Star Gate-Chapter 1089: Preparations (III)

“It’s not just a matter of Saints,” said Vice Head Qi. He knew why Li Hao was worried. “But also that there are a lot of defensive systems within the main cities. They can even be activated when the situation is critical.”

He was levying more pressure on Li Hao, but also found his own words humorous after saying them. “Of course, there’s not much threat from a newly awakened main city, even if there’s Saints to be found within them. You should be able to handle them. At the same time, it’s been twenty-one years since the first awakening. I would be skeptical of any claim that a main city has just revitalized...”

“Why must the senior create unlimited pressure for me?” Li Hao didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.

“I’m simply speaking the truth,” asserted the vice head. “I do not recommend you to attack any main city before you reach thirty-six meridians! Not even thirty-six are enough! If we are to consider the worst case scenarios before we fight, then the most extreme situation we can encounter is a completely recovered Saint. It’s fine if they’re an initial Saint, but if they’re a peak Saint like Dean Zhang... you’ll need one hundred meridians to take him!”

Li Hao took a deep breath. The most extreme situation...

But just considering all this was of no use whatsoever. He could only bow his head to fate if that was the case.

Most of the Silver Moon martial masters erupted with strength as they spoke, eliciting roars of outrage from the darkspirit tree. Its primary body was on the battlefield and numerous cracks scored its trunk, but it remained formidable.

It relied on the strength of its primary body to force the invaders back. Li Hao’s contingent could not overwhelm it with force despite their numbers. This was just a newly awakened peak Immortal! The tree had very little strength to call upon and was even weaker than the redwood tree.

Li Hao simply watched on the sidelines, wondering what he would do if he met a Saint?

That was almost an inevitable outcome!

He could force thirty-six meridians open, would he be able to open forty-six if he added his nine elements and the body dao meridian? Were forty-six meridians enough to triumph over a Saint? How long could his physical body last after they were all opened? Ten seconds, or thirty?

He’d barely hung on last time he opened all of his meridians. One blow at the Divine Nation queen had been all he could handle, and he’d almost blown himself up in the process.

It should be better now with his body dao meridian open, as well as a few more acupoints, but it was insufficient for his needs.

Li Hao had opened two hundred and fifty acupoints, as well as ten other meridians. That made for twenty-four meridians total. It... would be very painful to endure twofold that amount in the blink of an eye.

“Another consideration is that while core origin dao is no more, a Saint’s mental strength is domineering.” Vice Head Qi continued to dismantle Li Hao’s confidence. “Humans of the modern age focus on the aura instead of mental strength! You must ensure that your aura will not be overpowered by your opponent’s mental strength. Otherwise, it doesn’t matter how strong you are, you’ll be dragged into their mental domain and killed all the same!”

“Will I be able to withstand a Saint’s mental strength if I combine all nine auras?” Li Hao’s eyes widened.

“It would still be difficult to!”

“Is that still insufficient?” Li Hao was truly taken aback now.

“I have perceived some parts of your aura. It is hard for an Immortal to break an amalgamation of them, but a Saint is on another level. They will be able to break it!”

Li Hao took a deep breath.

“But we’re not entirely out of ideas...”

The young man looked at the vice head.

“It is not easy for them to attack the Hao Cosmos, so you can hide your aura in the dao universe,” said Vice Head Qi. “It is as difficult as ascending the heavens for you to kill a Saint, but not completely impossible. The key is the Hao Cosmos!”

The beginnings of an idea formed in Li Hao’s mind.

“The Hao Cosmos is your stronghold, everyone else is unfamiliar with it. Pull your opponent into the dao universe for your fight if you can. Break their connection to this world. That will create a chance for you to dispatch a Saint that hasn’t fully awakened yet.”

Li Hao’s expression flickered as he considered the new idea. Pulling his opponent into the Hao Cosmos. But... it wouldn’t be as easy as that.

It was a solid option, however. Vice Head Qi was just putting it out there. The specifics were up to Li Hao; the young man sank into contemplation.

Out in the field, the battle was reaching its peak. Having remained on the sidelines all the time, Chen Zhongtian darted out with his sword. The blow combined many abilities and pierced through the tree’s heart of life before it took note of him.

The others surged forward, erupting with their own abilities. Roars of fury filed the air; the Immortal-level existence prepared to self-detonate, seeing as it wasn’t long for this world.

It was then that the imperial guard finally made a move. It summoned the projection of the imperial palace and brought it down with a rumble!

The little tree was so much stronger than before and could instantly coral the brewing energy. The darkspirit tree’s core origin dao manifested, drawing attention from Earthturner Sword and the others. They broke it with a loud boom—it was their first time killing an Immortal by themselves!

However, Li Hao’s forehead remained furrowed in a frown. The group was much stronger than before, but they faced an Immortal that had recovered by very little. The road ahead was still long if they wished to dispatch an ancient city.

And yet, the young man smiled at seeing how excited his people were.

“Everyone has greatly improved, we can kill Immortals now! This is such a feat to congratulate!” Li Hao quickly put a damper on things. “This one has recovered by very little. It’s on par with some initial Immortals... fully recovered initial Immortals will be much more powerful.”

The group collectively blinked at his words and disengaged from their joy.

“Third level Sun and Moon looks to be only peak Apex...” Li Hao continued. fɾeeweɓnѳveɭ.com

Silence draped over the crowd. Was that it? They’d thought they could kill peak Immortals.

The young man said nothing else; he needed to speak the truth. Otherwise, a misconception that they could easily kill peak Immortals would be the start of their doom.

“This is already very good! Let’s clean up the premises and head to the next base station!” Li Hao didn’t spend too much time on reflection. “There’s still a lot of room for improvement. If we can set foot into fourth level Sun and Moon, we’ll be able to truly rival Immortals. There weren’t that many Immortals back in the day and fourth level is only nineteen dao meridians...”

A collective eye roll made its way through the crowd. Only? It’s not that simple! Only you would think that nineteen meridians are an easy task.

There was no time to spend wallowing in dejection. The group swiftly tied up the battlefield; the gains had been decent this time.

The earth driller swiftly departed for the next base station.

......

Time passed bit by bit.

Li Hao’s group raced against time to seize control of the base stations.

At the same time.

It was an invasion of the four nations, but Skystar welcomed a period of peace. Li Hao did not make further moves against the four; they also chose to halt and make camp. Even the strongest of Divine Nation chose to wait. Everyone seemed to be waiting for an optimal timing for their next move.

In the west.

Yang Shan and Qin Lian led thousands of Demon Hunters on the western border. Other armies gradually increased in number as supernatural volunteers gathered from the various western provinces. They’d all come to defend the western border.

A large city hovered at the end of the western reaches. The Divine Nation queen had not rested in all this time. She was peering into the distance from the city walls. It’d been two, no, three days since Li Hao’s departure. That was three days of peace beneath the heavens. The situation was so quiet that it was eerie.

There was a stifling pressure that did not make sense. Battle had not broken out again, but not only did the married couple holding down the west feel a tension in the air, but so did the queen find it hard to breathe.

What was Li Hao doing?

He’d circled through the west and didn’t start a war with any side. Neither did he choose to strike first and eliminate one side before taking on the other three. The young man chose to be silent, and that rang very wrongly!

The queen looked at someone beside her and breathed out gently, “Destiny, can you see anything?”

The goddess of destiny could read the fates of others, their deaths, lives, strengths, and declines...

Strictly speaking, her ability was similar to Gan Wuliang’s. Where the man read the heart, the goddess read the future luck of a person. However, fortunes were a wispy, intangible concept that was less dependable than the heart.

The goddess of destiny had been observing the land across from them these days, particularly the married couple arrayed against them.

“The future... is unclear!” she said slowly with a frown. “These people’s fates sometimes soar to the heavens and at times spontaneously dim, as if they’ll very quickly die...”

The queen frowned. What kind of answer was that?

“It might be that Li Hao is doing something risky and walks the boundary between life and death!” offered another divine spirit.

“Does he wish to ambush my nation again?” The queen frowned. What kind of situation would cause Li Hao’s side to teeter on the edge like this? She looked at someone not too far away and asked coolly, “Black Robe, is there still no news from your side?”

She was certainly brusque to her guests.

“Milord has made arrangements and sent back word that he will swiftly deploy troops to meet this threat,” the black robe said softly. “There will be a Saint replica coming this time. The lord wishes for me to remind the Moon God to be on guard against not only Li Hao, but a few others.”

“What do you mean?”

“The Moon God should understand.”

The queen frowned and looked into the distance, at Silver Moon province. “Do you mean the guy near the moon?”

“Yes.”

“This queen knew that long ago,” she snorted. “If it wasn’t for him, I would have revived long ago!”

She was the divine spirit born of the moon and the first divine spirit within the world. Under normal circumstances, she should be stronger than anyone when revitalized. She should be stronger than even the god of prophecy and the sun god. However, her primary body of the moon was sealed away.

It wasn’t a seal that targeted the moon, but the two existences near it. The first was the Star Gate, the second was an unnamed powerhouse.

Strictly speaking, there was also the seal of the eight trigrams there. All of it served to prevent her primary body from sending strength to her. Silver Moon world was named thus due to the strength of its moon. Therefore, the queen knew that there was an issue with her primary body.

“This queen would like to know, who is it that is sealed by the moon?”