Other than ordering his Head Generals to tell him about how many elite cultivators there were in his army, Li Qiao also ordered them to try and find out how many of the wandering cultivators that joined his side were elite cultivators.
As for those various Sect Disciples, even though they were supporting his side Li Qiao knew that he had no way of ordering them to do as he wanted them to.
Especially when the Sect Leaders were personally here. Not to mention how arrogant they were due to being Core Disciples of their respective sects.
Therefore, to implement Qiao Delun's idea Li Qiao could only depend on the elite cultivators inside his army and the wandering cultivators that joined him.
At the same time, Li Qiao also ordered for Jian Shen to be found as soon as possible.
Because as long as they found Jian Shen, Li Qiao felt confident enough to convince him into doing as he pleased by giving him any of the many treasures he possessed and even his daughter, Li Suyin as well if needed.
Sending his soldiers outside the capital city since they had already thoroughly checked inside it and not found any traces of him, Li Qiao waited a total of two days before finally receiving some news about Jian Shen.
There had recently been rumours of someone having committed a very bad sin due to which he was being struck by lightning sent from heaven all the time.
And that sinner seemed to be on top of one of those small mountains which were near the capital city.
Originally Li Qiao who heard this rumour in the passing when the palace maids were discussing snorted and wrote it off as someone doing this intentionally to gain popularity.
But turns out that there was actually a sinner like that, no, a man was sitting on one of the mountains and was repeatedly being struck by lightning.
That part was true.
Once he learnt of this, Li Qiao ordered his soldiers to go and see who that man was.
The soldiers who were ordered to go and see the man that was being struck by lightning despite being filled with reluctance and fear of the heavens treating them as sinners as well, walked up the mountain since not going meant they were not following the orders of the Emperor who was the strongest man in the Yueliang Empire.
Going up the mountain which would vibrate every once in a while from lightning that was striking its peak, the soldiers were completely covered in sweat by the time they reached their destination.
Seeing Jian Shen through narrowed eyes the soldiers quickly looked away to not have his sin transferred to them.
After all for a man to be repeatedly struck by lightning he must've definitely committed a pretty huge sin.
Going back to the palace and reporting everything they saw to Li Qiao personally, the soldiers found that the Emperor was very interested in the man and therefore revealed all details about his appearance.
Listening to all of their words with a smile that was growing bigger by the second, Li Qiao finally said, "It's him! He didn't leave!!!"
Next, Li Qiao ordered another bunch of soldiers to go up the mountain and told them what to do.
Unlike the first bunch who were simple foot soldiers, Li Qiao sent only those in or above the Dharma Realm this time.
They had a single mission, go up the mountain and convince Jian Shen to stop cultivating and come with them.
Li Qiao would take care of the rest.
Though Li Qiao wanted to go personally since that would make Jian Shen have a better impression of him, Li Qiao knew that he needed to maintain some dignity and formality as an Emperor.
Flying up the mountain as ordered, the group of soldiers quickly arrived at the peak where Jian Shen was being struck by lightning.
Looking up at the dark coloured clouds that didn't show any signs of ever leaving or moving away, the soldiers flew even closer to Jian Shen who was completely unscathed despite being struck by lightning for so many times until now.
"Ummm... Young Hero Jian Shen, under the orders given by his Majesty, the Emperor of Yueliang Empire, we request you to stop cultivating and come with us to the royal palace."
Saying those words the Dharma Cultivators also shivered a little while continuing to look at Jian Shen who committed the slaughter inside the capital city not too long back.
Silence.
That was the only response the group of men received.
Waiting for a while longer and looking at each other out of confusion, the men tried to repeat their words while flying a little closer to Jian Shen.
Shhhhhh!
Hastily stepping back five of the six men managed to avoid the almost invisible strand of Qi flying towards them.
The sixth one, however, was struck with the sword slash like looking attack, and almost lost his life before one of the others managed to pull him back at the last second.
"Fuck! Did any of you see what happened?"
Shaking their heads in unison, by the five men took another step back and left while carrying the injured one.
Reporting everything they saw and how one of them got injured from an attack that they couldn't even see, the group of soldiers were given a reward by Li Qiao and ordered to not leak any of the words they told him to anyone else.
However, how could such a huge juicy piece of news remain within four walls?
No one knows how the details managed to leak outside the palace, but by the next day the whole capital city was talking about Jian Shen who had recently shown off his strength by killing so many cultivators above the capital city, and how he wouldn't be participating in the war anymore.
As for Jian Shen, after comprehending the Intent of Wind to the limits possible to the current him, he had started trying to comprehend the Intent of Lightning which was harder.