Star Gate

"You have borrowed a moment of the future, but I... am in the middle of battle! You leasing my strength in this critical second means that you have a debt to pay in the future. Do you understand what I mean?"

Li Hao's heart shook, he did!

He'd summoned his future self, but his future self had been in the middle of battle. His strength had been spontaneously yanked away by his present self. This meant that the other... or rather, his future self would one day lose all strength at a critical moment. He would die to the enemy after that!

As expected, his future self became increasingly undefined. He sighed, "One bite and one sip... This is just one possible future. But now you are destined to suddenly lose your strength in a future crisis to make up for this vacancy!

"I have already fallen to the enemy in my future... I hope you won't end up like me... Be careful of a moment of guaranteed danger in the future!"

Li Hao's heart shook! If this was one of his futures, then he'd just ensured his own death due to randomly summoning his future self!

The weathered Li Hao crossed the stars with one step, walking toward present time from the unbounded future. He set foot over the world barrier and appeared next to present Li Hao with a wry smile. It was himself that caused his own death, but this was the result of his present self needing strength from the future.

The power of time was incredibly complicated!

His future self's voice rang in his mind when the two became one. "Don't use this method anymore... the drawbacks are too great. You might have a chance to recover from one instance, but two or three times...

"The strength that you're drawing upon will be repaid from the most critical moments. It won't be any random moment, but when your battle intent is the strongest! Such is the drawback of the future self... It is a good thing that this is just one possibility out of ten million. You must be careful the next time you need to erupt with power..."

Li Hao suddenly felt his blood qi skyrocket and countless rays of sword intent appeared within his body. It was so surreal as it came from his future self.

The Hao Moon Sword!

Countless thoughts, ideas, and sword intent flooded his mind. Was this the sum of knowledge from his future self? It felt quite unreal, but the sword intent was well and truly within him.

Innumerable stars appeared in the sky again—one hundred, three hundred, five hundred...

One thousand skies gathered in a split second!

The blow of one thousand moves?

Li Hao abruptly found himself infinitely strong, so strong that he could fight the two half step emperors bearing down on him. It appeared... that he might even win!

A million thoughts ran through his mind, suddenly replaced by unbounded horror. In the future, when he wielded a blow of one thousand sword daos, he would suddenly lose all of his strength and die to the enemy!

Was that his fate?

Would he make it through today and fall sometime in the future?

But... that was in the future!

Li Hao unleashed a stroke without a word. He also wanted to know if a blow of one thousand moves could stand against a half step emperor!

One thousand stars gathered and came together in one stroke!

"Kill!" A growl shook the universe as a sword flashed out. Killing intent shook the heavens as the weapon shot straight at Li Daoheng.

The man with a sword on his back also responded with a stroke. He came with the pressure of the Eternal Sword intent. When the two swords clashed together, Li Hao's body shook violently. His illusory strength didn't seem solid enough and much of it was shaken loose.

Sword intent was also flung out of Li Daoheng's body. His longsword shattered and he took several steps back. His arms exploded and blood flowed everywhere!

Shocked amazement dawned in his eyes!

Zheng Yu was likewise surprised. Li Hao had been fourth level Fused Dao before the fight, but his strength had spontaneously increased in a split second. Based on the power hierarchy of New Martial, that last stroke had reached eighth or ninth level Fused Dao!

It was only at that cultivation could one manage to stand against half step emperors and possibly even come out a little ahead.

"The power of time!" murmured Zheng Yu, the look in his face growing wild. Was this the power of time??

He hadn't heard what the future Li Hao said and wouldn't care if he did. All he knew was that Li Hao was an initial Empyrean King, but once the young man utilized the power of time to incorporate his past and future selves, he erupted with the strength of a half step emperor!

How incredible!

Zheng Yu didn't say anything—he broke the void with a crack of his whip and charged Li Hao!

Meanwhile, the young man's expression shifted rapidly. The illusory strength hadn't solidified enough. Some of it had dissipated after one exchange. This meant that this strength hadn't really become part of him. Although he could fight half step emperors for the moment, that was only temporary.

He whirled around and fled, reaching out to the star of time that seemed ready to leave. Li Hao utilized the river of chaos as a road, directing the star of time into the depths of the universe!

The star seemed curious about where the young man wanted to take it and followed along. When the river crashed into a barrier, it was unable to move forward!

Behind them, the two half step emperors were swiftly catching up to them at an incredible speed. It was so mind-boggling that their speed could not be described.

Golden light sparkled in Li Hao's eyes. He saw that the end of the world was like a wall. Countless tree roots snaked through it—this was his mental world!

The sword tree leveraged the world barrier to take root in the barrier. Li Hao refrained from turning around to face the two half step emperors. He knew that while he might be able to fight them, his strength would continuously fade away!

In the end, not only would he not be able to kill them, but they might kill him instead due to the loss of his strength. Rather, he should take advantage of what he had now to lay more plans.

The young man stabbed his sword into the world barrier, breaking the firmament with a crunch! He'd punched through!

Li Daoheng didn't think much of it at first, but his eyes widened when he sensed a familiar presence!

At the same time, the star of time jerked with astonishment when Li Hao pierced through the barrier. It lingered in the world no longer and ran into the hole in the sky. It was all the same to the star. Whether it was the corporeal or the immaterial dao universe, the two were both accessible from each other. They were just two sides of the same universe!

The star of time darted into the immaterial dao universe!

"How dare you!" snarled Li Daoheng.Damn it!

Li Hao set foot into the void and shot into the immaterial dao universe.How dare me? How would I be able to take you guys down if I didn't dare?

Zheng Yu didn't even look at the other two. While he could sense that something was wrong, there was no time to consider any of that. For him, it didn't matter if it was the corporeal or immaterial dao universe. Either of the two would do since he wasn't their master. So long as it was a real dao universe, it was a winning proposition for him!

What he cared about the most was the star of time entering the universe. He quickly took the passageway in!

He knew as soon as he entered that this was the immaterial dao universe, not the corporeal dao universe.

Li Daoheng was livid, but he couldn't ignore what was happening. He needed to return as soon as possible and defeat the other two, then figure out a way to seal the immaterial dao universe. He shouted sternly and slashed with his sword!

Boom!

An agonized scream sounded as the sword tree suddenly lost a lot of its roots.

"The sword tree!" sneered Li Daoheng. He'd finally seen through everything. That damnable Li Hao had used the sword tree as the foundation and had it take root in the barrier around the immaterial dao universe. Damn it all to hell!

He ignored the anguished plant spirit and cut off all of its root hairs, then darted into the immaterial dao universe. He needed to expel those two fellows as soon as possible, or something dire might take place!

Three powerhouses burrowed into the immaterial dao universe at the same time.

......

The immaterial dao universe.

Stars dotted the void. There were fewer stars than what was present on Li Hao's side, but mystery surrounded each star. The young man swept a glance over them, seeing that they were assembled in the shape of a sword as well.

When the three of them entered, the sword seemed to transform into a person, then a face. It was also Li Daoheng!

This Li Daoheng was unmoved. He swept a glance over Li Hao and Zheng Yu, then at the escaping star of time. He blinked out of sight, chasing the star!

This might be Li Daoheng's primary body.

Behind them, Zheng Yu furiously chased after the star as well. A vicious look dawned in his eyes; he was starting to lose his sanity.

"This should've been mine, Li Daoheng!" he snarled between gnashed teeth. "If you dare stop me, I will break this dao universe and leave you guys with nothing!"

Killing Li Hao didn't matter anymore, the young man wasn't important! This star was the only thing of note! Not to mention, this was Li Daoheng's territory. It would only give Li Daoheng a greater opening if he killed Li Hao now.

The man with a sword on his back trailing the duo laid around with his sword. "Both of you, get out of here!" he yelled. Both Zheng Yu and Li Hao were inside, damn it!

Although that star was mysterious beyond compare, Li Hao could make out some clues as he peered into the distance. He couldn't identify anything about it before and found its speed too fast to trace, but that was not the case when it came to the eyes of a half step emperor.

It... wouldn't actually be captured, would it? The young man's eyes widened from the thought. If it was, then he would be in trouble!

He looked at the man with a sword on his back and Zheng Yu. They were fighting within the dao universe, shaking the void and crumbling the world.

Li Hao abruptly darted away and stabbed his sword into the universe! The blow was so mighty that it pierced through the void!

"Open a passageway and let me out..." The formidable Li Hao was just as aloof as the others.

A black hole appeared beneath his feet!

It was for the best if Li Hao was willing to leave; Li Daoheng didn't have any effort to spare for him. Not only that, but his voice sounded throughout the universe. "This is my territory, Zheng Yu! Li Hao is certainly off to kill those Empyrean Kings and seize Galewind. You're here all alone, so why don't you leave with him..."

Zheng Yu ignored the man. Stars abruptly blazed in the dao universe, turning into miniature Zheng Yus. They streamed toward him as countless immaterial dao meridians entered his body!

Zheng Yu's presence ballooned; he snapped his whip through the universe, disappearing on the spot. He was off in hot pursuit of the star!

What Empyrean Kings? What Galewind? Seizing the star was his greatest opportunity!Only then can I resolve Li Daoheng. If Li Daoheng gets it instead, that will be my doomsday!

The two understood Li Hao's plans by now, but even though they did, there was nothing they could do about them.