Follow the path of Dao from infancy

"Will he, will he die?"

Li Wushuang watched Li Hao draw away the three Demon Kings and gently covered her mouth, unable to imagine that the worldly and carefree young man would make such a sacrifice.

No one answered.

Li Qingling and Li Xueyun were seeing Li Hao for the first time, and their hearts were deeply moved at this moment. Rumors proved less convincing than personal experience, and they immediately thought of the former heroes of the Li Family who had perished on the battlefield, as well as their own elder brothers and others.

But by comparison, most of them had already started families and had descendants.

With wives by their sides and children on their knees, they could be said to have enjoyed their blessings.

The most heartbreaking was Xiao Jiu. At the age of nineteen, just before his grand wedding, he sacrificed himself to save Cangzhou, becoming a profound pain in the hearts of the Li Family!

And now, the young man before them was only fifteen!

He had only seen fifteen springs and autumns in this world!

How much fortune had he enjoyed? How much hardship had he endured?

No one knew.

The world only knew of his dazzling brilliance, but no one saw the scars behind it.

Li Xuanli clenched his fists tightly until he saw Li Hao leading the three Demon Kings disappearing into the distant horizon, at which point he let out an angry roar, shouting:

"Activate the Array, kill the Demons!"

His voice was hoarse from shouting.

The battle-hardened man's eyes were bloodshot with redness and covered with blood vessels.

Hearing Li Xuanli's words, everyone else snapped back to their senses, and suddenly a sky-high shout erupted, as the nodes of the Array were shut down one by one. To avoid the Demon Kings returning to slaughter them, they did not fully deactivate the Array, maintaining half of it instead.

Within those nodes, the commanders in Liangzhou gave orders to the various soldiers to lead the charge out of the city.

Taking advantage of the moment, while General Haotian lured away the three Demon Kings, was the best opportunity to suppress this tide of demons; otherwise, once the Demon Kings returned and coordinated with these hordes, Liangzhou could fall in an instant.

"Disciple, watch carefully here. Your master has rested enough."

The Thousand-Mechanism Taoist also stepped out of the Array and charged toward the demon tide.

Now that there was no Demon King, he was unmatched within these demon hordes.

Li Qingling and Li Xueyun quickly surged out of the Array, rushing toward Li Hongzhuang who was deeply encircled by demons.

Li Hongzhuang also witnessed Li Hao drawing away the three Demon Kings, but at that moment, she was too busy to be concerned. Apart from heartache, she knew she could not help in any way and could only vent her anger on the surrounding Immortal Great Demons.

Strangely enough, her battle flag had inexplicably fallen and gotten lost earlier, but during the terrifying punch that Li Hao launched into the demon tide, she took advantage of the moment when the surrounding Three Immortal Demons were shocked and distracted to find her lost bundle of battle flags.

Now, relying on the might of the battle flag, she forced the surrounding Immortal Great Demons to retreat progressively, with several of them being directly slain by the Sword Qi that the battle flag tore apart!

A single battle flag could claim the life of a Three Immortal Demon!

Only if the Demon had some special means of survival could it escape by luck.

With Li Qingling and Li Xueyun's arrival, Li Hongzhuang's pressure was greatly reduced. She distributed four more battle flags to her two aunts and then joined forces to valiantly fight into the demon tide.

On the other side, Li Xuanli temporarily handed over the command of the battlefield to that commander from Liangzhou.

The other was of the Three Immortal Realms as well, and his experience in defending the battlefield was no less than Li Xuanli's. Li Xuanli himself rushed toward the place where Li Tian Gang had previously fallen.

Here, the demon tide surrounded and had encircled the spot where Li Tian Gang had fallen.

Li Xuanli swiftly cut through to the scene, clearing away many demons with a single sword strike, and saw that within there was a glow of sacred flame enveloping it—a Holy Heart Talisman, protecting Li Tian Gang.

He breathed a sigh of relief, seeing Li Tian Gang's armor shattered, his divine body bleeding profusely, a pang of pain hit his heart, and he turned to fight the surrounding demons.

As the power of the Holy Heart Talisman gradually faded, he cleared a space and quickly turned back, picking up Li Tian Gang and withdrawing towards the city.

"Don't leave!"

Two flood dragons surged out of the demon tide, speeding toward them.

Li Xuanli was enraged, about to strike, but saw a whooshing sound coming from not far away—it was a battle flag.

The two flood dragons also saw this and were so frightened they hastily dodged, but the battle flag tore apart when it got closer to them, and a horizontal slash of Sword Qi cut out, decapitated one of the flood dragons with a swish!

Gallons of dragon blood sprayed out, and a divine soul of the flood dragon rushed out from the carcass, fleeing in terror.

"Where do you think you're going!"

Li Hongzhuang shouted angrily, pursuing the escapee.

With that, Li Xuanli breathed a sigh of relief and quickly retreated with Li Tian Gang.

Other generals came to meet them, confronting and fighting the subsequent pursuing Great Demons, sparking an intense battle.

Li Xuanli successfully brought Li Tian Gang back to the city wall, where physicians who had been summoned were already awaiting to treat Li Tian Gang's injuries.

Li Tian Gang's consciousness was blurry, semi-comatose. Now under the physicians' treatment, he slowly began to regain consciousness and clarity.

Having a Tao Heart Realm himself with stronger healing abilities than during his Immortal period, coupled with the effect of many divine medicines, his body was visibly recovering at the speed of sight.

Just regaining consciousness, Li Tian Gang suddenly gasped for air as if waking from a nightmare. Then, the sounds of battle and raging shouts, along with the reaching horn blasts across the battlefield, made him instantly aware of where he was.

"Where's the Demon King? Where's Hao Er?!"

Li Tian Gang rapidly turned to look, only to see the battlefield engulfed in smoke, filled with the clamor of battle. Countless soldiers had already fought their way out of the city, entangled in combat with the demons.

However, among them, those few terrifying figures were nowhere to be seen.

"Hao Er..."

Li Xuanli's face changed slightly upon hearing his words, and his heart ached:

"Hao Er left, he lured those three Demon Kings away!"

Li Tian Gang's pupils constricted, his heart convulsed violently, and his heart felt as if it was clutched by something as he couldn't help but rage:n/ô/vel/b//jn dot c//om

"Why didn't he enter the Array? With the Array's protection, he could have held them back, just until reinforcements arrived..."

Li Xuanli looked at his bloodshot eyes and knew that his fury at that moment wasn't directed at Li Hao, but was born of fear.

His voice turned hoarse, "The power of that Candle Flame God is terrifying. If I have not misjudged, it seemed he might have a Dao Domain, but it seems he has not truly stepped into the Grand Tao of Peace Realm. If Hao Er had entered the Array, and the enemy established a Dao Domain in front of the Array... this Array won't withstand a single hit!"

"The Grand Tao of Peace Realm!"

Li Tian Gang exclaimed, his throat as if it was torn, staring blankly at Li Xuanli.

He knew what the Grand Tao of Peace Realm signified.

It was the pinnacle among terrifying monsters, the top of the Demon Kings!

"He, he..."

Li Tian Gang's lips trembled, his blood seemed to rush to his brain, and his whole body turned ice cold.

Looking at Li Xuanli's reddened eyes, Li Tian Gang finally realized that he might never see that child again.

"Impossible, impossible..."

His voice shook, his chest violently heaving. He couldn't believe that the child could be dead!

Seeing his dispirited appearance, Li Xuanli felt even more uncomfortable, thinking to himself that if the child hadn't come to Heavenly Gate Pass, perhaps nothing would have happened.

But seeing Li Tian Gang's state, he knew how painful it was to lose a son, so he didn't provoke him further.

Moreover, if Li Hao had not been at Heavenly Gate Pass, then this second defensive line would already be engulfed in misery and suffering!

The entirety of Liangzhou would be destroyed under the swift onslaught of the Demons.

The reinforcements from the Dayu Divine Dynasty simply couldn't arrive in time; after all, the Demons were well-prepared this time, willing to pay any price to wage war against the Dayu Divine Dynasty, with Liangzhou merely the prologue.

During the battle for Cangzhou, these Demons were still playing tricks behind the scenes, using the power of Dayu's vassal states to cause destruction. Now, they dare to show themselves directly!

Li Xuanli withdrew his thoughts, looking at the chaotic melee of the Demons, the figures of numerous soldiers falling. He took a deep breath and immediately said to the commander of Liangzhou:

"Quick, modify all the battle flags to Haotian Flags immediately!"

"Take out all the blank battle flags in the warehouse, write the name Haotian on them!"

The commander of Liangzhou was stunned, but then instantly understood.

The Haotian Flag had an immense deterrence to the Demons. Hoisting the Haotian Flag into battle would greatly reduce casualties.

"Quick!"

The commander of Liangzhou immediately roared, relaying the order:

"All the armies going into battle, hang the Haotian Army flags!!"

Hearing the words of the commander of Liangzhou, the elder heads of the assembled noble families' armies also came to their senses.

Someone immediately roared, modifying their own battle flags to Haotian Flags.

Meanwhile, some older generation members of the noble families hesitated. If they replaced their flags with Haotian Flags, to whom would the merit of this battle be attributed?

Whose heads should the Demons they slaughtered be counted towards?

Four aspects of life are most difficult to discern:

Honor, gain and loss, glory and shame, life and death!

Some are struggling at death's door, some are calculating their honors, and others are cowering in tremors. Even when death looms before their eyes, they are unable to change.

Some conjure courage out of desperation to fight back, while others only shriek miserably until their dying breath, not daring to struggle – it is just a matter of numbers.

At this moment, the vast majority of the noble families' armies had replaced their battle flags with the Haotian Army flags and charged into the battlefield.

As numerous Haotian Army flags rose on the battlefield, the Demons tide noticeably receded like water, especially the camps that charged in with the Haotian Army flags – they pierced into the Demons tide like sharp knives. Even the greater Demons within the tide, upon seeing those flags, were filled with doubt and did not dare to attack.

Those noble families' armies that did not replace their flags with Haotian Flags, however, sustained more attacks from the Demons tide, suffering heavy casualties, nearly annihilated.

Li Xuanli and the commander of Liangzhou saw the situation on the battlefield quickly reversing and were secretly delighted, but at the same time shocked – the prestige of Li Hao among the Demons was truly formidable!

The most important thing was that the Sword Array within the Haotian Flags was simply too strong, menacing these bloodthirsty and vicious Demons into fear.

Li Tian Gang also noticed the situation on the battlefield, looking at the flags raised and the two characters Haotian written on them.

He felt somewhat dazed and lost.

At this moment, he finally realized that the child he used to see playing carelessly in the courtyard, the youth he deemed frivolous, had changed, changed beyond recognition.

The demeanor he once disliked, that of a typical noble family's young master, now appeared on the battlefield, making him seem like an invincible War God.

Fighting alone against ten Demon Kings, crushing a million Demons with a single punch – that was no longer the Li Hao he knew.

In just a short year, he had become a hundred times more dazzling than when he was in the Li Family.

Wherever those fluttering battle flags went, the Demons were dispelled and steered clear.

Their prestige even surpassed that of the Yuan Camp established by the ancestors!

The fear of the Demons captured in his eyes left him both astonished and heartbroken.