Chapter 1358: The Journey of a Hero (I)

“There are unparalleled geniuses and heroes in every age,” said the Red Moon exalted emperor. “Your Human King wasn’t all that old when he came into power either! Since the three of us cannot be personages like that, it is only logical that we work together to kill such an existence ahead of time. After all, we are less than them...”

An exalted emperor was saying he was less than another! The other two didn’t quite agree with him, but quickly recovered their calm and didn’t voice their protests. Perhaps!

If an exalted emperor was admitting to this... Even the weakest exalted emperor was still an exalted emperor. If this assessment made its way into other ears, even the chaos universe and masters of their worlds would find it to be glowing praise!

“The two of you should refrain from causing trouble in my territory during this period of time.” The man with a sword on his back drifted away. “If you do, our plan will terminate completely! I hope the two of you can be quiet for a while!”

With that, he ceased chasing the star and vanished.

A merry Zheng Yu watched the direction he’d gone off in and murmured, “That guy must have done something that’s given him a lot of confidence. He wouldn’t take this risk so easily otherwise!”

“Aren’t you the same?” the Red Moon exalted emperor laughed meaningfully. “Zheng Yu is a difficult character to shake off. If there’s a chance, you and I should work together instead.”

“I do hope such a chance comes about!” Zheng Yu smiled with a nod. He looked around the vicinity. “This universe is so big! A dao universe is marvelous indeed. I’m going to take a look around, please do as you wish!

“Ah, don’t forget about me if your august self breaks out of the seal and attacks New Martial instead!” He was gone.

The Red Moon exalted emperor looked in the direction that the two had left in and raised an eyebrow. Both of these fellows made for difficult opponents. If they focused on cultivation and weathered the tribulation of New Martial exalted emperors, then both might stand a chance of verifying their dao.

However, the two chose to plot and plan within a minor world.

They had strong ambitions. Perhaps being a simple exalted emperor wouldn’t satisfy them!

The Red Moon exalted emperor chuckled and promptly vanished. A half step emperor was a half step emperor in the end, not an exalted emperor!

......

The dao universe.

A lively river churned through the void. 180 large stars illuminated the world. Their light dimmed moments later and vanished from the river. They were replaced by new stars filled with sword intent.

It was a handoff of stars!

The ‘dao’ character suppressing the river gradually faded away. In its place settled a ‘sword’ character that’d gone through numerous permutations.

Li Hao was transitioning his control of the dao universe to Hong Yitang.

Just as outsiders surmised, Hong Yitang was the most suitable successor to the dao universe. In the absence of Li Hao, there wouldn’t be much difficulty with him taking over. But in contrast to the 180 dao stars that Li Hao had lit, Hong Yitang only had approximately seventy since he’d just barely made it to second level Fused Dao.

That was a much lower number compared to Li Hao, but it wasn’t a huge issue either. At the same time, when the master of dao did not possess a sufficient cultivation level, that easily led to a decrease in the upper limit of great dao.

Regular martial masters would not sense it, but those of the Fused Dao level would. There would also be some changes and even backlash in the world.

Being fifth level Fused Dao, Li Hao could stand against peak Empyrean Kings. Hong Yitang was far from that level.

After replacing Li Hao, Hong Yitang controlled roughly seventy sectors. There were other sectors that he did not control, which meant that portions of the great dao could collapse after Li Hao withdrew his dao stars.

Hong Yitang frowned slightly. Li Hao wanted to address the situation, but the man sighed softly, “I am weaker than you, my cultivation is lower level than yours, my physical body is less than yours, and I cannot endure as much trial and suffering as you!

“Even if you forcefully raise my cultivation, it will be hard to immediately bring it up to fifth level Fused Dao...” Hong Yitang interrupted Li Hao when the young man opened his mouth to speak. “If I imitate you... no, I’m not going to imitate you. If I fully integrate myself into the great dao and become the master of the river of dao, will that increase the limit of great dao?”

Li Hao shook from the proposition.

“I can’t pick up your scraps forever now, can I? And I can’t always depend on you to give me things.” Hong Yitang was very calm. “I know that you might have other ways, but the price will be high. You’re only fifth level Fused Dao, it’s too hard for you to forcefully enhance me! So why don’t I become part of the long river!”

Li Hao blinked and didn’t make a sound.

“You haven’t told me yet if this will work!” Hong Yitang laughed.

Integrating himself into the river would be completely tying himself to the great dao. There would be no future separation since all of his mind and spirit would be part of the river! This differed from what Li Hao had done.

The young man had only sunk his physical body into the river, he hadn’t fully become part of it. He had taken a nap in the river, whereas Hong Yitang meant to fully meld himself into it. In the future, the river would be him and he would be the river!

I will die if the river is destroyed. I will never die if the river exists.

He would be trading his human self for a dao self.

Li Hao thought it over, not simply refusing as an instinctive reaction. “Martial uncle, you are bound to take another step forward in your cultivation if you fully assimilate into the river. However, there is a very large drawback associated with that, and that is you will no longer be able to break free of it!”

“How many exalted emperors dream of such an opportunity?” Hong Yitang’s laugh was different this time. “Even the Human King and others in New Martial integrated themselves into the world when they became its master. It was a kind of assimilation with the great dao as well.

“How many exalted emperors crave such a chance? To fully become one with the great dao... That is a great opportunity to countless exalted emperors! How is being unable to separate myself a drawback?

“Do you think I’m you?” Hong Yitang’s smile turned odd. “Who else would be like you and give up a brand new dao universe just like this?”

Did Li Hao really think of that as a sacrifice?

It wasn’t!

Fully integrating into the long river was a stroke of fortune, just as the Green Emperor had become one with New Martial world, as had the Human King. An opportunity that innumerable people yearned for was a drawback to Li Hao!

“It’s not that... it’s just... a little restrictive?” Li Hao scratched his head with a grin. “I’m worried that this dao universe will be the same as the core origin universe, that martial uncle won’t be able to go somewhere that the great dao doesn’t encompass. Take Silver Moon world, for example. The Human King and Green Emperor can’t go somewhere that core origin doesn’t envelop. They’ll have to think of another way if they want to!”

“The universe is so infinitely big, how far do we want to go?” Hong Yitang looked at Li Hao. “You haven’t even made it out of Silver Moon yet. How far do

you

want to go?”

“I don’t know,” Li Hao laughed. “I just think that becoming part of it... Forget it, it’s doable. It’s just... losing the sensation of freedom doesn’t sit quite right with me, even if it means I can cover the chaos. But if martial uncle insists on this course of action, then it’s fine!”

He was thinking too much. The dao universe might be able to spread without end. In that case, why care about losing personal freedom?

It’s just... I wouldn’t choose the path that martial uncle is choosing.

𝗳𝗿𝐞𝕖𝘄𝗲𝕓𝗻𝚘𝚟𝕖𝐥.𝚌𝕠𝕞

Creating worlds and great dao is for the purpose of strength, living eternally, and freedom. It would be so dour if I’m tied to the great dao at the end of all this. If I like this dao when I’m young, but core origin when I’m older and want to have some fun with it, wouldn’t I be unable to try if the two aren’t compatible?

What a pity that would be!

It’d be so sad if the two dao universes repulsed each other. I’ve yet to meet all of those famous New Martial heavyweights!

But since Hong Yitang had made his decision, a full integration was just as well!

Li Hao had crafted the foundation of the river of chaos. All he needed to do was to withdraw his physical body and permit Hong Yitang to fully become part of it. The man would be able to skip all of the preparatory work. While a spontaneous rise to fifth level Fused Dao wasn’t necessarily guaranteed, there would be no problem with fourth level Fused Dao.

If they tried a bit harder, the strength within the river would absolutely propel Hong Yitang to fifth level Fused Dao.

Except...

Li Hao wants to say a few more words, such as Hong Yitang would be completely tied to Silver Moon world after that!

There were a myriad of daos in the river, and it was formed by the efforts of the people. If the people were no more, then the river might dry up as well. If someone made up their mind to ruthlessly slaughter ten billion Silver Moon cultivators, then Hong Yitang might die as well.

A variety of thoughts ran through Li Hao’s mind—he trusted that Hong Yitang was well aware of the inherent risks and dangers. He chose this course of action all the same.

Did Li Hao have ideas to improve Hong Yitang’s strength without having the man become one with the river?

Certainly, such as infusing the strength of his dao stars into Hong Yitang’s dao stars. But in that way, Li Hao would have to pay a significant price.

Hong Yitang was clearly aware of that as well.

Li Hao said nothing further and looked emotionally at the long river. “Then I shall congratulate martial uncle ahead of time in becoming the true dao master of this universe! I called it the Hao Cosmos before, how about we change its name in accordance with martial uncle and call it... Sword World?”

The sword could represent Hong Yitang, Li Hao, and the Sword Sovereign!

This universe had originated from the Sword Sovereign and Li Hao. Hong Yitang would be the third generation master. While the Sword Sovereign may have never laid eyes on this universe or known that a dao universe would be born, Li Hao was certain that it came from the Sword Sovereign!

“Sword World?” Hong Yitang mouthed the name. “It doesn’t sound nice! How about Sword Pool?”

Li Hao blinked.

How is that any better?

It was way worse! Those who didn’t know would think that this was a small pond!

Hong Yitang was wreathed in smiles.

This will be the name—Sword Pool!

Indeed, a pond was precisely what he was going for. Some thought that their world was a massive ocean that was the center of the universe. They thought that Silver Moon was the be all and end all of existence.

That was clearly not the truth. Hong Yitang wanted everyone to know that this was just a pool for swords.

Another had once given up the dao universe that was at their fingertips. In his eyes, this was a pond that restricted his movements. Even though he’d yet to succeed in this idea and walk out of Silver Moon world, Hong Yitang believed that such a day would come about.

There would be a day in which the dao universe was nothing but a pond in his eyes.

Sword World?

No! This could only be called Sword Pool!