Star Gate-Chapter 1076: A Difficult Choice (II)

The Barren king paled at Li Hao’s sudden attack. The female general on the ground yelled angrily at the provocation and stabbed her spear at the firmament!

“I will take him!” She took to the air on the back of her white steed and rushed Li Hao with her weapon. Spear intent pierced through the world!

Li Hao raised an eyebrow and ripped through the void with his sword. The sword explosively shattered the spear intent and continued toward the general. When it seemed that the stroke would strike her down, her horse whinnied a challenge!

An air of barren desolation swept through the vicinity. The white horse seemed to walk through a land of chaos while currents of chaos wrapped around it. They formed the shadow of a massive beast that pounced on Li Hao.

The young man was reminded of something—some dog. Panther!

Panth also coalesced a shadowy form when it called upon its bloodline. It was said to be the shadow of the Monster Spirit Envoy. This horse could do something similar!

“That horse seems to be the descendent of a desolate beast!” Zhang An’s voice sounded in his ear. “They’re ancient monster spirits born at the edge of chaos when the world was newly formed. Some exist in the universe, but we call those chaos monster spirits! We call them desolate beasts when they enter a world.

“There were none in New Martial, but there are quite a few in Initial Martial. Silver Moon world had some as well, but we killed most of them in our time. Are there some still remaining?”

The shadow was enormously powerful and exploded with bloodline power, just as Panther could.

Rumble!

Li Hao’s sword intent dissipated after a tremendous collision, but so did the general’s shadowy image. The white horse’s presence spontaneously weakened, to which the young man raised an eyebrow and struck again!

It was the king who acted this time. He roared harshly, a sound unlike that of a human’s. It was more bestial and a shadowy figure appeared behind him.

“The bloodline of a desolate beast?” Li Hao raised an eyebrow. “Are you only partially human to be able to call upon its bloodline?”

The void around the Barren king seemed to transform into chaos. He shattered the void when he punched at Li Hao.

Boom!

Li Hao’s sword intent dissipated again, but the young man was rather curious. “This is only strength enough for one blow! The Great Li king has received heaven’s favor, as have the divine spirits of Divine Nation. However, I’m very curious, have you as well? But how are you bold enough to invade Skystar with just this kind of split second eruption and lack of perceiving anything else?”

The king had scattered Li Hao’s sword intent with one blow and landed in front of his daughter. He blocked Li Hao’s next attack, his expression slightly heavy.

Li Hao was very strong!

The young man had simply casually waved his sword around, but the king needed to utilize the bloodline of the desolate beasts to defend against it. Only now did he understand just how strong the Great Li king and Divine Nation queen had to be if they could stand toe-to-toe against Li Hao.

If it was just the Barren king by himself, he might be dead very quickly.

He also understood that the situation might turn dire if he didn’t reveal some of his trump cards. Li Hao was so much stronger than they anticipated. Reality demonstrated that simply watching the sky canopies wasn’t an accurate estimation of the combatants’ strength.

The king didn’t say anything, he snarled in response.

Thousands of kilometers of sand beneath him abruptly swirled into a tornado. The desert seemed to be collapsing!

The world became a patch of chaos! Immensely powerful desolate beasts walked out of its depths.

“You’ve got some nerve!” Zhang An snapped. Li Hao looked at him with confusion. “The desolate beasts are secretly devouring the minor world and turning this place into a domain of chaos! These beasts are only suited to live in chaos or when a world is newly formed.

“New Martial has been silent for many years. The desolate beasts aren’t dead, but they haven’t kept to themselves either. They’ve modified the desert into a state of chaos so they can freely walk through it. But there’s a catch, they cannot leave the zone of chaos and they will be targeted by heaven’s will for their actions!”

Thunder and lightning flashed outside of Barren Dynasty, as if confirming Zhang An’s words. The heavens were furious!

Li Hao could vaguely sense an increase of heaven’s will around him, bolstering his auras! It seemed to be telling him to destroy those beasts!

“So you guys are devouring Silver Moon world and transforming the eastern desert into chaos... You really do have some balls!” Li Hao raised an eyebrow.

The formidable desolate beasts growled and howled in the depths of the murky patch.

“Is this kind of ace sufficient to make the commander retreat?” the Barren king asked in a low voice.

“You’re the one invading us, why should I be the one to retreat?” Li Hao grinned.

The king did not have a response for that. His head was starting to hurt. The beasts had modified Barren Dynasty’s territory so they could move freely among the chaos, but they were no longer satisfied with the desert. They wished to swallow the entire world.

At first, the king had thought he and his tremendous army was strong enough. Therefore, his plan was to slowly assimilate the entire east without revealing the existence of the desolate beasts. However, Li Hao was so strong that he had to show his hand ahead of time.

He had his trump card, yet not only was he unable to secretly devour the world, but even heaven’s will had discovered them and moved against them. They might be smote to death by thunderbolts if they set foot out of the desert.

This ran completely contrary to his expectations.

The black robe next to him also shifted. So the king of Barren Dynasty was a mixed breed descendant of the desolate beasts! And most crucially, the desolate beasts had secretly transformed the entire desert! He hadn’t been aware of this. The black robe had simply known that there was a connection between Barren Dynasty and the desolate beasts.

Who would’ve thought that the connection would run so deep!

“The desolate beasts of the east, Initial Martial in the north, and the divine spirit of the west... Now I’m rather curious what Watercloud Dynasty has based their strength on.” Li Hao wasn’t too surprised by the revelation. After all, Barren Dynasty wasn’t weak.

The beasts that hovered out of sight seemed to be enormously powerful. However, he could sense that they couldn’t leave the desert. They could only stay in the land that they’d modified, a home that might have taken them countless eons to transform.

It would take a very long time to assimilate the entire eastern continent. Barren Dynasty could easily defend themselves, but they were unable to extend their territory, not unless they faced the previous Skystar Dynasty. As strong as the Barren king was now, he was far from being an apt opponent for Li Hao.

Of course, the young man wouldn’t easily enter the desert either. That was where the desolate beasts were in peak condition. Some of their presences weren’t the least bit weaker than Zhang An’s. Now that was terrifying!

Yet compared to Divine Nation, there didn’t seem much to fear about Barren Dynasty. It would be easier to start the second awakening than for them to leave the desert!

The heavens wouldn’t obstruct the second awakening, but heaven’s will would block transforming the world into chaos. It was just that heaven’s will had been muddleheaded in its early years and not yet fully born. That gave the desolate beasts and Barren Dynasty a chance to act.

The world’s energy surged to devour the desert. In turn, a surge of chaos emanated from Barren Dynasty to block heaven’s will. The Barren king sensed ill will from the world!

He was rather resigned by this outcome. Heaven’s will might not have taken note of this place or even discovered the results of their actions. But in his bid for self protection today, he revealed the desert’s true state to the world. They were in trouble now that heaven’s will was aware!

“It’s of no matter, there is no need for the king to worry,” transmitted the black robe. “Although we cannot easily set foot outside the desert, Li Hao won’t dare enter if we set up camp here. None of our plans will be further affected as soon as he leaves. As much as heaven’s will targets us, it cannot outright kill us.”

The king didn’t respond; he cursed to himself instead. That’s easy for you to say! If it wasn’t your incompetence and lack of providing the level of protection that you said you would, why would I need to expose the desolate beasts and attract attention from the heavens?

I would’ve stayed away had I known this would happen! A secret incursion should be the way to proceed. Now look at the trouble we’re in!

Li Hao looked at the thousands of kilometers of yellow sand behind the king—it was now all gray.

“Everything is truly possible when the world is first formed,” he reflected with emotion. “Is this how the chaos universe is?”

“Not all of it,” Zhang An answered softly. “This is simply the result of order being polluted by chaos. The real chaos is not like this!”

Li Hao nodded in understanding.

“Can heaven’s will not expel the presence of chaos?” he asked, puzzled.

“It hasn’t been long since heaven’s will formed, it is not yet in a mature state. Things would be very different if it was, but if that was the case, heaven’s will would be able to manipulate everyone. Therefore, this kind of state is not bad as well. However, that means it will be difficult to erase the presence of chaos!

“The desolate beasts are occupying the world...” Zhang An suddenly smiled. “If you can kill the beasts, heaven will favor you even more. Also, if you attack Barren Dynasty within the range of heavens’ attention, you will be bolstered to a certain degree. These people have all been abandoned by the world!”

Li Hao understood. Heaven’s will targeted those of Barren Dynasty more than it did of New Martial! The state of the world was now very dangerous for those of the desert, now that they had drawn attention from above.

Although the results were unexpected, it was a surprise harvest to have forced his opponents to reveal their plans.

“King of Barren Dynasty,” Li Hao smiled. “Since I can’t go in and you guys can't come out, I think it’s better if you guys just go home. There’s not much use in you staying here!”

The king didn’t say a word.

“Do you think you can guard this place forever?” growled the female general. “There is nothing to fear about heaven’s will as soon as you leave! We can attack and defend. When it comes to advantages, Li Hao, Barren Dynasty has more of them!

“You dare not enter our territory, but we can walk out of it at any time. The heavens may target us, but they are unable to outright kill us!”

“You’re thinking of the matter too simply,” laughed the young man. “And you underestimate the might of the heavens. You’re just the same as I once was! Ignorance is bliss!”

Was heaven’s will really weak? It was simply newly born and still learning the ways of the world. Life was difficult once it targeted someone. If they were all of the Mountain and Sea realm, Barren soldiers would only be able to employ Dominator-level strength, whereas those of Skystar would be thirty times stronger against them!

One exchange of blows would result in the Barren cultivator being dead in a matter of seconds. The Barren princess said there was nothing to fear about heaven’s will only because she was unaware of how strong it was.

Although Barren Dynasty was strong, Li Hao also knew that it might pose the least threat out of all four nations. He’d thought that they would be a formidable threat given their endless cavalry and high mobility. After they exposed their connections to the desolate beasts, however, he was suddenly much more at ease.

Barren Dynasty wasn’t even as strong as the yet-unknown water kingdom that was Watercloud Dynasty. At the very least, it posed much less of a threat.