Chapter 1362: Comprehending Dao (I)

Whether it was dragging the past to the present or projecting into the future, at the very least, Li Hao was currently unable to ensure that such an existence like the cat could remain in this world without fading away. It was clear from this just how unparalleled the Exalted Blood Emperor’s weapon was!

In the past, Li Hao had seen via the Battle Heaven characters how the august personage split the world into eight pieces. Now it appeared that that was just a valiant action, but retaining the projection of the cat and resurrecting it was true dao!

Li Hao stared at the cat inside the blade. It was a chubby thing. If it was the projection of the Ash Emperor, was this how the Ash Emperor looked like as well?

Its fur was slightly auburn and tended to bristle upward. Li Hao cast it a few curious glances. This cat seemed to be everywhere in New Martial, but many people didn’t know that the famed Ash Emperor was a cat. They only called it “Imperial Majesty”!

“For a cat to reach that kind of level... is incredible!” Li Hao murmured.

The cat’s chest seemed to rise and fall; it had been in Silver Moon minor world for many years. The Exalted Blood Emperor had visited more than once, possibly for the cat. It was clear to see from that how important it was.

“Senior Blade, Senior Cat... I’m going to revisit the exalted emperor’s strength today and perceive his blade intent. Time might flow in reverse or other phenomena might occur. There is no need for you to be nervous!”

The long blade trembled, ringing with a crisp keen. It seemed to be finding Li Hao’s words ludicrous.

Nervous? Us? You probably don’t know about us! We once observed the Human King slaying the Heavenly Emperor! We watched the four sovereigns fight the nine emperors! We traveled through the core origin universe!

What is there that can make us nervous?

“Very well!” Li Hao nodded, smiling. He understood the blade’s response. Very good!

The world spun around them. A human, a blade, and a cat appeared in another void.

“The blade of blood!” came a gasp in the air—a joint chorus from the three entities guarding the mental world. This was the weapon of the Exalted Blood Emperor!

“The Ash Emperor!”

“No... that’s not the Ash Emperor...” Another one of them was shaken. What had Li Hao brought in here this time?

The young man didn’t answer them. “I’m going to summon the blade intent within the Exalted Blood Emperor’s weapon and meld it into my sword intent. I will glean the best of all disciplines! The Sword Sovereign, Exalted Blood Emperor, Human King Consort, Zheng Yu, and Li Daoheng are all worthy people to learn from!

“The three seniors must stabilize the mental sea. I hope that you will also attain new enlightenment of your own during this process and take another step forward! I may need to open a temporary dao world after this attempt, so I can combine the corporal and immaterial. I hope it doesn’t exceed the capacity of the world that the three seniors have created!”

The world shook as the sword tree, stone, and seal were stunned. Combining the corporal and immaterial? Was that possible?

Well, no matter what, they had no particular thoughts otherwise at the moment. They would focus on growing stronger and preventing their world from bursting at the seams.

......

Li Hao no longer dwelled on the matter. A river appeared in front of him, one that looked different from the river of chaos. This river held more than one hundred stars sparkling in its depths. One of them was similar to the star of time. It was a simulacra, the core of the Hao Moon Sword intent and forged by the sword of time.

Instead of turbid waters, this river ran cleanly.

The river of chaos in the dao universe was filled with a myriad of daos. Li Hao hadn’t comprehended all of them, just mixed the innumerable daos together. When it came to some of the daos, he only knew what they were and nothing else.

But of all the dao stars in this river, he knew them like the back of his hand as they were all sword intent that he’d personally comprehended.

Such was the biggest difference between the two rivers!

The river of chaos was truly chaotic. Although it was formidable, Li Hao couldn’t bring much of its strength to bear. The river of the mental world was an exact opposite. It was much more ordinary, but Li Hao could exert every last iota of force of it.

One was filled with one hundred million stars and gathered from the people. One was crafted from Li Hao’s reflections on sword dao.

One was the reflection of the people’s will, one was Li Hao’s own unique will. One accumulated the strength of all, one was Li Hao’s solo stage.

Li Hao floated out of the river and took another look at the blade. “Tracing the past will lead to an eruption of blade intent! Don’t blow up my mental world now. Apparently the Exalted Blood Emperor is unrivaled in dominance, so can you keep yourself in check? A blade that can’t control its own strength is not a good blade!”

“Clang!” rang a crisp metal vibration. The blade of blood was dissatisfied by Li Hao’s words.

Listen to yourself! Can’t control my own strength? Who are you looking down on?

The river circulated around the blade and sword intent washed over it. Time reversed; waves roared as the blade quivered in the waters.

The weapon itself possessed immense blade intent, but that was not what Li Hao sought. He wanted to see real blade intent!

The ‘Battle Heaven’ characters manifested in the air. They would make it easier to bring out the real Exalted Blood Emperor’s weapon.

Blade intent grew stronger! The little mental world began trembling. Li Hao once more sighed with appreciation at how well he’d forged the world’s foundations. He’d used the tree, seal, and whetstone of the Sword Sovereign!

All of them were existences made to endure the Sword Sovereign’s sword intent!

Otherwise, mere Saints of the human or monster spirit race would’ve proved useless. An exalted emperor’s will would’ve obliterated them. These three had provided the most perfect help in his moment of need!

The long river flowed steadily, continuously washing over the blade, attempting to wash the past out of it.

Li Hao wanted more than just some blade intent. He wanted to outright summon the Exalted Blood Emperor’s shadow and perhaps even fight it! He wanted to have a real exchange with an exalted emperor of the past!

The inherent dangers didn’t matter! So what?

Overbearing blood qi materialized over the blade, like an ocean of blood. It was a bit illusory.

Li Hao had come into contact with the Exalted Blood Emperor’s mirage a long time ago. However, they’d been separated by space and time then. There hadn’t been any meaningful contact.

This time, the young man hoped that the exalted emperor would be able to take shape through the ocean!

Sword intent abruptly exploded, provoking the blade. The Firmament Sword had appeared in Li Hao’s hand; he forced rays of unique strength out of it. The sword shook continuously in the process.

“Spit out all of the eight bloodlines!” the young man suddenly commanded.

The Firmament Sword was a replacement for Stellaris to begin with and had devoured the heritage weapons of the eight families. It stored a great deal of the eight bloodlines, and now Li Hao wanted the sword to give it all up.

The Firmament Sword wasn’t willing!

It was easy to devour the bloodlines, but difficult to relinquish them.

“You will not find your footing if you do not break new ground!” Li Hao instructed. “Although the eight bloodlines are strong enough, you must be willing to cede some part of you to gain something new! Only then will you truly take another step forward!

“The Hao Moon Sword intent that I comprehend focuses on time! Your possession of the eight bloodlines hinders me instead. If you refuse to give it up and are more worried about a temporary weakness, then I can only reforge you through force in order to acclimate you to my sword intent, or even put you away!

“A sword can do as it wishes when it has no master. When it does have a master, it is the master’s weapon and cannot behave according to its wishes! You hesitated twice, which is a demonstration of mistrust. In that case, perhaps you will enjoy a similar fate to the real Stellaris countless years later and be abandoned in a pocket of the universe!”

Li Hao addressed the sword coldly. A sword enjoyed free will in the absence of a master. But when it had one, it should obey the master. Even if self-detonation was commanded, that order should be carried out without hesitation.

The Sword Sovereign might have left Stellaris behind because it wasn’t strong enough. Perhaps Stellaris no longer suited his needs. What use was there to keep around a less than useful sword?

The Firmament Sword shook with trepidation; the eight bloodlines flowed out of it moments later. These were the result of it devouring many things.

An agitated blade of blood absorbed all of it. Within it, the cat once more opened its mouth and swallowed all of the strength.

Li Hao had long since seen through the true essence of the eight bloodlines. What was deemed the eight bloodlines was the strength that established the formation of Silver Moon world. The eight cities were tasked with absorbing it and transferring it to the blade for the cat to absorb.

The purest energy of the world was used to nurture the cat, in hopes of resurrecting it. At the moment, a sea of blood appeared over the blade.

The bloody sea trembled!

An extremely wispy shadow began to take shape. Li Hao grew ever more haggard and aged. Such was the effect of utilizing the power of time. However much he used was however much he depleted. His lifespan was much shorter without the river of chaos, but he didn’t mind the expenditure.

His thoughts drifted to his future self. That version was so old and so weathered by the passage of time. Had he also given up the river of chaos and reduced his lifespan because of it? Otherwise, would he have aged so quickly with the river and worship of a world full of people?

Who knew!

The shadow in front of him solidified; blood qi encompassed the world. Blade intent sparkled—people said that the Exalted Blood Emperor was most adept at the bow, but that only applied to his past self, the War Sovereign!

In reality, the true Exalted Blood Emperor was skilled at the blade!

He traveled through the entire world with just the blade. The Human King also used the blade due to his influence. Since the Exalted Blood Emperor was both friend and mentor, the Human King was naturally encouraged to use the blade as well.

The figure took shape and the blade of blood trembled!

After an indeterminate period of time, the river undulated wildly as a person was fully fleshed out. Li Hao could sense unlimited pressure as the river shook violently!

The little mental world seemed hard pressed to endure the pressure; the power of time flowed rapidly! He utilized the blade intent from the weapon and blood qi to retrace the past, depicting the scene he wanted bit by bit.

𝓯𝙧𝙚𝒆𝙬𝙚𝒃𝙣𝙤𝒗𝓮𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢

It seemed to be... a young man standing in front of him, similar to the Exalted Blood Emperor in the mirage. Li Hao hadn’t glimpsed their faces in the mirage, but could now see some of them. This one was very young and held a peaceful look in his eyes, but a stern ruthlessness lurked in their depths!

This was an exalted emperor who’d killed countless enemies!

The Human King and others hadn’t been that old when they verified their dao as emperors. They’d all been in their twenties.

In that age, there were multiple young exalted emperors of that age. The Human King hadn’t walked his path alone. All of his good friends from school had accompanied him to the end.

What a blissful life that was!