Star Gate

"In that case... you can set out, Dao Sword," Lin Hongyu commanded. "I will give you another list of people to keep under close supervision."

"Understood." Dao Sword rose, respectfully inclined at the waist, and drifted away.

The rest of the people in the hall looked at Lin Hongyu when he was gone.

"Commander, Dao Sword is improving so quickly... Do you think..." Gan Wuliang's eyes flicked in the direction of the young man's departure.

"Dao Sword is open and forthright," Lin Hongyu chuckled. "He improves quickly, but it is within expectation! It would be difficult for us to know that he'd set foot into Fused Dao if he'd hid it from us. And wouldn't progressing so quickly naturally give rise to suspicion? We don't need to doubt him!"

There was nothing else for the group to say after her response.

"Our most pressing matter isn't the heavenly will," the woman continued. "It's that Ying Hongyue refuses to die... Of course, it's very difficult for him to! The other is the queen of the west, the now Sky God. She's popped up in the west and is regathering the power of faith. That makes her very strong. Martial Uncle Hong and I jointly fought her a while ago—we could not overcome her!

"Of course, she won't be too brazen since she is afraid of the marquis. However, that doesn't mean we can give her a chance to collect faith again. I want to lead a joint effort with the New Martial Saints and personally expel her... into Great Li territory. What does everyone think?"

"......" No one said a word.Great Li, again? Are you not afraid of that one losing his temper?

But since she'd posited the idea, people weren't at liberty to refute it. The group remained silent.

"Then I'll discuss it with the New Martial seniors..." Lin Hongyu smiled at seeing no dissension. "Those who have risen to Fused Dao will stay behind. The rest may go back to your business!"

Everyone quickly filed out, leaving only the Fused Dao cultivators.

"The marquis is in closed door cultivation and left the world in our hands," Lin Hongyu began. "It is a result of his painstaking efforts that we have made it to Fused Dao. He has fought tooth and nail to secure advantages and treasures for us...

"We should not seek to involve the marquis in minutiae or even larger issues that we can take care of ourselves. We have some skill to our name now, so we should take the initiative."

The group looked at her. What should they do?

Galewind was holding in place, the exalted emperor couldn't leave the seal, and Li Daoheng was stuck in the dao universe. There was only a half crippled Ying Hongyue on the loose, the one in Great Li, and a troublemaking queen. There didn't seem anything worth their attention.

"His Lordship said that Li Daoheng is a thorny opponent, as is Zheng Yu. He also said that he hoped for us to catch up to his footsteps and not fall behind. But we can't always hope for the marquis to lead us. That will truly make us his burden, which no one wants to be!"

Lin Hongyu chuckled softly. "I'd like to... kill Ying Hongyue in the true meaning of the sense! He's very hard to take down, but even if we don't, I'm going to strip him of Red Moon power. The more, the better. I'm going to summon a thunder tribulation—the bigger, the better! Only then do we have a hope of continuously breaking through!

"His Lordship didn't mention it because he's worried we can't fight him. But folks, are we truly content to accept him roaming freely through the world?"

The group exchanged glances. After a long moment of silence, Hong Yitang said, "I have no opinions otherwise, but..."

"He won't really die," Lin Hongyu admitted with a laugh. "The Red Moon exalted emperor won't let him die, and neither will Zheng Yu or Li Daoheng. But we must hunt him down with conviction of actually killing him! We might be able to force out more trump cards this way!"

Heads nodded in agreement.

"Then it's so decided. The Red Moon power within his body will be the best cultivation resource for us! Everyone, go back and make your preparations. This time, we need to hunt him down with an attitude of no mercy. We will completely eliminate him!"

Everyone nodded and left. Gan Wuliang was at the tail of the group.

"Gan Wuliang, you have another mission of keeping Dao Sword under surveillance," transmitted Lin Hongyu. "He's progressed too swiftly. Granted, it will be difficult for you to read anything if there truly is something amiss. In addition, there are certain things that the marquis is not able to do because of how kind and generous he is. We should accomplish it for him!

"You can stay out of this mission against Ying Hongyue if you'd like. Keeping an eye on Dao Sword is one task, the second is to communicate with the Saints to force the queen into Great Li!

"Third, have the Barren army and Watercloud navy set up camp in the Ash Mountain region. Be ready to fight at a moment's notice!

"Fourth, we should make good use of the marquis' absence and contact the various armies within the ancient cities. They should be integrated into our system. You go! It's not as convenient for me to say something since I represent the marquis!"

Gan Wuliang stared with resignation.It's not convenient for you, but it's convenient for me? Man, do you have any respect for me? After this, I'll have offended New Martial, Great Li, Dao Sword, Watercloud, Barren Dynasty...

None of you guys are ever concerned if I survive your mad schemes or not!

"There will be plenty of rewards in it for you once this is complete! Ah, one more thing..."

A dull throbbing started in the back of Gan Wuliang's head.No 'one more thing'!

"Make a few trips to Evenround Martial when you have time—the now Star River. Take Jiang Yingli and the other students with you. Say that you're going to visit their old teacher and classmates.

"Figure out a way to recruit all of the Evenround students, as well as their other Saints. But don't try to trick or manipulate them. That is all. I hope that they'll be Saints marching under the Skystar Commander Office banner by the time the marquis returns!"

"Um..." Gan Wuliang was sweating profusely. "What if Dean Zhang objects..."

"He won't care about that, don't worry!"

Easy for you to say!These days, Gan Wuliang was thinking that while he could read people's emotions, this woman didn't even have a heart! What was he supposed to read in the absence of a heart?

Li Hao was generous enough and didn't care about these details. But this one... wanted everyone in the world to answer to the young man!

"I understand, I'll go do it. But I'm only one person..."

"Do your best!"

Fine then, Gan Wuliang could not refuse. He could only grit his teeth and accept the mission. Sooner or later, this couple would be the death of him. Lin Hongyu was even more black-hearted than Li Hao!

Gan Wuliang soon made his departure, leaving Lin Hongyu frowning in the head seat. Was something wrong with Dao Sword? But... would he be so aboveboard if so? Or was he so close to them that his deviancy was undetected?

She could only suppress her concerns and have Gan Wuliang keep an eye on the genius. Granted, she also needed to keep an eye on Gan Wuliang as well. Li Hao might not rein him in, but she needed to. Who knew if they were the enemy's pawns?

She rubbed her temples and looked at the sky, at the north. When would Li Hao return? A lot had changed in three months. Sometimes, she felt her strength falling short of her wishes. Enemy spies seem to abound in Li Hao's absence.

......

Sword City.

Li Hao was erased once again. This time, quite a long period of time elapsed without signs of his revival. The sword intent had been fully absorbed by the three, but the young man did not return.

The sword tree began to shake violently. The three of them had recovered greatly due to absorbing sword intent, but fear and horror were pricking at them. Although Li Hao had said that this was their replica...

Wouldn't he be weakened if his replica died? And, was this really his replica?

While their intelligence was comparatively lower, was it really a replica that possessed the abilities being shown to them? Li Hao died once every three days, the river appeared with each of his deaths and he returned through the power of time.

If a replica could accomplish this, then wouldn't his primary body be undying?

Why hasn't he returned yet??

The three Saints were incredibly nervous and didn't say a word. The atmosphere was taut with tension. Was Li Hao... dead?

Just as they fidgeted with anxiety, the sword tree suddenly jerked with emotion. It'd never been as worked up as it was now. Sounds of a babbling brook had appeared!

A river of chaos manifested in the void, displaying a figure that was both weak and towering. Such was the complicated, conflicting image that it presented.

Li Hao reappeared when the river traveled through the air.

"How long has it been?" His voice was peaceful and weak.

"A very long time..." the tree gabbled.

"I mean, the precise amount of time."

"Thirty seconds!"

"Wonderful!" Li Hao nodded slightly. "I might've been completely erased had I waited a moment longer. Such is the case when we work with the limits of transforming a dao entity!"

It'd seemed like a long time between the exalted emperor slapping him to death and Sword City escaping. In reality, it'd only been ten or so seconds.

That'd been the longest time that Li Hao spent dead. This time, he sought to push himself to the limit and returned after thirty seconds.

However, he might've expended ten thousand years of lifespan for those thirty seconds! The longer he spent dead, the greater the price he paid.

"What took you so long this time?" the tree asked urgently. It was like the tree was a wife waiting for her husband to return home.

Of course, Li Hao had no such thoughts about a tree; neither did the sword tree have toward him. They were more like a pet waiting for its master to return.

"I just wanted to see how long I could last for. Thirty seconds was beyond my imagination," Li Hao laughed.

Everything could change in the blink of an eye when powerhouses fought! Faking one's death for thirty seconds might change a lot of things, assuming that the enemy didn't erase everything that was him. A fake death would turn into a real death then.

Faking his death didn't seem like a safe course of action either.

"Did you comprehend anything this time?" the sword tree asked urgently.

This was Li Hao's thirty-first false death. He'd required three days between each instance at first, but now two days were sufficient for him to gather enough sword intent. The attempt could only be made when there was enough sword intent to kill him—just heavily injuring him wasn't enough.

So had the young man gained anything after dying thirty-one times?

The trio of spirits did not know. They only knew that Li Hao seemed much older and weathered than before. They could guess that these attempts came at the price of Li Hao expending his lifespan. He might've depleted tens of thousands of years after thirty-one attempts.

Even the strongest existence would die of old age. There would come a day when the universe fizzled out.

The young man might not think much of it now, but come the day when he lay dying... He might think that it had been so unwise to waste so much lifespan here today.