Martial arts ascend to the gods

Chapter 691 Xiang Kingdom
Outside Xiongcheng, at the Zhao Palace.

study.

Zhao Hao had a head of black hair, with only a few gray hairs at the temples. He had a broad face, a high forehead, and a dignified gaze.

Sunlight streamed into the study from a clear sky, but a faint shadow appeared in Zhao Hao's eyes.

His children are all dead.

A hint of doubt flashed in his eyes.

How could this be?
According to the original plan, everything will go smoothly.

Could it be that the Supreme Court and other military warlords have joined forces against the Zhao family?
But all information indicates that the Supreme Court remained inactive, and the various warlords did not break off relations.

The Supreme Court has a tradition of luring out the enemy.

He himself did not leave the cave, and the Supreme Court held back his attack.

The world is never monolithic.

Back when the Eagle Alliance was being dealt with, there was a great deal of compromising power within the country. Even after Zhao Sheng defeated the Eagle Alliance, he did not completely dismantle the lingering resentment in those people's hearts.

Over the years, the Martial Academy has never lacked administrators who admire the Eagle Alliance.

Moreover, the Dragon Kingdom's current opponent is the Monster World, which far surpasses the Eagle Alliance.

The Zhao family today is not just the Zhao family.

Rather, it is the banner of those who compromise with evil that must not fall.

Even most neutral factions have acknowledged that the appeasement faction might have some use, should humanity be defeated...

Only a strong force can resolutely oppose this erroneous ideology.

It wasn't just the Martial Academy's influence; some elderly Martial Saints were also supporting the Zhao family.

Zhao Hao thought it over and over, looking through all the details, but found no problems.

But if there's no problem, why are all three of his sons dead?

Even his beloved niece died.

What exactly is this power?
The Huang-Meng School?
Zhao Hao shook his head.

Zhao Hao knew better than anyone the strength of the Huang Meng faction. They could only solve problems through assassination, and killing Zhao Tong was already their limit.

Zhou Leng?

He could only kill Gao Tianfeng; it seems he never targeted the Zhao family.

Was it a calamity from heaven?
Zhao He's death was merely an accident; he angered the gods because of his desire for the White Lake Mother Fruit, which can only be described as being blinded by greed.

Li Shenkong?
His outburst was more of a momentary outburst of righteous indignation; there were even rumors that he had been calling Cong Ge (Brother Cong) from beginning to end.

He was more like a passionate young man who wanted to save his former brother.

Just by accident.

Wang Boxiong and Chen Shouhu?

They did indeed harbor hostility towards the Zhao family because of Ma Xingkong, but that was all; they were not actually hostile towards the Zhao family.

Zhao Hao's instincts told him that if a large number of coincidences came together, there must be an inevitability that he had not yet realized.

What is that inevitability?
Then, he suddenly remembered something Zhao Sheng had said.

Martial artists are not destined to follow the Zhao family forever.

Could it be... that martial artists and the people acted spontaneously?

how is this possible.

A self-deprecating smile, tinged with contempt, appeared on Zhao Hao's lips.

He sat quietly behind his desk, gazing out the window, pondering the question repeatedly.

His gaze was profound, his strength formidable, and his experience rich.

Like the last emperor of every dynasty, he pondered which treacherous officials had ruined the country and turned it into what it is today.

He thought for a long time, his throat moved, and he raised his hand to take out an ordinary paper bag from the magic bag.

The ordinary red paper bag carries a touch of festive atmosphere.

Upon opening it, there was only an empty plastic bag inside, with the words "local specialty" written on it.

Zhao Hao frowned slightly.

"It will be difficult to find the taste of home again..."

With Gao Tianfeng in his mind, Zhao Hao threw the things into the wastebasket, took out a better-packaged paper bag from the magic bag, took out the tin foil, and peeled it open.

Revealed was a shriveled, bean-shaped, dark red fleshy object, about the size of an infant's fist.

He took a bite, tore off a piece, and chewed it slowly.

Bright red blood beads oozed from the cut.

After finishing the magic bag beans, Zhao Hao sighed softly.

Magic Bean, missing the people of my hometown.

Then, I recalled the first magic bag bean I ate with the alluring succubus many years ago after I was defeated and captured in the Demon Prison.

At that time, among those captured were some acquaintances from the Wu family.

Several people have already risen to high positions.

Zhao Hao recalled the news from the Demon Worshiping Sect.

Heaven brought about his death, and the Demon Prison trembled.

The Demon Lords were furious.

The Heavenly Calamity God survives, and the resources and blood beads required for its descent are not too many.

But with the death of the Heavenly Calamity Envoy, the bridge between the Heavenly Calamity God and the Demon Prison was severed, and the subsequent divine descent was entirely new.

This means that the Demon Prison will have to expend a hundred times more resources than before.

Previously, all that was needed was to continuously hunt down creatures from all realms to refine blood beads.

Now, there aren't enough people from all walks of life.

We must slaughter a large number of monsters.

They didn't care whether the demons lived or died, but they cared about the statistics in the ledger; if the numbers were low, they were very unhappy.

As for how small it is, let's ignore that for now.

This time, they lost their patience.

They planned to set off a grand fireworks display before the arrival of the God of Calamity to appease the deity.

Zhao Hao pondered quietly.

The courtyard of Lady Zhao.

In front of the dressing table, a young and beautiful woman, who looked to be around twenty years old, looked at herself in the mirror and gently touched her face.

It is smooth, soft, and elastic.

The woman's eyes were glazed over as she continued to stroke herself.

After a long while, the woman took out a red paper bag from her magic pouch, and from a plastic bag printed with local specialties, she took out a magic bag bean. She chewed it slowly.

In the mirror, blood flowed down the teeth.

"It's a pity Tianfeng is gone; from now on, we can only eat ordinary magic beans. It's all Zhou Leng's fault..."

The woman's gaze turned cold, and she began to feign aging, her skin slowly showing signs of aging.

Before long, she aged back to the normal appearance of Old Lady Zhao, looking like a woman in her seventies or eighties.

She glanced down at the last three Magic Bag Beans, her brow furrowing deeply.

"My husband has sacrificed so much, and now that he's old, why can't I enjoy my retirement?"

In the courtyard not far away, Zhao Hao's wife, Madam Zhao, was eating the last of her hometown's magic bean, sighing repeatedly.

Her appearance gradually changed from that of a young girl to that of a middle-aged woman.

She glanced at the message and went to Zhao Hao's study.

Zhao Hao said, "There are some things that I shouldn't trouble you with, but the Zhao family really has no one we can trust anymore. This time, we need to hold a meeting in Xiang Kingdom, and then legitimately provoke conflict between the two countries. Then, starting from Xiang Kingdom, we will march north."

Madam Zhao paused for a moment, then asked, "Xiang Kingdom? To the north?"

To the north of Elephant Kingdom lies Dragon Kingdom.

"On the surface, it's the Elephant Kingdom, but in reality, it's our people, mainly the Seagull Alliance and the Eagle Alliance. All the major forces of the Demonic Cult will take action. As for the people of the Elephant Kingdom, they're just cannon fodder sent to their deaths."

Madam Zhao said, "Alright, I'll go, but..."

As Madam Zhao spoke, her body transformed into the form of a succubus, constantly changing into various women, before stopping just as Zhao Hao's heart began to race.

It was none other than Gao Tianfeng.

Madam Zhao smiled and slowly approached Zhao Hao.

Changda.

Two elderly people walk under a cherry blossom tree.

One is in front, and the other is half a body length behind.

Half a step behind was the first person to manage Changda.

The one walking in front is a high-ranking official from the legal profession who came from Xiongcheng to inspect the area.

The two walked and talked, and before they knew it, they were talking about the past.

The old man, who was lagging behind, said, "Sir, you fought alongside Patriarch Zhao Hao back then..."

The old man in front suddenly spoke up, looking at the blooming cherry blossoms, and said, "It's so good to be a magic master, I can see cherry blossoms anytime."

The old man, who was lagging behind, immediately shut up. Gazing at the cherry blossoms in the schoolyard, he said affectionately, "Mr. Zhang, the cherry blossoms in our hometown are in bloom..."

After saying that, he looked around and, finding no one there, handed over a red paper bag.

"These are all the freshest from Changda..."

The old man in front of him remained calm and composed, effortlessly reaching out to take the item and storing it in his magic pouch.

Li valve.

Li Shenkong stared blankly ahead, his mind elsewhere, unable to focus on cultivation.

After killing Zhao Cong, he was filled with immense guilt and could hardly lift his head.

But a series of strange events left him bewildered.

He respected Wang Boxiong and Chen Shouhu, and praised him for doing a good job.

The encouragement and support in his eyes were sincere and heartfelt.

Back to the Tree Man Base.

The martial artists all praised it.

Back at Shuizhou Base.

The enthusiastic applause and admiring gazes from the grassroots martial artists made him lose his composure.

He has received countless honors and has achieved results far exceeding those of his peers.

But I had never been treated like this before.

He had seen that look before.

His grandfather, Li Tianyuan, often encountered this kind of look.

When I saw Zhao Sheng, I had the same look in my eyes.

Leave the Water Island Demon City and return to the Mighty City.

Some people who had conflicts with him in the past because of his background either asked friends to pass on messages or called him personally to admit that they had been wrong in the past.

He told his grandfather what had happened. He was about to accept the criticism, but his grandfather sighed and then smiled with relief.

"I, Li Tianyuan, am no match for Zhao Dongjun in my entire life. But my grandson is ten thousand times better than his grandson!"

Hearing his grandfather say this, Li Shenkong was flattered.

This was the first time in his life that his grandfather had praised him so highly.

My grandfather, being a martial saint, had such high standards that no matter what he did, no matter how good it was, he would only receive ordinary praise.

"Not bad" is already a very high compliment.

But today, Grandpa was not only happy, but at dinner, he also opened a bottle of the hometown wine that Zhao Sheng had given him years ago, and even poured him a glass.

No one in the family, except him, had ever received this kind of treatment.

Li Shenkong's gaze gradually calmed down.

Now he finally knows that he did the right thing.

Then let's keep moving forward.

He recalled some friends and their words about the Zhao family.

Speaking of which, it was an operation.

He had vaguely heard about it before, but didn't care.

but now……

He looked down at his dantian.

He recalled a casual remark made by Wang Boxiong, seemingly unintentionally.

"Time is running out for humanity. We should leave more time, more resources, and a better tomorrow for future generations, instead of using the malicious pretext of trusting in posterity to leave them with an apocalypse."

Li Shenkong sat cross-legged, placing the Star-Slaying Sword horizontally on his knees and gently stroking it.

"The person you choose can't be wrong..."

After thinking for a long time, Li Shenkong opened Wuxin, clicked on a friend's invitation, and joined an anti-fraud group.

The group chat was buzzing with activity, seemingly all about martial artists targeting demons.

Occasionally, I would see a few familiar profile pictures.

(End of this chapter)