Chapter 1078: Watercloud (I)

“That’s such an exaggeration!” Li Hao laughed. “Not to mention, it’s only my own judgment that the world will revitalize when sufficient people die. I don’t have any concrete evidence backing that up...”

“I can prove that this method is feasible!” Zhang An said solemnly.

“The senior has much to say today,” Li Hao smiled.

Zhang An didn’t think much of his unusual attitude. He just felt that he needed to bear witness to what the young man was saying. Otherwise, Li Hao’s ambivalent attitude toward the four nations might cause him to be at odds with his people.

The reality of the situation was that Li Hao could not engage in widespread slaughter of the powerhouses from the four nations. That eased the situation for the Silver Moon martial masters; they drooped with new worries instead.

Li Hao’s troubles were their troubles.

“Then... how about we just target Divine Nation in the west?”

“They’re not that easy to defeat. The Moon God is tied to the seal!”

“......” The group blinked and thought back to Li Hao’s earlier words. Their faces were now so mournful that it was like their parents had passed away. So this meant that they couldn’t bring their full strength against any of the four nations?

“Then... are we out of ideas?” Even Sky Sword found it difficult to breathe.

“Didn’t I tell you guys my plan earlier?” Li Hao couldn’t help but laugh. “We’ll placate the four nations first, then settle some of the ruins. Killing the powerhouses underground won’t matter much to the revitalization of the world because the ruins are an isolated space. How are we out of ideas?

“We’ll clean out the ruins first and continue our previous arrangements. We talked about what we would do with the four nations before—placate, intimidate, then give them a little bit of a reward. Whatever it is, we don’t need to overly worry about them for now.”

“Commander, in this case, we seem to be laboring under heavy burdens.” Lin Hongyu breathed out. “The ruins harbor difficult opponents. We also need to be careful of the traitors sending out people to engage in random killing sprees...”

Li Hao looked at someone instead of replying. In a corner, Gan Wuliang jerked with surprise to see the young man turn his way. “Commander, since you aren’t dealing with the four nations as viciously as the ancient traitors thought you would, they’re probably in a hurry as well.

“If we do not proceed according to their thoughts, then the second awakening cannot be triggered ahead of time! In that case, they will not be able to contain themselves and can only mobilize their powerhouses to create disorder within Skystar. That will create opportunities for the four nations and facilitate their renewed advance...”

Everyone looked at him—no one truly liked him, but no one spoke of their personal feelings. Now as he assessed the situation, they remained silent.

“What does General Gan think of the situation?” Li Hao smiled.

Countless thoughts flashed through Gan Wuliang’s mind.

What did the commander want me to say when he looked at me just now?

“Commander... I have a thought,” he said with trepidation after quickly assessing what the young man might want. “Since the desolate beasts can devour the world and seize control from the heavens, why don’t we evacuate some of our people from the eastern continent and permit Barren Dynasty to set foot in it. This will further weaken the heavens!”

“A tail that is overly large does not move easily, and it will be a hassle to clean up after this mess.” Li Hao shook his head. “We might also be in further trouble if we lose some of our territory!”

Is that not what he wanted?

Gan Wuliang had thought that Li Hao wanted him to be the scapegoat for an unpalatable idea.

See how everyone’s staring at me after I proposed that? If that’s not what you wanted... then what do you want me to say? My head’s starting to hurt. I can read some people’s emotions, but I don’t dare look too closely at you...

Inspiration suddenly flashed through his mind and Gan Wuliang proposed gingerly, “Since the commander finds the idea inappropriate and the four nations are difficult to deal with... And it is also difficult for us to raze the city of traitors when we do eventually find it... Then... we can only destroy one of the cities belonging to the eight families!

“The eight main cities suppress the world and stabilize it. Their accomplishments cannot be denied, so therefore... let’s eliminate one of them!” Gan Wuliang seemed to have grasped something and he spoke faster and faster. “Apart from the Wangs and Zhaos, there are the Hongs, Lius, and Zhengs that have sent no word.

“The Zhengs are very likely to be the traitors. So long as the target we pick isn’t the traitor, then we stand a chance of toppling that city! Once there are signs of the second awakening, we can disrupt a major ancient city and devour the energy of the world. We will easily shatter their plans when we break their hold of the world!”

He fully understood in this moment. Li Hao wanted him to offer this suggestion in front of the New Martial citizens!

As expected, Zhang An’s expression shifted at the proposal.

“None of those ancient cities have started any conflict with me.” Li Hao raised a brow. “Other than the traitors, there are certain to be innocents among the other two. They’re just ignoring me, is all...”

“Commander, you cannot afford to be soft like a woman in this matter. Otherwise, once the traitorous city attains its goals and the second awakening begins, the lives of ten billion in Silver Moon world will hang by a thread!” Gan Wuliang quickly protested. “We must swiftly eliminate one of the ancient cities if we are to destroy some of the enemy’s plans. Otherwise, we will continue to be hemmed in at every turn. It’s only a matter of time before something awful happens!

“I... can visit the three ancient cities if the commander isn’t willing. I can probe their actual status since I can read emotions. I’ll be able to know if they’re good or bad with a single glance! If they bear enmity toward me, I’ll raze them to the ground!”

The idea piqued the crowd’s interest.

“Can we stop the world from revitalizing if we seize one of the ancient cities?” He Yong asked curiously.

Zhang An didn’t make a sound.

“The... ancient cities are a tremendous draw on the energy of the world,” Director General Wang admitted after fierce internal struggle. “Not only do they extract energy from the world if all limits are relaxed... but so do they remove energy of life. The ancient cities are treasures that... can indeed delay the second awakening!”

“So why don’t we just have Battle Heaven absorb everything it can?” He Yong wondered.

“The eight families have an agreement that we do not draw from the world without limitation,” a wordless director general responded after a bit. “Whoever does so first might be regarded as a traitor. Therefore, not even the real traitors will do so because it would draw hostile reactions from the other seven! Not to mention, everyone’s waiting for the second awakening. Who would do this on purpose?”

Wouldn’t they be utter fools if they commenced that course of action? The second awakening was at hand. If they extracted all of the world’s energy, wouldn’t that prevent them from walking around outside?

That action would also easily make them a thorn in the sides of the other families.

He Yong said nothing else. Li Hao seemed to be turning over the idea as well.

“Would this be... an appropriate thing to do?” he asked after a long time.

“It’s a good idea!” Yuan Shuo suddenly said. “We’re all a bit frustrated here. Why don’t we vent our irritations on an ancient city? We can just fight to the death since they’re an enemy!”

Zhang An looked at the rest, still silent. He suspected... that Li Hao had formed this idea a long time ago. The young man just hadn’t raised it out of certain reservations.

“It’s not a good idea,” Li Hao sighed. “Even a newly awakened Saint is difficult to deal with!”

Zhang An still did not say a word.

“Let’s discuss this when we return,” Li Hao smiled. “Gan Wuliang, you... will be our emissary to the three cities. It’s fine if you can’t find them, but if you do, converse with them and see where they stand!”

“I hear and obey!” Gan Wuliang quickly responded, but inwardly groaned to himself. This was an awful mission!

As I thought, I’m just here to take the fall. This is plainly just the commander’s own thoughts!

However, Li Hao was looking to the end of the northern direction.

Has the Great Li king sorted out Ying Hongyue yet?

Although one of his replicas followed the king, it was very weak. Li Hao was also hard pressed to understand the exact situation before it returned.

They could fight the four nations, but he had to have a contingency plan in mind. Either they seized an ancient city to absorb the world’s energy and negate the effects of them eradicating the four nations, or they abandoned the eastern continent and permitted Barren Dynasty to take up residence and invade the heavens.

Whatever the decision was, purely eliminating the four nations was a very dangerous decision.

A myriad of thoughts ran through Li Hao’s mind; this was a very difficult choice! But he had to choose the lesser of two evils. Perhaps... it was time to take a risk for once.

The four nations couldn’t be eradicated and he couldn’t defeat the traitorous ancient city. The young man’s cultivation level was so mighty that he easily increased stabilization of the world and raised the limits of its tolerance.

He couldn’t attack who he wished to attack and was hemmed in by numerous concerns if he wished to improve himself. In this moment, everyone understood his helplessness. Gan Wuliang’s suggestion of attacking one of the ancient cities was likely Li Hao’s own thoughts. But there were quite a few dangers lurking for that course of action as well.

There were certain to be Saints in the ancient cities. While they may not be fully awake, they could bring their full strength to bear in an ancient city. There might also be special mechanisms set up in the ancient cities. With the current strength of Li Hao’s side, they might not be able to take on these ancient opponents.

They could eliminate any Immortal or even peak Immortal existence that was yet to fully revitalize, but... a Saint?

Up till now, Li Hao’s people had only killed two Saints. One of them was the white tree of the Wind and Cloud Pavilion, but that one had been so battered that the countermeasure left behind in the Battle Heaven city lord seal was sufficient to kill it.

The second was the Saint in Skystar Ruins. That one had been very strong. It was Zhang An running point on that—Li Hao and the rest were just along for the ride.

As for the bramble rose and Vice Commander Sun Xin within Skystar Town, they were also Saints, but weaker than their ancient counterparts. Zhang An had also been the one to obliterate them. It had nothing to do with Li Hao and the rest.

Therefore, Zhang An’s prolonged silence made the group understand that this path was... too difficult.

Meanwhile, Li Hao didn’t seek Zhang An’s support. He laughed softly when he saw the dean continue to stay quiet.

“So... does the senior think that we will attract certain trouble if we move against the ancient cities? Will the other cities view us with hostility as well?”

Indeed, that was what he wanted to determine—whether the other ancient cities would attack him because he set his sights on one of them.

“The eight main cities are of the same breath and branches!” Zhang An said slowly after a moment of silence. “Granted, the situation is unclear at present and you are the heir of the Lis. There will naturally be no issue if half of the ancient cities agree with your decision.”

Half of the ancient cities, eh?

“Sword City of the Lis has no opinion,” Li Hao chuckled.

“......” No one else made a sound.