Chapter 1019: The Rise of Human Dao (II)

“We gain strength when we cultivate, but when you use it to bully the weak, to kill and loot... who should die if not you?” Li Hao’s tone was frosty. “If you really have no place to vent your energy or you are in dire need of cultivation resources, you can come to Silver City at the foot of Ash Mountain and join the defense against Great Li!

“Killing enemies should be a feat of one’s abilities. It should be a pursuit of seeing treasures, obtaining resources, cultivating, and strengthening oneself! We kill the enemy or powerhouses of other nations so we can strengthen ourselves. And so, we hunt demons to protect our dao!

“Killing our own or the weak of the people renders us demons among this world. As such, fiends like those should be put to the sword!” Li Hao’s voice rose with passion. “Friends and countrymen, I have killed those who should die, but I cannot swiftly put the unrest to bed. I can only ask everyone with all sincerity to rise up and protect yourselves. I am ashamed!

“However, the world teeters with unease and we must become self-sustaining and grow stronger if we wish to secure a better future for the next generation!

“Apart from these four provinces of the nineteen northern ones, as well as Silver Moon, the rest of the fourteen must immediately mobilize their troops to support Silver Moon. They need to send at least one hundred thousand soldiers and more than one thousand supernaturals each. The Skystar Commander Office will be in charge of all of their supplies and resources!

“Any who do not comply can look to the four provinces as to what awaits them! We will now present the scenes of law enforcement from yesterday. Some of them will be bloody and thus not suited for children to view. All others are to watch the screens! Whether it is brutal or cruel, how can one protect themselves if they are weak and timid?

“If everyone is to be superhuman, how can there be no bloodshed in the process?

“Upheaval rocks the world and the enemy is too numerous to be counted. I’m just showing you these scenes, not telling you to take such action yourselves. If you find these recordings to be too violent, then we will be even worse off when we are conquered. Those of Great Li are worse than beasts!

“Your circumstances will be even more bleak then!” The images from yesterday appeared on the screen when Li Hao finished speaking.

Violence and slaughter! Endless slaughter!

The senior officials of the four provinces were executed one after another. Large numbers of rebels were executed and some of the freedom fighters were outright obliterated. When numerous rebel troops gathered in one area, they were instantly reduced to minced meat through an energy cannon barrage.

It was the first time that the Battle Heaven Army and Demon Hunter Army came into view in the public eye. The Ninth Division leader led one thousand Battle Heaven soldiers and scythed through enemies like they were a killing machine. They killed tens of thousands of soldiers in the blink of an eye. The terrifying scene stunned the people of the four provinces.

It was utterly shocking!

Indeed, Li Hao played the recordings for public consumption not because he wished to cow the other northern provinces, but out of a desire to intimidate the powerhouses or those who intended on committing wrongdoing in the four provinces.

There would be no government in the four provinces for the near future. Although Li Hao was rubber-stamping the creation of militias, there would be those who didn’t respect these arrangements. Therefore, he ignored the protests from others and outright made the recordings public.

A battleship hovered through flight as the screens broadcasted widespread slaughter, large numbers of soldiers perishing, and uncountable senior officers being executed. Those who watched were highly apprehensive, but someone happened to see the ship overhead. They fell to their knees in greeting.

“The commander is mighty!” they roared. “Long live the commander!”

This was an excitement and agitation that they could not put into words! Perhaps others did not understand, but some had had enough of this kind of life. Those on top were incompetent. corrupt, their hearts occupied, and violent...

The army was corrupt and the turnover rate was as if water through a sieve! Setting aside the instability in the three provinces, Near River was certain to be even more corrupt. Today, Li Hao had completely squashed the senior levels of the four provinces, killed them, and taken their armies.

This unexpected turn brought glee and delight to the people, erasing some of the numbness from their eyes. They didn’t think the scenes were too gory! They only felt that they were most gratifying!

This was how things should be. This should have taken place a long time ago!

Cheers and shouts reverberated in all directions. Some of the more excited ran in Li Hao’s direction.

“The commander is mighty!” someone yelled.

“Commander, I want to join the army to kill Great Li!”

“......” Youngsters raced on the ground, following the battleship. “We head north to kill enemies!”

“We go to Ash Mountain to make our names and protect our homeland!”

The four provinces reverberated with charged cries that day. Numbed apathy disappeared from people’s eyes, replaced with excitement and agitation. The looped scenes in the sky didn’t scare them. On the contrary, it added to their excitement and made them more keyed up.

This was how a man should be!

Countless youngsters packed their belongings and brought all sorts of weapons, hoes, or scythes to pursue the battleship and race to the north.

“Don’t imitate those soldiers when you go,” came their elderly parents’ admonitions from behind them. “Be like Commander Li and the Demon Hunter Army!”

“Don’t worry and be on your way, I’ll take care of the home and the children will go to school as usual.” This was from their wives, amid tearful farewells from their children. “I’ll wait for your return!”

On this day, thousands of youngsters bid farewell to their families in the four provinces and rushed to the north with their bellies full of passion. Northerners lived hard lives. Citizens of the central region called them northern barbarians; there was almost no place for them in this world anymore. Today, the darkness over the heads had been shattered. The powerful image of the Demon Hunter Army was branded in their minds.

They headed to the north to kill enemies! Otherwise, the darkness that’d been expelled with so much effort would once more encompass the north after Great Li arrived.

......

The entire northern continent shook. Every province was replaying Li Hao’s words and the scenes of slaughter.

Increasing numbers of sky canopies descended upon the various provinces, but no one dared refuse their installation. They simply watched as the sky canopy team did as they would in the upper air of their cities. Some were even set up right in front of city officials.

What could they do about it?

Nothing at all.

On this day, the other fourteen provinces feared, dreaded, and cowered. Li Hao was not a saint! He just didn’t want to employ these methods on a normal basis. But when his back was against a wall, anyone who resisted died.

Waves of emotion reared from all corners of the northern continent.

“Let’s go to Silver Moon and join the army to kill enemies!”

“I’m going to Silver Moon to join Commander Li. I’ll bring back soldiers to kill our cruel director general!”

“Countrymen, although the four northern provinces are forming their militias because they have no government, we need to form them ourselves too! We need to protect ourselves and our family. We’ll go toe-to-toe against those soldiers if they dare come again!”

“Yeah, we’ll fight to the death!” The ensuing reaction that rippled through land was far greater than usual. It spread throughout the north as there were sky canopies everywhere. When the people heard and saw everything, they were jarred out of their listless lives.

These powerhouses couldn’t even stand up to a single blow! Commander Li would sweep through all of the darkness when he came. He would kill them all!

We’re the ones in charge of our homes!

Militias quickly formed throughout the northern reaches. The basis for this hadn’t existed before, but now with everyone learning the new martial dao, even housewives found themselves with good potential. So long as they cleared the requisite number of acupoints for Slayer of Tens, they were able to wield blade and spear to kill people!

The strength of the masses was the most frightening of all. Some locations even saw crowds mob various official residences. They wanted their provincial officials to send out troops against Great Li!

Some militias also hoisted the tiger flag high and demanded unethical merchants and people of wealth to release their grain reserves.

The north swayed from even more unrest. As fear set in for some of the senior officials, some chose to flee instead of reporting to work or staying secluded in their residences. This chain reaction spread into the other parts of the dynasty, snaking toward the east, west, and south.

Mobilize the troops!

The north had sent out armies to withstand Great Li; these other places should quickly deploy theirs too so they could defend against incursions from the other three nations.

Li Hao once said that the people’s hearts were the most terrifying. The others hadn’t thought much of this statement, but the local tyrants now fully experienced the veracity of his words. Thousands of civilians had assembled into militias and large numbers of martial masters with cleared acupoints numbered among them.

They began ignoring official orders and ran their own operations, with some recruiting more people for the war effort in Silver Moon.

The entire northern continent and rest of the dynasty boiled over with action. Li Hao had yet to reach Silver Moon, but those of Silver Moon knew that he was almost here. When outsiders supported one of their own with such fervor, how else would Silver Moon respond but with even more enthusiasm? It held a martial spirit to become with!

......

White Moon City.

Thousands of people had been organized into teams and yelled, “We want to join the army, we want to kill enemies, we want to protect our home!”

“The provincial government needs to assemble our forces as soon as possible. We need to march to Silver City!”

“The outsiders are almost here. Are we of Silver Moon less than them?!”

“Kill Great Li, exterminate Great Li, march with the commander to raze Great Li! We march on Ash Mountain!” Shouts and hollers rose and fell, echoing through the streets of White Moon City.

Certain people looked on with complicated looks. Li Hao, Demon Sword. The world had changed before the young man arrived. Everyone in the world now knew of Demon Sword, Li Hao, and Commander Li. All of the senior officials in the four provinces were executed overnight. There was no government administering those provinces anymore!

At least one hundred thousand had died in those armies of millions. The rest were pressed into service at Silver Moon. Li Hao was so vicious and ruthless that everyone had thought he would raise general ire.

But he did not, because he was too vicious!

Near River was setting off so many fireworks that it was more festive than the new year. In the people’s eyes, those soldiers were worse than bandits. Now that a bunch of them were dead and the rest were being rushed to the front lines, they couldn’t celebrate fast enough! Why would they think Li Hao was cruel?