Star Gate

A sword stroke that carried a myriad of daos within it elicited a strangled yelp from a Saint. He fell apart, prompting the rest to blanch with horror.

"The Sword Sovereign?!" That was the first thing that came to mind for everyone. This was the technique of the Sword Sovereign!

The appearance of a second Li Hao was already shocking enough, but the signature technique employed by the Sword Sovereign truly stunned some of the hidden powerhouses. Even Zheng Yu and the man with a sword on his back were flabbergasted!

Stroke followed stroke! There was only the sword in Li Hao's world! There was only this sword in the Saints' eyes!

Pfft!

Another Saint was run through! Five had been lost in the blink of an eye. The remaining four were ashen-faced and turned to run!

This was a trap!

It'd been a trap from beginning to end!

Li Hao's true body was here. He could kill Saints in an instant, which made it clear that this one was the primary body!

Killing five Saints in a split second... This kind of battle strength placed him above Empyrean Kings. He may be even stronger than that!

No one dared think beyond that level.

"And where do you guys think you're going?" Li Hao laughed. The sky darkened as a longsword pierced through the world, reflecting it in its sheen!

"Sever!" The mighty yell abruptly froze the four remaining Saints in place. When the longsword descended, two Saints were immediately sliced into different pieces! When the last two survivors came to their senses, they realized that something was drastically wrong. Everything was too horrifying!

Even their thoughts seemed to freeze when Li Hao yelled. What kind of ability was this?!

They didn't have time to ponder; Li Hao's sword light flashed again. The last two Saints looked at each other with dawning despair. There had been nine of them before! They wouldn't be getting away!

"Li Hao... you..."

KABOOM!!

An explosion ripped through the air and enveloped Li Hao as one of them self-detonated. The other took advantage of the opening to flee, wanting to scream that something was wrong with Li Hao, that the young man had an ability to freeze someone for a period of time.

But before he could say anything, a person walked out of the ball of exploding energy. He blotted out the sky with his hand, like he was a primordial giant. Completely unscathed, he lumbered like a bear and grabbed the last remaining Saint!

Li Hao enveloped the man like a father holding a child. His embrace tightened around the man's neck and he leered savagely.

BAM!

He exerted so much pressure that the man popped!

It'd taken just a swift instant for all nine Saints to be obliterated!

The longsword sliced through the air, eliciting more howls of agony. Saints that'd just collected as mental strength were completely eradicated on the spot!

All of it had happened too quickly. Apart from those who were aware of Li Hao's abilities, the rest were frozen with shock. Only Zhang An and a few others were aware of this possible outcome. Hadn't the Star River Saints been so polite earlier because they knew of Li Hao's might?

Their hearts quailed all the same. That'd been nine Saints! All gone, in the matter of a heartbeat!

......

Galewind.

Zheng Yu crumbled the armrest of his throne when his grip tightened on it. Behind him, several Empyrean Kings scowled darkly.

Dead! The nine Saints were slaughtered to the last, moments after they left the ancient city. Clearly, the young man had been waiting for them.

"Well done!" Zheng Yu bared his teeth and laughed in a chilling manner. Such wondrous methods!

How was it not wondrous that the young man had managed to create a peak Saint replica and fool everyone with it? Who would've thought that he was capable of such a feat?

There'd been several dozen Saints in Galewind before, now they were all dead!

BOOM!

Another Red Moon Saint fell to Li Hao's side, completely dead before reinforcements could reach him. The remaining seven paled with horror. They'd thought that the tides would turn with the addition of nine Saints on their side, but they'd all died swiftly instead?

Just how strong was Li Hao? That'd been nine Saints! It'd take some time to butcher even one pig, much less kill nine immensely powerful beings. And yet, Li Hao mowed them down like he was at the butcher house!

"Well well, how very incredible!" Ying Hongyue beat back the Li Hao in front of him with one massive sword stroke. He smiled toothily, "You're really something!"

Li Hao's primary body floated in the air and laughed at where his replica fought his old nemesis. "Ying Hongyue, you haven't even seen the best!"

The man's heart skipped a beat. Li Hao laughed softly and reached out with a hand, producing a figure in midair. Ying Hongyue's face slackened with shocked incomprehension when he made out the person's features!

This was possibly the first time he'd been overwhelmed like this, ever! He hadn't been that fearful when Li Hao killed the nine Saints because he knew he had more to rely on.

"Li Hao!" Ying Hongyue exclaimed in a slightly shrill voice.

"Surprised, Ying Hongyue?" the young man chortled. "My primary body is here, so guess where I was before."

"Impossible!" Ying Hongyue wasn't the only disbelieving member of the audience. Almost all of the remaining Red Moon Saints fought two opponents at the same time. Although they were in dire straits, one of them was so shocked that he permitted Capsize Sea to trod through his body.

"Green Moon?" he asked in a lost voice. He knew this woman and where she was! He knew even more so how many powerhouses there were. There were five Empyrean Kings, a dozen Saints, hundreds of Immortals...

So why was she here?

Li Hao's massive palm was clenched around Green Moon's head. She struggled violently, but couldn't say a word. The woman could only look piercingly at Ying Hongyue with a pleading look in her eyes—run!

Li Hao's killed everyone in Thunderblast! They're all dead! No... I'm the only one left!

Ying Hongyue flushed dangerously and clenched his teeth when he looked at Li Hao. "Release her!"

"Ying Hongyue, would you really care about a woman?" Li Hao laughed softly. "No, you don't care at all. You only care about what her presence here means. I think you'll be satisfied with the reveal!"

The young man slashed through the void to make way for another ancient city!

This was when Ying Hongyue's body stiffened. When he saw Green Moon, he held out faint hope that she'd been captured when she wandered out of the city. But when Thunderblast appeared, he knew that Li Hao had demolished everything!

Five Empyrean Kings were gone, his headquarters had been razed, nothing was left! All of his foundations and everything that was him had been obliterated!

It didn't matter how Li Hao had done it. What did matter was that his machinations for decades were completely a thing of the past in this moment.

Ying Hongyue omitted a mouthful of blood and stared at the young man. "Li Hao... you're forcing my hand, aren't you?"

"Yeah!" Li Hao grinned. "So what if I am? C'mon, summon more of the exalted emperor's power to you or even transform into his replica. I'll wait. Don't forget what the basis of this city's existence was. The red moon's mine! So what if you incorporate more Red Moon power into yourself?"

"Impossible! That's absolutely impossible!!" Ying Hongyue's expression changed drastically and he shrieked with dismay. He knew what Li Hao referred to—the exalted emperor's blood essence!

It just wasn't possible for Li Hao to claim the exalted emperor's blood!Absolutely not!

The abyss of madness yawned before Ying Hongyue. He'd been scheming after that droplet of blood as well, but hadn't dared touch it. He might be possessed by the other if he did, but now... Li Hao told him thathe'dtaken the blood!

This shook Ying Hongyue more than the deaths of five Empyrean Kings!

Li Hao's grin widened, ecstatic at the sight of Ying Hongyue struggling with his sanity. "Happy, Ying Hongyue? Do you like this kind of ending?"

He flexed his hand slightly, making blood bubble out of Green Moon's pores.

Violence dawned in Ying Hongyue's eyes as he rushed Li Hao with an upraised sword. The sword pierced through the void, fierce beyond imagine and intermixed with raging thunder and lightning!

The other Li Hao answered the call of battle and transformed into a ferocious tiger, blocking the man's path!

Li Hao smiled radiantly and popped Green Moon with a firm clench!

He released certain restrictions as he did so, allowing her voice to carry, "Hongyue... I have no regrets..."

Pfft!

Ying Hongyue spat out a mouthful of blood. Li Hao was ruthlessly vicious! The young man knew that Green Moon would certainly say such things in her final moments, so he purposefully let her words be heard as she died.

He's trying to break my dao heart!

"Li Hao!" Ying Hongyue raged, howling with agony. He charged with his sword and transformed into thunder and lightning himself, furiously dueling the young man's replica. Bloody marks from injuries appeared on his body in the blink of an eye!

Li Hao's primary body ignored him and landed in the Forbidden Sea, punching the waters!

BAM!

The seawater exploded and the punch traveled through its deaths.

"Enough of that act!" Li Hao's voice rang out. "I know you too well! Trying to play the role of the smitten lover boy? Looking to run? You want to flee with the skeleton now, don't you? Get outta here with that!

"I'm your best friend! The one who knows you best is not your friend, but your enemy. I know you very well, Ying Hongyue, don't I?"

Rumble!

The sea churned madly as a shadow floated out of it—also Ying Hongyue!

But it was very intangible and trying to burrow into the skeleton. Li Hao punched it out with one blow!

The Ying Hongyue battling Li Hao's replica snarled viciously.Li Hao!!That damned little bastard was still on guard against him even now!Li Hao!!

The young man smiled radiantly and thrust with his sword, beating the shadow back. His longsword vanished and flared with energy next to a scarlet shadow. The explosion compressed the shadow into a blood pearl.

"You still have a chance to get away." Li Hao leisurely strolled over. "Summon more Red Moon power to you or integrate the eight bloodlines as one. Or devour all of Yama and the Celestial Sword Immortal's bloodlines. Whatever it is, you still have a chance left! But if you keep refraining from utilizing your trump cards... you'll have none!"

The Celestial Sword Immortal!

Zheng Yu jerked his glance at the Celestial Sword Immortal standing next to him. The Empyrean Kings also narrowed their eyes at her.

Ying Hongyue suddenly quieted down over the Forbidden Sea and ghastly smiled at Li Hao. "Li Hao... it might have been the biggest mistake in my life to not kill you!"

He had plenty of trump cards like Thunderblast, the Forbidden Sea, the skeleton, bloodlines of the eight families... With so many cards to play, he might be able to kill three to five Empyrean Kings, not just one.

But what was the result?

Li Hao had eliminated all of his trump cards and killed nearly everyone around him!

Red Moon Saints were dying at a furious pace. Two, three, four... Ying Hongyue laughed with grim humor. He knew that he'd lost today, totally and utterly!