By the time Gao Xianzhi had finished reviewing all his documents, it was extremely late.
Placing his brush on the rack, Gao Xianzhi rubbed his eyes, a hint of fatigue within them. Winds would herald a storm. Although Talas was peaceful now, everyone could sense an enormous pressure. The sixty thousand soldiers of the Tang army were seizing every moment, doing all they could to strengthen themselves for the vicious battle ahead.
There was a knock on the door, and a guard of the Anxi Protectorate walked in with a cup of tea.
“Milord has worked hard. Drink some tea and rest.”
“Put it down.” Gao Xianzhi lightly rapped on his desk.
After the guard left, Gao Xianzhi took up the tea cup and was just about to take a sip when his gaze flitted past two thin sheets of paper, which made him remember something.
“It’s that technique Wang Chong recommended to me.”
At Gao Xianzhi’s level of cultivation, it was extremely difficult to make any progress. Almost on instinct, Gao Xianzhi had not believed that this thing could be of any help to him. But in the end, Gao Xianzhi could not bear to deny Wang Chong’s good intentions.
“I should still take a look.”
Gao Xianzhi shook his head and smiled. He casually took up those two sheets of paper and gave them a glance, but this single glance was like a sharp jab, causing his entire body to tremble and all his fatigue to vanish.
“How could there be something like this?”
Gao Xianzhi stared at a line of words on one of the papers.
‘When heart and mind are one, Sword Qi melts into the void.’
This short sentence was exactly the same as one of the mantras in Gao Xianzhi’s Six Ultimate Majesties God Technique. Gao Xianzhi sat straight up on his chair and continued to read, his expression growing more diligent and solemn the more he read. After reading the last word, Gao Xianzhi gave a long sigh of wonder and slowly raised his head, but he remained speechless for some time.
The hall was quiet, but Gao Xianzhi’s mind at this moment was raging with torrential waves.
The technique that Wang Chong had given him was actually quite similar to the technique Gao Xianzhi cultivated, but its power… was much stronger than Gao Xianzhi’s technique. It was almost like it was an upgraded version! Gao Xianzhi had never encountered a situation like this before.
The two were different in various ways, but deep down, they inevitably shared the same root!
“I already did thorough research on this line of techniques, and I was sure that there were no offshoots. Could it be that I was wrong? The Six Ultimate Majesties God Technique that I cultivate is actually only a derivative of some ancient technique, and there’s an even stronger technique above it?”
Gao Xianzhi held the two sheets of paper as he muttered to himself.
The room was quiet, but enormous streams of energy surged around Gao Xianzhi. Lowering his head, Gao Xianzhi read the two sheets of paper several more times, eventually memorizing all their contents. After some time…
Bang!
An invisible force seemed to pull the two large doors of the reception hall open, and all the tables and chairs in the room were pushed out. Gao Xianzhi sat on the ground, a vast energy rising from his body. And the Stellar Energy within his body was slowly beginning to flow in a direction it had never gone before.
……
“Congratulations to user! For obtaining the Great General’s Heart (Gratitude) and obtaining Gao Xianzhi’s good opinion, you have subtly altered the course of this battle and have been rewarded 100 points of Destiny Energy!”
At this very moment, on the northern training ground of Talas, Wang Chong received a message from the Stone of Destiny. The voice caused Wang Chong to suddenly turn his head, whereupon he noticed a pure energy rising into the air from the direction of the reception hall of the Lord of Talas. At this sight, a faint smile appeared on his face.
Everything was on the right track!
In that apocalyptic age, many supreme experts had worked together to take Gao Xianzhi’s Six Ultimate Majesties God Technique and create one of the supreme Great General techniques, the Eight Ultimate Sunderings Art. Now, more than twenty years before it had actually been completed, it had returned to Gao Xianzhi’s hands. This subtle shift in history had been facilitated solely by Wang Chong. Yet another step had been taken off the original path.
The Eight Ultimate Sunderings Art had very strict cultivation requirements. One needed to have reached the Great General level, and one needed to cultivate it undisturbed and without pause for an entire month. This was the reason Wang Chong had not given Gao Xianzhi the Eight Ultimate Sunderings Art at the very beginning.
Wang Chong turned his head to a nearby Qixi messenger.
“Inform Cheng Qianli to dispatch men to ensure that no one gets within one hundred zhang of the Lord of Talas’s residence.”
“Yes, Milord!”
……
Time slowly passed. While Talas was a hive of activity where everyone was preparing for battle, more than sixty li away, the Western Turkic camp was fraught with tension.
Rumble!
Thunder rumbled and dark clouds seethed above the Turkic camp, with even more clouds being gathered in from the surroundings. Where the thunderclouds were most unsettled, a blue stream of energy soared into the sky, a dazzling landmark between the heavens and the earth.
Beneath this blue pillar of energy, floating in the air, was a muscular and tyrannical figure. He was equipped in a full suit of armor, and a black cape on his back snapped in the wind. His entire body exuded a despotic and scornful aura.
Shamask, Chekun Benba, and the other Turkic generals tightly guarded the area around Duwu Sili, and farther away, the thousands upon thousands of Turkic cavalry were a tide of steel that flowed around Duwu Sili, apparently adhering to some sort of law or rule. They roared as they galloped, their eyes shining with a fervent light.
Chapter 1032 - The Black Corrosion of the Sun! (I)
Chapter 1032: The Black Corrosion of the Sun! (I)
Translated by: Hypersheep325
Edited by: Michyrr
“Great General!”
“Great General!”
“Great General!”
Stentorian cries shook the heavens. At this moment, Duwu Sili was like a god in the eyes of his soldiers. As they cultivated the formation phenomena, all of them had sensed Duwu Sili getting stronger and stronger. With every day that passed, the pressure exuded by his body grew more intense.
Kacrack!
Suddenly, the thundercloud in the center of the formation phenomena unleashed a hot white bolt of lightning that landed right upon Duwu Sili. Electricity hissed and crackled as it surged around his body, but Duwu Sili somehow managed to absorb all this lightning.
One lightning bolt after another cleaved down, and through the power of these lightning bolts, Duwu Sili’s strength continued to swell.
After some time, the formation phenomena in the sky began to weaken and Duwu Sili began to slowly open his eyes. His pitch-black Turkic steed slowly brought Duwu Sili down from the skies.
“Hahaha, formation phenomena truly are formidable. In just this little time, my strength has risen once again!”
Duwu Sili slowly raised his head, his eyes sparkling with bright light.
Duwu Sili had reached the Great General level a long time ago, and he had not needed much time to advance from the initial tier of Great Generals to the peak tier. Advancing any further was much more difficult. Duwu Sili had never imagined that his strength could rise even further at a time like this. The thought was simply unthinkable.
Seeing that Duwu Sili had descended, Shamask and Chekun Benba hurriedly went up to welcome him.
“Congratulations, Great General. If you advance another level, then in the future, not even Abu Muslim will be a match for Great General!”
“With the formation phenomena cultivated, the Khagan will definitely greatly reward Milord. Even Great General Wunu Shibi wi
ll have to lower his head to Great General!”
Wunu Shibi was the War God of the Western Turks, similar in status to Great General We Tadra Khonglo of Ü-Tsang and Wang Zhongsi of the Great Tang. Amongst the Western Turks, he was also known as the Solar Great General, and he was one of the few existences who exceeded Duwu Sili. Moreover, Duwu Sili had come into conflict with him in the past over military authority.
“Hmph, there’s no need for you two to congratulate me. Even with my current level of strength, defeating Wunu Shibi is still no easy task. However, if he hadn’t obtained the Sun God Art and its mantra, Wunu Shibi would have never been able to surpass me,” Duwu Sili coldly said.
Although he was filled with hostility toward Wunu Shibi, Duwu Sili was forced to admit that Wunu Shibi was the strongest general of the Western Turks.
The eyes of Shamask and Chekun Benba glimmered for a moment, but they said no more about this.
“Great General, we’re already capable of producing some basic phenomena and Milord is even stronger than before. When will we exterminate the Great Tang?” Shamask suddenly said.
“No rush!” Duwu Sili waved his hand leisurely. “I’ve only just begun to cultivate. In order to display our strength, I must first finish cultivating and stabilize my strength. Before that, without my order, I forbid you from exchanging blows with the Tang on your own.”
“Yes!”
Toward this serious matter, Shamask and Chekun Benba did not dare to shirk their duties, and they immediately bowed and assented.
“Shamask, what is the current range of our patrols?” Duwu Sili harshly said.
Shamask bowed and respectfully said, “Twenty li! We’ve dispatched twenty groups of cavalry to patrol day and night, and we also have golden eagles watching the skies. If the Tang even try to approach, our men will know immediately.”
“Enlarge the range to sixty li! I want the area between here and Talas to be patrolled night and day,” Duwu Sili harshly ordered. “We can’t give the Tang a single chance or weakness to exploit. In addition, double the number of men on patrol. For nighttime patrols, double the number again. The Tang are fond of night raids, and before we’ve finished cultivating the formation phenomena, I don’t want to see a single Tang appear before me.”
“Yes, Milord!”
Everyone lowered their heads.
Only once everything was settled did Duwu Sili finally appear a little relieved.
“In addition, send Dalun Ruozan a letter asking for his opinion. No one around Talas has a greater understanding of the Tang than he does.”
“This subordinate will deliver this order!”
……
While Duwu Sili was awaiting Dalun Ruozan’s reply, he had little idea that the Tibetan camp was already fuming with rage.
“Bastard! This Duwu Sili is too despicable! Using such a lowly method against us!”
In the Tibetan camp, Huoba Sangye slammed his fist on a table, barely restraining his anger.
After observing the Western Turks for seven whole days, he had finally managed to get the three letters recording formation phenomena from Dalun Ruozan. But Huoba Sangye would have never imagined that the crucial passages of these letters were missing several words. These omissions were enough to make those three precious letters into scrap paper.
“Unacceptable! I’m going to see him! No matter what, I’ll have him hand over the true formation phenomena!”
Huoba Sangye snatched the letters off the table and stood up to go and find Duwu Sili, but in the next moment, a fair and vigorous palm reached out and blocked his path.
“Wait a moment.”
Huoshu Huicang gave a slight shake of his head and shot a glance at Huoba Sangye. Huoba Sangye paused for a moment and turned to the motionless figure of Dalun Ruozan, whose brow was deeply creased and expression deeply contemplative.
The tent was quiet as everyone stared at Dalun Ruozan, but Dalun Ruozan seemed to be so lost in thought that he did not notice.
The taciturn Dusong Mangpoje suddenly spoke. “In truth, even if we go to Duwu Sili, we won’t be able to get much from him. He truly did hand us the papers regarding the formation phenomena. All four of us witnessed this. Even if we claimed that he messed with the papers somehow, we don’t have any firm evidence, and Duwu Sili would never admit to it.”
Duwu Sili’s actions had also made him very unhappy, but the four had also made a mistake. They could not completely blame Duwu Sili.
At these words, Huoba Sangye froze, momentarily lost for words.
“But Duwu Sili clearly managed to deceive us. Are we just going to let it go?” Huoba Sangye protested.
As the commander of the Mutri Great Cavalry, Huoba Sangye had never suffered such a loss before. Moreover, Duwu Sili had managed to pull off this trick even when all four of them were present.
“This is not what I’m worried about…”
A voice suddenly rang through the tent. As Dalun Ruozan spoke, he slowly raised his head.
“I’ve always felt that this matter can’t be that simple. Duwu Sili obtained the formation phenomena far too easily and smoothly. Even Duwu Sili’s own strength has begun to rise. This has only increased my unease. A matter that proceeds too smoothly is not necessarily a good thing. Moreover, Wang Chong is not the kind of person who would easily give something that could harm him to another person.”
“If that version of formation phenomena was fake, wouldn’t it be even more absurd that it could increase Duwu Sili’s strength?” Dusong Mangpoje said.
“This is the entire reason I’ve been unable to make a judgment,” Dalun Ruozan thoughtfully said. There were few things that left him indecisive, but he truly found himself completely incapable of determining whether this version of formation phenomena was real or fake.
“If this matter is truly as I imagine it to be, the Young Marquis of the Great Tang has significant ambitions. Duwu Sili might be walking into his trap!”
An imperceptible ripple flitted through the eyes of the three others in the tent. Up until now, there had been no sign that had been worth Dalun Ruozan’s suspicion. On the contrary, everything pointed to this version of formation phenomena being authentic.
But even so, until the truth was fully revealed, no one dared to doubt the intuition of a sage.
“Huoba Sangye, first cultivate the simplified version of the formation phenomena,” Dalun Ruozan said, raising his head. “Let me think about the rest. If I can’t give you an answer in a month about whether these formation phenomena are the real thing or not, I’ll go and see Duwu Sili and demand the complete version of the formation phenomena.”
“This…” After hesitating for a moment, Huoba Sangye nodded. “Very well.”
This was the best solution in their current circumstances. Moreover, Huoba Sangye would never treat Dalun Ruozan’s promises lightly. Since he had agreed to demand the true version of formation phenomena, he would definitely do so.
Neigh!
Their discussion was suddenly interrupted by the neighing of horses and sound of turmoil. It had been minor at the start, but the turmoil gradually increased, accompanied by the occasional shout or yell of soldiers.
“What’s happened? Have the Tang raided us?” Huoba Sangye confusedly asked.
The Tibetans were extremely disciplined, especially when Dalun Ruozan was present. Such an incident would normally never happen in the daily routine unless they were under attack.
“Great Minister, I will go and take a look.”
Dusong Mangpoje’s brow creased as he walked out of the tent, disappearing in the blink of an eye. Dusong Mangpoje was the Eagle of the Plateau, a Great General expert. Everyone believed that the turmoil would be quickly pacified once he intervened. But things developed in a completely unpredicted fashion.
“Great Minister, come out and take a look!”
Dusong Mangpoje’s voice came from outside the tent, extremely solemn and serious. Outside, the neighing of the warhorses had only gotten louder, n
ot quieter.
Dalun Ruozan, Huoshu Huicang, and Huoba Sangye exchanged glances, and Dalun Ruozan quickly stood up from the table.
“Let’s go!”
Opening the flap of the tent, the three quickly exited. Before them, they could see that the sentry towers were still undisturbed, but the orderly army was now a scene of mayhem. The highland steeds were crying out in panic and unease while the Tibetan soldiers at their side were pulling on the reins to hold back and comfort the warhorses. But both man and horse had their eyes focused on one direction, and they all seemed ready to flee with all their might.
Chapter 1033 - The Black Corrosion of the Sun! (II)
Chapter 1033: The Black Corrosion of the Sun! (II)
Translated by: Hypersheep325
Edited by: Michyrr
“This is…”
The scene of disorderly horses and soldiers in the rear of his army made Dalun Ruozan’s brows rise and his expression turn solemn. To the north of the Tibetan camp, a fierce wind was sweeping a white and frigid fog toward the camp. The icy air caused the temperature to plunge, and that engulfing white fog also had an enormous effect on the Tibetan army.
From Dalun Ruozan’s position, he could see that one-fifth of the camp had been consumed by this fog, so thick that it was impossible to see through it. Moreover, the fog was rapidly spreading through the entire camp.
“Ah, so cold!”
“What’s going on here! I can’t see anything! Someone come and help me!”
“The warhorses don’t like cold. I’m about to lose control over them! Ah, shit, it got away!”
The entire camp was in chaos. As the cold fog swept through, the stronger soldiers felt barely anything, but the weaker ones became so cold that they began to shiver.
“Bastards! Can you trash not even keep hold of some warhorses!”
Huoba Sangye was instantly furious. Before the others could react, he had pulled over a warhorse, mounted, and charged off to where the fog was the thickest. Several Mutri Great Cavalry followed closely behind him.
“Great Minister, it’s still not the season for snow, so why did the temperature drop so much? Is this situation normal?” Huoshu Huicang suddenly said.
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