Star Gate

Li Hao's eruption of strength was thirty percent stronger than what he could bring to bear from his own moves. He slashed at the moon behind him, raising a loud boom from the collision. It hadn't been long since the Moon God's recovery, but here she was, being run straight through!

A muffled grunt sounded as the Moon God materialized. Pain twisted the detached woman's face; there was a large bloody hole in the center of her chest. She clenched her jaw when she looked at Li Hao, dispassionate no longer!

Why was it the Eternal Sword intent?!

The sword intent raced through her body, splintering into countless rays of sword qi. It exploded with a loud bang, detonating the moon that the Moon God occupied. Its fragments fled wildly, ripping through the void to dart into the immaterial dao universe.

She could run away into the immaterial dao universe!

Since her ambush of Li Hao had failed, she could only flee. The Moon God was about to make her getaway when a bright moon and a scepter appeared. The latter swung through countless fragments, pulverizing them.

An excited queen manifested in the sky. She was nervous and anxious, stealing quick glances as Li Hao while reaching forward at the same time. She grabbed most of the remaining fragments, whereas the biggest one slipped away into the immaterial dao universe.

The queen ignored it, whirling around to run with the portion that she'd claimed!

However, worry rose that Li Hao would seek vengeance for her claiming part of his battle spoils. She suddenly turned around and sent her scepter at the four Empyrean Kings, hitting one of them.

He stumbled and vomited blood. "You bitch!" His roar could be heard throughout the world. The queen had chosen to ambush him at a time like this!

Li Hao's longsword promptly arrived and shredded the Empyrean King.

This time, the queen fled without a look back!

I did something! I helped you kill an Empyrean King! These fragments of the moon are my loot then, right?

She ran swiftly, hugging countless pieces to her and absorbing them in frenzied delight. As she thought!

The Moon God was far from being able to truly fight Li Hao. She'd failed to ambush him and was nearly obliterated instead. If it wasn't for her connection to the core of the world, she would already be dead.

The queen didn't care about any of this. Even if the Moon God managed to awaken from these injuries, she would be hard pressed to recover her strength of an Empyrean King. It was rather herself... who'd progressed from being a puppet to being in the driver's seat. The amount of lunar strength she wielded eclipsed that of the Moon God's primary body!

Despair shone out of the eyes of the remaining three Empyrean Kings after the queen ran off. Seven of them had struck together, but four were killed in the blink of an eye. Li Hao had nearly killed the Moon God with the Eternal Sword intent, creating an opening for the queen to strike back at her.

The queen had then delivered a devastating blow to the Empyrean King, leading to one of their deaths. There was no hope left for the remaining three!

"Li Hao!" One of the Empyrean Kings ground his teeth. "You won't win..."

The three Empyrean Kings looked at each other and shot for the depths of the dao universe. Scintillating radiance burst from their bodies. Since they could not match Li Hao, then they would self-detonate and demolish the dao universe!

They would completely throw it into disarray even if they couldn't destroy it! Since they couldn't kill Li Hao, they would extinguish his hopes of future advancement. That was more worthwhile than killing Li Hao!

A violent light dawned in their eyes as their brutal inclinations awakened.Although we betrayed New Martial, we still harbor some of its spirit of resistance! If you don't let us have an easy time of things, we won't let you have an easy time either!

Li Hao frowned slightly; another thought occurred to him when he wanted to respond. He dropped his upraised hand and let the Empyrean Kings do as they would!

Three incredible surges of strength abruptly exploded.

KABOOOOOM!!

An overwhelming energy ripple erupted from the dao universe. It swept through the world as the dao universe shook violently. Li Hao trembled, as did the river!

The three explosions of destruction sped in all directions!

Li Hao coughed, finding that he'd lost a significant portion of dao strength and that his presence had cratered significantly. He didn't do anything to stop it!

The young man didn't say a word as he looked into the depths of the universe. If the star of time was the heart of great dao, would it appear if the corporeal universe was under attack?

Would it come to calm the great dao?

Things would be very interesting if the Empyrean Kings managed to cause the star to shift to the corporeal universe. Those two guys fought tooth and nail in the intangible universe, but if the star of time left that area, they'd be fighting over nothing!

This was one of the reasons why he didn't interfere with the Empyrean Kings. So what if his strength declined somewhat?

A cold light shone out of Li Hao's eyes as he vanished on the spot. He permitted the great dao to shake as it would, reappearing over Galewind. There were still some people left in the ancient city.

"I surrender..." someone screamed among the terrified crowd.

BAM!

Ten thousand rays of sword intent erupted and ten thousand swords swept through the city. Agonized wails and screams filled the air. Zhang An appeared in the air not too far away, looking down with a soft sigh and without a single word.

These were all traitors! They deserved to die. He just felt... a bit of regret. Why had they chosen to betray New Martial?

The entire city turned into a city of blood! Countless people who'd survived were exterminated. Their death rattles reverberated in the ear.

"All main cities are to swiftly gather here!" Li Hao boomed out. Various ancient cities promptly broke through the air!

Some of them had witnessed a bit of the proceedings; some hadn't seen anything. They were all incomparably stunned and shocked. Galewind... really had been conquered!

Zhang An sighed again, this time with another mix of emotions. Li Hao had just talked about taking Galewind, but here he'd actually done so. Based on their earlier agreement, he should hand over Star River to the young man.

"Everyone, withdraw from Star River. The city will be handed over to Li Hao!"

Within the city, the Saints jolted with surprise. And yet, they didn't say anything at all because they'd seen how the young man had made quick work of the Galewind Empyrean Kings. No word of refusal passed through their lips.

An enormous Star River landed next to Li Hao. The Saints appeared behind Zhang An, reeling with shock and unease. The young man really had killed all of the traitors! Only Zheng Yu was alive out of the New Martial turncoats.

More ancient cities flew over from a distance. Galewind, Star River, Battle Heaven, Boundless, Martial Alliance, Steadfast Sky, and Thunderblast were all gathered together. Apart from Sword City still being within the seal, seven out of the eight cities belonged to Li Hao!

The young man took stock of the void, raising his eyebrow when he sensed two incomparable presences piercing through the void. The two half step emperors were still fighting!

"Assemble the Eight Trigrams Suppression Formation and wait here for me," he instructed the seven cities. "I'm going to get someone!"

Who was he going to get?

Ying Hongyue!

Today was when Ying Hongyue would meet his doom!

Li Hao disappeared.

......

In the north.

Ying Hongyue's expression changed drastically when he saw certain things. He turned tail and fled madly without a word, terror dawning in his eyes!

"He wants to kill me!" He clenched his jaw with understanding . "He wants to kill me!"

Li Hao was assembling the eight main cities to keep the seal under control!

Li Hao wants to kill me! Everything he's done today was for this! He wants to completely end me!

Run!

However, killing intent rose to his rear at this moment. "I think you already know, Ying Hongyue!"

"Li Hao!" shouted the man. "I was struggling for survival too! I undertook everything I did to ensure my own safety and Silver Moon's security! Only with an assembly of the eight bloodlines did I have a hope of breaking the New Martial conspiracy!

"I did it for Silver Moon, for our world! Ihadto sacrifice a few people! If I succeeded, then I was their savior! Do you dare say that you haven't killed an innocent person or two as well? Your teacher killed countless martial masters who were innocent! I only killed some mundanes for the sake of the entire world. I am a guardian of Silver Moon as well!

"I was the world's only hope twenty years ago!"

"I have never killed the innocent." Li Hao was very calm. "No one who died in my hands was innocent! You can't run. Silver Moon is only so big, where can you run to?"

"Don't force my hand, Li Hao!"

Boom!

Immense blood qi erupted from Ying Hongyue's body and Red Moon power swiftly crept over him. The eight bloodlines shook madly! The look in Ying Hongyue's eyes changed and struggle could be heard in his voice.

"We meet again, Li Hao...." He spoke with sudden notes of majesty before switching back. "Don't make me do this, Li Hao!"

His expression flickered between august majesty and tremendous struggle! It was the exalted emperor's power invading his body. It'd exceeded the limits of the eight bloodlines and was taking over Ying Hongyue. The exalted emperor would seize possession of the man's body if this continued.

"Exalted Emperor, the star of time has appeared," Li Hao said slowly. "Zheng Yu and Li Daoheng are fighting over it. I think it won't be long before one of them succeeds and verifies their position of exalted emperor. Your trace of blood might have almost locked onto that dao universe's location as well!

"Why don't I also benefit you with Ying Hongyue's death? The seal will spontaneously vent some of its energies, which means you can seep your power through it and enter the immaterial dao universe. You can join their battle and prevent them from killing you after they succeed. Are you sure you want to get bogged down with me here?"

"A weakling killing three premier existences... you have quite the determination!" Ying Hongyue's face was majestic. The star of time was the prize that he dangled in front of all of them!

"Is this the item that gives you the strength to resurrect yourself?"

"That's right!"

The exalted emperor's stern visage began fading away. "This emperor knows that you are using the eight cities to contain the seal... But just as you say, some cracks will develop when Ying Hongyue dies. They will be sufficient for me to send my strength into the immaterial dao universe. But are you not worried that I'll take advantage of that split second to kill you?"

"You can try," Li Hao laughed. "See if that second is better spent killing me and losing the chance to enter the immaterial dao universe. You can kill me, I won't be able to kill you. Then those two will succeed and definitely be able to kill a weak exalted emperor!"

It was a blatant conspiracy!

It was a blatant conspiracy from beginning to end.

Even if you send some strength through the seal, will you spend it killing me or seizing the star of time? Will you have any more chances if you delay yourself with me?