Human nature was the most difficult thing to understand. No matter how powerful you are, you will never be able to fully understand human nature. A lowly worm might erupt with the power of a tyrannosaurus rex in order to survive. A prideful person might also live like a maggot in order to survive. Two people who have a grudge against each other could become friends when necessary. They might even be closer than best friends. But friends, in front of benefits, would sometimes be the first to stab you.
Zhao Hai never believed in human nature. He would never treat hatred as the only thing he could use. It was impossible. In front of huge benefits, hatred was nothing.
The people in the Secret Territory hated the Sacred Institute. But this hatred was based on the fact that the Sacred Institute didn't allow them to go home. They were forced to stay in the Secret Territory and risk their lives for them. This was the reason why the people in the Anti-Sacred Institute Alliance hated the Sacred Institute.
But this kind of hatred was very easy to resolve. For example, the Sacred Institute would let them go home. Not only would they be allowed to go home, they would also support their families. This would allow an ordinary family to become a city lord in a short period of time. Then, would those people still hate them?
Those who could enter the Secret Territory generally had a family behind them. Some families were big while some were small. Those who were born in poverty and didn't have any background would find it very difficult to enter the Sacred Institute, let alone the Secret Territory. This was because those who were born in poverty didn't have any worries. In other words, it wouldn't be easy for the Sacred Institute to control them.
As for a person with a family, under normal circumstances, they would prioritize their family's interests. From the moment they were born, they were educated to sacrifice themselves for the sake of their family's interests. For the sake of their family's interests, they would abandon their hatred and even become friends with their enemies, becoming their closest partners.
The same was true for the people in the Secret Territory. If the Sacred Institute could really support them, then they might really give up their hatred towards the Sacred Institute. At that time, Zhao Hai's group would be at an absolute disadvantage in terms of numbers. And the number of River Breaking Realm experts in the Sacred Institute would certainly be more than Zhao Hai's. In this case, how could Zhao Hai fall out with the Sacred Institute? Impossible, he still didn't have the strength to do so.
However, Zhao Hai's current arrangement was very good. At the very least, he had about 2000 people in his hands. And these people should be loyal to him. This was because their families were now in the Lost Soul City. In other words, their families were now under Zhao Hai's control.
Naturally, Zhao Hai wouldn't control their families like the Sacred Institute. But if necessary, these families could become Zhao Hai's pawns.
Zhao Hai wasn't a benevolent person. He had walked through many realms and slaughtered many of them. Killing people wasn't a problem for him. The reason why he didn't want to kill so many people at this time was because he didn't want to. Other things couldn't bind him. Zhao Hai didn't want to kill so many people.
This time, Zhao Hai didn't do anything when he returned to the Lost Soul City. This was because he had already made his arrangements. Now, he just needed to see how Nineteen and the others would proceed. If Nineteen and the others did as he thought, then Zhao Hai's plan would be simple. He would just need to follow his plan step by step. Now that he had completed his plan, there were very few things that he needed to do.
This time, Zhao Hai came back mainly because he wanted to see how Stone Hammer and the others were doing. At the same time, he also wanted to have some of his subordinates go to the Secret Realm to practice for a while.
The cultivation environment in the Secret Realm was indeed much better than the Spiritual Weapon Realm. The Sky Dance Realm experts in the Lost Soul City were all Zhao Hai's slaves. They were the most loyal to Zhao Hai. There was no reason for him to only cultivate the people in the Secret Realm and not his own subordinates. Wouldn't that be foolish? Therefore, Zhao Hai wanted to send some people to the Secret Realm to cultivate. He wanted to see if they had a chance to break through to the Broken River Realm.
To be honest, after staying in the Cultivation Realm for a long time, Zhao Hai didn't know whether to laugh or cry when he saw the people in the Spiritual Realm risking their lives to become Broken River Realm experts. This was because the Broken River Realm experts in the Soul Realm were nothing in the outside world. Breaking through from the Sky Dance Realm to the Broken River Realm didn't require much effort in the outside world. Maybe an ordinary pill could do it. But in the Soul Realm, it was harder than ascending to the sky. This made Zhao Hai dumbfounded.
Zhao Hai believed that with the resources in his hands, he could increase the number of Broken River Realm experts in the Lost Soul City in a short period of time. These Broken River Realm experts might be very mysterious in the Soul Realm or the Spiritual Weapon Realm, but in Zhao Hai's eyes, they were nothing.
Now, Zhao Hai was dealing with these things. This was because the Lost Soul City had a special feature. Those Sky Dance Realm experts, even if they weren't city lords, still had important positions in the Lost Soul City. It wasn't easy to transfer them for training. Their work needs to be arranged well.
What happened in the Lost Soul City-State was unknown to the outside world. Even the people in the Lost Soul City-State didn't know much about it. This was because the Lost Soul City-State was too independent. Other city-states rarely heard about the matters of the Lost Soul City-State because it was almost impossible for them to arrange spies in the Lost Soul City-State.
The Lost Soul City wouldn't attract people's attention. What really attracted people's attention was the Lesser Dragon City. Nineteen had already gathered the army and was ready to set off.
Nineteen's movements naturally couldn't be hidden from the Sacred Court. Moreover, the Sacred Court already knew that they were going to attack the South Flower City. Therefore, the Sacred Court was already prepared.
After Nineteen's army was gathered, it was time to wait for all kinds of supplies. But in this matter, the city-states didn't make things difficult for Nineteen. After all, the city-states had already decided on how much they should take. There wouldn't be any disputes.
Nineteen discovered that perhaps the previous rules weren't a bad thing. The reason why the city-states were able to take out things so quickly was because of the allocation. If there wasn't the allocation, just getting the city-states to take out these things would take a long time.
The army was ready, the Broken River Realm experts were also ready, and the supplies were also ready. Everything was ready. All that was left was to wait for the troops to set off.
Finally, Nineteen decided to officially offer a sacrifice to the heavens on the seventh day of the eighth month of the twelfth year of the Spiritual Weapon New Calendar. In the Spiritual Weapon Realm, the calendar that people used was the Heavenly Sword Calendar. Because it was during the reign of the Heavenly Sword Empire, people used the Heavenly Sword Calendar. But now, they were using the Spiritual Weapon New Calendar. This calendar was only used after the fall of the Heavenly Sword Empire. It has been used for more than ten thousand years now.
The reason why Nineteen wanted to hold this ceremony was because he wanted to tell the world that they were doing righteous things. They must first grasp the righteousness in their hands.
This kind of ceremony was passed down from the Heavenly Sword Empire. During the time of the Heavenly Sword Empire, the Emperor would offer a sacrifice to the heavens every day. According to legend, the Heavenly Sword Empire's sacrifice to the heavens was different from the present. At that time, the Heavenly Sword Empire could really communicate with the heavens. Sometimes, they would even receive the will of the heavens. But now, the Heavenly Sword Empire's sacrifice to the heavens was just a formality.
This time, the location of Nineteen's sacrifice to the heavens wasn't at the Sky Altar in Yalong City. Instead, it was at a high mountain outside the city. Nineteen led all the leaders of the city-states to the mountain and built a Sky Altar there. Then, they began to worship the heavens. At the same time, some people began to read the sacrificial text. The general meaning of the text was that they had been oppressed by the Sacred Institute for many years. Today, they were no longer oppressed by them. They wanted to resist, they wanted to overthrow the oppression of the Sacred Institute. They wanted to receive the blessings of the heavens, wishing that they would be victorious this time.
In any case, the sacrificial ceremony was like that. Every time, the ritual was almost the same. This time, Nineteen was no exception. But coincidentally, when Nineteen began to worship the heavens, the mountain suddenly started to rain. At the same time, lightning flashed and thunder rumbled. After the sacrificial text was read, the rain stopped and the sky cleared up. This time, Nineteen began to tremble. In his view, this was the acknowledgment of the heavens. He was under the command of the heavens. Even his voice was a lot louder.
The others also muttered in their hearts. Could it be that the heavens really blessed Nineteen? Otherwise, why would such a situation occur? Only Stonehammer didn't think so. For him, this was really nothing. In his heart, there was only one God, and that was Zhao Hai. Other Gods had to stand aside.
After the sacrificial ceremony, the army set out. The total number of the army was close to five hundred thousand. When they moved, there was a feeling of covering the sky and covering the earth. Looking at the departing army, Nineteen felt a little complacent.
Before the army set out, Nineteen had already made the allocation. As expected, Stonehammer and the others were appointed as the vanguard. The vanguard consisted of the Lost Soul City-State, the Stone Ox City-State, the Deer Cry City-State, the Blood Blade City-State, the Roaring Tiger City-State, and the Rushing Horse City-State. This was also within everyone's expectations.
The vanguard army was definitely the most dangerous existence in the entire army. Not only did the vanguard army have to be good at opening roads and building bridges, but they also had to be the first to come into contact with the enemy and fight the enemy. Therefore, the vanguard army was the most dangerous. When an army set out, the vanguard army would definitely be elites. This was because the vanguard army not only had to fight the enemy, but also had to win. Only by winning would the army's morale not be affected. Therefore, most vanguard generals were brave generals.
The army slowly moved forward. Stonehammer's face was calm as he sat on a horse. The generals of the other city-states were beside him. The army was only moving forward, and they hadn't left the Yalong City-State. This place was absolutely safe. They could also gather together and chat about how to prepare for the upcoming battle.
The general of Stone Bull City looked ahead and said solemnly, "Damn, that bastard Nian Nineteen is doing this on purpose. He wants us to be the vanguard. It's his first order and we have to give him face. I really want to curse."
Stone Hammer looked at them and smiled faintly, then he said, "Actually, this is also within my expectations. We can oppose Year 19's first order. Why would we give him face? He won't give us any money to spend, but there's no need to do so. Now that Nanhua City is on the defensive, we won't encounter any attacks along the way. It's very safe. What we need to do is to repair the roads. Moreover, we don't need to repair the roads, we're now on the official road of Yalong City. Once we arrive at Nanhua City, we can set up camp. Year 19 didn't order us to attack, and to be honest, even if we attack, Year 19 might not necessarily agree. He's afraid that we would capture Nanhua City, and at that time, not only would we gain merit, we would also gain a lot of benefits. Therefore, I think that Year 19 wants us to do some dirty work, but when the time comes, he won't let us fight. Since we're only doing this, our merit will naturally be small, and if they really capture a city, then we'll get the least benefits." Stone Hammer looked at them and smiled faintly, then he said, "Actually, this is also within my expectations. We can also oppose Year 19's first order. Why would we give him face, he won't give us any money to spend. But there's no need for that. Now that Nanhua City is on the defensive, we won't encounter any attacks along the way.
When they heard Stone Hammer, they couldn't help but stare blankly. Then their complexion changed. The commander of Deer City said, "Then what should we do? Then wouldn't our trip this time be a waste of money and food? " They were all commanders, so they naturally knew that when an army goes to war, even if they don't go to war, the amount of food and fodder consumed was very astonishing. Everyone wanted to make a great contribution in the war and then get some good things to make up for the loss of food and fodder. If Year 19 didn't let them go to war, then they wouldn't have the opportunity to make a contribution. Then they would only be wasting their food and fodder, they wouldn't be able to get anything substantial.
Stone Hammer smiled and said, "What's so great about that? We have a lot of food and fodder, we can afford it. Don't worry, it won't be easy for Year 19 to take down Nanhua City. I'm afraid that the Sacred Court already knows about Year 19's intention to attack. Year 19 will only hit an iron plate this time."
When they heard Stone Hammer's words, the commander of Tiger City said, "If Year 19 is defeated, then it's very likely that he will let us go to war in order to consume our strength. At that time, what should we do?"
Stone Hammer smiled and said, "If he wants us to go to war, then do we have to go? Did you forget that if the five City Lords object, then his order will be invalid? Hahaha, when the time comes, we can go to war, but we won't go according to Year 19's request. How we fight, where we fight, it's all up to us. "
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