The Human Emperor

Chapter 2253: Zhang Shougui Executes An Lushan!

Translated by: Hypersheep325

Edited by: Michyrr

An Lushan’s bones were shattered, but a powerful will in his body continued to sustain him.

Finally…

When An Lushan clambered up to an ice-covered hill, thump! He heard the sound of a foot thumping against the ground nearby.

An Lushan felt his heart seize up. Turning around, he saw that a sharp sword was pressing against his neck.

“It’s time to end it!”

Wang Chong looked at An Lushan, his eyes flashing.

Just when he was about to use the Xuanyuan Sword to deal the final blow and bring an end to it all, a cold and sinister voice came from behind him.

“Wait!”

Buzz!

An Lushan had his eyes closed as he waited for his death, but upon hearing this voice, he shivered, his eyes opening to reveal fear and panic.

Almost simultaneously, Wang Chong turned around and saw a stalwart figure descending out of the snowstorm, landing not far from Wang Chong and An Lushan.

Zhang Shougui!

Perhaps because he had been drawn over by the battle, Zhang Shougui had left the battlefield and come alone to find them.

“Wang Chong, I was the one who created this beast. He was only able to grow so powerful, even collude with foreign countries and betray the Central Plains, because I failed in my duty. I was the one who started it, so I will end it with my own hands!” Zhang Shougui sternly said as he swiftly approached, his eyes turning to the dying An Lushan.

“Beast, look and see who they are!”

Thud! Thud!

Zhang Shougui threw out a dark ‘ball’ from each hand, rolling them in front of An Lushan.

In this frozen climate, these two ‘balls’ had long ago been covered in a thick layer of ice, but An Lushan was still able to recognize them at a glance.

Zhao Kan!

Baizhen Tuoluo!

Zhang Shougui had managed to catch up to these two and cut off their heads.

Their faces were white, their eyes and mouths wide open. It was like they had been stricken with fear in the moment before their deaths.

“Ah!” An Lushan cried out in alarm at the sight of the heads, jumping backward and shifting his body in a subconscious attempt to escape.

“Beast, even you have a day like this!”

Zhang Shougui savagely glared at An Lushan. If looks could kill, An Lushan would have already died a million times.

“Foster Father, it’s not like that! I didn’t betray you! Don’t you remember? During the Youzhou war, I risked my life, leading the army to penetrate through the enemy ranks to rescue Foster Father.”

An Lushan panicked at the sight of the approaching Zhang Shougui. Like a mouse seeing a cat, he felt an instinctive fear that not even Wang Chong was able to stimulate.

“Even now, you still want to lie to me?” Zhang Shougui coldly said, completely unmoved.

Wang Chong stood between the two, and after a few moments of silence, he stepped back to the side.

Whence it began, whence it should end.

Zhang Shougui had brought up An Lushan, and in his last life, Zhang Shougui had been framed by An Lushan and had died unaware of the truth. Nothing could be better than for Zhang Shougui to personally execute An Lushan.

Clang!

Zhang Shougui pulled out his sword.

“Beast, today is the day of your death! I will correct the mistake that I made!”

“No! Foster Father! Spare me! Give me another chance…”

A deep fear emerged in An Lushan’s eyes.

Fwoosh!

Before An Lushan could react, Zhang Shougui thrust out his hand, his sword stabbing into An Lushan’s neck.

An Lushan felt as if the entire world was spinning around him.

Thump! When everything stopped, An Lushan saw the nearby Zhang Shougui in front of him, and also his prostrate and headless body.

So this is how it all ends…

An Lushan’s face was blank. At that moment, he finally understood. He was somewhat disappointed, somewhat at a loss, and for some reason, he felt like something was approaching his face.

And then everything went dark, and An Lushan knew nothing.

“It’s finally over! This old man has personally corrected his error!”

Zhang Shougui sheathed his bloodstained sword and looked toward the heavens, a desolate look on his face.

He had been conceited his whole life, always believing himself to be the Great Tang’s number one general, even superior to Wang Zhongsi. But he had been so lost in his arrogance that he had failed to realize that he had been raising a thankless wretch.

If this war had resulted in defeat, who would have been derided as the arch-sinner who had invited the wolf into the house, infamous for the rest of time. But in the end, he had personally executed the traitor and corrected the mistake.

Yet even so, what had already happened could not be corrected. This incident would remain the greatest stain on his career.

Wang Chong looked at Zhang Shougui with a complicated expression, and then he glanced at the fallen body of An Lushan and the head that looked helplessly at the heavens, mentally sighing.

After being reborn and enduring countless trials, he had finally reached this point, successfully defeating An Lushan and ending this foe from another life, in addition saving the Great Tang that he had destroyed and protecting this prosperous empire and its millions of subjects.

But perhaps because he had been looking forward to this moment for too long, when it finally happened, after a moment of joy, he felt empty.

For a moment, it felt like he had lost his sense of direction.

But Wang Chong quickly got ahold of himself. Though An Lushan was dead and the Great Tang had survived, the Great Ice Age was still leaving its mark on the country. Moreover, Li Heng had only recently ascended to the throne, and there were still many things he needed to take care of.

Suddenly, Wang Chong sensed something and trembled. “Careful!” With no time, he tensed his body, grabbed Zhang Shougui, and immediately lunged backward.

“Origin Immortal Art!

“Halo Barrier!

“Samsara Battle Armor!”

In just a few short moments, Wang Chong had created several layers of defense. In addition, he mustered all his energy and swung his sword at an empty point in space above the hill where An Lushan had died.

Boom!

The fabric of space trembled, and Zhang Shougui stared in shock as the sky darkened and a surge of destructive energy erupted from that point above the hill, instantly crossing space to slam into Wang Chong.

Crack!

The spacetime shields Wang Chong had created were instantly shattered, followed by the shield Wang Chong had created using Origin Immortal Stellar Energy.

Boom!

Wang Chong and Zhang Shougui were blasted several thousand feet away.

At that moment, Zhang Shougui felt like he was teetering on the brink of death.

That attack had been far too powerful, even exceeding Genesis Supreme in some ways. But Wang Chong’s Halo Barrier and Samsara Battle Armor had proved effective, saving them from any severe injuries despite the distance they were blasted.

However, the halo divine tool and the Samsara Battle Armor sustained enormous pressure that made them groan and vibrate.

“Who’s there?”

Zhang Shougui looked at the hill, his face scowling. He had seen Wang Chong fight, and even Genesis Supreme had died to this man. This was proof of just how strong he was.

But this opponent had been able to burst through Wang Chong’s Stellar Energy and send them flying several thousand feet, even make the armor on his body groan and clang as if it was about to break from this pressure. These things were proof that this foe had to be unfathomably powerful.

With a grave expression, Wang Chong uttered a single word. “Heaven!”

Wang Chong had never met Heaven before and didn’t even know what Heaven was, but he recognized this energy.

In the Rebellion of the Three Princes, when True Lord Yellow Dragon was supporting the First Prince’s rebellion, that terrifying energy had appeared above the Imperial Palace. And during the incident that had led to the Sage Emperor’s death, that same energy had appeared for the briefest of moments, though Wang Chong had failed to recognize it at the time.

Wang Chong had never imagined that Heaven would appear at a time like this. If not for his immense Psychic Energy and his control over spacetime allowing him to notice the danger beforehand, he might have fallen prey to Heaven’s sneak attack.

There was no questioning Heaven’s power.

Genesis Supreme was merely an executor of his orders, and the Sage Emperor had always regarded him as his greatest enemy.

The reason the Sage Emperor had risked attempting the Divine Martial realm was to defeat him. Alas, he had ended up falling into Heaven’s trap.

Shadows shifted in the air as a majestic voice carrying an intense pressure emerged from the depths of the void. “Simply a few tiny ants, but We underestimated you. To think that you would ruin Genesis Supreme and An Lushan’s Purification operation, even taking Our Divine Crown of the Sun!”

This was Wang Chong’s first direct meeting with Heaven.

This was a powerful pressure and a fear that came from the depths of his soul. If someone of Wang Chong’s cultivation was in this state, it was easy to imagine what others were feeling.

Zhang Shougui’s face said it all.

“Since that is the case, We will personally kill you!”

As Heaven’s cold voice resounded, the sky darkened, and a familiar and concentrated killing intent once more appeared.

“Hmph, can you kill me?”

Surprisingly, Wang Chong lunged out from next to the nervous Zhang Shougui, his eyes flashing.

Clang!

His sword resounded as Wang Chong mustered all his power and unleashed a resplendent beam of Sword Qi.

The Art of God and Demon Obliteration!

A swift and fierce beam of Sword Qi tens of thousands of feet long shot toward ‘Heaven’.