Declaration

Wang Li and Bai Hua Fairy seemed to completely ignore Wu Xing Wen's cries of pain.

Wang Li glanced at Bai Hua Fairy, the Great Monk of Sorrow and Xuanyuan Tianzun, smiled and asked: "Shall I?"

The Great Monk of Sorrow: "Amitabha, then we'll trouble you, benefactor Wang"

Bai Hua Fairy and Xuanyuan Tianzun also nodded.

Wang Li stood up, walked to the platform then declared to the cultivators below: "This battle's victory is attributed entirely to a single person's plan. Since we have yet to mention his due Merit and rewards, that is what I shall announce right now"

Hearing that, all the cultivators had the same thought Just how exactly did this campaign's victory come to be? It was completely shrouded in mystery, one that no one here could lift. Before the decisive battle, the four Saints suddenly arrived and declared they were able to track the traitor of humanity. After that, everyone went into the General's tent one by one. All they remembered is that they went inside, felt disoriented, then arrived at a subspace.

There, Xuanyuan Tianzun and the Great Monk of Sorrow arranged the roles and tactics they had to follow, saying that they must be ready to fight as soon as they leave this subspace. And when they left, they were already near Demon Clouds River. On a battlefield not too far from there, the demons and spirit beast had nearly all died out. Everyone was shocked, but didn't have time to think too much about it, only followed the four Saint's orders and quickly prepared to fight.

After that, the Four Saints themselves entered a hard battle with the Tianma, and the demon beasts surrendered. Everyone only managed to control the large-scale attack formations to attack a Beast Saint a few times, stood and watched the one sided fight between the Shadow Sword Saint and the Tianma, then the battle was suddenly won. Everyone was slightly shocked since they heard that the Tianma had surpassed Sainted Realm. They finally realized the strength of the Shadow Sword Saint.

No one got hurt, no one died, they simply won. Everyone was still in disbelief. It wasn't until after the campaign was over that it was widely known that the spirit beasts had betrayed them. Everyone gasped. If while they were on the battlefield, fully concentrated on killing the demons and suddenly got attacked from behind by the spirit beasts, the results would've been frightening.

Just who found out about this unbelievable truth?

Without this crucial piece of information, humanity would've been caught in a pincer attack between the demons and spirit beasts and lost without any doubt.

And then, how did the Saints manage to win?

Quite a few people here know that there are a total of 13 Beast Saints. Their number has been the biggest reason why they are able to keep the four Saints at a stalemate, just how did that suddenly get resolved?

So many matters were shrouded in mystery, every cultivator was extremely curious about it, they wanted to know. But no one dared to openly questioned the four Saints about it. And now, Shadow Sword Saint is finally going to reveal the truth behind it all. Facing the anticipation of everyone, Wang Li smiled, then spoke.

"One person found out the truth about the spirit beasts' betrayal after infiltrating the demon's territory"

The entire area started to become rowdy from the sound of discussion. Sure enough, it was about this matter!

Wang Li continued: "This person had suggested their own tactic for this decisive battle"

"Through much discussion by myself, my Shifu, Xuanyuan Tianzun and the Great Monk of Sorrow, we had concluded that this tactic was a brilliant battle plan"

"Regarding the results of that plan, you can all see with your own eyes"

"Eight Beast Saints had left for another world, unable to ever return"

"Tens of thousands of spirit beasts, as well as over 100,000 demons were ambushed by us and nearly all died out, the few of them that remains can no longer fight against humanity"

At this point, Wang Li stopped a bit before continuing: "But when I arrived at the frontline, I found that he was framed for abusing power to bully the weak, to kill an innocent, and was isolated by all"

Many gasps of surprise came from the cultivators below. Quite a few quick-witted cultivators had noticed who Wang Li was talking about. But they still couldn't believe it.

Then, Wang Li declared: "Xiao Qi Chaplain, Gu Qing Shan"

"Here"

In front of everyone, Gu Qing Shan once again stood out.

"You found out the truth about the spirit beasts' betrayal, preventing the loss of life of many cultivators here, a great contribution"

"You suggested a brilliant tactic that prevented the four of us from being taken to unknown lands, using the demon beasts' preparations against themselves, eliminating 8 Beast Saints in the process, a great contribution"

"In this battle, your many contributions had proven that you are a talented General"

"The merit gained from your contributions had exceeded the amount that's required for the Chaplain rank"

Wang Li stopped again and looked at his junior brother with extreme satisfaction.

He declared: "After discussion between the four of us, you are now promoted to the rank of You Ji General"

"Roger"

"Men, present him with the golden armor and change his badge"

"Thank you, Saints"

Following Wang Li and Gu Qing Shan's conversation, the entire army went into an uproar.

'It was him!'

So all of this was done by him!

Thinking about it carefully, they realized, no wonder the spirit beasts badmouthed him, it's very possible that the Tianma had found out that he might have already noticed the truth! Unfortunately, Wu Xing Wen knew nothing about this and even helped the spirit beasts to try and push him down.

If Gu Qing Shan had not been able to report the spirit beasts' betrayal to the Saints…

Many people unconsciously reached for their waist, imagining the scene of their own spirit beast suddenly jumping out and attacked them. Everyone shivered in fear! Just like that, they all owe him a great favor. Many people were still in disbelief, looking at the other three Saints for confirmation. The Great Monk of Sorrow and Xuanyuan Tianzun were both smiling and nodding in praise. They were no longer in disbelief.

If the other two Saints also reacted like this, then this matter really isn't just something the master and disciples trio of Bai Hua sect orchestrated by themselves. The way cultivators looked at Gu Qing Shan had changed. A few were of admiration, a few were of shame, but most of them were thinking about how to apologize to him.

A main point of cultivation is to cultivate the mind, even though they were fooled, the fact that they had coldly rained him with jeers still put them in the wrong. If they don't do anything, their Dao heart wouldn't be able to settle down, which is detrimental to themselves. While the painful cries of Wu Xing Wen's punishment still continued, the few people who were discussing in empathy of him has now all stopped and no longer bothered with him. It was like they had ignored both his existence and his screams.

"Very well, next, I have two things to announce" Wang Li spoke.

"The first, from now on, all spirit beasts must swear on their inner demons before they are allowed to serve humanity"

"A spirit beast that doesn't want to swear on their inner demon is not allowed to interact with humans"

"Anyone that violates this rule shall be killed without question"

Hearing that, everyone went solemn, but no one dared to say anything back. No extraneous explanations, no mincing words, simply declaring that they shall be killed.

This was Shadow Sword Saint Wang Li's style all of them were familiar with.

"The second, everyone shall stay in place and began preparations, three days from now ——"

He stopped for a bit for everyone to become silent. A few cultivators gulped anxiously, others only stared at him without making a sound. The entire camp very quickly went silent, no one made a sound, no one even dared to move.

A complete silence.

Wang Li glanced over the entire camp as his voice raised and declared: "We shall attack Shen We world!"

The cultivators suddenly burst into a blasting response and continued on for a while after. Wang Li simply left for his tent to rest. After a few hours Qin Xiao Luo came in a hurry.

"Second Brother, junior brother is deeply injured."

"Ah ok. Take me there."

He then followed Qin Xiao Luo to Gu Qing Shan's General's tent.

"Foundation Establishment peak?"

Glancing at Gu Qing Shan, he came up, took Gu Qing Shan's hand and sent in his spirit energy to check him.

After a while, he sneered and scolded him: "What did you do to make your body in this much of a mess?"

"I was practicing [Seven Swords Flowing Dragon]" Gu Qing Shan honestly replied.

Wang Li didn't quite expect to hear that and asked: "Ah? How far have you practiced? Did you manifest a dragon yet?"

"A lightning dragon"

Wang Li's frown loosened, instead turned into a prideful smile: "Quite decent, you're already able to use [Flowing Dragon] before you're even 20"

"Of the 3000 acknowledged sword cultivators, who can even compare to my junior brother besides me?"

"Sure enough, my Bai Hua Sect is still the best"

Sword qi concentrated to its very limit manifest into sword phantom. Sword phantoms are able to cut through anything, they're extremely powerful. But at the time they're formed, the sword phantom is similar to a wild horse without reins, exceptionally hard to control. Being able to tame your own sword phantom and control it to accurately hit a target qualifies calling yourself a sword cultivator. This bar is set very high, high enough that numerous cultivators who learn the sword couldn't make it.

And to be called an acknowledged sword cultivator, you need to not only be able to form a sword phantom, you must also accurately demonstrate three full sword styles without any mistakes. This bar is set much higher, and much harder.

In the entire cultivation world, there's only about a total of 3000 people who reaches this height.

But both Gu Qing Shan and Wang Li are already able to demonstrate too many sword styles to count.

And now, Gu Qing Shan's even already learnt one of the four strongest Secret Arts below the realm of Sword Saint, generally considered to be the hardest of them all, [Seven Stars Flowing Dragon].

Wang Li casually used the upgraded Mystic Palm Hand which can heal any physical wound except death.

Gu Qing Shan healed quickly and was amazed by this.

"Senior Brother what was that?" Gu Qing Shan asked

"Its a Divine Spell that can treat all physical wounds except death."

Gu Qing Shan was in awe, then as though suddenly remembering something, he asked: "Does our sect have any Qi Training realm scriptures?"

"We do, when Shifu formed the sect, she spent a bit of effort to collect a few thousand kinds of elementary scriptures in the world"

"That's great, can I get a copy?"

"Of course, but I don't bring it with me, so you'll have to wait. I'll teleport back to the sect and get you a copy"

"Thank you, senior brother"

"We're brothers, no need for such formalities" saying so, Wang Li sunk into his shadow.

A few minutes later, Wang Li returned. He threw a thick white brick over to Gu Qing Shan.

"What is this? A brick?" receiving the white brick, Gu Qing Shan was a bit surprised.

"Didn't you say you wanted some Qi Training realm scriptures? That's all of them right there, a bit over 2000 kinds"

"All of them are in this brick?"

"What brick, this is a mega-sized jade tag"

"Alright then"

Wang Li then returned back to the tent to rest and prepare for the attack 3 days later.

At noon, on the second day, Wang Li decided to take a walk outside out of boredom after discussing about the Shen Wu World with the other Saints. He first went towards his junior brother's tent. At the moment, there were numerous tools and materials used for forging littered around the empty area outside his camp.

Qin Xiao Lou was concentrated on making an airship.

Seeing how he's so concentrated, Wang Li decided not to bother him and walk around the camp instead. The entire camp was rowdy, full of spirit. Everyone who saw him greeted him with respect and enthusiasm. Wang Li smiled while walking, greeting members of the sects on his way.

He saw that other cultivators are also busy making their own airships as well. After thinking about it for a bit, Gu Qing Shan understood. Humanity can no longer trust the spirit beasts. But flying by their own power is a waste of spirit energy. It's fine in battle, for the sake of winning, they'd even use 200% of their spirit energy if they could. But if they have to fly on their own while marching as well, that's too tiring.

If they happen to meet an ambush and wasted too much spirit energy from flying while on the march, leading to not having enough spirit energy to fight, that'll be a really regrettable death. Another grand battle is about to come. So everyone unanimously decided to make airships.

Although these things cost spirit stones to operate and fly, that's still much better than having to fly on you own. Not to mention, you can set up Spirit Funnel formations the airships themselves to help recover and meditate during the march. While walking, Wang Li saw a beautifully made airship from afar.

A beautiful "Xi" character was painted on both sides of the ship, decorated with an elegant but less noticeable orchid, but still very eye-catching overall. Walking up to ask the cultivators making it, Gu Qing Shan found out it really was Ning Yue Xi's airship.

She just got promoted to Ding Yuan General, so there were many things that she had to do, having to ask others to make an airship for her while she dealt with other matters. Looking around a bit more, Gu Qing Shan found that all the airships more and less has a signature decoration on them.

Some are patterns, drawings, some are calligraphy characters, either way, they show who the owner is. That way, it'll be easy to tell who is who on the way. Acquaintances can meet up and greet each other, while sects that don't necessarily get along can tell at a glance and stay away from each other.

Wang Li returned to his own tent.

At noon, third day.

The Center Tent.

Wang Li, Bai Hua Fairy, Xuanyuan Tianzun and the Great Monk of Sorrow were sitting in the host seats. Below, an armored General just finished receiving his role, stood up to bow then left.

Gu Qing Shan walked in.

After some small talk Xuanyuan Tianzun changed the subject: "The army is just about to attack Shen Wu world, currently we're arrange the roles for each general, we summoned you here because we wanted to hear your thoughts before making our decisions"

Gu Qing Shan clasped his fists: "I'm willing to lead the troops"

The four Saints exchanged looks, but didn't say anything yet. Bai Hua Fairy was smiling, very satisfied with this disciple of hers. Many generals who just advanced their ranks would rather choose a dangerous and arduous solo mission rather than leading troops.

Because leading troops also means their responsibility magnifies greatly.

Every single soldier's life or death depends entirely on the general's competence. Not to mention, they have to arrange the battle plan and marching plan for their troops; once they finished their mission and meet up with other troops, they have to make a quick decision on whether to combine troops for safety or quickly return to report the mission.

Aside from that, once the troops meet an enemy they can't beat with pure force, or while on the frontline, they have to be able to quickly think of the way to break through the situations, otherwise they'll be met with an "incompetent commander" label and gets punished for it via military laws.

That is to say, gaining the title of "General" is easy, actually doing the job of one is very hard.

Xuanyuan Tianzun thought about it, then arranged his words a bit: "Although you've contributed greatly in the previous battle, you're still very young, not even 20 years old yet. If you were to command troops, there's a chance that your subordinates will not listen to you"

"Yes, Saint. Then, at first I'm willing to command just a small amount of troops as well" Gu Qing Shan answered.

While he was thinking, the Great Monk of Sorrow spoke up: "Amitabha, this monk also think young benefactor Gu is much too young. It's better for you to train a little and get used to being a General before we talk about commanding troops again"

Hearing two Saints saying the same thing, Gu Qing Shan was a bit disappointed.

'I'm only inexperienced on the surface while I've been through countless battlefields already, couldn't you at least give me a chance to try it?'

He then looked at Bai Hua Fairy and Wang Li and said: "I'm willing to command only a team of 10, I don't need more than that"

Bai Hua Fairy also shook her head: "You're inexperienced so even 10 people might be a problem, it's better if you get used to the position first"

Direct refusal.

Bai Hua Fairy sent her voice to her disciple: "What they're saying makes sense, and I also think so. The situation with Shen Wu world is unknown, it's safer for you to travel alone for now. Once you've gotten used to the situation there, I'll provide you with some men"

Gu Qing Shan could only clasp his fist: "Understood"

Seeing him accepting it, the three Saint slightly nodded.

"Very well, you're dismissed for now, we'll discuss about it for a bit more before delegating your role"

"Roger"

Gu Qing Shan retreated from the center tent.

That night, the entire camp got busy. An air of uncertainty filled the place. Since tomorrow they'll officially attack into Shen Wu world, everyone was anxious. That night, the three Ding Yuan Generals Gong Sun Zhi, monk Sun Ming and Ning Yue Xi will lead their own troops and advance to Shen Wu world first. They will open up an area within the sea of demons, put down formations and set up camp, preparing to receive humanity's main army the day after.