Chapter 1046: A Piece of Paper (III)

Li Hao’s last words caused everyone’s eyes to widen. Prior to this, no one knew that Ying Hongyue had dug into the Li family grave. Only Li Hao knew the particulars.

The seventh elder compressed his lips and looked at Li Hao. The young man had spoken so casually of his ancestral graves being desecrated and his parents bodies possibly being stolen to be refined. Had he made peace with the awful occurrence, or did he not care?

Or was something else in play?

If it was any of them, they might’ve long lost their minds with rage and stormed around for vengeance. In contrast, the young man in front of them didn’t demonstrate any particular ripples of emotion. He was able to relay these incidents with a smile on his face.

“Therefore, I’ve come here to ask you plainly. If the Star Gate is non-negotiable, then I think you have no other choice but to partner with me or Ying Hongyue.” Li Hao sighed, “If you do not choose me, then you can only choose Ying Hongyue. It’s a simple matter of making a decision between two options. Does Commander Hu think that the various ancient cities can give me a clear and definite answer?”

The seventh elder was familiar with Ying Hongyue. He’d learned about the man through exchanges with Director General Zhao. This was the leader of the Red Moon organization, the head of the three great organizations. He should be an heir to one of the eight families, but it was difficult to determine at present just which family it was.

Li Hao had posed his question in a light-hearted, direct way. The seventh elder didn’t think too much about his manner of asking, but a light flashed through Director General Zhao’s eyes.

To choose Li Hao or Ying Hongyue...

There wasn’t much of a difference between the two to the ancient cities. If their decision was solely based on opening the Star Gate, then it didn’t matter who they chose. While Ying Hongyue had killed a lot of people... so had Li Hao.

Based on New Martial’s perspective, it’d long become difficult to determine who was good and who was bad. Whoever won could declare themselves on the side of justice.

Of course, Ying Hongyue had killed many heirs of the eight families and stolen their bloodlines, but how many years had it been? After all this time, were there no heirs to the eight families among Li Hao’s victims?

Not necessarily!

In addition, Director General Zhao knew full well that if the ancient cities dragged their heels in giving a response, Li Hao might come to his own conclusion that they stood on Ying Hongyue’s side.

As for Ying Hongyue... this guy that shared a blood feud with the young man was still at large and enjoying life. The man had killed Li Hao’s parents, dug up his ancestors’ graves, killed his best friend, and wanted to kill Li Hao all this time...

Did the young man really not care and had set everything aside? He was the Demon Sword! He’d ceased targeting the three great organizations ever since leaving Silver Moon and lacked the bloodthirsty air he’d possessed in the province. Back then, his only thought was to kill Ying Hongyue.

But were appearances as they seemed?

Many thoughts ran through Director General Zhao’s mind. Why was Li Hao insistent on meeting the Zhao’s?

“What we will have to offer and what will we receive if we choose to partner with Commander Li?” asked the seventh elder.

“Not much,” Li Hao smiled. “Just give me ten thousand sets of Renaissance armor and the blood essence of a few Zhaos. I’ll also need the method to control your heritage weapon and a way to identify its location!

“In return, I will pay a price of fifty million mysterious power stones and three Immortal plant spirit bodies.” The young man displayed a very gentle attitude. “No one should be getting the worst end in this deal. It’s just a declaration of your stance and a demonstration of your attitude. I will also publicly announce this so that all sides can see my sincerity and position on these matters!”

Fifty million mysterious power stones and three Immortal trunks for ten thousand sets of armor. And just basic armor at that.

While armor was also valuable, a large number of the soldiers had died, making for plenty of surplus in their reserves. Trading ten thousand sets of armor they had no use for resources that could resurrect a premier powerhouse...

Li Hao didn’t demand that they send troops into the field or any other. In Director General Zhao and Director General Wang’s eyes, this was a very sincere offer. Director General Wang was even a bit jealous—the young man wasn’t this nice to Battle Heaven!

Oi you, Battle Heaven sent out ten thousand soldiers! What did we get in return??

“It’s not out of the question to make this trade,” a frowning seventh elder said after a moment. “But... blood essence of the Zhaos... There are no primary bodies left anymore, where would we get the blood essence from?”

“Three Immortal trunks ought to be enough to somewhat revive a direct lineal descent of the Zhaos,” smiled Li Hao. “Wherein lies the difficulty in extracting some drops of blood essence from them?”

“Well...” The seventh elder pondered the issue some more. “I have to go back and ask the city. Granted, I don’t see much difficulty with what you’ve proposed. Is that all you want? Do we not need to send out troops like Battle Heaven or core origin replicas?”

“No.” Li Hao shook his head. “Everyone has their own thoughts, I won’t force anyone into taking action. Battle Heaven will naturally receive their due share in return for sending troops, people, and other aid. It is fine if an ancient city does not wish to send troops or people. I will not ask that of anyone!”

This was rather unexpected. It really did seem like the young man just wanted a declaration of intent from the ancient cities. Ten thousand sets of armor really wasn’t anything.

In their peak, the various cities had armies of millions. While there weren’t a million backup sets of armor, there were at least several hundred thousand. Now that they weren’t in use, giving away ten thousand was of no concern.

On the other hand, the additional items that Li Hao wanted served the purpose of targeting the Zhao heritage weapon. Perhaps he wanted to take it, so that bore further questioning.

“Do you want to seize the Zhao heritage weapon so you can break it as well?” asked the seventh elder after some consideration.

“That weapon should be in Ying Hongyue’s hand,” laughed Li Hao. “If I can kill him, there may not be a need to break and devour that weapon. If I do kill him and the Zhao family wants it back, I can naturally return it to the Zhaos.”

“Do you really not have any other requests?” The seventh elder couldn’t help himself.

“None.”

This threw the elder for a loop. He looked at Director General Zhao. These requests... weren’t difficult. It was such a better situation than they’d imagined. He’d even imagined that Li Hao would make outrageous demands and want the Zhaos to send out dozens of core origin replicas to help him.

And yet, the young man did not do so.

Why does he seem easier to satisfy than Zhao Shuguang? His appetite is so small!

Although mystified, he quickly responded, “Then I shall return and discuss this with the second elder. I think... we can agree to your terms, but I am not the sole person in charge of Martial Alliance...”

“I understand!” Li Hao nodded.

The powerhouses seated behind the seventh elder also looked strangely at the young man. Their gazes shifted to Director General Zhao.

“You won’t be like Zhao Shuguang, will you? Are you saying all this just to placate us and will think of a way to strike back at us later?”

“......” The director general felt immensely awkward. “Have the seniors... misunderstood something?”

Just listen to yourselves! When have I ever struck back at you guys? You’re so strong!

The powerhouses snorted at him. Zhao Shuguang had never been honest with them. Although he was a Zhao descendant, too many years separated him from them. He’d been restricting the city’s revival all these years. Otherwise, with the Zhao city recovering before Battle Heaven, they should have more than just a few guardian plant spirits that’d just awoken.

The rest of Martial Alliance’s delegation couldn’t be bothered to say anything else. They swiftly followed the seventh elder back into the ruins. They had business to discuss!

“That’s it??” Director General Wang couldn’t help but yelp when they were gone. “Ten thousand sets of armor? You came all this way and specifically made this trip just for this?? If you really want it, Battle Heaven has that too! We will give it to you for fifty million mysterious power stones and three Immortal trunks!”

What was the kid thinking??

“What’s more important here is their attitude,” Li Hao laughed. “I just need a good attitude from them. Director General Wang, it’s not the same era anymore. I should show the appropriate respect and reverence due to the senior cultivators and New Martial powerhouses. It’s better to set terms that both sides can accept and not come across too strong. That will prevent anyone from thinking that I, Li Hao, am not easy to get along with or that I’m too overbearing.

“With support from the Zhao family and Battle Heaven, that will mean two out of the eight main cities have fully expressed their stance. I will spread the news, which in turn may make the other families willing to talk to me.

“Based on my understanding of New Martial, any city that agrees to work with me shouldn’t go back on their word, right? Unless they’re the city of the traitors.”

“Ah... that should be right.” Director General Wang stroked his chin.

“Then it’s settled,” Li Hao smiled.

“But you’ve levied high demands on Battle Heaven...” Director General Wang said quietly.

“I haven’t, have I?” Li Hao laughed. “Of course I needed to secure some benefits and help when I was weak. But didn’t I agree to all of the Ninth Division leader’s terms later on? That is the same approach I’ve taken with Evenround Martial.

“When I am weak and in urgent need of help, then of course I will need a little more. But now that I have mostly found my footing, I haven’t asked that much from Evenround Martial now, have I?”

Director General Wang thought it over. That was true. And so he dropped the topic. He simply felt that Li Hao was more... lenient than before. Indeed, lenient.

Whether it was toward New Martial, his enemies, or those such as the Great Li king, he seemed quite lenient toward them. It seemed that he could tolerate them so long as they didn’t commit an infraction of principles.

The director general was suddenly reminded of the Human King. If it was up to the Human King, the Zhao city would only have two options—surrender and be assimilated, or be annihilated. There was no third option!

Simply declaring their intent was not possible. Did the kid want to be a saint?? Even Supreme Zhang hadn’t been this lenient toward enemies back in the day. Why was Li Hao suddenly acting like this?

Despite his thoughts, Director General Wang didn’t voice any of them. Meanwhile, Director General Zhao had been deep in thought.

“‘Commander, will the same be expected from all of the other cities?”

“Pretty much,” Li Hao nodded. “In order to make this more official, we might need them to stamp the arrangement with the city lord seal. Today’s agreement will be between that of New Martial and Silver Moon! I don’t have much else to ask of them apart from this.

“So long as they still recognize New Martial and affix the city lord seal to the papers, I think that will prevent them from turning on us,” the young man grinned. “I’ll naturally find a way to open the Star Gate for them when I’m strong enough. It’s up to them if they want to leave or stay.”

“But... what if they do turn on us?”

Li Hao smiled and looked quietly at the man. Director General Zhao understood!