Chapter 1617: A Little Taste of One’s Skills (I)

Did Li Hao care about face?

Not at all. And he really did mean to fight for Orchid Forest.

Why not?

Was a sixth rank dao universe better than an eighth rank?

In that case, he was being utterly serious when he spoke of fighting for Orchid Forest.

Within the great hall.

Li Hao demonstrated a complete about-face upon seeing Heaven Rite again. He looked solemn and intoned gravely, “The Myriad Dao team will dispel calamities for others since we have been paid! Today, we accept ten million dao crystals from Orchid Forest and will do our best to ensure Orchid Forest’s safety. We will do battle to safeguard Orchid Forest!”

Heaven Rite looked awkwardly back at the young man.

Hot damn, you’re seriously the most shameless guy I’ve ever met. You talk like you mean it. What kind of joke is this?

Do you think I’m dumb, or are

you

dumb if ten million crystals can buy the loyalty of a dozen exalted emperors to fight to the death for us?

To put it bluntly, Orchid Forest was handing out these dao crystals like they were throwing alms at beggars. It was best if Li Hao’s group put in some work after taking them. If they didn’t... that didn’t matter either. Who cared?

Despite his thoughts, Heaven Rite remained wreathed with smiles. “You speak too gravely, Myriad Dao! Your safety is of utmost importance. Just do your best however you can!”

Even he was discomfited with his words.

Please don’t treat my words seriously, this is ridiculous.

“These words do not sit right with me!” Li Hao answered with all seriousness. “In my world, we fight to the death when we accept payment! We never rest and never give up!

“We hereby pledge today that we will fight to the death after receiving Orchid Forest’s dao crystals. We will not rest until the world master reaches seventh rank or the world itself surrenders!”

“......” Heaven Rite smiled awkwardly, having absolutely no idea what to say. He finally squeezed out a smile after a while. “Then... the fellow daoist can do as you see fit. I have some business to take care of, so be in touch if you have need of me.”

He turned to leave, but Li Hao quickly stopped him. “Senior, you said you would give us control over two barrier cracks...”

“Choose whichever ones you want!” Heaven Rite turned around with a smile, wanting nothing more than that. “Apart from the world gates, there are eleven cracks in the Orchid Forest world barrier. Five of them are in our hands, the remaining six are up to you. Take them all if you can, they’re all yours!”

“Very good.” Li Hao nodded with a smile. “Can the senior give me a map?”

“Of course!” Heaven Rite nearly burst out laughing.

Do you mean that? You’re being so serious that... I don’t know what to say.

This Myriad Dao was either playing the fool or had ulterior motives in mind!

He shouldn’t be an actual fool—would he have made it to the exalted emperor level if he was? Would he have so many exalted emperors that answered to him if he was? Were all of

those

exalted emperors fools?

Heaven Rite transmitted a map with his mind. Apart from the five that Orchid Forest controlled, the remaining six were in other people’s hands. That was highly unusual!

Heaven Rite was well aware who grasped those cracks. Red Moon had two, while Skywave, Cold River, and Nether Moon each had one. The last belonged to a peak sixth rank wandering cultivator, a true chaos wanderer.

The factions in control of the cracks were the ones that wished to seize Orchid Forest. The major world had its hands tied by the circumstances and could only bear them with a lowered head.

“Senior, what should we do if the factions behind the cracks come for us after we take them?” Li Hao stopped Heaven Rite again when the man was about to leave.

“......” Impatience stirred.

You’ve put on enough of a show, alright? Enough already.

“They won’t, don’t worry! Everyone’s operating from the shadows and the three major worlds don’t dare take a public stance. Red Moon won’t outright reveal their intentions either. After all, we’re all here to form an alliance. They would be the laughingstock of the chaos to act against their alliance members.

“Therefore, they won’t show themselves unless they have no choice but to do so in a critical moment! It’s only wandering cultivators taking the field right now. Everyone is goading them on so that their own actions might be legitimized!”

“Very good!” Li Hao nodded.

“Does the fellow daoist have any other questions?” Heaven Rite frowned.

“Not for me, but I will ask the senior if there’s anything else I don’t understand.”

“Very good.” Heaven Rite couldn’t be bothered to say anything. This guy... had too much time on his hands.

I can’t be bothered with you anymore!

With that, he dashed away.

......

Li Hao scanned the map after Heaven Rite left. “In that case, let’s go attack a barrier crack right now! The one I came through before had three exalted emperors in residence. Just that crack alone has a lot of targets. Let’s go kill them!”

“......”

Seriously?

The group looked speechlessly at the young man.

“Stop thinking so much, I mean it!” Li Hao took a deep breath. “Whether it’s the major worlds on the outside or anyone else, these exalted emperors are our rivals. It’s the wandering cultivators that are not!”

Nether Moon, Skywave, Cold River, Red Moon, and Orchid Forest were actually all New Martial rivals. Since they were New Martial rivals, that made them Li Hao’s rivals for now.

Thus, no sympathy was needed when clearing out these exalted emperors.

As for the last one held by a wandering cultivator... could it be the Sword Sovereign?

Li Hao wasn’t sure of it—the Sword Sovereign may not be willing to show himself, so perhaps it was Void?

Who knew? What if it truly was a wandering cultivator?

𝐟𝚛𝕖𝚎𝕨𝗲𝐛𝚗𝐨𝐯𝐞𝕝.𝐜𝗼𝗺

That was hard to say as well.

Whatever the truth was, they would take care of the other cracks first.

“Let’s go!” Li Hao shot for the firmament. The cracks were all in the world barrier. Since Orchid Forest was at relative peace at the moment, he would be the one to take the first shot!

......

At the same time, the Orchid Forest dao universe.

The Orchid Forest master of the world sat in residence at the dao universe, devouring a core of dao origin deep within its depths. All of Orchid Forest and its inhabitants appeared in front of him, which also included Li Hao’s group.

The world master had heard a bit about this group. They worked for money—the typical wandering cultivator style. But since they didn’t charge too much, their actions were palatable. The only unknown was if there were other backers behind them.

They had a lot of members in their group and their origins were unknown.

Upon seeing them dash straight for the firmament, the world master chuckled. “Are they really going to try and seize a barrier crack?”

Things would be interesting in that case.

Those who sought control over the fissures now were those with designs on Orchid Forest; they were here for the dao universe. The wandering cultivators roaming the world lacked such motives and were more focused on collecting what they could.

Therefore, those in control of the fissures now were difficult to handle.

Could there be another faction behind Myriad Dao?

The fact that these eleven fissures were yet to disappear represented another point—there were some problems between the connection of the dao universe and major world itself. If not, these barrier cracks should have disappeared long ago.

Their continued existence also had much to do with the exalted emperors in residence. Hence, the world master could not easily show himself!

He would be in grave danger once he walked out of the dao universe. There might be a seventh rank on his doorstep the next moment! Instead, he had to hold down the fort in the dao universe and continue the game of cloak and daggers with the rest of the chaos.

He also needed to prepare to devour the dao universe as soon as possible and enter seventh rank.

The world master saw Li Hao’s group rush straight for the first crack. It was the one Li Hao had come through; the world master was well aware of who was behind that group.

Red Moon!

This was a crack that Red Moon controlled through wandering cultivators. The second fissure it controlled was directly through Red Moon exalted emperors!

He’s got some nerve... so he’s not with Red Moon?

Would these people actually dare do anything? The world master was aware of those on guard at this barrier crack—they were three exalted emperors of the cow, dog, and rat species. Like drawing to like, they were a trio of some repute throughout Red Moon Region.

Their boss was the Golden Cow Demon Emperor of third rank. Number two was the Exalted Howling Moon Emperor, second rank. Number three was the Thousand Head Rat King, first rank.

These three weren’t pure chaos beasts, but exalted emperors that’d emerged from a world. Those from a world were different from the primal beasts of the chaos. These three counted as monster spirits.

Monster spirits and chaos beasts were different entities.

Orchid Forest was very quiet thus far; no battles between exalted emperors had broken out. The world master took an interest in the proceedings and kept a closer eye on them.

He wasn’t the only one, many exalted emperors were also watching.

......

At the crack in the world barrier.

Golden Cow was the quiet exalted emperor. He looked down at the world barrier and frowned. “It’s that Exalted Myriad Dao Emperor!”

Number three Rat King was a bit on edge. “What are those guys coming to us for? Is it for those three hundred pieces of dao crystals?”

It’d learned after Li Hao entered that the human was the leader of this group. He had a lot of exalted emperors under his command and thus, wasn’t a good target to offend!

“How could he?” Dog Head looked on solemnly. “Is he here to pick a fight or to leave?”

Golden Cow didn’t say a word until he was certain Li Hao was headed for them. “Be careful, there’s no need to clash with them. If he wants the dao crystals, he can have them back! Don’t stop him if he wants to leave!

“If he’s looking for trouble, he might not know who’s supporting us. We can tell him our background if it comes down to it. If he ignores us, we’ll ask the other Red Moon exalted emperors to come here...”

Red Moon controlled two fissures. If these guys simply wanted to make trouble, then the Red Moon exalted emperor could handle it.

This group was mostly comprised of second ranks, which meant that the leader was likely a third rank. That would be a tough target.

“We know.”

“Don’t worry, boss!”

The three were on high alert as they waited for the group to reach them.