Chapter 1333: A Blatant Conspiracy (I)

“This is for your own good!” Li Hao raised a faint eyebrow. “Li Daoheng has the strength of a half step emperor and is situated within the moon itself. How is an initial Empyrean King like you supposed to fight him? Although Zheng Yu is also on the side of evil, he and Li Daoheng are natural enemies!

“It’s only a matter of time before you’re chewed up and your bones spat out if you lack the protection of a half step emperor! Who do you think you are? Your strength is either from external sources or scavenged from elsewhere. The Moon God can descend upon you at any time to seize your strength! Only with another half step emperor in residence can you avoid this situation, do you understand?”

The queen colored—these words weren’t false. She was well aware of the situation as well, but simply felt that the attention wouldn’t be on her for the moment.

“Go speak some sense into Zheng Yu, tell him I said all this and that I need Galewind!” Li Hao said softly. “Make him move. It’s not a good development for him either if the Moon God possesses you. He knows that as well. We all see clearly here, it’s easier between smart people on the same page.”

“Impossible!” The queen set her jaw. “I’m never letting Zheng Yu and his people into my primary body... Do you think I’m an object? This queen is—”

“That’s not

your

primary body,” Li Hao laughed. “Do you really think you’re the Moon God? Wake up and go talk to Zheng Yu! Tell him my advice or I’ll attack Galewind. If he refuses, tell him to wash his neck to prepare for a beheading!”

“You’re just an initial Empyrean King and he’s a half step emperor...” The queen frowned.

“What does it have to do with you?” Li Hao answered calmly. “Are you going to him or not? If you don’t go, I’ll start with you today and eliminate you first! There’s not much use in letting you live if you won’t even run small errands for me!”

The queen flew into a rage!

Just listen to yourself, we’re enemies! Who wants to run errands for you?!

She wanted to break out in a loud round of cursing, but saw that Li Hao was staring her down. She was suddenly unsure of herself and gnashed her teeth with rage. “Even if this queen is willing to go, Zheng Yu will never agree! You’re just daydreaming, Li Hao!”

“Just go and give him a choice. I never force people into a decision! Having options is always a good thing!”

“......” The queen wanted to instinctively refuse, then felt that she could pretend to agree first and run as soon as Li Hao left!

“Don’t even think about running, not unless you break some of your dao meridians,” Li Hao said meaningfully. “Otherwise, I’ll be able to find you anytime. Did you forget that I made my first trip to the west because I was looking for you?”

The expression on the queen’s face shifted.

As I thought! I was opening dao meridians too quickly for it to be normal.

“Is this not your plan?” She ground her teeth. “Aren’t you enticing me to lure Li Daoheng and the real Moon God into the dao universe? Why else are you telling me this for?”

“That would be such an obvious plan!” Li Hao burst out laughing. “Do you think Li Daoheng is an idiot and only just realized it, like you did? Zheng Yu probably already knows, and so do a lot of other people in the world.

“Go ask Zheng Yu if you don’t believe me. Does he dare enter the dao universe through you? Obviously, he doesn’t. Since that’s the case, why should I be afraid of people learning about your function? You’re the bait that I’ve cast into the water, who would dare take me up on it?”

“Don’t be so damn cocky, Li Hao!” raged the queen. “Do you think I have no other choice in cultivation other than the dao meridians?”

“It’s fine if you don’t want to use them, go ahead and detonate them all!” Li Hao was completely unmoved. “I won’t stop you. But you may not retain the strength of an Empyrean King after you self-detonate. If you lack even that in this age... then you... would truly be trash. At least you have some ability to fight back at the moment!”

The queen’s teeth gnashing intensified. It was the first time that she felt so... helpless, humbled, and resigned!

What do all of these bastards treat me as?? Every single one of them is manipulating me! I hate them all!

Li Hao was the most blunt about it and didn’t even bother concealing his intentions.

I’m using you to fish for others and they all know about it, but I don’t care.

“Li Hao, what do you guys want with me?” the queen asked with dejection after a long moment.

“Don’t think so highly of yourself, no one wants anything to do with you,” Li Hao was equally resigned. “You’re just a pawn, through and through. You should try and see if you can move yourself out of that category.”

“You...”

“Alright, that’s enough. Hurry and take care of this for me!” Li Hao disappeared.

Bam!

The queen punched through the sky in a fit of towering rage. How damnable the situation was! How she burned with hatred! This was the worst kind of humiliation!

She was so mad that there was nothing she could do but fume for a long while. Finally, she grit her teeth and flew in the direction of Galewind.

Zheng Yu, the two of us should ally together to kill this little bastard!

......

Galewind.

The queen was here. Instead of entering the city, she loudly announced Li Hao’s thoughts while she stood outside the city.

Inside, Zheng Yu laughed from anger. The Empyrean Kings burned with incandescent rage, this went beyond the pale! Having them move from Galewind to take up residence in the queen’s moon instead... What was this, if not a joke?!

“Does Li Hao really think of himself as the overlord of the world? Does he fancy himself as an exalted emperor?!” snarled an Empyrean King. “Does he dare come to Galewind?! Would he dare enter if the lord permitted his residence?”

Did the brat really think that half step emperors were short on brains to be posing these demands??

And that wasn’t the key, the key was that the queen idiot really did come on the brat’s behalf. So she was afraid of Li Hao, but not of a half step emperor’s wrath??

You’re inviting a half step emperor to your home? Do you realize how reckless that is?

Even Zheng Yu was highly amused by the situation.

“You’re afraid of Li Hao, so you came when he told you to. Are you... not afraid of me?” Zheng Yu looked at the queen.

“How would this queen be afraid of him?” snorted the queen. “It’s just that he has a lot of helpers in the outside world and you guys remain behind your walls! The enemy of an enemy is my friend, is there a need for this queen to be afraid of you? Should we not be allying together against him?”

Zheng Yu laughed softly.

Not afraid? If you’re not afraid, why are you here to persuade a half step emperor to move?

“Do you wish for me to take up residence within the moon?”

“Do whatever you’d like!” A complex mix of emotions assailed the queen.

How do I know?

Zheng Yu sighed softly. This response meant that the queen was indeed afraid and felt that Li Hao spoke a certain degree of sense. The Moon God had Li Daoheng, whereas she had nothing. Having a half step emperor in residence on her side would be... at least a little safer.

In other words, she was short-sighted and did not consider the future.

Zheng Yu looked quietly into the distance without a word. Did Li Hao truly want Galewind, or was this a diversion?

Despite Li Hao’s young age, he was sometimes very difficult to get a handle on. Sending the queen with so much fanfare didn’t necessarily mean that he wanted Galewind. Just like last time when he hunted down Ying Hongyue, it was Thunderblast that fell instead.

Even Li Daoheng had suffered enormously at Li Hao’s hands. This was a young man who was very quick on his feet!

......

As the queen and Zheng Yu faced off, Li Hao continued to travel around the world. Seizing the eight main cities was one of his goals, but not the only one he had his eye on at the moment. Apart from the enemies on the surface, there were also ones in the shadows—such as the heavenly intent!

Silver Moon’s heavenly intent had disappeared lately, the newborn will of the world was missing! Clearly, the nascent heavenly will had matured a great deal recently.

Li Hao had some suspects in mind, but he wasn’t sure who’d received heavenly favor. However, a more mature heavenly favor could deliver a fatal blow at a critical moment. He’d used it to his advantage last time and even cut off part of it. The heavenly will was merciless and was bound to take revenge on the young man.

There was the rapidly improving Dao Sword, Hongxiu saving all manner of orphans and the weak in Divine Nation, and the ninth prince of Skystar Dynasty...

Any of these people could become targets for the heavenly will to encroach upon. The layout of Silver Moon world seemed very clear, and it was, but there was some complexity and ambiguity within.

Li Hao visited the four corners, using his feet to measure the world. How big was this minor world? Where were the world barriers of the four sides located? What did the end of the world look like?

He had his own thoughts in mind, ones he wouldn’t reveal to anyone. They were just... very hard to execute on.

Either he would let them be, or he would execute his ideas to the best degree possible and set up a plan that encompassed the world. Everyone would enter his trap!

His greatest advantage at the moment was only that he could freely walk through the world. Zheng Yu and the rest might have replicas outside, but those were not primary bodies at the end of the day. Li Hao was all too familiar that replicas were just replicas. Their reactions and abilities were less than that of the primary bodies.

......

The young man was in no hurry. He spent seven days traveling. Given his level of strength, he could’ve circumnavigated the world during this period of time. However, he spent it only covering the ground. He visited the ends of all four cardinal directions. Currently, he sat cross-legged in the air at the end of Great Li.

Deep in thought, he found that what he wanted to do was hard, very hard!

But... I still want to try!

He looked at Great Li in the distance, at where mountains towered and wild beasts roamed, as well as a powerhouse that might be the replica of an exalted emperor.

Zheng Yu and the others were unable to set foot outside with their primary bodies, but this one lived easily and carefree. This personage was also the most likely to ruin his plans.

Various thoughts flashed through Li Hao’s mind before he ultimately set foot through the air. He wasn’t going to wait until the end for Zhang An to stop this person. If he was as Zhang An spoke of, then perhaps... they could talk.

......

The Great Li divine temple.

The god of Initial Martial abruptly manifested and looked to the northern reaches with dissatisfaction. Why was this kid bothering him again and again? He’d known that Li Hao was taking his measure of the world before, but couldn’t be bothered to do anything about it.

Why was Li Hao here again? And from the looks of it, headed straight toward him.

Damn it!

The god looked at the Great Li king close at hand. The latter was absorbing energy and about to break through. Light flashed through the area as the god disappeared.