The Human Emperor
chapter-503

Translated by: Hypersheep325

Edited by: Michyrr

Boom!

The black-skinned and furious Ksitigarbha Vajra Guardian took a step forward with its right foot and immediately sent one of its vajras swinging. There was a heaven-shaking boom as a flood of Stellar Energy swept across the world to smash Li Siye. This massive power was enough to pummel a hill into dust.

Rumble! In the face of this heaven-shaking vajra, Li Siye raised the massive Wootz Steel sword over his back, stirring up roaring waves of energy. Bringing the sword over his head, he slammed it down.

A blazing lightning bolt streaked out of the air. Dust plumed as these two Profound Martial realm experts clashed.

"This…!"

When the dust settled and Wang Chong saw the result, his eyebrows flew up in disbelief.

Ü-Tsang had many formidable martial arts, and though Wang Chong didn't know many of them, this black-skinned and furious-faced Ksitigarbha Vajra Guardian was unquestionably one of them. But this was not the reason for Wang Chong's surprise. What shocked him was that Li Siye's sword, personally forged by Wang Chong and inscribed with many toughening and sharpening inscriptions, had actually been blocked by those golden gauntlets worn by that Ksitigarbha Vajra Guardian.

How could there be an armament like that? Wang Chong asked himself in consternation.

A Wootz Steel weapon could cleave through metal and cut through jade, and was so sharp that a falling hair would be severed on its unmoving blade. And this weapon was even more impressive in Li Siye's hands. As a future Great General of the empire, Li Siye could display an unfathomable power with this weapon in hand. Back then, he had relied on his own power and this sword to exterminate the hundreds of Black Dragon Bandits.

Wootz Steel weapons counted as one of the sharpest weapons in the world, a fact that could not be questioned. Wang Chong had never imagined that any other weapon or armament would be capable of blocking Li Siye's full-force blow.

At this moment, Wang Chong heard a very soft but crisp sound. This sound was almost inaudible, but Wang Chong had managed to catch it.

No, he didn't block it! His gauntlets are cracked!

It was obvious that the material those gauntlets were made of was slightly inferior to Wootz Steel.

It's Meteoric Metal!

With this flash of insight, Wang Chong immediately understood.

A material that could still block Wootz Steel but was slightly inferior could only be Meteoric Metal. The Tibetan Plateau didn't have much iron ore, so most of their iron ore was imported from elsewhere. However, the Tibetan Plateau did have one thing: Meteoric Metal.

Over the ages, meteorites would often fall into the pastures of the Tibetan Plateau.

The Ü-Tsang Empire would often dispatch people to gather those fallen meteorites and forge weapons from them to equip their subordinates. What Wang Chong had not expected was that this Tibetan commander not only knew the Ksitigarbha Secret Art, he also had a weapon forged from Meteoric Metal.

Rumble!

Dust roiled as that giant six-armed Ksitigarbha Vajra Guardian wielded vajra, spear, cudgel, and gauntlets against Li Siye, joining its attacks with the other Tibetan cavalry. The power of the Ksitigarbha Vajra Guardian was already pressuring Li Siye, and now with the attacks from the others, Li Siye quickly descended into a bitter struggle.

"Old Eagle, lead some people in a charge to scatter them!" Wang Chong unhesitantly ordered, his eyes glimmering with an icy light.

This Tibetan commander was far too strong. Given the incredible power in each of his attacks, if Li Siye were not blocking them, Wang Chong's army would immediately suffer terrible casualties. When a person's strength reached a certain level, numbers and tactics became irrelevant. Wang Chong only had one thousand people at his side, and he couldn't lose them here before the true war had even begun.

"Yes, Young Master!"

Old Eagle complied and began to holler orders, leading several hundred people charging over.

"Hmph, you want to help him? You're seeking death!"

The Ksitigarbha Vajra Guardian's voice thundered in their ears. Before the troops could react, a bronze spear flew through the air like a bolt of lightning. This single spear immediately struck a clan expert from his horse, smashing a giant hole in the ground. As the dust settled, it was possible to see from the deformation of the armor and the pooling blood that this expert was dead.

"Careful!"

Old Eagle paled and quickly pulled the reins on his horse.

These were all experts recruited from the great clans, possessing extraordinary strength, and they also had Meteoric Metal armor. This armor had powerful defensive capabilities, as Old Eagle had personally experienced. Not even the Tibetan cavalry at full charge had been able to leave a mark on this armor, but this one spear from that Tibetan commander had slain one of these armored experts. This strength was simply absurd.

"Don't come over! I can still deal with it!" Li Siye's anxious voice came from the distance.

Wang Chong and the rest weren't in this fight, so they didn't know just how formidable this commander was. In terms of strength, he had already reached Profound Martial realm Tier 9, and the secret incarnation techniques of the Great Snow Mountain Holy Land were not as simple as outsiders imagined. Li Siye currently had a very strong feeling that this Tibetan commander was no obscure soldier or mediocre commander.

"Old Eagle, go over and help Li Siye. The rest of you, use the Mobile Circle to eliminate the rest of the Tibetan soldiers!"

"But Young Master, what of Li Siye?" Old Eagle anxiously asked. If Li Siye couldn't block that commander's attacks, the rest of them would be fish in a barrel, waiting to be slaughtered.

"Old Eagle, listen to my orders!" Wang Chong declared, his eyes icily gazing into the distance.

'You have Zhang Liang's plans, and I have my wall-scaling ladders1.' Since you've ordered the majority of your forces to deal with Li Siye, don't blame me for gathering my troops to deal with the rest of the Tibetans. This is a competition of strength and will to see which one of us can kill their opponent faster and free up troops.

(TN: This saying actually refers to two different stories, and its meaning can be taken as 'You have your plans, and I have my corresponding strategies'. The first part refers to Zhang Liang, who was one of the key strategists behind the founding of the Han Dynasty. The story about wall-scaling ladders refers to a particular incident in the Warring States period between Gongsu Ban, the Chinese inventor of siege ladders, and Mozi, a philosopher who ardently advocated peace. In this episode, Mozi attempted to convince the King of Chu to not attack the state of Song by playing out a war game with Gongsu Ban to see which one could take a city. In the first round, Mozi defended the city and fended off all nine strategies used by Gongsu Ban. When it was Gongsu Ban's turn to defend, Mozi took the city after only three strategies. After this, Mozi told the King of Chu that he had already sent three hundred of his disciples to guard the state of Song, whereupon the King of Chu gave up on his plan.)

"Yes!"

Old Eagle hardened his heart and took off.

At almost the same time, a thunderous voice tore through the sky. "Dengba, stop him!" The Tibetan commander, transformed into the six-armed Ksitigarbha Vajra Guardian, also issued his order.

"Yes, Milord!"

Immediately, the Tibetan deputy commander took off with a rumbling of Stellar Energy and began to engage in an intense struggle with Old Eagle. Meanwhile, as Wang Chong watched on the side, the one thousand Great Tang cavalry swiftly began to take a formation that had never been seen before in all the history of the Great Tang.

The Mobile Circle!

This was a tactic that Wang Chong had developed in his last life, a formation that he had developed using his knowledge from the other world. It could only be used when one possessed the upper hand and was cleaning up the enemy, and allowed one to cut down the enemy as quickly as possible.

Buzz!

Extending their Wootz Steel swords out at an angle, the soldiers formed gears in groups of sixty, the Wootz Steel swords forming the teeth of these gears. The sixty cavalry began to move in a circular motion, causing the massive gear to crazily cut into the enemy.

"Aaaaah!"

One Tibetan cavalryman after another fell, their bodies cut to pieces by the spinning wheel of Wootz Steel swords and raining down to the ground. It took only a few moments for several hundred more Tibetan cavalry to fall, and their numbers continued to rapidly drop. Watching from a distance, Dengba and the Tibetan commander paled.

Boom!

There was a flash of light as a bronze spear shot forward, instantly traveling through space to reach Wang Chong.

"Careful!"

Everyone paled, but when the dust had settled, they saw that the spear was sticking out of the ground, the completely unharmed Wang Chong standing right next to it. Everyone was dumbfounded.

"This scoundrel…"

The Tibetan commander's eyes narrowed as a murderous intent surged in his heart.

If one said that he still hadn't known who the leader of this Tang army was at the start, he was certain who it was now. Although he found it impossible to believe, there was no doubt that the true leader of this army was not this powerful Tang expert he was currently fighting against, but that apparently negligible Tang youth.

"Hmph!"

Wang Chong only gave a cold laugh. He continued to stand at his spot while the experts from the Black Dragon Bandits guarded his surroundings.

This Tibetan was far too strong, such that no one was able to intervene in his fight with Li Siye, not even Old Eagle. However, even though he had used the Ksitigarbha Secret Art to reach Profound Martial Tier 9, he had still gravely underestimated him. Although his strength was currently far inferior, Wang Chong had still once been a Saint Martial realm expert, much stronger than this Tibetan commander.

His reincarnation had deprived him of that mighty strength, but he still had his experiences and insight. Moreover, Wang Chong had already seen that lethal spear at work, so he had naturally prepared to deal with it.

"Brat, you're dead for sure!"

That cold voice came from the distance as a monstrous killing intent locked onto Wang Chong. But Wang Chong remained unmoved. In this battle, if Li Siye couldn't deal with this man, no one else would be able to.

"Li Siye…"

Wang Chong suddenly opened his mouth.

"Shaoyang, Shaoyang, Taiyin!"

Wang Chong listed off three acupuncture points.

In that instant, the battlefield fell silent. No one knew what Wang Chong was talking about, but Li Siye did understand Wang Chong's next set of words.

"A great army's swift retreat, ten charges for ten victories, sunder the mountains and rivers!"

Buzz!

In a flash, Li Siye acted. Just when the Ksitigarbha Vajra Guardian was thrusting at his Shaoyang acupuncture point, he suddenly retreated, his heavy sword swiftly withdrawing and blocking all six of the Ksitigarbha Vajra Guardian's arms and weapons at once. Boom! He stepped forward with his right foot just as the Vajra Guardian moved to once more attack his Shaoyang acupuncture point. With grace and fluidity, he avoided the second blow, and then the third blow, after which he began the 'ten charges for ten victories'.

Crsh! Under Li Siye's furious assault, the six-armed Ksitigarbha Vajra Guardian suddenly showed an opening. Li Siye's Wootz Steel sword immediately plunged in, entering through the thigh of the Vajra Guardian. This move not only shocked the Tibetan commander, but Li Siye as well. Even so, his reaction was not slowed in the slightest.

Bang!

The knees of the Vajra Guardian went soft and its body bent. Li Siye swung his sword as if he was sundering the mountains and rivers, and with a squelch, a head went flying. The massive Ksitigarbha Vajra Guardian instantly fell apart, leaving behind a headless corpse to topple to the ground.

______________

1. This saying actually refers to two different stories, and its meaning can be taken as 'You have your plans, and I have my corresponding strategies'. The first part refers to Zhang Liang, who was one of the key strategists behind the founding of the Han Dynasty. The story about wall-scaling ladders refers to a particular incident in the Warring States period between Gongsu Ban, the Chinese inventor of siege ladders, and Mozi, a philosopher who ardently advocated peace. In this episode, Mozi attempted to convince the King of Chu to not attack the state of Song by playing out a war game with Gongsu Ban to see which one could take a city. In the first round, Mozi defended the city and fended off all nine strategies used by Gongsu Ban. When it was Gongsu Ban's turn to defend, Mozi took the city after only three strategies. After this, Mozi told the King of Chu that he had already sent three hundred of his disciples to guard the state of Song, whereupon the King of Chu gave up on his plan.↩