The Villain's Counterattack

Chapter 578: Li Mi is defeated again, Luo Yan offers a plan to replace Li Mi with a dead one

Inside Xingyang City, Li Mi pushed the table over heavily, and intelligence papers were scattered all over the floor.

"Failure, failure, failure! Why did I fail?!" Li Mi roared loudly. He had clearly sent away the strongest obstacle, Yue Buqun, and organized a large team that brought together the Demon Sect and the Buddhist Sect, consisting of two masters and more than ten innate masters. He also had a hidden agent ambushed by the Zheng family to lead the way. Why did he fail?

Whose problem is this anyway?

What went wrong?

Luokou is not as good as Luoyang, but it is also an important city with an army of 100,000. Zhang Xutuo, Yang Qing, Qin Qiong, Luo Shixin, Cheng Zhijie and Pei Renji are all fierce generals. When they hold on to the defense with all their heart, even if I go out, I can't do anything to them.

Even if he did not defend the city to the death, with 100,000 soldiers and horses spread across Luokou, it would be extremely difficult for him to take it just by guarding the main traffic arteries. Unless the martial arts masters under his command were willing to sacrifice their skin to deal with those soldiers and assassinate a few of them every now and then, he would have a chance of winning in the long run.

But, is this possible?

If this is really done, it will probably teach the children bad things and cause the Sui army to rush to learn from them. Who will be held responsible if the rules are broken then?

Li Mi was meticulous. He had a spy from the Zheng family as a guide, a joint assassination group of warriors from the Demonic and Buddhist sects, and two teams, the light and the dark, totaling 8,000 people. He prepared to take Luokou in one fell swoop with a three-pronged approach. Unfortunately, before the news of the successful assassination could come, the 5,000 troops in the open were surrounded and suppressed by the army led by Zhang Xutuo.

I don't know when this bastard learned to use tricks. He actually prepared a substitute early on. The substitute walked between the military camp and the mansion on his behalf. Zhang Xutuo himself hid in the military camp and was accompanied by at least one powerful general to avoid being recognized and losing control of the army.

The most annoying thing is that even though he was a substitute, he was surrounded by a large number of guards. The two masters tried to assassinate him, but were resisted by the guards. There were two masters hiding among the guards, one of whom was particularly good at ambushing and assassinating. He stabbed the Buddhist master from behind, and then the other master beat the wounded man fiercely, while the others formed a sword and shield formation to fight against the Demon Master.

The two masters were not righteous men who would fight to the death. The Buddhist master was seriously injured and wanted to surrender, but was beaten and fell to the ground bleeding. Seeing this, the Demon master simply ran away. The remaining dozen or so innate masters scattered, but most of them were killed or captured by the two masters' guards, and only a few escaped.

At the same time, Zhang Xutuo and Luo Shixin quietly left the city and joined forces with Pei Renji to command the soldiers stationed outside. They attacked the 5,000-strong Wagang Army led by Li Mi from the front and back. If Wang Bodang had not run fast, none of the 5,000-strong army might have escaped. Even so, only a hundred people escaped back to Xingyang City. The others were either killed or captured, or fled as defeated soldiers.

The 3,000 ambush troops led by Shen Luoyan saw that the situation was hopeless, so they avoided three or five overt or covert detections, and returned safely to Xingyang City after several twists and turns. Looking at Shen Luoyan's tired expression, Li Mi was full of dissatisfaction and anger but didn't know how to vent.

When did Zhang Xutuo become as powerful as shown in the picture?

Shen Luoyan combined a lot of information and found that the one who became powerful was not Zhang Xutuo, Qin Qiong, Luo Shixin, Pei Renji, or Yang Qing, but Yue Buqun!

The substitutes and the master guards might be the backups left by the Gentleman Sword Yue Buqun. It is true that the two masters performed the best in protecting Zhang Xutuo's substitute, but it was the eighteen swordsman guards he left behind who stopped the Demon Sect master at the critical moment.

In addition, it was no accident that Wang Bodang and the 8,000 troops he led were discovered. It is said that Yue Buqun attached great importance to intelligence and personally trained 108 scouts. They were all third-rate fighters, and each of them had excellent lightness skills. They were especially good at reconnaissance and searching for the enemy's traces based on clues.

Even though he hid so deeply and carefully, he was still discovered again and again, let alone Wang Bodang who was half-blatantly pretending to be a bait.

Their loss was not unfair, but they were very unwilling to accept it.

After venting his anger, Li Mi listened to Shen Luoyan's analysis, his expression twisted, and inwardly he cursed Gentleman Sword Yue Buqun. He thought, "You've already been transferred, and yet you still have this hidden trick up your sleeve? You've really screwed me over!" Not only himself, but even the Buddhist sect has been severely screwed. You know, a master's skill isn't easy to come by.

Apart from Bi Xiuxin who broke out of Cihang Jingzhai, the only apparent master is the master Fan Qinghui. There must be other masters in secret, but it is impossible for there to be more than five. In Jingnian Zen Temple, everything is out in the open. Master Liaokong is definitely a senior master, and may even be a master at the peak level who is no less than the four great monks. Apart from them, the four great Vajras are only half-step masters.

This shows how rare it is to find a master. In order to support me, the Buddhist sect provided two masters, which was very sincere. However, I have ruined a Buddhist master and seven or eight innate masters. Even I feel sad, let alone the Buddhist sect.

Soon, Dongping spies arrived with news that everything that happened at Wang Tong's birthday celebration had been fully revealed to Li Mi through letters and oral accounts. Upon learning that the Evil King was a true Grandmaster, he was slightly shocked. As a longtime rival of Buddhism, the Demonic Sect was as strong as the Buddhist Sect. If it weren't for the Taoist sect's inclination, Buddhism might not have been able to gain the upper hand.

Li Mi himself was born in the Demon Sect, which was one of the reasons why he could easily command the Demon Sect's experts. He knew that the Demon Sect would be bullied by Buddhism and Taoism if it was not unified, but it was not easy for the Demon Sect to unify. Everyone thought so, and no one was willing to submit to anyone else.

Queen Yin Zhu Yuyan is ranked first among the eight masters of the Demon Sect with the help of the Yingui Sect, but her own martial arts skills are not as good as the second-ranked Evil King Shi Zhixuan. The third place is Zhao Deyan of the Demon Sect. This man is the leader of the Demon Sect. Not only is he an outstanding martial artist, but he is also extremely intelligent and has a brilliant vision. He traveled far to the frontier and became the Turkic national teacher. With the support of the Turks and the Martial Master Bi Xuan, he displayed his talents and made the Golden Wolf Army invincible on the grassland.

Zhao Deyan's support for the Turks was a counterattack against Shi Zhixuan and Zhu Yuyan. He was well aware of the complex situation in the Central Plains, where many experts were present. The best way to break the situation was to break out of it. In the original novel, he was indeed considered a successful figure, at least successfully suppressing the Central Plains before Li Shimin came to power. Not only did he have lackeys like Liang Dushi, but even Li Yuan once paid tribute to the Turks.

Unfortunately, a huge variable appeared in this world. Liaodong Marquis Yang Xuyan suddenly appeared and reversed the transformation of the Turks into the overlord of the world in the battle of Yanmen City. The 500,000-strong Turkish army was defeated. If it were not for Zhao Deyan and Wu Zun Bi Xuan's strong efforts to save their reputation, the Turks would have been unable to recover and would have been divided and devoured by the prairie wolves. Even so, the strength of the Turks was seriously damaged, and their dominant position was shaky.

Despite this, Zhao Deyan still did not give up. He supported his junior brother Li Mi in stirring up trouble in the Central Plains and sent two thousand wolf riders for him to use. However, before these two thousand fierce wolf riders had a chance to show their abilities and destroy the beautiful land of the Sui Dynasty, they were all killed by Yue Buqun.

Among the eight masters of the Demon Sect, only Shi Zhixuan, Zhu Yuyan and Zhao Deyan are truly capable. The others are just gatekeepers. They have no ability to unify the Demon Sect, and they don't even have the ambition to do so. They just guard the gate. However, their own martial arts are not weak, which invisibly increases the difficulty of unifying the Demon Sect.

You mean Anlong?

Haha, he is a fence-sitter, but deep down he still wants to maintain his power as the leader of the Tianlian Sect.

When Li Mi heard about the strength of the hermit circle, he felt terrible. There was such a high-end small circle in the Central Plains. Even the Grandmaster Shi Zhixuan and the half-step Grandmaster Bi Xiuxin were just candidates. Deep down, he actually hoped that Shi Zhixuan and Bi Xiuxin would stay in seclusion, so that the pressure he faced would be much less. It would be even more ideal if Zhu Yuyan could also stay in seclusion, but is this realistic?

"Is he born just to forge a heart of steel?" Li Mi's mouth twitched, wondering if this was the shortcut for Yue Buqun, the Gentleman Sword, to become a Grandmaster? If so, he was in trouble.

Shen Luoyan's martial arts skills were limited, but after listening to Li Mi's analysis, he suddenly smiled and said, "Don't worry, my lord. Now that we know what they want, things will be much easier. Since they're not coming for Zhang Xutuo, they have room to maneuver. I ask you to temporarily cease fighting, recuperate, and unify Wagang while we do so. If rebellions break out in that area while we're at it, what do you think the Gentleman Swordsman Yue Buqun will do?"

Li Mi's eyes lit up when he heard this, and he exclaimed in admiration, "Great! What a great way to use a substitute! It's said that the leader, Zhai Rang, has a good relationship with Dou Jiande of Hebei. Dou Jiande's rebellion has been tepid for many years, so let me add fuel to the fire."

Dou Jiande was born in a humble family and his family has been farmers for generations. He has never been valued by the aristocratic families, so he has never been able to become strong and powerful. He rebelled in the seventh year of Daye and is still just a bandit. I can just use the hands of the Hebei aristocratic families to push him to the forefront and attract Yue Buqun's attention. I can find time to send Zhai Rang away and wait for the opportunity to take over Luokou in one fell swoop. Isn't that the best of both worlds?