Chapter 1052: A Strategy of Provocation (II)

“Divine Nation is said to worship the Moon God,” continued Director General Zhao. “The Moon God is their main god and there are various divine spirits beneath it. There are ones of the five elements and any of them might be awake again at this point.”

He looked at Li Hao, not sure which of the four nations the young man wanted, but it seemed that Divine Nation was a likely target.

“Of course, Divine Nation is the strongest!” the director general elaborated. “The other nations will be horrified if you destroy them and might voluntarily withdraw their troops! But... we face Great Li at the moment...”

Director General Zhao’s head pounded. What did Li Hao have in mind? Did he want to target Divine Nation if he wasn’t interested in Great Li?

He thought back to Yuan Shuo’s words and how the three great organizations were in Great Li. Did Li Hao want to leave Great Li alone so that they would have enough strength to suppress the three great organizations?

“Director General Zhao.” Li Hao stroked his chin. “Do you think the Great Li king would be willing to accept a proposal if I said I would give him enough time to settle his troubles at home?”

As I thought!

the director general confirmed.

“That’s hard to say,” the man shook his head. “The Great Li king is also a ruler and knows that if he permits you freedom of movement with his departure, that might create further trouble. Therefore, he won’t be willing to leave at the moment even with issues arising at home.”

“But he should know that he is less than me,” Li Hao chuckled. “He cannot do anything to me, so there’s no great benefit in being entangled with me here.”

Although that was the logic, it wasn’t as if the Great Li king was a fool. Who knew what the consequences would be if Li Hao was given free rein?

Of course, it wasn’t as if the young man’s movements could be tied to any one place. But the Great Li king being here would keep Skystar’s army and Silver Moon’s martial masters here.

“Battle Heaven has sent out ten thousand soldiers for our use and I’ve reached an agreement with the Zhous, Zhangs, and Zhaos,” Li Hao mused. "That means thirty sets of armor. Combined with the ten thousand sets I originally had makes for a total for fifty thousand sets of armor.

“Each soldier wearing this armor can fight ten regular soldiers. If we pick from our elites and form an army of elites, alongside all of our powerhouses, will we be able to swiftly take down Divine Nation?

“We only need Great Li as targets for troop training. Watercloud Dynasty focuses on their navy and the Barren Dynasty on their cavalry. Only Great Li fields an army of land. I’m somewhat familiar with Divine Nation in that they’re a bunch of fanatics. There’s not much meaning in using them to train troops.”

Director General Zhao was immensely certain that the young man wanted to make his reputation with Divine Nation of the west. What was Li Hao thinking??

“We’ll be able to swiftly change the battlefield if only fifty thousand troops are involved,” the old man responded. “There would be only two problems left to resolve. First, how should we handle Great Li? They’re still here. Second, how many divine spirits have awakened in Divine Nation? Of those who have revitalized, what battle strength are they at?”

Suddenly switching the battlefield from the land of extreme north to the land of extreme west meant crossing a distance of tens of thousands of kilometers. Only Li Hao could think of making such a decision!

Director General Zhao felt quite weary. The young man was quite a dreamer.

“It doesn’t matter how many divine spirits they have,” Li Hao responded. “I’m seeking to establish my reputation with this battle and restore peace to the west, so I will be bringing my full strength to bear. All plant spirits that can send out their primary bodies shall do so, and those that cannot shall send their replicas!

“I will give the students of Evenround Martial ample benefits so they will join us in the field. We must utilize everything at our disposal to topple Divine Nation and prevent divine spirits from running amok in our world! They are a grave threat. Once they come into their power, they might steal our control over the heavenly dao.”

Li Hao’s reasons were varied enough, but Director General Zhao firmly believed that the truth wasn’t so simple. The young man wouldn’t be in such a rush to make a move against Divine Nation otherwise. But since he’d given his reasoning, the director general wasn’t at liberty to say otherwise.

“It shall be as the commander says!”

“I’ll have to trouble the director general as well,” Li Hao smiled. “I’ll need you to bring all of the Silver Moon powerhouses with you in this battle, including the ten thousand Silver Moon Guards under your command.”

Having safeguarded this locale for so many years, the director general possessed a regiment of moderate strength. They hadn’t been sent to the field yet because they’d been on guard against the ancient cities.

“Does the commander mean to... not leave any avenues of retreat for Divine Nation?” frowned the old man.

“Yes.” Li Hao nodded with a smile. “Divine Nation is to the west, what is the point of leaving any alive to go home?”

These words were laden with meaning. Director General Zhao nodded without further word.

Li Hao looked into the distance, at where the Great Li king was. The king wouldn’t be so biddable and go home or stop fighting just because he told the king to. Once the young man left the battlefield with his elites... the king might have other ideas in mind.

“Director General Zhao, make arrangements to bring all of our elites down from the battlefield and be ready to march at any moment! In addition, notify all of the powerhouses to be battle ready. Contact Lin Hongyu and the others in the central region for them to stand at the ready, and forbid all powerhouses from leaving Skystar City within the next three days...”

Director General Zhao nodded at his orders.

“I wish for nothing to go wrong with this campaign.” Li Hao turned to Director General Wang. “And I hope to obtain some help from Battle Heaven.”

“What would you like?” Director General Wang raised an eyebrow.

“General Pagoda’s replica and all of the primary bodies of Apex plant spirits! That’s primary bodies, not their replicas. In addition, if it’s possible, I’d like the guardian to enter the battlefield as well.”

Director General Wang sucked in a sharp breath; Li Hao had made up his mind to eliminate Divine Nation! What was he seeking to accomplish?

The young man had been a bit unconcerned when it came to Great Li, talking about training the troops and not requesting any backup. Not only was he taking people from this battlefield, but he was taking almost everyone from the central region and requesting aid from Battle Heaven...

Li Hao had levied almost no requests of these old antiques ever since he became the Skystar Commander Office.

“Ah... you’ll need to go in person to Battle Heaven and discuss this with them!”

A portion of General Pagoda’s thirty-six descendants were Apexes. They’d only survived through these years because the general had protected them. These Apexes could send out their primary bodies, a form much stronger than replicas.

“Director General Wang, you will come with me this time as well,” Li Hao nodded. “Your core origin has been transplanted to the new dao universe, which means you can create new dao meridians of your own. You just haven’t taken note of it before.”

“I...” Director General Wang thought it over. “Alright, I understand!”

“That’s good,” Li Hao smiled. “It’d be even better if Divine Nation has a thunder god. If we kill them and seize their thunder meridian, I will give it to the director general. That dao meridian will lead the others and fully transform your body into one of the new age!”

Director General Wang’s expression shifted; he didn’t say anything this time.

“Make the appropriate preparations, I will go to converse with the Great Li king!” Li Hao looked outside and summoned Stellaris. A ‘fire’ character appeared, the sword twisted and transformed into another Li Hao. His presence billowed with a trace of stubborn ferocity. He was rather like a tiger emerging from the mountain.

“I will speak with him... Everyone, be ready!” He vanished in a flash with Stellaris.

Li Hao’s primary body remained on the spot, unmoving. Director General Zhao regarded it for a moment before speeding off as well.

......

The Great Li camp.

The king was turning over some matters in his mind when a presence oscillated through his tent and the void rippled. Fury crossed his face; Jiang Li soon appeared in the tent as well.

Li Hao’s body manifested with the ripples. “King of Great Li!”

“Li Hao!” The king looked coldly at him. This was the young man’s first incursion into the Great Li camp. He had quite the courage!

The color of white jade was already emanating from Jiang Li.

“I come with no enmity,” smiled the young man. That didn’t relax the two at all. “I have a grudge with Ying Hongyue and I’m aware that he’s in Great Li. He might be killing people within Great Li borders as we speak. I would like to discuss with the king how we might handle him.”

“There’s no need for you to worry!” The Great Li king looked cold at him. “He’s just a clown!”

“No, he’s not.” Li Hao shook his head with a faint smile. “Ying Hongyue is far more than a clown! He has many tricks up his sleeves and contingencies to pull out. He’s more than the pawn of some traitors, he himself is also a very mysterious character!”

The king frowned at his words. As the overlord of a nation, he didn’t think much of Ying Hongyue and his compatriots. That held true even when the other caused trouble in his rear. Strictly speaking, the three great organizations were but local organizations. Right now, it was a war between nations.

Li Hao made Ying Hongyue seem to be a complicated character, but the king didn’t think so.

“Ying Hongyue might have something to do with a powerhouse from the other universe,” Li Hao said softly. “It won’t be that easy to kill him. It might even cause horrific consequences.”

“Horrific consequences?” The king’s frown deepened. “Will the world go to ruin if he dies?”

“Yes.” The young man nodded with a smile. “I didn’t understand this before, but I later grasped a few things. Killing Ying Hongyue might give rise to an unpredictable aftermath or even release certain terrifying existences!

“Ying Hongyue has been seeking the assimilation of eight bloodlines—that is highly unusual and very difficult to achieve! He might have some deeper ideas in mind and might have even abandoned self-growth to mutually devour a terrifying existence...”

The Great Li king did not understand what Li Hao was saying.

“What a terrifying fellow!” sighed the young man. “I didn’t quite understand this when I was weak. When I comprehended some of the great dao after I grew stronger, I knew that it would be too hard to kill him!”

“Li Hao, just what are you saying?”

“I can’t easily make the decision to kill him,” sighed Li Hao. “If I do, it might break a horrific seal. To put it simply, Ying Hongyue’s tied himself to the seal. He’s become the formation eye of the seal! The only flaw in his actions is that he hasn’t been able to seize my bloodline. Otherwise, he wouldn’t just be the formation eye. He would be the entire seal!

“Therefore, we can’t be in a rush to eliminate Ying Hongyue. But we also can’t let him be and permit him to grow!” the young man said softly. “We need to weaken him bit by bit and preferably force him away from Silver City. He needs to be constantly injured and on the run so that he has to draw on energy...”

“Do you mean that this person... has connected to a sealed powerhouse and can take that heavyweight’s energy?” The Great Li king seemed to understand.

“I’m not certain of the particulars either, but this possibility is very high. Of course, he also needs to pay a price to cavort with tigers. He might be assimilated by the other as he draws on energy. The moment he is completely assimilated is when the seal will lose effectiveness...”

All of this was Li Hao’s speculation, but it was grounded in some reason. After fighting the man several times and personally seeing the changes in the diagram of the eight trigrams, as well as the movements of the seven red strings, such were the conclusions he came to.

Thus, killing Ying Hongyue was a very thorny issue. Of course, Li Hao was in no hurry. He had all the patience in the world!

He would be in a hurry if they could easily kill the guy, but once Li Hao realized that he couldn’t, he lost his sense of urgency. All anxieties evaporated from his heart and he chose to take one step at a time.

His patience to undertake these matters was the same as the patience he’d employed to bide his time at the Inspectorate. He’d spent an entire year for the chance to look at a few case files.

“Is this not your primary body?” The Great Li king suddenly asked after taking a look at Li Hao.

Jiang Li started with astonishment. Not his primary body??