The Human Emperor c1-2382

by Huangfu Qi (皇甫奇)

  Yiiii!

  In the next instant, a whistling arrow whizzed with a deafening, shrilling ruckus across the sky, headed for Xu Gan and Huang Yongtu's direction.

  "That is the signal!"

  At that instant, upon hearing the agreed signal, Zhang Lin immediately straightened his back and gathered his spirit. Wang Chong had instructed him to prepare to break out of the encirclement as soon as he heard the whistling arrow.

  In that period of time, Wang Chong would try to keep the main force of the Iron Cloak Highwaymen in check!

  Even though he had no idea how Wang Chong would do it, or why Wang Chong was so confident that he could hinder the powerful highwaymen under Iron Cloak Li's command from returning in time, there was no doubt that this was the message he received from the note on Bai Siling's arrow.

  This was their only hope, so he had little choice but to trust whatever was written.

  "Brothers, abandon the defense line! Reorganize yourselves and prepare to charge out of the encirclement!" Zhang Lin bellowed.

  Neighhh!

  A few moments later, the long-awaited uproar from a charge finally sounded on the slope once more.

  "Everyone, listen to my commands. There are still another group of highwaymen stationed on the east side of the main road. It's already too late to save Xu Gan and Huang Yongtu, so let's slaughter them clean to avenge them!" Wang Chong raised his sword and pointed at the path ahead of him.

  "Yes!" Hearing that Xu Gan, Huang Yongtu, and the others were goners, the cavalrymen's eyes reddened in fury, and their killing intent seared the air.

  Hong long long!

  Under Wang Chong's lead, the forty Great Tang cavalrymen suddenly scattered before swiftly galloping to the east of the main road.

  But as scattered as they were, there was still order in their formation.

  "Bastard!" Hearing those words, Iron Cloak Li felt rage burning his mind.

  Given his understanding of Hu Lang, he knew that it was very likely that he would dispatch a group to the other end of the road to eliminate the escapees.

  Thus, there a good chance that there were still a group of his brothers at the other end of the road.

  The previous battle had already cost him fifty True Martial realm elites, and even now, Iron Cloak Li's heart was still bleeding from the loss.

  If Wang Chong were to kill the elites at the end of the path as well, the Iron Cloak Highwaymen might just never recover from this damage.

  Only Iron Cloak Li knew how much effort he had to put into gathering these True Martial realm brothers by his side. It had taken him an entire ten years to build the Iron Cloak Highwaymen to its current glory.

  If Wang Chong were to succeed, the effort he had devoted previously would be rendered meaningless.

  At this moment, Iron Cloak Li was really starting to regret underestimating Wang Chong. He was so wary of allowing any of the cavalrymen to escape that he resorted to all of these ploys. Had he known that it would cost him such heavy losses instead, he would have charged forward personally to slaughter Wang Chong, even if it might mean the escape of some of the cavalrymen.

  For a mere forty cavalrymen to have killed so many of his brothers, this was an unprecedented heavy blow to him!

  "Everyone, listen to my orders and act with me. If anyone dares to escape, they will be beheaded on the spot!" Iron Cloak Li barked wrathfully. His face was fearsomely livid, and his exploding rage was nearly palpable.

  Hong long long!

  The highwaymen who were still fleeing anxiously a moment ago suddenly felt their hearts freeze for an instant, and instinctively, they immediately turned around and converged back on Iron Cloak Li's group.

  With Iron Cloak Li's arrival, the hearts and morale of the highwaymen finally rallied once more.

  Within the Iron Cloak Highwaymen, their chief Iron Cloak Li represented an unsurpassable force that none could hope to challenge or stand against.

  "Follow the chief and slaughter those soldiers!"

  "Avenge our brothers!"...

  The highwaymen screamed, and their courage was further inflated. For this operation, nearly the entire core group of the Iron Cloak Highwaymen had been mobilized.

  With the thirty highwaymen elites who were defeated previously, along with the sixty bandits and highwaymen whom Iron Cloak Li had brought along with him, the forces of the Iron Cloak Highwaymen were bolstered to ninety once more.

  But unlike before, the one who was leading the group this time was the mighty chief of the band, Iron Cloak Li.

  Hong long long!

  The bandits and highwaymen under Iron Cloak Li's command roared savagely, and their killing intent was so overwhelming that even space seemed to distort in the face of it.

  "Chase them!"

  "Don't let them get away!"

  This time, they were determined not to let the Great Tang cavalrymen get away. Furthermore, even the heavens were on their side this time. After sprinting for a few hundred zhang, the highwaymen were already at their top speed.

  (~600m)

  As compared to Wang Chong's group who had just begun to pick up speed, they were at an advantageous position.

  The distance slowly narrowed. A hundred zhang, eighty zhang, seventy zhang...

  Boom!

  But just as they were fifty zhang away, an abrupt change occurred. Hong long, Iron Cloak Li suddenly felt the lack of resistance beneath him; the ground his steed was stepping on had collapsed!

  "Shit!" Iron Cloak Li immediately realized that he had fallen into the other party's trap.

  He tried to pull on the reins of his steed to make it stop, but it was already too late. When the war steed's speed was at its limit, how could it possibly stop when and how it wanted to?

  Boom!

  With a resounding thud, Iron Cloak Li and his steed fell down with a cloud of dust.

  Beneath him was a huge pit filled with wooden stakes.

  "Chief!"

  "There are traps ahead!"

  "Hurry up and stop!"

  There were some who caught sight of what that was going on, and they immediately pulled on the reins of their hoses and yelled for the other highwaymen behind them to stop as well. However, since even Iron Cloak Li's prized Ferghana steed was unable to come to a stop under such circumstances, how could ordinary breeds like their horses be capable of it?

  Neighhh!

  With sorrowful cries from both horses and men alike, many highwaymen found themselves falling into the massive pit, some even pushed by those behind them!

  Chapter 354: The Fearsome Iron Cloak Li!

  Chapter 354: The Fearsome Iron Cloak Li!

  "Our time to attack has come!" Hearing the commotion behind, Wang Chong knew that his trap had worked its wonders.

  "Dual Arrow Formation! Charge!" As soon as these words were shouted, the forty cavalrymen came to a halt at the same moment, leaving behind a gap of silence in the air.

  To the highwaymen, this silence felt particularly unnerving, like the calm before the storm.

  Hong long!

  The forty-two cavalrymen suddenly turned around. Arranging themselves swiftly into the Dual Arrow Formation before, they began charging toward the remaining highwaymen and bandits behind the pit.

  Hong long long!

  A deafening rumble trembled the ground as the forty-two cavalrymen stormed ferociously into the chaotic formation of the Iron Cloak Highwaymen.

  There were no words that could describe the astounding sight as many highwaymen were knocked flying into the air, and even towering steeds were shoved to the side.

  "Be careful!"

  "The cavalrymen are here!"

  "Block them!"...

  Wretched screams that were intermixed with despair echoed down the main path. Looking at the young figure leading the charge from the front, fear and panic surfaced in the eyes of the highwaymen and bandits.

  It was that young man again!

  In the past few hours, over two hundred of their brother
s had already died at the hands of the Great Tang cavalrymen under his command. Furthermore, the casualties included respected experts such as Hu Lang, as well!

  On top of that, despite the multiple battles that they had been through, it seemed like the troops under the young man's command had only suffered minimal damage.

  In the face of such a seemingly infallible opponent, even the most brutal and fearless highwaymen felt deeply apprehensive.

  Hong long long!

  Men were knocked flying, horses were flipped over, and heads and severed limbs danced amidst splattered crimson blood in the air. Just like many times before, Wang Chong's troops pierced through the Iron Cloak Highwaymen's forces easily once again.

  But unlike the many times before, there were two sharp edges piercing through the highwaymen's formation this time around.

  This formation had allowed Wang Chong to maximize the area of their charge, and destroy even more enemies in their path.

  Once, twice...

  The Great Tang cavalrymen swiftly reorganized their formation at the other end before launching another charge back at the highwaymen. The same tragic sight unfolded yet again, and the highwaymen's morale, which was at its peak just a moment ago, crumbled into nothing.

  Furthermore, it was at the hands of an enemy whom they outnumbered more than two to one.

  From the start, cavalry was never required to equal their opponents in terms of strength. As long as they could tear through the latter's formation repeatedly and crush their morale, victory would be theirs to claim.

  Having spent half of his life as the Great Marshall on the battlefield, Wang Chong had commanded innumerable troops, so he couldn't be any clearer of the distinctive traits that cavalry possessed.

  If one could utilize their cavalry well on the battlefield, they could turn the tides of battle and lead an army to victory.

  Highwaymen who didn't even know the slightest thing about military tactics would never be able to understand this.

  "We succeeded!" Seeing the defeated highwaymen in the area, Bai Siling was delighted. Had it been in the past, she would have never believed that she would be able to win such a disadvantageous battle, and without a single casualty at that.

  This was the first time Bai Siling had witnessed the incredible potential that cavalrymen wielded, and this experience would surely influence her deeply in the future.

  "This is great! Gongzi, we managed to defeat them!" Ma Song was excited beyond words.

  As a veteran who had served in the military for over a decade, Ma Song had followed many different commanders and participated in numerous wars.

  The fight on this battlefield could hardly count as the most intense and dangerous fight he had ever been in. On the treacherous battlefields, he could easily find countless battles which were even more dangerous than this.

  No matter how powerful the highwaymen were, they couldn't possibly compare to official armies!

  But nevertheless, there wasn't a single commander in the past who left a deeper impression on him than the young man before him.

  Despite fighting against an enemy that outnumbered them more than tenfold, the young commander was still able to lead them to victory while suffering minimal casualties.

  With his deep knowledge of cavalry warfare, he managed to draw out the full fighting potential in them. There were no commanders he knew of who could match this feat in the military.

  In fact, Ma Song even felt that there might not be a single commander in Great Tang who could rival Wang Chong in the field of cavalry warfare.

  Hong long long!

  One after another, the highwaymen fell swiftly.

  The cavalrymen Wang Chong commanded never engaged in individual battles. Instead, they devoted their strength to complement one another as a single entity and bored their way through the enemy over and over again.

  More often than not, each highwayman would find himself facing not a single cavalryman, but a group of them.

  Such a strategy would allow the Great Tang cavalrymen to mess up the enemy's formation, thus nerfing their strength and minimizing the damage dealt to them.

  Such an outcome might seem like an unbelievable miracle to others, but it was nothing exceptional for Wang Chong.

  "Lad, do you think you have won?" Just as everyone was in the midst of cheering in delight, a fearsome voice that seemed to have originated from the depths of hell suddenly echoed in everyone's ears.

  Those who heard the voice abruptly felt a bone-chilling intent, as well as a strong sense of danger and uneasiness.

  In that instant, it seemed as if even the air had frozen solid.

  Weng!

  Amid a cloud of billowing dust, a towering figure emerged from the deep pit.

  The dusty air seemed to distort around the figure. An irrepressible killing intent was fused with his presence, commanding fear from those around him.

  What was even more striking was that pair of frigid and malevolent eyes, belonging more to demons than men.

  "This is bad!" Wang Chong immediately realized that something was going to happen and shouted a warning, "Everyone, be careful!"

  But the demon was even faster than Wang Chong.

  Neighhh!

  No one saw how that man moved, but by the time anyone could register what had just happened, he was already standing right before one of the cavalrymen.

  his powerful shoulders crashed heavily into the powerfully-built war steed of the cavalryman, and the horse’s tendons and bones instantaneously snapped. Under the explosive impact of the crash, the rider and the steed were sent flying violently.

  Hong long!

  Eventually, they fell head-first into a tree, and blood spurted from them like a waterfall. Everyone, including Wang Chong, was startled by this sight.

  From the start of the battle until now, this was the first time a casualty had appeared in Wang Chong's group.

  Iron Cloak Li's blow was simply too strong! That kind of explosive power didn't seem to be one that a human should possess.

  "Little Li!" With a sorrowful cry, a cavalryman from the other Arrow Formation suddenly tore away from the formation and charged at Iron Cloak Li frenziedly.

  "Hmph, you're courting your own death!"

  Hong long! With another blow, the Great Tang cavalryman who had torn away from the formation was knocked ten zhang away into the air.

  That fearsomely immense strength was truly something to behold!

  Everyone was stunned!

  This was the first time throughout the battle that Iron Cloak Li had revealed his overwhelming strength.

  "Don't leave the formation! Advance together with your team!" Wang Chong bellowed anxiously.

  This was the first time he had witnessed Iron Cloak Li's strength personally, and it was greater than what Li Cangqi had told him.

  Di da da!

  Of the Dual Arrow Formation, the first one who made a move was the formation Bai Siling and Ma Song were in. They were in the closest proximity to him, so they were the fastest to move as well.

  "Kill him!"

  The Arrow Formation formed by twenty-one Great Tang cavalrymen charged forward like a gliding steel dragon. Raising a huge cloud of dust with its movement, they swiftly charged for Iron Cloak Li.

  "Hahaha..."

  Sneering coldly, Iron Cloak Li gazed at the huge crowd of soldiers before him without the slightest intention of dodging at all.

  At this moment, blazing rage had clouded his mind. If his killing intent could materialize, he would tear apart the heavens.

  His many years of effort were ruined at the hands of a small group of merely forty soldiers.

  Even his beloved crimson Ferghana steed ended up being impaled by the stakes in the pit, losing its life.

  He had never suffered such humiliation since the establishment of the Iron Cloak Highwaymen.

  "That damned brat!" Iron Cloak Li spat as a cracking sound echoed from his tightly clenched fists.

  Veins could be
seen rising from his temples, and his devastating rage seemed to materialize as a crimson hue in his eyes.

  If looks could kill, Wang Chong and these Great Tang cavalrymen would have died many times over.

  Since the start of the operation until this point, Iron Cloak Li had already lost more than three hundred of his subordinates, and this was completely unacceptable to him. His anger and killing intent had already hit the roof.

  Today, regardless of the price he would have to pay, he would bury Wang Chong along with the forty Great Tang cavalrymen here!

  Neighhh!

  As the first group of charging Great Tang cavalrymen swiftly closed in on Iron Cloak Li, his clothes began to flutter from the gale raised by the momentum of the charge.

  But he had no intentions of dodging at all.

  Standing right in the face of the charging Great Tang cavalrymen, he slowly closed his hands instead.

  Hong long long!

  For that instant, time seemed to have slowed down innumerable times. Before countless gazes, a pair of sturdy and powerful hooves pierced through the cloud of dust and struck heavily on Iron Cloak Li's chest.

  But as the metallic hooves collided with the body of flesh and blood, a resounding metallic reverberation sounded instead.

  Iron Cloak Li stood firmly before the pit, not moving at all. On the other hand, it was the steed and the rider who was forced back instead.

  Weng!

  The sight left everyone flabbergasted.

  "How is this possible?" That was the only thought remaining in everyone's mind before a chill crept through their veins.

  Chapter 355: Reversing the Tides!

  Chapter 355: Reversing the Tides!

  To think that a body of flesh and blood would be able to withstand the full power attack of a heavy cavalryman, not budging in the least! He was like an unmoving mountain, knocking the charging cavalrymen back instead.

  If they were not personally witnessing the situation, they would have never thought such a feat was possible.

  "It should be my turn now!" A chilling voice carrying irrepressible flames of rage echoed in the air. By this moment, Iron Cloak Li had already disappeared from view.

  Peng!