Star Gate

Chapter 988: Kindred Spirits (II)

Li Hao’s jaw dropped! He looked at the slightly wispy man with shock. “Do you mean... no, does the senior mean... that core origin dao and Hao Cosmos dao meridians can be used with each other?”

“I’m uncertain of the specifics.” Vice Head Qi shook his head. “But it should be possible, based on what you’re said. They’re both vehicles for great dao, so why not? Not only is core origin dao a possibility, but I feel that many options are a possibility. Strong treasures, weapons, or other items can all be vehicles for dao!”

“Vehicles?” Li Hao blinked. “Vehicles... to hold great dao?”

“Exactly!” Vice Head Qi nodded. “This is possible so long as your weapon is strong enough. If you worry about the Hao Cosmos destroying the body when the dao meridians are opened, why not find a container for it to decrease the pressure levied?”

Li Hao froze, stunned by the new line of thinking. Using another item to bear the strain... someone else had mentioned that before and that was what Lin Hongyu and the others did. It was just that their dao meridians were closed before, so Li Hao did not think of this point. Now that the vice head mentioned it, he was immediately reminded of it.

“The dao fusion that you just mentioned...” continued the vice head. “That might exceed the capacity of the physical body. If there is a mighty weapon that can be refined as a weapon of life instead, then not only will it shoulder part of the pressure, but it will be strengthened in the process. That will bestow the weapon the formidable power to outright sever dao!

“Of course, the Sword Sovereign should be well aware of this. His weapon, Stellaris, once served as such a vehicle for a period of time. It endured the Sword Sovereign’s might and facilitated his consolidation of a myriad of daos into one dao...”

“Senior.” Li Hao abruptly lifted the divine corpse with an earnest look. “Please enter the body to continue our conversation. Everything that happened before was a misunderstanding!”

“......” Director General Wang and Yuming cursed quietly to themselves! The fuck, this little bastard!

Director General Wang, in particular, wanted to leap into action. It would be hard to keep the vice head under control once he took possession of the divine body, not to mention they were in the outside world now. The corpse of a divine spirit might be more readily accepted by the world. However, since the vice head might not be able to deploy its full strength, the director general elected to keep his mouth shut for now.

“There’s no rush,” Vice Head Qi responded noncommittally. “I’m not familiar with this body either. I was interrupted before I could fully assimilate it.” He wasn’t in a hurry to return to it. Rather, he was more interested in the topic at hand. “Can you talk to me more about the dao meridians?”

“Ahem!” Yuan Shuo was suddenly seized by a coughing fit. They couldn’t say too much about it!

Li Hao paused to gather his thoughts, not minding this sharing of information. He gave a brief overview of the topic. However, that didn’t mean he fully trusted the vice head. The young man simply felt that since they’d mentioned the dao meridians, this personage might be able to shed some light given his subject matter expertise.

Seeing as this was a brand new field to the vice head, perhaps this conversation would result in some answers that Li Hao was looking for without having to fully educate the stranger.

“I see!” Vice Head Qi sighed with appreciation after the explanation. “We studied the divine corpse for many years. Let me put it this way. The divine spirits of this world may have had dao meridians a long time ago. They had access to the Hao Cosmos, but did not realize their source of power. Hence, they did not discover the Hao Cosmos!

“They defined their powers to be granted by the heavens, but they were wrong. This was the strength of the new dao. What a pity—we also killed divine spirits back in the day, but did not happen upon the Hao Cosmos in our research either.”

“The Hao Cosmos was probably not as noticeable then,” Li Hao shook his head. “And our employment of the aura then was not as adept as it is now. Therefore, we probably wouldn’t have discovered it either! Things like these need to be studied in great detail before the dao universe can be discovered.

“So long as you guys didn’t fully research the aura, you wouldn’t have been able to enter or probe the Hao Cosmos even if you discovered it. You’d only be able to conduct surface level observation.”

“That makes sense!” Vice Head Qi nodded. “So this means your people have developed the aura to its peak capabilities, which in turn made the Hao Cosmos more active. The aura is the core of the dao meridians, which means that the more auras there are, the more activity the dao universe sees! It might’ve been quiet before!”

“Yes, that’s precisely it!” Li Hao brightened and quickly pivoted to another question. “Is it feasible to use a weapon as the vehicle?”

“It is!” nodded the man. “A weapon that is refined with one’s life and cultivation will eventually be strong, even if it’s not strong at first. All the cultivator has to do is follow your dao meridian method to train, temper, and hone the weapon bit by bit.

“Once they complete the basic thirty-six meridians and choose to fuse their dao, the weapon that they’ve refined all along will be the best vehicle for their purposes! The weapon will also no longer be crucial once the physical body continues to strengthen after that...”

Li Hao nodded rapidly! A weapon! There was something to this old fart! Those who worked at the research center... had good brains in their heads!

“In addition, it seems from your words that there are New Martial citizens who wish to cultivate the modern dao, is it?” asked Vice Head Qi.

“Yes!”

“You don’t wish for them to take possession of another body, so you want to create a body for them. And yet, it is a great hassle because there are too many dao meridians in the physical body, is that right?”

“Correct!”

“Then forget about creating countless dao meridians,” smiled Vice Head Qi. “Just create thirty-six or 360. That’s enough to keep them busy for a lifetime, whether they use their weapon or core origin as their main meridian! It will be very difficult to bring the silent core origin dao into the Hao Cosmos. But in that case, they’ll save a lot of time. You’ll also obtain stronger strength from it. As for limited potential... once they reach 360 locks, can they really not supplement their potential themselves? Do they not know how to forge a path for themselves if there is not one ahead?”

Li Hao’s eyes lit up! That was right, cultivators would’ve long pierced through the Hao Cosmos at that point, they could repair their flaws themselves. What did he need to worry about?

It was just... there was still an inherent level of difficulty within.

“How about establishing a stable opening in the Hao Cosmos?” Li Hao frowned. “I can create a stabilizer to guide their core origin dao into taking root within.”

“The modern human body is innately connected to the dao universe,” responded the vice head after some thought. “But there won’t always be connate dao entities. After that, people will have to brainstorm ways of connecting by themselves. The aura is the key...

“I hear that you’ve created supernatural characters. Can I take a look?”

A character hovered over Li Hao’s finger tip without a second word. Vice Head Qi took it in hand for close observation.

“Supernatural characters, aura... breathing methods!” he suddenly said. “What if you conduct the guiding process through the ripples emitted by the breathing method? You can create an artificial supernatural character inside the Hao Cosmos and operate the breathing method with it. Anyone who practices the same breathing method will be able to sense the ripples and hone in on its location. When their cultivation reaches a peak, they’ll naturally be able to follow the ripples...”

“That’s very hard!” Li Hao started with a frown. “Placing a supernatural character inside the Hao Cosmos... Well, what if I train my characters to the point in which they can replace the artificial characters? Will they register to the same breathing method while inside the Hao Cosmos?”

The vice head paused and mulled over the suggestion. “It might be possible if you relinquish the restrictions and permit the character to roam through the void!”

“Then we can save even this step, right?” Li Hao brightened.

“But what if you die?” Vice Head Qi asked bluntly.

That stopped the young man in his tracks. “Can... the supernatural characters not remain after my death?”

The notion completely halted the vice head’s theorizing. He looked at Li Hao, not saying anything for a very long while.

“Then I can cultivate all sorts of supernatural characters and meld them into the Hao Cosmos!” Li Hao exclaimed. “In that case, even when there are no more connate dao entities, so long as everyone is willing to cultivate the secret arts or breathing methods that I’ve passed on, they’ll sense the Hao Cosmos when they reach a certain level of strength.

“That will mean that Silver Moon denizens will always be able to perceive the Hao Cosmos so long as the dao universe and martial heritage remains, isn’t that right??” The young man was overjoyed. “Therefore, I’m going to cultivate all sorts of supernatural characters and turn them all into coordinates. I’ll put one breathing method in each of the characters for people to sense and locate. They’ll break through the barriers and connect with the Hao Cosmos when their cultivation reaches the appropriate level, is that right?”

“That should be right.” Vice Head Qi nodded after a long moment of silence. It was his first day of knowing Li Hao and he didn’t even know the young man’s name.

Alright, well, Li Hao had introduced himself, but the vice head didn’t remember at this point. Hence, when the young man proposed those ideas, Vice Head Qi couldn’t help but look at Director General Wang and Yuming.

This kid... is a lunatic, isn’t he? A martial fanatic! It wasn’t a type of mental lunacy, but a crazed devotion to the great dao.

How could anyone think of such an idea? Using his own supernatural characters as locations in space, as coordinates for cultivation, meant that his legacy and the great dao would not die out after he passed on from this world!

Even if the dao meridians disappeared countless years later or lost their connection to the Hao Cosmos, that would be of no concern. One only needed to keep cultivating and take their path to the extreme. They would sense the Hao Cosmos sooner or later, and it would make the dao universe exclusive to Silver Moon denizens.

The young man had seized a dao universe and secured it for generations of Silver Moon citizens!

Emotion swelled in Vice Head Qi’s heart as he suddenly thought of someone. “You’re an interesting fellow!” he laughed. “If this really comes to be one day, if thousands of supernatural characters gather together... I think you can write a book about it.”

“Write a book?” Li Hao blinked.

“The number of characters that humans discover, create, and use in their lifetimes is about ten thousand!” laughed the vice head. “Once you gather ten thousand characters, wouldn’t it be marvelous to write a book with the characters of great dao? It would be similar to the education records left by Supreme Zhang.”

Indeed, he was reminded of the great supreme, despite the person in front of him being much weaker.

“The book of great dao was Supreme Zhang’s hallmark. But even the great supreme didn’t collect ten thousand daos. He only gathered the ones often utilized in battle. If you can successfully cultivate ten thousand supernatural characters and put them into a book, the book can then be stored in the Hao Cosmos. It will... be passed down for generations!

“Future descendants that reach the appropriate step in their cultivation or one day set foot into the Hao Cosmos will see your Book of Myriad Daos. Your name will be known ten thousand, one hundred thousand, one million, even ten million years later!

“Those who come later will know that the Hao Cosmos once possessed an invincible being. He left behind the coordinates of dao to pinpoint a path of cultivation for those to come. You will be the master of all daos then, the Dao Master!”