Chapter 1224: A Minor Victory (III)

Zheng Yu’s replica broke through the air and rushed over. However, Li Hao’s longsword swung down with a loud crash!

The heavens flipped and the earth overturned!

Everything standing in the young man’s way was annihilated. The spear of the Zhous and boxing gloves of the Zhaos were spontaneously demolished, the pieces devoured by Stellaris to repair itself with. The sword’s momentum continued, unabated.

A diagram of the eight trigrams materialized in Ying Hongyue’s hands once more. Unbounded Red Moon power erupted over the eight diagrams, but it was still hard pressed to defend against Li Hao’s blow. Stellaris broke through it as well!

The queen’s scepter shattered and lunar strength flooded out in response, but she was forced back by the attack.

Zheng Yu had almost reached them!

...would they survive until he did?

Resignation dawned in Ying Hongyue’s eyes as he clenched his teeth. Eight pillars of blood-colored light appeared over his head. They instantly became one, but shuddered with internal conflict. He grabbed the Yonder lord—a mounting sense of unease had seized the latter a long time ago and he wanted to run, but there was no place for him to run to!

Shrieks of anguish split the air as a bloody presence vented from his body.

“I see!” Li Hao murmured with a frown. The Yonder lord was part of the eight bloodlines!

It was unknown which family he was from, but his bloodline seemed concentrated enough. It melded into the pillar of light after being ripped out of him, instantly stabilizing it.

Ying Hongyue snarled and thrust out with his palm, splitting the diagram into countless copies that flew toward the longsword!

BAM!

The longsword broke the first copy, second, third, fourth... All the way to the end, upon which it sent Ying Hongyue flying.

However, that was the last of its energy; the queen was able to punch it out of the air. Sword light faded and Ying Hongyue vomited blood. A deep cut scored his face, but he wasn’t afraid. He was alive! He had survived.

“So the truth comes out...” Li Hao said softly. “Those who participated in the first awakening are all of the eight families! They are, you are, and so is Director General Zhao! They are a key component to you consolidating the eight bloodlines. How interesting!

“Don’t split up, I’ll be back!” The young man vanished. “Come at me if you want to kill me, Zheng Yu!”

Li Hao darted into the void; Zheng Yu arrived, as did the other Saints. The man’s replica looked at Ying Hongyue with a glittering look in his eyes. That had been quite the move! Li Hao’s strength had reached peak Saint in that moment, yet his blow did not kill Ying Hongyue.

The eight bloodlines as one!

When the eight bloodlines were combined as one, Ying Hongyue could block a blow from a Li Hao in prime condition

and

Stellaris!

Zheng Yu could also tell from the exchange that Li Hao really wanted to kill the man. Ying Hongyue would be dead if he had any fewer ideas to utilize. Not only him, but the queen as well.

Ying Hongyue had a plethora of methods at his command, but he was ashen-faced at the moment. Next to him, the Celestial Sword Immortal was as pale as a sheet! She’d learned the truth today!

Those who’d participated in the first awakening were all of the eight families; they hadn’t known that themselves. Whether it was the Celestial Sword Immortal or Yonder lord, none of them had known about their identity.

It was only now that Ying Hongyue revealed it and used the Yonder lord to block a fatal blow.

Ying Hongyue didn’t say a word. There was nothing that needed to be said; resignation still colored the look in his eyes. He truly had felt the presence of death in that moment. Li Hao’s strength had taken another massive leap forward when he called upon the people. Ying Hongyue would be dead without a doubt if he hadn’t combined the eight bloodlines!

Zheng Yu swept a glance over Ying Hongyue and looked at the queen. He didn’t say anything else. Li Hao could kill these two, but he could not. Placing them under his thumb would be the best possible outcome from this battle.

His most pressing course of action was not to kill them, but Li Hao. Zheng Yu’s eyes glinted viciously as he looked into the distance. “Li Hao, the world can hold Saints now. Why not stay and see if you can kill us. Otherwise...”

“Otherwise what?” Li Hao’s laughter drifted back on the wind. “You’ll massacre the entire world? Slaughter Silver Moon province martial masters? Stomp Skystar Dynasty into the ground? Bring it on!

“Zheng Yu, I’ll wait for you to kill them and send them to keep my teacher company. I’ll resurrect them all once I reach perfection with my cultivation! Also, walk the walk when you talk the talk. You better massacre the entire world while you’re at it!

“I’d like to see if an empty world is still what you want. I’m quite looking forward to it! Awww, are you trying to scare me? Boohoo I’m so afraaaaaid!”

Zheng Yu’s face twitched; he didn’t respond. He had indeed wanted to intimidate the young man, but it proved completely ineffective. Or rather, it should be said that Li Hao had no weaknesses after his parents, brother, comrades, and master were dead!

You can kill the rest however you’d like! However many you can kill is a mark of your strength!

But was Zheng Yu really willing to empty the world? Would Silver Moon world be able to revitalize if it had no living inhabitants? A world of cultivators had become the key to freeing the ancients from the ruins!

If everyone was dead, that might spell the end of Silver Moon. There would be no more awakenings, which would be the most tragic of all.

“You should not have killed Yuan Shuo!” sighed Ying Hongyue.

Zheng Yu’s face tightened forebodingly.

Do you think I don’t know that? But what else could I have done? They attacked Boundless and Zheng Gong was on the verge of death. Was I supposed to keep myself in check and not attack Yuan Shuo?

Ying Hongyue’s words were just closing the barn door after the horses had all bolted!

I also know that killing Yuan Shuo isn’t a good idea if Li Hao is still alive! Is there a point in saying all this now?

He flicked a glance at Ying Hongyue instead of going after Li Hao.

“You better keep all of your little tricks to yourself!” Zheng Yu commanded sternly. “You and the Moon God should come with me to Galewind and stay out of harm’s way for a while!”

They couldn’t endlessly protect these two—the outside world could tolerate Saints now. This was a very dangerous proposition!

Just one Saint alone, or even three, was no match for Li Hao. In fact, not even five were a surefire bet since the young man walked around with Battle Heaven in his pocket. Were Saints supposed to spend their days clustered with each other, waiting for Li Hao to come for their heads?

“Can’t we go on the offensive and kill him?” grumbled the resentful queen.

“The world hasn’t awakened to a sufficient degree yet,” frowned Zheng Yu. “Even I can only bring late Saint strength to bear. Li Hao is on the same footing, our speed is similar, but he can take shelter in the dao cosmos. It’s very hard to catch up to him!”

“Then we continue chasing and don’t give him a chance to appear in the world!” The queen’s brows drew together as well.

“He can enter the dao universe at any time!” Zheng Yu emphasized. It was growing evident that the second generation Moon God had reincarnated without some of her wits!

Do you not understand what I mean? He can take a shortcut through the dao universe and reappear somewhere else. That is his greatest source of confidence. He’ll just dart away if you catch him and pop up in another place.

Do you understand that? Splitting up now might result in a thunderous blow from the young man!

It was not a good idea to chase Li Hao. The best plan was to enter the dao universe as well and flank him in a pincer movement.

“Can you enter the dao universe?” Zheng Yu looked at Ying Hongyue.

“It’ll be hard to!” admitted Ying Hongyue. “Her Majesty might be able to, but she needs to find a way first...”

“My dao star is not within the dao universe...” The queen blinked. How would she enter?

“It doesn’t matter if it is or not,” Ying Hongyue said softly. “You divine spirits are connate manifestations of the great dao. You stand a great chance of locating the entrance if you search carefully. If Your Majesty is willing to set your pride aside and willingly cultivate the new dao, you might be able to locate the dao universe!”

Can that work?

The queen frowned at Ying Hongyue.

“Let’s give it a try!” Zheng Yu said firmly. “Li Hao is getting harder to handle and the key to resolving the situation lies within the dao universe. We may not be able to kill him if we don’t find a way inside!”

“You are incomparably powerful, sir,” Ying Hongyue suddenly said. “Have you never thought of seizing the dao universe or switching to the new dao?”

“Is this something you’re supposed to be asking?” Zheng Yu flicked an ominous look at him.

Ying Hongyue smiled and didn’t say anything further. Zheng Yu must have his own preparations, he just wasn’t at liberty to reveal them. No one would forgo the chance to study the new dao. Perhaps Zheng Yu had started a long time ago.

Ying Hongyue sighed when his thoughts turned to his losses from this battle. They’d been too great! Not only had he lost more heritage weapons, but the Yonder lord was dead. That meant one chance less to forge the eight bloodlines together.

“Your combined bloodlines are very unstable!” Zheng Yu suddenly said. “I may have a way to help you stabilize them.”

“Sir...”

“The heritage of the stone door!” Zheng Yu revealed. “Each of the eight families has a stone door heritage that requires their weapon to access. But as far as I know, there’s another way to do so—the city lord seals!

“They are the symbol of the dignity, majesty, and authority of the eight families. They are sometimes considered on par with the heritage weapons! Crossing the stone door may help you stabilize your meridians.”

“What price does the lord require from me?” Ying Hongyue had once sought to enter the stone door. However, not only would that create a big disturbance, but he had no idea where the door was.

Perhaps Zheng Yu knew since he was a direct lineal descendant of the family.

“It’s simple, you can just extract more Red Moon power when you grow stronger,” Zheng Yu laughed softly. “Ying Hongyue, you’re a smart man, are you not?”

“When the eight bloodlines are one, that will deepen my bloodlines to a point in which I can endure more Red Moon power.” Ying Hongyue nodded after some thought. “This is indeed an arrangement of mutual benefit. These actions will strengthen the seal, which means the queen can extract more power from the moon.

“Our common enemy now is Li Hao. Even the Red Moon exalted emperor must wish for Li Hao to die since he seems to be able to cleanse Red Moon power with the strength of great dao!”

“Let’s go!” Zheng Yu said instead of anything else.

The queen was slightly reluctant to leave as her nation had suffered too much this time. Their faith was broken and countless people dead after the temples exploded. Was she to keep running?

“Live to fight another day!” Ying Hongyue encouraged her. It was pointless to remain; Li Hao would not suddenly go insane and slaughter one hundred million citizens.

“I’m going to extract more power from the moon when the seal stabilizes.” The queen gnashed her teeth. “That will be Li Hao’s doomsday! If I can enter the dao universe, I will crush his dao star with my bare hands!”

That damnable brat! He was the greatest evil in the world in this moment. The group was even concerned that he would slaughter civilians to threaten the queen.