Chapter 1634: The Most Romantic Thing (II)

“This is the source of a world’s life!” the cat explained lazily. “Put in simpler terms, it’s a kind of machine that creates life! The specifics are very complicated. I’m not that familiar with them either, to be honest.

“It’s seventh ranks or even stronger exalted emperors that study these things. All I know is worlds are born in the chaos and this is the first thing born in a world. Someone once said that this is actually an integration of dao.”

“An integration of dao?” That person was likely War, wasn’t it?

“It’s a series of great dao transformations that is achieved through various methods,” nodded the cat. “This process is similar to what you know as chemical reactions. The ultimate product is this origin of the world!

“Only with this can life be born and the world become a real world. Otherwise, a world without life is not a world, it would be a domain! That is the origination of the seventh rank’s domain.”

Li Hao’s knowledge was further deepened. So this was the case! The difference between a dao domain and a world laid here, the origin of a world. The manufacturer of life!

“How does this come into being then?” murmured the young man.

“It is bestowed by the chaos!” answered the cat. “Perhaps it comes by under certain conditions and environment. The chaos bestows such an item to a world to permit it to be born! Someone once said that there is a set of rules within the chaos—they’re very simple and crude, but they do exist!

“It’s also possibly a powerhouse who walked the path of life to an utmost that gave such a thing to the chaos. But herein lies the question, if the chaos bestows it, where did such a cultivator come from in the first place? He must be special to be able to give the mechanism of life to the chaos!” The cat shook its head. “It’s too complicated. Does the chicken or the egg come first? What do you say?”

“The chicken, of course!” Li Hao responded matter-of-factly.

“......” The cat suppressed an eye roll.

How do you know?

“Life originates from consciousness,” explained Li Hao. “The chicken is a being with consciousness. An egg does not possess a consciousness before it hatches. In my understanding, those with consciousness are the first to be born.”

The cat curled its lip, its whiskers curling. “How opinionated. The chaos existed from the very beginning. Does the chaos have a consciousness or not? Did the chaos come first, or those within it?”

“......” Li Hao had no idea what to say and argued, “What if the chaos has a consciousness as well?”

“So... are you going to prove that?”

“......” Li Hao shut his mouth.

Pretend I didn’t say anything.

These things always came down to proving one’s theories. At that point, one could only stop talking. Of course, Number Two couldn’t verify its viewpoint either.

The young man wasn’t in the mood to speak further; other ideas had come to mind. “Therefore, what the senior needs to absorb is the source of life inside a world, is it?”

“That’s right.” The cat nodded its ponderous head again. Its head was so big! And so heavy, so fat!

Li Hao hadn’t minded it before, but now that the cat was so close to him... That fat head and body gave the young man a notion that the cat should go on a diet. It floated so much that its limbs were devolving. Perhaps it would become a flying cat soon.

“Can I study it?”

“Of course,” replied the merry cat.

Study whatever you want. Countless powerhouses wish to meditate over the origin of a world. This is the creation of life! It’s not the kind of body creation that you do. Any heavyweight knows how to do that!

Can you give a true soul and spirit to a body?

No!

It’s just like how you can create weapons, but a weapon gaining a soul is a process completely up to luck. Do you know what kind of weapon it takes to birth a soul and how it is accomplished? Not even the weapon itself knows once it gains a soul.

No one understands!

It all depends on if the heavens show favor on the process.

Li Hao extended his senses and instantly melted into the world origin. Endless life force surged, interspersed with some will. Or there seemed to be a lot of will. The young man temporarily lost himself for a split second.

He investigated the world origin with all of his ability, but it seemed... to be empty. There was nothing in it.

Li Hao refused to give up and sought to investigate it closely, yet could not find anything for him to comprehend. He was unwilling to accept the situation and thought it over. He suddenly pointed, commanding time to reverse!

He wanted to see if he could trace time and find the moment of this item’s birth.

Another thought occurred to him when he pointed a finger.

Perhaps I can do the same to the world and see how it was born, how the great dao was organized. Was it a natural process or a manmade one?

The power of time should not be limited to borrowing strength to kill people. Li Hao had the increasing feeling that if the War Sovereign commanded this ability, he would use it to explore the unknown.

Time was a flowing river that washed away many things with its passage. Perhaps only time could restore everything.

Therefore, while the War Sovereign may have never set foot off of New Martial, he still knew a lot. That was because he constantly traced the past and sought the truth of the past.

These thoughts flashed through his mind as a scene appeared in front of him. It took only a moment for his consciousness to crumble and his entire being to sink into a daze. What had he just seen?

He’d seen... an intricate and complex dao so complicated that it nearly caused his mental collapse! There’d been countless dao rules interwoven for a split second, so densely clustered that they were as if strands of hair. They were too many to be counted, he didn’t have time or the ability to look at them closely. He just knew that his consciousness had shattered for a split second.

The long river shuddered and the world swayed. A tremendous force burst from Li Hao’s body!

A chaos tribulation seemed ready to descend. This particular usage of time seemed to have broken the concealment effect of the dao of hiding. Thunder and lightning were coming for him again.

Blood flowed from Li Hao’s orifices! He’d been too careless!

Or rather, he’d underestimated the origin of a world and traced his way back to something incredible. He’d been gravely injured with just one look; the dao of hiding had been shattered as well.

Li Hao jerked away, an unpleasant expression spreading across his face. His identity would be exposed if a chaos tribulation descended at this moment!

He’d only wanted to take a look, just a quick glance. Who knew that he’d see something beyond his wildest imagination? He’d seen a myriad of daos—the true myriad of daos—come together as the origin of the world.

He didn’t even have time to take a clear look at what great daos were there before his consciousness gave way.

I only just traced time and didn’t borrow strength... I didn’t travel to the past... I simply took a quick glance!

𝗳𝚛𝚎𝚎𝘄𝕖𝕓𝕟𝕠𝚟𝚎𝕝.𝗰𝕠𝐦

Li Hao swiftly operated the dao of hiding! He needed to conceal the chaos tribulation. If not, he would be in grave trouble.

“Got in over your head, hmm?” Number Two seemed to have foreseen this result. “Not all things can be peered at or traced like that. The chaos is very complicated. Why don’t you try tracing the origin of the chaos next time?”

You court death!

Teaching Li Hao a lesson was also one of Number Two’s goals. Time was good and all, but one could not wield it wildly.

The young man was bold and conscientious. But he was sometimes too brash. Take this moment, for example. The cat had already said that the item had a complicated origin and was bestowed by the chaos. The world origin might even hail from the birth of the chaos.

How dare you trace it??

You’re so foolishly bold!

Serves you right for not listening to this cat!

Number Two grumbled to itself as it watched Li Hao solemnly operate a unique dao rule, hoping to sever his connection to the void. That would enable him to avoid the chaos tribulation.

The cat didn’t say anything; it abruptly landed on the ground. Its stubby legs propelled itself upward and into the world origin. Number Two swallowed it with one gulp!

Rush!

A surge of extremely pure energy gushed into the cat’s mouth, like a river being swallowed. Number Two seemed to grow a bit stronger.

It smacked its lips after devouring the world origin and curled its whiskers. Mirth appeared in the cat’s eyes and it stabbed its whiskers into the void. Deathly preoccupied with trying to conceal himself, Li Hao suddenly sensed something.

A very faint line in the void snapped with a crack!

The sense of impending doom promptly disappeared. One of Number Two’s whiskers suddenly snapped and disintegrated. Its two whiskers had been symmetrical to begin with; the cat now presented a comical sight with one missing.

“Senior... this...”

“I’m just breaking the connection for you, not helping you survive the tribulation!” Number Two looked lazily at him. “However, this will accumulate. Sooner or later, one of these chaos tribulations will be the death of you!”

Serves you right for doing random nonsense like this!

Li Hao heaved a sigh of relief and was equally shocked that Number Two could sever the connection with the chaos. Why hadn’t it demonstrated this ability before?

Or... did it have something to do with the world origin?

The young man turned his head to look at the cat, then looked around with alarm. The world seemed to have fully fallen silent. No, it wasn’t silent anymore. He suddenly understood the difference between emptiness and death!

This world was dead! It had died!

There didn’t seem to be anything different from the world of moments before, but he could sense that the world was dead. The presence of death had started permeating throughout it.

Number Two had eaten the world origin, changing the world’s status from ready to revitalize at any moment to completely dead!

There was no more hope for this world. It could be a warehouse or a temporary shelter, but it would no longer give birth to life. It no longer had that ability.

The death of a world!

If it’d been silent before, it was truly dead now. Nothing had changed about it, but... when Li Hao extended his senses, a landscape that’d brimmed with spirit was now empty!

It was like it’d changed from three dimensional to a two dimensional drawing. The difference wasn’t great, but there still was a difference.