Chapter 1321: Placing the Pawn (III)

The site of the sealed exalted emperor.

The Red Moon exalted emperor furrowed his brows with displeasure. Sword City... was coming back.

“So you’re still alive, Li Hao?” His voice rang through the universe with a cold edge to it.

Far away, Li Hao materialized and nodded. “Many thanks to the exalted emperor for your help in eliminating Li Daoheng’s Lifeless Sword! I’m here with another goal today—to lure Li Daoheng out of hiding and have the exalted emperor kill him for me. How about it?”

“You want to use me to kill him?” The Red Moon exalted emperor was very aloof.

“No no, this is a partnership of mutual benefit! I ask the great exalted emperor, who are you most wary of when it comes to me, Zheng Yu, and Li Daoheng?”

The Red Moon exalted emperor did not respond.

“I am the weakest of the bunch,” Li Hao continued in lieu of a reply. “Although I seem to control the dao universe, I only have control over one part of it. The exalted emperor saw as well that Li Daoheng wields the true heart of the dao universe! He wants to kill me and seize the portion I have. I want to kill him too and seize his portion too!

“Although you are strong, you labor under many restrictions. Him and I are both under lesser restrictions!”

The Red Moon exalted emperor stared coldly at the young man; Li Hao remained unflappable.

“My plan is to use the seal as bait to lure him out of the shadows. He will certainly come for my head! If he doesn’t, I’ll bet everything and release the exalted emperor! Whether he comes or not, this is a guaranteed perfect unfolding for you...”

“You are unable to break the seal!” the Red Moon exalted emperor refuted calmly. “Do you really think you can do that? This seal was set up by a premier exalted emperor, not the Sword Sovereign. Your Stellaris... even Sword City can only suppress it a slight bit, they can’t really destroy it!”

Li Hao nodded, summoning two massive characters over his head. A unique energy ripple traveled from them.

Battle Heaven!

Boom!

The formation of the eight trigrams trembled slightly, as did the exalted emperor’s expression shift.

“This formation was set up by the Exalted Blood Emperor!” Li Hao said softly. “The two characters over my head come from the city of Battle Heaven. They were personally written by the Exalted Blood Emperor himself! With these two characters at the heart of my attempt, I will definitely be able to affect the seal! And with the exalted emperor’s great might, you’ll certainly be able to enlarge the space around you when the seal is disturbed!”

“You are certainly bold!” The exalted emperor’s eyes widened. Very,

very

bold!

“It’s not that I’m bold, but that I need to take these risks because I am not confident of killing either you or Li Daoheng. Those who take risks are gamblers and are backed into a corner when they lose!

“Would I need to take any gambles if I have a rich foundation and background? Am I afraid of losing a bit more when I am already backed into a corner?”

The Red Moon exalted emperor laughed. How interesting!

The young man’s appearance wasn’t actually a bad development for the exalted emperor. These days, the seal had indeed greatly loosened compared to before.

Every time Li Hao fought that person, it also resulted in helping the exalted emperor. It was the same case when Li Hao fixed his sights on Ying Hongyue. Although the exalted emperor had paid the price of a large quantity of Red Moon power, it also gave him more control over Ying Hongyue.

And now, the young man was volunteering to help him break the seal in order to gain the upper hand over Li Daoheng!

What a... bunch of daredevils who didn’t know the meaning of death!

“Do as you wish if you’re not afraid!” chuckled the Red Moon exalted emperor. “If Li Daoheng does come to stop you, then just as you say, I will handle him once you take care of the seal for me! Wouldn’t I be hindering my own plans if I kill you before the seal is taken care of?

“Of course, out of consideration for safety, I recommend you enter the seal to do your work, not stay outside it. Otherwise, he’ll appear on the outside and I’ll have issues reaching you if he tries to kill you!”

Enter the seal to destroy it!

The three spirits’ eyes widened with dismay. That should never be considered! It would be the very definition of courting death!

“The exalted emperor loves to joke around,” Li Hao laughed. “An exalted emperor’s might is formidable, how would I dare infringe upon it? I’ll stay on the perimeter.

“If Li Daoheng really does appear, the exalted emperor can see if you can extend some of your power outward. Given the might of an exalted emperor, even the tiniest hint will be enough to plunge him into suffering!”

The Red Moon exalted emperor didn’t try to continue and coax the young man into coming inside. It was normal that Li Hao wasn’t willing. If he was... that would be highly unusual and absolutely too bold.

Li Hao took a deep breath and abruptly turned into a giant more than three thousand meters tall. He grabbed Sword City—the gigantic sword that was the ancient city was so much bigger than him.

“I will use the real Stellaris imbued with the two Battle Heaven characters to attack the seal!” Li Hao bared his teeth in a grin. “When Li Daoheng appears, the exalted emperor doesn’t need to do anything—just lock onto the coordinates that he appears in! He won’t dare stay for too long, so I’d like to take this advantage to see just how strong a half step emperor is!”

“You’re a very resolute person!” The exalted emperor was growing ever impressed by Li Hao’s determination. If the young man survived his trials to come, he would absolutely be a person to be reckoned with in the future. He was only a Saint, yet he dared challenge a half step emperor.

What was even more key was that Li Hao had dared challenge an exalted emperor before! While the exalted emperor had slapped the child to death with one palm strike, here Li Hao was alive again.

The exalted emperor studied Li Hao more closely for a second—there were a few hints of a unique strength around the child. Perhaps... that was his source of confidence.

What kind of strength was this that could bring him back from the dead? It was quite impressive to self-revive after being killed by an exalted emperor.

Li Hao seemed to identify what the man was thinking and didn’t hide it. “Is the exalted emperor wondering why I can come back from the dead? I didn’t really resurrect from the dead, but simply connected my life to the great dao.

“I wove the river with ten thousand daos and placed the star of life in its heart. I will not die so long as the great dao is not extinguished. With the star of life as my dao heart, I can return from death. That is all!”

Life and death?

The river of chaos?

“Li Hao, why are you telling me this?”

“The exalted emperor is so lofty and mighty, is there a point to hiding anything?” Li Hao laughed. “In that case, we may as well have everything out in the open! That will prevent any suspicion or speculation from the exalted emperor.

“Not to mention, I control the dao universe. If the exalted emperor wishes to kill me, you’ll have to lock onto the coordinates of my universe. How will you do that so long as I don’t access it?”

The exalted emperor smiled without a word.

You guys always like to underestimate an exalted emperor.

Li Hao said nothing more, but raised his hand and looked up at the stars. “Then I will begin,” he laughed. “I really hope... that Li Daoheng shows up to fight me!”

The longsword erupted and sword intent blasted out of it, aimed at one of the corners of the eight trigrams!

Bam!

A loud collision echoed throughout the universe as the formation shook wildly!

The corner that Li Hao hit corresponded to the Hongs. A muffled grunt sounded, followed by a pained shout. It was Ying Hongyue!

𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝔀𝓮𝒃𝙣𝓸𝒗𝒆𝒍.𝙘𝒐𝒎

There’d been a shadow at that corner that represented the Hong forefather. But now, it turned into Ying Hongyue’s form. He saw the massive sword!

His eyes traveled down the blade to see the giant Li Hao. Staring with incredulity, fury, despair, and desperation, he bellowed, “Li Hao, are you destroying the seal?!”

Crazy! Li Hao’s gone completely crazy! He’s going to release the exalted emperor! What is that, if not crazy?!

“Anyone who doesn’t let me live in peace will receive the same treatment!” Li Hao boomed. “Ying Hongyue, you better pray that you’ll survive! I’ll make sure you’re less than a stray dog!”

Boom!

The giant sword swung down!

......

Silver Moon world, Silver City.

The seal that’d been invisible in the sky manifested in front of everyone’s eyes. Galewind appeared, as did Star River. Even the running queen paused and took shape in the world...

Various powerhouses raised their heads to the sky.

One of the corners of the eight trigrams was being pummeled by a massive longsword. It was wielded by a towering giant that hovered in the air.

Zheng Yu floated up to Galewind airspace and looked at the sky, murmuring, “You have a wife now and a martial uncle who’s supported you all this time is still alive. Must you insist on courting death?”

I thought you wouldn’t have anymore suicidal tendencies after finding love! It looks like you really have lost your mind!

Star River.

Zhang An watched solemnly. It was fine that Li Hao had entered the seal, but... he was destroying it and breaking the formation that the Exalted Blood Emperor had left behind. He was going to release the exalted emperor!

This wasn’t a feint or a probe, it was true destruction! Once Li Hao finished destroying that corner, disaster would be upon them!

“Zheng Yu, you must stop him!” Zhang An suddenly called out to Zheng Yu in the distance. “He would not be thus if your family hadn’t killed his master!”

Zheng Yu laughed ruefully.

My family’s fault, again? Can someone speak some reason? He killed my second brother and my father, but I’m not nearly as pissed as he is! He’s so enraged at losing a master, but it’s not like Yuan Shuo was your father!

Where’s the justice in this? Not to mention, you’re the one who attacked Boundless first, alright?

“How am I supposed to stop him? He’s inside the seal, not outside of it. I may be able to try if he was outside...”

“Steer Galewind into the seal!” Zhang An shouted.

“......”

Go to hell!

Zheng Yu couldn’t be bothered to dignify that with a response.

Are you crazy or am I crazy? Steering Galewind into the seal and then... be killed by the exalted emperor?

“You’re a half step emperor, are you afraid of a sealed exalted emperor?”

“......”

Don’t try to sting my pride into action!

Zheng Yu ignored the challenge.

Why should I stop him? There will naturally be someone who comes along to stop him! If no one does and the seal really breaks... then... Li Daoheng will show up, right?