Chapter 1221: Splitting the World Again (III)

Li Hao’s trip to the west had been a fruitful one; he’d collected some clues as to the true state of the world. If Li Daoheng had been in the moon when he approached it, would the man have reacted with surprise or nervousness?

Perhaps none of the above. Maybe he would’ve been more excited instead?

The eleven supernatural characters vanished as other thoughts took their place. Li Hao disappeared from the Hao cosmos.

......

Divine Nation.

When Li Hao reappeared in the world, he didn’t immediately send his characters into the surroundings to form a domain. Instead, he smiled at where he was. There was a major benefit to Divine Nation in that there was a great deal of ambient faith and a large amount of dao power here. The nation’s assorted divine spirits bestowed a very unique attribute to its faith.

If a cultivator spent some time in meditation here, they might be able to comprehend some unique auras and form a special system of supernatural characters.

Li Hao knew now that he needed to pursue the auras alongside training the unattributed meridians. This would not delay his cultivation. This time, he would undertake his training not to open dao meridians, but to split the world again!

He walked around, taking in the surroundings. It’d been so long since he’d done so—he’d suffered quite a bit at first when comprehending the aura. It was a shame to cast it aside in his current stage of cultivation.

Li Hao became one with the wind and vanished on the spot. Behind him, Panther swiftly caught up and traveled on the wind as well, also disappearing from sight.

......

In the far distance.

Several figures rose and fell as they fled. Ying Hongyue frowned ferociously. The Celestial Sword Immortal and Yonder lord followed beside him in a cloud of fury and despair. They’d had to flee again and again. Out of everyone from the three great organizations and Yonder Mountain, there were only the three of them left.

The queen was even more ashen-faced as Divine Nation was worse off! She was the only divine spirit left! She’d thought that they stood a great chance against Li Hao with several dozen Immortals, but who would’ve thought that the brat would come with an even larger sum of powerhouses??

“Shameless, despicable rat!” raged the queen. “He’s hidden Battle Heaven in the dao universe, damn him!”

Who would’ve thought of that?!

“It’s too late to react like this!” Ying Hongyue said with quick glances around them. “We need to think of a way to contact the Zhengs and Red Moon. They’re certain to know that their people are dead. Li Hao needs to be kept in check, or it’s all over!”

The queen suddenly paused with suspicion and looked at him. Li Hao hadn’t chased them down to the bitter end. He’d simply killed those around them and let them go. At the very end, he sent her with some words laden with meaning.

Ying Hongyue wanted to contact some more powerhouses given their current circumstances, but why did it feel... that this was just adding fuel to Li Hao’s flames? Not only that, but Ying Hongyue’s strength had grown as they ran all over the world. His rate of improvement did not cease.

It was always other people that bore the brunt of their losses, but Ying Hongyue who steadily advanced in his cultivation.

The queen went on guard after this revelation. Ying Hongyue improved very quickly. Li Hao had fought hundreds of battles against a variety of powerhouses, killed more people than could be counted, discovered the great dao, and even grasped the dao universe. After killing Saints and Empyrean Kings... the young man had just barely made it to Fused Dao—the New Martial equivalent of Saint.

As for the queen herself, her strength didn’t need to be discussed since she was the reincarnation of the Moon God.

But Ying Hongyue... had never fallen behind. Although he was weaker than a Saint, he didn’t differ by much. All he’d done was continuously be on the run. How could he grow stronger from that?

The more the queen turned it over in her mind, the more that she felt there was something strongly amiss with this person!

Ying Hongyue cast a glance at the queen and said softly, “Your Majesty, there is safety in numbers! Perhaps we can even negotiate with them to elevate both of us to the Fused Dao level! As for those who have died... we can only rely on ourselves at a time like this.”

“Ying Hongyue,” the quiet Yonder lord suddenly said. “The rest are pretty much all dead. You’ve been bringing me and the Celestial Sword Immortal along with you everywhere you go. We’re just burdens to you and have been having a difficult time of things. Let us just part ways here.”

Ying Hongyue hadn’t saved any of the rest or tried to negotiate with the enemy for them, but he’d made sure to secure the Celestial Sword Immortal and Yonder lord no matter how dangerous the situation became. Anyone would be immensely touched by Ying Hongyue’s loyalty!

And yet, the Yonder lord wanted to leave.

“Yonder, it’s too dangerous for you and Celestial Sword to leave by yourselves!” Ying Hongyue raised an eyebrow. “Li Hao won’t let you off the hook easily. You’re still safer with us. If you set off on your own, you... will find it difficult to survive without us!”

The Yonder lord didn’t say anything, whereas the Celestial Sword Immortal’s face flickered through several emotions. “He may not come after us...”

“No no, he absolutely will! He wants to break my wings and make me feel lonely and hopeless. Therefore, he’ll kill everyone by my side and won’t be in that much of a hurry to kill me.”

Was that so?

The two didn’t say anything, but the queen felt that there was something off about this exchange. Ying Hongyue was a fickle and inconstant person! It would make some sense if he brought the Celestial Sword Immortal with him since he was also a lascivious sort. He was well known for being a lecher, but the Yonder lord... was indeed a burden to him.

Was he really so kind-hearted? And had the two detected something if they both wanted to leave now?

“It’s very troublesome for us if Li Hao continues to stay in the west,” Ying Hongyue softly changed the subject with a look around. “I cannot die, and neither can the queen. The Zhengs understand that, so they willsend more powerhouses to us. Immortals may not be useful, so I’ll try to agitate the Forbidden Sea. Perhaps we can increase the world’s limits again and facilitate Saints to walk out of the ruins!”

The Zhengs were worried about the seal breaking, so they would never let Ying Hongyue or the queen die. Therefore, they would send reinforcements no matter what. But since Immortals could not put up a fight to Li Hao, then it would be Saints that came.

“You’ll facilitate the personal freedom of Saints?” The queen was surprised.

“I can try! The Forbidden Sea is very powerful. Stirring up its waves and releasing some energy may help us reach that goal. The world’s limits have changed ever since that guy reached the Saint level. While my efforts may not be sufficient to release mid or late Saints, I can perhaps help initial Saints walk free. We need more than one. It has to be five, eight, or even more.”

“The Zhengs have so many Saints left?” exclaimed a shocked queen. “Where do they get all those Saints from?”

“It’s been so many years and they’ve had access to a mine all of this time. They’ll have some Saints to make use of. Those who were already Saints back in the day may even be Empyrean Kings now...”

“Is that so?” The queen sank into deep thought.

“You and I need to make haste and progress to Fused Dao as well,” Ying Hongyue continued. “The Zhengs will help us in this regard, as should the Red Moon exalted emperor. If the two of us grow stronger, that means the moon’s power decreases. That in turn weakens the seal, which is precisely what he wishes to see...”

The queen didn’t say anything. The Red Moon exalted emperor wanted her to extract more power from the silvery moon in the sky and weaken the seal. The Zhengs wanted Ying Hongyue to extract more Red Moon power and weaken the exalted emperor, which would enhance the seal.

Therefore, a balance was struck between their presences. Neither of them would wish to break it, but this was their chance.

Why is Ying Hongyue so confident?

mused the queen.

He seems to have a lot of things up his sleeves. Damn it, it’s like everyone knows a lot but me! I don’t know anything! Li Hao speaks in mysterious ways, as does Ying Hongyue.

She was rather angry about it, but there was nothing she could do. She had to follow Ying Hongyue around because she knew nothing. Otherwise, she might fall to Li Hao’s hand if she wandered around alone!

A ray of sword intent pierced through the world at this moment. The queen’s jaw slackened with dismay. Damn it, here he was again!

Ying Hongyue also furrowed his brows. The young man had caught up to them too quickly! This shouldn’t be the case! The Zhengs weren’t here yet. According to what he hypothesized about Li Hao’s intentions, the young man shouldn’t be here already. He would be waiting for the Zhengs to arrive before harvesting them in one fell swoop. The time wasn’t now!

Had something gone wrong?

Ying Hongyue’s eyes widened. Li Hao was coming at them with such dense killing intent that it really seemed like the young man wanted to wipe them out!

“Run!” shouted the man. This move from Li Hao threw some of his thoughts in disarray. Li Hao no longer seemed to want to drive everyone from Ying Hongyue’s side—he wanted to kill his arch rival!

Boom!

Sword qi flooded the sky and the world changed color. Li Hao came striding through the air, a broken sword in his hand and killing intent soaring to the heavens. The expression on his face, however, was very gentle.

“You guys... won’t be getting away, I’m afraid!” chuckled the young man. “It’s been fun, Ying Hongyue, but it’s time for you to be on your way. Things might be even more interesting once the seal is broken. I can’t wait...”

Ying Hongyue didn’t say a word and fled for his life.

“Li Hao, the Red Moon exalted emperor will break free of his seal once you kill us. Is that the result you want??” The furious queen gnashed her teeth.

“We’ll know if he can break free after I kill you guys. How can we be sure otherwise?” Li Hao smiled tenderly and continued chuckling.

A longsword swept through the world, drawing nerves even tighter. Ying Hongyue’s group continuously struck their pursuers while they ran. The queen sensed even more lunar power gushing into her body, which put her at ease.

Previous occurrences had made her worry that she wouldn’t be able to call upon the moon anymore.

Meanwhile, Ying Hongyue didn’t know what to make of the situation. How could this be? Why was Li Hao here and wanting nothing more than to kill him? Was he truly unafraid of the seal breaking, or was there another reason at hand?

Li Hao was bringing all of his power to bear and vanished, reappearing with multiple copies of him all around. All sorts of abilities surfaced as the void split—even Battle Heaven could be glimpsed from the crack!

The ancient city suppressed the world! This fully cut off Ying Hongyue’s line of escape!

The man’s Red Moon power churned; the Forbidden Sea in the north agitated in response. It was running wild!