The Human Emperor c1-2382

by Huangfu Qi (皇甫奇)

  “Wang Chong, leave the rest to me!”

  The Lone Silence Ancestor opened his hand, upon which all the rain within a ten-thousand-foot radius of him suddenly turned into a vortex of water that began to howl toward the Lone Silence Ancestor. A few moments later, this massive waterspout that seemed to link the heavens to the earth fused with the Lone Silence Ancestor.

  Chapter 1898 - Reinforcements! The Aswaran Cataphracts!

  Chapter 1898: Reinforcements! The Aswaran Cataphracts!

  Translated by: Hypersheep325

  Edited by: Michyrr

  Bang!

  The Lone Silence Ancestor floated in the air, his aura growing stronger and stronger. With a single wave of his hand, a large swath of rain transformed into chilling mist and flew into the distance. There was a hissing sound as those unkillable fire men vanished in a cloud of steam.

  Rumble! A bone-chilling wave of water froze and shattered all the lava men within a radius of ten thousand feet. It took only a few seconds for all the fire men to be extinguished by the Lone Silence Ancestor, even those ones Khatabah had recently created with black flames.

  And the Lone Silence Ancestor was just getting started. After dealing with the fire men, the Lone Silence Ancestor shot to the ground and pressed a hand against the earth. Cold energy along with pouring rain seeped into the ground, freezing and hardening all the lava flows around the Black Flame Ifrit.

  The Ifrit’s high-temperature flames had melted rock into lava, and by absorbing the lava, the Ifrit had increased its power.

  The Lone Silence Ancestor controlled all the rain, turning it into frigid mists that hardened the lava, essentially draining the Ifrit’s strength through its foundations. And without the fire men, the Black Flame Ifrit no longer posed a threat to the army at large.

  “Wonderful!”

  Even Wang Chong was elated to see this. The Lone Silence Ancestor cultivated a Water Element divine art, and few on the battlefield could match him in a battle against the Ifrit.

  “Ants, you think that this is enough?”

  Khatabah was furious.

  The storm Wang Chong had summoned could not threaten him, but the rain pouring down had a suppressive effect on the Ifrit.

  As the fire men were incessantly extinguished, the upper hand created by the Ifrit was fading.

  Without the endless army of fire men, the Ifrit was simply a larger Behemoth. This substantial decrease in fighting strength was definitely not something Khatabah wanted to see!

  “I’ll kill all of you first and then see what you can do!”

  Boom! Black flames erupted from the Ifrit’s body, sweeping toward the Tang experts around it.

  With one strike, the weakest of the group—Gao Xianzhi, An Sishun, and Xie Guangting—were blown back. Meanwhile, Wang Zhongsi, Li Junxian, and Song Yuanyi grimly unleashed their most powerful attacks before rapidly retreating.

  The Black Flame Ifrit was the Ifrit’s strongest form. Not only was it stronger than them, the heat of more than two hundred thousand degrees radiating from its body also posed an enormous threat.

  These terrifying temperatures were somewhat unbearable even for Wang Zhongsi, who was already in the Subtle realm, let alone the others.

  The only one who could just barely clash with Khatabah was Wang Chong.

  Rumble!

  The Nightmare Beast’s power combined with the Xuanyuan Sword, and Wang Chong immediately unleashed a massive black sword at Khatabah.

  Khatabah’s body swayed, the flames around him growing chaotic.

  Even though the Black Flame Ifrit form had increased the Ifrit’s resistance, making it immune to most kinds of damage, Wang Chong’s Psychic Energy attacks were still effective.

  More importantly, no matter how strong the Black Flame Ifrit, how hot its flames, or what technique Khatabah used, Wang Chong needed to only slash his sword to strike the Ifrit. Khatabah could not change this no matter what he did.

  “Adnan, Abu Muslim, Lucis, and all the other Governors and Deputy Governors, hear my order! All of you, come at once and assist me!”

  Khatabah’s voice resounded through the world as he gathered all his flames on his right arm and unleashed them on Wang Chong.

  In the face of these frightening flames, Wang Chong was forced to pull back.

  Amidst the raging sands and bellowed orders, Adnan, Abu Muslim, Lucis, and all the other Arab Governors and Deputy Governors heard Khatabah’s call and began to converge on the Black Flame Ifrit.

  Two fists had it hard against four hands. While Khatabah could suppress Wang Chong and the others, in the face of their endless barrage of attacks, Khatabah was feeling a little hard-pressed.

  Only Adnan and the other Arab commanders joining in could swiftly end the battle. More importantly, the handiwork of Wang Chong and the Lone Silence Ancestor had made them feel very threatened, and they sensed that they needed to kill this powerful Water Element expert.

  Neigh!

  But just when Adnan and the others were rushing toward Khatabah, the neighing of horses resounded through the air, penetrating through the sandstorm.

  A few moments later, the earth rumbled, and everyone could sense a non-Arab army of more than one hundred thousand soldiers plunging into the rear of the Arab army like a sharp blade.

  Turmoil and chaos erupted through the ranks.

  Numerous Arab horsemen were instantly slain by this unknown force of cavalry.

  “!!!”

  Adnan and Abu Muslim both turned their heads in shock.

  With this massive storm raging, none of them had expected another force to attack from the rear just when they were going to Khatabah’s aid.

  More importantly, this force was well-trained and well-equipped, maintaining formation in the middle of this sandstorm. Meanwhile, the Arabs had been completely scattered by the sandstorm and were thus unable to fight back!

  “The Sassanids! It’s the Sassanids!”

  “The Aswaran Cataphracts! Run!”

  Panicked shouts came from the rear, but their voices were quickly drowned out by the sand. On the front line, Adnan, Abu Muslim, and even Khatabah all grimaced.

  Bahram!

  And his Aswaran Cataphracts!

  They had realized from the very beginning that Bahram and his Aswaran Cataphracts were nowhere to be found in the Tang ranks, but at that time, both armies were already ready to fight. Moreover, the Arabs had the absolute advantage in numbers, so they had not put much attention onto finding these missing soldiers.

  But nobody had expected this army to be hiding behind them, waiting for the chance to attack the rear and deal the Arabs a lethal blow!

  “Kill!”

  At this time, the Tang army also heard the turmoil coming from the north. Reinvigorated, they charged at the Arabs, joining the Aswaran Cataphracts in attacking the enemy from two sides.

  Boomboomboom!

  Ballista bolts howled through the air, shooting toward the northern battlefield.

  Screams and the thudding of bodies could be heard through the raging sandstorm. In that moment, numerous Arab horsemen had been slain.

  Su Hanshan and the ballistae under his command had been the first to strike from the Tang side. Su Hanshan had ordered his soldiers to crouch down before the sandstorm had come, but the Arab soldiers did not have it so easy.

  Moreover, Su Hanshan had specifically positioned his men so that they could use the northern steel walls to shelter from the sandstorm.

  On the other side, Li Siye didn’t have as many apprehensions, simply leading his Wushang Cavalry fearlessly through the sandstorm and into the Arab ranks.

  Consecutive explosions rang out in the sandstorm. The rigorous training of the Wushang Cavalry and the tacit understanding they shared as fellow villagers was on full display. Even in the sandstorm, the Wushang Cavalry maintained orderly ranks. In comparison, the Arabs were in complete disarray under the assault of the sandstorm.

  The Arabs had soon suffered massive losses. Seve
n thousand, eight thousand, thirteen thousand, seventeen thousand, nineteen thousand… tens of thousands of Arab horsemen were being cut down like they were stalks of wheat.

  “Attack!”

  Cheng Qianli and Xi Yuanqing seized the moment, joining together with Wang Chong’s subordinates Xue Qianjun and Kong Zi-an to lead their army in charging toward the north.

  Cavalry were far more effective as a killing force than infantry, a fact which was acknowledged by all the countries of the world. Otherwise, the Arabian Empire would have never been able to rely on purely cavalry to conquer so many countries and begin considering the idea of uniting the entire world.

  But nothing was absolute. Cavalry was king because its charge was unstoppable, but a group of cavalry in disarray, milling about like headless flies… was even less than infantry.

  “Kill!”

  The units of the Tang army advanced like a moving wall.

  The infantry formations also began to display their power. In the sandstorm, the Arab cavalry were lost and fighting their own battles, and so when the Tang forces came upon them, they were basically doomed. Even when several dozen cavalry were gathered together, they had no formation or any sort of charging force, and it took only a few seconds for the Tang infantry to finish them.

  “Kill!”

  War cries came from all sides. For the Arab cavalry, it felt like the Tang soldiers were everywhere. Even more terrifying was that there was also a force of Tang cavalry riding through their ranks, constantly attacking different locations and impossible to pin down.

  No one knew how many soldiers this force consisted of or when it would strike. The Arabs didn’t even know if the soldiers right next to them were these Tang.

  The Arabs had never before been so panicked and fearful.

  Chapter 1899 - Wang Chong to the Rescue!

  Chapter 1899: Wang Chong to the Rescue!

  Translated by: Hypersheep325

  Edited by: Michyrr

  Even though the Arabs had one million soldiers on their side, each of them still felt like they were facing the Tang army alone.

  This battle had already gone on for more than eight hours. While the Arabs had lost seven to eight hundred thousand soldiers, they still had a force of one million, seven hundred thousand—far more than the Great Tang.

  In comparison, the Great Tang had lost one hundred and seventy to eighty thousand, leaving four hundred and ten to twenty thousand soldiers. Even with the Sassanid reinforcements, it was only five hundred and ten thousand soldiers or so. The gap in numbers was still very large.

  But at this moment, the Arabs were losing men at an unprecedented rate.

  One hundred thousand!

  One hundred and twenty thousand!

  One hundred and eighty thousand!

  Two hundred and forty thousand!

  ……

  The Arabs utterly collapsed in the face of the Great Tang’s disciplined and cohesive assault. The worst thing was that they had no idea where the enemy was. In their panic, several Arab soldiers charged toward the sound of fighting and began to fight with what they thought were Tang soldiers, but they ended up realizing that they were on the same side.

  As they sensed the astonishing losses sustained by the army, Adnan, Abu Muslim, and the various Governors and Deputy Governors all scowled.

  “Bastard!”

  They gnashed their teeth, but they knew that there was nothing that they could do.

  The sandstorm had thrown the Arab army into disarray. In the short time that had passed, Adnan’s Savage Fang Army and Abu Muslim’s army had been scattered, and gathering them back together was an impossible task.

  Moreover, the sandstorm was still intensifying, and the incessant neighing of horses indicated that the most important ‘companions’ of the Arab cavalry were so panicked that they were beyond control, only furthering the disorder in the army.

  A thick black flame blasted aside the sandstorm while a thunderous bellow traveled through the world. “Everyone, hear my order! Attack downwind!” Seeing the army in chaos, Khatabah had finally taken action.

  Buzz!

  Khatabah’s voice instantly stabilized the chaotic ranks.

  “Kiiill!”

  Some of the soldiers began to recklessly charge southward, and they were joined by more and more.

  This man is truly formidable! He can’t be allowed to survive no matter what, or else he will be a major problem for the Central Plains!

  Wang Chong’s heart shivered.

  In this sandstorm, it was impossible to differentiate between soldiers or directions, so it would not have mattered if Khatabah had ordered his men to charge in any direction. But the soldiers could all determine for themselves which way the wind blew.

  The north had the fewest soldiers, only Bahram and his hundred-thousand-some heavy cavalry. However, it was impossible to build up a powerful charge while traveling against the sandstorm, and the sand would end up blowing into one’s eyes, ears, and mouth.

  The best countermeasure was to charge with the wind, southward toward the more numerous Tang soldiers.

  Sadly, this is just pouring water on a cart. It can’t turn the tides!

  Wang Chong’s expression quickly turned cold.

  Cavalry that couldn’t see where they were going or what direction was which, and that were unable to assemble into formation, were incapable of displaying their usual power. Placing them against the orderly and impregnable ranks of the Tang army was like throwing an egg at a rock.

  As anything Khatabah did could not alter the course of the battle, the most important task was to kill Khatabah and remove the largest threat from the battlefield.

  “Leave Abu Muslim and the other Arab Governors to me. The rest of you, focus on dealing with Khatabah!” Wang Chong roared, acting before Khatabah could strike.

  Buzz!

  Using the Greater Void Step to its limit, Wang Chong created countless afterimages and began to work his way toward the north of the Black Flame Ifrit.

  “Nightmare Beast, think of a way to control those Arab Governors and make them attack each other!” Wang Chong sternly said, his eyes as sharp as blades.

  Down in the Origin Immortal Cave, the Nightmare Beast had already been able to use Psychic Energy to disrupt and influence the minds of others. Now that it had absorbed the Psychic Energy of hundreds of thousands of soldiers, growing much stronger than it had been underground, its level of control was certain to be even more frightening.

  “Yes, Master!” the Nightmare Beast replied without hesitation. Boom! It sent a bolt of Psychic Energy at those charging Governors and Deputy Governors, and in a flash, it had broken through their mental barriers and penetrated into their minds.

  “Ah! Kill the Tang!”

  “Protect the Hierophant!”

  “Watch out for the Tang ambush!”

  “Damn, I’ll kill you!”

  Behind Adnan and Abu Muslim, the army suddenly broke out into mayhem, the various Governors and Deputy Governors snarling at each other as they attacked their comrades and madly shouted.

  A Governor took out his pitch-black scimitar and even attacked Abu Muslim from the back.

  Abu Muslim felt danger and instantly swung his own saber, blocking the lethal blow. When he saw that his attacker was the Governor of Aden, he was both shocked and enraged.

  “Bastard! What are you doing?”

  Clang!

  Out of the corner of his eyes, Abu Muslim spotted two more Governors attacking Adnan from the right and left.

  “Watch out! Their minds are being controlled! This is probably the doing of that Tang commander!” Adnan furiously called out. His Blade of Mukala exploded with dazzling light, petrifying the two Governors and knocking them from their horses.

  “Seeking death!”

  At this moment, no one was angrier than Khatabah.

  His expression chilled, and the raging flames around him quickly turned into countless tentacles that attacked Wang Zhongsi, Zha
ngchou Jianqiong, Gao Xianzhi, and the others. At the same time, he sent a fist wreathed in flames and smoke hurtling toward Wang Chong.

  Rumble!

  The immense force behind this punch immediately caused space to compress, and even the surrounding sand was blasted back one thousand feet.

  But Wang Chong merely swayed his body and dodged, having already predicted this attack.

  “Khatabah, we have plenty of time to fight!”

  Wang Chong’s eyes were cold as he waved his right hand, unleashing a crimson sun from his body.

  “Great Yinyang Heaven Creation Art!”

  Wang Chong’s entire body turned into this crimson sun, and the fearsome pull it exerted swiftly grabbed two nearby Arab Governors.

  Boom!

  The moment their bodies touched Wang Chong, they were rendered motionless while their Stellar Energy flowed out of them like a great river.

  These Governors were no weaklings, and it would normally have been quite difficult for Wang Chong to seize them and devour their energy, but the Nightmare Beast’s intense disruption had made them lose their rationality, and they were full of openings. For Wang Chong, they were as good as lambs waiting to be slaughtered.

  “Lord Junior Guardian, let me help you!”

  As the two Governors shriveled into husks, Wang Chong dropped their corpses to the ground and thrust a palm in Wang Zhongsi’s direction, sending him all the Stellar Energy he had just absorbed.

  “There’s no need!”

  Wang Zhongsi wanted to refuse. After all, Wang Chong had consumed significant amounts of energy, and their Stellar Energies were of different natures. But when he sensed the Stellar Energy in his body, he immediately shut his mouth.

  Wang Chong had not sent over the power of the Great Yinyang Heaven Creation Art, but a Stellar Energy that was exactly identical to Wang Zhongsi’s. If he hadn’t known its origins, Wang Zhongsi would have mistaken it for the Stellar Energy he had created himself.

  Wang Chong had used the Origin Immortal Art to convert the Stellar Energies of those two Governors and then transfer it to Wang Zhongsi.

  While Wang Zhongsi had said nothing during the entire battle, dealing with the Ifrit and Khatabah had been extremely taxing on him, but the previous War God of the Great Tang would never say so.