Star Gate-Chapter 1638: Impending Storms (II)

“Now this is interesting!” Number Two’s whiskers curved upward. “There is indeed something special about all daos in existence! If it really can give birth to living beings, then either this world becomes the hunting target of other domains or... it becomes the tyrant of a region!”

“Precisely!” Li Hao nodded with a smile. “But this is just all talk. I may not ever be able to bring life to this world—it’s too hard. It might be beyond the reach of an eighth or ninth rank as well.”

“That may not be the case,” the cat shook its head. “You command time!”

Li Hao blinked, then nodded. Perhaps he did!

The young man didn’t say anything else. Everything that’d taken place today was just an amusing diversion on the path of cultivation. This ‘attachment’ world domain sounded impressive, but wasn’t much in reality.

Li Hao had created a world for this dao simply because he felt that this dao rule might be able to modify the characteristics of certain daos. Red Moon strength, for example. A lot was produced when they killed Red Moon exalted emperors, but it wasn’t a good resource for everyone to absorb. Gan Wuliang was the only one compatible with it.

If the dao of attachment could cling to Red Moon strength and transform it into another dao, it would be very useful then! After that, it could attach to other daos and change them into ones suitable for other cultivators. It could ensure a high degree of compatibility and prevent resources from being wasted.

This dao was a perfect supplemental dao. And if there came along a heaven-defying genius who could train it to its maximum and assimilate all daos, then that would be incredible indeed. It would be a dao of a myriad daos.

However... Li Hao shook his head when he looked at the world domain the size of a human head. Forget it! He was looking for this thing to produce a perverse genius?

What a joke! 𝘧𝓇ℯ𝑒𝓌𝑒𝑏𝓃𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘭.𝒸ℴ𝓂

If any life forms did come to be on this world, they’d most likely become fodder for other heavyweights. Killing the living beings in this world, stripping them of their flesh and blood, and integrating it into their own... that was the most perfect course of action.

The thought flashed through his mind as Li Hao looked around him. World domains hovered in the premises, much larger than before. Some were also much more stable.

The young man smiled happily, immensely satisfied!

While his strength hadn’t progressed much and he’d consumed another large batch of resources, as well as depleted two worlds... and a hundred million dao crystals...

Anyone else, even a fourth rank, would’ve improved a great deal. Li Hao showed nearly no progress!

But even so, he was very satisfied and gratified. This was a much better proposition and gain than absorbing dao crystals.

“Senior Number Two, the purification that you mentioned before...” He looked at the cat.

“I knew you couldn’t wait!” The cat waved its stubby tail. It looked at the river and then the world domains with emotion. “I recommend that you comprehend some daos of purification yourself in the future. They’ll be able to purify the river! It will make the dao strength purer, which will open up an entirely new world to you!”

Was that so? He’d never experienced anything like it before!

Number Two didn’t say anything. It opened its large mouth and deployed a strong suction force. It wanted Li Hao to comprehend the strength of purification, but utilized the power of devouring itself.

The two were different, but the effects were mostly the same. It swallowed the impurities, sending ripples through the river for a split second!

Li Hao looked at the river, seeing countless dots of light float to the surface and end up in the cat’s mouth. The original river possessed very pure dao strength—the young man refined it every time he cultivated!

If anyone dared say that his dao strength was impure compared to regular fourth ranks, he’d bash the other’s head in.

But at this moment, the young man became lost. Countless dots of light were disappearing! Strands of dao strength vanished from the river. The moving waters abruptly stilled and one-third of its waters seemed to have disappeared in the blink of an eye!

Number Two was still devouring!

Li Hao’s jaw sagged. If the cat continues... will there only be half of the original energy left in my dao river? Will my cultivation level decrease?

“Um...” The young man wanted to say something, but kept his mouth shut. He couldn’t judge the cat’s actions with such a petty eye. Number Two was certainly not doing this for the sake of devouring energy...

The cat seemed to eat its fill at this time and closed its mouth, swallowing all of the dots of light within it.

The water currents hovering in the air landed with a loud boom; the dao river resumed normal operations. However, Li Hao’s presence declined slightly. But the young man’s heart shook at the same time!

He felt so light and airy!

It was a sensation of incredible comfort, as if the previous dao river had unknowingly become a burden that weighed on his body. But in this moment, the entire weight lifted.

Dao rules became incredibly clear in the world and river... What had been a disorderly mess of dao rules was suddenly clear to Li Hao’s eyes. His entire being seemed baptized anew.

It was like he hadn’t showered in decades and had recently emerged from a bath. All of the fifth and grime had been scrubbed from his skin. It felt so nice! How delightful!

The waters within the river were much clearer than before. Dao rules floated to the surface with pristine clarity. Li Hao was flabbergasted when he took a look!

So this... was purification?

Lin Hongyu was likewise dumbfounded when she glanced at the river. She could see that her star of life and death was smaller than before. While she was still a second rank, she could sense that the strength within her body had declined immensely.

But previously, her star had felt a sense of impediment in Li Hao’s river. Now, it was a happy fish that cavorted in the waters as soon as it landed in the river. This world also seemed to change before her eyes. What had been a foggy and hazy river before was pure and fresh.

Number Two breathed out wearily. Clearly, this kind of devouring was a burden for it. It wasn’t easy at all.

“When we leave Orchid Forest, we need to find a place in the chaos...” it panted. “This cat needs to fart and expel the dross in my body...”

“......” Li Hao and Lin Hongyu had been immersed in the refreshing qualities of the river. They jerked awake with shock. Li Hao didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.

So this is what you say at a time like this? What a downer!! You’re so crass! You’re an exalted emperor, but you need to fart??

Well, that’s right. There’s so many impurities in you that you need to expel them.

“The Ash Emperor doesn’t need to do that, right?” he couldn’t help but ask.

“Big Cat eats everything, I don’t!” Number Two couldn’t be bothered to explain itself. Of course Big Cat doesn’t need to, it’s more like a dog than Panther! The dog has some standards, at least. Big Cat eats everything!

The dirtier it is, the more delicious! That’s so disgusting!

Although Number Two grumbled to itself, it also sighed with resignation. It couldn’t be helped, Big Cat’s core nature was the source of filth. To it, there was no purpose for its existence if it didn’t eat trash and all things.

Li Hao didn’t say anything, he simply took stock of the new status of his body and mind. He seemed to be much more integrated with the river now. There’d always seemed to be a veil between him and the river before.

It wasn’t due to the Firmament Sword or anything else, there was just a sense of something in the way.

That was no longer the case. It was such an intoxicating feeling!

“Thank you, senior!” Li Hao opened his eyes after a long while and addressed the cat. It’d helped him a great deal this time! The dao rules within the river were much clearer to the mind.

“I’m going to sleep now and rest for a while... Don’t wake me in recent days!”

“Understood!”

Number Two darted into the river and vanished from their eyes.

“You’ve become a second rank, we should head out now!” Li Hao turned to Lin Hongyu. It didn’t matter that there would suddenly be another exalted emperor in his group.

Everyone knew that there’d been another one out of sight to begin with. It was a normal occurrence for an exalted emperor to hole up somewhere to cultivate. Appearing now would only make them think that Lin Hongyu had been hidden in a treasure or minor world before.

The woman nodded.

......

The two quickly reappeared near the barrier crack. When Li Hao’s primary body set foot into the outside world again, he suddenly noticed that the entire world seemed to be much clearer than before.

The dao net was nowhere to be found when he looked up at the firmament, but that was because he was not fully part of this world. That was the exclusive privilege of a world master.

However, he could still clearly sense certain things. There were benefits to dismantling worlds, after all.

He felt in this moment that there was a massive net at the end of the world. It covered the entire world and it might be the barrier of the dao universe!

If that’s the case, then the dao universe is the ultimate form of the dao net. If I can detect where the dao net is, doesn’t that mean I have a constant lock on the dao universe? And if I can find its rhythm or pattern, won’t that mean I can slip into the dao universe at any time?

He hadn’t dared expose the location of Silver Moon’s dao universe before because powerhouses could break in if they locked on. Li Daoheng and Zheng Yu had both tried to force the location of the dao universe so that they could attack it.

Could it be that the dao universe position they sought was the world behind the dao net?

More thoughts rapidly filtered into Li Hao’s mind, whereas the others stared at the two new additions. Lin Hongyu was a second rank? That was so fast!

Gan Wuliang also looked on with a sharp look. While they were third ranks, that was to be expected since they were masters of dao and Li Hao had expended untold resources for them to ascend.

Lin Hongyu only had her dao rooted in Li Hao’s dao river. She was neither a master of dao nor of the world, but she’d swiftly set foot into second rank all the same.

This kind of comparison doomed old seniors such as the Pagoda King. And indeed, the Pagoda King was highly envious. This was winning without lifting a finger!

As expected, even dogs and chickens soar to the heavens if the one they are close to finds success.

The Human King’s consort and sister made great progress after the Human King became a master of the world and dao. They set foot into mid rank one after another. One had to know that not everyone was a mid rank in New Martial. Some of the old guard and veterans were still initial ranks even now.

This obliquely demonstrated how strong Li Hao was. He was a fourth rank, but able to propel so many people into second or third rank. That was incredible! Logically speaking, he shouldn’t be able to surpass the masters of dao.