The Human Emperor

“Hah!”

After some time, Duwu Sili suddenly chuckled sinisterly.

“Boy, you think too highly of yourself! Correct! The man you want truly is in my hands, but for what reason do you think I should hand him over? You only brought five thousand soldiers with you and want to take someone from me? Isn’t that a little too simpleminded? Aren’t you worried that I will join with the Tibetans and kill you and your Wushang Cavalry?”

With these last words, the already seething killing intent on Duwu Sili’s body instantly swelled. This nearly tangible killing intent shrouded the air, causing the surrounding temperature to drop.

“Hahaha…”

Wang Chong was not only unafraid of Duwu Sili’s words, he even laughed.

“If this were really the case, Dalun Ruozan, Huoshu Huicang, and Dusong Mangpoje would have already showed up, not waited this long. If my guess is correct, by hiding the fact that you were after the formation phenomena from them, you’ve already caused cracks to appear in your alliance. Otherwise, why would you lead your army to set up camp here alone!”

Buzz!

These words seemed to give Duwu Sili a sharp jab, and his entire body trembled. Although Wang Chong had only been speaking casually, his words had struck true. For his own gain, he had entered the battlefield alone while hiding his true goal: the formation phenomena. But afterward, he was exposed by Dalun Ruozan, and though the Tibetans had not directly accused him of anything, their relationship was clearly very awkward.

This was obvious purely from the fact that the two sides had set up their camps in separate areas.

“This brat… what a vicious gaze.”

Duwu Sili began to unwittingly clench his fists, his joints cracking as his desire to kill Wang Chong increased.

Wang Chong’s gaze was far too sharp. Duwu Sili felt like he could hide nothing from him.

“Brat, you’re too proud!” Duwu Sili harshly shot back. No matter what Wang Chong guessed, he would never admit to it. “Regardless of what happened between me and the Tibetans, don’t forget that it’s that Great Minister of Ü-Tsang who wants to kill you the most. Heheh, if he knew that you only brought five thousand soldiers, what do you think he would do?”

Behind Wang Chong, Li Siye, Kong Zi-an, and Huang Botian all grimaced at these words. Although the Wushang Cavalry were one of the strongest forces in the world and feared no one, the combined might of four mighty individuals like Duwu Sili, Huoshu Huicang, Dusong Mangpoje, and Dalun Ruozan was something that even they would find hard to stop.

“Interesting. The art of war is the art of deception. Great General is correct. Dalun Ruozan truly might appear here. But how do you know that I only brought five thousand Wushang Cavalry?”

Wang Chong faintly smiled, his expression brimming with confidence.

Duwu Sili grimaced at these words, and his gaze unconsciously flitted past Wang Chong and peered into the darkness. He had believed that Wang Chong had only brought his five thousand soldiers, but if Gao Xianzhi and Cheng Qianli had also come, the situation was completely different.

He needed to rethink his plans.

But when he saw that callous ridicule in Wang Chong’s eyes, Duwu Sili understood and flew into a rage.

“Bastard! Do you really think I can’t do anything to you! You value your subordinates, right? Don’t think that I won’t just kill him and have you leave with nothing!”

“You dare!”

Wang Chong’s expression instantly chilled, and thick killing intent exploded from his eyes. Not even in front of a supreme Great General like Duwu Sili did he try to hide his desire to kill.

Clangclangclang! The Wushang Cavalry behind Wang Chong began to pull out their swords and aim them at Duwu Sili.

“Haha, just a nameless soldier. I, Duwu Sili, have killed countless such people. There is no one in this world that I would not dare to kill!”

Duwu Sili roared in laughter. At his level of cultivation, there was truly nothing he did not dare to do. He was even willing to lose his chance at the formation phenomena if needed.

After all, he just needed to capture another person.

“Bastard!”

Li Siye, Kong Zi-an, Cheng Sanyuan, and Su Shixuan all hollered in rage, their eyes turning red. Wang Chong’s eyes were also roiling with killing intent, as not even he had expected to hear these words from Duwu Sili. But Wang Chong quickly managed to calm down.

“Very good!”

Wang Chong looked at Duwu Sili and sneered.

“It seems like we no longer have any need to talk. Since you’ve made your decision, we’ll do as you say! But in the future, you will never have another chance to get the formation phenomena. Oh, and I forgot to tell you that I left some soldiers back in Qixi’s City of Steel. Starting from now, for every ‘Chen Bin’ you kill, I’ll kill ten thousand herdsmen on your Turkic steppe. If you kill two, twenty thousand Turks will be buried with them! Li Siye, let’s go!”

Wang Chong gave the order and prepared to withdraw.

At his words, Duwu Sili paled. The Western Turkic Khaganate bordered the Great Tang at Qixi. Many herdsmen and nomads lived on that part of the steppe, and many tribes let their sheep and cows graze there. Ishbara Khagan had once ordered those nomads to withdraw to avoid being caught up in the war with the Great Tang.

But the underground rivers flowing through that steppe made the place verdant and lush, so the tribes and herdsmen still decided to graze their herds in that part of the steppe. All the prohibitions were useless.

Duwu Sili had never been some softhearted general, and he would not care how many people Wang Chong killed. But these were still the herdsmen of the Western Turks. Duwu Sili could disregard Wang Chong’s actions, but Ishbara Khagan could not. When the Fourth Prince had been taken hostage, Ishbara Khagan had strenuously objected to exchanging two hundred thousand warhorses for the prince, but once Wang Chong had ventured into the steppe and killed many people, Ishbara Khagan had immediately agreed.

Besides that, a large part of the reason Ishbara Khagan had dispatched soldiers to Talas to assist Dalun Ruozan and the Tibetans was that he was enraged over the Qixi Protectorate army’s slaughter of his people. If Wang Chong chose this moment to once more dispatch men into the Turkic steppe for another round of massacre and it was made known that this was because of Duwu Sili, he would be the one to receive Ishbara Khagan’s ire.

“Bastard! Too despicable!”

Duwu Sili’s eyes spat flame. He was forced to admit that Wang Chong had seized his weak point. In this clash, he had not been able to gain a single advantage.

“Wait!”

Duwu Sili called back Wang Chong. Although he had said that he would kill Chen Bin, this had been nothing more than an empty threat. The secret to formation phenomena was far too important for him to make decisions based on emotion. But just at this moment…

“Dalun Ruozan, come out!”

Wang Chong had barely walked a few steps when he stopped and called out into the surroundings.

All was quiet, and Duwu Sili was frozen, the words he had intended to say immediately swallowed back down. Behind him, Shamask, Chekun Benba, and the thousands of Turkic cavalry were equally dumbfounded.

Dalun Ruozan?

When had he come? How did they not know!?

Moreover, weren’t Dalun Ruozan and the Tibetan army encamped twenty li in the rear? Why would they appear here?

In the thick darkness, the earth and sky seemed to be one, and the only thing one could make out was a few prominent silhouettes. Just when everyone believed that Wang Chong had made a mistake, all of them heard a familiar voice.

“Heh, Young Marquis, since you’ve come, why are you in such a hurry to leave?”

A faint chuckle drifted out of the darkness, not from behind Duwu Sili, but from behind the five thousand Wushang Cavalry. As this voice echoed in the air, an elegant and scholarly figure emerged from an area several thousand zhang behind the Wushang Cavalry. He was flanked by a stalwart figure with a saber slung at his waist, appearing like a guardian god.

From another direction emerged yet another Tibetan general, a storm of energy rising from his body. The two groups of Tibetans stood to the left and right, pincering the Wushang Cavalry between them. If one added in Duwu Sili’s Turks, the three parties had completely surrounded Wang Chong.

Dalun Ruozan! Huoshu Huicang! Dusong Mangpoje!

The sight of those three familiar figures left all the Western Turkic soldiers flabbergasted. Even Duwu Sili couldn’t stop his eyes from twitching.

“Great General, I heard from you that a guest would be coming, so I personally came to take a look. Does Great General mind?”

Dalun Ruozan faintly smiled as he walked forward together with Huoshu Huicang.

“I naturally won’t object to Great Minister’s visit,” Duwu Sili said, his face stiff and awkward.

When he had surveyed the area before, he had not noticed any Great General figures in the vicinity. Now that he thought about it, Dalun Ruozan, Huoshu Huicang, and Dusong Mangpoje must have used the moment when he was fighting with Wang Chong to sneak up.

At a moment like this, the person Duwu Sili wanted to see the least was undoubtedly Dalun Ruozan.

“Haha, Dalun Ruozan truly admires Great General’s magnanimity.”

With a smile, Dalun Ruozan turned to Wang Chong.

“Dalun Ruozan, you really did come!”

On the other end, Wang Chong, still in the form of the Godking Yama, spoke before Dalun Ruozan could.

“Haha, I waited for Lord Marquis for half a day.”

Dalun Ruozan continued to smile as he walked forward. Rumble!The distant mountains began to shake, and thick smoke began to rise into the sky, obvious even in the darkness. If one peered into the distance, one would see countless cavalry wearing armor of gold and red riding out with astonishing speed from behind the Wushang Cavalry, their heroic figures wrapped in waves of golden-red.