Star Gate

"......" Lin Hongyu stared dumbly at Li Hao, not understanding what the young man meant.

I'm a Fused Dao cultivator. I have no issues stopping instantly if we're one centimeter apart, to say nothing of the small distance that we still had between us just now.

"My... control over my strength... is good..." Lin Hongyu said haltingly.

"You seem like you've never been in a relationship before..." Li Hao laughed at her.

"......" Lin Hongyu's jaw dropped!

"Don't you want my body? I thought you would purposefully crash into me like the novels say..."

"......"

"Never mind, it looks like you're so busy that you don't even have time to read novels. You can read some when you have a moment. I've never been in a relationship, but I've read those novels before. My master also liked to read them, so you can give them a try too."

"......"

Li Hao vanished with a chuckle, leaving Lin Hongyu staring behind him.

What the heck was that? I've been so busy since young—cultivating, scheming, pacifying various rebellions, overseeing the City of Supernaturals, overseeing Skystar Dynasty... I'm so busy that I barely have time to sleep. What time do I have to read some random nonsense?

Li Hao is being damned strange?

And wasn't he also really busy?

Wasn't Yuan Shuo busy too?

How did they have time to read stuff like that? They really lost themselves in seeking pleasure!

......

Li Hao walked through the air, laughing to himself as he found the situation interesting.An old woman of thirty-one years... It looks like she doesn't know anything in life apart from schemes and cultivation. Damn, that's tragic.

Her childhood must've been very boring. At least mine was fun.

"You're smiling so happily, it looks like it was a good conversation?" Hong Yitang floated over.

"It was alright!" Li Hao smiled. "Ah, right, I haven't seen Martial Aunt Hongxiu for a bit. What's she been up to lately?"

"......" Hong Yitang did not answer.

Li Hao frowned.Hadsomething happened? Surely not. He'd almost never drafted her for battle because one, she was Hong Yitang's wife and two, her strength was mediocre.

"She's gone to Divine Nation."

"What?"

"She's gone to Divine Nation..." Hong Yitang trailed off. "She was in Watercloud before, then Barren. She travels there to collect those left orphaned, injured, homeless, or destitute by the wars. Skystar is well off now, but Divine Nation is completely miserable.

"It's engulfed by confusion and corpses litter the streets. She's gone there to help! I've tried to convince her otherwise, to tell her to stay away from Divine Nation, but she didn't listen to me..."

"Love for the people is not defined by borders, this is good!" Despite that being Li Hao's response, he still thought it over. The faint illumination of great dao emanated from his body, forming a personal domain. "I have no opinions about this, just the concern that she might draw attention from the heavenly will!"

Hong Yitang's heart skipped a beat.

"Her strength and potential are mediocre. Would the heavenly will set its sights on her?"

"It's hard to say!" Li Hao frowned slightly. "I don't want to make those dear to us sad and give our enemies cause to be happy, but it's hard to say. It's hard for the heavenly well to make a decision these days.

"I've thought about it—its best choice is either the queen or Ying Hongyue. But both of them have run off. Then the next best choice is from those who haven't been to the Barren wastelands. For example, the ninth prince of the Skystar royal family. And now that you say Martial Aunt Hongxiu's gone to Barren, and that she's been taking in orphans all this time...

"Actions like those easily draw attention from the heavenly will. That's a show of great magnanimity and love for the people, isn't it?"

"The ninth prince... you mean the disciple that Southern Fist left behind?"

"That's right!" Li Hao nodded. "He's at the Skystar Martial Dao Academy right now and keeping a very low profile. His entire family's dead and Martial Uncle Southern Fist is gone as well. He has great potential, if you recall. I remember very well since I have a great memory!

"I executed the entire Skystar royal family, but Martial Uncle Southern Fist begged for mercy on his behalf. I spared him, but there's no one around to keep him in check now that martial uncle is gone. Unexpected developments could easily happen."

Hong Yitang could help but sigh with appreciation to himself. Everyone had forgotten about the prince, but Li Hao remembered! He was... truly a petty-minded person, but it was true that the prince had good potential.

"Fair enough, we can keep him under observation. As for Hongxiu, I'll have her come back..."

"No need!" Li Hao shook his head with a smile. "I'll make the heavenly will hurt if it really goes for Martial Aunt Hongxiu, plus I'll help her benefit enormously from it! An immature heavenly will wanting to fight various factions and raise its own spokesperson... It's really thinking too much!

"Let's ignore that for now. Heavenly favor is a good boon to receive at the end of the day. Let's go find Ying Hongyue! I want to wring some treasures out of him. He's a very important step in the next phase of my plan. Panth, you search him out!"

"Arf!" The black dog barked, sniffed around, and stood still. There was no scent from Ying Hongyue that it could pick up. There was nothing at all!

Li Hao's jaw sagged.You useless thing! I wasted my time and effort raising you!But one had to say, Ying Hongyue really knew how to pick his hiding spots.

"Come, we go to Great Li!"

"Great Li?" Hong Yitang mulled over it.

"The source of the Forbidden Sea!" Li Hao laughed. "He'll be there if he isn't in some of the ruins. That bastard knows how to hide! He might've seen something there, but the Red Moon power within him will be easily injured by the blade. The blade targets Red Moon strength. If he wants the blade, he'll have to excise part of the Red Moon power from him. The Forbidden Sea is most suited for him to quietly release the power..."

The young man was thinking very clearly and he knew Ying Hongyue very well. There was a 99% chance that the man had returned to Great Li.

"The god of Initial Martial in Great Li..." Hong Yitang raised.

"We can ignore him! Zheng Yu ignores him, Li Daoheng ignores him, and those from Red Moon world leave him alone. That means that this person is either truly harmless, or that he does not impact their profits at present!"

Li Hao argued so reasonably that Hong Yitang could only nod in agreement.This guy knew how to scheme a long time ago, and he's gotten even better at it ever since he started cultivation.

At the same time, it was to be expected that someone who'd bided his time at the Inspectorate for a year, quietly studied countess cases, and was unfazed by scarlet shadows would hold many schemes in their mind.

......

Great Li, the source of the Forbidden Sea.

Towering waves reared overhead in a certain section and seawater ate away at everything. Ying Hongyue was indeed here.

He permitted seawater to wash over him. Only this seawater with highly corrosive properties could wash out the Red Moon power within it. Each wave that crashed on him receded with a tiny tendril of Red Moon power.

He was thinking of that blade, that all too terrifying blade!

He'd known that it was far from ordinary with a quick glance. If he could lay hands on it... then he might not need to scheme about anything else. He might have the right to take his place at the table and fight everyone in an open manner!

Those of the eight families could approach the blade. Meanwhile, he himself... was likely born for this ruin. Someone probably directed him to collecting the eight family bloodlines. he'd vaguely guessed who it was, but he didn't want to think or speak of it.

Gains had been rich in the Tranquil Star ruins after he killed Zheng Yu's replica. He'd also recovered to the Fused Dao level, and the bloodlines of the eight families were more integrated than before.

A tendril of Red Moon power dissipated, but quickly reappeared. This represented that the Red Moon exalted emperor was still sending Red Moon power throughout the land. However, it was better than before. The exalted emperor had likely slowed the pace down after Zhang An and the others entered the seal.

Li Hao has been in closed door cultivation for a month and all Skystar citizens prayed for a few days. He may be up to something.

In addition, Li Hao should have seen that blade before, but didn't seem overly concerned. Did he think that he couldn't claim it, or was he thinking of taking it after Ying Hongyue grew stronger and claimed it first? Li Hao would be able to benefit from his efforts then!

As Ying Hongyue ran through the possibilities, his expression changed. Something was wrong!

The void split open and the heavens were obscured. The personal domain of a dao character appeared. A hand as white as jade pierced through the void and slammed down on him!

Ying Hongyue's eyes widened and he fused the eight bloodlines together, causing his presence to flare with strength so that he could slam his palm out as well!

Bam!

An enormous collision rang in all directions as waves in the Forbidden Sea churned!

Bam bam bam!

Multiple palm strikes later saw Ying Hongyue suddenly spring to action. A longsword appeared, shaking violently. The eight bloodlines swayed for a second. Ying Hongyue darted into the sea and wanted to fly.

That was when an Earthturner Sword appeared in the water, as well as a big golden dog. It devoured the world and the sword slashed through the firmament!

BOOM!

Ying Hongyue flashed out of the water with a look of dismay. He was besieged from front to back!

His attackers were Earthturner Sword, Panther, and Li Hao.

"Li Hao!" Ying Hongyue intoned. "You don't dare kill me! Someone will make a move against you if you do!"

"I know, so I'm in no hurry to kill you." Li Hao appeared with a gentle smile. "I'll just heavily injure you and keep you around as a human pet. You'll be a fish in a barrel, how about that?"

Ying Hongyue's expression flickered rapidly as he sent his senses around them.

"Stop looking around, you won't be getting away!" Li Hao laughed softly. "The world is only so big. Where else can you go apart from Galewind, where you'll be subject to Zheng Yu's control again?

"I don't want much. You can't digest Red Moon power, so give me some. I'll digest it for you, which will decrease the pressure on you and further integrate the eight bloodlines!"

Ying Hongyue's cheek twitched.

"It's fine, there's nothing to worry about," Li Hao laughed. "I love a win-win situation. I've been improving too quickly lately and don't have any thunder tribulations to smite myself with. I'm starting to feel a little uncomfortable, so I'll be very satisfied if you can create some thunderbolts for me!"

"Do you only want Red Moon power?" The look in Ying Hongyue's eyes flashed. "That's fine. I have too much and am finding it troublesome. I can give you however much you want. Will you let me go after that?"

"I think you won't mind giving me some more apart from that?" Li Hao shook his head.

"What do you want?" A wary note crept into Ying Hongyue's voice.

"Where's Violet Moon?"

"What?" Ying Hongyue blinked at Li Hao. "So you... have designs on my daughter? She died in Great Li a long time ago. When Gan Wuliang came to Great Li, their king led the army and killed my daughter... It'll be hard for you to find her!"

In the distance, Hong Yitang also blinked.What are you doing, not discussing business and asking about Violet Moon?