The light of the sword is like the moon reflecting on Kyushu

Chapter 2089 He Watched Me from a Thousand Miles Away
The next morning, the sky was still pitch black. No stars, no moon, no wind, just clouds.

The Holy Venerable stood atop the mountain, gazing eastward with profound eyes and a voice filled with the vicissitudes of life: "It is tens of thousands of miles from here to the East Sea. Over there, the sunrise can already be seen, while here it is still as dark as night. This is the difference in space, which creates a difference in perspective."

The disciples standing nearby were all visibly awe-inspiring.

The Holy One always utters astonishing words, and this time, his words were indeed profound and unfathomable, leaving one with endless aftertaste!
"In martial arts, there are often times when force is not an option, in which case we can draw on the concept of trading space for time!"

The monks were shocked!
Trading space for time!
The Holy One continued his soliloquy, saying, "For example, if two armies are facing each other and the enemy's forces outnumber ours tenfold, how should we deal with them?"

A tall, thin monk said, "Avoid their sharp edge!"

The Holy One said, “The Art of War by Sun Tzu states, ‘Therefore, the art of war is this: if your forces are ten times stronger than yours, surround them; if they are five times stronger, attack them; if they are twice as strong, divide them; if they are equal in strength, fight them; if they are weaker, flee from them; if they are weaker, avoid them.’ Now, the enemy’s forces are ten times yours, and they have already surrounded you. How can you avoid their attacks?”

The tall, thin monk was speechless for a moment. He had never experienced military campaigns; how could he possibly know the countermeasures?
Another short, stout monk said, "Their encirclement must be very large, so their forces must be very scattered. If I were the commander-in-chief, I would concentrate our forces to attack one point and break through!"

The Holy Venerable said, "Not bad! Interesting! But if you concentrate your breakout efforts at one point, won't the enemy concentrate their forces to encircle and annihilate you?" Encirclement doesn't mean all soldiers stand in a line to surround a large circle; that would be too easy to break through! Encirclement and annihilation usually involves several units holding off key strategic points to prevent the surrounded troops from escaping, while the main force launches a decisive battle to wipe them out!

Even in the open field, an encirclement can never be a true circle! Such an encirclement has no power at all; it may seem like an impregnable fortress, but in reality, it is as thin as paper and can be broken with a single charge!
In the open field, the enemy forces can be attacked from both sides, either from the front and rear or from all four sides. They can be divided into a maximum of four parts! That is to say, each part is two and a half times the size of our own! No matter which way we charge, we will be surrounded and annihilated by at least two parts of the enemy forces!

Therefore, the prerequisite for successfully breaking through a single point by concentrating forces is that the enemy's forces are less than four times the size of yours! If the enemy's forces are more than four times the size of yours, the chances of a successful breakout are very low!

"Then how should we deal with it?"

The Holy Venerable's gaze was profound: "The military strategies of the Central Plains are unfathomable! There was Sun Tzu before, and Zhuge Liang after! Sun Tzu's 'Thirteen Chapters of the Art of War' tells the world that the right time is not as important as the right place, and the right place is not as important as the right people! Zhuge Liang's 'Eight Formations' is even more terrifying; even if thousands of troops are trapped inside, they cannot break out!"

The tall, thin monk's eyes flashed: "This is the mystery of the formation!"

The Holy Venerable laughed and said, "You've finally figured it out! There are often cases in military affairs where the weak defeat the strong, which relies on the extreme exploitation of the right time, place, and people! The enemy is ten times our size, so it's not wrong to first consider taking advantage of the right time and place. But my assumption is that the weather is clear and the location is a flat open field. You are surrounded by an enemy with ten times your strength. Imagine how you would break out?"

A monk with arched eyebrows said, "Form the formation!"

The Holy One said, "That's right!"

The monk with the bushy eyebrows was secretly delighted! He thought to himself: Didn't the Holy Venerable just mention formations? Of course, it's about setting up an array! And you're still racking your brains guessing! How stupid!
The Holy One looked up at the sky, his breath rising even more noticeably in the cold night: "Do you understand hedgehogs?"

The monks all replied, "We understand!"

"Know!"

The Holy Venerable said, "A hedgehog is not large in size and its strength is limited, but when it curls up into a ball, even a tiger that can crush rocks would not dare to bite it rashly!"

The monks said, "Yes!"

The Holy One asked, "Why is that?"

One of the monks replied, "Because it has thorns, and tigers are afraid of getting their mouths pricked!"

The Holy Venerable said, "If the soldiers can form a battle formation similar to a hedgehog, then the enemy army, which is ten times stronger, will be like a tiger. Although they are powerful, they will not dare to bite for a short time!"

A monk seemed to have an epiphany. "I understand! If I encounter someone whose martial arts skills are ten times better than mine, as long as I turn into a hedgehog, he won't be able to deal with me for a short time! I'll have enough time to escape!"

The monks all wore strange expressions, as if they were looking at a fool!

The Holy Venerable said, "Even if you turned into a stone, someone whose martial arts are ten times better than yours would still smash you to pieces."

Only then did the monk realize why everyone was laughing at him!

His face immediately turned red!
The Holy One did not mock him, but said calmly, "There is no comparison between the battle between two armies and the duel between masters! Ten times the military strength sounds terrifying, but it is just a numbers game, just the ineffective superposition of simple individuals! If a sheep bites you, are you afraid of pain?"

The monk hesitated to answer, then thought for a moment, "Sheep can only chew grass, they can't bite bones at all, so... it doesn't hurt at all!"

The Holy One laughed and said, "What if a hundred sheep were biting you at the same time?"

The monk thought for a moment, "It still doesn't hurt!"

The Holy Venerable's eyes flashed: "Therefore, you can't compare them! If you encounter someone whose martial arts are ten times stronger than yours, you'd better run away! Because the opponent's strength is not a simple, ineffective accumulation. It's the accumulation of quantity leading to a qualitative leap! If your punch is 100 jin, while the opponent's punch is 1000 jin, what do you think your chances of survival are if you two fight each other?"

"This... I'm afraid... hehe, certain death... Holy Lord, then... what you said about trading space for time, could that solve this problem?"

"That's right! Trading space for time is actually quite similar to guerrilla warfare. To put it simply, if you have space, use it; if you don't, create it! With enough space, you can gain enough time! With enough time, you can keep the enemy on your toes! You take the initiative... and your chances of escape naturally increase!"

The monks were immediately stunned!

My heart was filled with mixed feelings!

It turns out that the essence of "trading space for time" is actually "escape"!
The Holy Venerable naturally noticed the strange expressions on everyone's faces and said calmly, "When facing someone whose power is more than three times yours, you'd better turn around and leave! As the saying goes, 'One force can overcome ten techniques!' In the face of absolute strength, all skills are just a joke!"

Inside Jishi Military City, on the rooftop of Xuefeng Mingzhu (Snow Peak Pearl), stood several figures! Pang Shiwu said, "Brother, it's quite chilly this early in the morning, why are you in the mood to come up to the roof?"

Feng Jiuxiao said, "It's been a long time since I climbed onto a rooftop!"

Back in the day, my friends and I often climbed to the rooftops of some restaurants in Hengyang to see the whole city! We loved climbing restaurant rooftops because, apart from the pagodas, restaurants were the tallest buildings in the city! Only by standing high could we see far!
As a child, Feng Jiuxiao spent his days by the sea, gazing at the ocean. Standing on the shore, he felt exhilarated! Suddenly transported from the boundless sea to a bustling, crowded city, he initially found it difficult to adjust. Walking through the streets, he saw people everywhere—people to his left, people to his right, people in front of him, people behind him—it was oppressive!

Later, he climbed to the ridge of a dilapidated house and finally felt relieved! So he often climbed high to relieve his depression!

Over time, climbing to high places and looking into the distance has become a habit.

Pang Shiwu said, "Then why didn't you climb higher the other day?"

Feng Jiuxiao looked westward, "Because I don't feel anything!"

Pang Shiwu was taken aback. "Feelings? What feelings? You've felt them today?"

Feng Jiuxiao said, "That's right! Over there—" He pointed to the west, "The Holy Venerable must be watching this way!"

Bai Lian's lips twitched behind him!
This is too far-fetched! Even a deity like Zhang Tianshi, who has the supernatural power to observe mountains and rivers, couldn't possibly sense what someone is doing thousands of miles away, could he?

But judging from Feng Jiuxiao's expression, he was clearly not joking!

Feng Jiuxiao said, "It's normal that you don't believe me! This feeling is so mysterious and profound that it can only be understood intuitively and is difficult to explain in words!"

Pang Shiwu glanced westward twice. "You mean he's looking at you? Why would he want to look at you?"

Feng Jiuxiao said, "Because he knew I was coming!"

Pang Shiwu asked, "And then?"

"Then, of course, he would go after me."

"Oh, I thought it was something else. We've been waiting for him to come."

"He... probably doesn't know I'm here!"

"What? You're confusing me! One minute he's watching you, the next he doesn't know you're here. What does that mean?"

"I don't know either! But I feel like he's waiting for me!"

"Oh dear, you're making this sound more and more mysterious."

"Then let's not talk about it. Let's enjoy the scenery of the city."

"It's not even dawn yet, what are you looking at?"

"Watch the sunrise!"

"..."

A carrier pigeon flew into the sky from the Garan Temple.

The secret letter inside the bamboo tube on the pigeon's leg was written by the Holy Venerable to the three great leaders within Jishi Army City!

Jishi Military City, also known as Xige City, is the first strategic pass in the eastern border of Tibet. Its military and political structure is characterized by a unique pattern of "three powers dividing the land, with Buddha and sword jointly governing".

The core power triangle consists of: the city's chief military officer, Jie'er Lun; the military commander, the Grand Vanguard Envoy; and the religious supervisor, Teacher Ben.

The three parties check and balance each other in terms of power.

The position of Jie'erlun is reserved for the four major Shang clans of Tibet (Wei, Melu, Shangchen, and Nanang) in rotation, and ordinary people never have the chance to hold it until they die!
He controlled the tea-horse smuggling tax, and it is said that he amassed a staggering 5,000 taels of gold last year!

At the same time, he controlled twelve military supply depots, which were said to contain 100,000 catties of gunpowder!

As for the vanguard commander of the grand army, he must be the reincarnation of the Bon religion's war god! He wields the "Five Deaths Blade"! (This blade has slain famous generals from the Han, Uyghur, Tangut, Indian, and Arab worlds; its name is Five Deaths.)

They excel at arranging mountain formations—countless yaks clad in iron armor form a wall!

Religious military supervisors usually come from the ancient kingdom of Xiangxiong and the Xin clan of witchcraft. They are skilled in using evil tools, such as using human leg bone divination tubes to predict the auspicious time for the fall of a city, and using vengeful spirit thangkas to extract the souls of the dead and seal them into paintings!

The most terrifying tactic was chanting spells on the battlefield to kill enemy horses! Of course, Venerable White Lotus explained that the enemy actually mixed corpse poison powder into the fodder beforehand...

The reason the Holy Venerable wrote this letter to three people at the same time was to ensure that they worked together with one heart and one mind, mobilized the entire city's resources, and were determined to kill the White Lotus Venerable and all his "accomplices," better to kill the innocent than let the guilty go free! Only in this way could they be absolutely certain of successfully snatching those five "children" with extremely Yin and Yang destiny!
If we don't write to these three people at the same time, they will definitely stick to the principle of "checks and balances." Even if they don't undermine each other, they will definitely not cooperate actively. In that case, the plan to kill Bai Lian and snatch the boy will most likely fall through! After all, Bai Lian's helpers are no ordinary people, as they were able to kill dozens of monks in the entire Xiaozhao Temple!
There are at least three thousand cavalry and three thousand evil soldiers in Jishi Army City. Even with six thousand lives, we still can't hold back those few people.

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