The Human Emperor c1-2382

by Huangfu Qi (皇甫奇)

  But Wang Chong’s earnest expression made those words impossible to discard.

  “Protector-General Wang, you really have a way to kill Khaled?”

  “If we don’t try, how can we know?” Wang Chong indifferently said.

  Xi Yuanqing came quickly, riding out through the city gates, his stalwart figure mounted on a pure snow-white steed.

  “Protector-General Wang, you were asking for me.”

  The stalwart man dismounted in front of Wang Chong. His expression was grim, his face seemingly chiseled from stone. He was apparently one of those sober and serious men who had little time for jokes.

  Wang Chong said nothing as he carefully examined the number three man of the Anxi Protectorate army. Xi Yuanqing’s injuries were not light, and the thick stench of blood was evident before he even got close. Now that he was looking, Wang Chong immediately noticed the bloodied bandages around his body and arm.

  His injuries appear very severe, Wang Chong quietly said to himself.

  When Gao Xianzhi rode out of the city, he had been accompanied by Cheng Qianli and the other Anxi generals, but Wang Chong had not seen General Xi amongst them. It was obvious that his injuries had been so severe at that time that he had still been recovering in the city.

  Whoosh! As Xi Yuanqing steadied himself on the ground, Wang Chong thrust out a hand and gripped his arm. Xi Yuanqing frowned and subconsciously retreated, but despite his lofty cultivation level, he failed to dodge it. His arm suddenly went numb as Wang Chong gripped it, and he soon felt his entire body unable to move. Flabbergasted, he raised his head in shock.

  His injuries had kept Xi Yuanqing from meeting Wang Chong, so he had little understanding of this youth. BUt at this moment, he realized that though this temporary Qixi Protector-General appeared to be only sixteen or seventeen, he was a Saint Martial expert that was at his level or even stronger.

  “General Xi, don’t lose focus. I’m lending you a hand to help you recover!”

  As Wang Chong’s voice rang in his ears, a surging river of Stellar Energy suddenly flowed into his body. Though dazed for a moment, he quickly reacted, focusing his mind and using Wang Chong’s Stellar Energy to stabilize his injuries. The Great Yinyang Heaven Creation Art could not only absorb energy, but could also transfer energy and use it to treat another’s injuries.

  This was a new ability of the Great Yinyang Heaven Creation Art that Wang Chong’s master, the Demonic Emperor Old Man, had comprehended in his retirement. However, one could only use this ability at the Saint Martial realm, and only for people at or below one’s own cultivation level.

  Buzz!

  Steam began to pour out of Xi Yuanqing’s head, and as Cheng Qianli and the other Anxi generals watched in shock, Xi Yuanqing’s pale complexion rapidly became ruddier, and his disorderly aura began to stabilize.

  “Lord Protector-General, my deepest gratitude!”

  A few moments later, Xi Yuanqing opened his eyes and stared in shock at Wang Chong. He only knew that Wang Chong was an excellent strategist, but he had never heard anything about his astonishing martial prowess. Having reached the Saint Martial realm at only seventeen, he was undoubtedly one of the most outstanding and transcendent existences in the Great Tang.

  Wang Chong gave a light smile. In helping Xi Yuanqing recover from his injuries, Wang Chong had slightly paled, but this was nothing worth worrying over. With the abilities of the Great Yinyang Heaven Creation Art, he could recover this energy in mere moments.

  “General Xi, if you help someone, you must help them to the end. I have another gift for you.”

  Wang Chong took several steps forward and whispered into Xi Yuanqing’s ears. No one else could hear what he was saying, not even the nearby Cheng Qianli. But all of them could see the shock and consternation on Xi Yuanqing’s face when he turned back around.

  “Lord Protector-General, my gratitude is beyond words. If it is really as you say and I can really kill Khaled to avenge the gruesome deaths of the Anxi Protectorate army, this Xi will forever be grateful to you!”

  Xi Yuanqing’s eyes reddened as he reached the end of his words.

  The Anxi Protectorate army had only thirty-thousand-some people, and it had relied on these soldiers to suppress all the kingdoms of the Western Regions as well as the attacks from Ü-Tsang and the Western Turks, carving out for itself a legend of its own in the Western Regions. But this would have been impossible without complete unity and trust, a brotherly relationship between the soldiers. One could easily imagine what Xi Yuanqing had felt when he had seen hundreds of his brothers tossed into the air by the Beast of Arabia and blown into pieces.

  “It’s just a foreign barbarian. There’s no need for General Xi to view him with such high regard ,” Wang Chong said dismissively. “Get ready to set forth and kill him! Wang Chong and the other generals will await the news of your victory!”

  “Kiiill!”

  A murderous roar came from amidst the thundering hooves of the Arab army. While Wang Chong had been treating Xi Yuanqing, Khaled and his Iron Beast Army had taken the lead and charged ahead of the rest. They were only around seventy zhang away, and everyone could clearly see the ferocious and muscular bodies of the Iron Beast Army. Each of them was like a savage Vajra Guardian, eyes bulging with fury.

  Their bodies and even their horses were covered in armor three inches thick, making them seem like savage mechanical beasts. Even though the Bakr Cataphracts led by Amur had been famed for their thick armor, they were like the moon compared to the sun in the face of Khaled’s Iron Beast Army.

  There were only around ten thousand cavalry in this charge, but the storm they stirred with their advance slammed against the walls and made them ring and shake. The air in front of the first defense line even began to twist and condense.

  “Kill them!”

  At a distance of several dozen zhang, Khaled pointed forward with his hammers and let out a cruel and bloodthirsty roar, the terrifying call of a savage beast.

  Wang Chong stood next to Cheng Qianli, allowing the fierce winds to sweep past him, his face devoid of emotion. His gaze turned to Chen Bin, standing at the first defense line.

  “Ready!”

  Chen Bin was standing on one of the tall transport carriages, his expression solemn, his Wootz Steel sword aimed straight forward. Creakcreak! The fifteen hundred ballistae swiftly adjusted their aim toward the charging Iron Beast Army.

  Chapter 902 - The Iron Beast Army!

  Chapter 902: The Iron Beast Army!

  Translated by: Hypersheep325

  Edited by: Michyrr

  “Fire!”

  Boomboomboom!

  The thick ballista bolts howled through the air, a furious downpour enveloping the earth. In a flash, the stench of death grew a hundred times stronger. Ballistae! The Great Tang’s most powerful weapon and its most powerful tool for dealing with groups. In Wang Chong’s hands, these weapons were essentially the scythes of death itself.

  In the first clash with Umar on the eastern side of the battlefield, the more than seventy thousand Arab soldiers had been completely crushed by the might of the ballistae.

  A volley from fifteen hundred ballistae could bury ten thousand Arab cavalry. This was their terrifying might!

  Rooar! A savage shout came from the distant Khaled, a ferocity in his eyes. Boom! A pitch-black halo suddenly exploded from Khaled’s body, rapidly expanding. When it hit the ground, it instantly transformed into two black-red war halos.

  The moment these two halos appeared, an invisible energy began to spread over the tens of thousands of soldiers in the Iron Beast Army. In the blink of an eye, they all instantly swelled in strength as a metallic luster enveloped them. Not only that, miniature black-red war halos appeared under their feet, boosting their strength.

  The Iron Beast Halo!

  The Dark Blood Shield!

  Khaled had immediately used the two powerful halos upon which he had made his reputation. Unlike other Arab generals, Khaled posses
sed two extremely high-class war halos. The first could greatly boost the strength and toughness of all metal pieces on his soldiers, including their armor, making them like iron beasts. This halo also served as the origin of the name of the army that Khaled commanded.

  As for the second, the Dark Blood Shield, it allowed the Arab warriors under Khaled’s command to meld their energy with their horses, transforming the blood energy within them into a shield that would fuse with their armor and further strengthen its defensive capabilities.

  These two powerful halos allowed Khaled’s Iron Beast Army to sweep unstoppably through the battlefield.

  Boom! Boom! Boom!

  The long ballista bolts exploded forward, each one accurately aimed at a soldier of the Iron Beast Army. But then, a shocking scene occurred. Extremely sturdy blood-red shields floated up from the Iron Beast Army. The ballista bolts pierced through these shields, continuing onward to strike the Iron Beast Army.

  But after piercing through only one soldier, these ballista bolts that could normally pierce through seven or eight, drawing a line of carnage through enemy forces, had their speed and power greatly reduced. It was like they had not shot through a body of flesh and blood, but human-shaped steel.

  Boomboomboom! Once the first round of ballista bolts had been fired, the Iron Beast Army was not in the expected disarray. Of the tens of thousands of soldiers, only around one thousand had been felled, and some of them had even managed to avoid a fatal blow and survive the volley.

  “How could this be?”

  Chen Bin’s expression contorted at this sight. Turning his head, he saw that all the ballista teams were in a similar state of shock.

  The entire world knew of the power of the Great Tang ballistae. These were the harvesting tools used by the gods of death. In their first encounter with the Arabs, the three thousand ballistae had cut down tens of thousands of Arab cavalry. However, in that salvo just now, each ballista bolt had only been able to shoot through three people at most before their energy was spent. Such a situation had never occurred before.

  For a moment, all the ballista team members were quiet, so shocked that they were powerless to speak.

  “…I forgot to tell you, Khaled’s Iron Beast Army has an extremely terrifying defense. While defending the city, our ballistae also fired on them, but the effects were extremely limited. A good portion of the Arab soldiers scaling the walls were Khaled’s Iron Beast soldiers. Lord Protector-General consumed a great deal of Stellar Energy while battling with them at the gate, allowing Abu Muslim to heavily injure him.”

  Cheng Qianli walked out from the rear, his hair blowing in the fierce wind.

  This was a force dispatched by Abu Muslim, and each soldier had astonishing strength and presented a formidable foe to the Anxi Protectorate army. This battle was far more difficult than could be imagined.

  “Vice Protector-General, there is no need for such concern. These are just brutes, not worth fearing. And don’t we still have General Xi?”

  Wang Chong waved his hand, his expression calm and relaxed.

  This Beast of Arabia was truly formidable. Wang Chong had never seen the power of ballistae being so severely reduced from the influence of just two halos. But even the strongest beast was still a beast, and Wang Chong had many methods to deal with him. However, the Qixi Protectorate army was much stronger now, so battles at this level did not require his personal intervention.

  “Ready!”

  At this moment, Chen Bin’s eyes flashed, and he immediately issued his second order.

  “All soldiers, hear my order! Adjust the angle! Target the horse legs! At the joints! Fire!”

  Chen Bin quickly decided to alter his target. Instead of targeting the Iron Beast Army directly, he chose to target the legs of their horses.

  Boom! Boom! Boom!

  The three rows of ballistae began to engage in volley fire, five hundred ballistae to a volley, filling the sky with a constant rain of ballista bolts. These ballista bolts were fired at a much lower target, and the earth began to shake and boom as this wave of ballista bolts swiftly proved effective. Neeeigh! Horses cried out as their legs were snapped, and many soldiers of the Iron Beast Army were thrown to the ground in clouds of dust.

  Khaled’s Iron Beast Halo and Dark Blood Shield could defend against the volley fire of the ballistae, but they could not defend the weak leg joints of the horses. To the dreadful power of the ballistae, these joints were so weak that they might as well have been made of paper. Bangbangbang! The thousands of ballista bolts filled the sky, each ballista bolt punching through twenty to thirty horse legs.

  The vigorous charge of the Iron Beast Army instantly fell into chaos, warhorse crashing into warhorse, soldier colliding with soldiers, and the air was soon filled with the cries of horses and furious shouts. Moreover, once Khaled’s Iron Beast Army fell into chaos, the Arab cavalry charging up from the rear also had their advance impeded. Some of the cavalry, unable to stop in time, even found themselves smashing headlong into the soldiers of the Iron Beast Army.

  Thuds and bangs rang out of the churning dust as the entire battlefield fell into disarray.

  While Chen Bin’s ballista army had not been able to kill any soldiers of the Iron Beast Army in this wave, the small alteration had achieved a goal that multiple volleys could not achieve. In addition, the Iron Beast Army had essentially been crippled by this assault.

  “How could this sort of thing happen!”

  This unexpected development turned Khaled’s pride to fury. A savage expression formed on his face as he stared at his soldiers on the ground. In the first volley, he had only suffered around a thousand losses, but the second round of exactly the same ballista bolts had wiped out his army, killing all his warhorses.

  An Iron Beast Army without warhorses had its strength cut in half. They were nothing more than unusually formidable infantry, nothing like the unstoppable and invincible army they once were.

  “Fire!”

  Chen Bin’s voice rang out, his expression cold as he once more gave an order. The target this time was no longer the warhorses, but the thousands upon thousands of now-unhorsed Iron Beast soldiers.

  “Damn it! I’ll tear you to pieces!” Khaled bellowed, his body bursting with savagery as he urged his horse forward. Together with his black-red halos, he shot like a meteor toward the Tang defense line.

  ……

  While Khaled was thunderously charging to the defense line, Wang Chong had already turned his horse around and begun to ride toward the second defense line. No matter how ferocious Khaled was, he was just one man. In Wang Chong’s view, when those tens of thousands of soldiers of the Iron Beast Army were brought to the ground, his aim had been achieved.

  Now, no matter how formidable the Arabs were, they would need a significant amount of time to break through the firm Tang defenses.

  Now it’s time for the Turks and Tibetans.

  With this thought, Wang Chong turned his eyes to the east. Awoooo! The mournful howls of wolves reached his ear as the situation on the eastern battlefield underwent an astonishing change. As the sun continued rise from the east, thousands upon thousands of gray wolves surged out from behind the Tibetan and Turkic cavalry.

  These massive wolves had their teeth bared and were traveling with incredible speed. In a few moments, they had roared past the cavalry in a furious wave. Wang Chong could see wolves wherever he looked.

  Turkic wolves!

  Wang Chong’s mind whirred as he swept his eyes past the plain and toward the hills on the other side. Beneath that massive banner of the golden wolf, Wang Chong saw that dazzling and sharp-eyed figure. Only the Celestial Wolf Great General Duwu Sili of the Western Turkic Khaganate was capable of bringing so many wolves with him.

  Caw!

  Before one wave had even settled, another wave rose. Right behind this massive wolf pack, strange cries like those of bawling infants came down from the skies. Wang Chong raised his head and saw a massive dark cloud of
Tibetan vultures, a veritable army flying toward the second defense line.

  And their goal… was surprisingly the ballista teams on the ground!

  Chapter 903 - The Terrifying Dalun Ruozan!

  Chapter 903: The Terrifying Dalun Ruozan!

  Translated by: Hypersheep325

  Edited by: Michyrr

  Dalun Ruozan!

  Wang Chong didn’t even need to think to know that Dalun Ruozan had given the order. There were two commanders on the eastern battlefield. One of them used wolves while the other used vultures. They had separately decided to launch their probing attacks using different methods. Wolves and vultures were creatures of the steppe and the plateau, and Duwu Sili and Dalun Ruozan could get as many of them as they wanted. Not even the severest of losses would make them suffer the slightest heartache.

  But they also served as excellent ways to test Wang Chong’s defenses on the eastern battlefield.

  “Since this is the case, I’ll fulfill your desires!”

  Wang Chong gazed at those two figures on the hill with bright eyes and a gentle smile on his lips. Duwu Sili and Dalun Ruozan were dreaming if they thought that a vast army of wolves and vultures could break his defense line, and even if they were just probing, they had little chance of finding out anything useful.

  Twenty zhang!

  Ten zhang!

  “Release!”

  A cold voice rose from the eastern defense line. In the next moment, the air began to buzz as if crowded with thousands upon thousands of bees. Just as those wolves and vultures were about to arrive, the dense collections of holes atop the steel walls suddenly gleamed with cold light, and tens of thousands of arrows burst out from them.

  Awoooo!

  An arrow immediately punched a bloody hole through the forehead of the foremost wolf, and seven more arrows immediately nailed the corpse to the ground. This was a mere prelude to the symphony of death about to begin, as tens of thousands of arrows were still in the air, buzzing down from the skies. Soon, the area for eighty zhang in front of the second defense line was a sea of wolf corpses nailed to the ground.