Chapter 1242: Battle of the Heavenly Will (III)

The wind rose and clouds churned. Dark, looming clouds blotted out the sky in the Barren Wasteland.

Galewind.

A sky canopy manifested in Zheng Yu’s hand, projecting an image of Barren. He frowned as he couldn’t see it early.

Li Hao had spent many days hovering in the air. Did he want to take action against the chaos presence in Barren? What was the kid considering?

He couldn’t make sense of it.

“Have Ying Hongyue come see me!” he said after a moment of silence. Someone outside the hall quickly left to do his bidding.

Ying Hongyue walked through the door a few moments later, a smile on his face. “You sent for me, sir?”

“Li Hao is in Barren and refuses to leave,” Zheng Yu said slowly after studying Ying Hongyue. “Now he’s gathered the Silver Moon powerhouses in one place. Is he doing this to eliminate the chaos presence from the wasteland? If so, the world will revitalize again and Empyrean Kings will be able to walk through the world.

“He doesn’t have many Saints under his banner. If Empyrean Kings really can emerge from the ruins, then reinforcement from a couple of Saints will be enough to end him!”

This was a path that led to his own doom! Would Li Hao really do something like this?

“Li Hao isn’t the sort to court death!” Ying Hongyue raised a brow and thought briefly. “He says he’s not afraid of dying, so he most likely won’t be dying in this endeavor. Therefore, even if it’s just to understand how to resolve the chaos within Barren, he’ll have his way of preventing energy from the world’s revitalization from leaking out! It might even become their cultivation resource...”

Zheng Yu sank into deep thought, nodding after a long moment.

“That makes sense. But with the destruction of Barren, the heavens grow stronger. They will allot energy on a fair basis as opposed to concentrating it in one place. Unless...” Zheng Yu thought for another long moment. “Unless he wants to suppress even the heavenly will...”

“That’s possible!” Ying Hongyue nodded after some thought. “But the heavenly will is hard to suppress because it is everywhere. He still needs the heavens’ favor at the end of the day. He might suppress the heavenly will if he has the way to do so!

“Since he’s remained in Barren all this time, that means that he does have this determination in mind and could actually do it.”

They lacked an understanding of the personal domain, so were basing their judgment off of the young man’s actions.

“Do you want to go take a look?” Zheng Yu looked at Ying Hongyue. The latter was much stronger than before and his eight bloodlines much more stabilized because he’d received the Zhengs’ heritage of the stone door.

“Does the lord wish to take a look?” Ying Hongyue looked at the other.

“He’s been in Barren all this time. Don’t you find it a bit... inappropriate?”

“That I do.” Ying Hongyue nodded. “Li Hao is hard to kill... but it’ll be just as nice to ruin some of his plans!”

Although he mouthed those words, he didn’t really mean what he said. Ying Hongyue benefited when Li Hao grew stronger. It was all to his benefit no matter what!

Granted, Ying Hongyue was very much wary of what Li Hao had said about incorporating his bloodline. As wonderful as it was when everything was to his benefit, pressure mounted when Li Hao grew stronger. Depending on the situation, it was best if he could wreck some of the young man’s preparations.

“Take ten Saints with you to Barren!” Zheng Yu suddenly said. “Also, send a few people to the other main cities. My replica... will go to Tranquil Star! Even if we can’t kill Li Hao, it’ll be nice to exterminate some of those New Martial guys!”

Take ten Saints with me?

“Does the lord mean...” Ying Hongyue raised an eyebrow.

“You lead the team, you’re in charge!” Zheng Yu looked at him. “You’re a smart man and can do whatever you wish apart from forcing their deaths. Act according to the situation. You can have them attack anytime if you deem it beneficial to us.

“In addition, these ten Saints are not as useful as the heritages behind the other seven stone doors—

I

know where they are. Do you understand me?”

“The lord misunderstands,” Ying Hongyue quickly said. “How would I ever do anything like that? It’s just... will the other seniors be dissatisfied by this situation?”

“My words are law!” Zheng Yu said coldly. “Just carry out your task, no one will denrefusey you!”

“Then... I thank the lord for your trust!” Ying Hongyue said nothing else. Zheng Yu was quite bold in trusting him with so much. He was giving command to someone not of his camp!

Wait for an opportune moment to act?

Ying Hongyue continued contemplating Li Hao’s intentions. Perhaps... the kid really could isolate the heavenly will and devour Barren. That would be terrifying then!

If that happens—the heavenly will and Barren would be gone. Will the rest of the heavenly will come to me?

Ying Hongyue’s heart clenched with shock. That would be bad! While it could bring a small amount of benefits to him, the consequences would be worse.

Zheng Yu might’ve discovered something since he was sending Ying Hongyue. He was a half step emperor, after all. He should be well aware of these things. Perhaps... this was exactly what he had in mind.

In that case, it’s obvious why he wants me to lead the team then!

I’ll become the core of the team against Li Hao then and the key is, it might result in luring out even more danger. The heavenly will is not that easy to claim.

Ying Hongyue mused deeply as he walked outside. Would the queen be there? If she was, how should he go about chucking all of this in her lap?

I don’t want it!

He was already bitter rivals with Li Hao. If he brashly got involved and became the one chosen by the heavens, then life would become more troublesome.

Various thoughts flashed through his mind as Ying Hongyue selected his men and left Galewind.

𝚏𝕣𝕖𝚎𝚠𝚎𝚋𝚗𝐨𝐯𝕖𝕝.𝕔𝐨𝕞

Zheng Yu watched them go, producing a replica moments later.

Perhaps it really was time to visit Tranquil Star.

......

The Barren wasteland.

Energy ripples traveled through heaven and earth; a translucent membrane appeared in Barren’s airspace. Dao power surged from Li Hao’s body as dao meridians appeared and vast dragons circled the world.

The disturbance grew greater.

Overhead, the sword of heaven began concentrating into a small sword as it determined that Li Hao was preparing to eliminate the chaos. It wanted to smash through the membrane as the world would be one again after killing the will of chaos.

Within Barren, the horse whinnied with unease. Panther jumped on the horse and crouched down to comfort it. Somehow, the dog gave off the feeling of being up to no good.

Li Hao ignored them and summoned his dao meridians, covering the land with them.

“Redwood Mountain, stabilize the world!” he shouted.

The redwood’s branches filled the void and extracted a large quantity of chaos presence. A gigantic redwood tree blotted out the sun in a display of formidable might.

“King of Great Li, gather the heavenly will!”

The king did so with a yell; heavenly will answered in the void, but was much fainter than what was gathered around Li Hao.

The young man looked into the void and transmitted his thoughts. “I intend to attack Barren and kill the will of chaos. I will seize the wasteland and unify the heavenly will again. Please support my efforts!”

Heavenly will churned—no, the entire world seemed to be churning.

......

“It’s starting!” The man with a sword on his back murmured from the moon. “Just as I thought, but... he might really know about my existence.”

The bright moon illuminated the world.

“That Lin Hongyu seems to be up to something...” The Moon God added moments later. “Skystar’s officials are telling their citizens to stay home today and have distributed countless sky canopies and even energy stones...”

“This is a good idea!” the man sighed with appreciation. “Does he wish to use the will of the people to defy the counterblow from the heavens? It’s a good idea! Li Hao has a good brain in his head and might truly stand a chance of winning against the heavens.

“The heavenly will is a manifestation of the people’s will. In that case, Li Hao might negate the influence that the heavenly will exerts over him.”

That kid was a fountain of good ideas!

“Then what should we do?”

“There’s no rush, we haven’t seen the results yet. It’s not a given if the people’s will can overcome the heavenly will. Li Hao hasn’t held sway over the world for long enough. The heavenly will is vast and magnificent, so it’s very difficult to defy the heavens. The young man might come off worse for the wear and suffer backlash from failing, like he did last time!”

“Is he betting that the people’s will is stronger than the heavens?”

“Probably.” The man said nothing else. Probably.

He did stand a chance of succeeding. Even if he interfered with the heavenly will for only a moment, that would be success as well.

Regular people wouldn’t be able to think of these thoughts or ideas. After all, there weren’t many in the world these days that could utilize the hearts of the people.

......

At the same time, Skystar City, the Tranquil Star ruins.

Lin Hongyue looked at the agitating student puppets and said softly, “The marquis said that Dean Zhang has appeared in the world and taken many New Martial powerhouses with him. Those who want to go with him can wait here, he should be here soon!

“If there are those of you who wish to brave the world on your own and break free of the influence of New Martial, there is a chance in front of you today! You can see if you can walk further down your path and accomplish something great!

“However, that entails possibly doing some things that you would rather not, or are unwilling to do. The marquis wishes for you guys to go with me and seize Divine Nation! We will kill anyone who resists.

“There are countless believers in Divine Nation, so this might become a massacre. You would be killing the weak from your position as the strong. This isn’t what the marquis wishes either, but this era does not permit mercy!

“Those who are willing to leave can come with me. Those who are not can just wait for Dean Zhang!”

Among the crowd of puppets, some were silent and others hesitated. But there were also a good handful that immediately walked out. No one said a word. As for their teacher Zhang An... everyone had their own decisions to make. Their teacher’s road may not be correct. To them, their teacher was worthy of respect, but they didn’t have to follow him.

Divine Nation was not New Martial, what was there to care about? They would just kill those people!