The number of master archers that had appeared atop the walls was around twenty to thirty thousand.
“!!!”
The developments that had taken place in the steel fortress over the course of a few seconds left everyone stunned.
“What’s this? How could this be?”
Yeon Gaesomun stared in shock at the ‘steel monster’ before him.
Yeon Gaesomun was Goguryeo’s most fierce and most aggressive sovereign, and he possessed a thunderous reputation in the northeast that made all the other factions apprehensive.
But even Yeon Gaesomun couldn’t help but be stunned by this massive being.
The previous steel fortress had just been a powerful defensive barrier, but now, it was a metal monster that was armed to the teeth, excelling in both offense and defense.
Even someone as courageous as Yeon Gaesomun, who had fought in countless campaigns, had never encountered an adversary like this.
The most powerful sovereign in the history of Goguryeo felt alarm, and an immense pressure weighed down on his shoulders.
And it wasn’t just Yeon Gaesomun. The Xi Queen, the Khitan King, and Ozmish Khagan were also in disbelief.
This steel fortress had become far more difficult to deal with than they had ever imagined.
The clanking of gears continued to come from within the fortress. There was no telling what other formidable measures Wang Chong had in reserve.
The Xi Queen shivered as she asked, “Can we not go around this fortress?”
“Impossible!” Ozmish Khagan said. At this time, his body was surging with energy that repulsed all the snow for several dozen feet around him.
“The steel fortress’s location was chosen for good reason. The region of the Cang Province and Ying Province is a chokepoint that we must get through to go farther south.
“If we try to get around it, then once half of our force is past the steel fortress and the other half is still behind it, that man will strike without hesitation to intercept us. With our center in chaos, even if we try to attack his army from both sides, the disorder will hinder our troops. In the end, all we will have is a major defeat!
“That man is definitely capable of such a thing,” Ozmish Khagan said.
The Xi Queen was too young, and she was no master strategist. Thus, she only half-understood or didn’t understand many things. She also did not understand how frightening Wang Chong was.
If only it were that easy to move around the fortress!
Alas, that was only a dream.
“But if we can’t pass through here, why can’t we move through the Eastern Turkic steppe?” the Xi Queen said with pursed lips, unwilling to give up.
“It’s still no good!” Yeon Gaesomun said. In terms of strategy and tactics, he was far superior to the others.
“Have you forgotten about his city in Wushang? That man long ago placed a garrison in Wushang, and he has the Western Turkic Khaganate’s army to help him. In this way, the two fortresses resonate with each other.
“If we try and move around, the army of millions and its supply train will be extremely long. We will have our backs to the Great Tang, exposing our weaknesses. The moment the Tang attack our rear, we will suffer devastating losses.
“The Tang are extremely powerful, comparable to their forces during the Shenlong Era. And now, the Great Tang has an army of one million soldiers. If we make a strategic error like that now, then I estimate that given that man’s abilities, we will lose at least one million soldiers. And even if we succeed in moving around the fortress, we will have one million soldiers left at most. Without an advantage in numbers, we will have no chance of victory.
“Thus, in order to destroy the Great Tang, we can’t rely on any tricks. We can only combine all our forces together, crush this fortress, and then march southward and annihilate the Great Tang.
“The Great Tang’s primary force is here. If we flatten this fortress, the Great Tang will have nothing left to resist us. This battle is the decisive one! There is no going back!” Yeon Gaesomun sternly said.
His eyes were sharp, the six pitch-black sabers on his back making him seem even more awesome and mighty.
When it came to strategy, he was far more capable than the other sovereigns.
The Xi Queen was speechless.
When she looked back at that pitch-black wall that extended all the way to the Ying Province and that confident youth atop it, her eyes flickered.
She had never imagined that this ordinary steel fortress would have this other purpose, and she had certainly not imagined that this one battle would be the decisive one.
The Xi Queen was somewhat regretful as she looked up at that youthful figure.
She knew that he was sharp, but not this sharp!
For the first time, she understood in what way this King of Foreign Lands was formidable!
But there was no time to ponder these matters, for the battle had begun.
Bong! Bong! Bong!
The drums thundered with a special rhythm and strength, plucking at the heartstrings of the alliance army. The millions of soldiers felt their blood seethe and their killing intent swell. Baleful energy soared into the heavens.
The Mengwu War Drums!
These were ancient war drums, said to be made from the skin of an ancient beast. Not only was the skin tough and flexible, it was imbued with a unique power that could raise the morale of the army and their desire to kill.
Even though the countries of the alliance had exerted all their strength, they had only been able to obtain twenty of these Mengwu War Drums.
Chapter 2159 - The Myriad Forms Celestial Mantra!
Chapter 2159: The Myriad Forms Celestial Mantra!
Translated by: Hypersheep325
Edited by: Michyrr
As the drums pounded, clangclangclang! A force of a hundred-thousand-some soldiers swept out of the alliance army in a steel flood. A few moments later, a second force of a hundred-thousand-some soldiers marched out.
And then a third, a fourth…
War banners snapped in the air with a grim and somber mood.
“Hmph! Do you think that turtling up in your fortress will do anything?”
An Lushan looked at the steel fortress and sneered.
Since he dared to strike against the Great Tang, he had naturally made all possible preparations. It didn’t matter that Wang Chong had this steel fortress and tens of thousands of ballistae. He had expected all of this.
One could not get the tiger’s cub without entering its den!
In order to realize his ambitions, he needed to utterly crush the Great Tang!
“It’s my turn! This time, Wang Chong, I’m going to give you a big surprise!”
An Lushan’s eyes flashed with cold light as he extended his hand toward the sky.
Rumble!
Suddenly, the dark clouds above the alliance army accelerated toward the steel fortress.
Crackoom! Above An Lushan, thunder rumbled and lightning blazed. A moment later, a giant vortex of thunderclouds had formed with a diameter of thirty to forty thousand feet.
The army fell silent.
The Power of the World!
After fusing with the black dragon, An Lushan had gained even greater control over the Power of the World.
“Go!”
His eyes chilled as his fingers extended toward the steel wall and then flicked.
Whoosh!
As everyone stared in shock, the snow falling from the clouds suddenly intensified by several times, and the world instantly whited out.
And as An Lushan made his move, the temperature began to rapidly fall.
Bang!
A hundred-some feet away from the alliance army, a crystalline ball of hail dropped from the sky with a crisp smack. In the distance, a layer of ice began to rapidly creep across the steel fortress.
Most bizarre of all was that under An Lushan’s control, the rapidly falling temperature was restricted to only the stee
l fortress and its environs.
As for the nearby alliance army, it was completely unaffected.
As the Child of the World, An Lushan felt as if this power rightly belonged to him. He could even sense the existence of the World Consciousness. He had a strange connection with the world, and it felt like nothing he did would ever fail.
When the entire world was standing on his side, who could contend against him?
Kaclack!
The open fingers of An Lushan’s right hand that were aimed at the sky closed together, and with a crackle, the temperature of the steel fortress dropped once more, and the blizzard pressed forward.
Under An Lushan’s control, only the area of the steel fortress was affected by the blizzard.
“True Dragon!”
“True Dragon!”
“True Dragon!”
All of the Youzhou soldiers and the alliance soldiers cheered, their morale restored.
He could summon clouds and blizzards, control the weather. If An Lushan was not the future master of the Central Plains, the True Dragon Son of Heaven, then who was?
All of the alliance soldiers were brimming with excitement.
An Lushan smiled.
After a parting of three days, a gentleman had to be looked at in a different light. He wanted to give Wang Chong a big surprise this time.
“Your Highness!”
Within the fortress, the crackling and groaning of forming ice could be heard. The descent of the cold wave had already left the fortress very cold, but now, the temperature had dropped several more degrees. The banners fluttering within the fortress were swiftly enveloped in frost.
The banners which should have snapped in the air had now become frozen cudgels.
It wasn’t just the banners, but the steel buildings and the metal armor on the bodies of the soldiers that also began to rapidly frost over.
The Tang soldiers had been through a strict selection process, and all of them possessed outstanding cultivation and thick reserves of Stellar Energy. But in this awful environment, their Stellar Energy was rapidly consumed, directly influencing their fighting power.
Countless eyes turned to Wang Chong.
Everyone felt somewhat uneasy.
The battle had only just begun, and the two armies had yet to actually clash. For their army to be caught up in such terrible weather was extremely bad news!
Wang Zhongsi, Abusi, and Zhang Shougui all gravely looked up at the sky.
This ability to control the weather from the Youzhou side had transcended the domain of martial arts, and it had also gone beyond the realm of an ordinary war. This was a domain that none of them could interfere with.
“Evil beast!” Zhang Shougui cursed, his face ashen.
If he had not long ago agreed to obey all of Wang Chong’s orders in this war of the northeast, he would have already jumped down from the walls to kill An Lushan.
“Just a minor trick that’s not worth worrying about!”
This voice instantly drew everyone’s attention.
Whoosh!
As the winds wailed around him, Wang Chong stood with his hands held behind his back, appearing lofty and majestic as if nothing in the world could trouble him.
“Is this what you’re relying on?”
Wang Chong looked across and coldly laughed.
With his formidable Psychic Energy, he had far sharper senses than the others. He could clearly sense some immense, unnatural power gathering above An Lushan’s head. Through some bizarre method, it was influencing the air above the steel fortress.
Not only that, the region upon which the steel fortress sat was trembling due to this unnatural power. It felt as if a volcano deep within the earth was about to erupt.
Wang Chong was no stranger to this power.
The World Consciousness!
Changing the world and changing history were no easy tasks. An Lushan was only so bold precisely because he had the protection of the World Consciousness, which allowed him to oppose him and escape again and again.
One could say that though it seemed like he was fighting An Lushan, he was actually fighting the entire world!
“Hmph! What does it matter if it’s the World Consciousness? An Lushan, even if you have the help of the entire world, I will still kill you!”
Wang Chong’s cold voice pierced through the snowstorm and rumbled like thunder across the battlefield.
Whoosh!
Before anyone could react, Wang Chong looked up and slowly reached out his hand. A moment later, Wang Chong activated one of the Stone of Destiny’s abilities.
“Myriad Forms Celestial Mantra!”
Boom!
A massive, silver lightning bolt suddenly emerged out of the sky and shot toward the north. Wang Chong’s armor clattered as an invisible energy spread out from him like a turbulent wave.
In Wang Chong’s mind, a miniature projection of the continent appeared. The steel fortress, the million-man army, the flat steppe, the dark clouds, the endless snow… all of it displayed itself in front of him with startling detail.
At this moment, Wang Chong was a god that looked down on the northeastern region of the continent.
He could clearly ‘see’ lightning flashing across the world. With An Lushan at its center, a terrifying energy was influencing the weather.
Above his head was a vortex of dark clouds, and one could vaguely make out a pair of cold and golden eyes within it.
These were not real eyes, but the Power of the World that was targeting Wang Chong, growing stronger and stronger and approaching physical manifestation.
That was the World Consciousness!
Bolstered by the World Consciousness, An Lushan was like a tiger with wings!
But…
Rumble!
About ten thousand feet away from the steel fortress, the Power of the World that An Lushan had unleashed encountered formidable resistance. This turbulent and boundless energy was not one bit inferior to An Lushan’s weather-controlling power.
Bang!
With a massive explosion, the raging snowstorm was blasted apart by some enormous force, dwindling to not even one-tenth of its original force.
The extreme cold that had enveloped the steel fortress scattered. The sheets of ice that had formed on the banners and walls cracked off and dropped to the ground as the temperature rapidly recovered.
Although the steel fortress was still enveloped by the cold wave, it was not an unbearable cold.
“Notice! User has activated the ability of the ‘Archon of Destiny’!
“Archon of Destiny! This is an expression of extreme praise to the user, and its privileges are above those of the Controller of Destiny! For the Archon of Destiny, all Destiny Energy exchange prices will be sharply reduced, and it additionally comes with an ability to resist the World Consciousness!
“As the Archon of Destiny, you are the master of your own fate. Not even the World Consciousness or the torrent of history can stop you! This is a reward for user’s tenacious spirit!
“Notice: The Myriad Forms Celestial Mantra is a powerful ability that can resist the World Consciousness, but it requires the expenditure of additional points of Destiny Energy. Each second consumes one hundred points of Destiny Energy! As the ability of the Archon of Destiny sharply reduces all Destiny Energy exchange prices, each second will consume ten points of Destiny Energy. Calculation starting now!”
Chapter 2160 - The Power of the Archon of Destiny!
Chapter 2160: The Power of the Archon of Destiny!
Translated by: Hypersheep325
Edited by: Michyrr
The voice of the Stone of Destiny rang out in Wang Chong’s mind.
Rumble! Between Wang Chong and An Lushan, the snowstorm swiftly dissipated. Wang Chong could once more see An Lushan’s alliance army and its constantly advancing ranks.
Buzz!
As he saw the snowstorm dissipate and once more saw Wang Chong on the wall, An Lushan felt his breathing
almost come to a stop.
Behind An Lushan, the excited soldiers of the alliance army were rendered speechless.
“How could this be?!”
But still, An Lushan was the most stunned of all.
He was the Child of the World, an existence chosen by the heavens who could control the world!
How could Wang Chong contend against him?
“This can’t be!”
In a flash, An Lushan came back to his senses and gnashed his teeth. He did not believe that Wang Chong could actually resist him.
“There’s no way you can oppose my Power of the World! Again!”
An Lushan savagely extended his hand into the air and once more increased his control over the Power of the World.
Thunder rumbled once more, but this time, the thunder was even louder, and the vortex of clouds in the air grew even more turbulent.
Crackcrack! As lightning raged in the skies, giant flakes of snow once more began to drop from the clouds, and the temperature once more plunged to frightening levels.
“Not enough! Still not enough! Wang Chong, I’m going to turn you and your steel fortress into blocks of ice!”
As the snowstorm rapidly expanded and intensified, An Lushan hatefully glared and increased his control over the Power of the World.
The Power of the World so thickly encompassed the region that it became almost tangible. Even the alliance soldiers could sense this mysterious existence, and it made them vaguely uneasy.
Whoosh!
As he saw the steel fortress enveloped in an even greater blizzard, Wang Chong’s eyes flashed with disdain.
“An Lushan, it doesn’t matter what you do. Your abilities aren’t even worth mentioning in front of me.”
Wang Chong spoke with contempt and derision.
Without hesitation, Wang Chong increased the power of the Myriad Forms Celestial Mantra, the consumption going from ten points to fifteen points. Although it was an additional five points every second, considering the discount from the Archon of Destiny’s abilities, the Myriad Forms Celestial Mantra’s cost had increased by fifty points of Destiny Energy.
The Human Emperor c1-2382 Page 1302
