Star Gate

Chapter 976: Embracing the New Age (II)

“There are twenty-seven partially opened dao meridians left after those nine are fully open,” Li Hao chuckled. “When all thirty-six are opened, that puts the cultivator on par with the Apex level of the New Martial era. Pure martial masters need to be equivalent to the Apexes of this age, whereas those of us with supernatural abilities need to be equivalent to the Apexes of the New Martial Age!

“This stage can also be divided into nine levels. One level corresponds to three meridians, which is fifteen acupoints altogether. Nine levels will see twenty-seven dao meridians being opened. At the end of it all will be a cultivator who can overcome any Apex of this age. That would be about right!

“For us, we’ll be able to break through the void and shatter the firmament at this stage. We will rival the core origin Apexes of New Martial, which is what our goal is! This level should be called Sun and Moon!”

Li Hao grinned. “Senior Sky Sword put it well—we will be able to pluck the stars and bring down the sun and moon. Such are the lofty aspirations that cultivators of our age should nurture! We vie with the sun and moon!”

His words sent the group into an uproar of hefty agreement. Each of them was seized by joy again. I can cleave the mountains and sea, seize the sun and moon, break the void, and reign invincible beneath the heavens. The new dao dares compete with New Martial for its glories!

They’d never imagined the possibility before. Yet, here their dao was and they were cultivators in possession of supernatural characters who could battle core origin powerhouses. In this moment, cultivators who could utilize supernatural characters were a higher level of being.

We will recreate the magnificence of martial dao!

The Black Armor didn’t say anything. It was good that Li Hao and the rest constantly mentioned New Martial. That meant they respected, revered, and feared the might of his time. It was a kind of acknowledgement and approval!

Who paid attention to the weak and insignificant?

This further indicated that Li Hao’s group were aware of how resplendently brilliant the ancient civilization had been. That stoked their lofty sentiments and made New Martial their goal to surpass. There was no need to pay it too much attention.

“Let’s stop here with the cultivation levels. Going any further would put us in the realm of pure mythology!” Li Hao smiled. “It’s very hard to open even thirty-six dao meridians at present. Even we would have to utilize some attributed meridians to reach that number. It’s much easier said than done.”

Any further cultivation levels would be empty talk of daydreamers if they created more without fully comprehending the levels. The names would be baseless and lacking the support of any practical theory.

However, the way forward was ahead of them! It was sufficient to know that there was a long way to go ahead and many paths to choose from.

“There are four minor levels total to Slayer, Sunderer, and Dominator!” Li Hao summarized with a smile. “There are nine minor levels to Mountain and Sea, Sun and Moon! From the 180 acupoints of peak Dominator, the 225 acupoints of peak Mountain and Sea, and to the 360 acupoints of peak Sun and Moon, these 360 acupoints will ultimately return to being thirty-six dao meridians.

“The number of acupoints dwindles when they are combined together. At that point, the true meaning of cultivation will be found in one supernatural ability per acupoint, one supernatural character per acupoint, and one battle technique per acupoint!”

The group roared with laughter. This day ought to be recorded in history! The new dao had come!

They’d jointly studied and organized it. Although their understanding only scratched the surface and there was only one method... and only one kind of circulation of thirty-six meridians... It still made for a powerful burgeoning new dao!

It could be popularized! It could be standardized!

Only a standardized dao was a true great dao.

The issue of the physical body had been completely resolved. The body could receive energy feedback from the Hao Cosmos through the process of clearing acupoints. They would no longer have to worry about the fragility of their physical bodies!

Utter glee seized the group as they basked in mutual glory!

“The great dao is with the heavens, yet humans can triumph over the heavens. We have established a new dao and walk a new path. It is not heaven’s intent that chooses us, but we that manipulate the heavens!” Li Hao threw his head back with a roar of laughter. His presence emanated from his body and collected into a supernatural character.

Dao!

Indeed, it was a character of ‘dao’. The young man had created a character out of thin air!

This character underwent a myriad of changes—various faces floated out of it. They were ones of powerhouses such as Yuan Shuo, Sky Sword, Tyrant Blade, Northern Fist...

Every single person present was imprinted within. Even the Black Armor, Panther, and plant spirits were included!

A change percolated through the world. A new dao had been created, one that vied with the heavens!

......

The outside world.

Thunder roared and lightning crashed, gale winds howled! The world darkened—only it could create a dao. It was theft from the heavenly dao if someone tried to create one!

The nascent heaven’s will roared, slightly at a loss. Did someone dare seize the heavenly dao for themselves? It would naturally establish itself once it fully formed. Had someone stolen the fruits of its labor before it fully came into existence?

Heaven’s will was too young at this stage. Only a hint of consciousness had been born within it after it broke free of the main world’s control. It didn’t understand what it meant, so it could only vent its spleen upon the world.

Heaven’s will could not be thwarted! This is my world, I am the master!

......

In various ruins across the land.

Thunder and lightning rumbled there as well!

Battle Heaven

The Ninth Division leader and others showed themselves with incredulity. “Heaven’s will has invaded the ruins... Has the protection of New Martial vanished?”

This wasn’t a good sign, but neither was it a bad development. At the very least, it meant that the ruins would not be able to protect them for much longer. On the other hand, that meant all of them would be able to leave the ruins because the ruins had become one with the world.

The world was revitalizing!

“Why has the pace accelerated again?” The stunned old turtle did not understand. “The great mine has not crumbled away, so why is the world awakening at an increasing pace? It should’ve taken roughly five years, but will it even need another year now?”

Why had this happened? Was heaven’s will so eager to free the New Martial powerhouses? Or had another development occurred that they didn’t know of?

It was all too strange! So strange that they didn’t know how to understand it.

......

Ripples traveled through all of the various main cities and ruins apart from Battle Heaven. Thunder and lightning ripped through Silver Moon’s sky as an assortment of figures materialized in the void. Formidable and imposing, they seemed to wave swords and spears from another universe away. Someone in another age broke through the firmament with a blade.

“Fight!!” could be heard faintly through the world. There were tens of millions of soldiers standing at attention, their blood qi soaring to the heavens and their battle intent reaching the cosmos.

The sight was reminiscent of when the vast army set off to war. The Sword Sovereign had led them out of Silver Moon to punish those who would not bend the knee.

Director General Zhao was stunned into a trance when he saw the sight. Heavens above! Can someone tell me what’s happened now? Can someone tell me why the sight of New Martial marching off to war countless years ago has appeared eons later?

Indeed, he could tell that this was just the projection of powerhouses. The Sword Sovereign had once led more than ten million soldiers from Silver Moon through the Star Gate to march upon the universe. But why... had the sight reappeared now?

......

In the ruins underground.

The ‘dao’ character flickered while claps of thunder roared. The Black Armor and Director General Wang were immensely shocked. They lifted their heads to the sky. How was there thunder and lightning underground? What kind of supernatural character was this? The character of great dao?

The Black Armor studied it carefully, finding it blinding to the eye. If even he found it piercing, it could be easily imagined just how radiant the character was.

“The overview of dao!” he murmured after looking at it for a while.

Everyone felt that the young man was the inventor of the new dao. As its researcher, participant, and discoverer, Li Hao had instinctively created a supernatural character that was the overview of dao!

This was incredible! So such a thing existed as well?

The Black Armor looked at the supernatural character once more, as did Li Hao. The young man regarded it with a strange expression that held hints of doubt.

“This is a nice thing,” he smiled after a while. “I can meld all of my dao meridians and supernatural abilities without an aura into it. It’s just like Martial Uncle Hong’s ‘sword’ character. Who would’ve thought that I’d run into this stroke of luck? Martial uncle, now you’re not the only one with a character that can shift through a variety of changes!”

The ‘dao’ character transformed into various supernatural abilities of thunder and lightning, gale winds, and torrential rain...

The group looked ardently at it, highly envious and wanting to create something similar.

“Coalescing dao into a character...” Yuan Shuo and the others contemplated it wistfully. How nice would it be if they had one too?

“No no no,” Hong Yitang laughed ruefully. “Your character seems to have combined all known auras and excavated daos. I think it has more potential than mine does!”

“No, although this was born of the world, humans can triumph over the heavens!” Li Hao grinned. “This is a marvelous item in Silver Moon world, but it’s just an ordinary character once we walk out of this world!”

The young man had come to some preliminary reflections about this creation. It would be very useful when he was in this world, but there would be nothing special about it once he left. It was formed of Silver Moon’s essence; nothing else set it apart when he wasn’t physically here.

This supernatural character would be nigh magical if he stayed in Silver Moon. He might be able to command all daos. But did Li Hao view Silver Moon as his life’s goal?

No!

He didn’t!

I have once seen vaster worlds, so why must I stay here for the rest of my life? This is my home that I will always come back to, but I am so young, so of course I should walk out of this world and take a look at the grand universe out there. I should meet that invincible Human King, the Supreme Zhang revered by all, and the Green Emperor who rules over half of the world...

I’ll then pay my respects to the Exalted Blood Emperor who broke the world with one stroke and the principal that Zhang An can’t forget...

How fun would that be? I also want to observe the universe’s chaos...

So while Li Hao was gratified by the ‘dao’ character, he didn’t lose himself in joy. It was just the overview of dao as formed by a minor world. What good was that for?