Star Gate

The three powerhouses didn't say a word. After a while, the sword tree broke the silence. "How did you do it?"

"It's not good to pry into other people's secrets, is it?"

The sword tree had no answer for that.I know it's not good, but... I'm really too curious!It'd partially changed its mind about their next steps after Li Hao deployed the real Eternal Sword. "Let's go back to the Demonic Martial campus... You're a bit unusual, so perhaps we really can have a deep discussion!"

Li Hao nodded, then looked back at the city with a smile. "Sword City seems to be celebrating as well. The Eternal Sword intent can be found in the world again!"

"......" The three ignored him.

Li Hao was thoughtful and toyed with Stellaris. It was very strong and very powerful, but there was a wide gap between it and the blade of the Exalted Blood Emperor!

Although the Sword Sovereign's weapons were good for only one use, it was said that the Human King and Exalted Divine Forge Emperor had jointly crafted Stellaris together. They'd given it to the Sword Sovereign in hopes that he wouldn't have to switch or discard his sword after every battle.

In contrast, the Stellaris in his hand seemed a bit too weak compared to what legends spoke of. Granted, it wasn't any worse off than Saint or Empyrean King ranked weapons. But... this was supposed to be the personal weapon of an exalted emperor!

And not just any exalted emperor, but one that was purported to be the greatest in offense!

Li Hao said nothing; he flew back to the school grounds with the other three. Mental strength oscillated between the three ahead of him. Clearly, they were busy discussing something.

The young man smiled. It would seem that these three had changed some of their opinions based on the appearance of the Eternal Sword intent.

......

The Demonic Martial University, Sword City campus. Rear yard.

The three Sword city survivors stood silently, waiting for something. Li Hao was completely at ease and in no hurry either.

They remained that way for a while; the sword tree that capitulated first. They were in more of a rush than Li Hao at the moment.

"The Sun God encountered Red Moon major world one hundred thousand years ago. The master of that world injured the Sun God in their meeting. At that time, the Sun God was unequalled! It was a sign of what a high level the Red Moon world was at for them to defeat the Sun God!"

Instead of mentioning Sword City, the sword tree started with the history of the conflict between New Martial and Red Moon.

"The Sword Sovereign was in residence at Silver Moon. When he received word that the Human King was going to march on Red Moon, he elected to lead an army of ten million into battle. He summoned the armies of Silver Moon and countless powerhouses followed him out the Star Gate. They were going to battle the heavens and raze Red Moon!

"The exalted emperor invaded as soon as the Sword Sovereign left. There was more than one when battle erupted outside the Star Gate. Multiple exalted emperors seemed to have ambushed the Silver Moon army. I was rooted in the ground and saw an exalted emperor fall from the sky!

"Although we sent only two exalted emperors—the Sword Sovereign and Principal Fang—the Sword Sovereign was unmatched in the field and ferocity. However, the enemy sent at least five exalted emperors! An ambush from such formidable opponents was bound to result in heavy losses!

"All the same, we were caught unprepared after all. One of their exalted emperors, possibly the weakest one, slipped into Silver Moon world. The Star Gate instantly sealed shut when someone within the eight main cities activated the formation. The situation in the outside world was unable to be determined, but it's very possible... that the fighting was so intense that it flung Silver Moon world away from New Martial!"

Li Hao blinked. So it was Silver Moon that'd left New Martial and not those outside that gave up on Silver Moon?

"Silver Moon left the range of New Martial likely because it was too separated from the main world! That rendered communication to be impossible. The chaos is so vast and there are so many worlds out there that the difference of one-third a millimeter is the equivalent of five hundred kilometers!

"So even after the Sword Sovereign defeated the enemy, he was unable to find Silver Moon world again. At the same time, just a few exalted emperors was insufficient to overcome the Sword Sovereign.

"After that, Li Daoheng verified his level of Empyrean King and took the reins of power in Sword City in our moment of need. He activated the Eight Trigrams Suppression Formation, sealed off the world barrier, utilized the moon, Star Gate, and Sword City as the three cores of the formation, and suppressed the foundation of the world with the eight main cities. That was how he kept the exalted emperor under control!"

The sword tree paused, reminiscing over the past.

"There were numerous powerhouses present within Sword City, but none of them could measure up to an exalted emperor. Li Daoheng proposed convening the eight families, utilizing the eight heritage weapons to activate their seals and forcefully sever contact with New Martial.

"Once we seceded from New Martial, he would swallow the world, slay the exalted emperor, destroy Red Moon, open the Star Gate, and assist the Sword Sovereign..."

Li Hao listened quietly. For someone to take a stand at a time like that and have a plan to defuse the threat and even open the Star Gate to help the Sword Sovereign... he should've succeeded.

Something else must've happened. Otherwise, based on what the sword tree was saying, success was within Li Daoheng's grasp. Why hadn't he accomplished what he sought?

The young man was puzzled. These people had plainly been tricked by him from the very beginning.

"So he failed?" asked Li Hao. "Did you guys unmask him?"

"No," said the sword tree after a soft sigh. "He had a lot of potential, ability, personal charisma—he made for a great leader! And since he was the only Empyrean King beneath the heavens... or the only one in Sword City and was very young, everyone trusted him!

"But trouble appeared in the final moments, he was unable to utilize Stellaris!"

Li Hao blinked.

"No one anticipated this," the sword tree said with resignation. "There were those who could use Stellaris at the time—those of the Li powerhouses who'd stayed behind could employ it! But... he could not. That made everyone wonder if something was amiss."

"He was the only one who couldn't use it?" Li Hao blinked again.

"That's right!" nodded the sword tree. "Of the eight heritage weapons, Stellaris was the most important! The eight heritage weapons, eight main cities, eight divisions of the world, core of the formation... One could say that everything within Silver Moon had to do with the eight heritage weapons and most of all, Stellaris!

"There was no reason that a Li genius such as him could not use it. The Li family wasn't even the direct lineal disciples of the Sword Sovereign, to say nothing of being actual descendants, but other people could use it. There was no reason why Stellaris only refused to listen to Li Daoheng!"

Li Hao looked at the sword in his hand, did they mean this one? Or... Sword City?

He didn't voice that question.

"It's because of this that some doubts swirled in people's minds and they went on the alert," continued the sword tree. "Thinking back on it, some felt that the timing of his breakthrough was too coincidental. And since the exalted emperor had already been sealed away by then, that created a bit of breathing space.

"Some proposed leaving the seal and contacting the powerhouses at the other seven cities, then coming up with a new plan. Li Daoheng had attempted to control Stellaris multiple times by now, but never succeeded. As public opinion built for leaving the seal... the internal battle broke out!"

Li Hao nodded. To Li Daoheng, there was no point in leaving the seal. That would expose everything, so he might as well kill all of the Lis. But there were still some details that the young man didn't understand.

"I can understand it if none of the Lis could use Stellaris, but if a lot of them could and he was the only one who couldn't... Do the seniors know why? What was the reason for this?"

The Sword Sovereign had even personally passed on sword dao to the Li family. Could it be that Stellaris picked its own wielder?

But the sword had most likely lacked a spirit then and didn't have a consciousness. That shouldn't be possible.

"We're uncertain of the exact reason," responded the sword tree after some thought. "But when Li Daoheng slaughtered Sword City, he said.. that... the Sword Sovereign... wasn't letting him run Sword City on purpose! Now that we think about it, perhaps the Sword Sovereign knew beforehand that he was a rotten apple. Maybe the sovereign did something to Stellaris to prevent Li Daoheng from using it."

"That shouldn't be it." Li Hao shook his head. "If the Sword Sovereign truly knew that he was a rotten apple, he would've killed Li Daoheng a long time ago. Is there a need to scheme against him? This hypothesis doesn't stand!"

"Wouldn't I know the Sword Sovereign better than you do?" sniffed the sword tree.

"You don't understand swordsmen, or rather, real swordsmen!" Li Hao shook his head. "You may know the Sword Sovereign better than me, but based on the descriptions I've heard of him, the Sword Sovereign is resolute and decisive when it comes to killing enemies. He would've executed Li Daoheng with one sword stroke long ago if he'd known!

"Neither would Li Daoheng have dared demonstrate his intentions for betrayal in front of the Sword Sovereign. He might show ambition, intelligence, potential... The Sword Sovereign wouldn't have cared about any of that!

"But if Li Daoheng's heart was crooked, the Sword Sovereign would certainly detect it. Li Daoheng hid himself well, so he wouldn't have expressed anything before this. The Sword Sovereign wouldn't have left it alone either after making the discovery. He wouldn't opt for leaving a trap on Stellaris!"

These people, or rather these monster spirits, didn't understand the Sword Sovereign's mentality. But Li Hao did!

Granted, he was interpreting the situation based off his own understanding. If it was up to him, he wouldn't conduct himself according to what the sword tree was saying. If someone was untrustworthy, he'd just kill the person in question with one blow. Having ambition alone was fine; being untrustworthy was the real issue.

Setting a trap... was possible if the two were evenly matched. But what was the need for such an action when there was a large gap in strength?

Those such as Gan Wuliang had ambition, ideas, and intelligence. Li Hao wouldn't purposefully seek to trip them up somewhere. If he found something against him, he would just outright kill them.

It was that simple!

He toyed with Stellaris before saying, "Li Daoheng took Stellaris with him after killing all of the Lis. Perhaps he had hopes that he would find someone who could utilize Stellaris in the outside world. It may not even need to be someone from the Li family bloodline, an outside bloodline would do. He also wanted to understand why he couldn't utilize the weapon.

"Let me think about this... Perhaps... more families than mine once owned Stellaris during this entire process! Perhaps many people were experimental subjects, and he wanted to find the commonality between them!"

As for why he couldn't use Stellaris, who knew? Li Hao couldn't at first, either. It was the Five Styles that could!

The Five Styles was connected to the new dao...

So did this mean that it had something to do with the new dao?

But some Li family members could use the sword before, and they hadn't grasped the new dao.