This generation of the main priest was very strong and had even received some blessings from the Initial Martial god. The Great Li king had never inquired about the specifics, but he could sense some peculiarities.
And yet, he didn’t care.
What he did care about was Great Li—his nation. He would not permit a second voice to appear within his territory.
“My king, I shall return to my tent first. I will consider this matter carefully!” the priest said after a deep breath.
“Go on, then!” The king watched the main priest walk off, then regarded his opponent’s camp again. Auras of heaven and earth churned there, that was where Li Hao and his people were.
The young man was strong, but neither was the king afraid. Li Hao wanted to use him, he wanted to use the young man. It would come to who saw the situation more clearly in the end.
Jubilation reigned since they’d won the first battle. Although their victory was the result of the Battle Heaven Army becoming involved and Skystar suffering noticeable losses, the result was much better than they anticipated.
All the same, the Ninth Division leader still said, “This was just a first clash, a small skirmish. They only sent out a few ten thousand soldiers compared to the one million they have. In return, we’ve sent out the Demon Hunter Army and Battle Heaven Army to accomplish a small victory. I hope people do not become too self-assured over this!”
It was fine to be happy, but losing themselves in their success was entirely unnecessary. There was a large gap between the two sides. Their strongest troops were the Demon Hunters—they’d only managed to fight the enemy to a standstill. The other troops under Li Hao’s command were noticeably weaker than their opponents.
“That’s right!” Huang Yu concurred with a solemn expression. “The Demon Hunter Army is fine enough, but the armies of the nine ministries have never undergone rigorous training. Their individual strength is fine, but order dissolves when they are assembled into an army. They made several mistakes in the battlefield when they operated a formation of ten thousand, resulting in significant casualties.”
“I agree.” Li Hao nodded as well. “Of course we should be happy, a victory is a victory. But the Great Li king’s reaction is not what I expected. I thought he would send his entire army into the field and I was ready to strike back hard. But... he conceded the battle.”
The young man frowned. If Great Li had mobilized all of their troops, he was ready to self-detonate the divine replica. When combined with Hong Yitang’s Earthturner Formation, they would deliver heavy damage to the enemy.
However, Great Li conceded the engagement instead! It was highly surprising!
His impression of the Great Li king was an overbearing character whose high-handedness knew no bounds. That was a person who would never admit defeat. Great Li was more barbarous than Silver Moon, how could they back down so easily?
And the truth was... that was the case. Li Hao had been ready for a massive battle between their respective powerhouses, even if the Great Li king didn’t make a move himself.
The king’s reaction threw off his rhythm.
Gan Wuliang walked through the door, followed by the old man who could hear everything within a five hundred kilometer radius.
“Commander, a special defense has risen on Great Li’s side.” The old man was slightly nervous. “It blocks everything. No one is able to investigate their side and I am unable to eavesdrop on their conversations. All I know is that some of their powerhouses may have left camp...”
Li Hao frowned slightly and summoned a mirror. It quickly brightened with a scene when he infused it with power. Disorganized ripples undulated over the mirror’s surface! Although the treasure wasn’t as clear as it usually was, it still provided some information.
The young man focused his gaze and raised his eyebrows. “The powerhouses have left... and there seems to be one less person among their camp...”
He infused more energy into the mirror; ripples undulated even more wildly and spread in the four corners. Its range was curtailed somewhat in Silver Moon as some of the ancient cities were isolated from the world and unable to be reflected.
Shadows dashed across the mirror; it was impossible to recapture their image.
“There is one less ancient powerhouse by the Great Li king’s side...” Li Hao raised an eyebrow. “That person seems to have left.”
Li Hao had quite a contingent of powerhouses and their abilities to call upon these days, so he’d been keeping the enemy under constant surveillance through a variety of measures. One less ancient powerhouse wasn’t alarming—perhaps they’d gone to retrieve reinforcements?
But it was only one minor loss that didn’t even count as a failure for Great Li. Five thousand dead versus three thousand, and plenty of the five thousand had fallen to the Battle Heaven Army. Would the Great Li king choose to ask for help from the ancient cities in these circumstances?
Wouldn’t that make him out to be an incompetent ruler?
Various thoughts ran through Li Hao’s mind when Director General Zhao suddenly said, “Perhaps the Great Li king want to ambush us so he can kill our leaders? He probably wants to decrease his losses if possible because he is disadvantaged when it comes to numbers...
“Not to mention, they are partnering with the New Martial traitors. Since they have ancient experts at their disposal, why wouldn’t they make use of this resource?”
The more he discussed this, the more he found it possible. The others also turned over his idea of a strategy that focused on the leaders. Could Great Li accomplish that?
They might be able to, if they were reinforced by large numbers of ancient powerhouses. Of course, this would also mean that Great Li underestimated Li Hao. If they tried this strategy, they would come off much worse for the wear.
“If that’s the case, we can deal a huge blow to them instead.” Li Hao stroked his chin. “I’m in no hurry. There’s not much movement from the other three nations yet, so I’m fully willing to spend some time with the Great Li king!
“If we can kill a portion of their powerhouses, that will force them to play to our rulebook of training troops and not sending powerhouses into the field. There are only benefits in this for us and no negatives!
“Be prepared! Let’s also place the copy of the Mirror of Wind and Cloud here and keep it operational day and night. Ignore what it costs to do so! We need to keep them under constant surveillance to avoid any surprises. They’re thinking too simply if they wish to ambush us!”
The Mirror of Wind and Cloud could reflect life force. It cost a lot to run, but it could prevent Li Hao’s side from being completely clueless of an ambush.
“The imitation treasure might not detect everything,” Li Daozong raised. “We still need to be careful.”
“We will!” Li Hao nodded with a smile. He sank into contemplation as he looked at the enemy camp tens of thousands of meters out. It wouldn’t be that easy for them to ambush the leaders of this army, but perhaps they thought his side was too weak to do anything. For someone such as the Great Li king, it was very normal to seek revenge that night after suffering humiliation during the day.
“Be careful tonight—no, be careful always. Try not to go off on your own. Listen to my commands if anything happens and strike back quickly. Also, we need to keep the soldiers in good spirits. We can’t have any unrest among our own ranks!”
“Yes, sir!” The group received their orders.
The young man frowned into the distance again when everyone had left. The Great Li king’s heavenly aura was very domineering and churned in the distant, also blessed with heaven’s favor. If the king really did seek to kill Skystar’s leaders, then Li Hao’s plan of training troops would be disrupted.
Granted, it would be nice if he could kill large numbers of Great Li powerhouses and force the king into training troops with him. That would put an end to further strategies of focusing on the senior officers.
As both sides undertook their own action.
A black-robed powerhouse melded with a primary body. That person wore golden armor and marched into a main hall.
“Milord, the Great Li king wishes to ambush Li Hao tonight and kill the young man’s leaders. He wishes for us to send reinforcements to attack from behind and secure victory in one operation!”
Inside the great hall.
The ancient existence listened carefully before rumbling, “I have seen the results of today’s battle. Great Li did not fight to the death. Speak of the reason why. Did you not say that the Great Li king is quick to anger and refuses to accept defeat?”
“The king has his own strategy—he wanted to stage a defeat to lower Li Hao’s guard,” the Gold Armor swiftly responded. “He will imitate the Human King tonight and ambush Li Hao’s camp to eliminate his leaders! In addition, the army will mobilize tonight and attack en masse, wiping out his troops in the confusion!”
“How will it possibly be that simple...” laughed the man. “If it’s this easy, we would’ve eliminated Li Hao’s side a long time ago. The Great Li king... thinks too simply!”
Would a minor victory cause Li Hao to relax his guard? This Great Li king heavily underestimated his opponent!
Of course, it didn’t matter who won or lost. All that was needed was for as many people to die as possible.
“It is not out of the question to send out more core origin replicas to help,” the man said after some consideration. “But sending out too many will create too big of a disturbance that might draw attention from the other cities.
“Mobilize fifty people to send out replicas to help Great Li. But remember, focus on killing anything if the situation changes. There is no need to be stubborn if you cannot eliminate Li Hao. Retreat as quickly as possible!”
“Understood!” nodded the Gold Armor. “What if we have the chance to kill Li Hao, milord?”
“Then... kill him!” smiled the man. “Of course we should kill him if we have a chance to. If not, retreat in a timely fashion so that Li Hao’s side does not receive any benefits. Losing our replicas is an enormous loss to us. While Li Hao has no need of core origin energy for his new martial dao, he can use it to revitalize some New Martial powerhouses.”
“This subordinate understands!” The Gold Armor marched off to gather people for severing core origin replicas. He was of the personal opinion that it would be for the best if they could eliminate Li Hao’s side entirely. That would save a lot of trouble.
The man looked up at the sky, a frown creasing his forehead. This Great Li king had found favor with the heavens and his ideas were decent. But to spring an ambush after one minor setback... was rather premature and brash. Feigning defeat for another couple of days might entice Li Hao and the others to relax their guard more.
Does he want to test our strength?
Perhaps that was the king’s true motive.
The man looked outside at the city surrounding the hall. There were powerhouses in place at each residence and a dense energy concentration within the ruins. Would they stand a chance of eliminating Li Hao’s side if they mobilized several hundred replicas?
Could they eradicate the young man?
But this will surely alert the other main cities... None of the replicas may make it back then.
The man sighed to himself. Causing too much of a disturbance was also a problem. It would help Li Hao instead. If it was only a war between Great Li and Li Hao, then the main cities might choose to stay on the sidelines and observe for a bit.
Why was the second awakening so hard? Does even this world refuse to give us a chance to set foot in it? Also, the three great organizations that they’d helped rise had disappeared, including Yonder Mountain. These people were a bunch of ingrates who did not know the meaning of gratitude.
The man laughed at himself. Those of this age were all ingrates. No matter what era it was, there was always a group of people who felt that they were the leading characters of that age. And that Great Li king...
Were there any Initial Martial powerhouses left in Great Li’s divine temple?
There was also a lack of movement from Red Moon lately, while there was nothing but trouble from the world of Silver Moon.
Various thoughts manifested in his mind as the man closed his eyes. Was a quick demise fated for everyone who betrayed New Martial?