Star Gate

Within the formation of the eight trigrams.

The Red Moon exalted emperor pricked up his ears; anguished wails were dimly discernible. They were the only thing he could make out. What was going on now?

Things had certainly become lively ever since Li Hao entered the seal. Something was always taking place from day to night!

Was the child doing something to the little Saints? Was he eating them or something else?

The Red Moon exalted emperor wanted to take a look, but couldn't exit the formation. He couldn't send any power out. Ah, forget it, it didn't matter if he couldn't see!

......

Within the immaterial dao universe.

The man with a sword on his back was repairing some stars and a bright moon. They were almost fully returned to normal. He suddenly drew his eyebrows together and flicked a glance in a certain direction.

To think was to do, and he immediately moved to that corner of the universe. The man silently observed it for a while, his frown deepening. Was something happening? Was someone trying to invade the immaterial dao universe?

Was it the Red Moon exalted emperor or Li Hao? Or someone else?

He waited quietly, but there was only the reverberation of the stars and the roiling of dao strength here. No abnormalities showed themselves.

He was seized with a sudden impulse to rip through the void for a look, but worried that his actions would actually help the other lock onto the dao universe instead. This would enable them to truly invade.

The dao universe seemed to quiet in his split second of hesitation. The man looked on silently, remembering this location. He was committing it to memory for future investigation when dao strength surged from many places and churned throughout the dao universe.

......

At the same time.

"Don't take root in only one spot, Senior Sword Tree! Split up your attention!" Li Hao shouted. "Take root in various directions to avoid the enemy's detection! Your roots must extend into the barrier!"

Boom!

The dao universe seemed ready to disappear; Li Hao raised his sword and brought it down once more!

The void split open again! Li Hao wobbled and flew into the air.

"I'm going to assimilate this portion of the mental sea now and bring it into my brain." He clenched his jaw. "Seniors, do not move and maintain the greatest degree of stability you can. If not, I might die!"

"Go ahead!"

"We can do it!"

"Don't worry!" chorused the three Saints.

Li Hao said nothing further—a 'dao' character appeared over his forehead, as eye-catching as a red mole. "Open!"

A patch of darkness appeared in his mind, he'd accessed his brain!

The young man infinitely strengthened his body to the point in which the black hole of his mind could incorporate the entire mental sea. With a quick grab, he shoved it into his brain.

"Seal!"

The 'dao' character convulsed and 122 enormous dragons appeared, circling the character. They began to seal it away and dragged this part of the world into them!

Rumble!

Li Hao's forehead shuddered and sword intent erupted from his brain. They shot out of his mind and dyed the void with blood. Indescribable pain gripped the young man!

He forced down countless rays of sword intent and shouted again, "I will incorporate the sword intent into myself and stabilize the world. Seniors, please hold on!"

......

A ray of sword intent abruptly appeared in the artificial world of his mind. It was a sword intent that was not one of the ten rays that he'd already combined into one move!

This was the result of his efforts with the Eternal Sword intent. His body hadn't been strong enough before to deploy the formidable sword intent. Today, it materialized as a destructive force.

Boom!

The longsword pierced through the void and crashed into the borders of the sword seal. The seal grunted with repressed pain!

This was only the first ray; more rays appeared in short succession. There were rays of destructive, fragmented, and severing sword intent, as well as ones of life...

Various rays of sword light slowly became one ray that melded into the river of time.

The sword intent became one!

Stars appeared in the air, mapping to various rays of sword intent. The stars slowly settled into orbit, making the sword of time their center!

A longsword soared through the world, as if finally locating a home. The sight was so stunning that it could not be described!

Thirty, fifty, seventy...

One hundred rays of sword intent fully formed after a long while. One hundred rays of sword intent and one hundred stars were present!

"The blow of one hundred moves is complete!" A void boomed throughout this part of the universe. A longsword swallowed the star of time with a loud collision; further detonations were heard when it slashed outward. Three moans of agony sounded with renewed fervor!

"It's good that the seniors are alive!" Li Hao's voice boomed as if a bell. "Being alive means that we've almost succeeded! It's just one hundred types of sword intent. If you are unable to endure this, how will you tolerate my ten thousand rays of sword intent in the future? Seniors, today... we craft a world!"

Boom!

The tiny world quaked without end. A giant tree brimmed with sword intent, the translucent foundation beneath it vibrated madly. The walls around them also wobbled!

An artificial world!

The three Saints were highly excited and agitated. They'd created a world of sword dao! It was an entirely manmade world of mental strength!

This had never been done before!

......

The outside world.

Li Hao shook without pause, blood streaming from his orifices. It still seemed too difficult to withstand this artificial world. He continuously suppressed the sword intent, consolidated his physical body, and absorbed all sorts of strength to replenish himself!

Suppress!

Only if he suppressed the unruly sword intent would he succeed. This was the most critical step of his trip into the seal. He hadn't thought of doing so before, but with the three Saints present, it would be such a shame to them if he didn't seize the opportunity.

"It's just a blow of one hundred rays of sword intent!" Li Hao leered. "Do one hundred rays seek to upend the world? Not to mention, you guys were my sword intent to begin with!"

Boom!

Sword intent flourished and ripped through the firmament!

A sword appeared in Li Hao's hand and he chuckled lowly, "The Firmament Sword will... battle the cosmos today!"

He waved his sword!

Sever!

Boom!

Up ahead of him, Sword City erupted with domineering sword intent when it was struck. There was a hint of baffled indignation—this human is hitting me?

"Kill!!"

The Firmament Sword incorporated one hundred rays of sword intent, with the one of time as the primary. The world fell apart at this stroke. Having been close to Li Hao before, Sword City flew into a rage. It bristled with overwhelming sword intent and began doing battle with Li Hao in the depths of the universe.

Sword intent pierced through the world!

After a while, even the distant exalted emperor could see some shadows of the action. What was Li Hao doing now? Fighting Sword City?

So he really was trying to swallow the three Saints?

That seemed to be the case since there was no sign of the three little guys anymore. Now this was a heartless child!

"He seems to have become much stronger!" He could vaguely see Li Hao wielding another sword and suppressing Sword City with it. The young man's sword intent raged to the heavens as the two fought fiercely!

......

Battle!

Unending battle!

They fought in the sky and on the ground, two currents of sword intent continuously tearing at each other. One was the Hao Moon Sword intent, the other was the Eternal Sword intent. The latter was strong, but there was only the sword present and not its wielder.

Although the Hao Moon Sword intent was weaker, it could erupt with no limitations since its master was present.

The two fought to a standstill for the immediate time being!

Sword intent flowed out of the area within his brain, which lessened the pressure on the three Saints. It gave them sufficient time to grow accustomed to the Hao Moon Sword intent.

At the same time.

The one hundred stars in the mental world shifted repeatedly, as if reassembling themselves in a series of continual adjustments. Li Hao was updating his sword technique as well. He deployed slightly different versions each time.

There were ones that were strong, there were ones that were weak. Sometimes, he let loose with a self-destructive force that blew up his own body and dyed the sky with his blood.

That was a sign of a failed adjustment, an error in combination.

It was only now that Li Hao truly developed some of his own style on the path of sword dao. Although he was still imitating the Eternal Sword, he could craft his own Hao Moon Sword focused around time!

There were a myriad of daos in the world—comprehension was easy, innovation was hard.

Li Hao fully pulled from his deep reserves of knowledge and experience on this day, continuously perfecting his sword technique in the depths of the vast universe. He fought the Sword City left behind by the Sword Sovereign.

The sword in his hand gradually stabilized, as did the one hundred stars in the mental sea.

"The Hao Moon!" Li Hao shouted at this time.

Boom!

The sword was the perfect amalgamation of one hundred moves. A brilliant moon rose into the sky and a long river materialized. The blow struck toward Sword City!

Bam!

The ancient city hurtled backward following a loud impact. The Sword Sovereign's personal weapon had lost its first clash against Li Hao!

Eternal Sword intent seeped into the surroundings as Li Hao heaved for breath in the void. A sword mark had appeared over Sword City. The young man laughed, mirth tinged with madness.

I actually left a mark on the real Stellaris! I have reached this level of strength!

Li Hao tilted his head back at the stars, his smile the most brilliant it'd ever been.

The blow of one hundred moves was complete! His sea of mental strength had formed!

The harvest of the day incorporated everything he'd comprehended and understood to date. Dao meridians opened one after another in his body—123... 124...

The stroke that combined mental strength and spirit opened more dao meridians. Li Hao steadily marched toward 144 meridians.

Finally, the process of opening dao meridians concluded. He'd opened 144 of them!

The third circulation was yet to fully conclude—he was just one step away from peak third level Fused Dao. He would be officially in the Empyrean King level once he set foot into fourth level Fused Dao!