Chapter 1613: Fighting On Behalf of Orchid Forest (I)

“On our side, we have ten exalted emperors—excluding myself and including Senior Celestial Pole’s replica,” Li Hao counted. “Although there are numerous exalted emperors on Orchid Forest, a party of ten exalted emperors that are mostly second rank is still a force to be reckoned with!

“I’m not sure what arrangements the Sword Sovereign has made, but the barrier cracks are an easy task that we can take over. Otherwise... what’s left might be the mission of fighting mid ranks. Which one would Senior Celestial Pole and Pagoda King rather choose?”

The two groaned to themselves when they heard Li Hao’s breakdown.

This guy knows us through and through. Of course we don’t want to fight mid ranks! In that case, the cracks are a top pick! This kid doesn’t talk much, but he always gets straight to the point.

The two traded glances and Celestial Pole said in a muffled voice, “We choose to seal the barrier cracks, of course!”

“That’s good!” Li Hao nodded with a smile. “Then we’ll split up. The Pagoda King and Gan Wuliang will recruit some of the chaos wanderers and wandering cultivators. Just focus on the low ranks! We have quite a few people and are all exalted emperors. That makes us a noticeable group. People will think that we’re scheming something bigger if we don’t stir up some trouble!

“As for how to convince or lie to those you wish to recruit... that’s up to you!

“Panth, befriend the chaos beasts. You’re the same kind at the end of the day...” Li Hao quickly assigned people to responsibilities when he arrived. It was time to get to work!

He didn’t want to spend too much time in Orchid Forest—there was no point in that. They needed to get straight to the point, take down Orchid Forest, escape the major world, and continue to plague the next one.

The young man needed so much energy these days—forming the myriad of worlds required an untold amount of energy!

Energy was clearly sufficient in the dao universe of a major world. While Red Moon needed to consider the perception of the outside world, Li Hao didn’t need to do the same. Even if others looked unfavorably on his actions, that would reflect on New Martial and have nothing to do with him.

The rest of the group didn’t say anything when they saw the swift decisiveness that Li Hao acted with. They went off to carry out their orders.

After everyone was busy with their missions, Li Hao looked at Lin Hongyu. “You should go into closed door cultivation for a while and not involve yourself with this. I’ve had some new reflections regarding life and death lately. You can enter my river to mull over them!”

The woman blinked, then inclined her head. She understood that Li Hao felt that she was too weak.

In that case, I’ll grow stronger.

A group of exalted emperors soon left the residence and headed off in various directions. Their actions raised quite a lot of attention since this was a sizable gathering of exalted emperors. The addition of one bearing a sword on his back today had immediately sent all of them into a flurry of action.

Thus, many guessed that their leader had come!

The bunch of first and second ranks had drifted around the place before, so clearly, the newcomer might be a third rank. This faction was suddenly the focus of attention of various Orchid Forest stakeholders. When had such a large group of low rank wanderers appeared in the chaos?

Meanwhile, Li Hao sat with peace of mind in the main hall, waiting for whoever might visit. Would it be Red Moon? Orchid Forest? Or a powerful chaos wanderer?

Who knew? There would be someone who came along to recruit them, of that there was no doubt. A bunch of low ranks was still a group of exalted emperors at the end of the day. It was impossible to remain unmoved when such a faction appeared out of the blue.

Li Hao was neither aware of where the Sword Sovereign and Void had hidden themselves, nor did he know what they were planning. They would come to him once they were ready.

They would take Orchid Forest! As for infiltrating Red Moon...

I want to take Red Moon too, but not right now. Only when more changes occur at Skyward and the eighth rank master leaves, will it be the perfect opportunity.

At the moment, Li Hao seemed much more ambitious than usual. It was because... he was too poor.

The young man ruminated with emotion that being poor was the greatest motivator of all. He needed so many resources to create a myriad of worlds. He hadn’t felt this way before, feeling that he didn’t lack money.

In fact, Li Hao felt that he was quite rich after killing numerous exalted emperors. He’d been thrown to the bottom of the abyss in one toss and come face to face with the fact that he was dirt poor!

No wonder the Sword Sovereign and the rest are so motivated in life, they might not be any better off than me! The strength of a myriad worlds... how many major worlds do I need to annihilate in order to collect them all?

The young man ignored what the Sword Sovereign might have planned. Right now, he wanted to execute his own ideas and even forget that the Sword Sovereign and Void existed. Only then could he accomplish his goals in their absence.

He’d only worked with the Sword Sovereign once; Li Hao had made his way to present heights without the man. He couldn’t overly rely on the august personage just because the Sword Sovereign was very strong. If he did, life would be difficult once the New Martial senior left.

Not only did Li Hao himself have to be strong, but so did all of Silver Moon. This batch of Silver Moon exalted emperors was his capital. The two dao masters would be key in having the rest swiftly catch up to him. The dao universe needed to be stronger.

Various thoughts came to Li Hao’s mind as he settled in, closing his eyes to wait.

......

At the same time, Orchid Forest.

Exalted emperors of various sides were waiting for the right timing, for the proper opportunity. The existence of Li Hao’s group was no secret, given their number of exalted emperors. Although no one in the group was particularly strong, so many exalted emperors was enough to turn a situation around.

But for now, most chose to sit back and watch.

It wasn’t until nightfall that an exalted emperor entered the residence that Li Hao was in.

......

“I beg your pardon for visiting like this, Exalted Myriad Dao Emperor! My apologies.” A strong existence outright landed in the yard of the complex.

Fourth rank!

That made the visitor a mid rank who would be strong anywhere.

Li Hao opened his eyes and took stock of the surroundings, his eyebrows raising. It wasn’t a wandering cultivator who’d come! His first visitor was an Orchid Forest local!

One simply needed to take stock of the presence of great dao to determine if a cultivator was a local. The presences of the locals were harmonious with the rest of the world and shared a strong affinity with the surroundings.

Outsiders such as Li Hao were faintly repulsed by the environment.

Such was the home ground advantage.

“I should have waited at the door!” Li Hao walked out to find an Orchid Forest exalted emperor who looked young. Granted, exalted emperors could no longer be judged on the basis of appearance since they were all advanced in age. The other wore a smile on his face, but held hints of confusion in his eyes.

It was normal for individual low ranks to remain unknown. But for a group of ten exalted emperors that were wandering cultivators... only major worlds could field such numbers. Even mid worlds would sometimes have difficulty bringing forth so many exalted emperors.

At the same time, exalted emperors of major worlds were wreathed in the unique presence of major worlds. That was not the case here. Clearly, the group of newcomers were not from major worlds. So where had they come from?

It was like they’d appeared out of thin air.

Mo and Cicada were not new faces in the chaos; they had some history in the universe. But having joined a new dao universe, their presences had completely changed.

When it came to exalted emperors, appearances and physical traits were of secondary importance—one’s presence was everything. If even the presence changed, then it was nearly impossible to identify someone.

At this level of strength, no one would slap a label on someone through appearance alone. That would only happen for the most premier existences of the chaos, the ones that no one dared imitate.

“Fellow Daoist Myriad Dao is too polite. I am Heaven Rite from Orchid Forest.”

Heaven Rite.

“Please, right this way Senior Heaven Rite.” Li Hao inclined his head with a smile. “We have been remiss to barge into Orchid Forest this way. This is not how the proper courtesies are observed. It’s just that we have heard how beautiful the world is and how unique its cultivation methods are. A deep yearning blossomed in our hearts to set eyes upon such a sight, so we have especially made this trip...”

It was a load of bullshit, of course, but the formalities had to be overseen despite neither party believing a word of what Li Hao was saying. The young man couldn’t just declare that

we’re here because we saw your dao master die and see how shaky your world is as a result. We want a share of the spoils!

Although, that was the truth and everyone knew it.

“Orchid Forest does indeed have beautiful surroundings,” the merry Heaven Rite nodded as well. “My world focuses on the method of projecting the myriad phenomena of the universe. We are known for it in the chaos and are worth a study.”

He followed Li Hao inside as they spoke, chuckling, “The method of a myriad phenomena is the basis of why Orchid Forest could give birth to a dao universe with the strength of a sixth rank. We are headed straight for seventh rank!

“Although Orchid Forest cultivators may not be on par with those of the renowned major worlds. We are still formidable among the mid to low ranks...”

A sixth rank world had produced a dao universe that was the exclusive purview of a seventh rank world. It would be correct to say that they were the weakest among major worlds, but incorrect to say that Orchid Forest’s dao method was mediocre. It had given birth to a dao universe! Apart from unique places such as Silver Moon, that generally meant that the dao method could produce a premier sixth rank exalted emperor.

To be frank, Silver Moon had much to do with the Sword Sovereign. Was the Sword Sovereign strong?

He was!

He had a deep understanding of dao, which created the embryonic form of the Silver Moon dao universe. Clearly, the same went for the Orchid Forest world master and her late master of dao.

Sometimes the relationship became complicated if the world master and master of dao were two different people. One wielded the dao universe and the other held the world in the palm of his hand. It was a relationship of mutual dependence.

Take Panther and the two dao masters, for example. Panther’s dao was not in the dao universe, but Silver Moon. If the world was strong, the dog was strong. And if the dao universe was strong, so would the world be stronger. If the world was stronger, then the dao universe would be stronger as well...

It was a complementary process.

They restricted and confined each other, but also aided and abetted each other as well. Was it the master of dao or world master’s credit that a dao universe was produced?

It was hard to say—both might bear credit for the accomplishment. This was a meaningful conclusion in itself.