Chapter 967: Happy Cultivation (I)

Li Hao didn’t know where the Black Armor should go, he simply knew that the world had its own consciousness and completely broken free of the main world. There might be a series of changes that took place next, but this was also a string of opportunities. As for whether or not he could grasp those opportunities in hand, the young man didn’t know.

He had even less mental bandwidth to spare for the so-called revitalization of the divine spirits. He didn’t have time to allot to all of the New Martial powerhouses, what did he have to spare for nebulous divine spirits?

The Black Armor awoke from his haze, as if he’d detected Li Hao’s thoughts again. “Do not underestimate the divine spirits of this world! They might not have been worth mentioning before, but now with the world sealed shut and revived, so will the old gods be resurrected. If they make good use of this chance, they will be the gods of the new world and represent its dao!

“By then, divine spirits will be found among the mountains and rivers, the grass and trees, and everything in between!”

“Doesn’t that make them monster spirits?” Li Hao frowned. Was there a difference between the two?

“They’re not the same.” The Black Armor shook his head. “Monster spirits are monster spirits, divine spirits are divine spirits! The latter might steal the dao of the world and assume control over it. For example, a myriad of daos intersect with each other in a newly born world. The divine spirit might become master of one of them. That can take shape as a fire god, a water god, or the like. They can become the gods of the elements...”

“Were there such divine spirits in New Martial?” Li Hao’s frown deepened. Or had such divine spirits been born in Initial Martial?

“There did not exist a divine spirit that fully controlled one dao in New Martial,” the Black Armor responded calmly. “Because even in the Initial Martial era, our world and the world seed possessed its own consciousness. But beyond that, no one is sure whether or not there was the rise and downfall of another civilization. It was not like our situation now, a time in which the world consciousness is newly appeared.”

The consciousness of the world had long existed in New Martial. It came to be a very, very long time ago. It might have even been present before Initial Martial. Initial Martial might not have been the first era of the world either. There could have been another civilization in a very far off age, one that eventually collapsed.

Silver Moon Territory might be the first instance of both a new world and a new consciousness. Under normal circumstances, a regular world would’ve long seen its consciousness flourish. Almost no one had ever experienced a brand new world before.

“So senior means that monster spirits need to cultivate, but divine spirits don’t need to?” Li Hao understood. “They naturally command a dao and control over the mountains, rivers, and land. That’s more or less it, correct?”

“Perhaps!” The Black Armor shook his head. “I’ve never experienced that age, so I am unfamiliar with it. I have, however, once visited another universe and lived in another world for a period of time. I had a chance to wage war there. There were similar spirits in that world—local divine spirits...”

Li Hao blinked. “Senior has gone to other worlds apart from the main world?”

“Yes.”

“Don’t you say that the universe is vast...” Li Hao was very surprised.

“That was during New Martial. In order to survive and keep hope alive, a group of youngsters followed the Sword Sovereign’s lead and took a trip through the universe. They wandered through chaos and unexpectedly entered a new world...”

“Where is that world now?” Li Hao was immensely taken aback. He’d thought that the world of New Martial was the greatest world of the known universe. The world that their enemies had come form might be number two, but to think that Zhang An had visited yet another world before!

“It disappeared.”

“Disappeared?” Li Hao was confused and didn’t understand.

“There were some dangers in that world when we visited,” the Black Armor smiled. “We resolved those dangers. The Human King came in search of us and conversed with the consciousness of the world. The consciousness let us leave. But there is also a saying that fellow masters of the world can devour each other. That one elected to give way and disappeared in the vast universe.”

“That’s it?” Li Hao scratched his head. “A new world should represent a great temptation for the Human King. He let them leave, just like that?”

“You certainly like your gossip,” smiled the Black Armor. “The Human King would not have necessarily been a match for the other. Not to mention, he preferred one matter less as to one matter more. There was no conflict between the two sides, so don’t bear so much enmity toward New Martial. Our guiding principle is that we stay away from anyone who does not offend us. The Human King wouldn’t go on the offensive if the other did not view us with hostility.”

The Human King not being a match for his opponent was the key, wasn’t it?

“Does this mean that there are many worlds in this vast universe?” Admiration and anticipation flared to life within Li Hao.

“Yes.”

“How interesting!” exclaimed the young man. “I hope I have the chance to visit them one day.”

“You will, if you become the master of this world,” smiled the Black Armor. “But it will be very hard for you if you do not! There is a subconscious command within the world’s consciousness that you cannot depart with the world’s energy...”

“What does that mean?”

“Everything you cultivate now is strength bequeathed to you by this world. You have partaken of its energy. The stronger you are, the more you have claimed. This also means that the world has lost part of its energy to you!

“Therefore, the stronger the world’s consciousness, the less willing it is to allow powerhouses to leave. That will only weaken the world! Hence, when the main world expended endless energy to give birth to Silver Moon Territory, it would’ve reclaimed this energy under normal conditions. With the Human King’s nature, it was magnanimous enough if he didn’t seize someone else’s world. His own would never be taken...”

Although it hadn’t been forcefully seized, Silver Moon had indeed been created by the loss of the main world’s energy. It would be quite logical for the main world to reclaim it. However, the Human King had chosen to give up and relinquish its claim over this minor world because he wanted to give it to the Sword Sovereign.

Li Hao was aware of this because he’d once seen it in Battle Heaven during a conversation between the Exalted Blood Emperor and the Li forefather.

“I see!” the young man nodded. “So when you guys left the main world during New Martial... does that mean you took part of its energy with you?”

“Yes,” nodded the Black Armor. “But we weren’t supreme powerhouses, so we didn’t take too much energy. The world could recover from our loss. Birthing a minor world, however, expends an incredible amount of energy. That is very difficult to recover from and might require uncountable months.”

I see!

Li Hao understood and couldn’t help but take a few more glances at the Black Armor. This one had once roamed the universe with his ancestor! So he must have had a good relationship with the young man’s ancestor, but wasn’t too friendly with Li Hao...

Man...

“Is there a need for special treatment when it comes to the Sword Sovereign’s descendant of countless generations?” the Black Armor said faintly, seeming to detect Li Hao’s thoughts again. “Not to mention, strictly speaking, the Sword Sovereign did not have a descendant.”

Li Hao blinked. “What do you mean?”

“The Sword Sovereign never married, even until New Martial’s final days. He never sired children, so where would his descendants come from?”

“......” Li Hao was completely taken aback, as well as the rest of the group! What did this mean? If the Sword Sovereign had no descendants, then where did the Li family come from?

Even Director General Wang was curious—he was unaware of this detail in the Li family history.

“The Sword Sovereign dedicated his life to New Martial,” the Black Armor further explained. “He possessed high morale as a youngster and was despondent in his middle age. He was relegated to being a warehouse manager at Demonic Martial. In the peak of life, he suffered a grave injury and wasted ten years for it.

“He then spent those ten years honing one sword stroke, giving all of his love to the sword. It was the only weapon that he practiced in his life. The Human King saved the Sword Sovereign, as did the Sword Sovereign save the Human King. They supported each other and endured an arduous time period...”

All of this was to say that the Sword Sovereign had never taken a wife and was not interested in forming a family.

Li Hao swallowed audibly, part of his world crashing down around him. This wasn’t that important, just that the person who he thought was his ancestor was not...

“Of course, the Sword Sovereign didn’t just fall out of the sky. He had brothers. His blood brother had a granddaughter who was the only official bloodline of the family’s third generation. The Sword Sovereign’s nephew died early without children to his name. He only had this grand-niece who he treated as his own granddaughter. That one... is the Li ancestor.”

Li Hao’s jaw dropped.

“I forgot to mention before that me, my younger sister, your ancestor, and our principal were in the same class at Demonic Martial,” the Black Armor grinned.

Li Hao’s jaw sagged. So there was this layer of relationship between them!

“Her husband was from our class as well, we were all classmates. Therefore, you count as the official descendant of the Sword Sovereign. It may not precisely have been what you thought, but there’s not much of a difference.”

“So this means... the Li family ancestor is the Sword Sovereign’s grand-nice...” Li Hao finally managed to close his mouth. “We’re not truly part of the Lis...”

“What makes you say that?” laughed the Black Armor. “You are. The Sword Sovereign treated you guys as his own.”

Fine then!

Li Hao accepted with resignation.

But we weren’t direct relations. I always thought that I could trace my lineage to the Sword Sovereign. So he’s more like my... secondary ancestor?

“Then how come our surname is Li?” asked the young man.

“The Sword Sovereign’s grand-niece was treated as his granddaughter,” the Black Armor repeated wearily. “Isn’t it normal for her surname to be Li? Kid, men and women are equal, understand?”

“......” Li Hao inclined his head. “Fair enough. With such a forefather present, my female ancestor’s husband wouldn’t dare make her take his name.”

“......” The Black Armor didn’t know what to say.

“So it turns out that I’m not really the Sword Sovereign’s descendant,” Li Hao sighed with emotion. “No wonder.”

“No wonder what?”

“No wonder the senior isn’t too polite toward me...”

The Black Armor wanted to break out in curses.

I would’ve slapped you into minced meat a long time ago if it wasn’t for your connection to the Sword Sovereign! Besides, even if you weren’t related to him, your ancestor was my classmate! We were good friends!