Chapter 219: King Sosurim

The a.s.sault that night had caused a

minimum of fifty deaths each for the four peaks of Kunwu Training Camp.

As for Shenwei and Longwei, their death tolls were similar. The

trainees’ deaths added up to a hulking sum of more than five hundred.

With so many recruits dying in the battle, the damage caused by the

a.s.sailants was tremendous!

Yet, the lord before him said that this number was within the acceptable range for the death quota!

In an instant, the young man felt a cold s.h.i.+ver run down his spine.

The

existence of the death quota was no secret at all, but he had always

thought it would just be a maximum of twenty or thirty. However, from

the looks of things now, he had severely underestimated it.

For

some reason, when the lord he respected from the bottom of his heart

spoke these words, he suddenly felt incomparably terrified.

“The will of the heavens was indeed scary!”

(The emperor is known as the Son of Heavens)

This was the only thought he had in his mind now.

“…

What the royal court needs are wolves; not sheep! In this, I share the

same thoughts as His Majesty. War isn’t a game. Our actions may seem

callous to you, but in both His Majesty and my eyes, this is already

utmost benevolence.”

That lord’s voice sounded from the darkness.

“A

hundred master archers, a few hundred Goguryeon warriors, and a handful

of Turk wolves… This is nothing compared to what awaits them on the

callous battlefield. If they cannot even survive this ordeal, then they

are even less likely to survive on future battlefields!”

“Dying

here is at least much better than dying on the battlefield. At the very

least, their corpses will be intact and they will be buried here!”

“The

faster they understand their situation, the faster they will learn.

This is the reason why His Majesty and I allowed the enemy to attack as

they please. Even though more than five hundred recruits died in the

Three Great Training Camps today, more of them will remember today and

survive future battlefields!”

“This is a lesson that His Majesty and I are conducting for them!”

The lord’s words were calm and confident.

“You know that Zhao Qianqiu requested some tigers from His Majesty to teach his students a precious lesson, right?”

“AH!”

The latter was astonished.

“These are the ‘tigers’ that we prepared for all of the recruits!”

That figure spoke with a deep tone, and the young man found himself unable to utter a single word in response.

“Report!”

As

the conversation lulled, a voice suddenly came from the surrounding

forest, breaking the silence. A heavily-armored Imperial Army commander

stepped forward from the lush woodland with widened strides. Strong

bloodthirst emanated from his body.

A gust of mountain wind blew

past. Even before he could reach them, the duo could already smell an

overwhelming stench of blood wafting from him.

“Reporting

to the two lords, all of the Goguryeons and Turks have been cleared.

Other than a single Goguryeon who managed to escape our encirclement,

not another one remains!”

The Imperial Army commander kneeled

forcefully to the ground; viscous blood dripped down from the gaps in

his armor, staining the gra.s.s crimson.

This battle had ended much

faster than anyone could have expected. Six Imperial Army regiments had

worked together, and under such might, no one could survive. The

Goguryeon and Turk master archers had barely begun to retaliate before

they were cleared out entirely.

“He could still escape!”

A deep sigh echoed from above. However, a moment later, that figure recovered and issued his instructions.

“Relay

my orders, clean up all traces of the battle. Make sure not to leave

behind any clues, including blood. No one must know that we made a

move!”

“Yes, lord!”

The Imperial Army commander replied and swiftly left.

“Li Tong, you should leave as well. Inform His Majesty that that person has escaped!”

Turning around, that figure looked back down at the young man kneeling below.

“But lord, isn’t it still unconfirmed?”

Li

Tong raised his head. He knew that on top of clearing away the Turks

and Goguryeons, the mission tonight also involved capturing an important

target.

“Hmph, an encirclement formed by six Imperial Army

regiments, yet a person still manages to escape. Do you think that this

is a feat ordinary martial artists are capable of? There’s no need to

check, our target must have surely escaped. That Goguryeon is cunning!”

Standing

atop the outcropping, the lord spoke. Then, with a slight sway, he

disappeared into the night. Behind him, the young Li Tong hesitated

briefly before departing as well.

A light breeze blew over the empty mountainside.

To

the members of the Three Great Training Camps, the operation tonight

would remain as a secret. The camp members and the outside world would

never learn that six Imperial Army regiments had been here.

More importantly, no one would know that these three men had appeared here.

…

Peng!

Frenzied

wind blew as the carca.s.s of a wolf was thrown down a menacing cliff. At

the foot of the mountain, the corpses and carca.s.ses had already piled

up to form a mountain of their own.

Azure Dragon, White Tiger,

Vermilion Bird, and Black Tortoise; the four peaks were covered with the

bodies of the dead. If they didn’t deal with it quickly, soon decay

would set-in, and in less than three days, the entire mountain would

wreak like a charnel house.

The

battle may have ended, but there was still plenty of cleaning and

rebuilding left to be done. Thus, everyone, including w.a.n.g Chong and Wei

Hao, was currently busy at work.

Even the ladies like Marchioness Yi were included in the operation.

“w.a.n.g Chong, don’t you think that those women are terrifying?”

Amidst the crowd, Wei Hao suddenly jabbed w.a.n.g Chong lightly with his elbow and whispered.

Following Wei Hao’s gaze, w.a.n.g Chong saw Marchioness Yi and the others.

“Are

you tired of living? If they were to hear your words, you will be in

for a round of suffering. Try recalling her spear, do you want to try

what it feels like to be impaled by it?”

w.a.n.g Chong chuckled.

Wei Hao’s face paled. Remembering how deadly Marchioness Yi’s spear was, his hair immediately stood on end.

“b.a.s.t.a.r.d! How dare you scare me!”

But he soon recovered and pushed against w.a.n.g Chong angrily.

“Hey, who asked you to be so spineless? How could you leave me behind during the day?”

w.a.n.g Chong protested.

“It’s not my fault! Isn’t it because I… I’m not a match for them either?”

Hearing his friend bringing up this matter, Wei Hao could only reply sheepishly.

w.a.n.g

Chong chose not to bicker with him over this. Instead, he lifted his

head and looked at Marchioness Yi with a contemplative expression.

Even

though Wei Hao considered Marchioness Yi and the members of Vermilion

Bird as female dinosaurs—violent, arrogant, and fearless—w.a.n.g Chong

didn’t share the same thoughts

Even though they were clearing the

bodies just like everyone else, judging from their expressions, they

were obviously discomforted. In fact, it felt as if they wanted to flee

as far from the corpses as possible. This formed a stark contrast with

the image of a war G.o.ddess that had been imprinted in their minds during

the prior battle.

“Hm?”

Just as w.a.n.g Chong was contemplating, he suddenly caught sight of something that made his heart skip a beat.

“Wei Hao, wait a moment. Put the corpse down.”

w.a.n.g Chong suddenly stopped Wei Hao.

“Why? You are interested in corpses now?”

Wei Hao teased.

Chi la!

However,

w.a.n.g Chong wasn’t in the mood to joke around any longer. Walking over,

he grabbed the black pants of the Goguryeon warrior Wei Hao was still

carrying and tore them apart. In the next instant, a bizarre tattoo on

the warrior’s right leg was revealed.

Spotting the tattoo, even

Wei Hao’s expression warped in shock. Reining in his joking nature, he

put down the body and examined the image closely.

It was in the

shape of a circle. In the tattoo, there was a snake and a three-legged

crow. The three-legged crow was above while the snake was below, and

their eyes stared at one another, creating a bizarre sight.

“This is… the symbol of a certain influence?”

Wei

Hao swiftly came to a realization. w.a.n.g Chong didn’t reply. He simply

stared fixedly at the tattoo as his heart thumped wildly.

He recognized this symbol!

w.a.n.g

Chong had thought this nighttime a.s.sault was just a normal alliance

between the Goguryeon and the Turks to test and disrupt the Three Great

Training Camps and dampen the Great Tang’s arrogance. Upon seeing this

symbol however, he realized that he’d made a mistake and considerably

underestimated the nature of the affair.

“King Sosurim!”

A name flashed across w.a.n.g Chong’s mind as he stared at the bizarre tattoo.

Even

though the Eastern and Western Turkic Khaganate and Ü-Tsang had

consumed all of Great Tang’s attention, the eastern Goguryeo Empire had

never slackened in its information gathering operations against Great

Tang.

And

this ‘King Sosurim’ was the top spy that Goguryeo had in Great Tang, a

sharp thorn that the Goguryeon emperor, Yeon Gaesomun, had planted in

the Central Plains.

Even though this top spy wasn’t born of

n.o.bility, rumor had it that the Goguryeon emperor had conferred him as a

member of the royal family. His t.i.tle of ‘King Sosurim’ was bestowed by

Yeon Gaesomun, and this reflected how highly he regarded the former.

And the three-legged crow and snake tattoo was the symbol of his subordinates.

Even

though his job scope mainly revolved around information gathering and

spying, the doings of King Sosurim in the capital far exceeded that.

Destruction,

a.s.sa.s.sination… Anything and everything that would be damaging to Great

Tang and beneficial to Goguryeo entered his purview. What brought him

the greatest notoriety was his successful a.s.sa.s.sinations of influential

officials of the Central Plains.

Every single official who

supported waging war against Goguryeo had suffered a.s.sa.s.sination, and

what makes things worse, was that this a.s.sa.s.sination wasn’t just limited

to the person in question. Even the maids, servants, ladies, and

children in the target’s residence wouldn’t be spared.

Censor Tang

Zhao was one of the victims. In the tragedy eight years ago, not a

single person in his residence was spared. The incident had taken Great

Tang by storm.

Even though the royal court flew into a rage and

captured innumerable Goguryeon spies and sentenced them to death, the

main culprit, King Sosurim, still remained at large. The reason was

simple. No one had ever seen him before and no one knew what he looked

like. Even his t.i.tle, King Sosurim, also only came from buying off the

officials of the Goguryeo Empire.

His appearance and characteristics were still a mystery.

But,

two things that they knew for certain were that he spoke fluently in

Chinese and knew Great Tang very well, be it the history or the culture.

To summarize, he was no different from a Han. Even if one were to meet

him face-to-face, it would be impossible to determine whether he was a

Han or a Goguryeon.

“To think that it would actually be him!”

w.a.n.g Chong thought. He didn’t expect the elusive King Sosurim to be behind this operation as well.