The Human Emperor
chapter-240

Chapter 240: Steady Rise in Cultivation!

【Congratulations to user for killing eleven soldiers of the Goguryeo Empire!】a mechanical voice sounded in Wang Chong’s head. Along with that voice, a frenzied gust of wind blew, and a huge surge of Origin Energy seeped into Wang Chong’s muscles and bones.

In that instant, Wang Chong clearly felt his cultivation lifting by a notch. The Bane of the Battlefield halo that he harnessed was also enhanced significantly.

Killing a Goguryeon warrior actually induced a rise in both Wang Chong’s Origin Energy and halo. There was no better way to raise his fighting prowess than this.

Curbing his opponent with Sword Qi of Massacre and absorbing his Origin Energy with Little Yinyang Art; not only was he getting rid of his enemies, he was also getting stronger with each person killed…

With this, Wang Chong was slowly realizing what he failed to achieve in his previous life.

“To think that I thought the Little Yinyang Art’s limitation of absorbing only a small portion of Origin Energy from a severely wounded person was a major flaw; from the looks of it now, this ability is already overpowered in its current state!”

As the saying went, “a hundred rumors are incomparable to an actual observation.” The real Little Yinyang Art was very different from what Wang Chong had imagined.

Absorbing the internal energy of a person wasn’t an easy task, and to do so adeptly required great mastery. In comparison, Little Yinyang Art’s ability to absorb the Origin Energy of an incapacitated opponent could already be considered to be extremely formidable.

“Gongzi, you resemble an assassin much more than I do now!” a familiar voice sounded behind him. From a nearby tree, Miyasame Ayaka, dressed in a black stealth suit, slid down from the branches, her movements as light as an agile cat. Then, she slowly walked toward Wang Chong.

She had been observing the entire incident from the tree, and she was prepared to strike whenever things went awry. She didn’t expect Wang Chong to end things so cleanly in such a short period of time, leaving all of the preparations she made useless.

“Hehe, you might not have eaten pork before, but surely you should have seen a pig running about?” Wang Chong chuckled.

“Gongzi?!” Miyasame Ayaka was stunned for a moment before her cheeks flushed red. Wang Chong was clearly teasing her.

“Hahaha…” Wang Chong laughed heartily.

“Alright, let’s go. Also, clear the body so that we don’t alarm the Goguryeons.” Wang Chong ordered. Following which, he walked up, squatted down, and patted the body of the Origin Energy Tier 9 Goguryeon corpse down. Soon, he found something.

It was a two-finger wide wooden box with a faint fragrance to it. Considering how it was hidden on the Goguryeon warrior’s chest, it seemed to be something he viewed as important.

Padah, Wang Chong opened the wooden box, and a golden Goguryeon ginseng came into sight.

“It’s indeed here!”

Seeing the ginseng in the box, Wang Chong chuckled, seemingly expecting this sight. The reason why he assaulted this Goguryeon warrior wasn’t just to train his Little Yinyang Art and Bane of the Battlefield halo.

He had another goal in mind—the Goguryeon ginseng.

Goguryeon ginsengs were famous worldwide. Based on the maturity of the ginseng, its color could range from white to golden. Judging from the color of the ginseng in the wooden box, it possessed a maturity of at least two to three hundred years.

The Zhuang Clan and Chi Clan had to go through so much trouble just to produce a Goguryeon ginseng of that maturity each, but these Goguryeon warriors are actually carrying one such ginseng each. While Goguryeo might not be big, it does have a lot of experts, and these Goguryeon ginsengs played a vital role in that!, Wang Chong thought, looking at the ginseng in his hand.

Just a random Origin Energy Tier 9 Goguryeon warrior that he picked out already possessed a ginseng of three-hundred-year maturity, one could easily see how wealthy Goguryeo was in this resource.

With ginsengs of such maturity, the Goguryeon Empire could mass produce experts like growing cabbages in the field.

Shutting the lid of the wooden box, Wang Chong kept it before leaving the scene.

And not too long after he left, the battlefield was cleaned up, and the corpse, the bloodstain, and even the marks from the previous battle had disappeared without a trace.

For the next few days, Wang Chong spent his time ambushing Goguryeons who were walking to and from the capital and the gathering point.

Wang Chong swiftly realized that there was a close connection between this gathering point and the Goguryeons in the city’s west. Everyday, someone different would come by.

As long as Wang Chong picked his time properly, he would be able to ambush them without anyone noticing.

But of course, the Goguryeons had no lack of experts as well. Those True Martial realm experts could easily crush Wang Chong, so Wang Chong had to choose his opponents carefully. Basically, he only chose those Origin Energy Tier 9 cultivators and stayed out of the way of all True Martial realm cultivators.

At the very least it would be wiser for him to do so at the moment.

One, two, three…

Wang Chong continuously ambushed those Goguryeon warriors, enhancing his Bane of the Battlefield aura and Origin Energy.

At the same time, the ginsengs that those Goguryeon warriors left behind was also consumed by Wang Chong, and his Origin Energy was getting more and more concentrated by the day.

He could feel that he was very close to Origin Energy Tier 8 already.

Time passed, but Wang Chong was in no hurry. This was a rare chance for him to augment his fighting prowess.

The Origin Energy required to advance from Origin Energy Tier 7 to Origin Energy Tier 8 was far higher than any previous realms. The higher the realm, the more Origin Energy required to advance one’s cultivation. In fact, the requirement might even increase several folds at times. This could be considered a law in the Way of Martial Arts.

“HAH!”

In the middle of a night, a loud warcry sounded. A black saber strike, shrouded with white ripples from the Deluge of Stellar Energy, flew from the depths of the forest like a giant corkscrew, headed straight for Wang Chong.

Sou! Without any hesitation, Wang Chong executed the Single Character Consecutive Slash and rolled away, dodging the ambush by a hair’s breadth.

Chi! Two surges of sword qi infused with destruction and death shot out from Wang Chong’s finger while he was rolling away.

Those two surges of sword qi carried immense might. The first pierced through the Deluge of Stellar Energy and impaled the left side of the Goguryeon warrior’s chest, whereas the second pierced through his right.

With these two consecutive sword qi, the Goguryeon warrior fell to the ground, defeated.

“What sword qi is that?” a Goguryeon warrior in the forest howled in disbelief. The Deluge of Stellar Energy was capable of shattering rocks and diverting swords and sabers with its immense force, and it was actually incapable of stopping two seemingly inconspicuous sword qi?

But before the Goguryeon warrior could do anything else, Wang Chong pushed himself forward by stepping against the tree, and he stabbed the Little Yinyang Sword deep into the body of the other party.

【Congratulations to user for killing twenty soldiers of the Goguryeo Empire!】an anticipatory voice sounded. Boom! The air in the surroundings shook, and an intangible Origin Energy gathered in the area.

This enhancement process of the Bane of the Battlefield halo wasn’t foreign to Wang Chong, but there was a clear difference this time around. He could clearly sense that the speed and duration of the Origin Energy seeping into his body had increased by a significant amount.

Not only that, but along with the influx of Origin Energy, Wang Chong could sense the energy core of the Bane of the Battlefield halo trembling, and the aura it released changed slightly. It felt even more compact and heavy.

Indeed. For every interval of ten enemy soldiers killed, the Origin Energy I absorb from the surroundings will undergo a qualitative and quantitative change, be it the rate of Origin Energy absorbed or the duration of the process.

A surge of Origin Energy gushed in from the body of the Goguryeon warrior, and Wang Chong could sense his Origin Energy growing by a fair amount. He slowly closed his eyes, and as though coming to a realization, he nodded his head.

In that night assault back then, Wang Chong had already realized the change in the Origin Energy absorbed when he killed the tenth soldier. But back then, he wasn’t able to verify his theory yet.

“Gongzi, the Goguryeons are becoming more and warier!” Miyasame Ayaka walked out from the forest and glanced at Wang Chong’s back. A hint of admiration flashed across her eyes.

Wang Chong had already tempered his assassination art to the most efficient and simple method. His battles with the Goguryeons never lasted for too long. Often, they were ended within several blows.

But of course, part of the reason was due to the nature of his operation. If the battle were to last too long, he could alarm the Goguryeons in the base, thus resulting in a failure.

“Hmph, these fellows do seem to be much warier now. They have probably noticed something already,” Wang Chong raised his head and said with a contemplative look.

Particularly in this ambush, where he should have been the one to make the first move, the Goguryeon warrior ended up taking the initiative instead. This was the first time such a thing had happened.

If not for the rapid growth in his cultivation in the past few days, this battle might have dragged out.

“Miyasame, aren’t you curious why I don’t allow you to interfere each time?” Wang Chong suddenly turned around and glanced at Miyasame Ayaka.

“I dare not doubt young master’s intentions!” Wang Chong’s deep gaze induced a shiver in Miyasame Ayaka’s heart. She hurriedly lowered her head. She was no fool, and she could tell that in the past half a month, Wang Chong had improved by what that would have taken a year ordinarily.

The sword qi he wielded in his finger and the abrupt declines in his opponent’s cultivations, all of these showed that there was something deeper to those battles, where one’s eyes couldn’t reach.

Miyasame Ayaka’s cultivation was above Wang Chong, so she could clearly sense the rise in the latter’s aura every time a kill was made.

All of these signs were screaming that something was wrong.

But Miyasame Ayaka dared not say anything. The more she interacted with Wang Chong, the more unfathomable and mysterious she found him to be.

TL Notes: ‘You might not have eaten pork before, but surely you should have seen a pig running about?’

i.e. You might not have experienced it yourself, but you should know something about it.

It’s a saying that originates from Dreams of the Red Chamber.