I Take Life Very Seriously 85. Zhang Yidao’s Gossip (3)

“When will we get our battle armor?” Zhang Yidao asked.

“The matter of the battle armor will be discussed later. Your task is to use your mind to command the entire battle through the Eight Trigrams Formation. You can do this at home without setting foot on the battlefield, so you don’t need armor for now.”

“So it’s just like when you play video games at home?” Xiao Nvxia interjected.

“Exactly!”

Zhang Yidao’s eyes suddenly lit up. The sly grin on his face took on a rare seriousness as he asked hesitantly, “So… does that make me the commander-in-chief?”

“That’s right.”

“Hahaha…” Zhang Yidao’s face burst into radiant pride, delighted beyond measure.

Xiao Nvxia cast him a disdainful glance, then turned to Zhang Mingjing. “And what’s my position?”

“You’re the chairman—meaning you’re the most sensible one. Your job is to keep an eye on the commander-in-chief so he doesn’t get overly ambitious and ruin the overall strategy.”

“Hahaha…” Xiao Nvxia laughed so hard she could hardly close her mouth.

Zhang Yidao looked at her with utter distaste, then immediately complained, “Why does she get to boss me around?”

“That’s the rule of the game. If you want to join my team, you have to follow it,” Zhang Mingjing replied weakly, his heart utterly weary.

All he wanted now was to finish this business quickly and step outside, free from frustration.

“Come on! What kind of rule is that?” Zhang Yidao protested.

“Are you deaf? Didn’t Zhang Mingjing just say it? If you want to join his team, you must obey,” Xiao Nvxia retorted triumphantly.

Zhang Yidao glared at her, which promptly earned him a sharp slap from her, and his spirit deflated instantly.

…

In the end, things were settled according to the five-dimensional space mental model. But it was far from over—there was still a long period of training ahead for the two of them, and Zhang Mingjing felt he was about to spit blood.

After leaving home and returning to his own place, Zhang Mingjing gave a brief account of the situation to Catherine and Jemily.

At first, Catherine was a little nervous. She whispered, “Your parents are now team members. How should I interact with them?”

“Don’t worry! They’re part of the command system—they won’t even meet you.”

“But we can’t never meet, can we?”

Zhang Mingjing smiled, “Let fate take its course. When the time is right, you’ll meet.”

“Whew!” Catherine let out a long breath.

“Why are you so nervous?” Zhang Mingjing asked.

Catherine replied, “I heard that when Chinese parents want their son to bring his girlfriend home, it usually means they’re about to pressure him into marriage.”

“Uh…” Zhang Mingjing was left at a loss for words.

At that moment, Catherine grinned. “You’re not ready to get married either, are you?”

Zhang Mingjing nodded.

“I’m not ready either! But I love you.”

Her words struck Zhang Mingjing as deeply profound. A rare happiness blossomed across his face—a feeling only he and Catherine could truly understand.

Indeed, for the two of them, there was only love and battle in the present; marriage and future plans were not even on the horizon, yet they were incredibly happy.

Jemily, upon hearing the news, was thoroughly confused. He asked Zhang Mingjing, “They’re your master’s parents, so should I call them Grandmaster and Grandmistress? But ‘Grandmaster’ refers to a male mage, and ‘Grandmistress’ to a female mage—it just feels weird!”

“Seriously!” Zhang Mingjing grimaced but said, “During battle, they’re only responsible for giving commands. You don’t need to respond to them otherwise. As for titles, we’ll discuss that if you ever meet them in person.”

In fact, Zhang Mingjing had already set the five-dimensional space mental model so that Zhang Yidao and Xiao Nvxia could only communicate mentally with Catherine and Jemily during battles, not at other times.

He did this to prevent his parents from “harassing” Catherine and Jemily outside of combat, particularly Catherine, and doing anything outrageous.

…

Unsurprisingly, Zhang Yidao’s mind fused perfectly with the Eight Trigrams, and after seven days of intensive training, he was firmly installed as commander-in-chief.

Xiao Nvxia, as chairman, quickly caught on.

When Zhang Mingjing led Catherine and the others into battle, Zhang Yidao and Xiao Nvxia would simultaneously enter a meditative state. All team members’ minds entered a state of quantum entanglement—the two pets included. As Zhang Yidao manipulated the Eight Trigrams, the corresponding team members would instantly receive the information and act accordingly.

Currently, the number of team members wasn’t enough to fill all eight trigrams, so not every position was occupied.

Zhang Mingjing, due to his formidable strength and steady tactical approach, was assigned by Zhang Yidao to the Earth position; Catherine and Jemily, whose main weapons were lightsabers and hammers and could restrain demigods, were assigned to the Lake position; Yuhua and Chengxian, unpredictable as the wind and always seizing opportunities, were at the Wind position; the pets and the War God Satellite had, under the five-dimensional model’s optimization, been equipped with high-energy offensive laser weapons and, together with the Defender, were considered powerful trump cards—fast, accurate, and lethal—so they were stationed at Fire. The remaining four trigrams were left as reserves.

When Zhang Yidao manipulated the formation in his mind, the teammates at the corresponding positions immediately received the signals and adjusted their positions in a flash, launching attacks on the enemy.

Meanwhile, Xiao Nvxia’s consciousness hovered like a ghost at his side, ready to rebuke him the moment he went overboard or did anything unrelated to the battle.

At first, Xiao Nvxia struggled with her timing, but under Zhang Mingjing’s guidance—and given her familiarity with Zhang Yidao—she often sensed and warned him before he even had the chance to make a mistake. Within a few days, she had him firmly in hand.

Even Zhang Mingjing had to admit the five-dimensional space mental model’s calculation was correct—bringing Xiao Nvxia in had been the right move.

But the past week had only been simulation. To see what the Eight Trigrams Formation was truly capable of, they’d have to test it on the battlefield.

Today, three mutated beasts appeared in the Southeast Asian jungle and quickly merged into a single magical beast.

While this beast wasn’t as strong as a demigod, it was a perfect trial for the Eight Trigrams Formation. Zhang Mingjing, Catherine, Jemily, and the two pets eagerly set out.

Zhang Yidao and Xiao Nvxia were even more excited—after all, it was their first time facing a mutated beast, and at the magical beast level, no less.

Zhang Mingjing’s team soon arrived near the beasts, which were only halfway through their fusion, so he ordered everyone to hold their attack.

Zhang Yidao entered a meditative state, with Xiao Nvxia’s consciousness accompanying him. It felt a bit uncanny, but he was already used to it.

Within Zhang Yidao’s mind, the hundred-square-kilometer area around the beasts became a holographic projection, with the Eight Trigrams mapped out.

He began to manipulate the formation.

…

Xiao Nvxia’s consciousness quipped, “Heaven, Earth, Thunder, Wind, Water, Fire, Mountain, Lake—these trigrams in your hands look like mahjong tiles. I never thought you’d be so dexterous!”

“Of course! You’re surprised because after all these years together, you never really understood me.”

“Get lost!”

Once Zhang Yidao set the trigrams, Zhang Mingjing’s group instantly received the updates and moved to their designated positions.

The three beasts ignored them, focusing solely on their fusion.

After about half an hour, the process was complete, and before them stood a gigantic, two-headed, two-tailed lizard beast—thirty feet tall and ten feet wide.

“My god!” Zhang Yidao exclaimed. “That’s a real monster!”

“Keep calm,” Xiao Nvxia’s consciousness reminded him.

“I am calm! Just don’t chirp at me for nothing.”

“Watch your mouth, or when we’re done meditating, I’ll give you a slap.”

Knowing Xiao Nvxia was still in a foul mood from her recent mishap, Zhang Yidao ignored her and focused on analyzing the formation.

The magical beast started charging south toward a small city, but within Zhang Yidao’s mental hologram, it was already trapped inside the Eight Trigrams, unable to escape—the formation followed its every move.

Zhang Mingjing instructed the team, “Don’t kill it outright. Today is mainly for live practice, so use only half your strength in attacks.”

“Yes!”

Zhang Yidao flexed his hands and began deploying the formation. He shifted Zhang Mingjing’s Earth position to face the beast head-on, intending for Zhang Mingjing to force the beast to change direction and move into a position more vulnerable to other attacks.

Zhang Mingjing received the signal and instantly appeared in place, launching over a dozen devastating kicks at the beast. Feeling the threat, the beast turned away as expected.

According to the Eight Trigrams, Zhang Yidao anticipated the beast would pass through the Thunder position momentarily. He had the Defender, the pet tyrant, and the War God Satellite, originally at Fire, pre-aim their weapons at Thunder, knowing as long as the barrels weren’t pointing at themselves, the space-time monster code wouldn’t trigger an immediate escape.

At the precise moment the beast reached the spot, Zhang Yidao ordered the three satellites to fire simultaneously. The attack came so suddenly that the beast’s space-time escape code activated a fraction too late, and a tail was finally burned off.

The beast howled and bolted even faster toward the southern city, reaching speeds of 600 kilometers per hour—a blur of shadow.

But no matter how wildly it fled, Zhang Yidao’s Eight Trigrams Formation dogged it relentlessly, keeping it trapped within.

“See that?” Zhang Yidao boasted to Xiao Nvxia’s consciousness beside him.

“Focus!” Xiao Nvxia sternly warned.

Now, based on the terrain ahead, the formation predicted the beast would veer sharply right, passing by Catherine and Jemily at the Lake position. But this was the perfect moment for a surprise attack, and Yuhua and Chengxian, at Wind, were best suited. So Zhang Yidao shifted their position accordingly.

The team instantly adjusted their trigrams as instructed and prepared for the next move.