The Human Emperor c1-2382

by Huangfu Qi (皇甫奇)

  As the gyrfalcon passed by, on the ground, numerous soldiers brandishing weapons and torches were charging into Jinyang Palace.

  “Seize them! Don’t let anyone escape!”

  “Have you found the Fifth Prince?”

  “Hold on! The Fifth Prince isn’t here!”

  Harsh bellows came from Jinyang Palace, but as the soldiers discovered that their target was not present, the cries soon dissolved into chaos.

  Far away from this place, a man dressed in Imperial Army armor stood in a shadow on a high wall and quietly watched all this transpire.

  “Your Highness, the King of Foreign Lands was right! He really did make his move tonight!”

  Li Jingzhong stood next to Fifth Prince Li Heng, counting his blessings as he looked at the vast crowd of soldiers in the distance.

  “That was risky! Fortunately, we moved ahead of time, or the First Prince really would have succeeded!”

  Li Heng had always been a thorn in the First Prince’s side, and no one understood this more than Li Jingzhong. If the First Prince had managed to succeed, Li Heng’s death would have been assured. Li Heng had been targeted countless times as he was growing up by the First Prince. In the face of imperial authority, there was no such thing as brotherhood. It had been extremely difficult for Li Heng to reach this point.

  Li Heng said nothing. Upon realizing that Li Heng wasn’t present, those soldiers sent by the First Prince had begun to search the nearby palaces.

  “Your Highness, this place is no longer safe! Let’s hurry and leave!” Li Jingzhong said.

  All of them were wearing suits of Imperial Army armor, and Li Jingzhong was no exception. The Imperial Palace was in chaos, and Imperial Army soldiers were running around everywhere. Mixing in with the crowd to escape would be quite easy.

  Li Heng silently stood on the wall, his eyes in turmoil.

  “Uncle Jing, how many soldiers do we have?” Li Heng suddenly asked.

  “Ah?”

  Li Jingzhong was taken aback by this question, but he instinctively replied.

  “We have around four thousand soldiers!”

  As a Prince, Li Heng could raise an army of one thousand personal soldiers, and in order to guard against the First Prince, Li Heng had also recruited men and planted them in the Imperial Army.

  Now that the Imperial Palace was immersed in rebellion, Li Heng had naturally summoned his soldiers. Four thousand soldiers wasn’t a lot, naught but a cup of water for the burning cart that was the rebellion, but it was enough to protect himself.

  Slowly, Li Heng turned toward Taiji Palace.

  The fires were blazing and the shouting created a deafening din. The primary force of the rebellion had been gathered there.

  The Imperial Palace was fraught with danger, and the First Prince’s men were seeking him out, but Li Heng’s greatest concern was not his own safety.

  “Imperial Father…”

  The image of Taiji Palace reflected off Li Heng’s black eyes. For a moment, there was great concern on his face, but Li Heng quickly composed himself.

  “Pass on my order! Gather the men! We’re going to Taiji Palace!”

  “Your Highness?!”

  Li Jingzhong was overcome with shock, and he grabbed Li Heng and anxiously shook his head.

  “This cannot be allowed! The First Prince has more than one hundred thousand soldiers under his command, and the palace is almost completely under his control. The tiny amount of soldiers under our command would be like throwing an egg against a stone, little more than suicide. Our first priority should be leaving the Imperial Palace and conserving our strength, at the same time gathering the soldiers from other areas so that we return to the capital and save the sovereign!

  “So as long as the green hills remain, there will still be wood to burn!”

  While Li Jingzhong feared death, his exhortations this time weren’t for his own sake. Now was not the time to make decisions based on emotion.

  “Uncle Jing, you don’t need to waste time trying to persuade me. Imperial Father is surrounded and in danger. If I abandon him and flee, would I even be human? I cannot leave, no matter what!”

  With a clang, Li Heng pulled out his sword and jumped down from the wall.

  “Your Highness, wait!”

  Li Jingzhong’s face paled as he hastily followed.

  ……

  At the same time, the Eastern Palace was brightly lit.

  “Your Highness, Venerable Ghost King, our forces have successfully seized Qinyang Palace, Shangyang Palace, and Huayang Palace. We have also seized Chongyang Gate and Chaotian Gate. However, the soldiers of the Saint Martial Barracks have already mobilized, and we are in the middle of combat with them.

  “The Saint Martial Barracks doesn’t have many soldiers, and there’s no way they could stop the Imperial Army, but the layout of the terrain means that not all of our soldiers can charge in. It will take some time until we can properly assault Taiji Palace!”

  The Golden Guard commander bowed, his deep voice resounding through the hall.

  The Saint Martial Barracks!

  This was the most unique force of soldiers in the Imperial Palace. Their training ground was located to the north of Taiji Palace.

  Since ancient times, the residence of the Sage Emperor had always been located in the northernmost part of the Imperial Palace. No soldier of the Imperial Army or official was allowed to enter that region. The only exception was the Saint Martial Barracks.

  This army was regarded as Sage Emperor’s left and right arms, the last line of defense for the emperor. Only they were allowed to reside and train to the north of Taiji Palace.

  The Saint Martial Barracks also possessed the special authority to inspect and select soldiers from the Imperial Army. Moreover, once a soldier joined the Saint Martial Barracks, they were shorn of any previous identity and would never associate with their clan or family again.

  The Saint Martial Barracks was its own system, and it trained separately from the Imperial Army.

  In addition, no official, including the Princes, could establish any connection with the Saint Martial Barracks or even get close.

  Any Prince who tried would be suspected of rebellion and heavily punished by the Imperial Clan Court.

  The Saint Martial Barracks’ recruiting standards were incredibly rigorous. Not only did recruits have to be far stronger than the average Imperial Army soldier, they also needed to be devoted to the Sage Emperor. For this reason, the Saint Martial Barracks did not have many men, only eight thousand in total, but it also meant that the soldiers of the Saint Martial Barracks could be guaranteed to never betray the Sage Emperor.

  Thus, the First Prince had never even thought about trying to recruit the Saint Martial Barracks.

  The greatest barrier in the attack on Taiji Palace was these eight thousand extremely well-trained soldiers of the Saint Martial Barracks.

  Zhu Tong’en took two steps forward and asked, “Do you have a rough estimate of how long it will take?”

  There was no taking back a loosed arrow. In any dynasty, the act of rebellion resulted in the death penalty! Failure meant paying the ultimate price.

  For all of them, the moment this rebellion had started, all of them had suspended their heads above a blade. With each passing second, their heads drew closer and closer to those blades.

  The only option was to quickly end the battle, seize Taiji Palace, and place the First Prince on the throne.

  “The resistance from the Saint Martial Barracks is extremely fierce. I estimate… that it might take around an hour,” the Golden Guard commander said.

  The Ghost King stood up from his table and coldly said, “That’s too long! I’ll give you thirty minutes to break into Taiji Palace!”

  “Yes!”

  The Golden Guard commander immediately broke out in a cold sweat, but he could only grit his teeth and assent.

  Orders were absolute for soldiers, and it was not his place to argue.

/>   Meng Tu suddenly stepped forward and said, “But, Milord! The King of Foreign Lands is already on his way! With their speed, we won’t even have thirty minutes!”

  Wang Chong’s command of cavalry was peerless, and he also had the number one Wushang Cavalry under his command. At their speed, it wouldn’t take long for them to charge over from the palace gates.

  Meng Tu voiced his true concern. “Moreover, General Huang won’t be able to hold him for long!”

  Huang Tianzhao was one of the three Grand Marshals of the Imperial Army, and there was no doubting his strength, but not even he could hold off the most illustrious War God of the entire continent for very long!

  “Heh.”

  The Ghost King merely chuckled.

  “Relax! I already have a plan! I’ve prepared a great gift just for him!”

  The Ghost King shot a profound glance in the direction of the Center Gate.

  Chapter 1756 - The Hundred Thousand God-Devil Execution Formation!

  Chapter 1756: The Hundred Thousand God-Devil Execution Formation!

  Translated by: Hypersheep325

  Edited by: Michyrr

  At the Center Gate, at the base of the high palace walls…

  “Master archers, ready!”

  “Fire!”

  In the face of the rain of arrows from the wall, Chen Burang and his several dozen master archers loosed their arrows. A moment later, numerous arrows leaving faint trails in the air howled toward Huang Tianzhao’s men, but Huang Tianzhao merely chuckled.

  Bang!

  As everyone watched, the unbelievable transpired.

  When the arrows were still several feet from the walls, space twisted, and then a barrier of faint purple manifested, completely covering the wall. The arrows struck this barrier and were all deflected.

  Clack! The hundreds of arrows snapped in half in the air and then simply disappeared, not even leaving any arrow shafts.

  It was like no arrows had been fired at all.

  “This… how could this be?”

  Even Chen Burang was struck dumb. He was born with extremely sharp eyes and ears. If he covered his eyes and only listened, he could accurately identify where his foe was hiding in a dense forest and then fire an arrow at them, but this time, none of his arrows had even reached Huang Tianzhao before vanishing.

  Such a thing had never happened before.

  Chen Burang was certain that Huang Tianzhao had not moved throughout this process or used any strength.

  A formation!

  Wang Chong’s heart sank at this sight, as he keenly understood what had taken place. Starting from here, everything in front of them was engulfed in the power of a massive formation. Just like with the Origin Immortal Formation in the northwest, the arrows fired by Chen Burang’s squad had been teleported and snapped by the formation’s power.

  “Hahaha, King of Foreign Lands, don’t waste your effort. The Army-Shattering War God planned out everything. This Hundred Thousand God-Devil Execution Formation was set up here precisely to deal with you. If you’ve got the guts, come right on in!”

  Huang Tianzhao brashly laughed from the wall, and then he waved his hand, withdrawing with the Golden Guards and master archers. In the blink of an eye, he vanished into the darkness.

  Boom!

  At the same time, the closed Center Gate suddenly rumbled open. Behind the gate, numerous Imperial Army soldiers had organized themselves into a bizarre formation, rapidly revolving as they charged at Wang Chong’s men.

  “Kill!”

  “Kill!”

  Cries of battle shook the heavens, and soon, the two forces smashed together like great waves.

  Clangclangclang! Weapons clashed and blood splattered, and it took only a few seconds for a large swath of men to fall over in pools of blood.

  In the back, Wang Chong grimaced at this sight.

  The Imperial Army soldiers charging out of the Center Gate were not numerous, only two-hundred-some in all, but these men had taken up a strange eight-sided formation, and in the cramped terrain in front of the Center Gate, they took up almost all available space.

  Although Wang Chong currently had eight thousand men, only a few hundred could charge forward.

  Not only that, all of those Imperial Army soldiers had a light purple halo under their feet which boosted the strength, speed, and dexterity of each soldier, making them far superior to the average Imperial Army soldier. And in battle, these people exerted their strength as one, making them seem like a solid steel plate.

  In these circumstances, a mere two hundred Imperial Army soldiers were like a standing rock in the face of a great wave, fending off many times their number in front of the Center Gate.

  The Hundred Thousand God-Devil Execution Formation!

  As Wang Chong recalled Huang Tianzhao’s words, he realized something.

  There were no God-Devils. Those hundred thousand God-Devils were really just the one hundred thousand soldiers of the Imperial Army. Hou Junji had used the Imperial Army to lay down a massive formation to keep him out.

  As these thoughts ran through Wang Chong’s mind, he heard Cheng Sanyuan’s solemn voice at his ear.

  “Your Highness, there’s something strange!

  “Despite fighting for so long, we’ve suffered significant casualties while those two hundred men haven’t lost a single person!”

  Wang Chong followed Cheng Sanyuan’s gaze and turned to the battlefield. Many bodies had fallen in front of the Center Gate, but the formation of two-hundred-some Imperial Army soldiers remained pristine, continuing to turn and grind. At a glance, it seemed like they truly had not suffered any losses.

  Wang Chong’s eyes flashed as he sternly said, “That’s not it!

  “It’s not that they’re not losing men! They just have a slow trickle of reinforcements coming from behind the Center Gate!”

  As if in response to Wang Chong’s voice, a large number of soldiers suddenly charged out from behind the Center Gate and flowed into the formation, perfectly fusing their numbers into it while still maintaining the formation.

  And through the open gate, Wang Chong could see countless soldiers still standing in neat formation.

  Wang Chong’s heart dropped to rock bottom.

  The Imperial Palace had one hundred thousand soldiers of the Imperial Army stationed within it, and if there were all divided into teams of two hundred in those eight-sided formations, there could be five hundred of these teams.

  These teams could come one after another, exploiting the narrow confines of the checkpoint. And given the strength of the formation, Wang Chong’s hopes of reaching Taiji Palace were incredibly slim.

  But Wang Chong quickly managed to get hold of himself. He would need to try to see just how formidable Hou Junji’s formation really was.

  “Heavenly Edge Team, Arrow Formation! Get ready!”

  Bang!

  The earth rumbled in response to Wang Chong’s order, and a sharp energy soared to the heavens. A previously scattered group of soldiers quickly coalesced. Clang! Swords left their sheaths and were aimed to the sky, appearing like a sharp and dangerous forest. The cold flash of those blades made the entire world fall quiet.

  “Wootz Steel! Those are Wootz Steel weapons!”

  The Imperial Army soldiers who had stood like an impenetrable wall in front of the Center Gate suddenly grew uneasy. It was true that their two-hundred-man formations had succeeded in stopping Wang Chong from getting past the Center Gate. But up until now, Wang Chong had only sent the elites of the great clans and not his own men.

  Everyone knew that the best of Wang Chong’s men, the ones who made all the foreign countries tremble in fear, were those soldiers equipped with Wootz Steel weapons and Meteoric Metal armor.

  Bang!

  After a brief moment of silence, the one thousand Wootz Steel sword cavalry took up the Arrow Formation and rumbled toward the Imperial Army soldiers.

  Rumble!

  A few seconds later, the two for
ces collided. It was simply impossible to describe this collision, and one could only say that the shockwave of energy made even the palace walls tremble. Neeeigh! Horses screamed as Wootz Steel swords swept through the air. In an explosion of blood, a head flew through the air. The thick armor worn by the Imperial Army might as well have been made of paper in front of this sword.

  Swish! Swish! Swish!

  The Wootz Steel swords slashed across the avenue in front of the Center Gate like the scythe of the death god, and what seemed like an impregnable force of two hundred men was quickly cut down like so many weeds.

  This force of one thousand was made up of top-class soldiers recruited by the great clans, and each one had received a considerable investment in time and money. In terms of pure strength, they were even stronger than Imperial Army soldiers, so the great clans only had three to five such soldiers each. Wang Chong had gathered these men, and given that they were also paired with the Wootz Steel swords from the war of the southwest, they represented an extremely powerful fighting force.

  Bangbangbang!

  As bodies dropped like falling pillars, the tight formation of two hundred men was scattered apart by the one thousand Wootz Steel cavalry, and in short order, the Center Gate was devoid of standing Imperial Army soldiers.

  “Kill!”

  “Rebels, all of you must be executed!”

  After killing the two hundred rebellious Imperial Army soldiers, the Wootz Steel cavalry continued onward toward the open Center Gate. It was much more spacious past the Center Gate, and the light of the torches on the walls illuminated the countless Imperial Army soldiers standing in the gloom behind it.

  Each of these soldiers had a light purple halo and was brimming with energy. At a glance, there seemed to be ten thousand of them. More importantly, these ten thousand soldiers were linked together into a complicated formation that was even tougher and more lethal than the one before.

  Anyone who saw this formation would tremble in fear at the danger it exuded.

  The two-hundred-man formation stationed in front of the Center Gate had merely been the appetizer. This was the true formation Hou Junji had left to stop Wang Chong.