Chapter 1729: Silver Moon’s Giant Leap Forward (II)

“You guys can note down what I’ve said, but there’s no need to study too much of it,” Li Hao turned back to the rest. “This is knowledge from the exalted emperor level. It’s only sixth rank that needs to know or comprehend this!

“All of you guys cultivate one dao—there is bound to be a similar one in the dao net when I dismantle it. Every world contains all of the elementary daos! Thus, what you need to do is comprehend what I’ve stripped out. There will be differences even among the same daos that come from different worlds. Such is to comprehend dao!

“None of you have reached the stage of breaking free from Silver Moon. If there does come a day in which you wish to leave... we will treat it on a case by case basis!

“Those with accomplishments to their name may depart, those without merit must pay for the energy they will leave with! Silver Moon will not force anyone to stay!”

No one made a sound.

Li Hao said nothing else—he was simply thinking of New Martial’s situation when he saw Fog Mountain. Hence, he raised this notion today. While he wasn’t the master of dao, the two dao masters nodded in agreement.

Although they didn’t dare say that Li Hao was fully responsible for the heights that the Silver Moon dao universe had reached in present day, they would dare say that the young man was responsible for ninety percent.

“The dao universe is a filter, as are the dao nets of mid and minor worlds. It’s because there are too few daos in theirs that their filtration properties do not measure up to a major dao universe. That causes the dao of mid to minor worlds to be a disorderly and jumbled mess. However, that situation is still better off than what faces pure wandering cultivators!

“Pure wandering cultivators below exalted emperor are almost unable to find their footing in the chaos. That is because the great dao of the chaos is too disarrayed!” Li Hao suddenly shook the long river, prompting Yuan Shuo’s eyes to snap open in a glare. He was in closed door cultivation and about to verify his dao!

The young man ignored his teacher and continued, “If cultivators wish to rise to greater heights, it’s best that they set up their own dao net the moment they set foot into the exalted emperor level. They can continue to perfect their dao from this base until they create a complete, sealed off, fully logical, and circulating dao net at seventh rank!

“Such a dao net will not struggle with internal conflict. The core dao will also be able to circulate around the region. When such a dao net is complete, one will be a seventh rank exalted emperor!

“Of course, this is relevant only to wandering cultivators! A master of a major world, one that gives rise to a dao universe, will naturally form a complete dao net. All one needs to do then is grasp the core of dao origin!”

Thoughtful expressions appeared on the seventh ranks’ faces and they seemed to wish to speak.

“The key to cultivation lies in exchange of knowledge .” Li Hao turned to look at them. “If the seniors feel that I speak incorrectly, please raise your concerns.”

“It’s not that I think you’re wrong,” said the Orchid Forest master. “But based on what you say, the dao grasped by a wandering cultivator is more complete than that of a master of dao?”

“Not exactly. I mean those that enter seventh ranks by themselves, not those who broke off from a dao universe.”

“So ones like me are worth less than a dao master, is it?” Fog Mountain couldn’t help but ask.

“......” Li Hao didn’t say anything else.

I guess you can say that’s essentially what I mean. Wandering cultivators are different from each other.

“The wandering seventh ranks I speak of can be split into two categories,” he said upon further thought. “Those that have broken off from dao universes did so because they reached the requisite level of strength in their dao. The other type entered seventh rank purely because they perfected their dao domain...”

Fog Mountain was speechless.

Why don’t you just use me and the other two next to me as examples? Why talk around this subject?

“So dao masters such as me who have inherited a complete dao universe can only devour others to grow stronger, right?” asked the Orchid Forest master.

“That’s not it!” Li Hao shook his head. “Devouring isn’t the only goal. The accumulation of energy within the dao universe is not the end result either. Otherwise, why don’t you just devour hundreds or thousands of exalted emperors?

“It’s simply because devouring other dao universes can help one complete one’s dao net. A dao universe is different from a dao net, first in terms of strength, second in terms of number!

“I’ve observed them and find that under normal conditions, the dao nets of minor worlds require only two or three thousand daos. Mid worlds need three or four thousand, and seventh rank exalted emperors form their own dao domains or dao universes. In my eyes, regular dao nets need approximately four thousand daos, give or take.

“When it comes to the number of great daos in a dao net, regular seventh ranks need more than three thousand daos at their weakest. Of course, if certain daos are much stronger than others and able to be the equivalent of multiple, then fewer daos are needed...”

Number and strength?

The Orchid Forest master was the inheritor of a dao universe. His knowledge of dao may not be the deepest, so he had the most questions.

Li Hao was young, but he’d seen much of the world. He’d observed the daos of many seventh ranks, walked the dao chess, witnessed the Sword Sovereign and Li Zhu verify their daos, studied the formation of their dao nets, helped Fog Mountain recover, conquered Red Moon, and visited three other major dao universes.

The Orchid Forest master truly didn’t know as much as he did.

“Then since our dao universe is complete, how do I add more to it myself?” asked the Orchid Forest master.

“Because you weave the dao net... you can dismantle a portion of it and comprehend a new section, then reweave it. One more dao means another reweaving. When it comes to devouring other dao universes, that is also part of the reconstruction process. It’s just that this process is typical beyond your visibility.”

The Orchid Forest master nodded without further questions. He was starting to understand more of the topic.

Dao was very profound and abstract, but it seemed less mysterious when Li Hao described it. The young man could see it and touch it, so what was supposed to be abstract beyond comparison was a network that could be easily woven.

This was a quality that other exalted emperors did not possess.

Everyone else listened intently, even Yuan Shuo who’d just been startled awake. He gave full attention to the proceedings and was no longer annoyed.

It didn’t matter if they didn’t understand what was being disseminated. In all honesty, Li Hao was speaking very clearly. It was just difficult to understand without personally observing or witnessing for oneself. Regardless, the young man’s words pulled back the veil of mystique on the great dao.

They could all understand!

“That is the theory, but dao needs to be comprehended by oneself. Theory is no use by itself without comprehension. How will you weave a new dao into the dao net if you do not understand it?”

Li Hao waved a hand, materializing compressed worlds in the dao universe.

“So today, I will dismantle dao! Or meld it into Silver Moon, the worlds, or the dao river. Everyone can comprehend them at your own pace. Perhaps you can incorporate them into yourself, but someone else’s dao will always be someone else’s dao. It will not be yours. If you just take it, there may be some obstacles that occur in the future.”

The Sword Sovereign nodded. This was similar to New Martial’s ultimate dao. It could be made part of someone else, but walking another’s path would have an enormous effect on one’s future.

Li Hao fell silent and commanded a minor world to infinitely expand. Everyone was sucked into it. A star appeared in Li Hao’s hand—the star of time!

All mud and stones within the world broke apart with a stomp of Li Hao’s foot; they were reduced to dust. The whole world was abruptly an empty shell made of some energy, plus a world origin that was as if a heart.

“This is what a world’s contour is without that external matter. They are the world origin, energy, and the dao net that you cannot see!

“I will trace time to after the birth of the world. I cannot do so prior to the birth of the world because the birth of the world origin is the biggest secret of the chaos. If I trace time back to that point, I will not be able to endure it!

“I’ll go back to when the first great dao was born. We will see all of the other great daos that came to be and the dao net they formed. This process is what I wish for everyone to see and can bring into view for you.”

Nods rose and fell through the crowd. This was already quite incredible.

“If you use time frequently...” Lin Hongyu fretted.

“I have reached the limits of this life!” Li Hao said nothing else. It didn’t matter if he made further use of time.

Lin Hongyu fell silent. She was simply a bit worried that Li Hao was about to walk the cycle of life and death for the fourth time. That was not a good thing.

TIme began to reverse the next second. The dao net was invisible at first, with some seventh ranks able to see some of the weaving of great dao. However, they were unable to clearly delineate the great daos. Those come into view under the effects of time.

They saw various great daos appear and disappear, slowly leaving only the world origin in the entire world. An avenue of great dao appeared out of thin air—the dao of earth!

That indicated that the first dao to be born in this world was the one of earth.

More daos appeared one after another and built upon themselves, forming a net of great dao. The process was exceedingly simple, but it took countless years for a complete minor world to form. Finally, the dao net was complete when it circulated the entire world. There were roughly two thousand great daos.

The crowd looked at it, but didn’t make a move toward it.

“Everyone can approach it,” said Li Hao. “What you see here is distributed according to a certain order. Everyone should choose one dao and dismantle it in the prescribed order. It’s up to you if you wish to incorporate the dismantled daos into Silver Moon, absorb them yourself, or do anything else with them!

“But remember, you must not disrupt the order. In addition, this is also a method of weaving. Since this is a stable dao net, that represents a certain heritage. This is the sequence that stabilizes the dao net. There are many possible sequences, but that doesn’t mean any random sequence will do. Everyone can give it some thought as to why a certain arrangement succeeds...”

The group exchanged glances, both nervous and agitated.

Can we... give this a try ourselves? It’s a very rare opportunity.

“Hurry, there’s a lot of worlds that we need to dismantle today!”

People stirred to motion, setting their eyes on the great daos that they were familiar with and moving to where they’d observed it from before. They spread throughout the corners of the world. Li Hao materialized the dao net once more, employing the power of time to its utmost.

Such was the true power of time!

Some thunderclouds began to gather over Li Hao’s head, but were quickly dispersed via Li Hao’s method of hiding. This was just a minor world they were in, it was yet to reach the level of exceeding that dao.