Free Web NovelChapter 1871: Following One’s Heart (II)
Since it didn’t matter to chaos beasts whether or not they possessed a world, a world would actually become a burden for them after suffering such a heavy loss. Any worlds that were no longer under their control would become nourishment for Li Hao instead.
Or perhaps they could let sixth ranks devour them and attempt to ascend to seventh rank?
That had been Li Hao’s modus operandi, anyhow. And the Human King’s.
They never kept the worlds they seized, but rather outright swallowed them to create more powerhouses. As for there being more potential in developing the worlds, that was never a concern for them. Would a tyrant like the Dragon master choose to do something like that?
If he would, then he had six other major worlds aside from Dragon major world. That might give rise to six more seventh ranks, which would place him at two dozen seventh ranks!
If it wasn’t for the heavy losses he’d endured in this campaign, he would have more than three dozen. And with him being a peak eighth rank...
That was the most frightening of all!
It would be enough to sweep through the four regions. A regular eighth rank world would only have one eighth rank in residence and four seventh ranks. No matter how strong they were in their home territory, the Dragon master would crush them.
So this means I’ve fully pissed him off... Li Hao sighed to himself. If he hadn’t thrown a wrench into the works, the four regions might have had a new master soon. The Dragon master had wanted to take Thunder World from within, then reap a harvest of monster spirit powerhouses through the five monster spirit worlds...
Granted, Li Hao hadn’t been the only one throwing the regions into turmoil. New Martial had as well. If they hadn’t trapped the Dragon master, he might’ve been able to devour the four regions given enough time.
The young man was more at peace after collecting this news from the outside. so this means that the Dragon master wouldn’t come for him in the short term.
......
After digesting all of the new information, Li Hao reconvened with the two visitors. The Exalted Blood Emperor was very quiet now, even when the young man proposed visiting the thunder pillars. He simply followed them like a shadow, as if he’d come here just to take a look at Li Hao and Number Two.
Li Hao thought for a moment and said, “I have something that I’m slightly curious about. Can I ask if the senior ever discovered the star of time?”
“I did sense it somewhat, but not too clearly.” The Exalted Blood Emperor nodded with a smile. “I just knew that it might exist.”
“Then...”
“Do you want to ask me why I didn’t stay in Silver Moon or switch to such a dao?”
“Yes!” Li Hao nodded.
The Exalted Blood Emperor rummaged through his memories for a while before saying, “I wasn’t the only one who discovered it that year. Silver Moon’s sudden departure from New Martial and formation of a new world led me and Fang Ping to investigate it several times. We were more or less familiar with the situation.
“We didn’t cultivate it for many reasons. One, it was not our dao to cultivate.
“Two, the War Sovereign’s personality was different from ours. New Martial is about fighting! The War Sovereign... is about not fighting.” The Exalted Blood Emperor shook his head. “And from that, we have an enormous difference in opinion and philosophy.
“Although we’ve only been in contact with him through a projection, we know him to be a genius, cultivator of dao, and... a coward!”
“......” Number Two bared its teeth with some fury. The Exalted Blood Emperor ignored the cat.
“His principles clashed very much so with ours. We don’t deny that his dao might be stronger, but someone like him was suited to teach, research, and cultivate quietly somewhere. He’s suited to be a gardener, but not for New Martial!”
He wasn’t suited!
Li Hao sank into deep contemplation. The power of time was formidable, but they didn’t cultivate it simply because it was not a match. Their beliefs were different.
“But dao is cultivated by humans,” said the young man. “Even if you didn’t practice it, you could learn or study it...”
“No!” The Exalted Blood Emperor shook his head. “There was a massive trap with the War Sovereign’s dao!”
A trap?
Li Hao blinked at the man.
“Time is the biggest trap of all!” chuckled the Exalted Blood Emperor. “Any cultivator who wields time is too easily lost within it. His dao will be very strong, but he is in more danger because of it! Do you think that the War Sovereign died simply because he didn’t want to live any longer?”
Li Hao paused.
“He should’ve traveled through the past and future, seeing much and learning much,” explained the Exalted Blood Emperor. “But in the end, he didn’t wish to face the future and only wanted to hide in the past.
“War was a genius, a powerhouse, and a cultivation savant. But he was a coward. There were certain things that he didn’t wish to face, so he chose to fall apart. Of course, there’s also the possibility that he spent so much time in the past and future that he was trapped by his own dao and died in it...
“I come to you with this admonishment,” sighed the Exalted Blood Emperor. “His dao is excellent! But it’s too excellent and so perfect that one can’t bear to be rid of it. The Human King wanted me to pass on a word to you, that if you wish to truly surpass him, you’ll need to set down the War Sovereigns’s dao!”
The Exalted Blood Emperor looked at Li Hao probingly. How would it be so easy to relinquish time? If it was that simple, the Human King would’ve swallowed it a long time ago.
But the more one understood and practiced time, the more that one realized that time was an incomparable dao! How could they bear to give it up?
Without time, Li Hao might still be a heaven-defying existence with his one thousand worlds as one. But without time, there were many things that he could not have accomplished, assuming that he made it to his current heights.
If he could not reverse time, freeze the myriad of daos, craft the river of time, and attract countless chaos tribulations...
Each of his battles were marked by contributions of time, some noticeable and others not as noticeable.
Li Hao sank into deep contemplation, but didn’t say anything or indicate that he would give up the dao.
“The War Sovereign should have been able to walk out of New Martial in those days,” he raised a question on his mind. “The others may not have. New Martial was likely sealed then, but it’d long reached a sixth rank world. Why did it remain shut away for so long?”
New Martial was a sixth rank world. It’d always been a sixth rank world.
Under normal circumstances, such a powerful world would’ve long been freely accessible to the chaos. Why was the Human King the first to step off the world?
“The War Sovereign was probably behind that.” The Exalted Blood Emperor didn’t mind lifting the veil of mystery. “It wasn’t until Fang Ping entered seventh rank and brought the entire world to seventh rank that they broke the blockade and walked out of the darkness!
“War might not have wished for us to leave. He might have been telling us that the chaos is very dark and gloomy. In reality, that is the case. He might’ve also been doing that out of the kindness of his heart. However, sealing us away was not what we wanted.”
The Exalted Blood Emperor was instilling a concept in Li Hao that War’s decisions might not have always been correct.
The War Sovereign disliked hassle and trouble. He preferred freedom or seeking his own fun behind closed doors.
If the world outside was a mess, then it could stay behind a locked door. The power of time was able to ensure that it did so.
“When Fang Ping first walked out of New Martial, there was a dark passage near us that caused him to get lost. That was the key to why he became lost the first time. After Silver Moon drifted off, the passageway disappeared.
“If all is according to our theories, then it had something to do with time. Perhaps the end of the passageway wasn’t the four regions, but the outer regions! ƒrēewebnovel.com
“The War Sovereign might have wished for New Martial to set foot outside the four regions entirely. If New Martial was to join the chaos, then he didn’t want us to stay within the four regions. The biggest unique aspect of the four regions was Skyward. There might be a connection between the two!”
He shared everything he knew with Li Hao. As for how the young man would analyze or speculate over it, that was Li Hao’s business.
The four regions, Skyward!
Li Hao inclined his head.
“The Thunder Region is another place that traps and protects the four regions. It’s centered around Skyward, so it must have something to do with it. The Skyward master is probably alive, but he refuses to return.
“He might have encountered danger or been planning something from the shadows. No one’s certain, and he might not be a good person. But that is all speculation.”
Li Hao nodded again. He knew slightly less than New Martial, but he’d made certain judgment calls as well. The Skyward master must be alive and Skyward would fully return one day!
Yes, fully return with everyone!
The energy that vanished from the world was in preparation for that. Perhaps all of the world’s powerhouses would soon return from another part of existence.
The two walked through Thunder Region, speaking of everything they knew. It was mostly the Exalted Blood Emperor doing the talking.
Li Hao didn’t feel much pressure being with the man. The Exalted Blood Emperor wasn’t a domineering type—that was the Human King. Instead, the Exalted Blood Emperor was a very genteel person who was more like the big brother next door.
His words weren’t threatening even when they were a warning. He just told one calmly, simply, that some things might be more complicated than expected. That one needed to consider a thing or two before making a decision.
“You better not work with New Martial,” said the Exalted Blood Emperor as they neared a thunder pillar. “Although the situation now is more complicated and arduous, it’s best to walk your own path if you can!”
Li Hao was a bit surprised by this declaration. Although he’d never considered falling in step with New Martial, but... why did the Exalted Blood Emperor speak of this?
“The Human King cares about dignity and is someone who doesn’t like to lose. He grows stronger when his opponent is strong! From his perspective, he is the one and only, the most unique and the strongest. It is only a matter of time before he surpasses the Dragon master!
“Your personality is not suited to going against him. If you do, you guys might turn into enemies one day. Many of his habits will run counter to yours. In the same vein, he won’t necessarily like many of yours...
“In New Martial, only one point is acceptable—the Human King is the strongest.”
“But the senior is also part of New Martial...” Li Hao burst out laughing.
“So I think he is the strongest,” the Exalted Blood Emperor laughed as well. “It’s also fine because we’re friends, so I’m used to it. The Human King is only a secondary concern. You shouldn’t go to New Martial because it won’t be that many years before you become one of the supreme’s generals. frёewebnoѵel.ƈo๓
“The supreme is invaluable to New Martial. To outsiders, he is someone who will stop at nothing. Fog Mountain was right to leave New Martial. If he didn’t, it would take only three years at most before he became one of New Martial’s most valued generals!
“It would be hard for him to leave then even if he wants to!”
