Run!
Fan Li had never been so disheveled. Abandoning the comfort of the carriage, he fled with all his might through the mountains and forests!
Ten Nascent Soul realm guards and Lu Fubao accompanied him. Despite their best efforts, their escape was slow. It was due to the bottleneck effect.
Among the twelve people in the fleeing group, Fan Li had the weakest cultivation, only at the Foundation Building realm. He ran slowly, and the others couldn't go any faster.
"Are you kidding me?!" Lu Fubao spoke as she ran, the wind filling her mouth, almost causing her to bite her tongue.
"An assassination attempt by a Great Vehicle Realm expert? Using arrows? Fan Li... you have so many enemies... can you please stay home more often in the future?!"
Fan Li smiled wryly. If he didn't go out, how could he have subdued Wang Ban?
As for the Great Vehicle Realm assassination attempt, heh, how familiar!
"Others transmigrate and build harems, but I transmigrate and get targeted by women for assassination. What the hell!"
The Brahma Sound Pure Land!
Without a doubt, it was the Brahma Sound Pure Land again!
Although there were many hermit masters like Wang Ban in the world, the only one who had reached the Great Vehicle Realm through archery and had a motive to kill him was likely the Brahma Sound Pure Land.
Back then, in order to capture Xiang Ning from Wu Gang, the Pure Land had sent six Sage Rulers at once.
Zither, Chess, Calligraphy, Painting, Sword, and Archery!
"Sage Ruler Archery!" Fan Li gritted his teeth in hatred.
His relationship with the Pure Land had always been tense, until the First Sage Ruler, Yao Guang, declared herself Empress.
With the Pure Land planning to establish a nation, the value of the Great Chu as an ally had significantly increased.
Not breaking ties with Fan Li should have been the Pure Land's bottom line in the short term. However, the Pure Land had broken its own bottom line.
Why?
"Because of Wang Ban?!"
After much deliberation, Fan Li could only come up with this one answer. There was an old saying: A setback may turn out to be a blessing in disguise. Now, it was the opposite for him. A blessing had turned into a disaster!
Did obtaining Wang Ban touch Sage Ruler Yao Guang's bottom line?
"No! There must be something about Wang Ban that I've overlooked!"
Fan Li suddenly realized. When he first met Wang Ban, he was shocked by his incredible mechanical skills. Building a city, or even a nation, with just one person – how could it not be astonishing?
However, as the third-generation Guiguzi, Wang Ban's personal circumstances were unknown to the outside world.
In other words, Sage Ruler Yao Guang's desire to obtain Wang Ban wasn't because of his mechanical skills!
"I'm such a fool!" Fan Li cursed himself under his breath.
Why did the founding emperors of Chu, Han, and Ming fight over Guiguzi?
Today, Sage Ruler Yao Guang and Emperor Jiajing sent people to Mount Yunmeng for the same reason.
It was ridiculous that he had been so blinded!
Mechanics were clearly Wang Ban's personal hobby. The greatest secret of the Guigu lineage had been overlooked by Wang Ban, who was obsessed with mechanics, and he had forgotten about it too!
"If I can escape into Mount Yunmeng, I must ask him properly! What kind of earth-shattering methods did the first Guiguzi possess?"
Fan Li wanted to learn from his mistakes. But the reality was cruel. Although there were no more powerful arrows coming from behind, a five-thousand-strong army awaited them in formation ahead!
Banners fluttered in the wind, with the large character "Ming" shining brightly.
An imperial carriage was parked in the center of the formation, and a Confucian cultivator, holding a military tally, was commanding the troops to advance.
"Left flank, right flank, encircle them."
"Center formation, advance with shields."
"Archers, prepare."
Zhang Juzheng, with an expressionless face, issued three orders in quick succession. The Crown Prince's guards were highly disciplined and immediately sprang into action.
Fan Li's left and right sides were quickly surrounded by two groups of a thousand soldiers each.
In the center formation, the front row of infantry formed a wall with their shields, while over two thousand soldiers behind them drew their bows and nocked arrows.
With just one volley, everything within a hundred meters of Fan Li would be showered with arrows!
"Duke of Jin..."
Zhang Juzheng looked at Fan Li and his group trapped within the encirclement and sighed regretfully.
Even he was surprised by this hastily planned ambush. But the other party involved in the collaboration had sent someone who convinced Crown Prince Wanli with just a few words.
"Your Highness, Fan Li has nowhere to escape. Should we try to persuade him to surrender first?" Zhang Juzheng asked towards the imperial carriage.
The curtain of the carriage lifted, and Crown Prince Wanli stepped out. His expression was cold and hard, his eyes filled with hatred. Clearly, the failure on Mount Yunmeng still weighed heavily on the Crown Prince's mind!
"Persuade him to surrender? There's no need for that," Crown Prince Wanli said coldly. "If I kill Fan Li here, the Chu nation will surely fall into chaos. Within a year, I will personally lead the army to conquer Chu and destroy their nation!"
Zhang Juzheng sighed inwardly. He knew that if Crown Prince Wanli returned to the court like this, his reputation would plummet.
Killing Fan Li and causing chaos within the Chu nation was indeed a great achievement, enough to erase the Crown Prince's failure on Mount Yunmeng.
"Duke of Jin's brilliance, what a pity..." Zhang Juzheng felt immense regret!
He had met Fan Li three times. The first time, he was amazed by his essay. Their second meeting in Lu City, where Fan Li refused Emperor Jiajing's offer to join the Great Ming, left Zhang Juzheng deeply shaken!
On Mount Yunmeng, Fan Li had conversed with the three founding emperors as equals, with ease and grace. Even Zhang Juzheng, a proud and talented individual, felt inferior.
"Release the arrows." With his command, a thousand arrows flew through the air.
Fan Li was shocked! When he saw the Ming army opposite them, he knew things were bad. But launching an attack without any warning was beyond his expectations.
"Fan Li, this is Golden Core level archery, and there are too many arrows. We can't block them head-on!" Lu Fubao said urgently.
Except for Fan Li, all twelve of them were Nascent Soul realm experts. However, quantity had a quality of its own.
Even with a difference of one major realm, thousands of arrows infused with Golden Core spiritual power could pierce through the defenses of Nascent Soul cultivators, turning them into hedgehogs.
"Do you have a solution?!" Fan Li asked back.
He actually had a way to protect himself, but Lu Fubao and the ten guards couldn't be sacrificed so easily.
"I can immediately set up a Yin-Yang Eight Gates Formation! Among the eight gates, the Gate of Life is an auspicious position. As long as we stand there, we will survive!"
"However, to activate the formation, one person must be sacrificed at the Gate of Death. The Gate of Death is an inauspicious position and will definitely be hit by the rain of arrows. With such a massive number of arrows, a Nascent Soul cultivator wouldn't be able to withstand it!"
As Lu Fubao spoke, she quickly set up the formation with incredible speed. She led everyone to stand at the Gate of Life and pointed to the nearby Gate of Death.
"Fan Li, what do we do!?" As soon as Lu Fubao finished speaking, the weakest cultivator among the ten guards charged towards the Gate of Death without hesitation.
The other nine remained at the Gate of Life as if it were the most natural thing to do.
Survival of the fittest?
Lu Fubao understood instantly and looked at Fan Li in disbelief. Even though she knew the ten guards were Fan Li's loyal followers, how were they trained?
Fan Li ignored Lu Fubao. He suddenly rushed towards the Gate of Death and kicked the unsuspecting guard back to the Gate of Life.
"Don't move! I'm covered in treasures. These damn arrows won't penetrate me!"
As soon as Fan Li finished speaking, the arrows rained down like a storm!
As Lu Fubao had said, not a single arrow fell on the Gate of Life, leaving Lu Fubao and the ten guards unharmed.
In contrast, the Gate of Death, where Fan Li stood, was the most densely covered area within the rain of arrows...