Chapter 1624: Want to Eat Fish (IV)

“Not that kind of life force!” snapped Number Two. “The life force of cultivators is just a drop in the bucket to a cat! Do you understand meow or not??”

“......” Li Hao gaped.

Are you... playing cute?

Number Two quickly adjusted back to its regular tone. “Do you know where the purest, most densely concentrated source of life force can be found in the chaos?”

“In the worlds!” answered Li Hao after some thought.

“That’s right!” nodded the cat. “Do you know what kind of world gives birth to the densest and yummiest life force?”

“Major worlds?”

“Wrong!” The cat shook its head. “Newly born worlds! Do you know why I was able to revitalize?”

“Is it because... of the life force that was created in the moment of a world’s ascension?” Li Hao’s eyes darted around in rapid thought. “Or was it because Silver Moon was a newly born world, which provided an energy source for the senior to draw off of all this time...”

“That is correct!” The cat nodded. “So the fish I wish to eat is pure fish of life! I am not an omnivore like Big Cat who eats anything. I want pure life force so that I can project my body of illusion into reality!

“I am not actually complete at the moment, I’ve only revitalized. I have not truly descended into the present from the past...”

“So the senior means that I should locate some newly born worlds and extract their world force. That will be the fish that the senior wants?” Li Hao ventured after prolonged thought. This was... much harder than feeding the Ash Emperor!

The Ash Emperor ate everything and anything. It feasted on fish made from dead exalted emperors. So this meant that... Number Two was a picky eater!

Li Hao’s head ached. He had to agree to this request, if for no reason other than he’d borrowed a lot from the cat. Number Two had helped him many times, each time saying that this was the last time.

The cat was without desire or motivation, other than tightly hugging the star of time. Li Hao had been wracking his brain on how to repay the cat. Today it’d raised something, but the request created a massive problem for the young man.

Where was he supposed to find a newly born world? They were few and far in between!

Not to mention, newly born worlds were typically hidden deep within the chaos. The natural properties of the chaos obscured senses and probes. This was a rule of the chaos, one that protected new worlds like Silver Moon.

“The strength of a new world is best!” nodded Number Two. “But it’s not without its substitutions...”

“There are substitutions?” Li Hao brightened.

“Yes,” continued the cat. “The source of the world!”

Li Hao was aware of this concept. Every world had its own source of power, just like dao origin. It was a similar case to the star of time being the source of dao for the twin dao universes.

It was no longer the source now, of course. That was the dao river that belonged to the two masters of dao.

“The source of a world... Does it matter whether it’s major, mid, or minor world?”

“Any of them are fine!” Number Two nodded. “It just doesn’t taste as good as the strength of newly born worlds, but the effect is similar. However, I can only take in a portion of it. I don’t need the random impurities. Big Cat eats everything, I only eat the purest essence.”

Li Hao smiled wryly, this was a tough customer. A picky eater was not a good cat. At the same time, he was relieved that Number Two had asked for something.

“I... can do this!” The young man nodded. “I have a minor world that was part of my spoils that I haven’t used yet. After I finish observing its structure, I’ll dismantle it and give the origin to the senior to absorb...”

“I want a lot!” the cat said softly.

“......” One minor world was worth ten million dao crystals in the outside world, and it wasn’t readily available for sale. Demand was high and supply low. Under normal circumstances, it was third ranks that purchased them.

“How much does the senior wish to eat?”

“Let’s start with ten. We’ll see after that.” Number Two flicked its tail.

“......” Ten worlds?? While that wasn’t a lot, just one hundred million dao crystals, the key was that he might not be able to procure that many!

“I’ll do something for you after eating ten fish. It won’t be a loss to you then,” said the cat.

“What is it?” Li Hao didn’t care about incurring a loss or not. It wouldn’t be a loss either way since the cat was only eating the dao origin. He could still study its structure. The rest could be tossed to the two dao masters and Panther. This was a profitable transaction regardless.

It was just, minor worlds were hard to come by.

Number Two had helped him multiple times already. Now that it said it wanted to eat fish, could the young man be stingier than the Human King?

The Human King feeds anything he gets to the Ash Emperor. Can I be more miserly than him?

“I’ll filter the dao river for you after you feed me,” mumbled Number Two.

“What?”

“Didn’t you travel back to New Martial once?” The cat fixed its eyes on Li Hao. “Aren’t you aware of what the big cat’s core nature is?”

Li Hao blinked and thought back over his travel—enlightenment dawned!

What was the true nature of the Ash Emperor?

The Heavenly Emperor had created it as a trash can to filter the dross from the core origin world and dao universe. All dao universes possessed some impurities and undesirable products.

The Heavenly Emperor was a genius to be able to create the Ash Emperor, a being to cleanse the entire dao universe!

Li Hao’s eyebrows rose as he looked at Number Two.

“What are you looking at?” grumbled the cat. “This cat is a projection of Big Cat’s past. Whatever it knows, so do I! I just can’t be bothered to work for you. But if you let me eat my fill...

“Your river looks pure, but it’s actually a huge mix of random things. I’ll cleanse it for you and help it really become pure!”

Delight bloomed in Li Hao’s eyes! So the cat could purify the entire river? Just from eating fish? It didn’t matter that it’d said it couldn’t be bothered to work for the young man.

Li Hao’s river was indeed very disorderly at the moment since he’d constantly remained in an eruption of improvement. He’d continuously modified his dao path, which resulted in having to organize his river each time because it was too unorganized!

If Number Two can purify and put it in order for me, that will save me so much effort.

“Just ten minor worlds?”

“I’ll purify it once every ten fish!”

Li Hao didn’t care about that, just once was enough. One instance was sufficient to ensure that it wouldn’t be a mess for a very long period of time.

“Alright, I’ll think of a way!” he exclaimed happily. “I don’t know how many minor worlds Orchid Forest possesses. If they have a lot, I’ll demand minor worlds for my next payment!”

“Mmhmm, we’re agreed then!” Number Two ignored him and turned its butt at the young man. Flicking its tail in the air, it lazily swam through the river.

A lost look was present in its eyes.

Am I really going to descend upon the real chaos now?

It would become a true inhabitant of the chaos once it absorbed sufficient life force. In reality, it had one significant advantage in its present form that even Li Hao was unaware of. It was undying!

Even if it died, the Exalted Blood Emperor had been able to use certain methods to resurrect it. It was the same case now. If Number Two died now, it could be revived just like it once had.

But once it was a living being, it would be as difficult as ascending the heavens if it was to come back to life again. Such was the case for the regular exalted emperors. It would no longer be the work of simply resting in a minor world.

Even Number Two didn’t know why it suddenly wanted to eat fish. Perhaps it missed the taste of fish?

Perhaps it wanted the same after seeing Big Cat keep so many fish around that it even had its own pond?

Or perhaps it’d gradually formed a desire to become part of this world.

Will I forget the one who teaches?

No!

It’s just... he’s never coming back.

Number Two kept his butt pointed at Li Hao and didn’t look at the young man. Youngsters were always so flighty... The one who taught had never been like this. Li Hao was certainly less than him.

Its tail flicked gently as a feeble star of time appeared in front of it. The cat hugged the tiny star of time to it and rested its head on it, drifting off to sleep.

The one who teaches... I might not... think of you anymore.

Large pearl-like tears slid down its cheeks and melded with the river. It didn’t know why it was crying. Perhaps this had been its fate ever since Silver Moon revitalized?

Li Hao turned back for a look and paused, startled when it saw the crying cat. He stood in place for a very long time. The young man gradually vanished at the end of the long river when the cat drifted away.

Perhaps the Exalted Blood Emperor’s decision to revitalize the cat had been a mistake. Perhaps he’d known a few things about the true nature of Silver Moon. He wanted to make up for some regrets, but he’d miscalculated. The revitalized Number Two possibly didn’t wish to come back to life.

Today, the cat wished to eat fish. It wanted to cultivate!

When Li Hao returned to reality, he wondered what cultivation meant to the cat.

It’s joy to me, but is it the same to Number Two?

It knows what its path is and how it should grow stronger. It also knows how it should become a true living spirit. But it’d never mentioned it before until today.

Why?

Is it because the embryos of a myriad worlds had enabled it to sense something?

Or was it the revitalization of time?

Li Hao knew that the cat wasn’t cultivating on his behalf. Perhaps it simply wished to take a real look at the departed one who taught!

Perhaps it wished to yank that one out of the depths of time and tell him that

you need to wake up now! You need to... take a look around!

Is there really nothing worth staying in this world for??

Li Hao set these speculations aside. He had to satisfy the cat’s desire to eat fish. It’d never asked for anything before. Whether it wanted the fish to cultivate or simply to eat something, the young man had to satisfy it.

Ten minor worlds?

He had one in his possession, which meant he needed to find nine more. Did Orchid Forest have any?

It should, since it was a major world. It was world eat world out there!

While there were many minor worlds in the chaos, Li Hao was yet to encounter that many. Or perhaps it was because he didn’t pay attention to them, which didn’t mean the same went for others.

It was possible to seize, transact, or offer up minor worlds. Some masters of minor worlds might voluntarily offer up their world as tribute. They would do so for protection, for resources, dao methods, entrance to a major world, and others.

Minor world could help any exalted emperor between first to third rank to swiftly ascend. It could even grant third ranks the slimmest sliver of a chance to set foot into mid rank. Granted, the chance was miniscule.