Silence, absolute silence!
All around the battlefield were faces as pale as snow. All the Tibetans had been struck dumb by this sight.
"Milord…"
"How is this possible?"
"How could this be? This is impossible!"
……
A moment ago, their commander had been pressing down on that Great Tang expert, but in the next moment, his head had been severed, his corpse lying on the floor. The discrepancy was so great that the morale of the Tibetans watching this fight completely collapsed.
It's over! Wang Chong mentally said with a cold sneer, then drew back his gaze.
He had the insight and experience of a Saint Martial realm expert, lacking only the strength. But Li Siye did have the adequate strength. If the two of them working together still weren't able to kill that Tibetan commander, then that Tibetan really would have something to be proud about.
Someone who not even the future War Saint and Invincible Great General of the Great Tang could defeat truly deserved to be arrogant.
Alas, Li Siye still hasn't matured enough! Otherwise, my help wouldn't have been necessary.
As this thought flew through Wang Chong's mind, he quickly turned around and waved his hand.
"Old Eagle, hurry up and finish off your opponent!"
The Tibetan commander had been killed, the world-famous Echelon Formation had been broken, and only fifteen hundred of the initial three thousand cavalry remained. Moreover, Zhao Jingdian and the rest of Wang Chong's forces had arrived. Wang Chong could see no avenue through which these Tibetans could reverse the tides.
"Congratulations to user! For defeating renowned Tibetan general Batunlu, you are awarded 3 Destiny Energy, to be dispensed after the mission is completed!"
Just when Wang Chong was turning around, he heard a voice in his ear.
Eh?
Wang Chong stopped and mentally gasped in surprise. This voice had truly caught him by surprise, but the more important part, the most important part, was that Wang Chong knew of this general.
It was him? Wang Chong wondered in shock.
Wang Chong knew that this general couldn't possibly be anyone nameless, but he hadn't imagined that he would be this famous. Batunlu was not a name that could compare to the likes of Huoshu Huicang, Dalun Ruozan, and Geluofeng, but he was definitely one of the higher-ranked individuals of Ü-Tsang's Ngari Royal Lineage.
This person was a capable commander in the war of the southwest, playing an extremely important role for the Tibetan army and even obtaining Huoshu Huicang's trust. If nothing unusual had happened, he would have become Huoshu Huicang's trusted lieutenant after this battle. But he would only have begun to stand out and become known after this battle.
By relying on his performance in the southwest campaign, Batunlu quickly rose through the ranks of the Tibetan army, even leading an army together with Dusong Mangpoje and the rest to invade the Central Plains and become a major foe of the Great Tang. Wang Chong had not expected that he and Li Siye would kill Batunlu in this battle!
Rumble!
With the rumbling of warhorses, Zhao Jingdian's forces quickly joined the fray. Without the advantage of speed and with no leader to guide them, the Tibetans were doomed.
Fifteen minutes later, the battle was over. Limbs and corpses littered the ground, and no living Tibetan could be seen.
One thousand Great Tang soldiers had fought against three thousand fully-armored Tibetans charging at maximum speed, but it was the Great Tang that ended up thrashing its opponent. No one could have expected this.
……
"How did you do it?"
When the battle was over and the army was beginning to clean up the battlefield, Wang Chong heard a voice from behind him. Turning around, he saw that Li Siye was walking toward him, his massive sword on his back.
"With your cultivation, it's not possible for you to see the openings of a Profound Martial realm expert. How did you do it?"
Li Siye looked at Wang Chong, his expression unprecedentedly grave. He rarely asked Wang Chong questions, but this matter was completely different. Although he was at the Profound Martial realm, in that fight, even he had been clueless as to how to kill his opponent. Perhaps he could have accepted the results if Wang Chong had also been a Profound Martial realm expert.
But he absolutely was not!
A beginner warrior an entire cultivation realm below was able to instruct a Profound Martial realm expert in killing an even more formidable opponent. This was as absurd as a three-year-old child telling an old veteran how to kill another old veteran on the battlefield.
Even Li Siye found it difficult to accept.
"Haha, what are you saying? Weren't you the one that killed him? Why are you asking me?" Wang Chong chuckled, feigning confusion.
Li Siye only stared at Wang Chong, but the serious expression on his face plainly communicated his stance.
He was not making a joke, and Wang Chong's words wouldn't be able to trick him.
He had to know how Wang Chong had done it.
"Haha, it really wasn't much. The Ksitigarbha Vajra Guardian might have six arms, but its body is too large and there are some places it can't reach. I heard my master talk about this sort of martial art before, so I knew of it. All I did this time was pass on that knowledge to you," Wang Chong said with a chuckle.
"Your master?"
Li Siye frowned as he began to digest this answer. The master Wang Chong spoke of should be the mysterious black-robed elder living in the spirit vein. He had once visited the spirit vein, and the only person he couldn't see through there was the Demonic Emperor Old Man who was Wang Chong's master.
Unlike others, Li Siye was a soldier, so he didn't differentiate between righteous and evil.
If it was as Wang Chong said, then everything was understandable.
But Li Siye still felt that something wasn't right, though he couldn't pinpoint where.
''Haha, don't think about it too much. This is also luck. There's a big battle ahead of us. You should get yourself ready."
Wang Chong patted Li Siye on the shoulder and turned back around, headed toward the corpse of the Tibetan commander Batunlu.
Although the battle was over, there were still spoils to reap. Wang Chong had a feeling that there was an extra reward on the body of this Tibetan commander.
I hope my guess is right! Wang Chong said to himself. The higher the status of an expert, the more likely it was to find decent items on their person. Just the golden gauntlets on Batunlu's hands alone were quite the excellent treasure.
……
Batunlu's corpse lay rigidly on the blood-soaked ground, surrounded by the corpses of countless other Tibetans and horses. Although his head had been cut off, Batunlu's fallen body still gave off an intimidating aura.
Wang Chong stopped next to Batunlu's body.
Unlike the people of the Central Plains, Tibetans had little property, as they were far less prosperous. However, Tibetans had a habit of keeping all their valuable property with them. They didn't have fixed dwellings, so they brought their belongings with them wherever they went.
Wang Chong hesitated for a few moments over Batunlu's bloodstained corpse before taking off those golden gauntlets.
"So heavy!"
Wang Chong weighed the gauntlets in his hand. Although they didn't appear very large, they probably weighed more than thirty jin. Wang Chong's judgment had been correct: the material these gauntlets were made of really was inferior to Li Siye's Wootz Steel sword. The surface of the golden gauntlets was covered in tiny cracks from the impacts.
However, despite their appearance, that they had been able to withstand a full-force blow from Li Siye's Wootz Steel sword was a testament to their strength. And besides, who had as many Wootz Steel weapons as he did?
As he flipped the gauntlets over, Wang Chong noticed a small symbol of a white mountain at the ends of the gauntlets.
"It really is a product of the Great Snow Mountain Holy Land!"
Wang Chong nodded his head.
The Ü-Tsang Empire had only one Great Snow Mountain Holy Land, and it had a long and storied heritage. All the supreme weapons of the Ü-Tsang Empire were made there. In addition, the Great Snow Mountain Holy Land actually had a very low production rate, though each item it produced was of top quality.
Purely by seeing the symbol of the Great Snow Mountain, Wang Chong could guarantee that these gauntlets were not just special because of their toughness.
I can give these gauntlets to Old Eagle, Wang Chong quietly said to himself.
He wasn't prepared to use these gauntlets himself. It had never been his style to fight openly and without subterfuge. Neither he nor Li Siye were suitable to use these gauntlets, but Old Eagle could make use of them. Moreover, Old Eagle was already at Tier 9 of the True Martial realm, only one step away from the Profound Martial realm. These gauntlets would be of great assistance in his activities.
Putting the gauntlets away, Wang Chong paused for a moment before quickly beginning to search through Batunlu's body.
He didn't believe that a Tibetan commander like Batunlu only had these gauntlets.
"Mm?"
After a while, Wang Chong creased his brow.
"Strange—could he not have it?"
There were two objects that Wang Chong had hoped to find on Batunlu's body. One was the Ksitigarbha Secret Art that had stimulated his potential and rapidly increased his strength so that he could suppress Li Siye. Although this art was difficult to practice, once one succeeded, it could serve as a second chance at life at certain moments. Even in the Ü-Tsang Empire, this secret art was only circulated to a select few.
The other one was the method for the six-armed Ksitigarbha Vajra Guardian that Batunlu had used.
Upon using this supreme art, one's entire body would become as hard as steel and one's strength would swell. If Li Siye had not been carrying that Wootz Steel sword that Wang Chong had specially forged for him, itself incredibly sharp and additionally covered by all sorts of inscriptions, he would have been killed. That he had been able to not die was impressive enough.
But Wang Chong had been unable to find either of these technique manuals on Batunlu's body.
That's impossible. Ü-Tsang doesn't pass down these techniques orally. All their martial arts are passed down through secret manuals. If Batunlu knew these two supreme arts, there's no reason for those manuals to not be on his body, Wang Chong quietly said to himself.
The method that Tibetans used to pass down their martial arts was completely different from the Central Plains. They would inscribe the techniques on a very special and refined material, utilizing golden and silver powder, thick with the aura of Buddhism. In Ü-Tsang, these items that passed down their techniques through the ages were called 'Bon Kha'. All their martial arts were written on these 'Bon Kha1'.
And given that Batunlu was a commander, he had to have obtained a Bon Kha to learn the techniques that he had learned, or else once had access to one.
______________
1. I believe the term 'Bon Kha', 苯卡, to be a transliteration from Tibetan. 'Bon' here means 'recitation' or 'read', and 'Kha' means 'language'.↩