Star Gate-Chapter 1566: Loss and Gain (II)

Void didn’t interrupt the young man when he saw Li Hao sink into contemplation. Only when they neared Demon Summit did he say, “Your current intentions are to continue participating in the war of the worlds, right?”

“Correct,” Li Hao nodded. “I wouldn’t hide Silver Moon otherwise! I did so to free myself up for participation! It’s just that I’m also still waiting to comprehend the dao of extreme yin. The combination of yin and yang should facilitate my entry into mid rank. That will afford me a firmer foundation through which to participate in this war!”

“The daos of emptiness and revitalization may not be worse than yin and yang!” laughed Void. “Although I am unable to enter seventh rank, I can give you some pointers today. You can comprehend the most basic of revitalization and emptiness. While seventh rank is out of reach even after combining them as one, fourth rank is not! Must you really walk the paths of yin and yang?

“If there’s really no other options, I also understand light and dark very well. You can try that too. If that’s not feasible, the arts of the five elements are solidly middle-of-the-pack! The Human King’s strength is not testament to the might of yin and yang. Your dogged pursuit of it may be hindering your attainment of it instead.

“Emptiness and revitalization is also a better match with life and death!” Void further explained. “You saw it yourself that emptiness and death, as well as revitalization and life are daos that complement each other.”

“I had thought about that... but... you haven’t even comprehended revitalization yet...” Li Hao blinked. Well, that was before. Void seemed to have come to a partial understanding now. He wouldn’t have brought the young man back to peak condition otherwise.

But...

“I’ll teach you emptiness and revitalization, whereas you can teach me life and death in return. How about that?”

The young man started. It wasn’t that he was unwilling to do so, but...

“It’s not that I don’t want to, but that the dao of life and death requires truly experiencing death! Unless the circumstances demand it so... otherwise... this dao is typically cultivated by those in the lower rungs of society.

“The paths of yin and yang, emptiness and revitalization are walked by those who will not die. Society’s dregs have no choice but to take this risk!”

You don’t need to gamble with your life!

Whether it was Li Hao or Lin Hongyu, they’d put their lives on the line many times. Li Hao had truly died multiple times, and Lin Hongyu had summoned a future self that coincidentally wielded the strength of death.

The power of life was easy to handle, the power of death was not.

“There’s nothing to it!” Void laughed. “I’ll learn it first and know a bit about it, then take the gamble when I truly encounter a life or death crisis. Who in the chaos dares say that they’ll never die? Did the masters of the worlds that New Martial took down, the Utmost Dark master, and the Elysian Fields master, think they would die? Yet they did nonetheless!

“The dao of life and death is very useful at critical moments. As for the one of yin and yang... you might have already sent people toward New Martial. But truth be told, I think that there are only two in New Martial who really understand yin and yang. One of them is the Human King, the other is the Ash Emperor. The others don’t understand it completely, so their comprehension may not be that effective.”

The paths of emptiness and revitalization were indeed good daos. Li Hao had come to understand a bit of the dao of emptiness after this time. As for the path of revitalization, the cycle of life and death might be a type of revitalization as well.

He’d experienced it for himself today, so if the young man was to truly devote himself to studying it, he might be able to learn a significant portion of it. That sounded nice.

It was just, he’d always treated the daos of yin and yang as his goal. Another reason why they were a priority was that the reversal of yin and yang helped powerhouses recover. Now it looked somewhat similar to the revitalization of emptiness, which was what Li Hao had pursued before.

The young man might not be interested if it was the light and dark daos. But if it was the recovery of stillness, that was worth considering.

The key was, Void was right here. These daos were close at hand!

Li Hao was yet to witness the reversal of yin and yang, but he’d seen revitalization in practice numerous times. The young man had thought through things clearly by this point and said, “I can share my reflections of life and death with you, while you send me your knowledge of emptiness and revitalization. There’s one point I must make clear, however. I will not be responsible if the gamble doesn’t pan out when you truly face death!”

A certain degree of luck was involved with life and death. Void could make the gamble, but what if he didn’t come back to life?

That’s not on me then!

“You talk like my death is a foregone conclusion,” Void burst out laughing. “In reality, it’s up to my own comprehension when it comes to an exchange of great dao. That’s not even getting into whether I can successfully resurrect or not. What does it have to do with you?

“I’m only teaching you surface level knowledge myself. I’m not claiming that I’m skilled at the dao of revitalization. If that was the case, I would’ve entered seventh rank a long time ago!”

It’s all just a smattering of comprehension and we’re basically on the same footing. What’s with the disclaimer, huh?

“Then it’s me who’s haggling too much,” Li Hao waxed eloquent. “Being with a rich second gen like you makes me realize that I’m not generous enough. I live the life of the poor! If there’s a future in my cards, I’m going to make sure my kids are rich second gen, so that they can be more generous at a young age.”

“......” Void burst out laughing, finding Li Hao extremely interesting—not in terms of great dao, but as a person. If it wasn’t for the immense blood feuds on the young man’s shoulders, he would be a very fun person to befriend.

What a pity that there wasn’t time for Void to poke at the young man. They’d entered Demon Summit over the course of their conversation and swiftly appeared within the Hall of Darkness.

The shadow greeted them with slight surprise. Li Hao didn’t say anything before flooding the hall with all of the fire energy, directing it into the shadow. The weapon soul froze with astonishment.

What in the heavens?? What is the young man doing?!

“Senior, this is Skyward energy that I’ve collected to replenish the senior’s depletion!” Li Hao smiled.

“......” The shadow was at a loss for words.

“I’m not asking for a reward or return!” said Li Hao.

“......” That means that you are looking for something! You brat, you’ve really got something rattling around in that skull of yours. You borrowed Flamefire’s strength and left a little of it behind to make sure... I owe you a favor?!

“I don’t need it!” the shadow refused calmly. “I don’t care even if I don’t have any energy! You’re the one who wanted to give this to me, it has nothing to do with me!”

I’m not falling for this!

“It’s alright, I do have a very small favor to ask though, senior,” Li Hao laughed. “It’s very easy to satisfy.”

“Speak of it.”

“If I seek shelter through the dao chess mark... Ahem, if I come to comprehend dao, can I bring some people with me? Of course, they won’t participate in comprehending dao. They’ll just stay within dao chess.”

“......” So you’re treating me as a personal sanctuary?

However, it was undeniable that Li Hao had supplied it with a significant amount of energy, and it was the Skyward energy that the shadow needed. While it was the young man who’d voluntarily supplied it, not at the shadow’s behest... what he’d done had benefited the shadow nonetheless.

His request wasn’t that out of bounds either. He just wanted to bring a few people with him for shelter. Those additional people wouldn’t make a difference.

“You can do that... but just as you say, if they do not have the right to participate in dao chess. They cannot walk it! It is easy for you guys to enter it, but that doesn’t mean that everyone has the right to try it.

“Not to mention, playing dao chess may not be a good thing. Not everyone wishes to understand a myriad of daos. Understanding too much might bring them trouble instead.”

It wasn’t necessarily good to have too broad of an understanding. If it was that easy to comprehend a myriad of daos, then there would be high ranks everywhere beneath the heavens.

Some people weren’t suited for too many daos. Sometimes, blindly following just one path was a better idea. If they were forced to understand too much... it might be a kind of torment instead. The more they understood, the more errors they would think that they had committed. They would doubt themselves instead and decide to imitate the Skyward master.

If that happened, that would be the end of any possibility to grow stronger.

Dao chess was meant for those who shared a destiny with it and not for those blind to their own faults. There was an audience that it was appropriate for.

“That’s enough,” Li Hao nodded. “We just need a place to stay for a little bit, it won’t be too long. There aren’t that many traveling with me these days either!”

“Then it will be permitted!” the shadow agreed. “It is to your credit that you were able to retain so much energy. It looks like your matters were conducted successfully. But to be borrowing strength again and again...”

“I’m fine!” Li Hao laughed.

The shadow furrowed its brows when it saw the young man dismiss its concerns. Li Hao didn’t see the gesture, but he sensed it.

“I know where the problem is!” Li Hao smiled. “But since the situation has become thus, there’s no point in thinking about it day and night. I’ll just borrow a bit less in the future! If it really comes down to it, I’ll think of a way to supplement it!”

Supplement it? It won’t be that easy!

The shadow said nothing else, it was just offering a word of caution. It couldn’t do anything about Li Hao’s decision.

“Senior, doesn’t it mean that Demon Summit can return to normal operations after absorbing some energy?” Void asked. “Can I try the first trial again then?”

Heavens above! The shoe drops! I was wondering what this would cost me!

However resigned the shadow was, Demon Summit was the dark envoy’s territory. Those who passed the first trial could enter the second trial. One failure didn’t mean that candidates couldn’t try again. If Void passed this time... the shadow wouldn’t have a reason to refuse his return to dao chess.

In addition, the Skyward master’s intentions with the Hall of Darkness had been to facilitate those with good potential to study dao chess.

“You can do so, but wait for a while,” the shadow said after a while. “You’ve consumed too much energy with your actions, whether with dao chess or Demon Summit. What little energy I’d stored before has nearly been depleted. This is also why I need you guys to supply me with power first before you can enter the treasure.”

“I’m in no hurry!” Void laughed. He truly wasn’t. “Since we’re here, let’s spar with our great dao and discuss our understanding of it.” He looked at Li Hao. “You can leave as soon as possible when we’re done and I’ll stay here in seclusion. I’ll pretend I never left. That’s what I’ll say to the Skycloud exalted emperor. As for you... you should get going while the going is good!”

Li Hao burst out laughing. Are you in such a hurry to get me out of here?

Of course, based on what they'd said before, leaving early might be a better decision. Otherwise, the seventh rank might arrive at any moment.

It’s just that, it took a lot of effort to get here. Am I to run before I even see the faction leader? THere’s also a lot of Silver Moon citizens on Skyward now. I’m leaving behind my teacher and the others here.

But perhaps they’ll be safer here. Who will pay attention to non exalted emperors?

No one!

Li Hao wasn’t going to take his teacher and the rest with him. They could search for their own opportunities. There were plenty in Skyward and some dao foundation sites depended on one’s personal fortunes.