“Fortune?”
Gao Shang had no idea that his words had stirred up something else in An Yaluoshan.
An Yaluoshan looked toward the capital with a savage visage.
“What does it matter how strong he is? One day, I’ll stomp him to the ground and make him admit defeat!”
The stronger Wang Chong appeared, the more An Yaluoshan wanted to defeat him.
As An Yaluoshan and his subordinates were still immersed in thought, the air exploded, carrying a cold voice that resounded in their ears. “An Yaluoshan, this king has waited for you for some time. Are you still not coming?”
Wang Chong!
This voice made all of them pale.
To their surprise, after sensing their energy from the eastern gate of the capital, Wang Chong had concentrated his energy to send his voice over a distance of ten-some li.
“Hmph! Let’s go!”
An Yaluoshan came back to his senses. His face chilled and his eyes coldly glinted as he swung his arm down and rode forward with his men.
“Gao Shang, Yan Zhuang, since we’ve been invited, let’s move according to our original plan!”
“Yes, Your Excellency!”
Gao Shang and Yan Zhuang bowed.
Whoosh!
A few seconds later, countless messenger birds took to the skies from the Youzhou force, flying in every direction.
‘Make the plan and then put it into motion.’ They had known that Wang Chong would be in the capital and that he would oppose them, so it was impossible for Gao Shang and his men to not amply prepare themselves.
No matter what Wang Chong was planning, they would not let him get his way.
Buzz!
As those messenger birds took flight, an undercurrent began to surge. In the prelude to the feast of all countries, an invisible contest began between Wang Chong and An Yaluoshan.
“He’s coming! He’s coming!”
“An Yaluoshan is coming with his Youzhou subordinates!”
Meanwhile, the foreign emissaries and officials within the capital heard that An Yaluoshan and his Youzhou soldiers were approaching the eastern gate.
All of them were focused on the meeting between these two important subjects of the Great Tang.
The air gradually tensed.
“Finally here! He even brought his soldiers with him?”
At this moment, on the high walls of the capital, Wang Chong squinted at that great cloud of dust coming from the east, a sharp glint in his eyes.
Clap!
Wang Chong made a gesture, and a moment later, gears began to groan. Past his hundred-some estate guards, the covers were taken off heavy ballistae, their sharp bolts aimed in the direction of the city gate.
At the same time, the archers concealed in the crowd removed armor-piercing arrows from their quivers and took aim at the gate, pulling back on their bow strings until they formed almost a full moon.
These arrows could easily pierce through heavy armor. Together with the ten heavy ballistae and his one hundred elite guards, in this sort of battle involving less than ten thousand men, Wang Chong could easily crush an opposing force.
In a flash, the atmosphere at the eastern gate became as taut as a bow string.
“Wang Chong, what are you doing?!” A shrill voice came from the side. The old eunuch who had delivered the decree several days ago immediately rebuked Wang Chong, his brows furrowing.
He had arrived not too long ago to preside over the ceremony.
“His Majesty had you welcome the Andong Protector-General, not…”
But this time, the old eunuch had only just started to speak when a stream of Stellar Energy emerged from the ground and surged into his body, instantly sealing twenty-some of his acupuncture points. The old eunuch froze, unable to utter another word.
You, you dare!
All the old eunuch could do was move his eyes, and he stared at Wang Chong in both shock and dismay.
He was a eunuch of the palace carrying an imperial decree! How could Wang Chong dare to strike him?!
He had jeered Wang Chong in his visit to the estate, but nothing had happened, and he had smoothly departed. He had concluded from this that Wang Chong would not do anything to him, perhaps because his status earned him some modicum of respect. He had never imagined that Wang Chong would truly dare to lay hands on him!
Wang Chong had no idea what the old eunuch was thinking, or perhaps it was better to say that he didn’t care. After sealing the eunuch’s movements, he descended from the gate tower.
“Hmph, pathetic!”
Zhang Que coldly glared at the old eunuch, derision in his eyes.
He had gotten sick of that old eunuch’s bossy attitude a long time ago, but Zhang Que could do nothing while Wang Chong remained silent. But now, he could stand on the gate tower for a few hours as a sort of punishment.
“Let’s go!”
Zhang Que led his men down the walls.
Rumble!
Meanwhile, the thundering of hooves came from the distance as An Yaluoshan and his Youzhou cavalry majestically approached the capital. Wang Chong stood in the center of the gate, his golden armor flashing and his cape flapping in the wind.
Six li, five li, four li…
The distance was shrinking.
From a distance, the air within the dust seemed distorted as the nearly seven hundred black-armored Youzhou cavalry rode up in a disciplined and orderly fashion.
They came as a great wave, backed with the power of a dragon.
Wang Chong could tell that this was a formidable fighting force, one of the best in the Central Plains.
Wang Chong scanned the group and immediately noticed something strange.
While Zhang Shougui also placed Hu in high positions, he also had numerous Han officers in his ranks. In using Hu and Han together, Zhang Shougui differed from the practices of the Beiting Protectorate.
But in An Yaluoshan’s hands, this force of nearly seven hundred soldiers was more than ninety percent Hu, an even higher ratio than the Beiting Protectorate.
Wang Chong’s eyes rippled for a moment, but he swiftly turned his attention to several tall figures riding at the front of the army.
An Yaluoshan!
His gaze locked onto the chubby figure at the front.
After two and a half years, An Yaluoshan had changed quite significantly. There were more angles to his face, and his aura was much more energetic. But his chubbiness continued to make him seem honest and likable.
His plump face and that innocent smile would make anyone believe that this man posed no threat. They might even make fun of him.
But Wang Chong knew that the formidable Zhang Shougui had lost to this innocent and guileless face.
You can trick others, but you can’t deceive me! I’d like to see what scheme you’re trying to pull off!
Wang Chong stared at An Yaluoshan with a cold chill in his eyes, and an imperceptible killing intent.
From a distance, An Yaluoshan and his men were also examining Wang Chong.
“So powerful!”
An Yaluoshan’s eyes briefly flashed when he saw Wang Chong.
Comparing this Wang Chong to the Wang Chong from two and a half years ago was like comparing heaven and earth.
While that Wang Chong who had led his forces in that lethal pursuit against him on that rainy night had seemed extremely sharp and dangerous, he was not as domineering or as imposing as this Wang Chong.
The Wang Chong from two and a half years ago was a bamboo shoot that had just sprouted from the earth. Meanwhile, this Wang Chong was a mighty bamboo that soared into the sky, standing tall and firm no matter what storm it encountered.
What An Yaluoshan noticed the most was the eyes: cold, stern, sharp as swords, and infused with a tyrannical energy!
To match gazes with Wang Chong was to be stabbed by a blade. Even An Yaluoshan found himself unable to endure it.
Many things had changed in two and a half years.
But the only thing that hadn’t changed was that familiar and bone-chilling killing intent coming off Wang Chong’s body!
It was said that the King of Foreign Lands was meek, humble, and loyal to the Great Tang. Even when the Confucian Sect was thinking of every way to bully and humiliate him, he always held back. But the King of Foreign Lands seemed to put on a different mask for him that was overbearing, menacing, and unrelenting!
One day, I’ll bring you down just like I brought down Zhang Shougui!
An Yaluoshan’s eyes narrowed as he recalled their past encounter, a sliver of killing intent leaking out.
Behind An Yaluoshan, Cui Qianyou, Tian Chengsi, Gao Shang, and Yan Zhuang took Wang Chong’s measure.
“So powerful!”
This was the first thing Cui Qianyou and Tian Chengsi felt.
He’s grown even more frightening than two years ago!
Their eyes twitched and their hearts shivered.
In Youzhou, the strongest and most feared had undoubtedly been Zhang Shougui, but not even Zhang Shougui had such an imposing majesty. And most terrifying of all was his aura, which was as sharp as a sword. Just looking at him made it feel like one’s eyes were being stabbed.
There was no number one amongst scholars and no number two amongst martial artists. These two had once considered fighting with Wang Chong, but when they actually saw him, they banished these thoughts from their minds.
They might have been able to compete with other Great Generals, but never Wang Chong!
This was what the two of them felt.