Chapter 1162: Scheme (I)

“What if Dean Zhang is struggling with his own difficulties?” Li Hao sighed with a smile. “Once the traitors control the world, they might contact New Martial. Things will be safer then, so I might actually be obstructing his plan...”

New thoughts occurred to the troop leaders with these words and their expressions shifted once more.

“That will not happen...” one of them said. “Soldiers are forthright, direct people without any twists and turns! It would be a lack of New Martial spirit if he wishes for the enemy to seize Silver Moon world so that they would contact the main world. New Martial fights against everything, even in conflicts that we know we cannot overcome! The commander must have misunderstood!”

Li Hao turned around and faced the Silver Armors, his void low. “What if... and I don’t mean just Dean Zhang, but if the powerhouses of the other main cities... are also of this mindset? Will you still fight then? Will you set yourself against them?”

The Silver Armors finally had nothing to respond with. Li Hao turned around upon seeing their reaction, leaving the troop leaders gaping behind him.

What if even the senior levels were unwilling to fight?

When Li Hao was about to fade into the distance, a troop leader suddenly declared harshly, “Commander Li can belittle us and all of the remnants of New Martial in the minor world, but you cannot think lightly of the New Martial spirit!

“If it really comes down to that, they will have betrayed the New Martial spirit even though they are officers. Traitors of the New Martial spirit are traitors of New Martial. They can be killed!”

Another troop leader trembled at this declaration and followed with, “That’s right! Those without the New Martial spirit can be executed! New Martial is not to be dismissed and disparaged! No one is permitted to borrow the New Martial name while damaging its prestige!”

“Do you... mean that?” Li Hao turned around.

“Every word that we speak is wholeheartedly true!” chorused the Silver Armors. “No matter who it is—those who do not fight back, give themselves up, and await their doom are traitors. They can be killed, even if they are imperial descendants!”

“You can come with me this time.” Li Hao nodded after a long moment of observing them. “But once you betray the New Martial spirit that you speak of, I will not treat you kindly! I just feel that it is very hard for me to believe that you still retain this mentality when your senior executives do not anymore.”

The Silver Armors registered his words with brewing anger. Who had given Li Hao such an impression? Would New Martial citizens betray the New Martial spirit?? That was their faith!

They were to resist and defy everything, how could they compromise with the enemy?!

How could they hope for the enemy to show them mercy?

How could they hope for the enemy to control the world so as to contact New Martial?

Those were the actions of traitors!

Li Hao stepped forward with a smile in his eyes.

Capsize Sea... your words really were very interesting. I seem to have discovered a way to recruit a group of New Martial citizens to my banner.

It doesn’t matter if they’re willing to swear fealty to me or not. What is important is that my targets are their targets.

Whoever stops me is a traitor?

Good, very good!

If this was their mindset early on, I might’ve recruited large numbers of powerhouses a long time ago. Putting aside minor differences to seek common ground is a good strategy. As it turns out, it is those of New Martial who understand New Martial the most.

The key was, Capsize Sea was very clear with its analysis. Meanwhile, Director General Wang and the others might hold the same understanding, but they were unable to explain themselves as clearly. Perhaps that was a function of their lower status, but it had caused a good deal of trouble for Li Hao.

See, his venture was much easier this time. He’d easily recruited both the Skystar Army and the plant spirits!

As for the Evenround Martial students watching from the darkness, the young man ignored them. Perhaps they felt a complicated mix of emotions. All of that was within his expectations.

The vast mine continued to be emptied at an astounding rate. The troop leaders summoned their soldiers when they returned and prepared to march out of the ruins. It was time to fight strong enemies!

As for what precise cultivation level the enemies were, they did not care. Washing their shame clean and taking revenge for their bitter grudges was their obsession. Not even Zhang An was able to stop them, not to mention that Zhang An was not an army officer. Meanwhile, Li Hao was a Battle Heaven division leader.

The young man entered the mine to retrieve the tattered half-step Empyrean King body. It was no longer as complete as it once was after he’d crafted physical bodies for some people, but it was a good fit for the Ninth Division leader’s purposes. If there was anything left after that, perhaps it could be used for other bodies again.

The young man was in an excellent mood.

......

Li Hao did not stay long at Skystar Town. He soon departed with thirty-six plant spirits, five Silver Armors, and one thousand Skystar soldiers. He was so strong these days that he could exert a personal domain in all directions. Since there were no Saints among his entourage, it was no problem to shelter everyone.

The ruins immediately quieted down with his departure; only a few Evenround students were left.

When they saw that Li Hao was indeed gone, one of them suddenly punched a table to pieces.

“Teacher is not that sort of person!” it forced out through clenched teeth. “He would never compromise with the enemy. Li Hao is slandering our teacher!”

“Will Li Hao... be coming back to this place? We have yet to recover our physical bodies, so we are weak in battle. Are we to just keep waiting like this?”

“I’d like to leave!”

“Me too... Perhaps there are those who are unwilling, but I... don’t care anymore!”

“Jiang Yingli and the others have gone, are we supposed to keep watching this place in staying behind? Do we keep waiting? Wait for our ancestors to return? It’s already been one hundred thousand years...”

A massive debate broke out as some people wanted to leave immediately, whereas others remained silent. It was the first time that such an enormous difference in opinion had occurred at the university.

Li Hao was long gone with his people; he even wanted to hum along the way. As he thought, everything was proceeding in a good direction after destroying Boundless.

Teacher, the light that you guys have fought for is shining all over Silver Moon!

......

Battle Heaven.

Li Hao took up duties as a mover and traveled back and forth a few times before collecting all of his people. Most of the half-step Empyrean King body would be used on the Ninth Division leader. This was the young man’s first time entering the depths of the Battle Heaven Army camp. It had been pitch black here before, and deadly silent.

As they ventured further in, Li Hao discovered that this place was incomparably solemn and forested by the barracks. A great portion of the Battle Heaven Army was yet to recover.

A large building stood in the distance.

“The reserve commander is in there,” said the old turtle. “His name is Wu Peng and he is an initial Saint. He suffered from the backlash of the world when he took a risk in walking out of the city. After suffering grievous wounds, he retreated to Battle Heaven and has been asleep ever since then.”

Li Hao nodded. The Ninth Division leader had been going to be promoted to a commander of the main army back in the day, not one of the reserve defenders. Commander Wu Peng was the most highly ranked among those left at Battle Heaven.

He’d only dared emerge from the ancient city once the world began to change. That resulted in heavy injuries and a continual lack of recovery.

Now that Li Hao had numerous Saints by his side, he spoke with more confidence.

“I am unfamiliar with Commoner Wu and am uncertain of his character and personality. I’ll have to be more familiar with the situation first. Does everyone agree with that?”

“Of course.” The old turtle nodded. “We do not wish for Red Moon contaminated traitors to appear within the city. It’s best if we can identify them.”

Li Hao nodded. He didn’t know either how many that Red Moon had influenced. How many might there be in all of the eight cities? Did they serve Red Dust or the Red Moon exalted emperor?

It was all difficult to determine, but he knew that they were the enemy.

......

The group walked silently forward; Li Hao closely sensed their surroundings as they did so. He could sense some ripples wafting through the air. Some powerhouses and division leaders might be on the verge of revitalization. All the same, reviving them was not the most pressing task at hand.

The group quickly arrived in front of a large building.

“I wonder if the commander has a little bit of consciousness left. In that case, I will call out to him first to prevent misunderstandings,” said the old turtle.

Li Hao inclined his head. A faint core origin ripple emerged from the turtle’s body and stretched inward.

“Are you still there, Commander Wu?” Its voice echoed through the void.

The words were repeated again and again as everyone waited.

After an indeterminate period of time, a faint core origin ripple exploded and a feeble voice responded, “Guardian Turtle? And General Pagoda...”

The two brightened at the response. The commander’s core origin still existed and he seemed to be recovering! That was wonderful news!

It must have something to do with General Pagoda drawing energy from the world after it revived. It also had much to do with Li Hao bequeathing large sums of energy stones that intensified the ambient energy in Battle Heaven.

“You’re awake?” The old turtle was overjoyed.

“Because you were so loud...” responded the feeble voice. “Come in...”

The two Battle Heaven Saints were extremely happy and quickly led the way in. This one was a bonafide human Saint of Battle Heaven!

Although the Ninth Division leader was strong, he hadn’t been a Saint back in the day. Now that his physical body was yet to recover, it was hard to say whether or not he would truly become a Saint. Meanwhile, Wu Peng had been a true Saint of yesteryear.

He was the only Saint left in Battle Heaven when the army marched out.

As the group walked in, Li Hao glimpsed many immobile armored warriors along the way. There were many Silver Armors among them and even a Gold Armor. The latter’s presence wasn’t noticeable, however, and showed signs of extinguishing.

There was another independent building behind the Gold Armor.

“These were the headquarters of reserve defenders.” The old turtle’s voice rang in Li Hao’s mind. “The general you see in front of you is the commander of the defense brigade, a division directly subordinate to the reserve defenders. He is the equivalent of Security that answers directly to Commander Wu.

“When Commander Wu returned with injuries, this one refused to fall asleep and stood guard here for many years. He was completely depleted after this period of time and now... we don’t even know if he can be revitalized, ai!”

Li Hao glanced at the Gold Armor. It had stood for tens of thousands of years with only its presence nearly completely gone. It was indeed hard to determine if this soldier could be revived.

The door of the building behind it was open.