Chapter 1019: The Half-Real Half-Fake Formation Phenomena! (1/2)

Translated by: Hypersheep325

Edited by: Michyrr

”Ha!”

Before the Tibetan horseman could see what was going on, he heard a mighty roar, one made by thousands upon thousands of men shouting in unison. The horseman was stunned as he began to survey the scene.

On the plain extending several dozen li before him, the tens of thousands of Western Turkic cavalry had formed a whirlpool of steel. Charging back and forth across this region, they bellowed as they shifted formations, all merging into a single whole. On their perimeter, the countless wolves were howling and running with them.

As all these men and wolves ran together, an enormous aura exploded from their bodies and into the heavens. This powerful aura was almost tangible, like an enormous hand had gripped the air and begun to twist and contort it. Even with his vantage point on the hill, this horseman had no idea what was going on.

”How could this be!”

The horseman was given a fierce shock. Not long ago, when he had last come to see what was going on, he had seen none of this aura or energy. The tens of thousands of Western Turks had been running around, drenched in sweat, as if they were all idiots.

But on this scouting mission, he had never imagined that he would see this.

”Just what happened? So little time passed, so how did they get this strong?”

The horseman's eyes were filled with disbelief.

At this point, everyone on the Tibetan and Western Turkic sides knew about the matter of the formation phenomena. After all, the thousands of Celestial Wolf Cavalry and Mutri Great Cavalry had been witnesses to the exchange. But while the Western Turks had been brimming with excitement, the Tibetans had been much more muted in their reaction.

Privately, many of them had speculated that this version of formation phenomena was most likely a complete fake.

The reason was simply that the Great Minister was far too calm. Even though Ü-Tsang had also received the secret of formation phenomena, the Great Minister had not propagated it or even shown any intention of cultivating it. If it was real, such a thing would have been impossible!

But it was far from over. As he looked farther above the twisted and contorted air hovering above the Western Turkic army, the horseman saw a sight that he would find hard to forget.

A thousand meters over the Western Turkic soldiers, countless clouds had gathered. These clouds were surging like enormous pythons, blocking out the sun and casting a dark shadow over the earth.

Moreover, deep within the clouds, the horseman could see flashes of lightning shuttling and exploding. The explosion he had heard just moments ago had clearly been caused by this lightning. The constant shifting of this lightning seemed to be resonating with the Western Turkic cavalry down below.

”F… Formation phenomena!”

The horseman's jaw dropped, and it appeared like he had been struck by a lightning bolt.

He had once overheard his superiors mentioning that the Western Turks were too greedy, not even determining if what they had obtained was real or fake before cultivating it, and that it had a high chance of harming them. But the Western Turks clearly seemed to have become more powerful, and there were formation phenomena in the sky above them. What was going on?

What he had heard was completely different from what he was seeing.

”There's a problem! Perhaps the Great Minister's judgment was wrong, and that version of the formation phenomena was real. Whatever the case, I must report this to the Great Minister!”

With no time to think, the horseman turned around and galloped back the way he had come.

……

”What? The Western Turks have gotten much stronger while cultivating the formation phenomena?”

The Great Generals of Ü-Tsang and Dalun Ruozan were all stunned by the scout's report.

”Great Minister, this matter is beyond doubt. The scout was our best one who has taken part in hundreds of battles of all sizes, including the battle between King of Generals We Tadra Khonglo and the Great Tang's Wang Zhongsi. He would not make a mistake here!” a vanguard officer solemnly said.

After receiving the scout's report, he had immediately noticed a problem. Before reporting to Dalun Ruozan, he had cautiously sent out some of his best scouts to verify the matter, but all of them had reported the same thing.

Dalun Ruozan, Dusong Mangpoje, and Huoshu Huicang all glanced at each other in speechlessness.

”Great Minister, this can't be. Was that boy this foolish? He gave Duwu Sili the real thing!” Huoshu Huicang said, his brows deeply furrowed.

Dalun Ruozan said nothing, but there was a pensive look on his face.

”This matter is not completely impossible. The people of the Central Plains emphasize sincerity with no consideration for time and place. At times, they even make severe errors through their adherence to these conventions. Although Wang Chong is an incredible strategist, he's still very young. He might have really handed over the real formation phenomena for the sake of sincerity. Moreover, didn't Gao Xianzhi try to destroy those papers? Perhaps not even they had imagined that we would end up getting the formation phenomena,” Dusong Mangpoje suggested after some thought.

He had been strengthening the defenses and managing the army when he had heard what had happened and rushed over. It was clear that no matter what the truth was, this matter was very different from what Dalun Ruozan had predicted.

”Impossible!” Dalun Ruozan muttered to himself, his brow even more tightly furrowed than his two colleagues'. ”All of you underestimate him too much. He might be younger than all of us, but his intelligence, strategies, and cunning far surpass ours. He would never make such a low-level mistake.”