On the morrow, the clear dew glistening in the sunrise crumbled under the footsteps of a large procession, soldiers marching with discipline to a remote town at the borders. The bloodlust and warmongering blended into a chilly and choking atmosphere, snuffing out nature’s tranquility.
The predators on the prowl sensed the change and burrowed deeper into their caves, shivering out of fright..
[We, animals, don’t have any prophetic devices, but we do have our sixth sense. We know today is a bad day to hunt. Fine, we’ll just fast in our cribs.]
As their bellies expressed fierce disapproval, no animal dared to even peek outside, opting to go to bed hungry.
Tuoba Liufeng gazed at the distant city, “Lord father, that is Windgaze City. It took us two months to meet our main army and travel our three million men at full speed.”
Tuoba Tieshan said, “Where are the masters Tianyu’s Majesty sent to help us break the arrays? Have them inspect the situation.”
“Understood!” Tuoba Liufeng bowed.
Ten men flew towards Windgaze City, Profound Heaven experts and 6th grade array masters. There was hardly any array in Tianyu that could stand after their passing.
They were soon back with a report though, “Commander, the lands are covered in five hundred arrays. Two hundred 3rd grade with plenty of 5th and 6th grade. It will take time and effort to unravel.”
“I just knew it was Zhuo Fan’s trick, forcing me to fight him here.” Tuoba Tieshan sighed.
Tuoba Liufeng’s face fell at the implications, “Zhuo Fan is vile and twisted, adhering to the art of war in choosing the right location, right time and right men. The drafting is not as important as forcing father to come here. We have to strike hard and fast. He holds down the city and has a terrain advantage.”
“That’s not all…” Tuoba Tieshan sighed, “We have the numerical advantage, but he can cower our beasts, thwarting our beast armies. On top of that he has arrays on his side. Numbers will do us no good here. But the outcome can go either way in this case. This Zhuo Fan has played on his strengths to the utmost and cut ours. I can even venture to say he’ll have the battlefield under control from the start and string us along.”
Tuoba Liufeng was uneasy. Looking at the city, all he saw was a steel bastion, “Zhuo Fan is horrifying.”
“Father, what do we do?”
“Let the array masters do their work for now and then we’ll see his reaction.” Tuoba Tieshan looked at those ten men, “Break the arrays, hurry!”
“Eh?”
Put on the spot, one of them bowed, “Commander, there are five hundred arrays there, with some special ones mixed in between. It will take years, decades! “
“That’s your problem. Military orders are paramount, go!” Tuoba Tieshan barked.
The men grew downcast.
[For god’s sake, this amateur only knows how to bark orders.] With so many arrays they’d soon be caught dead instead of breaking them, quite literally. To say nothing of someone coming out and taking their lives.
[Quanrong God of War my foot! You know nothing of arrays. Since using force is out of the question, you stick us in? Good cover-up.]
[Where there’s arrays, send in the breakers, is that it?]
The men cursed and cursed, but still obeyed.
Whoosh~
Arriving at the edge of Windgaze City, they got to work. Hoping to high heavens no one would come out to kill the poor saps.
Yet was there ever an array owner who didn’t know his stuff was being tampered with?
Hum~
In Luo clan’s hall, discussions of recruitment were ongoing when Zhuo Fan jerked and smiled.
“Steward Zhuo, what is it?” Grandmother asked.
Zhuo Fan shook his head. Just then, a Luo clan disciple rushed in, “Steward Zhuo, ten old men are outside making signs. I can’t make out any of it but it seems to be cracking the arrays!”
“Of course they are. You may go, it’s fine. Just act as usual.” Zhuo Fan waved.
The man left while the house lords were panicking. Long Yifey said, “Does that mean Tuoba Tieshan is here? It’s too fast. We’re nowhere near ready!”
“He-he-he, so what if it is fast?”
Zhuo Fan snickered, “Let’s go for a walk, see the fogies hard at work.”
The others were puzzled, [The enemy’s at the gates and you’re in the mood for a stroll?]
Then they eased up. [With the kid always playing cool, chilling means all is in the bag, so why worry.]
The men followed Zhuo Fan.
They flew above the town and saw the ten oldies shifting through gestures, faces red and cursing all the while.
“Jesus Christ, who the hell set this up? How is a 2nd grade array so damn complicated? And what kind of style is this? I’ve never seen it before in my life.”
“They must have some array grandmaster to pull such precise arrays. Nothing works at breaking it.”
“Enough chatter and more elbow grease!”
The oldies grumbled at the task turned impossible, making no headway all this time. These grand 6th grade array masters balked before a 2nd grade array. It was anything but normal.
Long Yifey’s group nodded up above, with even more admiration for Zhuo Fan.
“Steward Zhuo’s skills are uncanny, vexing those coots to death, ha-ha-ha…” Long Yifey laughed.
The others bobbed their heads.
Zhuo Fan chuckled, “I may be competent in arrays, but not enough to make a 2nd grade array have the power of a 6th. They can’t break it because they don’t understand it.”
Zhuo Fan yelled, “Trying to break a mere 2nd grade array with gestures? You’re Profound Heaven experts for crying out loud, why not use force? Are you brain dead?”
[Why didn’t I think of that?]
The ten men nodded and smiled above. They were curious to see their savior.
Though Zhuo Fan’s cold smile scared them witless.
“Z-Z-Zhuo Fan, he has come to kill us!” One man wailed, his knees shaking from fear.
Zhuo Fan waved, “It’s fine, keep up the good work. You have all the time in the world, ha-ha-ha…”
Zhuo Fan chuckled, landing on the town gate’s stairs. The house lords were stunned, following him.
The most shocked were the fogies.
One collected his meager courage, “Old friends, do we… continue?”
Another nodded, “And why not? With both sides giving us the go ahead, we’ll do just that!”
The others exclaimed.
[Yeah, it’s rare enough to have both sides in agreement so let’s just do it. Not doing so might get us a quicker death.]
The ten made signs again but soon opted for Zhuo Fan’s idea, to force their way through the 2nd grade arrays…
The house lords turned from them to Zhuo Fan, “Steward Zhuo, what’s this all about?”
“I’m waiting.”
“For what?”
“The experts to show up.” Zhuo Fan snickered, “Tuoba Tieshan isn’t charging because of the arrays. He had these ten bags of bones take a crack at them first. Killing them is within right but shows nervousness. While sparing them raises the suspicion of using the empty city tactic. It’s a classic war tactic, blending truth and lies. The odder my reactions the more confused he will be and less prone to act. But time waits for no one. The longer he waits the bigger our power in Tianyu grows. He ‘will’ act, and with experts, in the fastest and hardest way.”
The house lords thought, [Steward Zhuo has been aiming for those experts from the start.]
“I’m just dying to see what counter the emperor has, now that he knows young Sanzi is with me.” Zhuo Fan’s eyes were a sucking abyss…
