Chapter 1013: Great Li Invades (III)

White Moon City.

Director General Zhao was fretting over Silver Moon affairs when a pendant started vibrating. He frowned at it when he picked it up. Ash Mountain monster spirits had left the mountain? Why? He’d sent a lot of the ancient replicas to the mountain, why hadn’t anyone sounded a warning?

Despite his bafflement, the director general quickly rose to his feet, albeit with some feebleness. It used to be that he could delegate others to look into these matters, but all of those bastards had run off and were living it up in the central region.

He knew that he wouldn’t be able to bring them back, so it had to be him!

“Silver Moon Guards, mobilize for Silver City. Ash Mountain monster spirits have descended on the plains!” His command marshaled a team of experts to Silver City with him. The director general traveled at fast speed, a slight frown on his face. This wasn’t a serious issue as this likely wasn’t the complete contingent of Ash Mountain monster spirits.

All was fine so long as Great Li remained quiet! Not to mention, he’d made plans a long time ago, so nothing

should

go wrong.

Silver City was very far away from White Moon City, but Director General Zhao could make quick work of it since he was so strong. Seeing his transmission pendant repeatedly vibrate with updates, he elected to travel ahead of the troops. “Catch up to me when you can, I’ll go take a look first...”

The void split open as the director general hurtled ahead fifty kilometers at a time. That left numerous tears on his body, but they healed just as quickly. His strength was so formidable that it was terrifying.

......

The central region.

Li Hao continued to lead his people through the ruins, either subduing plant spirits, expelling them, or killing them!

It was the fourth day of his campaign. He had killed three plant spirits, subdued five, and collected another two that were willing to serve at Battle Heaven. He could only say that reputation still worked wonders. The two willing to move to Battle Heaven didn’t do so because the ancient city was in prime condition, but because it represented New Martial’s heritage.

These plant spirits feared New Martial and felt that it still existed.

Having cleared ten ruins in four days, Li Hao wasn’t very satisfied with this speed. It was just passable. There were another six plant spirits at the twelve aristocracies in City of Supernaturals that were still in place. His numbers would be acceptable after he went back to handle them. When added to the ones in Skystar Town, that would be sufficient for a plant spirit in every martial academy.

Just as the young man readied to head to the next ruin, Huang Yu opened his mouth with a frown. “There is an urgent report from Silver Moon that the monster spirits of Ash Mountain have emerged. A golden eagle has some humans in its claws...” He’d been leading the troops accompanying Li Hao.

A golden eagle?

Li Hao blinked and looked at He Yong not too far away.

“Is there a ferocious tiger, giant ape, and big snake with them?” The man beamed. “And here I wanted to go back for them, but they walked out of the mountain themselves! I sent people after them before, but they said that the monster spirits had disappeared. Those animals almost killed me!”

That day, Li Hao’s group had almost died in Ash Mountain. Apparently those major monster spirits later ran off. Perhaps they’d learned of potential danger ahead of time. But now, they were out of the mountains! They had quite some nerve!

“Ash Mountain monster spirits?” The Ninth Division leader paused. “Monster spirits dare trespass on Silver Moon? The presence of the main cities fills the province because the cities have awakened. Weaklings are hard to detect it, but the strong can sense a thing or two. Monster spirits are even more sensitive to it. How dare they leave the mountain to intrude upon Silver Moon?”

He felt their course of action inappropriate unless they were very weak. At the same time, weak monster spirits would not occupy a place in He Yong’s heart.

“Ash Mountain monster spirits have left their home...” Li Hao repeated with confusion. “A golden eagle... They can’t be here for revenge on my teacher, can they?”

“......” The group stared silently at him.

“These monster spirits might be the subjects that my teacher observed back in the day to complete the Five Styles,” laughed the young man. “They’re very strong—they were already metamorphosis then. They might be Arcanus now. But of course, that’s a mediocre level of strength now that we look at it.”

Arcanus was strong, but there were many powerhouses in the province as well as Director General Zhao. There shouldn’t be any problems.

Huang Yu’s transmission pendant sparkled as they spoke; it pulsed with an urgent light.

“Ole Zhao’s sent a message...” Huang Yu’s expression shifted after he took a glance. Director General Zhao almost never contacted them unless he encountered enormous trouble. But today, his transmission pendant lit up with words from the old man.

“We need to return with due haste!” Huang Yu took a deep breath and transmitted his words to Li Hao. “Great Li has mobilized and is crossing Ash Mountain to invade Silver Moon! One hundred ancient replicas have disappeared. They are either dead or in hiding. Great Li is too mysterious to be predicted!”

Li Hao’s eyes widened. One hundred core origin replicas... No matter what cultivation their primary bodies were, a replica would be an Arcanus at least, no? One hundred of them were... gone?

Great Li had sent out its army and was marching through Ash Mountain! Why was this happening?

Li Hao’s face flickered through a variety of changes. Skystar Dynasty had people installed in the four nations—the Inspectorate was one such faction with their own agents. But there was no news from them even now. The enemy must be extremely fast!

The enemy had also shown no signs of mobilizing before this. This had been a sudden deployment to feel so out of the blue.

Li Hao frowned. The disarray in Skystar was yet to conclude and the four continents were yet to come under his rule. The new martial dao wasn’t completely popularized yet and there hadn’t been enough time for it to produce powerhouses...

He’d wanted to pacify the dynasty first and let it rest for a period of time before marching on the four nations. Who would’ve thought that it would steal a march on him first!

“Why are they moving now?” Li Hao’s frown deepened. It was very strange! This was perfect timing for the four nations to make a move. The dynasty had been devastated and all manner of matters required attention and care.

If he had a bit more time to conquer the four continents and clear all of the ruins outside Silver Moon, he would have many more heavyweights beneath his banner. With powerhouses developing from the new dao, he wouldn’t be afraid of the four nations then.

But now... everything had just begun.

His mind wandered back to the fourteen core origin replicas that they’d just killed. Could it have something to do with them?

He looked around with a sigh. The young man had wanted to clean out all of the ruins in the central region first, but now, he might have to head to Silver Moon before doing anything else.

Returning to the province now was not part of his plans. However, the province stood at the foot of Ash Mountains. Great Li had sent out its troops and there may be numerous powerhouses with them. If they had other support from the shadows... Silver Moon may not be able to hold out.

“Demon Hunters, prepare to battle!” he announced. “We march to Silver Moon from this moment forth! Summon ten thousand supernaturals from the Night Watcher and thirty thousand supernaturals from the infrastructure force to come with us!

“Summon twenty thousand supernaturals from the armies left by the nine ministries and royal family. Mu Qingsong and Chen Zhongtian will lead that contingent and convene at Silver Moon as quickly as possible!”

The crowd snapped to solemn attention. Had something happened to Silver Moon?

“Great Li... has invaded!” Li Hao’s voice rang clearly, prompting jerks of surprise. “Let it be known throughout the world that Great Li has come with ten million troops and one million superhumans. They wish to sweep through Skystar! I’d like to see if the four continents and local tyrants will take advantage of this time to add to the chaos or otherwise. I’d also like to see how these people will choose when their home is under threat!

“Send word to the nineteen provinces in the north that our internal discord is on pause. Each province is to send one hundred thousand soldiers, ten thousand soldiers, and all of their supernatural cannons. They are to march to Silver Moon and stop the enemy at Ash Mountain!

“Those who do not obey will be fully eradicated!” Li Hao’s tone was cold as killing intent wafted from his body. He hadn’t wished to utilize violent means against the four continents. He’d wanted to wear them down with mercy and good intentions, making those tyrants voluntarily surrender when they lost the support of their people.

Winning over the four continents without drawing a single weapon was his desire, but plans often could not keep up with change.

“In addition, send word to the Valiant Duke, Tranquil Duke, and Steadfast Marquis that they are to be on guard against the other three nations. All civil disputes are to be put on hold while we present a united front against external enemies! If they cannot accomplish this, I will behead them in sacrifice when the three nations break through their borders!”

“Understood, sir!” the group chorused solemnly. Great Li had come calling... What of the other three nations? They wouldn’t be afraid if it was just Great Li. Skystar was not weak these days and did not fear enemies. But if the other three nations also marched on them... then they would be in great trouble.

Li Hao did not have full control over the four continents yet.

“Commander, why don’t we... wait for the three nations to invade the three continents and wear down the three dukes?” someone murmured. “We can go when the people are fleeing and the tyrants lose their authority...”

They didn’t finish their thought, but their meaning was clear. Taking charge of the other three continents now might lead to enemies at the front and back. Exercising authority over all of them could result in biting off more than they could chew. They might as well ignore the continents!

They could not ignore Silver Moon, but the other three continents... who cared about them! It might be better for them to clean up the pieces after the people suffered and the local overlords were defeated.

This way, the people of the three continents would treat them as saviors and the overlords would no longer be in a position to make trouble. Although this would result in heavy losses and many deaths, it was a beautiful opportunity for someone who wished to conquer the world!

The reality of the fact was also that Li Hao would find it hard to mount a defense in four directions at the same time. It was only Great Li invading today, but would there really be no movement from the other three nations? They might be acting in conjunction!

The situation at Silver Moon was very complicated and they might be caught in a stalemate. Why not give up reinforcing the other three continents and let the dukes fight them instead? Would the latter just roll over and permit their territory to be taken?

Li Hao looked at the speaker, both surprised and not surprised. It was the scholar who’d chosen to swear his loyalty to Li Hao at the City of Supernaturals—Gan Wuliang. He possessed the very unique ability of sensing emotions. Due to his special abilities, he and the fellow who could hear from five hundred kilometers around had been part of Li Hao’s campaign.

They had earned some credit for exterminating the fourteen powerhouses. Gan Wuliang was someone who could gather one thousand supernaturals in one night. This wasn’t due to any overwhelming strength, but that he possessed certain abilities that others did not have.

Was there anything wrong with his suggestion?

Not at all.

Although no one spoke up in agreement, no one spoke against it either. That was enough to prove that more than one person agreed with his proposal.