Chapter 1178: Plotting Together (I)

Various changes occurred throughout the world.

The snake king of the Kui Mountains summoned all monster spirits beneath the heavens to gather at the mountain, so that a sacred land for monster spirits could be established.

The Sacred White Sect secretly sent out word that it was willing to accept powerhouses from all walks of life to defy tyranny. As for who it opposed, it didn’t say much, just that it wished to rebuild Skystar.

In the four seas, the soldiers of Watercloud uprooted so many pirates that there were no more pirates within the seas. The Watercloud empress dowager stunned the world with one magnificent stroke in a certain battle—killing all of the Starlight Pirates with one blow. These were the strongest pirates in the North Sea, yet all of their Arcanus and Mountain and Sea fell to the sword.

In this moment, apart from the Barren Dynasty invasion of the east, almost all of the other places in the world had fallen silent. Even Divine Nation to the west was so quiet that it was as if it didn’t exist.

However, hidden currents surged beneath the skies.

Many rushed to the Sacred White Sect in the north. Large numbers of monster spirits also swiftly migrated to the Kui Mountains. Not only were the mountains there, but so were the Ash Mountain monster spirits. It was a gathering place of all monster spirits in the land and, at the very least, was safer than where they were now.

Of the seven divine mountains, Sky Sword Mountain outright disbanded, Yonder Mountain went missing, and Buddha, Phoenix, and Sky Roc Mountains were exterminated by Sky Sword and Tyrant Blade.

Under Lin Hongyu’s persuasion, the remaining two mountain lords personally led their powerhouses to Skystar City, ready to seek an audience with Li Hao. They were willing to bend the knee to Skystar!

The world shook at the news. The three great organizations that’d once swept the world, seven divine mountains, nine ministries, royal family, and pirates of the four seas were almost all eradicated.

It was under these circumstances that Li Hao set off alone to Barren Dynasty to complete his final preparations. He wanted to deliver a thunderous blow to the three sides of Barren Dynasty, Red Dust, and the ancient at Tranquil Star.

As for whether or not he would succeed, that was up to luck.

......

The Barren wastelands.

Barren personnel was in slight disarray as some desolate beasts that normally did not appear were present in all corners. Some of them even appeared on the front lines and threatened the Barren army to continue their advance into the eastern continent.

The desolate beasts were so incredibly strong that no one dared resist them.

On the front lines, Princess Jun was dressed in golden robes and mounted imperiously on a white horse, but her eyes reflected anger and unease.

The desolate beasts had never interfered in Barren internal affairs. But now, they were voluntarily showing themselves in the world and even spurring the Barren army to move forward. They wanted to claim new ground, but the eastern continent belonged to the Skystar Dynasty. Li Hao of Skystar had just defeated the other three nations not too long ago. Given such circumstances, it was an exceedingly dangerous decision to attack Skystar now.

Across from them, ten thousand Battle Heaven soldiers and tens of thousands of other Skystar armies were standing in formation. Numerous Silver Moon powerhouses were in residence, their presences formidably strong.

The two sides had had brief clashes with each other. Although the Barren army did not fall apart thanks to reinforcement from the desolate beasts, their overall strength was less than their opponent’s. Those had been short exchanges, but they were targeted by the heavenly will once they walked out of Barren territory. That resulted in losses of at least ten thousand soldiers in a short duration of time.

This was a vast difference from the rumored overwhelming defeat that Skystar had suffered at Great Li’s hands!

When Barren soldiers witnessed Skystar soldiers taking to the air, they realized that Skystar had many Dominators among their ranks. But it was only after battle was engaged that the Barren army realized its enemy was far more frightening than previously imagined. Skystar military leaders possessed even more stunning killing intent!

The number of Skystar soldiers was also continuing to increase as more joined them.

While Skystar Dynasty retained only one million soldiers in its army, they were all elites. A standing army of one million was a very low ratio compared to a population of ten billion, but it was also because of this that those who made the cut were elites collected from throughout the dynasty.

Princess Jun thought back to what her father had said that day. She hadn’t understood certain things during that meeting, but she grasped them all now.

The desolate beasts weren’t content with biding their time, yet her royal father wished to withdraw the troops from a war they could not win. There were other factions intermixed among these interests—Barren Dynasty was a weakling in the grander picture and could not resist at all.

At the moment, there were possibly one hundred desolate beasts that’d slipped into the army. These desolate beasts.. might all be of the Sun and Moon level.

𝘧𝑟𝑒𝑒𝘸𝘦𝘣𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝓁.𝘤𝘰𝓂

It was an exceedingly horrifying thought!

There were very few humans within the vast Barren Dynasty that had truly set foot into Sun and Moon. How could they stand against the desolate beasts?

They couldn’t, not at all!

Not only that, but the desolate beasts didn’t care about whether Barren soldiers died in battle. In fact, they let the soldiers die when they could. Each soldier emanated a bit of chaos presence upon death. It added to the chaos territory and facilitated its expansion!

The Skystar Army was vicious and brutal in its attacks. Although they witnessed that killing Barren soldiers resulted in the continued expansion of chaos, Skystar soldiers continued to show no mercy. There were even some Silver Moon powerhouses that personally participated in the massacres.

The two sides engaged in soundless battles multiple times, Barren Dynasty came off worse for the wear each time.

“Honored Horse!” Princess Jun galloped to the rear. A handsome black horse stood there, standing like a human and using its front hooves as hands. It casually partook in a meal of fresh meat. The desolate beast powerhouse flicked a glance at her when it heard her voice.

“What are you doing back here and not on the front lines?”

“Honored Horse, the enemy is too strong and their generals are domineering. Furthermore, Silver Moon’s director general Zhao Shuguang is too strong to contend with. Even other desolate beast seniors are unable to match him. We hope for the Honored Horse to personally take the field...”

The handsome horse looked outside the area of chaos.

Zhao Shuguang.

It’d seen the human in action before—he was indeed very strong. Zhao Shuguang had even killed a desolate beast by himself in one of their engagements. According to the cultivation hierarchy as proposed by Li Hao, Zhao Shuguang was almost seventh level Sun and Moon.

This level of strength surpassed that of some peak Immortals. Even if he wasn’t invincible among Immortals, few were those who would be able to fight him.

The key was, Silver Moon had many Suns and Moons to call upon! At the moment, some of their peak fighting force was yet to show themselves. As strong as the horse desolate beast was, that was only within the chaos. Once it left the chaos domain, it would be targeted by the heavenly will. Even though it was a Saint, it may not be able to defeat Zhao Shuguang when outside chaos territory.

“It is not hard to defeat him!” the Honored Horse replied indifferently. “Continue the expansion. None of these people will stand up to a single blow when chaos reaches them! The heavenly will targets the desolate beasts in areas not covered by chaos. I am unable to venture forth and would only be subject to massive pressure.

“Therefore, it is only up to you and your people to defeat them.”

Fury dawned in the princess’ eyes. Defeat them? How?! With sheer numbers of lives??

These powerful desolate beasts refused to enter the battlefield because that entailed emerging from chaos. So long as people died, and a lot of them at that, that would result in the emanation of chaos presence.

These desolate beasts were trading human lives for more territory! Could the one million elites of Barren’s army stand up to such torment?!

Princess Jun took a deep breath and quickly said, “If the Honored Horse is unable to emerge in the world, then permit me to see my royal father. My father’s strength is immense and he can walk out of Barren territory. His presence would surely raise troop morale...”

“Your royal father is currently in closed door cultivation and cannot easily leave it.”

The princess forced down the fury and resentment in her heart. She knew that her father must be being held captive or was possibly even dead. Even if he was alive, she was no longer able to see him.

Not only that, but almost all of the civil and martial officials were unable to see him. The royal court of the Barren Dynasty was being personally overseen by a Saint level desolate beast!

“I understand, then I return to the front lines!” Princess Jun said nothing else. She quickly steered the white horse through the crowd and back to the front line. Ten thousand elites immediately followed her.

This was Barren Dynasty’s most premier force of ten thousand. All of them were to protect the princess; they possessed significant strength to be able to do so and were even equipped with some New Martial armor.

The Honored Horse glanced indifferently at them and returned to its meal.

“Honored Horse,” said a Black Armor beside the desolate beast. It hadn’t said anything in all this time. “The Barren king and his daughter are likely both unsatisfied with this decision. Why do you not eliminate the problem at its roots and either imprison or kill this princess...”

“Am I to hand over the Barren army to you guys if I kill her?” the horse desolate beast replied evenly. “Barren Dynasty is not just ours, but also these people's. How is the dynasty to continue its expansion without them?

It didn’t have good words for the person next to it—the Black Armor was from Galewind. It wasn’t Red Dust, but another very strong Saint. He’d dawdled on the perimeter of Barren Dynasty and entered the chaos territory from Galewind as soon as the two sides came in contact.

It was clear to see from this how decisive the ancient was, but Barren quickly broke off contact not long thereafter.

The desolate beasts were no fools. They were very worried that more powerhouses would walk out of Galewind if a connection formed between the two sides. Therefore, they swiftly dispersed the chaos around the ancient city as soon as a Saint walked out.

“Your side says that Li Hao might come to the Barren wastelands in person... Will he have such boldness to do so?”

“Of course!” The Black Armor nodded. “He is quite the bold fellow and already has Boundless in his grasp. It is clear to see from this that his strength is formidable. Multiple Saints died at Boundless, but there are other factors involved as well.

“It is also undeniable that he bears the ability to kill Saints. That is why he is not overly concerned or fearful when it comes to Barren Dynasty. Milord Red Dust wished for me to convey that you must not underestimate Li Hao. The best plan is still to form a connection between Barren and Galewind so that more powerhouses from the city can enter this place to help Barren kill Li Hao!”

The horse desolate beast did not say a word. If that took place, then these people might not just wish to only kill Li Hao. Barren would be available to them as well.