Chapter 768: War Begins!

The Mistress of Ji fell silent at Zhao Zhugui's words.

Indeed.

Zhao Zhugui had long since realized that because of his own weakness, he had always been controlled by others.

If he continued to be this weak, could he truly travel across the world?

He did not know why he had been burdened with such a mission.

But...

He looked around.

Cicadas chirped, tearing through the dense green, and waves of rice rolled across the ridges. In the distance, cooking smoke entwined with the sunset glow, and the sound of frogs drifted up from the depths of the lotus flowers.

Yet, in the far distance, great mountains were collapsing, and thick smoke was billowing.

This was one of the few remaining intact regions within the Shattered Wang Ting.

"I really... love this world..."

He spoke in a melancholy voice, and the heartfelt emotional fluctuation made the Mistress of Ji's expression tremble.

Zhao Zhugui was an oddity, or perhaps even just a tool.

But the love Zhao Zhugui held for all things in heaven and earth was something most people did not possess.

Precisely because of this, even though Zhao Zhugui had repeatedly spoken coldly to her, the Mistress of Ji could not bring herself to be angry.

"You need to become stronger, and I possess long-standing martial arts memories and experience," the Mistress of Ji said softly.

"You want to teach me?" Zhao Zhugui asked.

"Yes," the Mistress of Ji nodded:

"As the price, you need to help me find a God-tier... a Demi-God-tier spiritual object to serve as a physical body."

As the Mistress of Ji spoke, she sensed the fluctuations in Zhao Zhugui's heart and waited quietly.

Zhao Zhugui was a tool, a tool that might be reclaimed by the one who created him at any moment.

Such a tool actually made it difficult for the Mistress of Ji to use him.

Therefore, she proposed a trade.

"You have a God-tier formation that allows you to grow strong rapidly; with this formation, your growth speed will even surpass that... Chen Yan."

After the Mistress of Ji said this name, a cold light could not help but emerge in her eyes:

"With my cultivation, you will become one of the strongest in the human world. Once you are strong, you can go anywhere in the world."

Zhao Zhugui paused for a long time.

The Mistress of Ji was almost speechless.

She was the mistress of a province, and now that she was taking the initiative to teach someone, she had not expected this person to still be deep in thought.

"Fine, I agree," Zhao Zhugui said.

The Mistress of Ji breathed a sigh of relief and finally revealed a smile:

"I truly didn't misjudge you. You perhaps never thought that wandering and sightseeing might just be your mission.

But you, who would risk death for revenge just for the sake of a meal, are the real you."

After her words fell, Zhao Zhugui fell into silence:

"The real me?"

His eyes slowly widened as he looked toward the distant horizon.

"The real me?"

He whispered, and countless emotions seemed to flash through his eyes.

The Mistress of Ji's words seemed to have suddenly unlocked something that had been hidden in his mind all along.

He opened his mouth, and anger suddenly erupted in the depths of his eyes.

"She just wanted to live, she was just desperately trying to live, yet she died at the hands of an Ancient God Beast.

Why?

Why is there such a world?"

He said this inexplicably.

In this instant, the infatuation with the world in his eyes suddenly vanished, replaced by anger and resentment.

Resentment toward the Ancient God Beast, resentment and hostility toward malice.

The Mistress of Ji's eyes trembled instantly, sensing the current Zhao Zhugui with astonishment.

Her breathing suddenly became rapid.

Zhao Zhugui had an original heart; it was just that the person who created him had set traveling the human world as Zhao Zhugui's mission.

But Zhao Zhugui's true nature was...

To change this world filled with malice.

She could feel the intense throbbing in the depths of Zhao Zhugui's heart at this moment.

Zhao Zhugui must have had his own life; his life experiences led him to have such a grand aspiration for the world.

Even if his cognition had been altered, it could not completely erase this grand aspiration of his.

"Zhao Zhugui," the Mistress of Ji said earnestly:

"You must become stronger. Only when you are strong enough can you change this world and accomplish things I cannot!"

She spoke with extreme sincerity.

Yet she had not clarified one issue.

That was that completely resolving malice was precisely the thing that ran contrary to her own desires.

…………

"This person slaughtered everyone in his own squad, and he did it right in front of Deputy Minister Luo Puxin, killing Huo Fu's entire squad."

"His main problem is that he cannot cultivate hard-body techniques or Qi and blood; what kind of freak is this?"

"Even if he is a Will Martial Artist, we don't want him. If we keep him, the brothers under my command won't dare to sleep at night."

In front of a military tent.

Li Zhiyi followed behind a woman carrying a folder; the man inside the tent cast a look of disgust at him, then immediately pulled the tent flap shut.

Li Zhiyi and the woman were left standing outside, while sounds of mockery rang out from within the tent.

The woman sighed and looked at Li Zhiyi: "Although Deputy Minister Luo is willing to give you a chance, none of these Level 2 and Level 3 Military Guard Captains dare to take you."

Li Zhiyi's expression was calm:

"Since that is the case, let me go to the Disciplinary Battalion; I should be going there anyway."

The woman pursed her lips:

"On the battlefield, military orders are as heavy as mountains. Deputy Minister Luo originally intended to punish Huo Fu and the others, but you still killed Huo Fu's entire squad right in front of him.

This is indeed a grave crime."

The woman's eyes were red; Li Zhiyi had seen it with his own eyes when the Divine General's artifact previously passed through Qinzhou.

At that time, hundreds of millions of living beings wept bitterly, and the world wore mourning clothes to see the Divine General off.

This woman was clearly one of those mourning.

Although she was still working now, her Qi and blood looked somewhat disordered.

She was merely a small staff member at the Qinzhou Military Guard Headquarters.

"Follow me, you can only go to the Disciplinary Battalion; this is where guilty military guards stay."

The woman spoke listlessly and soon led Li Zhiyi to the front of a military tent.

"Zhang Yu."

The woman spoke directly through the tent flap.

The tent flap opened, and a man with a face full of stubble lifted the flap and walked out.

"He is Li Zhiyi."

The man glanced indifferently at Li Zhiyi.

"Mm." The woman nodded:

"From now on, Li Zhiyi is with you. You are the Commander of the Disciplinary Battalion; you have no right to refuse."

Zhang Yu frowned and nodded:

"I understand."

The woman looked at Li Zhiyi and said:

"The Disciplinary Battalion does all the dangerous work, but if you accumulate enough military merit, you can still leave the Disciplinary Battalion."

After saying this, the woman left.

Nearby, military guards walked out of other tents, all looking at Li Zhiyi.

Some were disdainful, some sneered, and some frowned.

"Follow me inside," Zhang Yu said heavily.

Li Zhiyi nodded and looked toward a distant direction.

The rolling military camp lay like a black ink dragon across the wilderness, the banners fluttering as they faded into the distance.

At the end, a Divine General carved from blue stone stood tall and proud.

The black robe hung down like the night, the profound iron spear leaned against the ground, and a cold glint that had yet to dissipate condensed on the spear tip.

Standing between heaven and earth.

Zhang Yu followed Li Zhiyi's gaze, and when he looked at that sculpture, his eyes were filled with melancholy.

Li Zhiyi entered the tent.

Inside the entire tent, there were more than thirty beds.

"Our Disciplinary Battalion has three thousand people in total. These are all Level 2 Military Guard Captains. You were able to kill Huo Fu, so you have the strength of a Level 2 Military Guard; from now on, you will live here."

Zhang Yu said, looking at Li Zhiyi:

"A person who can even kill his own boss living with us—I'm afraid we won't know which night you might pick up a kitchen knife and kill us all."

As Zhang Yu's voice fell, the others inside the tent revealed cold expressions.

"Come and try!"

"It seems I won't be able to resist teaching him a lesson today."

"If you dare to teach him a lesson, be careful that he doesn't slaughter you one day."

"Then I'll slaughter him first."

Sneers rang out.

Li Zhiyi's expression turned icy.

Silence.

The atmosphere inside the entire tent suddenly turned as cold as a winter wind.

Silence.

"Hahahaha!!!"

Suddenly, someone burst into loud laughter.

Immediately after, the entire tent erupted into laughter.

Even Zhang Yu revealed a smile:

"A newcomer has joined the squad; bring out all the good things you've been hiding. Today, our Disciplinary Battalion is having a feast!"

As Zhang Yu's voice fell, someone soon laughed.

"Baldy Number Two, I know you've hidden a Green-Dwelling Snake; that taste is delicious, bring it out today, don't hide it!"

"Old thing, I remember you still have a crate of wine, don't you hide it either!"

"Good, good, good, we'll have a treat today."

The entire camp instantly became boisterous.

The atmosphere changed suddenly, and even Li Zhiyi was surprised.

*Slap. *

Zhang Yu slapped Li Zhiyi on the shoulder:

"Don't look down on our Punitive Battalion; among the three thousand military guards in the Punitive Battalion, there are many who have suffered grievances just like you.

The Great Xia is currently beset by crises, and in order to improve the strength of the army, many animals have also been brought in.

That fellow Huo Fu is just an animal, we all know it."

Zhang Yu smiled:

"Vice Minister Luo knows that while the Punitive Battalion seems like a punishment, it is actually a form of protection for people like us.

Coming to our Punitive Battalion, you at least won't be bullied by others; from now on, we are all brothers who have traded lives!"

Li Zhiyi's expression trembled; for the first time, he felt friendliness from others.

Time passed slowly.

Above the sea.

A lightning sphere with a diameter of one thousand meters traveled rapidly.

Inside a certain room within it.

"This is the remnant scroll of the World Instant?"

Zhang Huizhi looked at the two silver metal blocks in his hands, which were engraved with complex secret scripts.

"This is the fifth divine technique in the world!"

Golden light appeared in Zhang Huizhi's eyes, and at the same time, he began to absorb the 【Store】 character Saint-Breaking Fruit from the Saint-Breaking Tree.

Within his body, energy surged continuously, and his strength was rising rapidly.

Having harvested the resources of an entire Wang Ting treasury.

Zhang Huizhi was not lacking in resources at all; there were even many powerful opportunities within the Magnetic Storm Lightning Prison that he couldn't use up.

His tempering breathing technique was directly learned from the semi-god level breathing technique 【Mountain Breaker】 of Ji Province.

His Qi and blood cultivation technique was the even greater divine technique 【Sole Prestige】.

As for heaven and earth spiritual objects like Lightning Spirits, Ice Spirits, and Earth Spirits, he had Sun-level Grade A ones, and even more that were semi-god level.

These were all massive resources.

Even this 【World Instant】 remnant scroll, if released to the outside world, would cause the earth to shake and the mountains to sway.

"Can't use it all, simply can't use it all..."

Zhang Huizhi revealed a smile: "Ten Thousand Jade Youting, shrink the size of the Magnetic Storm Lightning Prison again, the smaller the better!"

*Zzzzt. *

Inside the Magnetic Storm Lightning Prison, lightning flashed, and the massive Magnetic Storm Lightning Prison began to shrink once more.

"Where is the next stop?"

Ten Thousand Jade Youting's voice came through.

"Wanxiang Island." Zhang Huizhi blurted out.

Only after he said these three words was he himself taken aback.

Why Wanxiang Island?

He clutched his head.

"It seems, someone there will be waiting for me..."

He murmured aloud.

Yet at this very moment.

"Boss!"

A lightning sphere creature darted out from the sea, instantly entered the Magnetic Storm Lightning Prison, and arrived before Zhang Huizhi.

"We..."

Anthropomorphic eyes and a mouth appeared on the sphere of this lightning sphere creature, revealing an excited look as it spoke in a milky, childish voice:

"We detected that over a thousand flying warships are flying toward the territory of the Great Xia."

Zhang Huizhi raised his eyebrows slightly:

"Are the Five Clans going to attack the Great Xia again?

What does that have to do with me?"

The lightning sphere creature said:

"But we heard their conversation, it concerns a divine artifact."

The lightning sphere creature was a life form entirely fashioned from lightning energy.

This kind of creature was useful for combat on one hand.

On the other hand, it could transform into an electrical current and enter electronic equipment such as flying warships.

It was simply a divine object for eavesdropping.

The lightning sphere creature's voice fell.

Zhang Huizhi became interested:

"What divine artifact?"

The lightning-sphere creature continued to speak, only this time its voice had changed into the voices of others.

"Elder Chen Qi is willing to bring out a divine artifact like the Blood Brand; that is quite a heavy sacrifice."

"The Blood Brand is too bizarre; it requires using a human body as a vessel, letting that person absorb the killing intent of the battlefield to continuously strengthen it, and once the killing intent within that person's body reaches its absolute peak, they will be completely absorbed by the Blood Brand."

The two sentences were the voices of two different people.

It was clear that the lightning-sphere creature had used electronic frequencies to directly record the conversation of the two Five-Clan martial artists.

The voices continued to sound.

"It's a pity; that Chen Yan's killing intent is monstrous. If he were to nourish the Blood Brand, that Blood Brand would definitely be strengthened to an unimaginable degree."

"You dare to say such things? If you take the Blood Brand in front of Chen Yan, you are simply aiding the enemy."

"Enough, he is already dead; stop trembling when you speak."

"Hey, I just can't help but feel fear whenever I think of him."

"We should still think about this surprise attack; the Great Elder requires us to take Qinzhou within half a month."

"The faster the better; the Eighth-Rankers have signed an agreement not to enter the war, so if our main force attacks directly, the Great Xia side will have no way to stop us."

"Why do the Eighth-Rankers not enter the war?"

"Are you stupid? If too many Eighth-Rankers die in battle, who will stand against the Ancient Divine Beasts?"

"This is the rule."

"Hehe, then taking Qinzhou is just around the corner!"