The Human Emperor c1-2382

by Huangfu Qi (皇甫奇)

  Wang Chong asked curiously.

  “Shot in a second? Do you mean that he shoots very fast?”

  Not comprehending Wang Chong’s question, a sliver of doubt flashed across Chen Burang’s eyes. However, he soon broke into a smile. His smile carried the simplicity of a mountain hunter and it felt extremely comfortable.

  “Hunters like us must have sharp eyes and sensitive ears. Sometimes, it is impossible to see preys hiding in the grass; so, our ears must be sharp as well.”

  “Our village head said that I’m born different from the others. I don’t really think so but I’m indeed able to hear the buzzing of a mosquito several li away.”

  (li -> 0.5km)

  Chen Burang said earnestly. He didn’t seem to think that there was anything remarkable about his ability.

  “The buzzing of a mosquito?”

  Staring at Chen Burang, Wang Chong’s heart abruptly beat wildly. It wasn’t surprising for an archer’s ear to be sharp. In fact, it was common as they were trained with such goals in mind.

  But to hear the buzzing of a mosquito several li away…

  Even the master archers Wang Chong met in his previous life were incapable of such a feat. He suddenly remembered how Chen Burang was able to determine that wolf fang arrows were about to fall on the Imperial Army guard when he himself couldn’t hear anything at all.

  In that instant, Wang Chong seemed to have suddenly understood something and the gaze he directed at Chen Burang abruptly changed altogether.

  “This person’s capability sure is formidable. It’s no wonder why he could become a known archer general and lead the elites archers of Great Tang.”

  No one knew better than Wang Chong that even though Chen Burang had yet to establish his reputation, in the future, he would definitely become one of the top master archers in the world.

  Putting everything else aside, just his hearing ability itself was already far beyond that of the Turk master archers.

  “Do you know how many master archers there are outside?”

  Wang Chong asked. The sky was dark, and the location of the master archers were impossible to trace by eye. The imperative matter at hand was to determine how many enemies there were.

  “There is a total of 43 master archers. They are divided into two main groups, one with twenty-eight members and the other with fifteen. Of which, eleven are stationed in the east whereas fourteen are stationed in the west; eight in the south and eight in the north. The remaining two are hiding at the foot of the mountain three hundred zhang away in the forest!”

  Without any hesitation, Chen Burang immediately reported the number of enemies and even their hiding positions.

  At this point, Wang Chong was completely speechless.

  Chen Burang’s listening capability had reached an unbelievable level.

  “Two groups?”

  Wang Chong soon realized a peculiarity in Chen Burang’s words and frowned. “Aren’t they all Turks?”

  “Turks?”

  Hearing those words, the group of men stared at one another in shock.

  They had heard of the Eastern and Western Turkic Khaganate, but they didn’t expect to be attacked by the other party’s master archers.

  “I don’t know who they are but their shooting methods are clearly different. One group uses the wolf fang arrows while the other only utilizes high trajectory shots. The group using high trajectory shots possesses immense might, and their arrows are harder to fend against as compared to the group shooting wolf fang arrows.”

  As he spoke, Chen Burang took out an arrow. It was an arrow with a diamond-shaped arrowhead that looked exceptionally sharp.

  The tip and end of the arrow had been cut off, but on the body of the arrow, Wang Chong saw a Three-legged Crow.

  “They are condor snipers from Goguryeo!”

  Wang Chong returned the arrow to Chen Burang with a heavy heart.

  Goguryeons weren’t a nomadic tribe, and as such, the number of master archers they had was far beneath that of the Turks. However, the top-notch Goguryeon archers were far more formidable than the Turk master archers.

  And these top-notch Goguryeon archers were known as ‘Condor Snipers’!

  Condors flew at an extremely high altitude. Not only were their wings as tough as steel, their muscles were exceptionally powerful and their flying speed was unbelievably fast. Most arrows, including those from master archers, would have been detected and dodged long before they could arrive.

  As such, most archers couldn’t pose a threat to a condor.

  But Goguryeon condor snipers were very much different. No matter how high or fast a condor flew, they would always be able to snipe it! In the past campaigns against Goguryeo, there were many elite troops that had fallen at the hands of these condor snipers.

  “To think that the Goguryeons would actually dispatch the condor snipers here!”

  Wang Chong’s eyebrows knitted tightly together.

  “You all should go in first. Chen Burang, eat this pill.”

  Wang Chong passed a stamina recovery pill over to Chen Burang. The latter’s capability with the bow was astounding—he was even able to make an arrow curve in an arc in the middle of its path. In the Origin Energy realm, this was a completely inconceivable feat.

  Wang Chong felt that Chen Burang’s abilities were invaluable in this crisis.

  Chen Burang didn’t turn Wang Chong down. Along with the three men whom he had saved, he entered the room. Currently, Wang Chong had already gathered a total of six people. Including him, they had a squad of seven now.

  Wang Chong felt that this force was sufficient for them to accomplish something.

  “Everyone, take off your clothes and use the splintered wooden planks and furniture to make a few dummies. Jingdian, bring some men along with you and make use of these tiger carcasses to create a defensive line as soon as possible. It’ll probably be our turn to fight soon.”

  Time was something they were sorely lacking at the moment. Even with the Imperial Army guards holding their ground, Wang Chong knew that the battle could possibly reach them at any moment.

  “Leave the making of the dummies to me. I’m skilled in that!”

  Upon hearing that Wang Chong intended to have the group make dummies, Chen Burang immediately deduced Wang Chong’s intentions. Having come from a family of hunters from the mountain forests, creating traps and camouflaging oneself were basic skills.

  “Un.”

  Wang Chong nodded. Then, he squatted down and gathered everyone.

  “The enemy has come prepared and they are all experts. In a one-to-one battle, none of us will be their match at all. So, when we meet with enemies later on, fight in this formation. We only have ourselves at this moment.”

  “Un.”

  No one refuted Wang Chong’s words. Under such perilous circumstances, everyone wished to have someone to rely on.

  And Wang Chong had stepped forward to take up this role.

  The sound of slaughter continued ceaselessly beyond the room, and the howling of the wolves shrouded the entire mountain. An overpowering stench of blood wafted in the air. Without sufficient time, Wang Chong could only draw the most basic offensive formation down.

  This was one of the offensive formations that Wang Chong implemented in the military in his previous life.

  Unlike any other era, in the period of time that Wang Chong took on the role of the Grand Marshal of Central Plains, offensive formations became commonplace.

  It wasn’t due to Wang Chong’s unique interest in it or anything. Rather, the enemies he faced on the battlefield were simply too powerful, and the weakness of his own troops was simply too pronounced in comparison, especially when facing the foreign invaders.

  Thus, Wang Chong had no choice but to adapt by implementing offensive formations into the military. However, due to this, the army that Wang Chong led was exceptionally powerful.

  As long as it was a battle Wang Chong participated in, enemy expert casualti
es would be extremely great. Most of the experts, who served as an incredibly offensive and destructive force on the battlefield, would die before they could even raise a storm.

  The Turks and Goguryeons had probably planned for this night assault for a very long time. After all, they even went to the extent of collaborating with one another.

  Thus, it was likely that they had already ironed out all of the potential threats.

  Given that it was late at night and Kunwu Training Camp was located deep in the mountains, more than twenty li away from the capital, it was nigh impossible for the capital to obtain the news so swiftly.

  Even if, by chance, the capital were to notice the happenings here, the time taken for reinforcements to arrive would be more than sufficient for them to take down Kunwu Training Camp.

  Just the Imperial Army guards in this training camp were insufficient to deal with the assault from more than forty master archers, Goguryeon warriors, and numerous wolf packs.

  They had managed to make full use of their master archers through this battle strategy, thus weaving a net of death around Kunwu Training Camp.

  Even so, Wang Chong knew that there was one factor that the enemy had neglected. They had underestimated the prowess of the thousands of students in Kunwu Training Camp.

  Chen Burang served as an ideal example.

  There were many future great generals on this mountain at this very moment. As long as Wang Chong were to deploy them wisely, it wasn’t impossible to turn the tables.

  “Alright. Everyone, remember the formation. We don’t have much time left so let’s quickly finish up the arrangements.”

  Wang Chong said as he rushed out of the room from an opening in a crumbled wall. Outside, the howling of the wolves continued sounding ceaselessly. He could feel that a few Turk wolves were headed his way.

  Aooooo!

  A massive Turk wolf bared its fangs and glared menacingly at Wang Chong upon noticing him. Howling furiously, it pounced ferociously toward him.

  Chi!

  A cold gleam flashed across, and before the Turk wolf could even approach, it was already split in two by Wang Chong’s sword.

  No matter how powerful a wolf was, it could never compare to a tiger. The physique and strength of the two simply weren’t on the same level.

  Wang Chong might be hard-pressed to deal with tigers, but slaying Turk wolves wasn’t any trouble to him at all. Given the sharpness of the Wootz steel sword, there was nothing Wang Chong couldn’t cut through.

  Chen Burang was extremely efficient as well. Before long, Wang Chong saw several dummies erected outside the room.

  On top of clothes, Chen Burang made use of bedsheets as well. This allowed him to create a much larger quantity of dummies. On top of that, each and every single one of them looked lifelike.

  There was no doubt about Chen Burang’s talent in this field.

  As soon as the dummies were erected, pu pu, the sound of arrows echoed in the air.

  The vision of a master archer might far surpass all of those present here but they were, by no means, infallible.

  Shooting from a long distance made them nearly safe from harm, but at the same time, it limited their visibility as well.

  And the darkness only served to worsen it.

  From such a long distance away, even a master archer would find it hard to discern a real person from a dummy.

  As such, their outstanding vision could actually be used against them to expend their arrows.

  Soon after Chen Burang finished his set-up, Zhao Jingdian and Zhuang Zhengping returned as well.

  “Wang Chong!”

  A short moment later, the disappeared Zhao Qianqiu finally returned with four Imperial Army guards and an instructor.

  One which, the instructor was carrying a giant bow.

  Master archer!

  Zhao Qianqiu really managed to fetch White Tiger Peak’s master archer over. In an instant, hope sprouted in everyone’s hearts.

  The Three-footed Crow is a mythological creature in East Asia.

  It is believed to represent the sun, and even though it is a crow, it is depicted to be fiery red in color, reminiscent of the sun.

  Chapter 209: Retaliation!

  Chapter 209: Retaliation!

  “Wang Chong, what are your thoughts?”

  Zhao Qianqiu’s face was pale and his body was completely soaked in blood. The other people that came with him were injured as well. They had to fight all the way here, and there were even two victims in the midst of their journey.

  The situation on this mountain peak was much more dangerous than everyone thought.

  “Is this the student you spoke of?”

  At this moment, the master archer instructor turned to Zhao Qianqiu and asked.

  His breathing was extremely heavy, and his forehead and clothes were drenched with sweat. It seemed as though he had exerted himself greatly. Only he knew how close he had come to death just a moment ago.

  All of the enemy master archers seemed to view him as an eyesore and half of all the arrows came flying toward him.

  No one could imagine the pressure he had undergone then.

  Only a master archer could deal with another master archer. With forty master archers eager to strike him down, his chances of dying were much greater than anyone else here.

  Zhao Qianqiu nodded to the master archer instructor’s words.

  Aoo!

  The ferocious howling of a wolf suddenly echoed from just outside the room. However, it was silenced barely after it had begun.

  “Hurry up! We don’t have much time left!”

  The anxious voices of two Imperial Army guards echoed from the entrance. Beside them were the bodies of seven or eight recently slain wolves.

  The situation here was highly disadvantageous to them. An army of wolves and Goguryeon warriors were currently stomping through the entire White Tiger Peak.

  On top of that, they were backed by the arrows of the master archers.

  The pressure swiftly fell onto the crowd in the room. Everyone turned their eyes to Wang Chong.

  Gathering the Imperial Army guards and master archer was Wang Chong’s idea so everyone bore some expectations of him.

  “Chen Burang, come over!”

  Wang Chong beckoned to Chen Burang. The urgent matter at hand wasn’t to deal with the Goguryeon warriors and wolf packs outside but the Turk master archers and Goguryeon condor snipers.

  As long as they were allowed to continue providing supporting fire unopposed, the Imperial Army wouldn’t stand a chance.

  When dozens of Turk master archers and condor snipers were aimed at a single person, even if that person was Zhao Qianqiu, the only plausible fate was death.

  ——That was how fearsome a team of master archers was!

  “To think that there would be such a thing!”

  Upon hearing about Chen Burang’s talents from Wang Chong, the master archer instructor was astounded. There wasn’t a single master archer who didn’t possess superior senses, but even for them, perceiving sounds several li away was an impossible feat; not to mention, discerning a person’s exact position.

  Even he, as a master archer himself, was unable to say for sure how many master archers were hiding in the dark.

  This youth hunter had truly left him astounded this time around. But of course, amidst the surprise was delight as well.

  “I understand your intention. This is indeed a good fortress.”

  The master archer scanned the surroundings. Due to the momentary illumination from the candlelight at the start of the assault, this location had drawn frenzied attacks from the master archers, resulting in innumerable wolf fang arrows being pierced into the floor.

  But this was going to play a crucial role for them to make a comeback. With such huge quantity of arrows here, they need not fear running out of ammunition.

  “…However, it’s useless. Just the defense from these tiger carcasses isn’t sufficient. I am different from the re
st of you. If one of you were to make a move, it would just draw the attention of one or two of their archers. However, when I act, the arrows of every single one of the enemy’s master archers will come my way. When wolf fang arrows fall from all directions, there’ll be nowhere safe for you all.”

  The master archer instructor couldn’t help but feel impressed by Wang Chong’s wits. To build a fortress on the spot and have Zhao Qianqiu and the others escort him here to prepare for a retaliation, it was indeed a thorough plan.

  As long as he had a suitable ‘fortress’, he would surely be of much greater use than Zhao Qianqiu and the others.

  It wasn’t that he had never considered looking for a shelter so that he could counterattack, but such a place simply didn’t exist on White Tiger Peak.

  “These tiger carcasses are definitely insufficient, but it’ll be a different matter if we include those metal cages outside!”

  Wang Chong finally revealed his thoughts.

  The twelve cages that Zhao Qianqiu used to house the tigers previously were quickly brought into the room. These metal cages were placed in a line, flushed against the walls, covering the entire room. When all of these empty cages were filled with tiger and wolf carcasses, and large quantities of granite rocks and pebbles, the sturdiest fortress on the entire peak was created.

  In that instant, the gazes that everyone, including Zhao Qianqiu, Chen Burang, and the master archer instructor, looked at Wang Chong with became vastly different.

  Chen Burang was a hunter of the mountains, and he specialized in creating traps and camouflage. Yet even he, who was taught to make use of the resources around him, never considered using these metal cages to create a fortress for the only master archer on the mountain.

  For an archer, this was the most important condition to bring out one’s full firepower.

  “The Turk master archers and Goguryeon condor snipers are capable of high trajectory shots, and of them, the Goguryeon condor snipers are exceptionally skilled in that. Chen Burang, you’ll assist Instructor Zhou. The moment you hear any high trajectory shots, inform him immediately so that he can take cover in the cage at the center!”

  Wang Chong gestured to the two metal cages stacked on one another in the middle of the room. This was something he had specially prepared. The cage on top was packed with wolf carcasses surrounded by granite rocks and pebbles, similar to the wall defenses, whereas the cage below was left empty.