The Human Emperor
Page 10“Yao Feng, you sent Ma Zhou to do me in! Today, we’re just repaying an eye with an eye!”
Wang Chong squatted on Yao Feng’s back and with the assistance of his little sister, he exerted all of his strength and greeted Yao Feng’s face consecutively with both fists, causing his face to swell up.
Wang Chong was filled with resentment. The Yao Family’s elder was currently doing his father in at the basement whereas the younger one sent Ma Zhou to deal with him. None of them were anything good!
If not for him appearing here, the Wang Clan would be ruined in their hands.
“This fist is for my Big Brother!”
“This fist is for me!”
…
Wang Chong’s fists fell like rain, every single one holding great might behind it. Even though Yao Feng’s cultivation realm far surpassed that of Wang Chong, he was still a being made of flesh and blood. Furthermore, Wang Chong had been a Grand Marshal in his previous life for more than thirty years. He was well acquainted with all kind of torture methods in the military. He knew whereof the human body was the most brittle and where it hurt the most.
Initially, Yao Feng was still taking it resiliently. He didn’t want to lose all of his dignity in the hands of two kids and as such, he gritted his teeth to prevent himself from making any noise. However, after a few blows, he realized that even though Wang Chong was weak, his strength paling far in comparison to the overwhelming strength his sister possessed, his blows were multiple folds more excruciating than hers. In the end, he couldn’t hold back his screams.
“You little bastard, you dare!”
Boom! The ground tremored and Yao Guang Yi appeared from below. Upon seeing the situation, even though Yao Guang Yi was adept at hiding his intentions and emotions, Yao Feng’s tragic state made his rage erupt.
Never would he have thought that Yao Feng would land in such a state.
“You two bastards, pay your crime with your lives!”
With a grim face, Yao Guang Yi charged straight at Wang Chong and Wang Xiao Yao. Bright flames gathered in his stretched out right hand, forming a tiny sun in it. It exerted immense pressure on Wang Chong and Wang Xiao Yao.
Even the Wang Family’s little sister was known to be unparalleled in terms of strength, before this dense congregation of bright flames, she lost her radiance.
“Brother!”
Wang Family’s little sister’s expression tightened and her face turned white in fear. She was born courageous, fearing nothing at all. However, that was only in comparison with those of her age group. She was unable to match up with Yao Guang Yi, who made his name in the battlefields.
“Stop it! I will kill this rascal if anyone were to make a move!”
Under the radiant light, Wang Chong couldn’t discern the situation in the room clearly. In fact, he wasn’t even able to identify the assailant. However, this didn’t prevent Wang Chong from threatening his opponent.
Qiang! He whipped out a dagger from his sleeves and pressed it against Yao Feng’s neck. A faint trace of blood seeped out from within. If Wang Chong were to press it any further in, Yao Feng would really die in the hand of a fifteen-year-old kid.
Weng! The bright light stopped a few chi away from the Wang siblings. Yao Guang Yi’s hardened face appeared behind the blinding light.
1 chi ~ 1 feet
“Yao Guang Yi!!”
Wang Chong’s heart beat furiously. Only now was he able to see who the assailant was! In his previous life, he had met Yao Guang Yi a few times, but it was his first time meeting him in this one.
Yao Guang Yi’s gaze was deep, as though he was hiding many secrets within it. It was exactly as how he remembered him, the face of an unscrupulous person.*
“You bastard. If you dare to hurt my Feng-er, I will tear you apart!”
Yao Guang Yi’s face was cold and dark to the point that it was intimidating. If looks could kill, Wang Chong would have died innumerable times already.
“Hehe! Is that so?”
Wang Chong sneered coldly. He hated being threatened, needless to say when the person doing it was Yao Guang Yi:
“If you tear me apart, I will make sure that your lineage will stop with you. I would like to see if your family’s Yao Feng is made of metal and whether he would be able to survive this blade of mine.”
“Don’t!”
Yao Feng screamed in shock.
“Young master!”
The people in the surroundings were astounded. Wang Chong and Wang Xiao Yao were the children of the Wang Clan. Usually, this would only end as a small brawl. After all, rationally speaking, the two should not try to claim the life of their young master, especially given the complex relationship between the two families.
However, after seeing Wang Chong’s expression, they realized that he was even more insane than his younger sister. He wasn’t someone that could be evaluated using common sense.
It was possible for him to do anything under his streak of insanity.
“You little bastard, don’t you dare!”
Yao Guang Yi’s eyes widened with anger and his entire body was trembling. He was so angry that he was about to bite through his teeth.
“You unfilial son! Stop what you’re doing!”
A lightning-like voice boomed in the room. Behind Yao Guang Yi, a dignified and familiar figure stood in the room. His presence felt like an indomitable mountain in the room.
“Father!”
“Father!”
…
Joy surged through Wang Chong heart and he called out along with Wang Xiao Yao.
“You unfilial son! Look at what you’ve done!”
At this moment, Wang Yan’s face looked even more awful than Yao Guang Yi’s. He had hated those who go against the law and previously, when he was drinking with Yao Guang Yi below, he was talking about how the capital wasn’t a place for such unprincipled people to fool around.
Yet, to think that the ones who were wrecking havoc at Vast Crane Pavilion and brawling in public were his son and daughter!
Wang Chong didn’t think too much about it. Upon seeing his father appear, Wang Chong was delighted. As long as he was able to pull his father out from here and ruin the meeting between him and Yao Guang Yi, all of the trouble he went through was worth it.
“Father, things aren’t as you thought.”
Wang Chong hurriedly explained:
“It was Brother Yao and the Yao Residence who made the first move.”
“Silence!”
Wang Yan roared with an indescribably furious expression on his face. “You have truly let me down! Your mother and I thought that you have truly repented and decided to start anew, and yet you still behaved in such a manner! ——You truly have let me down!”
The entire room was silent. Wang Yan’s reputation was too striking. Under the intense pressure Wang Yan was exerting, no one in the entire Vast Crane Pavilion dared to say anything. Even more so, Wang Xiao Yao’s face paled from terror and her body scrunched together in fear.
It was her first time seeing her father fly into such a temper. Wang Xiao Yao could vaguely sense that she had gotten into deep trouble.
Wang Chong understood his sister’s emotions. He grabbed her hands while at the same time, his heart sunk upon listening to his father’s words. The slight joy that had arisen in his heart previously disappeared without a trace.
After doing so much to avert a crisis for his family, his father only thought of him as an obstinate unfilial son!
Wang Chong felt intense bitterness.
“Yes! Father is right, I admit my mistakes!”
“Mistake? What mistake? They were the one who attacked us first…”
The Wang Family’s little sister felt indignant. She never feared anything, but her father was an exception. The moment her father Wang Yan appeared, her face turned white from fear and she shivered uncontrollably. However, when she heard the indignance in her brother’s voice, she felt extremely discontented with her father’s judgement and even went to the extent of refuting her father’s words for her brother.
She feared her father but she didn’t want her brother to be wronged. Her brother obviously didn’t do anything, why should he admit that it is his mistake!
Even when these people ganged up on them, it was still their fault? Even though she didn’t know why her brother wanted to deal with these people, Wang Xiao Yao deeply believed that her brother had his reasons for doing so.
“Silence!”
Wang Yan lashed out angrily.
“Little sister, don’t say anymore…”
Wang Chong hurriedly pulled his younger sister’s hand. Even though he was misunderstood by his father and he felt awful because of that, as long as the plan succeeded, everything else was unimportant.
After Yao Feng was beaten to the verge of death by Wang Yan and his sister before everyone else, no matter how sly Yao Guang Yi was, it was impossible for him to claim any sort of relationship with his father anymore.
Even a fool, upon knowing what had happened today, would not suspect his father of colluding with Yao Guang Yi and betraying King Qi. Wang Chong could tell that Yao Guang Yi was aware of this fact, that’s why he was exceptionally furious.
As for his father, Wang Yan…
One day, he would understand his efforts.
Watching the scene by the side with reddened eyes, Yao Guang Yi was unable to suppress his rage. After all, it was possible for that pair of father and son to be putting on an act.
“You bastard, let go of my Feng-er!”
“Yao Guang Yi, shut your mouth!”
With a bellow, the heavens shook. Wang Yan could no longer tolerate it anymore.
No matter that, Wang Chong was still his son. However, Yao Guang Yi called him a ‘bastard’ repeatedly before him, how could he tolerate this?
Yao Guang Yi had already overstepped his boundaries!
Even though they were peers, there was no need for Wang Yan to be polite to him. It was up to him to educate and lecture his children, and Yao Guang Yi, as an outsider, had no place in it!
Weng!
Yao Guang Yi’s face darkened. The two of them glared at one another. The atmosphere in this small room instantaneously tensed due to the words of the two generals of Great Tang.
With the two generals of the royal court enraged, everyone else in the room cowered backward, not daring to move in the least.
All of the guards of the Yao Residence revealed fearful expressions.
Upon seeing this sight, Wang Chong felt consoled. His father was still sided toward him! However, Wang Chong didn’t want a conflict to break out between his father and Yao Guang Yi yet.
“Yao Guang Yi! I’ll return your son to you since you want him so much!”
It wasn’t time for the two to fall out yet. Wang Chong was well aware of the events that would happen in the future. Even though Yao Guang Yi was not anything good, the two families had not fallen out at this moment yet.
Peng! Wang Chong pushed Yao Feng, and at the same moment, he used a special technique to knock on an acupoint at his back, knocking him unconscious before he could do anything.
As the saying goes ‘biting the hand that feeds’, Wang Chong would not do such a thing. Yao Feng was obviously much stronger than him and if he were to release him just like that, many things might happen later on.
Yao Guang Yi hurried forward to catch his son.
Seeing the disfigured face of Yao Feng after he was pummeled by the Wang siblings, Yao Guang Yi’s heart bled. He had went through a lot of trouble to prepare today’s plan. He even invited a lot of King Qi’s aides and subordinates so as to make the scenario even more credible. He didn’t expect just that two brats of the Wang Family would foil all of his planning.
Yao Guang Yi could not confirm whether the father and son pair were doing this intentionally to play out a show before him, but no matter what, his plan had been foiled.
Back then, he had guaranteed King Qi time and time again that this plan would work. When King Qi hears of this, not only will he be disappointed in him, he might even doubt his ability to get things done!
At this point, Yao Guang Yi felt the ache in his heart worsen.
“Wang Yan, I will not let this matter slip like that. I will report this matter to His Majesty to have the Wang Clan held accountable for this incident!”
Yao Guang Yi stared at Wang Yan hatefully. Since his plans had failed, there was no longer any need for him to put on his hypocritical front any longer. Carrying his son, he led the group of experts of the Yao Residence away without even turning back.
The moment Yao Guang Yi left, Wang Yan’s face darkened.
“You unfilial son! Why are you still standing here! Do you think that you haven’t embarrassed me enough yet?”
Wang Yan glared at Wang Chong and spoke coldly. After which, his gaze landed on Wang Xiao Yao:
“Yao-er, you have truly disappointed me. Next time, stay away from your Third Brother, Otherwise, it is just a matter of time before you are led astray. ——You will be grounded in your room for three days after returning back, you are not to step out out of it!”
“Daddy!”
Wang Xiao Yao exclaimed anxiously. She was alright with being grounded in the residence, but being locked in her small room would suffocate her to death.
“This matter isn’t up for negotiation!”
Wang Yan said coldly.
Wang Chong felt disheartened. It takes more than a day of frost for the river to freeze three feet deep. Furthermore, the scandal of him and Ma Zhou raping a female villager had just gotten out, and right after that, he came to blows with Yao Feng in the Vast Crane Pavilion. It would probably be even more difficult for him to change his father’s impression at this point.
However, regardless of whether his father believed him or not, there was a matter that Wang Chong needed to say:
“Father, I know that you wouldn’t believe anything that I say now, but there is something that you must remember! When father returns back to the military camp by the border, when you notice the Huren crossing the border, please remember to retreat fifty li first! You must remember this!”
Fifty li -> 25 kilometers
“What do you mean?”
These words came from nowhere, such that even though Wang Yan was on the height of his anger, he couldn’t help but be stunned by his words. As such, he subconsciously asked about it.
*Technically, the word referred to people who were unscrupulous but did great things. It could be considered as a negative phrase, but not necessarily so.
For example, it was often used to describe the person who unified China, Qin Shi Huang (Ying Zheng). [If you don’t know him, that’s the king of the Qin Country in the Kingdom manga, Sei] He did many bad things, he ordered for people to be buried alive, he invaded many different countries and such. In the manga, his goal was to create a unified world without wars. He did do great things, but he couldn’t be considered a hero because of his means. Thus, we have another word for it, called 枭雄.
Well, it could also be used to describe people who didn’t accomplish their ambitions, but are ambitious and unscrupulous anyway.
I used the word feet but the accurate one would be chi.
Chi = 33.3cm
Feet = 30.48cm
Note that the length of chi has changed throughout different dynasties.
On the other hand, li = 0.5 kilometer.