Chapter 23: Mysterious Formation

  "Pear blossoms are wildly dancing in the air..... Be careful..." As soon as Old Man Yang's words fell, all the pear flowers on the trees were spinning and thrown into the sky. The petals rotated in mid-air and floated down to cover the ground. The fragrance of the flowers had a dizzying effect, making people want to dodge them if they could. Yu Deng was the most severely affected by the fragrance, and just as a petal was about to fall on his face, he swung his left hand holding the Angry Tiger Knife to slash at it. "Clang!" A spark flew off the knife, but the petal remained unscathed and fell gently onto the muddy ground.

  As the petals were about to land on Yang Hao's body, a strong gust of wind suddenly appeared, and a pair of wings grew out from both sides of his body. Although they were small and didn't quite match his physique, they looked like the embryo of a heavenly horse. The strong winds flapped the wings rapidly, blowing away the petals that were about to land on Yang Hao's face. However, he still had to take care of Yu Deng, and with two things to attend to at once, he couldn't cope. Yang Hao's body was still attacked by several petals, although they only tore his clothes and caused minor flesh wounds. He knew he absolutely couldn't continue like this. For now, it was okay, but if time went on, even with robust physical strength, there would be times when he wouldn't be able to withstand it. But what could he do about it? At a loss for what to do...

  "Brother, come and load it into my gun, quickly..." Yu Zhuo walked over with a staggering gait, placing the TRG-21 sniper rifle in front of Yang Hao. With his last bit of strength, Yang Hao pressed the flame into the magazine. Yu Zhuo held his breath, focusing on the enemy hiding behind the rapidly rotating trees, his heartbeat gradually stabilizing. Yu Zhuo tried to suppress the trembling of his hands and the interference of his breathing, slowly pulling the trigger with his right index finger. "Bang~~~~" A gunshot rang out, and everyone looked in the direction of the sound, but this shot did not hit its mark. The tree in front of the enemy was still unscathed... The trees in front were spinning too fast, making it impossible to hit the target.

  "One yang way is long, use your golden light to pave the way first~~~" Hu Tou said while dodging the flower petals on Yu Deng's body.

  Yiyang Shu reacted and let out a loud roar.

  "Yu Zhuo... listen to my command..."

  "1-2-3!!" As the sound of "3" fell, a golden light rushed into the rapidly rotating pear blossom tree group in front of Zhen's eyes, and instantly, the pear blossom tree that had turned to face Zhen was broken off. In that instant, the tree that had been hidden from view was completely exposed to Yu Zhuo's sight. Although it was only for a brief moment, Yu Zhuo couldn't let go of this opportunity. "Bang~~~~" Another gunshot rang out, and finally hit its mark. The fragrance instantly faded, the rotating trees slowed down, and the petals fell straight down. Everything returned to stillness once again. Success... Yu Zhuo breathed a sigh of relief. Everyone on the ground took big gulps of the refreshing air that was like a long-awaited sweet dew. Yi Yang Shu stood in place, adjusted his breathing a few times, then came to Yu Zhuo's side and anxiously examined his disciple's condition.

  "Master, is he alright~~~~?"

  "Hmm... nothing's wrong... just inhaled too much fragrance and fainted. When you wake up, you'll probably have a headache. Come on, bring some water over..." Yang Hao took out the spare water from his body and handed it to Master Yiyang. Master Yiyang opened Yu Deng's mouth and poured some water in. Then, he also splashed some water on Yu Deng's forehead and temples, and began massaging Yu Deng's head with both hands, one left and one right.

  "Cough...cough..." Yu Deng soon woke up, his coughs filled with a strong fragrance, it's imaginable how much he had inhaled. But since he was already awake, it should be fine. Yi Yang Shu also stopped the massage, and Yang Hao helped him sit up.

  "Brother, you're indeed a man who spares no expense for the finer things in life. This deadly fragrance, you won't even let it go to waste. I admire that."

  Yu Dang had just woken up, his head was still dizzy and aching, after hearing Yang Hao's words, he didn't say anything, but simply rolled his eyes at him and sat down on the ground to meditate.

  "Let's take a break here for a while... and then act after adjusting."

  "Master, aren't you afraid there's still an ambush?"

  "The formation eye has been destroyed by us, just like a person who has had their heart taken away. This formation is already lifeless without the formation eye, don't worry about it anymore. You all quickly adjust your bodies, below may be even more dangerous." Yi Yang Shu stood at the formation eye, examining something, seemingly searching for the mysteries of the formation. Yu Deng, Yu Zhuo, Hu Tou, and Duan Feng were all dizzy from the fragrance, sitting on the ground adjusting their breath. After Yang Hao's body improved a bit, the Tong You Command Plate rang out."

  "Yang Haote, I am Zhong Kui,"

  "Lord Zhong Kui, is there something?"

  "How have you been lately?"

  "Unlucky, just landed on Ghost Island and almost died twice"

  "What's wrong? What happened? Tell me..."

  "We encountered a Soul-Killing Formation at sea and barely escaped with our lives when we landed, only to run into the Chaotic Shadow of Pear Blossoms Formation again."

  "This is all ancient Chinese formation, how did the Japanese learn it?? There must be a conspiracy behind this, you guys be careful, I'm now again in Japan's underworld doing an investigation, know yourself and know your enemy to win every battle, before that, if you can fight then fight, if not then retreat. Don't try to be strong for no reason."

  "Uh-huh, I see..."

  Zhong Wei's words made Yang Hao somewhat indignant. The Japanese were using China's own battle formations to kill Chinese people, and using Chinese money to build guns and cannons to invade China. It was truly infuriating. And yet, these ancient killing formations, China's legendary heritage, how many people in the country actually cared about them? How many people had ever really paid attention? Everyone thought they were just feudal superstitions, but now they were being used by the Japanese to harm Chinese people. The fact that their own essence was not being learned by their own people, but instead being mastered by outsiders who were using it to bully them, was a truly pitiful and lamentable thing.

  "Master... while we have the time, please teach me about the basics of formation techniques. I absolutely won't let these exquisite traditional Chinese skills be lost in the tides of time."

  Yi Yang Shu smiled and walked over, patting Yang Hao's shoulder.

  "It's good that you think so, how can Chinese things make Japanese people prosperous? Come on, let me tell you something..."

  Yu Deng and Yu Zhuo also gathered around, and the four master-disciple pairs began their lecture on formation techniques.

  "The Taoist formation is completely different from the military formation. The military formation is based on terrain, geography, weather, and number of people, and changes its layout accordingly to concentrate troops and avoid being scattered, thereby exerting the greatest attacking power.

  In comparison, the Taoist formation is even more formidable. Using scientific methods to explain it, it can be understood as relying on the natural environment and the eight most basic natural elements: heaven, earth, fire, water, mountain, thunder, wind, and swamp. In conjunction with human settings, it kills people without being seen.

  However, each formation has a 'formation eye', which is the location of the most important mechanism in the entire formation. If the formation eye is destroyed, the formation will completely lose its effectiveness."

  As he spoke, Uncle Yang drew several simple formations on the ground with a stick and explained them in detail. The crowd nodded continuously, and even Hu Tou and Ji Feng, the two earth immortals, felt that the formations were extremely treacherous.

  "How's that, everyone has rested enough?" After Yiyang Shu briefly explained some basic knowledge, seeing that the crowd's spirit and physical strength had recovered, his heart also gradually calmed down. However, there was a question that had been pressing on his mind all along - where did this group of Japanese devils learn such an ancient killing formation?