Chapter 795: Dusong Mangpoje, Escaping Without a Trace!
"No! This young junior truly has some abilities. Old Fang and I chased him down, but he managed to use the strength of his tens of thousands of soldiers to stop us and escape without a trace," the Demonic Emperor Old Man lightly said, speaking of the matter like it was just a trifling affair.
Dusong Mangpoje was a famous Ü-Tsang Imperial Great General, known throughout the world as the Eagle of the Plateau, and one of the few peak Saint Martial experts of the world. However, in the mouth of the Demonic Emperor Old Man, he was just a ’young junior’, but Wang Chong found nothing inappropriate about this form of address.
Although Dusong Mangpoje was at the peak of the Saint Martial realm, he was much younger than Wang Chong’s master, and he had also not spent as much time at the peak of the Saint Martial realm, so there was nothing excessive about calling him a ’young junior’. Moreover, the Demonic Emperor Old Man had once been the supreme master of the evil path in the Central Plains, with countless experts dying at his hand. He had killed so many Saint Martial masters that almost all the sect masters of the world paled at the mention of his name.
There were very few people in the world who could sit on his level.
Even in that apocalyptic era, when Wang Chong became the Grand Marshal of the world and the most powerful War Saint in the history of the Central Plains, he still regarded the name of the Demonic Emperor Old Man as an existence hanging high above him like the noon sun.
If not even the Wang Chong of that time had the right, Dusong Mangpoje certainly had no reason to be brash.
"I also only found out today that he was an Imperial Great General of Ü-Tsang. If I knew that he would lead soldiers to invade the Great Tang, I would have never let him go," the white-haired Wushang Village Chief sighed.
"Mm?"
Wang Chong’s eyebrows rose, and he finally could not hold back his question.
"Village Chief, what’s the story behind all this?"
At the rear gate of the fortress, he had already noticed something strange. For an Ü-Tsang Great General to recognize the Wushang Village Chief was simply beyond belief.
The Wushang Village Chief hid nothing and told Wang Chong the story.
"So when Dusong Mangpoje was fleeing, he accidentally ended up in Wushang Village, and then for the sake of Huang Botian, Village Chief let him go?" Wang Chong asked, his brow creased.
"Aaaah, it is exactly as you say."
The Wushang Village Chief sighed and nodded, and Wang Chong felt like there was nothing more he could say as he looked at the ashamed and remorseful expression on the old man’s face. Huang Botian was Wushang Village’s outermost Protector, but he was also a martial maniac. Anyone who could defeat him would win his good favor, and he would regard them as his brother and comrade.
Wang Chong had known about this for some time, and he also knew that he had released a person who had intruded into Wushang Village. But Wang Chong could have never imagined that this person would be Dusong Mangpoje.
Destiny seems to preordain everything. I managed with great difficulty to entrap Dusong Mangpoje and expose his identity, but I didn’t think that it would be Huang Botian that would allow him to escape.
Wang Chong could only bitterly smile. Huang Botian’s love for martial arts was a part of his nature and could not be changed. There was nothing that could be done about Dusong Mangpoje exploiting this point.
"Village Chief, there’s no need to worry. Dusong Mangpoje should have received a big shock this time, and in this triangular gap, he lost many soldiers and a Brigadier General in Dayan Mangban. It will be some time until he dares to come back," Wang Chong comforted.
"You’re right on that point," the Demonic Emperor Old Man suddenly butted in, a proud expression on his face. "Although we allowed him to escape, Old Fang and I managed to heavily wound him. He’ll need at least half a year to recover."
"Ah!"
Wang Chong was pleasantly surprised to hear this. As he had been in the Four Symbols Yinyang Soul Trap dealing with Dayan Mangban, he had no idea what was going on in the outside world. Wang Chong had not expected that someone of Dusong Mangpoje’s strength would have been severely wounded by his master and the Wushang Village Chief. This meant that his operation had turned out even better than predicted.
"Wonderful! This means that Dusong Mangpoje will find it very difficult to appear in the northern region of the plateau for a very long time, much less threaten Qixi."
Wang Chong had an excited expression.
"Oh, Master, when Dusong Mangpoje used his secret technique to borrow the strength of his army, how did you manage to break it?"
In the war of the southwest, Wang Chong had seen Huoshu Huicang use a secret art of the Great Snow Mountain Holy Temple to transform into a giant golden Buddha that had been able to block the strength of his father’s Mighty Miracle God with a single palm. The scene had left a very deep impression on him.
As an Ü-Tsang Great General, Dusong Mangpoje most certainly had a similar technique.
"That was no big deal. Such secret arts are very simple. He could only use the strength of the people near him. The closer they are, the more strength he can borrow, and vice versa. To break it, one only needs to kill all the people nearby," the Demonic Emperor Old Man lightly said.
"Brother Zhang is correct. This sort of secret technique truly isn’t much to worry about," the Wushang Village Chief agreed.
"......"
The sight of his two elders appearing like they had performed some trifling errand left Wang Chong momentarily speechless. If the martial arts of the Great Snow Mountain Holy Temple were so easy to break, then the Great Snow Mountain would have never become the sacred land of Ü-Tsang, and Ü-Tsang would have never become such a serious problem.
And Dusong Mangpoje had thousands of people at his side. Not only were these people providing energy to Dusong Mangpoje, but they were also being boosted by Dusong Mangpoje’s strength. Killing all of them was easier said than done, but in the mouths of these two elders, it was as simple as eating or drinking.
Rumble!
As they were talking, a massive cloud of dust stirred in the distance, and a thunderous sound alarmed all three. Wang Chong turned his head and saw that hundreds upon thousands of cavalry were charging out of the northwest.
"These seem to be Great Tang cavalry?" the Wushang Village Chief said as he narrowed his eyes. He didn’t have too great an understanding of the Great Tang army, but he could at least distinguish the troops of his side from the enemy.
"It’s the Qixi Protectorate army!" Wang Chong slowly said, his heart sinking. The army charging over was that hitherto spectating Qixi Protectorate army and Fumeng Lingcha.
"They’ve come to take the credit for this battle!"
Dayan Mangban was dead, Dusong Mangpoje was heavily injured, and the entire Tibetan army was scattered. Fumeng Lingcha and his Qixi Protectorate army had not engaged early or even late in the battle, but only showed up when everything was settled and the harvest was being reaped. Their aim was as plain as day.
"What?!"
The Demonic Emperor Old Man twisted his head and looked toward the approaching cavalry. The Qixi Protectorate army was traveling at maximum speed, Fumeng Lingcha’s halo bolstering them so that they could move as fast as lightning. In the blink of an eye, the Qixi Protectorate army charged into the Tibetan army like a meteor shower.
Neigh!
It was complete chaos, and in a few moments, countless Tibetan cavalry were knocked down and trampled to death. With no formation or organization, with no Dayan Mangban or Dusong Mangpoje, the Tibetan army was a panicked and fleeing mob. Anyone could have cut them down, and Fumeng Lingcha himself was leading his soldiers.
Rumble!
The earth trembled as an explosion came from the densest concentration of soldiers. Screams filled the air and blazing light soared into the sky. Hundreds of Tibetan cavalry were tossed into the air by a vast sea of energy.
In a single strike, a large area of the battlefield was cleared. In the center of that area, Wang Chong could clearly see an extremely imposing figure, the large saber in his hand giving off a tyrannical aura that seemed ready to cleave open the heavens. Meanwhile, the blazing aura around him was dreadful to behold and immediately let one know that this was an extremely dangerous man.
On this battlefield, he was the undisputed king, a powerful hegemon. All soldiers, whether White Brave or Wushang Cavalry, were insignificant ants before him.
"Fumeng Lingcha!"
Wang Chong needed only a glance to tell who he was. Their first meeting outside the City of Steel had left an indelible memory in his mind.
This Qixi Protector-General was first like a cowering turtle, and then a murderer borrowing someone else’s knife to kill. He had planned to use Dusong Mangpoje and the Tibetans to deal with Wang Chong, but upon seeing that the situation wasn’t right and that Dusong Mangpoje had lost, he had marched in his army to take the credit for himself. Wang Chong didn’t have a proper military post, and the five thousand Wushang Cavalry were not proper Tang cavalry. This meant that Wang Chong could really do nothing if Fumeng Lingcha wanted to take credit for this battle.
Wang Chong could even predict Fumeng Lingcha’s next few steps. He was probably going to quickly submit a report to the Imperial Court claiming that this battle was all his doing.
After all, no other faction except Wang Chong’s and Fumeng Lingcha’s had been observing this battle, making it difficult to determine the truth. If the Imperial Court really did investigate, Fumeng Lingcha could show the evidence that he really had participated in this battle, and Wang Chong wouldn’t be able to refute it.
"Bastard! The most passive in times of battle and the most proactive when stealing credit! And you would even use enemies to deal with people on your own side! Do you really think that because I’m younger and have less status than you, I can’t do anything?!"
Wang Chong could not suppress the fiery light of anger in his eyes.
"Master, Village Chief, I’m going to go and meet him!"
Wang Chong suddenly mounted his horse and galloped toward Fumeng Lingcha’s direction.
"Let’s also go and take a look!"
Behind him, the elders glanced at each other and followed.
In the distance, the Wushang Cavalry and Qixi Protectorate army had already met, the soldiers in a stalemate. When Wang Chong arrived, all the soldiers retreated to the sides; even the soldiers of the Qixi Protectorate army subconsciously lowered their heads and yielded the path to Wang Chong.
As their eyes flitted past Wang Chong, none of them could hide their shame.