Chapter 1851 - Probing the Giant Cauldron!
Chapter 1851: Probing the Giant Cauldron!
Translated by: Hypersheep325
Edited by: Michyrr
“The conference is over?” the Formation Elder asked. His mind was not on the question, and his brows were tinged with worry.
“Mm.”
Wang Chong nodded.
“Senior, have you readied what I asked you for?”
Wang Chong’s expression was solemn, a hint of anticipation in his eyes. The conference with Wang Zhongsi and the other Great Generals was important, but for Wang Chong, the matter he had privately asked the Formation Elder to carry out was even more important than simulating tomorrow’s battle.
“Mm.”
The Formation Elder nodded, his brow furrowing in unease.
“As you ordered, I only finished seventy percent of the formation so that the Arabs wouldn’t notice, but… Wang Chong, that’s something that can only influence the weather. It’s of no help in this battle. Are you sure that’s what you want?
“If you need it, I can lay down several powerful formations, even formations from the Formation Divine Treatise. These can greatly boost your army’s fighting power!” the Formation Elder said.
He had pondered this matter for a very long time. When Wang Chong had given him the diagram, the Formation Elder had thought it was some formidable formation, but it had been completely the opposite of what he had expected.
Although the Formation Elder was a member of the martial arts world, not the court, he knew just how important this battle was, that the survival of the Central Plains depended on it. When the realm was in peril, every man had a responsibility to save it. The Formation Elder was getting on in his years, but he was still a Tang. He did not wish to see the lands of the Great Tang invaded by foreigners and the people enslaved.
Wang Chong and the others were the Great Tang’s final barrier!
“Senior, I know that you want to help me, but it’s no good. The majority of the formations in the Formation Divine Treatise use the energy of nature. They require a long time to set up and create fierce ripples of worldly energy. Before we even finish them, the enemy will have noticed the energy ripples and won’t give us the chance to complete them,” Wang Chong sternly said.
In the Rebellion of the Three Princes, the only reason Wang Chong had been able to use the Mountain River Formation was that his enemy had been focused on the Imperial Palace and had not placed any defenses on the outskirts of the capital. But now was different. Both Khatabah and the High Priest were top-class experts who would not give the Great Tang the time to establish a formation. Moreover, the stronger the formation, the more obvious the ripples of Origin Energy would be.
In contrast, the formation Wang Chong had given the Formation Elder the diagram to was one for which he had minimized the chance of discovery. Moreover, as the formation was only seventy percent complete and not targeted at the Arab base, its chances of being discovered were even lower.
The Formation Elder was quieted by Wang Chong’s words. He understood these things just as well as Wang Chong did, but this was not an enemy that could be underestimated.
“Haaah…”
In the end, the Formation Elder could only deeply sigh.
“Heh!”
Wang Chong chuckled at the Formation Elder’s response.
“Senior, relax. With such a crucial battle imminent, how could I do anything meaningless? And I will have to trouble Senior with something else after this battle. If the Great Tang wants to win this war, we’ll probably have to rely on you!”
“Ah!”
The Formation Elder’s eyes flew open.
“Is, is… is that true?”
But after saying this, the Formation Elder knew that he had misspoken. Wang Chong was not the sort of person who would make meaningless plans at a crucial time like this.
Since that was what he said, he naturally had his reasons.
The Formation Elder quickly departed. In the hall, Wang Chong took a deep breath and slowly calmed himself down.
Victory or defeat, we’ll see what happens tomorrow! Wang Chong said to himself. He knew that both the Great Tang and Arabia were using everything they had in this war. This time, the battle would not be so protracted as the Battle of Talas. Both sides were at peak strength and would not permit the battle to drag on for too long. Tomorrow’s battle was bound to be a hellish battle that would come with terrible casualties. Perhaps… both sides would pay an enormous price, but there was no other path!
“Only one thing left to do!”
Wang Chong strode out of the hall.
The northwest was quiet in the darkness. While undercurrents might have been building up power under the surface, everything was calm on the surface.
Wang Chong stood in the darkness and gazed at the distant and brightly-lit Arab base. Countless figures were shifting around in the darkness, and next to that giant domed fortress, Wang Chong spotted the cauldron.
Cheng Qianli had been right. The cauldron was surrounded by hundreds of thousands of Arab cavalry, and right beneath the cauldron were armored giants holding giant axes and heavy swords that would occasionally bellow into the night in warning.
As for the bronze cauldron itself… there didn’t seem to be anything strange about it, no emanations of powerful energy. But a moment later…
Buzz!
Wang Chong entered the world of energy, and the world before his eyes transformed into one made entirely of energy. Those hundreds of thousands of Arab cavalry disappeared, as did the rolling landscape of the northwest.
In Wang Chong’s eyes, the Arab cavalry became countless balls of energy linked together into a blazing sea.
And in this blazing sea, the Arab Governors and Deputy Governors were like dazzling bright moons, with Khatabah and the High Priest standing out most of all.
Khatabah’s energy was a restless ocean that seemed engulfed in a haze. He was clearly suppressing his energy. The High Priest’s energy was completely different. In the world of energy, he was a lingering black fog that made it impossible for Wang Chong to determine just how strong he was. But Wang Chong knew that the High Priest was not a pure martial artist. His greatest strength was his Psychic Energy, so for him to take this form was not strange.
Wang Chong quickly turned his attention to the bronze cauldron.
“Hmph! They used sealing energy?”
Wang Chong snorted. In his eyes, the massive bronze cauldron was dark and gloomy, completely unlike the Governors and Deputy Governors, making it impossible to see its true power. But upon giving it a closer look, he could still identify web-like slivers of power running across it.
Wang Chong was no stranger to this power. It was the sealing power of a ritual artifact.
Bzzz! Wang Chong’s eyes gleamed as he shifted into using his ‘True World’ ability, which was much stronger than seeing through the world of energy.
As he used this ability, the world again transformed.
Bang!
The bronze cauldron instantly became a blazing red pillar of energy that soared out from the center of the cauldron and all the way to the heavens. And Wang Chong saw something else in the domain of the True World that he had not seen before.
The center of the bronze cauldron contained a frighteningly destructive power, and around the cauldron, the laws of the world showed signs of damage. The energy of the laws were not considered a part of the energy domain, so he had not been able to see this in the world of energy. Without the True World ability, Wang Chong would have never noticed this abnormality.
Just what is this thing?
Wang Chong’s pupils constricted, and he grew somewhat wary as his mind began to spin.
Wang Chong had impressive strength and even greater experience, but not even he had ever seen something as bizarre as this.
Wang Chong had initially taken that massive cauldron to be some sort of ritual artifact or similar treasure, but it now appeared that he was completely off the mark. The ripples of energy were not coming from the cauldron, but from something inside it.
Rather than saying that the bronze cauldron was some terrifying ritual tool Arabia had prepared to use against the Great Tang, it would be better to say that it was being used against the thing inside the cauldron.
The bronze cauldron was a giant cage that shackled the thing within.
Strangest of all was that if this thing was what Arabia was preparing to use against the Great Tang, it should have been used as quickly as possible, quickly released rather than remaining within that giant cauldron.
In short, it was all indescribably strange and disconcerting.
Let me see what kind of trick they’re playing!
With this thought, Wang Chong stomped forward. The earth trembled as a vast torrent of Psychic Energy surged out of Wang Chong’s mind and poured into the earth. Once it was deep enough, it turned and shot off like a lightning bolt toward the distant bronze cauldron.
The Arab base was so tightly guarded that one couldn’t even squeeze a needle inside, but there was no way to defend against Psychic Energy.
Wang Chong’s Psychic Energy was several times greater than those of the same cultivation level. He towered over his peers and had few competitors in this world.
More importantly, at Wang Chong’s level, a Psychic Energy probe would not be noticed by anyone in the Arab base.
Buzz!
The City of Steel was several hundred li from the Arab base. Wang Chong was probably the only person capable of sending out a Psychic Energy probe over such a long distance.
Boom! Several hundred li went by in the blink of an eye. In the darkness, nobody noticed this immense mental will hurtling through the ground toward the giant cauldron in the Arab base.
Five thousand feet, three thousand feet, two thousand feet, one thousand feet…
As it got closer and closer, that existence in the cauldron seemed to sense something, and the energy in the surrounding area subtly shifted.
A moment later, just when Wang Chong’s Psychic Energy was about to reach the cauldron, boom! A massive torrent of energy shot forward, slamming into Wang Chong’s torrent of Psychic Energy like a steel pillar.
This Psychic Energy blast was delivered at full strength, and even Wang Chong couldn’t help but shudder, his Psychic Energy seething.