The Human Emperor

“Your Highness!”

Upon spotting Wang Chong, Li Jingzhong relaxed his wary expression and respectfully bowed.

“How are His Majesty’s injuries?” Wang Chong calmly said.

Li Jingzhong lowered his head and reported, “Your Highness, His Majesty has already taken medicine, and the servitors of the palace have been constantly attending him. He no longer has any significant problems.”

In the imperial prison revolt, Li Heng had been captured by the former Crown Prince, Li Xuantu. And while Li Xuantu had done his best to keep Li Heng safe, the clash of two Grotto Heaven experts had still managed to jolt Li Heng’s organs.

Although the injuries weren’t serious, nothing was minor when it came to the Son of Heaven. Thus, the palace had been very nervous as of late.

“Mm.”

Wang Chong nodded and said no more.

In this incident, many problems had been exposed in the defenses of the palace. The one hundred thousand soldiers of the Imperial Army and the Dragon Guards were sufficient to deal with ordinary experts, but when true powerhouses like Genesis Supreme appeared, they were wholly insufficient for protecting Li Heng.

To protect Li Heng, Wang Chong had dispatched Divine Embryo 2 to Li Heng’s side. This together with the Miniature Nine Provinces Domain and the various formations and seals in the capital would be enough to fend off any expert beneath the Grotto Heaven realm.

Moreover, Wang Chong’s original body was nearby in the King of Foreign Lands Residence. His current arrangements would ensure that there were no problems for at least a short while.

“Is everyone here?” Wang Chong said.

“As previously discussed with Your Highness and His Majesty, the first batch of seventy-some people are all present.

“Although it’s not many people, all of them are loyal and trustworthy.”

Li Jingzhong bowed.

Wang Chong nodded, raised the curtain, and entered.

In this large chamber, figures garbed in black clothes stood in neat rows.

Although these people had removed all objects that could identify them, their erect postures, calloused hands, and determined gazes exposed them.

They were either soldiers of the Imperial Army, servitors of the imperial household, or directly selected from Li Heng’s personal guards or Imperial Guard.

“Paying respects to His Highness!”

Everyone bowed upon seeing Wang Chong, filling the chamber with a solemn air.

Wang Chong was calm and unperturbed.

“All of you should know what we are doing. I will repeat that it will be extremely dangerous, and there is an extremely high chance that you will lose your life. If someone wants to back out, there’s still time!”

Wang Chong’s eyes were stern as his voice echoed through the underground chamber.

He slowly scanned the assembled group.

Silence!

Absolute silence!

All of them straightened their backs, but they seemed like statues, none of them moving or saying a word.

“Your Highness, there’s no need to ask.” Li Jingzhong’s faint voice came from behind Wang Chong as he came inside. “They all know what they’re doing and what they will face. None of them will withdraw!”

But Wang Chong appeared to not hear him.

He continued to scan the warriors, inspecting their resolved and confident faces.

“Understood. Starting from now, your identities are no more, and no one will be able to find anything about you. You no longer exist, and other than the comrades at your side, me, and His Majesty, no one will know of you.

“Starting from today, you will only have one name: Shadow Dragons!”

Wang Chong’s eyes erupted with a sharp and cold light.

Bang!

Wang Chong stepped forward, and a gale howled through the chamber. Wang Chong’s body turned into a source of blazing light, erupting with golden and red energies.

The Stellar Energy of the Great Yinyang Heaven Creation Art roared out, splitting into several dozen streams of blazing energy that surged into the black-robed figures in front of him.

Under Wang Chong’s direction, this Stellar Energy modified the meridians and Stellar Energies of these former Imperial Army soldiers, servitors, and personal guards. At the same time, he planted the seeds of the Great Yinyang Heaven Creation Art in their bodies, balls of light that sank into their dantians.

The Shadow Dragons were, to be more precise, a ‘Great Yinyang Heaven Creation Art’ division!

After discussion between Wang Chong and Li Heng, it had been decided to set up this special force specifically to deal with the men in black.

The men in black could freely control the world, posed a major threat to the Tang imperial household, and had been a major hindrance throughout the Sage Emperor’s life. Besides peak experts like the Tianfu Divine Lord, True Lord Yellow Dragon, and Genesis Supreme, they also had many lower-class experts, the so-called men in black.

There were many of them, and they did not fear death. They could use the Fire of Lu Wu or the Fire of Mara, could transform into half–Lu Wus and Black Flame Asuras. They posed a lethal threat to ordinary soldiers.

The capital had a garrison of one hundred thousand soldiers of the Imperial Army, and the inner court was crawling with experts. But these were meant for dealing with soldiers of enemy countries and wandering experts of the martial arts world.

The men in black were far more powerful than all of these.

In the Rebellion of the Three Princes, the appearance of numerous men in black had caused immense damage to the Imperial Army, and not even the Saint Martial Barracks had been able to hold against them.

And the men in black could always produce many more such experts.

No matter what the time was, these people would always be a major threat to the Great Tang.

The only solution was to establish a special force to specifically deal with the men in black.

Thus, the Shadow Dragons came into being.

But time was short, and the men in black wouldn’t give Wang Chong much time to train. Thus, he needed to resort to special methods to rapidly bring them up to speed.

Amongst all the arts Wang Chong had learned, only the Great Yinyang Heaven Creation Art met these requirements, allowing him to train up a powerful force in a short amount of time.

The Imperial Palace had many soldiers of the Imperial Army, and when cultivating the Great Yinyang Heaven Creation Art, one did not have to go through the trouble of hard and difficult training. One simply needed to absorb energy from the other Imperial Army soldiers to swiftly produce a large number of experts.

If each soldier of the Imperial Army offered up a small portion of their energy, one could produce thousands of Shadow Dragon experts.

But the Great Yinyang Heaven Creation Art was also the supreme evil art. While it fit Wang Chong’s requirements for training the Shadow Dragons, it was also extremely powerful. If the art fell into the hands of those who harbored ill intentions and began to spread, it would create a calamity for the realm. Thus, the requirements for Shadow Dragons were extremely strict, with loyalty being far more important than talent.

This was something Wang Chong had emphasized to Li Heng again and again!

Out of the hundred-thousand-strong Imperial Army, Wang Chong had only selected seventy-some people for the first batch.

Whew!

After a long while, Wang Chong drew back his energy, exhaled, and turned to Li Jingzhong.

“Everything is done. Once they’ve digested the energy, take them back and hand them to General Li!”

No one understood more about Li Jingzhong than Wang Chong. Although Li Jingzhong had yet to expose his ambitions and Li Heng trusted him deeply, Wang Chong was always wary of him. Thus, control of the Shadow Dragons was not his, but General Li’s.

General Li was a loyal soldier, and the Shadow Dragons would not be misled if they were under his command.

Whoosh!

After saying this, Wang Chong turned around and left the underground chamber.

Transferring energy to several dozen people at once, guiding them to cultivate the Great Yinyang Heaven Creation Art, and planting the seeds in their body was a titanic feat, even for someone like Wang Chong. He needed to rest and recover for a while.

And the seeds had already been planted. Once the Shadow Dragon Division had finished maturing, it would become one of the strongest forces in the fight against the men in black.

This force would inevitably play a role in the ultimate destruction of the men in black.

……

Wang Chong’s original body entered a secret chamber to cultivate. A few moments later, Divine Embryo 3 emerged from the ground and entered the main hall.

Divine Embryo 1’s Earth Movement ability couldn’t only be used on itself. Within a certain range, Divine Embryo 1 could allow any person it chose to use the Earth Movement ability!

“Your Highness!”

A figure was silently waiting in the hall, and they bowed upon seeing Wang Chong.

“How is it? Has that matter been taken care of?” Wang Chong asked.

The imperial prison revolt was over, but there were still a few things to wrap up, which Wang Chong had left to Zhang Que.

Wang Chong had ordered him to place one person above all the others.

“Your Highness, Fumeng Lingcha and Huang Tianzhao have been captured and brought to justice. This time, His Majesty personally interrogated them and the Dragon Guards carried out the execution. In addition, Huang Xiaotian has also been captured and brought to justice, but he remained stubborn and placed all the blame on himself…”

Zhang Que clenched his teeth and snuck a glance at Wang Chong.

“Not long ago, a major fire broke out in the Prime Minister’s Residence. Numerous maids and servants were killed or injured, but Li Linfu went missing in the fire. However, a body suspected to be Li Linfu’s was found after the fire.”

“That isn’t Li Linfu! Li Linfu won’t die so easily!”

Wang Chong tapped his finger and closed his eyes, his face calm.