The Human Emperor c1-2382

by Huangfu Qi (皇甫奇)

  From a certain perspective, he even surpassed Zhang Shougui, even though he had always believed that Zhang Shougui had been his greatest fear.

  Silence!

  Absolute silence!

  On this vast plain of ice, the two of them stared at each other, even time seeming to have stopped.

  This was a destined meeting!

  The two of them simultaneously sensed that this might be their last meeting in their lives.

  A fierce gale howled between them.

  For a moment, the two of them just silently stared at each other.

  Bang!

  An Lushan suddenly got down on his knees, his face ashen and his body shaking.

  “Your Highness, I was wrong. I have been totally defeated and can no longer threaten the Great Tang. Your Highness is magnanimous, so please spare my life!”

  An Lushan, this man who had sought to be the master of the Central Plains, was kneeling before Wang Chong and pleading for his life!!

  Not even Wang Chong had expected this development.

  But a moment later, Wang Chong realized what was going on, and sneered.

  “Was this how you deceived Zhang Shougui?”

  Kneeling? Pleading for his life? Flattery? Adulation? Constant praise?

  An Lushan had probably used this set of techniques on numerous people.

  A man’s kneel was worth a thousand pieces of gold?

  That might have been true for someone else, but for An Lushan, this was nothing out of the ordinary.

  By trying to use this against him, An Lushan was just getting egg on his face!

  An Lushan trembled, and his face turned even whiter. In a panic, he hastily said, “An Lushan means no such thing. You have already defeated my army, and Genesis Supreme died at your hands. I no longer have the ability to cause trouble. Moreover, after this battle, all the other countries should be surrendering to the Great Tang. No country in the world will be able to threaten the Great Tang now.

  “I no longer have the resources to rebel, and you are the mighty King of Foreign Lands. Why not just let me live? I am willing to swear an oath on the World Consciousness that I will not take even half a step into the Central Plains from now on!”

  Death followed him like a shadow, and An Lushan didn’t even want to think about trying an attack. If someone as strong as Genesis Supreme had been killed by Wang Chong, he wouldn’t even be able to last a few rounds.

  Wang Chong said nothing, his harsh eyes penetrating into the depths of his soul.

  As he looked down at the panicked An Lushan, Wang Chong coldly said, “Letting a tiger return to the mountains is certain to leave a problem for the future. Do you think I don’t understand this? With how you are now, it’s no wonder you were never able to get anywhere.”

  This man had pushed the Central Plains and its millions of inhabitants into the abyss? Wang Chong suddenly felt rather disappointed.

  “If you had decided to fight to the death with me instead of running, I would have had a somewhat higher opinion of you.”

  His eyes were filled with derision that stabbed straight into An Lushan’s heart.

  An Lushan finally understood that no matter how much he begged, Wang Chong would never let him go.

  An Lushan’s heart erupted with anger, his fists clenching as his eyes filled with hatred.

  “So it really is like this! But why don’t I feel the slightest bit surprised!?”

  An Lushan had been kneeling on the ground and begging for his life, but now, he stood up and angrily smiled.

  “The same eyes. You’re just like Zhang Shougui and all the other nobles of the Great Tang! Just because we were born as Hu, we were born low-class and meant to look up at your noses?”

  An Lushan gnashed his teeth in madness, and Wang Chong instantly frowned.

  “An Lushan, you harbored treasonous intentions and intended to rebel, killing countless people and even plotting to push the entire world into the flames of war. You brought all this on yourself and deserve ten thousand deaths. What does it matter if you are Hu or Han?” Wang Chong coldly said.

  “Killing countless people?”

  An Lushan angrily laughed, derision in his eyes. “Didn’t you force me to this? Did you think I was born this way, was born with a desire to destroy the Great Tang?

  “Back in the Andong Protectorate, I was a great hero admired by all, and I once admired the style of the Great Tang and was filled with endless longing.

  “They said that the Great Tang was a land of incredible treasure and prosperity. It was the center of the world, and whether one was Hu, Han, Khitan, Goguryeon… all of them could become subjects of the Great Tang and receive the same treatment!

  “The Emperor of the Great Tang was the Heavenly Khagan! The greatest sovereign in the world!

  “I saw resplendent satin from Sichuan, exquisite porcelain, flowing rolls of silk, studied the ‘Book of Changes’, the ‘Analects’, the ‘Book of History’, the ‘Guanzi’… I once believed that I had beheld heaven on earth and even swore an oath that I would become a Tang no matter what and protect this empire with my life!

  “Because of this, I fought with countless people and was rejected and mocked by many other Hu. They said that the Hu belonged on the steppe, but I wanted to be a Tang.

  “Though I was Hu, I loved the Great Tang more than any other Hu!

  “But in the end, what did I get?!

  “I was a beast! A Hu slave! I got beating after beating, as well as unprovoked assassination attempts, and you say that I brought this on myself and deserve ten thousand deaths!”

  An Lushan’s eyes were red as he glared at Wang Chong and roared.

  At this moment, he tore away the disguise that had concealed himself for so long, revealing his true self. All his anger, dissatisfaction, and those things he had buried deep within his heart and spoken to no one about all spilled out.

  Chapter 2248 - The Struggle of a Desperate Beast!

  Chapter 2248: The Struggle of a Desperate Beast!

  Translated by: Hypersheep325

  Edited by: Michyrr

  Even though Wang Chong was determined to get rid of An Lushan, this source of calamity, even he was shocked by what he was hearing.

  An Lushan had admired the Great Tang!

  An Lushan had loved the Great Tang and had wanted to become a Tang?!

  How could that be?!!

  This man who had wanted to destroy the Central Plains and topple the Great Tang, who had brought the otherworldly invaders to this world, bringing countless people to calamity and causing rivers of blood to flow, had loved the Great Tang and wanted to become a Tang.

  If everything he said was true, then destiny had truly been playing a massive joke.

  As he stared at the red-eyed An Lushan who appeared like a furious beast, Wang Chong found himself unable to speak.

  A man at his deathbed would speak sincerely. An Lushan knew that he was dead, so he had no need to conceal this matter.

  Wang Chong felt that everything An Lushan was saying was true.

  The plain of ice was quiet, the only sound the wailing of the wind.

  “Hahaha…”

  An Lushan let out a sorrowful and indignant laugh that traveled far into the distance.

  “Zhang Shougui said that I betrayed him, but I was the one that was really betrayed. I had heard that he was the Protector-General of Andong, a great hero of the Great Tang. I left Mount Yaluo to find him, hoping to mimic Qili Hebi and serve Zhang Shougui in achieving great things for the Great Tang.

  “But when I arrived at Youzhou, what was waiting for me? Torture and humiliation! I regarded Zhang Shougui as a hero, but he treated me as a beast, granting me the title of ‘slave general’ to humiliate me and jeering, torturing, and mocking me every day.

  “But even then, I still held onto a sliver of hope. I captured my own people in the naive belief that I could prove to Zhang Shougui that I was sincerely loyal to the Great Tang and that everyone would accept me.
But… what did I get?”

  An Lushan crazily laughed.

  “Zhang Shougui treated me as an ant, an insignificant being. You were born to a clan of ministers and generals, had never met me before and held no grudge, but just because I was a Hu, you charged into a restaurant and tried to kill me. Again and again, you targeted me.

  “Zhang Shougui was like that, you were like that, and even that one you call the eternal sovereign, the Sage Emperor, was like that. The Great Tang was said to be a place where Hu and Han coexisted, but how many Hu Great Generals were there in the Imperial Court? How many Hu Prime Ministers?

  “The Great Tang that I had admired as a child, that Great Tang that accepted all people, was all a lie. It never existed.

  “Since I couldn’t get the Great Tang I wanted, I would destroy it and set up a new Great Tang that was truly tolerant.”

  An Lushan laughed like a madman.

  As Wang Chong looked at An Lushan, his eyes slowly turned to pity.

  This monologue from An Lushan’s heart truly did surprise him, but if he were allowed to succeed, countless people would die. For that ‘Great Tang’ he desired, he was even willing to draw over the otherworldly invaders. The consequences for allowing him to realize his ideals were unthinkable.

  A general’s success was established on ten thousand bleached bones, but An Lushan had already surpassed a general in terms of death toll. Not even a sea of corpses would be enough to describe the chaos he was about to bring on the world.

  ‘After me, the flood.’ This sort of saying described exactly someone like An Lushan!

  “An Lushan…” Wang Chong began, his expression indifferent and his voice emotionless.

  “You say that you wanted to establish a new ‘Great Tang’, a truly tolerant ‘Great Tang’, and I admit that what you say is true. But what is the reason you believe you can do something like this?”

  “The reason?”

  An Lushan was taken aback at first, but he proceeded to laugh.

  “Hahaha, because I’m better! I’m a Turk, but in my Youzhou army, Cui Qianyou is a Han, Tian Qianzhen is a Han, Tian Chengsi is a Han, Gao Shang is a Han, and Zhao Kan is a Han… The number of Han generals I have is greater than all of the Hu generals in the Great Tang added together. I even have many Han soldiers under my command. I treat them all as my own. Can any of you compare to me?

  “You? Or that Sage Emperor, that eternal sovereign that all of you praise?”

  An Lushan looked at Wang Chong and coldly sneered.

  Even if he had to lose, he would lose more gloriously than anyone else.

  Was there anyone since ancient times that could coexist between Hu and Han as well as him?

  Wang Chong, the so-called King of Foreign Lands, was still a narrow-minded person. If he were allowed to establish his ideal empire, would the King of Foreign Lands be anything to talk about?

  When it came to an open mind, was there anyone in the world that could compare to him?

  Wang Chong shook his head. He had only a single question in reply to An Lushan’s impassioned appearance.

  “Then… Cui Qianyou, Tian Chengsi, Tian Qianzhen, and Gao Shang—where are they now?”

  Bzzz!

  As if he had been struck by lightning, An Lushan’s smug and elated expression froze, his body went stiff, and his throat swallowed, but he couldn’t manage a word.

  “Those trusted subordinates of yours that assisted you all this time were abandoned by you at the final moment. You didn’t bring a single one with you, even though with your ability, bringing one or two people shouldn’t have been a problem, right?”

  Wang Chong coldly laughed. Even the most impassioned argument was pale and weak before cold reality.

  “How can a man who would abandon everyone and flee for his own life be trusted to do anything he claims? You wish to establish your ideal Great Tang that is tolerant and treats Hu and Han the same, but this is just an excuse to satisfy your personal desires.”

  “Bastard!”

  As if his secret had been exposed, An Lushan went ghastly pale, and he furiously roared.

  A moment later, An Lushan swung his sword at Wang Chong.

  “You’re speaking nonsense! That’s not true!”

  “Rivers and mountains are easier to change than the natures of men. You can deceive others, but can you deceive yourself? An Lushan, at this point, anything you say is meaningless. Hand over your life!”

  Wang Chong swayed, easily dodging An Lushan’s attack. At the same time, he reached out with his hand, upon which the Xuanyuan Sword flew through the air and took aim at An Lushan.

  An Lushan gnashed his teeth and roared, “No! I am the Child of the World, the future master of the Central Plains! I cannot die here! Wang Chong, our battle will not end here!”

  Bang!

  Black energy erupted from his body, transforming into a black dragon that charged at Wang Chong. Meanwhile, An Lushan soared into the sky and fled toward the northwest.

  “Fool!” A bone-chilling voice penetrated through the wind.

  Boom! A resplendent beam of Sword Qi slashed down in front of An Lushan, and the howling snowstorm and the fabric of space were both sliced open by this enormous sword.

  Standing at the source of this Sword Qi was Wang Chong, floating in the air like a ghost as if he had been standing there this whole time.

  An Lushan wanted to escape in front of him? A complete fantasy.

  Bang!

  An Lushan stared at Wang Chong and shivered in shock, fear in his eyes. With no time to think, he turned around and began to flee in another direction.

  “Go back!”

  Wang Chong’s cold voice once more exploded through the air, and a ball of energy punched out from the direction in which An Lushan had just chosen to flee.

  “Ah!” An Lushan called out in alarm as he turned around and tried to flee in another direction.

  But no matter where An Lushan ran, Wang Chong would always be waiting for him.

  This area had become a prison cell, a cell made for An Lushan alone.

  An Lushan couldn’t help but feel a sliver of despair.

  Bang!

  Finally, with a thunderous boom, Wang Chong’s Sword Qi appeared like a dazzling river of stars as it slammed An Lushan out of the air.

  Boom! An Lushan’s body created a large crater in the ground, causing snow and ice to fly into the air and the earth to shudder.

  “Ah!”

  An Lushan’s helmet fell to the side as he got to his feet. With his hair loose and disheveled, he appeared like a wailing ghost.

  “I won’t accept this! I, An Lushan, am the Child of the World! Why am I losing to an ordinary person?!

  “I went through such great effort to build up all this. For it all to be destroyed so quickly? I won’t accept it!”

  An Lushan stood in the snow and roared at the heavens.

  Rumble!

  As if in response to An Lushan’s voice, the winds howled and lightning flashed. Above An Lushan, dark clouds gathered, tens of thousands of silver snakes crackling down and seeming to tear apart the sky.

  High in the sky, a giant vortex of thunderclouds formed, and the World Consciousness descended once more.

  But this time, seemingly because An Lushan was about to die, the World Consciousness that had congregated in the thunderclouds was greater and more terrifying than ever before.

  An Lushan could sense that immensely destructive energy in the clouds, and his eyes flew open in delight.

  “Hahaha, Wang Chong, do you see it? This world is not willing to let me die!”

  An Lushan loudly laughed, and as his eyes passed over Wang Chong, he sent Psychic Energy to the World Consciousness in the clouds.

  “Save me! Hurry and take me from this place! Execute him!”

  An Lushan could tell that the World Consciousness this time was extremely powerful, enough to present an enormous threat to any Grotto Heaven realm expert.

  Chapter 2249 - The End
of the Road!

  Chapter 2249: The End of the Road!

  ]

  Translated by: Hypersheep325

  Edited by: Michyrr

  Bang!

  As if the World Consciousness had heard An Lushan’s words, it roared, and countless silver snakes crackled through the clouds. A moment later, an enormous bolt of lightning slashed down from the skies.

  As that lightning bolt cracked down, the entire world was illuminated as brightly as day.

  “Right! Just like that! Kill him!”

  An Lushan clenched his teeth in excitement.

  This attack had the power to sunder mountains. Not even Wang Chong would be able to bear it.

  “An Lushan, stop dreaming! I won’t give you any chance!” Wang Chong’s cold voice penetrated through the snowstorm and the blinding lightning.

  A moment later, An Lushan watched in shock as Wang Chong looked up at the giant lightning bolt sent down by the World Consciousness.

  Crack!

  There was a deafening boom as the lightning bolt came down. If one looked carefully, one could even see that this lightning bolt was leaving behind black fissures in the fabric of space.

  These dangerous spatial fissures were precisely one of the frightening aspects of this bolt of lightning. Steel would be easily obliterated by these fissures, and even Grotto Heaven experts would be in danger.

  But then, something even more astonishing occurred.

  That lightning bolt unleashed by the thundercloud slashed downward, but when it was about a hundred feet from Wang Chong’s head, it suddenly disappeared. It was as if there was an invisible barrier around him. Even the air currents and snow around him were undisturbed.

  It was as if it was all an illusion!

  “Impossible!”

  An Lushan’s eyes flew open in disbelief, his face twisting.

  The World Consciousness represented the thoughts of the world. This was a supreme existence far surpassing any human, whose strike represented the direct interference of the entire world. No one should have been able to resist the entire world.

  “Nothing is impossible!”