The Human Emperor

Translated by: Hypersheep325

Edited by: Michyrr

Wang Chong said nothing as he looked toward the open Center Gate. The one presiding over the Center Gate was naturally Huang Tianzhao.

As he recalled that arrogant assault from atop the palace wall, Wang Chong suddenly understood what was going on. There was no doubt that Huang Tianzhao had been trying to bait him.

“But this sort of large-scale teleportation covering such a vast area must be very limited. It must consume enormous amounts of energy.

“This is why your enemy is waiting for you to go past the Center Gate to trigger it. If you don’t go over, they won’t trigger it, and it won’t threaten your soldiers very much,” the Formation Elder said.

“Is there a way to break the formation?” Wang Chong said.

Regardless of how dangerous Hou Junji’s formation was, he didn’t have a choice. If he wanted to protect the Sage Emperor and stop the Rebellion of the Three Princes, he needed to break through the array as quickly as possible. He didn’t have much time.

“It’s very difficult!”

After a few moments of silence, the Formation Elder shook his head, his brows creasing.

“The enemy developed this formation on their own, so there are no records of it. As this is my first time seeing it, breaking through it in a short time simply isn’t possible.

“Moreover, you’re currently the strongest person in this group, but as soon as you step inside, you’ll be teleported to the center of the formation and attacked with all the formation’s power. They’re so quiet right now precisely because they’re waiting for you to take the bait!” the Formation Elder said.

This was truly a dilemma. The enemy had far more soldiers than Wang Chong did, and they had now even turned the entire Imperial City into a formation that linked together all one hundred thousand soldiers of the Imperial Army, only increasing the difficulties Wang Chong had to face.

Wang Chong said nothing as he looked ahead, his mind turning.

“In addition, the Sage Emperor is hailed as the number one expert of the Central Plains. In the past, vast amounts of manpower and resources were mobilized to add all kinds of inscriptions to the walls of the Imperial Palace. The generations of sovereigns have also added numerous formations under the palace, and there are currently more than one hundred thousand formations of various sizes.

“These numerous formations link the entire Imperial Palace together. To attack one wall is to attack the entire formation. If you want to force your way in, destroying the walls is no good,” the Formation Elder said.

He was a master of formations and knew the vast majority of them like the back of his hand. He was even familiar with the history behind these formations.

The sects had not always been separate from the Imperial Court. Several hundred years ago, the chaotic times meant that the martial arts world had once served the Imperial Court.

In that period of time, countless members of the martial arts world had come forward to leave a vast array of inscriptions on the Imperial Palace, as numerous as the stars. This made the Great Tang Imperial Palace the world’s sturdiest ‘fortress’, and it also made it a renowned holy land for formations.

“…Moreover, it is also very difficult to fly through the areas covered by the formation. From the current state of the formation, if you try to break through via the air, I estimate that at least half of the formation’s power will attack you!” the Formation Elder grimly said.

Given this formation’s strength, even half of its power was still enough to slay the Subtle realm Wang Chong.

Creee!

At this moment, a sharp cry came from above. A flock of gyrfalcons and golden hawks was chasing a single rock eagle through the air.

This was a rock eagle that Zhang Que had dispatched to scout the Imperial Palace.

The rock eagle flew into the darkness, but suddenly, a violet barrier appeared out of nowhere. The rock eagle slammed into it, plaintively shrieked, and then burned away into black ash.

The gyrfalcons and golden hawks behind it seemed to sense something and tried to stop themselves, but it was too late. Their inertia carried them in twos or threes into the violet barrier, and with plaintive screeches, the ten-some gyrfalcons and golden hawks were turned to ash.

Wang Chong’s pupils constricted upon seeing this. The Formation Elder had been right. The formation was far more powerful than he had imagined.

“So, we can only attack from the ground,” Wang Chong suddenly said.

“Mm! Although this is the case, I will still need some time to find its weakness!” the Formation Elder said. This was a new formation, meaning that his past experience was not very applicable. He was capable of breaking it, but he needed time—time which they currently lacked.

Wang Chong closed his eyes and began to silently think.

“Can a place only contain one formation?” Wang Chong suddenly asked.

“Ah?!”

The Formation Elder was taken aback by this abrupt question.

“Laying down a formation requires the proper place and time. If I were to lay down a formation outside the Center Gate next to theirs, would it be affected?”

Wang Chong opened his eyes and turned to the Formation Elder.

“You want to use a formation to fight against a formation?”

The Formation Elder instantly understood.

“Mm.”

Wang Chong gave a firm nod.

The Formation Elder was shaken. Breaking Hou Junji’s formation required time, but Wang Chong didn’t have time, so he could only think of another way.

After a few moments of thought, the Formation Elder said, “Theoretically, using a formation against a formation should work.”

“And what if I were to set up a formation inside the Center Gate, within their formation?” Wang Chong continued.

“Of course not!”

The Formation Elder shook his head without a second thought.

“A massive formation has already been laid down past the Center Gate, and two formations cannot be laid down in the same place, not even two identical ones. They will reject each other. Trying to set up a formation will cause disorder in the formation and clashing energy that would make both formations collapse—”

The Formation Elder’s body shivered as his voice came to a sudden halt. He stared with wide eyes at Wang Chong.

“Kid, you’re not thinking…”

Again, Wang Chong firmly nodded.

“!!!”

The Formation Elder’s mind was immediately tossed into great turmoil. He had never imagined that Wang Chong would think of this method to break the formation.

It was simply absurd!

Not even he had ever considered this option.

“But your chances of success are extremely small, and you have to have a formation strong enough to resist theirs. This alone is no easy task.”

Before the Formation Elder could finish speaking, Wang Chong unrolled an ancient formation diagram.

“Heh, Senior, did you forget about this?”

Wang Chong chuckled. In the northwest journey, Wang Chong had obtained the formation diagram for the Origin Immortal Formation. This was an ancient formation left behind by the Origin Immortal Lord, and in terms of power, it could not possibly be beneath Hou Junji’s Hundred Thousand God-Devil Execution Formation.

Shaking off his shock, the Formation Elder quickly began to argue. “But even with that, trying to break a formation with another formation is no easy task. First, you have to understand where the enemy formation’s eight gates are, how it is drawing energy, the rules by which it operates, and its weaknesses. And since we’re outside and can’t get into the depths of the Imperial Palace, we can’t interact with the formation’s core, multiplying the difficulty of this task.”

Wang Chong’s idea was good, but implementing it was simply too difficult, if not impossible. What Wang Chong was proposing was already something with a very low chance of success.

“Senior doesn’t need to worry about that. Just leave it to me!” Wang Chong indifferently said. As he peered into the darkness, a glimmer of blue light appeared in his eyes.

True World!

This was an ability Wang Chong had obtained from the Stone of Destiny, and unlike the ability to see the world of energy, the ‘True World’ ability could clearly see the essence of the formation, including the rules on which it operated and its flaws. It took only a few moments of observation with the ‘True World’ for Wang Chong to find the information he wanted.

The Formation Elder was left dumbfounded by Wang Chong’s confident appearance.

“Well, fine! But the Origin Immortal Formation also requires massive amounts of energy, and your Energy Condensation Pearl is far from enough. The Formation Divine Treatise described a ‘Nine Heavens Mountain River Formation’ that can gather the spiritual energy of the mountains and rivers around the capital to use for your formation. Still, to reach the level you want is incredibly difficult, and there’s still not much hope,” the Formation Elder said.

There was no doubting Wang Chong’s talent. After all, he had managed to comprehend everything the Formation Elder knew about formations in a single day. However, talent was not enough to break this formation of the Imperial Army, nor was laying down the Origin Immortal Formation enough.

The Formation Elder quickly left to set up his Nine Heaven Mountain River Formation. This formation was powerful, but it took some time to set up, even a simplified version.

Wang Chong remained on the wall after the Formation Elder left. Breaking through Hou Junji’s formation was easier said than done, and Wang Chong’s eight thousand men were far from enough.

Wang Chong needed to make a wholesale adjustment to his plans, and he was in the middle of doing so.

“Where is the Wind Team!?” Wang Chong suddenly said.

“Your subordinate is here!”

In the blink of an eye, seven masked figures appeared behind Wang Chong like ghosts.

“Tell Ju-Que and Tai-A to start carrying out my orders!” Wang Chong suddenly said.

Wang Chong took out two tokens from his bosom. At the same time, he sent two streams of Psychic Energy into these tokens.

“Give these tokens to them and they’ll understand!” Wang Chong said.

Mental traces!

When a martial artist’s Psychic Energy became strong enough to break through the bottleneck and undergo that quintessential transformation, then even when Psychic Energy was cut off from the original body, it could still linger for some time. This was known as a mental trace!

In the middle of a battle, not everyone would carry around brushes and paper with them at all times, so Wang Chong branded all his plans onto the token with his mental traces.

“Yes! Your subordinate will go!”

The Wind Team scouts bowed, took the tokens, and blinked away.