After Lu Qixing's sudden death, Li Hai's Tyrant Level fragments increased by two more, reaching a total of forty-nine.
"Fear? Hmph, fear your mother."
Looking at the distant poisonous swamp, which was already several hundred miles in circumference and still expanding, Li Hai mocked with a laugh:
"Such a large living target, and without any Rebirth skills, hah—aren't you just purely seeking death?"
Indeed, for others, a giant poisonous toad reaching thirty thousand zhang in height, with tough skin, thick flesh, and a long health bar, plus the ability to launch a large number of small poisonous toads from its back, was truly difficult to deal with.
But in Li Hai's view, such a large creature without any strange or unusual Rebirth abilities, no matter how many other abilities it possessed or how powerful those abilities were, they were all meaningless; it was merely a King Rank item that died with one strike.
However, for Li Hai, Lu Qixing, this large toad, was indeed very easy to deal with, capable of being instantly killed with one strike.
But in reality, its various abilities were quite terrifying.
Especially the millions of small toads on its back; if they were all launched for a full-map bombardment, they could completely wipe out the entire Human Realm civilization on Earth.
The reason those small giant toads were so terrifying was precisely because they were not true living beings in essence, but rather 'carbon-based nuclear bombs' filled with highly concentrated liquid flammable toxic gas.
These flesh and blood nuclear bombs could not only produce violent explosions comparable to large-yield nuclear detonations but also, during the explosion, spray large quantities of highly toxic and corrosive liquid and gas in all directions.
Therefore, those millions of 'nuclear bomb' toads were extremely powerful in terms of clearing maps and annihilating populations.
Furthermore, besides these toads, the giant toad itself possessed other powerful abilities, such as large-scale, ultra-fast coverage wave-field abilities, and ultra-long-range venom cannons with a range exceeding a square mile, and so on.
Yet, despite these many advantages, Li Hai did not learn this Tyrant Level demonic martial Dao; he only learned Lu Qixing's set of 'Hundred Beasts Mixed Heaven Fist', which was quite excellent in terms of boxing and kicking.
There was no other reason, only that he hated all sticky and foul-smelling things.
Fish, shrimp, toads, and frogs were all included in this category.
"Already 49 fragments—"
Li Hai looked at his personal interface and muttered, "I don't know why, but I have a strange premonition that something big will happen once I reach 50 fragments."
"And this big event will lean towards the positive, it will be a good thing, but I just don't know—what it will be."
After muttering to himself, he scanned his surroundings.
Currently, the area within a thousand miles in all directions could be described as utterly devastated, a land of death; let alone people, it was estimated that not even a small earthworm existed.
It could only be said that the battles between Tyrant Level powerhouses, even just a little residual aftermath, were too terrifying for Mortals; they were disasters more frightening than natural calamities.
"Alas~ I overdid it a bit."
Li Hai sighed helplessly, "The entire essence of the Sword Emperor Dynasty has been completely destroyed, with no people or things remaining. Now, it will be quite difficult to select a new emperor."
Although he said that, if one thought about it differently, the imperial nobles within this thousand-mile radius had already ruled, exploited, and oppressed the common people from all directions and regions for over a thousand years.
If another character were chosen from among them to be the new emperor and start a new round of rule, it would indeed be unfair to the hundreds of millions of common people in other non-central regions of the Sword Emperor Dynasty.
"It's getting a bit late."
Li Hai looked up at the sky, watching the slowly rising moon, and murmured, "I'll go back to the village for a night first, and we can discuss it tomorrow."
With that, he swiftly flew south.
Before long, Li Hai returned to the village.
Upon seeing Li Hai return, Old Hu and the other villagers, as well as the refugees, immediately gathered around him, looking at him eagerly and cautiously, but not daring to speak.
Their behavior clearly indicated that they wanted to know whether Li Hai's earlier statement about replacing the emperor was true or false.
Li Hai did not hide anything. While eating and drinking the various meals and beverages they had prepared for him, he directly stated that the capital city and the surrounding thousand miles had been reduced to ruins, and there was not a single living person left.
Therefore, he had not been able to find a suitable candidate to be the new emperor for a while.
Furthermore, from a long-term perspective, once the news of the old emperor's death spread throughout the Sword Emperor Dynasty, the entire Imperial Dynasty would inevitably see numerous heroes rise and contend for power.
Even forces from outside the Imperial Dynasty would intrude, further complicating the situation.
Therefore, Li Hai told them that they needed to prepare early for the impending situation.
"Then, then you—"
Old Hu stammered, looking at Li Hai, "Actually, you, you yourself could be this emperor.
As long as you, after becoming emperor, don't kill so many people and collect so many taxes, and also don't conscript a hundred thousand concubines every ten years.
Every ten years, you could just conscript a hundred—oh no, two hundred concubines into the palace, and then the people of the world would praise you as a wise emperor."
"Yes, yes."
Some villagers nearby nodded in agreement, "Only playing to death two hundred concubines in such a long period of ten years, that's definitely considered a wise emperor for all ages."
The dozen or so refugees also nodded in agreement: "Indeed, indeed. Also, if you could not collect disaster area taxes and punitive levies, allowing us affected people to live peacefully, that would be even better."
Hearing their words, Li Hai couldn't help but feel a bit speechless.
Goodness, it seemed they had truly become accustomed to being tormented by that Wu Tianshi.
Tormented to the point where these people of the Sword Emperor Dynasty could no longer imagine what a good life was like.
From this, Li Hai suddenly thought of an idea.
That is, why not open his Guiyou Cave Heaven and let these villagers and refugees, and even more of the common people of the Sword Emperor Dynasty, settle and live within it.
The reason this idea came about was because of the Dao technique Secret Manual, 'Ten Thousand Incense Proves God Dao', which Lu Qixing had 'enthusiastically' contributed.
From the records in this Secret Manual, Li Hai learned that top Fourth Realm Sorcerers, if they wished to advance to the Fifth Realm, needed to gather the incense and faith power of at least a million people.
Through this, they would temper and transform their own soul consciousness and Yang God into a 'Life Lamp' that resides in the world.
From then on, for a Life God Realm Sorcerer, the Physical Body would no longer be so important.
Because he could freely place his Life Lamp within anyone's soul, and then occupy their body.
At the same time, the lifespan of a Life God Sorcerer would lose all limitations.
As long as there were people in the world who believed in him, and a trace of incense existed, he could reside in the world indefinitely through it.
Furthermore, even if someone found the body where the Life Lamp was entrusted, and then destroyed its form and spirit, with the power of incense, the Life God Sorcerer could still Rebirth.
However, to achieve this effect, one had to completely abandon their Physical Body.
One had to merge their thought consciousness with the incense of the myriad people, becoming a true incorporeal personal God.
Li Hai did not like this.
Therefore, he wanted to take another path.