Star Gate-Chapter 1702: Enormous Gains! (III)
Li Zhu silently looked around him, expanding his domain through the widening circle of black light from his book. Immense energy erupted, setting off explosions wherever it touched. Eight low ranks in the vicinity were instantly obliterated, dead within a heartbeat!
“Milord... is about to break through!” the Pagoda King sighed with amazement. The emperor of the Earth Dwellers was going to set foot into seventh rank. So fast...
One had to keep in mind that he did not have New Martial’s support to count on. It was already a great show of mercy that the Human King let him live and roam freely.
“Far from it!” Li Zhu refuted calmly. “I lack sufficient energy, yet I do stand a large chance this time! The caveat being... that the Silver Moon king is willing to give me one of the dao universes.”
“There shouldn’t be an issue with that!” the Pagoda King quickly responded. “Although the Silver Moon king is young, he is fair and just...” He paused and finished via transmission, “He might be fairer than the Human King!”
The Human King had some selfish tendencies—he admitted as much himself. He overly supported his teacher, friends, and supporters, even if his support came at the cost of him being unable to enter eighth rank!
But the difference was noticeable when it came to the rest of them. He was far different!
Li Zhu didn’t say anything, he hoped this was the case. It would... also be normal if the Silver Moon king felt that his contribution was insufficient to be rewarded with a dao universe. He was well aware that this side of the operation would’ve succeeded without his participation.
Why, then, should he receive so much of the spoils? That was a seventh rank dao universe!
He would wait and see how the dust settled.
......
Battle continued on all sides!
Li Hao had previously instilled a kind and benign image in everyone’s minds. Now he was bathed in blood, Void by his side. He acted with a complete lack of mercy, killing all exalted emperors and even some Empyrean Kings that he came across!
With Red Moon being so massive, it boasted of a lot of exalted emperors and Empyrean Kings. Quite a few Empyrean Kings were throwing themselves at Li Hao’s group as well. There were heroes in every world, willing to take a stand when they saw their home being destroyed and exalted emperors being exterminated!
RUMBLE!!
Countless bodies piled up as blood ran in rivers!
Out of a total of one hundred Red Moon exalted emperors, some had died previously. More died to the chaos tribulation, and another group fell to Li Hao’s group. The remaining fought the Orchid Forest exalted emperors!
The conflict was so fierce that the world was falling apart!
People died on both sides and some exalted emperors sought to flee. But escape was difficult to secure since the chaos tribulation was upon them. There were also two dao universes circling the void outside. Any of moderate strength that escaped were killed on the spot!
A slaughter!
This was not a raid, but a complete extermination!
It went more smoothly than Li Hao had anticipated. The young man panted heavily from his exertions; Void was also starting to flag. While he could revitalize his friend, he himself needed to recover from his exertions as well. He and Li Hao focused on the mid ranks. Who knew how many they’d killed by now?
In the distance, a sixth rank covered in wounds cut through the air.
“All of you are butchers and mass murderers!” he accused sorrowfully. “Although Red Moon is your enemy, many of us are innocent! Are you not afraid of karma coming back for you with this wanton slaughter?!”
Li Hao swung his sword and slashed at him without a word. There was nothing that needed to be said. This one cultivated the dao of sorrow. Anyone who responded to him would quickly sink into self-doubt.
The young man was not as magnanimous as the public might think. He didn’t know where this misconception came from either. How many of my enemies, whether weak or strong, are still alive?
His longsword cut through the air!
A domain of the five elements manifested and clamped down, erupting with overwhelming battle strength. Although Li Hao was only peak fourth rank, the strength he demonstrated wasn’t any weaker than that of a sixth rank!
The sixth rank’s body crumbled away after a loud detonation. Emptiness, death, and darkness appeared with a wave of Void’s hand, cracking the red moon that rose in response.
When the two fought together, sixth ranks essentially came presenting their heads on a silver platter. It would take a seventh rank to do any damage.
However, the two of them wouldn’t be able to stand against a seventh rank.
The chaos tribulation was mostly dissipated as droves of exalted emperors died. Perhaps the tribulation was over or the Red Moon master had died to the punishment. Or perhaps this was all the strength in the rules of the alliance.
Red Moon major world was a battered shell. Corpses littered the land, keening wails and agonized howls could be heard everywhere. Countless cultivators flew through the world, fleeing in all directions.
Yan Fang killed the last batch of resisters, then led his group to convene with Li Hao. He was also shocked at what they’d accomplished. While he kept a firm grip on his excitement, he goggled at the formidable eighth rank world capitulating not to New Martial, but to its vassal world.
It was Silver Moon King Li Hao and a group of few exalted emperors that breached the defenses and razed Red Moon!
“Fellow Daoist Myriad Dao, Orchid Forest has killed nineteen Red Moon exalted emperors and lost seven,” he quickly reported. “Three died to the tribulation, making for a total loss of ten!”
He looked at Li Hao while the young man scanned the Orchid Forest exalted emperors. The survivors weren’t too saddened by the deaths of their comrades, possibly because many of them had been from the dao master’s faction.
In fact, one had to view with suspicion just how those ten had died.
Of course, that wasn’t within Li Hao’s field of consideration. “Orchid Forest has made a major contribution to our efforts,” he nodded. “Everything can wait until the conclusion of battle! Please exert yourselves for a little bit longer...
“Senior Li Zhu!” he called out. “I’ll need to trouble you and Fellow Daoist Void to lead everyone in conquering the remaining two worlds! We’re taking all four today!”
Li Zhu blinked. Are you having us leave? Then... what are you going to do?
While he didn’t know what was happening, that didn’t stop him from nodding in acknowledgement. “Alright!”
This would be a good chance to contribute something. He hadn’t actually done much yet.
“Orchid Forest will have played an invaluable role if we are able to take all four worlds!” Li Hao looked at Yan Fang. “You will be rewarded in kind!”
Yan Fang nodded, refraining from polite protestation. Although he was a bit worried that they were being treated as cannon fodder, the world master seemed to trust this person very much... And so, Yan Fang barreled out of the world barrier with the rest of the Orchid Forest exalted emperors.
Li Hao quickly flew up to the Pagoda King’s trio and smiled at them. “It’s perfect that you’re still part of Red Moon! Since we’ve progressed to this stage of the plan, the Orchid Forest master must have done something on his end. It’d be such a shame if we don’t take the Red Moon dao universe with this opportunity. Follow me into it!”
If I still have my eyes set on only world strength and dao energy at this point, then that would be a grave underestimation of me! I’m taking even their dao universe!
The trio were highly agitated as they promptly summoned their great dao. Li Hao melded into it, then darted into a dao universe. It was worse for the wear as countless dao stars had been destroyed.
Immense power of desire swept toward the newcomers; the young man frowned. There was so much desire here and all of it too scattered!
He reached out with a hand, breaking through the void and summoning a person to him.
“Don’t bother with defense for now, lead the way!” Li Hao said to a startled Gan Wuliang.
“Milord, the concentration of desire here is too much!” Gan Wuliang yelped. It’s so dense that I’m afraid I’ll absorb too much if I lead the way. I might... lose control!
Even though I also cultivate the dao of emotion, this is slightly different. Emotion can be controlled, desire cannot.
“You can go with the Pagoda King!”
“Me?” blinked the man.
“Yes. The most important aspect of desire is control. Who doesn't have desires? You are the master of desire if you can control it, or its slave if you cannot. I have high hopes for you two. Although you are weak, I’m sure you can control it!”
Li Hao then looked at Mo and Cicada. “You guys can stay behind for now, don’t follow us. It’s too dangerous!”
The two wandering cultivators registered their orders with some embarrassment. They... were already having a hard time controlling their desire. They wanted to control it, but also wanted to let it rage free.
Gan Wuliang and the Pagoda King were young, but one of them was a master of dao and the other had survived the rise of New Martial. Their control over their desires was far greater than the average person.
“Go find the dao origin!” Li Hao ordered. “That’s the core of the entire dao universe, similar to the star of time. Controlling it will place the entire dao universe in our hands!”
“Then the Red Moon master...”
“Would he still be waiting if he’s maintained control over the dao universe? He would’ve squashed us as soon as we entered. Something must have happened—he’s not the only one being struck by lightning. The others are probably suffering the same fate.
“In that case, whether it’s the Human King or other eight ranks, even seventh ranks, who will let him off the hook?” Li Hao laughed. “His only chance of survival now is to relinquish his dao universe and become a wandering cultivator. That will free him from the chaos tribulation!
“It shouldn’t target him anymore if he’s not part of a dao universe. Although that will also hugely weaken him, it’s required for his survival! The rest will have to pay too great a price to kill him if he’s not being affected by a tribulation and lacking a dao universe.
“The rewards are not worth the effort. Only then will the two eighth ranks possibly stop hunting him!”
The two immediately understood.
“So he hasn’t given up the dao universe yet, right?” asked the Pagoda King.
“No, the dao universe hasn’t fully declined, so that means he hasn’t extracted sufficient dao strength. What we need to do isn’t to prevent that decoupling, but to ensure that he takes as little energy as possible with him!”
They understood! The two quickly sped forward, heading for the densest cluster of desire. Li Hao suppressed all of the energy stretching toward them!
The Red Moon master might not be willing to give this up... so I should give him a chance to. I can’t tell right now if the Human King will be able to kill him after that.
He’s alive right now, that’s for sure. It wouldn’t be this quiet if he was dead.
