Chapter 1424: The Chaos and Past (I)

“Senior is just a replica...” said Zhang An. “It doesn’t matter if a replica dies. Number Two is in Li Hao’s river now and the senior’s mission is complete. Are you really unwilling to give up a replica?”

“It’s not that, but that my replica can still function as a set of coordinates.” Celestial Pole waved him off. “My primary body is with New Martial. I have a hope of finding us only if my replica is here. The chances are very low once I leave!

“Silver Moon has certainly drifted out of New Martial’s range and we may be very far away from home. You’re not a replica, so it’ll be very unlikely that your grandfather can find you. Only with my replica here do we stand a chance!”

Upon further thought, Zhang An felt that the man made sense. But since Celestial Pole wasn’t willing to venture into the chaos, then... he stood almost no chance by himself. Although he’d left the world before, that was in the entourage of a powerhouse. He hadn’t been the leader of the group.

“I don’t actually think leaving Silver Moon is our most pressing concern,” Celestial Pole continued. “The key is that the world is about to rise in status—that is no small matter. A major world might not notice anything, but heavyweights that journey through the chaos might!

“Even if Red Moon doesn’t discover the change, I’m worried that wandering powerhouses will give us trouble. A newly risen world with a dao universe and lacking an exalted emperor... This will be a rich meal that anyone will want a bite of.

“Is Li Hao ready for this eventuality? Under normal circumstances, a world ascends when it accumulates sufficient powerhouses. If not, the master of the world holds the world on the cusp of ascension until there are sufficient powerhouses to advance with it. Only that will ensure that the world isn’t devoured by others!”

It was clear to see from this that Silver Moon was improving too rapidly. Not only did it not have a single exalted emperor, but there was a noticeable drop off in heavyweights after Li Hao.

It was typically exalted emperors that traveled through the chaos universe. Weaker exalted emperors were tough to do the same. Granted, if an Empyrean King didn’t care about being lost and didn’t have many ties at home... they could undertake the journey as well.

That was, assuming they survived it.

“Will we arouse attention from those things?” Zhang An’s eyes widened.

“Probably!”

“Then we need to warn Li Hao!” Zhang An looked on gravely.

“The Star Gate’s still there,” Celestial Pole replied blithely. “That was built by several emperors. If Li Hao doesn’t open it and doesn’t venture out... the danger will be limited. Of course, those guys outside will certainly want to come inside!”

He wasn’t as concerned. The only worrisome point to Celestial Pole was the possibility of attracting more powerhouses if they raised too much of a fuss here. That was the key.

This was a most thorny problem to Zhang An. “I’ll discuss this with Li Hao,” he said after a long moment. “In addition, I’d like the senior to consider venturing out with me...”

He was immensely resigned at receiving no response from Celestial Pole. This one was only a replica, but it was so indifferent to everything!

What did it matter if a replica died??

Zhang An didn’t understand it. It was maddening!

......

In the chaos universe, at an unknown distance and time.

All was turbid, without land or sky. Countless worlds were embedded in various parts of the chaos like seeds, freely developing as they would.

They were infinitely far from each other.

Within the gloom of the chaos, there was a world wreathed in mist and sparkling with red light. It looked like a red moon, and it was indeed the renowned Red Moon major world. This was a major world with extreme desires for conquest among the multitude of worlds.

Red Moon was so enormous that it could not be spied upon. While it was famed for its strength, the atmosphere within the world was somewhat tense these days.

Fifty years ago on its calendar, the master of Red Moon had prepared to attack another renowned major world within the chaos—the Yin and Yang world, also known as the New Martial main world.

But before the Red Moon army reached Yin and Yang, the New Martial army of ten billion mobilized to eradicate Red Moon major world. They were both premier worlds with countless major worlds in between them. The worlds caught in their path either backed away or outright fled to new coordinates.

Just when battle was about to break out...

The New Martial army became lost in the chaos and vanished for several years. When they next reappeared, the entire universe reeled with shock. New Martial had somehow traveled to the rear of Red Moon and encountered another exceedingly infamous major world in the chaos—Elysian Fields.

Instead of New Martial and Red Moon engaging each other in grim battle, New Martial first fought a grisly campaign against Elysian Fields. Both sides sent more than one hundred exalted emperors into the field and the Human King of New Martial personally led the troops.

New Martial raided the major world itself, killed a dozen exalted emperors, tore the world seed apart, and nearly killed the master of Elysian Fields.

Thankfully, word quickly spread of this war and Red Moon swiftly sent heavyweights as reinforcements. Their troops suffered a high casualty rate before temporarily beating back New Martial.

However, the madness did not end there. The overweening Human King declared that killing one hundred was the same as killing one, that the world of Yin and Yang wanted to quell the disorder in the chaos. A group of New Martial exalted emperors followed the New Martial Human King and ran around like headless chickens, often popping up in random locales.

The situation dissolved into a baffling state. What was supposed to be a war between two major worlds dragged on for fifty years in the chaos and a dozen other major worlds.

Supreme Zhang, the spokesperson of New Martial, publicly announced that the Human King had simply gotten lost. The supreme hoped that all sides would stay out of the Human King’s path since he had no intention of disrupting the peace.

The supreme further requested that if people came across the Human King, they should send him in the direction of Red Moon major world. If possible, Supreme Zhang asked that the nearest master of the world accompany the Human King there, just in case he became lost again.

Who the hell would believe this kind of bullshit??

Not a single master of the world believed or dared to believe Supreme Zhang. The Human King continuously appeared within range of random major worlds, further magnifying the scope of conflict.

No matter how New Martial continuously explained that the Human King was just passing by, that he was lost due to the lack of time, landmarks, and direction in the chaos, no one believed that he wasn’t actually trying to conquer them!

The New Martial Human King was so formidable that regular masters of the world were unable to match him. Given his infamy and tendency to ambush worlds, who dared let him approach?

Tyrannical, arrogant, and savage were synonymous with the Human King.

As the situation dragged on, what had been a war between two worlds turned an entire patch of the chaos into a prohibited area. One might come across the New Martial Human King in any part of it...

It should’ve been slight scuffles between New Martial and Red Moon, with limited losses to exalted emperors. Yet with the Human King’s habit of getting lost, there was one less major world in this zone after fifty years and a combined eight mid and small worlds that had disappeared.

What made Red Moon major world nervous was a story from a few years ago that a wandering rogue in the chaos had encountered the Human King near Red Moon. The Human King had been alone, supposedly lost again. He was grabbing people to ask for directions.

Frightened out of his wits, the rogue had fled in the first direction that presented itself.

With that, the New Martial Human King vanished again.

Red Moon had sent out scouts for a few years, but came up empty-handed for their efforts. It made the master of Red Moon suspect that the Human King had snuck into Red Moon major world.

He turned the investigation into his own world, but also came up empty-handed after a few attempts. That only made Red Moon grow more wary.

Given that they were willing to attack Yin and Yang, Red Moon was naturally no weakling itself. However, the New Martial Human King always acted out of character. He struck out on his own and appeared in different places now and then, causing more trouble or even engaging premier rogues.

It was said that there were a dozen premier existences similar to the Sun God hunting down the person.

Whatever the truth was, the result was that war always erupted in a place that the Human King dwelled in. While the Human King and his pursuers didn’t suffer much damage, their stunning battles inflicted great losses onto the worlds that became embroiled in their conflict.

Sometimes the worlds were outright annihilated!

This increased the number of people chasing after the Human King and further widened the scope of battle. But whenever a conflict broke out, it was the nearby worlds that suffered the most. Countless minor worlds either imploded or disappeared within the universe.

At this moment, on Red Moon major world.

Noble presences traversed the world and stood in the void within a divinely magnificent palace.

“Our king, is that New Martial Human King located within our world or not?” asked one of the august personages. “War between our two sides has yet to officially break out, but multiple masters of the world have fallen already. There are other masters that are beginning to ask if the war between us is a conspiracy.”

Was this a grand conspiracy?

If not, then why did two premier factions supposedly at war with each other not engage in battle? There were no losses or conclusion to the conflict, but many worlds were broken because of this supposed world. Numerous masters of their worlds had fallen among the vast universe.

Red Moon was still swallowing minor worlds; New Martial matched tit for tat. It was uninvolved third parties that lost the most from this war. Who believed that this was simply unintended collateral damage?

“There are wandering rogues bringing us news that some major worlds are preparing an alliance against Red Moon and Yin and Yang,” boomed another august personage. “They wish to forge an alliance of death against us. We are to be their targets!”

Those of Red Moon world had no place to protest their innocence. Red Moon’s target was indeed New Martial, and New Martial decided to go on the offensive first to defend themselves. It seemed that a great war was about to break out, but the New Martial Human King went berserk and ran off to attack someone else instead.

And just one target wasn’t enough, he attacked a second, a third, and fourth...

After all the commotion, New Martial was now infamous within the chaos and possessed a worse reputation than Red Moon. But it was Red Moon that was dragged down by its actions and the target of everyone’s ire. The rest of the universe said that the two were in cahoots and using their war as a cover-up for other actions!

Red Moon was highly aggrieved by the accusations. No one believed them if they said anything. After all, why did a war between the two of them drag in the entire chaos universe?

The two major worlds were developing along their own trajectory, but New Martial suddenly veered off its path and became lost in the chaos. It then appeared in random spots, wreaking havoc again and again.

While the New Martial supreme insisted that it was all a misunderstanding, only an utter fool would believe him. How would the master of a world be so easily lost in the chaos?