Star Gate-Chapter 1420: A Great Age of Prosperity (IV)

“It’s not that simple, history cannot be changed!” Li Hao laughed. “Not to mention, I’m keeping an eye on things. My strength isn’t that incredible, I wouldn’t be able to support this illusory realm if these guys really changed things that much. I can only correct any deviations. But if Northern Fist or those guys dare run off on a tangent. I’ll smite them to death and haul them out for a beating!”

“If you were strong enough to support a change in the bigger picture...” Celestial Pole blinked from the implications. “Does that mean you really can change the past and future?”

Li Hao thought it over for a while before nodding his head. “There is indeed a chance of that, but if it reaches that stage, what need will I have to change anything? I’ll be so strong that I can even handle a chance in the timeline.”

History could not be altered!

The river of time would diverge once any modifications cropped up; Li Hao would have to amend it. Otherwise, he would lose control of the situation.

Besides, the current situation was that only a portion of the people were real, most of them were fake. If he really was to change the bigger picture, he would have to resurrect them all, erase their memories, and leave only one or two who knew the truth.

This included the entire population of Silver Moon!

If he could accomplish such a deed, then Li Hao would no longer be a half step emperor. He would far exceed an exalted emperor!

Celestial Pole didn’t care about the ramifications, just the theoretical daydreaming. “So this means that you can do so once you’re strong enough?”

“That capability is very far from me, but based on what the senior is saying, it’s possible if I can support it.”

“Impressive!” Celestial Pole sighed with appreciation. “That’s really something. The power of time is remarkable!”

Li Hao nodded as well, then turned his attention back to the river. There was much more laughter and merriment coming from the waters; the Silver Moon martial masters were no longer a taciturn bunch. Someone was teasing He Yong and he was loudly cursing them back.

A sudden thought occurred to Li Hao and he laughed, waving a set of boxing gloves out of the air and dropping them in the river.

Inside the river, something smacked into He Yong’s head. He took a closer look at the item and jumped up and down with great joy!

“The boxing gloves of the Exalted Hard-Headed Emperor?! WHAAAAT?? Heavens above, fuck me! I’m rich!! What’s this doing here?!”

“......” Celestial Pole looked down wordlessly, turning his gaze at Li Hao. Did the kid... have too much time on his hands?

“Now this will make it interesting!” Li Hao cackled. “Martial Uncle He Yong has always wanted to beat up Northern Fist, but he was a little too weak for it. Northern Fist is about to ascend to second or third level Fused Dao, but He Yong is only a Sun and Moon...

“I need to give him a surprise or two. I can’t wait to see him cockily challenge Northern Fist and then get beaten up again for it!”

“......” You’re devious!

Celestial Pole laughed with true amusement. Li Hao was a complete lunatic, wasn’t he? No, he had multiple personalities! The young man had been so terrifying previously, but now he was incredibly childish. Which one was the real Li Hao?

The young man smiled brilliantly and silently watched the action unfold. This was a lot of fun!

Scenes flickered through the river like it was a movie. Images flashed by and events unfolded. Li Hao watched them with internal delight.

As expected, He Yong received another sound thrashing!

Having made their feelings known to each other, Hou Xiaochen and Yu Luocha were more intimate than before. Ole Hou even... bah! Now that was another guy who deserved to be beaten up! What a schmuck!

As for his own teacher... Yuan Shuo was the height of shamelessness!

He fully capitalized on his pretend ignorance of the situation and spun a beautiful web of love and lies around Jadelight Sword. She was so smitten to the point of wanting to bring a junior brother for Li Hao into the world.

Da fuck, everyone? I created all this to help you comprehend dao, not to have you flirt and date and do all that! This river stinks to high heaven of roses and candlelight dinners! This comes at the price of me continuously expending my lifespan, d’you guys know that?!

Despite all that, Li Hao laughed. This was wonderful!

Such carefree ease and dashing grace was exactly how Silver Moon martial masters should live. The alternative was the gloomy, lifeless atmosphere that they’d labored under before.

Li Hao’s smile grew ever more radiant and real!

The world was still enveloped by the great dao. Apart from Li Hao, Celestial Pole, and a few other powerhouses such as Earthturner Sword, Gan Wuliang, the queen, and the Great Li king, the rest were all inside the river.

Lin Hongyu was also one of those who stayed outside the river. She was too strong for it; Li Hao would have to pay too big a price if powerhouses entered the waters.

At some unknown point in time, a great burden had been lifted off their shoulders. They subconsciously drew near Li Hao’s river and looked down at it, watching the developments with smiles.

The movie had reached the point of eradicating the desolate beasts and killing Zheng Yu’s father. Those who’d been resurrected had seen great improvements in their strength.

“Will they be able to... emerge from the river with their newly gained strength?” Lin Hongyu was doubtful. These people were proceeding at a remarkable pace because their foundations were too good!

“They can,” Li Hao nodded. “Otherwise, I would just create a mirage. I wouldn’t need to bother with a river of reversed time!”

“But energy doesn’t appear out of thin air, where is it coming from?” She suddenly paused and looked at Li Hao. The young man’s appearance looked the same, but there was a smell of decay from him. She frowned. “Are you... alright?”

“I’m fine.”

Lin Hongyu understood. These people’s energy came from Li Hao, the strength of a half step emperor!

Although they weren’t that strong and what increases they made weren’t that important to the young man, it was also stripping Li Hao of power to grant to them.

Lin Hongyu wanted to say something, but closed her mouth in the end. So long as he was happy. At the very least, Li Hao was happy in this moment. It was her first time seeing Li Hao smile so genuinely since the battle of Boundless. Only, she knew that he still held some regrets, such as Zhang Yuan and his parents.

But even Li Hao had been unable to retrieve them. She wouldn’t be able to do so either, so she dropped the topic.

“Can I manipulate my self in the river?” she suddenly asked.

“You can!” Li Hao nodded.

The situation below immediately changed as Lin Hongyu sent herself in search of Li Hao. The young man tilted his head at her. Lin Hongyu looked fixedly at the river and didn’t return his gaze.

Li Hao simply watched for a while before obscuring the river with a wave of his hand again. What a boring woman!

You and I are both projections, what are you trying to do?

He was in an excellent mood and looked around, ultimately addressing the Great Li king. “Come inside for a bath! The experience will do you much good!”

The king was in the mood to do so as well, he didn’t stand on ceremony. “I won’t consume too much life force, will I?” That was his only question.

“You won’t, go on!”

The king dove into the river, feeling no pain as the power of time washed over him. It felt good! The blood qi in his body was growing again.

Damn this felt nice! It was much purer than before.

He’d absorbed all of his blood qi from external sources before, but now it came from his cultivation. This new blood qi didn’t come from Li Hao’s support either, but from his own life force!

The king nearly returned to his peak form before Yuan Shuo and the rest made it to modern day. Not only that, but he could feel himself improving even further. With his pure blood qi, he felt that he had a chance of setting foot into true peak Empyrean King! 𝐟𝕣𝗲𝕖𝕨𝗲𝐛𝗻𝗼𝐯𝗲𝚕.𝗰𝚘𝐦

After an indeterminate period of time, Celestial Pole couldn’t help himself when he saw that the king wanted to stay longer in the river. “Get out!”

The king blinked, then swiftly walked out. He stumbled and shook his head with dissatisfaction. “Senior, I’ve only just reached late Empyrean King. If I stayed a bit longer, I would be peak Empyrean King!”

This rate of improvement was too damned good! Why did you stop me?

Celestial Pole suppressed an eye roll. He didn’t like getting involved in things, but the Great Li king was too much of an idiot.

“Peak Empyrean King?” he huffed. “You’d be dead from old age if you stayed any longer!”

The king blinked and took stock of himself. He didn’t feel anything different from before. Celestial Pole was immensely resigned, whereas Li Hao laughed without concern. “It’s fine, he would’ve lived for another year or two if he made it to peak Empyrean King. He’s got a few decades left to him at the moment, but I think that’s too much...”

“Don’t... Empyrean Kings... live for one hundred thousand years at least?” blinked the king. Even Saints could live that long! Immortals could as well, but they would spend most of the one hundred thousand fast asleep.

But, it wouldn’t be hard for an Empyrean King to live one hundred thousand years, would it?

“You expended your own life force, which is why you progressed so quickly.” Li Hao looked at the king. “If you’d simply recovered to initial Empyrean King, you wouldn’t have utilized so much of your life span.”

Only now did the Great Li king understand, he wanted to break out in curses!

“You’ll live longer than me!” Li Hao laughed. “I’ll give you a chance before you die. Everything will be fine so long as you and I advance. What a good deal it is to trade our lifespan for strength! This wouldn’t be an opportunity I’d give anyone else even if they wanted to trade for it!”

The king was immensely resigned, finding that he’d been duped again! The young man was evil through and through!

But his newfound strength was very real! He’d comprehended the strength of a half step emperor, then risen to late Empyrean King without any drawbacks. He just felt that he’d suddenly grown old!

Damn this is uncanny!

......

The river continued to flow as the group chatted; the waters suddenly stopped and began to ripple.

“They’ve come back!” Li Hao smiled with great emotion.

The world spun and the river snapped! A group of people erupted from the waters. He Yong was still blustering with excitement, “I’ve made it to Fused Dao! I’m absolutely invincible harhar!!”

Bam!

Northern Fist punched He Yong as soon as he saw they were out. He Yong flew backward and sprawled unmoving on the ground, blank with incomprehension.

Li Hao laughed and sent out a surge of strength, activating some different memories in those who’d been resurrected.