Chapter 1510: A Chessboard of Dao (I)

At the same time, behind the small door within the hall.

The owner of the voice from three days ago finally awoke. “It’s all gone?” It registered with surprise when it assessed the situation. There had been a lot of dark energy swirling within the hall, but it was all gone!

Not to mention, there were two people left in the images. How surprising it was that two had survived the trial!

The owner of the voice looked at Li Hao’s image and seemed to be able to see through the young man. “Too greedy!” it couldn’t help but curse.

No wonder there was no energy left in the hall! All of the dark puppets had died to this one! The dao foundation crystals wouldn’t appear until a puppet’s one hundredth death, but this one had so many on him. Didn’t that mean he’d killed exalted emperors more than one hundred times each over the past three days?

Although that was one way to pass the test, very few had utilized this method before. What a... ridiculous outcome this was.

The shadow had only rested briefly to recover some energy, but these two nearly destroyed the first trial of the Hall of Darkness in the meantime. Damn them!

Of the two outside, one of the candidates was coolly composed, while the other was on high alert.

“You have passed the first trial and may enter the second. Proceed through the door!” A voice suddenly rang out.

The two exalted emperors staring daggers at each other abruptly snapped to attention. They looked at the little door. The voice seemed to be coming from the other side! Were there... people alive here??

The dark envoy?

That was impossible!

The speaker couldn’t be an eighth rank exalted emperor. He would’ve long shown himself if he was really here. An eighth rank wouldn’t wait until now.

If it wasn’t the dark envoy, then who was it?

The two looked at each other and tacitly agreed to set everything else aside for the moment. No matter what, this place was utterly mysterious. This was no time to dwell on their grudges. That could wait.

“After you, Senior Drouth!” Li Hao said politely.

Drouth raised an eyebrow and strode forward without a word. He transmitted to the young man as he walked, “”Fellow Daoist Hao Moon, we should temporarily put everything behind us. This is the dao foundation site of an eighth rank. Nothing else matters if we are able to obtain some opportunities here!”

Although Li Hao’s presence indicated that he was only a third rank, Drouth didn’t dare be too careless and take that at face value. It was possible that Hao Moon had killed the others, including those outside the hall!

Not to mention, the boy was coolly composed when faced with a fifth rank. Drouth had to guess that Hao Moon could be a fourth or even fifth rank. His friendship with Void made sense then. It wasn’t based on a prior relationship, but also strength.

Otherwise, the fifth rank was much too polite to Li Hao. Void addressed the boy as a fellow daoist, instead of the superior bearing that he should take.

A secret fifth rank??

Drouth was jarred by the sudden speculation. Could someone hide himself so well? The man’s wild theorizing couldn’t be helped, all possibilities and bases had to be covered!

He desperately needed some rest after the exertion of the first trial and consumption of so many resources, yet Hao Moon seemed completely unfazed. It felt like he’d killed his own coterie of dark puppets early on.

Despite his wild theorizing, the voice behind the door made Drouth set aside further action for now. All could wait until they walked inside! Perhaps there would be danger within that required two people to work together.

......

The little door opened.

An empty hall came into view. There were almost no decorations inside, just a seat cushion that drew the eye. Whether it was Li Hao or Drouth, both entrants looked at the seat cushion.

Was this the treasure? The core of Demon Summit? Where had the voice come from?

As the two stared at the seat cushion, a figure appeared in front of them.

Drouth jerked with astonishment and Li Hao smoothly took a few steps back.

“The Exalted Dark Demon Emperor?” Drouth nearly tripped over his words. This couldn’t be the legendary eighth rank exalted emperor, could it?

“There is no need to be nervous.” The figure moved with some hints of noble elegance and intangibility. “I am not the master of Demon Summit, I am just a weapon soul.”

A weapon soul!

The two fixed their gaze on the seat cushion. ...had the seat cushion attained enlightenment??

Anything was possible in the chaos universe, so it wouldn’t be unusual for a treasure to develop its own soul and comprehend dao. It was just that most possessions belonging to powerhouses found it difficult to do so partially due to their wielder’s suppression, and partially due to the inherent difficulty of a strong treasure gaining its own soul.

Drouth and Li Hao found the situation much safer if they were just facing a weapon soul. While the dark envoy had been an eighth rank, his seat cushion wouldn’t be that strong, would it?

The presence of this wispy entity was hard to gauge. It kept all of its strength self-contained, but the endless dark presence emanating from the seat cushion was proof that the energy within Demon Summit originated from this item.

This place was indeed the core of the dao foundation site.

Li Hao didn’t make a sound, whereas Drouth was slightly nervous. He asked, “Senior, if we passed the first test, then what does this second test mean?”

The shadow looked at the two candidates and didn’t immediately respond.

“You are from Utmost Dark?” it said after a while.

“Yes,” Drouth responded, startled.

“Utmost Dark...” the shadow repeated with emotion. “But it looks like you do not bear the presence of a dao universe. Has Utmost Dark been... destroyed?”

“Yes.” Drouth grew even more nervous.

“Be at ease,” laughed the shadow. “The dark envoy hailed from Utmost Dark, many years ago.”

“What?!” jerked Drouth. Impossible! That was an eighth rank exalted emperor! If one had come from Utmost Dark, they would know of it!

Li Hao was also astonished. So the dark envoy’s home world was Utmost Dark? He was in trouble now! He’d just killed multiple Utmost Dark exalted emperors! But how could the dark envoy of Skyward hail Utmost Dark as home?

“These are old matters,” said the shadow after a while. “The dark envoy and Utmost Dark world master shared some grudges back in the day. The dao universe of Utmost Dark lacked a master for a while and both of them wished to claim it.

“Some accidents occurred during this process, prompting the dark envoy to retreat. The Skyward world master brought him to Skyward, which was how he later became the dark envoy.”

The immensely excited Drouth was once more apprehensive after hearing these words. Some grudges? He’d been happy that they were from the same major world, but now that common origin might be a detriment instead.

A fifth rank’s mood went through wild swings as he listened to the weapon soul speak. Li Hao was also quite in shock. It was clear that the seat cushion was doing this on purpose.

“And where are you from?” The shadow turned to Li Hao.

“The Hao Moon world!” Li Hao quickly replied. “It’s just a minor world...”

“A minor world?” the shadow seemed to laugh. A minor world? There was indeed no dao universe presence around the young man, but... he bore the presences of many envoys.

The shadow could also see Li Hao’s river of life and death. That kind of construct was the sign of a dao master, but it wasn’t a dao universe. Being highly knowledgeable, the shadow had quickly came to a few conclusions. This river should be a natural construct, centered on the great dao and containing the power of a myriad daos.

Establishing a dao river did not count as a dao universe. It could only be considered the prototype of one. Were there people like that?

Yes!

Geniuses abounded in the chaos universe. Some of those that fashioned a dao river possessed brilliant potential, some were simply a flash in the pan and quickly forgotten.

Dao rivers were rare developments and created by those who were remarkable themselves. But for a high rank, they weren’t that impressive. Grasping a mature dao universe was much better!

It was simply up to personal choice.

But no matter what, Li Hao certainly did not hail from a minor world. The shadow knew that minor world denizens did not benefit from opportunities like these. They were not experienced or knowledgeable enough to create dao rivers.

The young man must have entered a dao universe before and even been its master. The dao universe might not have been mature, but where there was a dao universe, there was a major world.

The shadow didn’t say anything. Everyone had their own secrets. It considered the two again. “This was the cultivation site of the dark envoy. No one would have been allowed to trespass when he was here! Now that the dark envoy has left Skyward for countless eons, this place has continuously been worn away by time. It may fully collapse after a few years and become completely ordinary.

𝐟𝕣𝕖𝐞𝐰𝕖𝚋𝐧𝗼𝚟𝐞𝕝.𝗰𝐨𝐦

“The two of you share sufficient destiny with Demon Summit since you have passed the first test. What is the purpose of your visit?”

“I hope to borrow the noble dark envoy’s comprehension of dao to strengthen the dao of Utmost Dark,” Drouth said rapidly after some thought. “I wish to strengthen the great dao to the point of being able to revive Utmost Dark!

“My world was ambushed by powerhouses that broke our dao universe and heritage. Since the senior speaks of the dark envoy hailing from Utmost Dark, I stand an even greater chance of success!”

“And you?” The shadow turned to Li Hao.

“I’m not that interested in the dao of Utmost Dark or darkness,” coughed the young man. “I’m more interested in the methods of creating a domain and sealing off the world!”

The shadow was rather surprised. Domains and sealing off the world?

That was right! While the terminology may differ, all of Demon Summit counted as a domain.

“I can satisfy the request of the Utmost Dark exalted emperor!” said the shadow after a while. “As for what you speak of... whether it was the domain or sealing off a world, the dark envoy did not understand them that well. It was the Skyward master that helped build Demon Summit.”

To put it simply, those things were connected to the Skyward master. The dark envoy didn’t know much about them.

Li Hao frowned slightly. So the dark envoy didn’t understand them? It was true that he was curious about these topics, but also because he wished to perfect his river of great dao, world, and dao universe. These were important components of creating a world by himself.

Drouth blinked with surprise at what he heard. The Skyward master? That was a ninth rank exalted emperor! He was the only true ninth rank that people knew of in the region. He might be the only one in the entire chaos universe.

Granted, the chaos was so enormous that even a master of a major world might travel for the rest of his life, but still not cover the entire universe. Hence, no one was aware if there was life, worlds, and other ninth rank masters out there.

Skyward was the only one that they were definitively aware of, and he’d built Demon Summit for the dark envoy!