Chapter 1602: Center of Attention (I)

“If you’ve played with blocks before, then you know that you can form a castle or anything out of them that you’d like,” the Sword Sovereign continued. “The great dao is like building blocks, or actual bricks. You can build whatever you’d like, so long as it doesn't collapse! Who says that you need to make a building out of them?”

You can do whatever you want, so long as it stands!

Li Hao was once more gripped by emotion and asked, “So... the myriad of daos... are bricks and building blocks?”

“That’s right, doesn’t that make things simple?”

Did it?

I suppose so!

The Sword Sovereign’s lecture reminded Li Hao of his own teacher. Yuan Shuo had once told him a similar notion, that certain things were very simple in their eyes. All it required was for someone to think outside the box. But the problem was... how many could actually break the mold?

Li Hao considered his river, then at the stars within. His own dao stars were arranged according to the order he’d found in dao chess. But based on Li Changsheng’s words, he didn’t have to arrange them that way.

𝒻𝑟ℯℯ𝑤𝑒𝑏𝑛𝘰𝓋𝑒𝓁.𝒸𝑜𝘮

He didn’t have to imitate the order fully; any weaving pattern would work. Except, failure was a possibility during the process. One would need to start over if an attempt failed.

“Then I’ll try a different pattern,” Li Hao said when his thoughts traveled here. “If I succeed, I might create a different minor world! Perhaps this is how the chaos should be. If I focus on light, then I might be able to create a world of light. If I focus on darkness, then it’ll be a world of darkness. If I fail, then it’s an implosion of the world...”

The Sword Sovereign blinked, then nodded. “That’s right, but all of this is also too complicated, too much of a hassle, and consumes too much time! Normal people wouldn’t do anything like that.”

Li Hao laughed dryly. Sometimes, he felt that he knew a lot of knowledge, but put very little of it into practice.

What if... I’m willing to give it a try?

He could create a different system and fashion a world of myriad daos of his own. It would be a dao system that belonged entirely to himself. Could he imitate the chaos and create a universe within himself?

He could fashion different worlds through various weaving methods. Some might be very strong, some might be very weak. Some would succeed and others would fail. But ultimately, he might be able to distill a method that combined a multitude of great daos, one that was most suited for him.

At the same time, this was a daunting task. There were a lot of prerequisites involved—one of which was infinite energy. Could he accomplish his goals without sufficient dao strength and energy? Could he draw from the energy of the chaos?

Various ideas flooded his mind. The Sword Sovereign’s teachings had installed an impulsive streak in him.

Perhaps I shouldn’t just think about things, but experiment with them as well. It sounds nice to know a lot, but no theory compares to practical knowledge!

However, his current foundation wasn't that stable. It needed to be more solid and stabilized by more great daos. Only when it was further perfected could it truly become bricks for building the rest of his cultivation.

His current dao was just small pebbles. They could build something, but it would only result in jerry-built constructions.

Perhaps... I should dismantle the dao universe and see how other dao universes are built...

“Uncle Li, have you ever dismantled a dao universe?” Li Hao suddenly turned to the Sword Sovereign, prompting a start from Void.

“I have, what, do you want to try the same?” chuckled the Sword Sovereign. “It’s actually a lot of fun. Well, last time I dismantled New Martial’s core origin universe and the cat nearly bit me into two. I wouldn’t recommend it unless you’re completely out of options.”

“......” Li Hao stared wordlessly at him.

You tried to break down core origin? It’s incredible that you managed to live till today. They should’ve executed you for trying to dismantle the primary dao universe!

“Do you dismantle a dao universe to determine the difference in weaving methods?” Void couldn’t help but ask. “Or how the various daos are integrated in a different manner? It sounds like a good idea, but it’ll be very hard to recover the dao universe after that, won’t it?”

“Very hard!” The Sword Sovereign nodded. “I almost couldn’t rebuild New Martial’s! Thankfully, I had Ole Zhang—the supreme, that is—make a copy. He helped me rebuild it. If you want to break down the Light dao universe, I recommend having your old man make a copy first...”

“......” Void’s jaw dropped.

Is this august personage trying to urge me to my death? My father wouldn’t be the master of Light if he didn't beat me to death for trying to dismantle the Light dao universe! This guy isn’t normal!

Void was rather resigned, but the idea had taken root in his heart.

Would my father... really beat me to death if I tried to break down the Light dao universe for study?

Would he?

What if I... No! I can’t go down this path!

He swiftly suppressed the burgeoning thoughts. This was horrifying!

This guy’s a demon! I’ve never thought about dismantling Light in my entire life, why am I thinking this way??

On the other hand, what Li Hao heard was that the supreme had rebuilt the great dao! The young man was immensely shaken by this revelation. Why did people like Li Zhu, the Sword Sovereign, and Supreme Zhang have such a deep understanding of the great dao? Was it because... they were poor?

Could being poor really instill so much motivation in a person?

I’m pretty poor too!

“We didn’t have many opportunities before,” the Sword Sovereign’s beguiling tones sounded again. “Since both of you are interested, we have many opportunities to dismantle dao universes in the days to come. There are a lot of major worlds around Red Moon that can all be taken down. We can break down whatever we want—it’ll be a familiar process once we’ve got a few under our belt!

“We’ll be able to create our own at the end of it all. That’s when the door to seventh rank will be officially open to us!”

Hearts pounded—not just one heart, but three hearts. The trio exchanged glances with each other. Was this... appropriate? Wasn’t it too dangerous to dismantle someone’s dao universe? And too overboard as well!

The Sword Sovereign grinned in an exceedingly radiant fashion.

What are you guys looking at me for? You’re the ones who proposed breaking things down, I only followed suit. I’m not the one who came up with the idea.

Li Hao looked at Void; the latter swallowed hard before barely managing to incline his head.

I... can’t expose my identity no matter what happens! It’ll be the end of me otherwise!

......

The three chatted some more. They were very unfamiliar with each other at present. Although Li Hao and Void were more familiar with each other, they didn’t know each other that well. They hadn’t met that many times either.

Regardless, the conversation was in full swing. The Sword Sovereign quite liked the two youngsters!

He didn’t call them young fools this time, because they ardently wished to learn and couldn’t wait to dig holes on his behalf. There was nothing more they wanted than to go plundering with him. Alright, well, it looked like he was doing the plundering. Those two didn’t even mention what kind of split they wanted.

If it was some other people... heh, they would’ve come to blows already!

Division of loot was the first thing they discussed whenever battle concluded. They wouldn’t waste their time in conversation if that wasn’t taken care of! These were good lads!

So good people abounded in the chaos.

Those from Silver Moon are just like me, so generous! See, they haven’t even mentioned divvying up the spoils after killing that seventh rank. If it was someone surnamed Qin... hah! He’d be out for blood a long time ago!

But although the two youngsters didn’t mention it, that didn’t mean a senior like him could be so shameless as to do the same. Seeing that the hole was finished and the base of operations mostly complete, the Sword Sovereign mentioned, “The Clarity or whoever we killed before was a seventh rank at the end of the day.

“He wasn’t a master of the world or great dao though, so there’s no major world or dao universe to split up. But the dao foundation and dao strength of a seventh rank is an ultimate treasure when it comes down to it as well!”

Killing this kind of seventh rank was far less valuable than a master of a world, now those were the truly rich! All the same, this was a remarkable target. There was a certain degree of wealth to be found on a seventh rank, regardless. The wealth of an exalted emperor was not typically measured by storage rings, but by their dao marks. The red moon, for example, had been the seventh rank’s dao mark.

He would have plenty of dao crystals, at the very least. They hadn’t taken a close look at things before absconding with everything they could lay hands on. Now was the time to investigate just what the spoils were.

As for how they should be divided...

Void wasn’t interested, even though it was a seventh rank on the line. Meanwhile, Li Hao was very interested, but didn’t say anything because the Sword Sovereign was the last ruler of Silver Moon. He was also a premier New Martial heavyweight and the main reason why they’d been able to kill a seventh rank.

Even if he didn’t kill the enemy, he would’ve been able to get away. Thus, it was all thanks to the Sword Sovereign that they were able to find success. No matter how much strength Li Hao borrowed, he was unable to kill a seventh rank at present.

Adding various reasons meant that Li Hao didn’t say anything about the battle spoils either. This was his first official contact with New Martial heavyweights, so he also wished to take his measure of the man.

He didn’t fully trust New Martial just because Silver Moon originated from New Martial. Those from New Martial... did not have good reputations in the chaos.

The Sword Sovereign swept a glance over the two and smiled. Void was easy to take care of, he was a rich second gen. People like him didn’t lack money. Meanwhile, Li Hao was poorer than poor. New Martial was already poor enough; Silver Moon would only be poorer since it came from New Martial.

Silver Moon was no fertile world either. Having overseen the world for many years, the Sword Sovereign was well aware of Silver Moon’s condition.

It was a miracle that Li Hao had made it to fourth rank. Under normal conditions, it would be very impressive for a second or third rank to walk out of a desolate backwater like Silver Moon.

“Let me see what we have here!” The Sword Sovereign extended his senses, fully prepared for what he would find. Loot from exalted emperors was very predictable.