Chapter 1565: Loss and Gain (I)

Void nearly tripped over his own feet and started laughing. “Not bad, so I can revitalize a seventh rank in one go! Even if you’re a false seventh rank, that’s just as well!”

However, he and Li Hao did not further discuss the source of that ball of light. Only one was produced every one hundred thousand years in an eighth rank universe. Even the Light master might only have ten balls after ruling over the Light dao universe for one million years.

He couldn’t have placed them all in storage or used all of them on himself. Some of them had to be awarded to the high ranks of Light.

After one million years, it would be a rich harvest if he still had three left. But this time, Void took one out for Li Hao. This was a treasure that could truly save one’s life!

A fifth rank could instantly recover all of their resource depletion. It was clear to see from this just how valuable this item was. It was sufficient to make sixth ranks come to blows over it.

Even seventh ranks would take it seriously.

But now, it’d been depleted only to make Li Hao whole again. The young man took the upper hand for the first time in his struggle with the chaos tribulation. They were no longer evenly matched.

The last time he faced a tribulation, it was one of life and death that occurred when he became an exalted emperor. The tribulation had been very weak, just of the first or second rank level. This one was a full seventh rank!

Much of the humanoid of thunder and lightning was dispersed by one of Li Hao’s blows. The long river materialized and swept through the area, churning away a great sum of destructive power.

After prolonged battle, Li Hao had finally started to definitively occupy the upper hand and suppress the tribulation to shatter it.

Approximately ten minutes after that, the young man broke apart the figure with a loud roar!

“Whew!” The young man gave a long exhale that cut through the chaos like a sharp sword itself. He turned his head to Void, reshaping into a human from the form of a tiger. He raised a cupped fist salute. “My thanks!”

“You’re welcome!” A completely nonchalant Void smiled as he looked at Li Hao up and down. “It looks like you don’t have to die this time.”

He’d witnessed Li Hao reverse death before and was the one to posit the notion of being able to walk life and death only nine times. Void also knew that Li Hao seemed to have died three times already. Apparently, he’d endured a tribulation when he previously killed people. The young man would always be weaker than the thunder tribulation, so it was only normal if the thunder and lightning obliterated him.

Three deaths... Li Hao was only a third rank. How many more times would he have to die at this rate?

But this time, he didn’t need to die.

“I didn’t think that you’d be able to revitalize most of the strength that I’d depleted,” Li Hao nodded. “I still have some lingering strength of a seventh rank in my body now. What a pity that there’s no sixth rank around for me to kill. That’s a bit of a waste.”

This strength would soon dissipate. If there was a sixth rank present in front of him, Li Hao might be able to kill them if he used his full strength. There was no tribulation to be concerned about anymore.

But in a few minutes, this strength would fully dissipate and be impossible to recapture.

What a shame!

Thanks to help from Void, Li Hao had easily made it past this tribulation. Although it’d taken some prolonged fighting, he was in fine spirits and didn’t feel as helpless as he had before, when he’d been syppressed to the point of despair.

A multitude of emotions crowded his heart. It’d been so long since he last felt like this! That was because he’d grown so strong that those of Silver Moon couldn’t help him. Although Void was just a fifth rank, the man had helped him a lot at a critical moment.

Having smashed through the thunder and lightning, Li Hao was in an excellent mood. He could shake off the melancholy resulting from bidding farewell to Silver Moon.

“Don’t waste your strength!” Void laughed—or rather, he cackled in a way that wasn’t nearly as open and forthright as before.

“What do you mean?” Li Hao looked at him. He wouldn’t be able to maintain this strength for long; it would be gone soon. Should he go kill other exalted emperors?

But he wasn’t interested in killing anyone apart from those with Dragon Observatory.

Well, some factions such as Drift Light Region were also participating in the New Martial hunt. However, they were very far away. He might have thoroughly depleted all of his reserves by the time he reached them.

On the other hand, that left no one worth killing in Dragon Observatory Region.

“C’mon, let’s head to Demon Summit and go a few rounds with that weapon soul senior!” Void’s lips curled in a strange smile. “That senior is an interesting one! If it comes down to it, you can give this energy to it and let it revitalize Demon Summit. I can see if I can make it past the first trial. If I do, I can visit dao chess in a normal manner. My opportunity hasn’t ended yet.”

“That’s a great idea, we shouldn’t waste anything!” Li Hao laughed after a surprised start. “That’s right, if the senior is a soul of the Skyward master’s weapon, then the strength of Skyward is most suited for it! That’s exactly what I’m wielding, and it’s just as nice to help it recover some of Demon Summit...”

As for going a few rounds, they could forget about that. There was no point in doing so. They might not be able to access the dao chess even if they killed the weapon soul and seized the treasure.

In contrast, giving this strength to the weapon soul... was a good idea. The revitalization of Demon Summit meant that the first trial could be activated. Void could give it another go. And wouldn’t that mean the weapon soul would owe Li Hao a favor?

I owe a ton of people favors, it’d be nice if someone owes me one for once. I owe Daoist Flamefire, but if I use his strength to have the shadow owe me one... that’s not a bad deal!

This is a great idea!

“Fellow Daoist Void certainly makes the most out of every opportunity—you pluck the feathers from every passing goose!” Li Hao laughed. “You’re more calculating than I am! It’s impressive you’re this way given how rich your family is.”

“Now now, I beg to differ!” Void burst out laughing. “Our wealth and strength comes from gradual accumulation. You shouldn’t hate on those who are rich, that’s not a good habit to have! I was a frugal person even when I was in Light.”

“I don’t hate those who are rich, I’m just envious!” Li Hao laughed as the two raced back toward Dragon Observatory.

“What are you envious about?” Void grinned. “That’s what everyone says, but you may not think the same way if you’re in my shoes.”

“Nonsense!” Li Hao joked. “How about we swap identities then, huh?”

“My father would have to be willing to trade for a son first!”

“Hahaha!” Li Hao laughed in high spirits; Void also seemed to be in a good mood. The two made straight for Demon Summit.

“Do you want to borrow strength to kill Dragon and the rest when they come back?” asked Void. “There’s not much point in killing the faction leader. Also, Skycloud may send high ranks over. You might not be able to truly kill them even if you borrow a seventh rank’s strength. It would just plunge you into dire straits instead!”

“My thoughts are that if those from Dragon Observatory return, I’ll lure them into Silver Moon’s dao universe and kill them all there!” Li Hao replied. “That idea doesn’t include the seventh rank. If I succeed, it will ensure that Silver Moon’s dao universe does not lack for energy.

“Also, I can escape Skyward after I kill these guys, then use dao chess to return again. They won’t be able to find me!”

“That’s not a good idea!” Void shook his head, much to Li Hao’s surprise. It’d been a very long time since someone last criticized his plans. “You’re underestimating high ranks! They’ll be back before Dragon’s group is—their speed is much faster than a sixth rank’s. You’re just a false seventh rank, you should sense some of it too!

“A real seventh rank is even faster! Therefore, the first one to arrive will be that seventh rank. There are four seventh ranks and one eighth rank in Skycloud. The one being sent to Skyward is probably the Exalted Fog Mountain Emperor. He’s skilled at parting the clouds and mist to discern the truth buried within confusion. He's a terrifying fellow to deal with.

“Therefore, it’ll be very difficult for you to achieve your goal of killing Dragon and the others!”

Li Hao sank into deep thought.

“And another point is that you need to be careful of them outright detecting where your dao universe is. They’re not wandering cultivators, but seventh ranks from a bonafide major world. They’re more familiar with a dao universe than you or I! Do you really think that they really can’t tell the difference?”

Li Hao furrowed his brows. He lacked sufficient understanding of high ranks. If the situation was as Void said, his deception would be uncovered even if he borrowed strength and utilized the dao universe. He might even lose Silver Moon’s dao universe for his attempt.

That would be the greatest crime of all!

It would extinguish Silver Moon’s hope. Despite there still being one dao universe present, the twin dao universes might become a singular dao universe.

“Then what does fellow daoist intend?”

“We need to avoid a direct confrontation with a seventh rank,” Void smiled. “Otherwise, you’ll be the one to die. A seventh rank exceeds the limits that you and I can endure at the moment!

“Your goal is simple—avoid Red Moon and Skycloud’s gaze for the moment. Vanish into the depths of the universe so that you can return to the dao chess and comprehend dao. You can also wait and see how the situation develops!”

Li Hao nodded. That was his goal indeed. But it would be very hard to accomplish. He could hide inside dao chess right this very moment, but that would also ensure that his disappearance from Skyward would raise attention.

They would try to find him within Skyward, so it was best if he vanished into the universe right in front of the various powerhouses.

His original thoughts were that the leader of Dragon Observatory wasn’t too far from the major world. He’d only been gone for ten days, but should be able to return even faster if he accelerated his return.

Skycloud’s seventh rank might arrive only after he killed those from Dragon Observatory, which meant he could run before they arrived. That would make him a missing person.

According to his calculations, it might take only five or six days for the Dragon Observatory contingent to return. Skycloud was very far away from here. It was normal if it took the seventh rank a month to traverse the distance, or half a month if they were faster.

But based on Void’s words, a seventh rank wouldn’t need that amount of time at all.

What the man said must be correct. He was the son of an eighth rank and Light major world was not short on seventh ranks. Void must know more about this matter than Li Hao did.

Void knew that he’d guessed right when he saw the young man nod. “Your ideas are solid, but you’ve misjudged a seventh rank’s strength. You can’t afford to make that mistake!

“Running in front of a seventh rank... They’re not idiots either! They might guess at some of the truth! My thoughts are opposite of yours—you can sit here and wait for doom to arrive on your doorstep. Isn’t there something obviously wrong with sitting here to wait for Skycloud’s reaction after you killed one of their heavyweights?

“What you need to do now is flee from Skyward before they arrive. Have them chase behind you and figure out a way to run into the Dragon Observatory group. Kill that group along the way!

“Or kill some of them and keep running—escape right under a sixth rank’s nose! Leave some alive to witness your route and prove that you really did run. That will be the key to a seventh rank believing that you’ve fled!”

“But there’s no overwhelming strength for me to borrow in the chaos,” Li Hao said thoughtfully. “Well, I do still have some sixth rank power to use after killing Crimson Cloud.” The young man nodded to himself. “That seems just as fine as well!”

The spontaneous eruption of sixth rank strength would kill a few weaklings. The resulting chaos tribulation wouldn’t be too strong, he’d be able to hold it off himself. Things would be safer this way.

As for disguising the dao universe... there was no need for that according to Void’s words. The real dao universe had appeared. Disguising Silver Moon’s dao universe would be gilding the lily and potentially ruining the effect to the point in which seventh ranks could tell.

Today, all of Skyward had seen the appearance of their dao universe. This was the best proof of all! There was no need for Li Hao to pretend anything.