Star Gate-Chapter 1537: Frightening (I)

Li Hao seemed to have been waiting for the attackers to try and recruit Ming Hao’s group. An even stronger surge of time promptly appeared after Dusk Wind finished speaking. A star shot out of the river of life and death!

Life paused, just like it had when the star of time first appeared.

Weaker exalted emperors on the scene outright froze. Dusk Wind and his companion barely retained freedom of movement, but they could only watch as a longsword passed through their bodies!

The sword perfectly resembled the Eternal Sword!

The only difference was that there was some more destructive power within it. The thundercloud in the sky was drawn to the blow. Destructive force flared, blowing Dusk Wind to pieces!

Li Hao had taken out their leader with one move!

Dusk Wind’s avenue of great dao appeared; the young man swung at it. Dusk Wind wasn’t fully dead yet, but Li Hao had already flashed in front of the other exalted emperor. He ripped the man apart with his bare hands!

A third rank was like paper to him; the young man tore right through him.

“Panth, eat him!” Li Hao growled. The dog’s mouth yawned open and a vast suction force swept through the area. Panther devoured the third rank in Li Hao’s hands, swallowing his dao strength whole!

Rumbling could be heard within the dog. Li Hao’s longsword swung down and tore an avenue of great dao to pieces. “Gan Wuliang, swallow that!”

Gan Wuliang summoned his river of dao without further word and devoured all of the dao strength.

The young man reached out and grabbed Lin Hongyu. “Walk the cycle of life and death to verify your dao. There’s a chaos tribulation at hand, so we might as well use it to weather your tribulation!”

Lin Hongyu stepped into Li Hao’s river of life and dao without second doubt and began to verify her dao! Everything had happened so quickly that it couldn’t be fathomed.

Ming Hao’s footsteps had stopped for one second, but he promptly resumed flying toward the south the next. Shock quailed his heart.

Holy fuck!

Even a fifth rank would have to expend some effort to kill multiple exalted emperors, not to mention there’s been two third ranks among that group. The young man had completely mowed them down. He’s terrifying!

Dread and terror threatened to overwhelm him. He had no inclination to seize the dao universe now. He needed to stay alive first!

Ming Hao could sense a pair of frosty eyes staring at him; he picked up speed. There was nothing he wanted more than to locate the Red Moon exalted emperor and kill him! Where had this Hao Moon come from??

Li Hao looked quietly at the fourth rank go. He’d had a sudden impulse to just kill everyone, then go after the Red Moon exalted emperor himself. This way, he’d be able to replenish the resources he’d consumed in the form of the fifth rank.

But Ming Hao hadn’t gotten any other ideas in mind. Or rather, he hadn’t had time to form any other ideas before Li Hao deterred him of all other thoughts.

The young man didn’t know if making swift work of things was a good idea or not. Perhaps... he should’ve waited. I would be more justified in killing them if I had.

But did he need to feel at ease about his decisions?

He looked at the people around him, then in the direction behind him. The young man frowned faintly. Perhaps the exalted emperor tracking the group would be here soon. The chaos tribulation was drawing too much attention—it was so annoying!

Has time pissed you off or something? You show up every time I use it. Aren’t you getting tired of doing so?

......

Killing four low rank exalted emperors was an incredible feat in other people’s eyes. Li Hao paid no heed to it. This was just an appetizer. The key lay with the chaos tribulation and the sixth rank tracking them. A fourth rank Red Moon exalted emperor wasn’t a cause for concern; what was nerve-wracking was that they were still in Red Moon territory.

And so, perhaps the fourth rank would be more troublesome than the sixth rank.

Lin Hongyu was walking the path of life and death within Li Hao’s river; his attention wasn’t on her. Neither was his attention on Panther swallowing a third rank and the two dao masters swallowing the other third rank.

Two third ranks were insufficient to make up for the loss of a fifth rank. Not to mention, he wasn’t interested in accessing dao chess at the moment. He hadn’t made any gains on the path of extreme yin, so visiting dao chess now would be a waste of time and opportunity.

He needed to undergo the tribulation, kill the Red Moon exalted emperor, and escape from the clutches of the sixth rank!

Damn this was a lot of trouble!

The rest of the group was digesting their gains; only Celestial Pole was at loose ends. Although he’d suffered heavy injuries, he didn’t mind them.

“You’re finally back.” He rushed forward. “So... what’s your situation now?”

He scanned the young man with a very complicated look. We wanted you to come back and smack the shit out of our enemies, but when you actually do so... Hot damn, you’re strong!

I’m so weak! I don’t think my primary body can take you on!

His primary body was an exalted emperor of a major world, but he could only beat up some third rank chaos wanderers. Two third rank chaos wanderers at the same time, though? He couldn’t manage that.

Li Hao, on the other hand?

Sliced right through them like a hot knife through butter!

Damn.

Li Hao’s current presence also gave him the similar feeling that New Martial had exuded one hundred thousand—fifty years ago. That was incredible! How had he advanced so fast?

Li Hao couldn’t be bothered with the man. Even Celestial Pole’s primary body wasn’t much in his eyes now. But he quickly thought of something. “How far out is your primary body?” 𝑓𝘳𝘦𝑒𝑤𝑒𝘣𝘯ℴ𝘷𝘦𝓁.𝑐𝑜𝑚

“How do you know about him?”

“......” Uhh, everyone’s chasing you guys? “The exalted emperors I came with, including myself, are all here to take down your primary body!”

Celestial Pole stiffened. Aw fuck? Damn they think highly of me! There were a lot of them, and one of them was a mid rank, right? They’re all here for me?

“There seems to be another sixth rank behind us, not too far away. He’s also here for your primary body.”

Celestial Pole’s face slackened with shock. It took him a while to realize the true situation—he wasn’t his primary body, after all. He didn’t have the full picture. “Ah, that one’s probably not here for me. He’s here for the other New Martial folks! But the ones you brought are probably really here for me!”

“And the Pagoda King,” Li Hao nodded.

“Him?” Celestial Pole blinked, then roared with laughter. “Damn, I’m with that old fart?”

He was older than the Pagoda King and greatly amused by the notion that they were traveling together. “So he’s coming too? How interesting. The supreme arranged this, didn’t he? He’s definitely bold!”

Even Celestial Pole found the duo incredible.

“Then, if things are proceeding according to what I’m guessing, someone from our side is following my primary body,” he realized. “It’s either the supreme’s replica or another New Martial powerhouse. They’ll be at least a sixth rank!

“No one’s at ease about me and the Pagoda King conducting a mission together. They must’ve arranged this with a certain goal in mind!” Seeing as the situation was critical, Celestial Pole continued without Li Hao having to ask. “My primary body isn’t too far away from me, but based on the speed of a first rank, it’ll take him another month to get to us.

“At your current speed, however, I think ten days will be enough! That’s assuming we’re the only ones moving forward. If he’s heading toward us too, then it might take only six or seven days. I can sense that his speed is fairly fast. He might be hitching a ride on a treasure or something similar!

“But the precursor to all that is—my primary body needs to not run away from battle!”

Six to seven days wasn’t much in the chaos. It would pass in the blink of an eye. If both sides were traveling toward each other, they would be able to do so with precise direction due to the presence of Celestial Pole’s replica.

Ming Hao’s group had been operating off of a rough estimation, based on information they’d received before. It hadn’t been exact directions as Celestial Pole’s primary body had been on the move.

Six to seven days wasn’t a long period of time. But based on the current circumstances, it’d be useless to meet up with his primary body. The only way in which that would be useful was if, like the replica said, the supreme’s replica was nearby as well or there was a sixth rank following the duo. Only then would they be able to fend off the sixth rank pursuer catching up to them.

That guy must have sensed something or even seen the thundercloud from the chaos tribulation. He was most likely making fast time here. It was only because Li Hao had been traveling so fast before that he’d managed to create some space.

“C’mon, let’s go and eliminate that Red Moon guy first,” Li Hao said rapidly upon hearing Celestial Pole’s response. “You guys cultivate or break through as you should. Senior Celestial Pole, can your primary body accelerate and meet us faster?”

“Accelerate?” Celestial Pole hesitated. “My primary body is very cautious and the Pagoda King is as timid as a mouse... They won’t do so, under normal circumstances, but it’s not like we’re out of ideas.

“Whether it’s my primary body or the Pagoda King, both of them wish to obtain certain benefits. Do you have additional energy or dao strength left? Let me absorb some and see if I can ascend to second rank. My primary body will be able to sense that change. He might run a bit faster when he sees that there’s something in it for him.”

“......” Li Hao looked at him wordlessly. You’re trying to pull a fast one on me, aren’t you?

Celestial Pole looked innocently back at him. I’m being serious! Otherwise, we won’t get anywhere if we just wish for those two to go faster on their own.

Those guys... fine, one of them is me. That’s exactly how I am! What would I be doing here if there’s not enough in it for me?

If I ascend to second rank so quickly, he’ll think there’s so much treasure to be had here! He’ll tell the Pagoda King, which will make that huge wuss run faster than a rabbit. He might even shorten the trip to five days!

It’d be too hard to shorten it even more. He knew himself and the Pagoda King all too well.

The young man ran some quick calculations. They were still a bit far out... but this was better than being several months out. Five to six days? Probably more than that. I can’t maintain the speed of a fifth rank forever and this strength didn’t come out of nowhere. This was what was left in the corpse, and it’s preserving the body from decaying too quickly. But once I exhaust Drouth’s reserves, that’ll be it.

It’ll last a few more hours at most. There’s no way it’s gonna last five to six days.

Should he fight their pursuer?

Forget it.

A fifth rank against a sixth rank, and a fake fifth rank at that, was bound to lose. Creating too much disturbance here would also draw attention from other Red Moon powerhouses. They would be dead without a doubt then.

He needed to flee while he still had strength left to spare. With that in mind, Li Hao directed everyone into the river. “A sixth rank’s arriving soon, we need to evacuate right now!”

No one made a peep. They were at ease now that Li Hao was back. The young man could do whatever he wished to do. Lin Hongyu was still in the middle of her ascension and the rest were digesting energy.

Li Hao was just notifying them. He grabbed Celestial Pole next and flew into the distance. Battle had erupted there; Ming Hao and the rest had not fled. Perhaps they felt they were too close to Li Hao to run.