The Human Emperor c1-2382

by Huangfu Qi (皇甫奇)

  Bang!

  Wang Chong and Li Junxian almost simultaneously vanished, and then with a thunderous explosion, two dazzling beams of Sword Qi clashed in the air.

  Two blazing suns seemed to appear in the sky, and as they collided, shockwaves of Stellar Energy swept out, shattering the surface of the training ground. But even though Li Junxian put forth all his power, he was simply no match for the combined might of Wang Chong and the Crown of Confucius.

  Boom! In the blink of an eye, Li Junxian faltered and was once more slammed back to the earth. The site of impact immediately splintered, giving way to a massive pit, and a plume of dust soared into the air.

  Inside the pit, the pale-faced Li Junxian had blood trickling out of his mouth, and his aura was in a state of turmoil. The price for taking Wang Chong’s Sword Qi was immense damage to his body.

  Bang! But without the slightest hesitation, Li Junxian clenched his teeth and shot up once more, ignoring his injuries and unleashing all the power of the Noble Sage Sword that he could. His meridians were cracking and breaking, but Li Junxian no longer cared.

  “A pointless struggle!”

  Wang Chong felt no pity for Li Junxian’s tenacious struggle. Li Junxian had barely risen into the air when another vast wave of Sword Qi slammed him back into the earth.

  Li Junxian’s injuries were even more serious this time, and he left streaks of blood on the shattered earth.

  “No matter what, I’ll never concede to you!”

  Li Junxian clenched his teeth and shot up again, and then was blasted back down by Wang Chong’s sword.

  The spectators couldn’t help but quietly shake their heads. Although the battle was over and Li Junxian was still fighting back, everyone knew that he had actually already lost.

  Meanwhile, in a flash of lightning, Li Junxian was once more smacked into the ground.

  “Concede! You no longer have the strength to fight. This match is over!”

  Wang Chong stood in the air and coldly looked down on Li Junxian.

  “No! I have not lost! I will never concede!”

  Li Junxian’s face was swollen and red, but as he glared at Wang Chong, he showed no signs of backing down.

  “It’s useless!”

  Wang Chong’s voice was carried by the winds across the entire training ground.

  “This time, I’ll make sure you’re convinced of your loss!”

  Buzz!

  Wang Chong raised the Origin Immortal Sword high into the air, and a moment later…

  Bang!

  Everyone watched in shock as the Crown of Confucius exploded with a powerful energy, upon which a righteous Sword Qi as bright as the sun emerged from the Origin Immortal Sword.

  “This is impossible!”

  Upon seeing this Sword Qi of pure righteousness and nobility appear, the staring Li Junxian went as white as a sheet of paper.

  The spectating crowd also couldn’t help but gasp in shock.

  Not only had Wang Chong obtained the approval of the Crown of Confucius, he was also able to unleash Sword Qi of such pure righteousness and nobility. Such a thing was simply unbelievable.

  Even Elder Song and the other members of the Confucian Sect were rendered speechless by this sight.

  Obtaining the approval of the Crown of Confucius would only free Wang Chong from the damage it could inflict, but the fact that Wang Chong could unleash Sword Qi just as noble and righteous as Li Junxian’s was not something that could be explained through a scheme or trick.

  “Did he really obtain Confucius’s approval?!” Elder Song muttered, great waves surging in his heart.

  Wang Chong’s ability to unleash this noble Sword Qi could only mean that Confucius had acknowledged Wang Chong’s will and ideals, but Wang Chong was a butcher of one million souls, his hands drenched in blood. How was this possible?

  Meanwhile, after unleashing this noble Sword Qi, Wang Chong swung his sword, bringing down that dazzling beam of Sword Qi onto Li Junxian’s head.

  Fwoosh!

  The collision of this energy with the energy already wreaking havoc in his body caused Li Junxian to shudder and then vomit blood.

  “Impossible! How could this have happened? This can’t be real! I won’t concede! Never!”

  Li Junxian clambered to his feet, his entire body shaking. The Confucian Sect’s thousand-year dream, the lessons imparted to him by his master, and the resolve he had nurtured since he was a child could never be abandoned in a single day.

  “Wang Chong, I’ll never concede. Even if I fall, the Confucian Sect will have a successor. One day, the Harmonious World will come! No one can change this, not even you!”

  Covered in blood, Li Junxian propped his hands against the ground and tried to stand back up, but his body wavered and then fell back. The effects of the needles had passed, and Wang Chong now completely overwhelmed him in terms of strength.

  Chapter 1818 - Crumbling of Convictions!

  Chapter 1818: Crumbling of Convictions!

  Translated by: Hypersheep325

  Edited by: Michyrr

  Li Junxian had already lost the battle, but the Confucian Sect would continue to pass down its ideals and dreams. It would never lose!

  “Rotten! The Great Tang has been harmed exactly by these rotten ideals of yours!”

  Wang Chong’s eyes flashed with rage. Even at this stage, Li Junxian did not give up and was still thinking about staging a comeback and starting another militarist-Confucian conflict. Just how many times would this empire have to be destroyed, the hearts of its people torn asunder, before it could be put on the right path?

  Crack!

  No one saw how Wang Chong did it, but in a flash of light, he suddenly appeared in front of Li Junxian, his hand closing like a steel vise around Li Junxian’s neck and raising him into the air.

  “Senior Brother!”

  “Young Master!”

  “Wang Chong, release him!”

  The members of the Confucian Sect cried out in panic.

  But Li Junxian remained firm. Even though Wang Chong had him by the neck, he showed no sign of backing down.

  At this moment, when the tension was at its maximum…

  Bong!

  The ringing of a bell came from the depths of the Imperial Palace. Unlike other bells, this one had an extremely urgent tone to it.

  “Something terrible has happened!”

  Grand Tutor Pei Guangting stood up in alarm and turned around to look north to the Imperial Palace.

  There were two bells in the Imperial Palace that were rarely rung. The first was the Bell of Mountains and Rivers, rung only when Kings or Great Generals died. But very few people knew about the other bell, the Bell of the Gods of Land and Grain.

  This bell was even larger than the Bell of Mountains and Rivers, and even louder. A single strike of the bell could be heard from several hundred li away, and everyone in the capital region could hear it. It was only rung for the most urgent of crises and was a way for the Sage Emperor to summon his ministers.

  “This is the first time in the Sage Emperor’s reign that the Bell of the Gods of Land and Grain has been rung!”

  Grand Preceptor Zhan Zhongmi and Minister of War Zhangchou Jianqiong also stood up.

  Fifth Prince Li Heng was also alarmed. The Great Tang was at peace and its armies strong. Just what had happened that would make his father ring this bell?

  “Reporting!”

  As the crowd grew uneasy, a Golden Guard of the Inner Court rode out from the distance and began to make his way through the crowd.

  “Fifth Prince, Grand Tutor, Grand Preceptor, terrible news!” the Golden Guard called out as he dismounted and rushed into the training ground. “We’ve just learned that Caliph Mutasim III of the Arabian Empire has formally declared war against the Great Tang, summoning the soldiers of the ten-some countries around Arabia and combining them with his own for an army of three million, eight hundred thousand soldiers that is marching toward the Great Tang. Samarka
nd has been lost and Talas has been taken. Moreover, the Arabs secretly sent their vanguard ahead of them, disguising them as caravans, and infiltrated the Anxi Protectorate. The Anxi Protectorate army has been completely wiped out, and the Western Regions have been completely occupied by the Arabs!”

  Bang!

  This news immediately sent an uproar through the training ground, and as the spectators outside received the news, they also grew restless.

  “How could this be? Wasn’t the Arabian Empire already defeated?”

  “An army of three million, eight hundred thousand soldiers?! How could the Arabs have such a massive army? How are we going to stop such a massive force?”

  “The Anxi Protectorate army has been completely wiped out? How? I don’t believe it! That’s impossible!”

  The crowd began to panic.

  Too sudden!

  Whoosh!

  The flapping of wings came from the west. Wang Chong looked up and saw an energetic and agile messenger bird with golden claws descending toward him.

  The golden hoop around this messenger bird’s leg indicated that it carried an urgent report. His heart shivering, Wang Chong instinctively released Li Junxian and received the messenger bird.

  Upon opening the letter and reading the report, he felt his heart sink.

  The mood of the training ground instantly turned somber and tense.

  “Impossible! We signed a peace treaty with the Arabian Empire. Arabia disbanded several hundred thousand soldiers, and even Mutasim III’s sons and daughters became disciples of our Confucian Sect! How could Arabia declare war against the Great Tang and attack the Anxi Protectorate? There must be some mistake!

  “It can’t be Arabia!

  “I don’t believe it!”

  No one was more shocked than the leader of the Confucian Sect, Li Junxian. His instinctive reaction was to deny the veracity of the report. Amongst the foreign countries, Arabia had been the Confucian Sect’s greatest supporter. He had even personally met Caliph Mutasim III, and had seen his eagerness to be friends with the Great Tang and his approval for the idea of the Harmonious World.

  How could Arabia have attacked the Great Tang?

  “‘Impossible’? The Arabs have already advanced to the Western Regions, and you’re still saying that it’s impossible?”

  Wang Chong’s expression burned with hatred upon hearing Li Junxian’s words. His face pale, he threw the urgent report from the triangular gap in front of Li Junxian.

  “Look at the fine mess you’ve made! If not for the soldiers I left at the triangular gap serving to deter them, we would have already lost Qixi as well!”

  Wang Chong was filled with loathing. The Confucian Sect had singlehandedly ruined an excellent situation.

  If not for them, the Great Tang would have still been garrisoned in the distant Khorasan, and everything between Khorasan and the Cong Mountains would have been Tang territory. This would have served as the Great Tang’s largest barrier, but it was all over now.

  “Impossible! The Arabs can’t have gone back on their word! If they really wanted to deal with the Great Tang, why did they allow us to set up so many schools to teach the Tang language and teach Confucian classics…”

  Li Junxian was still passionately trying to argue. In his heart, he refused to believe that Arabia had betrayed the Great Tang.

  The Harmonious World was the dream that the numerous worthies and masters of the Confucian Sect had given their lives to realize. To reach this stage, the Confucian Sect had sacrificed so much blood and sweat. Even his master and senior brother had died for it. He himself had expended a great deal of time to meet all the various sovereigns and persuade them to accept the Confucian Sect and Confucian ideals, and the countries really had accepted them.

  The countries had reduced their armies and signed peace treaties. The ultimate ideals of the Confucian Sect had been on the verge of being realized, but now, it was said that the Arabs had attacked the Great Tang and even taken the Western Regions. How could he possibly accept this?

  There had to be a mistake! He would never believe it!

  Whoosh!

  At this moment, another messenger bird appeared from the west, and as the tension increased, the bird flew down to the white-robed girl and the other members of the Confucian Sect.

  Whoosh!

  Upon opening the letter and glancing at the report, the white-robed girl staggered, almost falling to her feet. The other members also turned ghastly pale. In the end, Sword Ghost took the letter from the white-robed girl and walked over to Li Junxian.

  Li Junxian was the leader of the Confucian Sect, and he needed to see the letter.

  “Young Master, terrible news!”

  Ignoring Wang Chong, Sword Ghost handed the letter over to Li Junxian.

  “Martial Uncle Zhao has sent a report. All of our schools in Arabia have been locked, and all our disciples… have been executed! Martial Uncle Zhao’s chances of survival are also very slim.”

  Sword Ghost’s lips trembled as he spoke.

  Arabia was the country farthest from the Great Tang, and amongst the countries, it was also the Confucian Sect’s greatest supporter, with the greatest number of schools. The Confucian Sect had held it up as a model of friendly relations.

  Amongst the various sovereigns, Mutasim III was on the best terms with Li Junxian. He had even given a loan to the Confucian Sect and used the power of the imperial household to spread Confucian teaching and have Arabs learn the Tang language.

  And as the model for Harmonious World, Arabia had also been the recipient of many disciples from the Confucian Sect. It had sent four of its elders, nearly one hundred other eminent Confucians, and several thousand Confucian scholars.

  All of these people had been executed!

  Bang!

  Sword Ghost’s words were like a bolt of lightning crashing down on Li Junxian’s head.

  How could this be possible?!

  Li Junxian instinctively snatched the letter out of Sword Ghost’s hands. The letter had been written in great haste, its writer clearly in grave danger. At that moment, Li Junxian almost stopped breathing.

  “Impossible!!!”

  At this moment, tens of thousands of voices seemed to be resounding through Li Junxian’s mind.

  His eyes went wide, his face went pale, and his body began to sway, almost falling down. In this battle, no matter how grim the situation had been, even when Wang Chong had taken the Crown of Confucius and battered him again and again into the dust, Li Junxian had never given up.

  No matter how much Wang Chong had humiliated him, he had persisted, but upon seeing this letter, Li Junxian felt all the strength in his body instantly draining away. He could barely keep himself standing.

  Crack! Something in Li Junxian’s mind seemed to break.

  “Arabia… Martial Uncle Zhao… Master…”

  As Li Junxian mumbled these words, he suddenly began to cry.

  Li Junxian’s first reaction upon reading the letter was to deny it, to treat it as a forgery. But the letter had the special mark of the Confucian Sect, and on the last page was the unique seal of his martial uncle Zhao Wenhan. These were not things that could be forged.

  Arabia had attacked the Great Tang and killed all the members of the Confucian Sect within its borders… This was all real.

  Deep within his heart, those convictions he had so staunchly cleaved to suddenly collapsed into a pile of rubble.

  Chapter 1819 - Remorse, Repentance!

  Chapter 1819: Remorse, Repentance!Translated by: Hypersheep325

  Edited by: Michyrr“How could it be… how could it be… Why is it like this?!”Li Junxian had his hands propping up his body against the ground as he muttered to himself and wept. At this moment, he had truly been defeated, but not by Wang Chong. Reality had defeated him! He finally understood that the Confucian Sect’s thousand-year dream that they had sacrificed so much to realize, the Harmonious World, had utterly failed.“Li Junxian, you were tru
ly wrong. Look around you! Look at all these people who trusted you! You’ve failed all of them!”Wang Chong’s icy voice came from overhead. He looked down on the dejected Li Junxian, but he was in no mood for further taunts and jeers. The militarist-Confucian conflict was the shame of the entire empire!“I don’t have time to argue with you! Li Junxian, just sit there and reflect! If this war goes badly, a hundred deaths won’t be enough to redeem you and the Confucian Sect!”With these last hatred-ridden words, Wang Chong left with his entourage.The war had begun, so as a commander, he needed to get ready to head to the front lines. As for Li Junxian, he had no time for him.Wang Chong’s words seemed to drain the last vestiges of Li Junxian’s strength, and he dropped limply to the ground, his eyes dim.“Young Master!”Sword Ghost hastily rushed up to help Li Junxian, but Li Junxian couldn’t seem to hear him.“Was I wrong? Was I really wrong…”Countless thoughts surged through Li Junxian’s mind as he watched Wang Chong leave.Suddenly, Li Junxian recalled something Wang Chong had once said. ‘A country, while vast, is certain to die if it engages in too many wars. A country, while wealthy, is certain to be in peril if it forgets war.’ He recalled how Wang Chong had again and again made his view loudly known in the militarist-Confucian conflict, about how he had set up those martial arts schools across the country, about how he had ordered his army to the border in rage to exterminate the eight thousand Hu who had been complicit in the massacre, how he had argued with bloodshot eyes with Li Junxian… Various memories appeared in Li Junxian’s mind, and suddenly, he was consumed by remorse and regret.At that moment, Li Junxian understood that he had truly been wrong!That youth who was not even properly an adult had seen through everything!Li Junxian and the members of the Confucian Sect could only wallow in their dejection, staring silently as Wang Chong departed.……Rumble!As the capital of the Great Tang was in an uproar, far to the west, the drums of war thundered. From the Arabian capital of Baghdad all the way past the Cong Mountains to Suiye, the world was shaking. Countless Arab soldiers accompanied by numerous Governors and Deputy Governors were advancing in an endless stream toward the Western Regions.Neigh!A horse neighed as an armored Arab horseman raised a barbed whip and cracked it upon the back of a Arab horseman carrying supplies. The massive force of the blow traveled through his armor and caused the horseman to tremble in pain.As the whip drew back, it revealed the deep mark left on the tough armor.“Faster, faster! All of you, hurry up! If any of you end up causing a delay in the advance, everyone will be executed!” the officer harshly called out, his eyes as cold and sharp as swords as they looked around at the constantly advancing Arabs.Amongst these people were elite Arab cavalry drawn from the various provinces of the empire, militia who had just been recruited and were still in basic training, and also massive giants covered in armor and carrying large boxes on their backs. Each step these giants took would cause the earth to shake.Roooar!In front of these giants were Arabs who were much larger than ordinary Arabs, and each of them rode an armored Behemoth eight to nine meters tall. These Behemoths were much smaller than those who had appeared at the Battle of Talas, but they had collars around their necks and seemed to share a mutual understanding with the riders on their backs, appearing to have gone through a long period of training. Farther ahead were herds of camels, massive wagons of weapons, herds of cows and sheep… All of them were marching day and night, advancing ever closer to the eastern world.Pa! Pa! Pa!The cracks of whips resounded all across the vast convoy. There were numerous officers in charge of overseeing this march.“Hurry up! To serve the empire is an incredible honor!”“The True God will protect us! In the future, you and your descendants will all be proud that you participated in the empire’s subjugation of the eastern world!”“Pacify the east and conquer the infidels, and bring all the continent under the rule of the Caliph! And through your efforts, you will also win your freedom!”“To help the empire unite the eastern world and complete the final conquest is your most sublime duty as soldiers, your most glorious feat!”“The supreme commander this time is the legend of the empire, Hierophant Khatabah! He will pray for your souls! Anyone who retreats in battle will have their children made eternal laughingstocks, but those who boldly advance and die will be praised by the people of the empire for all time as true warriors!”Harsh cries accompanied by cracking whips spurred the Arabs to advance with an unstoppable momentum.And far above this vast and unending army, a black feather about the size of a thumbnail drifted down. Above it, an energetic Arabian hunting falcon flapped its wings, leaving a visible ripple in the air.Farther above it, hundreds of hunting falcons flew here and there, constantly relaying information.“The day is finally here!”In the center of the army, a slender figure rode atop a stalwart black Arabian steed, his sharp eyes surveying the area in front of him.Abu Muslim!The once-supreme Governor of the East had finally begun to make his way back to the east.The Battle of Talas was the greatest defeat in Abu Muslim’s life and his greatest disgrace. His defeat had allowed the soldiers of the east to advance westward, occupying Samarkand and then Khorasan, and caused the empire to suffer the unprecedented loss of one million soldiers.If Abu Muslim did not wash off this shame, he would have a permanent place in the empire’s hall of shame, become its most defeated Governor. Not even death would allow him to escape, and future generations would scoff at his name. For an ambitious commander like him, such a fate was even more unacceptable than death.For this eastern expedition, many in the empire had objected to placing Abu Muslim in an important post, but the Hierophant had still elected to use him, having him stand guard in the center of the army and preside over the overall advance.Khatabah explained that Abu Muslim was still the Governor with the greatest understanding of the eastern world, so he would give him one more chance, his final chance.“The powerful eastern world, and also… Wang Chong! This time, I will personally lead the army to defeat you and complete the final conquest! This time… I will never retreat!”Abu Muslim gazed at the eastern horizon, where distant fires and plumes of smoke rose in the distance, and his eyes brimmed with resolve.Rumble!In the rear of the army, the drums thundered.Atop a massive elephant Behemoth, more than sixty meters tall, was a golden domed tent. It appeared holy, revered, and dazzling, like the residence of a god.Whoosh!An Arabian hunting falcon descended into the tent and was quickly received by a powerful and armored hand.“Hierophant, Gabas has sent a report from the front line. The vanguard under his command succeeded with their ambush and has eliminated the garrison army in the Western Regions. Gabas led Rafas and Raed and succeeded in killing two enemy commanders. The remaining one fled with heavy injuries. As it was late at night, Gabas did not pursue!“In addition, following the Hierophant’s orders, Talas has already been captured, but the Tang city lord seemed to have sensed the danger, immediately vanishing as soon as we breached the walls.“Our men have full control of Talas, and our supplies of grain and weapons have already been moved into the city and placed under heavy guard.“Gabas says that he still has strength to advance farther east, but Ü-Tsang and the Western Turkic Khaganate bordering the Western Regions have not made their intentions clear. Gabas has already drawn back his army and begun to set up fortifications while awaiting the Hierophant’s order!”The Arab general, his body covered in black armor decorated with golden holy flames, a storm of energy swirling around his body, bowed and offered the letter.The golden holy flames were the mark of Hierophant Khatabah’s personal soldiers. When Khatabah was conquering the world, his Sacred Flame Cavalry had massacred entire cities and been nigh invincible, forging a legend that was known across all of Arabia.Even now, there were still many Governors and Deputy Governors who attempted to imitate the Hierophant’s army. They had established powerful armies, but all of Arabia still regarded Khatabah’s army as the strongest.The massive tent was quiet. Across from the Arab general, Hierophant Khatabah and the High Priest sat side by side, one white and one black, forming a stark contrast.