On the Avenue.

Chapter 674 Take Everyone Away
Two heavenly generals carried a stretcher, riding on auspicious clouds, and headed straight for Xitiandang.

Xitiandang was where Li Tianwang trained his troops. He arranged his troops, practiced offense and defense, and practiced magic all took place here.

Li Tianwang's injuries were too severe; even the slightest bump would make him groan in pain, and he arrived at Xitiandang in this groaning manner.

Unable to move his head, Li Tianwang could only listen intently, but hearing nothing, he couldn't help but laugh, "Chen Shi is still too young. Although the celestial soldier's status is lowly, it's still a stable job, with a monthly salary paid on time, which is extremely rare in the mortal realm. He thinks that if he raises his arm and calls, people will really follow him and abandon this stable job to leave the Heavenly Court. He's really too arrogant."

"My lord..." the general stammered.

"What is it?" Li Tianwang asked with a smile.

That day, the general hesitated and said, "My lord, quite a few heavenly soldiers and generals have come to Xitiandang..."

Li Tianwang was slightly taken aback, but didn't take it to heart, and laughed: "Flowers come in a hundred colors, and people come in a thousand shapes. Of course, some fools think that life outside the Heavenly Court is carefree and can't wait to leave. Little do they know that they will regret it after leaving the Heavenly Court. Many immortals go out to gain experience, but they always end up returning to the Heavenly Army camp. I've seen too many people like this. Do you know why?"

No words were spoken that day.

Li Tianwang said, “Because it’s worse outside. The monthly salary that the Heavenly Court gives you is a treasure that countless immortals can only dream of! The monthly salary of the Heavenly Soldiers is not much, but a bottle of elixir, a bottle of spiritual liquid, plus some money, is enough for daily cultivation. Immortals outside can’t even afford daily cultivation, so they might as well come back and be Heavenly Soldiers!”

He had a somewhat arrogant demeanor.

He has been in charge of the Heavenly Army for 300,000 years, during which time countless immortals have ascended to heaven.

He had seen many proud immortals who planned to leave the Heavenly Court to make a name for themselves, and he had seen many of them suffer setbacks and even be shattered to pieces in the face of the realities of the Earthly Immortal Realm.

He had also seen many immortals, their bodies and minds battered and bruised, who returned to the Heavenly Court, timidly sought him out, and begged to return to the Heavenly Army Camp.

Admittedly, Li Tianwang did do many unkind things. For example, those heavenly soldiers and generals who offended him often died tragically on their way to investigate cases, and there were even cases where an entire battalion of immortals perished.

However, this Heavenly Army Camp is always the best choice for newly ascended immortals.

On the stretcher, Li Tianwang smiled sarcastically, saying, "This is a meal bestowed upon you by the Heavenly Court. Without this meal, you wouldn't get anything. Heh, you just wouldn't get anything..."

"Heavenly King, Heavenly King!" the heavenly general carrying the stretcher whispered.

Li Tianwang was getting impatient: "What's wrong? Just say it!"

That day, the general said, "There are quite a few heavenly soldiers and generals in Xitiandang..."

Li Tianwang's heart skipped a beat, and he hurriedly said, "How much is 'a little'? Quick! Go to the command post!"

The general hurriedly carried the stretcher up to the command platform in the air and landed on it.

Li Tianwang urged, "Stand me up! Hurry up! Don't make me stand up too much, I can roll my eyes, don't let me fall out..."

He had just finished speaking when he suddenly stopped and fell silent.

Below the command platform, in the Western Heavenly Lake, what came into his view was an endless expanse of heavenly soldiers and generals, their ranks neat and orderly. Each battalion was commanded by a general, who kept his thousands of heavenly soldiers in check.

Twelve battalions formed one unit, garrisoned by the governor-general. Ten units formed one garrison, garrisoned by the governor-general.

What came into Li Tianwang's view were tens of thousands of heavenly soldiers and generals.

They were very disciplined and made no sound.

Li Tianwang's face was pale, as if his bones had been broken again by his rebellious son. He felt as if his heart was bleeding, and he said in a hoarse voice, "Why are so many people leaving the Heavenly Army Camp... Turn me over there."

Two heavenly generals turned the stretcher, and more heavenly soldiers came into view.

There were also tens of thousands of heavenly soldiers and generals on the right side of the command platform!
The two heavens continued to rotate, and Li Tianwang saw tens of thousands of heavenly soldiers and generals on the north side.

The two heavenly generals turned around again, and Li Tianwang saw tens of thousands of heavenly soldiers and generals on the east side.

Li Tianwang trembled, feeling as if the blood in his body was rushing to his brain, and he heard a buzzing sound of blood flowing in his ears. His voice was hoarse as he said, "Two hundred thousand heavenly soldiers and generals, have they all come? Two hundred thousand heavenly soldiers and generals—two hundred thousand heavenly soldiers and generals, are they all following Chen Shi? I don't believe it!"

He screamed and tumbled off the stretcher. Instantly, every part of his body was in excruciating pain. The bones that had been broken by his rebellious son and the masked men snapped again, and he felt like a writhing maggot in agony.

"Li Tianwang, why are you lying on the ground?"

Chen Shi flew over and landed on the command platform, helped him up, and put him back on the stretcher.

Li Tianwang struggled, trying to activate his magical power, but his primordial spirit was also severely injured by the Great God of the Three Altars and Seas, making it unusable. His sea of ​​consciousness was also blasted into a mess, making it difficult to use his divine sense.

"Chen Shi! You can't take them away!"

Li Tianwang used all his strength to raise one hand and grab Chen Shi's wrist, saying with all his might, "You can't take them away! If you take them away, the Heavenly Army Camp will be empty, there will be no one left! Then there will be no more Heavenly Soldiers and Generals to guard the Heavenly Court!"

Chen Shi broke free from his grasp and said, "Heavenly King, it's not that I want to take them away, but that our contract with the Heavenly Court has expired, and we are now free."

Li Tianwang's voice trembled with anxiety, almost crying: "Chen Shi, you can't take them away! Now that the Heavenly Secrets and Jade Balance Gate are gone, no more immortals will ascend! These heavenly soldiers and generals are becoming increasingly rare. If you take another 200,000, the Heavenly Army will cease to exist!"

Chen Shi said leisurely, "Heavenly King, aren't there still nearly 100,000 heavenly soldiers and generals in the Great World of Nirvana? Don't worry, after we leave, you will still be the Grand Marshal of all the armies under heaven."

Li Tianwang was so angry he almost vomited blood. He roared, "When those heavenly soldiers and generals hear that you've taken away 200,000 of your comrades, a large number of them will surely leave the Heavenly Court when their contracts expire and go to join you! It's hard to say how many heavenly soldiers and generals I'll have left! You can't take these people with you!"

Chen Shi smiled and said, "Heavenly King, in the past, heavenly soldiers and generals were worthless. You could have as many as you wanted. You could send an entire battalion of heavenly soldiers to their deaths just because you disliked someone. You could also have 100,000 heavenly soldiers and generals swallowed up by demons in a single battle, just to coerce the Heavenly Court into paying more wages. But now, heavenly soldiers and generals are valuable. The Heavenly Court has no new heavenly soldiers. You, don't even think about leaving a single soldier behind."

Li Tianwang was furious and grabbed his sleeve forcefully, but Chen Shi had already turned around and walked to the front of the command platform.

Li Tianwang missed his target and rolled off the stretcher again.

He endured the pain and crawled towards Chen Shi like a magpie.

Looking down at the neatly arranged celestial soldiers and generals below, Chen Shi felt a surge of pride, like a marshal inspecting his troops.

Li Tianwang struggled to crawl over, grabbed his ankle, and hissed, "Chen Shi, by taking them away, you are destroying the Jade Emperor's army! This is rebellion! Do you know what rebellion is?"

Chen Shi let him grab his ankle, not even glancing at him, and said loudly, "Fellow practitioners!"

His voice was clear and resonant, carried by his magic, echoing throughout the Western Paradise.

"I, Chen, do not know your status in the mortal realm, nor do I know what geniuses you were, nor what ambitions you had!" "I only saw you in the Heavenly Court, lowly and insignificant, your lives as worthless as grass, meek and subservient, your cultivation stagnant, and your ambitions lacking!"

"You are nothing but heavenly soldiers, cannon fodder, sacrifices to be offered at will! If Li Tianwang dislikes one of you, he can arrange for your entire battalion to die! When Li Tianwang leads his army into battle, you are not human, but merely numbers! Those of you who die are just numbers, numbers that can be replenished at any time!"

His voice grew louder and deeper, like thunder, resounding above the camp of two hundred thousand heavenly soldiers and generals.

"You are not human, you have no thoughts of your own, you have no independent thinking, you are just expendable resources!"

"Your existence is only to win a battle for the Heavenly Court, to establish faith for the gods, and to earn some incense offerings! Your lives are worth only a bottle of elixir, a bottle of elixir, and a handful of Tianyuan coins!"

"You live nameless, and you die nameless! What do fame and fortune have to do with you?"

His intense anger transformed into sharp swords in his words, piercing the hearts of all the heavenly soldiers and generals, causing them pain.

"but!"

He proclaimed, "Our contract with the Heavenly Court has expired! From this day forward, you are no longer nobodies, no longer just numbers, no longer heavenly soldiers and generals! You are ancestors, you are geniuses, and you must rekindle your ambitions!"

"Come with me!"

"I'll lead you to establish a new village!"

"Come with me!"

"I will lead you to achieve great things! To make a name for yourselves! To accomplish something glorious! To fulfill your expectations before your ascension!"

"We must live well, live a wonderful life, and make a name for ourselves! Not for ourselves, not for me! It's to tell those who will ascend to the Immortal Realm that this world isn't completely corrupt yet! To tell them that they can still live a wonderful life in this world! To tell them that they still have a chance to stand out!"

"Come with me—"

As soon as he finished speaking, a sound like a landslide or tsunami came from below. Li Tianwang was trying his best to pull Chen Shi up by his clothes when he heard this huge sound, but he couldn't hear it clearly for a moment.

He was exhausted and collapsed, lying on the ground listening intently.

It sounded like countless cheers, countless excited voices overlapping each other, heartfelt shouts, which made him somewhat afraid.

He had never felt such fear in the face of heavenly soldiers and generals. He used to think of these people as numbers that could be replaced at any time, but now he felt fear.

"King Li, can you hear that voice?"

Chen Shi's voice, though mixed in with the clamor, remained clear and reached his ears: "You have never grasped the power of the human heart. It can change the world and alter its course."

"You can't support all these people!"

Li Tianwang looked up at him, gritting his teeth, and said, "The food, drink, and supplies for these heavenly soldiers and generals are an enormous sum every day! The spiritual energy they consume alone is enough to bankrupt you! If you don't feed them well, they will turn on you!"

“Then there’s no need for the Heavenly King to worry,” Chen Shi said with a smile.

Li Tianwang remained selfless, saying, "The Great Celestial Venerable will not let you take them away, especially since you possess the Heavenly Secret Strategy. It's even less likely that you'll be allowed to leave and escape his control! Chen Shi, you're courting death!"

Chen Shi shook his head and said, "If the Heavenly Soldiers' contract expires and the Great Heavenly Venerable still refuses to let us go, and word gets out that the immortals of the world are becoming disloyal, how will you contend with the Celestial Court? The Great Heavenly Venerable will let us leave; he won't risk losing more than he gains. However, I'm afraid the Heavenly King, the Grand Marshal of the Army, will lose his position."

Enraged, Li Tianwang desperately tried to grab the hem of Chen Shi's clothes, but Chen Shi had already stepped out from the command platform, leaving Li Tianwang with nothing.

Li Tianwang struggled to crawl out, but the pain from his injuries caused him to spasm. He gritted his teeth and said, "Quick! Someone! Put me on a stretcher!"

However, no one responded to him, and no one put him on a stretcher.

Li Tianwang called out several more times, but still no one responded.

"Heavenly King, we're leaving with Fellow Daoist Chen too!" A familiar voice came from outside the command platform; it was the heavenly general who had carried his stretcher earlier.

Li Tianwang cried out and fainted.

When he slowly regained consciousness, he didn't know how much time had passed. He found himself no longer on the command platform in Xitiandang, but on his sickbed at home, with deities tending to him.

Li Tianwang hurriedly said, "Quickly! Report to the Great Heavenly Venerable immediately, saying that the Western Heaven Mutiny has been carried out by Chen Shi, who spreads heretical rumors and incites 200,000 heavenly soldiers and generals to rebel against the Heavenly Court!"

The divine general said, "Heavenly King, the Great Heavenly Venerable already knows about this matter."

Li Tianwang was both surprised and delighted: "So, they've captured that traitor Chen Shi?"

The general shook his head and said, "No. After they left Xitiandang, they went to Xitianmen and left the Heavenly Court through Xitianmen. The deity guarding Xitianmen stopped them and prevented them from leaving the Heavenly Court. The guards were worried about a mutiny and almost started a war. While they were at a stalemate, the Jade Emperor sent an order for the guards to let them leave."

Li Tianwang was stunned.

The deity continued, "The Great Celestial Venerable said that the term of those celestial soldiers and generals had expired, and the Heavenly Court, keeping its promise, naturally could not go back on its word. So those 200,000 celestial soldiers and generals came to the Milky Way ferry, boarded more than 200 star rafts, and left the Heavenly Court."

Li Tianwang quickly asked, "Where did they go?"

"I don't know either."

The divine general said, "The Heavenly King has been unconscious for five days, and the star raft has not yet returned. We do not know where they have gone."

Li Tianwang said in a low voice, "Did the Great Heavenly Venerable really let them leave? Didn't he send someone to ambush them halfway?"

In the torrent of starlight, starships pierced through the starlight and sailed toward the dim starry sky in the distance.

Looking up from the Earthly Immortal Realm, it looks like streaks of light piercing through the Milky Way.

On one of the starships, Chen Shi nervously looked at the torrent of starlight ahead, worried that a mighty deity might cut off the Milky Way and wipe them all out.

"Will the Heavenly Court really let us leave?" he whispered.

"We're almost there!" The boatman's voice woke him up.

The speed of the star raft gradually slowed down, and the magnificent Penglai Western Holy Land came into view for everyone on board.

(End of this chapter)