The Human Emperor c1-2382

by Huangfu Qi (皇甫奇)

  Wang Chong was of an influential background, born from a clan of ministers and generals, the grandson of the sagacious minister Duke Jiu, and now he had even accomplished the wondrous feat of winning the war of the southwest. If there was one person in the world who could clear his name, that person would be Wang Chong.

  "I don't need your service."

  Wang Chong shook his head. If it was just about service, Wang Chong had many people under his command. In addition, he had even more people in the gradually maturing Kunwu Training Camp and Deflecting Blade Manor who could serve him.

  In the war of the southwest, the people of Deflecting Blade Manor had been of great assistance to him, and their future potential was limitless.

  "Wang Chong came here to find Sir with regards to the Jiannan. Sir only needs to investigate those people, find out the truth of Jiannan, to be of greatest assistance to Wang Chong," Wang Chong said.

  The faceless man's eyes widened as he looked at Wang Chong in confusion.

  "Heh, I will not hide anything from Sir. I also have a matter that needs investigation, and I suspect that it relates to the people that were chasing after the two of you."

  Wang Chong chuckled and, not holding them in suspense, immediately revealed the pitch-black arrow shaft.

  "This is?"

  In an instant, Solitary Wolf and the faceless man looked over. The broken arrow that Wang Chong had taken was of extremely bizarre construction. It appeared to require a level of craftsmanship that far exceeded anything of the present era, and the arrowhead was missing for some reason.

  But the two of them knew that Wang Chong had a reason for his actions.

  Wang Chong straightforwardly explained that after the war of the southwest, someone had attempted to assassinate him with this mysterious black arrow. In the end, he had managed to rely on his sharp intuition to dodge the arrow, but the black arrow had ended up killing Luo Ji.

  "Young Master!!!"

  Solitary Wolf was flabbergasted. Old Eagle had never mentioned this matter, so this was his first time learning of it. Next to him, the faceless man was also shocked.

  "Young Master means that this assassination was not carried out by Mengshe Zhao or Ü-Tsang, but the same group of people chasing us?" the faceless man asked in amazement.

  "I can't be sure. All of this is only speculation," Wang Chong slowly said, his eyes beginning to exude a dazzling glow.

  "But there is one thing that I can be sure of. In that situation, Geluofeng, Duan Gequan, Dalun Ruozan, or Huoshu Huicang would never have thought about an assassination, nor would they do such a thing. Crucially, it was impossible for them to do such a thing!"

  Wang Chong suddenly turned the arrow shaft to show the other side, revealing a part of the arrow that neither Solitary Wolf nor the faceless man had noticed.

  "Han characters!!"

  "No, this is the Bird Seal Script from the Qin-Han era!"

  (TN: Bird Seal Script is a way to write Chinese in which the Chinese characters are further stylized so that the ends of the strokes had the appearance of bird-like heads and tails. This sort of script was actually more prevalent in the Spring and Autumn period and Warring States period that preceded the Qin Dynasty. After the Qin Dynasty united China, the various scripts used by the various states were united into Small Seal Script.)

  Both Solitary Wolf and the faceless man were stunned by what they saw. On the end of the arrow near the fletching, several words had been engraved. These words were definitely not in the language of Mengshe Zhao or Ü-Tsang.

  These were the words of the Central Plains!

  The faceless man had even been able to identify these words as being the Bird Seal Script used by only a small number in the early years of the Qin-Han era. These words were of extremely ancient origin and were said to have arisen during the Spring and Autumn period or the Warring States period. By the time of the Qin-Han era, they gradually began to fall out of use on account of their complexity and difficulty, replaced with the more squarish Small Seal Script.

  But none of the Seal Scripts were in use in the present Great Tang.

  It was also at this point that the pair suddenly understood why Wang Chong was so certain that this assassination was not carried out by Mengshe Zhao and Ü-Tsang.

  For a moment, the basement was deathly still.

  Both Solitary Wolf and the faceless man had nothing to say. The broken arrow was still the same broken arrow, as black as the night, but it now appeared even more mysterious in their eyes, even more lethal.

  "But, why?"

  The faceless man finally looked up at Wang Chong.

  Weren't there too many mysteries here?

  Were the people hunting him down the same as the people trying to kill Wang Chong? If not, why did they want to kill Wang Chong?

  He was just a seventeen-year-old boy.

  And what was the reason? There had to be a reason for killing someone. The faceless man could be set aside. After all, he had once been the Governor of Jiannan and held an impressive status. Wang Chong, on the other hand, had been nothing more than a wastrel scion living in the capital.

  Although he was born from a clan of ministers and generals, he had no official rank or noble title. In the capital, there were countless scions like him.

  In addition, if this was merely targeting the Wang Clan, why not choose Wang Fu, or even Wang Yan?

  These two were also descendants of the Wang Clan, and they had far higher status than Wang Chong!

  This was far too unexpected.

  "I also don't know."

  Wang Chong shook his head, his gaze gradually growing more profound.

  "But there's one thing that I'm certain of. This matter is highly likely to be related to the war of the southwest. And I feel that the people chasing you and the one who tried to assassinate me were likely the same group of people. Only this can explain why both of us encountered assassins.

  "I don't think that the war of the southwest is as simple as we think. It feels like another power is controlling things from the shadows," Wang Chong said.

  Geluofeng truly had harbored ambitions against the Great Tang, but these ambitions alone could not have driven him to immediately break his relationship with the Great Tang. Geluofeng had not finished his preparations. Otherwise, he would not have sought aid from Ü-Tsang.

  And he certainly wouldn't have taken the initiative and battled with the Annan Protectorate army on the Erhai plains for the sake of becoming allies with Ü-Tsang.

  It was only because Zhang Qiantuo had 'raped and murdered' his wife and daughter that Geluofeng had exploded with rage, eventually leading to the war of the southwest. And based on what Solitary Wolf had said, by the time he had entered Zhang Qiantuo's mansion, Geluofeng's wife and daughter were already corpses.

  In this aspect, although Geluofeng had a burning ambition, with regards to the matter of Jiange, he had been perfectly candid and played no tricks.

  "But if this is the case, who is it? What advantages are there in this? And who could be so capable?" Solitary Wolf gravely said.

  Chapter 642: King Song Arrives!

  Translated by: Hypersheep325

  Edited by: Michyrr

  Solitary Wolf had investigated his pursuers. There had been Tang among them, and people from Mengshe Zhao, Ü-Tsang, and even the Abbasid Caliphate. This was clearly not something any ordinary person or faction could do.

  The war of the southwest involved the Great Tang, Ü-Tsang, and Mengshe Zhao, involved Great Generals like Huoshu Huicang, Dalun Ruozan, Duan Gequan, and Geluofeng, involved seven to eight hundred thousand soldiers and almost one million civilians.

  If one said that someone had been urging all this on, that there really was some faction so powerful that it could treat these countries, generals, soldiers, and civilians like playthings in the palm of their hand…

  The mere thought of it caused Solitary Wolf to tremble.

  Deep within his heart, Solitary Wolf preferred to believe that
all this was a coincidence. The people chasing them did not belong to the same faction as the people chasing down Young Master.

  "I don't know!"

  Wang Chong shook his head.

  "As I said, all this is merely my speculation. Perhaps it is, perhaps it isn't. But no matter what, there's one thing I can be sure of: in this war, besides the three countries of the Great Tang, Mengshe Zhao and Ü-Tsang, there was another power lurking beneath the surface that none of us could see.

  "These people even dared to frame and kill a governor of the Imperial Court, even dare to attempt to assassinate me… They're already incredibly bold. The laws of the court and the rules of society can't bind them and are of no use against them.

  "In the war of the southwest, with so many present: all the soldiers of the Annan Protectorate army, my father Wang Yan, Protector-General Xianyu Zhongtong… None of these people could make them have second thoughts. This alone is a testament to their daring."

  As Wang Chong spoke, his expression was incredibly grim.

  As someone who had lived two lives, he felt like he knew everything like the back of his hand, but even after combing through his memories, he discovered that he could not find a single bit of information concerning these people. At the very least, he had never known about the incident involving Jiannan Governor Zhang Qiantuo.

  Wang Chong felt like he was touching upon something that he had never encountered in his last life.

  "Young Master, if you're worried, then give this matter to me! I've already died once, and no one knows of my existence. No matter who they are or how powerful they are, I am not afraid. I live only for the sake of one matter: uncovering their true identities, taking revenge for Bin-er, Tong-er, and my wife, and clearing my name.

  "As long as I can realize this goal, I can walk through a mountain of daggers or a sea of flames, have my tongue pulled out and my nose cut off. Nothing can scare me. I already have nothing to lose!!"

  The faceless man's eyes glowed with a venomous hatred, his last words mixed with a bitter laughter.

  Who cared how powerful they were? How mysterious? How vicious and sublime their methods? He was already a lonely man with no family or possessions. Since he had already lost everything, what did he have to fear?

  Wang Chong and Solitary Wolf silently exchanged looks.

  Wang Chong could sense the faceless man's deep-rooted pain, hatred, reluctance, and fury. He had to admit that all this had completely surpassed his expectations.

  If one said that the Governor of Jiannan had now become a 'faceless man' who covered his face with a mask of black metal and lived only for revenge, no one would believe them. But if one thought about all that Zhang Qiantuo had experienced, this was no surprise.

  Perhaps it's actually best if I leave this matter to him, Wang Chong said to himself as he gazed at the faceless man's bloodshot eyes.

  Both Wang Chong and Solitary Wolf still lived in the sunlight, greatly inconvenienced by social norms and constantly having to think about the consequences of their actions. Although Solitary Wolf was a little better off than Wang Chong in this aspect, if he were exposed after anything he did, Wang Chong would be dragged in, as would the rest of the Wang Clan.

  But for the faceless man, the traces of his existence had been completely obliterated. And in this basement, there was no one with more resolve and courage to investigate this matter than him.

  As these thoughts flickered through his mind, Wang Chong quickly reached a decision.

  "Sir, I give this black arrow to you! If you want to investigate the matter, start from this arrow."

  As he spoke, he passed the broken arrow over.

  "I can't promise you too much, but I can promise you one thing. In investigating the Jiange incident, you won't be alone. Starting from now, if you need anything, I can provide it to you: martial arts manuals, medicine, workers, soldiers, connections in the court or the army… I will do my utmost to support you with everything that you need.

  "In this matter, the Wang Clan and I will be your strongest backer, your sturdiest pillar of support!! So if there's anything you need to do, do it with your heart at ease," Wang Chong sternly said.

  "Young Master!!"

  The faceless man's body began to tremble, his eyes shining with excitement. These people had enormously powerful backers and acted brashly and without fear. The faceless man had personally experienced this.

  Even an imposing governor of the court was not worth their attention.

  That Wang Chong was willing to invest himself in this matter was in itself the greatest support. And in truth, Wang Chong's background, the Wang Clan's influence in society, and the astounding feats Wang Chong had accomplished in the southwest made it so that he was the greatest possible support the faceless man could ever receive in the Great Tang.

  This was much better than a lonely man fighting an army! And his hopes were even further bolstered!

  "Thank you, Young Master!"

  The faceless man's eyes were red as he got down on both knees and bowed in front of Wang Chong.

  "Young Master's promise is worth one thousand ounces of gold, and this faceless man could never repay it. As long as Young Master wishes it, starting from now, this faceless man is willing to carry out any task, walking through water or fire, to dash his brains out against the ground."

  A gentleman's promise was worth a thousand ounces of gold. This was an oath made by the faceless man and an oath made by Wang Chong. Starting from now, in the shadows around Wang Chong, where no one could see, a mysterious and silent faceless man had appeared, with only Wang Chong and Solitary Wolf knowing his true identity.

  Rumble!

  The mechanism rumbled, moving the floorboard aside. Wang Chong brought Solitary Wolf and the faceless man out of the basement.

  "Young Master, this person is?"

  Outside, Li Siye slightly frowned upon seeing the black-masked 'faceless man', a hint of shock appearing in his eyes.

  "A faceless man," Wang Chong indifferently said. "Don't worry about it too much. Let's return."

  "Hyah!"

  With a shout, Wang Chong set off with Li Siye, Solitary Wolf, and the other cavalry. But midway through the journey, the faceless man disappeared. No one knew where he had gone.

  Nor did anyone care.

  Since not even Wang Chong had asked, the others naturally said nothing.

  ……

  Half a month later, the army led by King Song arrived. His more than seventy thousand soldiers accompanied by a vast quantity of provisions and armaments seemed incredibly vast and majestic.

  "Hahaha, where is Wang Chong? Where is Wang Chong? Quickly take this king to see him!"

  As a plume of dust approached from the distance, it was already possible to hear King Song's booming laughter.

  Even though more than half a month had passed since the end of the war, King Song was still in a state of extreme joy and excitement.

  "Your Highness King Song, there are so many people in the southwest, and there's me and brother Gengzhi as well. Are none of us worthy of meeting Your Highness?"

  Xianyu Zhongtong and Wang Yan had ridden two mighty steeds down the mountain long ago to welcome King Song.

  "Hahaha, the two of you are brutish men, your years added together totaling eighty or ninety! How could you be better-looking than the great victor of the southwest, the future hero and Great General! Wang Chong, where are you?"

  King Song heartily laughed, not even showing courtesy in front of Wang Yan and Xianyu Zhongtong.

  "Wang Chong pays respects to King Song."

  As his voice rang out in the air, Wang Chong rode up the White-hoofed Shadow from the rear.

  This was not their first meeting, and the Wang Clan had always had good relations with the King Song Residence. Friends would naturally be more intimate in their meeting with each other, but for King Song to be so enthusiastic in this meeting was truly rather surprising.

  "Hahaha, none of you know how many peop
le in the court had eyes red with envy when they heard that this king would get to come first. Haha, let this king see our hero of the southwest."

  As King Song spoke, he opened his arms wide and gave Wang Chong a bear hug.

  On the day that King Song heard the news of the victory in the southwest, he immediately became impatient to arrive. He had marched his army of seventy thousand day and night so that he could arrive first and see the greatest contributor of the war in the southwest.

  "Gengzhi, you have a good son!"

  As he stepped away, he turned to Wang Yan with a beaming face.

  "Your Highness flatters me. This dog son of mine is still young. For Your Highness to praise him like this is not necessarily a good thing. And in addition, the tens of thousands of soldiers and officers also made a great contribution to the war of the southwest. This was not accomplished by one person," Wang Yan sternly said.

  "Hahaha, still as stubborn as ever. If he didn't construct Lion City by the Erhai, if he didn't rush to the southwest battlefield to take command, Gengzhi, with your and Xianyu Zhongtong's abilities, could this war have been won? I know that you mean him well, worried that he'll get too proud, and hope that he'll compose himself, but the Sage Emperor has already spoken. What do you have to be afraid of?

  "Just based on the contributions your Wang Clan has made in the southwest alone, no one inside or outside the court, including the Yao Clan and King Qi, will be able to touch you."

  King Song gave another bellow of laughter.

  It was clear that King Song was particularly happy today. He rarely showed his emotions, but Wang Chong's feats in the southwest were far too incredible.

  It was precisely because of Wang Chong's major victory that the Great Tang beset by enemies on all sides was able to suddenly intimidate all the foreign powers, making that perilous situation vanish into smoke.

  One could easily imagine the adoration King Song felt for Wang Chong.