Chapter 1223: A Minor Victory (II)

Ying Hongyue’s body started turning intangible and he steadily picked up speed. He caught up to the queen; the woman’s expression changed drastically when she saw Ying Hongyue gain on her. She whipped her head around and wanted to get as far away from him as possible.

Li Hao wanted to kill him more than the young man wanted to kill her!

“Don’t run!” transmitted Ying Hongyue. “You and I can hold him off for a bit if we work together. Someone should arrive soon to rescue us, if nothing unexpected further develops. It’ll be our deaths if we split up. Li Hao really does want to kill us now, no one will be making it out alive today!”

The queen was moved by these words.

“Continue calling upon the strength of the moon,” Ying Hongyue instructed. “The moon is the foundation of the world and its power is inexhaustible! If the queen awakens to your full power, only an exalted emperor could’ve withstood you back in the day. It won’t be that easy for Li Hao to kill us!”

The man shook when he turned around, Li Hao was standing a few meters away!

A diagram of the eight trigrams abruptly appeared like a seal. Eight bloodlines thrummed to motion as a surge of Red Moon power oscillated towards the young man!

Li Hao drew his sword, slamming it into the diagram with a loud collision. The diagram shook violently, but did not break. It clapped down over Li Hao.

At the same time, the lunar strength within the queen’s body built dramatically. She sent a scepter through the void with an angry yell and smashed it down on Li Hao. The young man sent the scepter flying with a punch, but stumbled backward again.

The eight trigrams immediately came for him once more.

“These are remarkable methods!” Li Hao was surprised by the simplified version of the Eight Trigrams Suppression Formation. This was meant to seal away exalted emperors, but Ying Hongyue had mastered and modified it!

BAM!

A massive city loomed over the scene, landing with a loud boom. The two characters of ‘Battle Heaven’ sparkled brightly, suppressing their target from the depths of the dao universe. The diagram of the eight trigrams was pulverized to dust!

Ying Hongyue spat up mouthfuls of blood, truly dismayed now. The diagram had been many, many years of hard work and effort. Li Hao hadn’t been able to break it when he was previously obstructed—a testament to the might of the diagram. But now, Battle Heaven arrived and outright crushed the diagram to pieces!

“Li Hao!” Ying Hongyue snapped coolly. “I’m guessing that you’ve learned of some things as well. Can you really bring yourself to kill me? You and I are both pawns of others and should be working together...”

“No no no, I’m not a pawn, you are. I’m a shit stirrer!” Li Hao laughed softly. “Since I’m going to mess things up, things will be more interesting if you’re dead. I’d also like to see what kind of consequences will result from killing you.

“Do you feel the least bit of regret for killing my parents and friend? You should’ve killed me too that night, not wait until now.”

Ying Hongyue felt that there was nothing to say to Li Hao; the young man had completely lost his mind after Yuan Shuo’s death. Previously, Li Hao had been full of wisdom and knowledge. He could clearly see through many matters and would never take the risk of releasing the exalted emperor in pursuit of Ying Hongyue’s head.

The current Li Hao... didn’t seem to mind anymore. There was nothing more that could be said when meeting someone who genuinely didn’t care about the bigger picture.

Ying Hongyue didn’t strike back after the diagram of the eight trigrams broke. He concentrated on fleeing.

The queen was of a mind to counterattack as she could sense the immense lunar strength within her body. She turned back a few times to deliver domineering blows that verged on the cusp of Saint level strength.

However, it wasn’t Li Hao’s first time killing Saints. He’d fought even Empyrean Kings before!

There were also two more Saints present in Battle Heaven. So what of her Saint level strength?

“Break!” A grunt shook the void as a silver moon descended from the sky. The queen directed it at Li Hao. It suppressed the world, the four corners, and even forced the entrance to the dao universe to close. The moon seemed capable of sealing off the dao universe.

Li Hao lifted his head at the sky. Was this the queen’s abilities, or was someone borrowing her hand? She was very strong!

Heavenly intent roiled in all directions, churning with agitation and coming down upon the bright moon.

“I slay evil and strengthen the world. Land of this area, aid me!” Li Hao murmured.

BOOM!

Heavenly will stirred madly, breaking the shadow of the silver moon. The queen spat out a mouthful of silver blood and looked incredulously at the young man. She’d been surprised herself at how strong her blow was.

But Li Hao crushed it all the same!

Not only that, but the heavenly will that favored her seemed to be affected by an even stronger surge of heavenly will. It seemed to think that Li Hao was a more worthwhile investment and began leaving her for Li Hao.

The heavenly will was a muddleheaded, newly born entity. Therefore, it’d split itself into multiple parts as opposed to staying as one unified whole. Parts of it existed throughout the world. It was one complete entity that was split into countless individual portions.

The biggest portion was drawn to Li Hao. The queen also had quite a few pieces around her, but they were beginning to drift away from her to gather around Li Hao. After repeated engagements and the queen’s continual losses, the heavenly will felt that the queen was unreliable and a subpar candidate to bet on.

Li Hao lifted his eyes to the sky again. The heavenly will was converging on him!

This was not a good development. It might precisely be what someone wanted. But that was alright!

I will capture all of this heavenly intent before you have a chance to do anything! Perhaps you might even be happy to see that take place. The more mature heavenly will is and the more it congregates into one place, the more easily it will be captured, no?

Li Hao suddenly looked into the distance. Powerful presences there shot through the land. Someone was coming!

The world shook; it’d only just revived enough to tolerate Saints, yet here Zheng Yu was already. He was so eager!

Granted, Ying Hongyue and the queen wouldn’t hold on for much longer if Zheng Yu’s reinforcements didn’t arrive. The young man was so much stronger than they’d imagined. He was far more than a regular Fused Dao, which made him more difficult to handle than some mid to late Saints.

“Li Hao... you wish to kill us, but it looks like you’re not enough!” grunted the queen.

“You’re not much to write home about, either!” Li Hao sneered back. He grinned broadly when the queen coldly turned back without a word.

The young man then looked at where the void was shattering in the distance. Multiple figures darted out of it, wielding auras of the world to suppress the heavenly will. They rushed to where the combatants stood.

One, two, three...

Li Hao’s eyes glittered. There were so many—nine of them!

It should be Zheng Yu’s replica in the lead. The world was so much more stable these days that even this guy dared send a replica out. He was a half step emperor, so although his replica might be just at initial Saint, he might be stronger than some late Saints. Such was a powerhouse!

Nine Saints, as well as a Ying Hongyue and Divine Nation queen that were almost as strong as Saints... Li Hao would not be able to withstand this level of strength. He might even be killed instead.

The queen had spoken to provoke Li Hao into losing his temper. She even hoped that he wouldn’t run. They’d been too bedraggled when he chased them down earlier. If the brat didn’t leave... they only needed a split second to kill him in return and have their vengeance!

Li Hao looks into the far distance. Perhaps exposing Li Daoheng would be a good idea. Zheng Yu should know, at any rate...

But Zheng Yu was so full of himself that he might not believe the young man. No, he probably wouldn’t believe Li Hao.

Li Hao would’ve created more trouble for himself then.

Li Daoheng probably didn’t like people revealing the rules of his game ahead of time, did he? Not to mention, this would ruin his plans. Thus, Li Hao had nothing to say to Zheng Yu.

Should he leave?

But he hadn’t procured enough gains yet.

Li Hao looked at Stellaris in his hand. It’d broken into many pieces at Boundless, but now was greatly recovered. Having devoured the Nine Segment Whip moments ago, it had recovered even more.

The young man didn’t say a word.

Ten more of him materialized in the surroundings and he murmured, “Cultivators of the new dao, lend me your strength!”

The world trembled imperceptibly; a figure manifested in the minds of countless cultivators of the new dao, including even Ying Hongyue and the others. It was Li Hao, his voice booming and reverberating through the world.

“Lend me your strength!”

There were far more than tens of millions of new dao cultivators these days. There were at least one billion, and even more of those who’d opened their dao meridians!

Li Hao commanded much more prestige than he did last time. He’d been defeated by the queen last time because the people feared divine spirits more. But now as Lin Hongyu and the rest constantly aggrandized his feats and made him larger than life, as well as his frequent broadcasts, almost everyone in the world thought of him as the foremost god of Silver Moon!

The world shook violently under these conditions. Countless people prayed to the ether.

“We are willing to lend a hand to the commander for him to vanquish evil!”

BOOM!

Endless auras swept in. The world quaked and the heavenly will leapt. Stars within the Hao Cosmos erupted with light. Ying Hongyue’s eyes widened with dismay!

The queen’s expression twitched as well and she summoned her scepter. The power of faith from Divine Nation materialized and the prayers of countless Divine Nation citizens traveled upon the wind. “When the world was born, the Moon God came to be...”

The power of faith swept in as well, just as it had last time when it demolished Li Hao.

But this time, the results were vastly different.

BAM!

An even stronger force churned through the world, suppressing everything with massive rumbles. Screams of terror and fright filtered into the prayers and their worship was disrupted. Shadows that’d come to aid the Moon God flew apart as dust.

The power of faith had been stomped down.

Temples all over Divine Nation shook as the Moon God sculptures within them shattered. Temple upon temple exploded; there were too many casualties to be counted!

The queen vomited blood, unable to believe the turn of events!

“How many people are in the west?” Li Hao asked calmly. “Three hundred million, five hundred, or even one billion? Do you know how many cultivators of the new dao there are? Everyone in the world is a cultivator and they all trust me, Li Hao. Do you still fancy yourself as the Moon God?”

BOOM!

The young man’s presence rose explosively as he flared with incomparable strength. The broken blade in his hand vibrated severely. In the distance, Zheng Yu watched with widened eyes.

Was this the dao of a human king? A human emperor? Li Hao could use the strength of the people! He’d done so once before, but never employed it again after being defeated.

He used it today and fully wiped the slate clean of his past disgrace. He smashed through the power of faith that the queen had brought to bear against him last time.

The longsword erupted with scintillating radiance! Killing intent filled the world—it was like a massive sword had manifested through Silver Moon world!

“Run!” Ying Hongyue yelled, throwing out the spear of the Zhous and boxing gloves of the Zhaos. This was no time to be spent worrying about that!

Li Hao was almost invincible! All of them would die if his sword stroke landed! When had he developed to this state?? And damned if the people weren’t idiots! How could they actually believe in Li Hao this much?

Damn it!