Chapter 1187: The Riddle of Destiny!
Translated by: Hypersheep325
Edited by: Michyrr
Rumble! The army swept forward in pursuit of Fadi. There was no one left to stop the Tang now, and in this pursuit, countless more Arabs were felled.
After just an hour of pursuit, w.a.n.g Chong’s twenty thousand men had slain another eighty to ninety thousand Arabs, leaving a trail of corpses in their wake.
Bang! As the army was in the middle of the pursuit, the sound of a heavy object dropping to the ground came from the rear of the army. In the middle of the blizzard, it was nigh inaudible, but to a Great General like w.a.n.g Chong, it was a peal of thunder.
“Stop!”
w.a.n.g Chong suddenly raised his arm and ordered the entire army to halt. In a flash, w.a.n.g Chong turned his horse around and rode to the rear.
“w.a.n.g Chong, what’s wrong?”
By the time w.a.n.g Chong had stopped at the end of the army, Gao Xianzhi, Bahram, and the others had caught up to him.
“How is it?”
w.a.n.g Chong did not reply, only looked at the Tang horseman who had fallen from the back of his horse.
“Mi-Milord, I’m fine. I can still fight.”
The Tang soldier was covered in wounds, and he needed the help of several other soldiers to stand up from the ground.
In this pursuit through the snow, the coalition army had killed an uncountable number of Arabs, but the Arabs were not ordinary opponents. Even though they had been greatly weakened by the extreme cold, their tenacity and ferocity had bored into their bones. The Tang had emerged victorious, but they had paid no small price. Many of their soldiers had been wounded in the pursuit.
w.a.n.g Chong gazed at the soldier’s frozen wounds, and then glanced up to the blizzard, which was even colder and more ferocious than it had been before. He then glanced at the dim lights hanging from the sides of the horses around him, the metal lanterns on the verge of being extinguished, and his eyes flashed.
“Pa.s.s on my order! Prepare to withdraw! Everyone must immediately return to Khorasan!” w.a.n.g Chong suddenly ordered, his words leaving everyone dumbfounded.
“But, w.a.n.g Chong, we have the upper hand. Are we just giving up?” Gao Xianzhi said.
The army of six to seven hundred thousand Arab soldiers had been vanquished by this abrupt and historic blizzard, and together with this pursuit, the Arabs had suffered a blow like never before. As a commander, he found it rather regretful to have to relinquish such an excellent opportunity.
“We’ve reached our limit.”
w.a.n.g Chong shook his head.
“This extreme cold affects both sides equally. The Arabs have been weakened, but our soldiers have also suffered greatly. If this continues, we might never be able to return to Khorasan. And the Arabs have a new garrison stationed in Shandar. If we continue to pursue, we might not actually have much of an advantage!”
“But, Milord, to let go of such an opportunity is truly a great pity. Next year, they will come back with another large army to restart the war,” Bahram protested.
The Sa.s.sanids ardently desired a victory, and such an unprecedented victory was exactly what the Sa.s.sanids needed the most.
“Hah, who says that they can organize another army next year and come back?”
w.a.n.g Chong grinned, his expression proud and confident. Although he had ordered the army to retreat, that did not mean he had forgotten about the Arabs.
“Over the course of this battle, we’ve killed two hundred and fifty to sixty thousand soldiers. Although we’re not continuing the pursuit, the main force of the Arab army has been broken. At least two hundred thousand soldiers are lost in the blizzard, and in this world of ice and snow, it’s impossible for them to find any shelter. If the Three t.i.tans of Black Radiance can return with two hundred thousand soldiers this time, then that would be quite impressive.”
Gao Xianzhi, Bahram, Cheng Qianli, Xi Yuanqing, and the many rebel leaders were all left dazed by w.a.n.g Chong’s words. The Arabs had brought more than seven hundred thousand soldiers with them on this campaign. Had this blizzard and their pursuit been enough to eliminate five hundred thousand of these soldiers?
This number was truly unthinkable.
No one knew how w.a.n.g Chong had arrived at this number or why he was so certain, but no one had ever questioned his judgment. He had proved himself on countless battlefields, and even in the middle of this blizzard, everything had gone as he predicted.
“This…” Bahram hesitated for a few moments before finally replying. “If this is the case, then Bahram has no objection!”
To be able to kill five hundred thousand Arab soldiers in this battle was far better than Bahram’s most optimistic projections.
Rumble!
After one last glance in the direction of Shandar, w.a.n.g Chong and the others quickly reached an agreement, and the twenty thousand men rode back to Khorasan.
Rumble!
After several hours, w.a.n.g Chong led his men into Khorasan. Behind him, the gates of Khorasan closed with a boom, finally bringing an end to this battle!
At almost the same moment, the gates of Shandar flew open. Several mighty Arab governors stood at the gates, their expressions dour as they welcomed the staggering army led by the Three t.i.tans of Black Radiance…
……
“Congratulations to user for completing the mission ‘Arabia’s Counterattack’. For defeating eight hundred thousand Arab soldiers and winning the Battle of Khorasan, user has been rewarded with 40000 points of Destiny Energy!
“Congratulations to user! The Battle of Talas has been completed! Calculating mission rewards…
“Congratulations to user for obtaining victory in the ‘Clash of Destiny’, for a total of 4000 points of Destiny Energy.
“Congratulations to user for completing the second phase of the Battle of Talas. You have been rewarded with 20000 points of Destiny Energy.
“Congratulations to user for killing 360000 Arab soldiers in the second phase of the Battle of Talas for a total of 70000 points of Destiny Energy.
“Congratulations to user for obtaining the ultimate trust of the Khorasani! User has been rewarded with 2000 points of Destiny Energy.”
Once w.a.n.g Chong led his army through the city gates and returned to his own residence, he seemed to open up some invisible sluice gate. A moment later, a deluge of messages from the Stone of Destiny rushed through his mind. Since the start of the Battle of Talas, crisis after crisis had been constantly hanging over w.a.n.g Chong’s head, causing many missions to remain uncompleted.
At this moment, with the withdrawal of the Three t.i.tans of Black Radiance, the Arabs had lost the ability to attack the Great Tang and Khorasan for a very long period of time. The Stone of Destiny had finally begun to calculate the rewards for this phase.
“This…”
w.a.n.g Chong’s steps paused on the threshold in surprise at all this. This could be said to be the longest time the Stone of Destiny had taken to calculate his rewards since his reincarnation. Countless messages swept past as the Stone of Destiny apparently busied itself with calculating his rewards.
Finally, w.a.n.g Chong heard the Stone of Destiny give the final summary.
“Congratulations to user! After deducting various mission penalties and expenses, user has obtained a total of 122110 points of Destiny Energy, for a grand total of 131450 points of Destiny Energy!”
Six golden numbers emerged in front of w.a.n.g Chong’s eyes, instantly striking him dumb. This mission had lasted an extremely long time, and the Stone of Destiny had always been liberal in its rewards, but w.a.n.g Chong had never expected the final reward to be this large.
But just when w.a.n.g Chong believed that everything was finished, the Stone of Destiny spoke once more.
“Congratulations to user for completing ‘The Trial of Destiny’ early. User’s ‘Controller of Destiny’ t.i.tle has been upgraded to ‘Ruler of Destiny’!”
Ruler of Destiny?
This t.i.tle left w.a.n.g Chong’s face covered in shock and surprise. He hadn’t expected this war to result in his t.i.tle being upgraded as well.
‘Ruler of Destiny’? Just what is this? What is the meaning behind these ‘Destiny’ t.i.tles?
w.a.n.g Chong stood at the door to his room, his mind abuzz. A moment later, w.a.n.g Chong heard another voice.
“Congratulations to user for obtaining the t.i.tle ‘Ruler of Destiny’. An additional 10000 points of Destiny Energy has been rewarded and the hidden feature ‘Riddle of Destiny’ has been unlocked. The Riddle of Destiny is the source of all. User can expend a large amount of Destiny Energy to obtain information.
“Notice: conditions must be met to use this feature!”
After saying this, the Stone of Destiny finally fell silent. Meanwhile, w.a.n.g Chong was frozen in shock.
Mind, Body, Energy, Techniques, and Power were the five reward categories of the Stone of Destiny, and w.a.n.g Chong knew them by heart. But w.a.n.g Chong had never imagined that the Stone of Destiny had been concealing another secret. At the very least, there had never been any sort of clue that this new feature, the Riddle of Destiny, had ever existed.
w.a.n.g Chong quickly began to interact with the Stone of Destiny.
Several scarlet-gold words appeared above the five b.a.l.l.s representing the categories of rewards: ‘Riddle of Destiny’. The words were simple, but they exuded a mysterious light that completely suppressed the light exuded by the five categories.
w.a.n.g Chong reached out to the golden words with his mind in the hopes of learning the secrets of this Riddle of Destiny. But unlike with the other five categories, w.a.n.g Chong was not able to obtain any information from this action. Rather, the Stone of Destiny’s cold voice resounded in his mind.
“Warning! User has not met the conditions and cannot activate the Riddle of Destiny!”
w.a.n.g Chong became pensive at the sound of these words.
Regardless, at least I’m finally beginning to get close to the truth behind the calamity from back then.
With this thought, w.a.n.g Chong quickly came back to his senses, strode into his room, and closed the door with a bang.
……
Night quickly pa.s.sed, and as dawn arrived, everyone began to slowly peek out from their rooms, all of them stunned by this unprecedented blizzard. But few people knew that while they had been hiding away from the blizzard in their homes, underground caves, and bas.e.m.e.nts last night, a battle that was bound to shake the entire Arabian Empire had taken place.