhang Zixing. His eyebrows rose, as if he had sensed something.

  Zhang Zixing's heart tightened, and he secretly thought it was not good.