Star Gate

"If my speculations are correct, that means the dao universe exists in two dimensions. Are we agreed on this?" Li Hao continued. "What eludes me after considerable thought is that even my teacher and I only discovered the corporeal dao meridians. Who else is able to discover large numbers of immaterial dao meridians?

"It has to be someone deeply familiar with the new dao and the mental strength level. The more I think about it.... the more I find that only the Moon God is able to! Do you guys think that the Moon God has secretly taken control of the other dimension of the universe?

"Why don't the two of you go back and bring her in for an investigation? You might find a thing or two! Or, both of you are smart individuals. You can see if you can find a clue or two to give you an excuse to seize her for more questioning..."

Both men ignored his suggestions, but they did take the information to heart. If an immaterial side of the dao universe existed, who would be in charge of it?

If no one did, did that mean they stood a chance of gaining control?

It would require someone with strong mental strength. Zheng Yu's mental strength was formidable—he was a half step emperor! Ying Hongyue's was not weak either.

The two abruptly sank into deep thought.

"So this secret should be enough to fulfill this round?" Li Hao asked with a smile.

The two nodded in agreement. Whether it was real or not, it opened up a world of possibilities.

"Also, if you two detect where some mental strength meridians are, you can trade their location for that of some corporeal dao meridians. The new dao can be completed only when we exchange information! This process of perfection is what is meant by cultivation. Relying on one person to complete an entire system is very hard!

"In addition, the corporeal dao meridians form a sword. Does the same go for the ones of mental strength? Or is it something else? You guys can use this as a benchmark. You've got strong mental strength, so trying a few more times than you otherwise would isn't a problem. It's not like you'll die from failures..."

"Li Hao!" Ying Hongyue interrupted with a complicated expression on his face. "No matter whether this is true or not, you have truly thrown us off balance with this. I basically watched you grow up and have studied the eight families for many years. But now it seems that I have not fully seen through you."

"What an honor it is to have the enemy who slaughtered my entire family watch me grow up!" Li Hao chuckled. "Ying Hongyue, I'll satisfy one of your wishes when I kill you. I'll let the eight bloodlines combine as one with you!

"You want my bloodline so very badly. If you die, I'll grant your wish of letting my blood slowly become part of you. It will devour and assimilate you, grinding you into a pulp and shredding you into bloody fibers. How about that?"

"......" Ying Hongyue looked wordlessly at him and vanished on the spot. As calmly as Li Hao spoke, it brought a great deal of pressure on him. Ying Hongyue could sense the presence of death and destruction more clearly than before.

The young man really would do as he said!

Even Zheng Yu arched a brow, glancing at the young man before disappearing. The calmer the fellow was, the more wary they were. Even a half step emperor felt that Li Hao would erupt at any time. He was a ticking bomb. No one would be at ease until they saw to the end of him.

"They ran off fast!" Li Hao laughed.I meant what I said! Not just these last words, but all of what I said before that.

If my guess is right, Li Daoheng, then you may have already grasped the immaterial dao universe. If we're in the same universe, why haven't I sensed anything?

While it was just speculation for now, Li Hao felt that his theories made sense.

Little was known about the mental strength meridians. But if someone like Li Daoheng had taken note of them early on, he might've learned about the unique aspects of those such as the god of prophecy.

Since Li Hao held sway over the corporeal dao universe, would Li Daoheng continue to explore it further? He was not the type to willingly play second fiddle.

"The god of prophecy hasn't been revived in all this time. Either he can't be resurrected, or... you guys aren't letting him come back. His return might expose a lot of things."

So you can go ahead and try, Zheng Yu.

The man may not believe him if Li Hao outright told him the purported truth, not to mention that it might ruin Li Daoheng's plans. If that happened, it would be Li Hao who was in trouble. Not to mention, these were just educated guesses at the moment. If Zheng Yu grew interested enough to investigate... interesting things might happen.

Li Hao continued to train. He wanted to practice a lot of methods to their ultimate peak. The young man was no longer practicing a random assortment of methods, but utilizing each meridian in the pursuit of the Five Styles. It didn't matter whether they were attributed dao meridians or unattributed ones. All of them utilized the secret arts of the Five Styles.

He was now going to travel to the edge of the Barren wasteland and attempt to connect to core origin dao. If he failed, a unique product—the aura—might result instead!

It was fine that he lacked instruction from his teacher. His enemies could teach him all the same. They could become one's nutrition just as well if paid with a sufficiently high price.

......

Li Hao cultivated with peace of mind. It was Ying Hongyue and the rest who couldn't sit still.

When they returned to Galewind, Ying Hongyue snuck a few glances at the queen. She frowned with irritation, causing him to hesitate.

"I've always been curious." Ying Hongyue decided to still raise his question. "Does the power in the moon count as mental strength or attributed strength?"

"What do you mean by that?"

"Is your mental strength strong?" Ying Hongyue had to change tack upon seeing how wary the queen was.

"Hmph!"

The man pursed his lips helplessly. It looked like the queen's mental strength was mediocre.

"We kept failing to revive the god of prophecy earlier, possibly due to lack of strength. Why don't we ask Master Zheng to help with his strength of a half step emperor? I know that the gods of misfortune and luck have not fully died. Why don't we try with them?"

The queen looked at him strangely. Since when did Ying Hongyue possess such a kind heart?

"Well..."

"We'll have more coordinates in the dao universe once they are alive again, which will make it easier to defeat Li Hao..."

The queen thought it over. This proposal resulted in no loss to her, but would that Zheng Yu be willing?

"You can list whatever resources you need!" Zheng Yu's voice drifted in as the queen pondered. "The enemy of my enemy is my friend! Ask this seat for whatever you need!"

The queen found these circumstances even more odd. Since when was Zheng Yu so nice?

"Very well!" The queen nodded after some thought. "We failed before possibly because there was insufficient power of faith, blood qi, and great dao. Divine spirits can resurrect an infinite number of times as long as our great dao remains..."

Since these two were eager to help, she didn't mind using them to revive her kin. Therefore, the queen made a lengthy list of requests. Zheng Yu agreed to all of them without protest!

He didn't say anything even when the queen stated that she needed the power of faith. He sent large numbers of Saints out of Galewind to escort the queen and Ying Hongyue back to the west. Zheng Yu even sent his own replica to help them revitalize these divine spirits.

......

In the west.

Altars rose into the air; sculptures stood on them. All was in readiness—an astronomical sum of Water of Life, vast quantities of energy stones, and all sorts of power of faith. No one, particularly Li Hao, was here to wreck their endeavors again.

Endless energy sank into the void, but it did not result in the revival of the divine spirits. The queen watched anxiously and with growing dejection. Why couldn't they resurrect the divine spirits??

Divine spirits should be revivable so long as they weren't fully dead. But... she kept failing!

The vast quantity of energy seemed to have completely disappeared.

......

Silver City.

Zheng Yu's primary body was still present, observing Li Hao. The young man was preoccupied by cultivation. He didn't interfere with the efforts in the west or take covert action.

But... the dead divine spirits were remained inert. An endless quantity of energy disappeared into thin air.

Zheng Yu's expression shifted slightly. Why was this happening? He knew that divine spirits could come back to life. This meant that their dao star might really be in another dimension of the dao universe, and that there could very likely be someone else in control over there, just like Li Hao!

"Damn it!" Zheng Yu cursed. The unknown was always the most frightening. Did someone like that exist?

Possibly!

......

At the same time, on top of the bright moon, within a divine temple.

"They want to resurrect the god of prophecy and the rest, what should be done about that?" A female voice rang out.

A cultivator with a longsword on his back looked down quietly, his expression calm. He watched for a long while before saying, "Now this is... interesting!"

"What is?"

"An attempt at resurrection should easily be detected by Li Hao, but he's ignoring it." The man chuckled with amusement. "Zheng Yu doesn't care either and Ying Hongyue is very busy with the resurrection efforts. It's like they've reached some sort of agreement...

"Can Li Hao have deduced something? What an intriguing person! The Lis are something special, alright. They've always had the most number of powerhouses. The Suppression King, Nether King, and Sword Sovereign of New Martial all come from the Li family. There are a lot of Li surnamed exalted emperors."

"I'm asking how we should react." The Moon God didn't anticipate that this would be his response. "Do we let those divine spirits resurrect, or do we continue to suppress them?"

Who cares about how the Lis are?

"What do you think?" This content was first released on MV_LEMPYR.

The Moon God blinked, then said, "Let them revive! The second generation Moon God is too weak and now trapped in Galewind. There is no one to help her and heavenly will is departing from her. Misfortune, Luck, and Calamity can be resurrected to the Saint level. They can help her. She is too young and so inexperienced that she will not be able to hold her own against those people."

"As you wish." The man inclined his head. "Just have them forget everything. It's normal to forget some things after a resurrection."

"Mmhmm."

A surge of dao power hovered in and out of existence. The moon seemed to turn a bit more illusory. Several massive stars suddenly began flickering.

On the ground, the queen was abruptly seized with excitement and overjoyed. "It's beginning! They're coming back!"

It was beginning!

Light shimmered around the four sculptures of Luck, Misfortune, Calamity, and Prophecy. These four were being resurrected!

Ying Hongyue's eyebrows rose and Zheng Yu's replica looked up at the sky. The divine spirits were reviving!

This was a confusing turn of events. It would be confirmation that something was amiss if they didn't come back to life, but now that they were... where were they coming from?

Zheng Yu tried to follow where their energy had disappeared, but could not trace it to the end. His primary body kept an eye on Li Hao; the young man was immersed in his cultivation and ignored everything going on. He didn't even bother to glance at the west. This made everything more confusing.

Was the young man's talk of a corporeal and immaterial dao universe true?