Chapter 1609: The Embryos of a Myriad Worlds (IV)

“It’ll be very hard for you to contain the river...” Li Hao sighed softly as he addressed the Firmament Sword. “I know that too. I only have a few dao foundation crystals left and they contain Red Moon strength. You’ll grow much stronger if you absorb them and should be able to support the river, but...”

The young man hesitated. Some problems might develop as a result of this course of action. What was Red Moon power?

The power of desire!

Some untoward thoughts might crop up in the sword if it absorbed too much Red Moon power. Human desire was terrifying, and so would the Firmament Sword be if desire blossomed in it.

It might even turn on its master!

But Li Hao had no better treasure to feed his weapon. And if the Firmament Sword absorbed a large sum of Red Moon power, it might be of some use in their infiltration of Red Moon Region to come.

He might even be able to slip into Red Moon major world through the Firmament Sword!

“Then I’ll give you the Red Moon dao foundation crystals to absorb!” said Li Hao. “These dao foundation crystals contain a large amount of desire. Of course, all humans and living beings possess desire! This exercise will be very helpful in raising your spirituality!”

All living beings possessed emotions and desires. The Firmament Sword was not yet a weapon with a spirit like the dao chess. Partaking a bit of the power of desire would greatly help it in this regard.

As for the future and the possibility of being devoured by desire... Li Hao decided to leave the future for the future. It wouldn’t be much of a problem if he handled it properly in the present.

Not to mention, the sword was just a weapon in the end. The master was the key.

All I need to do is ensure that I’m not swallowed by desire.

The young man promptly sent that horde of Red Moon dao foundation crystals toward the Firmament Sword. This was an enormous expenditure of resources as seventh rank dao foundation crystals were ultimate treasures anywhere in the outside world.

It was just, Li Hao lacked resources, so he fed the crystals to his sword. A second rank item wasn’t very useful for him, he needed more than that. If the Firmament Sword could progress to third rank and bear the weight of the river, then it would rival a fourth rank.

That would make him a fourth rank with an imperial weapon—a marked difference from his current level of strength. Almost all of the exalted emperors he’d met thus far did not have imperial weapons of their own.

The Firmament Sword grew visibly stronger as it absorbed the dao foundation crystals. Its sentience grew more lively as well. Although it couldn’t manifest a projection like the dao chess spirit, its communication with Li Hao was more tight knit than before.

There were pros and cons to the power of desire. So long as it could withstand the onslaught of desire, this would be an incredible opportunity for the Firmament Sword!

The weapon flared with scintillating light after an indeterminate period of time; Red Moon strength dissipated through the area as well.

Li Hao looked sharply at his weapon, directing it into the river. There, the Firmament Sword rapidly grew in size until it gradually took the entire river into itself!

The sword and dao river became one!

Within the waters, the sword seal, sword tree, and sword stone were rather depressed. They were the original bearers of the river, but had shouldered their duties with increasing difficulty. That was why Li Hao chose to have the Firmament Sword take it on.

The sword wouldn’t be needed if the trio were strong enough.

After a while, the Firmament Sword trembled violently, shrinking down from its massive stature. A regular-sized sword landed in Li Hao’s hand. For a moment, the young man truly felt that he was one with the sword.

The Firmament Sword had hints of a spirit to begin with; now it seemed more of a match for him than before.

The presence of great dao had dispersed from Li Hao, he seemed like an ordinary person. The sword in his hand had completely taken in the river—the power of a myriad daos traveled from the hilt into his body. There was less energy wafting from it than before; it was more concentrated than it’d ever been.

The small hole trembled when Li Hao gently waved the Firmament Sword around. He’d nearly just destroyed it!

The young man quickly retracted the weapon, joy in his eyes. His strength had not changed, but it was more concentrated. The Firmament Sword was also stronger, so his momentary bursts of power should be more ferocious than before. Combined with the dao of hiding, Li Hao was also more adept at hiding than he ever was.

He’d reached his goal after a round of dao organization. Although the resource consumption was enormous, treasure could be found everywhere here. Who cared about how much he spent in the process?

“I’m going to build more minor worlds next and perfect more weaving of dao methods. That might lead me to peak sixth rank soon. Then I’ll comprehend all of life and death, emptiness and revitalization. Sixth rank won’t be too hard that way!”

Li Hao breathed out, finally completing the first step of combining his own strength together.

The road ahead may be long, but I’ll travel down it.

He laughed and walked out of the hole, concealing some of his presence as he flew toward Orchid Forest.

This simple organization and creating worlds had consumed more than a month of his time. Now that he was part of the chaos, Li Hao discovered that time truly wasn’t worth much.

It’d been approximately two years since he’d opened the Star Gate. After this period of time, he had only fourth rank to show for his efforts.

With the longsword in hand and great dao within his body, Li Hao had manifested the embryos of a myriad worlds. Well, that was an exaggeration. The young man had only managed a few hundred worlds. He was a long way off from the so-called myriad of worlds.

These were also only prototypes, they weren’t real worlds!

The smaller ones were just a few meters in diameter, the larger ones were a few thousand. Exalted emperors would howl with laughter if they heard about worlds like these. How were these worlds?

Granted, if he could combine all of the embryo worlds into one... no one would laugh at Li Hao then.

For exalted emperors, these weren’t worlds. These were hundreds of domains. Domains were the exclusive method of seventh ranks. Li Hao was very young—he was twenty-four years old even after spending two years in the chaos. He was also very far off from reaching twenty-five.

......

Orchid Forest major world.

As a major world, its territory was sizable. Under normal conditions, the dao universe of a major world covered a large expanse. It would envelop the major world as it extended outside of the major world.

This was the territory of a master of the world and of great dao. Take the Red Moon master, for example. He could go anywhere within the dao universe at any time. Although he hadn’t dared come in person when his seventh ranks were being killed, that didn’t mean he couldn’t do so.

The diameter of a dao universe was often the key to measuring the might of a master of the world. The stronger the world, the more furiously they expanded in all directions to showcase their authority.

When it came to Orchid Forest, its dao universe couldn’t be sensed outside the world. That meant that the master of dao hadn’t expanded the dao universe or couldn’t expand it. It could only nourish the world within it. That also indicated that the master of dao did not have the ability to do so, or that the dao universe was unstable and hence had to be retracted.

There was a world gate to every world. Sometimes they were shut, sometimes they were not. Major worlds nearly never shut their world gate as it signaled weakness. Under normal conditions, masters of major worlds weren’t afraid of anyone. Even eighth ranks would be giving up home ground advantage if they dared barge into a seventh rank world. They might easily be defeated then.

Orchid Forest world possessed world gates, but they were tightly closed at the moment. No one was allowed in!

However, there were cracks near the world gates that couldn’t be fully sealed away. Small fractures had appeared within the world domain, ones large enough to permit entrance or egress.

There were Orchid Forest exalted emperors standing guard near the cracks. This was a major world, after all. It had its fair share of exalted emperors. There were quite a few of them—not as many as one would find in an eighth rank world, however.

Eighth rank worlds were typically staffed with more than one hundred, whereas Orchid Forest exalted emperors numbered only twenty or thirty. Of them, eight were mid ranks.

This was an indomitable force to any mid world, but slightly weak through the lens of a major world.

Cracks littered the world barrier; exalted emperors stood on the other side of each of them, preventing enemies from slipping in. Some of the cracks were unique in that the exalted emperors on duty weren’t from Orchid Forest. They seemed to be from off-world—even from Red Moon!

The loss of Red Moon seventh ranks was indeed a severe blow to the major world, but as a world with over one hundred exalted emperors, it possessed numerous mid ranks. The total sum of its mid ranks exceeded that of all Orchid Forest exalted emperors. One had to know, there were immense differences between major worlds.

The cracks that were guarded by outsiders became entryways for certain people.

......

Orchid Forest.

A dao river flowed through a tattered dao universe; dao stars sparkled above it. Most dao universes were such, it was just this one that was a bit unstable. Its stars shook and the river roared, as if it would be extinguished any second.

An august exalted emperor dressed in yellow robes sat over the dao river, suppressing the world. His face was wan and a vicious streak illuminated his eyes. He was aware of all of the changes that had taken place in Orchid Forest lately, but there was nothing he could do about them.

Orchid Forest was mid to bottom tier among major worlds and had had separate masters of the world and dao. Their opinions clashed, which turned them into rivals. That also placed the various factions of Orchid Forest on two different sides.

In the end, the master of dao wasn’t satisfied with his lot. He felt that it hadn’t been long since New Martial’s rise and it was firmly under Red Moon’s heel. He could kill the Human King, seize New Martial’s strength, ascend to seventh rank, then come back to kill the world master to make the dao universe and world one!

And then... the fool easily got himself killed in the chaos. The Orchid Forest master didn’t have time to rejoice at his death because while the idiot was no longer a problem, the world’s great dao was highly unstable.

That itself was fine too since he just needed some time before he integrated the world with the great dao. That would propel

him

to seventh rank then!

And yet... so much was happening in the chaos these days!