Settling the Formation

"What a pity!"

Compared to the unseen, earth-shattering power of the Hundred Thousand Great Mountains Formation, the Huai River Water Palace Formation's power is not particularly formidable.

However, the emergence of giant waves over ten zhang high still caused enormous chaos.

The Huai River, whose course had already been altered, was diverted here, directly impacting this area.

In just a short time, the riverbank had become a body of water.

Zhang Xuezhou was still running very fast, but even after running more than a hundred meters, he was still stepping into the murky water up to his knees.

The camp was in chaos, but under the strong control of the many first-class retainers, the retreat was relatively orderly and did not result in panic and a mass exodus.

Zhang Xuezhou's gaze swept over Wang Deli and Gao Yaocai, who were guarding the money, and then looked at Lady Yourong, who was actually carrying ten and a half strings of cash. He forced himself to suppress his anger.

Money wasn't the point; the point was that there wasn't enough chaos, which dispelled Zhang Xuezhou's distracting thoughts of fleeing with his men.

The defensive array of the Water Palace is still somewhat weak.

But if someone is strong enough, many people might not even survive. Once Zhang Xuezhou understood this, he stopped worrying about gains and losses.

"Wang Deli, Gao Yaocai, you two escaped quite quickly, completely forgetting the King's orders!" Zhang Xuezhou shouted. "Take these few coins, and you two can part ways amicably. I don't need you to guard this place anymore!"

"My lord, I..."

"My lord, I was just looking at..."

"True character is revealed in times of disaster. You've done a good job protecting me and the reward is well-deserved. From now on, follow me, and I won't treat you unfairly!"

The King of Huainan also ran very fast, and stood just over ten meters away from Zhang Xuezhou.

Zhang Xuezhou scolded Wang Deli and Gao Yaocai, and for a moment he didn't dare to look at Lady Yourong, who was bent over by half a tael of coin in the water. He could only raise his head high.

The King of Huainan relayed his conversation to the King of Jiangdu, and Zhang Xuezhou's shouts and curses at this moment were clearly partly intended for the King of Huainan as well.

The traces of the Water Mansion have been fully revealed, and his previous offering of the Water Mansion has been approved. All that remains is to inspect the Water Mansion.

As long as he takes it one step at a time, demanding the Lady Yourong won't be a big problem for him.

Zhang Xuezhou held on firmly at this point, and also found reasons to eliminate the other two laborers first, leaving only the Lady Yourong as the sole option, to avoid any complications later.

"My gilded halberd with goose-wing wings!"

"Your Majesty, the King of Jiangdu, you mustn't!"

"Formations are created by nature, utilizing the power of nature; they cannot be forcibly broken by human power!"

"Jin... big mountains and small mountains!"

Zhang Xuezhou, causing chaos on the riverbank. Meanwhile, in the river, the King of Jiangdu roared, trying to reclaim his golden halberd, while the King of Huainan calmly made arrangements.

Jinchang of the Yin Yang family had very good experience in formations. Just as the King of Huainan was about to call Jinchang, he suddenly remembered that Jinchang was not hiding in the shadows, but had really resigned for a while. He could only choose the candidates for the mountains and hills who were good at earth escape.

Although these two were not from a formation sect, they had broken many formations and had some experience in dealing with them.

The King of Huainan shouted repeatedly, and two middle-aged men dressed in Confucian robes in the camp immediately took off their clothes and jumped into the water.

"Erudite Dong, my weapon is being carried around by these two fish and I can't pull it back! You Confucian School have studied many things, so quickly come and help me break this damned formation!"

The King of Jiangdu had eight hundred brave warriors under his command, each one a fierce man capable of bayonet fighting. He also brought more than ten men with him on this trip, but none of them knew the intricacies of the trade.

Everyone here is fighting head-on, no one knows these intricate details.

King Jiangdu was both irritable and unable to solve the problem. He thrashed about in the river for a while before remembering Dong Zhongshu was traveling and teaching in Jiangdu.

"Your Majesty, do not be angry. This formation is bound to decline after its peak. It is currently at its zenith, and breaking it will be a thankless and arduous task for us. When it weakens, everything will naturally return to its original state!"

Dong Zhongshu stood on a high point on the riverbank, his feet never touching the water.

He counted back and forth with his hands, and every now and then he would glance at Zhang Xuezhou standing in the water.

Zhang Xuezhou was nowhere to be seen last night, but when he was found this morning, people were already there joining in the fun.

Dong Zhongshu felt that Zhang Xuezhou had done something last night, otherwise he wouldn't be standing here so calmly.

But he couldn't quite figure out what Zhang Xuezhou had actually done.

"Mr. Dong is right. Big mountain, small mountain, be careful when breaking the formation. If you can't break the formation, take a break!"

The King of Huainan and Zhang Xuezhou were positioned very close together. When Dong Zhongshu's eyes swept over them, the Prince of King of Huainan thought that the other man was looking at him. This made him think back for a moment before instructing the two first-class guest ministers who were going into the water to break the formation.

"Your Majesty, this formation is a variation of the Two Dragons Emerging from Water Formation, specifically the Two Fish Emerging from Water Formation. This formation draws upon the power of Yin and Yang. If we brothers work together, one on the left and one on the right, we can capture these two fish and break the formation!"

In the murky water, Dashan, a more mature-looking first-class guest, appeared full of confidence.

Another, younger-looking, Class A guest elder, Xiaoshan, also nodded and shouted repeatedly.

"Your Majesty, rest assured, this formation is not a killing formation; its destructive power is limited. Let us test it first!"

Big Mountain and Little Mountain were clearly very confident.

It wasn't until their bodies were struck by the jumbled rocks and debris churning in the murky water that their expressions showed signs of pain, realizing that breaking through the formation in the water was entirely different from breaking through the formation on land.

"If Your Majesty has water-repelling beads, you only need to take two water-repelling beads of the same size and drop them into the fish's mouth, and this formation can be immediately destroyed," Dong Zhongshu said with a smile after staring at the fish for more than ten seconds.

"Water-repelling beads are not rare, but their water-repelling ability varies. Would a water-repelling bead with a weaker ability work?" the King of Huainan asked loudly.

"It's alright!"

Dong Zhongshu waved his hand, which prompted the King of Huainan to remove his crown and take off the two unremarkable beads on it.

He reached out and took the pearl, tossing it towards the big mountain and the small mountain. The two people immediately caught the pearl and swam towards the golden carp in the waves.

The King of Huainan's claim that the water-repelling pearl was weak was indeed true; even Dong Zhongshu hadn't anticipated it to be that weak.

Big Mountain and Little Mountain each carried a water-repelling bead, but the waves crashing towards them offered no resistance whatsoever; these water-repelling beads, however, prevented them from choking on water.

Even though Dong Zhongshu thought that a water-repelling pearl of the same specification could break the formation, he felt that he had spoken out of turn.

If he does this well, he won't get any credit; if he fails, it will cause him some trouble.

"Fall!"

"Fall!"

As the sound came from the same spot, Da Shan and Xiao Shan found a position and threw out the water-repelling beads in their hands.

The two men's throwing calculations were precise, and they even predicted the trajectory of the golden carp that was constantly rolling around with the gilded halberd in its beak.

The water-repelling bead touched the water and fell, landing precisely in the mouth of the frantically surging fish.

These two water-repelling beads weren't very effective at repelling water, but they ignored the impact of the surging water and fell straight down.

With a loud 'clang,' everyone saw the golden gong with gilded wings fall from the mouth of the golden carp, its body shrinking rapidly, and the surging waves quickly receding.

The Water Palace is open!

The golden carp circled in the water, its body shrinking smaller and smaller until it finally disappeared.

At the same time, a circular passageway appears.

Amidst the waves, the inscription on the "Twenty-Eight Routes of the Huai River Water Palace" stele came into view of the mountains and hills.

The mountain roared, making even the King of Huainan on the shore lose his footing.

He had only strode forward a dozen meters when the King of Jiangdu, who was in the water, suddenly dove in ahead of him, followed closely by several burly men.

"The treasure has fallen into the hands of the King of Jiangdu and can never be retrieved. Everyone go inside and search!"

Even though Zhang Xuezhou had already informed the Water Palace that there was nothing of value there, the King of Huainan was still afraid that they had found something extraordinary that he wouldn't be able to obtain.

This prompted the King of Huainan to issue a loud order.

No sooner had he finished speaking than a dozen people rushed out and dived into the cave.