The Human Emperor c1-2382

by Huangfu Qi (皇甫奇)

  Amidst the many corpses, Fadi and the others found the body of the Flame Governor, Abusa. His body was covered in sword slashes, and his blood and energy had been sucked dry. His body was motionless, face-down on the ground. Nearby, the black Arabian war banner was thrust into the ground. The banner snapped about in the fierce wind, throwing off shards of ice.

  Even this war banner had been frozen by blood.

  “We’ve fallen into a trap!”

  Firas’s eyes spat out flames of anger, and his fists were clenched so hard that they seemed about to break.

  “But how did they know that we would split our men into three groups?” a governor asked.

  No one was able to answer his question. The decision to split the Arab forces into three had been made on the spot, but the Tang appeared to have expected this. Not only had they successfully avoided the main force led by Fadi, but they had also successfully attacked one of the Arabs’ flanking groups.

  The battle had gone very quickly, with the enemy holding the overwhelming advantage. The Flame Governor Abusa had been killed at almost the very start of the battle, and the remaining soldiers were simply no match.

  “These bastards!”

  Fadi was brimming with anger, but as he spoke, he spotted a figure brushing past him and riding ahead.

  “Hular, where are you going!”

  “The right flank!”

  Hular’s reply was short, and he swiftly vanished into the blizzard. Behind him, Fadi and Firas both trembled in understanding and immediately began to follow Hular. Around five minutes later, the group arrived at the second battlefield.

  The moment they had sensed the danger, they had set off at full speed, but they had still come too late. The battle was over, leaving nothing but snow and corpses.

  “Too late! They’re already gone!”

  Hular got down on his knees and picked up a bloodstained piece of ice.

  The blood on the ice was still not completely frozen, indicating that the enemy hadn’t been gone for very long.

  “Milord, can you identify their energies?”

  An Arab governor walked up with clenched fists, his face brimming with anger.

  “It’s very difficult! They’ve already mixed together with our soldiers, and hundreds of thousands of soldiers are spread out over these twenty to thirty li. It’s simply impossible to distinguish their twenty thousand men from amongst them,” Fadi spat out.

  There was another reason that Fadi did not mention. This blizzard was not just a simple weather phenomenon, but was also accompanied by intense shifts in energy. This together with the plunging temperatures could disrupt even the senses of powerful Great Generals like the Three Titans of Black Radiance. The powers of Man were simply too negligible before the might of nature, and not even Great Generals were an exception.

  “Can we find their commander?” another general said. “Only Great Generals can kill Great Generals. If we can’t find the ordinary soldiers, why don’t we target the commanders?”

  These two consecutive massacres had provoked everyone’s fury.

  Yes, these had been massacres!

  The cavalry on the left and right flanks hadn’t even been able to hold out until reinforcements arrived.

  “Impossible!”

  Before Fadi could speak, Hular interjected, his eyes suffused with pain and surging with killing intent.

  “These damn bastards have all restrained their energies. We can’t sense them at all. The ability for Great Generals to sense each other’s existences is of no use here.”

  “What!”

  Everyone was stunned by these words.

  “But, Milord, only top-class techniques are capable of concealing the energy of a Great General. For the enemy to have so quickly killed our Great Generals, they must have sent more than one. Are all of their Great Generals so formidable that they can all conceal their energy?” another general said.

  This person was wearing the armor of a high-ranking general and was standing behind a governor. It was clear that this was a high-level deputy governor.

  Deputy governors were privy to a great deal of information. Great General experts all had a natural connection with each other, and concealing this information, blocking the other party’s senses, was no easy matter.

  At least from what he knew, very few of the governors who had come on this campaign to conquer Khorasan could accomplish it.

  “I will explain!”

  The Blade of Black Radiance, Imron, rode out of the blizzard atop a muscular black warhorse, his gaze fixed forward and his expression solemn.

  “Amongst the enemy’s top-class experts, there is an extremely formidable one who can control heavenly phenomena and the flow of Origin Energy to disrupt and obscure our senses. The enemy has come prepared for this battle, and the situation is extremely unfavorable for us! Rather than the connection between Great Generals, our eyes and ears are actually more useful. At least if we can hear the sounds of fighting, we can immediately rush to the scene.”

  Imron’s words caused the other Titans and Hular to fall silent, their hearts sinking like stones. This battle was far more difficult than they had imagined. Although they had more than five hundred thousand soldiers, they had been scattered by the blizzard, rendering them incapable of exerting their advantage in numbers. In contrast, the Tang were inexplicably capable of always finding them. From a certain perspective, they had already lost this battle.

  ……

  Several li away, tens of thousands of Arab soldiers were scattered across a field of white, trudging westward through the snow.

  The entire world was silent.

  “Kill!”

  An abrupt cry shattered the calm. Before anyone could react, a group of cavalry, their armor covered in thick snow, came flying out from the north like an arrow toward the retreating Arab army.

  Clang! Light coldly flashed, and heads immediately began to fly into the air in response. Soon after, a second and third group of cavalry charged out of the blizzard, killing intent boiling off their bodies.

  “It’s the Khorasani!”

  “Enemy attack! Run!”

  An Arab horseman immediately identified the enemy. The Arabs had ruled over Khorasan for so long that they had long ago become accustomed to their appearance, able to recognize them at a glance from their bodies and demeanors. As this man called out, the entire army fell into chaos and began to flee in every direction.

  However, after working through the snow for so many hours, these soldiers were exhausted in both physical strength and Stellar Energy. There was no way they could suddenly start running.

  Thumpthumpthump! One Arab horseman after another fell. Some of them, their eyes filled with despair, wanted to bring down these Tang and Khorasani with them and slashed out with their scimitars, but their foes managed to easily dodge these blows.

  And then, in a cold flash of light, the Arabs would be cut down from their horses.

  They had been trudging through the blizzard for so long that their limbs had been frozen stiff, losing all of their former flexibility.

  Chapter 1185 - Stratagems in the Snow (II)

  Chapter 1185: Stratagems in the Snow (II)

  Translated by: Hypersheep325

  Edited by: Michyrr

  The battle swiftly commenced, and one could see Arabs, Tang, Khorasani, and rebel soldiers fighting all over the mantle of snow. And in the rear, a young and slender figure slowly trotted forward on his horse, his cape flapping in the wind.

  Wang Chong slowly scanned his surroundings, and as screams resounded in his ears, his eyes showed not even a flicker of emotion. This battle was playing out exactly as he had imagined. The more time passed, the worse the condition of the Arabs became. This level of battle no longer required his personal intervention.

  “Get ready. The Three Titans of Black Radiance and Hular are right behind us. They will only need another five minutes to arrive. Quickly end this battle!” Wang Chong confidently said. Though his
voice was not especially loud, everyone could clearly hear it.

  “Milord, will those Arabs really arrive that quickly?” Xi Yuanqing asked from behind Wang Chong, his eyes brimming with respect.

  For some reason, Wang Chong was able to accurately predict when the Arabs would arrive each time, rendering them incapable of catching them. This vast blizzard seemed to have no effect on Wang Chong whatsoever.

  Xi Yuanqing had tried himself, but in the middle of this intense snowstorm, his senses couldn’t extend for more than one thousand feet.

  “There’s nothing that can be done about that. Our battles produce a large ruckus each time, and the clashes of weapons and explosions of energies are always able to pierce through the storm. The Three Titans of Black Radiance can rush over because they can hear these sounds,” Wang Chong calmly said.

  There was nothing without its drawbacks, and not even Wang Chong could account for every detail. However, even if the Three Titans of Black Radiance and Hular rushed over upon hearing the sounds of battle, they would come too late. Wang Chong could sense all their movements.

  “Gangke King, Li Siye, Cui Piaoqi, Kong Zi-an, all of you should go as well. Bring this battle to an end as quickly as possible.”

  “Yes!”

  The Gangke King, Li Siye, and the others immediately rode out, charging past Wang Chong and into the scattered Arab cavalry.

  Screams filled the air as the battle was quickly wrapped up. Wang Chong remained seated on the White-hoofed Shadow, his eyes half-closed.

  Bzzzz! Wang Chong immediately got into contact with the Stone of Destiny.

  Unbeknownst to all, a miniature version of the continent appeared before Wang Chong’s eyes. If one looked carefully, they would realize that this was a real-time model of the battlefield between Khorasan and Shandar. Every detail, big and small, was displayed on this projection.

  Even the blizzard was displayed above this model of the continent, and Wang Chong was even able to make out the individual whorls of wind. But Wang Chong’s gaze rested on the skies for only a few moments before quickly turning elsewhere.

  Buzz!

  In a flash of light, the model instantly enlarged, and many small points began to appear on its surface. Wang Chong could see that a mass of black dots was rapidly moving behind him, heading toward his men.

  ‘Mind’, ‘Body’, ‘Energy’, ‘Techniques’, ‘Power’—these were the five reward categories within the Stone of Destiny. ‘Power’ was the final category of rewards, and only now did it display its true might.

  This blizzard and the intense fluctuations of energy it brought with it could even confuse the perception of a Great General, but Wang Chong, through the abilities provided to him by ‘Power’, through this projection of the continent, had a complete grasp of the Arabs’ movements. The number of soldiers, how they were distributed, what direction they were going, and when they would arrive—all of this information was available to Wang Chong and could be swiftly calculated.

  His nearly twenty thousand elites combined with this projection of the continent made Wang Chong essentially unstoppable within this blizzard.

  “Wang Chong, will we continue to pursue the other groups of Arab cavalry?”

  The heavy thumping of horse hooves came out of the blizzard, and Wang Chong returned to his senses and raised his head to see that Gao Xianzhi was riding over on a snow-white warhorse. At his side was Bahram.

  The battle had ended faster than Wang Chong had expected, and after only a few moments, not a single Arab horseman had been left standing on the battlefield. There were several wounded cavalry frantically fleeing into the distance, but from their tottering figures, they probably would not be able to last very long.

  “There’s no need!”

  Wang Chong faintly smiled as he rejected Gao Xianzhi’s proposal. They had already ambushed twenty to thirty groups of Arab cavalry, and there were very few left. Those remaining were small groups scattered across an extremely large range, and some of them were so lost that they were traveling in the completely opposite direction.

  Using his twenty thousand men to chase after these scattered soldiers was extremely time-consuming and unwise. At this moment, their greatest foe in this region was the army led by the Three Titans of Black Radiance and Hular.

  “Let’s go! We’ll fall back for now and wait for them to come!”

  Wang Chong’s men swiftly carried out his order. After taking a few moments to slightly clean up the battlefield, they rode back into the north, vanishing into the blizzard.

  Not long after Wang Chong’s men had departed, horses stampeded onto the scene, coming from the direction of Khorasan.

  Boom!

  Tens of thousands of warhorses charged onto the battlefield like a lightning bolt out of the blue.

  The Three Titans of Black Radiance had led their army over as soon as they heard the sounds of fighting. On the way, they had taken in any loose groups of Arab cavalry they had encountered, the result being that the number of soldiers at their side had actually increased like a snowball rolling downhill, eventually exceeding two hundred thousand.

  Through this method, the Three Titans were able to gather manpower and prevent them from being attacked by Wang Chong.

  “Ah!”

  The piles of corpses on the ground almost had Fadi’s eyes bursting out of their sockets, and he let out an anguished howl.

  “You damned cowardly bastards! There will come a day when I will tear your corpses to pieces!”

  Even though they had rushed over as quickly as possible, they had still encountered the same result. This filled Fadi with despair.

  An Arab general inspected the bloodstains and quickly raised his head. “Milord, calm your anger. The blood on the ground is still fresh. They probably haven’t gotten very far!”

  “The footprints on the ground lead west,” another general added. “They must be pursuing other soldiers. No matter what, we can’t let them succeed!”

  It had not been long since the battle had concluded, and the footprints clearly indicated the direction the Tang and Khorasani had gone.

  All the pains they had endured in pursuing the enemy were finally about to pay off!

  “Let’s go!”

  The Head of Black Radiance, Fadi, immediately roared, his eyes shining with beast-like savagery as he looked to the west. Rumble! His horse cried out and charged forward, and behind him, all the soldiers set off like a mighty torrent.

  Just as around half the army had begun to follow the Three Titans past this battlefield, there was suddenly a sharp neighing!

  This neighing came from the north, and before the Arabs could react, a storm of energy exploded out of the blizzard and began to charge toward the battlefield.

  At almost the same moment, the still north suddenly came alive with shouts and yells that not even the howling winds could drown out. In the blink of an eye, thousands of horsemen came pouring out of the north.

  “Not good!”

  The Three Titans of Black Radiance, who had already ridden far off into the distance, immediately trembled at these roars, their faces grimacing.

  “Let’s go! It’s an ambush!”

  All of them became ghastly pale as they turned their horses around and began to ride back toward the battlefield.

  Fadi and his men moved very quickly, but they were still too slow. Wang Chong had been ‘watching’ their army of two hundred thousand, waiting with his twenty thousand men in the blizzard precisely for this moment.

  Boomboomboom!

  Long before Fadi could arrive onto the battlefield, weapons and warhorses clashed, and after a few moments of fighting, Wang Chong’s men had succeeded in dividing the Arab army.

  “Cutting Formation!”

  “Solar Impact!”

  Roars resounded through the snowstorm as the Wushang Cavalry and Aswaran Cataphracts used their supreme techniques to further divide the already panicked Arab army.

  Boomboomboom! The Wushang Cavalr
y and Aswaran Cataphracts used their own skills to charge repeatedly through the Arab ranks, crushing the Arab army on both sides. And the disorderly ranks of the army served as an invisible barrier that hindered the Three Titans of Black Radiance to the west and their soldiers to the east.

  “Bastard!”

  The Arab generals, including the Three Titans of Black Radiance, were infuriated by this sight. Wang Chong had only needed a few moments to turn this battlefield into a scene of complete mayhem. From the perspective of the Arabs, all they could see was snow and panicked Arab soldiers, and the sounds of battle could be heard all around them. They had no idea where the Tang were.

  “Force an opening! Part the army at the center!”

  Fadi’s eyes reddened as he finally gave an order. His enemy had come prepared and delivered a lethal strike. If they could not harden their hearts and put a stop to this now, the entire army would be wiped out.

  Neeeigh!

  Following Fadi’s order, the soldiers around the Three Titans immediately pulled out their weapons and began to kill their way through their own troops as they pushed toward where the fighting was fiercest.

  Chapter 1186 - Stratagems in the Snow (III)

  Chapter 1186: Stratagems in the Snow (III)

  Translated by: Hypersheep325

  Edited by: Michyrr

  “Get ready! The plan has succeeded! The Three Titans of Black Radiance have appeared! Everyone, get ready to battle!”

  Wang Chong suddenly pulled on the reins of his horse, faintly smiling as he listened to the activity from the west. Each one of the Three Titans of Black Radiance was extremely powerful, on par with Abu Muslim, but in terms of military strategy, the Three Titans were greatly lacking compared to Wang Chong.

  Buzz!

  Wang Chong raised an arm, and all the soldiers around him immediately dispersed. An invisible killing intent began to seep through the air.

  “Kill!”

  A sharp neigh cut through the storm, and a powerful energy suddenly swept out of the chaotic western part of the battlefield, fiercely tearing open a path. The Three Titans of Black Radiance and Hular rode out of the blizzard, leading a group of cavalry.