Zhu Yuanzhang: My second son is invincible!

When news of the fall of Zhenhai Fort reached Wang Jing, Li Chenggui was having dinner.

He had barely taken two sips of ginseng chicken soup when a guard scrambled in, stammering, "Your...Your Majesty! Zhenhai Fort...is gone!"

The soup spoon in Li Chenggui's hand fell to the ground with a clatter.

"What did you say?"

"The Ming army...the Ming army breached Zhenhai Fort in just one hour! General Cui...General Cui surrendered!"

The guard said in a trembling voice.

Yi Seong-gye's face turned deathly pale instantly. He looked at the Grand Preceptor Yi Xuanming sitting below him and said, "Grand Preceptor, didn't you say that Zhenhai Fortress has a protective formation that can hold out for at least three days?!"

Li Xuanming slowly put down his chopsticks and said with a solemn expression, "I underestimated that King of Wu."

"What do we do now? The Ming army has already reached Kaesong!" Yi Seong-gye practically roared.

Kaesong, Goryeo's second line of defense, is only eighty li away from the capital.

Based on the speed at which the Ming army breached Zhenhai Fort, they may be at the city gates by tomorrow morning.

"Your Majesty, do not panic... Your Majesty, I have another plan." Li Xuanming stood up, walked to the center of the hall, and said in a deep voice.

"I wonder what plan the Imperial Advisor has..."

"I have set up the Nine Dragons Locking Heaven Formation in the capital. This is a national protection formation passed down by my sect. It is based on the nine dragon veins of the capital and requires nine Nascent Soul cultivators to activate it together."

Once activated, it can withstand all attacks from those below the Dao Integration Realm.

Li Xuanming paused, then lowered his voice: "Moreover... I have already invited several helpers."

"A helper?" Lee Seong-gye's eyes lit up.

"The Ashikaga Shogun of Japan has sent three Jonin, all of whom are in the mid-Nascent Soul stage, as well as... a high shaman from the Jurchen tribe in the north, who is also willing to help."

Yi Seong-gye exclaimed with delight, "Excellent! Excellent! With the Grand Preceptor here and everyone's assistance, I'd like to see if the King of Wu can break my Nine Dragons Locking Heaven Formation!"

He paused, then, as if remembering something, said, "However... Grand Preceptor, do you think that King Wu's act of splitting the river with his axe might have already reached the Dao Integration Realm?"

Li Xuanming shook his head and said, "Impossible. The Dao Integration Realm requires undergoing a Heavenly Tribulation, which is extremely tumultuous. If a Dao Integration cultivator has been born in the Central Plains in recent years, I would certainly know about it."

Your Majesty, I suspect that the King of Wu possesses an ancient divine artifact or has cultivated some kind of domineering technique, enabling him to briefly unleash power beyond his current realm.

"That's good, that's good." Lee Seong-gye breathed a sigh of relief.

He didn't see that Li Xuanming's hands, which were behind his back, were trembling slightly.

A single axe stroke could cleave a river... Even with a divine weapon, someone capable of this is no ordinary person.

But since things have come to this, we have no choice but to bite the bullet and go for it.

……

At the same time, thirty miles outside Kaesong, the Ming army camp was located.

Zhu Li was squatting by the fire roasting sweet potatoes.

He had the logistics department buy these from the people of Goryeo; they were very cheap, three for one coin.

Guanyinnu sat on a small stool next to her, sewing a fur coat in her hands. It was made from the leather armor of a Goryeo general that had been captured that day. She said she was going to make an inner lining for Zhu Li.

"Husband, the sweet potatoes are almost burnt," Guanyinnu reminded him.

"Oh, oh." Zhu Li quickly flipped the sweet potato over.

The camp was quiet; the soldiers were resting, with only the sound of patrols and distant waves.

Xu Da and Lan Yu were studying the map in the central command tent, discussing tomorrow's attack route.

"The commander of Gaeseong has already surrendered, and our army can pass through without bloodshed. But Wangjing is different. Yi Seong-gye will not give up easily. Wangjing is backed by Mount Bukak and surrounded by tributaries of the Han River, making it easy to defend and difficult to attack."

Moreover... the Imperial Advisor Li Xuanming must have set up a formation." Xu Da said, pointing to the capital city on the map.

Lan Yu frowned and said, "Is the Imperial Preceptor the shaman who is said to be in the late Nascent Soul stage?"

"Yes, this man has been operating in Korea for thirty years and has hundreds of disciples. He should not be underestimated." Xu Da nodded.

"So what? His Highness can even split a river in two, why would he be afraid of a mere shaman?" Lan Yu grinned.

Xu Da smiled and said, "That's true, but we still need to be cautious. Although Your Highness is invincible, the army still needs to advance steadily. Send down the order: depart at dawn tomorrow and arrive at the outskirts of the capital before noon."

"yes!"

……

The next day, at dawn.

The army set off.

As expected, the city gates opened wide, and the garrison commander led all the city's officials to kneel outside the gates to welcome them.

Zhu Li rode past them on horseback, scratched his head, and asked Xu Da, "Uncle Xu, why are they being so polite?"

Xu Da laughed: "Your Highness's reputation has already spread throughout Goryeo."

Zhu Li responded with an "oh," not paying much attention.

The army passed through Kaesong and continued its northward advance.

The Korean people along the way hid in their homes and peeked through the cracks in their doors.

What they saw was a well-disciplined and disciplined Ming army. There was no looting or killing; only occasionally did a soldier shout in broken Korean, "The Great Ming army will not harm the civilians!"

This was, of course, an order given by Zhu Hui.

Before departing, Zhu Yuanzhang specifically instructed, "Second son, we are going to seize territory, not to massacre cities. Treat the common people well; they will be subjects of our Great Ming Dynasty in the future."

Zhu Hui remembered it.

Around noon, the city walls of Wangjing came into view.

It was a city built against the mountain, with walls that were higher and thicker than those of Zhenhai Fort, estimated to be over five zhang (approximately 10 meters) high.

Banners fluttered on the city wall, and figures dressed in shaman robes could be vaguely seen.

A tributary of the Han River flows around the city, and the river is about twenty zhang wide.

There used to be a bridge over the river, but it has been demolished.

"Your Majesty, the Ming army has arrived," a general reported in a low voice from the city wall.

Yi Seong-gye, dressed in royal robes, stood atop the highest point of the city wall, surrounded by Yi Xuan-myeong and several figures in strange attire: three masked Japanese ninjas in black and a Jurchen shaman adorned with bone ornaments.

"Is that the King of Wu?" Yi Seong-gye squinted at the young man in light armor standing in front of the Ming army.

"That should be it, Your Majesty. Please give the order to activate the grand formation." Li Xuanming nodded, holding a white bone staff in his hand, with a fist-sized black gem embedded in the staff's head.

"Alright! Activate the Nine Dragons Locking Heaven Formation!" Yi Seong-gye said after taking a deep breath.

Li Xuanming raised his staff high above his head, chanting incantations.

It was an ancient and obscure language, like a sob coming from the depths of the earth.

As the incantation was recited, blood-red light simultaneously shone from nine points on the walls of the capital.

A beam of light shot into the sky, weaving into nine blood-red dragon shadows in the air.

The dragon's shadow swirled, emitting a deep dragon roar.

The entire capital was enveloped in a light red light shield, with dragon-shaped patterns flowing across its surface.

The Nine Dragons Locking Heaven Formation is complete.

Outside the city, in front of the Ming army's battle formation.

Zhu Hui looked up at the nine blood dragons, blinked, and asked, "What are these? Fireworks?"

Xu Da said in a deep voice, "Your Highness, this is Goryeo's protective formation. It seems that Yi Seong-gye intends to defend it to the death."

"Oh, should I split it open?" Zhu Li nodded and then asked.

"Wait a minute." Xu Da looked towards the city wall. "Let me first try to persuade them to surrender; that's the rule."

"Okay," Zhu Li readily agreed.

Xu Da rode forward a few steps, channeled his true energy, and his voice, like thunder, echoed throughout the city walls: "Listen up, King Yi Seong-gye of Goryeo! His Highness the King of Wu of the Great Ming Dynasty is personally leading the expedition. Quickly open the city gates and surrender, and your life will be spared!"

If we stubbornly resist, it will be too late to regret it when the city falls!

On the city wall, Yi Seong-gye's face was ashen.

Before he could speak, the Japanese Jonin leader beside him sneered, "Ming people, what arrogance! With three Jonin from the Kirigakure school here, and the Jurchen Great Shaman assisting us, you think you can break this Nine Dragons Locking Heaven Formation? You're dreaming!"

He spoke Chinese, though with a heavy Japanese accent.

Xu Da frowned and said, "The Japanese... Goryeo really is colluding with Japan. There are even Jurchen tribes among them."

"So what if it is! I have already allied with General Ashikaga to fight against the Ming Dynasty! If you know what's good for you, you should withdraw your troops immediately!" Yi Seong-gye said bluntly.

Upon hearing this, Zhu Yu scratched his head and said to Guanyin Nu, "Wife, is he threatening us?"

Guanyin Nu nodded and said, "Yes, that sounds like it."

"Then can I chop it up?" Zhu Hui asked again.

"Husband, General Xu hasn't finished speaking yet," Guanyinnu reminded him.

"Okay, okay." Zhu Li waited patiently.

Xu Da shouted a few more times, but Li Chenggui remained firm, clearly intending to rely on his formation and reinforcements to resist to the end.

"Your Highness, it seems we have no choice but to attack head-on," Xu Da said in a deep voice as he returned to the front lines.

"Alright, then I'll go chop it up." Zhu Hui dismounted and looked at the formation.

"Your Highness, be careful. That formation looks complicated," Xu Da warned.

"It's alright, my axe is still sharp!" Zhu Hui patted his left arm.

He walked to the front of the battle line and stopped about two hundred feet away from the city wall.

On the city wall, Li Xuanming stood ready for battle. The three Japanese high-ranking ninjas had already disappeared, and the Jurchen shaman began to perform a strange dance.

Zhu Hui looked up at the nine blood dragons, then at the pale red light shield, and then pressed his right hand against the tattoo on his left arm.

The Xingtian Axe reappeared.

This time, he didn't chop down immediately, but tried swinging it first.

The axe blade sliced ​​through the air, producing a sharp whistling sound.

On the city wall, Li Xuanming's pupils contracted. He felt a terrifying pressure emanating from the axe, a pressure that seemed to come from ancient times, carrying an overbearing and indomitable will.

The blood dragon in the Nine Dragons Locking Heaven Formation began to writhe restlessly.

"Not good! Nine dragons unite to protect my true body!" Li Xuanming hurriedly bit his tongue and spat a mouthful of blood onto his staff.

The nine blood dragons merged into a hundred-zhang-long blood-red giant dragon with scarlet eyes, looking down at the Zhu Liu below.

At the same time, three Japanese Jonin made their move.

They appeared out of thin air from three directions, their ninja swords glowing with a ghostly blue poisonous light, slashing towards Zhu Hui's vital points.

This is the combined attack secret technique of the Misty Hidden Stream, the Three Talents Absolute Killing Formation, which has killed cultivators at the peak of the Nascent Soul stage.

Zhu Li didn't seem to see it.

He simply raised his head, looked at the blood dragon, then gripped his axe with both hands and made an upward slashing motion.

It's still so simple, like cutting a vine from bottom to top when chopping firewood on a mountain.

The axe blade is facing upwards.

Time seemed to freeze at that moment.