Chapter 1493: Demon Summit (I)

It was the day to welcome the addition of the Utmost Dark exalted emperors to Dragon Observatory, but Void and Hao Moon had put a huge dampener on the atmosphere. The crowd was suddenly less inclined to continue the festivities.

They were gathered to discuss dao, but interest had flagged immensely for it. When the Dragon Observatory leader saw that Drouth had mentally disengaged from the discussion, he concluded the proceedings. “Then let us make our preparations to enter Demon Summit tomorrow. As for discussing dao, we can do that anytime!”

He flicked a glance at Li Hao and Void.

You bastards!

Aw, are they not going to talk about dao anymore?

Li Hao was actually a bit regretful.

Although Void said that it won’t be very useful, I’m still curious. Were the two of us too much?

No, it’s not my fault.

He looked skeptically at Void.

It’s all your fault, man! Why did you interrupt their conversation!

Void looked back at him, seeming to read the young man’s mind. He smiled and suddenly transmitted, “Discussing dao is boring. Only those who wish to comprehend dao can enter once Demon Summit is open. The dao of darkness is one that overshadows the world. You can give it a try yourself tomorrow. They won’t discover your identity!

“What kind of chat about dao beats actually picking a fight? Of course, don’t provoke the fifth rank. You can try your hand with the others, but don’t actually kill them. That’ll lead to trouble for you!”

“My thanks!” Li Hao immediately grasped Void’s intentions.

“You’re welcome!” Void smiled. This was just a minor matter; he was hosting a personal colosseum for the lad and it wasn’t costing him anything to do so.

Li Hao got down to the business of planning out his next moves. There were several third ranks among the five Utmost Dark exalted emperors. It would be nice to use them as practice targets and see if he was able to match third ranks after he was a second rank himself. That was better than constant speculation and deduction out of thin air.

He’d never properly challenged a third rank—the Red Moon powerhouse had been mobbed to death in a group. Borrowed strength had always been part of his fights as well. This time, he could try single combat without using external force!

A smile spread across Li Hao’s face. This was a nice opportunity! It would be even better if he gleaned something from the dao of darkness.

He exchanged glances with Void; they smiled at each other before setting off together.

The other exalted emperors inwardly griped about the two. What was the situation with them? Void had flown solo for one hundred years, was he taking an interest in this newly risen exalted emperor? That Hao Moon... did have the makings of a boy toy.

These types of arrangements weren’t uncommon. The chaos was so vast that anything was possible. This was nothing to raise an eyebrow at. At least Hao Moon was human. Some exalted emperors wanted to try anything after living for so long. In comparison, it was perfectly palatable if there was something between Void and Hao Moon.

Li Hao had no idea what the others were thinking. If he did, he might consider borrowing the strength of an eighth rank!

......

Dragon Observatory was preparing to open Demon Summit.

At the same time, Red Moon Region, the chaos void.

An elderly man with white hair walked through the void; a jade pendant on his body vibrated.

“There’s a commotion developing at Skyward, many exalted emperors want your life.” A voice came out of it.

“They want my life?” sneered the old man. “Then come and get it!”

“Don’t be careless!” vibrated the pendant. “Silver Moon has opened the Star Gate. Its new king might be in Skyward right now.”

“I see,” responded the old man. He continued soaring through the void. “What level of strength is the new king?”

“Unknown.”

“I’d like to make a trip to Skyward.”

“Now?”

“Yes.”

“You shouldn’t.”

“Why not?” The old man was calm. “Since they want to kill me, I’ll go and let them have a crack at me!”

“It’s very dangerous! A dao universe may be revitalizing at Skyward. Many major world powerhouses have rushed over for the proceedings. You’ll stand a chance if you encounter them in the chaos, but if you go and you’re trapped there... then you’ll be in trouble.”

The old man quieted down.

Trapped.

Skyward was a major world at the end of the day, it couldn’t be easily broken through. The only points of access and egress were the four world gates. Once those were blocked by multiple powerhouses, he would be in a dangerous spot indeed.

It wouldn’t be like the chaos, where he could run at will.

The elder still wanted to go, but the voice sounded from the pendant again. “I know you want to visit and that you’re not afraid of danger, but this is no longer your matter alone. Once you are trapped at Skyward and Fang Ping sets off in search of you, he’ll be trapped there too. That will be a loss that New Martial cannot endure!

“Fang Ping intimidates our foes while he travels outside at the moment, but once he is trapped, he will be a dragon beached in shallow waters! He cannot be trapped if New Martial wishes to alter the status quo and intimidate the chaos universe.”

The elder was used to operating independently, but agreed with the voice after a while of thought. “Then I’ll do as you say! What is our goal this time?”

𝒇𝒓𝒆𝒆𝙬𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝒎

“To eliminate certain major worlds!” The voice within the pendant was calm, as if eliminating major worlds was nothing major. “That should help us produce a seventh rank! Red Moon is a difficult opponent, so we shouldn’t be in a hurry to clash against them. Instead, we’ll let them continue to drain the strength of nearby major worlds and collect all of their powerhouses. That will weaken everyone else and give us opportunities.”

“Alright, I know what to do,” said the old man after some contemplation. “Who should we give the dao of Elysian Fields to?”

“No one, we’ll split it across everyone! That dao is not a good dao. We’ll split it equally first and enhance our overall strength. That should create a batch of mid ranks and fortify our foundations. The dao of Utmost Dark is quite nice. Sadly, circumstances then only permitted us to destroy it. Hence, we’re still in a stage of crafting our foundations.”

“Mm, I understand.” The old man fell silent, as did the voice within the pendant fade away. He looked in a certain direction for a while before adjusting his bearing. He could not set a course for Skyward anymore, since that might lead to his entrapment. There was no need to take that risk if that would cause Fang Ping to be trapped as well.

He wouldn’t mind visiting those who had him in their sights if he was operating alone.

The Eternal Swordsman is not afraid of any of this! It’s just, I am a New Martial citizen at the end of the day.

......

Skyward, Dragon Observatory.

The faction leader was still mulling over the events of the day when the surface of the mirror in front of him rippled. His eyes widened and he quickly snapped to solemn attention. “World master!”

An illusory figure appeared on the screen in front of him.

“Have those from Utmost Dark arrived?” came a placid voice.

“Yes,” the Dragon Observatory leader quickly responded. “All six exalted emperors have joined Dragon Observatory.”

“Good.” The world master inclined his head with approval. “Have you still not found any traces of Silver Moon or its new king?”

“Silver Moon seems to have exposed some of its movement. I’ve sent people after it! But the new king of Silver Moon...” The leader hesitated. “I suspected two people before. One of them is a female exalted emperor. Upon further investigation, she hails from Skywave major world. I rather suspect the other, a male exalted emperor, but Void vouches for him...”

“Void?”

“Yes, the one who came a hundred years ago. I’ve always suspected that he comes from Light major world, that he’s even the genius highness they often speak of. But... I’m not sure. That highness was a fifth rank to begin with and the heir to the dao of light. Void cultivates a dao that seems related to darkness... so I’m not sure.

“But he mentioned some information about dao origin today when we were chatting idly, so I’m beginning to suspect him again.” It would seem that the leader of Dragon Observatory wasn’t as incompetent as he portrayed himself to be. “The target of my suspicion is called the Exalted Hao Moon Emperor, which is a name that correlates to Silver Moon.

“Void voluntarily went to meet him that day and vouched for him after that, saying they were long lost friends. He said that Hao Moon is from a minor world of the same name. Regardless, I refrained from alerting my target ahead of time.

“Ah, Void also fought for a chance for him to enter Demon Summit today.”

The world master within the mirror was quiet for a while. He seemed to be paging through information, but also deep in thought.

“We must look for the new king of Silver Moon!” he said after a while. “We must also look for Silver Moon! Silver Moon and Yin and Yang are closely tied to each other. Yin and Yang is also unusual. The Human King is about to enter eighth rank. It is incredible that he is doing so after a mere thousand years!

“As strong as Yin and Yang is, logically speaking, the dao of yin and yang should not lend itself to such fast improvement. If he can set foot into eighth rank after one thousand years, then he might recreate the myths of Skyward after some more time! This region might see the birth of another unofficial emperor!

“To the rest of us, a ninth rank would induce despair in any major world!” The world master spoke of a lot before ending with, “Void, is it? You can ignore him. It doesn’t matter if he is the genius highness from Light major world or not. But since the other one wishes to enter Demon Summit, you can test him.”

“I intend to do so!” The Dragon Observatory leader had agreed to Li Hao entering also because he wanted to make use of the opportunity to try the young man. However, he was slightly hesitant. “World master, how do I determine if he is the new king of Silver Moon or not?”

No one knew anything about this personage. They couldn’t say someone was him just because they were young, could they? Were there no distinguishing characteristics at all? If they made a mistake, wouldn’t they have offended Void for no reason?

“The Silver Moon new king...”

Distinguishing characteristics?

The world master thought for a moment. “First, he’ll know sword dao, and his sword dao will be strong! Second, he’ll be able to challenge those stronger. If he’s a first rank, he might be able to kill a second or even third rank! Red Moon lost a third rank a while back—that may be the work of the new king.”

The Dragon Observatory leader sucked in a sharp breath. A first rank taking down a third rank? That was horrifying!

“Third, hints of a dao universe might appear when he brings his full strength to bear. It won’t be the core origin dao universe, but one of his own dao universe!”

“World master, what do you mean by that?” blinked the leader.

“Silver Moon... might have given birth to a new dao universe.”