Chapter 1721: Returning to Silver Moon (II)

“That’s a good idea!” Void nodded. “Orchid Forest was a sixth rank major world before, but lost a bunch of people fighting. They should indeed replenish their numbers this time. There’s a lot of mid ranks that are masters of a small region in Skyward, to say nothing of anything else. I know a bit about it since I’ve been here for about two hundred years...”

Void was not a newcomer to the world since he’d spent some time in Dragon Observatory. He thought back over his time in the faction.

“Some of the wandering cultivators have a good reputation! Orchid Forest has made its name today after its world master trapped and killed Deepsea. So long as these guys aren’t afraid of retribution from Skycloud, joining Orchid Forest is a good option.”

Li Hao nodded as well. He wanted to move everyone off the world as quickly as possible so they could silence Skyward. The stilling of a ninth rank world would surely demonstrate the dao of emptiness to an utmost. It would be useful for the young man as well since he also walked that path.

He simply wasn’t as strong as Void in it. If a chance presented itself, he could give it a try as well.

“Right, I’m going to walk life and death once more!” Li Hao added.

Void furrowed his brows. “Will this be your fourth time?”

Li Hao nodded, this would be his fourth time! There was no way around it. This particular body was almost destroyed and its foundations ruined.

“Four times...” Void’s frown deepened. “I mentioned nine deaths and resurrections before, but.. what if? There is sure to be a drawback from continuously dying and reviving. New Martial only practiced it once, but the issues resulting from it have prevented the Human King from setting foot into eighth rank!”

The Human King was very strong—that was more than clear after this encounter. Not only was he strong, but his grasp of the dao of yin and yang was unimaginable.

However, such a person had completely depleted his yang qi after resurrecting too many people. One major drawback to resurrecting people was evidenced in New Martial’s imbalanced yin and yang. Granted, the Human King had also revived too many people.

Li Hao was proposing undertaking his fourth revival. That might cause significant repercussions.

“I’ve walked the path of life and death three times,” the young man said softly. “There were some parts that I didn’t understand before, but now I understand a bit more of them. The cycle of life and death doesn’t just consume energy, but also... lifespan!”

“Of course it does, I know that...”

“It’s not what you think.” Li Hao shook his head. It consumes future lifespan! I’m a fifth rank!” He looked at Void.

Yes, and?

“I’m a fifth rank!” sighed Li Hao. “I sensed that I was almost out of vitality when I was a third rank, but that my lifespan hadn’t increased when I reached fourth rank. Now that I’m a fifth rank... I find myself in the same condition!”

Void’s eyes widened drastically.

What??

He began to wrap his mind around this revelation.

“Do you see my point?” Li Hao smiled.

Void’s face darkened. “By my estimation, fifth ranks can live at least eight hundred thousand years! Third ranks have a lifespan of five hundred thousand years at most. Are you saying that three hundred thousand years have disappeared between your third rank to fifth rank??”

“Not disappeared, but... it might cost at least one hundred thousand years to undergo each cycle of life and death,” Li Hao smiled. “Three passes means three hundred thousand years!

“I didn’t feel it as strongly before, but once I felt the same as usual after my breakthrough... I knew that not only did the dao of time consume lifespan, but so does the dao of life and death!”

The lifespan consumed by the dao of time could be recovered, but the amount depleted by the dao of life and death likely could not. Each instance of walking life and death cost one hundred thousand years.

In other words, one more attempt might decrease the fifth rank Li Hao’s potential lifespan to four hundred thousand years.

Was that a long period of time?

It was incredibly long to Li Hao, but not that long in reality. Some Saints or Empyrean Kings alone could live up to two hundred thousand years.

“If I’m stuck in fifth rank and walk the cycle of life and death four more times, I might just outright die in the attempt!” laughed the young man.

That didn’t really matter either. He’d seen so much that was fascinating and interesting in his twenty years of being alive. It was just, a decreased lifespan was a bit troublesome since he wouldn’t be able to maintain the usage of time for long. Calling upon the dao of time also decreased the lifespan in his current life.

“I believe it’s only a matter of time before you enter seventh rank,” Void frowned. “It won’t be hard for you. But typical seventh ranks can live one million years or so. This means that you’ll be the death of yourself if you walk life and death a few more times!”

Li Hao nodded. That was the truth. But, it also didn’t matter.

“A seventh rank can live one million years—I’ll have expended nine hundred thousand years if I walk life and death nine times. That leaves one hundred thousand years still. Isn’t that good enough already?”

Bullshit! Was one hundred thousand years a long time? Just ask Zhang An or Celestial Pole! One hundred thousand years passed by in a single nap! It wasn’t long at all!

And the key was, this was permanent damage that couldn’t be recovered from. It wouldn’t matter as much if Li Hao could heal from his losses. There were treasures in the chaos or daos such as the one of life that could increase or repair one’s lifespan.

But a permanent decrease... tied one’s hands.

“We can change the subject, go about your business!” Li Hao laughed. “I want to visit Silver Moon. Perhaps it’s time for it to be unsealed, although it’s only been a few months since it was closed off...”

A few months wasn’t long compared to when fifty years in the chaos translated to one hundred thousand years on Silver Moon. That time differential had been one to two thousand!

It’d been approximately four months since the Star Gate had been shut once more. Based on that ratio, at least five hundred years had passed in Silver Moon!

Of course, the ratio might not be that high since the gate hadn’t been closed for long. But at least one hundred years was a given.

As the saying went, one day in the heavens translated to one year on earth. That was the logic. A ratio of one to three hundred was normal. If several hundred years had passed... then no one could say for sure what Silver Moon resembled now.

Was it a complete mess, or had a new king been born? Was it still the same Silver Moon after five hundred years?

There were sure to be a lot of people who’d died because they hadn’t found success in cultivation. Those below the Mountain and Sea, Sun and Moon level would not live five hundred years.

Had any of his acquaintances died?

“There should be some Silver Moon cultivators present in Skyward.” Li Hao suddenly recalled this point. “Have them come back if you run into them, don’t kill them by accident!”

𝑓𝘳𝑒𝑒𝓌𝘦𝘣𝘯ℴ𝑣𝘦𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝑚

There were many Silver Moon cultivators training in Skyward at present. They might not have stayed in Dragon Observatory; perhaps they were in other regions and hadn’t been able to rush over in time for the battle. There’d been no sight of Southern Fist and the rest. Who knew where they were?

Of course, there should be other familiar faces training nearby as well. Li Hao hadn’t had time to seek them out since battle had just ended.

“Don’t worry, I’m aware of it.” Void said nothing else.

A crack appeared in the sky. Li Hao hadn’t utilized any Skyward strength since he was just opening a small hole into the dao universe. It was made much easier when the dao chess was inside.

......

The dao chess shadow appeared within the crack. It looked at Li Hao with some emotion. “Who would’ve thought that Skyward would pass into your hands! I really am surprised. While a fifth rank might be able to fight a sixth rank... such an era has never come to pass on Skyward.”

There’d been four sixth ranks in charge of the four cardinal directions even at Skyward’s weakest. If one ignored the four seventh ranks at the gates, Li Hao was indeed the weakest overlord Skyward had ever seen.

In terms of cultivation level, that was.

“Now you have one,” Li Hao chuckled. “I have to thank the senior for helping suppress Waterpeak.”

“I was just there for the show. It didn’t matter if I was there or not.” The dao chess changed the subject to something it was interested in. “Are you prepared to do anything while you have control of Skyward?”

“I’m going to silence it!”

“......” The shadow opened and closed its mouth.

“Does the senior have something to say?” a perplexed Li Hao asked for clarification.

“It’s not that...” The shadow hesitated. “Skyward was silenced once, so that’s nothing major. It was just, the Skyward master did so himself last time and took away all of Skyward’s denizens with him.

“There are naturally no problems when he does the deed. If you do it... I’m concerned that you might disturb the world origin. Be careful of backlash!”

“Eh?” Li Hao raised an eyebrow. “There is almost no world strength left, can the world origin strike back?”

“It’s possible!” explained the shadow. “This is a ninth rank world origin, after all, not that of a weak world. There is a big difference even between eighth and ninth rank worlds. Not to mention, the Skyward master is no ordinary ninth rank. He is one of space! That makes him almost invincible in the universe!”

Li Hao steepled his fingers with a nod. “Senior, is Silver Moon alright?”

“It’s fine. Those guys didn’t pay attention to Silver Moon when they were inside, they were all searching for the dao origin. But the dao origin was silenced a long time ago. It will take a lot to revitalize it!” The shadow shook its head. Those people had been thinking too simplistically.

Even Li Hao didn’t stand much of a chance to fully revitalize the dao universe, despite having inherited some of Skyward’s will. It was clear to see from that how difficult this task was. If it wasn’t, someone would’ve managed the feat long ago. Why would it fall to Li Hao?

The young man looked at the void, at the hundreds of billions of dim stars. Only the ones of fire, darkness, and water glimmered. The one of darkness sparkled slightly due to Li Hao’s earlier usage of the dao chess’ strength.

The dao chess had absorbed a lot of energy while being kept at Demon Summit. Despite that, the universe was still starkly desolate.

“Gan Wuliang, Martial Uncle Hong!” Li Hao called out. The exalted emperors in question arrived shortly and took a look at the Skyward dao universe.

“We’ve only been gone for a few months, but it feels like a very long time!” Hong Yitang reflected with emotion. They’d done a great number of things over the past couple of months.

They’d convened with the Pagoda King, killed the Exalted Clarity Emperor, plotted on Orchid Forest’s behalf, and finally taken down the four main worlds. They’d also participated in the final battle of Skyward and killed a group of seventh ranks.

When they left this place, they’d all been first and second ranks. No one had been a third rank. But now, Gan Wuliang was a fourth rank and Hong Yitang could sense that he would be one soon as well.

Those not in the know would think that tens of thousands of years had passed. Their suspicions would be further confirmed when they saw Li Hao. The young man had been a third rank last, now he was a fifth rank!