Chapter 1181: Plotting Together (IV)

Battle Heaven was located near Li Hao, as were the old turtle, Ninth Division leader, Capsize Sea, General Pagoda, the Battle Heaven Army, and plant spirits...

While six Saints would be out of the question, this joint force would have no problem against three Saints. Just one was too few for them to fight. Granted, there might be bonus targets of desolate beasts.

“Director General Zhao, continue to exert pressure on Barren and focus on killing desolate beasts. Withdraw as soon as Saints appear! We need to up the ante on the desolate beasts and lure more of their powerhouses to pitch in with the Barren army!”

“Understood.”

“If Gan Wuliang returns, have him immediately join the battlefield in my golden armor. Pose as me and enter Barren territory!”

“......” A new voice traveled through the armor system. “Your Lordship, I have just returned.”

It was Gan Wuliang!

Indeed, it was the man. Since he’d dared return, that meant he’d completed his mission. Li Hao had actually known of his return beforehand, but did not reach out as one might expect. His messages had been broadcasted on the senior executive channel, a semi-public one.

“Who did you kill? Yama or the Celestial Sword Immortal?”

“Yama! Ying Hongyue fled Great Li with the rest and about one thousand elites...”

Li Hao was not surprised by the choice of target. Of the four leaders, Ying Hongyue was too hard to kill, the lord of Yonder Mountain was significantly stronger than Yama and the Celestial Flying Immortal. Gan Wuliang could only pick from the remaining two.

The three great organizations and Yonder Mountain had amounted to nearly one hundred thousand members when they entered Great Li. But to depart from Great Li with only one thousand elites left... Li Hao was rather surprised by this outcome. They’d lost so many members on this excursion?

“How is Great Li?”

“The Great Li king is heavily injured. Jiang Li broke one white jade bone, dozens of royal guards and temple priests are dead. Several tens of thousands of Great Li elites are also dead...”

“And the Great Li king didn’t kill you for these losses?”

“Ah... the marquis is my patron, how would the Great Li king dare kill me?” Despite not seeing Li Hao yet after his return, Gan Wuliang remained as humble and eager as ever.

Great Li had suffered significant losses, including some of its generals. The Great Li king did indeed want to take off Gan Wuliang’s head after the final battle because the bastard had taken over control of the army at a critical moment. Gan Wuliang made them fight fearlessly—even self-detonate—to dog the footsteps of the organizations.

Their losses were too heavy to bear thinking of! If it wasn’t for the Great Li king being wary of retaliation from Li Hao, he would’ve erupted in open hostility long ago. As it were, he was so infuriated that his heart was about to give out from sheer fury.

Thankfully, Gan Wuliang had said he was going to leave after killing Yama. The king might not have been able to resist killing him if he continued to linger.

“So Yama’s dead... not bad!” Li Hao transmitted. One of the three great organizations had finally been exterminated. He could go back and share this news with Liu Yan.

It would appear that Gan Wuliang did have some skill up his sleeves. Li Hao had guessed that he would complete his mission, but he hadn’t anticipated the man would do so so quickly. He’d also managed to swiftly rush back. This timing was quite perfect.

“I should not send you into further danger considering you’ve just completed a mission. But these days, it is difficult for anyone to impersonate me. Are you willing to take on another dangerous task?”

“I am at the marquis’ command!”

“Then... pose as me and carefully infiltrate Barren. Exert some pressure on them. I have one request—I want more of Red Dust’s powerhouses to come and for the desolate beasts to feel some pressure. It’s best if they know that I’m looking for extremely strong reinforcements. Any one of these points is exceedingly hard to accomplish, can you do so?”

“I can!” Gan Wuliang replied crisply with a blossom of joy. This new mission meant that the page had been turned on their earlier unpleasantness. He’d been correct to keep to a tight schedule, driving their partners so hard that he’d thoroughly offended the Great Li king and Jiang Li.

So what if the Great Li king was irked? He could choke on that for all Gan Wuliang cared!

Weakening Great Li would also make Skystar a safer place. He’d been certain that Li Hao wouldn’t care about the aftermath of his actions. The Great Li king had returned home with one million elites. What did a few tens of thousands dead count for?

Neither would the Great Li king chance real hostility between them.

“Then that’s it for now. We will settle merit and accomplishment when all is said and done.”

𝗳𝐫𝚎𝗲𝚠𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝘃𝚎𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝗺

“I would not dare claim any credit!” Gan Wuliang swiftly responded. “My lord, Ying Hongyue has escaped and may be heading to Divine Nation. However, he’s left behind some arrangements in Great Li that have something to do with the Forbidden Sea...”

“I understood.” Li Hao said no further; Gan Wuliang likewise fell silent when he noted the reaction. The latter quickly departed from the Skystar military camp and vanished from sight.

......

Not long after, a light glinted from the horse desolate beast’s eyes and it looked in a certain direction. The gesture was echoed by the Black Armor.

“Have you discovered something, Honored Horse?”

“Someone may have snuck in... I’m going to take a look.” It disappeared, reaching where it had been earlier, then vanishing again. It pursued the intruder, the light in its eyes glinting dangerously. Was it Li Hao?

If it was, these were quite the methods. The young man seemed to have discovered his pursuers and managed to shake off his tail no matter how the desolate beast pursued him. No wonder even the New Martial traitors were wary of this individual.

“Does the Honored Horse need help?” asked the Black Armor, suddenly popping into being next to the desolate beast.

“No!” snapped the desolate beast. These people stuck to one like glue and were impossible to lose. It was very troublesome!

The Black Armor said nothing more, but continued to follow the desolate beast. It would be insurmountable credit and glory if he could find and kill Li Hao.

However, the desolate beast’s expression grew grave as the hunt went on. It could sense that someone was fleeing and evading its pursuit, but that person sensed it whenever it drew close. It steered clear of capture the entire way, as slippery as an eel and creating some trouble in its wake.

Not only that, but clashes and battle cries sounded from the outside world again. The Skystar Army had launched another offensive!

The honored horse could sense another powerhouse trespassing. Damn it, were they facilitating Li Hao’s intrusion with feints and diversions?

Another desolate beast died after a loud thud—the horse desolate beast saw Zhao Shuguang fling a seal at Princess Jun, injuring the white horse once more. The horse’s heart quailed. The white horse could not actually die! That was the will of the chaos!

Various desolate beast heavyweights were unwilling to shoulder the will by themselves for various reasons, so the white horse was the key to the chaos. Expansion of the chaos required the will of chaos to be the vanguard. Turning it into Princess Jun’s battle steed was also to pull the wool over their enemy’s eyes.

But now, it’d turned into Zhao Shuguang’s target because the princess was the commander of the army.

Damn it!

An immense presence rose in the distance as a desolate beast shaped like a monkey bounded out of the rear and shot for Zhao Shuguang’s position. Another person appeared on the Skystar side at the same time.

“A Saint level desolate beast?” Director General Wang’s voice rang through the world. “Do you really think that you are invincible throughout the land? Do not start a battle between Saints. If you do, Battle Heaven will activate within a day and send its Saints to the battlefield. Can a group of uncivilized beasts endure the blow of a Battle Heaven Saint?”

“Battle Heaven?” sneered the monkey desolate beast. “It has been asleep for many years. How much battle strength does a decrepit main city have left?”

“How ludicrous and ignorant you are! The ancient Skystar mine has long come into Skystar Dynasty’s hands. Battle Heaven can fully activate so long as the mine exists and send its troops here. We will eradicate you animals!

“Do a few insignificant Saint level desolate beasts really think themselves unparalleled? Retreat now and preserve your lives. Otherwise, Barren will be toppled and the desolate beasts rendered extinct!

“Since Skystar can raze Boundless, it can naturally annihilate you lot! The grandson of the supreme will be here very soon. The heavens favor us and abandon you! Dare you think of occupying the world? The very world itself will not tolerate you!” Director General Wang’s voice echoed commandingly, making the horse desolate beasts consider his words gravely.

Would... Battle Heaven really uproot itself and move to the battlefield?

If that occurred, they would be in great trouble indeed.

The Black Armor next to him raised his eyebrows and transmitted, “There are indeed some Saints at Battle Heaven. It is true that Li Hao has seized the Skystar mine, defeated Boundless, killed a few Saints, and seized much Immortal and core origin strength. Those Saints have likely fully awakened by now. I know the honored ones are not afraid, but your losses are certain to be heavy when meeting in battle.

“Why don’t we help you eliminate them before they are aware of our existence?”

If the Saints of Battle Heaven revitalized... then the combination of Skystar powerhouses, Li Hao, and Battle Heaven Saints would make for a very difficult opponent.

The horse desolate beast was immensely conflicted. Should it partner with these guys? But it was very dangerous to work with them. It couldn’t permit them to grow too strong—the desolate beasts would be struck with misfortune then. But letting a few people in... that could be done.

“I will discuss this with the other honored ones, but we do have the ability to suppress them. Even if you send more people, you cannot send more than three Saints! If you want to do that, all of you can continue to remain in Galewind!”

Three Saints? That’s fine. Li Hao might have other tricks up his sleeve. Once we start fighting, three Saints might change a lot of things.

“Very good! But they have many Suns and Moons that are the equivalent of Immortals. I think the desolate beasts...”

“There is no need to worry!”

Very well then, the Black Armor said no more. He’d wanted to move a few more Immortals over, but the desolate beast would be unwilling in that case.

The horse desolate beast vanished once more, slightly irritated. Was it Li Hao trespassing or not? If he was, how could his movements be so strange? It’d pursued the young man a few times, but did not catch up to his quarry.

There had to be a Saint on the frontlines now. The horse desolate beast quickly reported Li Hao’s intrusion, drawing another Saint desolate beast out to pursue Li Hao together.

......

Gan Wuliang fled with grave solemnity, knowing that he was dead with the slightest slip of carelessness. There were a lot of Saints after him.

Li Hao truly valued him as much as usual to think of him first for such an arduous mission. The young man really placed a lot of importance on him!

Well, I chose this myself, didn’t I?

......

Meanwhile, Li Hao clucked his tongue as he watched nearby.

Nice, Gan Wuliang!

Several Saints were after him, but he shook them off each time. It had been the right decision to tap Gan Wuliang to pose as himself and send him into the Barren wasteland!

When the young man turned back to look at the Barren royal court, he saw that the Saint desolate beast there had vanished. There was also something very different about the white horse. Director General Zhao’s two offenses that centered on the white horse had drawn Saint level desolate beasts in response.

“Continue to attack!”

Battle broke out again after Li Hao gave his order. The young man vanished on the spot amid the chaos. He sped over the land and made use of the opening created by the monkey desolate beast pursuing Gan Wuliang to head to the royal court.

Three more desolate beasts sat in residence outside the court. All of them were Immortals, but they did not discover Li Hao. The bold young man darted into the structure.

While the three desolate beasts looked around because they’d sensed something, their attention was held by the fighting in the distance. They shifted restlessly. These humans were so annoying. Weren’t they tired of continuously starting and stopping fights?