Star Gate

Bam!

Li Hao was sent flying by another sweeping blow of the queen's scepter. Eight more presences joined the fray at this time and a Saint with a cold expression on his face denounced, "Li Hao, so many are your acts of injustice that the heavens have abandoned you. Today, we will slay the demon!"

When one possessed sufficient ability to defy the heavens, that made one a stunning powerhouse.

When one couldn't defy the heavens, that made one an idiot.

Li Hao had the ability to defy the heavens, but threw away the favor of the world and betrayed the heavenly will. Who should die, if not him?

"Are Ying Hongyue and Zheng Yu's replicas not here?" Li Hao shuffled a few steps back and stumbled when the void exploded. He laughed at himself. How pathetically unlucky he was right now!

His legs were a bloody mess. As one might expect, there was no joy and hope to be found in the world again after he offended heaven's will.

Eight Saints swiftly came for him. There were now thirteen powerhouses gathered in the vicinity, all of them bolstered by the heavens. Even an Empyrean King would find it difficult to rescue the young man after he betrayed the heavenly will.

Within the Barren wasteland, Panther and the white horse furiously attacked the longsword of heaven. The rest of Li Hao's heavyweights continued to stabilize the world, registering the developments with dismay.

Thirteen! This was so much more than they'd anticipated.

Although everyone had known there was inherent risk and danger to their plan, they'd expected that it would take some time for news to reach Zheng Yu's side. Not even the divine spirits would know at first light. Perhaps everything at Barren would already be complete when their opponents learned of what had taken place.

But... the enemy had responded faster than expected. So much faster, and there were so many mobilized in response to their actions! A full thirteen!

They were done for!

Director General Zhao and the others tensed to spring out of the wasteland.

"Hold your positions!" Gan Wuliang hastily commanded. "This place has been sealed off. The heavenly will can run off if we break the seal. Who can bear responsibility for that??"

"Li Hao's dead if we don't go out there!" Sky Sword shouted back. "We need to give up killing the heavenly will and help him escape into the dao universe!"

Gan Wuliang looked on helplessly, he couldn't shout down this particular senior.

Just as he wracked his brains with what to do, Hong Yitang called out softly to them, "Alright, just ignore what's happening! Focus on keeping this territory under control and consolidate the personal domain. If he wanted to leave... he would've left long ago. Everyone be quiet and go back to fortifying the domain. Quickly now, use our auras to keep everything together!"

The Earthturner Sword aura dissipated over the area. Their assignment was not to fight the heavenly will—anyone who did easily became an enemy in heaven's eye.

Their only mission was to contain everything happening in the wasteland and prevent Li Hao's domain from breaking.

The others looked on with urgency and resignation. There was nothing else they could do but erupt with their auras and clamp down on the happenings inside. Sweat beaded their foreheads.

Thirteen powerhouses! Li Hao really was in trouble now.

......

A massive explosion rang out when the two sides flashed by each other!

Li Hao grunted as multiple cuts tore into his body. His orange armor clung to him in tattered shreds. He'd been injured the instant the thirteen heavyweights struck.

These thirteen, even the eight New Martial powerhouses, were all enhanced by the heavenly will at the moment. Clearly, the raging heavens were immensely satisfied by these people who'd volunteered to kill the traitor!

Likewise, the eight New Martial powerhouses were also very satisfied.

Not bad! It was so hard for New Martial citizens to be blessed by the heavens. But they'd done it simply through one attack on Li Hao!

If they managed to kill the brat, they would be rewarded with even more favor. Their cultivation speed would be much faster in the future. Regular opponents wouldn't be able to kill them as they could bring more power to bear than their peers. They would also be lucky beyond belief!

On the other hand, the Divine Nation queen wasn't that happy about them joining the fray. However, she didn't say anything since Zheng Yu had helped her revitalize the four divine spirits. She simply regarded Li Hao with a cold look.

This brat had repeatedly caused enormous losses for her. Revenge was finally at hand today!

"Kill him!" she growled. The world shook and mountains toppled when everyone struck at once!

Li Hao looked on forebodingly. Even an Empyrean King would have to rue their death when facing thirteen Saints, much less himself!

Was this everyone? As he thought, Ying Hongyue really wasn't here!

All of you have fully committed to your moves eh?

Just as the thirteen were about to kill Li Hao, he shouted with determination. The great dao trembled and countless dao meridians hovered in the air.

"Life, aid me!" the young man yelled. "We can surely triumph over the heavens. Let us slay demons!"

The world shook at his charged howl as hundreds of millions of people sensed Li Hao's intentions.

"The people can overcome the heavens!" they murmured quietly to themselves.

An aura built beneath the skies and the world trembled. The heavenly will quivered as the will of hundreds of millions interfered with it. Something seemed to detonate within the minds of the powerhouses that were bolstered by the heavens!

Their thoughts were a jumbled mess! The only coherent notion in their mind right now was that people can overcome the heavens!

Such was the notion formed by hundreds of millions.

The thirteen powerhouses that'd been favored by the heavenly will sank into momentary confusion. This was exactly what Li Hao wanted—he only needed a split second!

Human will might not be able to overcome heavenly will, but it could certainly interfere for a very limited duration. The thirteen powerhouses were just ordinary Saints when they lacked the boost from the heavens. Li Hao would be done for all the same as he couldn't stand against so many Saints.

However, these people were too greedy! They just had to make a move at this time!

Granted, how many people in the world weren't affected by greed?

"Did you not calculate this, Li Daoheng? Or have you anticipated it and don't care?" Li Hao didn't say anything to his opponents; scintillating radiance burst from his longsword. A tiny sword materialized within his body and melded into Stellaris. It slashed through the world!

"KILL!" he roared.

The closest powerhouses were yet to collect their senses before they were cut down with aboom!Their minds were promptly obliterated when their bodies fell apart.

Li Hao swiftly drew close, thrusting his sword forward and shattering the firmament again. He pulverized a Saint. The two standing next to Ying Hongyue dropped their jaws with stunned dismay!

What... why??

The thirteen heavyweights seemed frozen in place, allowing Li Hao to hack through them as he wished!

"Get out of the way!" they screamed with mounting fear. Why was this happening?! The heavenly will was confused!

A magnificent voice boomed from the sky, echoing throughout the world. "The people's will is destined to overcome the heavenly will! We slay demons and defend dao!"

The demon was naturally not Li Hao, but the heavenly will!

The heavens churned in all directions and shook the world. Those favored by the heavenly will grimaced with pain.

Another Saint crumbled away when Li Hao slashed out with his sword. He turned to deliver a punch, detonating another one in quick succession. The young man reached out with that hand and crushed a divine spirit into dust.

Infinite energy abruptly erupted and swept through the world. The heavenly will was fighting back!

Li Hao knew that his advantage wouldn't last for long. He needed to kill as many powerhouses as he could with this opening. He needed to move fast!

The young man unsheathed his sword to slaughter his enemies!

Crunch!

Another Saint was eviscerated by a sweeping flourish. His mental strength was shaken to oblivion as soon as it appeared.

The earth fractured and skies toppled!

Expressions started shifting over the faces of the surviving heavyweights and their bodies shook with effort. It looked like the heavenly will was about to negate the influence of the people's will.

Li Hao swept a glance over the battlefield. He'd killed four New Martial Saints and two divine spirits in the blink of an eye. That was only six opponents—too few!

That wasn't enough!

"KILL!" A demonic sword flew through the world as Li Hao himself turned into a sword. He ran a target through. This was such a rare opportunity that he must take full advantage of it.

Off in the distance, Ying Hongyue's trio watched with ashen faces, not daring to come near. This development was so unexpected! The thirteen powerhouses had been frozen in place for a split second!

Stellaris killed another Saint while Li Hao himself finished off his target. That made for eight!

Six New Martial Saints and two divine spirits. There were only five enemies left!

Of these five, Li Hao did not turn his sword against the queen. That might cause a chain reaction that he didn't want to see happen just yet. He could sense that the remaining five were about to awaken.

He might be able to kill one more if he made a move now, but... he didn't choose to do so.

He grunted and further expanded his personal domain, making use of the final moments of the heavenly will's confusion. He dragged them all into the Barren wasteland, including the energy wafting over the premises—heavenly will, Saint strength, core origin energy, divine spirit energy...

He enclosed all of them within his domain. That was when the five awoke.

They immediately backed away without further thought, looking at each other with horrified expressions!

All color drained from the queen's face. The gods of misfortune and disaster had been killed in the blink of an eye! They might be able to be resurrected since their dao stars had not shattered, but a hefty price had to be paid for each instance of revival.

The two remaining Zheng family Saints were even more stupefied. How hadanyof this been possible?!

"Li Hao!" The queen gnashed her teeth. "You tricked us!"