Chapter 1241: Battle of the Heavenly Will (II)

“Your Lordship, everything is ready,” Lin Hongyu transmitted when she flew up to the young man. Li Hao inclined his head.

“Since the heavenly will is the will of the people, that means the people can overcome the heavens if they put their minds to it!” he transmitted to the group upon some thought. “Well, that makes sense in theory, but who knows how it’ll play out in reality. I won’t need you guys if the heavenly will turns out to be that dumb, but if it’s not... I will not let my painstaking work benefit another!

“Yet if it really comes down to that, I’ll probably raise attention from the Zhengs. Zheng Yu might come to cause trouble. He’s only leaving me alone for now because he thinks I’m planning to eradicate Barren!

“Saints will attack me once he’s involved. It’s difficult to say how many Saints he has now. If I’m not able to easily enter the dao universe, then I might be in a lot of trouble!”

“If... that really happens, the marquis should keep the bigger picture in mind and just give up,” Lin Hongyu said solemnly. “You can always live to fight another day!”

It was best if everything went smoothly and the young man was able to substitute the real for the fake. But once he offended the heavenly will... nothing would go smoothly then. It would help Zheng Yu detect what he was doing if the man hadn’t already realized at that stage. The strength of the heavenly will would guide Zheng Yu to discovering Li Hao’s machinations.

“Mmhmm, I will take that into account. Of course, you guys must be ready for action at critical moments as well. This may be a battle of human will against heavenly will. I hope that man will triumph!”

The young man looked at the sky again after issuing a few reminders. “You are the commander of the Skystar Commander Office now, a titan in your own right. Some heavenly will gathers around you too...”

Lin Hongyu’s eyes widened.

“Are you willing to walk out?” Li Hao asked after humming to himself in thought. “Relinquishing this opportunity may result in another. Or it might not... In addition, the agitation of the heavenly will might bring the Divine Nation queen here. Even if she doesn’t, someone else might send her here.”

“Does my lord wish for me to ambush the queen?” A light sparkled in Lin Hongyu’s eyes. She was only seventh level Sun and Moon. The weakest the queen could be was ninth level, she might even be Fused Dao by now. There was still quite a gap between the two. Not to mention, she had several Saint level divine spirits with her.

It would be more difficult than ascending the heavens if Lin Hongyu wanted to ambush her. It’d be nice enough already if Lin Hongyu wasn’t killed in return.

“How would I ever!” Li Hao would be sending the woman to her death if he ordered that. “The four main cities will erupt next and draw on the energy of the world. That will send the world into unrest and break all paths of communication.

“There are eyes on my people at all times! But there is one batch of people that is perhaps unnoticed—there is a crowd of students in Skystar ruins. A portion of them is willing to join us!” transmitted Li Hao, looking at Lin Hongyu. “Go back to Skystar and mobilize those people. There are at least one hundred out of several hundred students who’re willing to join us!

“Although they’re puppets, they’re all Sun and Moon! You won’t need to do anything if all goes well with me. If it doesn’t...

“The queen is here, the Great Li king is here. Everyone’s here. Take those students and head west, exterminate Divine Nation and the Great Li army! Occupy their territory and incorporate it into Skystar Dynasty!”

Lin Hongyu’s expression shifted with surprise. She looked at the nearby Great Li king out of the corner of her eye and transmitted, “That Initial Martial god...”

“It’s fine, that guy won’t brashly walk out of Great Li! Making a move once was enough for him. Granted, there’s no helping it if you do run into him. That’d just be straight up unlucky! I’m saying all of this just in case.

“Or exercise caution and simply expel Great Li from their new territory. Kill every Divine citizen that resists! Take their land and become a local tyrant in your own right. If the heavenly will still doesn’t favor you then, set up your own shop and rebuild the City of Supernaturals...”

“I wouldn’t dare!” Liu Yan jerked with alarm. “Your Lordship...”

“There’s no need to protest! Everything I say is just a contingency. If I really am targeted by the heavenly will, then form your own faction to pull the wool over the heavenly will’s eyes. It’s not that smart.

“Once you occupy Divine Nation, their queen will be completely useless. How much favor will the heavens grace her with then? You’re not any less than her when it comes to potential and she’s had help all along. Although the redwood helps you, it’s been hard pressed to keep itself alive, so there’s not much it can do!”

Lin Hongyu’s potential absolutely rivaled the queen’s, she was just a few years older. Li Hao’s considerations were just in case something unexpected developed. Anything was possible.

While Li Daoheng’s capabilities were impressive, he was a tiny bit lacking when it came to useful subordinates. In this age, all good talent was with Li Hao.

“Lin Hongyu, either you gain nothing at all this time or you’ll obtain a large amount of heavenly favor. You might advance three cultivation levels in one day! It’s your choice. If you’re not willing, I can send Gan Wuliang. He might be very happy with the assignment...”

It was just that Gan Wuliang was improving too rapidly already. He’d already set foot into seventh level Sun and Moon!

Hence, Li Hao wanted to appropriately curb the man. Helping him develop his desires would only serve to harm him. There was no need to do that!

This would actually be a good chance to trick Gan Wuliang to his death. If that was the case, Li Hao would allow the man’s appetite to grow incessantly. However, Li Hao had use for the man. There was no need to let his ambitions swell again and again. If Gan Wuliang was sent to the west, he might attack for no reason at all.

This was not what Li Hao wished to see.

Lin Hongyu thought rapidly, understanding the connotation of the young man’s words. The heavenly will would turn on Li Hao once he carried out his plans. It would therefore have to find someone else to bless. Ying Hongyue probably wouldn’t want to be the recipient. The Divine Nation queen would be willing, but why would the heavens want her after she lost her nation and territory?

A great disturbance in Barren might conceal similar happenings in Divine Nation. If her troops were only the student puppets of Evenround Martial, then there would be even fewer eyeballs on her.

But utilizing the name of Skystar Dynasty then might not be effective. Should she set up her own nation?

As ideas flitted through her mind, Lin Hongyu transmitted, “Your Lordship, will it be just me? Should we... send some more people?”

“Just you! People will start to wonder if too many people go. You can head back to Skystar City now and make your preparations. Set up sky canopies everywhere you can. Be careful, but not too careful. You have to make your stance clear, at least.

“I might borrow the people’s heart to triumph over the heavenly will’s counterblow! But, this is the trump card that I want people to see.”

Lin Hongyu continuously bobbed her head. Li Hao was someone who planned three steps ahead for every one step he took. It was difficult to say if he could pull off this heist, but Lin Hongyu felt that if he just wanted to accomplish what his goals appeared to be on the surface, then everyone would be in for a hard time.

In Lin Hongyu's assessment, the young man was growing ever more mature, calm, and ruthless. He’d just casually described eliminated all defiant elements in Divine Nation. That might mean that bodies would litter the wilderness!

Also, the Great Li king and other rulers were all here. They would be entering the Barren wasteland. Lin Hongyu could tell that this would take place so they could be stripped of their heavenly will, to make it so that it had fewer people to choose from. This would create fewer latent threats.

These rulers were all favored by the heavens as well.

“Commander Lin, you are to return to Tranquil Star and keep Skystar in order!” Li Hao said aloud as Lin Hongyu rummaged through more possibilities. “That means you might miss this opportunity... but that’s alright, this is just a small opportunity not worth much! In addition, Redwood Mountain is critical. If Redwood Mountain takes another step forward, that will naturally feed back to you as well!”

The redwood tree’s heart spasmed with alarm and it hastily formed a human shape. “Surely you jest, Your Lordship. Everything is due to my lord’s planning and strategies...”

It was very worried that Li Hao would be dissatisfied. It was now the commander of the plant spirit army and had many plant spirits under its command. The redwood was also a Saint itself, while Lin Hongyu’s position was second to only Li Hao. She was the lead commander of the five directions!

The redwood was most closely tied to Lin Hongyu. There was another point in play that a lot of people didn’t mention—Gan Wuliang was from the City of Supernaturals as well. He’d been forced to join Li Hao’s banner, but now that he’d found his footing, he would be subconsciously predisposed toward the City of Supernaturals since he had no foundation to speak of.

Lin Hongyu, the redwood, and Gan Wuliang.

These three occupied very important positions in the Skystar hierarchy. Therefore, how would the offhand comment from Li Hao not be concerning?

The redwood was worried and Gan Wuliang colored slightly, not daring to look at Li Hao. He snuck a peek at Lin Hongyu and found her in a calmer state. That put Gan Wuliang at ease, he didn’t continue looking at her.

Li Hao’s relationship with the Silver Moon martial masters was more that of seniors and a junior. When it came to the rest, it was more of subordinates and a superior.

“Senior Redwood’s misunderstand me,” Li Hao said with a smile. “We should be helping each other! It’s not like we’re evenly splitting the resources these days. Whoever puts in more effort receives more! I will say nothing even if you give away everything that you have! The same goes for everyone!

“My job is to assign resources to their most appropriate recipient. Whether you use them yourselves or someone else does... is up to you! If you don’t keep up, you might not have a chance to in the future!”

With that, he turned to the Great Li king and the rest. “Everyone, please enter the Barren wasteland first!”

The Great Li king, Barren king, and Watercloud empress dowager looked at each other, then walked forward without another word. As for whether or not this was a trick meant to kill them... they would’ve been long dead if Li Hao was of a mind to do that.

This might really be a chance.

Of course, with any gain came a loss. It wasn’t necessarily a good thing to lose heavens’ favor.

The Watercloud empress dowager didn’t mind because she walked the path of New Martial. The heavens didn’t favor her much to begin with. The same went for the Barren king as Barren and the heavenly will were diametrically opposed to each other.

But as the ruler of a nation and having suffered a defeat, the heavenly will might not hold onto a grudge if chaos was cleared from the Barren wasteland. In that case, he might become a new candidate for heavenly favor.

“Go on!” Li Hao looked at Lin Hongyu. The woman broke through the air without a word, leaving the young man to settle in wait.

No one knew what he was waiting for.