Star Gate

There had to be more than the sword tree alive in Sword City. While Li Hao had formed some speculations about the situation, he set them aside and sped for the city's western quarter.

The cliff where the Sword Sovereign had once cultivated.

The young man flew through the streets until he exited the city. When he probed the surroundings, he quickly located the cliff face. It was an easy geographical feature to identify.

Li Hao shot up the cliff, stopping at where a faint cloud of sword intent enveloped the entire cliff. There it'd remained for one hundred thousand years, but... this place was different from a sacred land of one's imagination.

It was very simple and plain.

It was just a broken mountain wall with some hints of sword intent. There didn't seem to be anything special about it. Li Hao set foot on the peak, quietly sensing the sword intent drifting through the air. It wasn't all that different from the will of the Sword Sovereign that he'd comprehended before.

"Did the sword tree tell me to come here so I can study the traces of sword intent that the Sword Sovereign left behind?"

Had he come in vain again?

Li Hao stretched his lips in a small smile. It looked like the big tree really didn't trust him and had fobbed himself off with a random location. It'd said whatever it needed to say to get him to leave.

But he would go with the flow. Since he was here, he would take things as they came. The sword tree might need to discuss with others how they wanted to handle him.

With the internals of the city being a complete scene of devastation, meditating here was as good as anywhere else.

Li Hao sat down cross-legged, permitted the faint traces of sword intent to wash over his body. His pores opened and closed from the stimulation of the slightly harsh sword intent. But having experience with the pressure that the Exalted Blood Emperor's blade brought to bear... this tiny bit of sword intent didn't levy any pressure on Li Hao at all.

There doesn't seem to have been anything special about the Sword Sovereign's cultivation...

Energy pulsed from Li Hao's body when another thought struck him. It was an exceedingly unique ripple invisible to outsiders.

Time seemed to freeze in this moment—the power of time!

The young man had only grasped a tiny hint of the power of time, but he suddenly wondered that if he reversed time, would he be able to recover the scenes of the Sword Sovereign cultivating in his time? There was sword intent lingering here, after all. They were the result of that great personage's cultivation and had not faded in all these years.

But he would have to reverse one hundred thousand years if he wanted to travel back to when the Sword Sovereign had stood in this spot. Not even the star in the dao universe could accomplish that. Time was impossible to reverse. Of that, Li Hao was sure of.

Time could be frozen, but only frozen in a particular spot. Unless he managed to freeze the entire universe, then time would continue elsewhere outside his zone of control.

It was impossible to reverse time. However, he could use the power of time to capture echoes of the past.

Some premier powerhouses could use certain methods to recover prior events. Powerhouses like these had the ability to peer into everything between heaven and earth, particularly in an age in which time was yet to be fully controlled. Only the truly elite could utilize such abilities.

Li Hao could not do so, but he wanted to try. Could he use the sword intent as a medium to capture some of the Sword Sovereign's old cultivation scenes?

The power of time overlaid the sword intent, stagnating its flow. The latter paused for only a split second before beginning again.

These days, the young man could freeze a Saint for a few seconds and an Empyrean King for one second, but this sword intent... It was more difficult to handle than an Empyrean King, despite only being moderately strong. It was clear to see that it would be beyond difficult to freeze the Sword Sovereign's sword intent, even for the blink of an eye.

Li Hao's feeble power of time would likely be ineffective against a true exalted emperor, but the young man wasn't dejected by his findings. He continued to experiment and attempted to reverse the flow bit by bit. Could he capture some faint shadows or even images?

He didn't know if it was possible, but since he had nothing else better to do at the moment, he could just treat it as practicing his power of time.

The young man wouldn't dare undertake this practice with the blade of the Exalted Blood Emperor—that treasure was too strong! But this little hint of sword intent... was bearable!

Sword intent flowed around the cliff, then quickly froze again.

Li Hao could only sustain the surge of strength very briefly each time and needed to recover after each instance. He couldn't release it indefinitely. If he could, that would be astounding!

He tried again and again; the sword intent alternated between flowing freely and freezing in place. Since there was nothing to be comprehended here, he could use the Sword Sovereign's sword intent as a test subject. Li Hao would never dare undertake such experimentation in the outside world.

......

The Demonic Martial campus, rear yard.

A tree, stone, and seal conversed with each other. Their conversation quickly ended and the human form of the sword tree looked toward the west. "He's still over there, should we send for him?"

There was absolutely nothing that Li Hao could comprehend at the cliff face to the west of the city. The Sword Sovereign had indeed cultivated there before, but the man had cultivated in a lot of places. If there was something to be gleaned in each of the spots that he'd trained at, then countless powerhouses would have flourished in the city.

Who knew how many had visited the cliff face from Sword City? All of them came back empty-handed. There was nothing there but a bit of sword intent. Other than sensing how strong the Sword Sovereign had been, there was nothing to be gained.

The sword tree had sent Li Hao there just to get him out of the city.

"Let him come to us!" the stone said in muffled tones. "Although it's difficult to determine his position, he'll be enveloped by the Sword Sovereign's sword intent if he lingers at the western cliff. The sword intent can dispel evil and demons, so we may be able to identify a thing or two about his nature..."

"Real powerhouses would not be easily affected by the sword intent."

"He doesn't count as a true powerhouse yet. Even if he's killed Empyrean Kings like he said, they were just the Saints of our time!"

New Martial Saints were powerhouses, but they were not premier existences. These three were widely versed in knowledge and experience, so they did not consider that cultivation level to be premier.

With that in mind, the tattered representatives of Sword City did not summon Li Hao back.

......

On the western cliff.

Li Hao was having the time of his life. This was also a kind of training, not just pure enjoyment. Cultivation wasn't a resentful, hate-filled endeavor. It stemmed from the heart and passion. Purely training by itself could be a very boring affair.

He realized that it was very normal that he wasn't able to recreate the scenes of the Sword Sovereign cultivating. That had been just a thought that he didn't necessarily have to execute on. But at the same time, he made unexpected gains.

The dispersing sword intent was beginning to grow denser in concentration as he continuously solidified, released, solidified, and released it. The amount of sword intent present had been constant at first, but it grew richer as Li Hao repeated his actions. It simply irritated his skin before, but now could prick through and draw blood!

"Now this is surprising," Li Hao murmured. "If I infinitely loop this process and continuously accumulate sword intent, will I be able to recreate the Sword Sovereign's move in the end?"

Of course, it was equally likely that the sword intent would just kill him first!

All the same, this was an incredible find.

If I continue to gather sword intent, will I be able to collect a ray of extremely powerful sword intent that I'll be able to wield in fights? Given my current strength, if I used Stellaris as the vehicle, would I be able to extract one blow that would be able to kill mid to late Empyrean Kings?

The precursor was... assuming that the sword intent here could continue to grow stronger and not be soon depleted!

"I stand a chance of doing so if the sword intent here is unending. My only fear is that I'll use it up after building it up for a while. Everything will be a waste then!"

How much of the Sword Sovereign's sword intent had dissipated here? How much of it was left after one hundred thousand years?

Li Hao didn't know, but he could give it a try. He just had to confirm that Stellaris or his physical body could contain the sword intent. Otherwise, he would only be creating trouble for himself.

With that in mind, Li Hao unsheathed Stellaris and slowly brought it in contact with the sword intent. The sword trembled with excitement. It was that familiar sword intent again!

When the longsword came in contact with it, the sword intent did not erupt offensively against the weapon. It flowed slowly, like a dragonling of qi, and circulated around the sword. It seemed to recognize it and circled around it with increasing speed.

Li Hao's eyes lit up. This seemed doable!

Stellaris was the Sword Sovereign's personal sword, after all. It was very familiar with the Sword Sovereign's sword intent, so it could be a container for it. This was something that other weapons were likely unable to accomplish.

As overjoyed as Li Hao was, he quickly realized that he'd discovered something incredible. If this worked for the sword intent of the Sword Sovereign, what about the blade intent of the Exalted Blood Emperor?

Granted, the Exalted Blood Emperor's blade intent was stronger because his weapon was very strong and had been emanating its might all this time. One could claim neither the weapon nor store the pressure in any sort of container...

No, wait, the Battle Heaven characters!

The idea suddenly occurred to Li Hao. He could try that when he went back!

"So it can collect energy in an unending fashion... interesting! Is this how we're supposed to use the power of time?" Having had a new world open up to him, Li Hao started a new round of experimentation. He even forgot about the sword tree.

He was here to strengthen himself. Whether it was through the sword tree's help or finding the way himself... the end goal was the same. Since this place could accumulate so much sword intent and even fully recreate the Sword Sovereign's move, then it was a fortuitous opportunity for him no matter if he utilized the creation or comprehended dao through it!

And so, Li Hao continuously gathered sword intent together and solidified time. It was only a small patch that he worked with, but sword intent seemed to gather in other areas as well and flow toward him...

And so, the sword intent circling around Stellaris grew stronger!

......

The Demonic Martial campus.

The three tattered survivors waited with a complicated mix of emotions.

"He's playing hard to get!" denounced the stone in a muffled voice.

"We're just testing each other's patience," responded the seal. "He probably thinks that he'll trip over his own heels if he's in a hurry, but he's forgotten that we've waited for even one hundred thousand years. How is a youngster to outlast us?"

"There's no rush, it's only been a day," nodded the sword tree after some thought. "There is no fortune to be had whatsoever at the cliff. If he wants to go head-to-head with us, then let us continue. We won't go to him—it'll make us seem impatient instead!"