The Human Emperor

Chapter 2025: A Conspiracy to Destroy the World!

Translated by: Hypersheep325

Edited by: Michyrr

“We don’t know much about this An Yaluoshan you speak of, but those men in black who suddenly appeared to save him belonged to the same group that once pursued us. The Wushang Village Chief and I went out this time to investigate them.

“These people are far too mysterious. If we don’t find out their secrets and identify their weaknesses, we will forever be treating the symptoms and not the source. This will eventually force us into extreme passivity that they can exploit. Moreover, if my guess is correct, those Yeluohe you mentioned are probably closely connected to them.

“These people have grand ambitions, and they will go to any lengths to realize them. They must be eliminated,” the Demonic Emperor Old Man grimly said.

He was the ‘Demonic Emperor’, a man whose name made the martial arts world pale in fear, and he had never feared anyone. Nor was it his style to passively wait for death. It was for this reason he had left with the Wushang Village Chief.

Wang Chong said nothing. He knew that if his master was saying something like this, he had discovered something.

Whoosh!

As expected, the Demonic Emperor Old Man extended his hand out of his sleeve.

Wang Chong looked down, and his eyebrows instantly shot up.

“Master!!”

The Demonic Emperor Old Man’s hand was still old and withered, but it was now covered in countless strange black symbols. These black symbols seemed to have a life of their own, but they also seemed to be fused with the Demonic Emperor Old Man’s body.

Upon close inspection, Wang Chong saw that these symbols faintly glowed.

“This time, as the Wushang Village Chief and I pursued the men in black, we finally found traces of them on the Turkic Steppe. Instead of beating the grass and scaring the snake, we decided to disguise ourselves and mix in with them,” the Demonic Emperor Old Man said.

Wang Chong was rather surprised. His master and the Wushang Village Chief were old enough to be easily exposed, but after some thought, Wang Chong understood.

The organization of men in black had all sorts: Han, Mengshe Zhao, Turk, Western Regioner, Tibetan, Arab... They had subordinates in almost every country of the continent. It wasn’t strange for his master and the Wushang Village Chief to mingle in with them.

The only weakness was that the men in black had many secret code phrases that his master and the Wushang Village Chief knew nothing about, making them easily exposed. But considering the methods available to them, this had clearly not posed much of a problem to them.

“The Village Chief and I spent a long time following them in their operations, traveling with them from the Turkic Steppe in the north all the way to the Eastern Sea,” the Demonic Emperor Old Man said.

“The Eastern Sea?”

Wang Chong was taken aback. Many campaigns had taken place in the northeast lately, including the Youzhou war and An Yaluoshan’s war of the northeast against Goguryeo.

Wang Chong had never imagined that his master and the Wushang Village Chief had been in the area.

And it seemed that they had been in the region at the same time as Genesis Supreme. Fortunately, Wang Chong believed that Genesis Supreme had not met his master and the Wushang Village Chief, so he had not discovered them. Even so, the northeast was extremely dangerous.

“Master and Senior Village Chief, did you discover anything at the Eastern Sea?” Wang Chong asked. He was well aware that his master would not have mentioned it unless he had found something.

“This is what we were about to speak to you about. There is a small island in the Eastern Sea, and we discovered a secret base of theirs that had many men in black. Unlike their other bases, they had completely excavated that small island and moved in many strange machines, ones that we’ve never seen before.

“These machines are capable of producing lightning, things that don’t belong to this era!” the Demonic Emperor Old Man said.

At this time, the Wushang Village Chief began to speak. “They hadn’t transported all those machines over at the time, but we saw them modifying those machines, and placing the machines into separate groups. And it doesn’t seem like these machines were being used for battle, but for pure destruction.

“They put some of the machines together, and they produced a beam of light that blasted apart the toughest of rock and steel, penetrating several hundred, even several thousand meters into the ground. And when they were adjusting the machines, they would draw immense amounts of energy from the ground.

“The island originally had many lush trees and grasses planted upon it to serve as a disguise, but once those machines got to work, all those grasses and mighty trees swiftly died, turning as black as coal.

“Not only that, all the fish and water grass for a distance of several dozen li around the island turned into powder. We investigated afterward and found that the entire region, particularly the seabed, had been severely damaged.”

The Wushang Village Chief and Demonic Emperor Old Man still felt some lingering fear from the sight.

“It’s normal for martial artists to fight to the death, and it wouldn’t be strange at all if these people wanted to rule the world. But your master and I sense that these men in black are not looking for something as simple as ruling the world. They do not care about imperial authority, but are instead conspiring to destroy the entire world. Those strange machines are completely capable of this deed, and there’s no telling how many of these bases and machines they have.”

Their hearts were heavy as they spoke.

Wang Chong said nothing, his brow creasing.

In his last life, Wang Chong had become the Supreme Marshal of the realm very late. By that time, the situation had already been settled and the otherworldly invaders had appeared. Thus, Wang Chong had no inkling of many of the things that had happened. But now that he thought about it, it seemed like the men in black, the Celestial God Organization, were inextricably tied to this matter.

Wang Chong felt like he was slowly getting closer to the truth from back then.

“And after that?” Wang Chong asked, knowing that something else had to have happened.

“After that, we tried to capture one of the leaders and read his memories, but we made an error, alarming the leader in charge of the region. The Wushang Village Chief and I had to go through great lengths to successfully kill him and then destroy that base.

“But the most surprising part of all this was that when we ambushed that leader, we discovered that he could use the Great Yinyang Heaven Creation Art, and at an even greater level than me!” the Demonic Emperor Old Man said.

“What?!”

Wang Chong shuddered in shock.

How could this be possible?!

Everyone knew that the Great Yinyang Heaven Creation Art was the supreme art of the evil path, and it was an art that only Wang Chong and the Demonic Emperor Old Man could use to its fullest.

In terms of proficiency, his master probably had an even profounder understanding of the art, but he was now saying that there was a black-clothed expert who was somehow even more skilled in this art!

Wang Chong would have treated these words as a joke if anyone else had said them, but as it was his master, the Demonic Emperor Old Man, who made this claim, Wang Chong had to believe it.

“When we first discovered this, I was just as shocked as you, but the facts were right in front of my face, so I was forced to believe it. Moreover, when we clashed, I could tell that his art was extremely ancient and seemed to reach an even higher level. I even sensed that the Great Yinyang Heaven Creation Art we cultivate could have originated from that art!” the Demonic Emperor Old Man gravely said.

Wang Chong said nothing, but the thought of the Origin Immortal Lord and the Origin Immortal Art appeared in his mind.

It was known that the Origin Immortal Art was the supreme art of the Central Plains, but very few people knew that the Origin Immortal Art’s creator, the Origin Immortal Lord, was inextricably connected to the men in black.

“Thus, Master, you’re saying that our Great Yinyang Heaven Creation Art was actually created by the men in black!”

“That’s not all. You once talked about the ten great arts of the Central Plains. I feel that it’s not just our Great Yinyang Heaven Creation Art and the Origin Immortal Art. There’s a high chance that the majority of the ten great arts originated from the men in black,” the Demonic Emperor Old Man sternly said.

“Considering how long their organization has existed, with ancient existences from the Spring and Autumn Period like the Origin Immortal Lord being part of them, your master and I believe that this chance is very high,” the Wushang Village Chief added, his heart heavy.

It had always been said that the arts of the Central Plains had been passed down through the generations, and the Wushang Village Chief and Demonic Emperor Old Man had also subscribed to this school of thought.

But as they interacted with those mysterious men in black, they found their deeply-rooted beliefs to suddenly be on very shaky ground.

The existence of this organization had completely altered their understanding of the martial arts of the Central Plains and how they were passed down.

Wang Chong turned pensive.

He understood what the two of them were implying. If it was really as they believed, then the men in black were stronger than he had imagined. At the very least, Wang Chong had yet to meet those people who were masters of the ten great arts.

Perhaps they were in hiding, or perhaps, like the man his master and the Village Chief had encountered, they had special statuses in the organization and were tasked with special missions.

“Let’s put the matter of succession to the side for now. Those secret plans of the men in black make me extremely uneasy. They’re almost entirely unknown to the world at this time, and we still don’t know what their objective is. Why are they doing this? Why are they destroying the foundation of the world? What sort of advantage would this bring them?

“If we don’t answer these questions, everything we do, including wars between countries, is meaningless. This was why the Village Chief and I, despite knowing that you needed our help, did not come over right away.

“On this matter, we could only trust in you, believe that you could resolve these problems on your own. And in the end, you did not disappoint us.”

The Demonic Emperor Old Man gave Wang Chong a sentimental glance, one that was brimming with relief and admiration.