Chapter 1240: Battle of the Heavenly Will (I)

“What do you think of Zheng Yu?” The Moon God had never asked this question before, but chose to today.

“Him?” The man with the sword on his back thought for a while before smiling. “He’s not bad.”

Not bad?

The Moon God raised an eyebrow, having expected an answer of “trash” or “could not withstand a single blow”. The man was a very proud individual, so it was startling that he would say Zheng Yu was not bad.

The man seemed to know what was running through the god’s mind and chuckled softly. “That’s right, not bad! He reached peak Empyrean King without being stymied by too many difficulties. There’s no doubt that his potential is first rate! His intelligence is passable as well. At the very least, he knows how to craft some strategies that seem impossible to achieve. His only drawback is... he’s too cowardly!”

The man’s assessment of Zheng Yu was decent; he simply found the man too timid.

The Moon God took a while to digest this conclusion, continuing after a long moment, “When it comes to him and Li Hao, who do you think is more likely to become our future enemy?”

“It’s fifty-fifty for the moment!” laughed the man. “We have more trouble at hand apart from the two of them—Zhang An’s been looking for me all this time. He might find me soon, he has way too much time on his hands!”

“We can just kill him...”

“It won’t be that simple. Although he’s barely reached peak Saint and hasn’t touched Empyrean King, he’s not someone to run afoul of. He’s bided his time till present day. He knows that it might’ve just been a few years in New Martial, so he’s not in a hurry.

“Actually, Li Hao’s risen so quickly that what he should be worried about is that the young man will devour Silver Moon world and run off with it. That would be the end of his hopes for returning to New Martial. But instead, he’s busy making trouble for me. What a slow mover!

“Alright then, that’s enough of that. Let us wait! Li Hao is still too young and inexperienced for the moment. At present, our greatest threat is still that exalted emperor. No matter how strong the others are or how smart they are, they are hard pressed to overcome that one!”

The Moon God said nothing more, turning her mind to how she could help that idiotic second generation of her title obtain this opportunity. It was rather vexing that the second gen was always a step too slow.

......

The battle between Great Li and Divine Nation continued.

Great Li was unstoppable after their god appeared. They cut straight into Divine Nation territory and occupied a massive portion.

Meanwhile, the queen had suffered loss after loss. First she lost all of her elites to Skystar, then Li Hao killed a large number of divine spirits. The Initial Martial god then routed her and her companions, and now she had to watch as her nation was occupied.

As fanatic and valiant as the believers were, they were not a proper army at the end of the day. They were continuously rebuffed.

Although the Great Li king didn’t have many with him, he swept through cities and razed all strongholds in his path. Slaughter was rampant as the believers were too zealous and difficult to handle. In order to prevent future trouble, the king gave orders for large-scale slaughter and even city-wide massacres!

Li Hao knew all of this; he could see it with his own eyes, but didn’t intervene. These were not his people, why should he intervene?

He’d sent Great Li into Divine Nation because he wanted to set the two at each other’s throats and weaken them. The two would be bitter enemies after this battle and Great Li would have suffered significant losses. They would’ve gained nothing but land for their suffering.

What else could they collect?

There was significant power of faith on Divine Nation’s side, but not much energy. Faith could not be randomly absorbed if the people worshipped another. Great Li would not have gained anything after this battle.

This kind of warfare was not what either side wished for, but Great Li had no choice but to commence such an offensive in order to set Skystar at ease. As strong as their god was, it did not make another move after that one appearance.

The Great Li king didn’t dare put all of his hopes on that guy. He would rather grow stronger himself to win a place at the table. Only then did Great Li stand a chance of maintaining its independence. He didn’t wish to be incorporated into Skystar Dynasty and become a vassal state.

The battle continued, but the king was ready to quietly slip away. The ten days were almost up.

......

The Barren wasteland.

Chaos churned over the land. The last of Barren’s citizens were being transported elsewhere. After today, the Barren wasteland would become completely deserted territory without any inhabitants.

Many people were unwilling to suddenly leave their homes and move to the central plains. That was an unfamiliar domain filled with strangers. The Barren citizens didn’t want to leave, but they had no choice.

Countless powerhouses poured into the wasteland and even their king appeared to persuade everyone to evacuate. Death would be the only outcome if they stayed.

Endless jaws clenched with hatred, hating the Barren king and Li Hao. The young man didn’t care. Skystar’s migration had gone very easily, which demonstrated his might to the people. Barren hated him, to which he was completely indifferent. They would forget everything after a few years in the central plains.

Outside Barren.

Li Hao circled in the air, watching as more people gathered around him. There were four Saints in residence at each of the four main cities. Those were currently scattered elsewhere in the world. Many powerhouses came to this spot instead.

The disturbance was noticeable.

Li Hao had cultivated furiously over the past couple of days, extracting power of the world and great dao. The heavenly will had been agitating as well, wanting to enter Barren and eliminate it.

“Wind, rise!” murmured the young man. A strong wind rose and filled the air with yellow sand.

The sky and earth changed color.

“Clouds, rise!”

Thunderclouds blotted out the sky, plunging the vicinity into darkness. Gloom encompassed all of Barren wasteland as winds howled and clouds billowed. The sun was completely obscured.

Li Hao raised his head at the sky—the sun seemed to be descending this way again. The disturbance was significant. Could Li Daoheng guess what he was doing? Or did the man think that he was simply compressing Barren?

He didn’t know if the man knew or not.

The heavenly will over his head formed a vague shape—it seemed to be that of a sword!

The sword of heaven!

Sword cultivators looked gravely at the shape. Sky Sword, Hong Yitang, and Light Sword stared solemnly at it. The heavenly will had come together as a sword. This world seemed intricately tied to sword dao.

The heavenly will had only been able to ruffle the clouds with wind before, but now it could form the vague outline of a sword. Clearly, it had strengthened a great deal these days. And since Li Hao displayed the stance of preparing to eliminate the cancerous tumor harbored by Barren, most of it had come.

If the heavenly will decided to chance everything on this gamble, then it would forsake all of the others and gather here in full. Ultimately, it remained scattered throughout the world.

While there was a lot of it centered here, it wasn’t the complete body of heavenly will. It remained scattered throughout Skystar Dynasty.

Li Hao raised his head again, barely catching a glimpse of the bright moon through the thunderclouds. Would Li Daoheng make a move to seize the heavenly will? To capture it?

It would help Li Daoheng take another step forward in mastering the world and the great dao. It would make it easier for him to walk out of the moon. Would he do it?

Li Hao did not know.

Multiple figures manifested in the distance. The Great Li king was here, as was the Watercloud empress dowager, Jiang Li, and even the Barren king.

Li Hao waited quietly, not greeting anyone. He concentrated on cultivation. The heavenly will had almost finished coalescing into a sword over his head. Within Barren, the white horse fidgeted nervously.

It could sense impending doom; Princess Jun’s comforting had no effect.

𝒇𝒓𝒆𝒆𝙬𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝒎

The will of chaos manifested over the white horse’s body. It churned through the wasteland, wanting to fight against the heavenly will.

The heavenly will... will strike back once it’s swallowed.

Li Hao looked at the sword over his head. This was only part of the heavenly will. Once the portion here was eliminated, what remained would absolutely counterattack.

The heavenly will itself did not possess capabilities of killing people, so it would make its move through others’ hands. It would be such an underestimation of Li Hao if he didn’t understand this, being the aspiring thief of heavenly will that he was.

The queen and Ying Hongyue are modern martial masters and will most easily receive the heavens’ blessing. Once I eliminate this portion of heavenly will, the rest might focus on these two. It will compel them to take over part of the world and march against me...

He would have control over Barren then, but the rest of the heavenly will might go to the two of them. Although a concentration of heavenly will may not be safe, it would bring enormous benefits to these two at present.

Li Hao’s lips curved upward. These people received benefits every time he improved, especially Ying Hongyue. They’d certainly fattened their number one enemy to precisely where they wanted him.

Their current condition was possibly one of highlighting how important they were through nurturing his rise. Many people wanted these key figures to suppress or oppose him. It was difficult for people to catch up to him every time he improved, but Ying Hongyue and the rest did so easily.

The entire world and certain chess players used them as pawns, setting down moves here and there to bring the young man back into line. He wants to jump off the chessboard entirely.

Li Hao looked at Panther again, then at the sword of heaven.

Will the heavenly will know that I ordered Panth to swallow it?

The heavenly will was very young and lacked a complete intelligence. It was like a child in its stage of development.

If the heavenly will doesn’t know... will it want to kill me or Panth once it swallows the sword? If it wants to kill Panth... then I might receive even more favor. It might bless me even more in the pursuit of revenge.

Granted, this line of thinking treated the heavenly will as a complete fool. If there was the slightest bit of intelligence to it, it would come for Li Hao upon recognizing that the dog was with the young man.

But what if it really is an idiot?

Li Hao smiled to himself.