The Human Emperor c1-2382

by Huangfu Qi (皇甫奇)

  Abu Muslim had this Eye of the Demon God gauntlet because it had been gifted to him on one of his audiences with the Caliph. There were two of these gauntlets. One had been gifted to Abu Muslim while the other had been gifted to the Arabian Empire’s most revered First Prince.

  The laws and power contained in the Eye of the Demon God were beyond the grasp of this generation. The Caliph had gathered all the craftsmen and experts of the empire to research its secrets, but in the end, they had nothing to show for it. However, there was one thing that was certain. This Eye of the Demon God gauntlet supplemented Abu Muslim’s Seventy-Two Demon God Pillars Art and could bolster his strength.

  There was even a rumor that this Eye of the Demon God had been left behind by one of those seventy-two demon gods from ancient times.

  Although Abu Muslim had possessed this Eye of the Demon God for a very long time, he very rarely used it, not even when facing extremely powerful opponents. As the dauntless Governor of Iron and Blood, Abu Muslim would only wear this gauntlet when facing those enemies worthy of his respect, and he would use this method of ending their lives to express his respect.

  Abu Muslim was no stranger to the look in Gao Xianzhi’s eyes. Those were the eyes of someone who had already resolved to end their lives here. There was no doubt that Gao Xianzhi had already accepted his death and had decided to use this method to buy more time for his army to retreat.

  But even though Abu Muslim’s heart was full of respect, he could not allow Gao Xianzhi to succeed.

  “Gao Xianzhi, out of respect, I will use this gauntlet to personally end your life!” Abu Muslim gravely said as he raised his gauntleted hand. Suddenly, he lunged toward Gao Xianzhi, and a powerful force began to surge out of the gauntlet, pouring into Abu Muslim’s body. In that moment, the already formidable Governor of the East rose to an even more terrifying level.

  Bang!

  A pitch-black fist of energy flew toward Gao Xianzhi at unimaginable speeds, instantly pulverizing Gao Xianzhi’s Sword Qi. Plush! Gao Xianzhi vomited blood and his armor crumbled as he was blown backward.

  “Lord Gao!”

  Wang Chong, who was in the midst of a mental battle with Masil, noticed what had happened and instantly paled. Awooooo!The Burning One roared and breathed fire, though not at the ape, but at Abu Muslim.

  In his battle with Masil, Wang Chong had already taken control over sixty percent of the Burning One, including the Burning One’s ability to breathe fire.

  “Lord Governor, save me!”

  At almost the same time, Masil gave a wail of despair. Under the fierce attacks of Wang Chong, his Psychic Energy was now less than a third of what it had been, and Wang Chong was continuing to weaken it. He could already smell the scent of death.

  Boom! Abu Muslim turned his head and blew apart the Burning One’s flame with a single punch. Abu Muslim was also extremely frantic. The situation was slowly slipping from his control. The Behemoths that he had requested from the Caliph were slowly getting out of control and stomping his own troops.

  From the sky, he could see that each step of both the Consecrated and the Burning One was landing in the Arab army, and screams were ringing through the air. Countless Arab cavalry were dying, crushed so thoroughly that no corpse was left behind. In just a few short moments, the Arab losses had reached nearly five thousand, and the number was continuing to climb.

  But what worried Abu Muslim most of all was Masil. He was the commander of the Behemoth Army and a rare Psychic Energy expert, as well as the Caliph’s most favored minister. He was of extremely high rank and importance in the empire.

  The Behemoth Army had only come to Talas because of Abu Muslim, and if something were to happen to Masil, the Caliph’s ire would be provoked. As the highest commander in the east, Abu Muslim would not be able to escape the responsibility!

  Bang!

  The more worried Abu Muslim became, the fiercer his assaults on Gao Xianzhi. Hwoooom! The sky darkened, and fierce winds began to gather around his body, apparently summoned forth by the strange power in Abu Muslim’s body.

  Behind Abu Muslim, an enormous demon god with pronged horns, bull hooves, and a grotesque face manifested, its appearance extremely vivid.

  A golden-red pillar also appeared behind the violet-black-scaled demon god, exuding a mysterious aura as the characters of an ancient language flickered in and out of existence behind it, each of them imbued with the power of destruction.

  Boom! As a fist punched, space itself seemed to cave in.

  “Milord!”

  Cheng Qianli lunged over, but another punch sent him flying as well. The Seventy-Two Demon God Pillars Art contained the power of an ancient civilization, and even Cheng Qianli was no match for it. As he smashed into the ground like a cannonball, his chest caved in and he vomited blood.

  Sorrowful and furious shouts could be heard on the battlefield, and all of the Tang soldiers went deathly pale at this sight.

  “Bastard!”

  Wang Chong’s eyes went red. Gao Xianzhi and Cheng Qianli were the two highest Tang commanders of the Western Regions, as well as people that Wang Chong respected. These people had fought for the people and the country, were true heroes who had spent half their lives fighting on the frontier. They could not be allowed to die here.

  “Abu Muslim, you’re seeking death!”

  A furious roar shook the heavens, and the earth began to shake. The giant ape suddenly extricated itself from its fight with the Burning One and began to charge at Abu Muslim, its mouthful of white teeth fully bared.

  The giant ape was as fast as lightning, and an enormous steely fist was soon blocking out the sun as it shot toward Abu Muslim.

  The agility and flexibility the giant ape displayed was far above Masil’s abilities. It was like the abilities of a martial artist had been fused into the giant ape’s body, allowing it to display both incredible strength and astonishing technique. This was the giant ape in a perfected state.

  The giant ape’s punch caused the air to explode as it shot forward with unimaginable power.

  Abu Muslim had just been ready to go after Cheng Qianli and Gao Xianzhi to finish them off when he sensed the fierce winds and terrifying strength coming up behind him. His face flickered in surprise, but then it turned cold. He turned around and immediately threw a punch of his own.

  Chapter 985 - Asmodai's Fury

  Chapter 985: Asmodai’s Fury

  Translated by: Hypersheep325

  Edited by: Michyrr

  “Asmodai’s Fury!”

  Abu Muslim finally used the most fundamental power of the Seventy-Two Demon God Pillars Art, his true secret. ‘Asmodai1’ was one of the Seventy-Two Demon God Pillars, ranked thirty-second. Although this was not the highest rank, it was still amongst the upper half.

  Just from its rank alone, one could tell that Abu Muslim had obtained the strength of an extremely powerful demon god.

  Roooar!

  In a flash of light, the scaled demon god behind Abu Muslim suddenly transformed. Its body grew larger, and its one head became three: a bull, a man, and a ram. The three heads all had savage and evil expressions, and their six eyes were all cold and emotionless, golden with vertical slits for pupils.

  Bang!

  The intimidating Asmodai suddenly gave a punch of its own, gathering up the endless dark energy around it. As the black fist of energy shot forward, it transformed into a dragon of the underworld more than thirty zhang long. This dragon was covered in black scales, and its mouth glimmered with many fine and sharp teeth. Most terrifying of all was that its body was writhing with tens of thousands of arcs of lightning, each one brimming with destructive power.

  As the black dragon shot forward, a thunderstorm appeared. This attack’s momentum was enough to outshine even many Great Generals. Boom! The hell dragon crashed into the right arm of the giant ape, and what happened next left everyone stunned. Abu Muslim’s body remained unmoved, but the huge body of the ape wavered, tottering backward an
d almost falling over.

  “How could this be!”

  “How could Abu Muslim be this powerful! Even the giant ape is no match for him!”

  On the hill, Huoshu Huicang and Dusong Mangpoje were both stunned by this sight. This single punch was enough to place Abu Muslim at the apex of all Imperial Great Generals. Even Huoshu Huicang and Dusong Mangpoje had to admit their loss.

  “Impossible! Could this bastard be stronger than me!”

  Celestial Wolf Great General Duwu Sili stood in the sky, staring at the godlike figure of Abu Muslim in the distance, disbelief in his voice. As one of the strongest Great Generals of the Western Turkic Khaganate, Duwu Sili had always been proud. Even veteran Great Generals like Huoshu Huicang and Dusong Mangpoje drew little regard from Duwu Sili. If there was anyone worth a glance from him on this battlefield, it would probably be the invincible and unstoppable Anxi Protector-General, Gao Xianzhi.

  But that punch from Abu Muslim… Even the giant ape had been pushed back. Not even Duwu Sili could express such tremendous strength!

  But even so, Duwu Sili’s pride would not allow him to admit this.

  Hmph, if we weren’t allies, I would come and find you for a match! Duwu Sili silently snarled.

  Roooar! He suddenly heard a roar, and a steely fist reflecting a metallic luster, larger than Duwu Sili’s horse, flew toward him. The strength behind this punch was enough to shatter steel and sunder mountains.

  “Damn it!”

  Duwu Sili grimaced as he activated the Celestial Wolf’s Divine Procession to fly through the air, jabbing out with his halberd. Bang! An enormous power forced the Skyquaking Giant back, leaving it gasping for breath.

  “Truly a bunch of beasts. Didn’t I tell you before? I’m not here to attack you. We’re allies! Allies!”

  “Kill him!”

  Duwu Sili had barely spoken when he was interrupted by a furious roar. In the blink of an eye, another Skyquaking Giant had rushed forward, another steely fist headed toward Duwu Sili. Behind this giant was a second, a third… Innumerable Skyquaking Giants were lunging toward Duwu Sili from every direction.

  “He injured Mughal! Kill him!”

  The roaring Skyquaking Giants were coming in a ceaseless flood, even ignoring the surrounding Tang soldiers. Duwu Sili and his horse were striding through the sky, exuding energy like the sun itself, taking up all the attention of the giants.

  In the eyes of the Skyquaking Giants, Duwu Sili was the number one target. The stronger he was, the greater their hostility.

  “A lot of bastards!”

  Duwu Sili felt like exploding from rage. He had come striding through the sky to deal with Wang Chong, hoping to work with the Arabs to finally end him. He could have never imagined that one Skyquaking Giant would plummet down next to him and immediately start attacking him.

  Duwu Sili had sent him flying with a single blow, little knowing that he had shaken a beehive, causing him to be surrounded by Skyquaking Giants. Duwu Sili had used the Celestial Wolf’s Divine Procession to its limit to avoid them, but no matter where he ran, the Skyquaking Giants would charge after him.

  This was why Duwu Sili had not been able to clash with Wang Chong, even though he had already arrived on the battlefield.

  Moreover, someone of Duwu Sili’s abilities could easily kill a Skyquaking Giant of any level. But since the Turks, Tibetans, and Arabs were all in the same alliance, Duwu Sili could not kill them. This meant that the more giants Duwu Sili knocked away, the more he provoked their hostility.

  Duwu Sili was currently caught up in a very difficult situation.

  ……

  In the distance, Abu Muslim’s fist powered by the Seventy-Two Demon God Pillars Art had stunned the battlefield, but just when everyone was digesting Abu Muslim’s power, a massive iron cudgel ten-some meters long howled through the air and hammered at Abu Muslim’s body.

  This attack was so abrupt that even someone of Abu Muslim’s strength was sent flying like a cannonball, the Stellar Energy around him shattered.

  Buzz!

  The battlefield fell silent, the Arab cavalry so shocked that their eyes were nearly coming out of their sockets. Even Ziyad was left stunned. The Consecrated had been extremely furtive with this cudgel. Everyone had been watching it reeling backward from Abu Muslim’s punch, but no one had noticed its cudgel, or even when it had managed to get ahold of it.

  “Who cares about Abu Muslim! He’s still no match for me!”

  Wang Chong controlled the giant ape into steadying its body, and as its scarlet eyes watched Abu Muslim, they shone with a cold and steely light. No matter how powerful Abu Muslim was or what ancient artifacts he had, he was still no match for a Behemoth.

  In Wang Chong’s hands, the giant ape was no longer a simple beast. Wang Chong was confident that with the Consecrated, he could defeat any opponent on the battlefield.

  “Ah!”

  “Lord Marquis, save me!”

  Screams suddenly came from the distance, accompanied by the roars of Behemoths. Wang Chong turned and saw that the two remaining Behemoth were charging at the retreating Tang army.

  “Kill!”

  “With the Reaper helping us, these Tang are doomed! Kill them!”

  “General has issued a decree that anyone who kills more than one hundred Tang will be granted a rank of nobility and ten thousand golden coins!”

  Men shouted and horses neighed as thousands of Arab cavalry followed the Behemoths, their eyes red and their armor drenched in blood, the majority of which was not theirs. They had been restrained by the Tang for far too long. First, it had been Gao Xianzhi and his seventy thousand soldiers, who had held on for two months and killed countless soldiers. And now it was Wang Chong and his Qixi Protectorate army, which had managed to kill Umar and Nurman, famous generals who had conquered many countries.

  Moreover, the two steel defense lines that the Tang had built up in front of Talas had rendered the famous Arab cavalry ineffective. Every Arab soldier felt suffocated and oppressed, but now, it was finally over. They could finally vent their spleens and slaughter these Tang who did not believe in God.

  “Aaaah!” Tang soldier after soldier screamed as they collapsed into pools of blood, the Arabian scimitars stabbing through their chests. The sight of the corpses splayed out on the ground filled the hearts of the Arabs with inexplicable joy.

  “This is the battle we desire! Starting from now, all of the east will fly the flag of the Arabs!”

  An Arab officer savagely stomped on the body of a Tang soldier and beheaded him with a single sweep of his scimitar. The fountain of blood gushing from the neck caused excitement and cruelty to shine in the Arab officer’s eyes.

  But this Arab officer intoxicated in slaughter had no idea that his execution of this Tang soldier had thoroughly enraged the distant Wang Chong.

  “Damn it! All of you are seeking death!”

  Wang Chong clenched his fists, his heart raging with fire. Masil had used the moment he was fighting with Abu Muslim to make trouble in the rear, silently taking control over the Reaper and the other Behemoth to attack the Tang soldiers, and the Arab soldiers had availed themselves of this opportunity. Both Masil and these Arabs had invoked a killing intent that soared to the heavens from Wang Chong.

  So intense was this killing intent that the air for ten zhang around Wang Chong began to twist and distort.

  ______________1. As you might have already noticed, the ‘Seventy-Two Demon God Pillars’ are the seventy-two demons of the Ars Goetia, a grimoire listing seventy-two demons which King Solomon allegedly bound to his will and used to construct the Temple of Jerusalem. Asmodai is a King of Hell and is said to have three heads: a bull, a man, and a ram. He has the tail of a serpent, rides a dragon, and commands seventy-two legions.↩

  Chapter 986 - Reversing the Tides of Battle!

  Chapter 986: Reversing the Tides of Battle!

  Translated by: Hypersheep325

  Edited by: Michyrr

&nbs
p; Buzz!

  Masil was in the middle of controlling the two Behemoths to attack the Tang when he suddenly felt an intense killing intent, and his entire body shivered. He had been fighting constantly with Wang Chong for all this time, but for some reason, he now felt a deep fear toward Wang Chong.

  But before Masil could understand, two enormous streams of Psychic Energy rushed toward the two Behemoths, blowing Masil’s Psychic Energy to bits before he even had time to react.

  “Masil, I won’t let you get away!”

  Wang Chong spoke each word with a heart-freezing chill. Bzzz!Taking control of the two Behemoths, Wang Chong then made one final attack against the remnants of Masil’s mind in the Burning One’s body. His mind transformed into a mighty flood that surged toward Masil.

  “No!”

  Masil hollered in fear. Wang Chong’s rage had made his Psychic Energy stronger than it had ever been before. Savage and unstoppable, it forced Masil into a complete rout. His face paled as he realized the great disaster he was facing.

  At this moment, it was not just Masil facing disaster, but the tens of thousands of Arab soldiers on the ground as well, still chasing down the Tang soldiers. Their killing intent had been provoked, and they were all so excited that they did not notice anything going on above them. They had no idea that Wang Chong and Masil, these two powerful Psychic Energy experts, had already finished their battle.

  They had also failed to notice that the two Behemoths which had been leading the vanguard, stomping down on the Tang army, had suddenly stopped.

  “Killkillkill! Leave not one alive!”

  The Arab officer leading the soldiers waved his scimitar in the air as he urged on his men. By now, he had killed more than thirty Tang soldiers, including quite a few Tang officers. The fighting and killing had so stimulated him that he could no longer stop himself.

  “Ah!”

  Suddenly, he heard a panicked scream from his side, as well as sounds of turmoil.