If you don't give up, I'd like to be your adoptive father.

Chapter 1405 Mutation
In Xiaoyu's previous life, she only had one fixed impression of Liu Ji's rise to power: Liu Laosan was able to compete with Xiang Yu for the world because of his old buddies from Pei County.

Liu Bang was lucky; such a small county as Pei County harbored so many heroes.

This preconceived notion isn't too wrong, but it's not accurate enough.

The Lü family was actually an important original shareholder of the Han Dynasty.

The help the Lü family provided to Liu Ji was not because Lü Gong gave Liu Ji a large sum of money.

The Lü family was wealthy, but not extremely wealthy. They could support themselves, but not an army.

The key is talent!
Of the more than one hundred people who were enfeoffed as marquises in the early Han Dynasty, more than one-tenth were originally subordinates of Lü Ze, the eldest son of the Lü family.

Don't think that one-tenth is a small number. You should know that among these marquises of the Western Han Dynasty, only one-third came from Pei County.

In other words, the number of talents Liu Ji obtained from his hometown was roughly two to three times that of the people Lü Ze brought.

Even with Liu Laosan's succubus-like ability to attract talent to his side, Lü Ze's generals still managed to occupy more than one-tenth of the seats among the marquises, demonstrating the true strength of the Lü family.

Lu Gong was skilled at judging people, and under the command of his eldest son Lu Ze, he stored up a large number of heroes who were very talented but lacked good fortune.

For example, Tiger Minister.

Compared to Xiaoyu, Huchen was nothing. But compared to the heroes of Shenzhou, Huchen truly deserved to be called "outstanding." Otherwise, Marquis Lieyang would not have planned to bring him back to Shenzhou to serve as the captain of the Fire Crow Army cavalry.

After Liu Bei seized power, he enfeoffed Han Xin, Peng Yue, Ying Bu, and other princes. In fact, based on his achievements and capital, Lü Ze was fully deserving of a kingship.

Liu Ji hugged his wife even tighter, and whispered in her ear, "What do you think about me turning west, getting closer to Dang County, and working with my brother-in-law to take down that Jing Bo? Then we can go all out in the southeast of Dang County, with him in the white and me in the black. What's the potential?"

Empress Lü let him do as he pleased, her cheeks flushed, and she seemed to enjoy it quite a bit.

"Don't even think about it! I've been married to you for years, have you ever seen my older brother even once? What kind of relationship do you have with him?"
Heroes and great men can only be won over with their courage and magnanimity. You should treat my elder brother as a hero, not as a relative.

If you treat him as a relative, he will only see you as a poor, down-on-his-luck relative who wants to freeload off you.

Faced with such a relative, do you think he would immediately bow down and pay homage?

Liu Ji immediately looked dejected, losing all interest in continuing to rub his head. He lay back down on the bed, his hands behind his head, and muttered, "Not to mention your eldest brother, even your second brother, Lü Shizhi, ignores me. They clearly look down on me!"

Frustrated and annoyed, Lü Zhi poked him with a needle and snapped, "Look at you! You're always thinking about relying on others, never about improving yourself."

Little do you know that right now, only through diligent practice can you truly master it.

You can't decide what Lü Ze, Lü Shizhi, or anyone else are thinking, but you can decide whether to go out and practice swordsmanship and supernatural techniques right now!
Only skills honed through hard work will never let you down.

"Damn it, can't you let me get some sleep in the middle of the night?" Liu Ji raised his right hand again, intending to slap the woman.

"Ah~~~"

Suddenly, a shrill and malevolent roar came from outside the stone chamber.

At first, the roar sounded somewhat human, but later it completely transformed, resembling a wild beast or some kind of strange bird, as if it were crying out.

Moreover, even through the wooden door, a billowing demonic aura poured into the room, making Liu Ji and Lü Zhi's hair stand on end and their hair stand on end in terror.

"Is this... an invasion by a powerful demon?"

Liu Ji rolled over and got up, pulled the "Crimson Sky Sword" from the stone table by the bed, and darted out in one step, but did not rush out the door. Instead, he pressed his body against the stone wall and looked out through the crack in the door.

"The demons have all gone into the cave, what are you still so suspicious about?" Lü Zhi said anxiously.

Liu Ji lowered his voice and said irritably, "You want me to be the first one to rush out, and then you'll be a widow?"

Such a commotion must have alerted more than just him. Including the dozen or so brothers Peng Yue brought, there were now about a hundred people inside the cave.

The best strategy would be for him to go out and calmly direct the attack from the rear after everyone else has rushed forward.

Sure enough, soon the sound of clothes tearing through the air could be heard continuously.

"Brother Ji, Brother Ji, where are you?" Many people were calling out to him anxiously.

Liu Ji took two steps back, then accelerated and charged forward. After taking half a step, he suddenly stopped, first biting the sword hilt with his teeth, and then quickly tearing off his clothes with both hands, making himself look as if he had just gotten out of bed.

Then he circulated his internal energy, secretly activating a trace of the "domineering aura" of the "Old Man's Joy" technique, and with a "boom," he smashed the wooden door to pieces.

Upon reaching the outer passageway, he held his sword, his face filled with urgency and his eyes blazing with unwavering killing intent. He roared, "What kind of demon dares to sneak into the cave so silently?"

“Brother Ji, the monster seems to be in the training room inside.” Lu Wan walked over with her chest exposed and arms around him.

"Such a strong demonic aura! It must be the Demon King!"

Peng Yue had already rushed to the front, peering inside as he said, "Brother Ji, if no brothers are trapped inside, let's retreat first. The outside is spacious enough to form a military formation."

"Brother is right, let's go!"

Liu Ji thought the same thing, and upon hearing this, he nodded repeatedly and immediately prepared to leave.

"Hey, husband, don't go!" Lü Zhi cried out in a panic at the door.

"Oh, you woman. I almost forgot about you. Cough cough, don't panic, don't worry, I'm here to save you!"

Liu Ji paused for a moment, then quickly ran back, preparing to pull Lü Zhi away.

Lü Zhi broke free and shouted, "We brothers are inside!"

Liu Ji looked around and asked in confusion, "Aren't all of us brothers here? That's the training room! We're already staying in the innermost room."

Back then, Wu Yazi carved out a cave halfway up the main peak of Mangdang Mountain.

There is a preaching platform outside the cave, a long tunnel inside the cave, and a practice room inside.

It fully meets the daily life and study needs of the 108 heroes of Pei County.

At this time, Liu Ji and his brothers together did not even have 108 people, so they almost preserved the original cave layout, only opening up many small single rooms on both sides of the tunnel.

As the leader of the bandits, Liu Laosan naturally had to stay in the best room, which was the innermost one.

The other brothers were all in the outer room.

At this moment, the "Demon King" roared from the innermost training room.

If Liu Ji and Lü Zhi, who are closest to the training room, are both unharmed, then theoretically everyone else is even safer.

"Your fourth brother, Liu Jiao!" Lü Zhi exclaimed anxiously.

"Hey, Liu Jiao is still practicing his sword inside. You bastard, what are you practicing your sword for so late at night!"

Liu Ji also panicked. He rushed forward a few steps, only to bump into an invisible yet tangible wall of demonic energy. He shivered and became frightened.

"Liu Jiao, Fourth Brother, are you still alive?" He stopped and shouted inside. He called several times, but the only response was a series of increasingly shrill and menacing eagle cries.

Before, it was a vague roar of beasts, with only a hint of birdsong, but now it has almost completely transformed into the cry of an eagle.

"Whoosh whoosh whoosh~~" The eagle's cry was fierce, and gusts of demonic wind poured out from inside.

The weaker bandits were immediately invaded by the demonic energy, their bones became weak and their muscles went numb, their thoughts became confused, and they began to stagger as if they were drunk, with strange demonic patterns crawling all over their skin.

"Not good! The demonic energy is too strong. Those brothers with low internal strength can't withstand it."

Peng Yue's expression changed, and he stepped forward to grab Liu Ji, quickly advising as they walked away, "Brother Ji, it seems we can't be brothers with Liu Jiao anymore. Please accept our condolences, preserve our strength, and prepare to avenge him!"

"Aww~~ Fourth brother, fourth brother~~~" Liu Ji immediately burst into tears, struggling desperately and wailing loudly.

The more he struggled, the further he actually got from the training room, and before long he had arrived at the mountainside platform outside the cave.

"Waaaaah, fourth brother, you died so tragically, I'm so sorry~~"

Liu Ji collapsed to the ground, his mournful cries heart-wrenching.

Peng Yue tried to persuade them a few times to no avail, so he had to take the lead himself and asked, "Lu Wan, and all the brothers, which 'Five Elements Formation' did you practice in the past?"

Lu Wan said, "The Five Elements Formation taught by the county garrison? We stopped practicing those ordinary military formations a long time ago. We have the Zhou Tian Xing Dou Grand Formation!"

Peng Yue exclaimed in surprise, "Was it taught to you by an immortal?"

“That’s right! The nearby mountains correspond one by one to our destiny stars. We can borrow the spiritual energy of heaven, the evil energy of earth, and the power of the stars. Once a great formation is formed, ghosts and gods will be easily warded off, and all kinds of magic will be invincible!” Lu Wan and the bandits all had proud expressions.

"Then you all hurry up and set up the formation. I'll stay on the side and support you! Block the cave entrance, and whatever you do, don't let the eagle demon escape," Peng Yue said.

Lu Wan first organized a group of people to set up a "small Zhou Tian Xing Dou Formation" before forcibly pulling Liu Ji up from the ground and stuffing him into the "Tian Kui position".

"Brother Ji, cheer up! Without you, our fighting strength is reduced by more than half!"

When Liu Ji fled, he did indeed forget about his brothers and wife, but when his brother died, he was truly heartbroken.

After Lu Wan and the others comforted him for a while, he held the Crimson Sky Sword, staring at the cave entrance with hatred in his face and vigilance in his eyes.

“Boom, boom~~ Cry, cry~~” From the deepest part of the cave, the dull sounds of impacting the stone walls and the loud, high-pitched cries of eagles kept coming.

"Whoosh~~" A colorful, eerie wind surged out.

The entire process lasted for more than an hour, and the sound and the demonic wind did not diminish at all.

"Such powerful demonic energy must belong to a great demon. But its cry is very unusual; it seems to be in great pain? Like it's injured?"

Peng Yue asked doubtfully, "If it really sneaked in from the outside, it shouldn't be behaving like this!"

Liu Ji was also puzzled, but he didn't care what state the fairy was in.

"I will kill my fourth brother, whether he sneaked in quietly or accidentally broke in while injured."

After a pause, he encouraged everyone, saying, "Although its demonic power is strong, it cannot break our Zhou Tian Xing Dou Small Array. You see, when its demonic power arrives at the array, it is immediately neutralized by the starlight."

This is also true.

At this time, Liu Ji's group was small in number and could not form a complete Zhou Tian Star Formation, but they had an absolute geographical advantage: they were in the mountain range corresponding to Liu Ji's destiny star.

Even ordinary people could see with their naked eyes that the stars above these people had become exceptionally bright.

Strands of starlight fell down, forming a waterfall that showered them and then scattered in all directions.

The rich and powerful stellar energy was still dispelling the demonic aura and evil winds flowing out of the cave.

Peng Yue, who was standing nearby, was a discerning person and looked on with envy.

"Tap-tap, tap-tap-tap~~" Half an hour later, strange footsteps suddenly came from inside the cave.

Liu Ji's spirits lifted, and he shouted, "Be careful, the Demon King has come out!"

The footsteps stopped ten paces from the cave entrance, "whoosh, whoosh..."

Heavy breathing followed, then a hoarse voice, "Third...Third Brother, it's...it's me~~"

"You demon, come out and face your death!" Lu Wan roared.

Liu Ji frowned. The voice was unfamiliar and he couldn't hear it clearly, but he had a strange feeling that the other person was not hostile and that they were quite close to him.

"What kind of demon are you? Why did you sneak into my cave and harm my brothers?" he shouted.

The monster inside made a "hoarse" sound in its throat, but couldn't speak human language.

It kept trying inside, struggling for a while, before finally calling out again, "Third Brother, it's me, I'm Liu Jiao!"

This time, a few sharp-eared people finally managed to distinguish it.

"Brother Ji, something's not right. That monster said he's Liu Jiao's brother."

"Brother Ji, don't be fooled by demons! Mountain spirits and monsters are masters of transformation and deception." Some people became even more wary.

Liu Ji raised his hand to signal everyone to be quiet, then shouted into the cave, "Liu Jiao, is it really you? How did you turn into a monster?"

The monster moved towards the cave entrance again, its voice becoming clearer, filled with pain, confusion, and frustration: "I ate the fairy fruit inside the cave, and my whole body became hot, and I grew feathers and wings, turning into a monster."

It walked step by step outside the cave, letting the starlight fall on it so that everyone could see it clearly.

"Ah, Lei Gong?! Is this Lei Zhenzi from the Investiture of the Gods?"

"What Thunder God? This is an Eagle Demon!"

The crowd gasped in surprise, and many people shouted the same thing in unison.

This monster does indeed resemble Lei Zhenzi after he swallowed the Thunder Apricot: it has two golden wings on its back, a face that looks like it is wearing a golden mask, which is also golden and has a very obvious metallic texture, its hair is a mixture of silver and black, its mouth is pointed like a bird's beak, and its body is two zhang long. It can only walk out of the cave by bending over.

"Third Brother, I really am Liu Jiao!" His voice was high-pitched, like the cry of an eagle.

He didn't resemble Liu Jiao at all, but Liu Ji only glanced at him before stepping forward, spreading his arms, and standing in front of the army, shouting loudly, "He really is Liu Jiao! Don't get agitated, don't hurt my brother!"

"Waaah, Third Brother~~~" the monster cried.

"How do you know he is Liu Jiao?" Lu Wan looked the monster up and down. Not only did it not resemble Liu Jiao in appearance, but Liu Jiao's clothes and shoes were also gone.

The monster was so enormous that its two feet had transformed into sharp, dagger-like eagle claws. It left deep marks on the stone ground after only a few steps.

The key issue was that the demonic aura soared to the sky, burning the cloth clothes worn by mortals to ashes.

(End of this chapter)