Chapter 1880: To Cross Swords (I) |
“If my father is to forsake the Light dao universe… he’s better off just giving it to New Martial!” said Void. “That’s what I would do if I were him. Whether the Human King or New Martial devours it, that would strengthen an ally.
“If the Human King devours it, then his internal world might ascend to eighth rank. He would be a truly independent eighth rank. If the supreme swallows it, he might be able to lead New Martial’s ascension into an eighth rank world! That will render them an enormous favor…”
And with his steadfast brotherhood with Li Hao, his old man and New Martial would fully align with each other. How great a favor would an eighth rank world be? That might give Light a better future.
However, would his father be willing to do so?
That was an eighth rank world, at the end of the day! It wasn’t so easily relinquished.
“Why not give it to Li Hao?” The dao chess couldn’t help but ask. Why give all the benefits to outsiders?
Void laughed, as did Li Hao.
“For me, an eighth rank world is just icing on top of a cake,” said the young man. “But if it was given to New Martial or the Human King, that would be assistance in a time of need! It would maximize our benefit and would be the most viable path forward…”
“But…” The dao chess was loath to give up the idea.
“……” The dao chess stared wordlessly at the two. Why not be serious? They had to be very, very serious! It’d be a huge loss if an eighth rank dao universe was gifted away, just like that!
Void was right here and he was the Light crown prince. If the whole family was here, that would make for four seventh ranks and one eighth rank. That could possibly give Silver Moon the edge over New Martial!
But as of current… they would not eclipse New Martial.
The Human King and Ash Emperor were both eighth rank. Fog Mountain and the Thunder master were no match for them. Li Hao would likely not rival the supreme, whereas Void, the dao chess, and Number Two probably could not take on the Sword Sovereign, Sun God, and Li Zhu.
When all was said and done, their side wasn’t a good match for New Martial even if Fog Mountain fetched Orchid Forest.
The dao chess felt that they needed to be the greatest on the scene if they were to take any action at all. Light would have to come in order to give them a chance of defeating New Martial.
Meanwhile, Li Hao couldn’t be bothered to go to so much effort. The situation would turn awkward if the Light master truly came. He was on good terms with Void. Once the Light master was here and Void addressed his father, what honorific was Li Hao supposed to use?
Sorting that out was too annoying, so it was better that Light remained with New Martial. The Human King addressed everyone as ‘ole brother’ and could keep the Light master in check. No further trouble would develop there.
The Human King was exceedingly tyrannical and turned on a dime. The Light master wouldn’t dare cause too much trouble.
As for Li Hao himself… he might not be able to bring himself to play the humble junior act. That would really make things difficult.
There was no need to voice what was on his mind. Void clearly understood the same reasoning—he wouldn’t have immediately suggested giving Light to New Martial otherwise.
The group dropped the conversation topic. Li Hao took Panther to a thunder pillar and began meditating over it. The young man wanted to create a new minor world. His one thousand worlds had been perfected, but the queen continued to send him a vast quantity of chaos strength.
Now was a good time to create some new worlds while the flow of energy was still manageable. That would prevent him from popping in the future.
It was also a good time to extract some energy from the tribulations. If he was able to enhance the world of destruction and world of calamity to their utmost, he might be able to set foot into seventh rank then. While it wouldn’t be a particularly useful accomplishment for him, at least it would add to his dignity.
Li Hao focused on absorbing energy and set everything else out of mind. The rest also began to consolidate their own cultivation levels and strength.
A rare moment of quiet stole over Thunder Region.
……
Vast quantities of thunder and lightning surged into Li Hao’s river. One of the worlds within continuously grew bigger. The presence of peak sixth rank developed over the young man. It indicated that one of his daos had reached peak sixth rank.
The increase in strength wasn’t as strong as one would imagine it to be. Even when one set foot into seventh rank, it wouldn’t necessarily enhance one’s strength all that much.
Despite the modest increase, Li Hao was very satisfied. His greatest gain in Thunder Region was neither cultivation level or strength, nor was it observing the myriad permutations of dao. It was that no chaos tribulation under seventh rank would give him much trouble anymore.
They would even become his nutrients to nurture his sword dao of calamity. That was immensely satisfying!
The young man paused around every thunder pillar, agitating its dao so that Panther could gain a deeper understanding of thunder tribulations. He himself didn’t need to know more. Instead, he hoped that the dog would be able to comprehend the dao of calamity.
If that came to pass, then he would be able to forge a unique world with the dao of calamity as the core and Silver Moon’s twin dao universes circling it. It would be three legs of a tripod and broaden Panther’s future.
Panth had stayed by Li Hao’s side all along and the young man didn’t wish for it to fall behind just because the dog was a monster spirit. So this time… on a very rare occasion… Li Hao purposefully… opened a backdoor.
He rarely intervened in the cultivation of others, particularly in how one might choose to focus on their great dao. He hadn’t done anything even when his teacher refused to verify his dao. Whether it was the queen, Great Li king, or Lin Hongyu, all of them had chosen their own paths.
Only the Earthturner Sword had integrated with the river of dao because Li Hao had given it up. However, the young man did not further involve himself with what the man chose as his main dao. But when it came to Panther, his interventions were noticeable.
Panth had always focused on water dao and was deeply influenced by Liu Long’s Nine Forged Force. The power of thunder and punishment that its forefather left behind was rarely used. Panther had also learned the Five Styles, but rarely used it as well.
The Nine Forged Force was its method of choice. It’d never let the method fall by the wayside and was now more adept in it than Liu Long.
Panther also had an innate talent in Li Hao’s eyes. Its powers of hiding was the most extraordinary. Sadly, it was only suitable to be a supplemental tactic. Tribulations were much more useful in an offensive capacity.
The Nine Forged Force centered on layering strength nine times. Thunder tribulations overlaid upon themselves in a very similar way. Nine times were one complete cycle.
“As the saying goes, when one attains enlightenment, even their chickens and dogs ascend to the heavens!” Li Hao was instructing Panther in dao at the moment and smiling from the conversation. It was a rare instance of relatability for the beaming young man.
He became lost in thought when he inadvertently took a walk down memory lane. Instead of sharing knowledge on the dao of thunder, he waxed eloquent on past events. “Remember when Stellaris was a tiny sword and you drank the first cup of water… whereas I drank your bathwater…
“That was when the Red Moon organization first appeared. I was afraid then, but felt much more reassured after having a dog by my side. Do you know why I took in a stray?” Li Hao grinned. “Elders say that cats and dogs can see what humans can’t see. I felt that what I could see already was too scary, so there should be someone else who shares those terrifying sights with me. But people are unpredictable and I wasn’t comfortable with having a stranger at my back.
“Plus, who knew what kind of person could see those things? And so, when I saw you, I thought of another saying that white cats and black dogs are rare, spiritual creatures!
“And that proved to be true! You could also see the scarlet shadows. I felt much more at ease when I brought you with me.”
Panth wagged its tail. It hadn’t known about the ins and outs behind Li Hao’s decision to take it in. The young man had never mentioned it. It’d thought that maybe the human was simply lonely. Li Hao lived alone, after all, and didn’t have any friends or family.
So now the truth came out. Li Hao had needed a shot of courage!
That was funny, in a way.
“Since you were willing to come with me, then I’ll make the decisions for you seeing as you can’t talk or express your thoughts. I can’t make the decisions for anyone else’s life, but I will manifest my fate as an overlord through you!”
Panth’s tail wagged harder and it looked lovingly at Li Hao. This was reassuring. This was what it wanted.
“Therefore, while it’s true that the dao of calamity is hard to cultivate and you may not be successful, I will help you with it since I am your master! I will force success down your throat if you can’t do it yourself. You might only know its form without function in the end, but that will be enough!”
With that round of reminiscence over, Li Hao returned to the task at hand.
“You’ve been diligent the past couple of days, but haven’t been able to closely study all of the dao methods that I’ve suddenly passed onto you.” Here, the young man hesitated. “I have an idea, but I don’t know if it’s up your alley.”
The dog looked at Li Hao without making a sound. It was puzzled.
“In my eyes, the dao of calamity is much simpler than time. I have comprehended a thousand daos and gathered a thousand worlds to myself. I will cut off a portion of dao strength from each of these worlds and build a miniature dao river for you!
“You are now the heavenly will of Silver Moon and control the world, which in turns affects the two rivers of dao. I’ve given it some thought and feel that you can use the power of the heavenly will to connect to the dao rivers, then use the miniature dao rivers to connect to the twin dao universes.
“In this way, you simply need to copy me whenever I have new reflections. Even if you don’t understand it, that will ensure that you’ll be able to create the strength of thunder tribulations…”
Simply speaking, it was pure imitation. Panther didn’t need to understand the dao it was cultivating. It was too much to ask of a dog to cultivate ten thousand daos. It was far easier for Panther to execute on whatever knowledge Li Hao came to grasp.
Although that would somewhat make the dog a puppet… in Li Hao’s worldview, there was no need to consider so much since Panther was willing to follow him and be a pet. He would arrange everything for the dog.
It was very difficult for Panther to improve these days. The two dao masters had set foot into peak sixth rank after swallowing an enormous amount of energy, but Panth’s rate of improvement decreased instead. It was still struggling on the threshold to sixth rank even now.
If this continued, sixth rank might be all that the dog ever amounted to.
“Do you have any objections, Panth?”
The dog wagged its tail.
“I take that as a no, then!” Li Hao grinned.
The young man began to build a miniature river of a thousand worlds in the palm of his hand. This was another experiment for him. He wanted to see if he could create an independent mini-chaos within the chaos. Granted, this chaos would only be of one thousand daos.
But if he could isolate this dao domain, that would mean he’d created a solid foundation. It would also confirm that there was nothing wrong on his path.
etvolare’s Thoughts
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