Star Gate

The look in Long Zhan’s eyes changed for a while. He looked at Li Hao, then at Skyward. The dragon considered the reawakening New Martial powerhouses and the dimming Skyward major world. He sighed to himself, then left with his people.

This enterprise... had been an overall loss for him in the end. A certain notion rose in his mind. New Martial and Silver Moon must be separated, or even turned against each other. Otherwise, the combination of these two sides was too difficult to handle.

Were New Martial and Silver Moon really that close knit?

Not necessarily!

The Human King must have wanted to kill the elemental envoys, but Li Hao spared them on multiple occasions. The young man must also certainly wish to seize Skyward, but had to give up the idea for the sake of New Martial.

The dao chess, Thunder Emperor, and others on Li Hao’s side were certainly unhappy, to say nothing of the others. But they hadn’t made a sound. Those people didn’t have much to do with New Martial. There was also the Light master and his son to deal with...

Long Zhan turned over countless ideas. Perhaps there was a way to permanently separate the two. Otherwise, he’d be forever caught on the back foot in the eastern region.

......

Chaos Sky was gone. Long Zhan was gone. Skyward major world was rapidly declining.

All of the New Martial exalted emperors had been resurrected. The Human King was treating self detonation as his ultimate move and thinking nothing of a heaven-defying act of reviving the dead.

New Martial powerhouses had self detonated many times in their lives.

On the outskirts.

Li Hao watched quietly. Was there really no issue with this?

Yes, New Martial paid a great price each time they resurrected someone, but how could their people blow themselves up again and again like this? Were there really no repercussions to this crazed course of action?

Did they not deplete their lifespan in doing so?

He needed to expend one hundred thousand years or so of his life each time he walked life and death. Even someone as heaven-defying as Li Hao didn’t dare bring himself back again and again. How did New Martial dare undertake such action?

Were they more special?

Was the daos of yin and yang more suited to resurrection than the daos of life and death?

Absolutely not!

Li Hao mulled over the question. Were there drawbacks to this strategy?

There had to be!

Something absolutely had to go wrong with repeated self detonation like this.

......

The feeble thunder tribulation drifted away after Li Hao spent a while with his thoughts. The Human King reappeared in front of him. His presence was much weaker, but he still lifted his head proudly and looked around with smiles.

“How about it, little Li Hao? Your senior was something today, wasn’t he?”

A smile returned to Li Hao’s face and he inclined his head. That would count as an adequate response. He also freely brought up the question on his mind. There was no need to hide anything from New Martial.

“The Human King is naturally ferocious and unparalleled, but I have something I don’t understand. Why do... the New Martial braves... not seem to suffer anything from repeated self detonation?”

If everyone was willing to die and be resurrected, then this would be a common tactic throughout the chaos.

On Silver Moon’s side, reviving the dead entailed losing some of the subject’s lifespan and memories. They wouldn’t be brought back wholly unscathed!

The Reincarnation exalted emperors had lost more than half of their lifespan when they were resurrected. This was a very difficult process, one that ran directly counter to the heavens!

“Heh heh...” cackled the Human King. “This is the ultimate art of New Martial!”

“Then we do not need to further speak of it!” Li Hao smiled. Since it was the ultimate art, there might be something special about it. There was no need to pursue the matter to the end.

However, Fang Ping smiled instead. He turned back for a look at the newly returned powerhouses and said, “Of course there’s drawbacks. The most perverse of methods can’t repeatedly ignore dao rules and infinitely revive people!

“But... they’re not that serious.” The Human King was silent for a moment. “It costs a bit of that person’s spirit. There’s nothing much to it either, just too much yin qi and not enough yang qi. There are limits to the reversal of yin and yang, after all. Undertaking it too often... will just make the subject a bit dumber.”

Li Hao frowned deeply!

I knew it. It’s impossible for there to be no cons. So it looks like it’s a similar case to Silver Moon’s resurrections. It looks like they don’t lose lifespan, but the decreasing of spirit...

We are humans and living beings because we have spirit!

If we lacked that, we would be rocks or comatose.

So the Human King also has to pay a price. How can you have your people self detonate again and again then? You’re nuts!

Indeed, the young man thought that Fang Ping was completely crazy. And he says I’m heartless?!

You’re the king of heartlessness! At least I don’t demand Silver Moon cultivators to keep blowing themselves up!

The Human King regained his composure as Li Hao continued to frown ferociously.

“It’s not a big deal. The key to New Martial’s rise is with our ruthlessness! How does one gain a footing without being ruthless enough?

“They know about the consequences too, so why do they listen to my orders?” the Human King laughed. “I, Fang Ping, was able to find my place in New Martial and the chaos through my ruthlessness! I do not have peerless potential or stunning talent through which to accomplish that.

“No, all of New Martial is ruthless! I’ll be frank, my potential isn’t as strong as yours. That’s the naked truth! But I would be able to kill you all the same if we’re of the same cultivation level.

“You’re vicious and heartless enough, but compared to you, I have faith and conviction! I have... an obsession!” Fang Ping looked on proudly. “I would be able to beat you all the same if we’re of the same cultivation level. Although you cultivate time and I walk my own path, I am invincible no matter how strong your dao is!

“You can give it a try if you don’t believe me!”

Li Hao remained silent. Invincible among your peers? You really believe in yourself! I cultivate time, a dao that contains ten thousand daos. I can reverse time and the world, but you say you’re invincible?

Was he?

No one knew.

But so far, the Human King was indeed incomparable compared to others of the same level or same number of dao rules. Whether it was a ninth rank’s replica, Chaos Sky, or Long Zhan, none of them could overcome the Human King once he set foot in the same level as them!

It didn’t matter if one concealed their strength or not, he was invincible!

“Ruthless... that’s true. But if the Human King continues this way, if New Martial proceeds this way...”

“We are not afraid!” the Human King laughed.

And why not?

“Once I kill sufficient ninth ranks and seize their spirit, I’ll be able to supplement New Martial’s spirit with theirs!” leered the Human King. “What am I afraid of? How are we to take our place beneath the heavens if we cower and shrink in on ourselves?

“However much New Martial pays today is however much our enemies will pay another day. No, they will pay a hundred, a thousand times more!

“Li Hao, I am arrogant because I am not afraid. I have no fear of life or death! Those I wish to kill will die sooner or later. I’ll take a bite out of them even if I can’t kill them!

“You and I are different. You’re used to taking action after planning. I don’t like doing that, and it’s not because I don’t have a brain. Don’t be so quick to shake your head. If I was interested in doing so, I could scheme you to death anytime. But what’s the meaning in that?

“We have but one lifetime, so we should go through our days with brazen impudence and invincibility!” The Human King flung out an arm with a domineering air. “Those who scheme and plot have to put in so much time and effort. They can’t live freely as they would.

“I have tasted everything about joy, grief, partings, and reunions after I killed the Heavenly Emperor. I have also experienced all of life’s final farewells! On that day, I told myself that I would live a delightful life in the days to come.

“If I am alive today, I will relish this day. If I spend it being annoyed or depressed, then that is the waste of a day!

“Those of New Martial understand this logic, that each day we live is a day gained. A thousand years have passed—we are all mortals. Mundanes live one hundred years at most. We’ve all reaped lots of time, nine hundred years so far! The more we live, the more we’ve gained!

“Those of New Martial are people, mortals!” He enunciated carefully as he looked Li Hao in the eye. “There are no gods, immortals, demons, ghosts, or monsters! We can die anytime after reaching one hundred years!”

Li Hao was immensely shaken by what he heard.

Those of New Martial were simply mortals, not gods, demons, or immortals. Thus, their lifespan was capped at one hundred years. Anything over one hundred years was a bonus. They could die anytime after that!

In the world of cultivation, time was easily referenced in blocks of ten thousand, one hundred thousand, one million...

Yet the overlord of the eastern region in the chaos was telling him that New Martial was filled with mortals!

I see.

No wonder they don’t care about anything with that kind of attitude. Decreasing their lifespan through self detonation? What does that matter?

They’ll just consider the loss of spirit as growing old and senile. If it comes down to it, they’ll go out one fiery last time and take some bastards with them. That’s an even richer harvest than expected!

Did they have a solution for their predicament?

They did!

The issue would be resolved so long as they killed a few ninth ranks.

And what if they couldn’t kill all of the ninth ranks?

I’ll be dead if I can’t, so who cares about that?

This... was the real martial world!

Li Hao was lost in a daze. The Human King laughed and patted the young man on the shoulder. “You’re still too young, little brother! Wait until you get to one hundred years old. You’ll understand that there’s nothing that can’t be put down then!

“I swept through all of my enemies in my twenties and pacified the uprisings in New Martial! I was invincible then and have not progressed in the last one thousand years. That’s because... I am invincible!”

Fang Ping laughed as he recalled certain things. “Life gets very lonely after one is invincible for a while. There are no enemies, no opponents, no nothing... I was very dispirited then and found no meaning in life.

“I could hang on from the ages of twenty to one hundred, but after one hundred, I actually hated being alive!”

He was suddenly talking about his personal journey.

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