Staggered Formation Displays Might, Resolving the Night Raid Crisis

The firelight on the northern slope still flickered, casting one half of Chen Wuya's face in light and the other in shadow. He stood atop the raised platform, the Armor-Piercing Awl held across his chest, his knuckles whitening from the force of his grip. Three enemy columns surged toward him like a tide, their torches merging into a sea of flame, their battle cries shaking the very mud beneath his feet.

Bai Zhi's figure darted through the firelit line on the western flank, her sword flashing like lightning. But blood continued to seep from the torn wound on her shoulder, and her movements were no longer as swift as before. Several allied soldiers desperately held the gentle eastern slope, but their formation had already been shattered into disarray. Some fell to the ground and were cut down by a flurry of blades before they could rise.

The archers were still firing in volleys, but their arrows were growing sparser by the moment. One archer had just drawn his bowstring when his arm gave out, and the arrow dropped crookedly to the ground—he had been drawing his bow continuously for half an hour, and his strength was nearly spent.

Chen Wuya stared at the battlefield, thoughts racing. Conventional tactics would not hold much longer. The chevaux-de-frise could not stop a charge that feared neither hardship nor death, and volley fire could not suppress the enemy's numerical advantage. They had to change.

Just then, the system spoke coldly in his mind: "Formation inverted, energy currents resonating. Judged as 'mis-practice.' Completion path activated."

His eyes snapped open.

In that instant, he remembered a mistaken drill in the training camp several days ago—he had arranged the Heart-Guarding Formation from the Qingfeng Thirteen Forms in complete reverse. The commander's position, which should have been at