Chapter 1458: A Horse Off the Reins (IV)

“Skyward...” Zu An laughed. “The region in front of us is usually hailed as Skyward Region. It is said that the master of Skyward ascended to ninth rank many years ago. He was unfathomably strong and dominated the chaos!

“But... those are just legends. Something apparently happened later on and the master of Skyward left with his people. He might have taken the dao universe with him as well, or it might have fallen silent. Only the world was left behind.

“It is a major world, after all, and very strong in itself. Many chaos wanderers set down roots here and treat it as a place of shelter within the chaos. Gradually, more and more wanderers settled down on Skyward!

“Some made it their home, some treat it as a watering hole—a place of exchange or a marketplace. It’s turned into a general square for cultivators!

“Skyward is a treasure trove for chaos wanderers now. There are also many powerhouses of broken worlds or weaklings gathered here... Not all denizens of a world die when their home is conquered or devoured. There are always survivors, and they must choose a new residence.

“Take the destruction of Elysian Fields and Utmost Dark this time, for example. Someone will surely have made it out. Their top choice for resettlement will be Skyward!” Zu An continued. “Many worlds have fallen in Red Moon Region the past couple of years. A portion of those who survived will have fled far and wide...”

“I see, so Skyward major world is the oasis for wanderers,” Li Hao summarized. “There’s no one in charge there, right?”

“That’s right, so that makes the area very disorderly! Nearby powerhouses will also visit. If they’re good-natured, they’ll take a look around and engage in a few transactions. If they’re not... they’ll just rob and take whatever they want. That’s also a common occurrence!

“Who would dare be so impudent in a regular major world with a master of seventh rank at the helm? Even visiting seventh rank exalted emperors wouldn’t dare kick up a fuss because they would be in unfamiliar territory. None of those concerns exist for Skyward, however. It’s complete pandemonium!”

Li Hao nodded, having obtained a general understanding of the situation. The territory of chaos wanderers lay up ahead with no central authority administering it. There would be quite a bit of danger.

“Is there no one who wants to devour Skyward?” A new question struck the young man. “According to what fellow daoist says, this major world was where a ninth rank exalted emperor once resided. He might be dead now, or gone at the very least. Why hasn’t anyone taken it?”

Wasn’t this a much more tempting target than a minor world?

“Who says there isn’t?” Zu An shook his head. “There are and people have even tried to do so before. It’s just that the world is still extremely durable even without its dao universe or master. It can withstand the attacks of seventh and eighth rank exalted emperors!

“No exalted emperor beneath seventh rank can even think about damaging this world. And for those greater... I don’t know. We wanderers have also pondered why no master of a major world has claimed it.

“Perhaps there’s something special about a ninth rank major world. Whatever it is, it could be deterring nearby masters of major worlds from seizing it. Or perhaps the master of Skyward is alive and we’re just unaware of it.”

Is that so?

Li Hao wondered.

If the Human King was there... he might not care if the Skyward master is potentially still alive and around. Or perhaps there’s not much benefit to devouring a major world without a dao universe.

After weighing up the pros and cons, perhaps the Human King might elect to not swallow Skyward. And it turns out that he’s not the strongest in the chaos... what a pity!

I thought he was number one in the chaos!

He’s so domineering that anyone unknowing of the truth would think that he’s invincible in the chaos. He was the one who said that he would slay the strongest in the chaos for me. That made me think he was a ninth rank!

Li Hao only dared think these thoughts, he would never voice them aloud.

I’m just a small fry of first rank. I shouldn’t say these things to anyone.

He was comforted after encountering an affable enough chaos wanderer. “Fellow daoist, are there any other opportunities available to weaklings like us, apart from devouring worlds?”

“Yes!” Zu An smiled. “Didn’t I say? Join a major world and cultivate their dao. The paths they walk are much stronger than ours. We either cultivate the motley assortment of daos that already exist in the chaos, or we outright cultivate the chaos.

“Cultivating the chaos sounds impressive, but it’s such a mishmash that just sorting through it will drive you crazy!

“Or you can cultivate the daos of major worlds that happen to emanate your way. For example, many minor worlds in Red Moon Region fall within the range of Red Moon major world. You can cultivate the world’s dao, but the entire great dao will take notice when you rise to the exalted emperor level. They’ll take you under their wing as a lackey then if they’re in a good mood, or just cut you down if not!”

This, Li Hao understood. Silver Moon denizens back in the day had cultivated core origin dao because that dao universe’s ripples reached the minor world. They even had to undergo tribulations when they became an exalted emperor—the one that New Martial had created!

One could only take shelter under another roof in the absence of a dao universe. Otherwise, there wouldn’t even be a chance to verify one’s dao.

“But I’ve read from some New Martial texts that if there’s no dao universe to draw from, we can create our own worlds...” Li Hao couldn’t help himself.

Zu An was rendered speechless by the response and took a while to say, “That’s one way... but it’s better off left unsaid! Do you know how much it takes to create a new world? That’s not something that regular exalted emperors can achieve!”

Is that so? Then does my river of time, which is now the river of life and death, count?

Li Hao was starting to lose confidence in his creations, but he’d well and truly verified his dao as an exalted emperor. “So not everyone can create that?”

“......” No shit!

As they say, the young are truly fearless.

“Not every random crafting of an earth and sky makes a new world!” Zu An explained patiently. “The creation of a world requires a perfect dao heritage and a natural dao order. Life needs to be possible, thrive, and further consolidate the dao of the world. It might even attract a chaos tribulation!

“Just the last point might be the death of you if you go around randomly creating worlds. That’s not even diving into how difficult the other points are!

“The chaos tribulation is a trial of the chaos being born!” Zu An emphasized, thinking that Li Hao might not be familiar with the concept. “It’s essentially the equivalent of death! If you are a first rank emperor, you’ll run into a tribulation that can kill a second rank emperor. Chaos tribulations also have to be endured by the person they target...”

Not really,

Li Hao countered.

Number Two can eat them. I also let other people take some blows for me when I turned into the heavenly will.

Granted, the cat wasn’t exactly cabbage by the side of the road. And to become the heavenly will... meant all the existences within the world were weaker than the tribulation target. They wouldn’t survive a single thunderbolt.

Take the Great Li king and western queen, for example. They’d taken thunderbolts for Li Hao, but that was because they well deserved it. One of them was half a heavenly will and the other once borrowed from a past self. They were both entangled with time, so they deserved the smiting!

“I see. And here I thought I could create a new world at any time!”

Zu An smiled without a word at how regretful Li Hao looked. It was customary for everyone to daydream accomplishing such a feat when they first learned of the possibility. After all, what new exalted emperor wasn’t proud of themselves?

But reality would smack them in the face soon enough.

Don’t even dream about it. So what if you're an exalted emperor? There’s no lack of exalted emperors in the chaos, but how many of them can create a world?

Zu An had no idea, at any rate. As opposed to relying on this to break through, it was better to throw oneself on the mercy of a major world. If he was lucky enough, he might become a premier exalted emperor in someone else’s care.

He recovered some of his confidence thanks to his conversation with this newbie. As Zu An rested from his injuries, he shared what he’d seen and heard in the chaos with Li Hao. Panther continued to slowly swim forward.

They didn’t even encounter the shadow of another being along the way.

After a month, Zu An was ready to leave. His injuries were fully healed.

“Fellow Daoist Li, I will be on my way to Skyward now.” He took his leave. “You should find a place to hide your world or leave the chaos beast behind. Otherwise, with how much mayhem occurs in Skyward... you’ll be putting yourself in too much danger given that you’ve just set foot into first rank!

“Skyward also doesn’t welcome chaos beasts. These things like to munch on things too often, they’re a hassle!

“You’ll enter Skyward territory if you head forward another three thousand chaos meters. One chaos meter is the amount of distance that a first rank exalted emperor can cover at full speed in one go. Moving ahead three thousand times will bring you to Skyward!”

Li Hao clucked his tongue with astonishment. That was far! It would take him another few days at top speed. The chaos was indeed so much bigger than their imagination, and this was the closest major world to Red Moon.

“My thanks to Fellow Daoist Zu!” Li Hao thanked his companion again. “Once I settle down my world and head to Skyward, perhaps I’ll bump into you again if I’m lucky enough. I’ll have to trouble you again then!”

“I can help in small matters, but my hands will be equally tied in large matters,” Zu An smiled. “Finally, allow me to leave you with this word of advice. When you’re out and about, it’s best not to say you have anything to do with New Martial!

“There are too many crazies on New Martial’s Yin and Yang—their reputation isn’t the best. They’ve destroyed numerous worlds over the years and a portion of the survivors have made it to Skyward. There might even be fifth or sixth rank exalted emperors among them.

“Even though fellow daoist has received a small sprinkling of their heritage, those survivors might attack you all the same since they can’t do anything to New Martial!”

“Of course!” Li Hao nodded solemnly. “Thank you for the reminder.”

“You’re welcome!” Zu An was a veteran chaos wanderer, so his footsteps weren’t dogged by nostalgia. They’d simply traveled together for a portion of the way. He’d recovered from his wounds and shared a good deal of knowledge with Li Hao. They were even.

He immediately broke through the void and left. There was no peace to be had in Red Moon Region anymore, it was time to try his luck in Skyward.

Li Hao remained silent for a while after the man was gone. Could he not take Panth with him? Lin Hongyu and the others were working toward the exalted emperor level. Should he wait a while longer or probe the way ahead?

Was it safe to leave Silver Moon in the chaos?

Eternally traveling through the chaos wasn’t a solid plan either. They had to interact with others at some point, whether it was to simply exchange dao methods or anything else. Anything was better than wandering around randomly for the rest of their lives. That option left them with no opportunity to strengthen themselves.