Star Gate

Galewind was naturally aware of the enormous happenings taking place on the Hao Cosmos Continent. The entire world was praying!

Zheng Yu continuously glanced outside, his eyes darting around and his thoughts unknown. Some of the premier powerhouses within the city stood next to him and also peered outside.

"What does it mean that the entire world is praying for blessings?" Someone frowned.

"Does he want to cultivate the path of the human emperor?"

"Or does he want to revitalize those who died in battle?"

"......" One had to say, these people were exceedingly sharp. They'd grasped the key detail very quickly and seen that, with the convergence of all of the dao meridians throughout the world, this wasn't just a simple remembrance ceremony. There was a certain process and procedure behind everything. Something was afoot!

But what precisely, they couldn't tell.

They weren't that familiar with the new dao, but it was possible for the human emperor dao that they spoke of to resurrect the dead. It would be a similar process to the one that brought back the divine spirits.

Zheng Yu also took stock of the surroundings before saying slowly, "There... is no sign of a human emperor dao formingyet. This is also not how it is cultivated. But to bring back those who fell in battle before... that is a potential!

"Yuan Shuo and some of the others died at Boundless, but there are many dao meridians in the new dao, which means numerous personal dao stars. If Li Hao is able to locate and activate their inert dao stars, he might be able to revive them!"

Was that what Li Hao was doing? Was that good or bad? Should he interfere?

Saints could not leave the city, but there were still some Immortals left under his command.

There didn't seem to be anything major developing at the moment. He, too, cultivated the new dao and was probing the situation inside the dao universe. Although his primary body didn't cultivate it, his replica had been all along.

While he couldn't gain a clear view of the situation within the dao universe, he could vaguely sense that some of the stars were being shifted around.

Should he stop the young man?

Silver Moon had many Immortals as well. The ones he sent out might not make it back.

"Let's keep watching!" Zheng Yu frowned and didn't say anything else.

It wasn't necessarily a bad thing if Yuan Shuo and the others came back. Just like the case of Lin Hongyu earlier, the more ties Li Hao had to this world, the better. That meant he had more weaknesses. His complete indifference to everything after Yuan Shuo's death had caused him to be utterly brutal in his actions afterward.

Galewind had lost too many powerhouses to the young man already. Even if Yuan Shuo and the others returned, they would be Sun and Moon at best.

Zheng Yu's only concern was... what if Li Hao wasn't doing this to resurrect his old companions?

......

Drip. Drip!

The sound of water echoed through the dao universe. A puddle had gathered beneath the sword river—dao power.

The power of great dao had taken shape as liquid, but was slightly disordered for the moment.

Li Hao continued agitating his blood qi, integrating the liquid and bestowing order upon them. He utilized his unique sequence of great dao to merge all of the power together so that they became a water source of chaos once more.

He might fail, but trial and error was required in cultivation. The consequences wouldn't be bad if he failed either.

Ten thousand stars resonated at different frequencies!

For Li Hao, the vibration of ten thousand stars was unbearable. His body was part of the river of stars, so the resonation of the stars also disturbed his body.

A 'dao' character manifested over the forehead of one of his projections, once more encompassing the four directions and overlooking the world.

"Panth!" Li Hao called out, quickly summoning the dog. "If... any problems develop... I need you to do one thing—devour the accumulated dao power. But... that might stuff you to the point of exploding..."

Panther immediately turned golden in color, intimidating the four sides with the thought.Am I afraid of that?? You should've said so earlier! I'm just waiting to eat! So my chance to eat is here! You should've said so earlier, I would've already started!

"Not now." Li Hao couldn't help but laugh. "I mean eat when problems develop!"

This guy was so eager when it came to eating, but that wasn't necessary at the moment. Panther's time to shine would come when the dao power fluctuated unsteadily, or one type proved hard to integrate. It could devour the excess, of what wasn't in balance, or whatever was causing the disarray.

There might be plenty of opportunities to come!

"Don't relax your guard, Panth. I need to maintain a balance, so there will certainly be some types of power that throws the equilibrium off balance. The five elements, for example. A lot of people cultivate them, maybe hundreds of millions of them. You won't be able to eat it all if anything bad happens!"

"Arf arf arf!" Panther looked dismissively at the young man, at life itself.Who you looking down on?? The power of great dao is a huge nutrient! Just give me all you got! We'll see if there's anything I can't eat!

Li Hao gave up the notion of warning Panther when he saw how the dog was. The dog was very smart, it understood what he was saying. This display didn't result from arrogance, but a desire to give Li Hao confidence that it could handle what he was asking for!

"Then... we have too much water energy!"

"Arf!" Panther took shape as the massive golden dog and opened its mouth wide. A powerful suction force churned through the dao universe; vast quantities of water strength turned into liquid and entered its body.

The dog's primary attribute was also water, so this was a very complementary pairing. It was highly satisfied by the meal and was having the time of its life!

Strength from fire dao was surging into the dao universe and taking shape as lava. The memorial ceremony had reached the stage of the fire attribute.

Li Hao suppressed thousands of dao stars, pulling strength from them and shifting them around. He was very preoccupied with the task of correcting the sequence of incorrectly placed dao stars. Panther waited quietly to the side.

"Absorb fire energy!" the young man instructed moments later.

"Roar!" Panther's body expanded once more as it began absorbing fire energy. However, discomfort grew when fire met water. As more fire energy entered its body and crashed into the rivulets of water already present... the discomfort grew more intense.

It seemed to have overestimated itself. This was too much energy!

And yet, Li Hao did not tell the dog to stop. Dao strength was hard to preserve and tricky to just throw away. If he tossed it aside, it easily flowed back.

Another problem developed at this time! More stars congregated upon the young man, seemingly drawn by the dao strength in the area. They were stars that he'd yet to discover; their arrival would throw the entire river into disarray and even scatter the sword shape.

Li Hao's head ached.

While he'd foreseen this developing, he hadn't anticipated that there would be so many stars left to be discovered. At least one thousand stars were hurtling his way!

He quickly separated out a replica that flew toward the new additions.

Rumble!!

Li Hao's replica was thrown backward, but he managed to hold off the onslaught and bring them into the river in a controlled manner. But when they joined the river, dao power that was previously in balance—such as wind, water, and fire—flared anew from these stars. It threw Li Hao into frenetic activity to reach a new equilibrium.

A small creek had formed beneath the stars; it rocked unsteadily with the new additions. Li Hao's scalp crawled with horror, but he was saved when Panther immediately swallowed all of the new dao power.

It was the dog's turn to back away with increasing trepidation. It would be done for if things continued at this rate! This was only a few types of great dao, but it was already full!

Thunderous rumbles sounded from Panther's body as it hastily digested the energy. It'd never despised dao power as much as it did now!

The situation might improve if Li Hao brought a few more people into the dao universe. But if he did so, he would be more easily exposed.

The young man didn't trust people very much at times—take right now, for example. His endeavors had to do with the great dao; the reorganization of the river of stars was even more so.

Everything that'd happened thus far already exceeded his expectations. It would seem that things proceeding too smoothly wasn't a good outcome either, because that meant everything came too quickly for him to handle.

Lin Hongyu would find it difficult to halt the process, as did he. Li Hao was even hoping that someone would stir up some trouble and interrupt the ceremony. That might be better for him.

"Damn my head hurts!" Li Hao split out another replica because more stars were converging on him.

At the same time, one hundred million stars twinkled—the earth attribute stars this time. A large quantity of earth energy gathered!

Li Hao had to split out yet another replica to absorb earth energy. Each of his replicas were frantically darting to and fro the dao universe, each busy with their own tasks. In the end, he had to make a small rip in the void and transmit, "Slow... down..."

......

Skystar City.

Lin Hongyu didn't know what to do with the message she'd received.Slow down?

First speed up, then slow down. I've already given my orders and there are so many people involved. It's not like there's only one or two participating, making it easy to control. It's tough to steer the crowds when there's so many parts of it!

But since Li Hao had made his request, she had to quickly brainstorm a solution.

"I seem to sense the return of some heroic souls..." The sky canopy broadcasted her voice to the corners of the world. "Our heroes have sensed the kindness and enthusiasm in everyone's efforts and sincere good wishes. Let us pause our cultivating and listen to the spirits..."

Faint whispers soon murmured in people's ears. It was impossible to make out specific words, but it really did seem like someone was talking. Some jumped in shock, others smiled with delight.

"I hear their voices, but not their words," Lin Hongyu said with regret after a while. "Perhaps we have not yet reached the level of them materializing in front of us. Continue to pray for them! Wind cultivators, let us pray again. I hear the voices of the wind spirits..."

Around her, people cast strange glances at the woman.You're telling bald-faced lies! We didn't hear anything!

A sense of something wrong crept into their hearts and their minds stirred to activity. This was when Lin Hongyu's identity and status truly demonstrated their importance. With Li Hao being absent from the premises, Lin Hongyu directing such a large-scale operation, and making changes ad hoc... people would've rebelled against her long ago!

They might have even seized her instead, thinking that she was cooking up a conspiracy. But with her status proclaimed to the world, they weren't at liberty to say anything.

Li Hao wasn't here, Lin Hongyu was the marquise and held the Hao Cosmos Medallion, and nothing untoward had developed from her plan. Even if she was plotting something, they had to grin and bear it for now.

Lin Hongyu secretly heaved a sigh of relief and grew more nervous.Don't change the plan any more, will you?

She was more nervous than Li Hao at the moment. The young man changed his mind again and again, adjusting the speed of the process on a whim. It was very difficult to recalibrate for each of his requests; she had to weave a complex web of excuses to convince the people.

She'd spun so many lies by now that she was nearly losing track.