Chapter 584: The Decisive Battle! The King of Black Iron!
Translated by: Hypersheep325
Edited by: Michyrr
In terms of pure strength, Tumi Sangzha couldn’t compare to Longqinba, but he was not one bit inferior to Jiaosiluo, and in terms of valor, he even surpassed Jiaosiluo.
Fengjiayi had once attempted to interact with him, but this person didn’t even respond, making it very hard to communicate with him.
Jiaosiluo once said that although Huoshu Huicang might not be able to control many people, as the Ngari Royal Lineage’s Great General, he has the right to choose subordinates… The Five Tiger Generals were the people he had chosen, so as long as they remained, Huoshu Huicang had no right to choose any new subordinates.
But now that most of the Five Tiger Generals have either died or been injured in battle, he must have chosen this Tumi Sangzha! Fengjiayi said to himself.
Clang!
While Fengjiayi was attempting to guess at Tumi Sangzha’s strength, the person in question was sitting erect on his horse, the clanging of metal rising from his dantian. With this sound, a massive black Halo of Thorns began to spread to his soldiers.
This was not the Halo of Fortress that the Tibetans specialized in, but a powerful, purely offensive halo!
Immediately afterward, Tumi Sangzha stretched out his arms behind him and slowly unsheathed two curved scimitars.
“Attack!”
Rumble! Warhorses charged forward, Tumi Sangzha immediately taking the lead. Thousands of Tibetan cavalry howled and followed like a tide of black steel. Under the cover of the rain of massive fireballs, they thundered toward the mountain.
“Kiiiill!”
Behind him, the Tibetan cavalry swiftly began to take formation: one echelon, two echelons, three echelons… hundreds of echelons, aimed at the gaps between the steel walls, charged toward the summit.
This time, there were no Mengshe Zhao soldiers on the mountain, no Tang shieldmen holding the line, nothing to stop the hooves of the Tibetan mounts.
“The victor is king while the loser is plundered! Those who retreat will die!”
Tumi Sangzha’s killing intent soared to the heavens as he led his forces charging toward the mountain.
“Kiiiill!”
“Kiiiill!”
“Kiiiill!”
……
Under the thick rain of fireballs and the sea of fire enveloping the mountain, the Annan Protectorate army was so suppressed that it couldn’t even raise a head. At this moment, the army led by Tumi Sangzha was a knife fiercely thrust into the Tang.
Although Wang Chong had nearly one hundred thousand soldiers on the mountain, none of them were capable of showing their power at this time.
Let’s see how the Tang deal with this!
Geluofeng, Duan Gequan, Fengjiayi, Huoshu Huicang, Longqinba, and all the other generals of the Mengshe–Ü-Tsang army were watching the mountain. The first probe had concluded, so it was now time for the real battle to begin.
Although the Annan Protectorate army was commanded by Wang Yan and Xianyu Zhongtong, everyone knew by now that the true threat to the Mengshe–Ü-Tsang army came solely from that youth standing on the summit.
“Aim all the fireballs at the middle of the mountain. Divide the front from the rear so that the Tang can’t send any troops.
“Kill all the Tang troops from the middle of the mountain and down, and then deal with the army at the summit!
“I wonder, what will that boy do next?”
……
In the rear of the army, where the large siege weapons towered over the earth, Dalun Ruozan stood, his gaze focused on the distant Wang Chong. He had already discussed all the offensive plans with Huoshu Huicang last night.
One wave of attacks after another, like the ceaseless tide, would persist until no more Tang soldiers remained. Only when the last of their foes in the southwest were wiped out would it stop.
This plan was not his, nor was it Huoshu Huicang’s. It was the crystallization of their combined wisdom, Huoshu Huicang’s military tactics coupled with his schemes… This was the mutual understanding the pair had shared for a very long time now.
Long ago, the two had relied on these methods to suppress the wildly ambitious Zhangchou Jianqiong and his 180,000 Annan Protectorate army elites. Now that Zhangchou Jianqiong had moved to the capital, their target had changed to that teenager, that immature boy.
Fifty zhang, thirty zhang… the Tibetan force was getting closer and closer, yet there was no sign of activity from the mountain.
When the Tibetan army was only twenty zhang from the mountain…
Boom!
Suddenly, a rumbling came from the mountain. Right when the Tibetan cavalry were about to charge onto the mountain, the soldiers of the Annan Protectorate army suddenly appeared in the gaps between the walls.
The moment they appeared, a large construction made from steel was also pushed out.
“Barricades!”
The sight of that large metal construction caused the Tibetans to immediately open their eyes in shock. Large steel platforms had been pushed out, their sloping sides covered in sharp and chilling teeth, like the fangs of a beast, all of them pointed down the mountain slope.
All around the mountain, thousands of these metal barricades were pushed out.
“This is impossible!”
The army had almost reached the foot of the mountain, and so even someone as valiant as Tumi Sangzha had to pale at the sudden appearance of these heavy steel barricades. In the previous battle, he had clearly seen Duan Wuzong lead the Whitestone Corps up the mountain and Jiaosiluo lead ten thousand cavalry up.
All these soldiers had been charging up the mountain, but none of them had seen any barricades!
“Where did these barricades come from?”
Tumi Sangzha’s eyes widened in astonishment.
Much less him, even some as composed as Huoshu Huicang couldn’t help but look up to the summit with raised eyebrows.
It’s this again! It seems like he also prepared for this!
It had only taken a day for Wang Chong to produce these steel walls, and now, in front of their eyes, he had suddenly produced these heavy barricades. Huoshu Huicang was rarely moved, but even he was somewhat affected by Wang Chong’s ability to move around all these barricades in complete secrecy while surrounded.
There was no doubt that Wang Chong had already planned this out.
Huoshu Huicang had been fighting wars for so long, encountering all sorts of formidable opponents, but he had never met one so hard to deal with.
Alas, you’re facing Tumi Sangzha this time!
Huoshu Huicang’s eyes flashed for a moment before he regained his composure. At the same time, as if responding to Huoshu Huicang, Tumi Sangzha let out a furious howl.
“Hmph, you think this can stop me? Naive! Get out of my way!”
While everyone else was slowing in the face of these barricades, Tumi Sangzha bellowed, his entire body exploding with a majestic momentum as his mount sped up and broke free from the ranks of his army. The earth quaked as black ripples began to spread out around Tumi Sangzha.
These black ripples seemed to be alive, stretching through the void to enclose the steel walls and barricades.
“Black Iron Spirits, rise up!”
Tumi Sangzha’s eyes sharpened as he roared and swung down at the ground. Rumble! The entire mountain seemed to tremble. As everyone looked on, space seemed to blur, and these massive steel walls suddenly began to fall, crumple, and twist.
Roaaarr!
Soldiers on both sides watched as four steel walls several zhang from Tumi Sangzha suddenly pulled themselves out of the ground and transformed into four steel giants, several zhang tall.
Thick limbs, massive heads, and terrifying strength… a storm of energy began to explode from these steel giants.
!!!
In an instant, everyone paled, including Wang Chong, who was supervising the entire battle from the summit.
The most shocked of all was the Crown Prince of Mengshe Zhao, Fengjiayi.
“This fellow’s Black Iron Halo has actually reached this level!”
Fengjiayi had never known that Tumi Sangzha cultivated the Black Iron Halo, a halo very similar to his own, but the most frightening thing of all was that Tumi Sangzha had cultivated his Black Iron Halo to a level that far surpassed his own!
At the very least, Fengjiayi’s abilities were not at the level where he could transform the steel walls erected by the Tang.
“Young Master, what do we do?”
At the same time, on the summit, Chen Shusun turned to Wang Chong.
The greatest defenses offered by this mountain were the modular steel walls that Wang Chong had erected. Without the shelter of these metal walls, the Mengshe Zhao and Tibetan cavalry could charge all the way from the foot of the mountain to the summit.
Infantry were skilled in defense!
But if they didn’t have the defense of these walls, the Annan Protectorate army would not be able to exert their full abilities.
And the existence of Tumi Sangzha was now the most concerning variable in this defensive framework, the greatest threat!