The Human Emperor

Translated by: Hypersheep325

Edited by: Michyrr

Gallop!

A few moments later, a rumbling of hooves resounded over the steppe like peals of thunder. A divine stallion that seemed to have dragon blood running through its veins, taller than a man and bursting with power, set out from a camp. Upon its back was an armored Great General exuding a vast sea of energy.

Creee! As the Great General galloped out, a large golden eagle with sharp eyes took off from his shoulder and began to fly southward. In a sonic boom, the man and eagle vanished.

Unless specifically ordered, Imperial Great Generals were forbidden from leaving their armies and bases. This was the case both in the Great Tang and amongst the Western Turks. But an exception had been made.

To stop that force of four hundred Tang cavalry, Ishbara Khagan had ordered a Great General to pursue.

……

A black-armored horseman in the Tang force suddenly rode up to the front and gave his report.

“Milord, an enemy is chasing us from the rear.”

“How many people?” the white-tasseled Tang general asked.

“Only one,” the scout replied.

Sound seemed to die away as the Tang cavalry focused on the scout.

“But he is moving with incredible speed. His warhorse has three to four times the speed of ours. It will be an hour at most until he catches up to us,” the scout reported.

At this moment, all the cavalry suddenly stopped with a grimace.

One had to realize that they had been ordered to capture Ashide and Hulugan and then return as quickly as possible, so they were essentially pushing their horses to the limit. But this foe was moving at three to four times their speed, which sounded completely absurd.

“Have you identified him?” the white-tasseled general asked.

“It’s impossible to be sure, but judging by the speed of the warhorse, he’s at least a Brigadier General, perhaps even a Great General,” the scout replied.

There were only four hundred people on this operation, but because they had been facing a far more numerous foe, only the best had been selected. Not only were they all powerful, almost all of them were master archers, and they were equipped with the best weapons and armor possible.

Wang Chong had once bought one hundred thousand high-quality warhorses from the Western Turks, and he had given the strongest and fastest four hundred horses to these cavalry. Ordinary Turkic warhorses would never be able to catch up to these ones.

But the man pursuing them was traveling at three to four times their speed. Only Great Generals could accomplish something so absurd.

The air turned grave.

Even if only one person was chasing them, if it really was as they had guessed, a Western Turkic Great General, they would be hard-pressed to defeat him.

But this was far from their only concern…

Creee!

A sharp cry came from above, and all of them looked up.

A massive golden eagle descended from the clouds. More shrill caws could be heard as the patrolling birds above their group began to fiercely attack the golden eagle.

It was this massive army of birds that had allowed them to reach Ashide’s camp completely undetected.

But this golden eagle was unafraid of being attacked by so many birds. It waved and beat its steely wings while tearing and snatching with its claws.

And its two eyes were seemingly fixed on the force of four hundred. Or to be more precise, they were fixed on the figures of Ashide and Hulugan on their horses.

Everyone’s hearts sank at this sight. The birds that had come on this mission were able to easily kill the eagles under the command of Ashide’s army, but they were helpless against this golden eagle.

Thwish!

An arrow shot upward as fast as lightning, but the golden eagle seemed to predict this. With a flap of its wings, it easily avoided this fatal strike.

The white-tasseled general and his soldiers were rendered speechless by this sight. This golden eagle had clearly gone through rigorous training to counter master archers, as this was not something that any ordinary bird could accomplish.

“Hahaha, it’s Great General Jiudu’s divine eagle, Jueling! It’s caught up! All of you are dead!”

Hulugan, who had been thrown across the back of a horse like a leather bag, suddenly sat up straight and laughed. Just moments ago, he had been filled with regret and believed himself to be dead, but now, his eyes were brimming with intense hope and excitement.

“The Khagan must have been enraged to send him over. None of you are leaving the steppe alive!”

“Hmph, is that so?”

The white-tasseled Tang general sneered.

“Don’t worry about whether we can escape or not, because neither of you will be coming out of this alive!”

These words made Hulugan turn ghastly pale.

The white-tasseled general quickly turned to his men.

“Everyone, hear my order. If our guess is correct, an enemy Great General is pursuing us and has probably found our location through this golden eagle. Starting from now, we are splitting up into teams of ten and fleeing in different directions. We will join back together once we cross the border!”

“Yes, Milord!”

Everyone replied without hesitation, and it took only a few moments for them to scatter in different directions.

A few moments later, far behind the group, the Sanmi Great General of the Western Turks, Jiudu Fuluo, pursued on his divine steed, the plumes of dust raised by its hooves rising more than one hundred feet into the air. Creee! Hearing a sharp cry, Jiudu Fuluo extended his right arm to receive the golden eagle.

“Scattering apart?”

Jiudu Fuluo couldn’t help but frown.

The commander of this Tang force was rather troublesome to deal with, turning one target into forty. Moreover, the golden eagle was telling him that it had sighted the ‘target’ in several different groups, but there was no doubt that these were all fake Hulugans and Ashides.

“These puny ants are quite difficult to deal with!”

A sudden thought occurred to Jiudu Fuluo.

Not too long ago, right before the Battle of Talas, a subordinate serving the King of Foreign Lands known as Su Hanshan had used cloth covers to conceal several thousand Tang ballistae, causing him to be caught in an ambush.

While the strength of these four hundred men was so insignificant that Jiudu Fuluo could easily crush even double their number, this cunning they had displayed presented no small problem to Jiudu Fuluo.

“Hmph, a pity that these are just some petty tricks!”

Jiudu Fuluo coldly chuckled as he took out a scroll from his sleeve and opened it up on the back of his horse.

This was a topographical map of the Great Tang. With the Great Tang rising in dominance and the King of Foreign Lands conquering all his foes, the other countries had all come to dread the Great Tang. At the same time, they focused on it like never before, with countless scouts advancing on its capital. Even though the Great Tang would exterminate all the scouts it found, this policy remained unchanged.

The map of the Great Tang Jiudu Fuluo held had come at an immense price.

Jiudu Fuluo’s eyes scanned the map and quickly found a major road within the Great Tang.

This was a road that had to be used to enter the Great Tang. No matter how many teams that force of four hundred Tang split into, they would all have to pass through that area to reach the Great Tang’s capital.

The only problem was that this area was within the Great Tang’s border. Even though the Great Tang and the Western Turks were on ‘friendly terms’, it was still a major offense for someone of Jiudu Fuluo’s status to enter Tang territory. But he cared little about this.

“Hmph, this general will get there first and wait for all of you to enter the trap. Since you dared to invade the territory of the Western Turks, you should have been prepared to be completely wiped out!”

Jiudu Fuluo sneered as he put the map away and rode off.

Several hundred li went by in the blink of an eye. But just when Jiudu Fuluo was about to cross the Great Tang border, a resounding cry entered his ears.

“Jiudu Fuluo, I hope that you are doing well! Beiting Protector-General An Sishun has been waiting for quite some time!”

At the border between the territory of the Western Turks and the Great Tang, an imposing Great Tang general mounted upon a great stallion was slowly making his way toward Jiudu Fuluo.

Jiudu Fuluo instantly scowled upon seeing this man.

“An Sishun!”

Across all of the north, only An Sishun would dare to appear before him in such a fashion.

In the vastness of the steppe, Jiudu Fuluo had never imagined that he would run into An Sishun. It was as if An Sishun had predicted the route he would take.