All-Heavens Game, the Strongest Player

Chapter 10: Zhuge Liang's Eight Trigrams Formation!
After driving Cao Cao out, Yuan Shao turned to the players of the Four Seas Guild and asked, "The Xiliang army is brave and skilled in battle, and Lü Bu is even more unmatched. When the three-day period is up, your divine power will disappear. At that time, you will face them as mortals. Are you really confident?"

The players' public identity is that of gods descended to earth, and the protection for new players is their divine power.

As long as the protection doesn't disappear, the player is invincible; this has been proven by all the warlords.

Even at Hulao Pass, after Lu Bu verified it, he deeply felt that human strength was limited and that ordinary people could hardly shake the power of the gods!

However, it is no secret that once the protection period ends, the gods will return to their "flesh and blood bodies".

The reason Lu Bu chose to make his move the morning after tomorrow is because the new player protection period will end at that time—he wants to compete with the gods while still being a mortal!
A celestial being who fell to earth, and Lü Bu, a peerless warrior and the greatest warrior in the world.

So, which one is stronger?
"No matter how strong Lü Bu is, he's just a commoner. What's so scary about a commoner's courage?" The leader of the Four Seas Guild sneered, took out a blueprint and said, "Lord Yuan, all you need to do is lead the lords to set up the 'Nine Palaces Eight Trigrams Formation' on this blueprint. Even if ten Lü Bus come, they won't be able to leave alive!"

He said this with great confidence.

This "Nine Palaces Eight Trigrams Formation" also has another name, "Zhuge Eight Trigrams Formation," which was obtained by veteran players of the Four Seas Guild from Zhuge Liang when they were playing the Three Kingdoms dungeon.

He went to great lengths to obtain it.

It was precisely because of this formation diagram that he didn't take Lu Bu seriously at all, and was even confident that he could easily sweep through the dungeon!
"This single battle formation diagram really has such great power?" Yuan Shao was somewhat skeptical.

"The person who created it was Zhuge Liang! His brilliant strategies were unparalleled before him, and his military tactics were unmatched after him. In our region, he is recognized as the 'Number One Strategist of the Three Kingdoms,' and he is in a league of his own!"

Yuan Shao: “…”

Without hesitation, he immediately complied.

Because setting up the formation required too many people and would cause too much noise, a spy quickly relayed the news to Chu Xiu, who was discussing the deployment at Xiong'er Mountain with Cao Cao, and was taken aback.

"Based on the Eight Trigrams, could it be the Eight Trigrams Formation?"

If it really is that thing, then I have to say, the Four Seas Guild is quite something.

But not much.

"If not, the outcome is uncertain, but if so, I'm afraid the Four Seas Guild will not only fail to achieve its goal, but will also suffer a great loss!"

Why?

The Eight Trigrams Formation has never been lost; both Ma Su and Jiang Wei received its true teachings.

But why did it not perform well?
Because what's truly powerful is not the Eight Trigrams Formation, but Zhuge Liang himself—after studying military formations these past two days, Chu Xiu has come to realize that no matter how powerful a formation is, it must be adapted to the circumstances and used flexibly to unleash its full potential. Simply setting it up is nothing; being able to use it flexibly is what truly constitutes mastering it.

Know yourself and know your enemy, and adjust your strategy according to the enemy's characteristics.

The slightest oversight will leave a flaw.

The more advanced the formation, the more this applies. As the strongest formation in the original work, the Eight Trigrams Formation also demands the highest level of mastery in formations.

If it is not used properly, it will be like Dong Shi imitating Xi Shi (a Chinese idiom meaning to imitate someone poorly).

It's fine for fighting weaklings, but using it against a top-tier warrior like Lu Bu would be suicide!
"If the player who brought out the Eight Trigrams Formation had such military skill, he could easily defeat Lu Bu without it. Bringing out a formation as a trump card shows that he doesn't actually understand the Eight Trigrams Formation, or even formations in general!"

Thinking of this, Chu Xiu remotely ordered a group of spies to investigate.

Not long after, we received feedback.

The player leader of the Four Seas Guild who brought out the Eight Trigrams Formation didn't understand anything about troop deployment or formation, and didn't even intend to personally lead troops to deal with Lü Bu.

He simply tossed a battle formation diagram to Yuan Shao.

As for himself, he is improving his crossbow, intending to use it against other players when the first round of elimination begins.

Because they needed craftsmen, they recruited quite a few people. Among them was one of Chu Xiu's spies.

"You've run three dungeons and still need a crossbow to get kills? I overestimate you!"

Chu Xiu shook his head, no longer paying attention to Yuan Shao's side, and instead focused on inquiring about Hulao Pass. At this time, Hulao Pass was completely under martial law, and apart from farmers supplying the army, even merchants were not allowed to pass.

It was a system where information could only enter but never leave, making it impossible for messages to reach the feudal lords.

The fact that General Hua Xiong led a large army to secretly set out under cover of night and detoured around Xiong'er Mountain was naturally secretive enough that it did not alarm the feudal lords at all.

As for the other force, the troops that Lü Shengnan used to ambush Chu Xiu, they were not in Hulao Pass.

And on the Yellow River.

The information that Hua Xiong's army knew was that another army was lying in ambush along the banks of the Sishui River from upstream. But in reality, it was an army that went upstream from the confluence of the Yellow River and the Sishui River, crossed the battlefield where the warlords and Lü Bu were confronting each other, and launched a surprise attack on the upper reaches of the Sishui River!

If Cao Cao led his troops there and was ambushed by the navy, he would be completely caught off guard.

"They're all the sixth brother!"

With a sigh in his heart, Chu Xiu turned his attention to Guo Liang and found that he was also making preparations in advance: on the one hand, he pretended to set up defenses on Xiong'er Mountain, and on the other hand, he secretly sent people to the foot of the mountain to set up an ambush.

The remaining day and a half passed quickly.

At dawn, Hua Xiong, having rested overnight, led five thousand men around Xiong'er Mountain, intending to deliver a swift and decisive blow to the feudal lords from behind, letting them know his power.

He was accompanied by two deputy generals and a strategist.

The two lieutenants, one of whom held a Green Dragon Crescent Blade, had a red face and long beard, wore green leather armor and a tall hat, and looked just like Guan Yu.

The other one was dressed in purple-gold armor and held a halberd.

He looks just like Lü Bu.

As for the strategist, with his turban, feather fan, and four-wheeled cart, it goes without saying who he resembles—that's right, Hua Xiong actually has three players by his side!

One is Guan Yu, one is Wen Hou, and one is Wu Hou!
They might not be Hua Xiong's supporters, but just want to follow him and take advantage of the chaos to gain experience and resources.

However, it cannot be denied that the presence of the three celestial beings greatly enhanced Hua Xiong's sense of security.

"They say that with the Azure Dragon on the left and the White Tiger on the right, one can kill anyone who gets in one's way, and even gods can be slain if they stand in one's way! Now I have Marquis Wen on the left and Lord Guan on the right, with two heavenly gods by my side, plus a heavenly strategist. A mere feudal lord is nothing to me!"

At that moment, he even fantasized about how Dong Zhuo would reward him after he cut off the heads of Yuan Shao and Cao Cao and brought them back to Luoyang.

"Could they perhaps bestow Diao Chan upon me?"

But just then, the scout ahead suddenly screamed and fell into a trap. Before he could think, huge, burning fireballs began to roll down the mountain.

Heading straight for the army.

"Oh no, an ambush!" Hua Xiong exclaimed.

At the same time, three purple beams of light rose from the three players around him and shot into the sky, illuminating the clouds in purple.

It has a certain charm reminiscent of the poem "Auspicious purple clouds come from the east for three thousand miles".

But what's even more similar is the scene in "Storm Riders" when Xiong Ba turned into a demon.

"Attention all players, the new player protection period for this dungeon has ended. The first round of elimination is now underway! All players have been marked by the celestial phenomenon and cannot hide from other players or dungeon characters. The elimination will continue until the number of players in the dungeon drops to 64!"

(End of this chapter)