As One Pleases

Just after settling the others, Li Hao sensed the arrival of the Blood Sovereign. The Thunder Master sensed it at that moment as well, growing somewhat vigilant. Li Hao did not wait for the visitor inside the Thunder Realm; after all, the Thunder Realm was the Thunder Master's territory. If a seventh-rank Sovereign entered inside and managed to breach the boundary, it would still pose immense danger. Even with the Thunder Emperor newly advanced to the eighth rank, caution was warranted. Moreover... the Blood Sovereign might not have come alone. "Senior Er Mao, let's go out and meet them." Er Mao grumbled something unintelligible without elaborating to Li Hao. Soon, the man and the cat rose into the air and flew outward. Seeing this, the Thunder Emperor, Kongji, and the others pondered for a moment before following along. Although the powerhouses of Xinwu shared deep ties with Silver Moon, one could never be too cautious at a time like this. After all, having just slaughtered a host of Dragon Domain experts, danger still lingered. ... Within the Thunder Domain, lightning surged in all directions. With a crimson blade in hand, the Blood Sovereign cleaved through the lightning. Behind him, Sovereign Wushan reached out and snuffed out large swathes of lightning bolts, looking rather bedraggled at the moment. "They say this is still a calm period... yet it's already this troublesome. If it were a violent phase, even an eighth-rank Sovereign would risk falling." Sovereign Wushan muttered a few words, then caught sight of a thunder pillar and quickly steered clear. In the Thunder Domain, the tribulation lightning was stronger near the thunder pillars. After suffering a few bruises upon entering, he had finally gained some experience and promptly dodged the pillar. He glanced at the Blood Sovereign leading the way ahead... and couldn't help sighing with emotion. Xinwu's rise to greatness truly had its reasons. The Blood Sovereign didn't carry overwhelming fame in the chaos. Yet traveling with him, Wushan found him composed and unflappable, feeling far more steady and reassuring than the Human King. There were too few people in Xinwu who inspired a sense of stability; Wushan had previously worried he might encounter another Human King... but things weren't that dire. Had it been the Human King, he likely would have started brawling with the lightning tribulation long ago. As Wushan was thinking this, the Blood Sovereign suddenly spoke up: "They're here." Sovereign Wushan sensed them as well, only slightly surprised. He glanced at the Blood Sovereign; the man's perception was truly remarkable. Wushan was an eighth-rank Sovereign, yet this man who had only just reached the seventh rank could perceive them at the same time. "Eighth rank?" Wushan suddenly froze, startled. "Is it... that Thunder Master from the Dragon Domain?" He wasn't very familiar with the Thunder Master, but word had it that Li Hao had joined hands with him to kill a massive number of experts. From the looks of it... the Thunder Master had likely devoured several worlds in secret and stepped into the eighth rank as well. He was on par with Wushan, both being newcomers to the rank. However, the Thunder Master possessed the Thunder Realm, whereas Wushan had no world of his own; in a real comparison, Wushan would probably fall slightly short. Still, the Thunder Realm had only just advanced; even if the Thunder Master were stronger, the difference was marginal. But once given time to consolidate, Wushan would almost certainly be surpassed. The Thunder Emperor was now an eighth-rank Sovereign. Wushan thought to himself that this side was indeed not weak either. In the blink of an eye, several figures appeared. Before Li Hao even arrived, his laughing voice drifted over: "So it is Senior Wushan! Congratulations, Senior, on stepping into the eighth rank!" As his words fell, his figure materialized, revealing the Xinwu Blood Sovereign, Wang Jinyang. He looked just as he had in Li Hao's memories and in the River of Time—buzz cut, a longbow strapped across his back, and the blood saber from his waist now held in his hand. What Li Hao remembered most vividly was how this man had cleaved Silver Moon into eight pieces with a single strike! And in those memories, he had once spoken to the void... that worlds could indeed give birth to consciousness, but he hoped the heaven and earth of Silver Moon would never develop one... Back then, Li Hao might not have understood. Now, he had some inkling of clarity. Perhaps the Blood Sovereign hadn't necessarily been speaking of Silver Moon's world consciousness—perhaps... he had meant Time? Who could say. "Li Hao of Silver Moon greets Senior Wang!" Li Hao cupped his fists, taking the initiative to greet him. Opposite him, the Blood Sovereign looked Li Hao up and down, nodded slightly, and revealed a faint smile. "I have long heard of your renowned name! Wang Jinyang of Xinwu returns the greeting!" He also cupped his fists in polite courtesy. Then he quickly turned to Er Mao. Er Mao stared back at him with wide, curious eyes. The Blood Sovereign smiled. "Er Mao." "Meow." Er Mao let out a call, though it was unclear whether it was a greeting. "Congratulations!" Er Mao swished its tail. *Congratulations for what?* On this man, it smelled a familiar scent—vague and ambiguous, yet likely some remnant aura left behind by the teacher, only not entirely the same. Everyone said Wang Jinyang of Xinwu was the teacher's reincarnation; it seemed there was some truth to that, but also not quite. Er Mao didn't dwell on the matter and instead asked, "Where's Shuxiang?" Shuxiang was the Emperor of Battle Heaven's book boy. In that illusory space of the past, he had been the sole living being, a true entity. From the moment the Emperor of Battle Heaven severed the past and left behind that illusory realm, Shuxiang had remained at his side, following him ever since... until the past incarnation of the Emperor of Battle Heaven vanished completely, and Shuxiang left the illusory space under the Emperor's arrangements. He was truly the living being that Er Mao was most familiar with in all existence. The Blood Sovereign said softly, "In Xinwu." "Why didn't he come?" Er Mao looked at him, and the Blood Sovereign explained, "Chiyang was breached, and his yang energy was deficient. He was absorbing yang energy earlier and is still in seclusion." "Oh!" Er Mao said nothing more. They weren't very familiar anyway, so there wasn't much to say. The Blood Sovereign chuckled at the reaction, then turned to Li Hao. "Thank you for reviving Er Mao... fully materializing him in heaven and earth as a true living creature. It has settled a lingering thought in my mind." "You're too kind; it was only natural," Li Hao replied with a smile. "Senior Er Mao has helped me numerous times. Reviving him has its pros and cons; it might not necessarily be entirely a good thing." "True." The Blood Sovereign smiled, then glanced back at Wushan before looking toward the Thunder Emperor and the others. "Seeing Er Mao, I momentarily lost my composure and neglected you seniors. Li Hao, you are very familiar with Senior Wushan... so I won't bother with introductions." "Yes. This is the Thunder Emperor, and this is Kongji..." Li Hao introduced the people on his side. Although this was his first meeting with the Blood Sovereign, it didn't feel completely unfamiliar. Both saw certain commonalities in each other. Perhaps not many, but looking at one another, there was an unmistakable sense of familiarity. Both knew why, so neither brought it up explicitly. At this moment, the Thunder Emperor also looked at Wushan. An eighth-rank Sovereign... That was truly surprising. Hadn't it been said that among the Three Regions, only Bright Sovereign and a few others were eighth rank? He knew of Sovereign Wushan, yet the man had actually broken through to the eighth rank! Sovereign Wushan didn't say much either, merely feeling deeply stirred. Whether Xinwu or Silver Moon, they truly belonged to the same lineage. Whether it was the Human King, the Supreme, or Silver Moon's King, all had their unique traits. They didn't seem to care in the slightest how strong others became. For people like Wushan and the Thunder Emperor, breaking through to the eighth rank had originally been unimaginably difficult... Yet these leaders showed no wariness toward their allies—even allies with whom they had signed no treaties—advancing to the eighth rank and surpassing them. They did not seem to fear that these allies would turn on them or usurp their authority once they reached the eighth rank. Why? Many experts, including eighth-rank Sovereigns like Yunxiao, were exceedingly wary of their subordinates growing powerful, especially surpassing themselves. Before you surpassed them, they were very eager to see you grow strong. But once your strength reached a level that threatened them, those people—or rather, the vast majority—would become guarded. Did the Human King and Li Hao's group truly have no concerns? Allowing outside Sovereigns like himself and the Thunder Emperor to ascend to the eighth rank with such ease? Li Hao said nothing about this, merely smiling and remarking, "We were just about to head out and examine the thunder pillars in the Thunder Domain. We didn't expect the two of you to arrive. Why don't we chat as we observe, and you can fill us in on the developments within the Tianfang Great Dao Universe..." The Blood Sovereign nodded. "Very well!" With that, he looked toward the thunder pillars scattered across the realm and said, "These thunder pillars are likely part of a Dao net. You have probably realized it as well; they are quite dangerous. If you approach them, be careful not to trigger retaliatory strikes from the other pillars!" Li Hao nodded. He wasn't surprised that the Blood Sovereign had noticed it too. It was only natural; the renowned Sovereigns of Xinwu all possessed sharp comprehension of the Dao. None of them were weak in their understanding of the Great Dao—their supposed rashness was merely a surface veneer. Every single one of them was as shrewd as a monkey. At this point, Wushan chimed in: "Yunxiao and Chiyang are both dead. Bright Sovereign has joined hands with the Xinwu Human King and is currently safe; Kongji can rest easy! Xinwu should have officially stepped into the eighth rank. Through sheer fortune and the benevolence of the Xinwu Supreme, I was allowed to devour the world of Yunxiao, attaining the eighth rank." The Thunder Master's heart trembled violently! Those two eighth-rank Sovereigns were dead? How could that be! They were true hegemons of the Three Regions! Wushan continued, "Red Moon has submitted to the Dragon Lord. By the way, both Yunxiao and another eighth-rank Sovereign from the Gemini Realm were slain by the Dragon Lord. He had been biding his time inside the Tianfang Universe. His combat prowess is terrifying; slaughtering eighth-rank experts was effortless for him! As for Chiyang, he was slain by the Human King..." At this point, Wushan sighed with emotion. "They were veteran eighth-rank experts. Even without their Great Dao universes, they were still slightly stronger than us... yet they were slaughtered on the spot!" He glanced at the Thunder Emperor, simply meaning to convey that newly minted eighth-rank Sovereigns like the two of them were nothing extraordinary in the Four Regions. Currently, the Dragon Lord was undoubtedly the strongest in the Four Regions. Second would likely be the combined force of the Cang Emperor and the Human King. Individually, even at the eighth rank, neither would likely match the Dragon Lord. Third was Bright Sovereign. As for fourth... it might not be either of the two of them! It was more likely the Xinwu Supreme! Fifth... perhaps Red Moon, and only then would it be their turn. Of course, since the Thunder Master possessed a Great Dao universe and a world to rely on, he might be marginally stronger than Wushan, but only barely. It could be said that the two of them were at the very bottom among eighth-rank experts. The Thunder Master was thoroughly stunned. "Red Moon submitted to the Dragon Lord?" "They say if he hadn't, he would have died. At the time, the Dragon Lord still had seven seventh-rank Sovereigns at his command... Sovereign Red Moon likely signed a Great Dao covenant with him and was completely subdued." Wushan quickly summarized the situation, then added, "Now, they have regrouped with the experts of the chaos race—two eighth-rank Sovereigns and over a dozen seventh-rank ones... By the way, earlier in the Chiyang World, we encountered the other eighth-rank Sovereign from the Gemini Realm. That person has departed the Four Regions. The Xinwu Supreme asked me to deliver something to you..." With that, a jade pendant flew toward Li Hao. Li Hao caught it. Before Wushan could explain, the Supreme's voice resonated in Li Hao's mind: "The Gemini Realm can be attacked. Naturally, an eighth-rank expert holding down their home territory is a force that cannot be underestimated! For now, it is ill-advised to clash head-on with the Dragon Lord in the Four Regions... Even if Xinwu has advanced to the eighth rank, we may not necessarily match him..." The Supreme had left behind some messages. Li Hao listened in silence without responding. He was accustomed to such methods. Though he hadn't witnessed it often, these memories existed within Xinwu's history—the Supreme was omnipresent. That he could keep tabs on an eighth-rank Sovereign was not unexpected. Still, to evade detection by an eighth-rank Sovereign demonstrated that the Xinwu Supreme's strength was not to be underestimated. The Gemini Realm? An eighth-rank world, or perhaps dual eighth-rank worlds, maybe even dual Dao universes? Even if not dual universes, it was still a colossal eighth-rank cosmos—a succulent prize. However, swallowing it would be immensely difficult. Yunxiao and Chiyang were both dead. Two great eighth-rank worlds were gone. The Dragon Lord still had seven seventh-rank Sovereigns. Adding those from before, that made fourteen. Feng Yan had already been at the peak of the sixth rank; this time, she would most likely enter the seventh rank, wouldn't she? That meant at least fifteen seventh-rank Sovereigns! Moreover, many of them were Realm Lords of considerable power. Along with Red Moon and the Dragon Lord, even if Xinwu and Silver Moon joined forces, while they might have a chance of defeating them, it was far from guaranteed. The Dragon Lord was an ambitious, formidable hegemon, an eighth-rank peak expert himself... His seventh-rank subordinates held immense trust and veneration for him. *If I were the Dragon Lord... having suffered such catastrophic losses this time... with both Xinwu and Silver Moon posing major threats, what would I do?* Li Hao contemplated this, placing himself in the Dragon Lord's shoes. *If I were the Dragon Lord, what would my next move be? Wait for death?* *Although he is powerful, Xinwu and Silver Moon are newly risen worlds growing at terrifying speeds, posing an enormous threat!* *At this juncture, I would either rapidly bolster my own strength, or... temporarily put those two aside, take a circuitous route to the outer domains, and either recruit, subjugate, or slaughter a portion of the experts and worlds there to strengthen myself before turning back to deal with them.* *Furthermore, for chaos beasts, having a great world doesn't make a huge difference. Under circumstances of such severe losses... a world easily becomes a burden, or even a nutrient source for Li Hao and his peers...* *Perhaps he would let his sixth-rank subordinates devour them to attempt breaking through to the seventh rank?* After all, Li Hao had always operated that way. So had the Human King. Whenever they seized a world, they never kept it intact; they swallowed it directly to cultivate more powerhouses. As for long-term development potential, that wasn't something they cared to consider. Would a hegemon like the Dragon Lord make the same choice? If he did, he possessed six other great worlds besides the Dragon World. In that case, he might be able to create six more seventh-rank experts... pushing his total past twenty! Had he not suffered such immense losses this time, the Dragon Lord's original plan would have yielded over thirty seventh-rank subordinates. Coupled with his peak eighth-rank cultivation... That would have been truly terrifying! Sweeping across the Four Regions would have been child's play. An ordinary eighth-rank world typically had only one eighth-rank expert and four seventh-rank ones. No matter how formidable they were on their home turf, the Dragon Lord would have obliterated them. *Which means I have truly offended him beyond measure this time...* If the Dragon Lord had seized the Thunder Realm as well, linked the interior and exterior, subdued the five demon races, and absorbed even more demon experts... Li Hao sighed internally. If he hadn't stirred up trouble, the Four Regions might truly have found its master by now. Of course, it wasn't just him; Xinwu had been causing havoc as well. If they hadn't trapped the Dragon Lord, he might have slowly and steadily swallowed the entire Four Regions. Having received this news from the outside world, Li Hao felt somewhat relieved. This meant the Dragon Lord was unlikely to trouble him in the short term. ... After digesting all the information, Li Hao regrouped with the two. At this moment, the Blood Sovereign was exceedingly quiet, offering few words. Even when Li Hao proposed searching for thunder pillars, he said nothing, simply tagging along like a ghost. It was as if he had come merely to take a look at Li Hao and Er Mao. Li Hao pondered for a moment. Rather than waiting for the other man to speak, he took the initiative: "I have a question out of curiosity. May I ask Senior: back then, did you ever discover the Time Star?" The Blood Sovereign smiled and nodded. "I sensed it faintly, though not clearly. But I knew such a thing likely existed." "Then..." "You want to ask why I didn't remain in Silver Moon, or switch to cultivating that Dao?" "Yes!" Li Hao nodded. The Blood Sovereign seemed to reminisce, remaining silent for a long time before replying, "Back then, I wasn't the only one who discovered it. When Silver Moon abruptly severed itself from Xinwu and transformed into a new world, Fang Ping and I went to investigate several times... We roughly understood the situation. "There were many reasons why we didn't cultivate that Dao. First, it was not our Dao. "Second, the Emperor of Battle Heaven had a disposition completely different from ours. Xinwu is built on fighting and striving! But the Emperor of Battle Heaven... did not fight!" The Blood Sovereign shook his head. "In truth, there were massive philosophical divergences between us! Although none of us ever met the Emperor of Battle Heaven in person—only seeing phantom projections—we all understood him to some degree. He was a genius, a true cultivator, but... also a coward!" Er Mao bared its fangs, looking somewhat enraged. The Blood Sovereign paid it no mind, continuing, "His philosophy clashed fundamentally with ours! I do not deny that his Dao may be stronger, but a person like him was suited to teaching, suited to research, suited to peaceful cultivation, or even suited to being a gardener... but he was not suited for Xinwu!" *Not suited!* Li Hao sank into contemplation. The Dao of Time was immensely powerful, yet they had refused to cultivate it simply because it was "not suited" and their philosophies differed. Li Hao couldn't help saying, "Yet the Dao is cultivated by people. Even if one doesn't specialize in it, one can still study it, observe it, or..." "No!" The Blood Sovereign shook his head once more. "There is a massive trap in the Emperor of Battle Heaven's Dao!" "A trap?" Li Hao looked at him. The Blood Sovereign gave a soft laugh. "Time itself is the greatest trap! A cultivator who grasps Time can too easily lose themselves entirely within it. His Dao is extraordinarily strong, but precisely because of that, it is all the more dangerous! Do you truly believe the Emperor of Battle Heaven died simply because he had no desire to live?" Li Hao froze. The Blood Sovereign explained, "He likely wandered through the past and the future, witnessing and experiencing far too much, until in the end, he didn't even want to face the future. He only wanted to hide in the past. Battle was a genius, a mighty expert, a prime seed of the Dao... but he was also a coward. He was likely unwilling to face certain truths, and so chose self-dissipation. Of course, it is also possible that because he traveled between the past and future too many times, he became entrapped within his own Dao and died inside it... "My visit to you today was partly prompted by this thought." The Blood Sovereign sighed with emotion. "His Dao is magnificent! But... precisely because it is so magnificent, it is intoxicating beyond redemption! Before I departed, the Human King asked me to pass a message to you: if you truly wish to surpass him, you may need to let go!" The Blood Sovereign looked at Li Hao with a wistful gaze. *Let go?* How could it possibly be that simple! If it were easy to let go, the Human King would have devoured Time long ago. But the more you understood it, the more you cultivated it, the more you realized that among all the myriad Daos of the world, Time was truly peerless! How could one let go? Without Time, Li Hao—with his thousand worlds unified—could match seventh-rank Sovereigns, which was already heaven-defying. Yet... without Time, even if Li Hao had walked to this point, there were countless things he could never have achieved. He wouldn't be able to reverse time, freeze the myriad Daos, forge the River of Time, or summon boundless chaos lightning tribulations... Every single battle had relied on the contributions of Time. Sometimes obvious, sometimes subtle. Li Hao sank into deep thought. He did not say much, nor did he claim he would let it go. He merely asked in confusion, "In the Xinwu of the past, the Emperor of Battle Heaven should have been able to step outside. Others might not have been able to, as Xinwu was likely sealed... But Xinwu had long been a sixth-rank world. Why did it remain sealed for so long? I have always wondered about this." Xinwu had been a sixth-rank world back then. Under normal circumstances, a world of such power would have broken its isolation long ago and ventured into the chaos. Why was the Human King the very first to step outside in the end? "Most likely the Emperor of Battle Heaven's doing." The Blood Sovereign didn't mind dispelling his doubts. "In truth, Xinwu had always been locked down. It was only when Fang Ping reached the seventh rank and carried the entire world into the seventh rank that he shattered the seal and stepped out of the original darkness! "Battle likely did not want us to leave... Perhaps he was trying to tell us that the chaos was terrifyingly dark... In reality, the chaos is indeed turbulent and dark. Perhaps he meant well... but his sealing of the world might not have been for the reasons we assumed." At this point, the Blood Sovereign seemed to be imparting a perspective to Li Hao: Battle's decisions were not necessarily correct. The Emperor of Battle Heaven was a man who detested trouble and chaos. He preferred peace and freedom, preferred closing the door to entertain himself. If the outside was chaotic, he would seal the world. Time possessed such power. The Blood Sovereign continued, "Back when Fang Ping stepped outside, there was a dark path near Xinwu that caused people to lose their way. That was why he initially got lost. Later, as Silver Moon drifted away, that dark path vanished. "Undoubtedly, it was related to Time... Perhaps the end of that dark path did not lead to the Four Regions, but to the outer domains! "The Emperor of Battle Heaven may have hoped Xinwu would bypass the Four Regions entirely upon stepping out—that even if it left, it would not linger in the Four Regions. And the greatest anomaly in the Four Regions is the Tianfang Great World. The two might be connected!" ... He laid out everything he knew before Li Hao. As for the rest, how to analyze or deduce it was Li Hao's own affair. The Four Regions, the Tianfang Great World! Li Hao nodded slightly. The Blood Sovereign added, "The Thunder Domain is also an area that traps and protects the Four Regions, centered around Tianfang... It is inextricably linked to the Tianfang Great World! The Lord of Tianfang is very likely still alive, yet he has never returned. Whether he encountered mortal danger or is scheming something in the shadows, no one knows. He is not necessarily a benevolent figure—though that is merely conjecture." Li Hao nodded once more. His knowledge was slightly more limited than Xinwu's, but he had already deduced certain things: the Lord of Tianfang was definitely still alive. And the entirety of Tianfang... would likely return completely! Yes, a complete return. Everyone! The vanishing energy of Tianfang was all in preparation for this return. Perhaps soon, all the powerhouses of that world would return to the Four Regions from death and distant realms. The two strode through the Thunder Domain, conversing freely, mostly with the Blood Sovereign speaking and Li Hao listening. Being in the Blood Sovereign's presence carried no overwhelming pressure. Unlike the domineering Human King, he radiated no intimidation. He was refined and gentle, carrying the demeanor of an older brother next door. Even when offering warnings, his words held no overbearing force. He calmly and dispassionately explained that matters could be far more complex, advising Li Hao to consider carefully before making a choice. As the group arrived near a thunder pillar, the Blood Sovereign added, "It is best that you do not form an alliance with Xinwu. Although the current situation is complicated and arduous, walk your own path if you can!" Li Hao was momentarily taken aback. Although he hadn't considered it, he still asked, "Why does Senior say that?" "The Human King values his pride immensely, and he never admits defeat. He thrives against strong opposition! In his philosophy, he is unique, peerless, and the strongest. He will surpass the Dragon Lord sooner or later! Your temperament is ill-suited to competing with him. Otherwise, you will likely turn against each other in the future. You will find many of his habits intolerable, and likewise, he may not appreciate yours... "In Xinwu, only one principle is recognized: the Human King is the strongest..." Li Hao chuckled. "Yet Senior is in Xinwu as well..." "And that is why I consider him the strongest." The Blood Sovereign laughed, then continued, "Of course, because we are friends, it doesn't matter; one gets used to it. The Human King is only a minor concern. What matters more is that you should never go to Xinwu. If you do... within a few years, you will become a commanding general under the Supreme. To Xinwu, the Supreme is indispensable; to outsiders, he is a man who stops at nothing to achieve his goals. "Wushan was right to choose to leave Xinwu. Otherwise... within three years, he would have become one of Xinwu's most reliable generals! "By then, leaving would be nearly impossible!" Li Hao couldn't help laughing. "Senior... if the Supreme and the Human King heard you say this..." "They know it very well themselves, and they don't care what others say." The Blood Sovereign continued, "The reason I am telling you this is that you control Time. You need an unyielding drive. If you are subdued by Xinwu and lose that drive... you will never break free of Time! I truly hope you can walk out from beneath the Emperor of Battle Heaven's shadow, out from beneath the shadow of Time... Yet with Er Mao's revival, I worry about one thing: I worry that you have already been deeply influenced, that Er Mao only descended because he saw you as the Emperor of Battle Heaven." Li Hao fell into deep thought. Seeing this, the Blood Sovereign smiled. "There is no need to worry overmuch. Just live as yourself. Everyone has their own way of living. These are merely suggestions. If you feel the Dragon Lord poses too great a threat and you truly need to join hands with Xinwu, Xinwu will not refuse." "Thank you." Li Hao asked no more. The Blood Sovereign's arrival seemed like a mere visit without any concrete demands, yet it had provoked deep reflections in Li Hao. Looking at the thunder pillar before him, violent lightning surged in all directions. At this moment, the Thunder Master and Sovereign Wushan were both shielding against the lightning tribulation. Having two eighth-rank Sovereigns block the tribulation for them was truly a rare luxury. Li Hao set aside the topic of Time, looking at the pillar with a smile. "This should be a Dao. But for a Dao to manifest as a physical entity, as a pillar of thunder... how powerful must it be?" "Is there any fundamental difference between a Dao and a world?" The Blood Sovereign smiled. "I heard that you transform Daos into worlds. Why can't a single thunder pillar be a world in itself?" Li Hao was stunned. He looked around, lost in thought. "That makes sense." "The thunder pillars here in the center are not actually the most dangerous; the perilous ones lie along the perimeter. The pillars at the boundary act as exits for the Dao net, so their openings are bound to be razor-sharp to prevent anyone from leaving at will... If you wish to experiment, you can test the pillars in the center, but avoid the perimeter as much as possible." At this point, the Blood Sovereign added, "Your strength is not necessarily inferior to mine, nor is your breadth of knowledge lesser. These are merely suggestions. Furthermore... your Dao realm seems to exist externally. I do not fully comprehend your path, but I know one thing: the Human King transformed his Dao into an internal world!" He continued, "Your Dao shares similarities with the Supreme's. The Supreme merged a thousand avatars into one, crafting a Great Dao Book—one page for each Dao, one page for each Sovereign—which ultimately became his Great Dao Book. Your connection with your thousand worlds may need to be much tighter. I noticed that your connection to the thousand worlds, the Great Dao River, and your Dao domain all feel like external Daos without being internalized. Do you have other intentions?" He did not say Li Hao was wrong. For Li Hao to cultivate to such a height in such a short span, surging toward the seventh rank, the Blood Sovereign would never presume to declare him mistaken. He was merely curious. It served as a reminder as well. The Great Dao River had always remained outside, and the thousand worlds had always existed within the river. Cultivating in this manner presented a glaring vulnerability, though few had noticed it so far, dazzled by Li Hao's immense strength! Yet... was Li Hao's physical body truly strong? No, it was not. If someone seized upon this weakness, bypassed the Great Dao River and the Sword of a Thousand Worlds, and attacked Li Hao's physical form directly, he would lack formidable defenses and counterattacks. Of course, powerhouses capable of reaching that level might not even need such tactics to kill him. However, Xinwu emphasized the unity of human and power. The Human King's internal world was the ultimate manifestation of this. The Human King hardly cared whether his Yin-Yang World was strong or weak; those were merely external vessels, while his internal might was what truly mattered. Even if someone breached the Yin-Yang World, the Human King would suffer losses, but they would not be nearly as fatal as one might imagine. Li Hao thought for a moment. He hadn't originally intended to explain, but now he spoke openly of the truth: "Right now, I am testing different cultivation methods. My ultimate goal remains returning to the self, unifying the myriad Daos into One! And that 'One' is me!" "Keeping the Great Dao River outside makes it convenient to sever, convenient to experiment with... to prevent myself from crippling my own cultivation." Li Hao explained, "I have a theory: blood as the river, bones as the foundation, Dao meridians as worlds, cells as the walls... cultivating my own chaos! The current Great Dao River is merely a tool I use to simulate this process... In the end, this river will inevitably be abandoned... Of course, I cannot be certain of success; it is merely an idea..." The Blood Sovereign fell silent. He stared at Li Hao for a long time, then whispered, "I underestimated you. Perhaps... the Human King and the others underestimated you as well! But taking this path will require immense effort and an unimaginable price. Your Great Dao River has already been cultivated to an absurdly powerful degree... Are you truly willing..." Li Hao waved it off nonchalantly. "It is all plundered power, not something cultivated by my own self!" Li Hao explained, "In truth, the power is very chaotic, far from a unified whole. It only appeared unified after devouring an eighth-rank universe. That also gave me some inspiration on how to turn myself into a universe, sealing myself entirely so that power no longer leaks... It was a relatively successful experiment." It was rare for Li Hao to encounter a powerhouse from Xinwu, so he sought guidance: "Senior, the myriad Daos of Time are ever-shifting; time flows forward. Similarly, human cells constantly divide and change—the newly born replace the dying, which is the very key to the depletion of lifespan! "Do the two share commonalities?" He mused, "If they do, does that mean Time and lifespan are actually the same Great Dao, and the Dao itself originates from within the human body? If every cell transforms into a Great Dao, and those Daos remain stable, does that imply immortality? People always say, 'When the body dies, the Dao perishes.' Does that mean the Dao vanishes, or does the person vanish?" The myriad Daos of Time fluctuated and transformed. Human cells divided continuously, some dying while others were born. Both moved inexorably forward. Dao meridians originated within the human body, serving as the source of Silver Moon's Dao. This proved that the root of the Dao—the Dao source—lay within the human body itself! A Great Dao universe was merely a repository where excess power was stored when a cultivator grew too strong for their body to contain it. The true home of the Dao was inside the body. "When the body dies, the Dao perishes" meant that because the body died, the Dao vanished—not that the Dao perished and caused the body to fade! At this moment, even the Blood Sovereign was dazed. He stared at Li Hao. This young man... was teeming with wild, unprecedented ideas. After a long silence, he let out a breath. "I cannot give you any more suggestions. You have always remained resolute in your convictions, never wavering. Perhaps both the Human King and I were mistaken." They had truly misunderstood him. This man had never fixated exclusively on Time; he was simply observing it, intending to incorporate its properties into his own framework. Was this person truly just a native of Silver Moon, an unimaginably young cultivator? If Wang Jinyang had inherited Battle's talent and will, then Li Hao had perhaps inherited his wisdom. Or rather, his thirst for knowledge! This man loved, yearned, to dissect the Dao completely, stripping it down to the ordinary, integrating it fully with the human body. The fragile human vessel was, in his eyes, the ultimate treasure, the true source of the Dao! According to Li Hao's philosophy... the greatest treasure of every being was not a Great Dao universe, nor anything external, but oneself! This concept was utterly terrifying. Li Hao spoke again: "I have another idea... one I have never been able to realize or find the opportunity to test... But now, Senior has arrived, Senior Wushan is here, and Senior Thunder Master is here as well..." Li Hao pondered before continuing, "Today, with everyone present, perhaps I can give it a try. I wonder if you seniors would be willing to lend me a hand?" Everyone looked at him, still lost in Li Hao's concept of the human body as the Dao source. Li Hao turned toward Dao Chess. "Senior Dao Chess, I want to place my thousand worlds into the squares of the Dao Chessboard. Then... I want to dismantle Time slightly and channel it into the corresponding squares... Next, I will place myself within it, aligning my Dao meridians with the grid, and then..." He paused before continuing, "And then, Senior will tear me completely apart! The seniors here will do me a favor: bury my fragments beneath the thunder pillars, corresponding to their specific Daos in a precise sequence! I want to test whether I can envelop the entire Thunder Domain with my force... temporarily becoming the master of the Thunder Domain, so I can examine its exact composition..." The Blood Sovereign was dumbfounded. Li Hao explained, "Examining them one by one is far too tedious! Don't worry, this isn't a suicide attempt. I believe the Dao—especially when unifying the myriad Daos into One—shares fundamental commonalities. I won't die easily; at most, I will lose a portion of my physical body... "If it succeeds, I might gain an even deeper understanding of the human body!" Excitement flared in Li Hao's eyes. "I have always believed that whether it is the Dao, the chaos, or worlds... they are all merely derivatives. The true treasure lies within our bodies! It is ourselves. What we have been cultivating all along is not the Dao, but the unlocking of our own potential... The source of the world gave birth to humans, to life... Life itself is both the origin and the destination..." His words sounded profoundly esoteric, yet the listeners' expressions shifted wildly. The Blood Sovereign remained silent for a while before speaking: "The Human King cultivates Yin and Yang externally and the universe internally. He also believes the human body is the greatest treasure, yet even he is not as insane as you! He would never act so recklessly, because... there are far too many uncertainties! For now, you still have far more important things to do..." Li Hao shook his head. "No, I don't. The Human King's goal is to protect Xinwu, whereas I... have no explicit goal. If I must name one, it is... I want to know what the Dao truly is!" Li Hao chuckled. "I consider myself indebted to no one... Well, I owe a few Great Dao universes, but setting that aside, I have no absolute responsibility or obligation to protect everyone. Besides, with Xinwu around, I don't believe the Dragon Lord poses an insurmountable threat! "I want to... pursue the Dao, question the Dao, comprehend the Dao!" Li Hao exhaled softly. "Perhaps I want to trace the very origin of the Dao, to truly decipher the past, present, future, life and death, order, chaos, creation, and destruction! Only then will it be I who cultivate the Dao, rather than the Dao cultivating me!" He smiled brightly. "Meeting Senior today has fulfilled a wish of mine. You are not Battle, and neither am I! I have no desire to become Battle, but I cannot deny that he has influenced me. To me, his Dao is the strongest, most complex, and most invincible Dao I have ever witnessed or experienced... Therefore, I want to see how he managed to compress such intricate Daos into Time... I also want to test whether I can attempt something similar at this stage. He was at the sixth rank, and I am at the sixth rank. Why was he able to master so much, while I can only follow the path he laid out?" The Blood Sovereign was rendered utterly speechless. The Thunder Master and the others wore pale expressions. *Why can't you just cultivate normally? Isn't cultivation meant for becoming stronger?* *What is the point of figuring everything out so meticulously?* *Will understanding it make you invincible beneath the heavens?* *Why take such insane risks?* Yet none of them knew how to dissuade him. They exchanged frantic looks with Kongji and Er Mao, silently urging them to intervene. This madman wanted to cut himself into pieces and merge into the Thunder Domain! What if the thunder pillars obliterated him completely? Wouldn't he just die? To survive the Dragon Lord only to play oneself to death... wouldn't that be the ultimate tragedy? Yet Li Hao didn't care. It was no tragedy; even if he died, he would die upon the path of the Dao. He wanted to see the essence clearly. Only by seeing it clearly could he know whether his choice was right. If he succeeded this time, he would possess an unmistakable, fully realized blueprint for his future path. By then, he would be his true self. As for what would happen to the people of Silver Moon if he died here? Every person had their own meaning and value in living. Silver Moon wouldn't cease to exist without him; if it truly fell, that was an inevitable fate. Li Hao was not the Human King. The Human King was the king of Xinwu; Li Hao never considered himself the king of Silver Moon. He merely hoped the people of Silver Moon could rise, not that he had to shield them for all eternity. It was fortuitous that two eighth-rank Sovereigns were present today, along with the Blood Sovereign—a master of the Dao of vital qi and blood who could likely offer him assistance. Li Hao was eager to begin. The mere thought felt exceedingly thrilling. Dao Chess, the Thunder Domain, and Time—the world's three greatest Daos—were all assembled here. He might truly be able to uncover their commonalities and forge his own Great Dao system. Who said Time was the only absolute? Perhaps the myriad Daos could be transformed at will? Becoming whatever one desired, acting as one pleased—perhaps that was the true essence of the Dao. Time, tribulation, space—they were merely different manifestations of the same truth. Li Hao was lost in his reverie. At that moment, he resembled a child filled with unrestrained imagination, growing ever more excited.