Star Gate-Chapter 1077: A Difficult Choice (III)

Li Hao looked at the Barren king, then at the troops behind himself. “Eastern Commander Light Sword Hu Jiao, from today forth, you are to assemble the various provincial armies of the east and make camp here. Defend our home against Barren Dynasty! I am sure that the provinces of Firebright and others will not give you any trouble. As for the Xus of the Steadfast Marquis, eradicate them if they dare cause disunity!

“Those of Barren Dynasty will be shown no mercy if they dare set foot onto the eastern continent! Do not worry, their strength will be immensely decreased if they really do enter the eastern continent, even their king of the Sun and Moon cultivation level!” the young man boldly pointed out despite the Barren king standing right in front of him.

The king frowned faintly. They weren’t too far from Li Hao, but the Barren Dynasty side seemed to be shrouded in darkness. Chaos enveloped them, granting them a few hints of deep mysteriousness.

The endless Barren cavalry wasn’t aware of what had happened, just that their nation seemed to be targeted by heaven’s will. Yet, why was that?

......

“Senior Zhang, do these people have a way of isolating themselves from the heavens?” transmitted Li Hao as he delivered his speech.

“It won’t be that easy now that the heavens have taken note of them. One way to defuse being targeted is for the desolate beasts to continue their invasion and swallow the world bit by bit. This Barren king is an impatient sort. If he hadn’t exposed their existence...”

“Then he would already be dead!”

That was true. Zhang An nodded, a bit at a loss. The Barren king wasn’t weak and he had plenty of powerhouses under his banner, but anyone who met Li Hao’s group would be hard matched to meet their opponent unless they revealed their trump cards.

“The three nations all have their trump cards... Does the senior know what Watercloud Dynasty possesses?”

“Ah... I know about the desolate beasts, Initial Martial, and divine spirits,” Zhang An stated. “But Watercloud has not been in existence for long. Is there anything in the south?”

He didn’t know the particulars of Watercloud Dynasty either. If they didn’t have any aces up their sleeves... they could be easily dismantled.

Li Hao flicked a glance at the Barren king and laughed. “You guys can stay here, I take my leave!”

The king frowned and didn’t say a word. The young man wasted no time in steering the warship away.

After they left, the Barren king’s shoulders slumped and he looked at the world outside the chaos.

“Heaven’s will truly has awakened! I thought it was a rumor before, but to think that it would be true...”

There’d been no previous repercussions to the desolate beasts occupying the world. But this time, heaven’s will seemed to have arrived alongside Li Hao. It instantly noticed the existence of the desolate beasts—that was not a good thing for Barren Dynasty.

The female general didn’t quite believe what they were saying and suddenly steered her horse toward the central plains. Thunder and lightning erupted as soon as she left the zone of chaos!

Kaboom!

She seemed to be particularly targeted as a patch of thunder and lightning swept through the world.

RUMBLE! freewebnσvel.cѳm

And yet, she didn’t experience any injuries. It was the white horse beneath her that was left sizzling by the thunderbolt. The general quickly dragged her horse back to her people in the chaos.

“Why did that happen??” she asked incredulously.

“Don’t act on impulse, heaven’s will is still paying attention to this part of the land,” said the black robe. “But so long as Li Hao, the Great Li king, or the queen of Divine Nation takes action, heaven’s will will be attracted to them instead. It will no longer keep an eye on these premises!

“It hasn’t been long since heaven’s will was born and it’s still figuring out a few things. Most of its energy is on those three. As for Barren Dynasty... it’s not important even though the nation is being targeted.”

“What a pity,” said the frowning Barren king after a long moment of silence. “If the ancient city had given us enough support to rival Li Hao, we might not have needed to expose the desolate beasts! It... will be hard to make a move now.”

The black robe didn’t say a word. He hadn’t known that Barren Dynasty’s trump card would be this either. He’d thought it would simply be a few desolate beasts. Who could’ve fathomed that the beasts would go so far as to modify the world and devour it!

The nation absolutely deserved being targeted by heaven’s will then! It had not been easy for Silver Moon world to form a whole and complete world. The desolate beasts wanted to turn it back into chaos. How would they not be picked on for this audacity?

......

Aboard the warship.

“Commander, does this mean that we don’t need to negotiate with them anymore?” He Yong was rather excited. “Barren Dynasty can’t even leave their land...”

“We can fight as we negotiate,” laughed Li Hao. “We just need to refrain from large-scale battles.”

“Why?” grumped He Yong. “Do we have to do that when we visit Watercloud Dynasty? Must we do that if they’re very weak?”

Li Hao nodded.

He Yong was immensely irritated. Meanwhile, the others were confused. If Watercloud was weak, they could just outright eradicate the nation, no?

“We can’t engage in widespread slaughter!” sighed Li Hao.

“What?”

“Li Hao’s right, we can’t afford to randomly kill people!” Zhang An interjected before Li Hao had a chance to respond. “I forgot about this detail before. Do you sense it too, Li Hao?”

“Yes.” The young man nodded.

“That’s it then!” Zhang An frowned. “There are several ways for the world to revive. If large sums of powerhouses or humans die, that will accelerate the reawakening! It looks like the traitors colluded with the four nations not to target you, but in hopes of modern humans killing each other so that the world recovers more quickly!”

He hadn’t thought of this possibility before because his thoughts had never wandered in this direction. Deep in his heart, he didn’t approve of mass slaughter to revitalize the world. Hence, the idea didn’t immediately occur to him.

Such was Zhang An’s weakness, or rather, virtue. He was aloof on the outside and gentle on the inside. Utilizing widespread murder to trigger the second awakening ahead of time would never be an option for him.

“These people are completely crazy!” he raged. “They want to force the nations into warring with each other just so they can butcher the living. They wish to satisfy their selfish desires so they can facilitate the second awakening ahead of time...”

The second awakening would arrive sooner or later. But to move its schedule forward through the deaths of millions or even more... such a plan would be derided no matter the age!

“Would they have dared betray New Martial if they weren’t crazy?” Li Hao was hardly surprised. “If this detail about the second awakening wasn’t key, I wouldn’t be so restrained against the regular soldiers of the four nations. Even the armies at Silver City haven’t lost more than several tens of thousands.”

The others understood the young man’s motives now, but Hong Yitang fretted. “Isn’t this... an incredible hassle? We can’t erupt in a full blown attack, and the divine spirits we killed earlier...”

“Oh, we can kill divine spirits!” Li Hao grinned.

“Why?”

“Divine spirits are the manifestation of the heavenly dao. Killing them actually weakens the heavenly dao and will further delay the second awakening!”

Was that so? The group listened wordlessly. So killing divine spirits was a good deed, after all?

“This means that we must negotiate for a truce because we can’t kill them, right?” He Yong complained. “They won’t care about that. What if you told them about this...”

“They might not be in the dark about the world’s situation.” Li Hao shook his head. “At the very least, the Great Li king might be aware. It’s why he hasn’t commanded large-scale battle after entering Silver Moon. He doesn’t wish for there to be too many fatalities on either side, so he should know a bit of the situation. The other nations... might not benefit from the same knowledge.”

“Then what should we do?” He Yong was ready to punch something.

“Since slaughter might start the second awakening ahead of time,” Director General Zhao suddenly said. “Then is Silver Moon province in trouble? Will these traitors take advantage of our absence to do something?”

“They won’t act so quickly, but the possibility is very high!” Li Hao nodded. “Therefore, we need to placate the four nations at the moment. We’re being grilled over an open fire and can neither retreat nor advance. The ancient cities will revitalize if we come down on the four nations too harshly! They might invade us instead if we don’t kill them. Therefore... this is the best we can do.”

“Is there no other way?” pleaded a despondent He Yong. No wonder Li Hao didn’t view Great Li as an entity he had to kill. The man was starting to understand some of the young man’s earlier actions. Otherwise, the province could absolutely end Great Li. The nation might be toppled even if their god of Initial Martial forced its way into the world. In fact, the god might die as well!

“So we can only kill divine spirits?” A new thought struck He Yong. “Why don’t I go to the west and fight the divine spirits?”

Based on what Li Hao said, they might not be able to touch Watercloud Dynasty to the south either. The group had found it hard to accept when Li Hao spoke of suing for peace earlier. Now they discovered that this might be the only viable course of action for the other three nations.

“Can we not do anything against Barren Dynasty?” sighed He Yong.

“Even more so than the others,” Zhang An sighed as well. “It’s actually a good thing that their desolate beasts have devoured some of the world. If that nation falls, the heavens might spontaneously complete the second awakening! Although Barren Dynasty has claimed some of the world, that also suppresses the world’s rate of recovery.”

Zhang An looked at Li Hao, his temples suddenly throbbing. He was starting to feel frustrated on Li Hao’s behalf.

They could neither march into battle nor stay on the sidelines. The ancient cities would revitalize if they fought and killed too many people. But if they didn’t, the four nations would invade and the ancient city create trouble for the young man. They could only defend passively and wrestle with a variety of speculations.

Zhang An felt that the future looked murky for Li Hao. What should the young man do?

The dean had previously held the mindset that it would be no problem to kill some powerhouses once he severed his dao. He might not be able to eliminate Divine Nation, but there would not be a problem with the other three. However, what should he do if his actions led to the awakening of the world?

Zhang An couldn’t help but sneak a peek at Li Hao. The young man might suffer backlash from the people and their protests if he continued to be weak against the four nations. But inciting war by taking a hardline stance... was also a difficult decision to come to.

“Li Hao.”

“Hmm? Does the senior need anything?” Li Hao looked at Zhang An with confusion.

“If worst comes to worst, you can kill some of the divine spirits first. You said that their death would not accelerate the revitalization of the world... That would be an adequate demonstration to your people.

“Otherwise, if the four nations invade and fighting drags on, but not that many ordinary soldiers die... Suing for peace when the situation looks like that could land you in the middle of an enormous Skystar controversy. You will be seeking a truce when the four nations haven’t shown any sign of being beaten!

“If word gets out that you are negotiating for peace with the four nations, the little bit of goodwill and reputation you built up before will instantly vanish!”

The others fully realized what was at hand after this response.

“You should’ve said something earlier!” Yuan Shuo couldn’t help himself. “You just had to keep everything to yourself and refuse to speak of it. This is very aggravating! Must you carry everything on your shoulders?”