Chapter 1186: All Things Proceeding Smoothly (V)

Li Hao sighed with resignation. All of the other matters he undertook were ones that demanded far more thought and effort. But to receive the greatest reaction for something like this... As he thought, it was better to conduct oneself in a more grandiose way in modern times. Keeping his head down while doing much needed work led to public irrelevance.

He never would’ve considered undertaking this task if it wasn’t for Barren Dynasty. This outcome was so much better than he expected!

The young man smiled, not minding how everything had turned out. This was a good result. He just needed to keep in mind that he could not rely on the people’s strength. He could make convenient use of it if it was around, and not if it didn’t. In this way, some of his ventures might see an unusual effect!

Li Hao continued moving the cities. One after another rose into the air and flew over the eastern continent. The people’s voices were hoarse from cheering and yells dwindled slightly. However, light sparkled in all of their eyes. They would remember the man in the sky canopies for the rest of their lives!

Blood frothed and emotions surged in countless people. They were going to work hard at cultivation too! Everyone had a chance in the early days of the new dao. Being able to achieve such an accomplishment through just clearing 360 acupoints overturned their knowledge of the world.

In this moment, it didn’t matter if they trusted Li Hao before or not. Everyone started madly chasing his footsteps and worshipping the young man.

......

Barren Dynasty.

The Barren king ignored the Skystar happenings and swiftly advanced into territory that Li Hao abandoned. This pushed out Barren’s borders and gave room for chaos presence to extend.

Skystar’s army continued to obstruct them, but the former’s attacks were not as spirited as before. This highly excited the desolate beasts; they couldn’t care less about Li Hao moving the cities.

𝘧𝓇𝑒𝑒𝑤ℯ𝑏𝓃𝘰𝑣ℯ𝘭.𝘤ℴ𝘮

City upon city continued to vanish, reappearing over the waters of the East Sea. Earth supernaturals were busy at work reclaiming land from the sea and connecting the various cities. It would take more than one day to fully fill in the East Sea.

One day, two days, three days...

An increasing number of cities appeared upon the sea. Li Hao worked tirelessly day and night, a fact broadcasted on the sky canopies. Although Skystar citizens no longer spent every second staring at the screens, they were wonderstruck anew whenever they lifted their heads. Fervor deepened in their eyes!

Li Hao worked with immense vigor. He’d thought it would be an exhausting endeavor, and it was indeed very tiring, but the power of great dao surged into his body as the people’s faith in him grew. While he didn’t have time to cultivate during these days, the people’s cultivation helped him advance instead. He cleared another few dozen acupoints in his body.

At this rate, he would complete a second circulation of 360 acupoints and access the second level of sword dao abilities.

Heh, what am I supposed to think about all of this? After all that I’ve done, nothing is as effective as opening a moving company!

I fought Divine Nation, beat off New Martial, defeated the traitors, rolled out education reforms, taught the new dao, broke ground on new infrastructure, and built martial academies... but none of it was as useful as moving a few cities. People really are shallow these days.

He’d repeated these words endless times over the past couple of days! The same phenomenon was apparently with New Martial. The Battle Heaven Army armor was wild with enthusiasm for him after one instance of moving their city. Now that he was moving Skystar cities, the dynasty’s citizens showed him an outpouring of the same emotion.

If I’d known this would be the case... I wouldn’t do anything at all and just move things around everyday!

Despite all his complaining, Li Hao wore a wide grin on his face and delighted in his tasks. This was not bad at all! Perhaps he’d be able to call upon the second level of sword dao abilities after he was done moving all of the cities. Maybe he wouldn’t be able to fully access them, but perhaps he’d be halfway there!

How much cultivation time did this save him?

Each day’s worth of exertion was at least one month of seclusion. At least one dozen acupoints were cleared everyday. While his cultivation speed was fast enough under normal conditions, he only cleared one acupoint every few days. But now, he cleared a bunch everyday!

A complete set of sword dao abilities required 3600 acupoints. He moved a dozen cities a day. If he continued this everyday for half a year, Li Hao would outright become a premier powerhouse of 3600 acupoints!

Of course, that was a farfetched wish. In reality, the more cities he moved, the more the people’s faith decreased. It was no longer as ardent as it was in the beginning.

......

As cities vanished from the eastern continent due to Li Hao’s labor, Barren chaos presence continued to spread throughout the land. It neared the province of Calm Borders.

As the Barren king approached Calm Borders with his army, an odd look appeared in his eyes. Li Hao had not contacted him since and neither had he reached out to the young man. But he guessed that the final confrontation would take place here!

They would run straight through the eastern continent if they continued any further. The king turned to look back at the countless lakes that were newly part of his kingdom. It was a notion full of resignation.

Barren had won large tracts of new territory, yes, but all of it was pits and holes or lakes. The desolate beasts were delighted, but he couldn’t be enthusiastic about these gains at all. He’d thought that Li Hao would abandon some of his kingdom... but the young man didn’t give a single bit away!

......

The Tranquil Star ruins.

“We’ll have to trouble the senior this time!” the old turtle’s replica said solemnly when Barren’s presence drew closer. “Li Hao has relinquished nearly half of the continent so that Barren can be connected to the ruins. The desolate beasts only care about the eight main cities and none of the other ruins, so they haven’t paid attention to this place.

“If the senior can kill those beasts, Barren will fall and the second awakening can begin!”

“Don’t worry!” Yu Hai nodded comfortingly. “But... can you really not move Battle Heaven here? I may not be able to handle so many Saint level desolate beasts by myself...”

“Battle Heaven will appear in critical moments!” declared the ‘Wu Peng’ replica before the old turtle had a chance to speak.

“Commander Wu!” Capsize Sea rebuked.

“We do not need to constantly be alert and keep our mouths shut, given that the senior’s taking a risk for us,” Wu Pend replied calmly. “As soldiers, it is best that we lay everything out in the open! Senior, we are focused on guarding ourselves against Galewind. We’ll need to rely on you and Li Hao for the desolate beasts! But once danger is at hand, we will move Battle Heaven to the battlefield!”

Yu Hai’s eyes moved around in thought and he smiled at Wu Peng. “That is good, you should indeed stay on the alert. But Commander Wu, while soldiers should be forthright, you should not speak of everything you know.”

“The Battle Heaven Army does not fear anything!” Wu Peng responded firmly.

Yu Hai smiled without a word. The presence of chaos had already reached them; he smiled at the distance. Galewind was here, as were the desolate beasts! Battle Heaven was also close at hand. If he was successful, he might be able to accomplish taking over Barren, ensuring the second awakening, seizing Battle Heaven, and defeating a few Saints all in one go. That would reinforce the seal instead. The heavens were on his side!

There was nothing to fear about the other main cities—he could easily obliterate them. With that, he would open the separation point, claim what was left in there, take down the Red Moon exalted emperor, and be master of Silver Moon world!

It had been one hundred thousand years of waiting, but success seemed to be at hand!

Mirth dawned in Yu Hai’s eyes. All of this was thanks to Li Hao! He hadn’t thought that the young man would truly let Barren expand so easily to the point that they would be connected with the Tranquil Star ruins. The man even wondered if the heavenly will was interfering with Li Hao’s judgment because it was in such a hurry to revitalize.

The second awakening would be good for the heavenly will. Perhaps this was why the young man had chosen to do what he’d done. This might be the truth of their reality!

“It will be soon... I sense the presence of chaos!” Yu Hai suddenly smiled. “It’s been so long since I’ve fought. Fellow daoists, your replicas can wait behind me. It is my duty and obligation to kill desolate beasts!”

He couldn’t wait!

......

Barren Dynasty.

The chaos continued to spread. A desolate beast suddenly appeared with a hint of confusion and looked into the distance. “There are special ripples coming from ahead, possibly New Martial ruins. Do we avoid them or cover it with chaos?”

New Martial ruins were not a rare sight—the desolate beasts simply didn’t care about them if they weren’t the eight main cities. Even if it was one of the main cities, the desolate beasts still might not be afraid if the city wasn’t one that held Red Dust.

Barren’s invasion speed picked up as Li Hao focused his efforts on migrating Skystar cities. While the dynasty still put up resistance, they did not do so with the previous level of effort. That provided more room to maneuver for the Saint level desolate beasts.

“Look!” someone called at this time. An army of hundreds of thousands teemed over the land and blotting out the sky. They’d emerged from all directions as commanders of the four directions all arrived.

Light Sword, Jadelight Sword, Qin Lian, and Northern Fist each led an army of one hundred thousand. There were four hundred thousand troops in the field and more Silver Moon powerhouses that were swiftly gathering on the scene.

Sky Sword, Tyrant Blade, Gan Wuliang, Director General Zhao...

All of them appeared in short order.

The desolate beasts were rather confused—Skystar hadn’t put up strong defenses before this. Barren had swept through the eastern continent without pause. Was Li Hao not going to retreat any further today?

Some of them looked at the Barren king, but the man did not say anything. He simply looked at the heavyweights in black armor. He actually looked down on the desolate beasts from a perspective of intelligence. The desolate beasts did not have any. But at the moment, there were Galewind powerhouses standing by the desolate beasts.

They

were very intelligent.

The king could tell that Li Hao wanted to turn this location into a battlefield. Those on Red Dust’s side could surely see the same thing. Only the desolate beasts and their singular focus on expansion felt that Li Hao truly couldn’t’ stand up to them. They thought they could run rampant through the world!

“Li Hao’s migration of his cities has just been a delaying tactic,” rumbled the Barren king. “He looks to have assembled his armies and powerhouses by now. Battle Heaven and other ancient cities might be nearby and can appear at any time to join the battle! Li Hao wishes to fight to the death with us here!”

There were many Saints among the desolate beasts; the black horse was their spokesperson for the moment. “I sense the presence of a New Martial ruin. Can there be powerhouses hidden inside as a trump card against us?”

This made everyone consider the ruin in a new light—it was clearly unusual and deserved more attention.