Chapter 1544: Turning Around (I)

As Li Hao’s group fled for safety.

All corners of the chaos shook with newly obtained information. News of Li Hao killing a group of exalted emperors didn’t travel that quickly as it wasn’t easy to communicate through the chaos. The major worlds, however, had certain tricks up their sleeves.

Skyward.

All of the transmission pendants in Dragon Observatory vibrated with a few lines.

“Hunt down the new Silver Moon king. His strength is unknown and might land between fourth to sixth rank. His defining characteristics are erupting with immense strength that easily causes a chaos tribulation.

“He might be a cultivator of life and death or yin and yang. In addition, he may be skilled with the Sword Sovereign’s methods and sword intent.

“Anyone who successfully kills this person will receive one mid world, one sixth rank weapon, and ten eighth rank crystals containing Red Moon dao foundation! In addition, you may join Red Moon and share our dao strength.

“Apart from the above characteristics, there is one more defining point about this person. He may be part of Ming Hao’s team. Ming Hao and Fu Bi have both died. Ming Hao’s team has been eradicated. Anyone who is still alive might be related to the new Silver Moon king.”

Countless people gaped at their transmission pendants. The Silver Moon king! Fourth to sixth rank?? How was that possible?!

Hadn’t Silver Moon just emerged in the chaos and been isolated for a few decades at most? How could they have popped up with a mid rank??

And they’d killed even Ming Hao and Fu Bi! Ming Hao had collected an astonishing assortment of strength for his team and was well known in his own right. A dozen exalted emperors had all been killed?

And, it was said that one of them was Void’s good friend.

......

The Dragon Observatory leader waited in vain for Drouth to emerge from Demon Summit. Instead, he received news from Red Moon and Skycloud. He looked sharply at a certain direction in the void.

A member of Ming Hao’s team! Fourth to sixth rank, having killed Ming Hao, a sword dao cultivator, able to elicit chaos tribulations, the Silver Moon king...

The Observatory leader had suspected Li Hao since a long time ago, but was uncertain of his conclusions as the young man wasn’t a cultivator from a dao universe. But today... he realized something else.

If the Silver Moon king was fourth to sixth rank, then... Drouth might be dead. It wasn’t that the man wouldn’t emerge from the dao foundation site, but that Hao Moon had killed him somehow!

The leader’s expression shifted drastically.

The Silver Moon king and Void! New Martial and Light! Had these two factions reached an arrangement with each other??

But how was that possible?!

It wasn’t outside the realm of possibility as Skycloud was showing signs that it was partnering with Red Moon. Thus, it wasn’t unfathomable that the other major world in Skyward region—Light—would ally with the infamous New Martial.

The enemy of one’s enemy was a friend.

The Observatory leader’s expression changed drastically. He was certain by now that Hao Moon was the Silver Moon king!

But the Silver Moon king wasn’t from a dao universe! How could he be a mid rank? Yet, how could the exalted emperor in front of him ascend so quickly if he wasn’t from a dao universe?

Or could it be that this person was a New Martial cultivator to begin with, that he’d become an exalted emperor long ago and had hidden himself in Silver Moon?

The Observatory leader couldn’t be immediately certain of the situation. Weren’t New Martial exalted emperors supposed to be exalted emperors of core origin?

And Void...

“Has my poor friend Hao Moon been killed by the Silver Moon king?” Void’s voice traveled into his ears just his thoughts traveled here. “Observatory leader, when do we set out to kill the Sword Sovereign? I am going to leave Skyward now to search for Fellow Daoist Hao Moon. If I encounter the king of Silver Moon, I will kill him!”

“......”

Stop it with that bullshit!

inwardly cursed the Observatory leader. Hao Moon was likely the Silver Moon king. The more he thought about recent events, the more regret brewed.

Perhaps... I should’ve kept him with me.

He cursed again when he looked at the Demon Summit that he’d been standing guard over. What was the point of standing guard over this place!

That guy’s long gone!

Not only is Drouth dead, but all of the Utmost Dark exalted emperors are dead. This was a massive loss!

Hao Moon, huh? Just you wait!

Void’s probably working with New Martial as well. Of course, I know that he’s not an easy one to piss off. I need to get him away from here if I can.

The title of the Silver Moon king began to circulate among Skyward Region on this day. His name also became known throughout Red Moon Region. While this king had been known before, everyone had thought there was no need to pay attention to him since he was just a first rank.

But it was another matter entirely after he killed two fourth ranks and had a Red Moon bounty placed on his head. The chaos was dumbfounded by the notion of the Silver Moon king being a mid rank!

......

In the darkness of the chaos.

A massive cat lazily soared through the void. There was an incredibly large world in its stomach, one that housed innumerable cultivators and powerhouses.

A genteel old man suddenly opened his eyes with a smile.

“The Silver Moon king!”

As expected, the newly born ruler of Silver Moon was incredible. Silver Moon had lost contact with them for roughly fifty years and rejoined the chaos for only one year, but their king had already cut down multiple mid ranks!

Granted, these accomplishments paled in comparison to the Human King’s. The Human King hadn’t been as old as Li Hao when he entered the chaos; he’d already killed the sixth rank Heavenly Emperor then.

However, these feats depended on the foundation of the world.

New Martial had been a major world in the Heavenly Emperor’s era. While the core origin dao universe hadn’t been that complete then, the Heavenly Emperor had been a sixth rank.

The ceiling of Yin and Yang was very high, whereas it was very low for Silver Moon. Under such circumstances, it was more than impressive that the Silver Moon king had been able to kill mid ranks in such a short period of time.

𝘧𝑟𝑒𝑒𝘸𝘦𝘣𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝓁.𝘤𝘰𝓂

At the same time, the old man understood that these accomplishments must be related to the power of time.

“This is good, just that...” The old man frowned. The appearance and growing name of the Silver Moon king might throw some of his plans into disarray. He had hoped that the new king would keep a lower profile.

The situation was not safe, for one. The new king’s level of strength was known and would easily lead to retribution from Red Moon.

Second was that this level of disturbance could easily affect some of New Martial’s plans, resulting in Red Moon redirecting some of its resources into hunting down the new king. That would throw a wrench into some of New Martial’s own hunting plans.

Celestial Pole and the Pagoda King were on their way over; New Martial had wanted to kill some powerhouses from the reaction that ensued. But now... more trouble might arise from their actions and they’d easily attract attention from Red Moon powerhouses or high ranks!

Red Moon didn’t have that many native high ranks. What was a cause for concern was that many major worlds had shifted their alignment toward Red Moon Region lately. They’d come to some agreements with Red Moon; the situation would be very tricky once the masters of these major worlds mobilized.

“The Silver Moon king...” The old man closed his eyes in repose after thinking for a while.

......

At the same time, on the other side of the chaos.

An old man with graying hair and a sharp look in his eyes traveled through the chaos. The previous old man’s voice—Supreme Zhang—abruptly sounded in his ears. “Good, you haven’t gotten too far yet.”

“You wanted me to stay out of trouble, so I haven’t really gone anywhere lately,” said the old man.

“Haven’t gone anywhere?” laughed the supreme.

So you haven’t gone anywhere, but you killed another master of a mid world, eh?

“It’s difficult to communicate through the chaos, so let’s cut the blather,” the supreme said rapidly. “Silver Moon has rejoined the chaos and they have a new king. You know this part. Additionally, a new dao universe seems to have been born there...”

“Naturally!” The old man wasn’t the least bit surprised. “There were signs of a new dao universe forming for a while now. Silver Moon was isolated for many years and severed from core origin. Without the suppression of the core origin universe, it’s natural for a new dao universe to form.”

“So you did know about it,” the supreme said with surprise. “Then, did you arrange for us to lose contact with Silver Moon fifty years ago?”

“Not entirely.” The old man frowned. “I was busy fighting a few Red Moon exalted emperors then. I’m skilled at offense, not defense. It was too much trouble for me to haul Silver Moon around with me. Don’t slap unwarranted crimes on my head.”

“No one said it was a crime to lose Silver Moon,” the supreme rebutted. “Although my grandson is on that world, he’s still alive and well. I’ll charge you with a crime when he dies!”

“......” The old man couldn’t be bothered to respond. “Out with whatever you want to say!”

“The Silver Moon king has attracted attention from the Red Moon master after killing two mid ranks. News is starting to percolate among the major worlds that he is incredibly strong.

“Even if he has no further plans in mind... the fact that a dao universe has been born in Silver Moon should be difficult to keep hidden from certain masters of major worlds. Life will not be peaceful for the Silver Moon king in the days to come.”

“He’s certainly good at causing trouble,” the old man laughed. “But he really does have some skill to his name to be able to kill mid ranks in such a short period of time.”

The Sword Sovereign frowned. “A Red Moon exalted emperor entered Silver Moon back in the day. When we consider the New Martial heritage left on the world and the world itself... It doesn’t seem out of the question or too hard for the Silver Moon king to enter mid rank.”

This had been what Li Daoheng and the others originally had in mind; devour everything and ultimately the dao universe! That would give them a chance of becoming a mid rank exalted emperor.

However, that course of action would erase Silver Moon’s potential.

At that time, Li Daoheng and the others hadn’t known what was meant to be a mid rank. They only knew that if they succeeded, they would become premier powerhouses second to only the likes of the Human King.

“That’s not necessarily the case!” said the supreme. “His dao may not be the dao that you think of...”

“Not sword dao?” asked a puzzled old man. “Based on my judgment, he should be walking the path of sword dao as a pure sword dao cultivator.”

“It might have to do with another kind of power... with time.”

“Time?” The old man hesitated for a very long period of time. “Is there really anyone who can cultivate time? Or did the power that drifted off from New Martial back in the day truly come from the War Sovereign? Has he ever truly cultivated time?”

“That, I’m not sure of,” the supreme said softly. “It’s hard for anyone to say, even Fang Ping. However, War’s energy did drift off somewhere and Fang Ping chose to permit it. He didn’t reabsorb it because he wanted to give it to you so you could be the next high rank...”

“I don’t need it!” snapped the old man. “Swordsmen should be pure!”