Chapter 577: The Decisive Battle! The Death of Jiaosiluo!
Translated by: Hypersheep325
Edited by: Michyrr
Great Minister, I knew that you wouldn’t stand around and do nothing!
Jiaosiluo was immediately relieved, and that feeling of sharpness at his back had completely vanished. Jiaosiluo knew that he had successfully escaped.
This time, Jiaosiluo had no desire to stop or any thought of achieving any more merit for himself, much less turning around and working together with Longqinba. The urgent task was currently to preserve his life.
As he ran down the mountain, Jiaosiluo failed to notice that a pair of eyes was watching him, though these eyes quickly vanished.
……
“Dalun Ruozan and Huoshu Huicang, this minister and general from the Ngari Royal Lineage, truly aren’t easy to deal with!”
At the base of the mountain, Geluofeng suddenly sighed.
Even he had not been informed that Longqinba was hidden amongst the army. It was clear that Dalun Ruozan and Huoshu Huicang had long ago laid their plans, and that the youngest son of the Wang Clan had fallen for Dalun Ruozan’s scheme.
“His reputation as a wise minister was no vain boast!”
A cold and indifferent voice came from behind him, one that could only belong to Mengshe Zhao Great General Duan Gequan. His voice was as calm as water, and placid as an ancient well. Not even Longqinba’s appearance had elicited much emotion from him.
“However, not even a wise minister could have predicted Zhao Wujiang trapping Jiaosiluo!”
“Mm, even without the ambush against Jiaosiluo, Longqinba would still have been seeking an opportunity to ambush the Tang. Dalun Ruozan has never done anything for purely one purpose. It looks like the rumors aren’t false.”
Geluofeng sighed, but this time, he was using a voice transmission art.
It was no secret that experts at his level could control sound waves to send messages over short distances. It was evident that Geluofeng did not wish for Dalun Ruozan or Huoshu Huicang to overhear his conversation with Duan Gequan.
“Gequan, in the future, when we interact with the Tibetans, especially with Dalun Ruozan, we have to be very careful,” Geluofeng said.
“Being allies with them is enough! With one Great Tang, they won’t have the time to deal with us,” Duan Gequan indifferently remarked.
……
In the middle of the mountain, the situation was looking dire.
“Hurry and protect Milord!”
From the moment Longqinba revealed himself, the Tang soldiers in a radius of several hundred zhang began to move, one square after another beginning to charge toward the leader of the Five Tiger Generals.
Boom!
But before they could get close, a majestic burst of Stellar Energy arose from Longqinba’s body. Screaming, the neat formations of the Annan Protectorate army were thrown into the distance, these elite soldiers crashing to the ground with bones broken and muscles torn, their blood spattering the ground.
Longqinba’s offensive abilities were far greater than Jiaosiluo’s, so the Tang soldiers had far greater injuries than the ones who were attacked by Jiaosiluo.
Bang! After casting aside one formation, Longqinba once more charged toward Zhao Wujiang.
“Halt!”
The worried Xu Shiping immediately lunged toward Longqinba. In the pursuit of Jiaosiluo, he had been the one farthest behind, so he was the first to arrive on the scene.
Zhao Wujiang is currently heavily injured and definitely won’t be able to last for long. I have to stop him! Xu Shiping said to himself. He had never once felt so worried.
“Shiping! Careful!”
“Lord Xu, careful!”
“Quickly, protect Lord Xu!”
……
At this very moment, a burst of alarmed shouts came from around him. Xu Shiping was still trying to understand why when a massive energy suddenly began to thunder toward him.
“Not good!”
Before Xu Shiping could react, an iron elbow imbued with a terrifying destructive force smashed into his chest.
“Aaaaah!”
Xu Shiping screamed as half his chest caved in and blood exploded from his mouth.
“Go and die!”
While everyone was watching, Longqinba had suddenly stopped pursuing Zhao Wujiang and turned toward Xu Shiping. His elbow had struck his chest and sent him flying.
“Somebody, catch Milord!”
The Tang soldiers paled in fright as they rushed up to catch Xu Shiping. Luo Ji’s eyes reddened as he also rushed to assist.
“Halt!”
Raising his spear, Luo Ji blocked the scimitar that Longqinba was slashing down at Xu Andun. Clang! The clash of scimitar and spear made Luo Ji’s hand go numb, and he was forced to retreat seven or eight steps. Meanwhile, Longqinba stood like a towering mountain, coldly sneering at Luo Ji.
This is looking bad!
At this moment, Luo Ji’s heart was sinking like a stone.
Longqinba’s attacks were even sharper than his and far more powerful. But this was not Luo Ji’s greatest worry.
Young Master’s formation is broken…
This thought flashed through Luo Ji’s mind.
Longqinba was even more cunning and difficult to deal with than Jiaosiluo. Although he had acted like he was aiming for Zhao Wujiang, he had actually been planning to injure Xu Shiping. With Xu Shiping heavily injured, the eight-person joint attack formation was immediately shattered.
And without Wang Chong’s Death’s Scythe joint attack formation, none of the people present would be able to deal with the head of the Five Tiger Generals.
“Hmph!”
As Longqinba towered above like some demonic god, he stared at Luo Ji and snorted with undisguised contempt in his eyes. Then his body swayed as he began charging up the mountain, ignoring Luo Ji.
“Not good!”
Luo Ji’s expression immediately tightened as he began chasing after Longqinba.
“General, I’ve come to help you!”
At the same time, Xu Andun, Zhang Long, Chen Qiong, Li Zhi, and the others arrived, and the nine of them chased after Longqinba together.
……
Action was taking place in two places, each with its own story.
While Longqinba was chasing after Zhao Wujiang with no one able to stop him, elsewhere, Jiaosiluo was about to reach his horse.
Blood was ceaselessly flowing from his body and his injuries were only growing more severe. That condensed and tyrannical stream of Stellar Energy that Luo Ji had unleashed was still wreaking havoc in his body. But Jiaosiluo was not terribly worried, as the Great Minister had a very close relationship to the Great Snow Mountain Holy Temple.
In addition, the Great Minister had many secret medicines from the Great Snow Mountain Holy Temple with him. Just one of them would be enough to staunch his wounds and put him on the path to recovery. Perhaps he would only need a few days to recover fifty to sixty percent of his strength and return to the battlefield.
And perhaps if he asked very kindly, he could obtain one of those divine medicines that would soon have him vigorous and energetic in no time.
The Great Snow Mountain Holy Temple had a long legacy that even surpassed the Ü-Tsang Empire. It had a few top-class medicines with effects that outsiders could never imagine.
Bzzt!
As Jiaosiluo was staggering along, only a few zhang from his warhorse, a figure suddenly appeared. A Mengshe Zhao soldier covered from head to toe in armor had seemingly accidentally blocked his path.
“Get out of my way!”
Jiaosiluo’s right hand extended, impatient to push this soldier out of the way. But just when Jiaosiluo was about to push, the Mengshe Zhao soldier suddenly raised their head to glance at Jiaosiluo.
At that moment, Jiaosiluo felt like he had seen a light of dazzling cold in that soldier’s eyes. His two hands paused in midair as his heart froze, gripped by the feeling that disaster was about to strike.
……
“Aaaaah!”
On the mountain, Longqinba was doggedly pursuing Zhao Wujiang, hindering the nine other members of that pursuit party and sweeping away everything before him. He had attracted everyone’s attention, even causing the lines of the Annan Protectorate army to crumble. Suddenly, however, he heard a scream.
So heartrending was this scream that it gave everyone a fright.
This was not a scream a normal person would give. Only a dying person could make such a scream.
“Jiaosiluo!”
At the base of the mountain, in the middle of a sea of armored cavalry, Dalun Ruozan suddenly paled as he twisted his head toward that scream. He recognized the voice as Jiaosiluo’s.
But hadn’t he dispatched Longqinba and already saved him?
Moreover, wasn’t he already in the middle of the Mengshe–Ü-Tsang ranks? Why did he make such a grievous scream?
Dalun Ruozan suddenly had an extremely bad feeling.
At almost the same time, in the Mengshe Zhao camp, Geluofeng’s strongest subordinate, Great General Duan Gequan, suddenly opened his mouth and declared with a tiny hint of emotion in his voice, “Jiaosiluo is finished!”
Time seemed to stop at this moment.
Finally, everyone noticed where that voice had come from.
Right where the Mengshe Zhao and Tibetan armies intersected, a young ‘Mengshe Zhao soldier’ had pierced his spear through Jiaosiluo’s heart and was now raising aloft his giant figure.
The Swordfanged Beast Jiaosiluo, who had once freely reigned over the southwest battlefield, slaughtering countless Great Tang soldiers, was now a lifeless piece of meat hanging from the spear of a Mengshe Zhao soldier, his hands and feet lightly swaying in the wind.
Killed!
Jiaosiluo had been killed! And killed an inch away from success, mere moments from reaching his steed, by a ‘Mengshe Zhao soldier’. But even so, everyone knew that this was no Mengshe Zhao soldier!
“Wang Chong!”
Without any reason, that thin figure and the brash and domineering aura it exuded immediately made Dalun Ruozan think of one person. Dalun Ruozan could only think of one person who, in these circumstances, on the complicated battlefield, could predict Jiaosiluo’s path of retreat and successfully kill him at the last moment: Wang Chong!
That Great Tang youth who had caused all the problems for the Mengshe–Ü-Tsang army!
Swoosh!
A dark red sword plunged into Jiaosiluo’s body, sucking out the last drop of his Stellar Energy. That ‘Mengshe Zhao soldier’ suddenly swelled in strength, his aura only continuing to grow stronger.
“Ha!”
With a shake of the spear, Jiaosiluo’s body was thrown several zhang away like a pile of trash. While the Mengshe–Ü-Tsang army was still dumbstruck, that ‘Mengshe Zhao soldier’ immediately began to charge up the mountain.
“Seize him!”
“Spy!”
He’s a Tang!”
“Don’t let him escape!”
……
Cries of fury and alarm echoed through the sky as the Mengshe–Ü-Tsang soldiers began to roar in their respective languages as they pursued that ‘Mengshe Zhao soldier’. In particular, the faces of the Mengshe Zhao soldiers were pale from rage.
A valiant general of Ü-Tsang had actually been killed by a Mengshe Zhao soldier! If this caused a misunderstanding with the Tibetans, it would present a major threat to Mengshe Zhao.
More importantly, a person like Jiaosiluo could never have been killed by some ordinary Mengshe Zhao soldier. This person had to be a Tang!