A storm was brewing

Upon hearing the battle report, Li Tiangang's furrowed brows remained unchanged; he merely nodded slightly.

Then, his gaze fell upon the black earth beyond the vast territory.

"These Demon have repeatedly harassed us, testing our military strength in the east."

"The Fifth Brother is guarding the west side; the Demon have already discovered this. They might come from the Northern Lands or South..."

His eyes narrowed slightly when the South was mentioned.

To the South of Liang Prefecture lies Heaven's Gate Pass.

Thinking of that pass, he pictured the stubborn, unyielding figure of that young man, and those stubborn yet cold eyes.

The wrinkles between his brows deepened.

"Marshal, the young master killed the Lesser Demon King in Great Yue City earlier, so the Old Demon King of Ten Thousand Mountains probably won't let it go easily, right?"

Beside him, Li Fu said with a worried expression.

Looking at the wounded soldiers all around him, he thought of the boy at Heaven's Gate Pass. He knew very well how fierce the wind and snow were on the Frontier.

Li Tiangang remained unmoved and said, "That Lesser Demon King is Heavenly Talent talented. The Old Demon King of Ten Thousand Mountains will not let this go. He may collude with other Demon to invade our territory together."

"Well..." Li Fu couldn't help but glance at him.

Li Tiangang calmly said, "Hao'er has a Four Establishments Realm expert secretly protecting him, who is an old friend of my Second Uncle, and he also has that Qilin from the Tan Palace Academy, so he should be safe."

"This time, I'm leading the army to Liang Prefecture, so I've temporarily entrusted all matters, big and small, to my Eldest Sister-in-Law- in-law. My Second Uncle has no one to look after him, and no one can control him. He'll most likely be unable to restrain himself and head to Heaven's Gate Pass."

"With them here, even if the Old Demon King of Ten Thousand Mountains gathers the other two Demon King outside Heaven's Gate Pass to attack, he will be able to protect himself. We can also take this opportunity to clear out the Demon King outside Heaven's Gate Pass and let the people of the Demon Suppression Division deal with them. In that case, we won't have to abandon Heaven's Gate Pass."

The previously decided decision to abandon Heaven's Gate Pass was a last resort.

If we can preserve it, that would be the best outcome.

After all, this is the place pioneered by the Late Emperor and the Li Family Ancestors, and it is soaked in the blood of countless predecessors and soldiers.

Li Fu was slightly taken aback. If that were the case, wouldn't it mean that Li Hao was being used to lure the Demon King from Outside the Pass?

"Wouldn't it be too dangerous for you, young master, to participate in a battle at the Four Establishments Realm?" Li Fu asked with concern.

"If he doesn't want to participate, he can just obediently leave. As long as he lowers his head, the Divine General Residence will be waiting for him to return at any time."

Li Tiangang said coldly, "The letter I sent him earlier offered him a way out, but he was too proud to admit his mistake and didn't even reply!"

"Since that's the case, let those Demon King teach him a lesson, let him know what cruelty and despair are. Once he's experienced life and death, he'll realize how ridiculous his arrogance was!"

"But the young master is still young, and it's normal for him to have youthful spirit. Wouldn't this approach...?"

"No need to say anything more."

Li Tiangang waved his hand to interrupt him, saying, "This is the Eastern Border. Liang Prefecture is in danger at any moment. According to previous reconnaissance, the Dragon Gate has also appeared, as well as the Saint Palace of Northern Yan, which is an old ally. This time, they plan to shift their base, using Liang Prefecture as a breach. This could be a tough battle no less intense than the one fought in Northern Yan. Don't get distracted!"

Li Fu opened his mouth slightly, gave a bitter smile, and said nothing more.

At that moment, a bird swooped down, falling from the Cloud End like an arrow.

Li Tiangang looked up, then raised his hand, and the rapidly swooping sparrow stopped quickly, landing on his forearm.

The sparrow's chest swelled, and it spat out a scroll from its beak.

"It's the First Madam's Cloud Sparrow."

Li Fu recognized the Bird Demon that delivered the message as a battlefield messenger specially raised by the Divine General Residence.

Li Tiangang took the letter, unfolded it, glanced at it a few times, and his expression changed slightly.

"Marshal, could it be that something happened in Qing Prefecture?" Li Fu couldn't help but ask.

Li Tiangang's face was gloomy. He squeezed the letter with his fingers, and it crumbled into ashes.

"The second favor..."

Li Tiangang's fingers, which had been crushing the letter, clenched slightly into a fist.

He recalled that back in Northern Yan, when he heard that Li Hao was unable to cultivate, he single-handedly charged out of the Military Formation, killed a Great Demon with Three Immortalities, and transported its precious blood back with him.

Now, that young man has brought the Nine Cauldrons Demon King's Precious Blood to repay the kindness shown to him back then.

Does that mean we're even?

Li Tiangang felt a surge of emotions that he couldn't quite define as either distress or Anger.

He could even picture the boy's cold eyes when he returned the Demon King's Precious Blood.

In addition, the letter also mentioned that there were four Demon King attacking Heaven's Gate Pass. Fortunately, Heavenly Secrets Pavilion and Second Uncle went to reinforce them and drove the Demon King away.

With four Demon Kings in such a formidable array, even though Li Tiangang wasn't at Heaven's Gate Pass, he could still sense the danger there.

He was both relieved and somewhat conflicted about the Heavenly Secrets Pavilion and his Second Uncle coming to his aid, as he had expected it.

He suddenly realized that the young man was famous All Under Heaven, and even without the Li Family's connections, many people would still pay attention to him.

Trying to force them back by brute force alone will only result in too many people becoming obstacles.

And these people will all become an asset to that child's stubbornness and resilience.

"So, your plan is to guard Heaven's Gate Pass for three years, and then cut it off?"

Li Tiangang murmured to himself, a cold glint in his eyes. He took a deep breath, calmed himself, and focused his attention back on the battlefield in Liang Prefecture.

He understood that the child's stubbornness meant he was determined to see things through to the end.

The previous battle in Qing Prefecture made the Li Family All Under Heaven, but it was a shameful reputation that was ridiculed.

After all, in this father-son conflict, although most people condemned Li Hao for being unfilial, the issue ultimately came down to the Li Family.

He will not allow such a scandal to happen again.

Once the battle in Liang Prefecture is over, or once the situation in the Eastern Border stabilizes, Li Tiangang plans to personally go to Heaven's Gate Pass and drag the enemy back!

He never took that so-called agreement seriously, so tearing it up wouldn't matter.

He wouldn't let Li Hao leave the Li Family so easily.

Beyond the Great Wall, where Blackstone lie, lies a swamp a thousand miles away.

The swamp stretches for hundreds of miles, filled with churning mud, where mud bubbles occasionally burst.

A foul stench emanated from the swamp. Suddenly, a patch of mud in the swamp stirred, and a huge figure emerged from it— Jiaolong.

Its body meandered and coiled in the swamp, its scales covered in mud, and its emerald eyes seemed to contain a potent venom.

"Did you find out? Li Tiangang is indeed stationed in the Eastern Border."

"To the west is the fifth son of the Li Family, to the east is Li Tiangang, and in Cang Province, the whereabouts of the Old Eighth of the Li Family have already been revealed."

"Those two old geezers from the Li Family will still be stationed in Qing Prefecture."

Several figures appeared above the muddy swamp, dressed entirely in black robes, but the edges of the robes revealed the dark gold clothing underneath, exuding extreme luxury.

"Even though our people haven't yet moved to Liang Prefecture, the rumors we've already made have made the Li Family extremely nervous."

One of the figures in black robes let out a strange laugh, and as he spoke, he would occasionally stick out his forked tongue and lick his cheeks and nose.

Another figure in black robes nearby noticed his subconscious action and frowned, saying with displeasure:

"Can you please put away this disgusting habit of yours? We are undergoing tribulations to transform into dragons, striving to shed our serpentine forms, yet you still retain this serpentine nature. It's truly nauseating."

"That's you guys. I have no intention of becoming a dragon; I want to become a giant snake!"

The man from before said with a sinister smile.

His words actually concealed a deeper meaning: he not only wanted to become a giant serpent, but also a serpent that would devour dragons!

"Snort!"

Upon hearing this, the others all snorted coldly, revealing their displeasure.

"Did you all come here just to argue? Just say what you have to say, I'm going back to sleep afterward."

"It's Mud Jiaolong in the swamp," the swamp creature said lazily.

"The elders said that you should occasionally gather some junior members to attack the Eastern Border, keep Li Tiangang occupied and stabilize him. Soon, the Saint Palace will take over this area."

"The Saint Palace and Li Tiangang are old rivals. They fought all the way from Northern Yan to here, and they said they would skin Li Tiangang alive and eat him. This time, without the help of the Saber Saint from Northern Yan, and without the favor of the Desert Sword Saint, let's see how Li Tiangang can stop them!"

"This Liang Prefecture region is a barren wasteland, and has never produced any outstanding figures. Even if there were, they are either dead or long gone."

"Hmph, if I weren't outmatched, I'd be eager to cause trouble for Li Tiangang."

"Let's just forget about it. This brat Li Tiangang, although not from the older generation of the Li Family, is still at the Three Immortalities Peak. I heard he killed more than a dozen Three Immortalities Great Demon in Northern Yan. He's terrifying!"

"Fortunately, the ninth son of the Li Family died in battle in Cang Province, otherwise our Demon Race would have had another powerful enemy!"

"Let's cut to the chase, we still need to go Northern Lands and take a look."

"The Northern Lands borders Youzhou, and the You Province Xia Family is stationed there, which is quite troublesome. We can't break through from there."

"The best course of action would have been to break through from the South, but we heard that Li Tiangang's son is there, guarded by the Four Establishments Realm, so we have to change our route."

As they spoke, the figures in black robes waved to the Mud Jiaolong in the swamp and flew Northern Lands.

"I've heard the Xia Family doesn't have a good relationship with the Li Family. Let's go and test the waters first, and see if the Xia Family will cross the border to help us if we invade from the Northern Lands."

One of the figures in black robes spoke.

Heaven's Gate Pass, Azure Cliff City.

With the help of many Warriors, Azure Cliff City has been basically completed.

An elderly Constellation Official from the Bureau of Astronomy, along with several of his students, was busy constructing Magic Array here, working up a sweat.

Xia Xianglan was no longer as lively and playful as usual. Instead, she quietly followed her master, diligently helping him and at the same time carefully observing and learning.

Only occasionally, when she looked up, would she glance at that location in the city, but she could only see the outline of that Hedge-Enclosed Courtyard.

Li Hao wrote down a modified and integrated Spirit Refining Method for Ren Qianqian. The level of mastery this Spirit Refining Method could achieve was close to that of the Imperial Clan's technique.

He himself cultivated several different methods of Spirit Refining Method, which enabled him to surpass the one used by the Imperial Clan.

While Ren Qianqian was cultivating in the camp, Li Hao took the Dragon Sky Sword, threw the Little White Fox onto the mat in the courtyard, and then walked out of the pass alone.

The three-headed Demon King has already escaped; it's unknown whether we'll encounter him again in his lair.

Li Hao desperately needs a Demon King to practice on.