Chapter 198

In the darkness, a Tianfu Tianfu Zhenfu Treasure Carriage moved slowly along the official road, escorted by nearly a hundred knights.

Pulling the carriage were four Bo beasts, which generally resembled horses, with curved single horns between their ears, sharp carnivorous teeth in their mouths, long manes on their backs, and thumb-sized scales from their necks to their bellies, resembling swirling cloud patterns.

The four Bo beasts were pitch black all over, with four claws instead of hooves under their feet.

These strange "horses" were ten feet tall at the shoulder and thirty feet long, their eyes shining with divine light, their bodies covered in knotted muscles as if forged from mixed iron, appearing extremely majestic.

The nearly one hundred knights escorting the carriage rode Bo-horses, which were hybrids of Bo beasts and horses. They were eight feet tall at the shoulder and also had sharp teeth, but they had two-toed hooves and were as swift as the wind when galloping.

The aura of these northern knights was unified; when galloping, their breathing was synchronized with their mounts.

The blood energy of each of them was faintly connected to the Bo-horse beneath them, like half-human, half-horse monsters.

Wielding the long spears in their hands, they could easily unleash the immense power of man and horse as one.

Just looking at their bodies, one could imagine the power hidden beneath their iron-like flesh.

Each of these elite military cultivators was capable of rivaling a Daoist in the Penetrating the Law Realm. If they formed a military formation, bolstered by military arrays, their military aura and blood energy would merge into one. A single charge from this troop of knights could tear apart most of the Yin Spirit demons Brother Qian Chen had slain.

The Lulong Army of Youzhou!

This was the elite force with which the Great Tang swept across all nations. Their tyrannical and ferocious aura made merchant caravans along the way keep their distance. Even the Tang troops guarding Tongguan were somewhat wary of these comrades from the border commanderies.

A knight clad in compact black armor, with a pure black cloak mottled with dark red behind him, rode up to the front of the Suzhou gold-thread embroidered ward-off-evil demon-suppressing carriage canopy and bowed to the person inside: "Prince! We have passed Tongguan! The brothers have accelerated the pace. At the current speed, we should reach Chang'an just at the time of the morning drums!"

A thick, fat hand lifted the canopy, and the person inside laughed loudly: "Tian Chengsi and brothers, you have worked hard! Once we reach Chang'an and I take you to see His Majesty, I will bestow upon you fifty thousand coins to go and have a good time in Pingkang Ward!"

The knights nearby cheered loudly.

Tian Tian Chengsi, however, whispered, "Prince, the treacherous prime minister views us like a thorn in his side. Once we reach Chang'an, his influence will be even greater. Should we..."

An Lushan in the carriage laughed heartily: "His Majesty trusts me!"

"Chang'an is a good place. The brothers have lived in the north for a long time, guarding the border for the country; can't they have a good time? Don't worry, whatever happens, I will bear it!"

Tian Tian Chengsi said bitterly, "Yang Yang Guozhong has been withholding the brothers' rations for years, and we have only been able to support the three garrisons thanks to the Prince's merchant caravans. Heishuo guards the northern border for the Great Tang, resisting the Khitan and Xi demons year after year, yet Chang'an doesn't even issue the rations, spirit medicines, or elixirs in full. It all depends on the Prince's efforts!"

"Every year, countless fine spirit jades from jade mines, spirit pearls from the Liaodong shell fields, and spirit medicines from the north are sent to Chang'an like flowing water, becoming resources for the cultivation of nobles and even their household slaves!"

"Yet we can only rely on the essence, blood, and souls of Khitans, Xi demons, and savages to increase our cultivation. The Prince merely slaughtered one hundred thousand people of a Weishi Khitan tribe, piling their skulls into a white-bone monument and opening a blood pool with their fresh blood so the brothers could practice demonic arts."

"That treacherous minister then slandered the Prince, claiming he was going to rebel, and the powerful nobles in the court also criticized us for being inhumane! They call us demons!"

"Without spirit jades and spirit medicines, if we don't practice demonic arts that use people as medicine, what can we use to fight to the death against those Khitan, Xi demon, and savage sorcerers? Before the Prince came, barbarians invaded every year; since the Prince came, we have swept away the barbarians every year!"

"With such great merit, the imperial court is still wary and guards against the Prince! The brothers really cannot swallow this insult!"

An Lushan sighed: "It's also because you are not clean-handed. You practice the Yin-Yang Bewitching Mystery Demonic Art; there are plenty of savages outside the Great Wall for you to use, so why did you secretly abduct Han people? There are beautiful women in the tribes near the city, too!"

Tian Tian Chengsi lowered his head and said, "Prince, the savages outside the Great Wall all smell terrible."

"You didn't mind before!"

Tian Tian Chengsi was speechless and could only blush with shame: "It is I who have implicated the Prince!"

"I have already smoothed things over regarding this matter! Yang Yang Guozhong cannot touch you... but during these days in Chang'an, you must not lose your caution. If you want to practice, spend money in Pingkang Ward and buy more women," An Lushan said, patting his belly, which was as large as a drum.

"Yes, Prince!"

The night grew deeper. The Lulong Army knights wore fine iron helmets, the divine light in their eyes transforming into two points of blood-red light in the darkness. Their military appearance was orderly and their discipline strict, all being top-tier military heritage.

Just the ferocity of the aura on each of them far surpassed that of the private soldiers of the noble families Brother Qian Chen had seen in Guanglingcheng.

If judged solely by the soldiers of the Jin State, this hundred-knight formation could take Guanglingcheng or plunder the King Wuling market.

Tian Tian Chengsi, the Martial Guard General of the Lulong Army, possessed a Core Formation Supreme Rank cultivation base.

His demonic arts were profound, and he had at least practiced several types of divine demonic dharma images.

Another demonic general, Tian Tian Ganzhen, led a small team of knights to scout the path ahead. Although An Lushan was a Hu person, he was not rigid about Hu or Han when promoting subordinates. He even felt pity when Hu generals slaughtered their own clansmen, but the Han generals had no such qualms.

When An Lushan swept through the northern border, he would slaughter tens of thousands of Hu people at every turn to provide his soldiers with blood to refine demonic arts, using people as resources.

But as the northern border gradually stabilized and the Hu population decreased, the number of people slaughtered each year was no longer enough for the increasingly profound demonic arts of the generals. More and more Hebei demonic generals were hoping for a great chaos!

Yet Yang Yang Guozhong continued to reduce the supply of rations, elixirs, and spirit medicines to Hebei. If not for the merchant caravan under An Lushan, which obtained countless assets every year by leveraging his power,

it would have long been difficult to support so many soldiers!

An Lushan knew that this was all tacitly approved by the Xiao Xie Xuan Emperor, who no longer needed An Lushan to maintain such a large army after he had pacified the northern border.

So he used Yang Yang Guozhong to cut the army's rations, forcing An Lushan to disband his elite troops.

Now, even that merchant caravan was finding it increasingly difficult to survive under the strikes of the Crown Prince and Yang Yang Guozhong.

"The Crown Prince hates me, and Yang Yang Guozhong also views me as a thorn in his side. Xiao Xie Xuan Emperor, you must also have some suspicions by now!" An Lushan sighed inwardly.

Thinking of the vast, unimaginable latent power behind the Great Tang, although the Primordial Spirit experts did not enter the imperial court, the Daoist and Buddhist schools still supported the Great Tang. Jianzhen traveled east to the Wa nation, the Supreme Louguan Dao practiced in seclusion in Mount Zhongnan, and there were countless experts in this world...

He was indeed a Yang Spirit demonic cultivator, but what did he count for in the face of the vast and prosperous Tang, which encompassed most of the world?

Not to mention anything else, the brothers Yan Yan Zhenqing, the Prefect of Pingyuan, and Yan Gaoqing, the Prefect of Changshan, held official ranks far inferior to his, but their cultivation was not the least bit weaker.

Li Li Guangbi, the Hedong Military Governor, although a demonic cultivator, remained loyal to the Xiao Xie Xuan Emperor and was now also at the Yin Spirit cultivation level.

"Fortunately..."

An Lushan opened his eyes in the carriage, revealing a wolf-like gaze. Beneath his fat body, infinite power suddenly erupted. He raised his hand to support the carriage, and the imperial-bestowed Tianfu Tianfu Zhenfu Treasure Carriage also flowed with golden talismans all over.

This inconspicuous Tianfu Tianfu Zhenfu Treasure Carriage suddenly transformed into a towering palace. An Lushan stood inside the hall, immune to all dharma.

This magic treasure was a secret treasure of the imperial court, even superior to Brother Qian Chen's Flying Cloud Pocket.

It was bestowed by the Xiao Xie Xuan Emperor on An Lushan's birthday!

But at this moment, above the hall, five mountain peaks stretched for a hundred miles and pressed down with a roar, the majestic power of the Five Sacred Mountains pouring down from the sky.

Its momentum was peerless!

Like splitting bamboo, it shattered the Tianfu Tianfu Zhenfu Treasure Carriage.

An Lushan roared: "The True Form Map of the Five Sacred Mountains, why has the Celestial Master come to kill me?"

"To kill a great general of the imperial court, Celestial Master... do you want to be exterminated?"

"I would like to see who can exterminate the Orthodox One Sect, which was pardoned by the Primordial Dao Ancestor!" Master Sima Master Sima Chengzhen did not act until he had to, and his first move was a lethal one.

He held a scroll in his hand, which transformed into the Five Sacred Mountains and smashed the Tianfu Tianfu Zhenfu Treasure Carriage. After this magic treasure broke the carriage, its remaining momentum did not diminish and it continued to smash toward An Lushan. But the massive An Lushan now looked like a demon god, radiating an extremely powerful aura. With a push of his hand, he actually held up the Five Sacred Mountains.

His hair and beard bristled, showing no trace of his previous clumsiness. His body expanded section by section, and in a short while, he transformed into a giant ten feet tall. His large back muscles suddenly sprouted two more knotted, slime-covered arms.

With a loud shout, his four demonic arms exerted force together, shockingly holding up the Five Sacred Mountains.

Master Sima Master Sima Chengzhen flicked the scroll in his hand, retracting the phantom of the Five Sacred Mountains. When it reappeared, it had transformed into five mountain peaks the size of palms, hanging from the tail of the scroll like a meteor hammer, swinging toward An Lushan.