Some of these fragments were so fast that it was impossible to make out any detail within them, and some of them gave An Yaluoshan a sense of déjà vu.
It’s about time, An Yaluoshan quietly remarked.
A cold gust of wind blew past, instantly ruffling his hair. An Yaluoshan felt as if he had reached the most important point of his life. It wasn’t merely because of the alliance, but because of something else.
It was like even though a river changed course time and time again, in the end, it had to flow through a single pass.
Clang!
A sharp clang resounded through the world. In a cold flash of light, An Yaluoshan unsheathed his sword and pointed it to the heavens.
Bang!
As the sword left its sheath, thunder exploded in the sky.
Where An Yaluoshan pointed his sword, dark clouds roiled and lightning crackled. A massive vortex quickly took form, and beneath this vortex, An Yaluoshan appeared like a god, his eyes shining brightly.
Bolts of lightning slashed down, but none of them left the area around An Yaluoshan. Yeon Gaesomun, Ozmish Khagan, the Khitan King, and the Xi Queen were all left speechless by this sight.
There had been rumors circulating in the countries of the northeast for some time that An Yaluoshan was a hidden dragon of the Central Plains, the future master of the Divine Land, the next True Dragon, Son of Heaven, who would end the Great Tang.
But Yeon Gaesomun and Ozmish Khagan had never taken this rumor to heart, believing that it would be far too foolish to take these rumors at face value.
In any dynasty, anyone who wanted to rebel would never blow their own trumpet and give themselves some pleasant name or take on some dangerous identity.
This was the same in the Great Tang and in the surrounding countries.
Everyone had believed that this was also true for An Yaluoshan, but it now seemed that things weren’t so simple.
The four sovereigns looked at An Yaluoshan’s back and wondered, Was that rumor true?
The Great Tang was a dragon while the other countries were serpents.
But even serpents had weak Dragon Qi.
From their perspective, a massive phantom that ordinary people couldn’t see had begun to take form behind An Yaluoshan, none other than a massive black dragon that connected the heavens and earth, several thousand feet long.
But there was no time to ponder such things. Soon, they heard An Yaluoshan’s deep voice, brimming with resolve and ambition.
“It is time for things to end!
“Starting from now, my relationship with the Great Tang is over. I, An Yaluoshan, desire a fortune as vast as the seas, a life as long-lived as the mountains!
“Starting from now, no one can order me around.
“In the future, there will be no An Yaluoshan. Starting today, I am An Lushan!”
Crack!
When An Yaluoshan declared himself as ‘An Lushan’, a massive boom came from overhead. A giant bolt of lightning several hundred times brighter than the sun exploded out from Youzhou, flew over An Yaluoshan’s head, and cleaved at Wang Chong’s steel fortress in the south like a giant axe.
The dazzling lightning bolt lit up the dark world as brightly as day.
Rumble!
Six-hundred-some li away, at the steel fortress, as An Yaluoshan spoke, Wang Chong’s Divine Embryo 3 trembled and opened its eyes.
At this moment, a sense of destiny welled up in his heart.
Though he couldn’t see anything, he felt as if some extremely important event that was linked to him had taken place.
“This is…!?”
A moment later, Wang Chong sensed something and instantly disappeared from the main hall.
Rumble!
A second later, just as Wang Chong appeared on the northern wall of the steel fortress, a blazing lightning bolt came out of the dark clouds covering the lands of the north. With a great rumble, a gale swept out and the sky turned a fiery red.
And in those fiery clouds, Wang Chong saw a familiar figure.
“I, An Yaluoshan, desire a fortune as vast as the seas, a life as long-lived as the mountains!
“…Starting today, I am An Lushan!”
(TN: The word ‘Lushan’ incorporates the Chinese words for ‘fortune’ and ‘mountain’, Lu and Shan.)
A faint and familiar voice that was brimming with ambition resounded in Wang Chong’s ears.
That voice seemed to penetrate through spacetime and transcend this world. It was a special existence that seemed to be linked to countless parallel dimensions, resonating and echoing off them.
Whoosh!
Wang Chong’s eyes widened, his face paling.
An Yaluoshan?
An Lushan!
Wang Chong’s mind was thrown into disarray. Whether intentionally or not, after so many twists and turns, he had finally returned to that inevitable point in his life. An Yaluoshan no longer existed in this world.
Starting from now, there was only that name whose mention would make him gnash his teeth in rage: An Lushan!
At this moment, An Yaluoshan had finally turned into his true opponent.
An Lushan!
Bang!
As this thought flitted through his mind, Wang Chong’s mind exploded. The voice of the Stone of Destiny rang out like a bell.
“Special Event: Destined Foe!
“Even after going around hundreds of thousands of times, everything returns to the starting point! This is the final mission, and it is user’s ‘destined foe’! No matter how times pass, everything comes down to the decisive battle!
“Special Event: User’s foe has already awoken to his mission, awakened his Power of the World. He has swelled in power and has the ability to control the weather, and he has the protection of the World Consciousness. When necessary, the World Consciousness will even directly interfere in his battle with user!
“All of these are thresholds that user must cross. If user wishes to change, you must defeat your destined foe.
“The final chapter! The first page! The Final Destined Foe begins!”
A string of solemn messages rang out in Wang Chong’s mind.
The warning voice of the Stone of Destiny made Wang Chong’s expression turn grim.
This moment has finally come!
Wang Chong blinked and then looked toward Youzhou. In a flash, his body erupted with thick killing intent.
“A fortune as vast as the seas, and a life as long-lived as the mountains? Whether you’re An Yaluoshan or An Lushan, I’ll make sure your seas dry up and your mountains crumble, your fortune and life both come to an end!
“While I’m here, you will never be able to make it past, will be thrown back again and again!”
As Wang Chong finished this declaration, his eyes erupted with cold light.
Boom!
His right foot stomped forward, and Wang Chong released all restraints, unleashing a pillar of energy that rocketed into the skies.
This terrifying pillar of energy, visible from several hundred li away, connected the heavens and earth.
Buzz!
As that energy shot into the air, An Yaluoshan also sensed it.
“Wang Chong!”
His eyes flickered as he looked at that pillar of energy rising from the horizon, instantly recognizing it, and an eerie smile appeared on his lips.
Despite the distance between them, the two of them seemed to share a strange mental connection, the connection between destined foes.
“Wang Chong, it doesn’t matter if you’re the Nine Provinces Protector-General or the Supreme Marshal. You cannot protect the Great Tang! You will perish together with the Central Plains!”
An Yaluoshan, or An Lushan, coldly laughed.
Bang!
A black bolt of lightning descended from the vortex of dark clouds, crashing into An Lushan’s body and engulfing him.
Roooar!
A savage roar resounded through the world. The slender black dragon around An
Lushan’s body that only a few people had been able to see suddenly expanded to one hundred times its original size, bolstered by the immense power of the lightning. As a massive black dragon, it turned its claws to the south.
An Lushan’s body popped and groaned. He was already immensely powerful, and now, he instantly rose from the high tier of the Subtle realm to the peak.
Boom! With one last rumble, An Lushan’s strength rose again, breaking through the peak of the Subtle realm and reaching the half-step Grotto Heaven realm!
Weak spacetime ripples began to radiate from An Lushan.
Those around him, particularly Gao Shang, were flabbergasted by this sight.
Dragon Qi!
He could sense that the black dragon around An Lushan was slowly approaching physical manifestation. His rising strength was a result of the black dragon growing closer to physical manifestation and harmonizing with An Lushan.
But not even Gao Shang, who had planned all this out, understood what was going on. This had been far beyond his expectations.
Gao Shang sensed that when his master changed his name and declared himself to be ‘An Lushan’, something else had happened. But Gao Shang had no time to ponder this matter.
An Lushan’s familiar voice, savage and brutal, rang out in everyone’s ears.
“Wang Chong, you want a fight, so let’s fight to the end!
“All soldiers, move out!”
Chapter 2154 - The War of Empires Officially Begins!
Chapter 2154: The War of Empires Officially Begins!
Translated by: Hypersheep325
Edited by: Michyrr
Roooar!
With a heaven-shaking roar, the combined army of the alliance, a total of more than two million soldiers, began to charge toward the steel fortress in the south.
Behind the army, two massive banner poles, far larger than the poles used to hold up the banners of the individual countries, were raised up through the effort of numerous soldiers.
As the banner flapped in the wind, the alliance army was officially established.
……
Creee!
As the alliance army moved out, several dozen li away, a circling eagle sharply screeched and began to fly southward.
A horseman saw this and immediately began to ride into the distance.
“An Yaluoshan has moved out. Report this to His Highness at once!”
“Reporting!”
“Enemy attack! The Youzhou army has mobilized!”
It took only a few moments for the movements of the Youzhou alliance to be relayed to the frontline fortress.
Wang Chong stood on the wall, the cold winds beating against his face, but when he saw this, he faintly smiled.
Turning his head, he made a gesture.
Kaclack!
The groaning of gears began to resound from all parts of the steel fortress.
More than seven hundred thousand soldiers had gathered within the steel fortress, but at this moment, the entire fortress was emptied out, all the soldiers going to their assigned positions.
In the center of the steel fortress stood a Tang banner, more than sixty meters high. The banner itself was more than seven meters long and was visible from a great distance.
“Senior, if you would!”
Wang Chong turned to the nearby Formation Elder.
“Mm.”
The old man nodded and entered one of the steel fortress’s secret passages.
Rumble! From the southeast, southwest, northeast, northwest… all parts of the fortress began to groan, and faint lights began to travel like lightning bolts across the ground. Finally, with a massive roar, the energy of an immense formation erupted out of the earth.
This was a massive formation of unprecedented size. Steel served as the carrier for this formation, and it drew on the power of the earth for several hundred li around the fortress.
A few seconds later, the energy of the formation transformed into a dome of light that covered the steel fortress.
At this time, in the administrative building newly erected in the center of the fortress, several figures stood in front of a large model. Sensing this energy shift, they raised their heads.
“Has it finally begun?” Wang Zhongsi said, turning to Wang Chong’s direction with a bright light in his eyes.
Soldiers were trained for a thousand days to be used in a single moment!
Ever since he had handed over his military authority and taken up the post of Crown Prince’s Junior Guardian, Wang Zhongsi had believed that he was done with the battlefield and that he would never get a chance to participate in a large-scale war again.
For a pure military man like him, this was undoubtedly some sort of torture.
But Wang Chong’s appearance had changed Wang Zhongsi’s destiny. The war of the northwest, which had involved millions of soldiers, was hard to believe, even for a War God like Wang Zhongsi.
For many soldiers, it was a great honor to take part in a war of this scale. One would normally go their entire lives without encountering a war like this. But now, not only had Wang Zhongsi participated in one, he was soon about to participate in another war of empires!
The countries around the Great Tang—the Eastern Turks, Goguryeo, Ü-Tsang, the Xi, and the Khitans—had joined into an alliance and invaded. And the Great Tang alone was able to withstand them all. Not even Wang Zhongsi had dared to imagine such a large-scale war.
“Let’s go out and welcome this war of ours!”
Wang Zhongsi sentimentally sighed.
His expression was firm as he gripped the hilt of his sword and strode into the snowstorm.
“To participate in this war is the greatest honor of my life!
“I have no more regrets!”
On the other side of the model, Tongluo Great General Abusi also sensed the somber mood in the air.
His eyes narrowed as he strode out of the hall.
Unlike other people, the Tongluo lived for battle. To die in battle was an extremely glorious matter for the Tongluo.
A bucket would not break far from the well, and a general would find it hard to avoid death on the battlefield. To die on the battlefield was the most honorable way to die.
A supreme war involving five empires!
Not even his ancestors could have imagined this sort of war. Abusi could feel his blood seethe as it felt the tension of war around him. It was a yearning for war, the call of destiny.
To be able to take part in this sort of historic war was a supreme reward to the Tongluo.
Life and death were no longer important. For the first time, Abusi felt that the Tongluo choosing to side with the Great Tang during Emperor Taizong’s reign had been the correct decision!
Whoosh!
Abusi followed Wang Zhongsi out of the hall, walking toward Wang Chong.
Behind them were Guo Ziyi, Su Hanshan, Chuluohou, and also Sun Zhiming, Chen Burang, and Zhang Shouzhi.
The cold winds continued to howl outside of the hall.
A few moments later, the still fortress of steel began to tremble. In the distance, snow began to seethe, a line of white beginning to approach the steel fortress.
Soon, that faint tremor became the deafening roar of a tsunami.
Neigh!
“Kiiill!”
The neighing of horses, war cries, and clattering of armor combined into a single din. From the high walls, one could see the seemingly endless army of the alliance sweeping over the north.
An Yaluoshan!
As this name came to mind, everyone turned grim.
The war was finally about to begin.
Rumble!
The trembling intensified as the millions of soldiers approached with a momentum that could topple mountains and reverse the tides.
And as this army advanced, above the alliance army, a turbulent storm howled out from the direction of Youzhou.
Kaclack!
Thunder boomed while bolts of lightning crashed down from the cloud
s.
As the alliance advanced, the temperature around the steel fortress rapidly dropped.
Whoosh!
Zhang Shouzhi watched this all transpire from the back of the crowd. Suddenly, he spotted a flash of white out of the corner of his eyes and reached out. Upon closely inspecting this white object, he froze in shock.
Resting in Zhang Shouzhi’s palm was an unusually large snowflake, the size of a goose feather.
The snowflake was suffused with an abnormal chill.
“This is…”
Zhang Shouzhi raised his head in shock, and then he realized that when the alliance army arrived, the originally small snowflakes had all become these large goose-feather snowflakes.
When Zhang Shouzhi looked across at the opposing army again, his expression had completely changed.
“Someone on the enemy side can control the weather!” Tongluo Great General Abusi solemnly announced.
As a peak Great General, Abusi had extremely sharp senses. He could tell that this was no ordinary shift in the weather, but that it was connected to someone in the alliance army.
Moreover, Abusi could tell that the area of effect was solely the region of the steel fortress.
Abusi’s words made everyone else turn grim.
……
Rumble!
At this moment, to the north, the millions of soldiers of the alliance army moved southward with a momentum that could make the world pale.
In the center of the alliance army was An Lushan, mounted upon a pitch-black steed, his body brimming with vigor and ambition. Escorted by all his guards, he rode toward the steel fortress.
“The day has finally come! No one will be able to stop me now!”
An Lushan sat straight on the saddle, his face beaming.
Ever since Zhang Shougui had captured him and brought him into the Andong Protectorate, he had envisioned this sight countless times. And now, the moment had finally come. Capable generals, able strategists, and a million-man army were all at his command.
Was there anyone in the world who could oppose him?
“Wang Chong, this time, we’ll properly have a battle to the death!
“I will thoroughly defeat you and let you taste humiliation!”
An Lushan’s eyes flashed as he spotted the distant figure of Wang Chong on the walls.
The Human Emperor c1-2382 Page 1299
