Chapter 1158: Gathering All Sides (I)

Li Hao looked at Capsize Sea; the monster spirit smiled back at him.

“I have my ambitions, but not to become the greatest in the world. I reiterate my earlier words—those who do not amount to much after one hundred thousand years will never amount to much. In that case, I need to plan for a more glorious future. At the very least, I cannot be worse than my grandfather, yes?”

Its grandfather had been the second greatest among monster spirits!

Li Hao understood. He was silent for a while before saying, “If the senior is willing to help me, I promise that if I succeed, the senior will be awarded with a position that is higher than the Sea Pacification Envoy!”

Capsize Sea smiled. This was the answer it wanted!

“Then I congratulate the commander in advance. The commander needs to keep another point in mind—the lower levels of New Martial are easy to recruit. The senior levels are hard and imperial descendants even harder. They think that they will be resurrected after the minor world returns to the embrace of the main world, whereas no one even knows the names of the lower levels. Who will revive them?

“As opposed to wasting too much time and effort on the strong, you might as well concentrate your efforts on the weaker. You’ll have greater effect this way. Those stuck in the lower levels all wish to rise above their station. No one hopes to scrabble in the mud for the rest of their lives!

“Also, plant spirits are absolutely worth recruiting. This faction is so weak that they don’t even have exalted emperors. There is no place for them when it comes to resurrection. Even General Pagoda’s forefather wasn’t the Pagoda King—it was just the companion plant spirit of the Pagoda King. The plant spirits have always yearned to produce an exalted emperor of their own!

“The plant spirits and beast spirits are of the same mind. Also, those of the senior levels without notable backgrounds of their own are worth recruiting.

“Why was Battle Heaven so easily won over? For one, Li Daozong is of the Sword Sovereign’s line. The other is that the old turtle is just the soul of a weapon. Who cares about the survival of a weapon? Wang Ye is just a minor character, a side branch of an auxiliary branch...”

Li Hao’s heart trembled, he’d never considered any of this before.

“The Zhaos are easy to recruit as well—Zhao Xingwu himself is not an exalted emperor. Martial Alliance is a motley array of characters. The Hongs are easy to pursue as well since they are of the lower levels. They are the only one of the eight families that lacks a foundation!

“Whether the Zhous, Zhengs, or Lius are the traitors or not, they will not be easy to recruit. They have too many powerhouses in Tranquil Star! The remaining Zhang family should be amenable to your cause as well. The Zhang forefather was not Supreme Zhang, but Zhang Dingnan. He was the governor of the Southern Jiang province, the homeland of the Human King. He was not an exalted emperor either.

“If the commander can clearly explain the situation, you should be able to win over some plant spirits and other minor characters! I can’t speak for the others, but these ones shouldn’t be that hard!

“As for Evenround Martial, there are too many imperial descendants there. Some of them may be willing to risk it all once, but most will not dare to! There is no need to waste too much time with them.” Capsize Sea was unaware of Li Hao’s full situation, but it managed to hit the nail on the head with a lot of its analysis.

The young man nodded continuously. This was their first official meeting, but the monster spirit had already clarified many matters for him. Some matters that had remained somewhat murky for him in the past now brightened with comprehension!

These were issues that he hadn’t understood before because he viewed them from a different perspective. Today, all was made clear.

“Thank you, senior!” Li Hao raised cupped fists. “I have gained much today and it has given me much food for thought. Perhaps there is a lot I can do in the days to come. If we successfully eliminate the enemy, I think it will not be long before general peace is secured throughout Silver Moon world.

“However, exalted emperors are difficult to battle and half step emperors hard to kill. I need some time! The dao universe is here, I can afford to wait. You can also wait—it’s already been one hundred thousand years, a few more does not matter!”

“There must be a result within ten years if you wish to become a king or ancestor of your line. The golden cow’s eyes dimmed. “If no success is attained within ten years, the final victory will be hard!”

“I understand!” Li Hao raised cupped fists and quickly departed the ruins to go about his business.

“As I thought,” Capsize Sea cackled when the young man was gone. “I need to imitate grandfather and forefather by first making his head spin with flattery, then pretend to be all mysterious and give him some advice. Whether it is human or ghost, all will succumb to my charm!”

The monster spirit was quite satisfied by its performance! It’d also casually stepped on Zhang An a bit to earn greater trust for a latecomer like itself.

New Martial humans were too full of themselves. New Martial monster spirits were not that self-assured. The pride that New Martial humans could not set aside was easily forgone by the monster spirits. They were already a lesser social class in New Martial. In that case, what did they care about serving another in the new era?

Slightly emotional, Capsize Sea watched the young man leave. There went the greatest hope of this age. If he couldn’t succeed, then this revitalization of the minor world wouldn’t amount to much.

However, Li Hao plainly trusted humans more than monster spirits at the moment. That wouldn’t do. It had to find a way to get the young man to change his mind. Monster spirits were more reliable than humans!

Only then could monster spirits enjoy a greater share of the spoils once victory was at hand.

......

Li Hao was in a great mood when he left the Sea Pacification Envoy’s residence.

Capsize Sea!

This was the first New Martial powerhouse that’d been willing to join his banner as soon as he visited. There was no long drawn out negotiation or persuasion needed, and the monster spirit was a Saint to boot!

One had to say, this completely exceeded Li Hao’s expectations. Even now, he couldn’t help but wonder if the other had ulterior motives in mind. It was unbelievable!

Excitement mixed with apprehension. He’d thought that he would need to pay a heavy price and verbally spar with the monster spirit. Perhaps the conversation would end unpleasantly and he would walk off in a huff!

None of that had happened. The monster spirit had been very eager!

This was his first time seeing such an eager New Martial powerhouse. Even the imperial guard hadn’t taken such initiative at first.

Li Hao returned to Skystar Town in excellent spirits.

......

The ruins underground.

Energy was much thinner these days as Li Hao had excavated the mine at all costs. The rate of resource consumption was great, but there was still a large amount of energy stones left within its shafts.

There were several factions in residence at Skystar Town these days—the Evenround Martial students, the original Skystar Army, as well as recruited or suppressed plant spirits. There weren’t that many plant spirits, just about three dozen. A portion of them were those about to depart for Battle Heaven.

Any plant spirit that had survived to present day was almost nearly all at the Immortal level. The only Saint had been the bramble rose, but the young man had killed it. The young man hadn’t thought much of them at first. The strongest of them now was the redwood at peak Immortal.

There were five Silver Armors left of the Skystar Army. They were quite strong, with some having ascended to the Immortal level. While there weren’t many soldiers left, they were just as strong as the Battle Heaven Army because they’d been residing in the mine all this time. A good portion of the soldiers were even stronger!

Li Hao’s original thoughts were that he didn’t need these people, Battle Heaven could have them!

But thanks to Capsize Sea, he thought differently now. The mid to lower levels of New Martial could be recruited to his cause. He also happened to lack this tier of personnel.

The mid to lower levels consisted of Apexes and Immortals. Were they also waiting for the resumption of ties with the main world, just like the senior executives were? Did they have no fear of death because they were sure of eventual resurrection?

He hadn’t thought of reaching out to these people before because he felt that the prospects were too hard! He’d been very polite and friendly when he recruited Battle Heaven and Evenround Martial. They could use whatever energy he had, come find him when they wished to be resurrected, be paid energy stones to fight when they left the ruins, and receive Water of Life for those plant spirits that he took under his wing.

While the results were decent, they did not measure up to the price that Li Hao paid.

It was rather the plant spirits that the young man did not pay anything to. While they absorbed energy, they’d been providing Water of Life and even raising grain all this time. He’d overlooked these contributions and did not value the plant spirits enough.

Even when the redwood tree—a peak Immortal—fawned over him more heavily than Capsize Sea did, Li Hao still ignored the entity. He didn’t like the redwood much as he felt that these monster spirits didn’t have much of a backbone—particularly the redwood tree!

It was a peak Immortal! While it hadn’t recovered its full strength, Li Hao had not been that strong then either. It’d easily surrendered, which made it too obsequious and weak in the young man’s eyes.

But now that I think about it, this is... exactly what I need, isn’t it?

The redwood tree and others readily listened to orders. They were willing to put forth effort when they received energy, whether it was Water of Life, grain, or participating in battle. These plant spirits were ready participants in all of the above, and they were not weak!

And strictly speaking, hadn’t the first New Martial powerhouse to join his banner been the imperial guard?

Li Hao walked into Skystar Town, his mood very much different from before. He called out as soon as he set foot inside, “All plant spirit seniors are to meet me at the mine!”

He had some plant spirits under his banner from the Wind and Cloud Pavilion, some from ruins in the central region, and some from Battle Heaven. The latter were all descended from General Pagoda.

There were quite a few plant spirits; they quickly took to the air when they heard the shout. Massive plant spirits blotted out the sun and darkened the sky. The imperial guard was among them.

It was the leader of the plant spirits. Although Li Hao had bestowed it with that position, it wasn’t the strongest among the group. All the same, the plant spirits didn’t resist its command.

Within the city.

𝙛𝒓𝓮𝒆𝔀𝒆𝙗𝓷𝒐𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝓶

The Skystar soldiers heard the call, as did the Evenround Martial students. But since Li Hao hadn’t sent for them, no one was interested in joining the crowd.

The Skystar Army answered to Zhang An. After he killed Sun Xin, the soldiers were of a mind to pay for their crimes when they learned of Zhang An’s identity. All they thought of now was locating the traitors and fighting the traitors.