Chapter 1317: Change Within and Without (III)

“It depends on what kind of exalted emperor you’re talking about...” the sword tree replied with resignation. “Even the weakest exalted emperor in New Martial could fight three half step emperors without a problem! Therefore, the Red Moon exalted emperor is indeed invincible in this minor world. You think Li Daoheng is strong, but unless he has multiple half step emperor replicas, he is less than the exalted emperor as well!”

Li Hao nodded, that did indeed make exalted emperors very strong. He’d only just opened 108 dao meridians in his current body; there was a large gap between him and his enemy.

The young man gently rubbed his head and looked at the Eternal Sword intent still dissipating through the surroundings. “The Sword Sovereign’s sword intent is at a very high level! I want to break it down, but... it’s very hard to do so. I can only comprehend a tiny part if I personally experience it. Sword Tree, can you help me with something?”

“Help you with what?” A foreboding feeling began to brew in the tree.

“It’s better to teach someone how to fish than to give them fish!” Li Hao said softly. “Even if I absorb some Eternal Sword intent, I won’t understand it or comprehend it on a deeper level. I’d like to... die to it, again and again! But I’m also afraid of the previous situation happening as well...”

“Don’t even think about it!” snapped the sword tree. “That is absolutely courting death! A single misstep means eternal obliteration! Someone that the Sword Sovereign kills can’t even be resurrected!

“I already find it incredible that you could come back from it—but it also has to do with the sword intent being very weak. To attempt this again and again... you’re dead if a single mistake occurs along the way! I am just a broken husk, I can’t absorb that much sword intent at all!”

It snorted with immense dissatisfaction; it’d been saddled with a lunatic! There was no one who comprehended sword dao like this!

“One may yet survive if we force them to the brink of death!” Li Hao said sincerely. “I’ve also discovered that absorbing some sword intent helps the three of you with your own recovery. You were close with the Sword Sovereign—his sword intent is destructive to others, but healing to you!

“Stone was created to sharpen the sword and Sword Seal is tied to Sword City. You are rooted where the Sword Sovereign normally trained and are a natural sponge for the sword intent that he emanated...

“I have a chance to accomplish your goals only with your help. Anyone else would be hard pressed to erase the Eternal Sword intent!”

This was an opportunity that he wanted to take! Dying again and again to the sword intent would help him thoroughly comprehend it time and time again. The Sword Sovereign’s sword intent was so sophisticated that, at his current level of strength, Li Hao could only utilize this kind of extreme measure to reach enlightenment through destruction!

Only in this way could he continue to absorb the essence within. Otherwise, he’d be able to use the sword intent, but never be able to catch up to the Sword Sovereign’s footsteps. He would be utilizing the sword intent as a tool that he didn’t understand the true nature of!

This was the only way he stood a chance of improving on sword dao, to attain his blow of a hundred, a thousand, and ten thousand daos!

It might really take ten thousand daos to kill an exalted emperor, but for him to reach that level by himself... It would be an extremely perverse speed even if he comprehended one sword dao a day. And that would still take thirty years!

But thirty years... would render everything useless and irrelevant!

The Human King took three years to manifest his dao and become an exalted emperor. I am roughly officially one year into my journey on martial dao. I haven’t even become an Empyrean King yet, to say nothing of creating my own dao and becoming an exalted emperor.

The Human King could kill premier exalted emperors and the Heavenly Emperor in three years. Today, I face the weakest of exalted emperors, one that has been sealed away for one hundred thousand years. However, I can’t block even one of his blows.

Even Li Hao found himself pathetic when he looked at the comparison. While he couldn’t rival the Human King, he shouldn’t be too far off from the man, right? A genius born of a minor world was still a genius at the end of the day, no?

The woman that was the sword tree frowned and couldn’t help herself, “The Sword Sovereign’s Eternal Sword intent is given a pretty name, but in reality, it is a type of force that is the strongest and most lethal within the world! Each death is an instance of utmost agony that reaches to the inner core of your being!

“Once you die too many times, the fear and agony between each occurrence will cause a mental collapse, even if you recover each time!”

As a tree of sword dao and having been at the Sword Sovereign’s side for many years, the tree was all too familiar with the risks this course of action entailed. It couldn’t bear to see Li Hao cultivation in such a fashion—it was too risky and too brutal!

“Li Hao, you train in the new dao and have even received some unique abilities from it. You can... take it more slowly!” advised the sword tree. “We’ve made it through one hundred thousand years, we can... just bide our time for a bit. Li Daoheng, Zheng Yu, and the Red Moon exalted emperor are certain to clash with each other! Even if the seal breaks from it, they’ll want to fight each other. You still have time!”

“No, I don’t!” Li Hao shook his head. “They might choose to eliminate the unstable factor in the form of me first. Even if they don’t, their random fighting might destroy all of Silver Moon!

“Seniors, it is through trial and hardship that we rise above our current status. I understand that saying!”

“No... it’s just that this really is too dangerous. We can’t guarantee that we’ll always perfectly absorb the sword intent. One misstep will cause your death, we really can’t do it this way!”

The three of them refused Li Hao’s proposal! It wasn’t that they didn’t trust the young man, but that they didn’t trust themselves. They’d always taken shelter under the enormous tree that was the Sword Sovereign. After he left, they’d struck out on their own for a while—an action that ended in abject failure.

And now, Li Hao was nearly placing his life in their hands. What if they failed, even once? Were they to fight the exalted emperor once the young man was dead?

The three shuddered at the thought of how strong the exalted emperor was.

“Li Hao, we’ve only known each other for a short period of time, but you’re putting your life in our hands...” the stone said in a muffled voice. “We... we feel the pressure as well. It’s not just you, but also us. We cannot bear the pressure or responsibility of causing your death with one mistake. It would also doom us and leave us with no avenues of retreat either!”

Li Hao’s head hurt. It wasn’t that he was afraid of death, but that these three were afraid of him dying! They were also concerned that he wouldn’t be able to endure the pressure.

It was... such a wordless situation.

“The three seniors are those who have followed the Sword Sovereign before...”

“We’ve... actually never experienced any battles,” admitted the stone. “There were almost no battles to be found in Silver Moon when we came to the minor world. We’ve never truly experienced the wars of New Martial!

“Few are those on Silver Moon who have participated in those wars. It’s only Zhang An, a few others, and Li Daoheng who once traveled to the main world to fight against foreign invaders!”

“There were still wars in New Martial?” Li Hao blinked. And against foreign invaders? Who?

“Just some desolate beasts and others that wanted to invade the main world. They weren’t that strong. The Human King didn’t pay much attention to them and treated them as practice targets for the army. We are born of trouble and die of peace—this was a saying that the Human King and his people often repeated.

“Therefore, some of New Martial’s warriors participated in the wars against foreign enemies. A portion of Silver Moon’s main force also saw action on the battlefield, but not all of it.

“We... were just mascots for Sword City, so don’t describe us as being close to the Sword Sovereign. We were just figureheads, how could we compare to real warriors?”

Although the stone self-deprecated, it spoke of the truth. There wasn’t much experience to their name.

Granted, they’d been fighting with that sword for the past one hundred thousand years, so they weren’t as inferior as they said they were. After so many years of fighting, they were no longer the useless mascots that they professed themselves to be.

“Based on my calculations, this seal is bound to break in another three to five years at most, one and a half years at least.” Li Hao raised an eyebrow. “I can handle regular initial Empyrean Kings, but any that are stronger are hard to deal with! This is probably the end of Silver Moon world if the seniors don’t help me...”

The three were highly conflicted as well.

“We want to help you, but what if you really die?” agitated the sword tree.

“If I really die, then that means I lack the ability to become your hope!” Li Hao laughed. “This is just a bit of sword intent left by the Sword Sovereign. If I can’t endure even this, do you guys think I’ll be able to go against those guys?”

“Is there no other way?”

“Yes, slowly analyze the Eternal Sword intent,” Li Hao nodded. “I don’t think of myself as a weakling or an idiot. Give me one hundred years—I’m confident of deconstructing the sword intent then! If I’m lucky, I’ll be able to do it in thirty or fifty years!”

That did speak of unparalleled potential!

Thirty to fifty years... who among the geniuses of late stage New Martial had the confidence to say that they could thoroughly study the Eternal Sword intent in that period of time?

The Sword Sovereign was not any regular cultivator of their age—he was a premier exalted emperor!

“How about you kill us with the sword intent!” proposed the struggling sword tree. “You can revive us instead... If we die, so we die. We were supposed to be dead anyways...”

Li Hao blinked.

These... guys...

To be honest, he was growing impatient with their steady refusal to help. He felt that they were too cowardly and timid, too afraid of death. He’d thought a million things about them, none of them complimentary.

But here the sword tree was offering to die in his stead instead, that they would be his experiment subjects. Li Hao paused. What... was this a demonstration of?

“You guys should know that I may find it difficult to extract the sword intent if I kill you...” he said slowly after going off in a daze for a while. “You stand a bigger chance of dying than me...”

“That’s no big deal!” the sword tree said dejectedly. “We’re weak and have no potential! We were supposed to stand guard over Sword City and safeguard Silver Moon’s peak battle force. But see how things have turned out instead!

“The Lis are gone, Silver Moon is gone! The Sword Sovereign trusted us, but we lost Silver Moon and caused the death of the family. How are we to explain ourselves when we see him again? If you succeed at the cost of our deaths, that is no matter.

“The world does not lack for a tree, a stone, and a seal. Those things can be found everywhere. Even a clod of mud can become sentient after spending a thousand years by the Sword Sovereign’s side!”

“That’s right!” grumped the stone. “There’s no way we can explain ourselves! We are foolish and stupid, basically monster spirits that aren’t too sophisticated.

“We’re just ordinary objects that became special spirits due to our circumstances. Our potential, talent, and intelligence are lacking. Would we have been tricked by Li Daoheng’s sword for one hundred thousand years otherwise?

“If it was the Sword Sovereign and others here, they would’ve long seen through Li Daoheng’s tricks, even if they were the same level of strength as us. Meanwhile, the three of us dumbly sharpened the enemy’s sword for him!”

“Don’t say that!” Li Hao laughed. “All things in creation have a spirit! Human intelligence is higher because so many powerhouses have come from our race. If the same went for the plant spirits, stones, and seals... Each of your successive generations would be stronger than the last! The key lies in your ancestors not being strong enough!”

“We don’t have ancestors...”