Cursed Mountains and Seas

Chapter 276 Resonance of Dharma Forms: Yu Long and Qi Hu, Slaying Thieves Like Dust (Seeking Votes at the Beginning of the Month)!
Qi Yuanjing's seemingly self-evident words unintentionally pierced Amakusa Shiro's deepest obsession.

—Lead your troops back to Yingzhou, eliminate all false gods, and establish a great Holy Cross world.

To deny his military capabilities is to deny his convictions and his life, and this is not just empty talk.

Amakusa Shiro only managed to execute "The Art of War: Controlling the Enemy Without Being Controlled" because he had an inside man working with him in the early stages and the defending generals Yu Long and Qi Hu didn't know much about him.

Move the enemy around, rather than be moved by them. Seize the initiative on the battlefield and make the enemy act according to your rhythm and intentions.

Now that their true strategic intentions have been exposed, they have been immediately brought back to reality and even lectured by their opponents.

This is unacceptable to Amakusa Shiro.

[Armchair strategist] With his weapon suspended overhead, he unleashed a series of brilliant military tactics, roaring as he wielded his scythe in a fierce and aggressive attack.

"Avoid the enemy's strength and attack their weakness! Avoid the enemy's strong and solid 'strength' points, and attack their weak and lax 'weakness' points."

Each attack can automatically find weaknesses and lock onto the enemy's weak points.

Qi Yuanjing deliberately exposed several flaws, causing the rigid and mechanical military tactics to hesitate, and then launched a counterattack, making Tian Tongzi flustered.

"Ah! Engage with the orthodox and win with the unorthodox! Use conventional forces to fight and resist the enemy, and use unorthodox forces to achieve victory by surprise."

A group of shikigami jumped out from behind him: Ubume, Umibozu, Funegi, and Ameonna. They were hidden by military tactics and suddenly attacked Qi Yuanjing from behind.

A new, compassionate face called "Divine Howl" grew from the back of Qi Hu's head, which, together with the "Ghost Howl" on the front, commanded his six arms and the black dragon beneath him to defend against any attack.

"I will focus on the enemy's weaknesses, attack where they are unprepared, and strike when they least expect it. If ten times their strength, surround them; if five times, attack them. First, make yourself invincible, then wait for the enemy to become vulnerable."

These tricks didn't work the first time they were used unexpectedly, and now they're being used a second time with the same result.

Qi Hu, on the contrary, became more and more relaxed as the fight progressed, seemingly having countered a tactic from Sun Tzu's Art of War: "Know yourself and know your enemy, and you will never be defeated."

Although still surrounded, they gradually gained the upper hand, and did not forget to use psychological warfare, with every word hitting Amakusa Shiro's weak spot, proving that he was incompetent:

"The legends of the victors and vanquished on both sides of Qin and Zhao are all anchored in the Battle of Changping."

But how can a defeated general speak of bravery?
Even if some people later praised Zhao Kuo to the skies, he still failed!
Even if one becomes a national treasure, one's rank would only barely reach the upper-middle rank.

If this "armchair strategist" were to face the talisman and protective object left behind by the God of Slaughter Bai Qi, it would be utterly destroyed in a single blow, even inferior to its own master.

There are never the strongest military strategies or talismans in the world, only the strongest people!
How could those mere Japanese barbarians understand such principles? Explaining it to you is pointless.

The quality of a talisman or a town's artifact has little to do with who it belongs to or how exquisite it is. The key is to see which period of history it is anchored to and what the consequences would be if that period of history were removed.

For example, the "Secretly Crossing the Chencang Pass" was the founding battle of Liu Bang, the first emperor of the Han Dynasty. Even if there are other Thirty-Six Stratagems listed alongside it, how many can actually compete with it?

The essence of the Battle of Changping lay with the Qin Dynasty and with Bai Qi; mere armchair strategists were simply riding on its coattails.

Furthermore, Amakusa Shiro, a heretic who rejected Central Plains culture and embraced the Holy Cross from a young age, simply couldn't understand how to use it, further diminishing its power.

"Wow!"

Amakusa Shiro was so angry that his face turned red.

Just as I was trying to calm my turbulent blood and regain my composure using my years of self-cultivation techniques, I suddenly felt a jolt in my heart.

A quarter of an hour ago, the thickest of the chains connecting the dozens of shikigami, large and small, had been rapidly dimming. He had initially thought it was because the serpent's tail had split into too many offspring and would soon grow back.

But just now, when the chain dimmed to its lowest point, it suddenly snapped!
Amakusa Shiro felt as if a large part of his heart had suddenly emptied, followed by overwhelming anger:
"My shikigami basket snake tail, which I prepared for conquering Yingzhou, has died?!"

Who, who killed it? I'll tear you to pieces!

His theoretical knowledge and his seemingly weak approach were the very reasons he dared to return to Yingzhou.

One of the reasons for killing Yu Long and Qi Hu was to gain immense prestige, so that he could bring the Japanese pirates scattered throughout the East China Sea and the South China Sea under his command and become a powerful warlord.

Now that a crucial link is missing, it's like walking with a limp; the risk of returning to Yingzhou has increased dramatically.

To make matters worse, he sensed that the outer maze had been suddenly triggered, and a line of crimson sword light rushed forward at high speed, almost unaffected by the maze.

Upon recognizing the person, his expression changed drastically:

"It's Yu Zhifu. How did he get here so quickly?"

If anyone else were to stumble into this maze, they would be completely disoriented and have no idea how to get out. Even someone of the third rank would have to put in a lot of effort to break through it. But Yu Zhifu is different.

His hometown is Jinjiang County in Citong Prefecture, and he came from a hereditary household of one hundred households.

Even if an ordinary person suffers from acclimatization problems, a pinch of soil and water from their hometown can have miraculous effects, and this is even more true for a living ghost or deity.

Yu Zhifu's foundation and ancestral temple are all here.

There are too many traces of him in Quanzhou Port.

Dududi Lane is named after his governor's residence located there; the six wells opposite Dududi Lane were where Yu's army drew water.
The adjacent Pochai Lane was the location of the Yu family army's kitchen; Micang Lane was where the Yu family army stored grain. In addition, "Baizhangping," "Liandanshi," and "Jilongzhai" on Qingyuan Mountain were the places where Yu Zhifu practiced martial arts;

The "Imperial Grace is as Heavy as a Mountain" stone inscription on Qingyuan Mountain and the "Sea-Suppressing Stone" stone inscription on Chaoyang Mountain are both his works.
Besides the Yu Clan Ancestral Hall, there are also shrines built by the people of the city in his honor.

These were all part of the rituals he performed when he broke through to the third rank of living ghosts and gods!

During the pre-Qin period, the distinction between ghosts and gods was blurred, and there were numerous instances of people vying for incense offerings and forcibly taking blood offerings.

There are far more spirits and deities that conquer people with fear than those that conquer them with protection.

It is commonplace for people to solicit offerings by creating disasters to frighten the public, just like the Nine Demon Dragons.

What they sought was nothing more than the "incense and prayer power" contained in various offerings, which was no different from the divine energy of Emperor Qin Shi Huang contained in taxes and corvée labor.

It's a good place to cultivate oneself within the Six Doors (a government agency).

Court officials held official positions and possessed an air of authority. Once they met the promotion criteria and reached a certain rank, they were eligible for direct promotion with state support.

Civilian officials, on the other hand, need to plan for the continuation of the faith and make significant contributions so that the people will spontaneously remember them, or secretly recruit believers to become the fuel for the transformation of divine decrees and the consolidation of authority.

Yu Long and Qi Hu, who enjoyed great prestige among the people, both relied on two approaches.

When Yu Zhifu set foot on this land, even the mountains and rivers seemed to welcome him home, this son of theirs who had rendered great service to the people.

The abundant incense offerings and vows serve as his guiding light and an unbreakable beacon.

"Hmph, there's plenty of time, we'll see!"

Seeing that things were hopeless, Amakusa Shiro angrily adjusted the maze formation and issued an order for the entire army to retreat.

The main fleet immediately turned its ships around and, under the cover of theoretical discussions, rushed towards the East China Sea to disperse and withdraw.

Tian Tongzi himself wanted to leave, but this time it was Qi Hu who held him back.

Before he could ride the waves out of the bay and reach the edge of the maze forty miles away, a line of crimson sword light suddenly appeared and slashed down at him.

Ouch——!
Roar--!
Tigers roar and dragons roar.

The highest level of "Heaven and Man in Harmony" can alter celestial phenomena by leveraging human emotions, enough to determine the outcome of a war.

Especially when fighting on their own home turf, the blessing of willpower they receive is extraordinary.

When Yu Long and Qi Hu came together, their positions resonated with each other, and their ghostly and divine powers enhanced each other. The dragon and tiger were in harmony, and water and fire complemented each other, causing their bodies to grow larger and larger, with golden light flowing around them.

This scene at this moment represents the wish of everyone along the southeast coast:
"Yu Long and Qi Hu, slaying traitors like dirt!"

When facing Japanese pirates, the lethality of their magic increased by 30%!

"what--!"

Faced with the sudden attack from the dragon and tiger, Amakusa Shiro instinctively raised his hand to block, and half of his hand rose into the air.

One of the scythes was knocked away and slammed into his chest, causing both his physical form and his true form to cough up a mouthful of blood.

But this blood was not wasted.

Suddenly, he pierced through the spirits of the two dog gods beside him, instantly sacrificing them with blood. Crimson divine light enveloped Amakusa Shiro's body as he charged towards the East Sea.

Then, one by one, the shikigami around him were sacrificed, and the speed increased.

Faced with this extremely ruthless escape tactic, Yu Long and Qi Hu were a step too slow.

Only a streak of light pierced through the clouds and waves, quickly disappearing into the distance.

The initial plan failed completely, and Amakusa Shiro gritted his teeth and worried fiercely:
"One failure is okay, as long as I'm alive, I can make a comeback!"

In other places, Buddhism and Shintoism still wield considerable influence, with deep-rooted support from local daimyo.

However, my hometown, Jiufan Island, was occupied by the Donghai Kingdom, making its foundation unstable.

I can go there first to launch a war of plunder. The major temples and shrines on the main island are likely not to interfere, so I can use them as my base for conquering the world!
The second-generation Prince Jinghai? A mere third-rank official, what right does he have to occupy this position?

At that moment, his spiritual senses were triggered, and he looked up sharply, horrified to find a huge, mountain-like black shadow appearing at the edge of the fog.

Go back!
"May my luck be great!"

While the Heavenly Craft Treasure Ship only completes the [Thunderfire Cardinal] and [Luban Pillar], it still lacks a large number of functional modules.

However, the fact that it could contend with the Basket Snake Tail, which Amakusa Shiro had high hopes for, proves that the unfinished Tenko Treasure Ship has the qualifications to interfere in the war between demons and gods.

At this moment, the engine started up and crashed straight into Amakusa Shiro's [Demon God Form] once again.

Boom——! ! !
(End of this chapter)