Chapter 1072: Visiting the Divine Nation Again (I)

Suing for peace might not be a bad thing.

That was how everyone tried to comfort themselves. Silver Moon martial masters were unable to accept that they had to negotiate a truce, but to Lin Hongyu and the others, this was a good decision. Declaring war on all four nations was indeed a hasty affair. There were too many things to take care of at home and Li Hao’s foundations were unstable.

It would be the worst if, after all that fighting, their efforts served to benefit someone else. Of the ninety-nine provinces, few were the director generals that’d truly sworn loyalty to Li Hao. The young man hadn’t had time to install his own people in those positions.

He had a lot of generals for battle, but too few civil officials for administration. Skystar Dynasty might be engulfed by complete disorder if the fighting continued. It would be a confusion that would take a very long time to unravel.

......

Outside the mine.

Jiang Li’s eyes widened when he saw Li Hao and the rest emerge. It’d only been a day! How had they recovered from their injuries?

“Seniors, shall we visit Divine Nation again?” Li Hao asked with a smile, ignoring what the priest might be thinking.

Even Zhang An blinked. Visiting Divine Nation again? Ah...

“Commander Li wishes to fight again?” Jiang Li couldn’t help himself either.

“It’s not like we lost anything,” Li Hao laughed. “They probably haven’t recovered yet. What’s the harm in visiting them again?”

“But...” Jiang Li continued.

“There’s no buts!” Li Hao said faintly. “It’s fine if Main Priest Jiang doesn’t go, it’s enough if we go! There isn’t a person alive in this world who can make me suffer a loss! Divine Nation almost killed my master and did kill the Ninth Division leader’s replica. I’d like to see what other tricks they have up their sleeve after their prophet has been injured!”

“They might have more divine spirits that are yet to awaken,” Zhang An felt compelled to advise. “It would be a loss to the nation if they’re forced to awaken, but to you... when you lack the strength to dominate them...”

He, too, felt that a temporary truce at the moment was a better idea.

“We might not have to fight, let’s go take a look.” Li Hao smiled.

“But...”

“Senior, come with me.” Li Hao’s smile broadened. “I still have some lingering irritation to deal with.”

There was nothing for Zhang An to do but nod. It made sense. For someone so young and in fine fettle to suffer a loss...

While Li Hao hadn’t really been dealt with a huge setback, everyone felt that he had. It was only to be expected that he didn’t want to accept the situation.

Jiang Li was equally wordless at the young man’s insistence. He truly took revenge for every snub dealt! He just hadn’t lost like this to Great Li. If he had, wouldn’t they have to fight everyday given his rate of recovery?

“I won’t bring any of the regular soldiers with me...” Li Hao suddenly said. “Let’s take one thousand from Battle Heaven as artillery troops! Turn on the sky canopy, I want the entire world to see that Skystar artillery troops are first-class!”

“Ah...” Zhang An interjected. “That would be a bit of a waste. They have too many powerhouses, so cannons will have limited effect.”

“A waste? Even so, I'm going to blast them this once!”

Fine then, he couldn’t speak sense into the young man. Perhaps Li Hao really just didn’t accept his loss? Forget it, he could do as he wished.

......

Within the group, there were those resigned by Li Hao’s course of action and those knowing full well what he intended. No one said anything or tried to offer another course of action. They followed the young man and boarded one of the warships. It rose into the air and headed west.

Li Hao was headed back to Divine Nation! No one had anticipated this development. By now, not even Yuan Shuo and the others knew if Li Hao was simply intimidating their enemies or truly wanting to attack Divine Nation again.

It was all a mix of truths and falsehoods. Sometimes, not even those close to Li Hao grasped what he intended.

......

Divine Nation.

Some parts of the city were still disorderly after a day. The god of prophecy had been gravely injured and the goddess of life was healing his wounds. All of the other divine spirits were resting elsewhere to recover.

There were significant losses to the one million soldiers inside the city—several tens of thousands of men had died. Thankfully, there were no regular citizens inside the floating city. They managed to recover their previous air of might after some repairs.

Li Hao’s side felt that they’d suffer a defeat, so did Divine Nation and their queen.

Divine spirits had awoken en masse this time; they’d wanted to cut straight through the central plains as they felt they would meet with no resistance. Divine Nation’s goal was the powerhouses in the ancient ruins, not Li Hao and his people.

Who could’ve fathomed that they would suffer such an immense loss before seeing even a few ancients?

At the moment, inside the divine temple.

The queen stared frostily down at the black-robed ancient.

“You said that you were going to report back to the ancient city before battle broke out,” she stated coldly. “You certainly left quickly! There was no sight of you to be found when the fighting began! But here you are again when the battle is over. This queen suspects that you’re actually Li Hao’s spy!”

An infuriated presence rose despite her lack of visible temper. It was unparalleled and matchless!

The black robe was equally resigned.

How was I supposed to know that Li Hao would appear as soon as I left?

The key was... Divine Nation really wasn’t weak. In fact, it was very strong. But they hadn’t been able to seize anything from Li Hao’s side after that engagement. It could be seen that Li Hao’s battle strength also exceeded imagination.

“Your Majesty, I returned to the city to explain the situation to my lord,” the black robe quickly responded. “I hoped to bring back more powerhouses so we could eliminate Li Hao in one go...”

It would be such an injustice to be accused of colluding with Li Hao! He could only say that this was too much of a coincidence.

The queen also didn’t believe that the ancients would ally with Li Hao. If they did, Divine Nation would be in extreme trouble for this campaign. And if the two were conspiring together, they also wouldn’t stoke the four nations to attack at the same time.

All the same, the queen was highly irritated.

“So where are the reinforcements that you went back for?” she asked coolly.

“Well...” the black robe began slowly. “I wasn’t aware of the situation before and only learned of it when I returned. There was a massive battle in Silver Moon province to the north before this—that was when Li Hao fought the Great Li king. More than sixty replicas fell to Li Hao’s side. It was a grievous loss...”

“Trash!” denounced the queen. “Those of New Martial were not this weak back in the day! You’re becoming ever more useless! It looks like you guys are nothing without the Human King and his people!”

The black robe was displeased by these words. “This is only because the second awakening hasn’t begun yet!”

Would there be any room for you to be so arrogant if it had?? Although you’re so full of yourself, you were still ambushed by Li Hao. Apparently some divine spirits died! Hah! You deserve what you got!

The queen’s expression abruptly shifted. Not only that, but the divine spirits that had gone to rest and recover from their wounds suddenly reappeared. All of them were in a towering rage.

“How dare they!”

“Damn them!”

“How are they here so fast again??”

“To battle!”

“......” The scene was rather chaotic.

The queen disappeared from the great hall, as did the black robe rush out.

......

At the same time.

The sky brightened. One lone warship hovered one thousand meters away from the massive city. Li Hao and his people were already visible in the air.

“Have you recovered?” The queen looked at her opponent with shock when she soared into the air. How was that possible?! She’d fought Li Hao herself. How could she not be aware of his wounds? His body had almost collapsed?

It wasn’t just him, but almost all of the Silver Moon martial masters! But now, all of them had recovered. It was incredible!

“Like I said, those were just minor injuries!” Li Hao grinned, then turned to the black robe. “It’s all thanks to them, by the way. They left behind a pool of treasure in the Skystar ruins that helps people recover their physical bodies. What’s a bit of pain and injuries compared to that?”

“So you did kill that one!” snapped a startled black robe.

“Are you surprised?” Li Hao smiled.

“You’ll pay for that!” promised the black robe.

“All those who betray New Martial will pay for their actions!” Another frosty voice cut through the air. Zhang An hovered over the ship!

The black robe hadn’t seen him at first; his presence stuttered momentarily when he saw Zhang An. His illusory face even seemed to be a bit stiff.

“Dean Zhang does not know the sufferings of the world,” the black robe forced out through gritted teeth after prolonged silence. “You know not our difficulties... You have the supreme for your grandfather and a father who rendered great service to humanity. Your older brother oversees a world and your younger sister is best friends with Principal Fang. You yourself have been through thick and thin with the Sword Sovereign. Dean Zhang lives in the lap of luxury, what do you know about our pain?”

“Have you starved at any time?” Zhang An asked coolly.

“The dean jests... But we lacked cultivation resources and were exiled to a minor world...”

“Who said going to a minor world was exile?” Zhang An refuted. “Not to mention, all of us were volunteers. What is this talk of exile? How many more excuses and reasons are you going to come up with?”

The black robe stayed silent. There was nothing else to say.

The queen ignored the exchange and stared down Li Hao. “Do you want to fight again since you’ve recovered?”

Her presence exploded rapidly and a shadowy figure appeared in the air. There seemed to be a moon hanging in the void again and endless chanting from Divine Nation. Countless people throughout Skystar Dynasty saw this scene because Li Hao had activated the sky canopies.

Divine spirits!

People cowered on the ground and trembled with terror. They knew that this was what they’d been afraid of before. These were the gods of legend!

Prayers and chanting echoed in their minds. Hearts quailed! Many were also nervous about Li Hao’s boldness. He was marching against the gods!

“Who are you trying to scare?” Li Hao grinned widely. “I felt you up earlier, there’s like a couple handfuls of meat on you. Is that all there is to the Moon God, the strongest god beneath the heavens?”

“Li Hao!” roared the queen with incandescent rage. “You desecrate the gods!”