“Since the senior has already made a move and Zheng Yu’s offended you to the point of no return, can’t the senior hold him off for a bit?” Li Hao asked with resignation. “I know that the senior can’t kill him because of the cat’s presence, but pure defense without fighting back should be doable, right? Is the senior just going to sit back and watch?” “......” Everyone was quiet. Celestial Pole blinked with astonishment and nearly choked on his next breath. No one... had considered this course of action. In the eyes of powerhouses, he was as good as crippled when laboring under certain restrictions. Zheng Yu thought this way as well. But Li Hao said... help me hold him off for a bit. Yes you can’t kill him, but your physical body is so strong that even a half step emperor is hard pressed to match you. If you focus purely on defense, it will take him a while to break through, won’t it? The young man was quite dejected. Celestial Pole... really was just standing on the sidelines and watching with his hands by his sides. You’re already suffering, so why not suffer a little more and let someone beat you up? Can Zheng Yu kill you in an instant? If he could, he wouldn’t bother with all of these plots. It was such a simple notion, but none of the powerhouses had ever considered this perspective. Differences in identity, strength, and knowledge induced them to naturally discard the idea of only defending. When Celestial Pole spoke to the Great Li king, he made a great deal of sense. You can’t beat your opponents, but you can hold on for a while in defense. Yet when it came to himself, he completely forgot the idea. Celestial Pole’s expression abruptly shifted and he interposed himself between Li Hao and Zheng Yu. “So it turns out that I can still defend!” he gritted his teeth. Despite the words being silly, he had no problem voicing them. He really had forgotten! Zheng Yu also broke out in laughter and looked off in a daze. “Sorry, I also forgot that the senior can defend even if you can’t attack!” His laughter was exceedingly bright and clear. “That’s right, who would consider pure defense at this stage? Such a simple angle is completely out of consideration for you and me. We... really are more ignorant the longer time drags on. No wonder they say that one must rise to fame early on and grow strong early on. A delay means that our thoughts harden into stone!” With that, Zheng Yu struck! Unending blade intent descended from above. Celestial Pole emanated golden light as his entire body dazzled with aureate radiance. Infinite power of the golden body flooded out of him, crashing into the void with a loud explosion! Celestial Pole grunted. Powerhouses weren’t used to just defending and not attacking. Thankfully, his physical body was strong enough to withstand a blow from Zheng Yu. More golden illumination leaked out of him as he asked Li Hao, “Do you have any ideas in mind?” Could the young man pull it off? If he was stuck on defense... that would not be a good development. Being unable to attack meant that it was only a matter of time before something undesirable occurred. Zheng Yu would hack them to death in the end. Li Hao looked up at the sky, then at where Lin Hongyu’s death qi was fading away. Li Daoheng was chasing after the river of chaos. Prolonged battle was extremely bad for his side. Lin Hongyu looked like she would lose her strength as a half step emperor soon. If Li Daoheng truly swallowed the river of chaos and Hong Yitang... Hong Yitang might not be able to counterattack yet. He could do as the queen and replace the fake with the real. It would be a tall order for him even though he was in command of his real body. It came down to a difference in strength. Therefore, they had to break out of this situation. If it wasn’t for the cat, then just Celestial Pole alone might be able to take on Zheng Yu. But with this cat, Celestial Pole himself might die if he could only keep to defense. And Li Hao had to wait until all 180 dao stars were lit! The last one was his own star of time. Li Hao had refrained from lighting it not because he couldn’t, but because... he didn’t want to. The real star of time had not appeared this time. He’d raised such a fuss, but that star did not appear. There was no sign of it when he combined the corporeal and immaterial dao universe. There was no hint during the chaos tribulation. There wasn’t even a whisper when he became the heavenly will. In this vein, he would have just barely managed to reach half step emperor even after collecting all 180 dao stars and setting foot into seventh level Fused Dao. He would rival his enemies, but not possess any advantages. That was a notable difference from his expectations. However, the young man was out of ideas at this point. No matter what, he needed to break through first. To be honest, there was another way to lure out the star of time—continue waiting! He could wait until Li Daoheng forcefully assimilated Hong Yitang! Once the real corporeal and immaterial daos became one, the star was sure to appear. As for whether Li Hao or Li Daoheng captured it, that remained unknown. But this course of action would doom Hong Yitang. Li Hao took in a breath, summing boundless energy from the world. A river appeared and his star of time sparkled over his head. Rays of light illuminated the land, quiet and stillness was upon it! The young man strode into the river; the star of time twinkled before melting into his forehead! Starry radiance brightened the world! Zheng Yu struck blow after blow, forcing a bloody Celestial Pole back. The latter’s presence had noticeably declined. Sticking to defense was an enormous challenge for him, he’d never been so humiliated! He tried to hit back a few times, but the second he showed the slightest inclination of doing so, the cat scratched him. Celestial Pole was so despondent that he wanted to vomit blood! There was no helping it. He just had to take the beating. “Assimilate!” Li Hao heaved a long sigh. Stars gathered in the sky! These stars incorporated heavenly will, mental strength, sword intent, aura, and dao meridians. That made them so much stronger than simple dao meridians. 180 dao meridians barely sent one into fifth level Fused Dao, but once he assimilated the dao stars, Li Hao’s presence strengthened at a noticeable rate! Dao stars entered his star of time, brightening the resplendent celestial body. The look in Zheng Yu’s eyes glinted before he flung Celestial Pole back with another blow and shot for the young man! Judging from the situation, Li Hao would be at least seventh level Fused Dao once he succeeded. That was even without capturing the star of time. He would join the ranks of half step emperors. While a newly ascended half step emperor was not the same as a veteran one like Zheng Yu, it would still introduce many more variables to the equation. Granted, it would be better if Zheng Yu swallowed a half step emperor Li Hao, but that came with increased risk. Zheng Yu hurtled through the void at an incredible speed. His strength was flabbergasting. Celestial Pole couldn’t stop him, the key being that he was greatly hobbled in what he could do. Li Hao ignored the incoming threat. He vanished alongside his star of time for a split second; Zheng Yu’s blade landed on empty air. His face twitched and he whirled around, slamming his weapon on the ground. A great fissure ran through the earth! Zheng Yu next set his sights on the central continent. He raised his blade to cut through the earth! Li Hao was the heavenly will now, it was easy for him to hide very quickly. But he would be injured if the people of this world died. Not only that, but Hong Yitang would be gravely damaged as well! These two were too closely tied to Silver Moon! Li Hao appeared in front of Zheng Yu, standing in his way. “You originally wanted to break free of Silver Moon,” Zheng Yu smiled. “What a pity that that’s out of the question for you now. These people have become your restraints. You’re certainly willing to give up things, but it looks like destiny has shackled you to Silver Moon!” If Li Hao wasn’t the heavenly will, he could absolutely ignore Zheng Yu’s actions. Only Hong Yitang would be hurt, not him. But in reality, he could not. Li Hao didn’t mind Zheng Yu all that much, it had nothing to do with him. But if it involved Hong Yitang and the demise of Silver Moon world, he would take action when he had to. However, the young man was slightly disappointed. “It looks like you’re smarter than I thought, but you haven’t fully extricated yourself from the side path!” Light flooded the world! A long river encircled it and Li Hao’s presence built explosively. He’d finally lit the last star; the might of a half step emperor draped around him! Or rather, he’d set foot into seventh level Fused Dao. 180 dao stars of intermingled corporeal and immaterial dao finally put him on par with a seventh level Fused Dao of the corporeal dao. He had some strength to stand against a half step emperor now. Yet, the young man was in no hurry to deploy it. He looked into the distance, at where Lin Hongyu was sent flying by a mighty stroke. Li Daoheng captured a wildly struggling river of chaos! Another star seemed to appear on the other side of the sky. The real star of time had come! But it watched from afar and didn’t dare approach, or perhaps it didn’t find the proceedings interesting enough! “What is your relationship with Li Daoheng?” Li Hao suddenly asked as he watched the other side. Zheng Yu didn’t answer. He walked toward the young man and unleashed a blow! The world shattered! Li Hao raised his sword to answer in kind. A cat manifested over Zheng Yu and raised its claws! Celestial Pole watched anxiously. So an attack from Li Hao resulted in the same outcome. His ascension didn’t seem to have much of an effect! “Are you not going to say anything? You guys aren’t the same person, are you?” Li Hao murmured. “It would be horrifying if that was the case. What have you been researching all these years? You haven’t been playing chess with yourself, have you?” Zheng Yu waved his blade and severed the world. He chuckled softly, “You think quite a lot!” Blade and cat arrived at the same time, both of the premier half step emperor level. Celestial Pole rushed over, but couldn’t do much. He could only grit his teeth and endure the blow since he was wary of the consequences! Li Hao’s actions had drawn an even stronger backlash from the cat! The cat had become the key to restricting Li Hao and Celestial Pole, with the latter being the more important component of the duo. Li Hao didn’t mind, but it was a very maddening situation to endure. Even as a recently risen half step emperor, Li Hao promptly suffered grievous wounds from the collision. His head was bleeding and a blade mark scored his body. Celestial Pole was even worse off. He couldn’t return fire when the cat scratched him—his face was full of scratch marks! Zheng Yu towered domineeringly over the world and chuckled, “It looks like the victory goes to me!” He rushed Li Hao again!