Chapter 830 - Crushing Victory!

"Whew!"

Within the formation, Wang Chong slowly drew back his hands and let out a deep breath. Wang Chong felt his body seethe as the last stream of Brigadier-General-level Saint Martial energy entered his body, elevating him from Saint Martial Tier 1 to Tier 2, ultimately pushing all the way to Tier 3.

"This shouldn't be. What evil art is this?"

A weak and feeble voice, lingering on the edge of death, came from in front of him. Agudu Lan's body was shriveled up, leaving behind only a layer of skin hanging on a frame of bones. Yet even in this dreadful state, Agudu Lan was not yet dead, his eyes fixed on Wang Chong.

"The Great Yinyang Heaven Creation Art, the supreme evil art of the Central Plains!"

Wang Chong smiled as he stood up and answered Agudu Lan's final question.

"Evil art, evil art… so that was it!"

Agudu Lan's eyes unfocused, and that last ray of light in his eyes vanished like a flickering candle extinguished by the wind. Thud! His body leaned over and struck the ground.

"Congratulations to user for killing Agudu Lan and resolving the other major threat to Qixi. In addition, with the death of the Black Wolf Yabgu, a major event, the course of the Western Turkic Khaganate has been altered. User is rewarded with 2000 points of Destiny Energy!

"Congratulations to user for salvaging the mission 'Warhorses of the Great Tang' and avoiding the penalty for mission failure!"

At this moment, the voice of the Stone of Destiny rang out in his mind and a smile crept onto Wang Chong's face. The 2000 points of Destiny Energy he received from killing Agudu Lan coupled with his previous rewards meant that he had now accumulated 4670 Destiny Energy.

I can exchange for another set of rewards from the Stone of Destiny now! Wang Chong quietly said to himself.

Wang Chong had gradually begun to realize that the best way to gain Destiny Energy was to kill extraordinarily powerful and influential enemies. These people were often linked to the fate of their respective empires, and killing them would result in a reward for changing the course of history.

But I should still save up this Destiny Energy for now. When I need it in the future, I can exchange for some extremely formidable abilities! Wang Chong decided.

During the battle of the triangular gap, Wang Chong had expended most of his Destiny Energy for the Karmic Battle Armor, and he was slowly beginning to get a taste of the rewards offered by the Stone of Destiny. The Stone of Destiny had some rather precious treasures up for exchange that could play an extremely influential role in battle with elite experts, but these treasures would have a massive price. Still, all of these treasures were worth the price, being more powerful the more Destiny Energy they cost.

"Elder Fang, Elder Du!"

Wang Chong turned to the two Wushang elders, and the two began to make hand movements, releasing pulses of Stellar Energy. The ground trembled as the surrounding walls of dust quickly dispersed, revealing the Qixi Armory. The ground was covered in corpses and irrigated by rivers of blood that not even the darkness could hide. The air stank with the pungent stench of blood.

Wang Chong had barely left the boundary of the formation when a blood-covered scout captain carrying a spear walked over. "Lord Marquis, the battle has already concluded. The Turks have been crushed, with only four or five hundred managing to flee. In addition, we managed to take some of them captive. How should we handle them?"

"If they escaped, forget it. There's no need to chase them down," Wang Chong indifferently said. "As for the captives, bring them all back with us. In addition, tell everyone to get ready to withdraw."

He was very satisfied with the results of this battle. The ground was covered with corpses, but most of them belonged to the Turks and their wolves. The casualties of the Wushang Cavalry were extremely limited, with the majority only having suffered light wounds.

Xu Keyi rode up on a horse and called out, "Lord Marquis! The people from the Qixi Protectorate seem to finally be coming over. Should we meet with them and hand the matter over to them?"

Wang Chong followed Xu Keyi's gaze and saw the light of torches in the distance. The torches were approaching, accompanied by the thundering of hooves. After all this time, the Qixi Protectorate had finally reacted. Some people were coming to see what was going on, but based on the sound of the hooves, it wasn't very many.

"Forget it. This isn't the time to meet them. Inform everyone that we're leaving soon. As for the armory, let's leave it to them to handle."

"Yes, Lord Marquis!"

……

Wang Chong and his five thousand Wushang Cavalry quickly departed, not waiting for the people from the Qixi Protectorate to arrive. Not long after they left, a fierce Qixi commander along with some two thousand soldiers appeared. In the light of their torches, they saw a gruesome battlefield, and all of them recoiled in shock, some of them ghastly pale and apparently about to vomit.

"How formidable. Look at the symbol on their armor, a wolf head. This is the sign of a Turkic warrior. All of them were true soldiers!"

"If I remember correctly, these people would be considered elites under the command of the legendary Black Wolf Yabgu. These fellows enjoy their sneak attacks. In their last operation, the protectorate lost more than a thousand people, and even a few veteran generals were lost. I didn't think that they would die here!"

"This is too gruesome. Just look at their wounds! There's no second one. How powerful would someone have to be to do this? Just the thought of it makes me tremble!"

"Thankfully, they came to help us. If they were together with the Turks, we would already be dead!"

All of the soldiers felt their hearts thump in fear as they examined the miserable state of the Turkic corpses. Their blood was still warm, indicating that they had been slaughtered in a very short time. The strength of a force that could pull off such a feat made their blood freeze. Before this, no one would have dared to believe that such a powerful force existed in Qixi.

"What did you find?"

Meanwhile, that fierce Hu commander from the Qixi Protectorate was standing in a place out of view, speaking in a hushed tone with a grimace on his face.

A sturdy Hu scout lowered his head. After thinking for a few moments, he raised his head and offered a cautious assessment. "It's still not too clear, but it seems to have been the people from Wushang's City of Steel. In Qixi, they're the only ones who have this kind of strength.

"Milord, they shouldn't be far. Do you want to chase after them?"

The Hu commander thought for a few moments before shaking his head. "There's no need!

"That person is currently a taboo in Qixi. No one is allowed to carelessly approach him. Let's not invite disaster on our heads. Quickly have this place cleaned up."

"Yes, Milord!"

……

After traveling several hundred li, Wang Chong's forces returned to the City of Steel. It was the Chou Period, and the sky was still dark, the city still in silent slumber. But at this moment, the gates to the city were open, and a delicate figure dressed in white, riding a white horse, was waiting at the gate, a smiling fairy descended from the heavens. (TN: The Chou Period goes from 1 am to 3 am.)

Xu Qiqin's gorgeous eyes flashed as she saw Wang Chong at the front. She immediately urged her horse forward, her head slightly raised as she proudly demanded, "How was it? My plan wasn't bad, right?"

"Haha, of course. After all, it was your plan."

Wang Chong couldn't help but break out in laughter as he saw Xu Qiqin's proud figure. The two shared a mutual understanding and knew that they were talking about the letter that had baited Agudu Lan. The letter was faked, but the contents were real. Wang Chong's second brother Wang Bei truly had been released from the imperial prison, but not long after he left, he had suffered a bout of Berserker Syndrome in the middle of the street and accidentally crashed into a princess's carriage. However, Wang Bei had not killed the princess, nor had he engaged in some senseless massacre in broad daylight. On the contrary, just when he was about to lose his rationality, Wang Bei had suddenly succeeded in controlling himself.

Such a thing had never happened before.

After this incident, Wang Bei had written a letter to Wang Chong telling him that he would arrive in Wushang soon to help him subdue the Western Regions.

This news was like music to Wang Chong's ears.

This letter had arrived in Wang Chong's hand quite a few days ago, but when Xu Qiqin saw it, she thought of the idea of using it to trick Agudu Lan into letting down his guard and beginning his operation earlier than planned. Agudu Lan was truly a very cautious man. Even after confirming that Wang Chong had left Sand Pass in the direction of the capital, he had even gathered information to confirm the veracity of the incident involving Wang Bei.

But while evildoers could grow one foot, the righteous would grow a zhang. In the end, Agudu Lan still lost to Wang Chong and Xu Qiqin, expiring with his grievances in front of Qixi Armory, all his cultivation becoming Wang Chong's.

"But don't get careless. Don't let someone steal your credit like at the battle of the triangular gap," Xu Qiqin chided. "Prepare a memorial to the court. You need to get at least a little reward for your efforts."

"Haha, you know that I don't care that much about these things, but what you say is reasonable. I'll leave the matter of the memorial to you."

Wang Chong smiled as he waved behind him, quickly leading his men back into the City of Steel.

Flapflap!

A while later, a messenger bird flew into the dark skies, quickly vanishing in the direction of the capital.

……

A night passed, and in the early morning, Wang Chong had just finished a bowl of swallow's nest porridge when the door to the room suddenly opened with a bang.

Xu Keyi entered the room and shouted, "Lord Marquis, there's a problem!"

"What happened?"

Wang Chong put down the porridge and frowned. Xu Keyi and the others should have known about the rules he had set down. Unless something was particularly urgent, it was forbidden to intrude into his room at this hour.