Chapter 1054: March (I)

“If you’re doubtful of my intentions, the Great Li king and main priest can participate in my operations as well,” Li Hao said faintly. “I’ve never been afraid of any faction. So long as you think it is necessary, you can participate in person. Whether as an observer or some other role, you can do whatever you wish!”

“Forget it, this king does need to make a trip back to my nation and resolve the issue of the three great organizations,” dismissed the Great Li king. “Your replica can come with me. Jiang Li, you go with Commander Li!”

Jiang Li nodded without a word.

“Then it’s so settled!” Li Hao took a deep breath and vanished, his voice echoing upon the air. “We leave tonight. The main priest can follow me, my replica will return tonight!”

“Main priest, do you think... he is giving me the runaround, or will he really bring arms to bear against Divine Nation?” frowned the king when the young man disappeared. “Or was his target Divine Nation all along?”

“That shouldn’t be the case,” Jiang Li shook his head. “It would be better to target Great Li as opposed to Divine Nation. The king should know best that Divine Nation is first among the four!”

It would be better to eliminate the second strongest as opposed to ambushing the strongest. At the very least, there would be less to be concerned about. Li Hao had most likely wanted to take down Barren Dynasty first.

“The king is wise!” Jiang Li smiled. “You proved Li Hao into moving against Divine Nation with just a few words... But... he did seem rather easily provoked today.”

That was perplexing.

“Let us forget that for now and look to the future. Divine Nation will indeed be a troublesome issue, but you must be careful. Perhaps his goal is you and said all that on purpose. His ultimate target may be you!”

Jiang Li snapped to attention, that was possible!

“Do not worry, my king, I will be careful,” he said solemnly. “I will contact you as soon as anything develops and also utilize the divine bones of Initial Martial. It won’t be that easy for him to defeat me!”

“Mmhmm, I do need to make a trip back.” The king took a deep breath. “We cannot permit those fellows to run wild through our nation. I couldn’t leave at first, but this is an opportunity!”

He looked once more in the direction that Li Hao had left in. “He said that Ying Hongyue is in contact with a powerhouse. Do you think that’s true or false?”

“It is seventy percent true!”

“You think he is speaking the truth?”

“I know a bit of the particulars,” Jiang Li nodded. “If he could easily kill Ying Hongyue, would Li Hao not do so with his personality and the accomplishments that he has managed to this day? Therefore, there might actually be something troublesome at play. It forces him to abandon the idea of bringing his full force against his old enemy.”

“I understand.” The Great Li king exhaled deeply. “Then I must expel them from our borders or those guys could create a lot of trouble for Great Li!”

He ran through a lot of thoughts, ultimately deciding to reach an accord with Li Hao. It was a good thing if the young man really marched against Divine Nation. At the very least, they could observe the capabilities of both sides! How many trump cards were Li Hao still hiding?

Jiang Li nodded emphatically in agreement.

......

At the same time, Li Hao grinned from ear to ear.

You’re so damn adorable, king of Great Li. I can’t bear to kill you anymore!

......

That night.

New deployment orders filtered through the ranks. Ten thousand Battle Heaven troops, ten thousand Demon Hunters, ten thousand supernaturals under the nine ministries, ten thousand supernaturals under the City of Supernaturals, and ten thousand supernatural Silver Moon Guards under Director General Zhao were ordered to move out.

These troops had spent a significant amount of time on the frontlines over the past couple of days and clashed in the field against the Great Li army. Killing intent wreathed them!

All fifty thousand troops wore armor and strictly adhered to military discipline. They finally looked a bit like elite troops.

Battle Heaven soldiers were elite troops to begin with. The other four were selected out of the best in their companies. All of them were superhumans and nearly all of them stronger than Sunderer.

There wasn’t a single weakling among them, and their strength soared when outfitted with armor.

One hundred supernatural cannons and ten thousand rounds of ammunition followed the army of elites. These had been collected from various provinces. It was a stunning reserve of weaponry.

These missiles were named city annihilation missiles in the modern times. Li Hao had collected a large number, all of them leftovers from New Martial. They packed less of a punch than regular missiles, but their might was still impressive. They’d once forced a Nova level Li Hao into fleeing for his life.

Plainly, the young man was bringing everything he had to this campaign.

It was Jiang Li’s first time seeing Li Hao so gravely serious. Although he was unfamiliar with the young man, Great Li and Skystar had met on the battlefield for many days. In his eyes, the Skystar Army wasn’t worth much. Apart from Battle Heaven, even their elites were mediocre.

𝙧𝙚𝙚𝔀𝒆𝓫𝓷𝙤𝓿𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝙤𝓶

But on this day, with these people all wearing armor, the supernatural cannons following them, and countless crates of munitions... the priest was quite stunned. He knew what these armaments were.

An earth driller, flying ship, and sea cruiser quickly appeared. They were followed by multiple generals. As opposed to their previous random assembly, the generals were now dressed in silver or bronze armor and their battle strength exceedingly formidable.

The Ninth Division leader, Huang Yu, and Liu Long stood in front of the troops. Li Hao left only one general behind to safeguard Silver Moon—Hou Xiaochen, one of the four protectors of the province. The young man was even taking Director General Zhao!

Hou Xiaochen was being left behind because none of the others would do. Huang Yu was a viable candidate, but he was skilled at military combat and as such, it would be too much of a pity to leave him.

Kong Jie was a bit too weak and he didn’t possess as much authority in Silver Moon as Hou Xiaochen did. After some thought, Li Hao felt that Hou Xiaochen was the most suitable choice.

This conclusion brought both immense pressure and resignation to Hou Xiaochen. He was being thrown back to his own haunts again! What a pity that he couldn’t participate in the western campaign. This might be the first time that Li Hao had so officially mobilized all of his powerhouses to assault a fortified position.

Not only that, but some student puppets hidden in the shadows, the imperial guard, and the Immortal primary body of the redwood tree materialized as well. Plainly, the young man hadn’t brought out any of these hidden capacities before.

The look on Jiang Li’s face grew stony. Many of these powerhouses were new to him, including the older generation of Silver Moon martial masters. Most of them had been in hiding before and had not shown themselves.

It wasn’t truly hiding, but that the older generation had been cultivating the new dao all along and clearing their acupoints. Today, they were all pulled out of seclusion. There weren’t many of the old guard—which included the six old men that Li Hao had with him in the Skystar Commander Office. There were a dozen when they were totaled, but their battle strength was not to be underestimated.

“Board the ship!” Li Hao called out softly. Fifty thousand troops swiftly marched on board three warships, making for slightly cramped quarters, but these were all the ships that he had. They were sufficient for the time being.

All of the powerhouses filed aboard as well. Li Hao turned to Hou Xiaochen with a smile.

“Remember this, Director Hou. If Great Li chooses to send out their troops, fight if you can, retreat if you cannot! If Great Li rips up our agreement, I’ll lead the army into Great Li myself and slaughter everyone, down to their chickens and dogs!”

Hou Xiaochen nodded silently while Jiang Li frowned.

“I, Li Hao, constantly keep all of my promises!” Li Hao smiled at the priest. The man was moved, but didn’t say anything.

“To Battle Heaven!” Li Hao commanded as he soared into the air. Three warships shot into the air with him. The young man waved the ‘dark’ supernatural character into being. It encompassed the three ships, darkening them in the gloom so that no one could make them out.

Tens of thousands of people were excited about this embarkation, but no one made a sound. After fighting Great Li for so many days, they finally looked the part of elite soldiers. Li Hao was highly satisfied.

......

The warships soared through the air and quickly reached Battle Heaven five hundred kilometers away. Li Hao landed the ships and entered the ancient city. While Jiang Li was very curious, he didn’t dare follow the young man. The ancient city was very powerful; he was just curious if Battle Heaven would be sending out powerhouses this time?

......

Inside Battle Heaven.

The atmosphere was different inside the ancient city this time, but Li Hao didn’t mind.

“General Pagoda, Guardian Turtle, Li Hao would like to request the two seniors’ help for this campaign. Please speak freely of what that would cost!”

The Ninth Division leader was present as well—his primary body! It’d been his replica outside all this time. When the old turtle and pagoda tree heard Li Hao’s request, they simply waited for Li Daozong’s replica to enter the ruins and reconvene with his primary body.

They were true Saints and even if they only sent their replicas into battle, the replicas of Saints were certain to be stronger than those of Immortals.

The primary body would learn of everything the replica experienced when the two came back together as one. The recombined Ninth Division leader transmitted a few words to bring the other two up to speed.

“I am limited in strength as the soul of a weapon,” the old turtle said calmly. “The replica of a weapon is not strong. My defenses will be adequate and I can create a line of defense for the Skystar Commander Office, but participating in battle... will result in limited effects. This is not a humble protest.”

A defensive weapon!

“That would be enough!” Li Hao smiled.

“I can send out a replica, but the world will restrict me,” said General Pagoda after some hesitation. “Even if my replica is stronger than regular replicas, there will be a limit to it. It won’t be too strong...”

“That would be enough!” Li Hao’s smile broadened. “In addition, I’d like to invite some of the Apex plant spirit generals to mobilize. I will supply them with all of the energy they need to revitalize!”

“Not a problem,” General Pagoda agreed outright. “I have twelve Apex plant spirits, but they are not as strong as true Apexes anymore since the core origin dao has disappeared. However, they’ll be on par with some Immortal replicas!”

That was enough!

A significant amount of energy would be needed to revitalize twelve plant spirits—each one would require tens of millions of stones. Li Hao could shoulder the burden of one hundred million stones.

“Then I thank the two seniors for your aid!” Li Hao inclined at the waist. “What requests might the two seniors have?”

He’d come in contact with Battle Heaven the most out of the ancient cities. They’d worked together the longest and Li Hao had received plenty of benefits from them, but also given some in return. Now that the Battle Heaven powerhouses were willing to lend a hand, he didn’t mind responding with some treasures or energy.

The ancient powerhouses looked at each other, then settled their gaze on the Ninth Division leader.

He was still enshrouded by his golden armor and said slowly when he saw the two look at him, “My request may be a bit too much... but I still hope for its fruition!”

“What is it?”

“Ten thousand bodies!”

Li Hao blinked.