The Human Emperor

Chapter 1313: A Moment of Darkness (III)

Translated by: Hypersheep325

Edited by: Michyrr

“At every autumn harvest, Ü-Tsang, the Eastern and Western Turks, and all the other surrounding countries would invade the Central Plains, something that has never once ceased. Ü-Tsang is only reducing its army as a stalling tactic! Once the time is ripe, it will undoubtedly rise again and strike at the Central Plains! Everyone, you can’t just take them at their word!” Wang Chong sternly said.

Buzz!

The crowd became so quiet that one could hear a pin drop. For a moment, the only sound was the blowing of the wind.

“You are the Demon King of Slaughter! Everyone, don’t listen to him!”

“Wang Chong, you were made King of Foreign Lands and have already killed one million people. Is that still not enough?! Will you only be satisfied when all of the Central Plains is covered in corpses and drenched in blood, becoming a land of Asuras? You generals are nothing but warmongers who will resort to anything!”

“To think that we believed in you so much, treating your ‘Might Makes Right’ like some precious treasure, and reading it over and over again, even arguing with my teacher. It turns out that all this was for your private gain. You were raising a private army and defying imperial decree because you wanted to rebel! I truly had the wrong idea about you!”

“Wang Chong, you ambitious piece of scum!”

A few moments later, the crowd exploded once more with furious roars, countless people criticizing and cursing Wang Chong, their faces twisted in rage, none of them convinced by Wang Chong’s previous words. This vast din of curses and rebuke caused Wang Chong’s heart to twist and writhe.

The qi and blood within Wang Chong had calmed down after his return from the Western Regions, but these waves of curses and attacks made them roil once more.

“Everyone, listen to me…”

Wang Chong still wanted to say more, but the furious crowd could no longer hear his voice.

Bang!

A stone flew through the air and struck him on the forehead, but Wang Chong simply stood where he was, motionless.

“Milord!”

Upon seeing this sight, Cheng Sanyuan, Su Shixuan, Xu Keyi, and the others instantly paled and rushed up to protect Wang Chong.

“Milord, let’s go! Now is not the time for debate!”

“Their misunderstandings of Milord are too deep! One day, they will understand!” they anxiously said.

Pingpingping! As they rushed up to protect Wang Chong, a rain of stones came down, the attacks of the crowd intensifying.

“Stop! This old man has something to ask you!” an elderly voice suddenly resounded through the crowd.

A moment later, the crowd parted to allow through a gray-haired man of more than eighty years, wearing coarse brown clothes and holding a stick, his back hunched.

The old man stared at Wang Chong, his face suffused with anger.

The crowd became much quieter as countless people gazed at this old man walking up to Wang Chong. A few people even took a few steps back to give the pair more space.

Those who lived to seventy were rare, and eighty was an extremely venerable age!

In the Great Tang, those who lived to the age of eighty enjoyed great prestige and respect. No matter how stubborn or headstrong one was, no one would ever dare to do anything to an elder of eighty years in front of a crowd.

“Wang Chong, you are from a clan of ministers and generals, a King of the Great Tang. This old man is just a senior from the countryside and can’t compare to you. If you have the capability, beat this old man to death!”

The old man ambled forward with his cane, coldly sneering at Wang Chong.

Even Wang Chong was struck dumb by these abrupt words.

“This old man is eighty-three this year. Unlike the others, this old man is just someone from the south, not a resident of the capital. As the saying goes, men fight over a single breath of air, but does a Buddha fight over a stick of incense? While this old man has lived eighty-some years, I’ve never gotten red in the face while arguing with someone. Whenever this old man encounters a problem, this old man always tells himself to endure and yield. But this time, this old man endured the travails of the road to come to the capital and see you. Do you know why?”

The old man’s face was ashen as he jabbed his cane at Wang Chong.

“Elder, stop!”

“What are you doing?!”

Su Shixuan and Xu Keyi were both angry and shocked, but none of them dared to step forward, much less hit the man. Elders of eighty years were some of the most respected people in the world. Anyone who dared to touch them would immediately be rebuked by the world and rejected from society.

Too afraid to touch the old man, they could only use their bodies to protect Wang Chong and take the beatings of the old man’s cane.

“Xu Keyi, Su Shixuan, stand aside!”

Wang Chong spoke as he stared in a daze at this gray-haired old man without a speck of martial arts within him. He had imagined all sorts of situations and all sorts of enemies, but he had never imagined that he would be facing an ordinary and wrathful elder of the Great Tang. These were the people that he had thought of every way possible to protect. At that moment, Wang Chong felt his blood and qi roil in chaos, but there seemed to be something blocking their path and preventing them from being vented.

“Let him come!”

Regardless of what was happening, Wang Chong did not care. Wang Chong only wanted to hear what this old man had to say, wanted to understand why he was so angry.

Su Shixuan and Xu Keyi felt their bodies freeze, and though they were unwilling, they had never dared to defy Wang Chong’s orders. Their faces alternating between green and white, they were compelled to the side.

“Hmph! Boy, this old man has muddled his way into an advanced age and seen many things. As long as you live long enough, you see all kinds of strange and weird things, but this is the first time this old man has seen someone like you. The other people here came to beat you for being a warmonger or because you planned to rebel, but not this old man!”

With a cold chuckle, the old man took out a book from his bosom and threw it down in front of Wang Chong. Su Shixuan and the others paled when they saw the three words on the cover, and Wang Chong himself seemed like he had been struck by a bolt of lightning, his face turning ghastly pale. This book was none other than Wang Chong’s ‘Might Makes Right’.

Wang Chong seemed to understand something, but he said nothing and continued to stare at the old man.

“Might makes right? This old man has lived for many years, but he has never seen anyone dare to so grandly print such words on a cover and espouse such ideals to the world. Didn’t you say in your book that tigers eat wolves, wolves eat dogs, and dogs eat rabbits? Didn’t you huff and puff about how the strong eat the weak and only the fittest survive? Do you know what the Central Plains will be like once your theory is put into practice?

“Come then! This old man knows that you’re from a clan of ministers and generals and that you’re a very strong and formidable man. Beat this old man to death then! This old man has lived for a few years now and doesn’t have much ability. If you think you’re right, if you think that might makes right, then come and beat this old man to death!”

As the old man spoke, he fiercely stepped up to Wang Chong, his face extremely agitated.

“Wang Chong would not dare!”

Wang Chong grimaced and instinctively stepped back. But a moment later…

Thump!

A palm slapped across Wang Chong’s face. This was so sudden that let alone Su Shixuan and the others, even the civilians behind the old man were dumbstruck. No one had expected that the old man would give Wang Chong a fierce slap in front of the crowd.

“Milord!”

Wang Chong’s subordinates paled, but only now did they finally react and put themselves between Wang Chong and the old man.

“Brats! Get out of my way!”

The old man’s eyes were fixed on Wang Chong and he immediately began to flail and curse at Su Shixuan and the others.

“Foul brat, this old man has come today to give you a beating. From a young age, you thought too highly of yourself, and without any actual learning, you dared to write books on theory as if you were Master Zhu. If we let your heretical teachings spread throughout the realm, wouldn’t this vast empire become a kingdom of beasts? No practicing of propriety and no talk of benevolence, a place where only fists decide who’s right and where sons and daughters have no love for their fathers and mothers—was this what Wang Gengzhi and your mother taught you?! If your father won’t discipline you, this old man will! I’ll beat you to death, you foul brat!”

The old man cursed as he flailed his cane, trying to get around Su Shixuan and Xu Keyi to strike Wang Chong. His face was ashen, and though he didn’t have much strength, he put all of it into his blows as he if was trying to discipline an exceptionally vile child.

Buzz!

Wang Chong stared in a daze at this furious elder. His ears were ringing with a din and his body swayed, his heart feeling like it was being clutched. At that moment, he almost seemed possessed.

Wang Chong could sense that this old man was compelled by no one. His every word came from the bottom of his heart, was his true and sincere opinion.

Wang Chong’s mind was blank and his ears heard nothing. As the old man’s mouth opened and closed, he seemed as if his soul had taken leave of his body.

“Su Shixuan, take His Highness inside. We can’t stay here any longer. I’ll hold off this elder!” Xu Keyi ordered Su Shixuan, growing increasingly worried as he noticed that the crowd was getting even more unruly.

“Everyone, look! The subordinates of the Demon King of Slaughter are about to kill someone!”

As Xu Keyi and the others stepped forward, the crowd began to shout once more. In their agitation, they began to surge forward.

“Beat them to death!”

“Who cares if he’s the King of Foreign Lands? Will they really dare to kill someone?!”

As the crowd roared, countless stones began to rain down. Xu Keyi and the others did not dare to do anything about these stones, only use their hands to protect their heads and let their bodies take the blows.