Chapter 1753: The World Revitalizes (IV)

“There’s no rush!” said Li Hao. “To me, there’s no qualitative change between fifth and sixth rank. I’ll fortify the others first, then push all of Silver Moon to fifth rank. After that I’ll help the dao chess recover, then facilitate Void’s ascension into seventh rank...”

Once he advanced all of these people to the peak of his abilities, everything they received after that would naturally be his.

Number Two didn’t say anything. The cat simply felt that Li Hao was too similar to War sometimes. Sometimes they were dissimilar, but at this exact moment...

War used to be in the habit of giving things to other people first, like he didn’t care about any of that. If it was up to Number Two, the cat would think that it should help itself set foot into sixth rank first. But if it wasn’t for Li Hao’s personality, would he have gathered four seventh ranks to his side?

His style was that of believing all things would come in due time, that there was no need to force anything. Who knew if that was right or wrong?

After Li Hao retrieved the dao crystals, he looked up at the sky. “Senior Dao Chess!”

A shadow landed moments later, dithering about with slight nerves. It... hadn’t achieved its portion of the assigned duties. It’d failed to suppress the world origin. So then... what Li Hao had promised it...

“Here are five billion dao crystals. In addition, the senior previously said that one instance of borrowing strength from you will require payment that is the value equivalent of a seventh rank dao universe. Five billion dao crystals are more or less an approximate estimate of that construct’s value.

“If a seventh rank world is converted to dao crystals, it will be worth at least ten billion dao crystals! In that case, I will pay off my last debt with fifteen billion dao crystals. That means I still owe the senior ten billion, correct?”

“Ah... there’s no need to be thus,” the shadow responded awkwardly. “I was only just...”

“No no, there’s one thing I really like about the Human King and it’s that he keeps his public affairs separate from private!” Li Hao sighed with emotion. “At the very least, the Human King converts certain things into numbers. Favors are hard to quantify with numbers, but I rarely welch on a debt I owe!”

The young man grinned. “Today, I declare that I owe the Human King a seventh rank world and the senior ten billion dao crystals! I also owe a favor to Daoist Coiling Dragon, Daoist Flamefire, and the water envoy of Skyward.

“I should have... paid of the rest of my debts,” Li Hao concluded softly with a look around him.

I do not owe the Skyward master anything. I’ve paid back all that I should pay back.

As for silencing Skyward, that is what Void is up to. Even if I was the one to do it, it’s simply a reflection of my own ability. If the Skyward master had stayed, he could have easily descended upon the world if push came to shove. I wouldn’t have come to silence your world if you didn’t possess the ability to do so.

Li Hao didn’t mention the dao star of time in his hand because it was possibly part of the War Sovereign’s heritage. It might have to be returned in the future.

This was how the young man always conducted himself. He didn’t like to owe others, even if it meant that he took a bit of a loss to do so.

The dao chess looked around awkwardly, but Li Hao had already given it the dao crystals. “Please accept them, senior!”

Of the six billion dao crystals left by the world origin, five were going to the dao chess. The remainder would be reserved for Void to walk the path of life and death. And with what the Skycloud master had given him, Li Hao made some quick calculations and determined that he could perhaps reserve some for heavyweights to comprehend the great dao.

That would propel Silver Moon into fifth rank as quickly as possible.

“Then... my thanks!” The dao chess heaved a sigh of relief.

“You’re too polite, senior!”

The shadow swept away the dao crystals without another word. A chessboard hovered in the sky to instantly absorb the bounty. An immense presence floated up from the chessboard. This was a treasure that a ninth rank had personally refined from an eighth rank dao universe!

It recovered enormously after burning so many dao crystals. Moments later, the dao chess said, “I can erupt with greater strength after taking in so much dao strength. You can come to me if you have need! Even if you need to borrow strength, you will not need to do so from thin air as you did before. I...”

“My thanks, senior. I will let you know if I am in need!”

“That is good!” The dao chess said nothing more and looked at the fleeing world origin. It said nothing else since the Skyward master’s shadow had not appeared. Perhaps it sensed something; perhaps the world master had been keeping an eye on the world all this time.

In that case, there was no need for it to weigh in on anything.

......

Li Hao once more teleported, this time arriving in front of Void. The man was expressionless, but became embarrassed at seeing his friend.

“Sorry, I...”

“Don’t be!” Li Hao smiled. “One billion dao crystals is enough to allow you to walk life and death! But I do need to ask you for a small favor. We can treat it as payback for all the running around I’ve done for you this time...”

“What is it?” Void asked solemnly.

“When you revitalize the world in a bit, silence all Silver Moon cultivators first and revitalize them as well! Let them experience how it feels to be silenced and then brought back by a sixth rank exalted emperor.

“Also, demonstrate the cycle of life and death to Lin Hongyu when you walk it. I’d like her to walk it with you and experience real life and death!”

Although Lin Hongyu cultivated the daos of life and death, she was yet to really experience it. She’d only imitated it and experimented with it when she became an exalted emperor.

The woman hadn’t truly understood those daos then. She had a better understanding this time, so it could be a good time for her to experience it once more. That ought to make the ascension to third rank simple.

Void had been expecting a difficult request. He smiled at Li Hao’s words. “That’s easy!”

It was all too easy.

“I’ve asked Fellow Daoist Void to demonstrate an instance of emptiness and revitalization for all Silver Moon cultivators!” Li Hao’s voice rang through Skyward. “He will silence all of you, then reawaken you from emptiness! You will fall silent with the ninth rank world and be revitalized with it!

“It’s up to you how much you can glean from the experience! If Silver Moon cannot ascend to a fifth rank world after this, it will be difficult to do so since we will not linger here for long.”

They’d originally held hopes of even making it to sixth rank, but now looked like they might stop at fifth. Rapid progress for a world was more difficult than anticipated!

But it was just as well. Silver Moon would be fifth rank, as would he. The world and dao universes being fifth rank was a good match. A twin dao universe at fifth rank should rival a regular sixth rank dao universe. If both dao masters entered fifth rank, they would be able to jointly defend against a sixth rank.

In this way, they would have a fighting chance if they met more danger later on that was not in the shape of high ranks!

𝘧𝘳𝘦ℯ𝓌𝘦𝒷𝘯𝑜𝑣𝘦𝓁.𝒸𝘰𝓂

“Our thanks for Your Lordship’s largesse!” Shouts rose and fell through the surroundings. No one protested politely. They were only solemn and respectful.

If the twin dao universes could break through to fifth rank after devouring so many resources... then the dao masters would want to end themselves.

......

Void quickly bent his mind to the next stage of their plan. The power of emptiness spread madly in all directions. Without obstruction from the world origin, the world of emptiness expanded to an utmost. From the outside, all of Skyward spontaneously turned gray!

The Light master watched nervously outside the world gate. He was deathly afraid of his son’s revitalizing failing...

The failure itself was no matter. The key was that if it failed, that indicated problems with the two daos of extremes. That would be a tremendous blow to Void.

All of Skyward fell silent! Everyone, everything, and even the fleeing world origin was falling asleep.

Li Hao sat cross-legged in the air, permitting the strength of emptiness to wash over him. He neither obstructed nor defended himself against it, but that strength could not silence him. The young man was immune, or perhaps much more tolerant of it since he cultivated this dao himself.

It took only a moment before nearby Silver Moon cultivators entered a state of silence.

There were only six living people in Skyward after the span of a breath. Four seventh ranks, Li Hao, and Void.

Ah, and a cat hiding in a river.

Boom!

A massive sound echoed through the world. The rotating planet ground to a heart. Its massive centrifugal force threatened to spin out all of its continents and sky!

Void sweated profusely—a sixth rank really had silenced a ninth rank world!

A tiny fruit budded on the flower of life in front of him; its fragrance wafted through the land. It felt as if one could instantly attain enlightenment and become an immortal if they ate it.

Void suppressed the raging emotions in his heart and looked at Li Hao, then at the four cardinal directions. He set his jaw and shouted, “Revitalize!”

BOOM!

The little flower and fruit exploded. Incredibly dense, unending life force burst outward with Void as the center! The entire world awoke from deep slumber!

Vitality swept through Skyward. Birds chirped and flowers bloomed everywhere it touched. Green grass started to grow, the sun reappeared, rivers resumed flowing, and mountains teemed with life again...

Silver Moon cultivators walked out of a state of emptiness. Although it was just a moment, it felt like an eternity! That split second of silence had sunk them into absolute stillness and emptiness.

And then they experienced revitalization the next second, as if they’d received new life.

This energy also swept over Li Hao. It was so comfortable that he felt like groaning.

Two kinds of energy erupted from Void. They intersected in dazzling interplay, bringing forth a certain seventh rank might. It wasn’t that he’d broken through to seventh rank, but that he could bring this kind of pressure to bear.

Void silently sensed the changes. His world of emptiness was giving way to a world of revitalization. A flower reappeared within it—a flower of life that belonged to him alone!

Black and white intersected over it, a weaving of light and darkness, life and death, emptiness and revitalization...

Void realized that he’d entered a unique state; his rapidly expanding domain reflected it. When he closed his eyes, his hair started growing streaks of black and white. He could sense that he would be able to set foot into seventh rank with a single stride!

But... he was yet to walk the path of life and death!

A dao star materialized; Void set foot on it. Li Hao summoned a river without a word, as did the Sword Sovereign deploy his sword domain. The river of dao and sword domain would buttress Void’s star of life and death.

As Void walked toward the river, his life force started streaming away after a few steps. His face turned haggard. Void reached out with a hand and grabbed Lin Hongyu.

The woman appeared with a look of shock on her face.

Li Hao nodded at her and transmitted, “Follow him to experience a different kind of life and death...”