Chapter 1652: Capture at Last (I)

How ludicrous and utterly ridiculous it was that an eighth rank tyrant, an invincible hand within the chaos, wished to relinquish some of his ambitions after one failure! Had life been too smooth for him all these years?

The Red Moon master closed his eyes. Perhaps... it wasn’t just because he’d encountered a simple setback, but because of his dao.

The dao of Red Moon was one of desire—it pushed all emotions to their peaks. When one was victorious, one was tyrannical, arrogant, and brazen. When one was defeated, they were depressed, fearful, and panic stricken.

There were pros and cons to Red Moon’s dao; it magnified all emotions. The Red Moon master’s recent unease, anxiety, and impulse to rush out of his world in recent days might... be backlash from the great dao.

He took a deep breath and pushed down his brewing apprehension. The Red Moon master focused on cultivation again to calm his agitation.

He was actually starting to... regret his decision to declare war on New Martial fifty years ago. His emotions being magnified the way they were, they repeated that

you should not have provoked New Martial... You should not have attacked New Martial...

All of that was hearsay, his dao was not that weak!

All of Red Moon and even the great dao was shaking in this moment. Faint tendrils of emotion affected all cultivators within Red Moon borders. They waffled between despondency, disappointment, panic, and berserk fervor.

......

Orchid Forest.

Two Red Moon fifth ranks were dead and the remaining two sixth ranks had fled the world. They hovered near the barrier crack that Li Hao’s group had occupied before. They did not enter the major world, but neither did they depart Orchid Forest space.

Clearly, they were staying to prevent Li Hao’s group from leaving the world.

There were currently eleven barrier cracks and one world gate within Orchid Forest. That created twelve places for entrance or egress. Three had been sealed earlier, which left eight barrier cracks and the world gates available for passage.

Orchid Forest stood guard over five fissures and the world gates. If Li Hao’s group wished to depart, they could leave through these gates.

However, if Orchid Forest let them go right this very moment, they might be visited with thunderous retribution from Red Moon. Thus, the Red Moon sixth ranks only needed to keep a close eye on the other three barrier cracks to ensure that Li Hao’s group could not easily take their leave.

This was the only thing that they could do at the moment.

At the same time, they sought to collude with the wandering cultivators and exalted emperors of the three major worlds. There were also some masters of mid worlds near Orchid Forest that hadn’t entered the major world. These were recruitment targets as well.

The two sixth ranks still hoped to complete their mission before anyone else from Red Moon arrived. If they could, then nothing that had happened before would be an issue.

And so, a great hustle and bustle occurred within and without Orchid Forest. Exalted emperors came to and fro, many of them started interacting with Red Moon. An eighth rank major world, no matter how damaged, was still at eighth rank major world at the end of the day. The wandering cultivators remained very interested in it.

......

Atop a mountain.

Li Hao and his group were taking a brief break. Orchid Forest had not given them dao crystals after killing those two fifth ranks. Perhaps they were out of dao crystals, or perhaps this was on account of Red Moon. After intimidating Red Moon, the Orchid Forest exalted emperors hadn’t dared do anything else.

They further announced that they’d halted their employment of Myriad Dao’s group. Since that relationship no longer stood, there was naturally no need to make payment.

Li Hao was fine with it, Celestial Pole was irritated. “Orchid Forest is making out like a bandit from this! Based on the previous agreement, they need to pay us at least one hundred million dao crystals, even two hundred million for two fifth ranks! Now they simply say they fired us and weasel their way out of payment!”

He was immensely irked that money in hand had flown right out of it. Those of New Martial were shrewd at calculating debts. They would not take one crystal more than they were owed, but neither did they permit anyone to owe them anything.

“They might not have that much to give to us,” Li Hao laughed.

“How is that possible?!” Celestial Pole dismissed the notion. “They’re a major world. Although weak, they have foundations accumulated from many years. Don’t underestimate them. They are not New Martial or Silver Moon!”

The latter two had existed for a very short duration. Under normal circumstances, any world would have deep reserves stemming from several hundred thousand or even a million years. In addition, there was a limit to the number of exalted emperors that Orchid Forest could support. That resulted in a lack of progress in later generations, which meant there wasn’t much consumption of resources either.

𝓯𝓻𝒆𝙚𝒘𝓮𝙗𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝒍.𝙘𝓸𝙢

The world continued to operate and absorb chaos strength. As time went on, a major world could still accumulate a great deal of dao crystals. Orchid Forest certainly had enough to pay them!

“I’m sure they do,” Li Hao nodded with a smile. “But they’re probably saving it for their ascension. They’ll need to flood the dao universe with energy the moment they enter seventh rank. Otherwise, they’ll only have the cultivation level of seventh rank and a lack of corresponding strength.”

Orchid Forest absolutely possessed full vaults, but Li Hao was well aware that the Orchid Forest master wished to advance in his cultivation. In that case, it would be normal for him to exhaust the world’s reserves once he progressed.

“You...” A wordless Celestial Pole didn’t know what to say.

Fine then. If Li Hao’s not in a hurry, then what am I in a rush for?

It’s just, it’s a bit of a pity. If it was the Human King, he would’ve erupted in a fury long ago and rushed over with his blade to start hacking around. How dare you guys not pay up on your debts!

On the other hand, Li Hao really didn’t care. Two hundred million dao crystals? And what of even three hundred million?

Of course, there were certain uses for dao crystals. They were sources of energy and collections of dao strength. But Li Hao might not set foot into fifth rank even if he possessed one billion of them. Neither would Gan Wuliang and Hong Yitang be able to force themselves to fourth rank if they had more dao crystals at their disposal.

Sometimes, energy wasn’t the only answer.

It’d be best if Orchid Forest paid up, but... the matter could be set aside if they didn’t. It was one thing if matters went smoothly, but if they didn’t and further developments occurred at Orchid Forest, they would have to pay one hundred times over.

If Orchid Forest could cooperate and help him rob Red Moon, then Li Hao truly wouldn’t care about a mere two hundred million dao crystals.

“How many sixth ranks will Red Moon send this time?” Li Hao looked at Void. “Will the remaining seventh rank come?”

Void shook his head, it was hard to say. It was too difficult to determine!

Although he was the son of an eighth rank, he wasn’t an eighth rank himself. He wasn’t familiar with the thought patterns of eight ranks. Not to mention, each premier exalted emperor had their own habits.

If it was New Martial... they would turn out en masse. Red Moon had existed for too long, they might be much more cautious and prudent.

Li Hao tapped his leg, looking at the sky overhead. The Orchid Forest master seemed to have had brief contact with the Red Moon master. This meant that the Red Moon master might very well have thoroughly infuriated.

The problem was that an eighth rank enraged by the deaths of two fifth ranks... was not the result that Li Hao wished to see. He was now worried that the Red Moon master might truly make a move after losing some of his sixth ranks. He’d already been constantly on the verge of losing control after the deaths of three seventh ranks.

“Wuliang,” the young man turned to Gan Wuliang. “When the dao of desire is trained to a peak, does that make it easier or harder to control?”

Gan Wuliang blinked. It’d been a very long time since Li Hao asked him about important matters. He gave the question careful consideration.

“It’s hard for me to say when it comes to an eighth rank. To me, I would be more careful since I would not be in an invincible state. I would think over more things before I took action.”

That was the truth, he didn’t dare lie to Li Hao.

“But if I was a local overlord and invincible...” he added upon further thought. “Emotion is different from desire, but there are similarities. By that time, it might be easier for emotions to flare!”

Li Hao rubbed his head. “So this means to say that if we really do kill the incoming sixth ranks, he might throw all caution to the wind and come in person? We’d considered before if he would stay to suppress the Orchid Forest master if the world master breaks through to seventh rank.

“But... what if he feels that we’ve gravely challenged his authority and ignores the world master, choosing to chase us instead?”

He’d thought of this possibility before, but his conclusion then was that Red Moon would find it more imperative to take down Orchid Forest.

However, what if?

What if the Red Moon master couldn’t help himself?

As for why he was considering this possibility again... it was because the man had shown inclinations of coming in person just because Li Hao killed two fifth ranks. Although the Orchid Forest master had refuted the man, this also meant that the eighth rank wasn’t as composed as previously thought.

On the contrary, he was easily provoked!

And that had only been fifth rank. Would he be able to contain himself if he lost multiple sixth ranks next?

This test of the Red Moon master left Li Hao with more worries and doubts instead.

Void hadn’t minded the Red Moon master’s reaction at first, but he also frowned after listening to Li Hao. “The Red Moon master is a premier eighth rank at the end of the day... but he does seem to be short-tempered lately. He wanted to come in person just because we killed a fifth rank.

“In fact, he wants to come in person at the drop of a hat. For an exalted emperor like him, so what if all of his fifth ranks die? So what if all of his sixth ranks die?”

Your home isn’t safe enough as it is, so why are you always thinking of leaving it?

“It might be some backlash from the dao of desire!” Gan Wuliang interjected in a small voice. “Red Moon’s desire isn’t just one dao, it’s many daos. Losing the seventh ranks might mean fewer people suppressing those negative aspects. He’s the only one enduring the onslaught now, which makes it easier to lose control.”

Li Hao nodded; there was no other option available to them at this stage.