The Human Emperor c1-2382

by Huangfu Qi (皇甫奇)

  Other than that, there wasn’t much of a difference between this gambling den and the others seen across the Central Plains, including the parts of its design. For example, it also had a string of red lanterns hanging on the edge of the roof ridge.

  “Gold Heaven Great Gambling Den!”

  Wang Chong was seated by the railings on the second floor of a tavern opposite the Gold Heaven Great Gambling Den, sipping on a cup of wine as he assessed the gambling den with interest.

  “Three-Legged Crow”, this is the faith and belief of the Goguryeons. This fact was no secret to Wang Chong, but clearly, the population of the Central Plains were unaware of it.

  After all, Goguryeon was located far to the northeast. Besides, the Goguryeon Empire also had strict border policies, thus the knowledge that the Central Plains had of them was terribly limited.

  The Three-Legged Crow could be seen throughout the city’s west, be it perching majestically on roofs or a vague image within residences. This was a clear indication that the Goguryeons had taken this place as their base of operations.

  In fact, even the tavern which Wang Chong was in was likely to be a business of the Goguryeons.

  Seated by the railing, Wang Chong narrowed his eyes slightly, and many thoughts flashed across his eyes.

  The Goguryeons had closed their borders, strictly forbidding any foreigners, especially those from Great Tang, from entering. Thus, it was very hard for one to infiltrate into their territory.

  On the other hand, Great Tang went on an entirely different path.

  Even if it was a hostile nation, Great Tang never obstructed the entry of citizens of other nationalities. They were completely accepting of foreigners.

  All merchants were protected under Great Tang’s laws, and the Chamberlain of Dependencies had even gone to the extent of establishing a codex to safeguard their interest.

  While Wang Chong was dissatisfied with several of the policies from the Chamberlain of Dependencies, he had to admit that the openness of the Great Tang had indeed benefited him greatly as well.

  It was due to the very same openness that Great Tang was enjoying its current prosperity.

  These policies allowed Goguryeons to still live peacefully in the capital despite the stiff relationship between the Goguryeon Empire and Great Tang.

  The Goguryeons established casinos, taverns, tea houses, stables, and other businesses here, and Great Tang never tried to hinder them.

  However, this didn’t mean that Great Tang was going to condone everything the Goguryeons did. The Bureau of Military Personnel and Bureau of Punishments had collaborated to investigate the Goguryeons, and a squad was even created to maintain surveillance on those Goguryeons at all moments.

  But the final conclusion was that there was nothing wrong with the Goguryeons living in the capital—they were all ordinary merchants. After maintaining such surveillance for more than a decade, the Bureau of Military Personnel and Bureau of Punishments finally gave up.

  After all, as long as the other party were just ordinary merchants, not even the Bureau of Military Personnel and Bureau of Punishments would be able to do anything to them. The royal court and the Sage Emperor forbade such actions.

  Chapter 236: Target Found!

  Chapter 236: Target Found!

  “Is everyone in place?”

  Stretching his hand forward, Wang Chong knocked on the pillar lightly with his forefinger.

  “All ready,” Miyasame Ayaka replied impassively. She was standing perfectly still behind Wang Chong with her head tilted upward and her hands behind her back. In the short interval, she had already changed her clothes. She wore a black bamboo hat with a dark, translucent veil hanging from it, rendering it impossible for anyone to clearly distinguish her facial features.

  But her eyes remained as cold as ice. Even through a black veil, it could still send shivers down one’s spine.

  Miyasame Ayaka’s disposition as an assassin had permeated her entire being. No clothes could possibly conceal it.

  “Good. Tell them to take note of those with a white glow around them later on. They’ll only have an instant, so they have to make sure to pay close attention. Also, they are not to make any moves without my permission.” Wang Chong said calmly as he grabbed a wine cup from the table and passed it over. Fifteen this year, it was indeed a little too early for him to be drinking. But even so, it was fine for him to come into contact with it.

  Not to mention, he had another soul hidden in his body.

  “But gongzi, is this really fine? This is the territory of the Goguryeons. Furthermore, we’re sitting openly in a tavern of the Goguryeons.” Miyasame Ayake bent down and very naturally took the cup from Wang Chong’s hands before lightly placing it down on the table beside her.

  The ladies from the Eastern Islands were surprisingly gentle in this aspect. Despite being an assassin, Miyasame Ayaka retained this cultural trait. But of course, this was only relative to those from the Central Plains.

  “The brutal Goguryeons possess the upper hand in numbers now. I fear that we would not be able to escape if we were to provoke them.” Miyasame Ayaka looked at Wang Chong with deep worry in her eyes.

  It was only out of ignorance that ordinary civilians could live at ease here. Those who understood the background of this location felt as though a knife was constantly pressed against their backs.

  And this was the current sensation Miyasame Ayaka was feeling. She had crossed hands with Goguryeons, and she knew how fearsome they were. They were fearless in combat, and they didn’t hesitate to trade injury for injury. In a way, they were even more vicious than assassins like her.

  Wang Chong was going to deal with the Goguryeons despite being in their territory himself. This left Miyasame Ayaka deeply worried.

  “Hmph, who said that this is the territory of the Goguryeons? The land just beneath the Son of Heaven’s feet is clearly one of the Central Plains. When did Goguryeons’ words count here?” Resting his arm on the railing, Wang Chong glanced at the huge crowd beneath and sneered coldly.

  The Central Plains was still existent, Great Tang was still breathing, the catastrophe had yet to befall; the Central Plains hadn’t declined so far as to bow down to the Goguryeons yet. When did the Goguryeons become the new lords here?

  The only reason why no one laid their hands on the Goguryeons was because they hadn’t stepped out of line. But since they weren’t willing to live their lives here peacefully, this relationship would have to come to an end.

  Thinking so, Wang Chong’s eyes gradually grew colder and colder. As he spoke those words, he subconsciously released a domineering pressure.

  The three men from the Zhuang Clan and Chi Clan were stunned, and even Miyasame Ayaka froze for an instant.

  The current Wang Chong possessed a majestic disposition that commanded deference from others. This was completely different from the impression they had of him!

  “But even so, we don’t have any evidence! We can’t prove that those Goguryeons who attacked the Kunwu Training Camp are the same as those living here. If we aren’t careful, I fear that they might retaliate against gongzi through the Chamberlain of Dependencies,” Miyasame Ayaka said worriedly.

  She knew what Wang Chong was going to do. After all, he nearly lost his life on White Tiger Peak on the very first day he arrived at Kunwu Training Camp. There was no one who wouldn’t feel rage after being put through such an experience.

  But in the end, the Goguryeons in the city’s west weren’t those who attacked that night.

  Other than engaging in usury and beating up those who refused to pay their debts, they hadn’t really done anything overboard. Otherwise, Great Tang wouldn’t have put up with them.

  “Hehe, evidence? Of course I have it.” A smile crept onto Wang Chong’s face, and an icy-cold gleam flashed across his eyes.

  The Goguryeons in the city’s west were well-known to be law-abiding citizens. Even an assassin like Miyasame Ayake was aware that there was ‘nothi
ng wrong’ with them.

  But Wang Chong had an entirely different view on the matter.

  King Sosurim and his bunch of Goguryeon assassins were notorious in Great Tang. While many people said that they were unrelated to the Goguryeons in the city’s west, Wang Chong found that hard to believe.

  In the end, blood was thicker than water. To say that King Sosurim and the Goguryeon assassins were entirely unrelated to the Goguryeons living here, how could that even be remotely possible?

  The huge group of Goguryeons living here provided the ideal cover for King Sosurim and his group of assassins. There was nowhere else that they could thrive other than here.

  While the Bureau of Military Personnel and Bureau of Punishments did conduct surveillance over the area for several decades, ending in futility, Wang Chong felt that they had overlooked one extremely important corner...

  The customers of the taverns and gambling dens!

  Who said that Goguryeons had to be the staff of their own establishments?

  Who said that Goguryeons couldn’t pass off as Hans?

  As long as one refined one’s speech to take on the fluency of an average Han, there would actually be no distinctive difference between a Goguryeon and a Han.

  Wang Chong had given the matter deep contemplation. The officials of the Bureau of Military Personnel and Bureau of Punishments couldn’t possibly be inept; the only plausible reason why there was no progress in their investigation despite several decades of effort could only mean that their direction was wrong right from the start.

  The men they were searching for weren’t working in the taverns and restaurants, but were somewhere else.

  “Alright, tell them that we’ll start now,” Wang Chong waved his hands and said after returning from his thoughts.

  “Yes, gongzi.” Miyasame Ayaka nodded after a moment of hesitation.

  Beyond the railing, a huge crowd could be seen walking to and fro on the streets. Wang Chong and Miyasame Ayaka’s presence didn’t catch anyone’s attention. In this region of decadence, there were simply too many wealthy scions like Wang Chong.

  Time slowly ticked by, and around half a tea’s time later, Wang Chong finally stood up. Amidst the perplexed gazes of those behind him, he slowly walked up to the railing.

  (~7.5 minutes)

  “Whether the Goguryeons are innocent or not, this will tell.” Wang Chong gazed down at the huge crowd beyond the railing.

  At this instant, time seemed to have stopped.

  Peng!

  Without the slightest warning, Wang Chong lifted his right leg up and pressed it down. Peng. In the next instant, a nearly invisible ripple spread out into the surroundings from Wang Chong.

  At the west city’s most prosperous street that was managed by the Goguryeons, Wang Chong activated his Bane of the Battlefield aura.

  The royal court never had any effective means to differentiate between the real Goguryeon merchants and Goguryeon assassins, but Wang Chong was different.

  Bane of the Battlefield was the ideal method to sieve them out!

  Weng!

  The crowd beyond the railing continued walking on normally, as though nothing had happened at all.

  “Hmm?” Wang Chong’s eyebrows shot up. “Could I have been mistaken?”

  Just as Wang Chong thought that his ‘Bane of the Battlefield’ aura was ineffective, a change abruptly occurred. Amongst the crowd, a white ripple suddenly affixed itself onto a ‘plump, wealthy Central Plains merchant’.

  Following which, the second one, third one, fourth one...

  Eleventh, twelfth, thirteenth...

  Thirtieth, fortieth, fiftieth...

  In an instant, several hundred people among the crowd within the Golden Heaven Great Gambling Den were affixed with the white ripple. Weng! And in the next, the ripple disappeared so quickly that its appearance almost seemed to have been a hallucination.

  On the second floor of the tavern, Miyasame Ayaka and the group from the Zhuang Clan and Chi Clan saw that sight and froze. Even Wang Chong himself was shocked speechless.

  The entire world seemed to have silenced itself to them at this instant!

  “To think that… there would be so many of them!”

  The Bane of the Battlefield aura came and went swiftly, but it left behind a raging storm in Wang Chong’s heart.

  In Wang Chong’s initial plan, he would use the Bane of the Battlefield to eliminate the Goguryeon assassins. But the truth was far more shocking than he could have imagined.

  To think that there would more several hundred official soldiers in the vicinity of the Golden Heaven Great Gambling Den itself. This had far exceeded Wang Chong’s expectations.

  In that short instant, Wang Chong saw clearly that every last one of these Goguryeons was dressed like the Han. Regardless of whether it was their movement or gestures, there wasn’t the slightest aspect that one could distinguish them from an ordinary Han citizen.

  ——Wang Chong’s theory had been verified.

  “Did you all get a good look?” Wang Chong asked.

  He was answered with silence. Everyone was dumbfounded by the sight they had just seen.

  “Gongzi, you were right all along!” Miyasame Ayaka inhaled deeply, but she still couldn’t shake the discomposure from her voice.

  While she didn’t know where the white ripples came from, given Wang Chong’s previous words, she could fathom a guess what was going on. Most likely, those affixed with the ripples a moment ago were their targets of this operation.

  But they simply numbered too many!

  “Lord, these Gogur…”

  “Shut up!” The men from the Zhuang Clan and Chi Clan exclaimed in astonishment, but before they could finish their words, Miyasame Ayaka had already silenced them.

  They were at a sensitive location now. This was definitely not the place for them to talk.

  It was one thing if they hadn’t known anything, but in an instant, the entire place seemed to have changed. Even Miyasame Ayaka showed a hint of fear in her eyes.

  “Hehe, alright now. You all have gotten a good look, so let’s foot the bill and go!” In contrast to Miyasame Ayaka’s wariness, Wang Chong stood up with a casual smile, pushed in his chair, and left the tavern.

  Since he was aware of the truth, what was left should be easy to deal with.

  Just for this December, I'll be taking sponsored chapters at $30 each~

  The tentative final date is 31st December for this, but if there are too many donations (which I doubt likely), it might end earlier, of which, I'll make sure to announce it everywhere and take down the donation button (Or else you can be certain that it'll definitely be translated into a bonus chapter)

  Need some motivation to push me to work harder in the holidays as well as to finance my school fees and stuff

  Chapter 237: Assembly Point of the Goguryeons

  Chapter 237: Assembly Point of the Goguryeons

  Night fell, bringing silence to the bustling capital.

  Since his little sister wasn’t around, Wang Chong chose to meditate in his study. Breathing and exhaling deeply, wisps of Origin Energy gathered and flowed into Wang Chong’s body.

  Peng! After an unknown length of time, Wang Chong’s body suddenly jolted, as though something had been knocked open, and his aura intensified. It felt as though his strength had just been brought up a notch.

  Chi!

  Wang Chong opened his eyes and raised his finger. Chi! A cold, blinding surge of light appeared from the tip of his finger.

  This cold surge of light was only half a chi in length, but it carried an incomparably sharp aura.

  Opening the Guanyuan acupoint really allows me to release the Sword Qi of Slaughter!, Wang Chong thought as he stared at the sword qi lingering above his finger.

  Martial artists within the 9 dans of Origin Energy were not capable of emitting internal energy, but of course, there were exceptions, too. Wang Chong knew a small trick; by opening a hidden Guanyuan acupoint, he
would be able to release the Origin Energy within his body.

  But there was a flaw with this trick, as well; Origin Energy could only be released by the few meridians around the Guanyuan Acupoint.

  Currently, Wang Chong could only release sword qi through his forefinger.

  But even so, this might prove to be valuable under certain circumstances.

  Ss!

  Suddenly, indistinct footsteps reminiscent of a cat sounded from outside. If one didn’t pay careful attention, it would be impossible to notice it.

  “Miyasame, come in!” Wang Chong retracted the sword qi and turned his gaze to the door.

  Jiya, the door opened and a veiled, black-clothed figure walked in: Miyasame Ayaka.

  “Gongzi, we’ve located their base!” Miyasame Ayaka dove into the main issue at hand as soon as she entered.

  Wang Chong’s shoulders trembled slightly. He abruptly raised his head and stared at Miyasame Ayaka.

  ------

  In the far southeast of the capital, near the border of the city wall where lush trees grew, a residence stood alone amidst the greenery.

  It wasn’t uncommon for rich merchants to purchase the land of remote locations such as this to build their personal residence.

  “Is this the place you tracked them to?” Amidst the darkness, Wang Chong was hidden in the crown of a camphor tree. From his angle, he could see several candles lit in the courtyard, and silhouettes were walking to and fro. However, there didn’t seem to be many people gathered.

  Still, it was clear that the people in the courtyard were exceptionally wary. There were many open and hidden sentries across the residence. Wang Chong was very familiar with such a formation.

  The first thing a military scout had to do was to identify and get rid of the enemy’s open and hidden sentries.

  “Un. Some of those that we tracked down eventually gathered up here, ”Miyasame Ayaka replied softly. With the exception of her eyes, all of her features were concealed, making is impossible to discern her current emotions.