Chapter 1472: Low Profile Doesn’t Work Either (IV)

The Dragon Observatory leader hadn’t paid much attention to Silver Moon before because the tiny world wasn’t much use to him, a sixth rank exalted emperor, even if it somehow became a mid world.

But if Silver Moon was related to New Martial... Then the attention on Silver Moon didn’t surprise him, given how many people had New Martial in their crosshairs these days.

“Pay attention to the two new arrivals,” he quickly transmitted when his thoughts traveled here. “Big Claw and Hu Xin are their guides, correct? Keep a close eye on the situation and report back at all times!”

Dragon Observatory wasn’t familiar with Silver Moon either, so they didn’t know if the newly born king was male or female, human or monster spirit, and whatever distinguishing characteristics there might be.

Thus, they could only observe for a while before saying anything else.

Two first rank exalted emperors weren’t that strong. But sometimes, exalted emperors couldn’t be touched. It might lead to more troublesome consequences, so Dragon Observatory could only take action after they fully investigated the backgrounds of these two.

......

Li Hao was currently reversing time. He was once more descending upon an ancient age. This occasion was quite different from when he met the dragon exalted emperor. A redhead human powerhouse appeared in front of him.

The fiery light within the man’s eyes faded away as he suddenly snorted. “Who is so bold as to peer into my dao methods?”

His gaze shot toward the area that Li Hao was in; he seemed to sense something. A fiery light danced in his eyes. “Reversing time?”

These people all seemed to have a terrifying amount of knowledge—they could identify something with a single glance. “A person from the past? A person from the future?” His face twitched. “Or something else?”

Li Hao’s eyes widened, but he didn’t dare respond. He’d felt enormous danger the last time he did so. What a pity that he was unable to see this personage teach his dao!

The young man was ready to settle in for the long haul. The man would cultivate at some point, would he not?

Although spying into someone else’s dao method wasn’t very appropriate, it was his fastest way of improving at present.

“Peering into my past and future, yet not daring to make a sound... Can it be that you’re not that strong?” murmured the man. “Or are you spying upon me through some object or place? Are you on Skyward, at my divine mountain of fire?”

The man seemed to be much smarter than the dragon as he quickly deduced the heart of the matter. After a while, he boomed, “The chaos does not tolerate the power of time! The world master once said that life and death, yin and yang, the universe, and time are all daos that disrupt order!

“Disrupting order means destabilizing the chaos. The dao of time is hard to come by. Perhaps it exists in the past or future, but in the present, it is harder than ascending the heavens if I wish to find a dao master of time!

“You seek my dao body and my past or future... for what?” His eyebrows rose as he thought of something. “Forget it, perhaps your strength really is mediocre since you are unable to respond. You might have come across some power of time through happenstance. So you wish to observe my dao? Thankfully I am a friendly and kind person...”

Friendly? Kind? This dao master of fire had more than a typically explosive temper.

“If you are from the past, then you are peeking into my future. Perhaps we will encounter each other soon! If you are from the future, you are looking into my past. This means that I should still be alive...”

Still be alive?

Li Hao started. That was true, could he peek into the past of someone dead? So that meant to say that all of the Skyward powerhouses were very possibly still alive.

“We are bound to meet one day. A sequence of cause and effect is set into motion whenever you peer into Skyward’s dao. However much you gain today might be demanded from you tenfold or one hundredfold in the future!

“You best make the best of what you have and do not think of randomly incurring trouble just because you have a rough grasp of time. You must keep in mind that karma is a terrifying construct!

“Each instance of peering into the past and future will result in a heavy price to be paid! You will not escape it, no matter where and when you may be. In that case, I shall expound on the dao of fire for you. I don’t know if that is what you wish either!”

Li Hao trembled.

Karma?

Perhaps... it really did exist. He’d peered into New Martial’s past and come in contact with the Human King and Supreme Zhang because of it. While he was yet to pay a price for that, he knew that he owed them a favor.

They’d destroyed two major worlds for him and he might have to pay an exceedingly high price for that in the future.

One could say that he was already starting to pay back his debt to New Martial. He wished to improve so ardently because he hoped he could be strong enough to prevent Celestial Pole and the Pagoda King from being killed.

This was just the beginning.

Would Li Hao have to do so without that trip to the past? He could absolutely ignore everything in the outside world after Silver Moon returned to the chaos! What did it have to do with him?

But he couldn’t do that anymore. He owed New Martial a favor.

No matter if the Human King and supreme had truly destroyed major worlds for him, or if their timing had been a happy coincidence, it had helped him all the same. No matter what their reasons were, if it wasn’t for the commotion on that day, Silver Moon may not have had a chance to escape. It might’ve been destroyed by Red Moon already.

And now this dao master of fire was cautioning him that if Li Hao accepted some of his dao heritage, even surface level knowledge, the young man would have to pay it back in kind. Perhaps Li Hao was wholly unconcerned about the future, but when he met someone from Skyward, he would have to pay an enormous price!

This was a faction with a ninth rank exalted emperor in residence, an unfathomable faction!

The man had already started his lecture. Li Hao calmed himself and listened intently, perceiving the mysteries within. A seventh rank exalted emperor’s comprehension of the great dao was incomparably profound.

The dao of fire was one of the elemental paths. From it, one could extrapolate the five elements and even more elemental paths. This was an immense opportunity for Li Hao. His foundation was the Five Styles, which in turn were the five elements.

But as excited and happy as he was, he was feeling quite a lot of pressure. He couldn’t randomly use the power of time anymore! The first instance had instigated a chaos tribulation, the second... might bring untold danger in the future!

Skyward had suddenly disappeared one day. Although people said that its master had taken it elsewhere, who knew what the truth was? And today, he’d peered in on two seventh rank exalted emperors!

This kind of karmic relationship might require him to pay a price that he wouldn’t be able to fulfill even as a ninth rank exalted emperor. He couldn’t act brashly anymore! He would be in way over his head if this continued.

Li Hao abruptly reflected that he’d gotten a little ahead of himself lately. He’d intended to keep a low profile, but was doing anything but that at the moment. He was just a first rank exalted emperor and couldn’t continue in this arrogant vein! Even if he wanted to comprehend dao, he should do it through stimulating the dao foundation sites, not through the power of time!

After these two instances, he had a shallow understanding of Skyward’s dao universe. If he went to the other dao foundation sites afterward, he might be able to activate them through regular means. As great as reversing time was, the cost for it was too great!

The redhead human waxed eloquent on the mysteries of dao; Li Hao gained a deeper understanding of the uniqueness of fire. It wasn’t simply just heat and flame as he thought it was—there was much more additional meaning to it.

All things and beings in the redhead’s domain were fire. They were seeds of fire, they were heritage. They were the spark of intelligence, of light, and saved lives. Fire could birth a civilization, an age, and all daos...

Li Hao was finding his previous understanding of fire to be too shallow. The lectures from two seventh rank exalted emperors were enormous fortuitous occurrences for him, no matter how rudimentary their topics were. He needed some time to digest it all.

The dissemination of dao finished after a long while. The redhead looked in Li Hao’s direction with an emotional sigh. “The dao of time is too complicated for me to understand, and neither does the world master understand it either. While you may not be strong, you can touch upon time.

“This is both a great stroke of fortune and danger to you! Time is the greatest enemy of cultivators. No person, item, world, or even the chaos can escape time!

“Good luck!”

The world spun around Li Hao and he promptly dropped out of the past. He fell into the river with a splash and the power of time flowed over him. His expression shifted drastically and he quickly dismissed all of the power of time.

The young man lifted his head with a slight frown. The chaos tribulation had almost descended just now!

Next to him, Big Claw had his heart in his mouth. “Senior... there was word just now... that there seems to be a chaos tribulation in the outside... It’s said that a New Martial vassal world... Silver Moon... once provoked a chaos tribulation. And so... the senior council is investigating... whether recently arrived exalted emperors... are related to Silver Moon...”

Li Hao gave a long exhale. They’d certainly reacted fast. He’d only just arrived, but was clearly one of the observation targets. Red Moon was sharing every scrap of information it had. Clearly, it wanted to end Silver Moon.

“That’s alright, it has nothing to do with me.” Li Hao regained his calm. “Respond to your exalted emperor that I wish to join Dragon Observatory! I am just passing through. Whether it is New Martial, Yin and Yang, or Red Moon... none of them have anything to do with me. Don’t go looking for trouble now, do you understand?”

“I... I understand!” Big Claw started sweating from nerves and fear.

Are you... really not going to kill me to ensure my silence?

“Silencing someone through murder is the work of a guilty conscience!” Li Hao smiled, seeming to know what Big Claw was thinking. “I’m not guilty, so why should I do that? The strong kill the weak so they can silence the target. We are not enemies yet, so why should I do that? I can kill you with a snap of my fingers if you really start running your mouth!”

Big Claw shook. That was an... interesting way of putting things. Did the strong need a reason to kill people?

“Senior, the weak is food for the strong,” he couldn’t help but add. “Do the strong need a reason to kill the weak? They can do so when any suspicion creeps in...”

“I thought the same before and once did the same as well!” Li Hao responded seriously after some thought. “After I experienced much more later on, I realized that there is never an end to enemies that one can kill.

“We also create many of our own enemies! There is no need to be killing people at every turn. If we want to, then we must ensure one thing—complete extermination. We must eradicate our enemies with one blow so as to not leave behind future trouble!

“Otherwise.... we only kill when there’s no other option to. Killing people isn’t the solution to everything.” Li Hao continued, “Take the one from before—I wouldn’t have done so if it wasn’t for his continual provocation. The one behind him still lives. And if I kill you now, I’ll immediately expose myself and be enemies with Dragon Observatory!

“I might as well join Dragon Observatory. It might be more of a hassle, but life will be easier.” Li Hao grinned. “There is usually more than one solution to everything! The worst outcome is to be enemies with Dragon Observatory. Killing you would leapfrog me straight to that!”