Chapter 1541: The Silver Moon King (I)

“If Senior Number Two can swallow thirty percent of the eight bolt... then the remaining seventy percent will be on par with a fifth rank... A blow from a fifth rank may not kill me. It... probably won’t! But the ninth bolt...” Li Hao looked on solemnly.

He’d borrowed a sixth rank’s strength last time, but he’d also had some strength left over after killing a fourth rank. This time, he’d exhausted all of the strength from the fifth rank. There was none left to protect him from the chaos tribulation.

“I need to make it past the eighth bolt first!” Li Hao decided to take things one step at a time. All could wait until after he weathered the eighth bolt.

Kaboom!

An enormous thunderbolt descended upon him, like a mythical weapon of old. The chaos fractured!

An enormous cat swallowed part of it; its fur instantly sizzled to the color of charcoal. Number Two bellyflopped into the river and sank to the bottom.

Thirty percent of a sixth rank’s strength was quite a lot for it to deal with. The rest of the thunder and lightning snaked toward Li Hao.

The young man slashed out with his sword. Life and death appeared; a myriad of daos gathered. Destructive power brewed within the river and all sorts of dao materialized. Stars floated to its surface and the domain took shape...

RUMBLE!!

Everything cracked and exploded. Color drained from the faces of Gan Wuliang and the rest. Too strong! This chaos tribulation was too strong.

They could only watch as everything that was Li Hao fell apart into pieces. The domain, river, stars, and the young man’s physical body scattered everywhere. The tribulation wanted to excise Li Hao from existence!

Thank goodness Number Two had swallowed thirty percent of the bolt.

The eighth thunderbolt disappeared after a while, leaving behind a skeleton of the young man. Flesh and blood grew quickly, barely managing to recover some strength for Li Hao. He frowned up at the sky.

He’d walked life and death twice already, but that method could not be repeated infinitely. Each instance was another provocation of the chaos tribulation. Based on what Void had said, nine would be the limit. Would he have to walk life and death again for the ninth bolt?

But he wouldn’t gain anything if he undertook that. The young man was not ready for an ascension.

Li Hao was at the great perfection of third rank, but couldn’t enter fourth since he was yet to comprehend the dao of extreme yin. Taking a trip through life and death at this timing would be a complete waste. When he’d done so twice before, at least he’d been on the cusp of a breakthrough.

At the same time, the young man knew that he couldn’t stand against the ninth bolt in his current condition. Perhaps he could use the bodies of the two fourth ranks and the other exalted emperors to access dao chess. That would help him evade the danger, but it would also be the depletion of his fortune. He would still be unable to ascend and it’d be the waste of another opportunity.

A variety of thoughts vied for prominence in Li Hao’s mind.

“Switch out the star!” Lin Hongyu suddenly shouted from nearby.

Switch out the star?

Li Hao blinked.

Switch out what?

Understanding dawned. Lin Hongyu meant to substitute her newly ascended exalted emperor dao star for his star of life and death, so that she could suffer in his place. Both of their stars were in the same river of life and death and stemmed from the same origin.

The tribulation was also targeting Lin Hongyu since she’d just advanced to the exalted emperor level. It was so strong partially due to her as well. Therefore, she could absolutely be the one to shoulder the last bolt.

But she was a first rank...

Her star of life and death would be spontaneously pulverized by the sixth rank tribulation. It was unknown whether she could walk life and death again, whereas Li Hao had his ways.

He could either make use of the path of life and death, or he could call upon dao chess. The young man had options, he just didn’t feel they were good options.

Lin Hongyu sensed his hesitancy and thus, offered to swap her dao star for his. In her eyes, the death of a first rank wasn’t all that important. Li Hao might be able to revive her; she’d lose a cultivation level if it came down to it.

And yet... how could Lin Hongyu be permitted to go through that ordeal?

Li Hao looked above him and exhaled heavily with a smile. “Three deaths and three resurrections... This third time might be the worst deal yet. But... so what?”

His limit might be nine times, but he’d already used three of them in a very short period of time. While he may have many lives to utilize, they were not meant to be wasted in such a manner.

And yet, what could he do now that he’d reached this stage?

Compared to the singular use of dao chess, at least he could walk life and death several times more.

Li Hao’s long river materialized and his star of life and death hung in the sky. He looked at the rest.

“Same rules go. If the next bolt doesn’t kill me... well, I’ll be close to dead anyhow. I’ll go with the flow of things and walk the cycle of life and death! If it completely eradicates me... remember to save my river. Don’t let it get smashed apart. I won’t have a chance to revive if that happens.”

There were certain restrictions when it came to the dao of life and death. If a powerhouse was strong enough to outright destroy his river, then he wouldn’t have a chance to walk life and death.

A chaos tribulation was not a person. It didn’t have a consciousness, so it should disperse after killing him. The river should remain, which would mean he would have a chance to walk life and death again.

“Let me!” Lin Hongyu shouted. “I’ll take on the last thunderbolt. You can resurrect me if I die. I’ve just entered first rank, so it won’t be a big loss!”

She quickly flew toward Li Hao. The young man was clearly more than first rank. It would be more troublesome to resurrect him and the process would consume more resources. The fact that he’d been hesitating likely meant that trouble occurred when one walked life and death too many times.

Lin Hongyu didn’t know if the young man had undergone the process at sometime this year. She guessed that he had. It would be her first foray. If she could be resurrected, so what if she walked it a second time?

Li Hao waved a hand, sending the flying Lin Hongyu back. He couldn’t be bothered to respond to her.

As a man or a martial master, he wasn’t in the habit of letting a woman die for him. If both of them had to walk the path of life and death, while it might seem a better deal to have Lin Hongyu do so, did Li Hao not have his own dignity to think of?

Face was more important than anything for Silver Moon martial masters.

Can I make this kind of decision in front of a woman? Although, it’d be nice if Gan Wuliang could die once for me...

Li Hao grinned broadly and looked up at the tribulation forming another bolt. He pondered silently at how much resources would have to be wasted this time. It’d take at least the strength of a fourth rank to revitalize himself as a third rank.

But since there wasn’t a chance for him to advance... he couldn’t spend too lavishly.

Perhaps I should try to gain insights into the core nature of tribulation lightning with the final blow.

Maybe I can comprehend destruction itself!

Otherwise, getting struck so badly each time would be such a missed opportunity.

While knowing full well that he would die... Li Hao left behind the river of life and death, throwing the Firmament Sword and all of his treasures into it. He flew toward the tribulation lightning in the void.

I’d like to see how this thing is born! Where does it come from? Where does it gather energy? What triggers it?

Chaos tribulations are a sort of rule, but rules are made by people. I’d like to know if chaos tribulations are a man-made rule?

Li Hao hurtled straight into the thunder and lightning. His actions seemed to provoke the chaos tribulation. All of the clouds gathered into the form of a human daoist. It blurred with lightning speed and enveloped Li Hao.

In the void.

The Silver Moon contingent watched with mounting fear. In the distance, the three exalted emperor’s jaws dropped. What was going on here? The Exalted Hao Moon Emperor’s strength had abruptly declined, whereas the chaos tribulation had grown much stronger.

Was the young man... going to his doom?

The eight rank hadn’t come for him and the sixth rank had run off. They’d thought that Hao Moon had achieved a resounding victory. Why was abject defeat in the cards instead?

Kaboom!

A massive collision shook the void before they witnessed the incredible—Li Hao being reduced to ashes. The river beneath him trembled violently, as did the star of life and death. It even threatened to split apart.

The thunder and lightning in the air took human form, threatening to eradicate Li Hao. It didn’t fully disperse upon the young man’s death, instead setting its sights on the river.

However, a shadow rose from the waters—Li Hao. But he seemed a little different. After a person died and their dao was extinguished, it would seem that even their debts were no more.

The tribulation lost direction and sputtered to a halt. It gradually drifted away, as did Li Hao’s figure in the river.

The world quieted down.

In the distance, Mo and her two companions watched uncertainly. Was Hao Moon... dead?

He seemed to be dead. The tribulation had faded away.

On Silver Moon’s side, Panther, Lin Hongyu, Hong Yitang, Gan Wuliang, and Celestial Pole materialized out of the gloom. They were five exalted emperors, but only Panther was a second rank. The rest were first ranks and injured because they’d previously melded their dao into Li Hao.

On Mo’s side, she had a third rank and a second rank that were unharmed. If a fight broke out, they... might not lose.

They might even win.

It would be an incredible stroke of fortune if they won. There was a dao universe to be had, and two of them, it seemed! There was also a master of the world and the river of life and death that Li Hao had left behind. There was also the energy from two fourth ranks and countless low ranks. Whoever laid hands on all that would be rich!

𝘧𝑟𝑒𝑒𝘸𝘦𝘣𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝓁.𝘤𝘰𝓂

However, none of the three exalted emperors made a move. They were too afraid. So many exalted emperors had died today!

Their group had numbered twelve exalted emperors, if including Hao Moon. Only three of them were left. Dusk Wind’s group of four had been eliminated and fourth rank Red Moon Fu Bi was dead.

Including Li Hao himself, fourteen exalted emperors had died today!

Two of them were fourth ranks. Li Hao’s strength was undefinable, but there was another sixth rank that fled and the consciousness of an eighth rank that had descended...

Everything was too terrifying.

Due to that, the trio didn’t move a muscle despite the tempting circumstances. It wasn’t guaranteed that they’d win either. Silver Moon still had five exalted emperors left, after all, and they seemed to be able to combine with each other...

Thus, the three exalted emperors didn’t move a muscle despite seeing Li Hao die to a chaos thunderbolt.