Chapter 1571: Fog Mountain (II)

As stars gathered in the sky, some people started shrieking, “Great dao! These are the echoes of great dao...”

There were even notes of great dao to be heard in the air. When people tilted their heads, they could hear the notes from fire dao, body dao, water dao, dao of darkness, emptiness, life, and death... They could hear the notes of all daos!

Some exalted emperors that cocked an ear to listen more intently froze on the spot with incredulity. The notes of great dao! The revitalization of a myriad daos! What they heard was infinitely profound and clearly not a random creation.

In truth, these dao notes were complex constructs. They contained some of Li Hao’s own comprehension and the understanding of great dao that he’d gained from Skyward. All of that stemmed from the knowledge of premier exalted emperors. Those were extraordinary characters.

In addition, Li Hao was no fool. He concealed the most critical parts of the knowledge he was utilizing and didn’t disseminate it through the dao notes. He was already paying such an enormous price to convince everyone that Skyward’s dao universe truly was awakening. The young man wasn’t doing so to actually help them comprehend the dao of high ranks.

But this wasn’t enough. The commotion wasn’t enough. The final step was key; he needed the dao chess to infuse his phenomenon with a sense of invincibility.

Moments later, Li Hao activated the dao chess brand in the river of great dao. A shadow hovered into view and looked curiously at Li Hao.

You pick now to enter the treasure?

“Senior, can you manifest the might of the Skyward master in my dao universe, even if only for a split second? We can treat it as me utilizing my opportunity.”

The shadow blinked and stared at Li Hao. “You’re crazy!”

Wasting such a chance just for a momentary presentation? Do you know what a wonderful opportunity you’re wasting??

Fine, it knew. It wasn’t as if the young man hadn’t experienced dao chess before.

“Are you hoping that Void will waste one of his chances for you? Even if he passes the first trial, he’s already walked four thousand squares. He will not start over from the beginning, but continue to attempt five thousand.

“It’s not likely he’ll make it to seven thousand squares, so he has two chances at most. Do you think he’ll waste one of them for you?”

Li Hao seemed to be treating a ninth rank treasure as a joke.

Just for this falsehood? You’re going to waste so many chances just for this? Is something wrong with your brain??

If you have this kind of stamina and time in mind, why don’t you go for a spin through dao chess? You might be a sixth or seventh rank after just one hundred years, you idiot!

The shadow could naturally tell what Li Hao intended with his actions. One had to say, the young man was creating quite a convincing mirage. Even regular exalted emperors wouldn’t be able to detect anything amiss.

Normal people wouldn’t be so wasteful. If the shadow really did release some unique pressure, no one in Skyward would suspect anything.

“Will the senior agree to this?”

The shadow was silent for a while before saying, “Have you thought this through?”

“I have!”

“You are focusing on trivialities and ignoring the fundamentals!” sighed the shadow.

Li Hao didn’t make a sound. Was he?

Perhaps... he was.

But compared to this opportunity, I’d much rather be able to safely bring everyone out of these major worlds. That also includes Celestial Pole and the Pagoda King.

As for what plans New Martial had in mind, that wasn’t in the range of Li Hao’s consideration. Not to mention, if he redirected Red Moon’s attention, that would alleviate the pressure on New Martial as well.

“Very well then!” The shadow didn’t say anything else.

This is your choice.

As opposed to consuming the dao chess’ energy to send Li Hao through another round of comprehension, releasing some might was a minor matter.

A wave of domineering might and pressure promptly covered the entire world. Not only that, but it also emanated out of Skyward.

The Exalted Fog Mountain Emperor was not too far away. His eyes widened with surprise as he looked into the distance. There, a vigorous surge of presence had appeared! It was so vibrant that it made the seventh rank’s heart quail.

Countless powerhouses within Skyward shook internally. A variety of messages were sent through special means. Some even went to the step of destroying precious treasure to ensure that their communication could reach the right person.

“Skyward’s dao universe is revitalizing, unbounded might and pressure has appeared. The strength of great dao fills the world and covers the land. Millions of dao stars have appeared and can be vaguely seen in the sky. Heaven and earth exchange places as spatial dao is suspected to be shifting things around...”

No cultivator in Skyward questioned what they were experiencing. They were all immensely excited and fearful.

They were agitated in that Skyward’s great dao had appeared. They were apprehensive that this might attract countless powerhouses who would then commence an incredible war on Skyward in the days to come. Battles between high ranks might be a common sight.

......

“My thanks to the senior!”

The brand in the river did not fade away. The shadow swayed and looked at Li Hao. “If that Void volunteers his chance for you, then you can still use the brand. If he is unwilling, then this is as far as we go!”

“I understand.”

“What a pity!” The shadow faded away. It couldn’t fully read the young man. Not in terms of strength, but of heart. What was this guy thinking of?

You have time and energy, why waste it on these trivial matters? What was the point?

Li Hao laughed and looked up at the sky. All of Skyward was surrounded by a surge of might and pressure. It was fast dissipating, but it was enough.

This is all I can do.

“Time to go!” Li Hao ran toward the southern gate. It was time to go on the run. They’d created such an uproar that if the Skycloud exalted emperor was nearby, he might be here soon.

I really need to get going!

Li Hao vanished on the spot; the dao universe in the air also gradually disappeared.

Gan Wuliang was both startled and afraid, and deathly grateful that no one had rampaged through the dao universe. He’d almost been scared to death just now! There’d been at least seven or eight mid ranks within the range of the dao universe.

That was too frightening! Any of them could kill him.

Li Hao took Gan Wuliang and Panther away from Skyward. He could no longer stay here. If he continued to linger, he might be facing numerous seventh or eighth ranks soon.

He was a fugitive now!

Li Hao picked up speed within the chaos. A person appeared less than half a day after he departed—Fog Mountain. He’d come as quickly as possible and raised an eyebrow when he neared Skyward. What a dense concentration of dao strength!

Countless people were furiously searching for the dao universe within Skyward. Fog Mountain immediately barged into the world as well, followed by many others. All of them were premier heavyweights from various places in the chaos and all of them were immensely excited.

News of Skyward’s dao universe awakening spread like fire on this day. Nearby masters of major and mid worlds rushed toward Skyward in a mad dash. They were deathly afraid that they wouldn’t be able to lay hands on it. All of them wanted to take a look at a ninth rank dao universe—this might be their fortuitous occurrence of a lifetime!

......

Li Hao was elsewhere in the chaos. He was uncertain if the happenings on Skyward would fool some of the powerhouses and attract Red Moon’s attention. He could only wait and see what the fallout was.

As a third rank, there was nothing else he could do. If he still could not conceal the past or redirect Red Moon attention here, he could only give up the idea of contacting New Martial. He wouldn’t give orders to Lin Hongyu then, he would have them wait in place.

If that was the case, he would make his own arrangements to bring them back to him. As for the two exposed beneath the spotlights, New Martial could figure out what they wanted to do with the duo.

The young man felt that he’d done enough at this point. New Martial might have some plans of their own in mind.

There was no need for him to do anything. If it wasn’t for the fact that the two being sent to Silver Moon were acquaintances, and Celestial Pole’s primary body at that, Li Hao might not have paid any attention to them. Celestial Pole’s replica had helped him on numerous occasions, after all.

Li Hao picked up speed in the void, quickly followed by Gan Wuliang. There was a dog that resembled Panther next to them, but it was bigger and part of it looked distinctly bovine.

“Where are we going now, milord?” asked Gan Wuliang.

“I’m going to see if there’s a chance to take out those from Dragon Observatory along the way.”

Gan Wuliang was slightly mystified. Were they still going to go down that course of action now that they’d depleted the chance to use dao chess?

“It’s not necessarily the Dragon Observatory leader.” Li Hao could read his confusion. “The faction leader will be in a hurry to go back, so he might leave some fourth or fifth ranks behind. The fourth ranks will definitely be in the rear since they’re slow.”

“So milord is going to attack those guys?”

“I’ve consumed my previous resources, but I still need to strengthen the dao universe. It’s very hard to move against powerhouses, but easy to handle weaklings. If I’m lucky enough, I’ll be able to take out fourth ranks. I may not be that lucky either, so we’ll see!”

He was worried about alarming the enemy ahead of time if he took action against the Observatory leader. It would not be a good thing to brashly forge ahead before he’d been discovered. Not to mention, he’d have to borrow strength if he wanted to kill the man.

That was not good. But he could try to kill a few fourth ranks.

Since he’d already utilized his chance of summoning dao chess, he needed to give Void some time to possibly create another opportunity for himself. Void was certainly not at that stage yet. He was still meditating over the methods of life and death.

“Then how about we... hide for an ambush?”

“It’s not an ambush, all we need to do is pretend we’re chaos wanderers. We just need to be a bit more careful. If there’s no chance for us to do so, then we’ll march toward Red Moon and bring our people back.”

“Understood!” Gan Wuliang had no more questions.

Two humans and a dog carefully made their way toward Red Moon.

......

𝒻𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝘯𝘰𝑣ℯ𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝘮

At the same time, Skyward.

Fog Mountain landed at Dragon Observatory, finding that everyone else was still alive apart from the exalted emperors.

When Li Hao came, he’d used time to freeze everyone and also retrieve some unimportant treasures. Everyone below exalted emperor was still alive.

Fog Mountain extended his senses as soon as he landed and took stock of the surroundings. He quickly looked at Demon Summit and frowned at it, but didn’t head toward it.

The man vanished, reappearing near the abandoned volcano.

Fog Mountain looked very young, but was an exceedingly solemn person. He raised his eyes to the sky, then looked around again. He grabbed a faint tendril of presence when he probed the air.

Closing his eyes to study it, scenes appeared in his mind. They were wispy and didn’t seem too real.

“Dao remnants have appeared at the volcano, Crimson Cloud brought people here. He was killed by a fire cultivator when he comprehended dao... Daoist Flamefire?” Fog Mountain’s eyes shot open, but he quickly frowned.

That was impossible!

Daoist Flamefire had vanished for countless years. If he’d taken action, that meant Skyward had returned. There was no need for the daoist to act thus if he wanted to kill a sixth rank. Who in the nearby regions would dare give offense to Skyward if the original rulers returned?

There was no need to kill a sixth rank!