The Human Emperor c1-2382

by Huangfu Qi (皇甫奇)

  This sight made the gray-robed man furrow his brows.

  This abandoned city wasn’t very prosperous, and its inhabitants were simple and frugal. No one would make food and then suddenly leave without a good reason. This was far too bizarre.

  Buzz!

  As he continued forward, he began to hear a buzzing sound. The man stopped, frowned, and began to move in the direction of the sound.

  In front of him was a massive building. Judging by its appearance, it was probably the local ancestral hall.

  After a moment of hesitation, the gray-robed man pushed open the door and entered.

  “Ugh!”

  The moment he saw what was inside, the man paled, his body trembling as he vomited.

  Corpses!

  A huge mass of corpses!

  The bodies of countless people had been piled high in the ancestral hall—a cruel and gruesome sight.

  The buzzing he had heard was the large number of flies attracted by all the rotting flesh.

  Among the corpses, he even spotted an official’s hat!

  There was no doubt that all the missing people were here.

  No one could say what had happened here, but it was so frighteningly gruesome that the man seemed to be greatly stunned, staggering out of the hall and running as he continued to gag.

  Bang!

  As he charged out of the hall and onto the street, the earth shuddered. With a terrifying roar, the ground cracked open, and a massive black silhouette emerged.

  Roooar!

  As it rose from the ground, a black tentacle swept toward the man.

  The gray-robed man turned his head and saw a giant maw covered with sharp teeth, and also two savage red eyes.

  A monster!

  The shape of this monster made no sense, and it appeared like a failed product. It appeared like a limp pile of flesh, claws randomly growing out of places that they shouldn’t have. Even so, the monster possessed a frightening ability to kill.

  Bang!

  As the giant tentacle smashed down, the gray paving stones of the street were shattered apart, the debris spraying everywhere.

  The man instantly leaped away, barely dodging the tentacle’s strike.

  Creee!

  At almost the same time, a dazzling firework shot up from the man’s body, leaving a blazing trail of smoke and light that was clearly visible from even several hundred li away.

  The gray-robed man’s eyes instantly turned cold and vicious.

  It’s them!

  They had already found several areas across the north where someone had been gathering the embryos of various animals, but this was the first time they had received confirmation that the embryos were being used to create Behemoths.

  Everyone knew that besides the Supreme King, only one group had the Behemoth Creation Art: the Celestial God Organization.

  There was no doubt that the Celestial God Organization that had disappeared three years ago had reemerged.

  Clang!

  Facing down this monster, the gray-robed man pulled out a pair of sharp daggers and charged, moving as nimbly as a swallow.

  ……

  Several days later, in the distant capital…

  Under an overcast sky, several hawks carrying special insignias flew into a government office close to the Imperial Palace.

  As the hawks landed, a guard came forward to receive them, smoothly removing their letters before jumping down from the roof and delivering the reports to a black-robed and slender figure who exuded power and majesty.

  “Your Highness, reports from Teams Two and Five. They’ve discovered traces of the Celestial God Organization. Together with the reports from the other teams, we have now discovered seven areas connected to the Celestial God Organization,” the guard respectfully said.

  “I see. You’re dismissed.”

  Li Xuantu waved his hand, his face aloof.

  “Yes!”

  The guard flew away. As he turned, the special insignia on his waist was clearly exposed for a moment.

  On one side of the token was a spear piercing through a golden dragon, and on the other side, the words ‘God Vanquisher’ had been written in ancient script!

  It had been three years since the Celestial Palace incident and the disappearance of the Celestial God Organization. Even so, Wang Chong and his allies had not given up the pursuit. The God Vanquisher Group was an organization that Wang Chong and his allies had established to deal with the Celestial God Organization, selected from the elites of the entire world.

  The Dragon Guard, the Shadow Dragons, the imperial servitors, Wang Chong’s own elites, and martial experts from various countries were all gathered into this organization. Wang Chong’s own Wind, Forest, Fire, and Mountain Teams, and the intelligence network of the imperial household, had also been merged into the organization.

  The God Vanquisher Group was not under the Six Bureaus, and its authority far exceeded any of them.

  The leader of this force was none other than the former Crown Prince, Li Xuantu.

  Li Xuantu had a special status. Not only was he a member of the imperial household, he was a close ally of Wang Chong. In the Celestial Palace incident, he had done everything in his power to buy time for Wang Chong to defeat Heaven, so he was the best choice to lead this force.

  A soft sigh came from behind him. Li Jingzhong, wearing robes of black silk, suddenly spoke.

  “Your Highness, on an island in the ocean to the south, we found that the Celestial God Organization had already withdrawn. And to the north, we found traces of Behemoths. This is bad news for us. It seems like the three years of peace are about to end.”

  Li Xuantu was the leader of the God Vanquisher Group, and its deputy leader was none other than the chief eunuch of the inner court, Li Jingzhong.

  “It was always a false peace. If Heaven’s not dead, there’s no such thing as peace. Didn’t we already know this three years ago?”

  Li Xuantu placed his hands behind his back, his face calm and relaxed.

  The Celestial God Organization would appear one day. As someone who had taken part in those events, he was keenly aware of this.

  “But this is an extremely important matter. Don’t we need to inform the Supreme King?” Li Jingzhong cautiously asked.

  While they were the head and deputy head of the God Vanquisher Group, everyone knew that the true leader could only be the Supreme King, Wang Chong.

  And only Wang Chong could deal with Heaven!

  Li Xuantu slightly frowned as he pondered the question, but he quickly waved his hand and firmly said, “There’s no need. This is only the beginning. Until the final moment, until I have given the order, no one is to disturb the Supreme King. Unless Heaven appears, you should know what the consequences will be for disturbing the Supreme King.”

  Three years ago, Wang Chong had announced that he was entering seclusion to seek an even higher realm, after which he had vanished, stepping back from the political stage. With Wang Chong gone, Li Xuantu, Zhangchou Jianqiong, Wang Zhongsi, Ozmish Khagan, Bahram, and all the others had taken the various roles Wang Chong had played and continued to ensure that the continent ran smoothly.

  All of them had reached a tacit agreement that until that final day arrived, no one was to disturb Wang Chong. This was because the fate of all countries, all of civilization, rested on him.

  If Wang Chong failed, humanity would come to an end.

  “Yes! This lowly one understands!”

  Li Jingzhong’s heart thumped as he quickly lowered his head.

  Li Xuantu glanced at him and asked, “How are the preparations in the other groups going?”

  “The various great clans of Lingnan are basically done. In addition, the training in the other groups is nearing completion,” Li Jingzhong hastily said, his expression relaxing.

  “Confirm it again. No mistake can be permitted,” Li Xuantu sternly said.

  “Yes.”

  A few moments later, several messenger birds
flew out in all directions.

  Chapter 2381 - The Mighty Great Tang, Armed and Ready!

  Chapter 2381: The Mighty Great Tang, Armed and Ready!

  Translated by: Hypersheep325

  Edited by: Michyrr

  Far to the south, on the seemingly endless ocean…

  Bang!

  With a massive boom, a fleet of countless large tower ships broke through the waves, throwing out grappling hooks as they approached the shore.

  “They’re coming into the harbor! They’re coming in!”

  Countless people near the pier let out heaven-shaking cheers as stairs were thrown out from the tower ships and countless sailors disembarked.

  Their leader had a dark, tanned face, and his body was brimming with energy and exuded the aura of a leader. If one looked carefully, one would find that this person appeared somewhat similar to Wang Chong. This person was none other than Wang Chong’s cousin, Wang Liang.

  After many years at sea, Wang Liang had long ago ceased to be that immature youth. Through his countless mortal struggles with Mother Nature, Wang Liang had become the renowned ‘King of the Seas’ of the Great Tang. And the fleet of tower ships under his command was simply enormous.

  More importantly, before entering seclusion, Wang Chong had passed all naval affairs of the continent to Wang Liang, including all things concerning the relations between the Great Tang and the Promised Land.

  “Young Master Wang, thank you for your efforts.”

  A Lingnan official, wearing court robes and a joyous expression, was waiting to welcome Wang Liang at the pier.

  “Sir Governor, I have kept you waiting,” Wang Liang said, apparently familiar with this person.

  This was the Governor of Lingnan, and at the same time, the representative of the great clans of Lingnan. Over the years, Wang Liang had been responsible for shipping and the training of sailors, and the great clans were responsible for building the tower ships that Wang Liang used.

  Each person had their clearly defined job.

  Wang Liang had never disappointed them, and he had made these clans a great deal of money, developing the navy from nothing to this prosperous sight before them.

  Of course, the most important factor was that Wang Liang’s surname was Wang. He represented the Wang Clan of the Great Tang and the revered Supreme King.

  “Sir Wang, you’ve brought a great deal of stone and grain this time.”

  Liu Zhi came up, his face all smiles.

  “Three hundred thousand dan in total. Today is the tenth batch. Together with the previous shipments, there should be enough for the Great Tang to eat for seven years,” Wang Liang said, a hint of pride on his face.

  Even before the war of the northeast, the Promised Land had already begun to ship grain to the Great Tang, but the shipments from the last three years had been far greater than before.

  Each time he came back with grain, he would leave with people. By now, Wang Liang had transported at least two million people over to the Promised Land.

  “Wonderful!”

  Liu Zhi was delighted to hear this number.

  “Right. Sir Wang, I have heard that the Promised Land already has many fields with abundant harvests, six or seven crops in a year. Is that true?”

  “Hahaha, where did you hear that?”

  Wang Liang heartily laughed.

  “Six or seven crops in a year is impossible, but four a year, one in each season, does happen. When planting crops in the Promised Land, one year is the equivalent of two, and everything that’s being grown is hybrid rice.”

  “Impressive, impressive! Four crops a year is truly astonishing. The Promised Land is truly the land of hope, the land of plenty!”

  Liu Zhi sighed in wonder.

  Hybrid rice was already being promoted throughout the Great Tang. Even so, only two crops per year was possible, and in the north, it was only one crop per year. That the Promised Land could have four harvests per year was unthinkable for the Tang.

  “Right, how is the progress on your end?”

  “It’s about done. All the great clans have been working hard the last few days, and almost all the ancient trees of Lingnan deep in the mountains have been cut down. However, following His Highness’s orders, we always plant a new sapling for every tree we cut down. Not too long ago, we managed to hit one hundred thousand tower ships, but we currently lack the manpower to bring all these ships to the sea. I’ve already handed off some of the ships to the Imperial Court for it to use for military purposes,” Liu Zhi firmly said.

  One hundred thousand tower ships had required almost the entire strength of the Great Tang, the mustering of countless great clans who worked day and night.

  Everyone knew of the duty on their shoulders. The one hundred thousand tower ships served as the Great Tang’s lifeline in Wang Chong’s plan. If they lost the war, the Promised Land would be where they could retreat.

  Consider defeat before considering victory!

  Wang Chong could decide to not think about himself, but he had to consider the civilians of the Great Tang.

  Wang Liang sternly nodded as he replied, “Thank you for your efforts. Our duties are of utmost importance, and everyone’s lives depend on them. Everything on our end will be done on schedule. The rest will depend on how the others are faring!”

  “Yes, that’s all we can do.”

  Liu Zhi sighed.

  Three years ago, before entering seclusion, Wang Chong had gathered up the upper echelons of the continent and divided the world into several large regions. Each region was under the responsibility of someone else. Wang Liang and Liu Zhi had been tasked with the southern region.

  For the last three years, everyone had been working hard to complete their mission so as to reduce the burden on Wang Chong so that he could focus on dealing with Heaven. But it was also because everyone wanted to do their part for the Great Tang and all of humanity.

  Boom!

  “Ha!”

  Horns blared in the distance, drawing the attention of the pair.

  Turning in the direction of the sound, they saw countless bare-chested men atop a nearby mountain, pulling along a giant tower ship that was several dozen meters tall down a slope made of round logs. With a great rumble, the ship slid down the slope and crashed into the sea, sending water flying.

  And if one were able to look down from the sky, one could see numerous tower ships like this being hauled out from deep in the mountains toward the ocean.

  It was a grandiose and astonishing sight that stretched into the horizon.

  ……

  ……

  Farther west, all the way to the extremely famous Red Sea and then even farther west, in this distant land, just as much work was taking place.

  “La!”

  “Sa!”

  Several thousand meters away from Baghdad, on this barren land, countless Arabs were shouting as they pulled. They were organized into five-member teams, and each team had a giant, scythe-like machine in front of it.

  The scythe arms of these machines went up and down, up and down, and with this movement, thick black oil gushed out of the ground.

  Arabian Kerosene!

  Three years ago, following Wang Chong’s order, they had abandoned the original oil extraction sites used by the Arabian Empire and traveled to this small city in the middle of the Arabian Desert.

  This place was inhabited by a nomadic people known as the Bedouins, and there was nothing but desert around. In the Arabian Empire, this was a forgotten and insignificant tribe. But it really was as Wang Chong had said: by using mining machines, they were able to dig up large amounts of kerosene, far more than had originally been extracted from the Arabian Empire’s territory. The extraction was easier and the quantities more abundant.

  With the machines developed by Wang Chong, they were able to extract oil at an astonishing rate.

  In the war of the northeast, even though Wang Chong had made ample preparations, he had still been lacking i
n kerosene for a variety of reasons. After he used it several times in battle, the kerosene had run out. But with the development of this oil-producing region, this problem had completely been resolved.

  Every day, large amounts of black kerosene were transported to the capital of the Great Tang.

  “Today’s shipment of kerosene has been sent off. At present, the Great Tang has already stockpiled seventy million barrels of kerosene. Even if another cold wave comes, it should be enough to sustain the Great Tang for seventy large-scale battles.”

  In the garrison at the edge of the oil extraction region, Gao Xianzhi watched as those giant oil extraction machines worked.

  An Sishun stood next to him, his eyes roving back and forth as he voiced his agreement. “Mm, we’ve already far surpassed the goal we agreed on three years ago. If this goes on, we can easily reach eighty million barrels. At the very least, we won’t have to worry about kerosene running out.”

  ‘Barrels’ were how the Arabian Empire now measured its oil output.

  At the time of the cold wave, the Arabian Empire had used pottery or iron balls to store kerosene. This was done because kerosene burned easily, and this method was relatively safe. But there was a major problem, as they did not hold much and were not easy to transport.

  Three years ago, during that high-level conference in the Great Tang, when the entire continent had been divided into regions, while Wang Liang and Liu Zhi had been assigned to Lingnan to build one hundred thousand ships and transport grain, Gao Xianzhi and An Sishun had been assigned as the supreme commanders of the western region. This region consisted of the entire western world and the Arabian Empire, and their job was to excavate and stockpile kerosene for the Great Tang.

  For excavation and transportation, Wang Chong had designed a new storage container, the oil barrel.

  The cylindrical oil barrels could hold a large amount of oil and could be sealed tight. They were also easy to transport, as they were less breakable than pottery. They could even be rolled on the ground, making them convenient to move around.

  The Great Tang had summoned craftsmen from all the other countries to begin producing these iron oil barrels.

  Oil excavation was now very safe and efficient.