Chapter 1352: Unbounded Love for the People (I)

Silver Moon.

A person leaned on the wall of a cave and sighed, “They say that one becomes the son of heaven if they are favored by the heavenly will. That such a person will rule over the world. But the struggle between the various heavyweights has locked away all opportunity. Even with the blessing of heavenly will, there doesn’t seem to be any fortune available...

“Heavenly will, aren’t you the master of this world?” he said softly in self-deprecating tones. “But now it seems like you’re not worth much. You can’t match those people at all. I thought that I’d make leaps and bounds of progress everyday when bolstered by the heavenly will, that I’d soar to the peak of the world. But it turns out... the son of heaven needs to run and hide everywhere.”

He thought he’d reached the zenith of life when he received the heavenly will’s blessing. Who would’ve thought that it’d turn into poison instead??

Li Hao’s people were looking and investigating everywhere for traces of the heavenly will. Thanks to protection from the heavens, its newest chosen one could sense certain matters.

Far from enjoying a run of good luck, the newest heaven favored only knew that life was no longer as carefree and easy as before. Being the son of heaven was a completely useless position as there were several fathers of heaven in Silver Moon!

The newly born heavenly will didn’t seem to be able to overcome these people. The only one it could possibly triumph over was Li Hao, but that guy turned out to be a difficult opponent as well and nearly ate the heavenly will on several occasions.

For this minor world’s heavenly will to be in such straits... He recalled some descriptions he’d read in ancient books, of how the New Martial heavenly will transformed itself into seeds and controlled the world at will.

Before it was defeated by the Human King, it reigned supreme throughout the world. In comparison, the heavenly will of Silver Moon didn’t even seem to have the right to be an ultimate villain.

How tragic was that!

Ripples undulated through the air as the person spoke. A very tiny, newly created vein of energy stones suddenly cracked open the ground beneath his feet.

The speaker seemed to be used to such sights and summoned a large sum of energy stones into his hand with a grab. However, his tone was as rueful as before. “What good is this for? Do powerhouses of that stage care about energy stones anymore? I won’t come across anything good even if I collect all of them in the world!”

There were some treasures left in Silver Moon, and they would be valuable to ordinary people or cultivators up to Sun and Moon. But to Fused Dao... almost nothing was worth of note. Did they need resources produced by the world at that level?

What they needed was dao, comprehension, and all sorts of massive fortune that would propel them into the next cultivation level. They had no need for trinkets like these, they weren’t beggars!

It was obvious that the heavenly will was the height of stupidity to end up in this situation!

A faint surge of strength shifted in the speaker’s body, like it was conveying a message.

“Go to the queen of the west?” repeated the person with a glint in his eyes. “Is she reliable? I know a bit about her—she’s scared out of her wits by Li Hao and seems to have gained something from the battle. But... is she reliable?”

He communicated with the heavenly will for a while before murmuring, “That queen actually has a hope of replacing the real Moon God, huh? Now that’s incredible!

“Then I’ll... go and try?” He was already gone.

Since the heavenly will had spoken, he could take advantage of the current peace throughout the land and try his luck. Li Hao’s powerhouses were preoccupied with cultivation, so there was some breathing space to flex one’s muscles.

Once the cultivation sessions ended and the heavyweights took up their posts again, it would be difficult to move through the world.

......

Silver City.

Various heavyweights were quietly cultivating. The power of great dao and Empyrean Kings wafted through the air. There didn’t seem to be confusion in the immaterial dao universe yet—there weren’t even major disturbances from it. Li Hao couldn’t sense much of what was going on.

Just as he perceived sword intent, the young man suddenly opened his eyes. There was someone next to him.

“Is something the matter?”

The visitor was Lin Hongyu.

She could tell that he was cultivating based on the sword intent blazing from his eyes, but she’d still chosen to interrupt his training. “There is something that we need your decision on.”

“Speak.”

Lin Hongyu hesitated, but ultimately said, “Didn’t the queen of the west steal some of the Moon God’s fragments?”

Li Hao inclined his head.

“You’re cultivating, so she didn’t dare disturb you and isn’t brave enough to come to you. She said that she wants to trade some information in return for leaving her alone.”

“What information?”

“......” Lin Hongyu looked on, deadpan.

What would she trade with if we already know what she knows?

“She said it’ll be very important to you and that she learned about it through the fragments of the Moon God. We can contact her if you’re interested.”

“It’s not a good idea to get too close to that one.” Li Hao frowned slightly. “She’s good for nothing and plenty good at ruining everything! Whoever sticks with her is bound to become unlucky.”

Lin Hongyu wanted to laugh at his response, but held her mirth in. The young man was very serious.

Although he didn’t believe that someone could be misfortune personified, the queen seemed very close to it. She wasn’t a scourge to herself, but to those around her. Death followed wherever she went!

Of those who’d once worked with her, only Zheng Yu was alive. The rest were nearly all dead. And her real self—the Moon God? It was difficult to say how many fragments of her were left.

Li Hao didn’t believe in destiny, but this one... was the epitome of bad luck. What information could she have for him? He wouldn’t be able to believe whatever she shared, and he’d be in a lot of trouble if he did believe her!

The young man wanted to refuse the request, but suddenly said, “Have her come see me! I won’t take her to account for the Moon God fragments since she participated in that battle—it’s also not like I needed her to either.”

“Alright!” Lin Hongyu agreed. She added when it appeared that the young man was done, “There are only three major enemies left now. The rest of us is initial Fused Dao, which means we probably can’t help you much, but you always have our support...”

Li Hao looked at her with confusion. Why was she beating around the bush? What was this woman trying to say?

Lin Hongyu gave up when she saw the confused look in his eyes. “Nothing, continue cultivating!” She left.

Li Hao looked at her and didn’t say a word. It wasn’t until she was far away that he realized something and laughed.

Did she want to express her concern? That’s such a backhanded way of doing it!

He shook her head and ignored the interlude, turning his focus back to the various sword intent. The young man was also keeping an eye on the immaterial dao universe. Li Hao wasn’t afraid of Zheng Yu or Li Daoheng appearing, but of the Red Moon exalted emperor’s replica being purposefully released for a second!

Not to break the seal, but to kill him.

He’d remained in Silver City all this time because he wanted to upend their vicious plans. If the exalted emperor’s replica really did appear in the city... the two knew as well as him whether the exalted emperor would rather kill Li Hao or destroy the eight main cities to release his primary body.

This would also squash some of their desire to kill him through the Red Moon exalted emperor.

As he thought about these possibilities, he once more considered what his future self had said.

The strength of a half step emperor! A thousand rays of sword intent!

He might encounter danger in the future, when he was a half step emperor. Granted, this was assuming that the future didn’t change.

There were only three people in the world who could kill him. Being a half step emperor meant that he likely hadn’t opened the Star Gate yet and set foot out of Silver Moon. Therefore... if this danger really did appear, it would likely be when he was fighting all three with his full force. That would be when he spontaneously loses all of his strength.

His future self also seemed overly beaten down. He was either from many years in the future or had utilized too much power of time!

It wasn’t likely that he was from the distant future, so the bigger possibility was that he would use too much power of time and age himself for it. Otherwise, his future self should not have appeared so weathered and old.

Li Hao continuously thought back to the shadow, to his future self. He could glean some clues about the future from that future self’s reactions and condition. Even though it was just a one in a million chance, there were only so many potential futures for Silver Moon world based on the current situation.

His future self hadn’t told him anything and hadn’t revealed who killed him. Li Hao understood that this was a result of worrying that he would unduly affect the present self and cause an error in judgment.

For example, if his future self said that the Red Moon exalted emperor would kill him, then Li Hao would be on his guard against the exalted emperor and possibly leave an opening for Zheng Yu and the others to swoop in.

He knew himself best!

Li Hao knew that his future self hadn’t said anything likely because of this, that he didn’t wish to overly interfere with his own decisions.

The future can be changed, but one instance of losing my strength is predestined to happen when I am a half step emperor. Only in that way can I replenish the strength that I borrowed for this battle, and it must happen in the climax of battle...

Li Hao brainstormed how he might overcome that crisis. There must be a loss for every gain! He would have to return what he’d borrowed today at some point.

Various thoughts rose in his mind and he perused them before sensing a peculiar surge of energy—lunar strength.

The queen was here!

......

On the perimeter.

The queen was tense and didn’t really want to see Li Hao, but also knew that the young man was the greatest in the world at present. Even though she was stronger than before, she somehow felt that there would be nothing good in it for her if she set herself against Li Hao.

Hadn’t someone like Ying Hongyue been killed all the same? They all thought that he couldn’t die because he was released to the seal. And yet, he was smoothly executed as well.

Everyone now thought that the Moon God and her wouldn’t die, because they were the core strength of Silver Moon. Unprecedented disaster might occur if the moon was completely broken.

But these days... who knew?

Hence, here she was.

“Your Majesty the queen!” Lin Hongyu and a few others took to the air in welcome when the queen arrived.

The queen maintained a frosty expression on her face. She didn’t want to talk to these people and she wasn’t afraid of them. “Where is the Silver Moon Marquis?”

“He waits for you inside the city!”

This was just a formality; the queen had already sensed Li Hao’s sword intent. She landed on the ground behind the others and headed toward the young man.