Star Gate

Li Hao continuously shuttled through the void; Hong Yitang was very confused. The young man had run hither and thither upon exiting closed door cultivation, but he seemed to be targeting only Ying Hongyue. Li Hao didn't mention anyone else and didn't seem to bother with Zheng Yu either.

It was also like the silver moon in the sky didn't exist to Li Hao anymore.

Is he fixated on Ying Hongyue? But... he can't kill the guy, so is it worth it to spend so much time and energy on him? Doesn't he want to take care of Zheng Yu and those guys as well?

Although many thoughts ran through Hong Yitang's mind, he chose to remain silent. Li Hao was much more mature now than he was back in the day, so all of his current effort wasn't necessarily futile. Perhaps he was planning something.

Li Hao continued to dart through the void, soon reaching Silver City.

......

Silver City.

After a war between nations and a battle between powerhouses, the once proud city had turned into rubble. Li Hao's home was now a junkyard.

The seal was still visible in the air. Eight threads the color of blood were as usual. One of them was connected to Li Hao, the other seven led to Ying Hongyue.

Galewind seemed to have disappeared.

Li Hao landed on the ground. What were once bustling streets were now dilapidated remains. He didn't visit home because it didn't matter if the building still stood or not.

What was home?

He had no family, so everywhere was his home! Such was the mentality nursed by martial masters of the martial world. Only when there was family was there a home. Li Hao didn't bear much nostalgia for that old apartment. He hadn't gone back much after losing his parents.

Their tomb in Silver City was empty; their bodies were gone! He and Ying Hongyue would never coexist peacefully because of this!

The only difference was that Li Hao was no longer the young man that he'd once been. Calling for Ying Hongyue's head as soon as the two of them crossed paths was not his style. Greeting his enemies with a smile might be the most valuable skill that he'd honed in the year he'd spent at the Inspectorate.

The stone door beneath the Qiao mine seemed to have disappeared as well. Perhaps Ying Hongyue had taken the treasure or heritage behind it.

Li Hao floated up to the seal in the sky and looked up. It seemed to be a bit thinner than it'd once been. The battles during recent times had steadily whittled away at it. Perhaps Ying Hongyue himself had been drawing energy from it. He'd taken too much, which resulted in the seal loosening.

This seal... should have been the result of the Exalted Blood Emperor. The two characters of 'Battle Heaven' were still resting in Li Hao's mind.

The young man sank into deep thought as he contemplated the heavens. Ying Hongyue... Zheng Yu... Li Daoheng... the Red Moon exalted emperor... the god of Initial Martial...

None of these parties had been resolved yet. He either couldn't defeat them, or they weren't targets that he could attack yet. The world was rapidly recovering and there were too many people cultivating. Although they rapidly swallowed large quantities of energy, their efforts further stabilized the great dao. The world would be able to tolerate Empyrean Kings sooner or later.

A second awakening didn't need to take place because it constantly recovered on a day to day basis.

Although Li Hao had decreased the rate of spontaneous recovery, he'd hastened the schedule on an overall basis. Zheng Yu no longer struggled because he knew whatever he did may not surpass the speed that resulted from Li Hao's efforts.

It should've been quite a few more years until the second awakening, but now the level of ambient energy in the environment likely surpassed what would've resulted from the second awakening. Even Saints could emerge in the world now.

"The Red Moon exalted emperor!" Li Hao had once seen the man in mental strength form.

He called upon his aura now and traveled up the thread. A massive city soundlessly appeared. Zheng Yu stood at the highest point and quietly looked down on Li Hao.

The young man calmly opened his eyes. "I'm just sending my mind in to see how Dean Zhang and the others are. What're you nervous about?"

"I'm not nervous. The you I see now may not be the you I saw before." Zheng Yu was likewise calm and shook his head.

Li Hao burst out laughing.Not the me you saw before? Are my impending nuptials giving you that misconception?

Perhaps!

Zheng Yu was indeed more composed than before. He looked at Hong Yitang and Panther, smiling as well. He even inclined his head at Hong Yitang.

Fused Dao!

He could tell that these two were both Fused Dao. Then was Lin Hongyu also Fused Dao? How interesting!

Zheng Yu no longer feared the young man. It was both a curious phenomenon, but not curious at the same time. An aloof Li Hao without any ties to the world induced too much fear in his enemies.

But when more people were around him and he seemed to recover from the grief of losing his master... Zheng Yu felt that he no longer needed to worry about Li Hao breaking the seal on his own!

It was a very complicated situation, but such were his real thoughts.

Hong Yitang, Lin Hongyu, and the others could not be killed before Li Hao was dead himself. Otherwise, that would create another utterly reckless Li Hao. Someone like him needed ties of friendship, family, and relationship. If not, he was such a headache for everyone else.

Li Hao didn't mind the conversation; it was like Zheng Yu wasn't his enemy.

"Did the Red Moon exalted emperor invade with only himself back in the day?" he asked with slight curiosity. "Or were there more than him?"

"Just him," Zheng Yu chuckled. "It wasn't convenient to bring too many, after all! But he probably contaminated a lot of people with Red Moon power as soon as he entered our world..."

"No!" Li Hao shook his head. "You guys should've been contaminated before he invaded, no? This means that there was someone who wielded Red Moon power before he arrived."

The sequence of events wouldn't measure up if the Red Moon power only came from this exalted emperor!

"Someone did wield Red Moon power before," Zheng Yu nodded. "But not this exalted emperor. It was directly from Red Moon major world and brought over to Silver Moon world from the main world. The main world supplied it to the Sword Sovereign for research purposes, but the Lis later stole some. Some of them were affected by the power, such as Li Daoheng!

"Although the exalted emperor was swiftly sealed away after he entered, he managed to dissipate a lot of Red Moon power. He was at his peak then, so a portion of powerhouses were also infected. They were completely assimilated and became Red Moon cultivators!"

Zheng Yu didn't mind supplying more information to Li Hao so that the young man could better understand their enemy. "A group of people wanted to kill the Moon God of the west a while back—that was the group of converted Red Moon cultivators! They participate only in actions that will damage the seal!"

"Where are they hiding?"

"We don't know." Zheng Yu laughed. "Perhaps the city of the Hongs?"

That city was the only one yet to appear out of the eight.

Li Hao's eyebrows twitched. That... could actually be the case!

Ying Hongyue was tied to the seal, but those from Red Moon didn't kill him and often helped him instead... Li Hao had overlooked this before. While he'd noticed it and briefly dwelled on it, he'd never followed that line of thinking.

But now it looked like... Zheng Yu was right!

There may be large sums of Red Moon powerhouses in Thunderblast of the Hongs.

"Is the Celestial Sword Immortal still with you?" Li Hao asked after some thought.

"Yes, do you want her?" Zheng Yu smiled and reached out with his hand. The void vibrated, producing a female swordsman. She frowned and looked at Li Hao with slight fear.

The Celestial Sword Immortal!

The leader of one of the three great organizations and a female assassin. She was also a swordsman and connected to Silver Moon province. Many martial masters hailed from that province.

She was a very stand-offish person, but quite pleasing to the eye. But in the eyes of someone like Li Hao, she was just a female skeleton!

The physical body could be crafted and modified at will. In an age in which elegance and grace were attributes that could be procured, appearances were the last thing that one took note of.

Li Hao studied the person. Was she Violet Moon?

It was difficult to say.

Ying Hongyue was scheming and devious. He sometimes purposefully let his target misunderstand. If Li Hao fell for it, he would be setting foot into a trap.

"I suspect that Ying Hongyue left her behind to set a trap for you. Why don't you kill her?" Li Hao said softly.

Hong Yitang blinked and looked at the young man. Li Hao was very calm.

"You're very interesting, Li Hao." Zheng Yu grinned.

"As are you!" Li Hao smiled back after sizing up the man. "Ying Hongyue is a wolf, a lone wolf! Judging from how you present yourself, your bearing, expressions, and some of the moves you've made... Perhaps you have a deeper level of cooperation with Ying Hongyue! You're quite interesting to dare keep an ingrate and a lone wolf by your side!"

Zheng Yu chuckled softly without a response.

"Can I kill the exalted emperor?" asked Li Hao.

"You can!" Zheng Yu nodded. "It might have been hard to before, but there is hope now! The Star Gate is closed and core origin dao severed. In the same vein, this means that the Red Moon great dao is cut off!

"All of the powerhouses in the world are in the same straits. Even with the dao of an exalted emperor in their bodies, it's a cultivation level without roots if there is no corresponding dao universe supporting them!

"Much of his strength has been expended after so many years sealed away. He can be killed, assuming that he really has weakened to that stage. Otherwise, a half step emperor is unable to kill an exalted emperor!

"There would be no hope if this was in times before. An exalted emperor can easily snuff out a half step emperor!"

Li Hao nodded, this cultivation level was indeed formidable. There was only one word of difference between half step emperor and exalted emperor, but the difference in strength was between heaven and earth.

"You'll be able to kill him if you obtain that thing inside the Tranquil Star ruins!" Zheng Yu said meaningfully.

The blade of the Exalted Blood Emperor!

Li Hao said nothing, ignoring the man. Zheng Yu appeared simple on the surface and even a little dumb, but he was a slippery old fox. One could not afford to be tricked by him.

Killing a few Saints didn't mean anything. Those were all cannon fodder to Zheng Yu. So long as he was the ultimate victor, he wouldn't care about losing all of his Saints and Empyrean Kings.

Li Daoheng, Ying Hongyue... was he truly unaware of the situation?

Not necessarily!

What'd happened to his replica in Tranquil Star? Had Ying Hongyue easily killed him?

Or had he given it to Ying Hongyue? It was all very difficult to say. He might seek to strengthen the eight bloodlines in Ying Hongyue's body.

If their guess was right, then the bloodline of the Hongs was very strong to begin with. The Zheng bloodline was certain to be strong as well. Obtaining a few more heritages meant that the blade was absolutely within grasp!

Such thoughts rose in Li Hao's mind, he ignored Zheng Yu.