The Human Emperor c1-2382

by Huangfu Qi (皇甫奇)

  In this assault, Li Siye was Wang Chong's most powerful ally. But Li Siye had never seen An Yaluoshan before.

  He had originally believed that the most powerful person in the room had been Wang Chong's target, but it seemed that he had been wrong.

  But attacking the wrong target had no effect on someone like Li Siye.

  Not even the strongest of this Hu party, An Wenzhen, had been a match for him, so how could An Yaluoshan?

  Boom!

  The light of the saber cleaved through the darkness. But right when Wang Chong was about to sigh in relief, something completely surprising happened.

  Crack! The world suddenly brightened as a blazing lightning bolt zigzagged down from the dark clouds, accurately striking Li Siye's saber light.

  This strike not only scattered Li Siye's saber light, the fierce lightning bolt even followed the saber light to strike Li Siye, who was in the middle of a jump.

  "Ah!"

  Li Siye yelled as both he and his saber were sent flying.

  "What… how is this possible?!"

  Wang Chong narrowed his eyes, not daring to believe what he had seen. Even though there was a thunderstorm, this lightning bolt had come down too suddenly.

  In truth, it wasn't just Wang Chong. Everyone, including the Hu, was astonished by this scene.

  Boom!

  Another massive boom stirred the crowd from their stupor. Several dozen zhang away, in the middle of a torrential rain, a spear was thrust into the ground, its end vibrating.

  Right after Li Siye, Old Eagle had struck!

  But Old Eagle's attack had also missed. In a flash, An Yaluoshan had used a bizarre movement technique that none of the crowd had ever seen before. His body twisted, taking an M-shaped track, barely managing to avoid Old Eagle's determined strike.

  With both these strikes avoided, An Yaluoshan once more began to flee. However, with Old Eagle's interference, An Yaluoshan had inevitably slowed a little.

  "Hmph!"

  A cold snort came from behind. The moment An Yaluoshan slowed, Wang Chong suddenly leaped into the air, immediately using the Leaping Dragon Art.

  Buzz. In the darkness, Wang Chong seemed to be flung upward by some invisible strength. He jumped several times in the air until he was several dozen zhang in the sky.

  "Luo Tong!"

  Wang Chong's voice resounded through the darkness.

  Twang!

  The crack of the bowstring was like a peal of thunder. In an instant, several sharp arrows flew forth like lightning bolts, piercing through the wind and rain toward the distant An Yaluoshan.

  Luo Tong possessed superb archery skills and none of his arrows ever missed their target. Wang Chong had already seen proof of his skill during the Goguryeo Assassins incident.

  He needed only one arrow to dispatch one True Martial realm expert. All his targets would groan and collapse. Luo Tong could strike any target within two hundred meters, much less this close distance.

  But then the astonishing took place once more.

  An Yaluoshan's ears trembled as if he had already expected this. When the bowstring twanged, he suddenly rolled without even turning around. Pressing close to the water-covered ground, he rolled several times.

  The six arrows struck the mud while An Yaluoshan, his body covered in mud, clambered up and began to run once more.

  Though he seemed rather sorry, he had once more escaped disaster.

  "How is this possible?"

  On a distant roof, the falling rain on his bronze armor made Luo Tong seem like a war god.

  But unlike the war god Luo Tong of the past, this one no longer had that composed and confident expression.

  It wasn't that Luo Tong had never encountered such a formidable opponent before.

  Someone strong enough was completely capable of sending his arrows flying, but that sort of trait was completely different from what this person displayed.

  If someone wanted to dodge his arrows while having their back turned, only one type of person would be capable of this: a master archer!

  One that was at least on par with him!

  Chapter 446: The World's Interference!

  Chapter 446: The World's Interference!

  Translated by: Hypersheep325

  Edited by: Michyrr

  Only a master archer could understand a master archer!

  Only a master archer could determine the direction, the distance and position an archer was located at from the twang of the bowstring. The highest-level master archers didn't even need to hear the bowstring.

  Those supreme experts who had spent many years immersed in the path of archery were extremely sensitive to when they had been targeted. Once they were targeted by a bow and arrow, no matter how far away it was, they would immediately react.

  This was the so-called archer's intuition!

  It had been a very long time since Luo Tong had met an archer so formidable as to dodge his arrows in the pouring rain without even turning his head.

  Splash!

  The rain poured down, obscuring the sun and falling upon the roofs and stone pavement, pinging against armor and weapons like little metal balls.

  Wang Chong had no time to worry about Luo Tong.

  Although others might have been surprised that Luo Tong had missed, Wang Chong was not. An Yaluoshan had always been an expert at the skills of both the Hu and the Han. He was an archery expert who could wield a bow with either hand and fire it while riding a horse.

  His talent in archery was even the envy of the Turkic and Hu master archers, let alone others.

  However, no matter how skilled he was at the bow, he had to die today!

  Boom!

  Another bolt of lightning seared across the sky, illuminating the world and Wang Chong high in the sky. Whoosh! A white wave of water followed Wang Chong's sword as he raised it, and then the spiritual energy in his surroundings began to form a massive spiral around Wang Chong.

  Wang Chong had become one with his sword, wrapping himself in majestic spiritual energy from head to foot. Then, like a bolt of lightning, he shot down from the heavens.

  The Leaping Dragon Art was slow to leap into the skies, but it descended with incredible speed.

  Boom!

  A hazy black line dropped down through the rainstorm, catching up to the distant An Yaluoshan in the blink of an eye.

  Bong!

  It was impossible to see anything in the gloom, but not even the downpour could hide the countless dragon roars. Wang Chong, who was only at Tier 3 of the True Martial realm, had used the Leaping Dragon Art to strike with the power of someone at the peak of True Martial Tier 5. Coupled with his hardy Wootz Steel sword and the Stellar Energy Piercer, Wang Chong could menace someone at True Martial Tier 6, even Tier 7.

  And An Yaluoshan, who had used techniques to avoid the consecutive attacks of Old Eagle and Luo Tong and was also in a rush to escape, had inevitably shown a crack in his armor.

  Wang Chong tightly clenched his Wootz Steel sword as he furiously roared, "An Yaluoshan, halt for me!"

  The current An Yaluoshan was far weaker than he was in his past life. Wang Chong had immediately noticed upon seeing him in Drunken Sparrow restaurant that his current strength did not exceed True Martial Tier 7, still in the limits of what he could threaten.

  Wang Chong didn't even need to kill him, only successfully slow him, delay him. The experts that he had brought from Deflecting Blade Manor, the spirit vein mountain, and the various sects could then surround him.

  No matter how talented An Yaluoshan was, he wouldn't be able to escape, not even if he grew wings!

  Boom!

  And then, the unexpected struck once more. While Wang Chong was shooting forward, when he was only three feet from An Yaluoshan, something strange happened. The void rippled and a majestic energy filled with the might of the world suddenly swept out from the depths of space-time and interposed itself between Wang Chong and An Yaluoshan.

  Bang! Like he had struck an i
nvisible wall, Wang Chong's thunderous blow was blocked by that energy barrier.

  And that furious energy of the world within that barrier sent Wang Chong flying with the force of a storm.

  Peng!

  As he was sent flying, Wang Chong was utterly stunned.

  "How is this possible?"

  Wang Chong's mind had been thrown into complete disarray. At this moment, he could clearly see An Yaluoshan turn his head around, his eyes as shocked as his, and also rather perplexed.

  Peng! His body rolled across the ground, his armor clattering. Wang Chong stood up from the ground, and then he just stood there, his mind still dazed from that massive shock.

  Wang Chong had clearly sensed that massive energy suddenly emerging out of space-time to stop him.

  That energy was as vast and boundless as the world itself, far surpassing the scope of the True Martial realm.

  This was not a strength that An Yaluoshan could have exploded with.

  It was like some powerful and invisible existence had suddenly acted to stop him.

  "Damn it!"

  A lightning bolt coursed through his mind. Wang Chong suddenly remembered that before he had attacked, there had been a warning in his mind.

  【Due to user's actions, 'Destined Foe' will soon receive the protection of the world. 'Destined Foe' will have an increased chance of surviving and user will have an increased chance of failing. In the future, each time user meets with target, target will be blessed an additional time by the world.】

  Are you saying… that it's simply impossible for me to kill An Yaluoshan?

  In less than a second, countless thoughts flashed through Wang Chong's mind.

  As a reincarnator, Wang Chong's course was completely incompatible with this world, something that this world could not accept.

  From the start of his reincarnation, Wang Chong had already felt the expulsive force of the World Constraint. But Wang Chong had not expected this expulsive force to be this strong.

  It could not only expel him, but also strengthen a few important targets and stop him.

  Altering destiny was no easy task.

  An Yaluoshan occupied an extremely important spot in this world's destiny, perhaps even the most important place.

  If he could successfully kill him while he was still obscure and had not successfully rebelled, then the fate of the world and history would undoubtedly change.

  If An Yaluoshan died, no one would start a rebellion in Youzhou and the Great Tang would not crumble from within. If there was no An Yaluoshan, there would be no one to summon the army of foreign invaders and the Central Plains would not be destroyed…

  This would result in two different worlds!

  It wasn't like Wang Chong had never changed history or destiny before. He had altered the fate of his clan and King Song.

  However, none of those alterations compared to the one before him. This was not some Imperial Prince or clan he was changing the fate of, but the millions of people living in this world, the fate of countless kingdoms and empires.

  This alteration was so massive that for the first time, Wang Chong had experienced direct interference from the world. No! It wasn't just interference. The world had even strengthened An Yaluoshan.

  This was the 'blessing'.

  …Is it too early? Because An Yaluoshan hasn't completed his mission, this phenomenon appeared?

  Wang Chong suddenly thoroughly understood.

  As someone who had already died once and reincarnated in this world, a soul that shouldn't have existed, Wang Chong was probably the only person who could encounter these sorts of things.

  Yet not only was Wang Chong's killing intent not extinguished, it burned even more fiercely and resolutely.

  "So what if the world interferes? Even if the entire world is protecting you, I'll still have you die!!!"

  Wang Chong clenched his fists and grit his teeth. When he raised his head again, his eyes were once more bursting with a dreadfully cold light.

  "Not good! He's about to escape!"

  "Stop him!"

  Neigh!

  "He has other plans."

  "Ah! It's a divine Ferghana1 horse!"

  ……

  The rain poured down, soaking everyone. Drunken Sparrow restaurant was in complete chaos, but as lightning coursed through the clouds, everyone could see that tall, muscular horse, like a divine dragon colt, neighing as it shot off into the distance.

  An Yaluoshan had jumped and mounted that divine Ferghana horse, and then galloped away, quickly vanishing into the darkness.

  "Everyone, follow me!"

  The moment An Yaluoshan took off on his steed, a storm of hooves against stone followed him.

  Wang Chong, mounted on the White-hoofed Shadow, flew through torrential rain, unwilling to let him go.

  Only Wang Chong's White-hoofed Shadow could catch up to An Yaluoshan's foreign Ferghana horse.

  Boom!

  There was a clattering of metal. While in pursuit, Wang Chong had unhesitantly chose to release his Halo of Dusk Stallion.

  The halos resonated in the air, jolting away the rain. These halos not only covered Wang Chong's feet but also spread to the feet of all his forces around Drunken Sparrow restaurant.

  At this moment, all these people were now stronger, faster, and more dexterous!

  "Catch up to Young Master!" In the darkness, Old Eagle shouted and was the first to get on a horse and gallop after him. Following him were Li Siye, Zhao Jingdian, Wei Anfang, Marchioness Yi and the others.

  No one knew why Wang Chong was so adamant about catching that Hu, but at this moment, Wang Chong's will was unquestionably all their wills.

  No matter what he wanted to do, everyone would immediately obey.

  Rumble!

  The ground quaked as the stampede of hooves drowned out the sound of thunder and rain. A bolt of lightning flashed, revealing countless armored horsemen pushing through the darkness like a flood of steel!

  ……

  The rain was coming down faster and harder.

  Bolt after bolt of lightning cracked, seemingly intent on sundering the world. It was still not night, but the dense and dark clouds in the sky had invaded the world with darkness.

  A nervous atmosphere was spreading through the world.

  Those dogs that would usually crazily bark at the smallest sign of activity seemed to sense something. Though they whimpered in unease, they did not bark.

  Boom!

  Another bolt of lightning cracked down, its searing light like a river hung up in the heavens. This dazzling river illuminated the rumbling world, the trembling roofs. It also illuminated the stone streets, the Ferghana steed galloping across them, and that seemingly plump but actually muscular Hu atop it.

  This was a Hu about twenty-eight or twenty-nine years old. He had a high nose and hawkish eyes. His face was square and covered in whiskers. This sort of appearance was very common among the Hu living on the border.

  This person was the one who Wang Chong was adamantly pursuing, the one he wanted to grind into dust, the one he could never forget, An Yaluoshan!

  ______________

  1.Ferghana horses are a breed of horse from the Ferghana Valley. The Chinese name for them is , or 'horse that sweats blood'.

  Chapter 447: The Rebel Soldiers of Youzhou!

  Chapter 447: The Rebel Soldiers of Youzhou!

  Translated by: Hypersheep325

  Edited by: Michyrr

  "What in the world is going on?"

  The boundless rain slapped onto his face like lead pills as An Yaluoshan galloped through the rain, a long white wake of water left behind him.

  He could hear the galloping of horses behind him, each sound pounding at the bottom of An Yaluoshan's heart. It had been a long time since he had experienced being hunted down.

  These people were rushing toward him with all the ferocity of a torrential flood. An Yaluoshan knew that if he was caught or was just a little too slow, the only thing wai
ting for him would be death.

  This intense danger made An Yaluoshan's head ache and his entire body feel like it was about to explode. He had already pushed this Ferghana steed that he had brought from Youzhou to the limit, but he didn't feel like he was widening the distance.

  There was no doubt that the steed of his pursuer was not one bit inferior to his!

  This made An Yaluoshan even more uneasy.

  But none of this danger could overcome that one thought in An Yaluoshan's mind:

  Why was all of this happening?

  There were so many people in Drunken Sparrow restaurant, so why was that Han youth targeting him? He was also the least famous of the Four An Brothers, so why was all the attention being put on the obscure him?

  And there was another, even more important thing that An Yaluoshan couldn't understand. Ever since he had come down from Youzhou to here, he had been very inconspicuous and obedient, acting like a dog with its tail between its legs. He had done nothing to disrespect the law.

  So why did that youth not seem to care about anyone else and insist on running him down?

  An Yaluoshan had searched his mind and confirmed that he had never met that boy, so there was naturally no opportunity for any conflicts to form. But that loathing, those bloodshot eyes, wouldn't lie.

  There was one moment, An Yaluoshan had to admit, that he truly had been scared out of his wits. That was no longer something as simple as ordinary hatred or loathing, but a deep-seated hatred that had been forged in a sea of blood.

  So when An Yaluoshan saw his sworn brother An Wenzhen being cut down, he immediately fled. He had a bad feeling that if he was just a little too slow, he would never be able to escape.

  Just who is that boy? Where did I ever get into a quarrel with him? Youzhou? Impossible! All the youths of the capital are tender and soft. None of them would ever go to such a remote place. And besides, with their status, who would ever try to do anything against them?

  Could it be the capital? Impossible! This is my first time in the capital. If I met him before, I would have known and wouldn't be inexplicably pursued like this.

  An Yaluoshan pressed against the back of his horse, panting for breath as countless thoughts flashed through his mind. Perhaps it was because he had escaped too many times, had been pursued by that person too many times.