Chapter 1463: Dauntless and Fearless (I)

The place around the dao foundation site occupied a large territory. There were numerous buildings in it, as well as people. Not all of them were exalted emperors.

Some locals on Skyward weren’t its original inhabitants, but those who’d arrived later and resided on the world for countless years, forming local factions. There were also some wanderers from worlds that’d been destroyed and youngsters from big factions out on an adventure...

In short, there were a lot of people here.

There were also a select few exalted emperors roaming the outer streets, trying to see if they could detect some hidden treasures by themselves.

That was a pipe dream, of course.

As large as the chaos was and as many as its treasures were, there were also many powerhouses floating around. It was a pure daydream for these exalted emperors to find anything here.

“Senior, Coiled Dragon Well is up ahead!” Big Claw pointed at the protruding pile of yellow dirt. It spanned an exceedingly large tract of land.

Major worlds are different, alright!

Li Hao marveled to himself. This area rivaled one of Silver Moon’s provinces!

It was just a ruin, but it was so massive. And this was considering it was present day. Perhaps it had been even bigger back in the day. Of course, it was still a normal plot of land for a high rank exalted emperor.

It was said that the lord of this location had once been such a level of exalted emperor, focusing on the blood qi and body daos. Li Hao knew a little about these daos because the Exalted Blood Emperor and Human King also trained in these disciplines. Focusing on a dao didn’t mean practicing only one dao, a cultivator could specialize in multiple daos.

“Senior, there are small marketplaces all around us. If you are interested, you can take a look around. You can barter for items or trade dao power for them.”

“Dao power?” Li Hao blinked.

“It’s the chaos presence that exalted emperors breath in and out. When purified, they become crystals of dao!” explained Big Claw. “It’s usually exalted emperors that can undergo the process and generally exalted emperors that walk through the chaos.

“Therefore, it’s most suitable for powerhouses of the chaos to transact with dao power crystals! A first rank exalted emperor can coalesce approximately three hundred pieces in a year without rest. That’s roughly one piece a day.”

Chaos crystals!

Li Hao understood. He could do that too, but he would be an absolute fool to waste his time in this endeavor.

I can do a ton of other things with that time.

Approximately three hundred pieces a year would be approximately three million pieces in ten thousand years. What could that be traded for? He wouldn’t be able to rest, sleep, or cultivate during this time.

“How many crystals are needed for a minor world?”

Big Claw blinked, then looked sheepish at the question. “We usually barter for goods. Very few people trade minor worlds for dao crystals. There was one such transaction three thousand years ago due to urgent need. An exalted emperor paid nearly ten million dao crystals for a minor world.”

A first rank exalted emperor would have to work tirelessly for thirty thousand years to earn a minor world. They might be able to make it to second rank after devouring the world, maybe gaining a tiny bit of hope of setting foot into third rank if they were lucky enough...

Was it a good bargain?

That was hard to say!

Regardless, it wasn’t worth it to Li Hao. Not to mention, exalted emperors didn’t have much use for dao crystals. They were highly useful for anyone below that cultivation level, even half step emperors. Crystals condensed from chaos qi were immensely handy for cultivation.

They were much more sophisticated than energy crystals and could be considered high level energy stones, since they were distilled straight out of the chaos. But for Li Hao, his consideration was that he could easily ascend to third rank exalted emperor in thirty thousand years no matter what he did.

It was also easy for him to say so since he had absolutely no crystals to his name at the moment. He didn’t have time to coalesce them.

The young man looked at the bustling streets. There were a mixture of strong and weak cultivators walking them. The strong were exalted emperors, the weak were just Mountain and Sea. That they dared transact with exalted emperors meant that they had esteemed backers.

“There is a Dragon Pavilion over there that serves as an exchange place for the Dragon Observatory. Other places may not guarantee authenticity, but there are usually no fakes at the Dragon Pavilion. If the senior is interested, you can take a look there.”

“That’s alright, I have no dao crystals...” Li Hao shook his head.

“It’s fine!” Big Claw said warmly. “Dragon Observatory has special offers for exalted emperors. If any baubles catches the senior’s eye, you can have them for free if they are priced below one hundred crystals. You can open a tab if they are priced over one hundred...”

A tab?

Li Hao wanted to laugh.

The chaos is so big and I can open a tab. How are you going to close it out if I go on the run? Well, I guess this means they have their ways of doing so. A sixth rank exalted emperor is not someone to piss off.

Dragon Observatory was an interesting establishment. Strictly speaking, its hosts did a good job and they tried to recruit exalted emperors as much as possible. But the more they were thus, the more that indicated they nursed grand ambitions.

Logically, there shouldn’t be any dangers present with a sixth rank exalted emperor in residence. Not unless they provoked a major world.

Yet Dragon Observatory still pulled out all stops to entice exalted emperors to join them. Perhaps they wanted to take down a major world. Or perhaps it was as Big Claw said and they were preparing to act against a major faction, such as New Martial.

Li Hao didn’t say anything. Treasures were external objects; he wasn’t interested in them. He owned a mid world that he couldn’t be bothered to devour, to say nothing of anything else. Silver Moon was his home, so he would never do so. It made the young man even less interested in other worlds.

At Li Hao’s level, his thoughts were simple. He wanted to experience and comprehend more daos. What he lacked the most now was a deeper understanding of the great dao. That was one point. The second was the energy he needed for a breakthrough.

The second wasn’t that critical as one wouldn’t be short on energy if they’d sensed the laws of dao. Breathing in and out chaos energy was a very slow process, but if one understood the great dao, they could simply antagonize a chaos tribulation and collect energy from one.

The tribulations themselves also bore a large quantity of destructive power.

Granted, there weren’t many in the chaos who would dare think and do so.

I’m not afraid of chaos tribulations, hah!

“That’s fine, let’s go take a look at Coiled Dragon Well. Forget it, I’ll take a look myself!”

Big Claw blinked; he didn’t understand this latest turn from his guest. Under normal conditions, newly ascended exalted emperors were more or less interested in the marketplaces. It was just taking a look around, not forcing a sale. Not to mention, they would receive anything below one hundred crystals for free.

For a first rank exalted emperor, saving one hundred crystals in a year was a very arduous task. Dragon Observatory’s offer was the equivalent of saving a year’s time. Although an exalted emperor’s lifespan was nearly unlimited and a year wasn’t too long, why would someone not want something free?

This one’s interesting.

“Senior, there may be some exalted emperors meditating at Coiled Dragon Well. Why don’t I accompany you, just to prevent any misunderstandings...”

Prevent misunderstandings?

Li Hao flicked a glance at him and smiled, inclining his head. “That will do as well!”

Big Claw blinked again. Exalted emperors typically didn’t like having company when they comprehended the dao. He’d only been offering as a courtesy, but Li Hao didn’t turn him down.

Or did his guest not think he would gain anything?

Exalted emperors were usually very arrogant and self-assured. An exalted emperor on their first visit to Skyward would be opposed to having someone follow them around, because they felt the guide might peek in on whatever they gained. The guides were part of Dragon Observatory, after all.

Big Claw was suddenly unable to determine if the one in front of him felt that he wouldn’t gain anything from the attempt, or really didn’t care if someone learned about what he gained.

What an interesting exalted emperor!

Newly ascended exalted emperors tended to fall into two extremes. They were either extremely cocky and thought they were invincible throughout the chaos, or they were hyper-vigilant and twitched at the slightest breeze.

The former thought nothing of veteran exalted emperors, just that they had the advantage of advancing slightly earlier. The latter was deathly afraid of catching someone’s eyes, feeling that the entire universe was full of danger and malevolence.

Li Hao... didn’t feel like a newly ascended exalted emperor. Although he looked like one, his mannerisms rather spoke of a veteran exalted emperor’s bearing.

Big Claw had seen many exalted emperors in his time and a multitude of thoughts ran through his mind. He didn’t voice any of them and quickly snapped back to the task at hand.

“Very well, I will lead the senior in. Senior, please refrain from speaking if possible when inside. Allow me to handle any encounters. I am a cultivator of Dragon Observatory, after all. They will show me a bit of face. This will enable us to avoid some unnecessary conflicts!”

Li Hao nodded again.

“Senior,” Big Claw said after some hesitation. “If senior is willing to join Dragon Observatory... you can avoid all of this trouble. The Observatory knows a great deal about the various dao foundation sites...”

“There’s no need!” Li Hao smiled. “I’m used to freedom and don’t like being tied down.”

Big Claw inclined his head with understanding, most exalted emperors were like this. However, the chaos wasn’t that easy to get around, especially for a first rank exalted emperor on their first foray!

The one in front of him shouldn’t be part of a bigger faction. His future path would be more difficult.

Big Claw ceased attempting to persuade his guest to join them and took Li Hao over the marketplace, directly to Coiled Dragon Well. There were some exalted emperors in the marketplace; some glanced at Li Hao, others outright ignored him.

Exalted emperors were a common sight in these places.

......

The pit of dirt was massive!

Big Claw led Li Hao over the marketplace and entered the pit.

“Senior, Coiled Dragon Well is said to be the dao comprehension site of a seventh rank exalted emperor. No traces of dao have appeared in recent years, however. According to records, the last time they appeared was eight thousand years ago. I was not here then, so I did not see it with my own eyes.

“It was said that a massive dragon hovered over the site at that time and sensed the dao echoes from that senior. It gained numerous benefits and set foot into third rank from second rank...

“It was a dragon cultivator that is said to have entered fourth rank now, taking less than ten thousand years to go from second to fourth rank. That makes it a legend in Skyward...”