Celestial Pole abruptly found that he’d lost control over the blade. His eyes widened dramatically. Damn it! A replica was a replica at the end of the day. He wouldn’t have made this kind of mistake if his primary body was here. While he’d realized what the problem was, there wasn’t an opportunity to rectify it. Who would’ve thought that Zheng Hongyuan had fed the blade not to seize it, but to build it up! He’d been preparing for this moment so that the blade would become familiar with the Zheng bloodline and have an affinity with it! Spending one hundred thousand years just to be nutrient for the blade... If this was the Zheng plot, then this was horrifying. It meant that the family had schemed against Celestial Pole for a long time. That they’d always viewed the man as a threat and never thought of leaving him alone! Li Hao quickly backed away in the rear. The Great Li king’s expression shifted dramatically when he saw that the blade of blood was about to break free of Celestial Pole’s control. How could this be? “The Zhengs... have quite the resolved determination!” Zhang An’s eyes widened as well. “Nothing is too extreme in your pursuit of success!” ᴛhis chapter is ᴜpdated by 𝖓𝖔𝖛𝖊𝖑~𝖋𝖎𝖗𝖾~𝖓𝖊𝖙 The Zheng patriarch had treated himself as a blood bank for one hundred thousand years! He never considered himself to be the blade’s master. He was just paving the way for his son! When Zheng Yu reached for the blade, it didn’t offer the slightest resistance. It strongly revolted against everyone else, even Li Hao had been shaken loose when he tried to take it. But now, it permitted Zheng Yu to approach as he would. It was clear to see that this method of nurturing the blade was highly effective. Not only that, but the cat inside the blade seemed to like the taste of the energy. It didn’t resist, allowing the blade of blood to easily come into Zheng Yu’s hand. Since he was on the scene, Celestial Pole was fully prepared to participate in battle. Helping him seemed to have been part of the young man’s plan—he was ready for anything! Li Hao suddenly appearing in the world had occasionally ruined his plans, but Celestial Pole was a known entity that could not ruin the young man’s preparations. The blade of blood trembled and erupted with undulations of force. It shook Celestial Pole, not Zheng Yu! Celestial Pole’s arm started aching! “You court death!” he snarled at Zheng Yu. He was still a premier existence despite the weapon raging out of control. He kept his grip on the blade and struck back with his other hand. It was balled into a fist! Immense pressure came down upon the world, too ferocious to contend with! But the blade of blood also erupted with its own might, it overcame Celestial Pole and the entire world! “The combination of my eight bloodlines is not like that of Ying Hongyue’s!” Zheng Yu said softly. “This cat has not yet recovered. Therefore, it’s acting according to instinct. I’m feeding it, but you’re interrupting it from eating. Don’t you know the Ash Emperor’s personality? Will you have a chance to do anything if you don’t let it enjoy its meal?” The shadow of a cat appeared over the blade of blood. Its eyes were closed and its mouth was latched onto one end of the eight bloodlines. Although it devoured the eight bloodlines with relish, the combined bloodlines were so thick that it would take a while for the cat to work through them. When Celestial Pole attacked Zheng Yu, the cat suddenly extended a paw and instinctively defended its food! The impact detonated explosively and Celestial Pole grunted, blood scoring his fist. His mouth twisted! This cat had once spent countless years by the War Sovereign’s side. Even though it was just a projection, it was more formidable than anyone could imagine. Combined with the blade of blood nurturing it for one hundred thousand years, it meant that even its slumbering presence was far greater than that of regular half step emperors. Its random swipe from an instinctive response nearly swatted Celestial Pole’s punch out of existence. Zheng Yu took advantage of the lull to seize the blade of blood. The cat still had its mouth fastened to the bloodlines. Zheng Yu was employing a special method to control it, turning it into his protective charm. Celestial Pole’s face flickered between rage and irritation at himself! Damn it all to hell! I was too confident and careless. The Zhengs have the blade now! “You should withdraw, Senior Celestial Pole,” Zheng Yu chuckled. “Otherwise, hurting me would be hurting this cat and interrupting its resurrection process. Even if you kill me, you would fail your mission. To the Exalted Blood Emperor and the rest, killing me would not be sufficient atonement for that mistake! “The cat is with me now. Once I succeed and it devours the eight bloodlines, it will have a chance of reviving! Your mission will be complete then. Even if you lose a replica for it, it will not be a failure if the cat is restored again.” Celestial Pole brooded. The cat within the blade was the reason why he was stationed here, but he was failing his mission at the moment! He’d lost both blade and cat! And the key was, the cat would stop him if he attacked Zheng Yu. He might be able to land something on the man if he forced the issue, but that would also disrupt the cat and end its hopes of resurrection. Just as Zheng Yu said, nothing would redeem him then, even a New Martial traitor’s death! “I got Ying Hongyue good once with the cat.” Li Hao shook his head emotionally. “Who would’ve thought that it would come back to bite me so quickly?” Karma had a way of coming back around. This was exactly what he’d done to make Celestial Pole owe him a favor and ensure that he could plunge Ying Hongyue into the depths of despair before dying. Now the senior wanted to help him of his own accord—which was fantastically great news for Li Hao. He never forced people into helping him, but also never declined someone’s offer of help. The situation now, however, wasn’t just a matter of Celestial Pole suffering from restrictions. The cat had become Zheng Yu’s protective charm. He had the equivalent of another half step emperor on his side. The cat would be around him before it finished digesting the bloodlines, and there seemed to be something special about Zheng Yu’s eight bloodlines. The cat could only devour them one bite at a time, not swallow all of them in one go. Clearly, this had been Zheng Yu’s scheme for a very long time. This plan was useless against Li Hao, but it was perfectly targeted at Celestial Pole. The half step emperor found his hands tied in the blink of an eye. He would have to kill the cat before he could get to Zheng Yu! “I may not be good for anything, but I’m great at causing trouble!” Zheng Yu grinned radiantly. “And I’m plenty good at causing trouble for Senior Celestial Pole! I won’t ask you for help, senior, but please stay out of it when I kill Li Hao!” “Senior, you can’t!” the Great Li king said urgently. “He won’t show you mercy after he kills Li Hao...” “You’re too naive, king of Great Li,” Zheng Yu burst out laughing. “It won’t matter to the senior even if I do kill his replica. But if he kills the cat... his primary body will be in trouble once everyone finds out about it. The Exalted Blood Emperor and Ash Emperor won’t permit that to happen. Once they learn that the senior gave up the cat to help a stranger... Surely the senior knows which is the more serious crime?” Who was Li Hao? Did those New Martial people know him? Angering the Exalted Blood Emperor, Human King, and Ash Emperor for someone no one knew... was this the choice of a smart person like Celestial Pole?? The Great Li king finally came back to his senses. That was right, it was only Celestial Pole’s replica here. It wasn’t a big deal to lose a replica, but if he continued to insist on making a move right now... The senior would be in much greater trouble! Celestial Pole’s lack of action was within Zheng Yu’s expectations. He ignored the man, even turning his back on the other. The cat would defend its food even if Celestial Pole did make a move. This was a blatant conspiracy, but the rest could only watch it go down. There was nothing they could do! Celestial Pole’s hair bristled in his towering rage. However much he felt the Red Moon exalted emperor was a fool before was however much he wished to slap himself now. I’m not any better than that guy! He had indeed watched as Zheng Hongyuan fed his blood qi to the blade again and again over the years. He’d thought the man wanted to seize the blade, but that wasn’t the case at all! The Zhengs had been nurturing the blade and using themselves as feed! That was what Zheng Yu was doing at the moment as well, he was also food. But was that important? The key was that Celestial Pole didn’t dare make a move anymore. “My thanks for your help so far, senior!” rang Li Hao’s voice. “Since this is tied to your mission now, you should withdraw. There’s no need to pay further attention to us.” “It’s not a matter of what he wants anymore,” Zheng Yu laughed. “If you defy me, the cat will also respond to you. If you have the ability to kill a half step emperor, then you should kill the cat first. I’m sure Senior Celestial Pole will know how to choose then. You face not two half step emperors, Li Hao, but three!” Him, the cat, and Celestial Pole! Li Hao might have been able to turn the situation around, but now this simple combination of the eight bloodlines had extinguished all hope and avenues of retreat. “But you’re really something, kid,” Zheng Yu sighed with appreciation. “You just haven’t had enough time to fully come into your own. However, that’s to be expected. You’re a product of the times, which means that this age won’t leave much time for you!” He cracked his whip at Li Hao and also thrust the blade of blood at the young man! The Exalted Blood Emperor’s weapon was already formidable in the hands of a half step emperor—it’d severed Ying Hongyue’s eight bloodlines with a single stroke. There hadn’t been the single wisp of hope left to the man, and such was what Zheng Yu was doing to Li Hao now. The longsword erupted! Time seemed to freeze when Li Hao’s sword arrived, but this was a futile effort. He wasn’t as strong as the half step emperor, not to mention his opponent wasn’t fighting by himself. Collecting the eight bloodlines had depleted a lot of Zheng Yu’s energy, but it also successfully negated Celestial Pole in the battlefield. The Great Li king fretted! His presence had declined so much that he couldn’t approach the fighting. Zhang An was also rapidly considering how he might respond to this situation of certain death. The only one of them who could withstand Zheng Yu had been hobbled! He could only watch as Li Hao came under attack! They were beside themselves with worry. The chaos tribulation hadn’t killed Li Hao, but did the young man stand a chance of turning the tables again? They were so anxious and helpless! Celestial Pole could only brood silently, irate fury on his face. He wanted to beat this bastard to death, but at the end of the day, the cat was more important than Li Hao. He was extremely humiliated by the situation, but could only hold it in! He couldn’t make a move until the cat finished devouring the eight bloodlines. Whether it was awake or not then, he would be free to kill that bastard! How dare you threaten me! But Li Hao might be dead then.