Chapter 1365: Comprehending Dao (IV)

In another location.

Zhang An was surprised by Li Hao’s request; he frowned at the unexpected title.

“My grandfather... did write this book. Well, it’s more like a log of the era rather than a book. It records a lot of battle methods, but doesn’t go into detail for any of them. It only mentions them briefly—people like to treat it more as a gossip magazine,” sighed the man. “And so the Human King sealed it away later on!

“Of course, there’s more to this book than just gossip. My grandfather once said that this was a recounting of his entire understanding of the great dao. It also means that some people say my grandfather spent his whole life gossiping!” awkwardly admitted a helpless Zhang An. “After it became taboo, my grandfather gave it up since no one could understand it. He said to let it be sealed away then!

“It would be worthy of perusal if there came along someone who could read it. The caveat is that they won’t pay too much attention to all the gossip...”

“Is there a lot of gossip in it?” Li Hao was suddenly interested.

“Quite a lot!” A rueful smile cracked Zhang An’s serious visage. “My grandfather... loved keeping the world under surveillance! He did so to plan for the greater picture and to keep an eye on enemies and spies.

“However, that didn’t stop people from slandering my grandfather and saying he did it all in the name of gossip. There were boycotts across the land when his book was published!”

“So you must have a copy, right?” Li Hao laughed. “Lend it to me. I don’t want to read the gossip, I just want to study the meaning of great dao!”

“......”

Are you sure?

Zhang An really wanted to point out that there weren’t that many words dedicated to great dao in the book. Ninety-nine percent of it was the retelling of gossip. But after some thought, he nodded and took out a storage ring.

“Here’s a set of the most well preserved copy. Some other places in Silver Moon have copies too, but just incomplete portions that have edited out the gossip. But doing so... makes the book very dry and boring.”

“I’ll be sure to study it well.” Li Hao couldn’t help but laugh as he accepted the storage ring. “I think there is a lot of depth to the supreme’s dao heritage. Your book of great dao only seems to scratch the surface.

Zhang An nodded with resignation. That was true enough, he really did only scratch the surface!

Li Hao quickly sped off after obtaining what he’d come for. Zhang An sighed to himself. Did the young man wish to observe dao or read gossip?

Forget it, who knew. He could do as he wished!

Unbridled laughter echoed through the world not long after. Zhang An could hear hints of it and cursed to himself. Didn’t the kid say that he wouldn’t read the gossip?? That was clearly his highly amused laughter!

“Grandfather... it seems... that no one is able to understand the log of the world’s education that you left behind...” Zhang An shook his head helplessly. His grandfather had once said that everyone would be able to understand his book and gain something from it.

In the end, everyone reaped a rich harvest of gossip. His grandfather deserved the ban!

Would Li Hao be able to glean anything from it one hundred thousand years later? Could he bring himself to ignore the juicy details?

......

Li Hao was deeply immersed in the book and belly-laughing. How interesting! How fascinating! This was the most comprehensive book of history in New Martial and it was a very realistic recounting. No wonder the Human King had banned it. If he hadn’t, everyone in the world would know how shameless he was in private.

The august personage synonymous with New Martial climbed through dog tunnels, dug plenty of tunnels of his own, swindled, defrauded, and hoodwinked others... There didn’t seem to be anything that he wouldn’t do and he had absolutely no use for face. This was a complete degrading of the Human King’s reputation.

I’d ban it too if it was me!

Li Hao’s laughter faded away the more he read. He was no longer gleefully inhaling scandalous stories, but perusing real scenes of history. The text perfectly recreated New Martial’s periods of war, humiliation, and resistance against external foes.

There was also a detailed recounting of each exalted emperor’s great dao—the process of comprehension, experience, and result.

The book was a detailed log of the many forms of life and origins of a myriad types of dao. It was the source of great dao!

Li Hao read silently, reliving history and losing himself in its pages. The book recorded the full journey of almost all of the exalted emperors and how they reached their positions. This kind of book was indeed so much more than a gossip magazine.

As he read, he realized that the book even utilized some disassembly and recombination methods. It dismantled characters to recreate scenes from history, facilitating the reader to experience them firsthand.

It was quite a marvelous feeling.

“What a fantastic book!” murmured Li Hao. It was much more comprehensive than the

Accounts of Evenround.

It would seem that book only scratched the surface and that this one was the essence.

Any dao could be traced to its roots here.

Li Hao’s mental sea churned and waves reared through it, tossing and turning through changes while assembling into different dao methods.

......

A singular book of education recorded the various aspects of life in New Martial and was a complete recounting of a myriad daos. It detailed how they fought back against injustice, inequality, and proceeded forward in darkness.

While it appeared to be a tabloid on the surface, it spoke of New Martial’s history of struggle and sacrifice. Countless people gave up their lives for a salutation of, “Felicitations to the human race!”

What were they celebrating?

For the transformation of despair into hope after every battle, for healing and recovery after every sacrifice. It was to lessen the blow of anguish and distress on the powerhouses. Theirs was a history written from blood and tears, depicting an era and age of resistance.

In the end, they won.

Li Hao put down the book. Where everyone saw gossip, he saw the unwillingness of New Martial to be tyrannized and their courage in taking a stand!

“So this... is the true New Martial!” Li Hao murmured to himself. Had they stood up like him and raised weapons against their oppressors?

I’m fighting back as well! I fight against the twists and turns of fate. Is this something to be experienced in every age?

I’ve underestimated New Martial and thought too little of the real New Martial citizens! I thought people like Zheng Yu actually could represent New Martial.

Li Hao snorted with contempt and disdain.

It looks like none of these people are an accurate representation. Only the Exalted Blood Emperor and his companions have personally participated in the uprisings of New Martial. They struck back against powerful enemies. That’s what makes them truly from New Martial.

Zhang An had participated as well, but he didn’t appear as strong as his brethren. Instead, he was irresolute and indecisive. Despite having experienced that age, he hadn’t learned a corresponding level of ruthlessness.

Indeed, ruthlessness!

New Martial’s defiance was marked by countering cruelty with ruthlessness, and violence with force. Even the much praised Supreme Zhang hadn’t concealed any of his actions within the book. He’d killed enemies, his own people, ancients, descendants, and worlds in the name of New Martial...

Entire chapters spoke of bloodshed and slaughter in the easy tones of discussing gossip.

Was such a person merciful?

No! This kind of person was the most unforgiving of all!

Zhang An was so far removed from his grandfather.

The thick book spoke of blood, sweat, and tears, and was forged by the fresh blood of everyone in its pages. No wonder the Exalted Blood Emperor’s blade contained only unbounded killing intent!

“Compared to you guys... I seem to have it easier,” Li Hao laughed. At least, in this age, whether it was Zheng Yu, Li Daoheng, or the Red Moon exalted emperor, none of them turned their attention to killing ordinary citizens. There was no need to be on guard against such a possibility. Zheng Yu had only attacked them for a while because he hoped to complete the revitalization of the world in such a manner.

After the world recovered, he lost interest in the mundanes.

𝙛𝒓𝓮𝙚𝔀𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝒐𝒎

“Thank goodness!” Li Hao closed his eyes in repose.

Stars churned throughout the mental world, like they were part of an animation. The young man thought of something after watching them for a while and smiled. It might be nice to be unfathomable.

The great dao is mysterious and obscure...

Li Hao vanished on the spot, entering the world of mental strength. He tilted his head back at the sky, watching stars drift overhead. They cavorted with esoteric meaning. Sword intent wafted through the world and the river of time below seemed like a swimming pool, permitting the stars to drift and pass through as they would.

Life was in play, but Li Hao suddenly felt that this dao universe lacked a bit of life. The stars weren’t as lively or animated as he might expect them to be. Only the star of time liked to jump around.

Assorted comprehension came to the fore.

“A lack of order... the presence of order... are secondary when it comes to importance. The key is vitality. If a great dao lacks vitality, then it doesn’t matter how much dao it has. It is a dead dao!”

Corporeal dao meridians churned in his body, wanting to join the starry expanse overhead!

Li Hao’s eyes lit up with joy. His opportunity.... seemed to be at hand! It was a natural progression to incorporate them into the great dao! The corporal dao stars were stirring, wishing to join the splendor above.

This was his chance, the time had come.

Creating a world of the body... the dao meridians of the body can be the main meridians of the corporal dao!

The star of time would be the focal point and travel within and without, being the intersection of the two. The corporal and immaterial sides would be demarcated by the star of time. All of the celestial strength would be focused on one point!

The heart of time!

Li Hao sat down cross-legged and stretched. Faint light sparkled out of 360 dao meridians. He looked thoughtfully at the void. He was still short 180 stars. Otherwise, 360 dao meridians incorporating 360 types of sword intent would be the most perfect assimilation of all.

But there was no time to open so many at present.

Opening 360 corporal dao meridians would make him peak half step emperor. He would be only one step away from exalted emperor then. The young man would’ve opened it a long time ago if it was that easy to do so. Would he need to be afraid of those guys if his strength reached that level?