Chapter 2071: Reformation (III)

“So it turns out... both of you thought it was a good opportunity when I asked for your replicas,” Li Hao sighed. “Did you think it was a good chance to control me?”

“I didn’t think that way, nor am I interested in doing so.” Spring Autumn arched a brow. “As for Chaos Sky... I just detected something off about him. I gave you my replica to help you! But you’re so dumb that you didn’t understand anything! How can you accept presents from everyone?

“It looks like I’ll have to defeat you if I want to break order today. Li Hao, I had no desire to kill you. I might have some use for the dao of time. But today, I must!”

She appeared in front of Li Hao with innumerable Spring Autumns. Tiny hands rose like she was a thousand-armed goddess. Hand seals came down on the void!

Wither!

Worlds withered, the chaos fell silent, life ended, and time passed without a trace. Li Hao’s hair whipped through the air. Only a second was needed before his life drained away and his hair turned white. Order retreated!

Spring Autumn had attacked him.

Or rather, she’d attacked the puppet of order.

She did not wish and would not allow Chaos Sky to stabilize order. Otherwise, the root issue with her species would be even harder to remake!

Her strength was on full display only now. Li Hao commanded five thousand dao rules and was on par with a regular eighth rank of eight thousand dao rules, but could not stand against Spring Autumn.

The seasons withered and flourished, lifespan streamed away, and the chaos decayed.

Brilliant light erupted from Heaven’s Stratagem!

A new strength of order flared and the dao river churned, seeking to stop the invasion of the force of withering.

Spring Autumn snorted, her little body filled with energy. Countless shadows appeared behind her the next moment, too many to be counted. All of them were Spring Autumn!

They broke apart when she took a step forward and became part of her.

“You have a past and future, I have infinite pasts but no future. The past becomes me. I am Spring Autumn!”

She struck!

A palm of white jade pierced through the void and struck the river of dao. Her replicas became part of her—or rather, her past bodies became part of her. Her strength soared and an intense presence filled the worlds.

“Chaos Sky, you know what I seek,” Spring Autumn growled. “It’s a good idea to put Li Hao in my way, but he’s no match for me when it comes down to it!”

You know what I want, but why is your order so unfair?

Why can’t my cicadas obtain new life in this order? Your order is not my order!

Only when I break the old and build my own will I welcome new life. What a pity that you ended up this way, Li Hao, but also not. It’s your fault that you fell into someone else’s trap!

“Spring Autumn, order is built.” A voice seemed to travel out of the world of order that was deep within Li Hao’s river of dao. “Breaking what was originally there is not a determinant of fairness! Whether it is people or all things, to each their destiny! That is also part of order...”

“Destiny? Don’t you find yourself ludicrous?” Spring Autumn’s lips curved in a sarcastic fashion. “Sure, it’s destiny if you say so. Even humans are limited to only one hundred years. If you’re willing to stick to that one hundred years, then I’ll stick to a season!

“That is true order. Otherwise, any talk of order is just a front for your own ambitions! You’re definitely bold. Disorder is a ninth rank, but you’re splitting your attention to fight me while you battle him! You’ve got to have some grand plans in play!”

Her presence strengthened as more of her replicas integrated with her body.

“I have lived through eight hundred thousand changes of the seasons. How long do you think Li Hao can hold out against me?” A cicada’s chirp rang through the area, seeming to freeze the chaos and halt the flow of the seasons.

Li Hao backed away. Heaven’s Stratagem burst with incomparable strength of order, preventing Spring Autumn from advancing.

......

Li Hao had become a bystander by this point in the conflict. He now fully understood Spring Autumn’s aims. There wasn’t much he could say to the cicada. She simply wished to break the fetters placed on her race and have them, or herself, no longer have to endure the pain of metamorphosis.

One metamorphosis a year, one rebirth a year.

She was already an overlord of the chaos, yet still needed to experience birth in the spring and death in the fall. For such a weak race, being able to live past two seasons would be shattering their destiny. That required breaking the order and rules of the chaos!

Therefore, she wasn’t as removed from current events as Li Hao thought she was. It wasn’t that she had no conflict of interest with the rest. On the contrary, anyone who maintained the current system was her enemy!

Whoever supported or safeguarded the system must be taken down! That included Chaos Sky and the ninth ranks!

Thus, perhaps Li Hao’s goal of resurrecting some people deep in the chaos was similar to hers. At the very least, their aims were the same prior to reaching the origin of the chaos.

Hence, when Chaos Sky handed over one of his replicas, so did she give her strongest. She even wanted Li Hao to comprehend withering and flourishing, just so the young man could stand against Chaos Sky’s scheming.

Who would’ve thought... that the young man wouldn’t put up any resistance? He’d rolled over and permitted the strength of order to invade him. In fact, he’d even utilized faith to usher in order, giving more chances and shortcuts for order to integrate with him.

The process had been completed so quickly that Spring Autumn was still a step too late, despite traveling extremely quickly!

The little girl made another move!

Heaven’s Stratagem burst with piercing light over the river of dao, suppressing the dao of withering and flourishing. However, Spring Autumn was formidable. A cicada’s cry rang again, shaking the treasure so hard that its sacred light almost drifted away.

Spring Autumn fought Chaos Sky of order dao. Even so, the personage infinitely close to ninth rank wasn’t automatically suppressing his opponent. That Spring Autumn could be so domineering was beyond Li Hao’s original expectations.

“I won’t let you succeed, Chaos Sky... Those ninth ranks won’t rule over me either!” Spring Autumn disappeared, then reappeared near Heaven’s Stratagem. She even took one step into Li Hao’s dao river. Innumerable Spring Autumns were suppressed and crushed by order!

The closer she drew to the treasure, the stronger order grew. All those that did not bow their heads to order would fall.

Spring Autumn had to toss aside ever more corpses with each step she took. Each body was her, but she didn’t care at all!

Why should she?

She must rout the Heaven’s Stratagem and break all of the original order!

Li Hao was safely hiding behind the treasure and watching Spring Autumn. He looked at the bodies falling by the wayside, then at the treasure balefully emitting light. It was like he was completely removed from the scene.

He looked toward the north after a while.

The power of order should have mostly been depleted from Chaos Sky. If the man was about to erupt, it would be soon. Once he killed Disorder and returned to his territory, Spring Autumn would have a very difficult time against her opponent.

Li Hao’s five thousand daos were almost all being pushed out by order. They were supposed to bow their heads and take their place behind order in the hierarchy.

“This... should not be all that order is,” Li Hao murmured. Within the river, Spring Autumn raised her eyebrows with bafflement as she battled the Heaven’s Stratagem.

A pure, sacred light dawned in Li Hao’s eyes. He looked around with benevolence and pity. Countless voices raged. The river seemed to be howling, hundreds of billions of humans were wailing. They screamed and shrieked and hollered, being so distracting that no peace could be found.

Even the cicada’s cry was momentarily overpowered. Spring Autumn’s expression colored.

Something new had developed with order.

“The daos of a myriad worlds and the hearts of a myriad peoples... There is no such thing as absolute order.” Li Hao shook his head. After devouring a large sum of faith, he’d discovered that whether it was faith, responsibility, or order, none of them were defined and unchanging.

Once these concepts became rigid and absolute, then they were wrong.

They were to change with the times as each person’s desires were different and each civilization’s goals were different.

All life wanted something different.

Chaos Sky’s order was very strong, but it lacked a certain flexibility. When endless people made their voices known, his order threatened to buckle under the strain of the ages.

When there was too much civilization and individual thought, it overloaded his order. Hence, real order was...

“Real order is not eternal, just like time is not eternal and unchanging. It should... change!”

Eons came and went as well. There was nothing that was always the same. Once the rules touched upon this concept... they would be denied.

Li Hao smiled. He’d discovered some problems that he hadn’t realized before. Each creator hoped that their rules could be passed on, that countless generations later would still be employing them.

Such was the case as found throughout history, dynasties, and civilizations...

They even hoped that their rules would become the ancestral teachings and the law as laid down by the forefathers.

Yet, they were wrong.

The times were always changing.

Yesterday’s rules might not be applicable to present day, to say nothing of rules from one million years ago. Rules should change every day, every second. Later generations would supplement them. Why should someone not of the age create rules to govern later generations?

“I know how to build the rules of the false chaos! I also know how to craft order! It’s not an absolute, unyielding concept. It should just be a rough outline! It’s enough to just have a barebones structure. In fact, even that should change with the development of the ages!

“Those who come later should have the right to change whatever their ancestors laid down! The forefathers’ creations may be modified! So long as they respect the age and hearken to its development, there is nothing that cannot be edited!”

Li Hao’s murmurings gradually grew louder, until a dao note pierced through the void. His smile deepened.

“There is no rule or law that cannot be reversed!” He looked at Spring Autumn. “So long as it follows that age and the current rules present. As long as the modification does not commit a sin and keeps the framework whole. If the new rule has restraints on it, then... the laws can be changed! Order should not be a constant!”

Boom!

The worlds seem to fall apart and Heaven’s Stratagem vibrated wildly.

Five thousand dao rules shook madly in a counter attack. A hundred billion calls cried out, ringing through the river of dao and devouring the strength of order.

Li Hao grinned faintly. Is a treasure supposed to be able to invade me? You think too little of me, Chaos Sky!

Your method is not invincible. I just wanted to take a close look at it and see if I could use your rules and order to help me build my chaos. I wondered if it would make my preparations more perfect!

The star of time had not moved in all this time.

Five thousand dao rules suddenly began to reassemble, trapping the Heaven’s Stratagem within them. The original river of dao spontaneously collapsed.

“Whether it is the rules or order, they are like a book. A book is a reference, not a holy object. Heaven’s Stratagem takes the form of a book, why doesn’t it understand that? It should learn from history, not repeat it!”

Five thousand dao rules were now supernatural characters. Each of them constantly reassembled in new combinations, becoming a book, then a sword, then a ruler, a sentence, a paragraph, a story...

Li Hao grinned widely. That was more like it! It was the same case with time. Time also changed.