Secrets of Silver Moon

Mowu Branch, rear courtyard. The three surviving experts of Sword City kept silent, all waiting for something. Li Hao appeared relaxed and at ease, seeming in no hurry either. The standoff held for a while. The Sword Tree ultimately failed to outlast Li Hao, for at this moment, they were likely far more anxious than he was. "A hundred thousand years ago, the Red Moon Great World encountered the Sun God. The World Master of Red Moon injured the Sun God... The Sun God's strength was peerless! To injure him meant the Red Moon World was of an extraordinarily high tier!" The Sword Tree did not begin with Sword City, but instead recounted the conflict from the Neo-Martial era. "The Sword Venerable was stationed in Silver Moon. Upon receiving word that the Human King intended to launch an offensive against Red Moon, the Sword Venerable levied an army of tens of millions, marshaling the host of Silver Moon. Countless powerhouses followed him through the Star Gate to battle in the firmament, seeking to annihilate Red Moon!" "Just as the Sword Venerable departed... Sovereigns invaded! In fact, there was more than one... Beyond the Star Gate, battles erupted as well. Multiple Sovereigns must have ambushed the Silver Moon army. From Silver Moon, I once saw a Sovereign fall!" The Sword Tree sneered coldly. "Though only two Sovereigns rode out that day—the Sword Venerable and Principal Fang—the enemy had no fewer than five Sovereigns... Yet the Sword Venerable's offensive might was peerless, his combat power incomparably fierce... The invading foes undoubtedly suffered catastrophic losses!" "However... the strike came too abruptly. In the end, one Sovereign—perhaps the weakest among them—slipped into the Silver Moon World. At that moment, the Star Gate was abruptly sealed. Someone among the Eight Main Cities activated the formation and shut the gate... We had no way of knowing what transpired outside, but most likely..." It paused for a moment. "Most likely, the clash was so violent that it... knocked the Silver Moon World far away from Neo-Martial!" Li Hao was startled. The Silver Moon World had drifted away from Neo-Martial, rather than those outside abandoning Silver Moon? The Sword Tree continued, "Silver Moon's complete severance from Neo-Martial was almost certainly because it drifted too far from the main world! That made reestablishing contact impossible. Chaos is vast, and in the boundless cosmos, a hair's breadth difference leads thousands of miles astray! Because of that, even if the Sword Venerable crushed the incoming foes, he could not find the Silver Moon World again." "A mere handful of Sovereigns could never have overcome the Sword Venerable!" "Afterward, Li Daoheng achieved the Heavenly King realm. Wielding that power in the hour of peril, he took charge of Sword City, activated the Qiankun Bagua Formation, and sealed the world barrier. With the true form of Silver Moon, the Star Gate, and Sword City as the formation's three great cores, and using the foundations of the Eight Main Cities that originally anchored heaven and earth, he suppressed that Sovereign!" At this point, the Sword Tree paused. It seemed to be reminiscing. After a long silence, it spoke again: "At that time, Sword City possessed many experts, yet none were a match for a Sovereign... Li Daoheng then proposed rallying the Eight Great Families, employing the Eight Divine Weapons, and activating the Eight Main City Seals to sever ties with Neo-Martial and forcibly break away. He wished to devour heaven and earth, slay the Sovereign, extinguish Red Moon, open the Star Gate, and aid the Sword Venerable in battle..." Li Hao listened in silence. In such a crisis, someone had stepped forward, devised a solution to resolve the Sovereign's threat, and even aimed to open the Star Gate to reinforce the Sword Venerable... Reason dictated that back then, he should have succeeded. Clearly, some unforeseen mishap had occurred along the way. Otherwise, by the Sword Tree's account, Li Daoheng might have succeeded a hundred thousand years ago. Why... hadn't he? Li Hao was puzzled. These people had clearly been swayed by Li Daoheng at first. "Did it fail?" Li Hao asked. "Did you see through him?" "No." With a soft sigh, the Sword Tree replied, "He was exceptionally gifted and charismatic, a powerhouse endowed with genuine leadership and the bearing of a leader! Moreover, he was the sole Heavenly King in the realm at the time—or at least the only one in Sword City—and very young. Everyone trusted him!" "Yet in the end, during the process of unification, trouble arose... He could not wield the Starry Sky Sword!" Li Hao paused, startled. The Sword Tree also sounded resigned. "No one foresaw such an accident! Back then... there were people who could use the Starry Sky Sword; several members of the Li family could use it! But... but he alone could not... Everyone suddenly began to wonder if something was amiss." Li Hao blinked in surprise. "Only he couldn't use it?" "Indeed!" The Sword Tree nodded. "Among the Eight Divine Weapons, the Starry Sky Sword is paramount and the most critical! Eight Divine Weapons, eight main cities, the eightfold division of the realm, the core of the formation... One could say everything in the Silver Moon World was tied to the Eight Divine Weapons, and tied to the Starry Sky Sword!" "A Li family genius like him had no reason to be unable to use it... Don't talk about not being a direct descendant of the Sword Venerable—no one in the Li family was a direct descendant. Yet others could use it, while in his hands alone, the Starry Sky Sword turned disobedient and refused his command!" Li Hao glanced down at the Starry Sky Sword in his hand. Was it talking about this sword? Or did it mean... Sword City? Naturally, he did not press the question. The Sword Tree continued, "Because of that, doubts arose, along with a bit of vigilance. Looking back, the timing of his breakthrough to Heavenly King seemed far too coincidental. With the Sovereign already sealed and time on our side, someone suggested stepping outside the seal first to join forces with the powerhouses of the other seven main cities and figure out another way..." "At that point, Li Daoheng made multiple attempts to wield the Starry Sky Sword, hoping to gain control, but failed every time. Furthermore, everyone wanted to leave... And so, the civil war in Sword City erupted!" Li Hao nodded. For Li Daoheng, letting them out meant everything would be exposed; all would be ruined. It was far simpler to slaughter the entire Li family. Still, he remained puzzled. "If no one in the Li family could use it, I would understand. But many people in the family could use it, and only he couldn't. Do you know why? Why did it turn out like that?" The Li family bloodline—the Sword Venerable had even personally imparted the Sword Dao to them. Could the Starry Sky Sword have picked its wielders back then? Yet at that time, the sword likely possessed no sentience or conscious will. That shouldn't have been the case. The Sword Tree pondered for a moment before answering, "We don't know the exact reason either... Only, when Li Daoheng slaughtered Sword City, he once roared... that the Sword Venerable... the Sword Venerable had deliberately prevented him from taking charge of Sword City! Thinking about it now, perhaps the Sword Venerable foresaw early on that he was no good and tampered with the Starry Sky Sword so he could never control it." Li Hao shook his head. "Hardly... If the Sword Venerable truly knew he was wicked, he would have slain him with a single stroke. Why bother scheming against him? That hypothesis doesn't hold." The Sword Tree snorted. "Do you understand the Sword Venerable better than I do?" "You don't understand swordsmen! Or rather, true swordsmen!" Li Hao still shook his head. "You may be familiar with the Sword Venerable, but from the bits and pieces I've learned, he was decisive and ruthless in battle. If he truly knew Li Daoheng was wicked, he would have cut him down long ago! Nor could Li Daoheng have displayed any hint of treachery before the Sword Venerable. Ambition, cleverness, intellect, talent... The Sword Venerable wouldn't have minded any of that! But if his heart was corrupt, the Sword Venerable would certainly have seen through it. Li Daoheng must have hidden it extraordinarily well, showing nothing before that point. The Sword Venerable wouldn't have discovered something amiss and left it alone, only to secretly tamper with the Starry Sky Sword!" Those people... or rather, those demon plants, did not understand the mindset of the Sword Venerable. Li Hao understood! Naturally, he was interpreting it through his own perspective. If it were him, he would never do such a thing. If your heart is crooked, I'll just strike you down with a single sword. Having ambition or cunning means nothing. Deliberately tampering with something might happen between equals, but across a vast chasm in strength, why bother? Take Qian Wuliang and the others—they had ambition, ideas, brains. Li Hao would never leave hidden traps specifically aimed at them. If he truly discovered something unacceptable... he would simply kill them. It was that simple! Toying with the Starry Sky Sword in his hand, Li Hao said, "After slaughtering the Li family, he took the Starry Sky Sword and carried it to the outside world. Perhaps he hoped... someone in the future could unlock it. He might have deliberately avoided the Li family bloodline and tested outside bloodlines to figure out why he couldn't use it." "Let me think... Maybe... during that process, more than just my lineage possessed the Starry Sky Sword! Perhaps he experimented on many people... trying to find the common thread!" As for why Li Daoheng couldn't use the Starry Sky Sword... who knew? In fact, Li Hao hadn't been able to use it at the beginning either. Only with the Five Animals Secret Art did it work! And the Five Animals Secret Art was tied to the new Dao... Could it be related to the new Dao? Yet... some Li family members back then could use it, and they hadn't grasped the new Dao. Thinking of this, Li Hao suddenly asked, "Did the Li family members who could use the Starry Sky Sword back then share any characteristics?" "Characteristics?" The Sword Tree was taken aback. "They were all Li family members. What characteristics would they share? They all practiced swordsmanship..." Nonsense! Li Hao clarified, "What I mean is, when those Li family members used the Starry Sky Sword—what exactly do you mean by 'use'?" The Sword Tree was baffled again. "Just normal use!" What did he mean, what kind of use? Li Hao frowned, forced to make it clearer. The intellect of demon plants was never particularly high. "I mean, did they unleash peerlessly formidable combat power when using the Starry Sky Sword?" "No! The Starry Sky Sword was actually just a symbol..." "Nonsense!" Li Hao spoke bluntly. "A Sovereign's personal sword isn't just a symbol; it should be overwhelmingly powerful! Then again, if they truly could unleash its full power, they wouldn't have been defeated by Li Daoheng. Viewed this way, their so-called 'use' was simply that the Sword Venerable granted certain people authorization to activate the Starry Sky Sword. Their ability to use it was bestowed by the Sword Venerable, not generated on their own!" Pausing briefly, he continued, "In that case, the people who could use it must have held core positions—the Li family members who needed to issue commands at critical moments! Right?" The Sword Tree recalled and nodded. "Yes!" "That explains it! In truth, no one could truly wield the Starry Sky Sword except the Sword Venerable himself... Well, aside from him, there is one other type of person who can use it: those of the new Dao!" Li Hao sighed with sudden realization. "I... begin to understand! Perhaps the birth of the new Dao was truly linked to the Sword Venerable. He chose not to devour Silver Moon because he had a greater vision: he wanted to merge ten thousand Daos into one and nurture a new Dao!" "It just hadn't reached complete fruition before the war broke out! It wasn't that Li Daoheng couldn't use it, but that the Sword Venerable never granted him that authorization. However, once someone comprehends the new Dao, they can probably wield it!" "This has nothing to do with talent or bloodline." "Li Daoheng... may have realized this later, but probably much later—perhaps only after I started using it did the thought strike him, realizing it was connected to the Five Animals Secret Art. And the Five Animals Secret Art... already touches upon the new Dao!" His teacher had gathered ancient and modern arts, merging them into one. That was a rudimentary form of the Sword Venerable's ten thousand Daos returning to one... Very crude, yet it inadvertently aligned with the principle of ten thousand Daos returning to one, forming five Daos returning to one! And thereby pushing open the doors to the new Dao! Five Daos returning to one, compared to the Sword Venerable... was like a firefly vying with the sun and moon! Yet it was undeniably an embryonic form. At this moment, Li Hao straightened out many threads. The Starry Sky Sword wasn't something anyone could wield. Back then, his teacher probably could have used it. Later, once Li Hao learned the Five Animals Secret Art, he could use it too! Practitioners of a single Dao could not use it; only those merging multiple Daos could! If he could think of this now... then without a doubt, if Li Daoheng had been watching all along, he must have seen and sensed it too! He might have figured it out early on, but he needed time to cultivate the new Dao. One thought after another surfaced, connecting all his past confusions. The Sword Venerable... the new Dao! The new Dao Universe was actually linked to the Sword Venerable. Perhaps it began gestating a hundred thousand years ago, yet remained incomplete and unable to emerge... Because it was too close to the Origin Universe, suppressed and unable to manifest. Thus, the Sword Venerable was unable to open such a Great Dao Universe! If so... the Sword Venerable's attainment in merging ten thousand Daos must have reached an astonishing level. He was likely far stronger than anyone imagined; five Sovereigns ambushing him would never have bested him! It was just that the Silver Moon World had either drifted off during the clash or was knocked away and lost. Meanwhile, the Sword Venerable had to reinforce Neo-Martial and might not have had time to search for it. Or perhaps he felt... minor troubles in Silver Moon were secondary; Neo-Martial was far more critical. Thoughts tumbled through his mind, and Li Hao's gaze shifted slightly. If Li Daoheng knew the key to controlling the Starry Sky Sword, why hadn't he taken it from Li Hao all this time? Li Hao suddenly said, "Sword City is the true body of the Starry Sky Sword, isn't it? The Starry Sky Sword in my hand is intimately tied to the real thing... but might not be the genuine article?" "Its effects might be comparable, but in terms of actual power, it's completely different, right?" Li Hao looked toward the Sword Tree and said softly, "Li Daoheng... if I'm not mistaken, over these years—or rather, within this past year—Li Daoheng must have visited Sword City!" Staring at the Sword Tree, he said solemnly, "Let me think. When he arrived, he was probably... very weak. He had started cultivating the new Dao! He might have even tested things out, attempting to claim Sword City from within... Sword City must have erupted with sword energy several times before this... the city must have trembled!" "..." The three powerhouses said nothing, their minds shaken with horror. "If he was weak, yet the three of you didn't try to kill him... that doesn't add up. Which means Li Daoheng almost certainly had a Dao Protector—a half-step Sovereign! His original physical body..." Li Hao speculated, then added, "Now I understand! Li Daoheng must have cultivated the new Dao, while refining his half-step Sovereign power into a puppet to protect him! He has already grasped the core principle, so... Sword City is a crucial link in his plan!" "Sword City lies within the seal. Ordinary people cannot reach it, and even if they do, they cannot carry it away!" Li Hao calculated further: "However... a man who plans for every contingency would never leave it entirely unattended. Within Sword City, there must be a fallback measure he left behind, just in case!" A fallback measure! Li Hao's mind raced, and he said in a heavy voice, "There must be a place in the city... a critical location, the core of Sword City, that he sealed off or planted something inside... Over a hundred thousand years, you couldn't have recovered so little... Let me guess... perhaps the three of you tried to enter a certain place, only to be repelled and grievously wounded!" "That's why, despite endless years, you've barely recovered at all!" The three stayed silent, letting Li Hao speak, their minds completely overwhelmed by shock. Li Hao continued piecing together every clue. After a long time, he exhaled. "Fortune and destiny—the new Dao only officially manifested once heaven and earth began recovering! During the intervening time, it must have been gestating... Li Daoheng missed that window. Helpless and unwilling to settle for becoming an ordinary Sovereign, he waited! He waited for the new Dao to emerge; the man must have seen through it long ago." "Yet his understanding of the new Dao was too shallow. Only when we discovered the Substantial Dao Universe did he quickly react and realize the existence of a Virtual Dao Universe... Perhaps right after I entered the Substantial Dao Universe, he immediately opened the Virtual Dao Universe!" Looking at Sword City again, Li Hao said softly, "The Starry Sky Sword in my hand is likely just a replica... or rather, only a part of the true body, not the whole thing! Whether Li Daoheng takes it or not makes little difference! The key is Sword City. Sword City itself must be the Sword Venerable's personal sword!" Realizing this, Li Hao added, "Therefore, the Starry Sky Sword in my hand might be a key—a key to unlocking the true Starry Sky Sword! Furthermore, he conveniently let me help him gather the other divine weapons of the Eight Great Families... and along the way, collect the Eight Main Cities for him as well!" "How proud he is!" Li Hao murmured, "The crucial components of all Silver Moon are the Eight Main Cities, the Eight Divine Weapons, the Great Dao Universe, the Red Moon Sovereign, and the Star Gate... He and I each gather a portion. In the end, what he needs to do is very simple: just defeat me!" "By doing so, everything in the entire Silver Moon will belong to him! His achievements will far surpass those of ordinary Sovereigns—ordinary Sovereigns could never dream of such a fortune... If Sovereigns are divided into tiers, once he succeeds, he might stand right below the Human King and the other top Sovereigns!" He had laid out the entire truth by himself! The three battered relics sat dazed, not knowing what to say. Li Hao laughed, a wry smile touching his lips. "I knew it. The Li Daoheng I easily outmaneuvered before was almost certainly not his true self! The only thing he failed to calculate was probably..." Time! Most likely. At this thought, Li Hao asked again, "The Blood Sovereign was the reincarnation of the Emperor of Battle Heaven... Don't bother denying it. When the Blood Sovereign visited Silver Moon in the past, did he meet the Sword Venerable?" "He... he did." "Did the Blood Sovereign mention wanting to resurrect something?" "That... we don't know." The Sword Tree felt completely out of its depth. It had held the upper hand at first, but now it could only answer passively, because everything it wanted to say had already been spoken by Li Hao! Li Hao pondered and asked, "You were in Silver Moon very early on. Were you here during the eightfold division of heaven and earth?" "Well... yes. We had just arrived with the Sword Venerable not long before..." Li Hao nodded again. "Then after the eightfold division of heaven and earth, did Dali emerge in Silver Moon—or if not Dali, an Early Martial powerhouse who occupied the north?" "Yes!" Li Hao nodded once more. At this moment, Silver Moon held virtually no secrets from him. Indeed, that powerhouse had come to resurrect the presence within the saber. The Blood Sovereign's arrangement had been improvised, not aimed at Red Moon or anyone else, but solely to resurrect the cat inside the saber. Borrowing a world to gather strands of faith, nourishing it with a blood saber of boundless vitality and blood, and using the aura of the eight directions and the Eight Divine Weapons to flank and safeguard his blood saber! If the Sword Venerable chose not to devour heaven and earth, it would be nurtured slowly. If the Sword Venerable devoured heaven and earth... the instant of assimilation might trigger a violent backlash of tremendous power, perhaps birthing countless fortunes in the process, which could also awaken the cat. Yet... what kind of existence was this, that even a Sovereign could not resurrect it? The Blood Sovereign was so close to the Human King—could the Human King not resurrect it either? Did it truly require a minor world? A bit strange! However, it was now clear that the saber was never meant for the Red Moon Sovereign, nor for Li Daoheng... The Blood Sovereign couldn't care less about them; he came solely for the cat in the saber! As for the god of Early Martial... Li Hao now vaguely understood. How audacious, to dare use the name of the Emperor of Tyrant Heaven, to dare use the name of the Sun God... Naturally, someone was backing him. The Sword Venerable knew, the Blood Sovereign knew, and the man might even have been invited by the Blood Sovereign! His sole mission was likely to protect the saber and safeguard the cat within so it could resurrect safely! As for anything else... Li Hao frowned slightly. Even when Silver Moon was on the verge of destruction, that figure did not intervene... Perhaps he was truly an Early Martial warrior rather than Neo-Martial, seeing only the cat within the saber. "The Eight Divine Weapons... the bloodlines of the eight families... I imagine they were merely used to supply energy to his saber, preventing it from losing power over the passage of ages!" "No wonder... the bloodlines of the eight families can approach that saber!" Li Hao sighed in admiration, then added, "Li Daoheng's ambitions must be boundless... He probably wants to seize that saber, devour it, and even swallow the entity within!" Thinking up to here, Li Hao still had one unresolved question: "Did the Queen of the Human King come here later? Why did she leave behind her personal sword?" The boxing gloves of the Emperor of Tyrant Heaven... might not have been brought by the Iron Head Sovereign himself, but by that Early Martial powerhouse. Yet the personal sword of the Queen of the Human King... most likely meant she had truly come in person. What was the purpose? Li Hao could not puzzle out this particular mystery. While he was in the dark, the Sword Tree knew something. Seeing that Li Hao finally had a blind spot, it hurriedly said, "The Queen of the Human King was also a supreme master of the Sword Dao, and the greatest swordsman under heaven was the Sword Venerable! Long ago, the Queen descended upon Silver Moon to spar with the Sword Venerable; in a sense, he was her teacher... After that sparring match, the Sword Venerable remarked: the Sword Dao is the Sword Dao, yet the Sword Dao is not the Sword Dao; the sword is merely form, while the essence is Dao!" "And then... the Queen abandoned her sword..." Li Hao paused, then nodded, murmuring, "Right. The Sword Dao is the Sword Dao, yet it is not! When ten thousand Daos return to one, how can there be an isolated Sword Dao? The sword is the form, but the reality is Dao! Indeed! The new Dao is linked to the Sword Venerable. Ten thousand Daos returning to one, assembled as a sword—simply because he was accustomed to swords... What a pity! What a great pity!" What was a pity? The Sword Tree and the others were completely bewildered, yet Li Hao muttered, "You wouldn't understand... If... if the Sword Venerable had been given just a little more time, he might have become a true World Master, a Master of the Great Dao! One who could genuinely rival or even surpass the Human King and the others! What a pity... The Sword Venerable might have known, but he couldn't bear to sever ties with Neo-Martial..." At this moment, Li Hao attained a faint enlightenment. The Sword Venerable might have already found the method to pioneer a new Dao Universe, but that method... most likely required severing Silver Moon from Neo-Martial! The Sword Venerable had refused that choice! The Sword Tree and the other two looked at each other in bewilderment. Honestly speaking, they believed the Sword Venerable was matchlessly powerful, capable of rivaling even the Supreme... But to say he could rival or surpass the Human King? Even fanatical followers like them wouldn't dare entertain such thoughts! Was Li Hao... flattering him? "No wonder heaven's will is a sword, the Dao meridians are swords, and the river of stars is a sword... Because all of it was likely nurtured by the Sword Venerable's intent! The sword is the form—how could it not be a sword?" He had harbored such suspicions before, and now his convictions were solidified! Meanwhile, the three before him had long since gone numb. They had initially intended to resolve Li Hao's doubts. Yet they had barely spoken, Li Hao hadn't asked anything, and now... it felt as if Li Hao was resolving their doubts instead. What was worse, they hadn't even understood most of it! "The entirety of Silver Moon consists of two parallel threads... One was the Sword Venerable comprehending the Dao; the other was the Blood Sovereign resurrecting a cat! Neither interfered with the other... But Red Moon's appearance disrupted both their plans, causing both threads to fail!" "The Red Moon Universe is truly a scourge!" Li Hao sounded deeply regretful. "Otherwise, on the day the Sword Venerable comprehended the Dao and opened the Great Dao Universe, the Blood Sovereign's plan would likely have succeeded as well... Both would have attained fulfillment and completed everything!" He shook his head. The invasion of the Red Moon Great Universe had ruined the plans of two supreme beings right at the finish line! Li Hao felt a twinge of sorrow on their behalf! Even though the new Dao Universe had ended up benefiting him... Li Hao felt that if the Sword Venerable had pioneered it himself, it might have been even more wondrous. The two wouldn't necessarily have interfered with each other; the Sword Venerable sought to pioneer it himself, rather than relying on natural gestation. Still, having reached such heights of comprehension... the Sword Venerable might very well have forged his own new Dao Universe over these years! "Ying Hongyue is a pawn for the Red Moon Sovereign to infiltrate Silver Moon! For Li Daoheng, he's a pawn to weaken the Sovereign, and also to seize the Blood Sovereign's saber and that cat! So what role does Zheng Yu play in all this?" Li Hao thought back to the old nursery rhyme: the Zheng family's young master drags his feet... If that rhyme had been spread by Li Daoheng, it certainly wasn't a careless joke. Perhaps it carried genuine meaning: whose feet had Zheng Yu dragged? The Eight Great Families'? Li Daoheng's? Or someone else's? Zheng Yu, a half-step Sovereign... Through continuous encounters, he only gave people the impression of being foolish! Yet could a foolish half-step Sovereign easily reach that realm? Could he maintain a stable faction to this day without being shaken in the slightest? He had even secretly shielded and indulged Ying Hongyue all along. Knowing about the saber beneath Star Suppressing City, he still indulged Ying Hongyue. When the Flying Sword Immortal flew out of the city to rescue him, it had been with Zheng Yu's tacit consent! He might have known early on that the Flying Sword Immortal was Ying Hongyue! Li Hao smiled. "Though I've seen through much, it seems... things are getting more and more interesting. I really want to know: whose feet did this young master of the Zheng family drag?" The Sword Tree could hold back no longer: "Li Hao... what... what on earth are you talking about?" Snapping out of his deductions, Li Hao smiled warmly. "Sword City is a fine place. Coming here has cleared up many things I couldn't understand before! Thank you!" "..." Get lost! We barely said anything! Li Hao chuckled. "What did Li Daoheng leave behind that left the three of you in such a pathetic state?" "..." The Sword Tree didn't want to speak. At that moment, the stone grunted in a muffled voice, "We haven't said anything. How do you know what he left behind?" Li Hao explained, "Li Daoheng must know of your existence; he simply spared you deliberately! The three of you are crucial: one is the tree where the Sword Venerable cultivated the Dao, one must be a whetstone, and one is the vital City Lord Seal of Sword City... In truth, he needs you to hone a sword! All these years, you three have probably been attacking what he left behind... which actually amounts to sharpening his sword!" "The three of you joining forces... is a match made in heaven for honing a sword! A sacred weapon, ground by you three for a hundred thousand years, has a chance of becoming a Sovereign weapon!" "..." The three could not accept this! The Sword Tree said furiously, "Utter nonsense! It's impossible for him to have discovered us! In his eyes, the Sword Stone is an inanimate object, the City Lord Seal is shattered, and my Great Dao was severed... It was impossible for us to revive!" It simply could not accept Li Hao's claim. The three of them had sharpened Li Daoheng's sword for a hundred thousand years! Impossible! Li Hao said softly, "Let me think... Li Daoheng probably didn't want to use someone else's sword. He... might have hidden a sword here—his own sword! What you three have been honing is his sword! His personal weapon! Even if it was originally just a Heavenly King sword... after a hundred thousand years of your sharpening and tempering, once he devours the Eight Divine Weapons and the Eight Main Cities in the future... he will not only possess peerless combat strength, but also forge an incomparable sword of his own!" "Therefore... what you three have been battling all these years should also be a sword!" "..." The three fell completely silent. The Sword Tree's phantasmal form trembled violently, nearly on the verge of scattering. Evidently, Li Hao had struck the bullseye! To Li Hao, this wasn't mere guesswork. The moment he saw the three of them, he had realized that together, they were the ultimate sword-honing combination! If Li Daoheng wasn't skilled in smithing, or felt forged weapons lacked natural spirit, using these three powerhouses to naturally temper a sword was a match made in heaven! Three swordsmen, non-human, born of heaven and earth, all bathed in the Sword Venerable's sword intent... If such beings weren't used to hone a sword, Li Hao would have found it a waste! Of course, the truth was deeply hurtful! Yet it was the reality. Otherwise, the entire city had perished—why had only these three survived? Did they really think Li Daoheng was blind? Li Hao thought quickly and added, "What place is suitable for honing a sword... The Sword Venerable's residence! The place where he comprehended the Great Dao! His sword is almost certainly kept there. That place might even connect directly to the core of Sword City; no place could be more suitable for tempering a blade! Thus, within Sword City, there must be a residence of the Sword Venerable! It might not be on the surface, but deeper down... You three definitely know where it is!" "There, it's also bathed in the Sword Venerable's Dao intent... Heavens, when this sword emerges, if it can devour Sword City... I suspect it will be far more formidable than the Starry Sky Sword!" "..." Silence descended, dead and absolute. At this moment, the Dao hearts of the three ancient beings seemed on the verge of collapsing. The stone began to develop cracks, the City Lord Seal fractured further, and even the surviving stump of the Sword Tree showed signs of splitting! Li Hao's words... had cut straight to the bone! We struggled bitterly for a hundred thousand years... only for you to tell us that we were merely... sharpening someone else's sword! Honing the greatest sword under heaven! Worse, if Li Hao had no ties to Li Daoheng and had deduced all this on his own, it meant he had seen through everything at a glance, while they had remained utterly ignorant, sharpening their enemy's sword for a hundred thousand years! For a hundred thousand years, they had believed they were undermining Li Daoheng's plans, sacrificing everything to weaken him and kill him... Only for Li Hao to tell them it was all a cruel joke! How could this not shatter their Dao hearts? Sword intent leaked outward. In an instant, the three grievously wounded Saints tottered, teetering on the brink of ruin! It was the sensation of faith collapsing, their pillar crumbling, and the conviction that had sustained their hundred-thousand-year struggle evaporating into nothing. Li Hao sighed. He could have kept quiet, but they would have realized it sooner or later. If that blade was truly forged to completion, the consequences would be catastrophic. Exhaling softly, Li Hao spoke in a voice like a booming bell, the resonance of the Great Dao echoing from his mouth: "The three of you are loyal and unyielding! Cultivating the Dao is cultivating the heart. As swordsmen, you should possess an indomitable will! A few mere tribulations are nothing; endure them, and spring shall return!" "His plan is not yet complete. If you disrupt his design, seize his sword, and slay him with his own blade, he will have woven his own cocoon to perish in!" "Right now, his sword remains there. A hundred thousand years to hone a sword—whose sword is being honed is not yet decided! An unowned divine blade has shaken your century-millennium conviction... If the Sword Venerable knew, he would be sorely disappointed!" The resonance of the Great Dao shook the air! The three jolted awake. The Sword Tree murmured, "True... Even if what you say is true, this sword is not yet finished! Nor does it belong to Li Daoheng. If we seize this sword, we'll make him lose both his lady and his troops!" The next instant, the Sword Tree's voice turned sharp: "How do we seize this sword?" "..." Li Hao said dryly, "I haven't even seen where it is or what the situation looks like. I know nothing, yet you... ask me? Shouldn't I be asking you? Where is the Sword Venerable's residence? Where is the sword? How strong is it? Does it possess a spirit?" The Sword Tree spoke with profound bitterness: "Did you... really deduce all this just from hearing a few brief words from us?" "No. It's because I have been living through all of this... I know many circumstances you do not! The key clues you provided simply turned my previous hypotheses into established facts! Do you understand?" Fine! Though still a blow to their pride, these words made them feel marginally better. The stone rumbled like muffled thunder: "Why do humans always love plotting? Clearly so powerful, yet why... do they still resort to such scheming?" Li Hao smiled. "Because their strength is insufficient!" "Huh?" Li Hao chuckled. "The truly strong do not plot; those who plot are not truly strong! Look at Li Daoheng—scheming back and forth, why? Not strong enough! Figures like the Sword Venerable and the Human King never bothered to scheme... If you have a conspiracy, I shatter it with a single sword, a single blade! If Red Moon wants war, I take the initiative and annihilate the enemy beyond our borders! That is true power. Those of the second tier, like Li Daoheng, have no choice... Their strength isn't at the apex, yet they face insurmountable foes. If they don't plot, what else can they do?" "Take me, for example. If I had the strength of the Sword Venerable and the others... what schemes? I'd slay them all with a single sword, and that would be that!" Li Hao smiled faintly. "Why would I bother pondering the enemy's mind bit by bit? It's exhausting! In truth, when the strong are still weak, they calculate too. But once they reach the pinnacle, they disdain such methods. It drains spirit and effort; better to break everything with a single strike!" The seal spoke: "You mean... as long as one is strong enough, there's no need to care about any of this?" "Of course!" "Then why do the strong get outmaneuvered by the weak?" The seal argued back. "The strong are so powerful... yet the weak target them. If the strong also calculated when they were weak, why do they get plotted against by the weak once they become powerful?" "..." Li Hao froze, stunned for a good while. That was surprisingly reasonable! After a long silence, he gave a wry smile. "Perhaps because those strong individuals still aren't strong enough. Furthermore, one thrives in hardship and perishes in ease... They think themselves invincible and stop caring, so... some end up capsizing in a ditch! You've lived through much; you should know that troubled times produce heroes. Why? In troubled times, everyone feels in danger, so they look for ways out and use their brains. In times of peace... why is it rare to see such figures? Because... people grow content!" The three grudgingly accepted this answer. The Sword Tree let out a sigh: "Then I will take you to the Sword Venerable's residence." "You don't suspect me anymore?" "Is there any need to?" The Sword Tree replied bitterly. "If it's truly as you said and you were working with Li Daoheng, would the three of us... have any chance of resisting? We aren't the Sword Venerable; we can't overpower all techniques with brute force... Perhaps you are right. We might as well take a gamble. If we win, the returns will be limitless!" Li Hao beamed, his smile radiant. "Now that's more like it! However..." His expression turned serious again. "Even if we encounter his sword, it won't be easy to handle! What worries me more is that although he's currently trapped by me in the Great Dao Universe and cannot exist in the outside world, if he manages to step out and enter this sealed domain... I'll be in deep trouble!" This place did not suppress power. Otherwise, the Sovereign would have been trapped and killed long ago! At this, the Sword Tree seemed to regain a sliver of confidence: "Don't worry. In the past, he could come and go easily, but not long ago, a woman came and took away the base he used for entry and exit. Now... he might not be able to enter easily. Even if he comes, it will likely be just as troublesome as it was for you!" Li Hao froze, then burst into hearty laughter! He had forgotten about that! The true form of the moon! Carried off by that idiot Queen! After laughing for a while, his expression suddenly tightened. "So, that fellow could freely enter and leave through that half-moon?" "Yes!" Li Hao exhaled. Queen... you look safe, but in truth, you're in more danger than anyone! Li Daoheng hadn't revealed a trace of it last time... Perhaps he intended to use the Dao meridians inside the Queen to infiltrate my Substantial Dao Universe. What wicked intentions! I should have thought of this. Back then, I simply assumed that since the Queen had taken the moon away, once it left this place, it would lose that function. It seems I was still somewhat careless. Still, it was a good thing... He had plotted against the Queen, only to lose his staging ground inside the seal. Li Hao couldn't help chuckling again. That foolish Queen seemed to have bumbled her way into doing him another massive favor! Truly, a pig-headed teammate of the enemy makes the best ally. The Queen, wonderful! Perhaps I should be nicer to her... Never mind. If I'm too nice, she might be touched and defect to my side—then I'd really be doomed. Li Hao shook his head slightly, dispelling that foolish notion. Queen... whatever you do, please never think of joining me. It terrifies me.