Chapter 2163: A Peerless Swordsman! (I)

Yuan Shuo only had time to take a quick glance at his disciple before he was forced back again. He howled, waving a punch forward.

Tiger Roar Through Mountain and Woods shook the vicinity. The auras of the five elements once more took shape as monsters hovering overhead. They integrated into the great dao and charged the ninth rank’s dao!

Thoughts flickered rapidly through Yuan Shuo’s mind. If the situation continued as was, then it would be very difficult for the Human King and Emperor Yu to kill two ninth ranks. Their trump cards had been fully exposed, so it didn’t matter that they were strong.

It was only a matter of time before Spring Autumn and his own side collapsed. Meanwhile... Li Hao was already doing fantastic fighting one against three. But... it looked like he would lose too. Even if he won, how would he vie with Calamity and Skyward when he didn’t have anymore strength left?

They were all depleting themselves, so even if a victor was determined between Calamity and Skyward, it wouldn’t be any of the others who won in the end.

“Gan Wuliang!” Yuan Shuo suddenly turned back with a yell. The man’s heart jolted!

Now??

They thought that they’d want to play for a bit more time. Was it all happening now?

Many in the crowd looked quietly at Li Hao, then at Yuan Shuo. Gan Wuliang gathered all of his emotions and answered in the most ringing voice of his life, “Here!”

He was here!

He’d always been here!

He’d been the leader of the rebels before, but had sworn fealty to Li Hao after being captured. He’d been present in all of the battles that’d taken place then, never shying away from conflict. However... those of Silver Moon, or its martial masters, never seemed to pay attention or care about him.

They looked down on him and dismissed him because he was fake and insincere.

It was very hard for him to become part of their group.

Only a very select few understood that Gan Wuliang had never let up in his efforts to stabilize Silver Moon. He’d paid a very hefty price to be where he was today.

He was here!

He’d never left!

“Very good!” Yuan Shuo roared with laughter.

The ninth rank across the way glared frostily at Yuan Shuo. The latter shot a cool look back. The two traded a furious barrage of blows, trying to come out on top even in terms of glares!

The ninth rank suddenly snorted, as if he’d guessed what the group was trying to do.

“Yuan Shuo...” His voice reverberated through the void. “You’re just an incompetent fool who only knows to borrow from your disciple. Your breakthroughs have come as a result of sheer, dumb luck!

“It’s the greatest fortune of three lifetimes that you are able to stand here today and fight me. Do you actually think that you’ll be able to kill me?”

“It’s a testament of my good judgment that I am able to borrow from my disciple and reach these heights.” Yuan Shuo bared pearly whites in a toothsome grin. “Can you say the same? Are you able to raise such a disciple? What does it matter to you if I live off my disciple? Are you jealous? It’s eating you up inside, isn’t it?”

He hooted with immense amusement and pride!

“We take in disciples for them to care for us in our old age. That is the fondest wish of countless Silver Moon martial masters. I’m the only one who’s actually done it! Can you guys do it? Do you guys have what it takes?”

The expression on the ninth rank’s face did not change. He wouldn’t say anything more since Yuan Shuo wasn’t affected by his words.

The dozens of Silver Moon martial masters on the other side suddenly sensed the dao star within their bodies stir. Two rivers materialized over Gan Wuliang’s head, like the two sides of the taiji diagram.

The other ninth ranks immediately realized what he was about to do.

Silver Moon, New Martial, and Myriad Realms were of one entity. They shared a similar heritage. First the Human King incorporated yin and yang, then Emperor Yu created a new world to assimilate a myriad of daos. Now that Gan Wuliang summoned his rivers of dao, it was obvious what he would do next!

The ninth rank targeting Spring Autumn immediately shot for Gan Wuliang!

These guys were skilled hands at integrating daos. They weren’t strong to begin with, but their battle strength soared after the process was complete. The three factions were of the same bloodline!

With the previous examples of ninth ranks falling after dao was integrated, how could the ninth ranks idly watch another instance come to be?!

The Thunder Emperor erupted with thunder and lightning, suddenly absorbing endless strength from the void. Calamity really wanted to curse these bastards!

It was one thing to not help him, but to repeatedly extract energy from the surroundings?? They were animals!

“You’ll have to get through us if you want to try anything!” snarled the Thunder Emperor!

He materialized in front of the ninth ranks, as did the dao chess, Void, Orchid Forest, Fog Mountain, and Myriad Changes.

Void looked at Li Hao in the distance. The young man happened to turn back at the same time. His brows were drawn and he hesitated. Void sighed inwardly when he met his friend’s eyes. As they said, the great dao was heartless.

Even though... Li Hao knew what they were doing, he didn’t say a word to stop them.

They would still do the same even if he protested, but at least it would make them feel a bit better.

Fellow Daoist Hao Moon... we followed you to present day... so let us return everything to you!

Void thought of when he first met Li Hao. The young man hadn’t been strong then, but he had a certain bearing about him. He had a lofty character and a relaxed composure, able to speak freely even in front of powerhouses.

Reassurance colored his words when he spoke of the great dao, not detached aloofness. There was only a heroic air about him.

He’d raised his sword to enter the martial world and Skyward major world, seeking the great dao and inquiring where immortals had gone.

Li Hao then... had not been as mystifying as he was now. Now he gave off the feeling that he was close at hand, yet very far away!

“Stop him!” Void roared. Multiple eighth ranks struck at the same time!

Daos of two extremes erupted. The worlds changed color, like they’d been silenced.

“Ants!” sneered the ninth rank that’d come rushing over.

Did eighth ranks really dare fight ninth ranks? They just had a few more people with them!

A surge of spirit erupted. Void and the others felt their great daos shake, like their dao strength was about to dissipate. Behind them, Spring Autumn shouted sternly, despite her grave injuries.

A cicada’s hum rose!

Time flowed rapidly through the void and her dao strength receded swiftly as well, but a tiny tree appeared in front of her the next second. In the distance, Void’s dao strength streamed away from him!

He was silencing the entire chaos!

“Emptiness!” he shouted, a still look in his eyes. The worlds were still.

He was extracting his own strength and that of the surroundings to make the tree in front of Spring Autumn flower and bear fruit. A fruit hovered in front of the little girl.

Spring Autumn blinked with astonishment!

“Eat it!” roared Void.

He brimmed with dead qi and swayed on his feet. Life and death materialized as he spontaneously endured a tribulation of life and death. He aged to the point of decaying in a split second, but then returned to who he was another second later!

One cycle of reincarnation had been completed!

Void, however, seemed much older than before. He’d lost endless years of his lifespan. Another fruit appeared in front of Spring Autumn, life energy was incredibly dense on it!

Spring Autumn’s heart shook!

Her injuries had recovered by at least thirty percent when she ate the previous fruit. It’d been the span of a heartbeat.

No further instruction was needed when another fruit appeared. She swallowed it whole, feeling more of her injuries recover and a strong surge of life energy bloom within her body.

What an immense force of revitalization!

The daos of withering and flourishing that she cultivated seemed to contain some of revitalization. Even some of her silent replicas were about to come back to life.

Void continued to cycle through energy and the cycle of reincarnation!

He’d once said that one should avoid this cycle if possible and advised Li Hao otherwise. He’d also warned himself in the same faction. But today, he rapidly cycled through reincarnation and extracted energy from around him in the blink of an eye!

His memories began to grow faint, some of them drifting away like smoke upon the wind.

The ninth rank was upon him again. There were a lot fewer emotions and complicated thoughts in Void’s eyes now. There was just a sense of melancholy.

So this was the cycle of life and death. Life became meaningless when one traveled it a few times. Is this how you are, Li Hao?

My dao friend Hao Moon... perhaps we will never discuss the great dao again.

“Emptiness!” He gathered all the strength in him for a punch. Although he was a praying mantis trying to stop a chariot, he punched nonetheless.

The punch collected a myriad daos, just as Li Hao would when he struck with his sword!

“The great stillness!” Void’s haunting voice echoed in all directions. The void itself was frozen!

All beings were silenced and a sense of withering rose behind him. Spring Autumn was flush with good health and had regained her confidence because of it. She punched with the dao of withering as Void struck!

Void’s body had begun to fall silent. It was better to silence the self than to silence another!

When I fall into silence, so does the world. If I am silent, so are my opponents. It is the most I can do to ensure that we go down together!

Hao Moon... I hope that you can recover to who you were before.

A fellow daoist is a rare find indeed. A wandering hero is equally rare.

You are no longer you today. Li Hao is not someone without emotions or desires!

His body stilled, a phenomenon that spread from his feet. The ninth rank howled, yet the premises had been sealed off. The dao of emptiness furiously spread within it.

The dao chess had reverted to a chessboard form and bristled with thousands of poisonous spikes. They sectioned space and worlds into multiple partitions, trapping the ninth rank!

An eighth rank dao universe had enshrouded the area. The dao chess’ shadow appeared. He cast a complicated look at Skyward.

The man calmly looked back. He’d once forged the dao chess with his own hands, yet it was unwilling to return to his hand after following Li Hao. Hence, Skyward didn’t say anything.

You chose your own path. If you die here today and fall apart, that will be the result of your own decisions!