Chapter 585: The Decisive Battle! Threat!
Translated by: Hypersheep325
Edited by: Michyrr
“There’s no need to worry!”
Wang Chong looked down from the summit in the direction of Tumi Sangzha. In the distance, Tumi Sangzha was exuding an astonishing aura. His massive Halo of Thorns was covering the earth, drawing out countless grains of metal powder from underground and condensing them into metal soldiers.
Tumi Sangzha’s Halo of Black Iron was much stronger than Fengjiayi’s halo, and he could summon many more metal soldiers. It took only a few seconds for nearly one hundred metal men to appear around Tumi Sangzha.
This was not all. As a Tang infantry formation charged toward Tumi Sangzha, before they could get close, the armor on their bodies began to writhe, breaking free of their former owners to transform into even more metal men.
The limbs of these metal men transformed into sabers, swords, and spears, and quickly began to fight the Annan Protectorate army soldiers.
These metal men did not have the protection of Stellar Energy, but they had the advantage of constantly morphing attacks that simply couldn’t be defended against. Moreover, they didn’t need to defend themselves as they could never die.
In a few moments, without Tumi Sangzha even needing to personally strike, his army of metal men had thrown the charging Tang formation into chaos.
And even more terrifying was the damage that Tumi Sangzha’s Halo of Black Iron did to the steel walls.
Under the effect of Tumi Sangzha’s halo, these tall and unmoving walls suddenly began to twist and transform into steel giants that now charged up the mountain.
Boom boom boom!
These metal giants smashed their fists down, each with the weight of one thousand jun, their every strike raising clouds of dust and causing the earth to quake. Even these Great Tang elites who had survived through the battle of Erhai and Lion City could not take a single blow from these metal giants.
A casual strike, smash, toss, or collision from these massive steel soldiers was enough to plow through the Annan Protectorate army and fling its soldiers screaming into the sky.
Not a single person on the mountain could take even a single blow from them.
And Tumi Sangzha was still summoning more steel giants. Coupled with the massive fireballs still careening out of the sky, it seemed like the defenses that Wang Chong had put so much effort into were about to be annihilated.
Even so, Wang Chong was still smiling, a leisurely expression on his face.
“…Although I don’t know who this Tibetan general is or how he managed to cultivate such a powerful Halo of Black Iron, if he thinks that this will be enough to destroy the metal walls that I had made in the capital specifically for this battle, then he’s truly too naive.”
“Eh?!”
Chen Shusun was dumbstruck, his face a picture of confusion.
From a certain perspective, he had watched Wang Chong as he grew up. But at this moment, Chen Shusun felt like he couldn’t see through this smiling and relaxed youth.
Even though he was much older than Wang Chong.
“These metal walls are covered in toughening inscriptions, with each wall holding thousands of all sizes. If that foreign general only wants to transform four of them, he’s completely capable of that, but if he wants to twist all of them into metal men, that’s nothing more than wishful thinking!” Wang Chong said nonchalantly as he looked down the mountain.
Although he was still young, Wang Chong’s experience and insight left even a veteran general like Chen Shusun in the dust. If Chen Shusun knew that this youth at his side had the soul of the most powerful and revered ‘War Saint’ in the history of the Central Plains, he would probably be so scared and shocked that he wouldn’t be able to speak.
The southwestern war was the first war the empire would face, and also the most important one.
The first domino to fall was here. This war concerned the future of the Great Tang and the Central Plains, so Wang Chong had no place to retreat. He had to put forward everything he had.
Not even Wang Chong had expected experts with Metal element halos like Fengjiayi or Tumi Sangzha to appear, much less that someone would have an even more powerful halo than Fengjiayi, presenting a massive threat to Wang Chong’s defensive arrangements. However, these modular metal walls were bound to the lives of the one hundred thousand Tang soldiers and the almost one million civilians of the southwest.
Thus, when constructing these metal walls, Wang Chong had expended all his capital, investing the Hyderabad ore and the fortune made from selling the Wootz Steel swords into the venture.
Besides that, Wang Chong had even sold off more than half of the spirit vein mountain to obtain even more funds, making the nobles, wealthy clans, and even the princes and princesses of the palace descend into a buying frenzy.
The fortune accumulated from these various avenues was enough to make Wang Chong one of the richest people in the empire. Even if he constructed several more cities like Lion City, he would still have extra.
But Wang Chong had invested all of it into constructing these steel walls.
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Beneath the ordinary exterior of these steel walls, each piece of metal had been affixed with a large number of inscriptions. Wang Chong had gathered almost all the inscription masters of the capital and had them take part in this undertaking of unprecedented size.
No such undertaking had ever appeared before in the capital. No one had ever attempted such a thing.
One could say that the price of these modular metal walls was far more expensive than the ordinary person could imagine. This was an incredibly costly venture, but Wang Chong did not have the manpower to alter the course of this war, so he could only use wealth.
If Tumi Sangzha wanted to deal with Wang Chong by transforming all these metal walls into his desired metal army, he would first have to overcome the countless toughening inscriptions within the walls.
Although someone with Tumi Sangzha’s abilities could definitely do this, it was impossible for him to do it without paying a price!
Buzz!
Space seemed to blur as Tumi Sangzha’s halo continued to expand. The steel walls on the base of the mountain seemed to come to life, twisting and deforming. This time, Tumi Sangzha’s Halo of Black Iron covered more than ten of these steel walls.
If he succeeded, not only would ten more undying steel giants of boundless strength appear on the mountain, a massive gap would be torn through the defenses of the Annan Protectorate army.
But in the next moment, Tumi Sangzha suddenly paled as if he had suffered some heavy blow, his forehead suddenly covered in sweat. Those steel walls to his left and right which had seemed on the verge of transforming suddenly returned to normal, as if the connection between them and Tumi Sangzha had been cut off.
The transformation of these walls into giants had been halted!
Although Tumi Sangzha was very far away and the massive fireballs were still plummeting out of the heavens, Chen Shusun was able to quickly notice that Tumi Sangzha had paled and fiercely turned his head to the summit. Wang Chong truly had been correct.
“He truly couldn’t transform them!”
Stunned, Chen Shusun suddenly understood.
“Not even a Great General of Huoshu Huicang’s level could be guaranteed to transform all the steel walls I brought into metal men, let alone this foreign general. Given his abilities, four metal giants is his absolute limit. Any further attempts to summon a metal giant will consume a massive amount of Stellar Energy… If an expert on his level wants to do that, then I welcome it with open arms!” Wang Chong said with a chuckle.
Before the imposing War Saint, no one could do things so easily. Not even Dalun Ruozan could have it easy, so why these foreign generals? Battles were fought step by step. If Ü-Tsang and Mengshe Zhao hoped to use this method to defeat him, then they hoped in vain.
On the other side, Tumi Sangzha had clearly understood this principle and swiftly altered his plans.
Rooaaar!
With a furious bellow, the pitch-black halo under Tumi Sangzha’s feet began to explode outward. All the metal men currently engaged in furious battle on the front lines were suddenly magnetically attracted to him, flying through the air to attach to his body.
Clangclangclang! Countless metal men along with the metal grains rising from deep underground began to attach to Tumi Sangzha, all of them quickly fusing together into a thick suit of armor that completely enclosed him.
Tumi Sangzha’s body continued to grow taller and taller, and he was quickly replaced with a metal giant, ten-some zhang tall, appearing like some demonic god.
Dust plumed around him as a powerful aura rose from the giant’s body.
“Where, where, where did this fellow come from! Isn’t he too powerful?”
“Not even Jiaosiluo was this powerful, right?”
“The Tibetans still had a powerful expert like this!”
……
At this moment, the most shocked were the soldiers of Mengshe Zhao. After fighting together with Ü-Tsang for several months, they had grown very familiar with Huoshu Huicang’s Five Tiger Generals.
As for the person before them… although they had run into him once or twice, it was generally the Five Tiger Generals leading the charge into enemy ranks. They truly had no impression of this valiant general.
A voice came from behind Fengjiayi as Mengshe Zhao’s Great General Duan Gequan chose this moment to speak. “Of the Five Element halos, the Metal element has the fewest people possessing the talent to cultivate it, as it is the most difficult, with a chance of success far smaller than the other elements. This Tibetan can already use the Halo of Black Iron to this level, meaning that he’s already reached or is close to reaching the even higher Halo of Bronze. Using it requires putting in one’s heart and soul. Through the method used by this general, in terms of defense, he’s already surpassed Jiaosiluo.
“Your Highness Crown Prince, you cultivate the same kind of metal halo. You must pay attention to this person’s every action. Learn from him. It might be of great assistance to you.”
“Jiayi understands. Many thanks to Great General for this advice,” Fengjiayi earnestly replied.
Fengjiayi had always treated this Great General who had always stood in his father’s shadow with the utmost respect.
Silence quickly settled in around him.
Everyone, both Mengshe Zhao and Tibetan, was focused on Tumi Sangzha. All of them had to admit that this strength displayed by this tribal warrior far surpassed their initial expectations.