Chapter 1476: I Hope They’re Alright (I)

Li Hao had once grasped a dao universe and comprehended the river of chaos. He held a surface level understanding of a myriad daos. He’d experienced time, taken in life and death, and received tutelage from some high rank exalted emperors. His mastery of the great dao was of a top echelon.

The exalted emperor in front of him was not an ordinary exalted emperor either. The dao of stillness... Li Hao had not come in contact with it before, but had encountered auxiliary branches. All the same, this wouldn’t impede his understanding and appreciation of this path!

This might be a wondrous dao as well—something from nothing!

The more the two spoke, the more they relished in the joy of the great dao. While Big Claw didn’t understand them as he danced attendance on the two, he memorized everything he heard on this day.

Of the two, one was a first rank exalted emperor and the other a fourth rank. They’d met each other for less than one hour before diving deep into a discussion of dao. They didn’t keep their conversation a secret from Big Claw; the latter felt that this might be the greatest fortuitous occurrence of his lifetime!

These two gave him a more mysterious feeling than some sixth rank exalted emperors!

He’d never met any stronger, just sixth ranks. The leader of Dragon Observatory had seemed so lofty and untouchable before, but today, he felt that the normally nondescript Exalted Void Emperor seemed more of an exalted emperor than the leader!

It was a complicated feeling difficult to put into words. The only thing he knew was that, being able to serve these two here today might be his pride and joy of a lifetime!

......

After a long time.

Both sides had reaped much from their conversation and Void drank the last cup of ale.

“Then let’s leave it here today. Let me know when you are going to break through, I will come and create a world of emptiness for the fellow daoist! You’ll be able to conceal yourself from some sixth ranks then—the commotion you cause won’t be that great.”

“My thanks to the fellow daoist for your aid!” Li Hao rose to his feet. “I have gained a great deal and need to digest my findings for a period of time. Once I emerge from seclusion and kill that third rank, I should have enough power of death. I think I’ll also have enough power of life as well!”

“Then I congratulate the fellow daoist in advance!”

“Congratulations to both of us!” Li Hao grinned. “I can tell that the fellow daoist is close to fifth rank. Nothing before seventh rank will be an obstacle to you.”

“I thank you for your auspicious words!” Void smiled and started fading away. “You can come visit me when you have time, but not now. The faction leader is with me. I’ll announce that you’ve gone into closed door cultivation and formalize your entry. The Dragon Observatory will not come to you for a year. After that, it’s up to you!”

“My thanks!”

Void completely disappeared; Li Hao breathed out. “The chaos is so interesting!” he chuckled. “Who says that all exalted emperors are false cultivators?”

He gave a long peal of laughter, finding this meeting to have been highly fruitful.

“You can go as well,” he smiled at Big Claw. “Whether you enter seclusion too or stand guard outside, you can muse over what you’ve understood from the day. I wouldn’t dare say anything about becoming an exalted emperor, but reaching a half step emperor shouldn’t be too hard!”

“My thanks to the august one!” An excited Big Claw quickly walked out of the volcano crater and sat down cross-legged outside. He didn’t leave.

It was as if he was standing guard over Li Hao, as laughable as it would seem for an Empyrean King to guard an exalted emperor. Regardless, it was a token of his sentiments. With his identity as being a member of the Dragon Observatory, any regular exalted emperor would have to show him respect for it.

Li Hao smiled, then looked at the direction in which Void had disappeared.

This guy... will definitely be at least a sixth rank eventually. Even though I’m only a first rank, that’s precisely how I feel. There’s something to the Dragon Observatory!

I wonder if I’ll be able to comprehend some of the dao of stillness when I ascend. To create something from nothing... perhaps that hearkens to my dao of life from death!

This was clearly what the other was thinking as well. Perhaps the day Li Hao broke through would be when the other reached fifth rank as well. Was such a person really a Dragon Observatory cultivator?

Or is he a wandering cultivator? But he doesn’t seem like it!

......

Within the volcano.

Li Hao sank into silence upon Void’s departure and gradually created a force in the void. the river of life and death manifested.

Currently, the strength of dao could be clearly seen within the river. Coming together and drifting apart again was the normal behavior of great dao. An enormous star revolved around a star of life and death. The power of time shifted in and out of sight, as if it would vanish at any moment.

A tiny star that was nearly imperceptible in the depths of the river rested in a cat’s stomach.

Number Two!

No one had followed Li Hao to Skyward, apart from this cat. It was here because of the star of time; it almost never showed itself. Instead, it hid in the river to play with the star.

Li Hao didn’t have any attention to spare for it. Stars materialized in the waters, forming a starry sky within the river. Tendrils of life and death energy began to gather, creating bridges.

One bridge, two bridges...

All of the energy from the exalted emperors he’d killed prior coalesced, weaving together bridges of life and death like a piece of cloth. They threaded through the star of time. Li Hao silently perceived it and studied it.

The appearance of the bridges brought him closer to the great dao. They filtered throughout the river like spiderwebs. Ten, twenty... all the way to fifty connections between the corporeal and immaterial great daos.

It created linkages to fifty stars before the power of life and death was exhausted. No more was forthcoming.

Li Hao’s presence shifted slightly, but he was not a second rank. It was very difficult for an exalted emperor to ascend.

I would be a third rank if I could create 360 bridges! Maybe even peak third rank. If I want to enter second rank this moment, I’ll need at least 120 bridges.

But he’d only crafted 50 before depleting all of his energy. The various daos of corporeal and immaterial strength intermixed, ultimately converging upon the star of life and death. The Firmament Sword also swam through the river.

Li Hao looked toward the end of the river, some ideas popping into his mind. Currently, both ends of the river were open. That, in turn, attracted a chaos tribulation every time he called upon it.

The river was what kept exposing him. What if he blocked off both ends? Could he hide himself from the chaos tribulation then?

The Star Gate!

The notion entered his mind. If the Star Gate was temporarily shut on one end of the river, what could he do about the other end?

Number Two?

𝕗𝗿𝕖𝐞𝐰𝗲𝕓𝐧𝕠𝕧𝗲𝐥.𝚌𝐨𝚖

Could the cat fill in for that purpose?

If we could plug both ends, perhaps...

that might save him attention from the chaos. At the very least, a small-scale gathering of the power of time wouldn’t arouse attention from a tribulation.

This might work!

Li Hao immediately summoned the Star Gate that he’d dismantled from space and placed it into the river. It floated downstream, reappearing at the end and swinging shut.

The door was incomparably strong and had stood against the invasion of an exalted emperor to seal it away. It was jointly crafted by powerhouses such as the New Martial Human King and Exalted Divine Forge Emperor. The latter was said to be New Martial’s greatest crafter and an exalted emperor of either fifth or sixth rank.

To the current Li Hao, the Star Gate was an immense treasure that could fulfill his needs.

“Senior Number Two, could you expand your body to block the other end of the river?”

The cat stirred with irritation. What an annoying person!

“Why do you need to block it? If you wish to block it, why not block it from the very beginning?”

“We can’t do that!” Li Hao burst out laughing. “Blocking it is just a stop-gap measure. If I’d done that from the very beginning, I would be blocking the river’s development! I’m just sealing it away for a period of time before I collect this power again in the future.”

The cat grumbled, complaining nonstop as it expanded endlessly. The river upstream was soon blocked off as well!

It was the Star Gate at one end and Number Two at the other. The river flowed to a halt!

There were pros and cons to such an action. The pro was that the power of time would no longer leak. The con was that the river could no longer partake of energy from the chaos. It’d done so freely at both ends before.

Now that it was stoppered, Li Hao tried gathering time again.

There was no accompanying sense of danger.

The young man breathed out with relief. This was good. It was better for the river to be sealed off for the present moment, but this was not a long-term plan.

“There isn’t enough power of life and death for me to use!” he realized with resignation. While he’d killed multiple exalted emperors before, the chaos beast had gone to Panther, the Red Moon third rank had helped with his resurrection, and the rest had gone into Silver Moon.

As for the Suncloud exalted emperor he killed on Skyward... there wasn’t much energy in the man after purification. He only had fifty bridges of life and death to show for all of his efforts after killing so many.

That was too few!

He’d need at least another 70 to reach second rank!

“I need to kill a third rank!” Li Hao sank into deep contemplation. Killing exalted emperors wasn’t the problem, it was lacking energy for his bridges.

A second rank wouldn’t be enough, probably. But a third rank should be, right?

Yet, those were hard to kill!

Granted, if the other came from a mid world, he wouldn’t be worth much, especially without a dao universe. He would cultivate a motley assortment of daos. If he possessed great potential, then he wouldn’t be alone as the various factions would value him as well.

Killing intent burgeoned in Li Hao’s eyes once the idea occurred to him! There was nothing to hesitate over. New Martial’s enemies were his enemies. He’d already killed one exalted emperor. His troubles would only grow if he didn’t eliminate trouble at its roots.

“Senior Number Two, would you like to kill an exalted emperor with me?”

“Meow, this cat doesn’t fight or kill people!” mumbled Number Two. No fighting, no killing, no imitating Big Cat! It was going to be a good cat!

Li Hao laughed and nodded. “That’s fine, we don’t have to fight or kill. But if I use the power of time, that might cause some trouble, such as the chaos tribulation!”

The cat suddenly turned its belly to the sky at the end of the river. There was nothing worth living for in life! This was so annoying! Why did only this guy possess the power of time? Why did he have nothing better to do than kill people?

Big Cat started killing people after hanging around that mass murderer, and now this guy is too. That’s so pitiable! I don’t want to be a bad cat like Big Cat! I want to be a good cat!