Chapter 384 - 309: Six Months of Settling, the Expedition is Imminent
He also saw Li Yao at the very front of the crowd.
Li Yao stood there, alone, wearing no armor and carrying no sword.
He simply stood there, watching Li Xing on the high platform.
Li Xing retracted his gaze and began to speak softly.
"More than three hundred years ago, that otherworldly Tentacle tore our world asunder."
In the square, some began to tremble.
"It crushed the World Will, treated us like ants, and seized our homeland..."
Within the crowd, some lowered their heads.
"In these three hundred-odd years, we have lost too many lives, shed too much blood..."
"Our children, from the moment of their birth, have never seen the true sun.
Our elders have died hoping just to see a clear sky one last time.
Of the seeds we plant, only one in ten survives.
When we lie down to sleep, we do not know if we will see the light of morning."
...
In the square, some began to sob.
"For more than three hundred years, we have resisted without ever giving up."
Below, the millions of people were utterly silent.
Li Xing raised his right hand, slowly clenching it into a fist.
Behind him, three rings of Star Orbits suddenly unfurled!
The Gravity Orbit expanded to a thousand zhang, and space began to warp. Sunlight bent into arcs at the orbit’s edge.
The Purification Orbit showered down a silvery glow. Three hundred years of accumulated sorrow, fear, and despair dissolved without a sound the instant the Starlight touched them.
The Time Orbit pulsed, and everyone’s heart began to beat faster in unison.
As if something deep within them had been stirred, blood rushed to their heads in a fiery surge!
Li Xing’s voice erupted in the heart of every person present.
"Today..." The hand he had clenched into a fist suddenly shot out, pointing north!
"Today... we take back what is ours!"
"And we will... annihilate them!"
Below, a dead silence fell.
And then... the roar erupted!
Millions roared as one, the shockwave of their fury shaking dust from the very stones of the city walls.
Some fell to their knees, crying out. Others grabbed those beside them, jumping and screaming...
Some threw their hands to the sky, unleashing three hundred years of suppressed despair and rage in a single, guttural roar!
"KILL!!!"
"KILL THEM ALL!!!"
"SOVEREIGN!!!"
"SOVEREIGN!!!"
"SOVEREIGN!!!"
The roars were thunderous, wave after wave crashing into the heavens, making the very clouds tremble!
At the forefront of the crowd, Li Yao stood alone.
He didn’t shout, or jump, or cry.
He simply watched in silence... at the figure on the high platform, bathed in Starlight.
「Thirty years.」
He had followed that figure, watched him lead them from a single city to the Human Race Holy Land, from a desperate struggle for survival to the eve of their counteroffensive.
He watched that man cut down one Corrupt Lord after another, purifying stretch after stretch of scorched earth.
He watched that man who never stopped to celebrate, who never looked back on the path he had trod.
He watched that man stand at the center of millions, his entire being lit by starlight.
But he knew...
Li Yao lowered his gaze. No one saw the look on his face.
On the high platform, Li Xing withdrew his Star Orbits and turned.
The millions of people were still roaring themselves hoarse.
He descended from the high platform and walked through the crowd.
The crowd parted for him, forming a path. All knelt, pressing their foreheads to the ground.
Only Li Yao was still standing.
Li Xing stopped in front of him.
The two brothers looked at each other in silence.
Li Yao opened his mouth as if to speak, but it felt as though something was caught in his throat.
Li Xing reached out and patted him gently on the shoulder.
It was just like thirty years ago, when Li Xing had found him among a column of refugees.
Then, Li Xing moved past him and shot into the sky, vanishing in an instant.
Behind him, Li Yao remained, completely motionless.
「After a long moment.」
Li Yao finally turned his head to look north.
He narrowed his eyes. Something welled up within them.
But... it did not fall.