The Fortune Cat

The so-called future was not singular; the future could not be pursued. Stepping into the future again, would he encounter that sleeping figure or another space-time entirely? Li Hao had no certainty at all. There were tens of millions of futures! Last time, he had met that person. Would it be the same one this time? Li Hao did not know. Yet if that person was merely one among tens of millions of futures, he was surely among the very pinnacle of them. If someone could truly reach that stage within a pseudo-Chaos, it was easy to imagine that his talent, strength, and disposition were all second to none. Therefore, if the future branched into countless paths, the one where this person resided had to be the widest and grandest avenue of them all. The probability of encountering him was very high! Time was the most terrifying existence among all Daos. Walking the past, pursuing the future... This time, in establishing the Myriad Heavens Dao Arena, Li Hao's own strength was insufficient, yet in a month, there was a high probability of facing an onslaught by formidable foes. On Xinwu's side, even though the Supreme and the others had calculated down to the finest detail, a full fifteen eighth-rank Sovereigns still awaited them. The slightest misstep could invite utter catastrophe! This time, he still had to find a way himself. The Time Star emerged once more. A river materialized before his eyes, invisible to anyone else. Li Hao observed it quietly for a moment, then stepped onto the river. On this venture, he did not know whether he would meet that person. If he did not prepare beforehand, once formidable enemies attacked, he might not be able to connect with the future in time. ... Waves surged along the river. Fragments of images drifted before his eyes, broken and disconnected; the future seemed exceedingly hazy. In the Chaos of today, no one could see clearly how the future would unfold. Only by treading along this river might one catch a glimpse or two. Stepping on empty air, the river trembled beneath his feet. Li Hao strode forward, moving downstream. He did not know where he would end up. His lifespan was draining away—though not much, it still meant that time was slipping by. The real expenditure of lifespan, however, did not lie here. Communicating with the future was the crux of the toll on time. Flowing downstream, if one merely observed without speaking, meddling, or participating, it could only be considered a form of foreseeing the future. But once one intervened, that meant defying the heavens to alter fate! The two could not be mentioned in the same breath. In the past, when he walked through Xinwu's past, the past was singular and fixed, taking almost no toll. Later, when he borrowed the bodies of past and future to merge the three bodies into one, it was merely for a fleeting instant, borrowing his own power to transfer the future's strength. That too cost lifespan, though still not an immense amount. Now, walking into the future again... the future of this river seemed to no longer belong to him. It seemed the future of the River of Time might truly no longer be his to decide. Advancing onward, myriad thoughts swirled in Li Hao's mind. His face grew somewhat pale, showing faint signs of aging. It felt as if a long time had passed, yet also as though it were only a single breath. In the next moment, thunderous snores echoed out once more, rolling across the river like surging waves. A look of doubt appeared in Li Hao's eyes. Had he returned to the same moment as last time, or... had this person simply gone back to sleep after he left? He was... asleep again? What kind of person would sleep endlessly within the river? Li Hao could not understand! Or had he unified Chaos, found the world utterly dull, and thus fallen asleep? Doubts sprang up in his heart. Moments later, he seemed to cross into another stretch of the river. The waters rippled, and the thunderous snoring abruptly ceased. In the next breath, a slightly annoyed voice sounded. "Huh?" At the end of the river, a figure emerged. His appearance could not be seen clearly, just as Li Hao could not see him distinctly, nor could the man on the other side see Li Hao clearly. Neither cared whether they could see each other or not; in this moment, just like last time, the two gazed at each other across the river! He seemed slightly irritated! The figure at the end of the river was clearly displeased. Why disturb me over and over? Is it really that hard to get a good sleep? The man on the other side looked toward the upper reaches of the river, where someone was drifting downstream. There seemed to be... a vague impression in his memory. In this river, time was scrambled, and temporal boundaries were blurred, leaving only jumbled memories. Perhaps he had slept too long and forgotten these details. Yet he knew that this person... might very well be the Time Master of the past. A powerhouse who traveled back and forth along the river, leaving behind myriad legends across the worlds and reigning invincible over heaven and earth—had he encountered another crisis? Just as the man was pondering this, Li Hao across the river unleashed a ripple of sword energy, transmitting a somewhat mixed and impure power. The man at the end of the river waved his hand, and the two energies crossed. Waves rose along the river. In that instant, both Li Hao and the young man at the end felt a special power transmitted across space-time. Li Hao once again clearly sensed the power of rules. Within it, the chaotic, mingled impurities of Chaos had been completely stripped away. At this moment, Li Hao sank into deep thought. This time, the sensation was even clearer than before—distinct as day and night, the power of the Great Dao was pure, boundlessly pure, as if all the mixed impurities of Chaos had vanished entirely. Where was the power of Chaos? Had the chaotic force mingled within it truly vanished without a trace? Did the Dao... seem to have gained life, learning to breathe and cultivate on its own? Self-cultivation? A thought stirred in Li Hao's heart. Self-cultivation... divine characters... Back in Silver Moon, he had once allowed divine characters to swallow Daos, forming avatars that cultivated on their own with different techniques to purify the power of the Great Dao. But even back then, it had been impossible to achieve purity of this level. In an instant, countless thoughts surfaced in his mind. Life! In this instant, he seemed to achieve an epiphany. Last time, their contact had been minimal; the other's sword strike had only struck Sovereign Fusheng, without directly touching Li Hao. But right now, the two had exchanged power across space-time. Li Hao instantly gained a distinct realization. He looked across. At this moment, Li Hao seemed to understand something. His eyes shifted. Perhaps I know now. Why the future possessed such incomparably pure power of rules. The Great Dao of the future... seemed... to have been endowed with life! Yes, vitality. It seemed capable of self-purification! The source of life had always been an enigma Li Hao could not fathom. How to imbue a world with vitality so that living beings could be born within it had eluded his perception and understanding all along. Today, an inkling seemed to take shape. Why was the Great Dao here so pure? Because the Daos here seemed to be... a form of life as well? Did that mean the Great Dao could cultivate on its own? That the Dao... could also become a living being? Li Hao was stunned! The Dao was the Dao. Could the Dao... become a living being? How... how was that possible? That was equivalent to the stars in the Great Dao Universe cultivating themselves into living beings! Did that mean that once the Great Dao reached the pinnacle of purity, it could even transform into living existence... At this moment, Li Hao's mind was in turmoil. Then, another thought struck him. Cang Cat! What was the Cang Emperor? Was the Cang Emperor an embodiment of the Dao? He was born within the Great Dao Universe. No life existed within the Great Dao Universe, so why could the Cang Emperor be born there? And the Dao of the future seemed to contain a unique life force, filling the Dao with spirituality. A spiritual Dao could purge impurities on its own and naturally become more orderly. If the Cang Emperor was such an existence... did that mean order had actually existed all along? Battle! In this instant, he thought of Battle again. Did the Cang Emperor have a connection to Battle? If so, did it mean the Emperor of Battle Heaven had already discovered a portion of orderly power? And that the future river could give birth to such orderly power because it inherently possessed the genetic seeds of order? Was the key to order... life? ... On the opposite side, the young cultivator also came into contact with Li Hao's Great Dao power and slightly furrowed his brows. It was chaotic in the extreme! Although the varieties of Daos were numerous and formidable, the feeling it gave... was utterly filthy. How could it be like this? The young man also sank into deep thought. In the world of the past, the Chaos of the past, was power truly so mingled and impure? The power of the Dao, the power of rules, should be exceedingly pure. Or was it the presence of time that altered the energy exchanged between them? Thoughts rose within him. Suddenly, he looked across again. Communication was possible between them, but in this space-time, every word spoken came at an immense cost. Therefore, at this moment, Li Hao did not speak. Li Hao struck with his sword once more. The power of a thousand worlds surged as the blade descended, shaking the river! In the next instant, beneath the sword, divine characters emerged one after another. The young man watched silently, sensing them. First-generation divine characters? Did the Dao of divine characters already exist back then? What were divine characters? Divine characters were the Dao! Divine characters were the embodiment of the Dao, the simplification of the Dao. A divine character cultivated to its pinnacle became a Great Dao. From the initial sketching of the divine character to its awakening of spirit, merging with the Dao to become the Dao, and ultimately mastering rules—that was what divine characters were. Yet the existence of divine characters... hadn't they been simplified and created during the era of King Wen? Thoughts flashed through the mind of this young man from the future. So... divine characters already existed that early on? He looked closely, sensing something amiss. Those divine characters... were too dry, too mixed, too... rigid! Indeed, at this moment, he noticed several differences. His eyes flickered slightly. Divine characters were the simplification of rules, and they actually possessed spirits. Divine characters could even think and become living beings; cultivated to the utmost, a divine character could even form its own spirit! The spirit of a powerhouse, merged into rules, could even turn into a spirit of the rules, becoming the rules themselves... Yet before his eyes, if this person was indeed the Time Master, these divine characters were far too dull, devoid of any spirituality, merely an expression of the Dao. The thought emerged. He vaguely understood. This Time Master had disturbed him again perhaps because... he had hit a bottleneck in comprehending the Dao? "Hunted by powerful enemies? Nowhere left to turn?" Thoughts flashed. In his life, he excelled most at filling in the blanks... deduction. There was no need for verbal exchange; simply observing actions, reading the situation, and guessing almost never missed the mark. "Looking for me... to explore how the power of rules is formed? But I don't know either. From the moment I was born, rules were already like this... heaven and earth simply possess rules!" With that thought, he had a sudden realization. Perhaps the crux still lay in the divine characters: the other's divine characters lacked a spirit. How to endow the Great Dao with spirituality? He did not know how the primordial spirit had arisen, but he knew how spirits were born in his own era! Thus, in that moment, he acted with utter roughness, ripping a tributary right out of the river! Seeing the man across the river startle slightly and watch intently, the young man smiled. Abruptly, he reached out as if scooping something from boundless worlds... a white hairball! He did not know how the primordial spirit had arisen, but he knew how to create a spirit. In the next breath, he forcibly shoved the white hairball into the Great Dao. Under the hairball's bewildered gaze, he threw a punch that blew the hairball apart with a bang. An instant later, the shattered hairball merged into that tributary. The tributary, originally devoid of spirituality, seemed to gradually give birth to a spirit at this moment. It began to squirm. Moments later, as if time had accelerated, in the blink of an eye, the tributary of the Dao suddenly transformed into a hairball... It reverted back to its original hairball form! Did you get it? The young man shrugged and tossed the hairball onto his head. Across the river, Li Hao's expression shifted slightly. ... "Spirit... soul!" Li Hao's expression changed. He perhaps understood how spirits were born. Yet at this moment, Li Hao's countenance darkened. In the next second, he turned and left, without even mentioning borrowing power, plunging directly into the upper reaches of the river and vanishing from sight. At the end of the river, the young man felt somewhat bewildered. What's wrong? You understood, and then you just ran off? Why run so fast? We hadn't even exchanged a few words. Besides, you disturbed my sleep and just ran away like that... Ah, forget it. Back in the day, I fleeced you for quite a while; I won't hold a grudge against you. Still, he remained somewhat puzzled, and by now, his curiosity was piqued. Once Li Hao had completely vanished upstream, the young man chuckled and muttered softly, "Hairball... do you think the era where the Time Master lived was interesting? This guy opened the river and nurtured divine weapons, yet why doesn't he come to claim them?" Astride his head, Hairball was completely baffled. It had also been sleeping, only to be yanked out suddenly and punched. Its large eyes were filled with confusion. Who? Time Master? Who's the Time Master? The young man let out a sigh. "Never mind. Better make up for lost sleep while there's still time... Peace probably won't last long anyway. Chaos... True Chaos? Pseudo-Chaos? Chaos within the sword? Chaos outside? Truly dull..." ... At this moment, Li Hao tumbled out of the void, crashing down, his face deathly pale. Ignoring his chaotic aura, he sat frozen in place. Originally, he had wanted to bring up the method of borrowing power through the three bodies, but now he sat motionless, having lost all appetite for it. Rules! Order! Souls! In this world, the Dao had no spirit. Only living beings had spirits, which was why they were called living spirits rather than Dao spirits. And the method to birth a spirit... was actually... actually merging the spirit of a living being into the Dao! Li Hao uttered not a word. In this instant, he seemed to have achieved full enlightenment. In truth, he should have realized it long ago. Indeed, the Great Dao was mingled, the universe was mingled, and impurities were everywhere. Relying on heaven and earth to naturally purify themselves was far too difficult. What was the solution? Merge one's body into the Great Dao, merge into the stars, and transform oneself into the Dao! Only then, with Dao and body as one, could one take the initiative to deeply purify it... At this moment, divine characters appeared one by one in his hand. Originally, he had sensed nothing wrong with them, but looking at them today, he understood a little more: these divine characters lacked spirituality. If he killed someone and merged their spirit into a divine character that cultivated the same Dao—for instance, Southern Fist cultivated the Dao of Fire; if he killed Southern Fist, seized his soul, and merged his force spirit into the Dao of Fire, the Fire divine character would surely be able to cultivate naturally, purify itself, and govern the Dao with its spirit! At first, it might not purify everything completely, but over time, it would inevitably succeed. Li Hao remained silent. Of course, this required consent. It was best done willingly! At this moment, a sudden terror seized him. Why would the future give birth to countless Daos of rules? Those Daos seemed to possess rules and spirituality from the very beginning... Why was that? Because of the river I opened? If it is the pseudo-Chaos I opened... does that mean I merged countless souls into my domain! It couldn't be! Li Hao lowered his head, staring into the endless void. No, how could I ever do such a thing? Even if I truly fail, I would never do that. A person's soul merging into the Great Dao might not seem like much on the surface, but... this... seemed like the demonic path, the true demonic path! "When divine characters are cultivated to their pinnacle, divine characters merge with force, force merges with the stars, and stars transform into the Dao... Does that mean by that time, the people of Silver Moon will all cultivate themselves into Daos?" Innate Dao bodies! In that fraction of a second, Li Hao's face changed again. The people of Silver Moon were all considered innate Dao bodies, naturally possessing Dao meridians. If they reached the extreme, would they turn into the Great Dao? Would they gradually be dissolved by the Dao? Silver Moon people, innate Dao bodies, Time and myriad Daos... Great Dao Universe, Time core... At this instant, Li Hao's expression shifted. Silver Moon was a new world born after the Time Star departed. In other words, the Time Star would in the future give birth to an orderly world. And this order... began now, began with Silver Moon? As these thoughts surfaced, Li Hao felt his mind in disarray. Were the people of Silver Moon born by nature for the sake of order? Was everything fated? No, nothing was predestined! Li Hao closed his eyes in silence, sinking into contemplation. At this moment, too many thoughts flooded his mind. If the people of Silver Moon truly cultivated to the pinnacle, merged their force into the Dao, and cultivated the Dao as themselves, was this a demonic path, or was it the true, righteous path? Humans cultivating themselves into the Dao! Cultivating the Dao, cultivating the Dao... Could it be that cultivating oneself into the Dao was the true path? Could one break free? "Seizing the Dao into the body, absorbing the Dao into oneness!" Li Hao muttered to himself. One person, one Dao. I cultivate into the Dao, and the Dao brings me fulfillment. If I transform the Dao into orderly rules and then devour the Dao back? Reforming the human body! Severing the Dao while leaving behind a tail—like shedding a tail to regenerate—would the Dao be reborn? It probably would, right? If so... then it wouldn't matter. It would merely be a temporary transformation of form: I cultivate the Dao, and the Dao is absorbed into the body! His tense expression gradually eased. He thought back to that man just now punching and exploding that little white ball. That little white ball had swallowed the Dao and then reverted to its original form. This proved that transformation was possible. Merging into the Dao did not mean becoming an eternal slave to it. Perhaps I went down the wrong path of thought. At that earlier moment, Li Hao had thought of turning people into slaves to serve one's cultivation of the Great Dao. Now, reconsidering it, what if it was swallowing the Dao and being reborn? Absorbing the Dao into the body! Yes, this was absorbing the Dao into the body, like planting a tree. Once the Great Dao grew, you felled the tree, but with the roots intact, the Dao should still be able to regrow. "Absorbing the Dao into the body... This shares the same underlying principle as cultivating the Great Dao Universe today and eventually breaking free from it. It's just more thorough, turning oneself into the Dao to cultivate!" Li Hao stroked his chin. Doing this would certainly have both pros and cons. He hadn't tried it himself yet. Merging himself completely into the river of the Great Dao was something he had done before, but back then, he had merely merged his body into the river without thoroughly transforming his entire self into the Dao. "Wait... right, why did I think of merging Southern Fist instead of Teacher?" "No, why not consider slicing off parts of oneself to merge?" "The Supreme possesses thousands of incarnations, each clone merging into a single Dao. Does this... also have the connotation of transforming into order?" Li Hao's eyes flickered. He thought of one person: the Xinwu Supreme. He had many clones, each merging into a Dao. Wouldn't that count as a method of endowing spirit? Endowing the Great Dao with a soul! The Supreme's Great Dao Book exhibited such a tendency. Of course, as things stood, the Supreme had not thoroughly merged into it; it was only his clones, and his clones possessed only a portion of the spirit, while the primary soul remained with his true body. And the Cang Emperor was born in the Great Dao Universe. Did that mean the Cang Emperor was actually a Dao Spirit nurtured by the Xinwu Great Dao Universe, just like the little white hairball he saw in the river earlier? At this moment, Li Hao thought of a great deal! Furthermore, back in Silver Moon, before he had broken away from it, he had actually attempted having everyone merge into the Great Dao to grant him strength. But at that time, it had only been a brief merging of force. A tendency toward endowing the Great Dao with spirit... but far from complete. In this moment, Li Hao pondered many things, connecting all those past actions he hadn't paid much attention to. Linking them with the future Daos of rules, a complete thread gradually formed in his mind. If that person in the future came from the pseudo-Chaos he himself had opened, and the Daos within the pseudo-Chaos were orderly, it meant he might have combed through them, perhaps even merging Daos into it, merging souls into the Great Dao, and transforming the Daos into spirits! And in the end, swallowing the Dao into the body? "Does the Human King's internal world count as a form of absorbing the Dao into the body?" The thought emerged again. If I want to cultivate my own self, does that count as a form of absorbing the Dao into the body? The Lord of Tianfang carried away all the energy of the Great Dao Universe, plundering every shred of the Great Dao's power—did that count as absorbing the Dao into the body? Perhaps they all did! Chaos itself was developing toward order. The power of order... purging impurities. At this moment, Li Hao felt as if he had uncovered a few clues. Right at this moment, Er Mao popped into view, looking rather disgruntled. "Next time don't make this cat go over there! Big Cat grabbed hold of me and insisted on sharing dried little fish with me..." It didn't even like eating them! Big Cat truly had no taboos; it ate anything. Yet Big Cat was overwhelmingly hospitable; if you didn't eat, Big Cat would look ready to cry. It was impossible to decline such hospitality! Er Mao grumbled a few words and smacked its lips. Li Hao blinked, glancing at it. "So... you ate them?" "..." Er Mao rolled its eyes and flicked its tail. Guess whether I ate them or not? It didn't dwell on the topic and asked instead, "Did you meet that so-called person from the future you mentioned?" "I did," Li Hao nodded. "Did he agree to lend you power?" "I didn't ask." "..." Er Mao was utterly speechless. Then what did you go to the future for? Did it really cost no lifespan? Do you think you've lived too long and just have to fool around and burn some away to feel good? Or do you think that since you're walking the path of life and death anyway, it doesn't matter, it's just for fun, and doing it a few more times doesn't hurt? How could this guy be like this! Li Hao smiled. "What did the Human King say?" Er Mao stopped pressing Li Hao on the matter and replied, "The Human King said lending is fine... write an IOU!" "Huh?" "He understands time somewhat. He said lending to you might cause him to instantly lose his power at a certain moment, which is very dangerous. This time, he said, it'll take at least an advanced eighth-rank universe—a universe like Samsara—to repay the debt..." Li Hao burst into laughter. Thinking it over, he was in no hurry to discuss that. After pondering for a moment, he looked at Er Mao. "Er Mao..." "Why aren't you adding 'Senior' anymore?" Er Mao shot him a glance. Lately, this fellow sometimes didn't even address it as Senior, calling it straight by its name. What an impolite little rascal! Li Hao chuckled again. "Senior Er Mao... I have something I'm slightly curious about. In principle, does intercepting a fragment of the past—a segment of the past—count as an embodiment of the Dao?" Er Mao was taken aback. What did that mean? Did it count as the Dao? It didn't quite grasp Li Hao's meaning and looked puzzled. Its two big eyes stared blankly at Li Hao. In the past, it had understood whatever Li Hao asked, but now it was at a loss. Li Hao explained, "If that fragment of the past back then was considered a Great Dao within the river, then Senior Er Mao materializing and descending into the mortal realm—would that count as a rebirth of the Great Dao?" Er Mao paused, then began to ponder seriously. After a long time, it said hesitantly, "I don't know, it's hard to say... If you treat that fragment of the past as a Dao, maybe... it is a Dao. If you truly see it that way, it could be considered a kind of rebirth of the Dao, I suppose?" It didn't know how to explain that spatial fragment of the past either. Did that count as a Great Dao? Li Hao's eyes flickered. "Then Senior Er Mao, aside from your devouring ability, do you possess any special abilities by instinct?" "Instinct..." Er Mao's short paw scratched its head, feeling muddled again. Aside from devouring, what other methods was it instinctively skilled in? After a long silence, Er Mao asked uncertainly, "What kind of ability do you mean by special ability?" Li Hao looked at it and thought carefully. Devouring was merely a technique Er Mao used to imitate the Cang Emperor; or rather, it still believed itself to be a copy of the Cang Emperor, which was why it had always fought using devouring techniques. Er Mao had never been seen using any other special methods. Did it have any? Li Hao felt that it certainly did. A fragment of the past, an illusory space—if this was a Dao, what kind of Dao was it? Was the space where Er Mao once resided truly the past, or was it a manifestation inside a Great Dao? Had that space merely been used by the Emperor of Battle Heaven to observe Xinwu? Or was there a deeper line of research? Moreover, back then, it was said that not only Er Mao and the Emperor of Battle Heaven were there, but real living beings existed within it as well. Xinwu's Sovereign Shuxiang had lived within that fragment space for a very long time. Living beings could enter it too! Intercepting the past, accessible to living beings. Like a dream, like an illusion, half-empty and half-real! The illusory Er Mao, before fully descending into the mortal realm, was virtually immortal and indestructible. Yet now, it had lost that ability. Back then, Er Mao had not been strong, but even if an enemy's attack truly killed it, it could resurrect at any time, just as the Blood Sovereign had once used world power to revive Er Mao. Er Mao was inherently an intertwining of illusion and reality. Intertwining illusion and reality, truth and falsehood... Could it be considered a Dao of dualities between real and fake? All things had their Dao! Er Mao was inherently an illusionary embodiment of the Dao, so as long as the Dao was not destroyed, Er Mao should not perish. Reality and illusion endured eternally, which was why Er Mao had been an immortal existence when merged with the Dao back then. It was just that now, Er Mao subconsciously felt that it had come alive and become a real existence, no longer immortal, and therefore believed it could die... "Li Hao..." Seeing Li Hao staring at it while lost in thought, Er Mao felt awkward and couldn't help interrupting him. "Why do you keep staring at me?" "I'm wondering... if I beat Senior to death, could Senior still be resurrected?" Was that human speech?! Er Mao was furious! I work diligently for you! I'm a cat that only sleeps, and now I've practically become your indentured laborer, yet you still want to beat me to death! Are you even human?! Yet at this moment, Li Hao laughed. "Senior, illusion and reality, truth and falsehood—who can say that the past is false? That the past is merely an illusion? Senior, are you truly a replica of the Cang Emperor?" What did that mean? In truth, Er Mao didn't really want to bring this up; it felt somewhat uncomfortable. No person... no cat wanted to be the duplicate of another cat, even though it didn't dislike Big Cat, and Big Cat treated it very well and respected it... Yet whenever Er Mao was mentioned, people always said it was Big Cat's past body. "Senior, since you are the Cang Emperor's past, why couldn't you be anyone's past? Truth and falsehood—what difference is there between them?" "In that space back then, were you the only one who existed, Senior? Wasn't it said that many other beings were there as well? Were those beings all part of one whole, or were they independent?" Er Mao froze for a moment. It looked at Li Hao. Li Hao continued, "What if I said that space was a Great Dao! A Dao of imitation, replication, and the mingling of reality and illusion. Senior Er Mao could be anyone's past and could simulate anyone. In that case, Senior Er Mao is a Dao Spirit, not anyone's replica!" "Senior Er Mao, perhaps... you yourself are the embodiment of the Dao!" He had never thought of this before. Today, seeing the future and watching that white hairball merge into the Dao and transform into the Dao, he had suddenly thought of certain things. Was Er Mao truly Big Cat's replica? Merely Big Cat's past? Why couldn't it be a living being nurtured by an entire Dao? At this moment, Er Mao was somewhat dazed as it looked at Li Hao. I'm not a replica... I'm... a Dao Spirit! The spirit of the Great Dao? I myself am a Dao! Yet... it asked in confusion, "How could the Dao give birth to a soul?" One heard of weapons gaining spirits, mountains and rivers gaining spirits, or worlds nurturing Heaven's Will into a spirit, but one had never heard of the Great Dao becoming a spirit! Wasn't the Great Dao an independent entity? By now, Li Hao had worked through the logic, speaking with slight excitement. "Why not? Swords can gain spirits, mountains and rivers can gain spirits. Sometimes, if nurtured long enough, any existence has the hope of birthing a spirit! It doesn't necessarily require a soul to be merged into it. For example, the sword seal, the Sword Tree, and the Sword Stone have all gained spirits! Their master, the Sword Venerable, nurtured them constantly. His thoughts radiated, his soul emanated, and naturally that could nurture objects into spirits!" "And as for Senior..." Li Hao thought for a moment and said, "What if Senior was a Great Dao, a unique Great Dao that stayed beside the Emperor of Battle Heaven for an extended time, was constantly nurtured, and was imbued with a portion of the Emperor of Battle Heaven's spirit... would a spirit not be born? Senior is vastly knowledgeable, in my eyes no less so than any supreme powerhouse. Why would you possess such an immense reserve of knowledge if not from the Emperor of Battle Heaven?" Er Mao was dazed. After a long pause, it looked at Li Hao. "Fine, even if what you say is right, that I'm not Big Cat's replica and that I'm... a Dao Spirit... still, I'm only seventh rank. That doesn't have much to do with your impending crisis, does it? Shouldn't you be thinking about how to resolve the crisis right now?" You didn't even speak with that guy from the future! "No rush, no rush! There's still a month left!" At this moment, Li Hao smiled, his smile radiant. "If Senior Er Mao truly is a Great Dao existence of reality and illusion, a Dao of replication that gained spirit, could you replicate me?" "What?" Er Mao was startled. What did he mean? "Senior Er Mao, could you create a copy of me? You... becoming me?" Er Mao was completely bewildered. Impersonate you? I'm only seventh rank. Oh, so are you... Even if I could impersonate you, our combat strength wouldn't change at all. "Senior Er Mao, if you can replicate one of me... could you replicate thousands or tens of thousands of me?" What do you even mean?! Er Mao was truly baffled this time. Li Hao, however, grew excited. "I mean, right now I govern a thousand worlds, and my strength is ordinary. But if Senior Er Mao could replicate every cultivator in Silver Moon into me—indistinguishable between real and fake, Daos interconnected—including several eighth-rank Sovereigns, if they could all be replicated as me, I would be them, and they would be me... No need for past and future! They would be my past and future, my clones... When the clones merge into one, could that... endlessly propel my power upward?" "Transforming the Dao of the Thunder Realm into my Dao, turning Wushan's Dao into my Dao, turning Dao Chess's Dao into my Dao..." Er Mao understood this time, but found it utterly unbelievable, feeling that Li Hao was overestimating it far too much. It said dumbfoundedly, "I... can do that? How could that be possible!" Even I didn't know that! Li Hao explained, "In the fragment back then, countless people existed, including the Emperor of Battle Heaven, the Cang Emperor, the Heavenly Dog... Each was skilled in a different Dao, so why could they all be manifested? Doesn't that count as a form of replication? Since Senior Er Mao considered yourself a replica of the Cang Emperor, weren't you able to use the Cang Emperor's Dao of Devouring? If you could simulate the Cang Emperor, why couldn't you simulate any Great Dao?" Er Mao shook its head. "Impossible, I can't do that..." "Senior, why not give it a try?" Li Hao urged, "If it succeeds, it will prove that Senior is indeed not some replica, but a real existence—a Dao Spirit! A true living being, not merely a dispensable duplicate cat..." Speaking up to here, he paused slightly, suddenly falling silent. If the past cannot be intercepted... He had always felt that the Emperor of Battle Heaven was unbelievable—able to intercept a fragment of the past, something that seemed impossible not just for a sixth-rank, but even for a ninth-rank. Yet he had also harbored hope and fantasy all along: if he could do it as well, he would be able to intercept the past and thoroughly resurrect certain people. Yet today... he felt lost. If Er Mao was merely a Dao Spirit, did that... mean that intercepting the past was an impossibility? In that instant, the silhouettes in his mind that had already begun to fade grew even blurrier. Li Hao fell silent. Mom, Dad, Xiao Yuan... Can the departed truly never be retrieved? Can I... truly never resurrect you? Extracting you from a fragment of the past—that was never feasible, was it? Er Mao was not an unbelievable manifestation of a past fragment descending into reality; it was the spirit of a Dao. And the Cang Emperor was perhaps also a kind of Dao Spirit. The Emperor of Battle Heaven had probably been researching Dao Spirits long ago. And so, two cats had been born. Meanwhile, Er Mao seemed to understand Li Hao's thoughts at this moment. If it was not a cat from the past, did that... mean the past could never truly descend into reality? "Li Hao, I'm probably just Big Cat's replica..." Li Hao snapped back to reality and looked at Er Mao, letting out a self-deprecating laugh. "Senior... you really know how to comfort people." Er Mao had probably noticed something. Yet Li Hao was not someone who easily succumbed to sorrow and dejection. He smiled and said, "It doesn't matter! The Emperor of Battle Heaven back then possessed only sixth-rank strength, whereas I... will be even stronger! I don't necessarily need to intercept a fragment; instead, I can return to the past, retrieve fragments of their spiritual origin, and capture the origins of those mortals who never cultivated. I might still be able to find them... Just as when I roamed Xinwu's past, I can roam Silver Moon's past and retrieve the spiritual origins of people from the past. It's the same principle, so Senior doesn't need to comfort me!" Er Mao flicked its tail, remaining silent this time. At this moment, it felt a trace of self-doubt. "So I'm really not a replica?" Li Hao smiled. "I don't think you are!" Er Mao seemed slightly cheered up. "That is to say, if I can replicate things and replicate the power of the Great Dao... that will prove I am truly a Dao Spirit!" "Right!" "But I don't know how!" Er Mao suddenly felt aggrieved. "I... all I know how to do is devour." "No... you only subconsciously thought of yourself as a replica of the Cang Emperor, which is why you only knew how to devour! Your Dao is very special. Perhaps it requires you to genuinely immerse yourself in it. For instance, to replicate me, immerse yourself in me... Observe my past, understand me, become one with me, and make yourself believe that you are me... Then you might be able to replicate me!" Er Mao suddenly had an epiphany. "You mean, let me roam through your river of memories, observe your past, and immerse myself in it? Is that... appropriate?" "Why wouldn't it be appropriate?" Li Hao smiled. "There is nothing in my past to hide, nothing that cannot be spoken of! If this truly works, we might not even need to borrow power from others this time; instead... we'll shoulder it ourselves! Not only that, if it is proven that Senior is indeed a Dao Spirit, then..." His eyes gleamed with brilliant radiance, and he laughed softly. "Then the cultivators of Silver Moon are all innate Dao bodies, in harmony with the Great Dao—natural Dao bodies... natural Dao Spirits! If this is a cultivation method, everyone can become the Dao!" When that time came, perhaps some very interesting things would happen. Er Mao didn't completely understand, but felt awed nonetheless! Mhm, what you say makes sense. Even though I feel... I really don't know how, I also want to believe I'm a Dao Spirit. Yes, I'm a Dao Spirit, not Big Cat's replica! Thinking about it like this, I suddenly feel... so happy! "Then you'll open your river of memories to me, and I'll look through your memories?" Er Mao asked excitedly, "If I can replicate myself into you—indistinguishable between real and fake, our Daos unified as one—does that mean I can completely merge my power into yours, and you can merge yours into mine?" "Right!" "How interesting! Hearing you put it that way, I feel like maybe... I really can?" Though thirty percent uncertain, at this moment, Er Mao was willing to believe it. In truth, it knew full well that these were merely Li Hao's conjectures and deductions, not proven facts. But what if it was real? Then I would be very happy! And Li Hao was also full of anticipation. If it was proven that Er Mao was truly a Dao Spirit, many things would undergo a monumental transformation. Including his upcoming comprehension of the myriad Daos! His heart stirred once again. He had previously wondered why the Emperor of Battle Heaven had comprehended the myriad Daos so effortlessly back in Xinwu. If the Emperor of Battle Heaven had personally mastered a Dao of replication like Er Mao's—perhaps even as a core Dao, the very core of Battle Heaven... Then... with this Great Dao of replication, if all ten thousand Daos could be replicated, the difficulty of comprehending the myriad Daos would be drastically reduced! In that moment, his expression shifted slightly. If that were truly the case, it might explain how the Emperor of Battle Heaven had comprehended the myriad Daos and condensed time—why he was able to do it, and so quickly, accomplishing the convergence of time in just a short span of years. It would also explain why Er Mao had lived alongside the phantom of the Emperor of Battle Heaven within a single fragment: because... this Dao had replicated a specific period of time, endlessly repeating it as the most deeply etched memory. At this moment, looking at Er Mao again, it was as if he saw boundless wealth... Was this the true fortune cat?