Chapter 193: All Are the Army of Hao Tian
"Will...will he die?"
Li Wushuang watched Li Hao, who had lured away the three Demon Kings, her hand covering her mouth lightly as she struggled to imagine the carefree and carefree young man making such a sacrifice.
No one answered.
Li Qingling and Li Xueyun, who were seeing Li Hao for the first time, were deeply moved. Meeting him in person was even more impressive than the tales they had heard. They immediately thought of the martyrs of the Li family who had fallen in battle, as well as their eldest brother and the others.
However, most of them had already started their own families and had children.
They had enjoyed happiness with their wives and the joy of having their children around them.
The most heartbreaking among them was Xiao Jiu, who sacrificed himself at the age of nineteen, just before his wedding, to save Cangzhou, becoming a source of pain for the entire Li family.
And now, the young man before them was only fifteen years old!
He had only seen fifteen springs in this world!
How much happiness had he enjoyed? And how much had he suffered?
No one knew.
The world only knew of his dazzling brilliance, but no one saw the scars that lay hidden.
Li Xuanli clenched his fists tightly, and it was only when he saw Li Hao's figure, attracting the three Demon Kings, disappear into the distant horizon that he let out an angry roar, shouting, "Open the array and kill the demons!!"
His throat was already hoarse.
A veteran of many battles, his eyes were red and bloodshot at this moment.
Hearing Li Xuanli's words, the others snapped out of their daze and burst into a chorus of shouts. The nodes of the array were closed one by one, and to prevent the Demon Kings from turning back and killing them, half of the array was still retained instead of being completely dismantled.
At these nodes, the Governor of Liangzhou commanded the generals to charge out of the city.
Taking advantage of the opportunity provided by the young General Hao Tian, who had lured away the three Demon Kings, was the best time to suppress this demon wave. Otherwise, if the Demon Kings returned and joined forces with the demon wave, all of Liangzhou would fall in an instant.
"Disciple, stay here and watch carefully. Master has rested enough."
Qianji Daoist also stepped out of the array and headed towards the demon wave.
At this moment, without the Demon Kings, he was the only one of his level in the entire demon wave.
Li Qingling and Li Xueyun quickly rushed out of the array and rushed towards Li Hongzhuang, who was deeply entrenched in the demon wave.
Li Hongzhuang also saw Li Hao attracting the three Demon Kings away, but at this moment, she had no time to worry. Besides the heartache, she knew that she couldn't help in any way, so she could only vent her anger on the three Immortal demons around her.
Strangely, her battle flag had fallen and been lost earlier, but when Li Hao's terrifying punch blasted into the demon wave, she took advantage of the moment when the three Immortal demons around her were stunned and dazed, and she found her fallen battle flag.
At this moment, relying on the power of the battle flag, she forced the three Immortal demons around her to retreat continuously. Several of them were directly killed by the sword energy that was torn apart by the battle flag!
With just one battle flag, she could take the life of an Immortal demon!
Unless the demon had a special lifesaving technique, it could only escape by chance.
With the arrival of Li Qingling and Li Xueyun, Li Hongzhuang's pressure was greatly reduced. She divided four battle flags among the two of them and then rushed into the demon wave together.
On the other side, Li Xuanli temporarily handed over the command of the battlefield to the Governor of Liangzhou.
The other party was also an Immortal existence, and his experience in defending the battlefield was not inferior to his. Li Xuanli himself rushed towards the place where Li Tiangang had fallen earlier.
Here, surrounded by the demon wave, they had already encircled the area where Li Tiangang had fallen.
Li Xuanli swiftly arrived, sweeping away the numerous demons with a single sword strike, and saw a red flame enveloping Li Tiangang, a Holy Heart Treasure Talisman protecting him.
He secretly breathed a sigh of relief, seeing Li Tiangang's battle armor cracked and his divine body covered in blood and wounds. His heart ached, and he turned to kill the surrounding demons.
When the power of the Holy Heart Treasure Talisman gradually dissipated, he opened up a clearing and quickly turned back, grabbing Li Tiangang and rushing back towards the city.
"Don't run!"
Two flood dragons charged out from the demon wave, racing towards them.
Li Xuanli was furious and was about to take action when he saw a whistling battle flag rushing towards them in the distance.
The two flood dragons also saw it and were startled, quickly trying to dodge. But as the battle flag approached their position, it suddenly tore apart.
A sword energy slashed out, and with a loud clang, the head of one of the flood dragons was chopped off!
A large patch of dragon blood sprayed out, and a dragon soul rushed out of the flesh, fleeing in terror towards the distance.
"Where do you think you're going!"
Li Hongzhuang chased after it, shouting angrily.
Li Xuanli breathed a sigh of relief and took the opportunity to quickly retreat with Li Tiangang.
Other generals arrived to greet them and engaged in a fierce battle with the pursuing Immortal demons.
Li Xuanli successfully brought Li Tiangang back to the city wall, where the waiting physicians had already arrived to treat Li Tiangang's injuries.
Li Tiangang's consciousness was hazy, and he was in a semi-comatose state. At this moment, under the treatment of the physicians, he slowly woke up and regained consciousness.
As a Dao Heart Realm expert, his healing ability was even stronger than when he was at the Immortal realm. Coupled with the effects of various divine medicines, his body was healing at a visible rate.
As soon as he regained consciousness, Li Tiangang suddenly took a deep breath, as if waking up from a nightmare. Then, the sounds of battle and roars filled his ears, along with the horns that reverberated throughout the battlefield, causing him to immediately realize where he was.
"Where are the Demon Kings? Where's Hao'er?!"
Li Tiangang quickly turned his head to look, but all he could see was the smoke of battle rising everywhere, with countless soldiers charging out of the city and engaging in a chaotic battle with the demons.
Li Xuanli's face twitched as he heard those words, his heart aching.
"Ha'er is gone, he lured away those three Demon Kings!"
Li Tiangang's pupils contracted, his heart pounding violently as if something was clutching at it. He couldn't help but ask angrily,
"Why didn't he enter the array? With the array, he could have held them off for a while. All we needed to do was wait for reinforcements..."
Seeing the redness in Li Tiangang's eyes, Li Xuanli knew that his anger was not directed at Li Hao, but rather, it was born out of fear.
He said hoarsely, "The strength of that Candlelight God is terrifying. If I saw correctly earlier, he seemed to have entered the Dao Domain, but he hasn't truly stepped into the Realm of Great Peace. If Ha'er had entered the array, and the opponent established his Dao Domain in front of it... our array would be utterly useless!"
"The Realm of Great Peace!"
Li Tiangang exclaimed, his voice cracking as he stared at Li Xuanli in disbelief.
He knew exactly what the Realm of Great Peace signified.
It was a terrifying monster, the pinnacle of Demon Kings!
"He... he..."
Li Tiangang's lips quivered, all the blood in his body seemed to rush to his head, leaving him feeling icy cold.
Seeing the redness in Li Xuanli's eyes, Li Tiangang finally realized that he might never see that child again.
"Impossible, impossible..."
His voice trembled, his chest heaving as he struggled to accept that the boy might be dead.
Li Xuanli, seeing Li Tiangang's dazed and lost expression, felt even more distressed. He thought to himself that if the boy hadn't come to Tianmenguan, perhaps none of this would have happened.
However, looking at Li Tiangang's state, he knew the pain of losing a child was unbearable, and so he refrained from provoking him further.
Moreover, if Li Hao hadn't been at Tianmenguan, this second line of defense would have been utterly devastated by now, and all of Liangzhou would have been laid to waste under the swift assault of the demons.
The reinforcements from the Great Yu Shenchao would never have arrived in time, as the demons had come prepared this time, willing to go to any lengths to wage war against the Great Yu Shenchao. Liangzhou was merely the beginning.
During the previous battle in Cangzhou, these demons had manipulated things from behind the scenes, using the power of the outer vassal states of the Great Yu. Now, however, they dared to show themselves!
Li Xuanli regained his focus, his eyes sweeping over the chaotic battle before him as countless warriors fell. He took a deep breath and immediately instructed the Governor of Liangzhou,
"Quick, change all the battle flags to the Hao Tian Flag immediately!"
"Get all the blank flags from the warehouse and write Hao Tian's name on them!"
The Governor of Liangzhou was initially taken aback but quickly understood.
The Hao Tian Battle Flag already held immense intimidation among the demons. Marching into battle with the Hao Tian Flag would greatly reduce their casualties.
"Hurry!"
The Governor of Liangzhou roared, relaying the order,
"All armies heading into battle, raise the Hao Tian Military Flag!!"
Hearing the Governor's command, the elders of the various noble families who had gathered also realized what was happening.
Immediately, someone shouted angrily and replaced their family's battle flag with the Hao Tian Flag.
Some of the elders of other noble families hesitated, wondering whose achievement this battle would be counted as if they replaced their flags with the Hao Tian Flag.
The four most difficult things for people to see through in life are: fame, gain and loss, honor and disgrace, life and death!
While some people fight to the death, others calculate their gains, and yet others cower in fear, even when faced with imminent death. This remains true regardless of numbers.
At this moment, the vast majority of the noble families replaced their battle flags with the Hao Tian Military Flag and charged into the battlefield.
As countless Hao Tian Military Flags rose amidst the battlefield, the demon horde seemed to part like a tide, especially where military camps charged in with the Hao Tian Flag, piercing through the demon horde like a sharp blade. Even the powerful demons within hesitated and dared not attack upon seeing those flags.
On the other hand, the noble families that did not replace their flags with the Hao Tian Military Flag bore the brunt of the demon horde's attacks, suffering heavy casualties and near annihilation.
Li Xuanli and the Governor of Liangzhou witnessed the tide of the battle turning in their favor and couldn't help but feel secretly delighted, as well as deeply shaken. Li Hao's reputation among the demons was indeed formidable!
Most importantly, the sword formation within the Hao Tian Battle Flag was incredibly powerful, causing even these bloodthirsty and cruel demons to fear.
Li Tiangang also noticed the situation on the battlefield, his eyes falling on the countless flags fluttering in the wind, bearing the words "Hao Tian".
He felt a sense of surrealness and a sense of loss.
At this moment, he finally realized that the carefree boy from the courtyard, the boy he had deemed frivolous, had changed beyond recognition.
The demeanor of an ordinary noble family's son that he had once disliked so much was now a distant memory, replaced by the imposing figure of a peerless war god on the battlefield.
The boy who had once sparred with him had now become someone who could single-handedly fight ten Demon Kings and slay a million demons with a single punch. He was no longer the Li Hao he knew.
In just a short year, the boy had become a hundred times more dazzling than he had been in the Li Family.
Wherever the flag fluttered, demons scattered and retreated.
His fame even surpassed that of the Yuanzi Camp founded by their ancestor!
Seeing the fear in the eyes of the demons, Li Tiangang felt both shaken and heartbroken.