“Although he’s a little late, it’s not by too much.”
Aybak smiled as he muttered to himself.
Neigh!
At this moment, the resounding cry of a horse tore through the sky. As this neigh still echoed in the air, the western sky suddenly turned red as if set aflame. In the middle of this flaming light, a powerful storm of energy appeared.
“Hahaha! Aybak, you also wish to take a share of the Tang at Talas?”
This thunderous voice left all of Khorasan quaking in fear. From this distance, Aybak could clearly make out that steel tower of a figure and his thick brown beard. He was riding a black steed taller than a man, galloping toward him like a demon god rising from Hell.
He was followed by a powerful and well-equipped army that seemed for all the world like an apocalyptic flood.
“Hahaha, Osman, I’m acting on an imperial decree. You wouldn’t question the decrees of the Caliph and the High Priest, right?”
Aybak laughed as a tyrannical aura exploded from his body like an erupting volcano. The surrounding ground began to quake while space began to twist. His energy was not one bit inferior to Osman’s.
In the distance, Osman’s tiger-like eyes exuded an intimidating light as he galloped forward at astonishing speed. In just a few moments, Osman and his lofty black steed had appeared outside the Lord of Khorasan’s estate like a descending god.
The rushing wind blew out Osman’s enormous black cape, causing it to snap in the wind. This only made Osman’s muscular figure seem even larger and mightier!
“Hah, Aybak, it seems like we’re going to work together again!”
Osman looked down from his horse at Aybak and chuckled.
“Correct! But this time, our goal is no longer Khorasan, but the even greater objective to the east, an even vaster world! This time, we are conquering the entire east! Osman, I welcome you!”
Aybak grinned.
Osman laughed as he trotted his horse forward and dismounted, whereupon he gave Aybak a hug.
The three conquerors who had brought upon the destruction of the ancient Khorasan Dynasty had gathered once more.
……
The horns of war were already blowing. Now that Osman and his more than one hundred thousand soldiers had joined together with the ten thousand Mamelukes, this strategic city of the east had become a military fort.
With Osman’s arrival, the enormous war machine of the Arabian Empire began to turn.
In a place no one could see, another enormous army was progressing with astonishing speed, marching night and day from Tarsus in central Arabia’s north to Khorasan. The mobilization of this army’s commander caused a stir throughout the Arabian Empire.
Even the Caliph was keeping a watch on this army’s movements.
This army flew the banner of a blazing black hell flame, and beneath this flame was the crumbling continent aflame!
This banner was known throughout the Arabian Empire, because the person it represented was the Arabian Empire’s most illustrious governor: the Governor of War, Qutaybah!
In the Arabian Empire, this name was even more famous than those of the Governor of Iron and Blood, the Governor of Cairo, and the Mameluke Commander, the three conquerors of the Khorasan Dynasty. In Arabia, this was the governor who had fought the most wars, killed the most experts, and destroyed the most empires.
If not for the fact that the Caliph had sent Abu Muslim, Osman, and Aybak to conquer Khorasan while sending Qutaybah to the north so as to maintain the balance of power, Khorasan would have been conquered by one man, not three.
The title of the ‘Three Conquerors’ would also have ceased to exist.
The Three Conquerors were now joining with Governor Qutaybah to gather the most supreme force in the history of the Arabian Empire. This was a force that could fight a war on the same level as the one it had fought against the Sassanid Dynasty, an empire-level war.
Chapter 1045 - The Great Tang's Dragon Vein!
Chapter 1045: The Great Tang’s Dragon Vein!
Translated by: Hypersheep325
Edited by: Michyrr
The tension in Khorasan was increasing by the day. All of Arabia watched that infamous governor, and their gazes slowly gathered around this city.
Ten days later!
The final flood of steel, one hundred and fifty thousand soldiers burning with the flames of war, appeared at Khorasan.
Buzz!
As that golden and dazzling figure riding upon a white horse appeared, a god viewing the world with disdain, even Aybak and Osman felt somewhat stifled and fearful.
“Let’s go!”
A cold voice came from behind that mask the golden-armored man wore. He turned his horse, and without even a moment of delay, he had passed through Khorasan and set off for the Black Forest, onward to Talas.
A mighty torrent of cavalry followed him like most obedient slaves, not daring to fall behind!
……
As the Arab army finally departed Khorasan for the front lines, countless eagles and messenger birds scattered in all directions. Within the Arabian Empire, countless nobles, governors, generals, and even the Caliph in Baghdad were paying attention to this unprecedented mobilization eastward.
Flap flap! An Arabian hunting falcon descended into the Tibetan camp like a bolt of lightning and landed on Dalun Ruozan’s outstretched arm.
“Haha, so quickly! They’ve finally begun to move.”
Dalun Ruozan faintly smiled at the letter in his hand.
The letter had been sent from the Black Forest by Abu Muslim. An army of more than three hundred thousand Arab reinforcements, two governors, and the tens of thousands of militia they had recruited along the way were proceeding toward the Black Forest, an army of unprecedented size in Arabian history. The strength of this army was not only enough to influence this Battle of Talas, but the entire east as well, including the Great Tang.
“Perhaps I should adjust my goal. We might be able to finish it all in a single breath and conquer the entire Central Plains.”
A bright light flashed through Dalun Ruozan’s eyes as his fingers came together and pulverized Abu Muslim’s letter.
Four hundred thousand Arab cavalry together with the reinforcements from Ü-Tsang meant that their alliance now had more than five hundred thousand soldiers and seven experts of the Great General level. This power far surpassed that of the Mengshe–Ü-Tsang army that had gathered by the Erhai. Never in Dalun Ruozan’s life had he assembled such a powerful army before.
“Inform Duwu Sili to gather the army and prepare for battle!”
Dalun Ruozan turned his head and waved to a nearby messenger.
“Yes!”
The messenger immediately left. After watching him leave, Dalun Ruozan slowly turned to the two Great Generals next to him.
“Have you prepared yourselves for the final battle?”
Huoshu Huicang and Dusong Mangpoje said nothing, only heavily nodded their heads, their eyes shining with resolve.
The two both understand what Dalun Ruozan meant. This was the final battle, their last chance to alter the balance of power between the Great Tang and Ü-Tsang. They would either emerge victorious or die trying!
“Assemble the army!”
As Dalun Ruozan issued this order, a mighty storm erupted from the Tibetan camp, set to sweep over the entire world. This was foreordained to be a war that would shake the foundations of the entire eastern world.
Kacrack!
As the Tibetan army began to move, a thick lightning bolt flashed across the skies. A few moments later, dark clouds had gathered and the air over Talas began to grow tense.
……
Flap flap! It was only a few moments later that a hunting falcon delivered to Wang Chong the news from Khorasan.
It was the Arabs!
Wang Chong felt his heart sink as he read through the letter.
The day had finally come!
Governor Qutaybah of Tarsus, Governo
r Osman of Cairo, the elite Mamelukes of the Arabian Empire, and an army of three to four hundred thousand were making their way to Talas. This destined war was finally going to begin.
“Take this letter to Protector-General Gao Xianzhi. Pass on my order for the soldiers to be ready for battle at any time!”
After saying these words, Wang Chong left his room and headed for Talas’s western training ground.
Boom!
The air roared and boomed as fierce streams of air raged above this training ground. In the middle of this enormous aura, one could clearly see ten thousand dazzling saber slashes.
After one month, the Mo Saber Unit had finally taken shape!
……
Tension began to saturate the air of Talas, but Talas was far from the only place affected by this coming war.
In the Great Tang’s southeast was a land of lush and ancient forests that grew along an undulating landscape. Here was an enormous mountain range that spanned a hundred and sixty or so kilometers. The beasts were especially wild in this extremely remote region, and people did not come here under normal circumstances. But to a certain group of people, this long mountain range was a holy land.
“Grandpa, have you found the dragon’s head and the dragon’s lair yet?”
A crisp and young voice sounded through this lush forest. In the middle of these green shrubs, one could see a child of seven or eight riding on a black ox. The black ox had a glossy coat, and Stellar Energy was circulating through its body, indicating that it was clearly abnormal.
“Haha, soon, soon.”
A blue-clothed elder with a beard parted three ways was walking in front of the ox. One hand held a bronze compass while the other hand stroked his beard. His eyes were constantly inspecting his surroundings as if this world was his to command.
This was a practitioner of Fengshui and geomancy, a plain-clothed fortune teller!
In the Great Tang, there was a group skilled in geomancy, who observed the topography of the land and followed the direction of the earth’s Dragon Qi. They were also known as mystics.
They were reclusive people who would only emerge into the world at special times. They spent the rest of their time observing the environment and the Dragon Qi of the Central Plains.
A few moments later, the pointer on the bronze compass suddenly shifted to a certain direction. At almost the same time, this mystical elder chuckled and pointed a finger at a cliff in the distance, surrounded by clouds.
“Haha, found it!”
From this distance, the cliff appeared to be just like a dragon turning its head as it coiled on the earth in slumber.
“Grandpa, did you really find it? Are we going to set up a Daoist temple here?” the child asked.
“Hahaha, Little Yun, that’s right. Once your grandpa finds the dragon’s den, we’ll set up a wooden hut here and stand guard over the entire dragon vein. What do you think about that?”
(TN: In Chinese geomancy, dragon veins are mountain ranges which represent the flow of energy through the earth. The place where this energy gathers is called the dragon’s den.)
The elder turned around and pinched the child’s cheeks affectionately.
Buzz!
Just as this grandfather was talking to his grandson, the enormous cliff that was the dragon’s head suddenly began to tremble, rocks rolling from its side. The white clouds that had gathered around the mountain were seemingly pushed away and began to disperse.
“This… What’s going on here?”
The elder turned his head in shock and astonishment.
The dragon’s head was where a dragon vein’s spiritual energy was located. These dragon veins would rarely move for centuries, even over a thousand years, much less experience such intense changes like this.
“Grandpa!”
The child on the ox noticed something else and pointed at the bronze compass, his eyes wide open. The elder turned in astonishment to his compass and realized that it had begun to rapidly spin.
Boom!
There was another heaven-shaking boom as the cliff where the dragon’s head was located collapsed before the pair, dissolving into a mass of gravel.
“The dragon vein suddenly moved! What… what’s going on!”
The blue-clothed elder felt like he had been struck by lightning.
The land of the Nine Provinces was home to many ancient mountain ranges, with an extremely small number of them having come to be known as ‘dragon veins’. The dragon veins would remain unchanged for centuries, and such cases like this where the dragon returned to heaven were extremely rare. Each time, they indicated that the Central Plains was about to experience a massive transformation.
Roooar!
As the elder’s mind whirred, a thunderous dragon roar resounded through the sky. The gravel where the dragon head had collapsed had not continued to drop to the ground. Instead, some invisible energy caused it to seethe and soar into the air.
An even more astonishing transformation ensued. As the elder and child watched, a massive dragon extended out of the mountain, raising its head as it rose into the sky.
This dragon was formed from dust, gravel, and the world’s Origin Energy. It had horns, eyes, scales, a tail… All of it was there in breathtaking detail.
Before this enormous dragon, the elder and child were tiny ants. The winds howled as a storm seemed to descend. All the trees and rocks trembled and shuddered in fear of this berserk energy while the birds took flight. Many earthbound beasts also took fright and began to charge out of the forests.
At this moment, the entire world quivered before the majestic pressure of this dragon.
But the child sitting on the ox had forgotten his fear. He looked up together with the elder, almost forgetting to breathe.
In the air, that enormous dragon formed from Dragon Qi raised its head up to the air as it struggled and howled. It appeared to be in terrible pain.
“Grandpa, why is the dragon in pain?”
He looked up to the sky in a daze. This child had been taught a great deal about geomancy and had read many books on dragon veins, but nothing he had read or heard from his grandfather had described anything like this.
But the blue-clothed elder was so agitated that he couldn’t even hear what the child was saying. There was only one thought left in his mind.
A dragon turns its head every hundred years; the Divine Land1 experiences a shift every thousand years!
As the elder looked up at the sky, a deep fear appeared in his eyes.
______________1. The Divine Land and the Nine Provinces are both names for China/Central Plains.↩
Chapter 1046 - The Mysterious War Banner!
Chapter 1046: The Mysterious War Banner!
Translated by: Hypersheep325
Edited by: Michyrr
The earth was home to nine enormous dragon veins that represented the Great Tang of the Central Plains. If the thousand-year fortune of the Divine Land suddenly shifted, a scene like the dragon vein taking the form of a dragon could occur. This dragon could sense the coming crisis, and its pained roars represented the same thing: a massive change was about to occur in the Divine Land, a tremendous calamity was about to descend!
“How could this be? The Divine Land faces disaster! The Divine Land faces disaster! I must tell the masters and inform the Great Tang imperial household as soon as possible!”
The elder’s heart chilled and his body swayed as he grabbed the child from the ox and vanished.
……
It was not only the dragon veins of the Nine Provinces that sensed the coming danger.
At night, in the Imperial Astrology Board of the Great Tang Imperial Palace, an elder in an opulent Daoist robe of deep blue sat motionless on the star observation platform, seemingly fused with it.
The elder’s hair was completely white, and he exuded a mystical aura. Tiny star-like pinpricks of light floated around him, making the elder’s figure seem even more enigmatic. If one looked careful
ly, one would notice that these points of light were resonating with the stars above according to some profound and supreme principle.
The old man was so motionless he appeared to have turned to stone. Hwoooo! There was a rush of wind, and the elder’s body swayed as if he had been struck by some invisible force. The starry lights around him dimmed and flickered, with some of them even dropping from the air and extinguishing.
“The heavens have shifted and the stars reflect chaos… How? How is this possible!”
The elder on the star observation platform turned his narrowed eyes up to the heavens in disbelief. If one followed the elder’s gaze, one could only see that the stars above appeared to be in slight disorder, but the elder saw far more.
“The Ziwei Star has moved, the Taiyuan Star has moved… All the stars in heaven have dimmed. This is a sign of chaos in the Divine Land, a calamity upon the Nine Provinces!”
The old man’s beard trembled.
“Let me see just where the chaos is originating from!”
The elder straightened his body and began to form a spell with his right hand. Meanwhile, the fingers of his left hand seemed to take on a life of their own, constantly moving and shifting as he calculated at astonishing speed.
Bzzz! In the middle of his calculations, a massive power welled up from within him. The star observation platform took on the appearance of an enormous astrolabe, which gave off a very real metallic clanging as it turned. At the same time, the many stars of the night sky appeared around the elder, traveling according to their orbits at one hundred times the normal speed.
The elder’s white brows twitched, his eyelids drooped, and his mouth muttered nonstop. He was completely lost in the world of astrological calculation.
A few moments later, all these illusions faded away and the elder’s eyes flew open. His bright eyes turned to the northwestern horizon.
The stars in the sky were as usual, but the elder’s gaze pierced through the heavens to fall upon a single massive star that stood apart from the rest.
“Talas!”
The elder’s fingers suddenly stopped, and only one thought was left in his mind.
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