Chapter 124

The news of the army withdrawal spread; in the military camp, many soldiers who were seizing the time to sleep and heal their wounds in the tents walked out in a daze.

When they heard the several deputy generals announce it loudly again and again, their numb faces gradually showed some vitality, and subsequently, a sound of wailing and sorrow spread out.

Many soldiers were holding their heads and crying, while others ran directly to that patch of grave mounds, found their former comrades, and cried and laughed, then scooped up a handful of yellow soil from before the grave and hid it in their armor to bring them back to their hometown.

"Report to the Commander!"

"The entire ten-thousand-strong Blood Fiend Army of the Red Battalion, now numbering 9,623, has all returned to the ranks!"

"Please give instructions!!"

A middle-aged deputy general of the Li family's concubine line came before Li Li Hongzhuang, his voice roaring and powerful as he spoke.

His gaze, however, was already moist.

Li Li Hongzhuang's cheeks, like snow and moon, trembled slightly; her eyes swept over the deputy general before her and looked at the haggard, pale faces behind him, all filled with hot tears and anticipation.

Finally, her gaze fell on the grave mounds in the distance.

The remaining ninety-thousand-plus had all fallen into a long sleep here.

These were all soldiers she had trained one by one! And the vastness of the grave mounds was far more than ninety thousand; there were also the battalion armies led by Third Brother, Sixth Brother, and the others, all buried in this place, stretching endlessly.

Even Li Li Hongzhuang, who had long been numb, couldn't help but have her eye sockets slightly reddened at this moment.

She restrained her emotions, took a deep breath, and said loudly: "I announce, the Blood Fiend Army, set off today, going home!!"

The three words "going home" drifted into the ears of the 9,632 soldiers, and all of them had hot tears in their eyes.

"The entire Blood Fiend Army, received!!"

The three deputy generals, including all the soldiers, roared in unison.

They were speaking of the whole, which also included the ninety-thousand-plus heroic spirits buried here; they were also going to bring their heroic spirits home.

Finally, they could step onto the path home...

Amidst the sound of excitement and tears, a deputy general stepped forward, bowed to Li Li Hongzhuang, and asked: "Commander, what about our reinforcements?"

"Reinforcements..."

Li Li Hongzhuang looked at Li Hao beside her and said: "He is the reinforcement sent to replace you."

The deputy general looked at Li Hao, his body shaking.

The one replacing them... was actually this child?

"Commander, this..."

"Don't ask, go, go home early; once the sky gets dark, the road won't be easy to walk!" Li Li Hongzhuang's expression returned to being severe and cold.

Seeing this, the deputy general didn't dare to say more, nodded, looked at Li Hao twice more, and remembered the young man's appearance.

The conversation between the two was heard by the other soldiers; after the excitement, they were all shocked. They were all withdrawing, and this place was actually left to a child to hold? Many soldiers saw this and shouted anxiously, asking for the reason, while others indicated that since this was the situation, they would stay behind too.

But Li Li Hongzhuang just kept a cold face and didn't respond; under the shouting of several deputy generals, everyone was finally driven away to pack their battle armor and equipment, and then set off to return to their hometowns.

Li Hao watched silently as one soldier after another passed by him; he could smell the dust and the thick stench of blood on these old soldiers.

The little white fox crouched at his feet, very well-behaved.

Ren Ren Qianqian held her sword and stood quietly behind Li Hao; seeing the scars on these soldiers, the broken battle armor, and the bent blades and sword edges, the young girl's heart trembled, and her eye sockets reddened.

"Commander, are you not leaving?"

Another deputy general looked at Li Li Hongzhuang and couldn't help but ask.

Li Li Hongzhuang shook her head slightly: "You go first, I will come later, no need to wait for me."

She knew that if she said she was staying here, among these soldiers, many would likely follow and stay behind, even if they were driven away.

After all, they had fought together for these years, having been through life and death together; how could they easily abandon each other?

Hearing this, the deputy general hesitated, then looked at Li Hao again, still unable to figure out why a young man who looked like a wealthy young master had been sent as reinforcements to guard this isolated city and wasteland.

But Li Li Hongzhuang didn't explain, and they couldn't guess; military law was as heavy as a mountain, and they could only execute it.

With the departure of the nine thousand-plus people, the camp instantly became silent and empty.

Only Li Li Hongzhuang, Li Hao, and Ren Ren Qianqian remained here, plus a little fox.

Li He's whereabouts were unknown; he had told Li Li Hongzhuang privately that he would only take action in the dark, and would only take action when Li Hao's life was in danger, and would not manage anything else besides that.

Regarding this, Li Li Hongzhuang didn't say anything either.

She had learned a little about the matter between Li Hao and Seventh Brother from Li He, but after all, she hadn't truly participated and didn't know the specific situation.

Her heart was only on guarding this isolated city.

Besides explaining Li Hao's matter, Li He had also conveyed a message to her.

That was that the Great Yu was now filled with smoke and fire, with demons making trouble everywhere, and the Emperor of Yu already had the intention to temporarily abandon and shelve Heaven Gate Pass.

Wait until the Great Yu regained its majestic style in the future, and then take it back.

In this way, even if this place fell, there would be no blame; if there were any punishment, it would be borne by Li Li Tiangang.

And Li Li Tiangang had performed great service in Yanbei, so at most he would be reprimanded a few times and have some salary deducted; the so-called punishment was just to show the other officials.

In other words, this place was already a piece of land that had been abandoned.

There would simply be no more reinforcements coming!

Li He informed her that Li Li Hongzhuang could also leave at any time, so as not to lose her life here.

But leave?

Li Li Hongzhuang looked at the vast grave mounds, before her eyes were the scenes of Third Brother and Sixth Brother drinking and fighting here, shedding their blood and sacrificing their lives; every inch of this territory was stained with the blood of their soldiers! The Emperor of Yu wanted to abandon it, Seventh Brother wanted to abandon it, but... she didn't want to abandon it!! Li Li Hongzhuang took a deep breath, put away her emotions, and walked into the camp.

Although these soldiers had left, some of the tents had not been completely withdrawn, and leaving them here could also serve as a facade, letting the demons mistakenly believe that their numbers were large.

"Find a tent yourself; the conditions here are simple. Ever since the city was broken, there have been no common people here; they were all transferred away more than ten years ago."

Li Li Hongzhuang said casually to Li Hao, and walked straight into the camp.

Li Hao nodded, looked around, and then saw the grave mounds of varying heights in the distance.

He brought Ren Ren Qianqian and the little white fox over, his gaze sweeping over them; names or unified titles were carved on the wooden tablets.

The cold wind blew, giving Li Hao a bone-chilling feeling.

"These... are all the heroes who died in battle here?" Ren Ren Qianqian's pretty face was pale, she covered her mouth slightly, and said with a trembling voice. Seeing it with her own eyes, these more than ten thousand grave mounds, this kind of shock was indescribable.

The little white fox, who liked to jump around everywhere, also stopped moving at this moment, sitting quietly at Li Hao's feet, watching silently.

Li Hao was silent for a moment.

He came here just to return his own flesh and blood.

Once the three years were up, it would be paid off.

However, seeing the countless soldiers here at this moment, he suddenly felt that besides returning this flesh and blood, coming here seemed to have some other significance.

In these three years, he seemed... to should do something else.

It was a pity that his current cultivation was still too weak.

The Heavenly Human Grandmaster Realm was considered an existence that could open a sect within the borders, but in this dangerous border, one could lose their life at any time, and he still had to rely on Elder Feng to protect him in the dark.

If he reached the Three Imperishable Realms, he would have the power to protect himself.

"My cultivation improvement is still too slow..." Li Hao's eyes were deep.

Although stepping into the Heavenly Human Realm at fourteen was shocking enough, it wasn't enough for the present.

He had to become stronger and improve faster! Li Hao took a deep breath, left the graveyard, and came to the camp.

He searched through other tents but didn't find anything to eat; walking along, he saw Li Li Hongzhuang's figure sitting on the small mound of earth carved with "Cangya City," wiping the sword edge in her hand.

"Senior Li Hongzhuang."

Li Hao called out and walked over.

Li Li Hongzhuang raised her eyebrows slightly, looked at the young man walking over, and frowned: "You should call me Aunt."

"I am no longer a member of the Li family," Li Hao said.

Li Li Hongzhuang thought of Li He's words, her face darkened, and she said: "Why exactly did it have to turn out like this?"

Li Hao shook his head slightly, not wanting to mention it, and asked: "It's almost night, are you hungry? I'll go find something to eat."

"Night is coming, demons are out, you'd better not leave without permission," Li Li Hongzhuang said; she knew that Li He would protect Li Hao in the dark, but she still didn't want Li Hao to easily risk danger.

Li Hao raised his head and looked; the bright moon had already risen, and the starlight was gradually appearing.

He smiled slightly, turned and left the small mound, leading Ren Ren Qianqian and the little white fox as he walked casually through various parts of the camp, shuttling through the tents.

These tents had been cleaned very well, but they still left some broken armor and tattered, smelly clothing inside; Li Hao found the cooking camp and dug out some salt jars.

He smiled, released his spiritual sense to patrol the four directions, and soon found a demon creature in the wilderness around the camp.

He bent down, picked up a broken sword blade on the ground, and flicked it out like skipping a stone.

The blade flew out, instantly piercing the air, appearing thirty miles away, and with a *puff*, accurately pierced the demon's head.

The demon's body trembled twice, and it lost its life.

Li Hao used his object-manipulation power to take its corpse.

This was a demon creature weighing about three tons, looking like a pig and a lion, with protruding tusks.

Li Hao picked up Ren Ren Qianqian's sword, used it as a meat-cutting knife, sliced open the demon's body, and quickly processed the internal organs, then sliced it into pieces.

"Ren Qianqian, help build a fire."

"Yes."

On the journey of these past few days, Ren Ren Qianqian had already become used to helping Li Hao; she nodded, searched for some firewood everywhere, and not long after, lit the campfire.

At this time, Li Hao had also processed the demon meat, picked and chose the essence, used sharpened wooden sticks or broken spear shafts picked up from the ground to skewer them, and placed them on the campfire to roast.

Salt and seasoning, Li Hao performed simple cooking, but as the oil dripped from the roasting demon meat, a fragrance still drifted out.

While the demon meat was roasting, Li Hao himself came before a tent.

He looked at this black and yellow patterned tent twice, put it away, then used his sword to cut it, tailoring out several uniform pieces of cloth.

Then he used the demon's hair to weave a brush, dipped it in its blood, and painted on the cloth.

"What are you doing?"

Li Li Hongzhuang caught the fragrance, walked down from the small mound, came to the campfire silently, and asked Li Hao, who was busy, coldly.

Li Hao raised his head and looked at her, smiled, and said: "Your Blood Fiend Army has withdrawn, and the military flags have also been withdrawn; I am making new battle flags."

"My military flags haven't been completely withdrawn; some were left here," Li Li Hongzhuang said.

Li Hao smiled slightly: "Those are yours; this battle flag is mine."

"Hmm?"

Li Li Hongzhuang looked over.

At this time, Li Hao had also finished writing; he released his power, forced the blood out of the cloth, then beckoned, and his object-manipulation power extended into the forest several miles away, cutting down several trees and taking them.

These trees were quickly shaved into sticks.

Li Hao used the extra cloth to wrap and bind one end, while the other end was stuck into the ground to support it.

Thus, a simple battle flag was formed.

The cloth hung down, fluttering in the night wind.

Two large characters written in demon blood swayed and appeared: Hao Tian!

Li Li Hongzhuang was stunned, and after a long while, she turned her gaze to Li Hao: "You are actually in the Fifteen-Li Realm?"

Li Hao shook his head slightly.

"I am in the Heavenly Human Realm," he said truthfully.

"?"

Li Li Hongzhuang's pupils contracted slightly, and she was stunned on the spot.

Heavenly Human Realm at fourteen? Li He hadn't told her about Li Hao's cultivation, only mentioning some things that happened in the mansion.

And she had been at the border for many years, her news from within the borders was extremely closed off, and she was on guard against demon creatures every day, so where would she have the heart to care about things within the borders?

(End of chapter)