The Human Emperor c1-2382

by Huangfu Qi (皇甫奇)

  Boom!

  Just as the blizzard was once more about to sweep over the steel fortress, boom! Several dozen feet from the walls, the blizzard blew apart as if it had run into an invisible wall.

  This energy rapidly spread from the walls across the entire battlefield, the entire northeast. Boom! Bang! In a series of deafening impacts, the snowstorm that An Lushan had created using the Power of the World was obliterated.

  The weather over the battlefield turned clear once more.

  “！！！”

  “!!!”

  All of the alliance soldiers and generals were stunned by this sight. Yeon Gaesomun, Ozmish Khagan, the Khitan King, and the Xi Queen glanced at each other and frowned.

  Although they didn’t know the exact details, they could tell that this situation was extremely bad for An Lushan.

  Meanwhile, An Lushan’s face had turned as dark as the bottom of a pot.

  He had just fused with the black dragon, and now should have been the perfect time to flaunt his strength. But he had never imagined that he would be at a disadvantage in this battle, his ability to control the weather of no use against Wang Chong.

  He had never expected that Wang Chong would be able to grow so strong that he could deal with the World Consciousness.

  And from the relaxed look on Wang Chong’s face, it was clear that he was not exerting himself fully to deal with the weather.

  “Damn it!”

  An Lushan’s anger was indescribable.

  Roooar!

  Far above in the clouds, the golden eyes formed from the Power of the World sensed An Lushan’s anger. They stared at Wang Chong and unleashed a threatening roar.

  Wang Chong instantly felt an invisible energy squeezing at him from all sides, as heavy and immense as a mountain.

  For a moment, Wang Chong felt as if the entire world was crushing down on him.

  Wang Chong was no stranger to this feeling.

  The World Constraint’s power!

  Wang Chong’s breaking of An Lushan’s control over the weather and dispelling of the Power of the World’s effect seemed to have stirred the World Consciousness’s displeasure. It had directly intervened and activated the World Constraint.

  Rumble!

  Though those around him couldn’t see, Wang Chong could clearly see countless shadows sweeping toward him, and the surrounding pressure multiplied.

  The World Constraint this time was more than one hundred times stronger than it was before.

  “Warning! Danger! User is about to be attacked by the World Consciousness!” The Stone of Destiny’s warning voice rang out in Wang Chong’s ear.

  This sudden World Constraint would have placed Wang Chong in grave peril in the past, even killed him, but that was then and this was now.

  As a terrifying energy that surpassed the Subtle realm built up around him, Wang Chong faintly smiled in disdain and placed his hands behind him.

  As the World Consciousness’s vast attack descended, Wang Chong said, “Activate the Power of the Archon of Destiny!”

  Boom!

  Several feet away from Wang Chong, that terrifying energy was obliterated by an even greater power.

  Archon’s Body!

  This was Wang Chong’s new ability.

  In the war of the northwest, Wang Chong had defeated Khatabah and vanquished Arabia. This immense achievement had gained him unprecedented favor from the Stone of Destiny, and it had granted him the title of Archon of Destiny.

  At the time, the notification had said that it would take three months to unlock the new ability, but it had been far more than three months since then.

  Compared to the Controller of Destiny, the greatest difference with the Archon of Destiny was the Archon’s Body.

  The reduction in the expenditure of Destiny Energy and the ability to resist the World Consciousness were only a few of the abilities of the Archon’s Body, and the Archon’s Body was completely immune to the World Constraint.

  “It’s useless! It doesn’t matter if you’re the World Consciousness or something else. You can only prostrate before me!”

  Wang Chong’s eyes flashed with cold light.

  Bang!

  He stomped forward, sending a boundless energy surging through the ground and into the formation beneath the fortress, swiftly activating it.

  With a great boom, the formation activated, thoroughly suppressing the volcanic energy under the ground.

  Bang!

  Everyone heard a rumbling come from beneath the fortress, but after a few tremors, everything calmed back down.

  The Power of the World’s attacks were formless and omnipresent, and its attacks could even reach beneath the earth.

  However, Wang Chong was ready for the World Consciousness after clashing with it several times, and had already taken countermeasures against it while constructing the fortress.

  The formation beneath the steel fortress wasn’t just for resisting the cold. It was also designed to suppress and neutralize that energy beneath the earth, defending against any attack from the World Consciousness.

  Whether it was through a landslide, volcanic eruption, or an earthquake, the World Consciousness could attack at any time, and Wang Chong had to be ready.

  “Bastard!”

  An Lushan’s face turned red in anger.

  He could clearly sense that Wang Chong had rendered the fortress airtight. Not even the World Consciousness could do anything about it.

  Though he was enraged, An Lushan quickly calmed back down. This time, he would crush Wang Chong and the Tang army no matter what.

  Using the Power of the World to control the weather was only one of his tricks, not everything he had.

  “Gao Shang, begin the assault!” An Lushan ordered, his face dark. He continued to control the Power of the World, clashing with Wang Chong through the weather, as he spoke to Gao Shang.

  Bang!

  With this order, the orderly rows of the alliance army began to rapidly shift.

  The front row of soldiers quickly parted, opening a path. At the same time, a great rumbling came from the rear.

  Wang Chong, Wang Zhongsi, and Abusi watched as Youzhou soldiers began to march out from the rear, three men to a team, pushing forward small carts.

  “Shield carts!” Wang Zhongsi solemnly said, instantly recognizing these carts.

  Steel planks stood up from these wheeled carts. It was obvious that they were simplified shield carts.

  In just a few short moments, tens of thousands of these shield carts rolled out from the alliance army’s camp.

  “Hmph, they came prepared!”

  Wang Chong coldly laughed.

  After numerous battles, the ballista army under Su Hanshan had achieved worldwide fame. An Lushan was clearly aware of them and had prepared these small shield carts to deal with the ballistae.

  “What is he planning? The ballistae are extremely powerful. Does he think that a single steel plank is really enough to stop them?”

  Abusi slightly frowned, suspicion in his eyes.

  Chapter 2161 - Shield Cart Link Formation!

  Chapter 2161: Shield Cart Link Formation!

  Translated by: Hypersheep325

  Edited by: Michyrr

  Ballistae were the killing weapons of the Great Tang, and they were the product of the Bureau of Works, not Wang Chong.

  Many of the armies of the Great Tang were equipped with ballistae. Even Abusi’s Tongluo Cavalry had a few. The ballistae were extremely powerful and piercing, not something a few planks of steel could stop.

  Whether it was in the war of the southwest or the northwest, no matter how thick was the armor worn by the Tibetans and Arabs, the ballista bolts had punched through all the same, each one taking the lives of five to ten horsemen. Was a single steel plank really enough?

  “It’s not that simple, but we’ll find out what the secret is soon,” Wang Chong indifferently said.

  Wang Chong had never underestimated his opponents, not in t
his life or the last.

  An Lushan seemed fat, honest, and easy to bully, but in reality, he was craftier than anyone, and he also had Gao Shang advising him.

  Although Wang Chong didn’t know what was different about these shield carts, he knew that they weren’t as simple as they seemed.

  For a moment, the world was silent as Ozmish Khagan, Yeon Gaesomun, the Khitan King, the Xi Queen, and all the alliance soldiers stared at these tens of thousands of shield carts.

  The first wave would decide how the rest of this battle would proceed.

  The Youzhou soldiers at the front hid behind the shield carts. They peeked their eyes over the shield carts, glancing at the steel ballistae atop the walls. The cold glint from the tips of the bolts made their hearts tremble in fear.

  Almost all countries, whether in the east or the west, knew about the power of ballistae. If possible, no one wanted to expose themselves to these terrifying weapons.

  Even though they had thick metal plates in front of them, they felt no sense of safety. However, military orders could not be disobeyed. No matter how unwilling they were, they simply had to push forward.

  Five thousand feet, four thousand feet, three thousand feet…

  They were now within range of the ballistae.

  Creakcreak!

  At this moment, the groaning of gears came from the steel fortress, metal rubbing against metal piercing through the wind and into the ears of the soldiers behind the shield carts. All of the hiding Youzhou soldiers couldn’t help but swallow nervously.

  “Ready!” A cold voice came from the steel fortress.

  Su Hanshan watched with cold eyes as the shield carts drew closer and closer. He had also noticed something strange about the shield carts.

  But Su Hanshan was determined to unleash the ballistae and see what was going on.

  When the shield carts were two thousand, eight hundred feet away, Su Hanshan raised his right hand and swung it down.

  “Shoot!”

  Bang!

  A deafening roar filled the word as thousands of ballista bolts shot toward the shield carts like furious serpents.

  As the world howled, time seemed to slow to a crawl.

  Everyone, including Wang Chong, Wang Zhongsi, and Abusi, turned their attention to the battlefield.

  The ballista bolts moved very quickly, and almost moments after they were fired, their destructive power impacted against the Youzhou shield carts more than two thousand feet away.

  Boom!

  A ballista bolt that was as thick as a thumb and ten feet long slammed into a steel plate of a shield cart, and in the blink of an eye, the steel plate caved in. If all continued as expected, the ballista bolts would perform just as they had in other battles, tearing through the steel like paper.

  But a moment later—

  At the moment of impact, a complicated defensive formation manifested on the shield cart’s frontal steel plate. If one looked carefully, one would find that the defensive formation carved into the shield cart was formed from more than one hundred inscriptions and formations of various sizes. Some were as large as leather balls while others were as small as fingernails. These inscriptions and formations shared some sort of connection that allowed them to fuse together.

  This sort of defensive formation was far tougher than an ordinary defensive formation.

  Bang!

  A great boom came from the frontal steel plate, and the ballista bolt was only able to penetrate a few inches before encountering formidable resistance.

  “No, this alone isn’t enough to stop a ballista bolt.”

  Su Hanshan’s eyes flickered. Though he was surprised, he was not too shocked.

  There was nothing new about reinforcing a steel plate with inscriptions and formations. The Great Tang’s opponents had thought of this method before.

  The Arab shield soldiers had carried giant shields that had been reinforced with inscriptions and formations, but in the end, this defensive method had not been able to stop the ballista bolts.

  If this was the extent of An Lushan’s tricks, then no matter how many soldiers he sent, they would just be sacrifices offered up to the Tang ballistae.

  But as these thoughts passed through Su Hanshan’s mind, a new development took place on the battlefield.

  Around the shield cart that had been struck by the ballista bolt, the defensive formations on ten-some shield carts that had not been attacked suddenly lit up.

  This assortment of ten-some scattered shield carts was like an unimaginably powerful chain, thin slivers of light shooting out from the cores of their formations and linking these shield carts together into a giant formation.

  The formation’s power erupted, transforming into an invisible energy barrier.

  The defensive power of the shield cart multiplied, with the power of ten-some carts focused on a single one.

  Bang!

  As everyone looked in disbelief, that seemingly unstoppable ballista bolt was stopped cold after penetrating several inches into the steel plate.

  Buzz!

  Wang Chong, Wang Zhongsi, Abusi, and Su Hanshan all grimaced, their eyes widening.

  “A link formation!” Wang Zhongsi grimly said.

  As the War God of the Great Tang, Wang Zhongsi had seen many things on the battlefield.

  Though those ten-some shield carts appeared scattered and independent, they were actually a single unit. Each shield cart was a part of a giant formation.

  And on second look, one would discover that the tens of thousands of shield carts were actually divided into teams of twelve, each one arranged in a circular formation, advancing and retreating together.

  A single shield cart would never be able to withstand the penetrative power of a ballista, but when there were twelve of them, the result would be completely different.

  This was a link formation!

  The special aspect of link formations was that the parts of the formation could borrow power from each other and do what a single formation could not. They could jointly attack and defend, exhibiting immense power on the battlefield.

  But the requirements to reach this state were extremely strict.

  Firstly, one needed an inscription master and formation master, for all inscriptions and formations needed to be exactly alike, without even the smallest error. The second requirement was in the training of the soldiers. As the shield carts were moving, shifting terrain and other various factors could lead to a shift in the formation that would prevent the exertion of its full power.

  The soldiers pushing the link formation needed to have a level of coordination and understanding that was far above what an ordinary soldier had. Not even elite soldiers could accomplish this.

  Thus, it was far easier to talk about link formations than create them.

  But one could not underestimate An Lushan’s ambitions, for he had secretly trained up exactly this kind of army.

  Boomboomboom!

  Metal clattered and boomed as the link formation shield carts blocked thousands of the powerful ballista bolts.

  In the first volley, the Youzhou side had emerged completely unharmed.

  Bang!

  Upon seeing this, the hundreds of thousands of alliance army soldiers erupted in cheers.

  In this war, the alliance soldiers did not fear a fierce battle with the Great Tang. What they truly feared was Su Hanshan’s ballista army.

  Whether they were weak or strong, many or few, they were all insignificant and helpless before the might of the ballistae.

  Moreover, the more concentrated their ranks were, the more terrifying the ballistae became.

  Thus, even without any clash of weapons, they would suffer from a one-sided massacre.

  Even the fiercest warrior was just a target to concentrated ballista bolts, and this sort of sensation would make anyone despair.

  But now, those terrifying ballista bolts had been blocked!

  There was nothing more worth celebrating to the alliance army than
this.

  “Wonderful!”

  “Kill!”

  “With these shield carts, there’s no need to fear the Great Tang!”

  The alliance army’s morale soared.

  “You see? Just the weapons of mortals, nothing to fear! Venerable Genesis Supreme sent me to assist you, so I will naturally help you sweep aside all obstacles. What is there to fear from these puny ballistae?”

  The Divine Works Elder, garbed in a black robe, looked proudly at the battlefield.

  These shield carts were all his handiwork.

  Youzhou and the alliance countries did not have so many formation and inscription masters. The Celestial God Organization had provided all of them.

  Chapter 2162 - Show of Force!

  Chapter 2162: Show of Force!

  Translated by: Hypersheep325

  Edited by: Michyrr

  For this war in the northeast, the men in black had mobilized more than five thousand elite experts from their main base. All of the formations and inscriptions had been created with extreme rigor and caution. Mortal inscription masters couldn’t even come close to them.

  And the formations on the steel plates were ancient, lost formations that had been selected from the texts in the main base.

  These formations had been made for war, though they had been lost in the present era. In this era where formations had waned in power, they should have been more than enough for use against the Tang army.

  “Hahaha, how could I not trust in Sir’s strength?”

  An Lushan opened his arms and laughed.

  His heart, which had been in suspense, finally settled, and his last worry dissipated like a puff of smoke.

  Without the power of the ballista army, Wang Chong’s army was a tiger without its claws, losing at least half its fighting strength.

  Though the Great Tang still had one million soldiers, An Lushan had no fear of them.

  “All soldiers, move out! Wang Chong, our battle has only just begun!”

  With these last words, An Lushan turned to that young figure on the wall and smugly smiled.

  Just like how Wang Chong had used only a thousand-some ballistae for his probing volley, An Lushan was also just testing the defenses. The shield carts had been there to test the power of the ballistae, and the alliance army had yet to exert its full power.