Chapter 1502: Advancing Swiftly (III)

“How interesting!” Li Hao laughed. Supernatural characters materialized, forming a domain. These dark puppets drew their strength from Demon Summit. He had a sudden idea that perhaps all he needed to do was to isolate them!

He might be able to kill them if he isolated them and cut off their energy supply. Otherwise, these things would be unkillable.

No wonder the second rank from before had called them undying creatures. Perhaps he’d tried killing one and found that even if he did, the puppets quickly recovered.

The domain as created by supernatural characters!

It’d been a very long time since Li Hao employed one. Ever since he grasped the river of time and river of life and death, the domain had ceased to be all that useful to him. He’d used it to conceal himself from the heavenly will, but there was no need for that after Panther became the heavenly will.

Today, he hauled an old trick out for a new use.

Supernatural characters appeared in the air around him and formed a massive domain. It shunted out the energy of darkness. Although it continued to seep through his domain since this high level energy was much stronger than the young man’s, the barrier was enough to fence off most of it.

Li Hao continued to engage the wild man in battle. He found that after a while, the dark puppet’s strength began to fade. The energy within its body depleted at a rapid pace.

The domain...

Were the other powerhouses familiar with a domain? The young man didn’t know the answer to that question. This was something unique to him because Yuan Shuo had taught it to him. He’d originally planned to use it to devour Silver Moon world, but gave it up after he lost interest in that course of action.

The combination of various forces from the supernatural characters, aura, and dao strength could come together in a domain to shield anything within from the heavenly will. It was a very special construct.

The inner world of the Human King was a peak utilization of the domain. He’d formed a world within himself!

The Human King counted as a master of great dao and master of the world, but only half of each one. When it came to his internal world, he was the bonafide master of it.

It was possibly one of the reasons why the Human King could so swiftly set foot into seventh rank and was about to bridge the gap to eighth rank. Yin and Yang was likely only one reason for his accomplishments.

......

After Li Hao used a domain to cut off access to the energy of Demon Summit, the dark puppet visibly weakened. Li Hao was a peak second rank of life and death, as well as an adept of many other daos. He also wielded formidable sword techniques.

There was nothing that the dark puppet could do against him.

Li Hao struck again and again, trying different types of great dao and even coalescing his weak sword intent of light. The latter didn’t inflict overwhelming damage as the dark energy inside the puppet was a very high level. It seemed to be immune to the sword intent of light.

It wasn’t until Li Hao employed the sword intent of darkness that he found an angle that dealt more damage. Energy from the same source resulted in normal destruction!

A few rounds of blows saw Li Hao smashing through the other’s body with one blow. An item that looked like a black crystal was revealed within the wild man’s body—it emanated power that connected to the ambient energy in the surroundings.

This should be the dao foundation crystal, the one that contained some of the force within Demon Summit.

“What a nice treasure!” Li Hao sighed after a quick glance. He could see darkness inside the crystal while dao foundation swirled within. This was the remnant of an eighth rank’s heritage! Even if there was only a hint of the heritage left, that still made it extraordinary.

Multiple dark shadows appeared in the surroundings the moment Li Hao killed the dark puppet. The young man sucked in a sharp breath. As he thought, trouble had come to him!

Out of these new dark puppets, some might rival the Exalted Skyriver Emperor. That had been a mid rank! Killing one of them had flushed so many out of hiding!

The young man hastily dismissed the domain and summoned his ‘dark’ character, turning it into a domain of darkness again. It clamped down protectively over him and wafted the same kind of energy through the air.

The new puppets probed the surroundings, with one of the strongest landing right next to Li Hao. Its empty eyes seemed to lock onto the young man, assessing something.

The puppets vanished after a moment, leaving the young man to breathe out with relief. This place was so dangerous. He would be in so much trouble without his domain. And the key was, he might not have been able to kill this dark puppet without the domain. It was a great disadvantage to be fighting these undead creatures.

“Thank goodness!” Joy spread across the young man’s face now that he was safe. The dao crystals of darkness were quite a find. He’d already crafted 238 bridges of life and death. Surely this thing could build a few more for him.

The remaining Utmost Dark third rank was right in front of him. Li Hao suddenly looked into the distance, finding that he could see further than before. The crystal in his hand had sharpened his gaze and he was even able to discern an exalted emperor coming toward him from several thousand meters out.

The young man looked down at the crystal. This thing extended the range that his senses could reach! He could only see one thousand meters around him before, but could now see anywhere from three to five thousand meters.

That exalted emperor was at least three thousand meters away from him. That was not far for an exalted emperor—quite close, in fact. But in Demon Summit, one could easily overlook another person since they could see or sense nothing in the surroundings.

Dao crystals of darkness with dao remnants swirling through them... They are of the same heritage, so they’re helping me in this regard.

Li Hao had wanted to absorb it, but now hesitated. Should he keep it instead?

This is just the crystal from a second rank puppet, how about I grab one from a third rank? I might be able to see even further then! Okay, I’ll absorb this one first and figure out a way to kill a third rank dark puppet. That’ll be even better!

As for the third rank Utmost Dark exalted emperor in the distance, he could be ignored for now. There was possibly someone watching the proceedings within the dao foundation site. Killing dark puppets was fine, but brashly killing a third rank would not be wise. It would be better for him to enter third rank first before making a move against the other.

Li Hao vanished again when his thoughts traveled here.

......

A while after the young man disappeared.

An exalted emperor materialized, the last one alive outside the hall. He was the only one who’d continued to fail to locate the Hall of Darkness.

He quickly arrived at where Li Hao had fought the dark puppet and extended his senses. The man’s brows drew together. A battle had taken place just now, but the lingering energy ripples were not of Utmost Dark. Was it... Hao Moon?

That guy is still alive?

It quite surprised the exalted emperor. Numerous undead entities had appeared here, each of them formidable. They could not be killed or run away from. He’d spent the last couple of days in quiet suffering, doing all he could to avoid the enemy. Thus, it was surprising that Hao Moon was still alive!

The man looked around him, able to see far into the distance due to his strength as a third rank. There wasn’t anyone within two thousand meters, just a dark puppet.

Frown deepening, he retreated and decided to search for Drouth. It’d been five to six days since they entered the dao foundation site. The rest might’ve gathered at the Hall of Darkness already and even gone inside, whereas he’d gotten lost thanks to the dark puppets.

......

Not long after the man left.

Li Hao reappeared, looking in the direction at where the other had gone in. A thoughtful expression crossed his face before the domain of darkness descended again. He sat down cross-legged. There was no hurry, breaking through was his goal.

He would first ascend, kill a dark puppet, then collect its dao crystal so he could see further. After that... he’d be able to kill those Utmost Dark guys if he ran into them.

There was almost no need to purify a crystal of darkness. Its energy was very pure to begin with. Strands of darkness disappeared into the river of life and death. Li Hao frowned when he assessed the river—he couldn’t absorb too much. There was already a great amount of dark energy swirling in his river.

It was best for the forces of great dao to be balanced.

Thankfully, he’d reaped some life and death after killing an exalted emperor. That prevented the darkness from taking over and eclipsing life and death. If that happened, he would become an exalted emperor of darkness.

I should refrain from taking in more dark energy before I reach third rank!

It was never a good idea to veer toward an extreme.

The young man began absorbing the energy. This level of purity made it much stronger than the energy from the second rank. The river churned and quickly started forming the 239th bridge.

......

At the same time.

Number Two opened its eyes within the river and squirmed. It didn’t feel too comfortable as there was too much dark energy within the waters these days. The little guy was collecting a lot of it here, and there was a special dao foundation rippling through the river.

After sensing it for a while, the cat suddenly opened its mouth and devoured all of the dao foundation strength within the river.

“What are you doing, Senior Number Two??” Li Hao quickly asked. Dao foundation was a heavyweight’s comprehension of the great dao! He’d been about to study it, but the cat ate it all!

Number Two had never conducted itself this way before. Was it... hungry?

“An eighth rank’s power of darkness and his comprehension...” Number Two moved its butt around. “This is an attribute easy to lose oneself in, it’s better if you don’t study it. If you wish to, you should enhance your understanding of light first. Only when the two are balanced will you gain much from studying such a high level of enlightenment. Otherwise, who will cultivate time when you go crazy?”

“......”

Alright, that makes sense, but why do I think you’re just hungry?

Li Hao didn’t know what to say. So his efforts had turned into a meal for the cat.

On the other hand, you’ve got a way with word. So you eating the dao foundation is also a type of comprehension? Aren’t you afraid of going crazy yourself?

Li Hao focused on the 240th bridge and asked, “Senior Number Two, is this your first time seeing an eighth rank?”

The cat wiggled its butt and ignored him.

“The War Sovereign was a sixth rank, was he not?” Li Hao asked with a smile.

The great villain of New Martial—the Heavenly Emperor—had been a sixth rank, right? It took the Human King a few more years before making it to seventh rank after killing him. That meant the Heavenly Emperor hadn’t been seventh rank when he died, even though Yin and Yang was already a major world then.

The War Sovereign was the same level as the Heavenly Emperor, right?

“Yes... sixth rank,” mumbled the cat. “Just about. You can say that.” It completed in an inaudible mumble, “He was that in terms of energy level, right?”

The cat wasn’t actually sure how strong the one who taught was. It looked that way in terms of energy, but the one who taught seemed to know everything. Perhaps his comprehension of dao ran deeper?