THE HUMAN EMPEROR

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NovelThe Human EmperorChapter 1671 - The Retired Grand Commandant! (I)
THE HUMAN EMPEROR
C1671 - The Retired Grand Commandant! (I)
Chapter 1671: The Retired Grand Commandant! (I)
“To think that so quickly after the Sage Emperor withdrew, the empire would reach this stage!”

Gao Xianzhi sighed once more, a complicated look on his face. Gao Xianzhi had experienced the golden age of the Great Tang, and could even be said to have been one of its architects. He had played a major role in the Great Tang’s push into the Western Regions and the stabilization of the area.

But the situation had changed as time passed, and the Great Tang was beginning to show signs of decline. Gao Xianzhi was well aware that an empire that began to feud with itself would weaken itself.

“These are all just rumors that can’t be verified,” Wang Chong finally said. “And King Song has refused to say a word about his poisoning, so not even I can determine the truth. But there are simply too many things taking place in the empire right now. The First Prince has proposed having Assistant Minister of the Bureau of Military Personnel Kong Wu temporarily replace Lord Zhangchou. I’m afraid that King Song’s matter is also connected to that man!”

“That man is simply too impatient. He is, after all, of the Sage Emperor’s bloodline. Won’t the realm still be his after one hundred years pass? It’s not even worthwhile for him to do such a thing.”

Gao Xianzhi repeatedly shook his head and sighed.

“If he were really that sort of person, he would never have done something like this, nor would His Majesty have still not named him Crown Prince!” Wang Chong coldly said.

If the First Prince had been a kind and benevolent sovereign, Wang Chong would have never urged his big uncle Wang Gen to distance himself from the First Prince. Perhaps if he had been a little gentler and kinder, then even if his abilities had not been very formidable, the Sage Emperor would have long ago made him the Crown Prince on the basis that he was the eldest son, and Wang Chong would have had no need to recommend Fifth Prince Li Heng.

Alas, the First Prince was simply not that sort of person. The death of Jade Consort Xiao was proof enough of that.

“The Great Tang is entering an autumn of many troubles. I worry that this is only the beginning, and the ending is far in the distance. Although I’ve been called back from the Western Regions, as long as the successor dispatched by the First Prince is able to stabilize the area, I wouldn’t have too many complaints. Matters of state are much more important than personal losses.

“But I worry that the First Prince is underestimating the ambition of the Arabian Empire. Before leaving, I had received word that the Arabian Empire was already growing restless. We advanced all the way to Khorasan last time, but in the end, we still didn’t enter Baghdad. The Arabian Empire still has its vigor, and if Arabia starts trouble again, I truly don’t know who will be there to stop them!”

Gao Xianzhi emotionally sighed. The thought of that bitter campaign made him take another glance at the youth seated across from him.

After the battles of Talas and Khorasan, the prestige of the Anxi Protectorate army had risen to a whole new level. Many people said that the Anxi War God truly deserved his title of the Wall of the Empire, and if he had not been there, victory would have been impossible.

But only Gao Xianzhi understood that if not for the reinforcements and strategies of this youth, the war would have been lost long ago.

His strength alone would have been wholly insufficient to resist the Arabian Empire that had top-class generals like Abu Muslim and Qutaybah!

On the battlefield, this youth had stabilized the entire western border, and now in the court, all the pressure in the empire had been laid on his shoulders. Gao Xianzhi had only heard about all the things that had happened while he was in the Western Regions, like King Song being poisoned, Zhangchou Jianqiong being attacked, and the various incidents concerning the Confucian Sect, but Wang Chong had been through all of them. Gao Xianzhi didn’t dare to imagine what the empire would look like if Wang Chong hadn’t been there.

The empire needed this youth more than anyone else at a moment like this!

Unknowingly, without even the man himself realizing it, Wang Chong had become the center of the empire.

This was why, rather than following custom and reporting to the Imperial Court and the First Prince upon his return, he had chosen to have a private meeting with Wang Chong.

The carriage was quiet as Wang Chong thought.

At this time, the two Great Generals were deeply concerned about this massive empire that had prospered for several centuries. In truth, this was a concern shared by all the generals on the border, but it had remained pent up in their hearts.

“Did you bring the thing I asked of you?” Wang Chong asked.

“Mm!”

Gao Xianzhi sternly nodded.

“I thought that you didn’t want it. You need only ask, and I and all the generals on the border will support you.”

As Gao Xianzhi spoke, he took a prepared letter from his bosom and passed it over. Wang Chong didn’t even glance at it before putting it away. Gao Xianzhi did not ask and Wang Chong did not look. The two seemed to share a tacit understanding.

After giving the letter to Wang Chong, Gao Xianzhi opened the door and left. The entire process had taken place without alarming a single bystander.

I should go and see that man now.

As this thought ran through Wang Chong’s mind, the carriage began to turn toward another part of the city.

After passing through various streets and thronging crowds, the carriage finally arrived at a restaurant.

Creeeak!

The carriage door opened, and Wang Chong walked out, dressed in casual clothes. In front of him was an ordinary restaurant made of gray brick, and even the roof tiles were drab and gloomy. Only the restaurant banner hanging from the second-floor balcony, black words on a red background, appeared to stand out, but even this was mottled black, appearing rather old.

‘Zhiyi Restaurant’!

Wang Chong glanced at the words written in ancient script on the placard. This was an extremely ordinary restaurant, and thousands like it could be found in the capital. They catered to the wealthier common folk.

The majority of the prices in this restaurant were very agreeable. For a few strings of cash, one could get a large bowl of food. While the quality, appearance, or variety of the food couldn’t compare to Vast Crane Pavilion, it was very tasty.

“Young Master, do you plan to eat inside?”

Wang Chong had just entered when a waiter with a white towel tossed across his shoulder came up to welcome him. He examined this youth with great curiosity. Normally, only ordinary commoners ate at the restaurant, and the likes of noble scions, members of great clans, or major merchants were incredibly rare. From the luxuriousness of Wang Chong’s clothes, one could tell at a glance that he didn’t belong here.

“Mm!”

Wang Chong grunted and strode inside.

This waiter clearly didn’t recognize him. Ordinary commoners only worried about basic necessities of life and would pay little attention to the affairs of the court. It was very normal to not know his face.

“Waiter, why isn’t my food ready yet?!”

“You rotten old man, you really did come here to get drunk! You come back this instant!”

“Shopkeeper, three jin of white spirits and five jin of beef to go!”

The restaurant was packed and noisy. As Wang Chong made his way through the restaurant, he inspected his surroundings.

Little care had been given to the arrangement of the restaurant, and the decorations were not lavish, but the place was extremely clean. When the occasional child caused a mess on the ground, the waiters would quickly clean it up. The people here were happily chatting with each other, drinking and gambling, and some of them were so relaxed and easy that they put their feet up on the chairs as if this place was their own home.

Wang Chong didn’t find this sight strange. Smiling, he continued onward.

Going past rows of tables, he walked onto the second floor. In a corner on the eastern side of the second floor, Wang Chong finally saw the man he wanted to meet.

Here was a small table about four feet square. The table was so old that the paint was peeling off, and one could see that the wood had begun to splinter in many parts. Several small plates had been placed on the table—ordinary foods like radish-stewed brisket, ginger stir-fried chicken, and stir-fried vegetables.

Sitting by the table was a thin old man wearing an azure robe. A pair of wooden chopsticks was ferrying food into his mouth as he took a sip of wine. His eyes were slightly closed and his expression calm and relaxed. He seemed to be greatly enjoying himself.

While the old man seemed a little strange, this sort of customer was a frequent sight in this kind of restaurant.

Wang Chong’s eyes scanned his body and quickly spotted the azure jade token at his waist.

It should be him.

Wang Chong quickly walked over to the elder.

“Junior Wang Chong pays respects to the venerable Grand Commandant.”

Wang Chong went up to the table and deeply bowed.

The chopsticks froze in mid-air.

The old man, who had been sipping his alcohol and enjoying his personal time, instantly froze the moment he heard the words ‘venerable Grand Commandant’.

This change in emotion further confirmed Wang Chong’s suspicions. If he hadn’t investigated the matter for so long and found out everything he could about this old man, he would have scarcely believed that this was the retired Grand Commandant whose prestige was almost equal to Master Zhu. He had retired long ago from the Imperial Court, and the post of Grand Commandant had even been abolished in the reign of the previous emperor.

But this man still wielded enormous influence in the court, even exceeding Duke Jiu in some aspects.

Wang Chong had noticed this matter because of the previous militarist-Confucian conflict.

When he published Might Makes Right and stunned the Confucian Sect, even forcing Master Zhu to step forward and reproach him, almost the entire world had criticized him. But there had been a significant number of officials and Confucians who had not taken part.

The reason for this situation was the retired Grand Commandant of the Great Tang, who was at present more than ninety years old.

The retired Grand Commandant had a candid and upright personality. His mindset had long ago transcended the militarist-Confucian conflict. For him, there was only one thing that determined good or evil, right or wrong: was it of benefit to the Great Tang and its people? As for the difference of opinion between the militarists and the Confucian Sect, the retired Grand Commandant didn’t care.

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NovelThe Human EmperorChapter 1672 - The Retired Grand Commandant! (II)
THE HUMAN EMPEROR
C1672 - The Retired Grand Commandant! (II)
Chapter 1672: The Retired Grand Commandant! (II)
Translated by: Hypersheep325

Edited by: Michyrr

Although the Grand Commandant had not been in court for many years, he still possessed immense influence. Even when the Confucian Sect and Master Zhu were exerting their pressure, he was still able to have a portion of the court officials and Confucian scholars maintain their silence. Moreover, many of the officials forced out of the court recently had been the retired Grand Commandant’s disciples. They had inherited the upright attitude of their master.

But for the Confucian Sect, who viewed the Harmonious World as their duty, this was simply unacceptable, and they even regarded these people as traitors. They naturally couldn’t tolerate their presence in court.

For the members of the Grand Commandant’s faction, who determined whether something was wrong or right by whether or not they felt shame in their hearts, they naturally didn’t care too much about their expulsions.

Even so, the retired Grand Commandant still had his influence and prestige in society. Not even Master Zhu and Li Junxian dared to act too excessively. Wang Chong had come this time to gain his support.

A single tree would find it very hard to become a forest. In Wang Chong’s plan, the retired Grand Commandant’s support was necessary to stop internal strife and prevent immense sacrifices being made.

But the only problem was that the Grand Commandant had retired from public life a very long time ago. In one aspect, this was rather similar to Great Tang War God Su Zhengchen, but Su Zhengchen had been bound by Taizong’s last will, while the Grand Commandant had himself made the decision to renounce court matters and live the life of an ordinary person.

This Zhiyi Restaurant was a place where the ordinary folk of the capital frequently gathered. From the retired Grand Commandant’s expression, one could see that he enjoyed mixing with the common folk of the capital, experiencing how they lived for himself, and from his experiences, sensing whether the empire was prospering or declining.

Moreover, he had been an important official for a large part of his life, and even the Prime Minister had to be respectful to him. But in comparison to all this courtesy and reverence, the Grand Commandant clearly preferred to be treated as an ordinary old man by the passersby.

He had even refused the Sage Emperor’s request, let alone anyone else’s. Anyone who wanted his help and acknowledgment would have to make him break his rule to not interfere in court matters—no easy task.

“Young man, were you talking to me? Are you in the right state of mind? There’s only this old man here. Where is this retired Grand Commandant you speak of?”

The azure-robed elder quickly came to his senses, his chopsticks seizing some more stir-fried vegetables as he took another sip of his wine. His expression was cold and inflexible, his tone incredibly unwelcoming.

These words would make even the most enthusiastic and ardent visitor have second thoughts and go back in frustration. This old man clearly didn’t want to see Wang Chong, despite knowing his illustrious status.

“Besides, little fellow, you shouldn’t be in a place like this. If you go out and take a left, you’ll find Golden Sparrow Pavilion. That sort of luxurious place is where a noble like you should go,” the elder coldly said.

“Heh, Senior, this junior Wang Chong is the King of Foreign Lands and was previously the Qixi Protector-General. This junior comes to visit Senior naturally for an important matter of state!”

A normal person would have probably withdrawn in defeat, but Wang Chong faintly smiled and bowed, no impatience on his expression.

“Kid, you don’t need to list your titles to me. This old man knows who you are.”

The mention of matters of state finally had the elder raising his head, his expression slightly relaxing. But his body still thickly exuded an aura of unfriendliness.

“If you want to discuss matters of state, you should go to Taihe Palace and talk with the martial and civil officials of the court, not run over here to talk with this rotten old man.”

“Thus, Senior is not denying your identity? If you were really not the retired Grand Commandant, you should have said that you knew nothing about me and not mentioned Taihe Palace.”

Wang Chong unexpectedly smiled at these worlds. The elder’s reaction and his answer had exposed the truth.

The azure-robed elder, or to be more precise, the retired Grand Commandant, momentarily froze. He had clearly not expected this answer from Wang Chong.

“King of Foreign Lands, it’s best to not waste your time. This old man knows that you are quick-witted, but that’s pointless here. I retired from the court several decades ago and ceased to concern myself with politics. I have never made a single exception, and no matter what you ask of me, you will only go back in disappointment,” the Grand Commandant sternly said.

This young man had clearly come prepared and investigated everything thoroughly, so there was no point in denial. But Wang Chong’s tricks were all useless to the retired Grand Commandant.

All those of advanced age in the court understood what kind of person he was. He had a straightforward personality; he liked what he liked and hated what he hated. If he was willing, he was willing, but when he was unwilling, no one could change his mind. The reason he hadn’t driven Wang Chong away immediately like all the others and had even conversed with him was that he knew a little about Wang Chong, knew that this young man had many worries on his mind and wasn’t concentrated on personal gain.

But that was the extent of his favor.

“It’s best if you quickly leave!”

The retired Grand Commandant gestured farewell, his voice chilling.

Wang Chong’s smile faded as he sternly said, “If Senior is not willing to intervene, then Wang Chong will not force it, but if I said that the entire capital was about to run over with blood, and that the matter this junior came for was also related to this, would Senior still find this matter meaningless?” He stared at the retired Grand Commandant.

The Grand Commandant had been intent on repelling Wang Chong and having him quickly leave, but when Wang Chong said those words, he could see the Grand Commandant’s fingers on his wine cup faintly tremble.

He had been focused on his meal at first, not even looking at Wang Chong while he spoke, but now, the Grand Commandant finally couldn’t help but turn his head.

“Kid, just what are you saying? The capital is the pivot of the Great Tang, so how could you say that it would run over with blood? If you don’t speak clearly, this old man might just turn around and submit a memorial of reprimand to the court!” the retired Grand Commandant grimly said.

Seeing this, Wang Chong was able to slightly relax. The Grand Commandant had been retired for many years and became unreasonable whenever something involved court matters. If even this was not able to move him, then he truly was impossible to persuade.

But if the Grand Commandant was so committed to his retirement that such a major incident left him unperturbed, then Wang Chong had probably been looking for the wrong person anyway.

“This junior is not exaggerating. Ordinary matters naturally would not affect the capital, but what if it was a matter of the inner court, if the arrogant young dragon opened its eyes and wished to replace the True Dragon?” Wang Chong said.

Bang!

The retired Grand Commandant trembled all over as if he had been struck by a lightning bolt, and his expression completely transformed.

“Bastard! Do you know what you’re saying?! And is this the place to talk about such things?” the Grand Commandant sternly said.

Although Wang Chong had spoken vaguely, the information he had divulged was enough to shock anyone. ‘The young dragon opens its eyes and wishes to replace the True Dragon’ clearly conveyed that there was a Prince in the Imperial Palace that wished to start a rebellion and kill his father. This was far more serious than anything that could take place between the Princes, and its effects were so vast that anyone would pale at the mention of it.

For dynasty after dynasty, countless people had lost their heads for getting involved in such matters.

“Senior, this junior is not lying. Without firm evidence, this junior would have never said such a thing. In addition… there is no need for Senior to worry. This junior has already used a secret art to seal off the surroundings. No one will be able to hear our conversation,” Wang Chong said.

A treasonous Prince attempting rebellion was far too grave of a crime, and this was not a matter that could be discussed in public. But Wang Chong had a meticulous control over energy and could control the energy in the air. Before the two had even begun to talk, Wang Chong had controlled the surrounding energy into sealing off the surrounding space so that no one else could hear them talking.

The Grand Commandant’s expression slightly relaxed, but it was still in a rather nasty scowl.

“Sit down and speak!”

The Grand Commandant pointed at the seat across from him.

“If this old man finds out that you’re lying, then even if you’re Jiuling’s grandson and the Sage Emperor’s disciple, this old man won’t forgive you,” the Grand Commandant grimly said, staring at Wang Chong.

“Venerable Grand Commandant only needs to look at these things to know if this junior is lying or not.”

As Wang Chong spoke, he took out several prepared objects. One of these was a letter, and another was a silk scarf. When the Grand Commandant saw the bloodstained scarf, he looked in slight confusion at Wang Chong.

“It belonged to Eunuch Gao, Gao Lishi!” Wang Chong sternly said, and the Grand Commandant instantly paled.

……

Upon emerging from Zhiyi Restaurant, Wang Chong let out a long sigh of relief. Fortunately, he had come prepared. Given the capabilities of the retired Grand Commandant, he would naturally be able to investigate and learn whether or not Gao Lishi had gotten into trouble. And if Gao Lishi was in trouble, there was clearly a problem.

As for the letter, it was a secret correspondence between the First Prince and a titled general stationed on the border that Wang Chong had managed to obtain with great difficulty. Although it was not damning evidence, the terms used in the letter were extremely taboo. The Grand Commandant was experienced enough that Wang Chong was sure that he understood what they meant.

With these two objects, Wang Chong didn’t need to explain too much in detail.

Wang Chong boarded his carriage and left Zhiyi Restaurant.

His next endeavor would be even more important than his meeting with Gao Xianzhi or the retired Grand Commandant.

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NovelThe Human EmperorChapter 1673 - Meng Tu!
THE HUMAN EMPEROR
C1673 - Meng Tu!
Chapter 1673: Meng Tu!
Translated by: Hypersheep325

Edited by: Michyrr

The carriage quickly returned to the King of Foreign Lands Residence, whereupon Wang Chong returned to the main hall without alarming anyone. He unrolled a sheet of white paper, took up his brush, and began to write.

Time slowly passed as Wang Chong continued to write, a process that lasted for more than an hour.

Wang Chong put down his brush and called outside, “Zhang Que, come in.”

A few moments later, Zhang Que respectfully walked in. “Your Highness!”

“I have an important task for you!”

Wang Chong pointed at the paper densely covered in brush strokes on the desk.

Zhang Que instinctively looked down and immediately froze.

The paper on Wang Chong’s desk was covered in names. Zhang Que had some vague recollection of some of the names, but he was still bewildered as to why they had all been written down.

“Your Highness?”

Zhang Que turned his mystified gaze to Wang Chong.

“These are all officials in the Three Departments and Six Bureaus, and a few people outside the court. I need you to investigate all of them, and when the time is right, I’ll give you further orders. No matter what, you must keep these people safe,” Wang Chong said, a profound look in his eyes.

‘The War of the Princes’, ‘Discord in the Court’—such things were commonplace throughout the successive dynasties, but with the calamity imminent, the Great Tang simply couldn’t endure internal strife at this time.

While stopping the First Prince was important, it was even more important for Wang Chong that he save the elites of the Great Tang from being caught up in the Rebellion of the Three Princes.

The names Wang Chong had written out on the paper were all extremely important talents. While some of them may not have had high status, being almost completely unknown to the common folk of the capital, they were like screws in a massive machine. Every single one was irreplaceable.

For example, State Farm Office Secretary Luo Wen was just a minor rank-seven official, as tiny as a sesame seed in a place with so many high officials like the capital. But when the State Farm Office Secretary died in the Rebellion of the Three Princes, the State Farm Office fell into complete disarray, and there was no one capable of handling the massive piles of documents coming in from the commanderies and prefectures, nor was there anyone responsible for overseeing the planting and harvesting taking place across the four seasons.

It was only when everything was in complete disarray that everyone suddenly realized that the minor official who had been an obscure secretary in the State Farm Office for ten-some years had possessed a rare talent. He had been able to process all those documents in an orderly manner and coordinate everything so that all the orders were clearly delivered, thus allowing the Great Tang’s vitality to thrive.

But purely because he had opposed the First Prince in the Rebellion of the Three Princes, he had been killed.

There was also Zhang Ce, Wang Shijie, and Wu Guangda of the Bureau of Personnel’s Office of Evaluations. When the three of them died, it became known that the employees of the Office of Evaluations had called them the ‘Three Worthies of the Bureau of Personnel’. It was only after a long time that people realized just how effective these three officials of rather low rank had been.

They had developed a rigorous method of evaluating the achievements of local officials and selecting talented individuals, allowing dusty pearls to shine.

These three had also been caught up in that unprecedented strife and killed.

After they were dead, the Imperial Court attempted to implement their methods in the hopes of screening and selecting talented officials who could keep this massive empire running. But the final result was not what had been desired. Not only did they fail to select true talents, the local governments were thrown into disarray, causing the massive empire to slacken and judder like a rusty machine.

There were many other talented individuals like this.

When the Great Tang was operating properly, few paid these people mind, but when these people were gone and their positions vacant, everyone finally realized how rare and precious they had been.

There were thousands of such people in the Great Tang, and Wang Chong could only do his best to remember all he could. But the names on this list were only a trifling minority of the true loss of talent suffered by the Great Tang.

Far, far too many people would be caught up in this internecine strife!

Zhang Que quickly left with the list of names.

Wang Chong had not given much detail, and just investigating the names would take some time, but Wang Chong was confident that Zhang Que was capable of investigating and properly handling all these people.

Once Zhang Que was gone, the hall fell silent once more.

Wang Chong turned his head to the wall behind him and began to contemplate the large map of the capital. Countless thoughts ran through his mind, known to no one but him.

This was an invisible clash, and while the pivotal moment had yet to arrive, the clash had already begun.

On one side was Wang Chong, and on the other side was the Army-Shattering War God, Hou Junji.

It’s impolite to not reciprocate a gift. It’s time for me to take action in this battle!

Wang Chong looked to where the Eastern Palace was located on the map, a vicious light in his eyes.

……

At the same time, deep within the Imperial Palace, within the Eastern Palace, the flapping of wings filled the air. Fierce gyrfalcons flew in and out or circled in the air. This had become a unique trait of the Eastern Palace.

Ever since the Eagle King of the Eastern Sea, Kim U-Seok, had joined the First Prince, the frequency of intelligence reports had soared.

After receiving a bird, Kim U-Seok turned and bowed to the First Prince, who was reading through memorials. “Your Highness, we’ve just received word that Gao Xianzhi arrived at the capital early and privately met with the King of Foreign Lands.”

Wang Chong and Gao Xianzhi would have certainly been stunned if they had heard such words. Even though they had tried their best to keep their meeting a secret, they had failed to conceal it from the Eagle King of the Eastern Sea.

This man was a legendary existence of the Goguryeo Empire, and he had the extraordinary abilities to match. His expertise was in gathering information from even the smallest and most inconspicuous places.

“Oh?”

The First Prince raised an eyebrow, then his head. His expression was cold at first, but then his brows uncreased.

“Hmph, that’s not one bit surprising. It seems like this prince was right to remove Gao Xianzhi’s military authority.”

Wang Chong and Gao Xianzhi had fought together in the Battle of Talas, in the end successfully fending off Arabia and making them pay a grievous price. While this had inspired the court and rallied the people, for the First Prince, this meant that there was yet another person he needed to add to the list of people to watch.

“Meng Tu, what do you think? Have you thought about how to deal with Gao Xianzhi?”

The First Prince turned to a man standing to his left. It was a newcomer, standing around seven feet tall, with a dark, tanned face and a fierce and energetic aura of one who had been tested and hardened by the trials of time. His eyes seemed to coldly glow as they opened and closed. This was not someone that others would want to provoke.

Meng Tu!

This was the First Prince’s number two man. While he had been at the First Prince’s side for less time than Zhu Tong’en, he was extremely loyal to the First Prince.

There were many taboos in the imperial household, particularly for Princes. If Princes were discovered to be forming factions, colluding with court officials, and raising their own force, they would most likely be stripped of their status as Prince, demoted to commoner, and perhaps even imprisoned within the Imperial Clan Court. The First Prince had once attempted to use this point against Li Heng.

Not even the First Prince dared to be rash when it came to such things.

Zhu Tong’en and Meng Tu were the First Prince’s arms, but in order to avoid suspicion or leave behind clues, the First Prince had had Meng Tu transferred to the border long ago to get in touch with and recruit border generals.

His long time on the border, weathered by the wind, sun, and rain, had made Meng Tu dark and tanned.

And Meng Tu’s style was also completely different from Zhu Tong’en’s. Zhu Tong’en had arisen from the court, and there was a sense of stateliness from him. Meanwhile, Meng Tu had been responsible for the border and spent his days communicating with the bloodthirsty generals, so he had a much more vicious personality.

Meng Tu did things with little hesitation and would rarely ask questions. As long as he could reach his goal, he didn’t care about what sacrifices had to be made.

The two constituted the First Prince’s ‘light side’ and ‘dark side’. One handled the affairs that were out in the open, while the other handled the matters that did not match the First Prince’s status and were not very ethical, but needed to be done.

The First Prince had never before called Meng Tu back to the capital, and Meng Tu and Zhu Tong’en rarely met. This precedent had now been broken, indicating that the First Prince believed that the time was ripe. And besides that, it also meant that he no longer feared that other man in the palace!

“Gao Xianzhi and Wang Chong are old acquaintances. He naturally can’t be allowed to remain in the capital at a time like this.”

Meng Tu squinted as he spoke, his eyes narrowed into such thin slits that it was impossible to say whether they were open or closed.

“He can’t be allowed to remain in the east, west, north, or the capital. Since that’s the case, why not send him to the southwest? Didn’t Mengshe Zhao’s Crown Prince Fengjiayi recently assume the throne? Wasn’t the court discussing recently that a single rebellion from Mengshe Zhao was enough, and that we should think of a way to cast the Five Zhao into disorder? Your Highness should send Gao Xianzhi to the south as a state envoy to handle this matter. There will be no need for him to report if no progress is made. Presumably, it will be at least three months to as much as half a year before Gao Xianzhi can return to the capital.”

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NovelThe Human EmperorChapter 1674 - A Tempest in the Court! (I)
THE HUMAN EMPEROR
C1674 - A Tempest in the Court! (I)
Chapter 1674: A Tempest in the Court! (I)
Translated by: Hypersheep325

Edited by: Michyrr

In the war of the southwest, Geluofeng had been lured into a trap and had been heavily wounded by a joint strike from Wang Yan and Xianyu Zhongtong. He had been unconscious all this time, but recently, he had finally died.

Geluofeng had possessed immense influence in the Six Zhao of Erhai, and in reality, he had been the one to unite them and strengthen them. But the newly-enthroned Crown Prince Fengjiayi was still too young. While he had ascended to the throne and become the new sovereign of Mengshe Zhao in an ordinary fashion, there was a great deal of internal conflict within the Six Zhao, and his status was far from firm.

Moreover, after the war of the southwest, the entire Tang empire had become keenly aware that an ‘ally’ like Mengshe Zhao, if handled poorly, was even more dangerous than a foe.

This time, now that Geluofeng was dead, there were voices in the court saying that the Great Tang shouldn’t miss this opportunity, and should use this chance of offering their sympathies to also beat down Mengshe Zhao.

At the very least, they needed to ensure that Mengshe Zhao could not start another war of the southwest, colluding with external enemies to betray the Great Tang.

Neither Wang Chong nor Zhangchou Jianqiong could take this post, but Gao Xianzhi, who had always been in the northwest and had no relationship with Mengshe Zhao, was the ideal choice. And in this way, he could be moved out of the capital so that he couldn’t collude with Wang Chong.

With these ideas in mind, the First Prince quickly made up his mind.

“Okay, let’s do that. Tomorrow, I’ll have Li Linfu pass it!”

Meng Tu had never disappointed him, and one idea from him had thoroughly resolved the hidden danger of Gao Xianzhi. A court bereft of King Song and Zhangchou Jianqiong no longer had anyone who dared to oppose the First Prince, so even if Gao Xianzhi was unwilling, he would not be able to resist.

With this matter resolved, the First Prince visibly relaxed, his brow uncreasing.

“Come; notify the Palace Larder to send up some pastries. This prince is rather hungry. And call Kong Wu in,” the First Prince said.

“Yes!”

A stalwart guard quickly turned around and left the hall. A few moments later, a set of clanging and vigorous footsteps came from outside.

An upright figure with a raised head soon crossed over the threshold.

“The subject Kong Wu pays respects to His Highness!”

The man deeply bowed, his voice rumbling like thunder through the hall.

The First Prince inspected the man down below with the hardened visage. As expected, this man really did have the demeanor of an old official, but when his eyes opened, they gleamed with irrepressible delight and impatient ambition, and the First Prince immediately smiled.

Kong Wu was the seniormost Assistant Minister of the Bureau of Military Personnel!

As long as he still possessed that intense ambition, he would become one of the First Prince’s most powerful aides.

“Kong Wu, come and accompany this prince in a meal!”

The First Prince pointed in front of him.

“In addition, Zhu Tong’en, arrange for the matter of Kong Wu being made temporary Minister of War to be decided in court tomorrow!”

The matter of the First Prince recommending Kong Wu to be temporary Minister of War was almost a done deal, and no one dared to oppose him now. But the court had its rules, and for something to be truly decided, one still had to go through all the processes and have the officials discuss the matter in court.

Nothing could be accomplished without norms and standards, and not even the First Prince was allowed to solely decide the position of Minister of War without going through the proper process.

“Yes, Your Highness!”

Zhu Tong’en bowed. Everything had already been arranged, and this minor matter would pose no problem.

“Many thanks, Your Highness!”

Kong Wu smiled and quickly walked up, and on the other side, the First Prince smiled in return. All that was left was the final step. Once Kong Wu attained the post of Minister of War, everything else would go smoothly. Even without the other half of the Commander Tally, he could order around the soldiers he needed through Kong Wu.

“Come; bring a chair!”

……

The stars turned and another day quickly passed. Before the fifth watch had even come, many palanquins and carriages began to make their way to the Imperial City. Just like any other day, the officials of the court were gathering. A single court session involved many affairs, and when there were too many, the court session that started in the morning would end at dusk.

The snap of a whip came from the raised platform. The vast Taihe Palace immediately fell quiet, and a shrill voice proclaimed, “Honored officials, listen well! Please present a memorial if there are any concerns! Otherwise, please withdraw!”

“Your Highness, this subject has a memorial!”

Amidst the silence, an official with a bronze token from the Bureau of Military Personnel stepped forward, raising his ceremonial tablet.

“Your Highness, the court has many complicated affairs that it must settle each day, but Minister of War Zhangchou is unwell and unable to fulfill his duty. While Lord Kong Wu is presiding over all matters, he still does not have the title befitting his duties. This lowly subject hopes that Your Highness can firmly settle the matter,” the Bureau of Military Personnel official said.

The mood in the court immediately turned strange, and countless eyes turned to the Bureau of Military Personnel Assistant Minister, Kong Wu.

Everyone knew that the First Prince wanted to make Kong Wu the temporary Minister of War, and with the First Prince’s power and influence, the matter was almost entirely settled. All that was required was that the proposal be brought up in the morning court session. This official’s words had clearly been intentional.

Seeing all the eyes looking at him, Kong Wu showed no panic. After all, he had served in an official capacity for ten-some years and had been through his fair share of storms.

“Many thanks, Lord Zhang, for your high praise, but this Kong’s qualifications are too shallow, and this Kong is afraid that he might not be able to assume the responsibilities of temporary Minister. Your Highness, please bestow your wise judgment!”

Kong Wu stepped forward and bowed. His words were righteous and upright, but everyone knew that this was just a humble act. He had served in the Bureau of Military Personnel for ten-some years and knew the entire place like the back of his hand. What was all this about his qualifications being too shallow? Even if he was lacking in something, it certainly wasn’t in qualifications.

As expected, another major official soon stepped forward and bowed to the First Prince. “Lord Assistant Minister is being too humble. With Lord Zhangchou taken ill, who in the entire empire could match your qualifications and abilities in the Bureau of Military Personnel? War is a vital matter of the state, and the Bureau of Military Personnel is one of the most important parts of the court. Lord Assistant Minister, please do your best with this burden and temporarily assume the post of Minister of War to relieve the worries of His Highness and the Great Tang!”

On the raised platform, the First Prince maintained a cold and emotionless expression, but he inwardly smiled. Everything had naturally been arranged by him. He would first have someone make the proposal, and then everything would proceed smoothly on its natural course. Once today’s court session was over, Kong Wu would be the temporary Minister of War, as was right and proper, and with everything settled, no one would dare to object.

Even if Zhangchou Jianqiong recovered and he wanted to return to the court, the First Prince could continue to extend his ‘illness’.

“There is no need for Lord Kong to be so humble. Everyone has witnessed your abilities. Lord Prime Minister, what is your opinion?”

The First Prince turned to the man who stood at the very first row, closest to the throne of the Sage Emperor: Li Linfu.

The Prime Minister of the Great Tang’s eyes were always squinted so that it was hard to tell whether they were open or closed, and so that one could never tell what he was truly thinking. Upon hearing the First Prince’s voice, Li Linfu slowly raised his head.

“This old subject believes that Lord Kong Wu’s abilities should be sufficient!” Li Linfu indifferently said, his voice neither too loud nor too soft. This casual comment essentially settled the matter.

With the support of the regent and the nod of the Prime Minister, and a lack of opposition from King Song or the others, Kong Wu would naturally be made the temporary Minister of War.

“Your Highness, this subject objects!”

A deafening voice resounded through the palace, and the mood instantly changed. Even Kong Wu and the First Prince grimaced as they turned to the source of the voice.

A wise person could tell that the First Prince wanted to promote Kong Wu in today’s court session, and the majority of the court officials had chosen to express approval through their silence. The First Prince currently dominated the court, so no one had expected one of the officials to actually dare to oppose him.

“Huo Jue!”

The other officials instantly recognized the speaker as Auxiliary Assistant Minister of the Bureau of Military Personnel, Huo Jue. He had another title, that of the Annan Protectorate’s Conquering General.

When the previous Minister of War retired and Zhangchou Jianqiong entered the capital, besides leaving Xianyu Zhongtong to keep the southwest safe and assume control over the soldiers left behind, he had taken the majority of his old subordinates with him. Huo Jue was one of these.

Zhangchou Jianqiong had originally planned to make Huo Jue his Assistant Minister to serve as one of his close aides, but the Bureau of Military Personnel and Bureau of Personnel had rejected him because his qualifications were too shallow.

The Great Tang had a style of government that had been passed down through the generations. Generals on the border could act on their own discretion as necessitated by the situation and were able to reward low-ranked officers, but none of the posts in the capital were that easy to obtain. It was the same for the First Prince as it was for Zhangchou Jianqiong.

In the end, Zhangchou Jianqiong had only been able to get him the position of Auxiliary Assistant Minister, a rather high rank in the Bureau of Military Personnel, but still beneath Kong Wu.

While Zhangchou Jianqiong was ill at home, he had left Huo Jue behind in the court. But as neither King Song nor Zhangchou Jianqiong were present, Huo Jue’s words had little influence in the vast sea of officials.

As expected, Huo Jue had barely spoken when a figure stepped forward and glared at Huo Jue, his expression grim. “Huo Jue, you’re quite bold. Do you mean to say that Lord Kong is not sufficiently qualified? Are you saying that you are even more qualified than Lord Kong?!”

The speaker was not an official of the Bureau of Military Personnel, but the Bureau of Personnel.

Since ancient times, no matter what achievements a general had on the border, the mouth and brush of a civil official would force them to lower their head. An official of the Bureau of Personnel questioning Huo Jue was much more powerful than one from the Bureau of Military Personnel. After all, it was the Bureau of Personnel that had the power to promote and transfer officials.

The Bureau of Personnel was currently under the control of the First Prince and King Qi. This official’s criticism was clearly expressing the First Prince’s displeasure. As for Kong Wu, while he remained silent and motionless, his expression had turned dark and sour.

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NovelThe Human EmperorChapter 1675 - A Tempest in the Court! (II)
THE HUMAN EMPEROR
C1675 - A Tempest in the Court! (II)
Chapter 1675: A Tempest in the Court! (II)
Translated by: Hypersheep325

Edited by: Michyrr

Kong Wu had been confident and had been informed that he would be made the temporary Minister of War in today’s court session. He hadn’t expected that an obstacle would appear to hinder this trifling matter.

But Kong Wu still had an assured expression on his face. Huo Jue was a trifling Auxiliary Assistant Minister. Alone, he did not have the strength to move the opinion of the court by even a hair.

Even Zhangchou Jianqiong wouldn’t have been able to do this, so how could Huo Jue?

“Lord Huo must have his reasons,” Kong Wu suddenly said. “Kong Wu believes that there is no harm if Lord Wei hears what he has to say before passing judgment.”

Kong Wu turned to Huo Jue, his voice calm. “Lord Huo, there is no such thing as a minor affair in the Bureau of Military Personnel. I trust that Lord Huo has his reasons for saying such things, and I am willing to hear your opinion.”

He seemed to be very fair and objective, but there was a sharp edge in his tone. It was clear that if Huo Jue could not give a persuasive explanation, this matter would be far from over, and Kong Wu would not let him go.

“Hmph!”

Huo Jue sneered, sensing the edge in Kong Wu’s words. But even in the face of the invisible tsunami of pressure from the gathered officials, Huo Jue was not intending to back down.

“Your Highness, this subject believes that there is a person more qualified than anyone else for the position of temporary Minister of War. This lowly subject believes that there is no better candidate than him!” Huo Jue proclaimed in a resounding tone.

“Talk!” the First Prince said, his face twisted into a nasty scowl.

The First Prince had thought that Kong Wu and the Bureau of Personnel official would make Huo Jue back down, not expecting Huo Jue to not know what was good for him and once more voice his opposition, even claiming that there was someone even more qualified than Kong Wu.

The palace had become utterly silent. Although the First Prince was trying his best to control it, everyone could hear the anger in his voice.

His words today had made it so that Huo Jue would probably not be the Auxiliary Assistant Minister for much longer.

But Huo Jue appeared to not hear and was already putting forth his candidate.

“The King of Foreign Lands, Wang Chong!” Huo Jue declared as all the officials watched.

When he announced the name, a bolt of lightning seemed to descend on the heads of all the officials. Kong Wu, the official from the Bureau of Personnel, all the other officials, the First Prince, and even the squinting Prime Minister trembled in shock as their eyes flew open.

The King of Foreign Lands, Wang Chong!

This name had not been mentioned for a long time, ever since Wang Chong had been stripped of his post as Advisor-in-Waiting. The name was like a magic spell, an existence that all the members of the court feared.

No one had expected to hear his name at a time like this, and for such an important post as temporary Minister of War.

The mood in the court instantly tensed. Now that Wang Chong was involved, things were far from simple.

Huo Jue had barely finished speaking when a voice of reproach resounded through the hall. “Huo Jue, what nonsense are you speaking!? The King of Foreign Lands was just removed from his post as Advisor-in-Waiting and simply doesn’t have the seniority to take the post of temporary Minister of War. Moreover, the King of Foreign Lands is not a member of the Bureau of Military Personnel and has no knowledge of its operations, much less any experience. For what reason should he be the temporary Minister of War?”

This was the other Assistant Minister of the Bureau of Military Personnel, Wu Tai. While his prestige and seniority were beneath Kong Wu, he was Huo Jue’s superior, so it was only natural that he could criticize Huo Jue.

King Qi finally took two steps forward and sneered, “Hmph, a mere Auxiliary Assistant Minister of the Bureau of Military Personnel, an official that’s not even lower-rank-four, dares to speak up when the matter of the temporary Minister of War is being discussed, and even object? Just who gave you this audacity?” His expression was cold and oozing with disdain.

With King Song gone, King Qi had no restraints in court, and his power was truly at its zenith.

Moreover, King Qi had always been arrogant and unbridled in his conduct, and even Zhangchou Jianqiong had feared him, let alone a mere Auxiliary Assistant Minister.

As expected, Huo Jue’s hand trembled upon hearing King Qi’s scornful jeers, but he quickly steadied his resolve.

“Your Highness, Huo Jue alone is naturally irrelevant, and I alone would not dare to enter the discussion of who will be temporary Minister of War. But what if there were others who strongly recommended the King of Foreign Lands?” Huo Jue said, his forceful voice devoid of fear.

Huo Jue, as a single Auxiliary Assistant Minister, naturally had no influence, but his words caused everyone in the hall to grimace, and even the First Prince couldn’t help but twitch an eyebrow.

“Your Highness, this lowly subject has a memorial. Please inspect it!”

Huo Jue ignored the staring eyes and quickly looked up to the enthroned First Prince. At the same time, he took a prepared letter from his wide sleeve and offered it up with both hands.

When Huo Jue took out this letter, the entire hall fell silent. Meanwhile, Prime Minister Li Linfu couldn’t help but slightly frown.

Even a fool could see that Huo Jue had come prepared. This matter had suddenly become much more complicated.

After a few moments of thought, the First Prince finally said, “Bring it up!” In the current situation, he was compelled to look at the memorial.

A eunuch had already come forward. Taking the memorial, he deferentially sent it up to the First Prince. The hall was silent as the First Prince profoundly glanced at Huo Jue and then turned to open the memorial. After reading just a few lines, he nastily scowled.

Li Linfu, King Qi, and Kong Wu had been staring at the First Prince this entire time. They couldn’t see the contents of the memorial, but the First Prince’s reaction made their hearts thump in dismay. It now seemed like Huo Jue had come to represent Zhangchou Jianqiong, who wanted Wang Chong to take his place. But Zhangchou Jianqiong alone did not have the power to shake the First Prince’s resolve. There must have been others.

Huo Jue loudly proclaimed the contents of the memorial. “Your Highness, Lord Zhangchou, Anxi Protector-General Gao Xianzhi, His Highness King Song, and Big Dipper Great General Geshu Han have jointly recommended the King of Foreign Lands to assume the post of temporary Minister of War. The King of Foreign Lands is a skilled campaigner who has achieved great things for the Great Tang. These venerable gentlemen unanimously agree that he is the ideal candidate for temporary Minister of War. Your Highness, please bestow your wise judgment!”

Bang!

Several lightning bolts seemed to crash down. The names of Zhangchou Jianqiong, King Song, Gao Xianzhi, and Big Dipper Great General Geshu Han shook the entire hall. These four names wielded immense weight in the Great Tang, and a single stomp from one of them could shake the realm. Unexpectedly, the four of them had joined together to recommend Wang Chong for the post of temporary Minister of War.

“How could it be like this?”

Kong Wu’s body was trembling, his eyes wide open in shock. He had never expected things to turn out like this.

With these four adding their recommendations to Wang Chong’s reputation, he was no longer sure how this unexpected development would end.

“What is going on here?”

“Even the Big Dipper Great General recommended the King of Foreign Lands!”

“Isn’t King Song still ill and unable to speak? How could he have recommended the King of Foreign Lands?”

The officials began to chatter, and they could not be blamed. This memorial was truly too surprising. The First Prince had clearly been supporting Kong Wu, but no one had expected Zhangchou Jianqiong and King Song to so strongly object.

“Although King Song cannot move, his mind is clear. I have a letter that he ordered his old butler to write, but it has his personal seal. Your Highness, please inspect it.”

Huo Jue composedly took out a letter and handed it up.

The arguing officials fell silent. Huo Jue had come even more prepared than they had initially imagined.

King Song was an Imperial King of the Great Tang, and the one with the greatest authority. No one could fake his personal seal.

“Hmph, who cares about King Song?” King Qi coldly snorted and came forward. “This king believes that Kong Wu is the best choice and gives him my full support!”

He was King Song’s mortal foe, and Wang Chong had ruined his plans time and time again. He could not let them do as they pleased. If King Song recommended someone, he would oppose them with all his strength.

Everyone else in the hall couldn’t help but frown. King Qi’s words seemed right. In terms of status, these two were about the same, and he was enough to neutralize King Song’s influence.

But the critical problem was that Kong Wu’s weight and influence were far inferior to Wang Chong’s!

Kong Wu’s face had by now turned ghastly. He was in the most awkward of circumstances. He was enraged and filled with venom, yet unable to express any of his emotions. Almost subconsciously, Kong Wu turned to the First Prince.

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NovelThe Human EmperorChapter 1676 - A Tempest in the Court! (III)
THE HUMAN EMPEROR
C1676 - A Tempest in the Court! (III)
Chapter 1676: A Tempest in the Court! (III)
Translated by: Hypersheep325

Edited by: Michyrr

The First Prince’s brow slightly creased. Down below, Zhu Tong’en immediately understood and stepped forward.

“Your Highness! If your lowly subject remembers correctly, Your Highness sent the King of Foreign Lands not too long ago as a special envoy to the Yue to handle matters in Lingnan. The Yue of Lingnan are all mixed together and present an extremely thorny problem for which mishandling would lead to even greater chaos. At present, the King of Foreign Lands is most needed at Lingnan. This lowly subject believes that the King of Foreign Lands will not be able to free himself up very soon and will be unable to take on the post of temporary Minister of War!”

The Lingnan matter had originally been a ploy by the First Prince to get Wang Chong out of the capital. To use it now to hinder Wang Chong and prevent him from snatching the temporary Minister of War post from Kong Wu was clearly the superior plan.

After all, Wang Chong had been made a special envoy to the Yue and ordered to Lingnan before discussion had even begun on the matter of the temporary Minister of War.

“Mm!”

The First Prince nodded, a hint of praise in his eyes as he glanced at Zhu Tong’en. Zhu Tong’en and Meng Tu each had their own advantages. Choosing to use the Lingnan matter against Wang Chong was truly an excellent choice.

“Lord Zhu speaks reason! There have been many incidents of unrest in Lingnan before this, and none of the governors dispatched have been able to do anything about it. Another incident might make all of Lingnan fall into turmoil. In contrast, the Great Tang is at peace with the other countries and there are no wars on the border, so making the selection for the temporary Minister of War is not of the utmost priority. The talents of the King of Foreign Lands are needed more in Lingnan. This prince believes that the King of Foreign Lands should be dispatched to Lingnan to ensure that the matters amongst the Yue are completely resolved. What do the honored officials think?” the First Prince said, his eyes scanning the hall.

“Your Highness speaks reason! This lowly subject agrees!”

“This lowly subject also agrees!”

In a flash, the officials down below called out in agreement. Almost the entire court now consisted of supporters of the First Prince, King Qi, and Li Junxian. The First Prince was determined to promote Kong Wu, and all of these officials were only too willing to express their approval!

The enthroned First Prince couldn’t help but smile at this sight. With a casual argument, he had neutralized the joint recommendation of Zhangchou Jianqiong, King Song, Gao Xianzhi, and Geshu Han.

“Your Highness, this subject has another memorial to submit!”

To everyone’s surprise, Huo Jue was not at all panicked by this widespread approval for the First Prince’s words, not even a ripple of emotion showing on his face. It was as if he had already predicted this scene would occur.

“Lingnan has already been divided into two areas, and the Yue have gathered and sworn an oath of alliance with all their chieftains present to serve as witnesses. In addition, a stele was set up commemorating this alliance, swearing that the offspring of the Yue will live in harmony for the rest of time, tilling the land together and no longer warring against one another. The lands of the Yue are now peaceful and harmonious, with all the conflicts and struggles resolved.

“This lowly subject learned of this matter from a letter received from an old friend in Lingnan, but as the court requires that the proper procedures are followed, this news is traveling at a somewhat slower pace. But given the time that has passed, the news from Lingnan should be reaching the capital soon!”

These words immediately silenced the court, particularly the First Prince and Zhu Tong’en. They hadn’t expected this news to come up mere moments after they raised the Lingnan matter.

“How could this be?!”

The First Prince’s face instantly turned dark, and he turned his head toward an official of the Bureau of Personnel standing in the ranks.

The official from the Bureau of Personnel responsible for Lingnan trembled as he stepped forward.

“Your Highness, this subject received the report from Lingnan an hour ago and was preparing to submit the memorial today. The Yue of Lingnan truly have established an alliance, commemorated with a stele. Not only have the Yue resolved all their conflicts, they’ve reached an unprecedented level of cooperation and interaction. In this aspect, the Lingnan matter truly has been resolved!”

He had thought that the Lingnan matter was simply one of the many ordinary affairs that the court needed to handle every day. But to his surprise, Huo Jue had gotten ahead of him, and besides that, the First Prince had actually broached the topic.

Even worse was that this routine report had suddenly become connected to the struggle for the post of temporary Minister of War.

The First Prince’s face had a nasty expression. When he heard the words of that official, he felt like someone had given him a sharp slap to the face. The Lingnan matter had been their best excuse to hinder Wang Chong, but it was now a farce.

What the First Prince found even more unacceptable was that Wang Chong had yet to take even a step out of the capital, but the Lingnan matter that had troubled the court for so long had been easily resolved through his farsighted strategies.

“Reporting!”

A resounding voice came from outside as a guard in clattering armor walked in and got down on one knee.

“There are urgent reports sent by the Anxi, Qixi, Beiting, Andong, and Annan Protectorates, as well as the other border posts. Your Highness, please inspect them!”

All the officials silently exchanged glances. The court was in the middle of discussing political affairs that had nothing to do with the border.

The six Protectorates and the other border posts rarely submitted memorials to the court in this matter. And it was even stranger that they had all arrived at the same time by way of urgent reports.

For them to arrive at such a sensitive moment made everyone immediately feel suspicious.

The First Prince also seemed to sense something, his brow deeply creasing.

“Bring it up!” the First Prince immediately said. With so many people present, he had to accept the reports.

There were twenty-some letters, in a stack one foot thick. A eunuch took the letters and sent them up to the First Prince. The First Prince took the first letter from the top and looked through it, then the second, the third… The First Prince’s expression turned nastier and nastier, and by the last letter, his complexion was as black as the bottom of a pot.

“Bastard!”

The First Prince gnashed his teeth, the fires of rage bursting forth from his heart. If he hadn’t been in Taihe Palace, he would have immediately vented this fury.

“Your Highness,” a palace attendant cautiously whispered. The rules of the court required that any matter concerning it be reported to the assembled officials. Not even the First Prince could ignore this rule.

The First Prince suppressed his rage and said, “I leave it to the Lord Prime Minister!”

The Prime Minister was the leader of all the officials and was endowed with the power to manage the various bureaus. When it came to matters regarding the court, the First Prince would be the first to review them, and the second would be the Prime Minister.

The thick stack of letters was given to Li Linfu, whose brow furrowed. What could the letters have said that made the First Prince so angry?

With this confusion, Li Linfu began looking through the letters. Once he was done, his expression also turned strange.

“Read it!” the First Prince shouted from his raised platform.

Li Linfu shot a hesitant glance at the First Prince, and then he finally began to summarize the contents of the letter.

Li Linfu sensed that this stack of letters was a hot potato, but according to the laws of the court, after the First Prince had reviewed a report, its contents needed to be announced to the assembled officials. Even though Li Linfu was unwilling, he was compelled to do so.

“Military officers of high and low status from the six Protectorates and the various border posts, for a total of around ten thousand names, have jointly recommended the King of Foreign Lands for the post of temporary Minister of War!” Li Linfu sternly said.

Bang!

Li Linfu’s words set off an uproar in the court. Ten thousand military officers of high and low status from the six Protectorates and the border posts! This massive number, this immense strength, was enough to suffocate anyone. No one had expected all these people to recommend Wang Chong.

The recommendation of King Song, Zhangchou Jianqiong, Geshu Han, and Gao Xianzhi had an immense weight on its own, and now, they had the force of around ten thousand officers from the border. This was an immense strength that no one could ignore.

Not even the First Prince could ignore this voice. Even the court controlled by the First Prince, the Confucian Sect, and King Qi was forced to take this voice seriously.

“Nearly ten thousand officers?! How?!”

The First Prince’s faction members all had unsightly expressions. If the Prime Minister himself hadn’t summarized the contents, they would have believed this news to be fake.

“Damn it!”

The one who was the most aggrieved and reluctant at this time was undoubtedly Kong Wu. With these generals and officers from the border intervening, his chances of becoming the temporary Minister of War had become minuscule.

He had waited for ten-some years and the tenures of three different Ministers of War. He had thought that this was finally his moment to at least become the temporary Minister of War, but Wang Chong had come out of nowhere and dealt him a crushing blow.

Kong Wu could not accept this!

But no matter how he struggled, the voices supporting Wang Chong were growing louder and louder.

The hall became deathly still. Some of the officials looked up at the First Prince while others looked toward Huo Jue.

Huo Jue’s actions today had undoubtedly provoked the First Prince’s ire, but it was clear that he had already readied himself for this. He had already cast aside any thought of himself. No matter what happened to him later on, he had reached his goal today. All that was left was to await the First Prince’s judgment.

Would he stubbornly insist on promoting Kong Wu, or would the pressure from King Song and the border generals make him appoint Wang Chong?

This matter was too far-reaching and far too sensitive. No one dared to recklessly speak at this time.

Taihe Palace was so quiet that one could hear a pin drop. The First Prince clenched his fists, his expression dour.

In the past, he might have tried to act more surreptitiously, but the border incident and the Public Order Squad incident had already made it an open secret that he was on unfriendly terms with Wang Chong. How could he possibly show Wang Chong a good face?!

And Kong Wu was the candidate that he had internally approved while Wang Chong was clearly his enemy.

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NovelThe Human EmperorChapter 1677 - Temporary Minister of War!
THE HUMAN EMPEROR
C1677 - Temporary Minister of War!
Chapter 1677: Temporary Minister of War!
Translated by: Hypersheep325

Edited by: Michyrr

“Reporting!”

As the officials were waiting for the First Prince to make his decision, another report arrived at the court.

“Jiangnan Circuit, Guannei Circuit, Henan Circuit, Qianzhong Circuit… sixteen governors and governor aides in total, and one hundred officials of various status, have jointly recommended the King of Foreign Lands for the post of temporary Minister of War!”

Bang!

This abrupt news threw the court into chaos once more. The recommendations of King Song, Zhangchou Jianqiong, Gao Xianzhi, and the other border generals were understandable, but this was truly unexpected. This was because all the officials mentioned in the letters were civil officials, and logically speaking, they should have stood on the side of the First Prince and the Confucian Sect. It should have been impossible for them to support Wang Chong.

The First Prince’s face alternated between shades of green and white. A few moments ago, he could have pushed past the opposition and continued to recommend Kong Wu, but with these hundred officials, the support for Wang Chong had reached the maximum level. It was no longer his decision.

Whoooah!

Before anyone could react, the grim First Prince waved his sleeve and suddenly rose from the dragon throne.

He would never personally promote Wang Chong! Never!

“Court is dismissed!”

Spitting out these last words, the First Prince swiftly left the court, the flabbergasted officials watching him go.

With the departure of the First Prince, Taihe Palace erupted. Clearly, none of them had expected this result.

……

Crack!

An exquisite wine cup of azure porcelain crashed into a corner of the Eastern Palace and exploded into countless tiny shards.

“Bastard! Bastard!

“Wang Chong! This prince will tear you to pieces!”

Furious roars resounded within the Eastern Palace.

Now that he was out of Taihe Palace and away from the eyes of the officials, the First Prince no longer needed to repress his rage. He gave it free rein, his expression savage, his face red, his eyes streaked with blood. He was like a wild beast seeking someone to consume.

Bing! Crack! Clang!

The palace was in turmoil as everything that could be smashed was tossed about, from large tables, chairs, and vases, to porcelain cups and paperweights. The Eastern Palace was a scene of devastation.

All the maids and eunuchs of the Eastern Palace were trembling in fear, and the surrounding guards were also uneasy. Even though they had served the First Prince for many years, this was the first time they had ever seen him so angry.

Next to a pillar, the Ghost King sat on his armchair and calmly took everything in. In the entire Eastern Palace, the Ghost King was the only man who did not fear the First Prince, but those thick eyebrows of this wise strategist were deeply furrowed.

He was more concerned with the events in court than the First Prince’s rage. The matter with Kong Wu was not merely about the post of temporary Minister of War, but was also related to their future plans. If they couldn’t put their own man in that post, what came next would be extremely problematic.

“It seems like I underestimated him!” the Ghost King finally said.

Although Wang Chong’s reputation in the Great Tang was as high as the noon sun, he was merely an insignificant junior to the Ghost King. His only true opponent was the man locked up in the Su Residence, Su Zhengchen. But Wang Chong’s move this time had truly caught him by surprise.

“Bastard! King Song is ill in bed and can’t even move! How could he have offered his support? This must be that bastard’s plan! And there’s also Gao Xianzhi and Geshu Han! This prince never acted against them, but now they dare to oppose this prince?!”

The First Prince’s body seethed with anger.

The mood in the hall was oppressive. It was clear that no one wanted to speak up while the First Prince was raging. But regardless, the result of this court session had truly been surprising.

At this moment, Meng Tu suddenly spoke, his head tilted downward in thought. “Your subordinate does not find it strange that Gao Xianzhi and Geshu Han would help him. After all, Wang Chong once held the post of Qixi Protector-General and was based very close to the other two. And with the strength of these Protector-Generals and Wang Chong’s prestige in the military, it would be easy to get the joint recommendation of ten thousand officers. What your subordinate finds strange is the recommendations from the governors and governor aides. Does it make any sense for them to stand on the side of the Bureau of Military Personnel?”

The extremely furious First Prince suddenly froze and stopped, his eyes turning thoughtful. He shared the same suspicions as Meng Tu.

After a few moments of thought, the First Prince’s expression calmed, and he declared, “It’s the retired Grand Commandant!”

The mention of the retired Grand Commandant left everyone else stunned.

“The retired Grand Commandant?”

Meng Tu deeply frowned. He clearly didn’t understand the significance of this title.

“The retired Grand Commandant served as an important official over three different rulers, and he has an upright and frank personality. His status is similar to that of Master Zhu, and even the Sage Emperor regards him with great respect,” Zhu Tong’en explained, deep worry on his brow. “Moreover, he has many disciples and old friends. In the provinces and prefectures, many governors and governor aides studied under him. He’s the only one who could have had so many people express their support for Wang Chong.

“The others can be disregarded, but the retired Grand Commandant possesses extraordinary status. If he’s standing on Wang Chong’s side, we’re in trouble!”

“But the retired Grand Commandant has not involved himself in the court for decades. Why would he break precedent and help Wang Chong now?” another advisor suddenly asked. “In addition, if I recall correctly, the retired Grand Commandant and Wang Chong should have never met before. Even when Duke Jiu was in power, he still chose to stay in the background. Why would he support Wang Chong?”

The others were all confused and doubtful. Those in the military might not have known about the retired Grand Commandant, but any civil official with status or weight did.

The retired Grand Commandant coming out of nowhere to support the King of Foreign Lands was truly too confusing, and also extremely difficult to deal with.

The First Prince said nothing, but he was just as worried.

“Now is not the time to think about such things, but to think about how to handle this matter! Your Highness, you cannot ignore the voices of the border officers and prefectural governors forever!” Zhu Tong’en said.

Everyone instantly stared at the First Prince, awaiting his decision.

The First Prince immediately fell silent.

Appointing Wang Chong as temporary Minister of War was something he absolutely could not accept.

……

“Your Highness, the First Prince has dismissed the court!”

While the First Prince was conferring with his advisors in the Eastern Palace, in the King of Foreign Lands Residence, Wang Chong, Gao Xianzhi, and Zhangchou Jianqiong were gathered together.

Gao Xianzhi had paid a public visit to Wang Chong’s residence after presenting himself in the palace. As for Zhangchou Jianqiong, he had dressed in leisure clothes and arrived surreptitiously.

Wang Chong had already heard about how the First Prince had ended today’s court session midway and stormed off in anger.

This was the first time this had happened since the First Prince had become the regent. It was clear that the First Prince loathed Wang Chong for his interference and would rather dismiss the court than announce that Wang Chong was to be made the temporary Minister of War.

“The First Prince is extremely prejudiced against you now, regarding you as a thorn in his side. It won’t be that easy to make him pronounce you as temporary Minister of War,” Gao Xianzhi said with a frown, seated rigidly in an armchair to Wang Chong’s left.

“We can’t afford any more delays. With King Song’s collapse, there’s no one left in the court to stand for the Bureau of Military Personnel and fend off the First Prince and the Confucian Sect. The more chaotic things become, the more necessary it becomes to calm the people down. Wang Chong, there’s no better candidate than you right now,” Zhangchou Jianqiong said.

Resting at home to recover from an illness had been Zhangchou Jianqiong’s makeshift plan to escape the danger he had sensed, but Zhangchou Jianqiong firmly believed that Wang Chong taking his place in the court was the best plan at the moment.

Wang Chong’s perception, intuition, intelligence, and finesse had all been tested and confirmed through various trials. Even Zhangchou Jianqiong had to admit that Wang Chong had surpassed both him and King Song, and possessed the capacity to lead all of them.

With him there, they would be able to restrain the First Prince and prevent the Great Tang from growing even more chaotic.

He had discussed this matter before with King Song, and the two of them had been in agreement.

But it seemed like it would be harder to pull it off than they had first imagined.

To everyone’s surprise, Wang Chong lightly sipped on his tea and confidently declared, “Relax! The First Prince will agree!”

These words immediately made him the center of attention. None of them understood why Wang Chong was so certain that the First Prince would hand over the post of temporary Minister of War.

“Reporting!”

A moment later, a figure came inside and kneeled on the ground.

“Your Highness, there is a eunuch from the court aside, saying that he has come to appoint Your Highness as temporary Minister of War. Your Highness, please go to receive the decree!”

Gao Xianzhi and Zhangchou Jianqiong were stunned, and the hall fell absolutely silent. Wang Chong had just declared that the First Prince would make him the temporary Minister of War, and just when they were planning to ask him why he was so certain, the court had sent its messenger.

“Hahaha!”

Wang Chong heartily laughed, explaining nothing. He stood up and began to walk out, a calm and relaxed expression on his face.

A man of great aspirations would not worry over small details, and the First Prince was the man with the great aspirations. Wang Chong was confident that he would allow it. Besides, he had Hou Junji at his side.

This man would certainly say that Wang Chong should be given the post.

“Come; let’s go to receive the decree!”

Wang Chong chuckled as he crossed the threshold.

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NovelThe Human EmperorChapter 1678 - Entering the Court Once More!
THE HUMAN EMPEROR
C1678 - Entering the Court Once More!
Chapter 1678: Entering the Court Once More!
Translated by: Hypersheep325

Edited by: Michyrr

Meanwhile, in the Eastern Palace…

“Ghost King, what do you mean by this? You know that that bastard supports Fifth Brother. And that scoundrel has opposed us at every turn. Why should we let him be the temporary Minister of War?” the First Prince sternly said as he stared at the Ghost King.

“Minor impatience can ruin great clans. He has spent a lot of time building up to this point, with the border generals and even governors and governor aides coming out to support him. Even in this situation, will Your Highness still refuse him?” the Ghost King asked back, his expression indifferent.

The First Prince became speechless, wanting to say something but quickly falling silent.

“Since we can’t refuse, we might as well agree.”

The Ghost King smiled.

“I don’t care what you want to do, but no matter what, our plan must proceed. In addition, think of a way to get rid of that bastard for me!”

The veins on the First Prince’s forehead bulged.

It had been incredibly difficult for him to get enough evidence to strip Wang Chong of his position of Advisor-in-Waiting and drive him out of the court.

This time, right after he had gotten rid of his two most powerful enemies in court, King Song and Zhangchou Jianqiong, Wang Chong had suddenly come back and forced his way into the court, even taking the post of Minister of War.

He had achieved an even higher status!

“Heheh, Your Highness, relax. I know what to do. Everything is under my control.”

The Ghost King spoke with absolute confidence.

These words caused the First Prince’s rage to somewhat fade.

After a few moments of silence, the First Prince clenched his teeth.

“No! This prince cannot sit by and watch. Tell them that it’s about time to move out!”

A cold and vicious killing intent flitted through his eyes.

……

While all this was going on in the Eastern Palace, the news that Zhangchou Jianqiong had taken ill and was being temporarily replaced by Wang Chong as Minister of War sent shockwaves through the capital and elation along the border.

Ever since Wang Chong’s Advisor-in-Waiting position had been removed, there had been little news about him on the political front. This youngest Marquis, most dazzling general, and the first King of the Great Tang by a different surname was still the center of the realm’s attention, but he was far from its center of authority.

No one had expected that he would become the Minister of War, even if only temporarily. This was the highest and most illustrious position he had yet achieved.

Time quickly passed, and it was soon time for another court session. The entire capital was noisy and raucous, and the officials left their residences earlier than usual as they gathered together before the appointed time.

“The King of Foreign Lands has returned! The court will be a restless place from now on!”

“The First Prince and the King of Foreign Lands get along like fire and water! Who would have thought that he would actually agree to make Wang Chong the temporary Minister of War?”

“The First Prince couldn’t do anything about that. No one expected the King of Foreign Lands to intervene. While Kong Wu is exceptionally qualified, when it comes to influence or prestige, the King of Foreign Lands is on an entirely different level. He could never win against the King of Foreign Lands!”

“The King of Foreign Lands came with great force, and I’m afraid that, with his personality, things aren’t going to end just here!”

“That’s right! Today’s court session is going to be a bad one!”

The officials of the capital had gathered in various parts of the capital, where they worriedly whispered to each other. The King of Foreign Lands had a fierce personality, as could be seen from the border incident and Public Order Squad incident. Only the King of Foreign Lands could have established that ‘Public Order Squad’ independent of the court and without the officials even knowing about it beforehand, and the court had even approved it in the aftermath.

The Public Order Squads could now be found patrolling throughout the capital.

As for the First Prince…

Although he was only temporarily the regent and had not been in this position for very long, the First Prince could no longer be considered young. Moreover, before all this, the Sage Emperor had allowed him to take part in governmental affairs, and there were many times when the First Prince could be seen listening from the sidelines.

While his time in the position had been short, the First Prince was beginning to slowly develop the demeanor of a sovereign. Moreover, almost all the officials in the court at this time were standing on the First Prince’s side. Wang Chong might have pushed the First Prince into a passive position and forced him into agreeing to make Wang Chong the temporary Minister of War, but the First Prince would not likely let the matter go.

Letting him into the court might have been only to more savagely beat him down.

Elsewhere in the capital, some other officials had gathered, but these people had entirely different expressions.

“What do we do? We just barely managed to drive him out, but now he’s back!”

“What are you afraid of? The court is packed with our men, so you think he’ll still dare to act so brashly?”

“Don’t get too careless. He’s most likely not coming with good intentions. We have to be on our guard.”

“Mm. Yesterday, the First Prince ordered that we can’t let any of his proposals pass, no matter what they are! If we do this, what does it matter that he’s back in the court?”

“That’s right. I don’t believe that he can put up much resistance by himself or play any sort of trick!”

The group vigorously discussed their common foe. Wang Chong was greatly revered amongst the military, but he had made his fair share of enemies amongst the civil officials, particularly as his ‘Might Makes Right’ had offended the entirety of the Confucian Sect.

Ding!

Soon, the ringing of chimes came from deep within the Imperial Palace. It was time for the morning court session. The two large and heavy gates opened, and a moment later, carriages flooded through the gates, the numerous officials making their way to Taihe Palace.

Before the court session, the officials of the court had gathered in small groups to chatter and converse, and even the common folk had been talking about the matter. But when the gates closed, all the officials became utterly silent.

Although they said nothing, their eyes looked around, searching for that man. But to their surprise, they couldn’t find him in the surge of people.

“Is he not coming today?”

The confused crowd all had the same thought, but they quickly rejected it. After causing such a stir, the King of Foreign Lands had no reason to suddenly retreat.

“Enter the palace!”

The crack of a whip came from the top of the white jade stairs, and the doors to Taihe Palace opened. The officials quickly passed through the threshold and began to take up their ranks. King Qi, whose presence at the court sessions was usually unnecessary, was already standing beneath a coiling dragon pillar, a cold smile on his lips. He was silently waiting for that man to appear so that he could immediately raise a ruckus.

Standing at the very front, Prime Minister Li Linfu had his usual appearance, his eyes half-opened and half-closed. But if one looked carefully, one would notice that Li Linfu’s hands, which were usually hanging by his side, were now concealed in his sleeves as he pondered something.

As for the leader of the Confucian Sect, Wang Chong’s constant rival, Li Junxian, surprisingly, he had not appeared.

As time slowly passed, everyone scanned the hall. Both the place where Zhangchou Jianqiong had once stood and the place where the Advisor-in-Waiting had once stood were empty. There was no sign of the King of Foreign Lands.

“What’s going on? Why hasn’t he appeared yet?”

“It’s been five minutes since the officials were supposed to enter the palace. Let’s wait a little more to see if he will appear!”

Two officials amongst the ranks whispered to each other so softly that only they could hear.

The seconds continued to drip away. Just as the whip was about to crack a second time, and it was the final moment in which officials were allowed to enter the palace…

Bang!

An opulent golden boot stepped over the threshold and into the hall, and a long and slender shadow was cast. The entire hall seemed to shake as the officials turned in unison. Even Li Linfu and King Qi looked over, their opened eyes exuding a sharp and blazing light.

Wang Chong!

The sight of that young and familiar figure immediately made King Qi’s eyes turn vicious. The air in the hall instantly tensed, and everyone looked fearfully at Wang Chong. What should have come had finally come, and Wang Chong had returned to the Imperial Court.

Wang Chong was wearing his dragon robe and bore a confident expression and domineering eyes, his every move exuding vast power. Compared to a few months ago, when he had taken the post of Advisor-in-Waiting, Wang Chong seemed even more composed and mature, exuding a majesty that had been washed free of all impurities.

The natural brilliance coming from his body made all the officials in the hall seem dim by comparison.

Whoosh!

A gentle breeze blew past, and Wang Chong faintly smiled at all the staring eyes. He confidently crossed over the threshold and made his way inside. Tap! Tap! Tap! Wang Chong slowly strode forward. His steps were not heavy, yet they rang out as if they weighed more than a thousand jun, and the entire palace seemed to buckle under the weight, trembling with each step he took.

Buzz!

As Wang Chong strode forward, the quiet crowd became slightly more restless. The members of the Confucian Sect and the officials subordinate to the First Prince and King Qi couldn’t help but back away, instinctively avoiding Wang Chong’s edge.

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NovelThe Human EmperorChapter 1679 - Wang Chong Makes Trouble!
THE HUMAN EMPEROR
C1679 - Wang Chong Makes Trouble!
Chapter 1679: Wang Chong Makes Trouble!
Translated by: Hypersheep325

Edited by: Michyrr

Wang Chong faintly smiled. After going through so much, he had finally returned to the Central Plains’ nexus of power.

Deep down, Wang Chong didn’t actually care about whether or not he could actually enter Taihe Palace to discuss matters of state, and the riches and fame that others so desperately desired were also not what he sought.

But in order to get his revenge and protect this five-thousand-year-old civilization, he needed to enter the Imperial Court.

An oppressive air weighed down on the palace, and no one dared to meet Wang Chong’s starry eyes.

“Hmph!”

Suddenly, a cold snort resounded through the hall.

King Qi walked over and jeered, “Almost coming late on your very first day, having everyone wait for you! Wang Chong, you’ve got some nerve!”

When he saw Wang Chong appear, he had already grown impatient. The man he hated the most in the Great Tang was none other than Wang Chong, even more than King Song. Whenever Wang Chong was present, his plans never went smoothly.

“Hah.”

Wang Chong merely smiled at the comment.

“King Qi, if I remember correctly, only when the whip cracks a second time is the time for the officials to enter the palace over. From this point of view, this king is still not late.”

“You!”

King Qi’s mouth opened, but no words came out.

Although the period to enter the palace ended with the second whip crack, for many years now, almost all the officials entered Taihe Palace long before that. King Qi hadn’t expected this argument from Wang Chong, but there was truly nothing wrong with it.

“In addition, King Qi, this king is the Minister of War. You’re blocking my path!”

Wang Chong shot a glance at King Qi, his cold words causing everyone else to stare.

Before anyone could react, Wang Chong took two steps forward and brushed King Qi aside, after which he walked to his own position.

This minor action made King Qi’s face turn the color of liver and left the other officials flabbergasted.

Wang Chong’s action had been extremely rude, but when the officials saw where King Qi and Wang Chong were standing, they knew that there was nothing to be done.

While King Qi was a revered King of the Great Tang, when it came to political power, he was beneath the supervisor of all of the Great Tang’s armies, the Minister of War.

In terms of rank, the Minister of War stood higher than King Qi.

By walking out of his place, King Qi really had blocked Wang Chong’s path, and so his action had been justified.

“Bastard!”

King Qi clenched his fists, his body trembling in rage.

The illustrious King Qi of the Great Tang had a status nearly equal to King Song’s, and the officials of the court even paid more respect to him than they did to King Song.

No one had ever spoken in such a tone to him before, much less treated him with such disregard as Wang Chong had.

One day, this king will make you and the entire Wang Clan pay a price for this! King Qi resentfully cursed.

But in the middle of his shame and anger…

Bong!!

A gong rang out, and then a eunuch began to speak in his shrill voice.

“The First Prince has arrived!”

A moment later, a stately figure with head held high walked in from a side door, escorted by guards and eunuchs to the dragon throne.

Everyone inwardly trembled, and the hall fell silent. Even King Qi returned to his place.

“Paying respects to Your Highness!” the officials loudly proclaimed as they bowed.

“Rise!”

The First Prince waved his hand as he seated himself on the dragon throne. His eyes scanned the officials and quickly settled on Wang Chong.

At that moment, there was a burst of cold and frigid light.

At almost the same time, Wang Chong stopped smiling, He looked up to the throne, his expression turning cold.

As their eyes met, the temperature in Taihe Palace plunged.

From the moment Wang Chong had Huo Jue submit that memorial, his stance had become plain and clear. His goal had never been to become Minister of War or enter the court.

Wang Chong was simply using this method to let everyone know that even if the First Prince was the regent, his authority reaching the heavens, he could not dominate the world just yet.

He had entered the court to oppose the First Prince. As long as he was here, the First Prince, King Qi, and the Confucian Sect would not be able to do as they pleased.

When the world was in chaos, someone had to stand up and bring order and stability to the people.

In the Great Tang, this man had been King Song, and with King Song down for the count, it was his turn now.

Wang Chong, making an enemy of this prince was the worst mistake you’ve ever made. You should not have refused this prince.

The First Prince made no attempt to hide his chilling stare from the assembled officials.

He naturally understood what Wang Chong’s goal was, but if Wang Chong thought that he could oppose him in court with just the position of Minister of War, then he was gravely mistaken.

This was his territory, and none of the officials dared to oppose him. Could Wang Chong alone overturn the heavens?

“Hmph!”

With a cold chuckle, the First Prince looked away, gesturing at a silk-robed eunuch.

The eunuch immediately stepped forward.

“His Highness has decreed that subjects with concerns should submit a memorial. If there are no concerns, please withdraw!”

The shrill voice resounded through the hall. In the past, officials would have stepped forward to submit memorials, but surprisingly, everyone seemed to have lost their voices.

The Prime Minister was the leader of all the officials, but Li Linfu had already closed his eyes and was acting like he had nothing to do with the matter.

The officials belonging to the Confucian Sect had also seemingly been notified, and all of them had their mouths tightly shut.

The other officials were apprehensive, their eyes constantly glancing up at the solemn First Prince and then back at the indifferent and newly promoted Wang Chong.

No one dared to speak out at a time like this.

Only King Qi, standing next to the pillar, was sneering at the nearby Wang Chong.

The seconds continued to pass, and the stifling silence persisted.

Fifteen minutes passed, but still no one spoke.

The First Prince quietly sat on the throne, profoundly gazing at Wang Chong with a smile on his face. Today was Wang Chong’s first day as Minister of War.

Today, he wanted Wang Chong to realize one thing. Even if he had entered Taihe Palace and was the Minister of War, the First Prince still ruled the court.

Without his consent, not even the court session could proceed.

The First Prince coldly chuckled as he got to his feet. “Since there are no concerns, the court is dis–”

But before he could say ‘dismissed’, a clear and bright voice resounded.

“Your Highness, this king has a memorial!”

This voice was neither too loud nor too soft, but it made everyone’s hearts thump.

Whoosh!

Prime Minister Li Linfu, who had seemed to be asleep, suddenly opened his eyes. King Qi also immediately frowned.

He suddenly had an ill foreboding.

“It’s here!”

Everyone else in the hall turned toward the speaker.

Today’s court session was bound to be an uneasy one. Everyone had already realized this. The First Prince had tried to force Kong Wu through, but Wang Chong had ruined it all.

No one believed that the First Prince was someone to just let this go.

As for Wang Chong…

The Public Order Squad incident and the border incident had made everyone understand Wang Chong’s style. No one believed that he had just come to replace Zhangchou Jianqiong.

Everyone waited with bated breath.

In his dragon robe, Wang Chong confidently stepped forward.

This action caught everyone by surprise.

They all understood that today’s court session had been meant as a display of power from the First Prince to cow Wang Chong. But when everyone was refusing to submit a memorial, Wang Chong had come forward to submit his own.

The First Prince had just been ready to go. When he saw Wang Chong come up, his expression darkened and he immediately stopped.

“Wang Chong, what memorial do you want to submit?!”

“This subject wishes to impeach someone!” Wang Chong unconcernedly said.

Buzz!

The air in the hall froze, brimming with tension.

“Who do you want to impeach?”

The First Prince’s eye twitched, but his voice remained steady.

“Assistant Minister of the Bureau of Military Personnel, Kong Wu!”

Wang Chong’s words resounded through the palace!

Boom!

Upon hearing the name emerging from Wang Chong’s lips, everyone in the hall, whether civil or military official, paled.

The First Prince nastily scowled.

As for Kong Wu, who was standing not far behind Wang Chong, he had turned ghastly pale. Wang Chong’s words had taken him completely by surprise. He had never imagined that Wang Chong would choose to work on him from the very first day.

“Kong Wu neglected his duties, placing personal affairs above the public good. Not only is he unfit for the position of Assistant Minister of the Bureau of Military Personnel, I request that Your Highness strip him of his position and drive him out of the court, to never be employed again,” Wang Chong loudly proclaimed.

“Impudent! Wang Chong, you just took the post of Minister of War. Are you already choosing to close ranks and expel any dissidents?”

The First Prince immediately exploded in rage.

Kong Wu was his man, and also the person he had tried to promote. He had never expected Wang Chong to try and submit a memorial impeaching Kong Wu on his very first day as Minister of War.

This was clearly an attack on his dignity. If Wang Chong succeeded, would he even have enough pride to show his face anymore?!

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NovelThe Human EmperorChapter 1680 - Seizing Kong Wu!
THE HUMAN EMPEROR
C1680 - Seizing Kong Wu!
Chapter 1680: Seizing Kong Wu!
“Your Highness First Prince, this subject is being unjustly accused! This lowly subject has worked in the Bureau of Military Personnel for several decades and has always been conscientious and loyal. How could this subject ever do such a thing? And Your Highness King of Foreign Lands, Kong Wu naturally cannot compare to you in prestige, nor in rank. When Lord Zhangchou became unwell and the Imperial Court wished to select a temporary Minister of War, I had no idea that you desired the post. But, Your Highness, even if you are unhappy, there is no need to slander and vilify this Kong so much!” Kong Wu said in agitation, his face ghastly pale.

“King of Foreign Lands, you’re acting too excessively!”

The hall buzzed with chatter, and the officials of the Confucian Sect and the First Prince’s faction used the chance to cause trouble. Although they had been caught by surprise, they couldn’t let Wang Chong just get rid of Kong Wu.

The First Prince said nothing, only stared grimly at Wang Chong, his eyes getting colder and colder.

“Hmph!”

Wang Chong coldly took everything in, an unperturbed smile on his lips.

“Wang Chong, this prince does not care what prejudices you have against Kong Wu, but this is the court. Although Kong Wu is not the Minister of War, he is still a vital official of the court. If you do not have any firm evidence and are recklessly throwing out accusations, this prince will be forced to heavily punish you for causing trouble in court and disregarding the laws!” the First Prince finally said.

“Your Highness, this subject naturally has evidence,” Wang Chong coldly said, showing no signs of backing down. “Kong Wu has been an Assistant Minister in the Bureau of Military Personnel for ten-some years. He has placed private gain above public good and allowed his wife’s younger brother to enter the Bureau of Military Personnel as a director. To intercept the money the Bureau of Military Personnel sends to the local magistrates for military expenses is one thing, but not long ago, when the Imperial Court was engaged in peace negotiations with the other countries and when the armies were being reduced from the capital all the way to the border, Kong Wu’s brother-in-law actually dared to intercept a portion of the money being paid out to the families of soldiers who died in battle and the soldiers who were being told to retire.

“A member of the Bureau of Military Personnel found this while performing an audit and was planning to report the matter to the Imperial Court. But Kong Wu managed to seize the man, and under the charges of colluding with outside factions and disrespecting his superiors, he had the man imprisoned. In the end, he died under torture in the prison of the Bureau of Military Personnel. Kong Wu, has this king said anything wrong?”

Wang Chong coldly turned his head to Kong Wu, whose face immediately paled once more.

Before Kong Wu could speak, an old official stepped forward and rebuked Wang Chong. “King of Foreign Lands, don’t speak nonsense! Everyone in the court knows of Lord Kong’s reputation. How could he possibly do such a thing!?”

“That’s right! Even if you don’t like Kong Wu, there’s no need to resort to such methods!”

Others voiced their agreement.

The Confucian Sect and Wang Chong already had many irresolvable conflicts between them, and many of the officials present were part of the First Prince’s faction. They naturally would not believe his claims.

“Hmph, without evidence, how could this king dare to say such things?”

Coldly chuckling, Wang Chong took two items from his sleeve.

“This is an audit record from the Bureau of Military Personnel. Five days ago, I had people from the Bureau of Military Personnel thoroughly inspect this year’s financial records. The money allocated to the Imperial Court by the Bureau of Military Personnel, to be paid to soldiers being disbanded, was thirteen million taels of gold. Of this, eight million were distributed, but five million taels have gone missing without explanation.

“If my investigation is correct, of those five million taels, two million were taken by that brother-in-law of yours to the capital’s Golden Gambling Den and were lost while gambling; one million, five hundred thousand taels were sent to your own residence; and five hundred thousand was given to those old brothers of yours. As for the remaining one million taels, your brother-in-law kept them in his own estate for his own use.

Before coming to court, I already ordered men to search your brother-in-law’s residence, and this gold was found there. Even the official seals on them haven’t been melted off yet.”

As Wang Chong spoke, he flipped his hand over, revealing a gold ingot of the Great Tang, the official seal on its bottom still clear and visible.

The official ingots of the Great Tang were all cast by the Imperial Court, and they all had the official seal at their bottoms. When this money was distributed, it would normally come with a certificate that would show where the gold had come from. It was only when this certificate was obtained and the seal removed by local officials that the gold could be allowed to circulate in the marketplace.

Although there were ways to recast official ingots, this batch of gold was too large and there had not been enough time to get rid of the seals.

If this gold had been found in the residence of Kong Wu’s brother-in-law, then the evidence was firm and inescapable.

The officials who had been vigorously criticizing Wang Chong a few moments ago instantly paled at the sight of this evidence. They had been arguing Kong Wu’s case, believing that Wang Chong couldn’t possibly have found anything, but they had just been given a sharp slap to the face.

“King of Foreign Lands, you…!”

The most panicked at this time was Kong Wu. Wang Chong had been the last to enter the court, getting in just before the second whip crack sounded. Kong Wu had thought that Wang Chong had done so intentionally to act arrogant, never expecting that he had been conducting a raid on Kong Wu’s brother-in-law.

“Kong Wu!”

The First Prince roared as he glared at Kong Wu, his face twisted into a nasty scowl. Even a blind man would be able to sense his anger.

No matter what sort of accusations Wang Chong could have made, they would have been nothing without evidence. But not only did Wang Chong have the account books of the Bureau of Military Personnel, he even had official gold ingots found in the estate of Kong Wu’s brother-in-law.

Each batch of ingots issued by the court was different, and this batch was particularly special, as it was to soothe the hundreds of thousands of soldiers who were being dismissed. Not even the most eloquent arguments from Kong Wu could save him.

“Yo-Yo-Your Highness!”

Thud! Kong Wu dropped to his knees, cold sweat beading on his forehead as his face turned ashen.

“This lowly subject did not know, truly! My brother-in-law and his sister must have been secretly colluding with each other! This subject has always been so busy with military affairs that he rarely even goes home. This lowly subject knows nothing about what is going on there!” Kong Wu loudly said.

“Bastard, you still dare to argue at a time like this!”

The First Prince’s rage was on full display. Although he didn’t like Wang Chong, he could see that Wang Chong had come well-prepared. In front of so many other officials and with this ironclad evidence, the First Prince couldn’t help Kong Wu even if he wanted to.

To take some of the money meant for the disbanded soldiers was one thing, but Kong Wu had even dared to covet the compensation money paid out to the families of deceased soldiers. With this fact alone, Kong Wu could put to an end any thoughts of ever taking the post of Minister of War.

And to think that he had tried to promote Kong Wu and have him take Zhangchou Jianqiong’s place…!

Even worse was that all of this could be easily verified through another investigation, making all of Kong Wu’s arguments pointless. This was why he was so angry.

“Your Highness! I, I…”

Kong Wu prostrated on the floor, his face panicked and his clothes drenched.

The Bureau of Military Personnel did not concern itself with money and food. All of this was issued from the state treasury. But the Bureau of Military Personnel did decide how this money was distributed, how it made its way from the capital down to the soldiers.

The wages and expenses of several hundred thousand soldiers were involved in this, and normally, even the Bureau of Military Personnel wouldn’t have clear records. Accurately accounting for seventy to eighty percent of expenses would be considered superb. Verifying every single one of the millions of records was a nigh impossible mission.

Kong Wu had never imagined that Wang Chong would be able to go through such complicated accounts in such little time, verifying them one by one to get the accurate number.

This was simply unbelievable!

“Hmph!”

Wang Chong gazed at the frightened and trembling Kong Wu as he coldly chuckled. He felt no sympathy for this man.

He did not want to deal with Kong Wu purely because of his relationship to the First Prince.

The vast majority of people probably found Kong Wu to be a lover of the country and a loyal subject, but nobody understood Kong Wu’s secrets more than Wang Chong. Wang Chong also knew what would happen if he were allowed to take the post of Minister of War—no, if he were allowed to serve the First Prince.

Kong Wu had started out as a soldier and reached his position through the slow accumulation of achievements. But very few people knew that Kong Wu had actually started out as a bandit in the Qinling area, and a particularly cruel one at that.

Plundering homes and wreaking havoc on the roads was their way of life. Countless travelers and merchants in the Qinling area had been killed or injured by them, and these bandits had flourished.

In the end, the military was compelled to mobilize to surround and wipe out these bandits.

However, Kong Wu was more thoughtful than most and knew that one couldn’t be a bandit forever, or even in the near future. The Sage Emperor was growing increasingly intolerant of this sort of conduct, and the Imperial Court had begun putting up wanted posters. Continuing on this road was a death sentence.

After some thought, Kong Wu took some of his brothers and changed names with the hopes of starting over on the border. But to his surprise, through his astounding military achievements, he began to rise through the ranks, until finally, he entered the capital and joined the Bureau of Military Personnel.

This was something he had kept hidden from all the other court officials for several decades.

When he had been a bandit in Qinling, Kong Wu had already possessed a cruel personality, and as a soldier, he enjoyed punishing his soldiers with branding irons, generating much discontent.

But the capital was not the same as the wildlands, and perhaps things would have been different if Kong Wu had cultivated his mind and changed his temperament. Just as the saying went, if a bad man acted as a good man for his entire life, then he was truly a good man.

Alas, mountains and rivers were easier to change than the nature of men.

When Kong Wu joined the First Prince, his past temperament revealed itself once more. In Wang Chong’s last life, in order to exhibit his loyalty and to vie for the honor of being one of the subjects who assisted the dragon in attaining the throne, Kong Wu had engaged in large-scale massacres during the rebellion.

In the Rebellion of the Three Princes, he had first slaughtered the officials who had opposed the First Prince. After that, when the Imperial Army and City Guard soldiers in the capital were surrendering, he had them brutally massacred.

He had created even more massacres in the Rebellion of the Three Princes than the First Prince, and caused many common folk to lose their lives.

This was something that Wang Chong could never accept!

This was why he had made Kong Wu his first target!

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NovelThe Human EmperorChapter 1681 - A Fine Bird!
THE HUMAN EMPEROR
C1681 - A Fine Bird!
Chapter 1681: A Fine Bird!
Translated by: Hypersheep325

Edited by: Michyrr

“Your Highness, what do the laws of the Great Tang say about how this matter should be handled?”

Wang Chong looked up at the enthroned First Prince.

“Come; arrest Kong Wu! Lord Prime Minister, I leave this matter to you. Lead the Three Departments and rigorously investigate this matter!” the First Prince furiously declared from his throne.

Today had been an utter defeat. He understood that Wang Chong was using this deliberate show of strength as a warning, using the matter of Kong Wu to threaten him. However, once one was on a tiger, it was hard to get off, and in front of the entire court, he was forced to deal with Kong Wu.

Such a crime had unquestionably enraged all the officers in the military. Even the First Prince had to give up on him.

“Your Highness! Save me, save me! King of Foreign Lands, there are no grudges between us, so why does it have to be like this!?”

Kong Wu’s prostrate form was trembling, his face as white as a sheet of paper and his expression panicked. What he had expected to be a happy occasion had turned into his doomsday.

“Come! Take him away!”

The First Prince was growing increasingly impatient. If not for Kong Wu, he would have never been forced into this stage.

The generals standing in the corners of the palace soon came forward, took Kong Wu by the arms, and dragged him away.

The officials were silent as Kong Wu was taken away, and they even chose to avoid looking at Wang Chong. This was particularly true for the Confucian Sect members, whose eyes were fraught with fear.

The King of Foreign Lands was still the King of Foreign Lands. Even if he was alone and without power or authority, he would still be an existence feared by countless people.

On his first day in court, he had impeached the Assistant Minister of the Bureau of Military Personnel who had been in the post for ten-some years. Not even King Qi had ever managed such a feat before.

“Honored officials, are there any other memorials to be submitted?” the First Prince impatiently said.

The officials looked at each other. A tiny number of major officials submitted memorials on rather trivial affairs, but no one else spoke up.

“Since there is no more, the honored officials are dismissed,” the eunuch finally said.

Everyone sighed in relief. They had managed to get through the day, and they were all too ready to get out of this uncomfortable palace.

Suddenly, Eunuch Yin came up from behind the First Prince and announced, “Wait a moment. His Highness has decreed that while the other officials may withdraw, the King of Foreign Lands should remain!

“King of Foreign Lands, His Highness has a matter to discuss with you. Please stay back for a while!”

Buzz!

The hall became so silent that one could hear a pin drop.

Everyone waited with bated breath for the reply.

“This lowly subject receives the decree!”

At the very front, Prime Minister Li Linfu seemed unperturbed. With a wave of his sleeve, he began to walk out of the hall.

“Hmph!”

King Qi coldly snorted, shot a glare at Wang Chong, and then began to stride out.

The other officials surged out like the receding tide, and even the eunuchs and guards seemed to realize something and went out through the side entrances.

Bang!

Almost the moment all the officials had withdrawn, the doors slammed shut, isolating Taihe Palace.

All of the officials felt a stifling air, but without another word, they left.

In Taihe Palace, Wang Chong stood unmoving, a calm and assured look on his face. Even after the doors shut, leaving Wang Chong alone in the dim Taihe Palace with the First Prince and Eunuch Yin, he remained unperturbed.

Whoosh!

His robes rustling, the First Prince slowly rose from the throne, his eyes gleaming with cold light.

An immense energy, sharp and cold, erupted from his body.

A voice shattered the silence. “Wang Chong, it seems you’re determined to oppose this prince!”

The First Prince stood on the raised platform, his expression cold as he spoke in an intimidating tone.

One was the regent of the Great Tang and the other was a King. Sovereign and subject each had their own roles, but the First Prince had clearly lost his patience.

“For what reason does Your Highness say such things? Wang Chong is impartially carrying out his duties. And was it not Your Highness who ordered Kong Wu to be arrested?” Wang Chong indifferently said.

“Hmph, there’s no need to keep that pompous tone. You and this prince both know what’s going on with Kong Wu! You support the Fifth Prince from the shadows, opposing this prince at every turn. This prince knows everything, and it doesn’t matter how much you try to defend yourself.

“This prince had you stay so that I could tell you one thing. King of Foreign Lands, do you know what happens when a chicken egg strikes a stone?”

The First Prince murderously glared at Wang Chong.

Eunuch Yin had taken two steps forward, his energy locking onto Wang Chong.

Taihe Palace was deathly still. Wang Chong gazed at the First Prince, his lips slowly curling into a smile.

“Your Highness, a chicken egg can’t break a stone, but the dripping of water can penetrate through rock.”

Wang Chong’s words caused the First Prince and Eunuch Yin to grimace.

“Only when one is humane can one be without rival. Trying to forcefully obtain some things without regard for method might not necessarily result in anything good. I hope that Your Highness can carefully ponder these words!”

“Heh, Wang Chong, are you trying to instruct this prince?”

The First Prince shook his head, his mouth twisted into an angry smile.

“I gave you many chances to swear fealty to this prince, but you refused me every time. Wang Chong, this prince admires your talent. In the war of the southwest and the Battle of Talas, you rendered astounding service for the Great Tang. But the sovereign is sovereign and the subject is subject. If you insist on opposing this prince, then even if your talent reaches to the heavens, you can never defeat this prince.

“This prince is the first in line to the throne of the Great Tang, the next Sage Emperor. Do you understand what will happen to you if you oppose me at every turn?” the First Prince coldly said.

The First Prince had dropped most of his courtesy in these words. Wang Chong’s actions had clearly stirred up the First Prince’s killing intent, or else he would have never spoken so bluntly.

“Your Highness, you forget yourself!” Wang Chong coldly said.

“Heh, is that so?”

The First Prince chuckled. He turned around, facing his back to Wang Chong.

“Wang Chong, since you insist on stubbornly supporting the Fifth Prince and opposing this prince, let’s play a game! Let see whether the Crown Prince of the Great Tang will be me or the Fifth Prince!”

Buzz!

Wang Chong’s brow creased in surprise. It seemed as if the First Prince had not come up with these words on the spur of the moment, but had carefully pondered them before today’s meeting.

Wang Chong pensively stared at the proud figure clothed in dragon robes. But he said nothing, knowing well that the First Prince had more to say.

As expected, the First Prince began to speak again.

“Ah, but people don’t die in games. In our game, however… the one who loses will die!! And your entire clan with you!”

The First Prince’s voice was devoid of emotion.

Whoosh!

A sudden breeze blew between the pair, and Taihe Palace was cold and still. The air was fraught with an invisible tension.

Even Wang Chong couldn’t help but slightly grimace.

This was not their first meeting, and even though the First Prince had once been so bold as to block his carriage, he had never imagined a meeting like this.

This was similar to laying the cards on the table. Wang Chong’s multiple attempts to hinder the First Prince had clearly pushed the First Prince to the limit. Moreover, this was the first time the First Prince had brought up the entire Wang Clan.

The First Prince was implying that if he attained the throne, he would make the entire Wang Clan pay the price, not just Wang Chong, and crush it into dust.

“What a pity. The storied Wang Clan will end up being destroyed by your hands…”

The First Prince spoke in a frightening and damning tone.

Before he could finish speaking, he received a crisp and simple reply.

“Okay!”

“!!!”

The First Prince and Eunuch Yin were both startled and turned to look at Wang Chong.

“What did you say?!”

The First Prince turned his body around and stared with furrowed brow at Wang Chong. He had clearly not expected this reply.

“I said ‘okay’!”

Wang Chong’s lips had a gentle smile, and his expression was confident and relaxed, without even a hint of fear. A normal person would have backed down a little in front of the First Prince’s threatening demeanor, but the First Prince was trying this on the wrong person.

More importantly, no one understood more than Wang Chong that the First Prince would never be able to sit on the emperor’s throne. Besides that, his words just now had by themselves completely disqualified him.

Wang Chong looked up and loudly proclaimed, “Since Your Highness’s mind is set, Wang Chong will naturally accompany you to the end. There has to be something on the line in a game, and it’s just a matter of how big or small the wager is. Wang Chong only worries that Your Highness might not be the True Dragon candidate that man has in mind!”

Such words were incredibly treasonous. If the First Prince attained the throne, he could use them to have Wang Chong executed. But at this stage, Wang Chong no longer feared anything.

“Wang Chong has another message for Your Highness. It is not too late to pull on the reins before the horse rides over the precipice. Stubbornly continuing on the crooked path might only end as a dream of yellow millet!”

(TN: The dream of yellow millet refers to a Chinese folk tale. The folk tale goes that as a man is cooking millet, he falls asleep. He dreams that he passes the imperial examinations and quickly rises to the rank of a high official. Afterward, he marries the daughter of a wealthy family, has a son and daughter, and then even reaches the rank of Prime Minister. But he is then accused of crimes that cause him to lose his office, his wife betrays him, his children are killed by bandits, and he loses all his wealth. As he dies on the street, he wakes up. While eighteen years passed in the dream, in reality, only enough time had passed for his millet to finish cooking.)

Wang Chong chuckled and then turned around to leave. Rumble! Pushing the doors open, he walked out.

Behind him, the First Prince and Eunuch Yin nastily scowled, but in the end, these scowls transformed into cold killing intent.

“Wang Chong, you won’t remain smug for long. A fine bird chooses to perch only on a fine tree, but it seems that you are not that kind of bird!”

With one last glance at Wang Chong’s back, the First Prince departed.

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NovelThe Human EmperorChapter 1682 - The Six-Armed Idol!
THE HUMAN EMPEROR
C1682 - The Six-Armed Idol!
Chapter 1682: The Six-Armed Idol!
"Your Highness, how did it go?"

The moment Wang Chong arrived at his residence, he was welcomed by an expectant Zhang Que and Xu Keyi.

Wang Chong gave a detailed account of what had happened.

When they heard that Kong Wu had been arrested, they all sighed in relief.

"Kong Wu was Assistant Minister for ten-some years. To think that he would even go after the compensation money for bereaved families… If not for Your Highness, no one would have ever been able to imagine it."

"The account books of the Bureau of Military Personnel are incredibly complex and difficult to verify. Kong Wu probably never imagined that His Highness would be able to accurately determine that he had embezzled five million taels of gold."

All of them emotionally sighed.

Kong Wu's conduct was unacceptable in the military, and let alone Minister of War, he wouldn't have even been able to keep his post as Assistant Minister.

A voice came from the side. "Toppling Kong Wu is good, but what left me the most surprised was the First Prince's attitude, ordering Kong Wu to be arrested himself."

The hall fell silent as everyone turned to the speaker. It was Gao Xianzhi, who had arrived with several of his followers.

"Lord Gao!"

Seeing him, Wang Chong smiled and bowed.

"Heh, your visit to the court this time was quite effective. The matter of Kong Wu has already spread throughout the capital. King Song is still down from the poison, and even if Zhangchou wants to return, the First Prince probably won't allow him. You're the only one we can rely on in the court at this time," Gao Xianzhi said, an expectant look in his eyes.

"When are you leaving?"

Wang Chong glanced at Gao Xianzhi, seemingly understanding something.

"I have to set out before nightfall. The Imperial Court has already issued a decree. I must head for Mengshe Zhao immediately. From what I can see, His Highness plans to keep me out for one to two years!" Gao Xianzhi said with a bitter smile.

The mighty Anxi Protector-General who had ruled the Western Regions and had spent almost his entire life campaigning had fallen, becoming a mere civil official being sent as an envoy to Mengshe Zhao. He would have to spend each day interacting with the Six Zhao of Erhai, and it would probably be a very long time before he could return to the Central Plains. For a born general like Gao Xianzhi, this was nothing but torture.

"Time is short. I wanted to meet you one last time before setting out. But it seems that I can rest easy."

Gao Xianzhi shot Wang Chong an admiring glance.

Wang Chong fell silent.

King Song was still gravely ill, while Zhangchou Jianqiong was threatened by assassination. Now, an illustrious Great General in Gao Xianzhi was being sent off to Mengshe Zhao. These pillars that had supported the peace and prosperity of the empire had been undermined, and the Great Tang was slowly immersing itself into a storm.

"Milord, take care of yourself!"

All the thousands of words he wanted to say eventually condensed into this simple farewell.

The kitchen was ordered to prepare a sumptuous feast, and Wang Chong dined with Gao Xianzhi. After the meal, Wang Chong personally sent Gao Xianzhi off.

At the same time, at nightfall, an Imperial Army soldier stealthily left the Imperial City, winding his way through the streets until he eventually reached the First Prince's Great Buddhist Temple beyond the walls.

Although the Great Buddhist Temple had been a battleground for Wang Chong and the First Prince, as a place consecrated to the Buddha, it was calm and peaceful.

Lanterns were scattered across the summit, and even at night, one could still hear the chanting of Buddhist sutras and the striking of wooden fish, something that the nearby common folk took much delight in. There were even some ordinary folk who had moved their homes here just so they could listen to the peaceful and calming chanting.

The main hall of the Great Buddhist Temple was so brightly lit that it seemed like daytime, but a nearby side hall was dimly lit by just a few lanterns. Worshiped here was a black, six-armed Guanyin.

(TN: Guanyin is the Bodhisattva of compassion and is one of the most popular Buddhist divinities. As Guanyin can assume any form, Guanyin can be depicted as either male or female, though in recent times, Guanyin is mostly depicted as female. Guanyin as a female started to become a trend in the Song Dynasty, but in the Tang Dynasty, Guanyin should still have been depicted as a male.)

Even though the monks of the Great Buddhist Temple were all virtuous high monks that the First Prince had invited, all of them well-versed in the sutras, none of them had ever heard of a black Guanyin statue. Even looking at it filled one's heart with dread.

Ever since the establishment of the Great Buddhist Temple, the side hall had been empty. None of the monks went to attend to it, except for a black-robed monk who would occasionally appear.

Amidst rustling leaves, the Imperial Army soldier entered the side hall.

"The Celestial God shines upon all. This subordinate comes on the Crown Prince's order to request the assistance of the High God."

The Imperial Army soldier quickly got down on his knees, but his arms were raised up and his hands open as if there was something in them.

Time slowly passed, but there was only silence in the hall. The two lamps flanking the idol dimly flickered.

Time slowly passed and still there was nothing. But the Imperial Army soldier continued to kneel, his head lowered.

Clap!

Finally, there was a footstep. A monk in a black robe with a sinister and bizarre expression emerged from the shadows and into the dim lantern light.

"Let me see."

The icy-faced monk walked up to the Imperial Army soldier and took the object from his hand.

In the light, one could now see that the Imperial Army soldier had been holding an exquisitely crafted claw that was about four inches long. This claw was gold and black, its surface covered in tiny scales. It was a dragon claw.

This dragon claw had four fingers, a symbol of the First Prince's status.

But its most striking feature was the golden eye bizarrely placed on the leg.

The black-robed monk silently stared at the golden eye. Then his right thumb gently stroked the eye, and he nodded.

"Speak. What is the problem?" the monk said emotionlessly.

"His Highness has recently run into a small problem, a court official of the Great Tang called Wang Chong. His Highness hopes that the High God can intervene and remove this problem."

The Imperial Army soldier did not even dare to raise his head.

"Is that so? The High God does not need to be disturbed over such a trifling matter. Go back. Tell Your Highness that I will personally handle this matter," the monk said.

"This… But His Highness said that he hopes that this news can be told to the High God!" the kneeling Imperial Army soldier said, a hard-pressed look on his face.

"A mere Imperial Army soldier thinks he has the right to negotiate with us? Only death awaits you if you disturb the High God!" the monk firmly said, staring at the Imperial Army soldier with eyes brimming with killing intent.

"Wait a moment!"

Suddenly, a resounding voice like a peal of thunder spoke.

"Tell Your Highness that I already know of this matter. This god will personally take action."

An immense energy like that of a primordial beast suddenly appeared in the hall. His heart filled with dread, the Imperial Army soldier subconsciously raised his head.

"Ah!"

A moment later, the Imperial Army soldier's body trembled in shock, extreme fear appearing in his eyes.

A pair of eyes was floating in the darkness, coldly staring at him. And if one looked carefully, one would realize that those eyes belonged to the six-armed idol.

The six-armed idol in the hall was ten-some meters tall, and it had been seated cross-legged on a lotus throne. But at this time, the six-armed Guanyin had come to life. Not only had it opened its eyes, its large arms were moving about as it slowly rose from the lotus throne.

This soldier was an experienced veteran, but he had never seen such a bizarre sight before. He instantly broke out in a cold sweat.

"High God!" the black-robed monk cried out, immediately getting down on his knees.

The Imperial Army soldier's heart trembled in fear. He now understood that this was the mysterious 'High God'.

The six-armed idol spoke once more in its thunderous voice. "Return and tell your First Prince that I will personally take care of this matter."

"Yes!"

The guard once more prostrated, not daring to say another word.

……

Kong Wu's brother-in-law had embezzled compensation money from the Bureau of Military Personnel, and Kong Wu had also been implicated in the scandal, a matter which the investigation of the Three Departments soon confirmed. A few days later, Kong Wu was officially stripped of his official rank.

This matter shook the entire capital, and Wang Chong's position in the court was also stabilized.

Even though the court was still under the control of the First Prince and the Confucian Sect, as long as Wang Chong was present, both factions and even King Qi and Prime Minister Li Linfu would be docile and obedient. They would do their utmost to avoid bringing up the Bureau of Military Personnel.

No one wanted to provoke Wang Chong!

Even the First Prince understood that Wang Chong was covered in thorns. Trying to make trouble for the Bureau of Military Personnel in court would only bring trouble on himself.

With the First Prince being docile, Wang Chong didn't take any special action. The two sides maintained a strange stalemate, and all was calm and peaceful.

Whoosh!

An exquisitely crafted golden wine jar with a slender mouth was raised into the air. Golden liquor poured out, unleashing a wave of fragrance as it poured into a goblet crafted in the shape of a frog.

This was a new custom in the capital, and imitating ancient-style wine cups was now the popular trend. But few people knew that all this was actually because of Wang Chong.

As for Wang Chong, he just liked this kind of thing.

With the matters in court temporarily resolved, Wang Chong had gone alone to a restaurant. He now took the frog-shaped goblet and took a light sip, then he looked out from the balcony and began to enjoy his time alone.

This restaurant had a superb location, and because it was five floors tall, much higher than the other buildings, one could see more than half the capital from its southern balcony. The prosperity evident in the countless rows of buildings had a charm all its own.

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NovelThe Human EmperorChapter 1683 - Crown Prince's Junior Guardian Wang Zhongsi!
THE HUMAN EMPEROR
C1683 - Crown Prince's Junior Guardian Wang Zhongsi!
Chapter 1683: Crown Prince’s Junior Guardian Wang Zhongsi!
Clap!

Suddenly, there was a crisp footstep from the stairs. At the same time, a waiter from the restaurant spoke into Wang Chong’s ear.

“Guest, the person you’re waiting for is here.”

“There’s no need. I’ll go over myself.” A deep and dignified voice came from the stairs, interrupting the waiter. The owner of this voice proceeded to make their way to Wang Chong.

A few moments later, a figure slowly began to walk over. From his erect posture and sharp eyes, one could still sense the immense majesty radiating from his body, even though he tried his best to restrain it.

Wang Chong had seen many kinds of people, including illustrious Great Generals like Gao Xianzhi and Zhangchou Jianqiong, but even men of their caliber would admit defeat in the face of such majesty.

An ordinary person would probably need just a glance to begin trembling in dread.

In the realm, there was only one man who possessed such majesty and yet was known so little by the common people: the Crown Prince’s Junior Guardian, the illustrious War God of the previous generation, Wang Zhongsi.

Wang Chong carefully inspected Wang Zhongsi. He had never really had a chance to interact with the Crown Prince’s Junior Guardian, and this could be considered their first real meeting.

Wang Zhongsi had chosen to wisely draw back in the face of overwhelming odds. At the height of his career, he chose to hand his military authority to Geshu Han and retreat into the palace, hiding his name and achievements.

When it came to achievements on the battlefield, Wang Zhongsi had reached the highest heights one could achieve in a lifetime. Excluding the Arabian Empire, which had simply been too far away for him to interact with, he had defeated almost all the other countries. He had once even reached the royal palace of Ü-Tsang, forcing the Tsenpo and his officials to flee in panic. Even now, the Tibetans regarded that incident as a major humiliation.

Even though Wang Chong also had his fair share of conquests and had defeated countless foes, he had not yet accomplished similar feats.

But because Wang Zhongsi had been unable to deal with altitude sickness, nor had he discovered the effects of roseroot, he had been forced to beat a hasty retreat.

In that entire generation, the only person who had been able to stand on par with Wang Zhongsi was that Imperial Minister of Ü-Tsang who was acclaimed for his intelligence and who had similarly taken a step back from the front line, Dalon Trinling.

High achievements alarm the sovereign!

Heroically retreating in the face of a rushing torrent!

Wang Chong was no stranger to the methods of this era’s renowned ministers and generals. Whether it was in the Great Qin one thousand years ago, the Great Han, or the current Great Tang, there were numerous renowned generals who became worried that their achievements were so great that they worried the emperor, and chose to give up their posts of their own volition.

A thousand years ago, Great General Wang Jian of Qin took up a great interest in agriculture and construction, in addition to buying thousands of beautiful slave girls, and his estate was far more luxurious than the rules allowed, causing him to almost be charged for a crime. He did all these things precisely so that he could leave flaws for the sovereign to exploit, thus allowing the sovereign to rest easy.

(TN: Wang Jian was a general of the Qin State who conquered the States of Zhao, Yan, and Chu. He is considered one of the four greatest generals of the Warring States Period. He initially retired after conquering Yan, but was called back from retirement to conquer Chu as well after Qin’s initial invasion failed.)

Wang Chong had also stepped onto this path, but unlike his seniors, Wang Chong had a soul from another world. He cared little about the sovereign’s suspicions.

All Wang Chong cared about was his ultimate mission!

Wang Chong quickly came back to his senses.

“The King of Foreign Lands is truly refined!” Wang Zhongsi suddenly commented as he glanced at the jade cup and golden jar placed in front of Wang Chong, as well as the magnificent view from the balcony.

“But Your Highness and I have not met in the past. Your Highness did not call me purely to enjoy the scenery, right?”

Wang Zhongsi chose to stand rather than take a seat.

Anyone who had stayed in the capital for long enough understood that the Crown Prince’s Junior Guardian was an extremely low-key person, and he had no relationships with the major officials of court. Even when people came to visit him, Wang Zhongsi would refuse them at the gate. In this aspect, he was rather similar to Su Zhengchen.

In truth, that Wang Zhongsi had appeared at today’s banquet after receiving Wang Chong’s invitation was already exceptional.

If this matter got out, it would probably be a conversation piece of the capital for ages. After all, this was a formal meeting between the old and new War Gods of the Great Tang.

“Heh, Lord Junior Guardian, it’s still early. Does Milord not even have time to sit down for a small chat?”

Wang Chong chuckled as he pointed at the seat across from him.

Wang Zhongsi hesitated for a moment, but he finally sat down across from Wang Chong.

Wang Chong smiled. In no rush, he lifted the wine jar and filled Wang Zhongsi’s cup.

Wang Chong raised his cup and respectfully said, “Wang Chong has always respected Milord. With this cup, Wang Chong gives a toast to Milord!”

These were words spoken from the heart. Although Wang Chong didn’t much agree with Wang Zhongsi’s decision to retire at the height of his career to protect himself, Wang Zhongsi had, through his many conquests and achievements on the battlefield, made an indelible contribution to the current peace of the Great Tang. There was no disputing that.

This alone had made Wang Chong always respect Wang Zhongsi, and it was why the two of them were meeting today.

“Your Highness is too polite.”

Wang Zhongsi hesitated before taking up the cup. He lightly clinked it with Wang Chong’s cup and then drained the liquor.

With this toast, the mood warmed.

“Your Highness is a talented youth who has rendered great service for the Great Tang. Wang Zhongsi is filled with admiration. If all the youth of the Great Tang could be like Your Highness, the common people would be able to sleep safe and sound for generations to come!” Wang Zhongsi returned with his own compliment.

Although Wang Zhongsi usually refused guests and intentionally distanced himself from the powerful nobles, this did not mean that he did not pay attention to the political scene. On the contrary, this War God cared more about the safety of the empire than anyone else. Otherwise, during the war of the southwest, he would have never put his armor back on and ridden off to Longxi to fend off the White Lion Great General of Ü-Tsang, We Tadra Khonglo.

Frankly speaking, the only person in the empire that Wang Zhongsi had any regard for was Wang Chong.

Ever since the emergence of Gao Xianzhi and Geshu Han, ten-some years had passed without such a dazzling military talent in the Great Tang. Although the deceased Li Zhengyi had been called the most brilliant commander of the younger generation, he had still not earned Wang Zhongsi’s attention.

Wang Chong had appeared out of nowhere, and his existence, his illustrious feats, and his brilliant strategies were enough to make any general of this era seem dim by comparison. In just a couple of years, Wang Chong had suddenly risen from obscurity to become the first King of a different surname in the Sage Emperor’s reign, surpassing Gao Xianzhi and Geshu Han in a single move.

Even in the palace, Wang Zhongsi had been paying close attention to Wang Chong’s achievements and growth. But unlike what others might have imagined, Wang Zhongsi felt no envy, only admiration for this junior of his.

It was for this reason that he had made an exception and come to meet Wang Chong.

“But if Your Highness has something to say, please speak frankly,” Wang Zhongsi added.

Those without problems did not visit the temple, and he didn’t believe that Wang Chong had invited him just so that they could drink tea and liquor. What he cared most about was Wang Chong’s goal.

“Heh, in truth, besides meeting with Lord Junior Guardian, I have nothing else in mind. I just wanted to meet and ask a question. Lord Junior Guardian, how long has it been since you’ve seen the First Prince?” Wang Chong casually asked as he put down the wine jar.

Buzz!

The mention of the First Prince immediately made Wang Zhongsi raise an eyebrow. Although he had been inconspicuous in the last few years, remaining deep within the palace, becoming so unknown that one would hardly notice him on the street, this did not mean that Wang Zhongsi was a fool.

Wang Chong’s question was incredibly abrupt. Wang Zhongsi immediately knew what Wang Chong meant when he mentioned the First Prince, and he could see that today’s meeting would center on this figure.

Countless thoughts ran through his mind, but Wang Zhongsi quickly calmed down.

He stared at Wang Chong and sternly said, “For what reason does the King of Foreign Lands ask this question?”

Everyone knew that Wang Zhongsi was the Crown Prince’s Junior Guardian, who was the First Prince’s teacher. In other words, Wang Zhongsi and the First Prince should have been frequently meeting. Wang Chong’s question was a very strange one.

“Heh, in other words, Lord Junior Guardian truly hasn’t seen the First Prince in some time.”

Wang Chong chuckled, his sharp senses immediately picking out the truth.

Wang Zhongsi trembled. Wang Chong’s intuition was truly too frightening. But Wang Zhongsi did not attempt to deny it.

“It is true that I have not seen the First Prince in several months. With the Sage Emperor withdrawn, the First Prince is serving as the regent and is so busy with government affairs that we have no time to meet. This is normal,” Wang Zhongsi coldly said.

Ah! As expected!

Wang Zhongsi failed to notice Wang Chong mentally sighing in relief. His greatest concern was that Wang Zhongsi would get caught up in the Rebellion of the Three Princes because of his relationship with the First Prince.

That had probably been the most regrettable thing about that entire incident.

In the Rebellion of the Three Princes, three of the Sage Emperor’s own sons had started a rebellion to seize the throne. This was a grave violation of the ethical and moral code.

This incident would lead to countless tragedies and deaths, Wang Zhongsi amongst them. In Wang Chong’s heart, this man was the most unfortunate and most pitiful loss.

The First Prince had tried to kill his father and led the army in killing numerous major officials. As the First Prince’s teacher, the Crown Prince’s Junior Guardian could not escape responsibility.

The illustrious War God of the Central Plains was banished, and not long afterward, he died of depression.

This was the greatest loss the Great Tang had ever suffered.

The deaths of some people were as light as a feather, while others were as heavy as Mount Tai. When Wang Zhongsi died, everyone felt immense regret!

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NovelThe Human EmperorChapter 1684 - Wang Zhongsi's Fate!
THE HUMAN EMPEROR
C1684 - Wang Zhongsi's Fate!
Chapter 1684: Wang Zhongsi’s Fate!
Wang Chong’s greatest worry was that Wang Zhongsi would somehow get involved in the incident, or perhaps knew that it was happening and had given it his tacit consent.

If this was the case, the Sage Emperor’s rage after the Rebellion of the Three Princes would mean that Wang Zhongsi would still be unable to avoid the tragedy of his last life.

But it now seemed that Wang Zhongsi was simply too honest and upright, and the First Prince was rather apprehensive about him, so he had begun to distance himself some time ago. Wang Zhongsi had never been able to get close to the core of the First Prince’s group, which could be said to be fortune amidst misfortune. If the situation had been different, this meeting would have been meaningless.

Wang Zhongsi raised an eyebrow as if he had suddenly understood something.

“King of Foreign Lands, I know that a few things have happened between you and the First Prince. If you’ve come to me for these matters, then I’m afraid you’ve found the wrong person. It has been a very long time since I last participated in court matters. I rarely intervene in the Bureau of Military Personnel, let alone anything else.”

Wang Chong momentarily froze, and he immediately knew that Wang Zhongsi had misunderstood. He believed that Wang Chong had invited him so that he could assist in smoothing out Wang Chong’s relationship with the First Prince, putting in a good word for him.

Wang Chong inwardly gave a bitter smile, but he did not explain.

Wang Zhongsi’s talent in the art of war was unquestionable, but his political sense and intuition were far from that.

After all, the Rebellion of the Three Princes had already reached this stage without Wang Zhongsi realizing anything!

The reason for this was closely related to Wang Zhongsi’s art of war. Wang Chong had once carefully researched this man’s style of fighting.

Military strategies could be direct, or they could rely on surprise. Some people excelled at surprise attacks, and they had unconventional styles that never adhered to a single pattern. They were capable of frequently attacking from unexpected places, catching the opponent off guard and inflicting upon them a major defeat.

But others excelled in direct confrontation, leading vast and grandiose armies. These armies did not constantly shift around, but they could excel in both defense and offense, leaving behind no weakness and giving the enemy no opportunities.

Wang Zhongsi was this kind of direct general, and he had trained in this aspect to the very apex.

In battle, Wang Zhongsi didn’t shift around his tactics too much, and when enemy cavalry suddenly attacked from an unexpected angle or used some strange tactic, Wang Zhongsi would remain as steady as a mountain and would always seem to have a counter. So-called surprise attacks would only lead to defeat when used against Wang Zhongsi.

As for direct confrontation itself, a man had attempted to imitate Wang Zhongsi, arranging his forces in exactly the same way, but in the end, Wang Zhongsi had routed them and dealt them a massive defeat. And this man had been one of the renowned generals of his generation.

Once this matter got around, it became the foundation of Wang Zhongsi’s legend, and it had also created a befuddling riddle around Wang Zhongsi.

With Wang Chong’s experience and cultivation, he could now see that this was because Wang Zhongsi’s ability to handle the small details and to look at the overall situation were simply better than his opponent’s. In other words, Wang Zhongsi had a greater understanding of the art of direct confrontation than any other general of his generation.

And as a direct general, Wang Zhongsi had the personality to go with it.

Wang Chong quickly shook himself from his stupor.

“Milord has misunderstood. Wang Chong did not come here for this.”

Wang Chong gently smiled.

“Wang Chong once heard a story. A family had three sons and one adopted son. One day, the eldest son decided to rebel and topple the family patriarch, taking his place. Milord, what do you think the adopted son who was on good terms with the eldest son should do?” Wang Chong spoke in a casual and relaxed tone, but on the other side, Wang Zhongsi paled.

Wang Zhongsi was different from any other Crown Prince’s Junior Guardian in the history of the Great Tang. Everyone in the Great Tang knew that Wang Zhongsi’s parents had both died when he was a child. His father had been a renowned general with a list of achievements, but he had eventually ended up outnumbered and surrounded. He had refused to surrender and fought to the death, earning him the respect of the Great Tang’s people.

At that time, the Sage Emperor had only recently ascended to the throne. He was moved to pity by this story and took Wang Zhongsi into the palace, taking him as his adopted son. Thus, Wang Zhongsi had grown up in the Imperial Palace, and even the name ‘Zhongsi’ had been granted by the Sage Emperor.

Wang Zhongsi held the Sage Emperor in extremely high regard, and the Sage Emperor also cherished him as a son of his own blood. It was for this reason that Wang Zhongsi died from depression after being banished in the aftermath of the Rebellion of the Three Princes.

Wang Chong’s meaning was crystal-clear with his talk of the eldest son, adopted son, and rebellion. Moreover, as Crown Prince’s Junior Guardian, Wang Zhongsi truly did have the closest relationship to the First Prince.

Wang Chong was clearly not talking about a simple story.

“Your Highness, what are you saying? Please speak clearly!” Wang Zhongsi sternly said, his expression turning grave.

“Heh, the First Prince has many strange faces around him now. Lord Junior Guardian probably knows of this,” Wang Chong indirectly answered as he put down his wine cup.

“There have been more people lately, but the First Prince is the eldest son and is currently running the government in place of the Sage Emperor. It’s only normal for him to recruit a few advisors. As they say, one who listens to both sides will be enlightened and one who only listens to one side will be kept in the dark. This is a good thing for the Great Tang, and His Highness will ascend to the throne of the Sage Emperor in time. It’s reasonable for him to do such things. Does Your Highness think differently?” Wang Zhongsi said.

“What if I told you that there was a Goguryeon among them who betrayed Goguryeo for the Great Tang and was recruited by the First Prince to gather information, and that the capital was now filled with his spies? In addition, there’s an old man at the First Prince’s side that you might have already seen before. He’s fond of wearing a black robe and frequently comes in and out of the Eastern Palace. What if I told you that his true identity was a man of Taizong’s era who attempted to start a rebellion and was rumored to have been executed? What if I told you that this man was the Army-Shattering War God of Taizong’s era, Hou Junji?” Wang Chong asked.

“What?!”

The mention of Hou Junji’s name had Wang Zhongsi trembling in shock.

“Impossible! Absolutely impossible! Hou Junji was executed ages ago, so there can’t be another one. King of Foreign Lands, could you have gotten the wrong person?”

No matter how honest and upright Wang Zhongsi was, he also knew that the renowned official Hou Junji of Taizong’s era had tried to start a rebellion, causing him to be removed from Lingyan Pavilion and personally executed by Emperor Taizong.

It was one thing for the First Prince to recruit officials, but entirely another to collude with the traitorous official Hou Junji.

Wang Chong gently smiled without remark. Wang Zhongsi’s reaction had been entirely expected.

Wang Zhongsi was older than the First Prince. When the Sage Emperor took him into the palace and adopted him, he placed Wang Zhongsi in the Eastern Palace, where he grew up alongside the First Prince. The First Prince had only been seven at the time. Later on, Wang Zhongsi became the Crown Prince’s Junior Guardian and taught the First Prince martial arts and the art of war, further deepening their relationship.

If one simply claimed that the First Prince wanted to start a rebellion, someone of Wang Zhongsi’s personality would never believe it.

To talk intimately with strangers was a taboo, and Wang Chong and Wang Zhongsi barely had a relationship. Wang Zhongsi would not carelessly believe him.

“I’m just saying. There’s no harm if Lord Junior Guardian just listens. Whether it’s true can be determined by Lord Junior Guardian yourself. And there’s another matter. Within the inner palace, Eunuch Gao, Gao Lishi, was attacked not too long ago and was heavily injured. Does Lord Junior Guardian know of this?” Wang Chong asked.

“What?!”

Wang Zhongsi’s face twisted once more, his eyes going wide as if he had been electrocuted. He could no longer sit still, and instantly rose to his feet.

“Eunuch Gao was injured? How is that possible? King of Foreign Lands, is what you say true? When did this happen?”

All the other words could not compare in effect to the news of Eunuch Gao being injured.

Eunuch Gao was the Great Tang’s Director of the Inner Court, the Sage Emperor’s most loyal aide. He had served at the Sage Emperor’s side ever since his ascension to the throne. He could be found wherever the Sage Emperor was.

After so many years, Eunuch Gao had essentially become the Sage Emperor’s shadow. If Eunuch Gao had been injured, it meant that the Sage Emperor was in grave danger, and the entire situation took on a different character.

Wang Chong raised his head and asked, “What? Does Lord Junior Guardian not even know of this matter?”

“King of Foreign Lands, please forgive this one for his rudeness. I must return to the palace.”

After saying this, the anxious Wang Zhongsi impatiently turned and left.

Wang Chong didn’t take offense at this sight. It was rumored that Wang Zhongsi treated the Sage Emperor like his own father, and from the display right now, it seemed that the rumor was true.

It would have been far stranger if he had been able to sit still after hearing about the attack on Eunuch Gao.

Wang Zhongsi’s carriage quickly rolled away. Wang Chong watched him leave from the balcony, his smile slowly fading as his expression turned solemn.

You have to find out the truth for yourself. I can only help you to here.

Wang Chong internally sighed as he stood back up.

“Destiny has begun to shift! User’s attempt to persuade renowned Tang general Wang Zhongsi has produced an initial effect! User is rewarded 200 points of Destiny Energy. Further results pending on developments with the target!”

The Stone of Destiny’s familiar voice resounded in Wang Chong’s mind, but Wang Chong didn’t care. After leaving a few taels of silver on the table, he left.

……

As Wang Chong was leaving the restaurant, Wang Zhongsi’s carriage had rolled into the Imperial Palace. An hour later, Wang Zhongsi stepped into the Eastern Palace for the first time in several months.

“What?! The Crown Prince’s Junior Guardian is requesting a meeting?”

In the Eastern Palace, the First Prince was left flabbergasted by the guard’s report.

“Tell him that I’m too busy to have a meeting with him. Say that I’ll go and meet him some other day,” the First Prince almost immediately replied.

“But, Your Highness, the Junior Guardian has already come inside!” the guard anxiously said.

He had barely finished speaking when both of them heard forceful and somewhat anxious footsteps approaching.

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NovelThe Human EmperorChapter 1685 - Exile!
THE HUMAN EMPEROR
C1685 - Exile!
Chapter 1685: Exile!
“Wang Zhongsi pays respects to Your Highness!”

From a distance, Wang Zhongsi clasped his hands and bowed. His expression was solemn and his eyebrows were locked together. He looked entirely different from his usual self.

“Haha, Lord Junior Guardian, what brings you here?”

Surprisingly, the First Prince, who had been ashen-faced and unwilling to let Wang Zhongsi come in just a moment ago, immediately began to smile the moment Wang Zhongsi walked in.

One would have almost believed that someone else had been speaking.

Wang Zhongsi got straight to the point. “Your Highness, Eunuch Gao has been injured. What’s going on here?”

“Is that so?”

The First Prince frowned as if he was hearing this for the first time.

“Eunuch Gao has been injured? How could this be? Meng Tu, in a little while, take some gifts and go and see Eunuch Gao to ask him how he’s doing. In addition, Lord Junior Guardian, Eunuch Gao is a martial artist, so it’s quite normal for him to be injured while practicing. There is no need for Lord Junior Guardian to be too concerned.”

“Yes, Your Highness!”

Meng Tu understood and bowed, also acting as if he was hearing about this for the first time.

Wang Zhongsi immediately frowned. There were no flaws in their argument, and even though Wang Zhongsi had already gathered some information on his own, there was nothing he could say.

“Let’s put aside the matter of Eunuch Gao being injured for now. What is going on with the Sage Emperor? I went over to see him, but no one is allowed to approach his chambers, and it seems like all the guards outside have been switched out. Moreover, I recognize a few of the guards as belonging to the Eastern Palace! What’s going on here?” Wang Zhongsi gravely said, not relaxing in the slightest.

He had refused to believe Wang Chong’s words in the restaurant. Starting a rebellion was no minor crime, and even though he knew that there was truly something wrong about the First Prince, it wasn’t so bad that he would commit treason.

This was the Sage Emperor they were talking about!

Who in the realm would be so audacious?! And why would the First Prince dare to do such a thing?

But when he got back to the palace and performed his own investigation, his understanding of the world was overturned. More and more suspicious points cropped up. If Eastern Palace guards were even appearing at Taiji Palace, how could he not be suspicious?

Even now, deep in his heart, Wang Zhongsi did not believe that the First Prince was truly thinking of such things. But whether it was true or not, the best way to prove it was to personally ask the First Prince.

“I have always revered Imperial Father, and while I am currently running the government as regent, my greatest concern has always been Imperial Father’s condition. I have dispatched several of my guards so that Imperial Father can rest without worry, undisturbed by outsiders. Lord Junior Guardian, is this not very normal?”

The First Prince smiled.

“To protect the Sage Emperor, you would even make it so that Consort Taizhen, the Grand Protector, the Grand Tutor, and all the other officials cannot approach?” Wang Zhongsi loudly said.

“Junior Guardian, are you questioning this prince?!”

The previously smiling First Prince suddenly darkened, his voice growing louder and his eyes sharper.

Whoosh!

The entire hall became still, as if it had been frozen in time and space.

Wang Zhongsi and the First Prince stared silently at each other, the atmosphere somber.

Although the First Prince was a member of the imperial household, he had always been extremely respectful to Junior Guardian Wang Zhongsi. This kind of situation had never happened before.

Wang Zhongsi said nothing, but as he stared into the First Prince’s eyes, a tinge of grief appeared in his eyes. He was no fool. A fool could not have become the Great Tang’s War God or granted the Great Tang ten-some years of peace.

This matter had been like a tumor. He had seen things and heard things, but he had simply not been willing to think of the possibility. Or perhaps one could say that he had always believed in the innate goodness of human nature. After all, his experiences in life had served as excellent proof of this.

But not everyone could be like him, taken into the palace by the Sage Emperor after his father’s death, adopted as a son, and diligently instructed.

One incident in the palace could be explained as a coincidence, but so many taking place at once forced him to more deeply ponder the problem.

Wang Zhongsi’s eyes were red as he sternly said, “Your Highness, please tell me that I am overthinking things. Please tell me that His Majesty is fine, that you will quickly have that Goguryeon leave, that you will recall the guards around Taiji Palace, and that you will return Eunuch Gao to Taiji Palace! Tell me none of what I’m worrying about will occur!”

There was still a sliver of hope in his eyes, and he inspected every inch of the First Prince’s face as if he wanted to peer into the depths of the First Prince’s soul through the subtle shifts in expression.

“You’re too impudent!” the First Prince harshly rebuked, his face like a sheet of ice. “Does this prince need to explain to you what this prince should be doing and shouldn’t be doing?!”

The word ‘impudent’ made Wang Zhongsi’s heart tremble. He had interacted with the First Prince for a long time, and not once had the First Prince used this word to him.

At that moment, he finally realized something.

The First Prince seemed to realize that he had made a slip of the tongue, but even so, his stance would not change.

“I have heard that past Lingnan, near Jiaozhi, there is a place called Siam. That place is rather far, so the administration is rather lacking, and the officials of the Great Tang are not very willing to go. Recently, there’s been some upheaval there, but there are no court officials to handle it. You have not left the Imperial Palace in some time. Leave today, before sunset, and preside over Jiaozhi for the Imperial Court.”

The First Prince turned his back toward Wang Zhongsi, his face ashen as he spoke.

The hall was quiet. Everyone could sense the First Prince’s anger, and no one dared to speak. Behind the First Prince, Wang Zhongsi couldn’t hide the disappointment in his eyes.

He didn’t care how remote the place was or that the place was far from civilization. What he truly cared about was the First Prince’s stance.

As the Sage Emperor’s adopted son, he had grown up in the palace. In other words, he had personally watched as the First Prince grew up.

The First Prince had always given him the impression of a good-natured and modest man, a true gentleman. Wang Zhongsi had always believed that, given the wisdom of the Sage Emperor, it was only a matter of time until the First Prince inherited the throne.

Once the First Prince ascended the throne, Wang Zhongsi believed that they could have the same relationship as he had with the Sage Emperor, sovereign and subject complementing the other’s flaws and working together for the prosperity of the empire.

But after knowing the First Prince for so long, Wang Zhongsi suddenly found the Li Ying before him a complete stranger.

“I would like to see the Sage Emperor before going to Jiaozhi,” Wang Zhongsi said.

“There’s no need! You should set out within two hours! This is a decree!” the First Prince coldly said. He flicked his wrist, and a metal token clattered to the floor. On it were written the words ‘Acting Regent of State’.

This was the First Prince’s regent token.

When it came to regency, the Great Tang had continued the tradition of previous dynasties and created a token specifically for the regent to use. This was to prevent people from refusing to heed the orders of the regent, who was also the heir apparent.

When the regent token was taken out, no one could defy the order.

This was the first time since the First Prince had become the regent that he had used the token! And he had used it on Wang Zhongsi.

When Wang Zhongsi saw the First Prince throw the token to the floor, he instantly paled. But he quickly regained his composure.

“The subject receives the decree!” Wang Zhongsi respectfully said. He soon departed, but before he did, he took one last, disappointed glance at the First Prince’s back.

‘The sovereign serves as a model for the subject, and the subject loyally serves the sovereign.’ If the sovereign wanted the subject to die, the subject had no other choice but to die. This was a principle that had been bored into his bones. No matter what the First Prince’s order was, he could not refuse it.

But this had never been the answer he wanted to hear!

……

“Your Highness, you forget yourself!”

A few moments after Wang Zhongsi had left, a voice resounded through the hall, and a figure with thumping footsteps emerged from a shadowy corner.

The Ghost King held his hands behind his back, wearing his usual black robe, his eyes flashing.

Hiss!

The First Prince took in a deep breath as he composed himself.

Wang Zhongsi’s visit had been too sudden. He knew why he had lost control of himself. Wang Zhongsi simply knew him too well. Perhaps in the past, this wouldn’t have amounted to anything.

But everything had changed.

He was no longer his past self. But alas, Wang Zhongsi had not changed one iota.

He was simply too honest and upright!

This was why he had distanced himself from Wang Zhongsi as of late and found excuses to not see him.

“Something isn’t right. The Junior Guardian doesn’t have the temperament to investigate such things. What happened here? There must have been a triggering event!” the First Prince suddenly said. After his initial shock and anger, the First Prince instinctively sensed that something wasn’t right.

The Crown Prince’s Junior Guardian was completely different, whether it was his sudden appearance, the questions he had asked, or his attitude. Upon second thought, all of this was simply too bizarre.

“Oh.”

The Ghost King frowned at these words and began to think. But a moment later, a sharp light gleamed in his eyes.

“If my guess is right, I’m afraid that man went to find him!”

“What?!”

The First Prince was stunned. Even though the Ghost King hadn’t mentioned anyone specifically, the First Prince immediately understood.

“Wang Chong, you bastard!”

The First Prince’s fists clenched, and the veins bulged from his forehead in anger.

“It seems that our young King has a complete grasp of our secretive actions. But there’s still one thing I find strange. That Crown Prince’s Junior Guardian doesn’t play a very important role in our plan. For what reason did he go to such great lengths?”

The Ghost King’s brows furrowed as confusion appeared in his eyes.

The First Prince also froze. Even if Wang Chong wanted to sow discord between him and the Junior Guardian, even if things went as he wished, what sort of advantage did it give him in the overall situation?

The First Prince just couldn’t understand.

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NovelThe Human EmperorChapter 1686 - Progress With the Golden Seed!
THE HUMAN EMPEROR
C1686 - Progress With the Golden Seed!
Chapter 1686: Progress With the Golden Seed!
Several hours later, Zhang Que rushed into the main hall of the King of Foreign Lands Residence with a letter.

“Reporting! Your Highness, we’ve just received word that the First Prince has banished Crown Prince’s Junior Guardian Wang Zhongsi to Siam!”

“What?!”

The others in the hall glanced at each other in speechless shock. Crown Prince’s Junior Guardian Wang Zhongsi was the First Prince’s teacher, and he had been banished without the slightest forewarning. This was truly too abrupt, and no one knew what could have possibly happened.

“The Crown Prince’s Junior Guardian is a loyal subject of the Great Tang. This is simply too much from the First Prince.”

The others began to complain in the place of the Crown Prince’s Junior Guardian. Wang Zhongsi had been withdrawn for many years and rarely showed his face, but all of the Great Tang regarded him with utmost respect. For the First Prince to banish Wang Zhongsi, and to a place as distant as Siam, would naturally stir up everyone’s discontent.

But on the other side, Wang Chong quietly sighed in relief.

It seems like the meeting in the restaurant had an effect. The Crown Prince’s Junior Guardian probably went to see the First Prince, and given his personality, it probably wasn’t a very happy conversation!

With Wang Zhongsi exiled to Siam, so far away from the reach of the emperor, no matter what happens in the palace, it will have nothing to do with him. At the very least, he won’t be drawn into this matter.

The exile of the Crown Prince’s Junior Guardian was a signal to all the people of the realm that the Crown Prince’s Junior Guardian and the First Prince were at odds with each other, and this had been precisely Wang Chong’s goal in meeting with Wang Zhongsi.

“There’s no need for everyone to worry about this. While Siam is far, given the status of the Crown Prince’s Junior Guardian, he will return to the court one day. We have even more important matters to concern ourselves with. Zhang Que, how goes the investigation of the names on the list I gave you?” Wang Chong asked.

Zhang Que bowed and said, “Your Highness, everything is proceeding smoothly, and the arrangements have been handled. They have people watching them day and night. The moment something happens, our men will move to take them away!”

He would always carry out Wang Chong’s orders to the letter. Given the importance with which Wang Chong had regarded that list, Zhang Que would naturally not dare to neglect it.

The discussions went on for about an hour. Wang Chong handed down many more tasks before dismissing everybody.

Once everyone else was gone, Wang Chong fell quiet for a few moments, then he took a small booklet from his bosom. This booklet was about the size of his palm and half a finger thick. Upon opening it, one would see that it was densely covered in tiny characters. It was written in a rather casual style, but the writing still possessed its own unique flavor.

Not too long ago, Wang Chong’s master, the Demonic Emperor Old Man, had sent him this booklet on his observations of the Supreme and Infinite Origin Immortal Art.

The Supreme and Infinite Origin Immortal Art was the greatest of the ten great arts of the Central Plains, and its contents were profound and abstruse. Even Wang Chong found comprehending it a rather trying task.

This was particularly the case after Wang Chong cultivated to the eleventh level and ascended to the Subtle realm, whereupon the difficulty spiked upward and his comprehension slowed to a snail’s pace. He very naturally thought about the Demonic Emperor Old Man, so he sent a message to him with the mantra to the Origin Immortal Art.

Ever since the end of the northwest expedition, the Demonic Emperor Old Man and the Wushang Village Chief had been moving around mysteriously as if they were planning something. But when the Demonic Emperor Old Man received Wang Chong’s request, he still made time to carefully ponder the Origin Immortal Art together with the Wushang Village Chief and delve into its secrets.

A few days later, the Demonic Emperor Old Man came to visit the King of Foreign Lands Residence, where he gave Wang Chong this booklet.

‘The Supreme Ultimate has an ultimate, a fusion of the tangible and intangible. The one of the all-encompassing origin contains the myriad things of the world, all the creations of nature…’

Wang Chong carefully read through the book. The text of the Origin Immortal Art was written in the language of the Spring and Autumn Era, and the wording was completely different from how it would be in the present era. When it came to the martial arts language from that era, even many experts of the martial arts world would find it hard to understand.

But the Demonic Emperor Old Man had spent his entire life immersed in martial arts, and he possessed an extraordinary understanding of these things. He was able to condense these profound and abstruse words into a simple and digestible explanation within this booklet.

Wang Chong derived great benefit from reading the booklet, easily resolving many of his trouble spots.

“So that’s how it is!”

Closing the book, Wang Chong felt like many weights had been lifted off his mind. He quickly sat cross-legged on the floor and began to cultivate.

Buzz!

Streams of golden energy began to rise from Wang Chong’s body, the air trembling as his seething Stellar Energy resounded with peals of thunder. If one looked carefully, one could see tiny arcs of lightning crackle back and forth within the golden Stellar Energy.

More and more of these tiny bolts of lightning appeared. This was a phenomenon that had never previously appeared.

Boom! The entire hall trembled, and the Trayastrimsa Heaven manifested. One floor, two floors, three floors, four floors… Ever since Wang Chong had reached the thirteenth level, he had found it difficult to make any more progress. But now, Wang Chong’s Stellar Energy was thriving and vigorous, and it was showing clear signs of growth.

Buzz!

Energy from the higher dimension came surging down into Wang Chong’s body, and the golden light around him grew increasingly dazzling. The thirteen-floor pavilion began to grow, and with a loud bang, Wang Chong’s Trayastrimsa Heaven reached the fourteenth floor and continued to grow.

A few moments later, with another bang, Wang Chong’s Trayastrimsa Heaven reached the fifteenth floor, but the momentum was still not spent. It was only after reaching the sixteenth floor that things finally began to slow down.

Wang Chong was in no rush. He continued to circulate energy through his body while pulling more energy from the higher dimension to stabilize his foundations.

Buzz!

While cultivating, Wang Chong felt his mind tremble, and the Stone of Destiny suddenly spoke into his mind.

“Initial analysis of the golden seed is complete. This possesses vast amounts of World Origin Energy and is currently in a sealed state. In order to open this seal, user must expend 1,000,000 points of Destiny Energy. Does user wish to expend this Destiny Energy and unlock the seal?”

“Ah?!”

Wang Chong was stunned by the voice in his mind. The legendary Origin Immortal Lord had given the golden seed to Wang Chong before their final parting, and he had also mentioned that this seed was connected to the safety and well-being of the entire world.

The Stone of Destiny had been analyzing the seed for a very long time, but it had given no result until now. Wang Chong had never imagined that the Stone of Destiny would need several months to complete the analysis.

“Wonderful!”

Wang Chong was elated. This was enormous progress. The seed had spent more than one thousand years with the Origin Immortal Lord with little change.

“Yes!”

Unlike before, Wang Chong almost immediately agreed to the exchange. But the Stone of Destiny’s response left Wang Chong feeling rather embarrassed.

“Exchange failed! User does not have enough Destiny Energy to unlock the initial seal!”

One million points of Destiny Energy?

After a moment’s daze, Wang Chong took in a long breath. He had only heard that he needed to expend energy to unlock the seal, not taking notice of the number behind it.

How could it be so much!?

Wang Chong had exchanged Destiny Energy for many items within the Stone of Destiny, including the Heavenly Mandate Battle Armor, but one million points of Destiny Energy was far beyond what Wang Chong had imagined. Wang Chong had already obtained many points of Destiny Energy, with the battles of Talas and Khorasan granting him hundreds of thousands of points, but they all paled in comparison to the number needed by the Stone of Destiny.

Shock! Remorse!

But Wang Chong quickly shook off his regret and reluctance.

What is this golden seed? Why does unsealing it require so much Destiny Energy? If not for those large-scale wars from before, then even with the Stone of Destiny, it still would have been completely hopeless!

What a pity! It seems that I’ll have to think of something new, to be able to deal with this golden seed! Wang Chong commented to himself.

One million points of Destiny Energy was needed to open only the first seal of this object, and while it left him with his jaw on the floor, it also stimulated his curiosity. From what Wang Chong understood about the Stone of Destiny, the greater the expense, the more important something was. Wang Chong wanted even more to know what this seed the Origin Immortal Lord had given him was, and what abilities it possessed.

But Wang Chong was in no rush after this momentary setback. In the future, he just needed to accumulate enough Destiny Energy to unlock the seal, though this would probably take some time.

The day soon passed and the darkness descended. After dinner, Wang Chong went to his study to look through documents. Now that he was the temporary Minister of War, he naturally had to tend to the numerous affairs of the Bureau of Military Personnel.

Thwish!

As he was looking through the documents, he heard a rush of air. Raising an eyebrow, he raised his head and looked out the window. At that moment, his eyes seemed to flash with countless cold pinpricks of light.

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NovelThe Human EmperorChapter 1687 - Night Raid by the Six-Armed Idol!
THE HUMAN EMPEROR
C1687 - Night Raid by the Six-Armed Idol!
Chapter 1687: Night Raid by the Six-Armed Idol!
Wang Chong suddenly raised his head and ordered, “Pass on my order! Extinguish the lanterns at the Hai Period (9-11pm). Everyone can go to bed a little earlier!”

“Yes! Your Highness!” A voice quickly came from outside the hall, and a guard rushed away to deliver the order.

After the guard left, Wang Chong lowered his head and continued to review the documents. After finishing the last one, Wang Chong placed his brush on the rack, stood up, and walked out of the hall.

In the gusting night wind, Wang Chong looked around at the King of Foreign Lands Residence. It was calm and peaceful, with guards placed around the area to vigilantly protect it.

Looking up, Wang Chong immediately saw the looming and resplendent Imperial Palace of the Great Tang to the northeast.

Amongst all the nobles and officials of the Great Tang, Wang Chong was the only who had his residence in such close proximity to the Imperial Palace, a sign of the Sage Emperor’s favor.

In the middle of his contemplative mood, he suddenly heard hasty footsteps.

“Your Highness, the kitchen sent a message. They made some new palm cakes and some wolfberry and silver-eared fungus soup, and would like Your Highness to sample them,” a servant of the estate known as Little Li called out from the distance. Wang Chong had brought this servant with him from the Wang Family Residence.

“Understood. Place it on my desk!” Wang Chong indifferently said without turning his head.

“Yes, Your Highness!” the servant softly said as he came forward with a tray.

But just as he lowered his head and replied, boom! An immense pull erupted and drew the servant along like a ragdoll, his neck falling right into Wang Chong’s grasp.

“Your Highness, wh-what are you doing?”

Little Li was shocked and alarmed, and he frantically seized Wang Chong’s arm and began to struggle.

“Heh, you lot are just as stubborn as ever! I already warned you once in Zhangchou Jianqiong’s estate, but you’re still trying to play your tricks in front of me,” Wang Chong coldly said, turning his head and tearing away Little Li’s ‘face’. With a ripping sound, another, more savage and dangerous, face appeared.

“Your Highness truly has sharp eyes. No matter what we do or how many other people we deceived, we never seem to be able to trick you!” A voice rang out in Wang Chong’s ear, but it came not from the ‘Little Li’ in Wang Chong’s grip, but from behind him.

A ghostly figure appeared on the wall of the residence, and then a second, a third, a fourth… They just kept coming, continuing to appear on the walls.

Their cold and eerie eyes were all staring at Wang Chong in the center.

The night was quiet. Wang Chong was the Great Tang’s King of Foreign Lands, and his estate was heavily guarded. Logically speaking, the appearance of so many men in black should have alarmed the guards, but the vast estate was quiet. The guards continued to stand sentinel, but they were motionless and showed no reaction.

Thump!

Someone pushed a guard, who toppled to the ground like a wooden post, and then, like a chain of dominoes, more and more guards began to fall.

What followed was absolute silence. In the vast estate, Wang Chong seemed to be the only living person.

“Your Highness, you truly shouldn’t have made an enemy of us!”

The ‘Little Li’ in Wang Chong’s hand stopped struggling and looked up at Wang Chong with an eerie and fearless gaze.

Fwoosh!

Suddenly, black flames poured out of the man’s open mouth, and in the flames was a black pellet that shot straight toward Wang Chong’s face. Even before the pellet got close, Wang Chong could smell a foul odor. There was clearly a terrible poison within.

“Seeking death!”

Wang Chong’s expression chilled. Though surprised, he did not show it.

Wang Chong shook his wrist, immediately throwing ‘Little Li’ into the air and blasting him into a wall a hundred-some feet away. The black pellet was also knocked aside.

Hissss!

The ground began to seethe with black smoke the moment the pellet hit the ground, and everything began to wither and rot. Even a thriving pear tree nearby instantly withered away, shedding all its petals.

Crack! The pear tree collapsed to the ground as if it had been dead for more than a decade.

The poison in that pellet was as toxic as could be!

“Go!”

“Kill him!”

As Wang Chong sent ‘Little Li’ flying, harsh cries resounded from every corner of the residence.

Thwishthwishthwish!

One black figure after another charged out from the shadows, the walls, the tree branches, the gazebos, and the fake mountains, as did those disguised as Wang Chong’s servants and maids.

While still a hundred-some feet away, they began to barrage him with attacks, engulfing the world with the Fires of Ju Bi, Mara, and Lu Wu. Amidst the flames, all kinds of strangely-shaped weapons gleamed with cold light.

One could tell how sharp they were simply by listening to them slice through the air.

Beyond these strange edged weapons, countless black pellets were shooting at Wang Chong. A vast array of attacks covered every possible angle.

Many more men in black had appeared than last time. The men in black had learned their lesson and had clearly brought many more men to handle Wang Chong’s strength. Alas, they had still miscalculated.

“Is this the attack all of you have prepared for so long for?” Wang Chong coldly sneered, completely unmoved.

Bang!

When this storm of attacks was still several dozen feet from Wang Chong, there was a metallic clang, and then a golden shroud erupted from Wang Chong’s body, enclosing him like a steel fortress and instantly blocking all the flames, blades, pellets, and vicious poisons.

These terrifying attacks that would have made countless martial artists tremble in fear were all blocked by the golden barrier as if they were just children’s toys, soft and weak.

“How could this be?!”

The men in black fell silent as they stared speechlessly at the dazzling golden barrier covered in flowing characters.

As members of the most mysterious organization in the world, regarding themselves as gods, they had learned techniques and arts far beyond mortal ken. So many of them working together were enough to pulverize even the world’s most formidable expert into dust.

But this golden shroud had neutralized all of their attacks.

“Hmph, you truly don’t know your own strength!”

Wang Chong swept his gaze across his surroundings, taking in all the men in black.

The greatest difference in the fifteenth level of the Trayastrimsa Heaven compared to the others before it was the ability to use the ‘Origin Barrier’, an extremely powerful ability that utilized the secrets of the Origin to create a barrier a hundred times tougher than steel around the user. It was practically invincible and could block almost every kind of attack.

As long as his foes were beneath the Subtle realm, then even if they had the advantage in numbers, they couldn’t even dream about breaking the barrier.

This was Wang Chong’s greatest harvest from the fifteenth level. In the past, it would have been much more difficult for him to singlehandedly deal with so many people.

“It’s my turn now!”

Wang Chong’s indifferent voice resounded in the ears of the men in black.

With the Origin Immortal Art, Yang resided in Yin and Yin resided in Yang. It was skilled in both attack and defense, and it wasn’t the Origin Immortal Art’s style for the Origin Barrier to be solely a passive defensive tool.

Bang!

With a thought from Wang Chong, the Origin Barrier transformed into a golden hurricane that erupted with a powerful repulsive energy.

“Ah!”

Countless fearful eyes could only watch in shock as the flames, weapons, black pellets, and all their other attacks came howling right back at them.

They screamed as they were tossed around like ragdolls and slammed into various parts of the estate.

Shock!

The men in black all felt an unprecedented shock. None of them could have imagined that Wang Chong had reached this level of strength. He seemed simply undefeatable.

“Nothing but a pack of clowns!”

Wang Chong stood in the center of the residence, his eyes domineering and his body appearing large and imposing.

The Subtle realm was a dividing line, and between those above and those beneath was a chasm as great as the gap between the heavens and the earth. In the past, these men in black might have posed some threat, but pure numbers were no longer enough.

Buzz!

But just then, Wang Chong felt an intense danger that made his heart thump and his head turn upward.

A massive palm blotted out the stars as it hurtled toward Wang Chong’s head at lightning speed.

This palm came so suddenly and fiercely that by the time Wang Chong had looked up, it was already about to strike his head.

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NovelThe Human EmperorChapter 1688 - The True Face of the High God!
THE HUMAN EMPEROR
C1688 - The True Face of the High God!
Chapter 1688: The True Face of the High God!
Bang!

Wang Chong hastily turned his palm over, gathering Stellar Energy within it, and thrust it upward. A moment later, the two palms of starkly different sizes slammed against each other.

Kaboom! A heaven-sundering explosion resounded through the world, and the earth itself rippled like the waves as it cracked and was shorn away.

The immense wave of power instantly left the King of Foreign Lands Residence devastated.

Power!

The energy in that palm had been vast beyond imagination. When their palms had clashed, Wang Chong felt like he had been fighting a mountain. The terrifying energy had hammered Wang Chong’s feet into the earth, burying him past his kneecaps.

A Subtle realm expert! realized Wang Chong. This was not a power any ordinary peak Saint Martial expert could possess. This foe had already reached the Subtle realm.

Wang Chong’s expression froze as he looked to his right.

In the dark shadows, next to a large scholar tree, there was a massive, clattering idol, its six arms moving and its frigid eyes looking down at him.

Six-armed Guanyin!

Wang Chong’s expression darkened. He could see that this was an idol from a temple, and six-armed Guanyins were a very common sight in the capital. But this one was different from the others.

Its body was pitch-black, making it seem frightening and sinister.

Clangclang!

As Wang Chong looked over, the idol said nothing, but the iron poles in its six arms shot toward Wang Chong as quickly as lightning bolts.

Boom!

Suddenly, the six-armed Guanyin erupted in black flames, its six arms and massive body moving with incredible agility as it rained down attacks on Wang Chong with mountain-sundering strength.

A single arm carried such power that it warped space by simply moving, as if space itself was unable to bear the load. This kind of power would make the majority of top-class experts take fright and flee.

But Wang Chong’s eyes merely flashed coldly before he immediately began his counterattack.

Boom! Wang Chong stomped forward, and then he hurtled out like a cannonball. At the same moment, his body erupted with golden light, the boundless and blazing energy of the Subtle realm shrouding Wang Chong and turning him into a massive golden fireball.

A heaven-shaking roar came from the golden fireball, and then, clangclangclang! Scarlet arms emerged from the fireball like the petals of a blooming flower. A moment later, a massive six-armed demonic god had manifested.

The Six-Armed Ksitigarbha Vajra Guardian!

This was a secret art that Wang Chong had obtained from a Tibetan general long ago in the war of the southwest. This was a rather low-level martial art, but Wang Chong had extracted the essence and fused it with his own martial arts to create a six-armed Origin Ksitigarbha Vajra Guardian, developing a Subtle realm martial art.

The moment this Origin Ksitigarbha Vajra Guardian appeared, it erupted with a storm of energy that was even stronger than that of the six-armed Guanyin.

Boomboomboom!

The two six-armed idols soon clashed with their arms in the air, sending shockwaves of energy sweeping through the area and stirring up such great clouds of dust that it was impossible to differentiate direction. But it was soon apparent that Wang Chong’s Ksitigarbha Vajra Guardian had not only stopped the six-armed Guanyin’s storm of attacks, it was even beginning to push the Guanyin back.

However, it was also apparent that the six-armed Guanyin was only a tiny bit weaker than the Origin Ksitigarbha. A swift victory was absolutely impossible.

But then the unexpected took place. Clang! The Origin Immortal Sword rang out as it shot out from Wang Chong’s waist. It sliced through the air like a bolt of lightning, and crackling electricity instantly engulfed the entire estate.

The lightning flashed for mere moments before winking out of existence. The fierce battle outside the main hall of the King of Foreign Lands Residence came to a sudden halt. Amidst churning dust, the two idols, black and gold, were in a stand-off.

All the other men in black stared warily at this eerily calm sight, not understanding what was going on.

Crack!

Suddenly, a smooth and glossy wound appeared on the six-armed Guanyin’s massive body, stretching from its right shoulder to left abdomen. Fwoomp! The two halves slid away, the upper half of the idol thudding into the dust while the lower half remained as unmoving as a mountain.

Clang!

Wang Chong turned his hand around and returned the Origin Immortal Sword to its sheath. This sword he had gained from his journey to the northwest possessed inconceivable power. At Wang Chong’s current strength, not even the six-armed Guanyin could take a blow from the Origin Immortal Sword.

All was silent, a deathly stillness shrouding the King of Foreign Lands Residence. The many men in black had fearful expressions, none of them daring to come forward or daring to escape. To be more precise, they didn’t even dare to move for fear that Wang Chong would kill them.

Suddenly, an eerie voice broke the silence. “Haha, good! As expected of the Child of Destruction! Destroying my six-armed avatar with a single sword strike!”

Wang Chong’s heart thumped as he turned his head to the northeast corner of the King of Foreign Lands Residence. Two ghostly figures had appeared on the wall, tall and thin.

The man on the left, with his wide-sleeved black robe, was clearly a monk. As for the man on the right, Wang Chong immediately noticed his eyes: cold, domineering, and utterly emotionless, like the stars studding the blackness of the night. In front of this man, all the other men in black seemed like ants.

This was the leader of these men in black!

Wang Chong immediately understood that these men in black weren’t running not because they were afraid of him, but because they were afraid of their tall and slender leader.

“Why are you not coming forward?! You regard yourselves as gods, but you seem to perpetually be attacking from the shadows like frightened children!”

Wang Chong jeered at the figure, but despite his flippancy, his heart was cold.

Strong!

Extremely strong!

The moment this man appeared, Wang Chong felt an immense threat. This man was doing his all to restrain his power, but the remaining power was still enough to make Wang Chong feel like he had a dagger at his back.

“Impudence! You dare to speak with such rashness before the High God!?” rebuked the black-robed monk, coldly staring at Wang Chong.

The other men in black also angrily stared at Wang Chong, but they dared not speak out of turn when that man was present.

“The High God?”

Wang Chong’s brow creased, but he quickly remembered something and sneered.

“Ah, so you’re that High God who had that message delivered to me in Zhangchou Jianqiong’s estate! What? Still not ready to give up on the Commander Tally?”

Wang Chong was now the Minister of War, so he had taken Zhangchou Jianqiong’s half of the Commander Tally. The Commander Tally was clearly safer at his side than with Zhangchou Jianqiong, and given the extent of the men in black’s intelligence network, they had probably figured out where it was.

“Heh, the Commander Tally is something we will take, but so is your head. More importantly, we’re not the only ones who want you dead!”

The eerie voice was like the call of an owl. The first half was said from the distant wall, but for the second half, the tall figure had appeared like a ghost to the left and front of Wang Chong.

Wang Chong’s heart fiercely thumped. Even with his abilities, he had not been able to see how the High God had appeared in front of him. It seemed like he had never moved, like he had always been standing there.

But what Wang Chong was more concerned about was the implication in the High God’s words.

“So, the First Prince sent you?”

Wang Chong’s pupils constricted.

The First Prince’s collusion with the men in black had originally been a great secret, but ever since the attempted assassination of Zhangchou Jianqiong, everything was out in the open.

“Heh, you’ve done too much recently, and that Highness is extremely displeased. Although this god doesn’t like these secular Princes, if they ask me to kill a Child of Destruction, this god won’t be stingy.”

The High God smiled.

Wang Chong inspected the leader of the men in black. This ‘High God’ appeared extremely young. Despite his prodigious strength, his skin was fair and tender, and his appearance was that of a thirty-some-year-old scholar. Anyone who didn’t know the truth would find it very hard to imagine that this middle-aged scholar was a lofty High God of the Celestial God Organization.

But Wang Chong was more concerned about the faint mark on his forehead, that of six small stars.

Wang Chong didn’t know what it was at first, but then he had a flash of insight. Wang Chong had examined star charts before, so he recognized that the six stars on the forehead of the High God were the six stars of the Southern Dipper.

(TN: In Chinese astronomy, the Northern Dipper is the ‘Big Dipper’ of western astronomy while the Southern Dipper is part of the Sagittarius constellation.)

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NovelThe Human EmperorChapter 1689 - Gandhagaja Crosses the Heaven
THE HUMAN EMPEROR
C1689 - Gandhagaja Crosses the Heaven
Chapter 1689: Gandhagaja Crosses the Heaven
Countless thoughts ran through Wang Chong’s mind. He vaguely grasped at insights, but of what, he wasn’t exactly sure at the moment.

Blinking, Wang Chong regained his composure and coldly said to the High God, “It seems like it will be difficult for you to get your wish. Whether you’re a god or a Buddha, it doesn’t matter. I’ve killed more than one god, so I won’t mind killing another one.”

As he spoke, his fingers closed around the Origin Immortal Sword. This subtle action immediately drew the attention of the High God, who smirked as he glanced at the weapon.

“This must be the sword the Origin Immortal Lord took away! As expected, its power is immense! To think that someone who could use it would appear once more after one thousand years!”

The High God’s robe rustled as he took two steps forward, his eyes fixed on the Origin Immortal Sword.

“Alas, this sword doesn’t belong to you, nor does it belong to the mortal world. Whatever. Once I’m done with you, I’ll bring it back with me.”

“Is that so?”

Wang Chong’s face grimaced, his hand tightening its grip on the sword as his eyes erupted with killing intent.

“I worry that you don’t have this ability!”

Vast energy surged out of his body and locked onto the High God.

Those of a different path had no need to conspire with each other. Wang Chong didn’t know what level of strength this High God had reached, but Wang Chong did not fear him, and for these men of the Celestial God Organization, the only thought on his mind was ‘kill’.

“Heh, I know that you killed the Goat, Deer, and Tiger Immortals, and that you used the Origin Immortal Sword to do it. But not everything is repeatable. This Immortal Sword originally belonged to us, so using it against us is truly most foolish.”

The man seemed entirely unconcerned, and as he spoke, he flicked a finger. A moment later, light and shadow began to shift between the fingers of his right hand, coalescing into a black talisman about seven inches long, so thin that it was translucent.

Wang Chong had never before seen a talisman like this. At first glance the surface was a churning pitch black, but upon closer inspection, it was full of countless starry points of light. Moreover, these stars were constantly moving, organizing themselves into a vast and complex formation.

Wang Chong had learned from the Formation Elder and had read the Formation Divine Treatise, so he had an extremely advanced understanding of formations. But he had never seen such a complicated and ancient formation before.

Wang Chong’s heart trembled in ill foreboding.

Though he did not know the origin of this talisman or what it could do, there was no question that it was this High God’s trump card against him.

He who strikes first is the strongest. I’ll kill him first and find out what that is later!

With this thought, Wang Chong exploded forward.

Bang!

There was a crack of thunder as Wang Chong raised the Origin Immortal Sword, and Wang Chong slashed with unimaginable speed at the High God.

Wang Chong did not dare to underestimate this leader of the men in black. Even if he ended up using the strength of a lion to catch a rabbit, Wang Chong had no desire for any mishaps.

But just when Wang Chong began to raise the Origin Immortal Sword…

The Origin Immortal Sword which Wang Chong had used many times, which had always been as light as a feather and as fast as lightning, became sluggish, as heavy as a mountain.

Bang!

Wang Chong’s sword unleashed a destructive energy, instantly creating a vast pit ten-some meters in diameter within the King of Foreign Lands Residence. But the attack had missed.

“What’s going on?!”

Wang Chong’s heart grew heavy and his face paled. Such a thing had never happened before.

“Heh, didn’t I already tell you? You cannot use our Immortal Sword against us!”

Several dozen feet away, the High God gripped his black talisman and sneered derisively at Wang Chong.

Bang!

With a shift of his fingers, the talisman began to burn. The thousands of stars on its surface suddenly erupted with light that vanished into the void.

Before Wang Chong could understand what this bizarre scene portended, clang! The Origin Immortal Sword suddenly sank down.

Wang Chong could sense that the sword that had once felt like an extension of his body had multiplied in weight. Not only that, countless points of light like those on the black talisman appeared on the edge of the sword and began to creep along the rest of the sword.

A power that Wang Chong had never sensed before had appeared inside the Origin Immortal Sword. This was an ancient and abstruse power, imbued with the vast majesty of the world. Even more alarming for Wang Chong was that this alien energy was beginning to seal the power of the Origin Immortal Sword.

As this energy devoured more and more, Wang Chong felt the sword get heavier and heavier.

Crackcrick! A frightening sound entered Wang Chong’s ears. He looked down and saw the smooth and shining surface of the Origin Immortal Sword begin to rust.

“What did you do?!”

Wang Chong icily stared at the High God. What he was seeing was beyond his imagination and could not be explained within the bounds of common sense.

The Origin Immortal Lord had left behind this sword for him, and from the moment he had obtained it, he had been able to use it as an extension of his own body. But the man in black before him had simply burned a talisman to produce this incomprehensible change within the sword.

“Heh, the Origin Immortal Lord didn’t tell you that this Immortal Sword was already in a sealed state?”

The High God scoffed, and his words made Wang Chong’s heart turn grim. Wang Chong’s most frightening weapon was this Origin Immortal Sword. Without the sword, Wang Chong probably would not have managed to kill the three Immortals.

After restraining Wang Chong’s Origin Immortal Sword, the High God seemed to be in no rush.

“As it was originally sealed, it naturally has its reasons to not reveal itself to the world. All I did was summon the strength that was originally sealed. It is not yours, and it will never be yours. We temporarily loaned you the strength in the Immortal Sword, but now the time has come. It’s time for us to take it back under our protection!

“Might of the Heavens and Earth, Seal the Devils and Shake the Hells!”

The High God’s eyes chilled as he began to form gestures with his hand and chant a spell. The index and middle fingers of his right hand suddenly trembled, and then the countless points of light that had previously vanished into the void reemerged, scattered around Wang Chong like a sea of stars. They constricted, all of them surging into the Origin Immortal Sword.

Crackcrack! A sound like water freezing resounded through the air as the rust on the sword advanced at one hundred times its original speed. A moment later, the entire sword had been engulfed.

Boom! Wang Chong’s connection with the Origin Immortal Sword was snapped by that prodigious energy. Without this connection, the sword became as heavy as a mountain.

The sword broke free of Wang Chong’s grip and plunged into the ground.

Even the men in black were stunned by this scene, but the High God’s face was calm and assured.

“Move!”

Giving no time for Wang Chong to think, the moment the sword was sealed, the High God ordered his men to attack.

Boomboomboom!

Although they still didn’t understand what was happening, there was no question that Wang Chong’s sword was sealed, and their side now had an enormous advantage. A moment later, the men in black rushed forward to fiercely attack.

“Gandhagaja Crosses the Heavens!”

Calling out in an icy voice, the black-robed monk at the High God’s side lunged forward. With a resounding blare, space began to twist above the monk’s head, and a massive black Gandhagaja elephant manifested.

(TN: Gandhagaja is a category of elephants so named for their immense strength and ferocity. Extremely difficult to control, they had the strength of ten ordinary elephants.)

The Gandhagaja was incredibly violent and immediately began to charge. After taking just a few steps, it morphed into a steely fist that rushed unstoppably forward, joining the attacks of the other men in black.

Gandhagaja was a legendary divine elephant of the Celestial Realm, famed for its strength. Gandhagaja Crosses the Heavens was an incredibly tough and fierce technique. When the monk used it, the heaven-sundering might on display was at the half-step Subtle realm.

“Hmph, fireflies trying to vie with the moon!”

Even though he was caught off guard by the sudden loss of the Origin Immortal Sword, Wang Chong still had his own strength, which was still quite enough to deal with these men in black.

Bang!

In the blink of an eye, Wang Chong vanished.

Greater Void Step!

Wang Chong used this movement technique, and what followed was a series of screams and explosions of Stellar Energy. The men in black had barely moved a few dozen feet when they were all knocked away as if they had run into an invisible barrier.

Sssst! A bolt of Sword Qi shot forward, tearing through the air. A man in black trembled as this dazzling bolt bored a hole straight through his forehead, and then proceeded onward to a second, a third, a fourth… Each man in black that it struck instantly fell dead to the ground.

Art of God and Demon Obliteration!

Even without the Origin Immortal Sword, Wang Chong could still use this supreme sword art. Wang Chong showed no mercy, applying his overwhelming power to slaughter his way through the men in black as if they were made of paper.

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NovelThe Human EmperorChapter 1690 - The Star Awl of the Southern Dipper!
THE HUMAN EMPEROR
C1690 - The Star Awl of the Southern Dipper!
Chapter 1690: The Star Awl of the Southern Dipper!
Bang!

Fist and sword clashed. The black-robed monk had come with a furious momentum, but upon first contact with Wang Chong, he turned ghastly pale and flipped backward in the air, barely managing to dodge Wang Chong’s vicious Sword Qi. But even so, as the bolt of Sword Qi shot past, it still left a shallow cut across the monk’s bald head.

The monk grimaced. In the organization, he was an extremely powerful expert, but in front of Wang Chong, he couldn’t even take a single blow. If he hadn’t reacted swiftly just now and chosen to dodge, his head would have been separated from his body.

“Daring to show off a low-tier art in front of me!” Wang Chong coldly snorted, and the monk’s ears went red in shame.

Wang Chong proceeded to ignore the monk, and used the Greater Void Step to lunge at the leader, the so-called High God.

To shoot the man, shoot his horse, and to capture the underlings, capture the king. Only by first killing the High God could he resolve this battle.

“Life Execution!”

Without the slightest hesitation, Wang Chong brought the index and middle fingers of his right hand together and fired off a bolt of Sword Qi with enough force to penetrate steel.

Ever since Su Zhengchen had given him that night of instruction in the Su Residence, Wang Chong had ascended by leaps and bounds in his understanding of the sword. This Life Execution was not as vast and grandiose as before, in fact appearing simple and plain. But this only reflected that it had been washed of all impurities and been returned to its original nature.

Despite its power being condensed, it was much faster and more powerful. This was why Wang Chong was still confident despite losing the Origin Immortal Sword. His Subtle realm cultivation and his understanding of the sword made it so that while he didn’t dare to say that he could take on anyone, he was confident enough to say that the number of people who could contend against him was very small.

But suddenly—

Boom!

As the bolt of Sword Qi flew forward, it cut through space like it was cutting through a tree, the upper and lower halves seeming to be displaced, a reflection of its incredible speed. But Wang Chong’s determined strike had missed. Through some unfathomable method, the High God had vanished.

“Heh, not bad! You’ve even learned the Greater Void Step, and to such a proficient level! Even some Immortal Envoys wouldn’t be able to beat you.”

The High God’s voice was drifting here and there, coming from every direction. When the voice stopped speaking, the High God appeared in a flash of light on a tree branch several dozen meters away from Wang Chong.

“So fast!”

Wang Chong’s pupils constricted, and he couldn’t help but grimace.

Greater Void Step was the fastest movement technique he knew, and when pushed to the limit, it made one impossible to track using the naked eye. Wang Chong was only able to keep track of his foe’s movements when they used this technique through the world of energy.

This sort of technique was one in ten million in this world, but to Wang Chong’s consternation, the man in black before him had used a technique that was even faster. And this movement technique truly left behind no trace. Wang Chong had already made many attempts to pin down his true location, but he still couldn’t tell just how he had managed to move.

“Heh, put those delusions out of your mind. You’re no match for me. The Greater Void Step was simply a technique we granted to those Immortal Envoys. This god is the Tianfu Divine Lord of the Six Stars of the Southern Dipper. Your Greater Void Step isn’t even on the same level as my Starlight Step.”

(TN: Of the Six Stars of the Southern Dipper, the Tianfu Star is the First Star. In western astronomy, it is the star Phi Sagittarius.)

The black-robed High God—or perhaps one could call him the Tianfu Divine Lord—had a domineering gaze that seemed to look right through Wang Chong.

Wang Chong said nothing, but his expression grew increasingly solemn. The situation was already extremely grim for him. The Origin Immortal Sword was sealed, and his foe had a much faster movement technique. Without these two advantages, Wang Chong was in an extremely passive position.

Starlight Step! What technique is this? Just how many arts do these men in black have? It’s like they have an endless supply of top-class techniques!

Wang Chong’s body tensed as he warily eyed his foe.

Wang Chong had been fighting against these men in black for a very long time and thought he had a deep understanding of them. But after the framing of Zhang Qiantuo in the war of the southwest, there had been the Goat, Deer, and Tiger Immortals, and now there was this Tianfu Divine Lord. With each encounter, Wang Chong found these men in black more and more mysterious.

Their resources were simply bottomless, and it was impossible to fathom just how massive their faction truly was.

But now was not the time for deep contemplation. Wang Chong’s hair stood on end as a vicious energy bursting with destructive power locked onto him. At the same time, he heard the Tianfu Divine Lord’s sinister voice.

“The game is over. Let me end your life now, Child of Destruction!”

The Tianfu Divine Lord immediately attacked.

Buzz!

The Tianfu Divine Lord once more eerily vanished from sight. At the same moment, Wang Chong felt an ill foreboding from his back.

“Not good!”

Wang Chong pushed his Greater Void Step to the absolute limit, turning around and thrusting a palm behind him.

Bang!

Two palms tougher than steel collided in the air. “Agh!” Wang Chong let out a shriek of pain as he flew backward. A sharp awl seven to eight inches long had been stabbed into the center of his palm. The awl seemed to be made of crystal and glistened with a starry light.

“Shameless!”

Wang Chong fiercely raised his head and stared at the Tianfu Divine Lord. Their two palms had clashed a moment ago, but the Tianfu Divine Lord had hidden an awl in his hand. The awl had stabbed into Wang Chong’s palm, and the pain from the point of penetration was almost unbearable.

“Heh, that’s just because you’re too inexperienced. This is the Star Awl of the Southern Dipper. It’s meant specifically to counter you, Child of Destruction!”

The Tianfu Divine Lord appeared several dozen meters away, and around him, space began to twist and warp. A moment later, the image of a craggy and uneven celestial object with a surface like dark glass appeared behind him.

Although it appeared dim and dark within, if one looked carefully, one could see points of light scattered within it.

“Stop struggling. Whether in strength or speed, you’re no match for me. Without the Origin Immortal Sword, you can’t even defeat my six-armed avatar, let alone my actual body.”

The Tianfu Divine Lord faintly smiled in derision. He once more attacked, vanishing from the spot.

Buzz!

The moment the Tianfu Divine Lord vanished, Wang Chong tensed his body and sent his Psychic Energy flooding out around him, covering every inch of space. At the same time, Wang Chong entered the world of energy. This was Wang Chong’s strongest ability, and time instantly slowed to an interminable crawl. Wang Chong’s Psychic Energy and Stellar Energy began to thoroughly scour the area in an attempt to find the Tianfu Divine Lord’s body.

“It’s useless…”

The Tianfu Divine Lord’s voice drifted around, impossible to pin down.

Swish!

There was a soft and subtle rush of air that immediately made Wang Chong’s blood run cold.

The Tianfu Divine Lord’s attacks were unfathomable. Wang Chong could clearly hear him, but he couldn’t sense his existence, much less find his exact location. The bizarreness of this attack style surpassed every other martial art in the world.

Swish! Wang Chong immediately lunged to the side. At the same time, the dazzling Origin Immortal Stellar Energy gushed in the general direction of the danger.

“Too slow!”

The Tianfu Divine Lord spoke once more, but it came from another direction, and it seemed to be right in front of his face, spoken straight into his ear. Swish! Another awl whistled down, and a stabbing pain came from his right shoulder. This Southern Dipper Star Awl had stabbed into the Kan point of his right shoulder as swiftly as a bolt of lightning.

As the awl plunged in, an energy flew through his body, and Wang Chong sensed a layer of ice forming on his Subtle realm energy. A part of his power had been sealed and had become impossible to use.

Too fast! My speed can’t keep up!

Wang Chong clenched his teeth. Bursts of pain were coming from the penetration point, as if the awl had stabbed at his soul, not his flesh. His face had become ghastly pale and covered in cold sweat. But Wang Chong maintained an extremely calm state of mind, his thoughts orderly and unpanicked.

He didn’t know what these Star Awls were made of, but they were extremely vicious, amplifying pain by nearly a hundred times, far exceeding the pain of an ordinary sword or saber. But Wang Chong was more concerned about that unfathomable speed.

Wang Chong’s Psychic Energy combined with the world of energy had rarely ever failed him. Whether he was facing a ‘god’ or a ‘Buddha’, there was no hiding from him. But this Tianfu Divine Lord was different. However, after a few exchanges, Wang Chong was slowly beginning to understand.

His energy was primal chaos, unlike that of any ordinary martial artist, and it had almost perfectly fused with the surroundings. Not even through the world of energy could his existence be sensed, or even a human form!

This was something that had never once happened in Wang Chong’s time with the world of energy.

The power of the Tianfu Divine Lord had exceeded imagination and reached an entirely new level.

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NovelThe Human EmperorChapter 1691 - The Frightening Tianfu Divine Lord!
THE HUMAN EMPEROR
C1691 - The Frightening Tianfu Divine Lord!
Chapter 1691: The Frightening Tianfu Divine Lord!
The most crucial thing was that the Tianfu Divine Lord was simply too fast, his movement technique several times faster than the Greater Void Step and completely untraceable. One had to realize that the Greater Void Step was already powerful enough to be considered a legendary martial art, but the Tianfu Divine Lord unbelievably had an even faster technique.

Wang Chong had never imagined that such a powerful martial art or martial artist could exist!

Even if Wang Chong could sense the existence of the Southern Dipper Star Awl, the man was so fast that the awl seemed to be present at every possible position.

It was impossible to locate the Star Awl’s true position!

Too powerful!

Wang Chong tried his best to calm his breathing. The more urgent the situation was, the more important it was to not panic. Wang Chong was well aware of how grim his situation was. The Tianfu Divine Lord was unbelievably powerful, and the slightest mistake while fighting him would lead to death.

“Heh, killing the Goat, Deer, and Tiger, and forcing this god to personally come and kill you is already quite decent! Alas, you still must die.”

The Tianfu Divine Lord’s body was floating in the air, his robes drifting in the wind, and there was a smirk on his face. As he spoke, light and shadow twisted around him, coalescing once more into that massive, glassy star.

At this moment, Wang Chong suddenly realized that the star that had earlier been manifested had not disappeared.

Wang Chong seemed to realize something, but he still wasn’t too sure.

Swish!

On the other end, the Tianfu Divine Lord attacked again.

Wang Chong was mentally prepared this time. The Tianfu Divine Lord had just vanished like he was an illusion when Wang Chong jumped forward, using the Greater Void Step to disappear. Boom! There was a metallic clattering as Wang Chong’s Stellar Energy erupted from his body. This time, Wang Chong had decided to use the fortress-like Origin Barrier.

Wang Chong had relied on the Origin Barrier to block the attacks of nearly one hundred men in black. Not only had he emerged entirely unharmed, he had been able to knock back all his foes.

“It’s useless! My Southern Dipper Star Awl is unstoppable and can pierce through all the defensive arts and Stellar Energy techniques in the world!” the Tianfu Divine Lord said coldly. A moment later, there was a sharp whistle as the awl’s tip tore through the Origin Barrier like it was made of paper.

“Ah!”

Wang Chong called out in alarm, his body staggering out of the void. And on the Tiandu point on his back, a third crystalline awl had been thrust.

In front of the Tianfu Divine Lord’s supreme advantage in speed, all of Wang Chong’s struggles were meaningless. He had not been able to dodge these Star Awls even once.

To think that not even the Origin barrier could block his Star Awl…!

Cold sweat streaked down Wang Chong’s forehead as intense pain tore at his nerves. Even worse was that with the penetration of the third awl, Wang Chong could see the Origin barrier around him dimming.

He wants to use this method to restrain and weaken my strength!

Wang Chong finally understood what was going on. Whether it was those three Immortals or this Tianfu Divine Lord, they were all afraid of death. While he might have been weaker than the Tianfu Divine Lord, he was still a Subtle realm expert. The Tianfu Divine Lord was planning to weaken Wang Chong first, and then kill him in a single blow. This would prevent any last-ditch struggles.

Understanding this, Wang Chong knew that his situation was not as dangerous as it first seemed. But if he couldn’t think of a way to escape this predicament, death was still inevitable. And given the Tianfu Divine Lord’s speed, there wasn’t much time.

“What? Still thinking of a plan?!”

Seeing that Wang Chong was remaining silent, the Tianfu Divine Lord seemed to understand what he was thinking. Coldly chuckling, he took out the fourth Star Awl, which whistled into the Shanhuan point on Wang Chong’s right chest.

Even though Wang Chong was ready, he still failed to dodge it.

The fifth and sixth awls came in quick succession, and one by one, Wang Chong’s critical acupuncture points were struck. In short order, Wang Chong was greatly weakened, and it wouldn’t be long before he fell from the Subtle realm. Not only that, Wang Chong had noticed that the Tianfu Divine Lord’s Star Awls had a special ability that could sever one’s connections to the higher dimension from which the energy of the Subtle realm sprung.

At the start, Wang Chong had been able to pull energy from this higher dimension, but now, Wang Chong felt as if there was a thin gauze between him and that dimension that loosened his connection.

The situation was getting worse and worse. Once he fell out of the Subtle realm, the Tianfu Divine Lord would deal the fatal blow.

What do I do? If this continues, I’m finished!

The intense pain continued to tear away at Wang Chong, and his clothes were damp with sweat. But Wang Chong remained calm and collected, his mind moving at one hundred times its normal speed.

Every martial art has a flaw. There’s no such thing as an invincible art. As long as I can find the flaw in his art, I can find his true self and defeat him!

As Wang Chong’s mind turned, he subconsciously glanced at the walls of the residence.

“Heh, it’s pointless. You think that the fierce battle here will attract the City Guard, allowing you to be saved?”

Wang Chong’s simple action immediately earned a response from the Tianfu Divine Lord, whose piercing gaze had immediately peered into the depths of Wang Chong’s mind.

“You think that this god did not take this into account before attacking you here? And besides, it is not only this god who wishes to kill you!

“This god could not be sure about any other time, but tonight, the Imperial Army of your Great Tang Imperial Palace has been placed in charge of this area. No matter what happens here, or how much noise is made, no one will come to investigate!”

The Tianfu Divine Lord’s drifting voice sounded confident and assured, the voice of someone who had complete control over the situation. It was evident that they had meticulously planned out this operation, giving no chance for Wang Chong to escape.

Wang Chong’s heart instantly sank. There were many residences around the King of Foreign Lands Residence, and to its northeast was the Great Tang’s Imperial Palace. But if this man was so sure about his success, then it was obvious that they had ensured that no reinforcements would be coming.

Neeeigh!

As Wang Chong’s heart was heavy and his mind rapidly tried to think of a plan, there was a stampede of hooves from outside, breaking the silence. Wang Chong raised an eyebrow while the Tianfu Divine Lord creased his brow in surprise.

“Over there!”

“Everyone, keep up! Don’t let a single one go!”

“Send a carrier pigeon to inform our superiors!”

A turmoil could be heard in the distance, the stomping of hooves and the clattering of armor getting closer and closer.

The City Guard!

Wang Chong put a hand over one of his wounds as he glanced at the Tianfu Divine Lord. The City Guard seemed to be on its way, a force of fifty to sixty men. The First Prince and the Tianfu Divine Lord had already completely locked the place down, but in their haste, they had apparently left a flaw. A group of soldiers had gotten past the checkpoints and made their way inside.

The Tianfu Divine Lord seemed to understand this, his eyebrows rising as his face scowled. He had just said that the place had been completely sealed so that no one could get inside, yet this sudden force of soldiers had given him a slap to the face.

But the awkwardness didn’t persist for long. The force of City Guard soldiers only managed to make it a small distance through the darkness before falling into an abrupt din of screams and neighing. A few moments later, all the sounds came to an abrupt halt.

Other than the barking of one or two dogs, there was no sound. It was like nothing had happened. The City Guard soldiers had seemingly vanished like a cloud of steam.

Wang Chong’s heart sank once more. Those people were undoubtedly all dead.

The Tianfu Divine Lord had not been lying. A great net had been cast over the surroundings, and his men had wiped out that force of cavalry to the last man.

Wang Chong felt an unprecedented danger, as he now understood that there was no hope of escaping, at least not until daybreak.

It was unkind to not reciprocate a gift, and Wang Chong’s eyes suddenly turned hard with resolve. This fight was unavoidable, so the only option was to fight to the death. Regardless of whether he was any match for the Tianfu Divine Lord, Wang Chong was not someone who would just wait around and accept his death.

Buzz!

There was a heaven-shaking rumble as a dazzling golden pavilion shot up behind Wang Chong, soaring upward like a bamboo stalk. In a flash, his fifteen-floor Trayastrimsa Heaven had been unleashed.

Wang Chong reached behind him, and the Trayastrimsa Heaven immediately transformed into a silver spear around two meters long.

The Origin Lance!

This was an ability that the third-generation successor in the underground palace back in the northwest had used. It transformed the Trayastrimsa Heaven into a spear that gathered together all the power of the Origin Immortal Art, and it possessed immense might!

“Since that’s the case, let’s fight until the end!”

Wang Chong fearlessly stared at the Tianfu Divine Lord.

“Stubborn to the end!”

The Tianfu Divine Lord’s eyes chilled, as did his face.

Start a thread

Boom! The Tianfu Divine Lord vanished again, and at the same time, Wang Chong cast out the spear.

The speed of the Greater Void Step paired with the lightning-fast Origin Lance produced a speed that was infinitesimally close to the Tianfu Divine Lord’s. This was Wang Chong’s only hope of dealing with this formidable foe.

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NovelThe Human EmperorChapter 1692 - The Line of Life and Death!
THE HUMAN EMPEROR
C1692 - The Line of Life and Death!
Chapter 1692: The Line of Life and Death!
Bang!

In a white flash, the silver spear slammed into the earth, obliterating a fake mountain and the garden, pond, and pavilion around it. Great plumes of dust rose into the air as testament to its power.

But Wang Chong’s determined strike had still missed.

Bang!

At almost the same time, a palm lightly pressed against Wang Chong’s chest, upon which an energy howled into his body. Wang Chong was knocked out of the air and smashed into the ground a hundred-some feet from his original position.

Boom! Boom! Boom! In a series of explosions and great plumes of dust rising several dozen meters into the air, the carved decorations of the King of Foreign Lands Residence were practically all obliterated.

Fwoosh!

When the dust scattered, Wang Chong opened his mouth, his chest trembling, and vomited black blood.

“You’ve been struck by eleven of my Southern Dipper Star Awls. Your strength has already dropped to less than seventy percent. Killing you now is as easy for me as flipping over my palm!”

Nearby, the Tianfu Divine Lord slowly ambled through the air, his robes drifting around him. He looked down on Wang Chong like he was looking at a dead man. Throughout this entire battle, everything had been under his control, everything entirely to his tempo.

“Is that so?”

Wang Chong raised his head and wiped away the blood at the corner of his mouth, his Stellar Energy stirring. Just as he was about to attack again, the Tianfu Divine Lord’s eyes chilled and he attacked again.

Bang!

This attack was even fiercer, and before Wang Chong had time to react, a palm had struck his left shoulder and sent him flying into the air. This time, he flew even farther, slamming into the base of a wall.

“You’re simply no match for me. The greater your resistance, the worse your pain and suffering. Why put yourself through all the trouble?”

The Tianfu Divine Lord reappeared, lightly patting his hands. His right leg stepped forward and settled onto the ground, while his expression seemed calm and relaxed.

“Hmph, is that true? Then come and get me!”

Wang Chong’s hair was disheveled as he half-kneeled on the ground. Even though he couldn’t touch even a corner of the Tianfu Divine Lord’s robe, even though he was being played around with like a toy, his gaze remained cold and brimming with fighting intent, devoid of fear.

The Tianfu Divine Lord was clearly startled by this sight, but he was in no rush to attack. Despite Wang Chong’s cold smile, his organs were shaken, and the Star Awls in his body and the Tianfu Divine Lord’s two palms had badly injured him.

But Subtle realm experts had extremely sturdy foundations, far above those of Saint Martial experts. Moreover, as this battle had dragged on, Wang Chong had changed his plan and begun to build up strength in his body for the right moment. If the Tianfu Divine Lord revealed the smallest weakness, he would immediately launch a fierce counterattack.

This move has clearly had some effect. The Tianfu Divine Lord naturally had a high enough cultivation level to sense the energy building up in Wang Chong’s body. Thus, even though he had the absolute advantage, he had not unleashed the true killing blow and pushed Wang Chong over the edge.

“You won’t get the chance.”

A few moments later, the Tianfu Divine Lord’s brow relaxed and he regained his composure.

“Do you know why I chose tonight to strike? It’s not merely because the nights are quieter, making it easier to strike. And really, there’s no harm in telling you…”

The Tianfu Divine Lord smiled as he raised his right hand and pointed a finger straight up.

Whoosh!

Dark clouds had originally covered the skies of the estate, but as the Tianfu Divine Lord extended his finger, a fierce gale stirred up. The dark clouds immediately scattered like the receding tide.

Wang Chong almost instinctively looked up at the sky. At first glance, Wang Chong didn’t see anything in the darkness, but as if in response to the Tianfu Divine Lord’s finger, gleaming lights began to emerge. One, two, three, four… six dazzling stars began to resonate with the Tianfu Divine Lord, shining right over his head.

The Six Stars of the Southern Dipper!

Wang Chong’s pupils constricted as he understood.

“Tonight, the Southern Dipper is right overhead, and this is also the night when the Tianfu Star is in charge. In front of me, you don’t have the slightest hope!”

The Tianfu Divine Lord looked in amusement at the distant Wang Chong.

“Enough! Telling you so much is already an extraordinary favor. It’s time for this operation to end. You’ve been struck by eleven of my Southern Dipper Star Awls, and you don’t have the Origin Immortal Sword. No matter how much energy you’ve built up for a counterattack, in your condition, you can take two more of my palms at most before your Subtle realm foundation is shattered and you fall to the Saint Martial realm.

“At that moment, merely these Stellar Envoys serving this god will be enough to kill you.”

A callous light flashed in the Tianfu Divine Lord’s eyes.

Boom!

The Tianfu Divine Lord vanished in a flash of light, and then appeared to the left and back of Wang Chong, his palm striking once more.

The immense might of this palm, infused with extreme Yin energy, heavily injured Wang Chong as it sent him flying.

In a heaven-shaking explosion, Wang Chong struck the ground, sending dust soaring several dozen meters into the air.

“Too fast!”

Even though he knew that he was going to be attacked, he still couldn’t stop it.

Wang Chong half-kneeled on the ground, trying his best to suppress his injuries. Despite this, he felt a sweetness on his tongue, and a violet-black trickle of blood managed to escape his lips.

The Tianfu Divine Lord’s palms were extremely vicious. Each strike seemed capable of shattering his organs, and at the same time, his connection to the higher dimension was weakened.

If this goes on, I’m really going to die to him! Wang Chong admitted to himself.

He had been trying to find the Tianfu Divine Lord’s weakness this entire time, but the hopes were slim. He would probably break before that time.

“The last palm!”

In a gust of wind, the Tianfu Divine Lord reemerged.

His eyes had turned into cold and dangerous beads of ice.

Bang!

Moments after speaking, the Tianfu Divine Lord attacked again, but this time, he did not use any unfathomable art and just thrust his palm at Wang Chong.

Wang Chong was ready, and the moment the Tianfu Divine Lord vanished, he lunged forward and unleashed a flood of energy.

The blazing flames of golden Subtle realm energy illuminated the night sky as brightly as day, but Wang Chong had underestimated the power of the Tianfu Divine Lord’s palm.

“Ah!”

The Tianfu Divine Lord’s palm struck his chest almost immediately, and Wang Chong screamed as he was sent hurtling through the air.

At the moment the palm struck, Wang Chong felt as if there was a flood of sharp blades in the Tianfu Divine Lord’s palm, all of them surging into his body.

The Stellar Energy of a Subtle realm expert was far sturdier than that of other experts, but the consecutive palms of the Tianfu Divine Lord had succeeded in scattering apart the energy Wang Chong had been storing up, obliterating his final card before hurtling straight for his dantian and mind.

As his back hit the ground, Wang Chong’s heart sank. The gap in strength was simply too great. After stubbornly resisting for so long, he had only staved off the inevitable defeat.

“Hmph, as I said, with these palm strikes of mine, you’ll lose any ability to resist. Your meridians are heavily injured and your Stellar Energy scattered, your martial foundation in disarray. You no longer have the right to resist this god!”

In the howling winds, the Tianfu Divine Lord’s robe rustled as he reemerged in the air. He lightly descended to the ground and began to slowly walk over to Wang Chong.

His cold and domineering eyes were brimming with killing intent.

To the lofty gods, everything in the world, including the peerless martial arts, were insignificant ants. They only needed to desire it, and all these so-called experts would die like tiny ants.

There had never been any mortal faction, not even dynasties or countries, that could resist them. Mortals could not resist gods. But then Wang Chong, the Child of Destruction, had appeared.

His death had been ordered ever since the southwest!

But in the course of the several operations, not only had Wang Chong not been killed, he had only grown stronger and stronger, even managing to kill a few gods in the northwest. In the end, the High God of the Tianfu Star had been compelled to personally take care of this walking calamity.

Such a thing had never happened before and was scarcely imaginable.

But now, it no longer mattered how much trouble Wang Chong had stirred in the past or what great risks he had forced them to take.

In front of the High Gods, the Child of Destruction was still just an ant, still unable to save itself from the fate of death.

“Now, accept your fate! Once you’re dead, everyone who knows of our existence will be destroyed. Everything regarding us will be concealed just like it was in the past!”

A gale howled above the residence. The Tianfu Divine Lord coldly chuckled as he stopped in front of Wang Chong and pressed his palm down with deceptive speed.

Black smoke seethed off those white and slender fingers. This was Asura Stellar Energy, one of the most corrosive energies in the world. With this strike, Wang Chong’s body would crumble to dust and leave behind not even a single trace.

Buzz!

As Wang Chong stared at the descending palm, his eyes turned dim. The Tianfu Divine Lord’s previous palm strikes hadn’t merely sealed his Stellar Energy, they had also sealed all his acupuncture points.

Wang Chong couldn’t even move, and he was merely a lamb waiting to be slaughtered by the Tianfu Divine Lord.

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NovelThe Human EmperorChapter 1693 - : The Unbelievable Result!
THE HUMAN EMPEROR
C1693 - : The Unbelievable Result!
Chapter 1693: The Unbelievable Result!
How could this be? Am I really going to die here?

Wang Chong raised his head, his face deathly pale.

Not since he had stepped into the Subtle realm had he encountered an opponent like this. He had done all he could, but this Tianfu Divine Lord was far stronger than he had imagined. That palm was getting closer and closer, and Wang Chong was bereft of any method to resist.

At this moment…

Buzz!

With no warning at all, a voice boomed in Wang Chong’s mind.

“Special Event! A unique law energy has been discovered in user’s body!”

Before Wang Chong could react, his mind rumbled, and the long-dormant Stone of Destiny erupted with an unprecedented pull that instantly engulfed Wang Chong’s body. It began to devour the Tianfu Divine Lord’s Southern Dipper energy, inexorably pulling all of it into the Stone of Destiny.

“Congratulations to user! ‘Seed’ unlocking 1%, 2%…”

How could this be?!

Wang Chong was stunned, his eyes flying open. The analysis on the ‘Seed’ had been finished long ago, but actually unlocking the seed required an astronomical one million points of Destiny Energy. For Wang Chong, this would normally take ages to accumulate. After all, the two major wars, the war of the southwest and the Battle of Talas, were both over.

Wang Chong had never imagined that while he had previously been worried about how to obtain this immense amount of Destiny Energy, he would make this sort of unexpected discovery.

This Tianfu Divine Lord’s power can be a substitute for Destiny Energy?!

Wang Chong’s mind was seething in shock.

With no time to think, whoosh! Wang Chong lunged away, as light as a leaf and as quick as a ghost, appearing several hundred feet away. At the same time, boom! The palm slammed down into Wang Chong’s former position, sending dust soaring into the air and leaving a pit four hundred feet deep.

Next to the pit stood a flabbergasted figure.

“He actually dodged my strike! How?”

The Tianfu Divine Lord stared at the empty pit and then the distant Wang Chong, shock in his eyes for the first time.

The eleven Southern Dipper Star Awls and his three palm strikes infused with Southern Dipper energy had all struck true. Logically speaking, the Child of Destruction’s dantian and Zifu point, the two largest sources of energy, should have been sealed, and he shouldn’t have even been able to move. How could he have dodged under these circumstances?

But Wang Chong had dodged.

Impossible! A puny human emerged from my three palms unharmed?!

The Tianfu Divine Lord’s mind was raging.

It wasn’t merely the Tianfu Divine Lord. The other men in black were astonished as well.

“The Divine Lord’s attack missed!”

Shock was written all across their faces, and the black-robed monk was also stricken with disbelief. He had followed the Divine Lord for an extremely long time and knew that his power was more than mortals could imagine. His existence itself was a myth.

Over the thousands of years, many individuals had appeared, some of them even stronger than the Child of Destruction, even traitors of the organization, but none of them had been able to move after being struck by the eleven Southern Dipper Star Awls and the Three God-Shattering Palms.

And certainly no one had been able to dodge one of the Divine Lord’s attacks in this situation!

Once the Divine Lord had a target, he would never let them escape. There were no exceptions.

Bang!

The Tianfu Divine Lord disappeared in a flash of light.

“There is no mortal in this world that I cannot kill!”

The Tianfu Divine Lord’s expression was ice-cold.

“Not good!”

As the Tianfu Divine Lord began to move, Wang Chong grimaced. Given how long this battle had gone on, Wang Chong would have been able to determine the fighting style and weakness of any other opponent.

But no matter how Wang Chong calculated and experimented, even when he pushed his Psychic Energy and Stellar Energy to their limits, he couldn’t avoid the attacks, let alone determine the fighting style.

Bang!

Wang Chong used the Greater Void Step to fade into the void while also trying his best to move to the right, but he still failed to dodge. Boom! The sky seemed to tear apart as Wang Chong suddenly emerged from the void seven meters from his original position. The Tianfu Divine Lord’s palm slammed into his chest, causing him to vomit blood as he hurtled through the air.

“Too powerful!”

Countless thoughts ran through his mind in the moment before he rammed into the earth and slid along the ground, leaving a furrow two meters long in his wake. This was terminated by a crash into a scholar tree some twenty meters in height, which caused the tree to explode in a shower of wooden chips.

Dust surged through the King of Foreign Lands Residence while the explosive shockwave tossed roof tiles into the air.

To prevent any mistakes, the Tianfu Divine Lord had put even more power into this attack.

“Die for me!”

The Tianfu Divine Lord reemerged seven meters above the ground, his eyes as sharp as swords as he stared at the place where Wang Chong had fallen. All of Wang Chong’s meridians should have been shattered with this blow, Southern Dipper energy seeping into all his cells and rendering him motionless.

The Southern Dipper Undercurrent!

This was one of the Tianfu Divine Lord’s strongest abilities, and no one in the last one thousand years had been able to resist this blow. The Tianfu Divine Lord would not use this lightly, and in using it on Wang Chong, he had made his rage plain to see.

Hwooo! Winds swept across a silent scene.

The Tianfu Divine Lord stared at the center of the explosion, where dust was still rising into the air. The other men in black were also watching expectantly.

However…

Cough, cough…

A light coughing could be heard, and a figure began to slowly get up from the dust. Although their features were obscured by the dust, one could see from the outlines that this was the ‘Child of Destruction’.

Whoooah!

The men in black cried out in shock and disbelief.

“This is impossible!”

The Tianfu Divine Lord’s body trembled as his eyes widened in disbelief.

A fourth palm!

This had been his fourth palm strike, and it had contained some of his true power, but Wang Chong appeared entirely unharmed. Not even stronger existences than Wang Chong could take a direct strike from his palm and get up so quickly, and he was even coughing.

That he could cough meant that his injuries weren’t serious!

“What is going on here?”

The Tianfu Divine Lord’s mind was shaken. For the first time, he could find no explanation for what was happening

Cough! “Tianfu Divine Lord, although I’ve never liked your Celestial God Organization, I have to admit that its strength can’t be underestimated. But, a Divine Lord like you… doesn’t seem to be that strong!”

Wang Chong’s body swayed as he slowly emerged from the dust.

His clothes were in tatters, revealing the skin beneath, and his body was covered in bloody wounds. But in comparison to his tattered body, Wang Chong’s eyes were shining bright.

To think that his energy can really be absorbed by the ‘Seed’, saving me so much Destiny Energy…!

Wang Chong’s injuries were bad, but he was finding it hard to suppress his excitement. Although he didn’t quite understand what was going on, he was certain that the Tianfu Divine Lord’s power was exactly what the seed required. The mysterious seed that the Origin Immortal Lord had left him was now 10% unlocked after absorbing that additional palm from the Tianfu Divine Lord. Wang Chong had never expected this.

In other words, Wang Chong had saved himself one hundred thousand points of Destiny Energy.

And this had only been from two attacks! Only a few seconds had passed. This method of ‘making money’ seemed a little too fast, and Wang Chong couldn’t help but want to take a few more!

“Seeking death!”

The Tianfu Divine Lord’s thought processes were much simpler. His eyes chilled and his anger exploded. Boom! The Tianfu Divine Lord vanished as he pushed his movement technique to the absolute limit.

Whoosh!

Four Tianfu Divine Lords appeared to his left, right, front, and back, their expressions identically cold and dreadful. Before Wang Chong could react, they all charged forward.

Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!

Four fair and slender palms imbued with destructive energy struck four different locations on Wang Chong’s body. A strike from even an ordinary martial artist to one of these points could heavily injure or kill, much less one from a powerhouse like the Tianfu Divine Lord.

But the final result…

Rumble!

The earth trembled, the ground beneath Wang Chong cracking like a roasted turtle shell and sinking eight or nine feet. Wang Chong’s hairband snapped apart, sending his hair into disarray, and his clothes were shredded, but the man himself was completely! Un! Harmed!

“!!!”

“This can’t be!”

The Tianfu Divine Lord’s eyes flew open as he let out a heaven-rending howl!

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NovelThe Human EmperorChapter 1694 - Unlocking In the Midst of Danger!
THE HUMAN EMPEROR
C1694 - Unlocking In the Midst of Danger!
Chapter 1694: Unlocking In the Midst of Danger!
The Tianfu Divine Lord could have explained the first few palms as him not putting in enough of his true strength, but the situation was entirely different now.

No one could directly take four of his palms as Wang Chong had, not even more formidable Subtle realm experts. What had taken place just now had upset his understanding of the world.

Hahaha, truly a case of wearing out one’s shoes searching high and low, only to come upon it by luck! The golden seed really can absorb their energy!

On the other side, Wang Chong was elated. Even though he still couldn’t avoid the shocks from the impacts of the palms, the Tianfu Divine Lord’s energy really was unlocking the seal on the golden seed.

“Seed unlocking 15%…… 20%…… 27%!”

The familiar voice of the Stone of Destiny was ringing out again and again. After four palms from the Tianfu Divine Lord, the unlocking of the golden seed had already reached 27%, the equivalent of more than two hundred thousand points of Destiny Energy. This was something Wang Chong had never even imagined possible before this.

But Wang Chong had also noticed a few special details.

It should have been that after taking four palms from the Tianfu Divine Lord, the golden seed’s unlocking should have reached 30%, but that’s not the case. It seems that the effectiveness of the energy decreases the more that’s absorbed, and it can’t go up forever, Wang Chong quietly said to himself.

“Hah, Tianfu Divine Lord, this can’t be all you’re capable of! The mighty Celestial God Organization whose members regard themselves as gods that mortals can do nothing about would probably become a big joke if this got out!”

Wang Chong raised his head and jeered at the Tianfu Divine Lord.

Since he had found the Tianfu Divine Lord’s free ‘energy bag’, Wang Chong couldn’t just let it go.

“Bastard!”

The Tianfu Divine Lord’s face turned ashen and he gnashed his teeth in rage.

“Brat, you really think this god can’t do anything to you?”

The Tianfu Divine Lord’s eyes surged with killing intent and his body trembled as he readied to attack.

“Divine Lord, please hold!”

Suddenly, a figure shot out and blocked the Tianfu Divine Lord’s way.

“Divine Lord, be careful! There’s something strange about this kid! He seems to be absorbing our energy. Divine Lord, you must not be careless. There is no harm in using swords instead of palms to deal with him. No matter how formidable he is, he can’t possibly be capable of absorbing and refining swords!”

Wang Chong’s heart thumped, and as he focused, he saw that it was the black-robed monk who had appeared.

This guy is rather smart!

Wang Chong’s eyes widened, and his expression became more solemn.

Formless Stellar Energy was completely different from corporeal swords and sabers. Although the Tianfu Divine Lord didn’t seem to be an expert in the use of such weapons, Wang Chong truly would find it hard to absorb the energy unleashed through such weapons.

The monk’s warning allowed the Tianfu Divine Lord’s temper to cool.

“Brat, just how did you manage to do it?!”

The Tianfu Divine Lord was no ordinary individual, and once his anger was dispelled, he quickly noticed something strange.

It was obvious now that Wang Chong was intentionally trying to provoke him into attacking, but the Tianfu Divine Lord couldn’t understand why. Subtle realm energy was not something to be lightly messed around with, and his energy was additionally imbued with highly destructive properties. Just what trick had Wang Chong pulled that allowed him to take several of his palms and emerge unharmed?

“Heheh, to think of such a reason after not being able to beat me! The Celestial God Organization is truly disappointing!”

Wang Chong scornfully smiled and jeered to avoid the question.

They were enemies, and Wang Chong naturally wasn’t so much of a fool as to reveal his trump card to the enemy.

“Hmph, seeking death!”

The Tianfu Divine Lord’s expression chilled.

“Even if you say nothing, it’s fine! This god has his ways of forcing you to talk!”

Clang! A sword flew out of the black-robed monk’s hands and into the Tianfu Divine Lord’s. There was a crack of thunder, the flashing of a silver snake, and then the Tianfu Divine Lord was gone. This time, the phantom swords in the air made the situation appear even more dangerous.

Danger!

Wang Chong had an ill foreboding the moment the Tianfu Divine Lord vanished. While he seemed confident on the surface, every nerve in his body was tense.

For the moment, Wang Chong’s strength still could not be compared to the Tianfu Divine Lord’s, and he was keenly aware of this. If the Tianfu Divine Lord combined his movement technique with a saber or sword, he would be simply impossible to deal with.

Buzz!

Time seemed to stop, all sound draining away. Wang Chong’s body trembled with tension, his Psychic Energy and Stellar Energy pushed to the maximum, the Trayastrimsa Heaven and the Great Yinyang Heaven Creation Art unleashed to protect his surroundings. Even so, Wang Chong did not let down his guard even the tiniest bit!

Only by finding out where the Tianfu Divine Lord really was could he avoid a fatal strike. But all was empty, and he once more felt that familiar feeling. The Tianfu Divine Lord’s energy was everywhere and nowhere, spread thinly across every inch of space so that it was impossible to determine his true location.

Where? Where?!

As the seconds passed, Wang Chong continued to be in more and more danger. If he discovered the Tianfu Divine Lord’s sword too late, not even the golden seed and Stone of Destiny could save him.

Thwish!

At that moment, a sliver of Sword Qi many times thinner than a hair suddenly appeared in Wang Chong’s perception. With no time to think, Wang Chong lunged to the right with all his power, pushing the Greater Void Step to its limits.

Boom!

There was a flash of light, and the place where Wang Chong had been standing exploded. Schwick! In a crimson burst of light, a string of bloody pearls splattered into the dust.

As the Sword Qi dispersed, Wang Chong staggered out of the void a hundred-some feet away, a hand holding his left shoulder.

“Impossible! How did you manage to dodge my Sword Qi?!”

A cry of alarm came from Wang Chong’s previous position, and the Tianfu Divine Lord emerged from the void, sword in hand.

His eyes were fixed on the distant Wang Chong in disbelief.

Unlike the Goat, Deer, and Tiger Immortals, the Tianfu Divine Lord derived his power from the stars. Anywhere the stars shone their light upon was a place he could reach. Even Wang Chong had only been able to receive his attacks, never dodge them!

What had happened just now was even more unbelievable and unacceptable than Wang Chong taking several of his palms and coming out unharmed.

“Haha, Tianfu Divine Lord, it seems you’re out of tricks!”

The flames of rage practically exploded out of the Tianfu Divine Lord’s head.

“Bastard, you’re seeking death!”

Even though he knew Wang Chong was intentionally provoking him, he still couldn’t help but take the bait.

Clang! The Tianfu Divine Lord’s wrist shook, and the sword resounded through the air. The Tianfu Divine Lord disappeared once more.

“Now is the moment!”

As the Tianfu Divine Lord vanished, Wang Chong’s pupils constricted as he did the same.

“Art of God and Demon Obliteration!”

As he activated the Greater Void Step, he also pushed the God Demon Obliteration Sword Qi to its limits. A moment later, within the boundless void, Wang Chong sensed that silver of extremely fine and sharp Sword Qi within the Tianfu Divine Lord.

Not even the Tianfu Divine Lord could have imagined that changing from palm to sword had actually left a massive flaw for Wang Chong to exploit. Although the Tianfu Divine Lord’s movement technique was extremely fast, when it came to the art of the sword, Wang Chong, as the inheritor of the supreme Art of God and Demon Obliteration, surpassed the Tianfu Divine Lord.

Wang Chong still couldn’t sense the Tianfu Divine Lord’s aura, but he could sense his sword, thus allowing him to avoid its attacks.

On the other side, the Tianfu Divine Lord remained unaware of the truth.

“I’d like to see how many of my attacks you can avoid!”

The Tianfu Divine Lord’s voice came from every direction.

Even though Wang Chong had dodged two strikes now, the Tianfu Divine Lord did not care. His attacks came ceaselessly, each faster and more powerful than the last.

Snick! Snick! Snick!

As the sword sliced through the air, wounds were left on Wang Chong’s elbow, stomach, back, neck… Blood gushed out from the various wounds while vicious Sword Qi penetrated into his body.

Though his mastery of the art of the sword allowed him to sense the Tianfu Divine Lord’s position through the sword, the Tianfu Divine Lord was still much faster. Wang Chong could sense his opponent’s attacks, but he couldn’t dodge them.

The wounds began to pile up, and his situation grew increasingly dire. Wang Chong was blinking in and out, focusing only on running around to dodge the Tianfu Divine Lord’s attacks, but counterattack was impossible.

Even so, Wang Chong was still doing his best to try and absorb the Tianfu Divine Lord’s energy.

“Golden Seed unlocking 30%…… 31%…… 32%……”

The Stone of Destiny’s voice was constant in his mind.

The Tianfu Divine Lord’s switching of attack method truly was having a significant effect on Wang Chong. The amount of energy he could absorb was extremely limited, and the unlocking speed of the golden seed had slowed to a crawl, even though Wang Chong was trying his best to convert the Sword Qi.

No! Just sensing his sword isn’t enough to deal with this situation. He’s just going to keep cutting away at me until I’m dead!

While constantly moving around with the Greater Void Step, Wang Chong tried to think of a way out, countless ideas and calculations running through his mind.

He couldn’t last for long, and the current trend still pointed to his inevitable death.

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NovelThe Human EmperorChapter 1695 - The True World!
THE HUMAN EMPEROR
C1695 - The True World!
Chapter 1695: The True World!
This can’t continue. It seems like I’ll have to do that…

An idea occurred to Wang Chong, but he did not deeply ponder it.

Swish!

On the other side, a sliver of Sword Qi thinner than a hair was slicing through the air toward Wang Chong.

This attack was so fast that not even thoughts could keep up. If it struck true, Wang Chong would be dead.

“Brat, let’s see how you dodge this one!”

The Tianfu Divine Lord’s chilly voice was constantly moving around, and it rumbled like thunder in Wang Chong’s ears. The Sword Qi suddenly exploded in power, pushing its speed to new and terrifying levels.

At this moment, the sliver of Sword Qi turned from a tiny rivulet into a surging torrent, and the entire world seemed to pale.

Boom!

By this point, the Sword Qi was already right in front of Wang Chong’s face, illuminating it into a ghastly white.

The Myriad Stars Holy Judgment!

The Tianfu Divine Lord was not a master of the sword arts, but in the supreme art of the Six Stars of the Southern Dipper, there happened to be a powerful sword technique. Paired with the Tianfu Divine Lord’s peerless movement technique, it was simply unavoidable. The Tianfu Divine Lord had used this move to kill numerous powerful foes.

This move was extremely taxing, and its use showed just how badly Wang Chong had enraged the Tianfu Divine Lord!

“This kid is doomed!”

The men in black all saw this sight and recognized the Tianfu Divine Lord’s supreme skill. They had followed this man for many years and had long ago heard of its legendary power.

It was rumored that when this move was used, the Tianfu Divine Lord was issuing his holy judgment. Countless opponents had been turned to dust under this attack, not a single one surviving.

Buzz!

As Wang Chong sensed the sword intent of this attack and its unparalleled speed, his hair stood on end and goosebumps rose on his skin.

A tide of sword intent was rushing toward him, countless slivers, one for each of his pores and acupuncture points. Simply sensing this destructive Sword Qi was enough to make a person freeze, their brain grind to a halt.

I can’t block it!

This was what Wang Chong’s intuition told him. His blood ran cold as a sense of unprecedented danger seized his heart. If he didn’t block this attack, he wouldn’t be coming out with just a simple wound. He would be coming out as a corpse.

“Stone of Destiny, exchange all my Destiny Energy to completely unlock the seed!” Wang Chong bellowed in his mind at this crucial moment, immediately connecting with the Stone of Destiny and the golden seed.

After what seemed like a brief moment but also countless eons, the Stone of Destiny spoke.

“Request received! Exchange confirmed!”

At the same time, an immense energy surged into the golden seed.

“Unlocking 39%…… 46%…… 57%…… 79%…… 100%!

“Seed has been unlocked. User has obtained Golden Seed (Basic)!

“Description: This is a seed of limitless possibility, inextricably linked to this world. It is hoped that user will treasure this seed and constantly nurture it. In addition, this seed is linked to user’s ultimate fate. If it is constantly nurtured and raised, when the final moment comes, user will obtain an unexpected harvest!

“Golden Seed’s abilities unlocking! 45%…… 98%……. 100%!

“Congratulations to user for obtaining the Basic ability: True World!

“Description: With the seed, user can more clearly see the origin of the world. This ability is far greater than any other observation ability and can be considered an advanced form of seeing into the world of energy!

“Analysis of Golden Seed in progress…”

Thunder pealed in Wang Chong’s mind as a torrent of information swept over him. Heaven-shaking transformations took place as the brand-new energy erupted from the golden seed and filled his mind.

After more than one thousand years, the golden seed the Origin Immortal Lord had given to Wang Chong had finally emerged from hibernation. It was unsealed and had reached its basic form.

The golden seed was a half-complete product created by the Origin Immortal Lord after a long period of thought and contemplation. It represented limitless possibilities, but it was incomplete. Even a divine figure like the Origin Immortal Lord had not been able to complete it, so Wang Chong believed that his own chances were one in ten thousand.

But not even the Origin Immortal Lord could have imagined that Wang Chong would unlock the seal and complete the seed through such a method, and so soon after his death.

Unlocking the golden seed had required an astronomical one million points of Destiny Energy, an almost impossible mission for Wang Chong. But by borrowing the power of the Tianfu Divine Lord, he had found the simplest and fastest shortcut.

Rumble!

As the golden seed erupted with golden light, a faint and indescribable ripple radiated from Wang Chong and swept through the world.

This ripple was so weak that it was undetectable to the normal person, but it triggered a massive shift in the world.

Buzz!

In a place extremely far away from Wang Chong and the Tianfu Divine Lord, a figure was seated cross-legged, but when the golden seed was unlocked, this figure trembled as if they had been struck by a lightning bolt. Raising their head, they looked in the direction the ripple had come from.

“What in the… How could this be?”

The mysterious figure was brimming with unbelievable power, but at this moment, their eyes were stricken with extreme shock.

And this figure was far from the only one startled by this ripple.

In the night, under a starry sky, mysterious and powerful figures were disturbed by the World Origin energy and emerged from their various hiding places. As they turned in Wang Chong’s direction, countless thoughts ran through their mind.

But Wang Chong knew nothing about any of this.

Buzz!

Wang Chong’s eyelids trembled as the golden seed was unlocked, and when he opened his eyes, that new energy poured into them, opening a new world to him.

There was no rainbow of pure energy. This was a world that Wang Chong had never interacted with before.

There were no mountains, no rivers, no houses, nothing at all. Rather, everything seemed to be rendered in black ink.

Wang Chong looked up and saw that, without the cover of the dark clouds, he could see the vast sky of stars, but these stars were no longer stars. They were illusory points of light, and from these points of light were tiny threads less than a ten-thousandth the thickness of a hair. They protruded from the stars and, through some bizarre method, converged around the Tianfu Divine Lord.

At this moment, Wang Chong finally saw the Tianfu Divine Lord’s secret. Around the Tianfu Divine Lord was a force field made of countless star threads that revolved around him and drew in the power of the myriad stars.

This is the ‘True World’?

Upon seeing this strange sight, Wang Chong had a flash of insight.

At this moment, Wang Chong saw that sword strike. At the very beginning, this attack was moving faster than lightning, impossible to dodge and impossible to predict. But when he opened his eyes again, in an almost dream-like fashion, he could see it clearly.

Not only did Wang Chong see that this attack was formed from countless almost crystalline shards of starlight, he saw that it was dragging tens of thousands of threads behind it, and could clearly see how the energy within it came together. Moreover, the sword attack seemed to slow to a crawl as Wang Chong examined it, though this did not change its incredible speed and the impossibility of dodging it.

Buzz!

Wang Chong suddenly moved to the right, not in a vigorous lunge, but a small nudge, one that was repeated several times, with minor adjustments to angle and position. As his body moved forward and backward, his Stellar Energy also worked in an orderly fashion, erupting and receding in tune with Wang Chong’s movements.

This time, Wang Chong’s Stellar Energy was not erupting like a volcano, fiercely expanding in every direction. Each burst or retraction was focused on a particular location or region.

Boom!

The majestic sword intent swept unstoppably through the King of Foreign Lands Residence, creating a wave of energy several hundred feet high. As the void itself was sliced through, the explosive peals of thunder could be heard for ten-some li.

As this attack struck, the surrounding men in black stared expectantly at where Wang Chong was standing, but when the scene cleared up, they all cried out in dismay.

“Ah! How could this be?! He dodged the Myriad Stars Holy Judgment!”

“That can’t be! No one has ever blocked the High God’s attack before!”

At the center of the attack, Wang Chong was smiling, standing motionlessly atop the ruins of a fake mountain.

His clothes were in tatters, the left sleeve of his robe obliterated, revealing the tough and sturdy arm beneath, but Wang Chong did not appear like someone who had been injured.

All the men in black were stunned. The Tianfu Divine Lord’s speed was so fast that the other High Gods found it difficult to dodge his attacks, let alone mere mortals. If Wang Chong had displayed some inconceivable ability and completely left the zone of the Tianfu Divine Lord’s attack, they could have somewhat accepted the present situation, but Wang Chong was standing in the very center of the impact zone, completely unharmed. For the men in black, this was simply inconceivable.

“Impossible, absolutely impossible!”

Even the Tianfu Divine Lord’s long-time servant, the black-robed monk, was deeply stunned.

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NovelThe Human EmperorChapter 1696 - The Seal of Finality!
THE HUMAN EMPEROR
C1696 - The Seal of Finality!
Chapter 1696: The Seal of Finality!
“Heh, as expected!”

Nearby, Wang Chong stood like a spear thrust straight into the ground, staring at the men in black with a smile on his lips. He had reaped the greatest harvest after spending more than six hundred thousand points of Destiny Energy and borrowing the Tianfu Divine Lord’s strength. The most important item the Origin Immortal Lord had given him, the golden seed in his mind, had not disappointed him.

The moment from just before had been extremely dangerous and risky. With his fast shifts and erupting and receding Stellar Energy, Wang Chong had been able to complete the tightrope act and avoid the fatal strike.

Not even the Tianfu Divine Lord had understood what was going on. Only Wang Chong understood that this was only possible with the ‘True World’ ability of the golden seed.

“Tianfu Divine Lord, your attacks can no longer threaten me. I’ve seen through the secrets of your Six Stars of the Southern Dipper! It’s impolite to not reciprocate a gift, so now, it’s my turn to attack!”

Wang Chong looked at the Tianfu Divine Lord and smiled.

Wang Chong had been analyzing the Tianfu Divine Lord’s movements this entire time, not even giving up in the middle of battle. That speed that surpassed thought had caged Wang Chong, creating an unbreakable barrier that had rendered Wang Chong’s Subtle realm energy powerless.

But now, with the ‘True World’ ability and the star map of the Southern Dipper in his mind, Wang Chong finally understood.

Boom!

The air trembled as Wang Chong used the Great Yinyang Heaven Creation Art, the sun and moon manifesting on his shoulders. Several dozen meters away, the men in black yelped in shock as they were pulled on invisible strings toward Wang Chong.

As they were pulled through the air, their Stellar Energy and essence blood gushed out in vast torrents.

At Wang Chong’s current level of strength and with his perfected Great Yinyang Heaven Creation Art, he could even absorb the abnormal Stellar Energy within the bodies of the men in black.

After circulating this abnormal Stellar Energy once through his body, he sent it out with a palm, blasting away the obstruction that stood between him and the higher dimension. Boom! In a howling gale, frightening energy exploded out of mid-air, the unimaginably boundless Subtle realm energy swiftly traveling over from that distant and unfathomable world to pour into Wang Chong’s body.

The distant Tianfu Divine Lord grimaced at this sight.

He had used the Southern Dipper Star Awls and three sealing palms on Wang Chong precisely to limit Wang Chong’s strength and prevent him from escaping the net or injuring him. If Wang Chong were allowed to absorb Subtle realm energy once more, all his previous effort would be for nothing.

Buzz!

The Tianfu Divine Lord immediately flew forward, using his frightening movement technique to vanish into the air. Swish! Swish! Swish! The Tianfu Divine Lord shook his wrist, and twenty-four Southern Dipper Star Awls sliced through the air, shooting toward Wang Chong from various directions.

The Southern Dipper Star Awls were extremely valuable, and each one took great effort to create on the Tianfu Divine Lord’s part. He was normally extremely stingy with them, but now was not the time for such considerations.

“Everyone, attack and kill this Child of Destruction!”

The Tianfu Divine Lord’s voice was suffused with killing intent as it rang in everyone’s ears.

Whoosh!

Upon hearing the Tianfu Divine Lord’s order, all the men in black, including the monk, charged forward, taking on their half–Lu Wu or Asura forms to assault Wang Chong. At the same time, the Tianfu Divine Lord moved to Wang Chong’s back, attacking with the sword in his right and his palm on his left. His palm hurtled toward Wang Chong’s back while the sword thrust at Wang Chong’s head, both moving with incredible speed.

“It’s useless!”

Wang Chong’s cold voice echoed through the air. As he grew more and more proficient with the ‘True World’ ability, he could see everything in its rawest and most fundamental form. Most importantly, Wang Chong knew the secrets of the Southern Dipper.

There was a great rumble as the Great Yinyang Heaven Creation Art began to exert its pull. Numerous men in black shrieked as they were drawn toward Wang Chong, their bodies turning into dried-up corpses midway, all of their energy drained out to strengthen Wang Chong.

Their level of strength simply couldn’t compare to the Subtle realm, but for Wang Chong, each bit of extra strength was an additional aid in his fight against the Tianfu Divine Lord.

Buzz!

Wang Chong turned around and pushed the Greater Void Step to its limits. A moment later, Wang Chong saw the Tianfu Divine Lord. This time, Wang Chong could clearly see the power of the stars condensed into almost invisible threads. Six of them were around the Tianfu Divine Lord, distributed exactly in accordance with the Six Stars of the Southern Dipper in the sky.

If Wang Chong didn’t have the True World ability of the golden seed, he would have probably never been able to sense these threads.

Not even in the world of energy could he sense these condensed star threads.

The fourth star!

Wang Chong’s eyes flashed as he saw that the Tianfu Divine Lord had moved from the first star’s position to the fourth star, where he launched his attack.

Bang!

Wang Chong condensed his Trayastrimsa Heaven into the golden spear and charged toward the southwest.

A figure suddenly appeared in what had been empty space. The Tianfu Divine Lord was stunned to see Wang Chong charging straight at him.

Boom!

But not even the Tianfu Divine Lord could change his plan on such short notice. Boom! Two energies collided in the air. Wang Chong’s body trembled, and then he was thrown back. The power of the Tianfu Divine Lord’s attack had been so great that it had almost scattered the energy Wang Chong had gathered in his body.

The True World ability could not strengthen Wang Chong’s body. The Tianfu Divine Lord was still a frightening opponent that Wang Chong needed to confront with his full strength.

“High God!”

As Wang Chong was sent flying, there was a golden flash of light, and a figure was sent hurtling out of the cloud of dust in the opposite direction, struck by the Trayastrimsa Heaven’s golden spear.

The men in black cried out in alarm and shock, and they immediately rushed over to the Tianfu Divine Lord’s side.

The Tianfu Divine Lord was far stronger than Wang Chong, and it was simply unthinkable to them that the Tianfu Divine Lord could ever be injured.

Just the fact that the Tianfu Divine Lord had been hit by someone else’s attack left them frightened.

But this was far from the most shocking thing.

“What… what is that?!” someone cried out in fear and terror.

This abrupt cry immediately drew everyone else’s attention, and all the men in black turned to look at the center of Wang Chong’s forehead.

“The Seal of Finality…!”

“It’s that frightening thing from the legends!”

“The object of the prophecy has finally appeared!”

“Get back! Hurry!”

The men in black who had subconsciously turned their heads to look after hearing the cries of alarm turned ghastly pale, and they began to back away as if they had run into a plague bearer. Not even the black-robed monk was an exception.

“This is impossible! Impossible! This thing should have never appeared here!”

The Tianfu Divine Lord, who had just stabilized his body and come down from the sky, stared at the mark on Wang Chong’s forehead in shock, even fear.

“Mm?”

Even Wang Chong was taken aback by the reaction from the men in black. This development was simply too abrupt and unexpected.

One had to realize that even when Wang Chong had used the Great Yinyang Heaven Creation Art to devour the energies of several dozen men in black, turning them into shriveled corpses, the men in black had still not looked at him as they were doing now, as if he was some fierce primordial beast.

“What’s going on here?”

Wang Chong was stunned.

“High God!”

As the men in black began to retreat from Wang Chong, the black-robed monk turned to the Tianfu Divine Lord.

The situation had substantially changed, and the men in black had lost the will to fight. In addition, something even more important than destroying the Child of Destruction had occurred.

The seal that had appeared on the forehead of the Child of Destruction could shake the entire Celestial God Organization.

The Tianfu Divine Lord said nothing as he stared in shock and doubt at Wang Chong.

“Divine Lord, this is no small matter. That legendary seal has truly appeared. Once he gains control over that seal’s power, we might not be able to leave! This matter is no longer something we can deal with. We should report this to our superiors as soon as possible!” the monk urgently whispered to the Tianfu Divine Lord.

The Tianfu Divine Lord was still hesitating, but a moment later, he seemed to hear something. Clenching his teeth, he finally gave the order.

“Everyone, retreat!”

The Tianfu Divine Lord’s figure twisted and distorted, then vanished without a trace.

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NovelThe Human EmperorChapter 1697 - The Seal of Finality's Prophecy!
THE HUMAN EMPEROR
C1697 - The Seal of Finality's Prophecy!
Chapter 1697: The Seal of Finality’s Prophecy!
Seeing the Tianfu Divine Lord vanish, the other men in black began to flee in various directions as if they had been issued a general pardon.

In the blink of an eye, they were all gone.

In the estate, Wang Chong frowned. He cared little about the ordinary men in black. To the Celestial God Organization, this level of expert was just cannon fodder, and killing them would have little effect.

What truly surprised him was the reaction of the Tianfu Divine Lord. They had already spent a significant amount of time arranging things to deal with him, but before the outcome was decided, the Tianfu Divine Lord had called it quits and fled.

Swish! Swish!

As these thoughts passed through his mind, Wang Chong heard a sharp whistle in the air.

So that’s what was going on!

Wang Chong smiled in understanding, and he turned around and headed in the direction the two sharp whistles of air had come from.

“Chong-er, where is that scoundrel!?”

“Wang Chong, are you okay?”

Two familiar voices spoke into Wang Chong’s mind, and a moment later, the Demonic Emperor Old Man and Wushang Village Chief appeared, heading toward his location like bolts of lightning.

“Master, Village Chief!”

Wang Chong gave a knowing smile as he welcomed the pair. While Wang Chong’s new ‘True World’ ability had played a part in the Tianfu Divine Lord’s sudden retreat, it also had to do with the arrival of two Subtle realm experts in the Demonic Emperor Old Man and Wushang Village Chief.

Awooo!

As the men in black withdrew, the barking and howling of dogs could be heard in the distance. In the darkness, lanterns began to blaze to life, and the thundering of hooves indicated that the soldiers of the City Guard were finally coming.

……

“Besides True Lord Yellow Dragon, the Celestial God Organization has such formidable experts?”

The Demonic Emperor Old Man and Wushang Village Chief stared in silent shock at each other after hearing from Wang Chong what had happened.

They knew of Wang Chong’s strength, and that there were probably very few in the world who could contend against him. Wang Chong had the Great Yinyang Heaven Creation Art, the Art of God and Demon Obliteration, and the Supreme and Infinite Origin Immortal Art, and even the ability to see into the world of energy.

But from Wang Chong’s account just now, he had apparently been powerless against that Tianfu Divine Lord from the organization of the men in black.

“I’ve never encountered such a foe before. My Psychic Energy was entirely unable to sense him, and even looking into the world of energy was pointless. Besides that, the Greater Void Step was completely insufficient in front of him!”

Wang Chong emotionally sighed. Now that he looked back at the battle, although the Tianfu Divine Lord had ultimately been frightened away, it had been a perilous battle throughout. If not for the unlocking of the golden seed, granting him the True World ability, Wang Chong would have been a corpse.

The Demonic Emperor Old Man and the Wushang Village Chief turned pensive, not saying anything for a long time.

“As long as energy runs through their bodies, there’s no reason for you to not see them through the world of energy,” the Demonic Emperor Old Man finally said, his brows furrowed. “It seems like the Celestial God Organization already knows about the world of energy and has taken the appropriate countermeasures!”

The Celestial God Organization had existed for an extremely long time—an unbelievable amount of time, if the ruins found in Khorasan were anything to go by.

Given the time and its capabilities, it was completely possible for that organization to have interacted with the world of energy through some other method.

“This Celestial God Organization is already too powerful,” the Wushang Village Chief suddenly said. “Fortunately, this child has good fortune and was able to unlock the seed the Origin Immortal Lord left for him.”

Both of them knew about the golden seed the Origin Immortal Lord had given Wang Chong, as Wang Chong had not hidden it from them. But the two had never expected the seed to save Wang Chong’s life.

“This Celestial God Organization has immense power, and while you got lucky this time, this is far from over. Given their style, that Tianfu Divine Lord will be coming at you again. You cannot be careless!” the Demonic Emperor Old Man solemnly said.

“Your disciple understands!”

Wang Chong firmly nodded.

“In addition, the Village Chief and I will be going out on a journey, back to the northwest to investigate the background of that Celestial God Organization. The picture is already beginning to somewhat clear up. If we don’t take care of this problem, we’ll forever be in the passive position and subject to their sneak attacks. Rushing around here and there is no solution. Only by fully investigating their background can we develop a solution,” the Demonic Emperor Old Man said.

“Mm!”

The Wushang Village Chief nodded.

The three powerful bamboo hat men, the Goat, Deer, and Tiger Immortals, True Lord Yellow Dragon, and then the extremely fast Tianfu Divine Lord—the Celestial God Organization seemed to have an endless number of experts. With such foes in the shadows, Wang Chong would never be able to rest easy, and this wasn’t even considering that the organization had already reached into the Imperial Court.

Wang Chong was astonished by these words, having never imagined that his master and the village chief had been investigating the Celestial God Organization for so long, and even making progress. This was truly a pleasant surprise.

The Demonic Emperor Old Man and Wushang Village Chief quickly took their leave. Once they were gone, Wang Chong sat down and began to treat his wounds. While Wang Chong had emerged ‘victorious’ in his battle with the Tianfu Divine Lord, it had not been easily won.

The Tianfu Divine Lord’s palm energy and Sword Qi had dealt Wang Chong significant wounds, which could not be healed by the golden seed or the Stone of Destiny. Wang Chong could only rely on himself to slowly recover.

Time slowly passed, and the King of Foreign Lands Residence slowly calmed back down.

……

At the same time, to the northwest of the capital, far away from the Great Buddhist Temple and deep within the mountains, there was an old and abandoned temple. The temple was ridden with spider webs, and in the center of it was a black Buddha, its six arms open and posed in a cross-legged position.

Several figures stood in front of this black Buddha. Their leader had bright eyes that seemed to draw in starlight.

After being frightened away by the combined might of Wang Chong, the Demonic Emperor Old Man, and the Wushang Village Chief, the Tianfu Divine Lord had not returned to the Great Buddhist Temple. Instead, he had come to this secret base.

The Tianfu Divine Lord stood solemnly in front of the black Buddha while the men in black around him still had panicked expressions, apparently unable to shake off their fear.

But when they looked at the Tianfu Divine Lord, they did not dare to say a word.

“Divine Lord, we…”

The bald monk hesitated. He was only the one who dared to speak at this time, but he was immediately interrupted by the Tianfu Divine Lord.

“Did you send the report?” the Tianfu Divine Lord said, his mind seemingly elsewhere.

The monk bowed and immediately replied, “It’s been sent! But there’s still been no reply. It seems that they are still doubtful about the seal!”

The monk couldn’t help but lower his voice when mentioning the seal. The thought of the golden mark on the Child of Destruction’s forehead still deeply unsettled the monk.

In their organization, the Seal of Finality was a major taboo. Many people had heard of those legends that had been passed on for thousands of years, but legends were just legends. No one had ever imagined that this nightmarish object would actually appear before them.

As a powerful existence that transcended all mortal organizations, even dynasties and empires, the organization was truly a god-like existence, and to say that they could annihilate the earth and overturn the heavens would still not fully describe the terror they could inflict.

Nevertheless, a legend of destruction and finality was passed on through the organization.

According to this legend, several thousand years in the future, a powerful force would come out of nowhere and bring a final destruction to the organization and all of its gods.

And this legend said that the symbol of this power that would end all gods was a golden seed.

The one who had made this prophecy was none other than the organization’s god of prophecy, the Origin Immortal Lord!

The legend said that when the seed appeared, it would be the beginning of the end. This was the reason for everyone’s panic.

Swish! Swish! Swish!

While the black-robed monk was in the middle of deep thought, he heard sharp whistles from around him. Before he could react, Southern Dipper Star Awls had flown through the air and struck the men in black around him.

These people dropped to the ground with eyes wide open, not even knowing how they had died.

“Divine Lord?!”

The monk raised his head in alarm and looked at the Tianfu Divine Lord.

“Today’s matter cannot be leaked, no matter what!”

At some point, the Tianfu Divine Lord had turned around and killed several dozen men in black. His face was devoid of emotion and his eyes were frighteningly cold.

The monk’s face froze, and then he understood. The matter of the Seal of Finality was of immense importance and would probably set off great waves in the organization. In doing this, the Tianfu Divine Lord clearly intended to lock the entire matter away.

“Your subordinate understands!”

The monk fearfully lowered his head.

Thwish!

Suddenly, a roiling black fog accompanied by a long shuttle-shaped object shrieked out of the northwestern sky.

“It’s here!”

The monk’s heart leapt in recognition. This was the high-level God Ghost Talisman used by the Celestial God Organization for sending messages. They had sent the report not too long ago, but the reply had already arrived.

The Tianfu Divine Lord immediately extended a hand and snatched the talisman out of the air.

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NovelThe Human EmperorChapter 1698 - True Lord Yellow Dragon Emerges!
THE HUMAN EMPEROR
C1698 - True Lord Yellow Dragon Emerges!
Chapter 1698: True Lord Yellow Dragon Emerges!
The God Ghost Talisman was around two feet long and as thick as a child’s arm. It was cast entirely from black gold, and at its top was a horrifying ancient head, its mouth wide open.

“Haha, good!”

After one glance, the Tianfu Divine Lord’s eyes brightened and he heartily laughed.

“Clean this place up and get ready to go!”

“Ah?!”

The black-robed monk trembled, his eyes brimming with shock.

The Seal of Finality was a matter of utmost importance. He had believed that their superiors would send reinforcements and think of a way to continue the assault on the Child of Destruction, but apparently, the order they had received was to withdraw.

Were they just going to ignore such a major incident?

“Those above have already sent word that they will handle the Seal of Finality and that they want us to ignore the matter for now. In addition, there’s been news from the northwest that the location of the Immortal Lord has been found.”

The Tianfu Divine Lord’s lips slowly curved into a profound smile.

……

At the same time, far away in the northwest, north of the Moheyan and Qixi deserts, around the entrance to the Origin Immortal Palace, various figures were spread out across the earth, warily watching their surroundings.

Under their feet were numerous corpses belonging to martial artists who had unwittingly wandered into this area. The scent of blood was so thick that it hung in the air.

“How was it?”

In front of a massive pit, an expert who seemed to hold a leadership position in the Celestial God Organization held his hands behind his back and spoke to several people standing in front of him.

“Divine Lord, we’ve already found the Immortal Lord’s location. Everything is ready, and we can activate the formation at any time and help the Immortal Lord break free of the seal,” one of the men said with utmost respect.

“Begin!”

The leader from the Celestial God Organization immediately gave the order.

Upon receiving the order, the small group of men jumped into the pit.

A few moments later, several hundred men in black on the surface sat cross-legged on the ground, their palms placed against each other to form a large circle, and the formation was activated.

Boom!

Seething black smoke and boundless energy erupted from their bodies. Some of this immense energy surged into the void while the majority, buoyed by the formation, seeped deep into the ground.

There, another nearly one hundred men in black had formed a second formation, which took the energy and transferred it deeper into the ground to a third formation, then a fourth, a fifth…

On this barren land, thousands of experts had formed a series of connected formations, an echeloned formation that was being used to break a powerful seal deep underground. Only the organization of men in black was capable of such a vast undertaking.

Time slowly passed, and the men in black continued to guide their strength deep into the earth. After what seemed like countless eons, and also like a single second, crackcrack! A great shaking came from deep in the earth, as if something had suddenly broken.

“Rraaaah!”

A heaven-shaking howl suddenly erupted from the depths of the earth, soaring straight into the heavens. Boom! The entire northwestern region shook as if some giant invisible hand had seized it, and the surface began to crack and groan.

Rumble!

A few moments later, a terrifying energy far greater than anyone could possibly imagine erupted from the earth, and a great pillar of dust shot several thousand meters into the air.

“Paying respects to the True Lord!”

As that man emerged, ringing calls of extreme reverence tinged with awe and fear came from all around. All the men in black in the area had gotten down on their knees, and their leader who had been addressed as ‘Divine Lord’ also got down on one knee and bowed.

Whoosh!

There was a surge of air and then a golden flash of light. Two feet covered in golden silk boots slowly descended from the sky.

A majestic voice came from above and resounded in the Tianji Divine Lord’s ears. “Tianji Divine Lord, you did rather well. When we return, this lord will richly reward you.”

(TN: If we follow the same naming scheme as the Tianfu Divine Lord, then the Tianji Divine Lord is technically a subordinate of the Tianfu Divine Lord. The Tianji Star is the third star of the Six Stars of the Southern Dipper while the Tianfu Star is the first. In western astronomy, this star is Mu Sagittarii.)

As that man spoke, his two drooping dragon whiskers floated in the air. If Wang Chong were here, he would have certainly been astonished, for this man was the one who had been sealed beneath the earth by the Origin Immortal Lord, True Lord Yellow Dragon.

The Origin Immortal Lord had offered his life, but he had still been unable to seal this man.

“Many thanks, True Lord!” The Tianji Divine Lord was delighted to hear True Lord Yellow Dragon’s words.

The hierarchy of the Celestial God Organization was extremely strict. Immortals like the Goat, Deer, and Tiger Immortals were the lowest in the pecking order, and above them were Tianfu, Tianji, and the other six Star Lords of the Southern Dipper. There were many more ranks after that, but True Lord Yellow Dragon happened to belong to the very top echelon.

“How many people were lost to break me out?” True Lord Yellow Dragon said, his expression softening.

“In the previous stage, we lost three hundred and sixty-seven men, and six hundred experts sacrificed their lives to open the seal. In order to rescue True Lord, we lost around nine hundred men in total!” the Tianji Divine Lord respectfully said.

The mention of these nine-hundred-some experts lost caused neither the Tianji Divine Lord nor True Lord Yellow Dragon to even crease a brow. It was as if these people who had died were just an insignificant statistic.

“Haha, good!”

True Lord Yellow Dragon squinted, a cold smile on his lips.

“Origin, you were famed for your flawless plans and your ability to peer into the past and future. You used more than one thousand years to scheme against me, but not even you could have imagined that I only needed nine-hundred-some people to easily break out of the sealing formation you put so much work into!”

Neither the men in black nor the Tianji Divine Lord dared to say anything in response to True Lord Yellow Dragon’s words.

The ‘Origin’ that True Lord Yellow Dragon spoke of had an even more illustrious name several thousand years ago: True Lord Origin! He had been one of the highest existences of the Celestial God Organization, possessing incomparable power when it came to destiny and the secrets of the heavens.

True Lord Yellow Dragon blinked and quickly regained his composure.

“How is that matter proceeding?” he asked, turning to the Tianji Divine Lord.

“Everything is ready! All that is needed is for True Lord to return!”

“Very good!”

His voice drifting in the air, True Lord Yellow Dragon vanished.

……

“Impossible! This can’t be! When did that brat get so formidable that not even they could get rid of him?!”

In the capital of the Great Tang, within the Eastern Palace, the First Prince was seated on a sandalwood armchair, his eyes wide with shock and disbelief.

When he received the news of the mission failure, he didn’t dare to believe his ears. In order to deal with Wang Chong, he had suppressed the City Guard and sent the Imperial Army to lock the area down. All of this had been for the sake of finally ridding himself of the problem of Wang Chong.

No one understood more than him just how formidable those people were. The more one interacted with and came to know them, the more respect one felt. Not even the First Prince dared to imagine what their true strength was.

But to the First Prince’s complete surprise, even they had failed! How could that be?

“Your Highness, we’ve already confirmed the report. The King of Foreign Lands Residence has been badly damaged, with half of the estate in ruins, but the King of Foreign Lands is not dead. However… many corpses were found in the King of Foreign Lands Residence!” Meng Tu reported. He had been the go-between for this matter, and he had been the one to send scouts in the day to probe the estate’s weaknesses. Although he had also hoped to see the problem of Wang Chong taken care of, there was no disputing the mission’s failure.

“Bastard!”

The First Prince gnashed his teeth in fury.

“Your Highness, your tea!”

At this moment, a maid walked in with a tray. It was clear that she had no idea what was going on in the Eastern Palace as she walked up to the First Prince.

The First Prince enjoyed tea, and for many years now, he had a custom of drinking Golden-threaded Dragon Sparrow Tea, which had come as tribute from Siam, during the Chen Period (7-9am) and Xu Period (7-9pm) each day.

But to the maid’s surprise, when she offered up the tea, all she got was a resounding slap to the face.

Bang!

The fierce slap sent the maid flying like a ragdoll, the tray she carried also exploding into debris that covered the floor.

“This is absurd! Absolutely absurd! This prince is of imperial blood, the son of the Celestial Emperor, and the regent of the Great Tang! Must I suffer a mere subject?”

The First Prince’s voice echoed off the walls, his face twisted into a savage visage.

It was clear that the successive failures had pushed the First Prince’s rage to the absolute limit. The advisors in the hall, Meng Tu and Zhu Tong’en included, all trembled in fear, not even daring to breathe too loudly.

No one could accept failure, let alone the future Crown Prince. But they had failed to deal with Wang Chong again and again. From a certain perspective, this was evidence of their incompetence.

“Your Highness, why so anxious?”

While everyone was fearful and uneasy, a relaxed and leisurely voice came from the side, accompanied by the sound of tea being poured into a cup.

Everyone’s faces froze. The plan had failed and Wang Chong was alive. At a time like this, there was still someone who wanted to provoke the First Prince?

“Bastard…”

As expected, the First Prince gnashed his teeth, his eyes turning and glowing with murder. He glared in the direction of the voice like a beast seeking its prey.

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NovelThe Human EmperorChapter 1699 - The Setting Sun Villa Incident!
THE HUMAN EMPEROR
C1699 - The Setting Sun Villa Incident!
Chapter 1699: The Setting Sun Villa Incident!
When the First Prince saw the man who had spoken, his face froze, and all his killing intent vanished.

“Ghost King? What do you mean by that?” the First Prince suddenly asked with deep displeasure in his voice, creasing his brow.

In the Eastern Palace faction, the only one who dared to speak to the First Prince in such a way and was tolerated by him was the Ghost King.

But no matter how tolerant the First Prince was of the Ghost King, such improper words left him extremely unhappy. Moreover, at this crucial moment, the man was casually lying on a sofa and drinking tea.

“He’s just a man. No matter how strong he is, he’s still just a rash brute. Did Your Highness plan for so long just to deal with a single King of Foreign Lands?”

Hou Junji chuckled as he took his tea and lightly blew away the bubbles on its surface, his expression carefree and relaxed.

“You!”

The First Prince’s mouth opened on instinct, but he quickly realized something, and he became powerless to speak.

It was true! He had certainly planned for so long simply over a struggle with Wang Chong. He was vying for the supreme throne of the realm, to become the greatest sovereign of the continent.

“Has Your Highness understood?”

Seeing that the First Prince had calmed down, Hou Junji smiled. Although he was leisurely drinking tea and not even looking at the First Prince, nothing in this hall could escape his eyes.

“Ghost King, just what is it that you want to say?” the First Prince asked, though his expression was no longer so fraught with concern.

“If you seek to seize the world, you cannot focus on success or failure in a single corner. That Wang Chong truly is an obstruction, but not to the point where he can stop the overarching scheme. I have already planned everything out,” Hou Junji indifferently said. He put down his tea cup and lightly rapped against the table, his body exuding a natural confidence and charisma.

Buzz!

The Eastern Palace fell silent. Zhu Tong’en, Meng Tu, and all the other advisors stared at the Ghost King in speechless shock.

Hou Junji’s words carried an implied meaning. This operation had unquestionably been a failure, but the Ghost King seemed to be saying that he had already foreseen this and made arrangements while the rest of them had been unaware.

“Ghost King, you mean…”

“Heh, there’s no need for Your Highness to be in a rush. Your Highness will naturally know when the time comes.”

Hou Junji smiled.

Everyone in the hall turned pensive.

Bong!

In the middle of the silence, the clear ringing of a bell came from the distance. It was an extremely strange sound, different from any other sort of bell, gong, or chime within the palace. It was like a mix between the cry of a dragon and a phoenix, tinged with the hiss of a beast.

The advisors exchanged glances. It was forbidden to intentionally cause a ruckus within the holy ground of the Imperial Palace, and offenders would normally be executed. Moreover, none of them had ever heard this bell before.

The sound of that bell seemed to be coming from Taji Palace, the residence of the Sage Emperor…

While many of the people in the Eastern Palace didn’t understand what this bell signified, two people had entirely different expressions. When the bell resounded, the First Prince and Hou Junji both began to listen.

Once!

Twice!

Thrice!

That lingering bell resounded three times, and then its echoes faded into nothingness.

“Hahaha…”

The First Prince appeared to hear something from the last ring. His eyes brightly shone, and he burst into laughter, frightening all the other advisors.

“Heh, Your Highness, we no longer need to worry about the King of Foreign Lands. Everything was ready except the east wind, and now, even the east wind is here!”

Hou Junji smiled. Flipping his wrist over, he revealed a black chess piece held between his index and middle fingers. Pa! He flicked the black piece out, and it struck the surface of a nearby chessboard.

This chessboard was covered with crisscrossing black pieces. The situation on the board seemed dangerous, but it appeared to be missing something. But when the last black piece landed, the final weakness was filled.

Truly, the ringing of the bell set the final tone!

……

Three days later, Wang Chong was still resting in his residence. Many craftsmen and artisans had been summoned and were in the middle of repairing the damage done by the Tianfu Divine Lord and the men in black. At this time, surprising news came from the northern region of the Great Tang, shocking the entire empire.

All the border generals in the north, including the generals of the Beiting Protectorate, some of the generals from Qixi, and the titled generals east of Youzhou, a total of more than one hundred top-class generals of the Tang Empire, suddenly left their posts without any order from the Imperial Court or the Bureau of Military Personnel, and held a secret meeting at Setting Sun Villa in the northern region of the Great Tang.

When the matter leaked, it set off great waves in the court. The enraged First Prince sent off ten decrees in a row, ordering that all the generals who had taken part in the Setting Sun Villa meeting be seized. Moreover, Beiting Protector-General An Sishun, as the highest commander of the northern border, with Setting Sun Villa right under his eyes, was also deeply involved. The First Prince had already had him removed from his post until further investigation.

In the space of a single day, the hundred-some generals were arrested and a Great General of the empire was removed from his post. This was unprecedented in the Great Tang, an earthshaking shift!

As the temporary Minister of War and the supporting pillar of the Tang army within the capital, Wang Chong suffered the greatest shock of all.

Gallop!

After the incident broke out, the King of Foreign Lands Residence resounded with hoofbeats as horsemen rode in and out. Meanwhile, messenger birds carpeted the skies above the estate. The entire residence was engulfed in a storm of nervous tension.

Everyone had gathered in the main hall as Zhang Que rushed inside. Wang Chong immediately turned his head to look, as did everyone else.

“How is it?”

The moment the incident in the north broke out, Wang Chong immediately sent Zhang Que, and in turn, almost all the spies and scouts under Wang Chong’s command were mobilized to the north.

This incident had been so abrupt that Wang Chong had known nothing about it from start to finish. By the time he had received word, the First Prince had already lashed out with thunderous momentum and seized all the generals involved.

“Your Highness, the situation is not good!”

The travel-worn Zhang Que removed his helmet and crossed over the threshold, fatigue in his eyes. He had been riding essentially nonstop over the last few days, so focused on the matter that he had not taken even a single moment to rest.

“Our investigations revealed that the meeting of one hundred generals at Setting Sun Villa really did take place, and the Imperial Court really did know nothing about it beforehand. In other words, the Imperial Court is not unjustly accusing them of any crimes!”

Zhang Que’s first words made everyone’s hearts sink.

“How could this be? So many generals! Without the Imperial Court’s order, how could they dare to leave their posts?!”

“That’s right! And there were more than one hundred people. They couldn’t possibly have failed to understand the gravity of the matter. Without a proper reason, why would they have done such a thing?”

“Besides that, there were so many generals. Did not one of them sense that there was a problem? Even if they wanted to hold a secret meeting, their conspirators stretched from Qixi to Youzhou, and they’ve never interacted before. Just how did they think they would pull it off?”

It was difficult for the people in the room to hide their shock. Such a major incident had never occurred in the history of the Great Tang, and now that they thought about it, there were far too many suspicious points.

Wang Chong said nothing as he gravely looked at Zhang Que. Some time had passed since the incident, so Wang Chong was sure that someone of Zhang Que’s abilities had been able to investigate the matter thoroughly.

“Our investigation revealed that the generals that day knew nothing. They had all received a decree from the court claiming that the First Prince would appear at Setting Sun Villa in the next few days to discuss the matters of the northern border. Setting Sun Villa was where the Sage Emperor lodged when he was inspecting the northern border in the past, and he would usually summon the generals every three or five years to discuss border affairs. When the generals received the order, none of them dared to defy it.

“Moreover, the First Prince is the current regent, the Sage Emperor’s eldest son, and the future Crown Prince. As this was his first time inspecting the northern border, none of them dared to ignore the decree.

“But when they arrived, they discovered that nothing of the sort was going on. While there were quite a few high-ranking generals at Setting Sun Villa, there was no sign of the First Prince. And given what’s happened, the First Prince seems to have firmly denied ever issuing any such decree!” Zhang Que sternly said.

This entire matter was extremely fishy. The more he learned about it, the colder his heart became. No matter who had planned this scheme, they had been extremely meticulous and vicious. All of these generals who had served the Great Tang on the battlefield for more than half their lives had all been playthings in the palm of that schemer’s hands!

Everyone’s hearts were heavy as silence reigned.

Wang Chong’s eyes were closed, his thoughts inscrutable as he silently pondered

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NovelThe Human EmperorChapter 1700 - Big Dipper City in Danger!
THE HUMAN EMPEROR
C1700 - Big Dipper City in Danger!
Chapter 1700: Big Dipper City in Danger!
After a long while, Wang Chong finally said, “What did the Imperial Court say? What is the crime they are being charged with?”

“Although the Imperial Court hasn’t said anything in its public announcements, it’s decided to base the judgment on the charge of fomenting rebellion. Just the fact that the one hundred generals defied the court to hold a secret meeting is already a major crime. All the generals involved probably won’t be able to escape this accusation!” Zhang Que said, his expression fraught with concern.

Throughout the successive dynasties, it had always been a major taboo for generals to conspire together. Any plot that was revealed would generally result in the execution of all the conspirators.

Zhang Que hesitantly glanced at Wang Chong. There was one thing that he had left unsaid. It was not merely Beiting Protector-General who had been drawn into this affair. Wang Chong had as well.

Despite being the Minister of War, the supervisor of all the forces in the realm, Wang Chong had known nothing about this incident, which made it difficult for him to escape responsibility. In truth, the First Prince was already preparing to make trouble for Wang Chong on this point.

Zhang Que knew that the Imperial Court had already sent a document of censure to Wang Chong in the morning, but as Wang Chong had not mentioned it, Zhang Que decided that it was best not to bring it up.

“That’s not all!”

After taking in a deep breath and casting these other thoughts to the back of his mind, Zhang Que regained his focus.

“According to the information we obtained, after all the generals at Setting Sun Villa were seized, the First Prince personally signed a decree sending the men of his own faction to the north to replace these generals. At this moment, all of the north, including the Beiting Protectorate, is under the First Prince’s complete control!”

Buzz!

The hall erupted with clamor over Zhang Que’s words. If the Setting Sun Villa incident had been extremely suspicious before, Zhang Que’s report just now had made everything crystal-clear.

Only a short time had passed between the Setting Sun Villa incident and its handling by the Imperial Court, and the Imperial Court had displayed an unprecedented efficiency, working with lightning-fast speed. Most unbelievable was that while everyone else was still trying to understand what was going on, the First Prince had already sent his men to the north to seize the military authority for himself.

This sort of speed was simply too fast and rushed. No one would believe it if someone claimed that the First Prince had nothing to do with this.

Wang Chong’s eyes closed, his body motionless. While he appeared calm on the surface, his mind was seething in turmoil, countless thoughts running through it.

This isn’t the First Prince’s style!

This was Wang Chong’s instinctive thought. ‘The one who benefits the most is the primary schemer.’ In this aspect, the various suspicious points of the incident and all the clues pointed toward the man in the Eastern Palace.

But this wasn’t Wang Chong’s first time interacting with the First Prince, and given what he knew, such a meticulous plan, such a swift and brutal operation, and such cold and callous methods were not things that the First Prince was capable of.

His schemes were far from reaching that point, and he would have needed an extremely formidable strategist at his side to accomplish this absolute seizure of the northern border.

Hou Junji!

The figure of that man emerged in Wang Chong’s mind. He had been too careless. Wang Chong had been working day and night to restrain the First Prince in the capital, never imagining that Hou Junji would have expected all this and schemed to tear a major hole in the northern border. In practically a single day, he had fooled a hundred generals and seized control of the entire north.

“But that shouldn’t be… So many people were deceived that once they arrived, shouldn’t they have realized that something was wrong? As the First Prince didn’t show up, why didn’t they immediately leave? Why were all of them seized??

“And what in the world did they do at that meeting? Even if someone wanted to strip them of military authority, if they did absolutely nothing at all, not even the Imperial Court would be able to so easily accuse them of treason!”

The others in the room began to mutter amongst themselves, and gradually, everyone turned their eyes to Zhang Que. There were simply too many suspicious points about this incident, and they were still in the dark about most of this incident. The only one who could answer these questions for them was Zhang Que.

“There’s no need to ask. The other side’s plans were meticulous, so if my guess is right, they had quite a few of their own men in the meeting. Once the doors were shut, these people just needed to take the lead and start voicing disloyal thoughts to settle everything,” Wang Chong indifferently said, his sharp and penetrating eyes having long ago seen the truth.

Everyone was left dazed by Wang Chong’s words, and even Zhang Que’s jaw dropped. The information he had been able to gather in this short amount of time had been very limited, and even now, he had yet to find out the details of that crucial meeting in Setting Sun Villa. In fact, the Imperial Court had blocked all information about this meeting, immersing the entire incident in a fog.

“If you look through the list of people at the meeting, you’ll naturally understand,” Wang Chong sternly said.

Whoosh!

The others immediately spread out the list of the one hundred generals who had taken part on the table and began to look through it. A few moments later, they spotted some familiar names and immediately gasped.

“Black Wind General Jiang Sheng, Fierce Flame General Zhu Rong, Thunderbolt General Nangong Xun… aren’t these people all in the First Prince’s faction? We investigated these people when investigating the First Prince during the Xueyang Palace Incident, so how come they’re here?!”

Cries of shock and surprise could be heard in the crowd. All the generals involved in the Setting Sun Villa incident had been harshly punished by the First Prince, but there were even his own men in the list of those punished.

Passing off fisheyes for pearls to hoodwink the people!

Wang Chong’s heart was heavy as this thought passed through his mind. He had already guessed at the method the First Prince had used in this incident, but there was no saving things now. With this move, the First Prince had easily removed An Sishun’s military authority and seized all the armies of the north.

The First Prince already had control over the Imperial Court, and all he lacked was military authority. Wang Chong had always had firm control over military authority, and he had even gone on the offensive so that he could replace Zhangchou Jianqiong as the Minister of War to further limit the First Prince. No matter what sort of treasonous designs the First Prince harbored, without the support of the military, he would not dare to act recklessly. But now, the balance had been broken.

The First Prince was a tiger let out of the cage, the threat he posed increasing by countless times.

Even worse was that the Setting Sun Villa incident forced Wang Chong into an extremely passive position. After the incident, Wang Chong had almost immediately received a rebuke from the Imperial Court. The First Prince claimed that this was a grave ‘dereliction of duty’ and had forbidden Wang Chong from further interference in the affairs of the north.

But this was not even Wang Chong’s greatest concern. Wang Chong sensed that the Setting Sun Villa was only the beginning. The First Prince’s target could not just be An Sishun and the Beiting Protectorate’s soldiers. He had even greater ambitions!

……

At the same time, within the Eastern Palace…

“Senior Ghost King is truly wise and powerful, causing distraction in the east while striking in the west. This one prostrates himself in admiration!”

“This time, even that brat was taken by surprise. He would have never expected this move from Senior!”

“By sacrificing only five generals, we’ve taken control over the entire north! There’s no more profitable transaction in the world! Senior Ghost King is truly wise!”

A joyous mood suffused the hall. When all of them had been worried about how their plan to strike at Wang Chong had failed, a heaven-shaking shift had taken place in the north. Through deception, the Ghost King had taken control of the entire Beiting Protectorate for the First Prince as easily as one would blow away dust.

This display of skill and deception had drawn everyone’s sincere admiration, and even the First Prince was no exception.

“Plans that are made in the tent determine victory one thousand li away. As a general, you can’t be focused on losses or successes in a single corner. This is the most basic principle.”

Hou Junji was unmoved by all the fawning words of adoration. He lazily reclined on his lounge chair and sipped on his tea.

“And besides, Setting Sun Villa is only a minor victory. It’s still very far from what Your Highness desires!”

Hou Junji had a relaxed expression, not even looking at the others as he spoke. It seemed like nothing in the world could shake him. As a legendary existence of Taizong’s era, Hou Junji had seen and experienced far more than anyone in the Eastern Palace.

The Setting Sun Villa incident might have been a major incident to these people, but for Hou Junji, it was just a minor trick.

The Eastern Palace soon fell silent. In the past, these people would have been only outwardly admiring of Hou Junji, but now, none of them dared to think such things.

After some thought, Meng Tu stepped forward and began to respectfully speak. “Senior, you mean… next…”

Meng Tu had been one of the First Prince’s long-time followers, whereas the Ghost King had only been with the First Prince for several months, but even someone of Meng Tu’s status did not dare to be anything but respectful in front of the Ghost King.

Upon hearing Meng Tu’s words, Zhu Tong’en, Kim U-Seok, and Asura all looked toward the Ghost King, ready to follow his orders.

They were all anticipating the Ghost King’s next move, and even the First Prince was staring with absolute focus.

“Heh!”

Hou Junji merely smiled. A moment later, he flicked a finger, sending a small red flag thudding into the western part of a map of the Great Tang hanging from the wall.

Upon seeing where that flag had landed, even the First Prince couldn’t help but tremble.

“Big Dipper City!”

Hou Junji’s small flag had landed right on the Great Tang’s strongest barrier in the west against Ü-Tsang: Big Dipper City.

The turmoil from the Setting Sun Villa had yet to settle, but could it be…? The First Prince couldn’t help but be stunned by Hou Junji’s plan.

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