The Human Emperor c1-2382

by Huangfu Qi (皇甫奇)

  Translated by: Hypersheep325

  Edited by: Michyrr

  “Mm?”

  Wang Chong’s eyes flashed. In a corner of the Forbidden Art Sea, he had glimpsed a black-robed figure, the last shred of the High Priest’s mind. He immediately moved over to that corner, but he was too late. The High Priest was gone.

  A dark cloud of worry appeared on Wang Chong’s brow.

  His stellar universe had already engulfed this area, and there was nothing that the universe could not hold. Logically, even if the last sliver of the High Priest’s soul had wanted to escape, it should not have escaped Wang Chong’s notice, but he really had managed to escape.

  “It seems that he still has many secrets! This man… is far too mysterious!”

  Wang Chong recalled the High Priest’s parting words. For a moment, he even believed that this ‘High Priest’ was just a substitute and that he had not killed the real one. Or else that this High Priest was just an avatar being commanded by another.

  But these were merely speculations, and Wang Chong soon regained his composure.

  “Regardless, he no longer poses a threat for this war!” Wang Chong quietly said to himself.

  Although the enemy had escaped, the strike of the stellar universe had left him heavily injured, even on the verge of death. There was no question about this. In other words, no matter how many more secrets the ‘High Priest’ had, Wang Chong had used his strength to ‘eliminate’ him from the battlefield.

  With these thoughts in mind, Wang Chong quickly calmed down.

  “It’s time to leave!”

  The situation on the battlefield was constantly shifting. Though he had defeated the High Priest and eliminated this formidable threat, Wang Chong could already sense that the battle was beginning to turn against the Great Tang.

  Buzz!

  All the suns, nebulas, and black holes disappeared as Wang Chong withdrew his stellar universe, and his mind began to withdraw back into his own body.

  “Kiiill!”

  As Wang Chong opened his eyes, his ears were greeted with heaven-shaking roars. He immediately saw that the battlefield was engulfed in intense fighting, and in the distance, he spotted the bedraggled figure of Li Junxian fearlessly leading the Confucian Sect in stopping the Arab forces from joining their ‘V’.

  The Arabs were continuing to build up their advantage, and Li Junxian’s location was now the floodgate. The moment the Confucian Sect fell, the entire Tang defense line would collapse, and even Wang Zhongsi, Zhangchou Jianqiong, Gao Xianzhi, and the other Great Generals would be in dire straits.

  The situation was precarious and extremely grim for the Great Tang!

  “Milord!”

  A general near Wang Chong cried out in elation, the first to realize that Wang Chong had ‘awoken’. The Arabs were simply too numerous, and at this stage in the battle, everyone was truly helpless as to what to do.

  Wang Chong was the supreme commander of this army, and the news that he had awoken was truly worth celebrating.

  “Mm.”

  Wang Chong gave a slight nod that instantly calmed down the nervous general.

  “There’s no need to worry. I have a plan!”

  As Wang Chong spoke, he glanced at the distant Khatabah. Based on his original plan, the Arabs should have never been able to push past his steel defense line, regardless of their numbers.

  There was no doubt that this was all the work of Khatabah!

  Arabia was not a country that placed much emphasis on military strategy, but this did not mean that it did not have any formidable strategists. It was obvious that, just like Wang Chong, Khatabah, beneath his calm exterior, had been laying down plans this entire time.

  Others might have been surprised by this, but not Wang Chong.

  If he didn’t have this ability, he would have let down his title as the Arabian Empire’s most legendary existence!

  “Alas, you’re just a little lacking!”

  Wang Chong coldly chuckled, a sharp gleam in his eyes.

  “Su Hanshan, cover with the ballistae! Aim to the front and right, thirty-five degrees, a distance of three hundred and forty-five! Aim well and shoot in unison!”

  Rumble! A powerful mental wave entered Su Hanshan’s mind.

  “Your Highness!”

  Su Hanshan was startled, a hint of happiness flashing in his eyes.

  “Adjust to an angle of thirty-five degrees and a distance of three hundred and forty-five! Release!”

  Bang!

  The air exploded, gears groaning as ballista bolts were unleashed like raging dragons. And their target… was not the Arab cavalry fighting the Confucian Sect, nor was it the God’s Ordained Cavalry or Adnan’s Savage Fang Army. Rather, it was an unremarkable area on the right flank.

  At present, this area seemed to have no connection to the rest of the battlefield.

  “Aaah!” As the ballista bolts descended, a force of around one thousand Arab cavalry was wiped out.

  The bodies of humans and horses dropped to the ground.

  Accuracy!

  This was no problem for master archers, but firing a ballista was not so easy. This was particularly the case in a melee where friend and foe were mixed together. Trying to strike the enemy while not injuring one’s own side was extremely difficult.

  In addition, in order to ensure accuracy, firing speed had to slow down. Amongst the tens of thousands of ballista soldiers under Su Hanshan’s command, only a small group was capable of this feat.

  But this small group was enough for Wang Chong’s needs.

  As those thousand-some Arab cavalry were brought down, two groups of soldiers on the Great Tang side suddenly realized that there was no barrier between them, and the two sides immediately merged.

  “Kouluoxisi!” (Kill)

  A sharp cry rang out from the battlefield, not in the Han language or in any Hu language, but a completely different one. Even the distant Su Hanshan who had assisted them was taken aback.

  “Eastern Islanders!”

  As someone who had interacted with Miyasame Ayaka before, Su Hanshan immediately recognized the language.

  Upon returning from the east, Xue Qianjun had brought back both his original army and a force of tens of thousands of elites from the Eastern Islands. These people were not equipped as well as the Tang soldiers, and their fighting power was somewhat lacking. Once the battle began, they had suffered significant losses.

  But these people were fearless. Once they received an order, they would suicidally throw themselves into completing it, even more dauntlessly than the Arabs.

  “Miyasame, order the army to attack the enemy on the left flank!” Wang Chong immediately sent a mental wave toward the armored general commanding the Eastern Islanders.

  “Yes!” the general respectfully replied. It was none other than Miyasame Ayaka.

  When Xue Qianjun returned with this army of Eastern Islanders, Wang Chong had immediately given them to Miyasame Ayaka to command, as they shared the same homeland. Rumble! The Eastern Island soldiers charged heedlessly toward the southeast, throwing back another force of Arab cavalry.

  The Tang soldiers to the left and right immediately seized this chance, closing in on both sides to surround the Arabs from three sides, swiftly crushing this force before moving on to a nearby Arab force.

  With one order, the balance of power on the right flank was overturned. The six hundred thousand soldiers had all been deployed on the battlefield, and there had been no more soldiers to go around, but under Wang Chong’s direction, a force of around ten thousand men had been freed up, and it was growing in number.

  This development came as a great shock to generals on both sides, Arab and Tang.

  “Hurry up and kill those Confucians! Crush them!”

  Adnan roared as he swung his saber at Wang Zhongsi.

  He had campaigned with Khatabah for many years, and when this force of Tang soldiers was freed up, Adnan instinctively sensed their strategic object
ive and felt endangered.

  “Hmph! Too late!”

  Wang Chong heard Adnan’s voice and snorted. This battle was a contest between him and Khatabah. What right did a nobody like Adnan have to participate? A plan put into motion could not be stopped. This was a basic and necessary skill for a top-class commander.

  “Giant ballistae, hear my order! Change targets! Units, three, four, six, eight […] thirty, concentrate on the third rhino Behemoth! Release!”

  Wang Chong’s mental wave swept out, instantly communicating with the several dozen giant ballistae. These giant ballistae were divided into teams and were firing at various Behemoths, but when they received Wang Chong’s order, they all targeted a single rhino Behemoth.

  Boomboomboom!

  There was a great boom that even drowned out the howl of tens of thousands of ballista bolts, and those long giant ballista bolts thudded into the head of that rhino Behemoth.

  Raaaah!

  With a tragic howl and one strike from the Behemoth Slayer atop the Behemoth, the massive beast staggered and fell, collapsing onto the army of Arab soldiers to the right of the Confucian Sect.

  “Not good! A Behemoth’s coming!”

  “Retreat! Retreat!”

  The Arab cavalry widened their eyes in fear.

  The Behemoth Army was an allied force, and so all of them had been focused on dealing with the Confucian Sect experts, not expecting a sudden development from this angle.

  The massive body of the Behemoth was certain to crush anyone beneath it.

  Boom! The soldiers scattered in panic, but on this packed battlefield, escaping was easier said than done.

  Kaboom! The howling Behemoth’s body crashed down.

  “Ah!”

  The pale-faced Arab cavalry only had time to scream before their lives were snuffed out by the immense weight of the Behemoth. The earth shuddered and groaned as four to five thousand Arab cavalry were pulverized.

  At the same time, under Wang Chong’s command, another force of Tang soldiers had been freed up on the left flank. Together with Miyasame Ayaka’s army of ten-thousand-some soldiers, they attacked the V from the left and right.

  In the space of a few seconds, the situation had reversed. Not only had the Nine Dragon Army smoothly escaped being encircled, it was now the two flanking Arab armies, God’s Ordained Cavalry, and the Savage Fang Army that were in danger.

  Chapter 1880 - The End of the High Priest!

  Chapter 1880: The End of the High Priest!

  Translated by: Hypersheep325

  Edited by: Michyrr

  “Retreat! Hurry and retreat!”

  “Prepare to defend!”

  “Hurry and send reinforcements! Stop them!”

  At the intersection of the ‘V’, the Arab forces were in panic. This development was clearly something they had not anticipated.

  “Young Master! Our army is coming! We’re saved!”

  Sword Ghost, his body covered in wounds and blood, grabbed Li Junxian in joy.

  For generations, the Confucian Sect’s goal had been to stop war, but this time, none of them could escape it.

  The Confucian Sect had made the mistake, so the Confucian Sect had to bear the consequences. When the center was on the verge of collapsing, everyone had heard Li Junxian’s order and charged into the front line without the slightest hesitation, each of them ready to die in battle.

  In this fierce battle against ten times their number, the Confucian Sect had sacrificed much, with many of their martial brothers falling under the hooves of the Arabian steeds, but in the end, they had managed to hold out until reinforcements arrived.

  “The battle’s not over, so it’s not yet time to relax. Gather all our members and get ready to deploy elsewhere!”

  Li Junxian panted for breath as he extracted his sword from the chest of an Arab general.

  The holy sword of the Confucian school was drenched in blood, as was Li Junxian’s snow-white robe. ‘A gentleman does not kill.’ From the first-generation leader of the Confucian Sect until now, Li Junxian was probably the first leader of the Confucian Sect to enter the battlefield like a general and stain his hands with blood. He had killed numerous Arab horsemen in this battle.

  A fierce gust of wind carried with it the thick scent of blood. Li Junxian raised his head, his expression so calm that it seemed numb. Those eyes that were once dazzlingly sharp and brimming with energy were like ancient wells, devoid of both happiness and sorrow.

  “Senior Brother!”

  Cracks resounded in the air as the white-robed girl, Elder Song, Bamboo Mirror, and the other experts of the Confucian Sect gathered around Li Junxian. When she saw Li Junxian’s eyes, the white-robed girl began to tear up, her heart aching. The Confucian Sect had lost more than half its members in this battle, and the survivors were almost all wounded.

  It would be a very long time until the Confucian Sect could completely recover.

  But what made her heart ache the most was her senior brother. Her senior brother had always been brimming with fighting intent. She had never once seen him like this before.

  “Junior Sister, what do you think… After killing so many people, were we right or wrong? The Harmonious World… was it right or wrong?” Li Junxian said, his voice somewhat hoarse.

  The white-robed girl was taken aback by these words.

  Li Junxian shook his head and said no more. He still had a battle to fight, but never before had he been so confused. The Confucian Sect emphasized ‘stopping killing’ and ‘no killing’, but from the moment they stepped into the northwest, he and the Confucian Sect had gone against the principles that had guided the Confucian Sect for more than a thousand years.

  As someone who had defied the ideals of the Confucian Sect, from a certain perspective, he was no longer a member.

  “Senior Brother, you’re not the one that’s wrong, nor are we wrong. It’s the world that’s wrong! This is a world of killing, where the strong eat the weak. It’s not worth saving, nor is it worth our sacrifice.”

  The white-robed girl supported Li Junxian by the arm as she spoke, a pained look on her face.

  This matter was originally unrelated to them, but they had ended up paying an enormous price, both her master and her senior brother. As a girl, she had never had much interest in all these things. She had only remained to accompany her senior brother.

  “Wrong is wrong! It was because of us that this great loss of life occurred!”

  Li Junxian shook his head, sorrow in his eyes. Instinctively, he turned toward the young figure on the White-hoofed Shadow.

  “Perhaps our method was wrong, or perhaps he was right. He is the only one who can do what we cannot!”

  Elder Song, Sword Ghost, and the other Confucian Sect experts fell silent.

  A complicated look appeared in Li Junxian’s eyes.

  He had failed to protect the Central Plains, as had the Confucian Sect, but Wang Chong had the ability. Though the two had regarded themselves as enemies, Li Junxian was beginning to more and more keenly sense that Wang Chong was the person who could truly realize the Harmonious World.

  Even if his methods were completely different from those of the Confucian Sect!

  Clang!

  As these thoughts passed through his mind, Li Junxian raised his sword and charged forward.

  “Kill!”

  Sword Ghost and the others followed right behind.

  The fierce battle of the northwest continued!

  Between Arabia and the Great Tang, only one could be left standing!

  “Kiiill!”

  Meanwhile, with Wang Chong’s mind returned to his body, he swiftly set about marshalling the forces of his left and right flank to charge at the ‘V’. Together with the large number of soldiers crushed by the rhino Behemoth, the Arab forces making up the ‘V’ were swiftly routed.

  Rumble! An Arab horseman still trying to get his bearings had his horse slashed by an Eastern Island elite, and right afterward, two Tang
axemen came forward. The Arab horseman panicked, unable to decide which enemy he should deal with in the chaos.

  Plush! Blood burst out, and the Arab horseman’s body went stiff as a sharp saber cut across his neck. His eyes flew open as he toppled to the ground with his horse.

  This seemed to be a sort of signal for the killing to commence…

  Amidst furious roars, the Arab cavalry were cut down, unable to stop the tide. The battle was rapidly reversed as one thousand, two thousand, three thousand Arab cavalry were slain. This set off a chain reaction, as a God’s Ordained rider, in a moment of carelessness, was swiftly stabbed through the heart by a Divine Martial Army soldier.

  Bang!

  This was only the first domino, and more and more God’s Ordained riders began to fall. At the same time, another force of Tang soldiers charged into Adnan’s Savage Fang Army.

  “Damn! Damn! How did it turn out like this!?”

  As the army fell apart, Adnan was stunned.

  With the Blade of Mukala, he was holding down Wang Zhongsi, and the Arabs had the advantage in numbers. He had no idea how the battle had reversed so quickly.

  “Aaaaah!”

  In just a few short moments, innumerable Arab soldiers had fallen in the center, and Adnan began to panic.

  “Wang Chong!”

  In the distance, atop the elephant Behemoth, Khatabah instantly locked his sharp eyes onto Wang Chong, his expression turning ice-cold.

  “You again!”

  This was not the first blow Wang Chong had dealt to Arabia. In the end, he had still managed to break the Hierophant’s plan.

  “High Priest, what’s going on? Weren’t you holding him down?”

  Khatabah turned his head, his face ashen.

  The two of them had previously agreed that the High Priest would hold down Wang Chong in the mental domain, leaving him with no strength to oversee the battle, but this was clearly no longer the case. However, Khatabah did not receive an answer to his furious question.

  Whoosh!

  A moment later, Khatabah could only watch in shock as the supreme and mysterious High Priest toppled like a pillar, dropping from the back of the elephant Behemoth. Thump! His body curved through the air and then crashed to the ground in a spray of blood, clearly lifeless.