The Human Emperor c1-2382

by Huangfu Qi (皇甫奇)

  Abusi’s eyes shone with a profound light.

  “Ah?!”

  Chuluohou was startled by this claim.

  Just when he was about to ask, he suddenly understood why Abusi had said this.

  “This is…?”

  Chuluohou turned to his right, in the direction of the eastern Turkic steppe. Hwooo! A fierce gale swept over the lush grass toward the Great Tang.

  This was no ordinary wind!

  Chuluohou turned grave. Rather than a natural wind, this was something created by a disturbance in the air.

  As this thought passed through his mind, he heard a soft rustling, coming from the very edge of his vision.

  At the start, it was a very weak vibration, but it rapidly intensified until the entire steppe seemed to be shaking like an ocean. A deafening roar came from the horizon.

  “Enemy attack! It’s the Arab cavalry!”

  A cry of alarm flew across the battlefield like an arrow, immediately causing unease and turmoil in the rear, particularly amongst the powerless craftsmen and logistics members.

  A massive number of Arab soldiers were engaged at the front, so no one had expected another force of Arab cavalry to come around and strike at the rear. An attack from the rear at a time like this would have unthinkable consequences.

  The potential danger and unease made even the Tang soldiers battling the Arabs worried.

  Su Hanshan, Xianyu Zhongtong, Li Siye, Cheng Qianli… all of these generals turned to look in the direction of the steppe.

  “Kiiill!”

  A few moments later, a black line appeared on the horizon. It quickly expanded into a steel flood of thousands of Arab cavalry, all of them shouting and roaring.

  The dust behind them rose more than one hundred feet into the air.

  Bang!

  The most excited by this development were none other than the Arab cavalry, who exploded with cheers.

  “Hierophant!”

  That trusted general on the back of the elephant Behemoth saw the approaching army and turned to Khatabah.

  He finally understood why the Hierophant had called his advice to reinforce Adnan unnecessary.

  So the Hierophant already had plans! the general said to himself.

  Khatabah remained motionless and cold.

  “Finally here…”

  This eastern empire was undoubtedly the strongest foe the Arabian Empire had ever encountered, but no matter how strong it was, it could not escape this conquest. Even though both sides were battling fiercely and the Arabs had suffered innumerable losses, everything was still under his control.

  The trap had been laid. It was now time to see how the Great Tang reacted.

  The more the prey struggled, the greater the pain it would feel, and in the end, it would still not be able to escape its death. Moreover, this would not be the last predicament the Tang would face.

  ……

  Clang!

  As that army got closer and closer, Tongluo Great General Abusi suddenly took out his sword and raised it high in the air, the clanging of his sword resounding over the battlefield.

  “Get ready! Attack!”

  With few words and few soldiers, rumble! Abusi charged out from the rear of the Tang army toward the Arab cavalry approaching from the steppe.

  Behind him, the ten thousand Tongluo Cavalry followed.

  Behind them were ten thousand reserve Tongluo Cavalry. While they were not as strong as the regular Tongluo Cavalry, they were still much stronger than ordinary cavalry.

  Clang!

  Three bronze halos appeared in succession, bursting out from Abusi’s feet and spreading across his entire force.

  Tongluo Great General Abusi rode forth with his ten thousand Tongluo Cavalry and his reserve forces, surging forward like a frenzied dragon toward that Arab force ten times their size riding out from the Turkic steppe.

  Chapter 1872 - Surrounding the Tongluo!

  Chapter 1872: Surrounding the Tongluo!

  Translated by: Hypersheep325

  Edited by: Michyrr

  Rumble! Dust churned through the air as the Tongluo Cavalry charged forward with shocking momentum.

  This was the first time since the start of this battle that the Great Tang had left its defense line to take the battle to the enemy.

  Let alone the sea of Arab cavalry on the steppe, even Khatabah couldn’t help but slightly frown at this surprising development.

  Sixty thousand feet, fifty thousand feet, forty thousand feet!

  As the distance shrank, Abusi and his Tongluo Cavalry only got faster and faster.

  The Tongluo did not exceed ten thousand, and they were invincible above ten thousand!

  This was no mere saying, but a principle that had been established by the Tongluo through hard work, blood and fire, and the corpses of countless foes. No matter who their opponent was, even if it was ten times their number, the Tongluo would never retreat, never show fear.

  This was the conviction of the Tongluo!

  “Kill!”

  With a heaven-shaking roar, the Tongluo Cavalry pulled out their swords, their bright halos booming and clattering, and charged into the steppe like a primordial beast.

  The fabric of space itself shuddered, and the world dimmed.

  As the Arab cavalry charged over, they spotted the twenty thousand Tongluo Cavalry and exploded with killing intent.

  The Arabs had gone to great lengths to conceal this surprise attack, taking a long detour through the Turkic steppe. And they had done all this precisely to catch the Great Tang off guard.

  At this moment, they were a tiger let out of its cage, at the peak of their power.

  For them, the Tongluo Cavalry were nothing but lambs to the slaughter. Most importantly, in this war, the Tang had been hiding behind their layers of steel walls like a turtle in its shell.

  In this sort of environment, the Arabs could display none of their invincible might. As a nation of riders, the king of the desert, they had been longing for an engagement like this, a simple and upright clash of cavalry without any tricks.

  “Everyone, hear my order! Kill them all!

  “Now is the moment to subjugate the eastern world!

  “Let them witness the power of the Arab cavalry!”

  Leading the army was a Governor from a distant province on the Arabian border. He unsheathed his savage scimitar and bellowed, and the two-hundred-thousand-some Arab cavalry roared in reply.

  “Kill!”

  The vast sea of Arab cavalry riding out from the Eastern Turkic steppe shot forward like a black lightning bolt, wrapped in killing intent as they charged at the twenty thousand Tongluo Cavalry.

  Closer!

  Even closer!

  Boom!

  Like a massive wave crashing against the shore, the starkly contrasting forces of the Great Tang and Arabia slammed together.

  “Ah!”

  Screams tore through the air as countless cavalry were knocked flying by the terrifying force of the collision, tossed around helplessly like bits of paper.

  Weapon clashed against weapon while warhorse bashed into warhorse, making it impossible to distinguish friend from foe. One could see the enemy wherever one looked. Plush! Plush! The sounds of blades cutting into flesh also filled the air.

  After a seemingly interminable second, one in which countless collisions occurred and large numbers of people were knocked off their horses, finally…

  Neigh!

  Boom! Countless cavalry screamed as they were knocked into the air, and the stalemate was broken.

  With Tongluo Great General Abusi serving as the tip, the twenty thousand Tongluo Cavalry plunged like a sword into the two hundred thousand cavalry, piercing straight through their formation with horrifying force.

  Rumble! Countless Arab cavalry were knocked away. In this direct clash of cavalry, the Tongluo Cavalry had displayed their formidable power, using overwhelming strength to pierce straight through the Arab cavalry.

  Three t
housand, five thousand, seven thousand, nine thousand… swaths of the Arab cavalry were cut down under the edge of the Tongluo Cavalry, none of them able to stop their mass charge.

  Arab cavalry continued to fearlessly charge in, but they were all scattered and slain by the Tongluo Cavalry.

  All resistance and attempts to counterattack were futile.

  When the Tongluo Cavalry reached peak momentum, they were simply unstoppable.

  Shock! Incomparable shock!

  All the Arab cavalry were stunned by these bronze-armored cavalry, and also extremely afraid. They had never imagined that the eastern world could possess such powerful cavalry. There were clearly only twenty thousand of them, but they had more charging power than an army of two hundred thousand.

  On the other end, the Arab Governors and Deputy Governors who were watching this battle were also deeply stunned.

  “How could this be? How could they be this powerful?” a Deputy Governor muttered as he stared.

  The greatest advantage the two hundred thousand cavalry had was surprise. All of the Tang army had been drawn into the battle on the front line, so the two hundred thousand cavalry coming out of the Turkic steppe should have been enough to make the Tang army collapse. But what had happened was completely different from what they had expected.

  In the distance, Abusi remained cold and callous, and the twenty thousand Tongluo Cavalry were disciplined, moving like a most intricate and most frightening killing machine. After piercing through the Arab army, they suddenly turned around and plunged into the Arab army again, causing chaos and encountering no resistance wherever they went.

  Once! Twice! Thrice!

  Abusi and his Tongluo Cavalry were brimming with energy as they constantly charged in and out of the two hundred thousand Arab cavalry.

  Despite the vast difference in numbers, the outnumbered side had the upper hand.

  “Damn! Die! Die for me!”

  “Get in there!”

  “Shameful! All of you, charge!”

  The Arab generals gnashed their teeth in fury. The Arab cavalry continued to charge in, but it was like throwing an egg at a stone. All that resulted was showers of limbs dropping from the air and gruesome corpses carpeting the landscape.

  Ever since the Sage Emperor had withdrawn into the palace and ceased to personally campaign, the Tongluo Cavalry had lost its stage. This was the first time in a long while that the Tongluo Cavalry had a chance to display its peak strength in the public eye.

  Just when it seemed like the two hundred thousand cavalry were about to fall apart and retreat, a furious roar rang out.

  “Bastard! You all deserve execution!

  “First army group, third army group, seventh army group! Coordinate your movements! Don’t follow them! Scatter! I want all of you to disperse!

  “The rest of you, follow me!”

  In the middle of the army, a stalwart Arab Governor brimming with energy stared at Abusi, his eyes burning with rage. As he shouted a string of orders, many generals gathered around him.

  At the same time, the panicked Arab cavalry seemed to be energized, and they swiftly composed themselves.

  The orders of that Arab Governor had the disorderly Arab cavalry scattering like a kaleidoscope, splitting off into various groups instead of chasing the Tongluo Cavalry.

  Buzz!

  As Abusi led his soldiers to defeat another group of Arab cavalry, he suddenly realized that all the Arab cavalry had dispersed, leaving a large vacant region around him.

  “I’ve finally encountered a real foe!”

  Abusi pulled on the reins of his horse and turned to that Arab Governor.

  That he was able to so quickly salvage the disorderly army showed that this Arab Governor was no weakling. There was no doubt that the Tongluo Cavalry had run into an actual opponent.

  This is fine too! Let’s fight to our heart’s content! Abusi said to himself.

  Though this was unexpected, given the size of the Arabian Empire, it had to have some extraordinary individuals. Moreover, the Arabs had sent all their elites for this war, and there would inevitably be outstanding generals in their ranks.

  And this Arab Governor was one of them.

  But Abusi felt no fear, only an intense desire to fight. After spending so long in the capital, only now was he considered a true general.

  The Tongluo lived to fight, and only now could they be considered authentic warriors!

  “Kill!”

  With this single word, Abusi led his army in a fearless charge toward that Arab Governor’s position.

  On the other side, that Arab Governor’s eyes burned with rage.

  “Go!”

  With this one order, the temperature suddenly soared. A moment later, countless Arab cavalry charged at the Tongluo Cavalry.

  Space seemed to freeze, as did time.

  Rumble!

  A moment later, the two armies fiercely clashed.

  “‘This enemy is too smart! Great General has been held down!”

  On the other side, an important member of the Bureau of Military Personnel standing next to King Song looked away from the battlefield with extreme unease.

  “The Tongluo Cavalry are peerless when it comes to combat prowess, but the enemy has far more soldiers than the Tongluo Cavalry. As long as they can successfully organize themselves, they can still pose a major threat to the Tongluo Cavalry.

  “In the current circumstances, even if Great General Abusi can win, it will take some time.”

  The Central Plains had also sent all their elites for this war. At this stage in the battle, even Abusi’s Tongluo Cavalry had joined the battle. This was the last of the Great Tang’s forces, and there would be no other support.

  More importantly, despite the massive casualties the Arabs had suffered, they still had their primary force, and tens of thousands of Arab cavalry continued to pour in. Although these waves of cavalry had yet to break the defense line, as long as they kept coming, the defense line would eventually fall.

  Chapter 1873 - Wang Chong's Predicament!

  Chapter 1873: Wang Chong’s Predicament!

  Translated by: Hypersheep325

  Edited by: Michyrr

  King Song gave a long sigh. He naturally understood the situation. If another army attacked, the Great Tang would probably suffer a major defeat.

  But not even King Song could do anything about the current situation. He almost subconsciously turned to look at the youthful figure mounted atop the White-hoofed Shadow.

  Since the start of the battle, Wang Chong had been seated motionless on the horse, his body entirely devoid of energy. Although King Song didn’t know the exact details, King Song could see that Wang Chong was in his own dangerous battle.

  “Everything that can be done has been done. All six-hundred-thousand-some soldiers have been deployed. Wang Chong, it’s all up to you!” King Song softly muttered, his brow tinged with deep concern.

  King Song had no idea what Wang Chong was planning, but there was one thing he was sure of. Despite the many dangers the Great Tang had faced, everything had been within Wang Chong’s expectations.

  Even the Arab cavalry riding out of the steppe had been predicted. They had been why Abusi’s Tongluo Cavalry had remained in reserve all this time.

  It was precisely to deal with this sort of scenario.

  In the war of the southwest, the Battle of Talas, and the Rebellion of the Three Princes, Wang Chong had used his intelligence and daring to reverse the tides again and again, resolving crisis after crisis for the Great Tang. Now that the empire faced an unprecedented battle of annihilation, only Wang Chong could lead the Great Tang out of this predicament.

  While King Song worried, in another spacetime, in the mental world, the battle between Wang Chong and the High Priest had intensified to a white-hot level.

  A battle between warriors would only destroy the fleshly body, but a battle between Psychic Energy practitioners would annihilate the soul, wiping away any
traces one had on this world.

  Rumble! Black-violet bolts of lightning linked together into balls of electricity that flew over a seething black ocean. Each ball of lightning contained pure destructive power.

  This was a dangerous mental world, a forbidden zone!

  This was the sealing world created by the High Priest!

  Every mental world was different. This one was seemingly infinite, and every inch of it was packed with destructive power.

  “Truly formidable, Child of Destruction, to last for so long in my ‘Forbidden Art Sea’!”

  The High Priest’s voice resounded over the world. Above the roiling black sea stood the High Priest in his black robe, walking on the water, the waves rising to support his feet.

  He was the absolute hegemon of this world.

  “The Forbidden Art Sea is an ancient technique used by a long-lost civilization to deal with powerful Psychic Energy practitioners who refused to be restrained. In that bygone era, it was an extremely popular art. In the western world, the dwindling number of Psychic Energy practitioners has much to do with the Forbidden Art Sea. After all, the western world was once a playground for Psychic Energy Practitioners!”

  The High Priest confidently strode across the sea as he spoke astonishing tales about the deeds of ancient empires and civilizations.

  The continent had been home to many civilizations, but these matters of the ancient past had long ago vanished, leaving behind only bits and pieces that those who came after could only speculate about.

  But the High Priest spoke as if these lost civilizations were no secret to him. It was impossible to say just how many more things he was hiding.

  The High Priest’s rumbling voice was cold and without emotion as it continued to resound over the world.

  “The Forbidden Art Sea is not a sea, but it is also not an illusion. It is formed from tens of thousands of psychic arts. The more forbidden psychic arts it contains, the greater the world is, and the greater its power. Its strength is far greater than that of any other mental domain or world. Unless you completely destroy this place and all the arts within it, you can never leave. Thus, Child of Destruction, you cannot escape!”

  With these last words, the High Priest’s gaze shot across the gloomy sky toward that young figure, floating like a burning sun.