Chapter 1683: Emerging from Seclusion (V)

“Are you done for now?”

“I’m done for now!” Li Hao laughed. “No one’s bothered us for seven days, which means Senior Fog Mountain has probably been standing guard for us outside! We can’t go overboard in enjoying his generosity! This has already been a very rich harvest. I feel that this cultivation session is the equivalent of me contemplating dao for numerous years!”

Li Hao laughed when he took stock of his current situation. These had been bountiful gains indeed! All was in readiness, he simply lacked money.

If I had several billion dao crystals right now, I’d be able to set foot straight into fifth rank and combine all five hundred worlds as one. No barrier would stand in my way, heh, and I’d smack any sixth rank to pieces!

The young man smiled happily. Although it didn’t seem like he’d grown that much stronger—his presence had simply increased from fourth rank to peak fourth rank, in actuality, he had gained so much more!

“Senior, Demon Summit is no longer safe,” said Li Hao. “I can make requests at the 3,000th, 4,000th, and 5,000th squares. That makes for three requests, correct?”

“Correct,” nodded the shadow.

“My first is whether the dao chess can move to a new location,” Li Hao began.

“A new location?” smiled the shadow. “Where?”

“The treasure’s presence will not leak out if we remain in Skyward, correct?”

“Correct.”

“Then is the senior interested in coming with me?” Li Hao grinned. “I’ll send the senior into the dao universe once I open it.”

“......”

Kid, I thought you wanted to take me with you. So you want to leave me in that desolate dao universe with nothing in it?

“That can be done.” The shadow agreed after some thought. “I will satisfy you since you are willing to raise this request!”

“Very good. Then the second is that I need the senior to send me and Brother Void near Red Moon again.”

This kid!

“What, do two people count as one request?” laughed the shadow.

“Then we can consider it two.” Li Hao smiled easily.

“Forget it, it’s one. Teleporting one of you is the same as teleporting two. But I can only deliver you to the same location as last time. I can’t transport you too close to Red Moon. Being an eighth rank world, it will affect my abilities.”

That worked too! Li Hao nodded.

The young man forged onward since that only counted as one request. “Then the third request is for the senior to help me conceal Silver Moon after you enter the dao universe, no matter if someone else is within it or not. With the senior’s abilities as an eighth rank dao universe... that should be no problem, yes?”

“I can do that!” The shadow readily agreed. None of these were difficult requests, but... also too much of a hassle to consider as easy.

Void felt that Li Hao was wasting his opportunities since none of his requests had anything to do with himself. “I can raise a request too. Senior, mine is much simpler. Please give me a chance to teleport back, one that is not limited to myself. I just need one chance and I’ll pay for the energy costs required!”

He was setting up a contingency plan.

“That can be done!” The shadow nodded.

Neither of the two mentioned taking the dao chess with them. Their abilities were a little below that accomplishment for the moment. That could wait until they passed through the seven thousandth square. Taking the treasure with them then would be a natural development.

Teleportation to and fro, changing the dao chess location, safeguarding Silver Moon...

These four requests ensured that their paths of retreat were taken care of. What they needed to do next was simple—open the Skyward dao universe.

Li Hao looked around Demon Summit. He would certainly be able to access the dao universe if he borrowed an eighth rank’s strength. But if he did, the price would be enormous. Yet if he didn’t, it would be very hard for him to access the dao universe. Skyward’s own heritage was lacking.

Who could he borrow from, however? The dark envoy might not be willing, to say nothing of the astronomical price he’d have to pay.

“Senior, can you lend me your strength?” Li Hao suddenly looked at the shadow. It was better to borrow from the dao chess than the dark envoy. At least the treasure was an eighth rank dao universe!

It wasn’t necessarily weaker than an eighth rank, especially as it was alive. Granted, did the dao chess have the strength of an eighth rank?

That wasn’t necessarily the case!

Or perhaps its strength had greatly declined. But even so, Li Hao would be borrowing from its peak condition in the past, no?

“You... wish to borrow my strength?” blinked the shadow. It had just praised the lad for shaking off the crutch of time. Had he not done so?

“I wish to open the Skyward dao universe and also bring... Senior Fog Mountain who’s outside with me,” explained Li Hao. “We just need to work together this one time. I don’t need to borrow the strength of an eighth rank, just seventh rank will do!

“I probably won’t be able to endure the strength of an eighth rank. Seventh rank is also more than enough! Seventh rank will also facilitate our movement. We don’t need it for too long, just one minute is sufficient!”

There was room for negotiation if the dao chess was present. He didn’t need to borrow everything that the treasure could offer. That came with too high of a price.

Just a little would do and even just one minute was sufficient!

“To be honest, I don’t even have seventh rank strength to lend to you at the moment,” the shadow admitted. “But I’ll be able to if you utilize time and trace the past yourself! However, the price will be high, even at seventh rank. One minute will cost you dearly.

“Of course, since I am the host of the strength that you’re borrowing, I won’t demand a harsh toll. But when it comes to the price you must pay for utilizing time... You might need to help me recover my full strength!”

“Will that be hard to do?” Li Hao blinked.

“Not too hard,” the shadow nodded after a moment. “I just... need to swallow an eighth rank dao universe, that’s all! That will make up for my losses over the years...”

Was that hard?

Not too hard!

...how was that response humane?

Oh, right, the speaker wasn’t human.

Borrowing the strength of a seventh rank for one minute entailed Li Hao paying the price of an eighth rank dao universe and suffering another seventh rank tribulation! Although he could hide from it as usual, it would find him one day.

“The price to be paid for time is too great!” Void sucked in a sharp breath as well. “It’s just the strength of a seventh rank for one minute. I wouldn’t need to pay an eighth rank major world even if I hired a seventh rank for an entire year!”

Hiring an eighth rank wouldn’t even cost him so much! How was one supposed to pay the price of that employee’s strength after one gig? If that was the case, the eighth rank should wait on him hand and foot, as well as give him daily massages!

“Such is the price of time! It comes at one hundred or one thousand times the usual,” sighed the shadow. “Therefore, you’ll have to pay an enormous price when you meet those you borrowed from in the future! Thank goodness that the strongest you’ve borrowed thus far is fake seventh rank. That price should be easier to pay than a dao universe...”

What Li Hao gained in exchange for what he paid out was not proportional. But for the young man, that had been the only possible choice at that time despite the unequal transaction.

“Forget it, Hao Moon, it’s just one minute,” Void shook his head. “I can go to Uncle Flare Sun if you have need, or my father. You won’t have to pay such a price even if you go to the Human King!”

This is terrifying! We’re not plotting after an eighth rank major world either, just the world’s reserves. All of us working for the shadow won’t be enough, we’d have to pay the shadow to work for us!

Li Hao was equally resigned, this price was too high! But upon further thought, the young man nodded. “Alright!”

The shadow blinked.

You agree?

Void stared at his friend.

Why?

“Borrowing strength for free is not bad!” Li Hao laughed.

For free?

The shadow paused.

“I would’ve tried to help the senior recover, even without this request,” Li Hao chuckled. “The senior has helped me a few times, after all. So this means I get to borrow this strength for free! Then I won’t be offering to help the senior recover. Isn’t that getting to use the senior’s strength for no payback at all?”

The shadow gaped and didn’t say anything. Void felt that his friend made sense after he mulled over these words. That was true!

So borrowing the strength of a seventh rank for a minute would only result in the price of one chaos tribulation. That wasn’t a problem at all.

Would Li Hao actually help the dao chess recover?

He probably would, given the right circumstances. The treasure had indeed helped them on multiple occasions. Even though Li Hao wanted to have Void take the treasure, that was just claiming it and not destroying it. The dao chess was a supreme piece of treasure at its essence.

Void’s thoughts went in another direction.

Hao Moon’s original intent was for me to wield the dao chess. If it recovers, doesn’t that mean he’s working for me?

The man grinned.

Aw, that’s... embarrassing! I’m the one benefiting from this!

Li Hao flicked a glance at his friend.

And what are you smiling about?

Moments later, he grinned as well when it dawned on him. “Ah yes, senior, Brother Void wishes to make it past 7,000 squares so that the senior will follow him. I’ve only made it past 5,000. It seems like Brother Void stands a much bigger chance than me.

“You and Brother Void will be one family in the future!”

“We’ll see about that!” the shadow said in a muffled voice before Void had a chance to.

“......”

What do you mean by that?

blinked Void.

Didn’t you say that we can take you with us after we make it to 7,000 squares? See about what?

The shadow didn’t explain itself.

There’s a cultivator of time here, whereas you’re just a cultivator of six extremities. I... don’t actually want to go with you!

What’s sad is that you would’ve been a good choice any other time!

Void was rather put out by the response. He was hailed a genius everywhere he went, but the shadow didn’t think much of him! Were cultivators of time that special? Amazing? Impressive?

Fine, they were indeed pretty special and impressive. What could he do about that??

He was a cultivator of six extremities, but his accomplishments were being scoffed at! That was incredible. Under normal conditions, cultivators of two extreme daos were highly sought after.

Li Hao smiled and said nothing else. Void would sink into a dejected funk if they kept talking. His friend was a cultivator of 6,999 squares! But the shadow showed him no face at all.

“Let’s go!” the young man said instead. “Fog Mountain will be driven up a wall if we still don’t exit.”

“Do we go out like this?” Void asked, baffled. “Won’t someone set their sights on us if we leave like this?”

“It’s fine!” Li Hao laughed. “How will anyone easily detect us with Senior Fog Mountain around?”

That was true. Void dropped the topic.

The two walked out of the hall and sped for the outside world. There was no rush in borrowing strength for one minute.

As for what Li Hao wanted to do with that one minute apart from accessing the dao universe... Void was hard pressed to speculate. It was nigh impossible to kill another seventh rank in that period of time.