The Human Emperor c1-2382

by Huangfu Qi (皇甫奇)

  Upon stepping onto the carriage, before Wang Chong could even speak, Wei Hao asked with a grim expression.

  “You found him?”

  Wang Chong’s body shuddered. The grin on his face disappeared, replaced with a grave expression.

  Zhang Munian played an important role in his plans. This matter was even more important than the Hyderabad ores and the 《Art of God and Demon Obliteration》.

  Even though Wang Chong had left Wei Hao to deal with this matter regarding Zhang Munian, he had been the most concerned over this matter.

  “Un, I found him!”

  Wei Hao nodded his head.

  He grew up with Wang Chong and he couldn’t be any more familiar with him. He immediately sensed the change in Wang Chong’s aura and became serious as well.

  However, he was unable to understand why Wang Chong would be so interested in an insignificant figure like Zhang Munian.

  “However, I have to tell you first that I didn’t find his name in the list of officials. Rather, I found it in the list of death row prisoners.”

  Wei Hao said.

  “Death row?”

  Wang Chong was stunned.

  “Un, if not for that case, I wouldn’t have spent so long a time to find this person. If not for my meticulousness in flipping through the previous name lists, I wouldn’t have been able to find this person. ——Here is a scroll on him that I had someone copy. Take a look.”

  Wei Hao retrieved a scroll from his embrace and threw it over. It was covered with a yellow leather bag, and it could be seen that a lot of effort has been placed into it.

  Usually, Wei Hao couldn’t care less about these matters. His only interest lay in martial arts, but if it was a matter entrusted to him by Wang Chong, he would give it his all.

  “Wang Chong, it’s not that I want to deter you from doing anything, but this person’s condition is very unique. Despite being an insignificant official, he actually laundered over twenty thousand gold taels. Isn’t he way too gutsy! You should be aware of how the royal court deals with such corrupt officials.”

  “Furthermore, the person has already confessed to his crime at the Bureau of Punishments, and it’s decided that he will be executed at the end of autumn. Once someone’s name is on the list, even with my father’s position as a duke, he wouldn’t be able to save him. I don’t know the reason why you’re looking for him, but Wang Chong, listen to my advice and don’t interfere in this matter.”

  “No one would be sent to the death row for no reason, and the royal court must have their own purpose for passing down such a verdict. Coming into contact with such people isn’t good for you and the Wang Clan!”

  Wei Hao didn’t expect the person Wang Chong was looking for to be a death row convict. He wasn’t worried for himself, but the Wang Clan had been reputed to be incorruptible, and the Duke Jiu was highly respected for that as well.

  Wei Hao was worried that if Wang Chong gets involved in this matter, he would be using as an opening for others to strike at the Wang Clan.

  Wei Hao had grown up in the circle since young and witnessed political struggle among the different factions. Thus, he had a level of understanding in the matter.

  A large tree would take the brunt of a gale. Given the Wang Clan’s size, it was bound to have many enemies. It wasn’t a good thing for Wang Chong to get involved in the matter of a death row convict.

  With a grave expression, Wang Chong didn’t say anything. He unrolled the scroll regarding Zhang Munian and read through it carefully. The Great Tang Dynasty was currently at an age of prosperity and culture was flourishing. As such, capital punishment was used extremely carefully. All kinds of information had to be checked over and over again before the Bureau of Punishments would dare to take the thumbprint of the convict. As such, the information on Zhang Munian was extremely detailed.

  “To think that he’s already fifty-four this year.”

  Reading through the information on the scroll, he realized that Zhang Munian was older than he imagined. He was already nearing the end of his prime.

  There was conclusive evidence on his crime of stealing over twenty thousand gold taels of public funds. Considering his humble position, it was shocking how he was able to steal so much money just by making use of a loophole.

  This was also the reason why he was sentenced to death.

  However, it wasn’t like there weren’t any suspicious aspects to the scroll. Twenty thousand gold taels was a huge sum. It was more than sufficient to sustain dozens of households for their entire lifetime.

  Zhang Munian had taken so much money, yet not a hint of gold or silver could be found in his possession. He was dressed in simple clothes, and his sustenance was also humble, just like his colleagues.

  Also, when they were ransacking his house, they realized that he was living in an old mud house. Other than a rice pot, two wardrobes, and a bed, there was nothing else.

  The officials of the Bureau of Punishments dug three chi deep into the ground around his house, only to find nothing on the missing twenty thousand. No one knew where the money was hidden.

  Even though the Bureau of Punishments was perplexed by the matter, given that Zhang Munian had admitted to the matter, to send a firm warning to the others, they went by the book and sentenced him to death.

  After reading through the scroll, Wang Chong immediately understood the situation. His view of Zhang Munian didn’t change at all, and instead, he felt even more obligated to save him.

  However, Wei Hao’s words rang true. Zhang Munian’s condition was already fixed and his death couldn’t be avoided. Regardless of whether it was the Wei Clan or the Wang Clan, they didn’t have the ability to save someone from the death row.

  However, Wang Chong knew that there was still a final sliver of hope.

  “Looks like I have to look for King Song!”

  Another person popped into Wang Chong’s head.

  As a member of the royal family, King Song’s words carried great influence in the royal court. This was something Wang Chong’s father, Wang Yan, big uncle, Wang Gen, and Wei Hao’s father, Wei Yuan, were unable to compare up to.

  More importantly, Wang Chong happened to know that King Song had some influence in the Bureau of Punishments. The situation would be completely different if Wang Chong was able to stir him into movement.

  “Wei Hao, you don’t have to worry about this matter, I know what to do.”

  Wang Chong kept Zhang Munian’s scroll in his embrace.

  “Un.”

  Wei Hao nodded his head. Thinking that Wang Chong had given up the thoughts regarding Zhang Munian, his mood lifted:

  “Hehe, right. You were looking for me for something?”

  Upon hearing Wei Hao ask about that matter, Wang Chong chuckled.

  “Youngster Wei, it’s not like I really want to say anything about that matter, but did you get beaten up again? Did that cousin of yours come by again?”

  Wang Chong smiled as he stared at the bluish-purple bruise by the corner of Wei Hao’s eyes. It was still fresh, and Wang Chong noticed it the moment Wei Hao came onto the carriage. Even though Wei Hao had arranged his hair in an attempt to hide it, how could Wang Chong’s divine eyes be fooled?

  Upon seeing that the matter being exposed in an instant despite the effort he had put into concealing the bruise, Wei Hao’s face crumbled.

  “What are you talking about? I just knocked onto the door while I was coming out.”

  Wei Hao said sheepishly in an attempt to hoodwink Wang Chong. However, it only incited Wang Chong to roar in laughter.

  “Here, this is for you. Study it carefully and cultivate well.”

  Wang Chong took out a book and threw it over to Wei Hao.

  “What’s this?”

  Catching it, Wei Hao curiously flipped through it. He immediately grew agitated:

  “A martial arts cultivation technique! Why do you have this?”

  Wei Hao was delighted. He didn’t expect the item tha
t Wang Chong threw to him would be a martial arts cultivation technique manual! Ignoring Wang Chong, he immediately started flipping through the book excitedly.

  Just for additional information:

  In the past, when one confesses to a matter, they would put their thumbprint (in red ink) on a paper listing out their crimes for filing purposes.

  Chapter 71: Su Bai Is Treating!

  Wei Hao was a martial arts fanatic, but to his misfortune, his ordinary talents in the field made it impossible for him to practice most of martial arts techniques. This was a problem which even the Duke of Wei was helpless before.

  As such, Wei Hao held an intent craving for power!

  Wang Chong giving him a martial arts manual was completely out of Wei Hao’s expectations. One must know that in this era of martial arts, other than those commonplace martial arts techniques which were publicly known, all martial arts manuals were worth a ton. No power would easily impart their secret arts to an outsider.

  Thus, Wei Hao was honestly surprised by this matter.

  Flipping through the pages, Wei Hao was initially browsing through it casually, but it didn’t take long for him to be absorbed into it.

  Even though he hadn’t tried cultivating it yet, Wei Hao sensed that the technique which Wang Chong had given him was much stronger than the one he was cultivating.

  Seeing Wei Hao slowly getting engrossed into it such that his breathing grew faint, Wang Chong nodded his head with a smile.

  Wang Chong had always felt guilt toward Wei Hao.

  Wei Hao had always regarded him as his best buddy, but due to several misunderstandings, Wang Chong fell out with him, losing this precious friend of his.

  Even so, Wei Hao didn’t give up on him. During this hardest times in his previous life, he chose to help Wang Chong despite the disapproval of his clan.

  The Wang Chong back then couldn’t be of assistance to Wei Hao at all. He could only watch as Wei Hao was swept away by the catastrophe like the many others.

  Thus, upon given a chance to do it all over, Wang Chong wanted to do something for him.

  Martial arts has always been Wei Hao’s weakness. His ordinary talents had limited his growth, and this wasn’t something the Duke of Wei could solve despite his power and wealth. Thus, even at his very last breath, Wei Hao had never grew strong.

  Wang Chong had always wanted to give him a hand on that, but it was difficult to find a suitable cultivation technique for him. After spending a long time recalling all of the cultivation technique in his head, he finally found one which was the most suitable for Wei Hao.

  This was also the reason why Wang Chong took so long to pass this on to Wei Hao.

  Time slowly ticked by and Wei Hao’s attention was completely into the manual. Wang Chong didn’t interrupt him and sat quietly in the carriage.

  Hu!

  After a period of time, Wei Hao exhaled a huge breath and finally lifted his gaze from the book.

  “《Mountain Ascension Formula》? Such a weird name. Why haven’t I heard of it in the past? Wang Chong, where did you obtain such a powerful martial arts manual from?”

  Wei Hao stared at Wang Chong in shock, as though he had become a complete stranger.

  For some reason, from the moment Wei Hao started flipping through the manual, he felt extremely fond of the cultivation technique. It was as though a mysterious energy was tugging on him, prompting him to read on.

  Thus, only when he finished reading through the entire manual did he finally turn his gaze away from it and exhale deeply.

  Wei Hao didn’t know where Wang Chong got this cultivation technique from, and with a single look, it felt wild, completely different from the other martial arts of the Wang Clan. But for some reason, Wei Hao liked it a lot. While flipping through the manual, he had a feeling that it was tailored for him, and this made him feel extremely excited.

  “Why, you don’t like it? Return it to me then!”

  With an impassive face, Wang Chong stretched out his hand as he said.

  “Scram! Since you’ve given it to me, it’s mine now. You stinky brat, don’t even think about getting it back!”

  Wei Hao held the 《Mountain Ascension Formula》 tightly in his embrace, as though saying that Wang Chong would have to get past him before getting back his manual.

  “Hahaha!”

  Wang Chong retracted his right hand and burst into laughter.

  Seeing Wang Chong laugh, Wei Hao couldn’t help but chuckle as well. The two brothers seemed to have gone back to the times when they were extremely close to one another, and the slight estrangement in their relationship that arose from Ma Zhou’s incident vanished completely.

  “Stinky brat, this 《Mountain Ascension Formula》 shall be my reward for the effort I have put in for the past few days, so don’t even dream about getting this back! Right, if you have any more of such stuff in the future, make sure to tell me.”

  “Dream on!”

  Wang Chong reprimanded him with a smile. Wang Chong wasn’t surprised that Wei Hao would become so fond of this cultivation technique. This cultivation technique was created for people with average talents like Wei Hao.

  As everyone knew, rather than geniuses, ordinary humans with ordinary talents were the most populous in the world.

  Even though they were destined to achieve little, there were always exceptions to the rule. Regardless of what it was, there was always hope.

  《Mountain Ascension Formula》 was such a ‘hope’.

  This cultivation technique didn’t demand much of one’s talents, but one had to put in ten times or even hundred times the effort to make up for it.

  As the saying goes, ‘the dumb bird learns to fly first’. If one’s talent couldn’t match up with the others, one had to put in much more effort than them!

  This was the concept behind the 《Mountain Ascension Formula》!

  There was no limit to this cultivation technique. From Origin Energy Tier to True Martial Tier, then to Profound Martial Tier, and on to Emperor Martial Tier, one could continue cultivating this cultivation technique upward, but one would have to put in much more hard work than the others. The further one advanced, the more hard work one had to put in, sometimes even up to a thousand times more.

  For this cultivation technique, ‘hard work’ was probably the only limit!

  Even so, Wang Chong didn’t have too great of an impression of this cultivation technique. In fact, he nearly failed to recall its existence. That was because even though this cultivation technique had ‘mystical’ effects, it wasn’t compatible with Wang Chong.

  Everyone had a cultivation technique that was compatible with them. This cultivation technique may be ‘formidable’ for Wei Hao, but to Wang Chong, it couldn’t even compare up to an ordinary cultivation technique.

  Furthermore, no one had been able to complete this cultivation technique in his previous life. The reason was simple:

  Lack of time!

  One needed a huge amount of time to practice this cultivation technique. Furthermore, there were less diligent people than geniuses in the world.

  “It’s sufficient that you know of this. Don’t talk about this cultivation technique to anyone else, including your father.”

  Wang Chong instructed.

  “Don’t worry, I understand. After I become stronger, I will teach that brat Wei Zhe a lesson.”

  Wei Hao spoke indignantly.

  Hearing Wei Hao speaking of his cousin, Wang Chong could only chuckle. Even though Wang Chong didn’t find the possibility likely, he didn’t say anything about it.

  Everyone was fated to meet a nemesis in their life.

  Wei Hao’s nemesis was his cousin, ‘Wei Zhe’.

  In the younger generation of the Wei Clan, Wei Zhe was indisputably a genius. Even though he was younger than Wei Hao, his cultivation far surpassed his.

  Perhaps he was angry that his father’s official position was lower than that of Wei Hao’s father. Or maybe, he wished to vent his f
ather’s frustration on Wei Hao in his place.

  Every time he came to the Wei Residence, he would target Wei Hao and look for reasons to beat him up.

  This made Wei Hao’s father, the Duke of Wei, extremely angry. Furthermore, Wei Hao didn’t inherit the Duke of Wei’s strength, possessing only ordinary talent. Thus, Wei Hao’s plight actually wasn’t any easy as he usually behaved.

  This was also one of the reasons why Wang Chong gave Wei Hao the 《Mountain Ascension Formula》.

  “Putting this aside, I have something I need to trouble you on.”

  Diving straight into the topic, Wang Chong opened the wooden crate in the carriage and 17000 gold taels immediately appeared before their sights.

  “Here is 17000 gold taels. Take it and help me gather some rations, such as cow, goat, pig, banana, sorghum, millet… It is fine as long as it is edible.”

  “You sold the sword out?”

  Wei Hao’s eyes widened. The previous 37000 gold taels had been passed to the two Sindhi monks, so this additional 17000 gold taels must have come from the sales of the sword.

  “Un, I sold it for 35000 gold taels. Only half of the sum is here.”

  Wang Chong nodded his head, not hiding anything from Wei Hao.

  “Don’t worry! This isn’t a difficult matter to attend to as long as there is money. Leave it to me.”

  Wei Hao said.

  Wei Hao didn’t possess absolute say in the Wei Clan. Even so, as long as the money came from him, and it was just simple and profitable trade, the Wei Clan wouldn’t obstruct him.

  “Also, I need your help on something.”

  Wang Chong whispered his thought. Hearing his words, Wei Hao nodded his head and said, “No problems, leave this to me as well!”

  After instructing everything required, Wang Chong hopped off the carriage, leaving it to Wei Hao for him to transport the gold, and returned to his own residence.

  His little sister was currently having the time of her life. After obtaining the ‘huge sum’ of a few hundred gold taels from Wang Chong, she became a tycoon. Thus, she has been spending her days following behind Cousin Wang Zhu Yan, and sometimes, she didn’t even return home.