Chapter 1598: The Perils of the Martial World (V)

Take the incredibly weak Orchid Forest major world, for example. Its master of the world was only a sixth rank, but he wielded a dao universe. He might agree to be assimilated by Red Moon if he was promised a seventh rank position in return for his world and dao universe.

The only course of action that the Red Moon master would not pursue was forcefully integrating another world or dao universe. There were several seventh ranks nearby. Open hostility would break out if he forced anyone’s hand. The Red Moon master well understood the logic of like grieving for like.

With these thoughts in mind, the Red Moon master looked in another direction. His eyes contained an arctic chill!

Had Yin and Yang really appeared in that locale? Why didn’t he sense it at all? But he’d seen the New Martial supreme’s book of great dao before, as well as the Ash Emperor. Their presences had been a bit weak when he sensed them earlier, possibly due to the immense distance. The Red Moon master hadn’t been able to determine if they were primary bodies or replicas.

But just in case, these were the precautions that he needed to take. Now that the world and dao universe were stable again, he could wait for a bit.

An exalted emperor swiftly shot toward Red Moon major world from the chaos. His presence was domineering—this was another seventh rank. He was the Red Moon seventh rank that’d been patrolling the surrounding area; his face was a bit pale at the moment. What’d taken place in such short order had shocked him!

The Red Moon master wasn’t willing to say anything, he addressed the newly returned seventh rank in heavy tones, “Stay here and defend. Just defend, do not leave the world! I’m going to take a look to see if Yin and Yang really has entered my territory!”

“Understood!” The seventh rank nodded and didn’t say anything else.

The Red Moon master took a moment to gain his bearings before tearing through the void and setting foot into the dao universe. He swiftly moved forward until he landed in a battered part of the universe.

Taking a look around, the Red Moon master tore through the dao universe and landed in the relevant part of the chaos. This was where battle had taken place!

The martial master stood in the void, scanning the area with a frown on his face. There was no presence of a dao universe or a major world here. Someone had cleaned up the battlefield, so there wasn’t much he could glean from it. However, the Red Moon master came across some clues nonetheless.

Clarity really had indeed died to a sword! But... how was that possible?! A chaos tribulation had also been present in the area. Was it the Silver Moon king?

That detail wasn’t surprising. The Silver Moon king was nothing to be concerned about, but could the Sword Sovereign really kill someone beyond his own cultivation level?

The Red Moon master gravely looked around. The situation was manageable now, but once the Sword Sovereign set foot into seventh rank, wouldn’t that mean that he could match an eighth rank??

That wasn’t possible! Not even the New Martial Human King could do so!

“Was Yin and Yang not here?” murmured the Red Moon master. In that case, he’d frightened himself into inaction. Granted, with the Human King taking surprise action then, the Red Moon master couldn’t take the risk of leaving even if he knew that it was scare tactics.

The greatest trouble of all would be upon them if the enemy broke through the main world’s defenses!

“The Sword Sovereign... Human King...” The Red Moon master looked in the four corners as he murmured to himself; his body slowly disappeared. He needed to kill the New Martial group!

Their existence is too big of a threat to Red Moon!

......

At the same time, within the depths of the chaos.

An old man dangled two people from his hands as he madly dashed through the chaos. Li Hao wanted to speak after an indeterminate period of time; the Sword Sovereign raised his finger and shushed him.

The young man didn’t make a sound. He looked at Void, who also remained silent. The two were still in shock at what had just happened.

The three of them had expended a lot of resources and energy in the fight; Li Hao looked much older than before. His usage of time was bearable this time—he’d only reversed time twice to return the Sword Sovereign’s sword intent and Void’s state. That combined was less than what he’d brought to bear when he borrowed strength from the seventh rank fire envoy.

He’d borrowed strength last time from someone overwhelmingly mighty. This time, he only reversed an instance of time.

Of course, energy couldn’t be created out of thin air. The overlaying of the Sword Sovereign’s three blows didn’t consume Li Hao’s energy. They depleted the power of resurrection instead and Void’s strength.

That meant to say that the energy that’d returned to Void on the two occasions came from Li Hao. The young man had used his vitality for half of it and the chaos tribulation for the other half. Even if future trouble resulted from his actions, it wouldn’t be much. He had a deeper understanding of time now.

It could be said that he’d paid the smallest price possible to bring about the most terrifying of outcomes on this occasion.

Li Hao was still turning over recent events in his mind when the old man breathed out gently and smiled. Then, he thumped Li Hao and Void on the back!

“Not bad, fellas! Well done!” He nodded with approval.

“......” Li Hao didn’t mind, but Void mulled over an appropriate protest.

“This junior is one thousand years old!”

“Not bad for an old young fella!” The smiling Sword Sovereign nodded again. “I’m older than you at 1300 years old. I can be your grandfather!”

“......” Void didn’t know what to say. Li Hao couldn’t help but laugh as well.

“His dad... is probably more than a million years old?” the young man ventured softly.

Void nodded. That was right!

The Sword Sovereign says he can be my grandfather, but that’s for ordinary, normal people. My father is a million years old, are you sure you can be my grandfather?

The Sword Sovereign was rendered a bit awkward by the response, but quickly recovered his composure. He thumped the two on the back again, nearly burying them in the chaos.

“That’s alright, we don’t need to be hung up on trivial details. Real men don’t care about the little things!” he chuckled. Thank goodness he was older than Void at least! It’d be difficult to keep the act up if the old little fella was older than him!

One thousand years old... I’m three hundred years older than you at the end of the day. Three hundred years is enough for ten generations of mundanes!

“You guys are two interesting fellas.” The Sword Sovereign seized up the two after briefly rejoicing that he was the oldest on the scene. “I am immensely gratified to meet you. You’re bold and strong. Are you guys interested in undertaking some big heists with an old man like me?”

“......” The two looked at him without immediately responding. What did the Sword Sovereign want to do? Hadn’t he just killed a seventh rank? What did he mean by ‘big heists’?

“...are you not interested?” The light of excitement faded from the Sword Sovereign’s face. “What a pity. Great changes are underway at Red Moon and the disturbances might continue for a while with the death of a seventh rank. Aren’t there a ton of worlds nearby? There’s big and small ones, we can work together and pull off something big...”

He sounded like a robber!

In reality, that was the impression that New Martial left on others. It was also the truth. Having lived through part of New Martial, Li Hao was aware of their culture.

However... Void was truly at a loss. Was this... New Martial? They weren’t letting up after killing a seventh rank and wanted to kill another straight away?

“How about it? Do you want in? How about a five, three, two split?”

“......” Void didn’t understand.

“Are you not satisfied with that?” asked Void. “I can kill seventh ranks and take only fifty percent for my troubles, yet you’re not happy with that? Then fine, I’ll take forty and you two do thirty-thirty, or a four two split. Or however you guys want to split the loot between you two is up to you. How about it?”

Void understood! He opened his mouth and bit back the

holy fuck

that he wanted to utter.

You’re talking about divvying up the spoils! But... I haven’t made a sound and you already want to talk about how we’re going to divide loot? I’m the crown prince of Light! I travel the chaos to cultivate, I’m not short on wealth!

“I don’t lack resources...”

The Sword Sovereign frowned as soon as Void started speaking. “Forty-sixty is my absolute limit. You’re just a sixth rank, and a newly risen one at that. The power of revitalization is not to be underestimated, but it might not be as useful as a descendant of the Lis. This is the best price I can offer!”

“......” Void looked at Li Hao, finding the situation utterly ludicrous.

Am I talking to a heavyweight on par with a seventh rank, or am I talking to a bandit? You just killed a seventh rank as a sixth rank yourself, why don’t you take a second to marvel at your accomplishment or boast about yourself?

Instead, you talk about what the split should be as soon as we stop?

Li Hao rubbed his temples and didn’t make a sound.

I knew it! I hadn’t seen it as clearly before because we were separated by a veil, but now I see it with my own eyes... so what Zhang An knew, heard, and saw wasn’t false. All of these New Martial heavyweights are robbers!

Of course, they rob their enemies. In their eyes, everyone who’s moved near Red Moon now is an enemy.

“Brother Void... are you interested?” He looked at the man.

Are you interested in being a robber? You’re not short on resources, I know.

Void blinked.

Am I interested? I... I don’t know. I’ve never thought about being a robber in my life before. But, I suppose that makes things more interesting? And I’ll fight more heavyweights? Killing a seventh rank just now was so exciting! Isn’t more excitement what I’ve been after?

He hesitated before saying, “I can... try it. As for division of loot, well, I’m not short on anything...”

“Then I’ll take fifty, Li Hao takes thirty.” The Sword Sovereign immediately nodded. “Since you’re not short on anything, you take twenty as a token. This way, you’re not getting the short end of the stick and the twenty will make up for your resource consumption. We can’t have you digging into your own pocket now, can we?”

“......” Void looked around in a daze. Where was he? Was he in a marketplace? Were marketplaces like this?

I’ve never been to one in my life.

And so, the perplexed Void nodded without further thought. He’d forgotten that he was just here to broaden his visions. He’d somehow become part of a team all of a sudden!

No, a den of bandits!

If my father knew that the son of an eighth rank stepped away from the inheritance of an eighth rank world to come here and rob others... would he show up in person to beat me to death?

Light is on the side of good! It’s light!

Well, I’m not actually a Light cultivator anymore now, am I?

Li Hao didn’t mind this development as much; he found it fun. These were enemies that they were going against and they’d gotten away from him before. Now that they were right in front of him, that saved him the trouble of ferreting them out. Any other action he took was just for convenience’s sake.

Not to mention, he did want to chat with Sword Sovereign and make deeper inquiries about sword dao.

The Sword Sovereign smiled when he saw the two agree; he put on a benevolent expression!

These two little fools... ahem, fellas are great guys! They’re good pupils! The Human King rose to prominence after my teachings, perhaps I can create two more bandits this time—ahem, geniuses!

He clapped them on the back again and grinned. “Come with me. We'll find a quiet place and dig a hole to be our base of operations. We can talk about the rest later!”

The two looked at each other, feeling that they’d truly entered a den of foxes. Dig a hole to be their base of operations? That sounded straight out of the martial world playbook!