Star Gate-Chapter 1516: Spontaneous Death (IV)

Another three days passed. Li Hao had made it to six hundred squares. His pace picked up as time went on.

The river of life and death looked completely different from before. There was more order to it, as well as 310 bridges of life and death that spanned it. That was thirty more bridges compared to before he entered the chessboard.

There were still the same number of stars in the river, but the water seemed to be more complicated as more daos were immersed in it.

Over the past three days, Drouth had at times frowned, at times been seized with crazed joy, and at times on the verge of a mental breakdown...

Li Hao didn’t know what the man was experiencing and couldn’t be bothered to care. What he did take note of was Drouth’s physical body falling apart a few times and cracks snaking through his dao mark.

This guy... better not be the death of himself.

Well, if he dies, he dies.

Li Hao strongly suspected that there would be another dark puppet in the Hall of Darkness if Drouth continued in this vein—a fifth rank puppet!

This was how dark puppets were formed, no?

It’d been almost twenty days since they entered Demon Summit.

......

In the outside world.

Void raised an eyebrow in the direction of the Dragon Observatory palace. It’d been quite a few days since the group entered the dao foundation site. He only spent five days in Demon Summit on his visit.

He’d made it to the Hall of Darkness, but didn’t encounter the seat cushion. He did cross paths with the dark puppets and even killed one, collecting its dao foundation crystal to comprehend the power of darkness.

His gains had been decent, but five days had been enough. Li Hao and the rest, however, had been inside for almost twenty days. Under normal circumstances, five or six days were sufficient for a trip. Any more would be for the sole purposes of absorbing more energy of darkness. There wasn’t much significance to that.

Has he found something? What changes would occur in that little guy once he left the dao foundation site? Would he be a third rank?

That wasn’t outside the realm of possibility as Li Hao had been close to third rank before entering Demon Summit. Not much additional dao comprehension was needed to reach third rank; only sufficient energy was required. Of course, sufficient energy usually meant absorbing energy over a long period of time.

Void vanished as these thoughts ran through his mind.

The Dragon Observatory leader hadn’t been able to see much over the past couple of days, so he really did enter closed door cultivation. He needed to recover from his last two forays into Demon Summit.

He suddenly opened his eyes with displeasure, then stretched his lips into a smile. “Void is here!”

“Observatory leader.” Void wore a calm expression. “When will Hao Moon and the others emerge?”

“That... is hard to say,” smiled the faction leader. “But it should be soon. They’ve been inside for so many days that they should’ve entered the Hall of Darkness. There is some opportunity to be found there.”

“Have exalted emperors from Utmost Dark died?” Void asked bluntly.

“That... I’m not sure of.” The faction leader’s smile deepened. “Maybe? Possibly? I don’t know.”

“So that means yes?” Void nodded. Some must have died if the other was being so cagey with his responses. “In that case, I would like to stay here for a few days. Is that permissible, Observatory leader?”

The faction leader frowned and inclined his head. “Of course you can, but... is there a need for this?”

“I’d like to wait.”

The faction leader dropped the topic. Is he afraid that I’ll attack Hao Moon? Both he and Drouth have entered the Hall of Darkness. Who knows if they’re still alive after so many days?

The Dragon Observatory leader said nothing and settled down to wait. Twenty days was not a long time. It would pass by in the blink of an eye if they were in the chaos.

......

Time continued to tick by.

“Pfft!” Drouth spat out blood once more. His eyes were bloodshot. No, this still wasn’t right. Why??

He could see the dark envoy’s dao and was learning it, but why... was progress so difficult to make? Eighth rank was difficult to attain, he was aware of that, but was sixth rank also this arduous?

Was this seat cushion a fake?

No, it’s real. I can sense that I really have gained something from it, and that I’ll be able to reach that level if I follow this path. But why do troubles develop with every I take?

He suddenly looked to the side and glared at what he saw. That Hao Moon had quietly made his way to nine hundred some squares!

Damn it!

Although Hao Moon was much slower than him, the brat was still hale and hearty. He wasn’t nearly as bedraggled as Drouth had been when he passed!

Damn it all to hell! What kind of problem exists with sixth rank?!

“Senior, why am I unable to ascend?” Drouth couldn’t help but ask the shadow.

“Why are you asking me?”

“Please guide me, senior!”

“I will tell you if you take another one thousand steps on the chessboard. That will be another reward.”

Drouth brooded. Another one thousand squares? Can I even do that?

He could sense the worsening condition of the injuries to his great dao. Damn it! he cursed for the umpteenth time. The dao reflections of an eighth rank were a bit too much for him to digest. He was already wounded to begin with, now they grew worse.

He might die with another thousand steps.

“Senior...” The look in his eyes changed when a new thought struck him. “Can the Exalted Hao Moon Emperor change his question once he makes it past one thousand squares? If he asks what I asked just now, will the senior respond?”

“He can!” The shadow blinked.

Drouth regained his composure and looked at Li Hao next to him again. The young man was still immersed within the squares on the chessboard. It wouldn’t be long until one thousand squares now.

The young man had actually almost forgotten about the rewards waiting at one thousand. Meanwhile, it was the only thing that Drouth had his eyes set on. Since I don’t have a chance to ask another question... what if Hao Moon asks it for me?

As for whether or not the young man would help him... Drouth was certain now that Hao Moon was only a third rank!

“Senior, is fighting forbidden here?” Another thought occurred to Drouth.

“Fighting?”

“Yes. Are candidates prohibited from fighting each other?”

“No,” the shadow replied calmly. “This is a place to discuss dao. It is normal for dao to be discussed through might.”

It knew what the man intended. However, Drouth’s dao injuries were severe and he’d forced himself into perceiving the dao of an eighth rank. You don’t have the strength of a fifth rank at the moment, just fourth rank at most.

The other guy was a peak third rank of life and death... While there still is a gap between you two, you have a lot of weaknesses right now due to your poor condition. It will be easy for opponents to target them. The outcome is uncertain if you fight him.

A metamorphosis took place between third rank to fourth rank. That created a large gap between exalted emperors. But a peak third rank of life and death was hard to place into this equation.

Drouth fixed his gaze on Li Hao. He knew that there wasn’t much hope for him to force an ascension—there must be an issue somewhere!

However, the shadow wasn’t helping him and he couldn’t determine what level it was at... so Hao Moon would be the sacrificial lamb instead!

Li Hao had almost reached one thousand squares.

......

There were 330 bridges of life and death spanning the river. Li Hao was a bit off from grand perfection of third rank, but the river of life and death was much stronger than before. The stars in the sky twinkled with radiance and his mental strength had greatly improved.

Joy danced in the young man’s eyes! He’d gained so much from this trip! Not now, but in the future. 𝓯𝓻𝒆𝙚𝒘𝓮𝙗𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝒍.𝙘𝓸𝙢

This understanding of a myriad daos would serve him well when he walked the path of yin and yang and others in the future. He had ideas of how to strengthen and supplement them. His harvest from the Hall of Darkness would not be realized now, but in the foundation that he was building for the future!

Sheer delight dawned when he set foot into the 1000th square. Yin and yang!

No, not yin and yang, but the dao of extreme yang!

I found it!

He capered with happiness at finally meeting yin and yang after so long. While it wasn’t the complete dao, coming across part of it was worthy of celebration. It was always hardest to start something. If he continued down this path, he would soon locate the dao of extreme yin.

Ripples undulated through Li Hao’s river of life and death. He focused completely on comprehending this dao, even attempting to form a star of extreme yang in the sky overhead. As strong as his great dao had been before, he hadn’t tried to form a star of great dao.

At his current stage, having too many stars in the sky was not a good idea.

“Yin and yang... life and death first, then yin and yang?” The shadow understood! “What impressive ambition and charisma!”

Whether it was life and death or yin and yang, these were all supreme daos. The young man was setting down life and death as the foundation, yin and yang as the core. Was he going to comprehend the chaos universe next?

Tsk tsk, what a hotly ambitious little guy!

A moderately sized star appeared over Li Hao’s river of life and death after an indeterminate amount of time. It was dazzling and scintillating—ferocious yang qi wafted over the river and filled the void. Some of the intense darkness within the waters was dispersed.

Li Hao was beside himself with glee and subconsciously moved to enter the next square.

“You’ve made it past one thousand!” said the shadow.

So fast? Li Hao started. It’s one thousand already?

“I’m in no rush, I can wait...” He wasn’t at all interested in the domain or a self-contained world anymore. I’ll learn that sooner or later. Comprehending dao in the chessboard is way more important right now.

“Exalted Hao Moon Emperor!” Drouth suddenly said. “Since you’re not in a rush, how about you ask a question for me?”

Li Hao blinked and looked at the man. Help you? Why? Do you think I’m stupid or what?

“Fellow Daoist Hao Moon, I am one step away from sixth rank,” Drouth said earnestly. “I seem to have run into a bottleneck. If the fellow daoist is willing to ask the senior to give me a pointer or so, I will repay you a hundredfold once I advance!

“Whether the fellow daoist desires dao crystals or even a minor world, I will help you find it once we leave!”

“I don’t need any of that.” Li Hao shook his head.

“Fellow daoist...”

“I’m going to keep comprehending dao. You can solve your own problems, Fellow Daoist Drouth. If not, walk another thousand squares!”