The Emperor Reigns Them All

Chapter 222 Desperate Fightback

Huang Chao looked around at everyone, his voice was like a great bell and his imposing manner was like iron. His words were like the sound of drums tapping on the hearts of every soldier, making the tens of thousands of soldiers on the drill ground feel the same as him.

As he continued his speech, the soldiers’ emotions became more intense. Gradually, everyone’s eyes were ablaze and their hearts shared the bitter hatred for the enemy. Later, whenever Huang Chao finished a sentence, the soldiers would scream, beat their chest, hit their shields with their blades and hit the ground with their spears. It was like the big drill ground had been lit with a burning fire with enough. The energy and emotions seemed it could swallow the world.

Huang Chao’s emotions was steadily increasing, and every time the mountain and sunami like roars sounded, his momentum would grow even more. The two seemed to melt into one and benefit each other. He was already at the first level of the Spiritual Master Realm, the Lingchi Spiritual Master. Now, there was a faint hint that he would break through the bounds and reaching the second level of the Spiritual Master Realm, the Yinshen Spiritual Master.

The Lingchi Spiritual Master was already strong enough. If he could reach the realm of the Yinshen Spiritual Master, he could come and go freely amongst tens of thousands of troops. By then, taking the generals’ heads would be as easy as winking, and no Non-Militarism formations could defend against it.

Huang Chao had an invigorating look, and there was a sense of madness in his eyes. The Spiritual Qi was madly surging around his body and his clothes and hair fluttered wildly, making him look like an immortal.

Stared intensely at the sea of armored guards before him and added, “Our Qi Empire guards are all elite sliders with hundreds of battle experience under our belts. One of our guards could easily take on ten enemies! Now a motley crew of Pinglu, Zhongwu and Yanmen soldiers have the nerve to attack Chang’an, snatch your homes, take your wives and kill your parents. They want to destroy all the riches that you’ve earned with your lives. Now answer me, will you allow that?”

“No!”

“No!”

“No!”

Tens of thousands of soldiers roared in unison, which had shocked the sky. And the Spiritual Qi of the Military Formation erupted. The white light flashed and many streaks of bluish white and red waves of Luck surged up and down the battlefield.

“I won’t allow it either!” Huang Chao suddenly stretched out his hand and grabbed the air in the direction of the Military Formation. The torrent-like waves of various kinds of Luck immediately rushed out like a floodgate had been opened and divided into several strands, coming towards Huang Chao.

Huang Chao waved his hands, and like wielding a battle flag, he guided the Luck torrent to converge above the sky.

The cloudless sky suddenly became turbulent, with clouds scudding and winds arising. It was as though the light of day had disappeared within a radius of thousands of feet. Only a huge vortex was left in the middle, forming a tornado composed of torrents of Luck.

Soon, all the white clouds turned red, and Huang Chao suddenly screamed. He lowered his arms and the clouds dropped down. The clouds then divided into over 20 strands and landed on the platform. They then drilled into the generals behind Huang Chao from the top of their heads.

The twenty or so generals all trembled, and their eyes were filled with light, turning scarlet, then green, and then blue, which were frightening.

Within a flash, the general’s aurora suddenly changed, increasing to a new level. Everyone had a radiant glow, and in different colors. They looked like a troop of celestial soldiers.

Huang Chao’s face was pale, but his eyes were full of madness. He turned back to look at his generals and added, “I am the son of the gods, and I’m supposed to rule the world. Today, I will boost your cultivation by virtue of the Luck between heaven and earth. And now you’re all at the half step Foundation-building Stage, and some of you even reached the Militarism Warrior world! You will lead your ministries and fight for me, kill the enemies for the Qi Empire and earn your rewards! You will let Li Ye and Li Keyong know that he who offends the son of God must the pay the price of death!”

The generals clasped their fists in their hands and obeyed the order with roars.

Tens of thousands of guards on the military drill ground howled collectively, “Protect the Qi Empire; kill the enemy!”

“Protect the Qi Empire; kill the enemy!”

“Protect the Qi Empire; kill the enemy!”

...

Huazhou.

Pinglu Army had been resting here for half a month. The soldiers were now full of spirit. Li Ye was very satisfied after patrolling the campsite for a few laps.

After taking Huazhou, Shangguan Qingcheng obtained a large number of ordinances and weapons that elevated many Pinglu Army soldiers’ armaments to a higher level. Moreover, Li Ye had not worried about grain for the moment as the grain was stored sufficiently in Hua Zhou.

Li Ye was now living in the Inspector General Mansion of Huazhou, and it was already night time when he returned to his mansion. He started to meditate after dinner.

These days, as more and more Luck gathered, Li Ye’s Qi-refining Level 9 cultivation had already accomplished the Great Completion. The victory of the expedition on the battlefield brought not only the soldiers’ heartily support, but also people’s praise in the state.

After all, wherever Huang Chao’s Rebellion Army landed, the people suffered pain worse than death. The first thing Li Ye did after recapturing the state was pacify the people. He not only commanded his troops not to offend the people, but to provide them help. His popularity also grew.

As the army breaches Tongguan, Li Ye’s reputation rose to an even higher level. This was a great breakthrough for the entire situation. Li Ye received piles of compliments from all the vassal states. Heroes were extremely respected in times of turmoil. Now, Li Ye’s reputation had far exceeded that of when he overthrew Wei Baoheng and Liu Xingshen.

Not only that, Li Ye, Liu Dazheng, Shangguan Qingcheng and other military generals had boosted their cultivation exponentially after defeating enemies time and again on the battlefield.

Now Shangguan Qingcheng had reached the generals realm. Her warrior territory now had no trouble covering a military formation of three thousand. Liu Dazheng’s cultivation had reached the senior generals realm which was higher than Shangguan Qingcheng. His warrior territory could cover a Military Formation of more than 10,000 people.

On the second day, Li Ye prepared and ordered the ministry to get ready to battle at any time.

At this time, Li Keyong was engaged in battle with Shang Rang in Lingkou.

Shang Rang wanted to take Huazhou, so he took the initiative to attack. Li Keyong ambushed halfway, and at the beginning of the battle, the Yanmen Army, which occupied the favorable terrain, rushed out to all sides, handling the Shang Rang’s ministry a painful blow. Soon he made Shang Rang’s 200,000-strong army split into several sections, and fierce battles erupted everywhere with hubs of screams.

Li Keyong stopped his horse on high ground to overlook most of the battlefields. He saw that Shang Rang’s ministries were in chaos, where they were fighting independently instead of as one. Li Keyong was excited to see that his enemies were incapable of fighting back under the fierce attack of the Yanmen Army.

Li Keyong pointed to the battlefield with his whip, turned his head and smiled at Monk Huiming who was beside him, “It’s said that Huang Chao’s ministry is elite, now it seems that they’re over-hyped. The only thing they can do is take a beating after meeting my Shatuo elite.”

Hui Ming replied expressionlessly, “There are more than 50 vassal states in the world, but not many could put up a fight against the Shatuo troops.”

Li Keyong then agreed proudly, “Naturally, Shatuo troops have garrisoned the borders for generations. Their fighting capacity is extraordinary, especially adept at field battles. My troops just never had a chance to show their strength because that guy, Li Ye, just did not want to let go of Tongguan. Li Ye has seen the light now and got out of the way. Since the Guanzhong Huang Chao Army has no danger, our army can naturally march straight in. Even taking Chang’an would not be difficult.”

Just as he finished his words, Li Keyong suddenly frowned. There was an unusual sound on the battlefield. It seemed that there was a Military Formation that was making a big attack. He quickly turned his head and looked at it. His heart suddenly jumped and his pupils shrank.

The Shang Rang’s ministry under siege was in chaos before, now, thousands of soldiers’ morale had suddenly perked up, and thunderous roars broke out.

The whole Military Formation was like a bison with its tail on fire and suddenly started charging with their heads down. The guards put their bodies on the line and fought bravely like never before. They killed off Yanmen soldiers by rows, leaving their bodies lying on the grounds. Their formations moved together and pushed the Yanmen soldiers. As they charged forward, they forced the Yanmen soldiers back, and it was as though they were not to be stopped.

The Qi Army’s Military Formation of thousands of soldiers was shrouded in a group of white light, like steaming bodies in winter.

Shang Rang, who headed the charge, was especially brave under his guards’ protection. He moved forward like an immortal, not encountering any worthy enemies. He sliced the Yanmen army cultivators like cutting vegetables, sending them scattering. Those that fired their arrows at Shang Rang, were helpless because their arrows had fallen before even getting close to their formation.

Li Keyong then asked with wide-open eyes, “Is this... the Military Formation of Militarism? Shang Rang is actually a warrior of Militarism. Why haven’t I heard of this before?”

Not waiting for him to think of anything, the Military Formation appeared one after another in the other directions, instantly increasing to six. The dejected Qi Army, who was overwhelmed before, immediately cheered up for reversing the situation with these six Military Formations.

Those soldiers that did not have a Militarism warrior to command them also roared, it was obvious their morale had been boosted too. Although they couldn’t launch a counterattack against the Yanmen Army like the Military Formation of Militarism, they at least held their ground.

“Six Military Formations of Militarism! Where did Huang Chao find so many warriors of Militarism? Is he the ancestor of the Militarism?”

Li Keyong was shocked and angry. This situation was unexpected and he was in disbelief. This was so unlikely to happen. If Huang Chao had so many Militarism warriors, how come they did not reverse the situation in Guanzhong before?

Li Keyong had no time to mull it over, he quickly turned to Huiming and added, “Please master, it’s time for you to attack!”

With the counter-attack launched by six Military Formation of Militarism led by six Militarism warriors, the Yanmen army was about to suffer defeat by the Qi army in at least six positions.

Although this was only a small part of the 200,000 strong army, the victory of these six Military Formations was enough to make the Qi Army take advantage of the general trend. And greatly enhanced the overall morale of the Qi Army. Once the six Military Formations defeated the Yanmen Army before their eyes, they would sweep the entire battlefield, which would then create chaos among the Yanmen Army!

Huiming put his palms together devoutly and said Amitabha.

At this time, two tall, tower-like monks, rushed into the battlefield forcefully. One headed for Shang Rang’s Military Formation of Militarism and the other went towards another one.

Li Keyong had seen one of them before, his name was Huineng. As he approached Shang Rang’s Military Formation, he jumped up one hundred feet and landed before the formation. He attacked Shang Rang with his fist, and Shang Rang made no effort to dive but let out a yell and struck with his long spear, which was engulfed in white light.

The two men were stuck in a hard struggled, with both taking a few steps back. As they retreated, they hit many soldiers around them. Shang Rang then sprayed a mouthful of blood. It seemed that Huineng had the upper hand this time.

But before Huineng could expand the effects, suddenly, three monks from the Qi Army rushed out, and actually exuded the cultivation of half-step Foundation-building Stage. They stood and faced off against Huineng together.