Chapter 923 - The Eastern Front Withdraws, the Western Front Begins!

Rumble! An enormous chain of Stellar Energy slid through the air, wrapping around an ankle of the Vairocana Buddha, but Huoshu Huicang slashed down with a palm, cutting it off. In the blink of an eye, another chain of Stellar Energy had wrapped around Huoshu Huicang’s wrist, and then came a third, a fourth… Huoshu Huicang’s fists were flying, blasting apart the chains or burning them away, and then he stepped forward and pushed toward the Supreme Desolation God.

“The Vairocana Burning Body Mantra! Get out of my way!”

The palms of the Vairocana Buddha came together, and a ball of searing fire as bright as the sun exploded from between them. The waves of energy stirred fierce gales, and yet the Supreme Desolation God needed only a few punches to disperse the energy of the scorching strike.

“Great General Huoshu, with me, you should temper your expectations. You won’t be able to get one step past me!”

Cheng Qianli’s righteous and chilling voice resounded over the battlefield.

From start to finish, Huoshu Huicang had been slowly advancing in Wang Chong’s direction, and Cheng Qianli could certainly see what was going on. Wang Chong was probably a thorn in the sides of all the Great Generals of Ü-Tsang. Whether it was Huoshu Huicang or Dusong Mangpoje, they all probably wanted to work with Duwu Sili to kill Wang Chong.

But Cheng Qianli would never let them get their wish.

Wang Chong had rushed to the aid of the Anxi Protectorate army with an army of more than one hundred thousand soldiers. If he allowed Wang Chong to be surrounded and killed, he would be disgracing the name of the entire Anxi Protectorate army. Thus, even though he was still slightly weaker than Huoshu Huicang, Cheng Qianli did not retreat even half a step, putting all his strength into stopping Huoshu Huicang.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

The two once more fell into a fierce melee.

In the center of the battlefield, the battle between Wang Chong and Duwu Sili had reached a fever pitch. In the air, Duwu Sili’s attacks were exploding all around Wang Chong.

“The Celestial Wolf Bites the Sun!

“The Celestial Wolf Swallows the Stars!

“The Celestial Wolf Topples Mountains!”

Duwu Sili was launching all sorts of supreme techniques from his horse, coming at Wang Chong from every direction. But no matter what technique he used, Wang Chong would always predict and block it. Duwu Sili had originally entered the battle to break the encirclement of the sixty thousand Tibetan and Turkic cavalry, but he had by now forgotten his goal. The only thought left in his mind was to kill Wang Chong!

“Bastard! I’m going to kill you today! The Celestial Wolf Strikes the Moon!”

Duwu Sili’s furious laughter echoed in the skies as he and his horse transformed into a shooting star that rushed toward the Godking Yama. But with an enormous boom, Wang Chong used several moves to redirect the force of this strike.

Duwu Sili’s move was able to express only seventy percent of its strength.

“Duwu Sili, it’s not that I don’t believe you, but that you don’t have the time!”

Wang Chong chuckled as he confidently swung one of the vajra pestles at Duwu Sili in a counterattack.

Buzz!

Duwu Sili made a leap and easily dodged Wang Chong’s attack. Although his attacks were reduced in strength and essentially ineffective against Wang Chong, he was still an extremely powerful individual. Wang Chong’s attacks posed little threat to one of the top three Great Generals of the Western Turkic Khaganate.

“Brat, what do you mean?”

Duwu Sili’s eyes narrowed as he glared at Wang Chong.

“Heh!”

Wang Chong only chuckled in reply, his eyes looking past Duwu Sili to the distant hills. As if in response, the yak horns began to resound over the battlefield. Duwu Sili’s face froze at the blaring of the horns as he felt an indescribable strangeness.

Nearby, Huoshu Huicang and Dusong Mangpoje sensed the same.

This was the signal for the army to retreat!

Although others might not be able to tell the difference in the blaring yak horns, Huoshu Huicang and Dusong Mangpoje could. This was the signal for them to leave, a signal sent by Dalun Ruozan.

“Great General! We should retreat. We can fight them again in the future!” Huoshu Huicang yelled at the Celestial Wolf Great General in the sky.

Duwu Sili said nothing, his face constantly shifting. He had not expected the Tibetans to sound the retreat. But while he was still hesitating, the thousands of Tibetans and Turks below were already carrying out this order.

Buzz! For a moment, the entire battlefield was still, and then everyone began to surge back, a tide retreating to the east of Talas.

Bang! Bang!

Two explosions rang out in Duwu Sili’s ears, to his left and right. Huoshu Huicang and Dusong Mangpoje had almost simultaneously forced back their opponents so that they could break away and cover the retreat of the army.

Duwu Sili’s mind instantly began to seethe in turmoil. Although he was extremely unwilling, he ultimately chose to withdraw.

Although he still had little regard for Wang Chong, if Cheng Qianli and Gao Xianzhi entered the fray, he would not be able to deal with all three. Without the assistance of Huoshu Huicang and Dusong Mangpoje, he would not be able to deal with Wang Chong in peace.

“Withdraw!”

Still floating in the air, Duwu Sili waved his hand and gave the order to retreat.

Rumble! The Turkic cavalry who were still hesitating also began to withdraw.

“Wang Chong, should we pursue them?”

Gao Xianzhi had not chosen to chase after Dusong Mangpoje, instead returning to Wang Chong’s side.

Gao Xianzhi was Wang Chong’s senior by a significant margin. For him to ask Wang Chong what to do at this time meant that Gao Xianzhi had wholeheartedly accepted the fact that Wang Chong was a far more capable strategist and tactician.

“There’s no need!”

Wang Chong gave a faint and careless smile.

“Let them go. They still haven’t lost yet, and with Duwu Sili and those other two holding the rear, we wouldn’t be able to get much out of pursuing them! And besides… strategically speaking, we’ve reached our objective. Let them withdraw!”

Dalun Ruozan was truly formidable. While Wang Chong was battling with Duwu Sili, Dalun Ruozan had succeeded in leading the army to break the encirclement and free the trapped Tibetan and Turkic cavalry. But even so, Wang Chong’s forces had succeeded in killing more than forty thousand of them. In addition, the entire battlefield resounded with the dying howls of wolves while the corpses of vultures dropped from the skies like raindrops.

The joint Turko-Tibetan force of one hundred and twenty thousand had suffered a massive loss, cut down to seventy-thousand-some men!

With this reduced force, even someone as learned and intelligent as Dalun Ruozan would find himself with much less leeway. Strategically, Wang Chong had achieved his objective.

“This retreat is truly very prompt. Otherwise, we would have killed even more Tibetans and Turks, wounding their army irrecoverably!”

Cheng Qianli came over, his voice tinged with regret as he gazed at the retreating army.

“He didn’t want to retreat, but he was forced to,” Wang Chong indifferently said, explaining no more. His Bane of the Battlefield Halo had been active this entire time, a constant drain on Duwu Sili’s and Huoshu Huicang’s strength. If they hadn’t retreated, it would take only a little time before they found retreating to be very difficult.

“Let’s go! Only the Arabs are left.”

Wang Chong immediately turned his Godking Yama to the first defense line, issuing orders as he left.

“Li Siye, order the army to withdraw back to the second defense line, and have them work with the rest of the army to attack the Arabs.”

“This general will go!” Li Siye swiftly replied.

The first to react was Xu Keyi’s ballista army. The more than one thousand ballista teams had been stationed in the rear of the force this entire time, so they were the first to reach the first defense line. With the ballista army remerged, the simultaneous fire of nearly three thousand ballistae ascended to a whole new level of power.

Boomboomboom!

Volley after volley of ballista bolts descended upon the Arab army, the sounds of their impacts resounding over the battlefield. In a flash, nearly seven thousand Arabs had been killed, and then came a second wave, a third wave… At a certain number, the power of a ballista army would exponentially rise.

The arrival of Wang Chong, Cheng Qianli, and Gao Xianzhi further struck fear in the hearts of the Arabs. Their warhorses neighing, they began to fall back.

Bongbongbong!

The beating of drums could be heard from the rear of the Arab army. Before Wang Chong and the others could formally enter the battle, Abu Muslim had sounded the retreat, causing the countless Arab soldiers to pull back like the ebbing tide.

If the three elite Imperial Great Generals of Ü-Tsang and the Western Turks could not defeat the Great Tang, the Arabs definitely could not.

“Soldiers, attack!”

Wang Chong didn’t let this chance pass. The Godking Yama swung down its four hands, immediately causing explosions and screams to tear through the battlefield. Hundreds of Arab cavalry were pulverized by the Godking Yama, a bloody mist filling the air as chunks of flesh and limbs rained down over a radius of several hundred zhang.

On the path of martial arts, Great Generals were head and shoulders above Brigadier Generals.

By borrowing the strength of the Godking Yama Formation, Wang Chong could have his every blow shatter the earth!

Boom!

A tremendous boom came from beside him, and yet more screams filled the air. Hundreds of Arab cavalry were thrown into the air and pulverized by a dreadful power. Cheng Qianli’s Supreme Desolation God had also entered the fray.