Chapter 2160: Despair and Hopelessness (II)

It was human nature to be afraid of death. Those who weren’t afraid of death were either lunatics or the blissfully young. The older one was, the more afraid of death they were.

Calamity readily admitted that he was afraid of death. However, there was nothing to be afraid of when there was no possibility of survival.

“Today, I will rip off your fake, smiling face that never changes!” he sneered. He turned to address Li Hao’s group. “Li Hao, I know you have a lot of plans in motion and have no shortage of schemes. But you need to think this through.

“This old thing isn’t someone to get on the wrong side of. I’d like to see how you guys can get rid of him if I die!”

He disappeared on the spot!

Auspicious clouds bloomed and filled the void. Calamity’s eyes turned the color of lightning and a wisp of blue smoke appeared in front of them when he locked onto something!

Fate!

A pillar of fate manifested, running straight to the heavens and being so ponderous that there was no place for Skyward to hide.

A unique ripple emanated from Calamity’s eyes. The clouds took humanoid shape and sped for the massive pillar. Thunder pillars appeared in the surroundings again and locked onto the worlds!

A fist materialized after a heartbeat and life and death manifested, ready to obliterate the worlds!

Skyward continued smiling. His punch of life and death pierced through the void, making it to Calamity in the blink of an eye. Endless thunderbolts exploded and space was destroyed. The millstone of life and death broke, but so did the thunder and lightning instantly dissipate!

Two shadows fought each other thousands of times, moving so quickly that the eye could not pick up on them. They seemed frozen in place as they clashed!

Skyward was treating the fight seriously now as he brought so much strength to bear that it rivaled what Calamity had in the field. He could pass through space as he would, so fast that it was unbelievable. When all sorts of daos to seal off the area appeared, endless power of thunder and lightning was locked into place as well!

......

The Human King and others watched with strange looks on their faces. Seeing that the ninth ranks weren’t moving, Fang Ping transmitted to his own people, “Are we going to sit back and just watch or what? There are a lot of ninth ranks around. We might not lose against them, but it won’t be that easy to win either...

“It’s not necessarily a good thing for us if a winner and loser is decided in the current fight...”

Although they’d killed a lot of people today, none of those who’d died were the main characters. That had always been Skyward!

By now, it was both Skyward and Calamity. The others seemed to be appetizers and were putting on an opening show. It was only now that the main act was on stage.

“Li Hao, do you have any ideas to take down Skyward?” The Human King seemed convinced that Skyward wouldn’t lose, so he looked to the young man for inspiration. To be honest, he was quite confused too.

He’d watched Li Hao rise into his power and reach his current heights. Although the young man was very strong and had further nurtured his flesh and blood through various locales in the chaos, was this... all there was to him?

If that was the case, then the Human King felt that he wouldn’t necessarily be weaker than Li Hao after incorporating his dark side. However, that wasn’t enough to eliminate Skyward. While they might reach Calamity’s level then, that still might be insufficient.

If even Calamity failed, what could they use to turn the tables?

Skyward was no benevolent soul!

He’d basically come and outright said that they were all going to die, that he was going to throw everything away and reconstruct the chaos.

Su Yu stared at Li Hao for a few moments, but didn’t say anything else. He regathered the Myriad Realm powerhouses that’d become scattered around the battlefield. Everyone regrouped to crowd around him.

His presence built and the strength of order transmuted into the strength of dao rules. They intermixed with the chaos, which represented his first real step toward the chaos.

At the same time, Su Yu looked back at Li Hao with some confusion. Now that he’d had the opportunity to study the Master of Time, he found that... the one who’d appeared larger than life back in the day suddenly didn’t seem that much stronger than him.

Granted, that was also to be expected, since it’d only been a few months for Li Hao. But for Su Yu, the Master of Time had always been the strongest and most invincible character that he’d known throughout his rise.

And now... Li Hao was still strong, but he didn’t amaze or overawe Su Yu.

Perhaps this was the resignation one felt after reaching the top.

Those preeminent existences that’d seemed as lofty as the heavens were overtaken one by one. It was difficult to regard them with the same amount of respect and veneration. The Master of Time... was just a title that Myriad Realms bestowed unto Li Hao.

Yet in the grand scheme of things. Li Hao was just another newcomer in the chaos universe.

Su Yu came to this conclusion with some regret. He didn’t actually want to surpass the Master of Time so easily. He was the target of faith and symbol of invincibility to Myriad Realms!

Yet outside, in the chaos universe, their faith was crumbling away.

There was no doubt that Li Hao was very strong, but he was far from what they thought he was. The Myriad Realm cultivators behind Su Yu were likewise suffering from the demise of their dreams. In fact, if Li Hao was Skyward... that would better fulfill their image of an invincible powerhouse who’d created Myriad Realms.

It didn’t matter that Skyward was their enemy.

Yuan Shuo looked at his disciple as well, hesitant and with a bit of helplessness. Even though he’d devoured the five elements, he was still hard pressed to match a single ninth rank.

All of Silver Moon hadn’t been able to give Li Hao much support in this battle. Yuan Shuo wanted to say a few words, but he didn’t know what to say.

Li Hao seemed to stand separate from the world in this moment. He didn’t raise his hand to charge at his enemy. but waited for the results to be shown to him. This was different from the image that Yuan Shuo held in his mind.

Li Hao was the sort that liked to retain control of the entire situation. Whether it was out of considerations of strength or confidence, he’d been passively responding to everything. Or perhaps Yuan Shuo had been part of Myriad Realms for too long, so he’d gotten used to Emperor Yu’s unparalleled decisiveness and ruthlessness!

Now that he laid eyes on his disciple again... he found that Li Hao wasn’t even as proactive as the Human King.

Seeing Calamity and Skyward going blow to blow in heated battle and feeling the ripples of great dao sweep through the area, Yuan Shuo couldn’t help himself in the end. “Little Hao, you have a plan, right? You must’ve seen this day happening a long time ago...”

He asked, wanting to help his disciple win back a point, to raise his own morale, and also to prove that his disciple was the strongest and the shrewdest one on the scene!

Yuan Shuo didn’t wish for his disciple to appear insufficient in the eyes of the other factions. He wanted to verify that Li Hao was prepared for all eventualities!

Li Hao turned back and smiled at his master, shaking his head. “They’re too strong and it’s been too soon since our rise. Let’s just... keep watching, teacher!”

Yuan Shuo frowned deeply and cursed under his breath! It was inaudible as he found himself incredibly useless. A mixture of emotions assaulted his heart.

There was no one who could fully understand Li Hao after they all left Silver Moon province—no, when they handled the remnants of the New Martial powerhouses. There was nothing else they could do.

Yuan Shuo tilted his head at Myriad Realms, then at New Martial. The Human King had assimilated all of those from New Martial. Everyone from Myriad Realms had connected their great dao to Emperor Yu’s world. The people were deeply connected to these two kings. No one was bitter that many of their comrades had died in this battle.

Numerous seventh ranks and even eighth ranks had been born after Silver Moon devoured the ninth rank worlds. And yet, they hadn’t provided too much support for Li Hao in this battle. Apart from Hong Yitang providing some power of faith to Supreme Zhang to help with killing a ninth rank, all of Silver Moon’s cultivators... hadn’t delivered too many other results.

Even Yuan Shuo hadn’t.

He’d obtained quite a great deal, the chiefest was which was the dao of the five elements. Currently, they were surrounded by nine ninth ranks and unable to do anything. His disciple... did not seem as closely connected to Silver Moon as the rest.

The Human King linked to all of New Martial with his inner world. Emperor Yu linked to all of Myriad Realms with his new world. And Li Hao... continued to drift apart from the rest. His connection to Silver Moon had completely severed the day he gave the position of dao master to Hong Yitang and Gan Wuliang.

Yuan Shuo cast a glance behind him, seeing how all of New Martial had disappeared. Those of Myriad Realms considered Li Hao with complicated gazes, but regarded their emperor with especial reverence.

Many of Silver Moon’s cultivators were dead. Those alive were... in low spirits. Even though Li Hao had killed two ninth ranks by himself, that didn’t have much to do with them. They hadn’t contributed to those efforts.

Void, the Thunder Emperor, and dao chess were all looking around blankly. The Light master had died, which left Void wandering around in a lost fashion. He’d supported Li Hao all along, but didn’t look at his friend anymore.

The more Yuan Shuo assessed the scene, the less he liked it.

He’d felt that the future and hope of the Five Styles discipline lay with Li Hao ever since the young man surpassed him, but now...

He looked at the ninth ranks that were equally drooping with low spirits. They seemed similar to the Silver Moon cultivators, all of them feeling a bit helpless against the situation.

Gan Wuliang was behind him, and a lot of others. But somehow, the living all seemed to be... very despondent.

“Gan Wuliang!” Yuan Shuo suddenly transmitted.

Gan Wuliang jerked out of his reverie and answered hesitantly, “Professor Yuan...”

“This battle is incredibly important, we can’t stay out of it! Whether it’s New Martial or Myriad Realms, they’re all just helpers that we’ve dragged into the field! But when push comes to shove, it’s Silver Moon that feels a bit hemmed in and unable to fully let loose!”

Gan Wuliang didn’t have an answer. He’d set foot into eighth rank now, but... what could he do?

There was nothing they could do in this level of fight.

“You are the dao master of Silver Moon!”

Am I, really?

Perhaps!

“Li Hao might be unwilling to assimilate Silver Moon because he’s scarred from that previous battle. Perhaps he doesn’t want to watch everyone die in front of him again. But we of Silver Moon have been mentally defeated by this battle!”

They hadn’t lost yet! But their morale had been crushed.

Gan Wuliang stilled. Perhaps. It just felt... so hopeless. Li Hao seemed to be growing further and further away from them.

“Li Hao once said this when he grasped the great dao that everyone will be dao masters in the future! There are seats for them all in the river of great dao. It’s just as when you guys incorporated your spirit into the establishment of Myriad Realms.

“The veteran cultivators of Silver Moon should all know that wielding the aura of martial dao is to wield the spirit! When it comes to the aura, we are the most unique existences in the chaos because we are the only ones that possess it. And as the dao master, you should be doing something!”

A light sparkled in Gan Wuliang’s eyes as he looked at Li Hao’s back.