Chapter 1021 - Sassanid Emissary!

“Milord will understand in the future. Duwu Sili is a shrewd schemer and extremely paranoid. Ordinary methods can’t deceive a top-class general like him. Extraordinary methods must be employed to slowly draw him into the trap. If my guess is correct, the aura of his army and the formation phenomena in the sky should have finally cleared up all of Duwu Sili’s doubts, and he’s probably going to be cultivating it himself soon.”

Wang Chong stood up and hopped off the boulder, his expression extremely relaxed.

“…If you want to hook the lion, you have the feed the lion meat. As for the hook, you have to bury it in the meat!”

Cheng Qianli blankly stared at Wang Chong, and then he suddenly understood.

Six Mysteries Formation Phenomena!

This was the name of the version that Wang Chong had given to Duwu Sili.

The era of the calamity was one of great suffering and decline, but it was an unprecedented golden age for the study of martial arts. In the process of constructing formation phenomena from nothing, countless astonishing talents had devoted their intelligence and produced various different versions.

Amongst all these versions of formation phenomena, one in particular had a thunderous reputation and was known by everyone in that apocalyptic age. This was the version produced from the research of a hermit known as Monk Six Mysteries. From a certain perspective, this version was even more well-known than the true version of formation phenomena.

This was not because this version was particularly powerful or unique, but because the effects of being misguided by it were the most severe.

In the early days, research on formation phenomena was extremely challenging, and many problems were encountered. Progress was not going as quickly as desired, and some people even believed that formation phenomena were totally lost and not worth this attention. It was at this time that the Six Mysteries version of formation phenomena was published.

The obvious boost in strength and grandiose phenomena produced left everyone gasping in wonder. Many other martial art experts researching formation phenomena began to put aside their own work in admiration for this version. Once the formation phenomena of the Six Mysteries version were initially verified, the version was rapidly spread through the army, and Monk Six Mysteries became widely praised.

The appearance of this version caused all other research on formation phenomena to stop. At that time, everyone believed that formation phenomena had finally reappeared in the world and that the Six Mysteries version was the ultimate form.

But this version of formation phenomena quickly began to reveal its innate and terrifying flaws. It was like discovering a path leading straight up to the summit of the mountain while wandering about a forest of thorns. Everyone joyfully rushed up this path, little knowing that this path terminated in a high and steep cliff.

After three months of cultivating formation phenomena, the Six Mysteries version began to reveal the consequences, including disorder of Stellar Energy, twisting of meridians, reversal of blood energy flow, and other such terrible effects. These symptoms rapidly worsened, and by the end, many of the people who had cultivated this version of formation phenomena ended up suffering terrible cultivation defects that left their bodies paralyzed.

This matter left everyone shocked, and the army rapidly issued an order for everyone to stop cultivating the Six Mysteries version of formation phenomena, but the damage had already been done.

In the beginning, everyone believed that there was merely something missing from the Six Mysteries version, and everyone invested their intelligence in the hopes of finding and filling in this defect. But the truth was far from what they had imagined. The more they researched the Six Mysteries version, the more they realized that this version of formation phenomena was faulty down to the foundations. It took people on a completely different road that would never take them to the true end. The more one cultivated it, the stronger one would get, but the greater the eventual damage would be. In the end, the damage would accumulate to such great degrees that it would be impossible to turn back.

More and more people began to realize the flaws of the Six Mysteries version. In the end, even Monk Six Mysteries noticed the problem.

Monk Six Mysteries was filled with guilt and remorse. Although he had good intentions and had never intended for all this to happen, his technique had inflicted unimaginable harm. Nobody blamed him, but it wasn’t long before Monk Six Mysteries disappeared, no one knowing where he had gone.

With the lessons learned from the matter of the Six Mysteries version, everyone restarted the research. After expending a great deal of time and energy, even the delay caused by the Six Mysteries version, the sum of their strength eventually succeeded in reviving the ancient strength of formation phenomena.

Duwu Sili was a cunning fox who would never bite down on the hook unless there was sweet bait upon it. More importantly, Wang Chong also knew that even before the calamity, Duwu Sili had dispatched people into the Central Plains in search of those people researching formation phenomena so that he could take them hostage. Afterward, when the Six Mysteries version was published, Duwu Sili was one of those who vigorously cultivated it.

One could easily imagine what would happen when someone so obsessed with formation phenomena discovered the Six Mysteries version. For Wang Chong to give him the Six Mysteries version now, it would have been very strange if Duwu Sili had been able to restrain himself.

If all went as expected, once Duwu Sili began to cultivate this version, its flaws would begin to appear in Duwu Sili’s body, and the Celestial Wolf Great General of the Western Turks would find it very hard to maintain his place at the apex of Great Generals! Everything had been decided the moment Duwu Sili had taken Chen Bin hostage. All that was needed was to wait for the final result.

“So Duwu Sili was already caught in your scheme. Since this is the case, I will report as such to the Protector-General! In the future, we will no longer need to send anyone to observe the Western Turks.”

Cheng Qianli’s expression relaxed, and he paused a moment before continuing.

“That’s right! There’s another matter. We’ve received a special guest in Talas. Lord Protector-General invites you to go with him to see this guest.”

“Oh?”

Wang Chong’s face froze, his curiosity piqued. Talas was a dangerous war zone at this moment. He really didn’t know what sort of person would pay it a visit at a time like this, and that would even have Gao Xianzhi send Cheng Qianli to invite Wang Chong over.

“Let’s go.”

……

The air was solemn in the main hall within Talas. Upon stepping in, Wang Chong immediately saw the guest that Cheng Qianli had spoken of. But even though Wang Chong had prepared himself, he was still left dazed by the sight of this guest.

The guest Cheng Qianli spoke of was 1.8 meters tall. His body was tall and slim, his eyes deep and blue. His long hair was wavy and curly, and he wore a thick beard. He stood out like a sore thumb from the rest of the people in the reception hall. In terms of appearance, this person was nothing like the Tang and appeared more similar to their greatest foe, the Arabs.

But as his eyes flitted over the man’s clothes, Wang Chong had a sudden thought, and his eyes flickered for a brief moment.

“Lord Protector-General, this is…”

Wang Chong turned with a questioning look to Gao Xianzhi, who was seated by a table in the hall.

“Wang Chong, you came at just the right time. Not long ago, this person rushed into the city. We almost mistook him for an Arab and had him killed. This person was constantly shouting and hollering in some strange tongue, so we sought out Yuan Shusong. Yuan Shusong told us that this person was not an Arab, but Khorasani, and he had important information to tell us. But he insisted that you needed to be present before he said anything, refusing to speak otherwise.”

“Oh?”

A look of surprise flitted through Wang Chong’s eyes as he turned to this Khorasani.

“So it really was the case.”

Wang Chong had wondered if this person was Khorasani when he first saw him, but he hadn’t expected this to be true. But there was one thing that Wang Chong still didn’t understand. Khorasan was to the west of Talas and extremely far away. It could be considered a part of the Arabian Empire’s interior. Even the Tang merchants plying the Silk Road rarely traveled there, much less Wang Chong.

Wang Chong found it hard to understand why a Khorasani he had never met would know him and insist on meeting him.

“Lord Marquis, I’ve questioned him thoroughly.” Yuan Shusong, dressed in loose robes and exuding a gentle and cultivated aura, whispered into Wang Chong’s ear. “He truly is a Khorasani. I traveled there in my youth. The Khorasani are different from the Arabs. He might be able to offer us some assistance.”

“You are that young commander of the Great Tang?”

At this moment, the Khorasani who stood out in the hall like a stone statue suddenly spoke, his blue eyes fixing onto Wang Chong. Yuan Shusong froze for a moment before quickly beginning to translate.

“You know me?”

Wang Chong nodded, surprise in his voice.

“No!”

Unexpectedly, the Khorasani shook his head.

“But I have heard of you. At Talas, you defeated the Governor of Iron and Blood Abu Muslim. Abu Muslim is an important subject of Arabia and an enemy of our Khorasan. He has never been defeated in his career of conquest and has crushed innumerable countries. For you to have defeated him must mean that you are one of the mightiest of heroes.”

Wang Chong stared blankly for a few moments before breaking into a smile. This was the first time he had ever heard such a high evaluation of himself from someone west of the Cong Mountains.

“I was told that you wanted to see me and that you had extremely important intelligence? What might you be referring to?”

Wang Chong went straight to the point.

“Abu Muslim is our enemy, as it was he who led the Arab army in destroying our Sassanid Dynasty. While you were battling with the Arabs on the front lines, the Arab Mamelukes and other armies were massacring our people. Khorasan is now a mountain of corpses. Your people and our people share a common enemy!” the tall and thin Khorasani said with red eyes.

The people in the reception hall glanced at each other in surprise. No one had expected that something like this had happened in Khorasan.

In this era, very few people knew about Khorasan, and people who knew about the Sassanid Dynasty were as rare as Qilin horns or Phoenix feathers; not even Gao Xianzhi knew about it. But Wang Chong knew that in another time, this place had an even greater and more illustrious name: Persia!

Yet what drew the greatest reaction from Wang Chong was not this, but the other name the Khorasani had mentioned.

The Mamelukes! No wonder I didn’t see them. They were in the rear crushing a rebellion of Khorasani!

Wang Chong’s mind was currently whirring with thoughts.