Star Gate-Chapter 1488: Emerging From Seclusion (II)

“It needs to be Senior Celestial Pole,” Lin Hongyu said after some thought. “That way, we avoid harming the core essence of the two dao masters and only consume some dao strength to maximize the payoff. It also won’t affect the two dao masters’ timeline for verifying your own dao.

“Based on how things stand now, apart from Li Hao, Panther, and us three, the rest will all have trouble reaching exalted emperor. With Senior Celestial Pole attaining this level and the three of us as well, Silver Moon will have six exalted emperors including Panther and Li Hao. That will put us on stable footing in the chaos!”

Everyone looked at Celestial Pole again.

“Senior Celestial Pole, New Martial will absolutely not give up on us,” Gan Wuliang added. “They’ve probably already sent your primary body to search for us. Since that is the case... the senior’s primary body is in danger. If your replica becomes strong enough, you might be able to go to its aid!”

Celestial Pole shook inwardly. That was true! The replica could go help the primary body if it grew strong enough. It was just...

“Additionally, senior, explaining how you lost Senior Number Two will be an issue once New Martial finds us...”

“Number Two isn’t lost!” Celestial Pole chafed against that kind of speech. Who said the cat was lost?! Wasn’t it with Li Hao??

“The lord is journeying outside at the moment and his return is unknown. Once he encounters danger, Senior Number Two will be in danger as well. Only when the senior is an exalted emperor do you have the right to travel through the chaos and resolve some difficulties.”

“So forcing someone to exalted emperor is the thing to do these days?!” Celestial Pole shook his head wearily. The hell was this??

“Then we’re agreed!” Gan Wuliang smiled. Celestial Pole had no choice but to accept the future arranged for him. “Other than Senior Celestial Pole, I have another budding thought in mind...”

Everyone looked at Gan Wuliang again.

“The marquis doesn’t care, but I think that we should pay some attention to this possibility!” Gan Wuliang addressed the group. “I have an idea of recruiting some cultivators in the world and either severing or sealing away some of their dao meridians. We will leave only one, like the divine spirits of old.

“These people can focus on training one dao meridian and strengthen just that one. Their cultivation will be purer in this regard and they will ultimately become the master of one dao meridian! Although they won’t be able to set foot into the exalted emperor level, they have hope of being an Empyrean King or half step emperor!”

Frowns crossed faces at his latest suggestion. Even Panther’s replica barked in disapproval. This idea was not viable! All cultivators in the world possessed a complete set of dao meridians. Gan Wuliang’s suggestion was very dangerous.

This would preclude some people from training their other dao meridians and cut off any chance of future development in their great dao. Although they could become the master of one dao meridian, this kind of cultivator would have almost no further opportunities in the future, no matter how strong they became.

“I know this is a very risky proposal,” Gan Wuliang sighed. “And that the marquis may not agree to it. But there are ten billion inhabitants in our world. Does everyone have the ability to enter the exalted emperor level?

“I’m not thinking too little of Silver Moon denizens, but simply speaking to the truth of reality. How many among them will reach exalted emperor? One hundred? One thousand? Ten thousand?

“What about the rest? They focus on the myriad of daos out there and split their concentration. No wonder their development is slow and progress not at hand...

“We’re not forcing them into anything. We can explain things in clear detail and recruit volunteers! In this vein, we might be able to quickly produce some masters of dao meridians and raise them to half step emperor. If incredible fortunes are in store for the future, they’ll be able to ascend to exalted emperor all the same!”

It was a good idea, but it involved sacrificing the future of whoever was selected. At the same time, Gan Wuliang made sense. Could all ten billion in the world become an exalted emperor?

Of course not!

Even so, what Gan Wuliang proposed might lead to a certain degree of trouble in the form of Li Hao!

“I will take full responsibility if the marquis finds fault with this course of action!” Gan Wuliang promised. He actually felt that Li Hao wouldn’t say a word. The young man was... laidback in his rule.

If they located volunteers and didn’t force anyone into this course of action, then Li Hao might not mind at all.

There was a massive advantage to what he proposed, not just for the masters of the dao meridians, but for him and Hong Yitang as well. These people would progress even faster when they focused on only one dao. There would be nothing else to worry about.

“Then... let’s proceed in this fashion!” Lin Hongyu nodded after everyone thought it over.

Gan Wuliang exhaled with relief after receiving Lin Hongyu’s support. This was good! There was another scapegoat at hand if something untoward really did develop with his idea.

“We can do this!” Yuan Shuo inclined his head as well when Gan Wuliang met his eyes.

“Since you proposed it... let’s do it,” Hong Yitang nodded. “Just as you say, not everyone has a chance to become an exalted emperor. It’s very hard even for us! In that case, let’s see if there is anyone who is willing to give up the other paths and just focus on one. We can give them more resources, including education for their descendants and status in society.”

Everyone in the general population was a connate dao entity; there were many great daos in everyone’s body. Forsaking all of them to utilize only one didn’t sound like a worthwhile transaction. In that case, they could be offered some compensation.

Zhang An and Celestial Pole looked at each other; they didn’t say anything. They were simply appreciative that these Silver Moon denizens weren’t sitting back and waiting for fate to find them. Once Gan Wuliang’s idea proved effective, there would be many exalted emperors-in-waiting, even if none of them outright made the leap right now.

The world would be in a much better position than it was now. Granted, that came at the cost of sacrificing many people’s future.

“Then we’re decided!” Gan Wuliang smiled. “Today, we help Senior Celestial Pole become an exalted emperor!”

Sorrow spread over Celestial Pole’s face. He had absolutely no choice in the matter, did he!

My primary body became an exalted emperor only because he wanted to live for a few more years. But now, even my replica is going to break through.

Why is it so easy to become an exalted emperor? Can’t it be more difficult? This is so annoying!

While his complaints were very shameless, such was the truth. He was the replica of an exalted emperor and only needed sufficient dao strength to advance. As a replica tempered for one hundred thousand years, he might even be on the same footing as the primary body.

This wouldn’t be a difficult jump for him at all. He would encounter no tribulations or shackles in terms of cultivation level.

......

And so, on the third month of Li Hao’s departure, the first exalted emperor to appear in Silver Moon wasn’t the two masters of dao, but Celestial Pole’s replica.

......

At the same time.

Celestial Pole and the Pagoda King were still drifting through the chaos. Celestial Pole’s eyes suddenly shot open and looked toward the north, cursing noisily and grumbling to himself.

“What is it?” the Pagoda King asked curiously.

“The hell, my replica has become an emperor!”

“......” The Pagoda King blinked, at a loss for worse. Hot damn! Your replica’s become an emperor?? How?! “What... does this mean?”

“I don’t know,” Celestial Pole replied glumly. “Silver Moon’s a minor world, how can it produce an exalted emperor? My replica needs a large amount of energy and dao strength to become an emperor. Since it’s been cut off from the core origin universe, it should be almost impossible for it to make that leap.”

He was dejected because ascending to emperor represented a lot of things, such as his replica needing to stand at the forefront of all future conflict. Or that his replica had encountered such danger that he’d been forced to advance. Or that all sides were searching for Silver Moon and the minor world was on the verge of disaster, so his replica had no choice but to step forward...

None of the possibilities were anything good, in any case!

In addition, did that new king of Silver Moon have his replica break through in order to prompt the primary body to rush over and rescue them?

No matter what the situation was, the more Celestial Pole thought about it, the more tragic everything seemed!

“So they’ve somehow facilitated the senior’s replica into becoming an emperor...” The Pagoda King was also solemn when Celestial Pole looked at him. “Logically speaking, Silver Moon has a very low level of ambient energy. It’s hard enough to enable one person to become an emperor, but to help the senior’s replica become an emperor...”

Was it a desperate gamble? Did even Celestial Pole’s replica know that only he could stand against the tides to come?

Celestial Pole had no answers, he could only respond with resignation, “And another point about my replica becoming an exalted emperor—I can more accurately pinpoint our location relevant to Silver Moon! The ties between me and my replica will deepen, so I think we’ll be catching up to Silver Moon earlier than we thought before.”

Now this made the Pagoda King equally dejected. Did this mean that danger would find them ahead of time?

Should they turn around? But what if the supreme was keeping an eye on them? Turning around now might lead to him having their heads, no?

The two exalted emperors looked at each other, both equal parts tragic. Celestial Pole wasn’t the least bit happy that his replica had become an exalted emperor. Anyone else would’ve been over the moon with joy.

How nice was it that their replica was an exalted emperor? Once the two came back together, they would proceed even further along the path of third rank, if not become a fourth rank.

Sadly, Celestial Pole was far from being delighted. The situation seemed so defeating!

I didn’t want to become an exalted emperor during New Martial, but my replica has chosen to do so in the age of Silver Moon. What’s the point of doing that?

What made him even more resigned was that his replica might’ve done so to avoid danger. The minor world seemed to have locked onto his position and was coming his way. In other words, Silver Moon was retreating from Skyward and heading toward Red Moon Region again!

This was the decision made by multiple senior figures in Silver Moon. Due to the presence of a large number of powerhouses lately, they ultimately decided to take the risk and return to their original position.

They didn’t want to stay near Skyward because there were more and more heavyweights nearby.

......

Li Hao was unaware of recent developments. He was still in closed door cultivation and perfecting his cultivation system, as well as crafting more bridges of life and death.

He distilled many blocks of pure energy upon depleting the energy stored from the various exalted emperors. Some were wasted, which meant that Li Hao only built two hundred and twenty bridges at the end. That wasn’t enough to outright propel him into third rank as he hoped.

But it was fine enough, a clear increase of one hundred and seventh bridges. He even walked the path of life and death to revitalize himself once more.

If it wasn’t for that experience, he might have truly stood a chance of entering third rank. Sadly, each resurrection consumed a large amount of energy.

Based on Li Hao’s calculations, he would need more than two hundred and forty bridges to make that leap. The gap wasn’t that big.

The dao crystals of a first rank were slightly muddled by a variety of great daos, but the dao crystals from a second rank would absolutely help him accomplish that goal.

Li Hao was nearly a peak second rank and an exalted emperor of life and death. Truth be told, he really wasn’t afraid of those third ranks.