Chapter 1708: Setting a Small Goal (I)

A group of heavyweights leapt into motion, dragging Orchid Forest far away from the premises. The four major worlds that they left behind were utterly crippled from this day forth.

Within Orchid Forest, Yan Fang watched the universe pass him by. After a long while, he sighed with emotion. “The world master... spoke truly. One’s decisions are more important than one’s hard work!”

They’d ascended to the heavens with one step!

It took only one proper choice to ensure Orchid Forest’s independence, fortify their status as a seventh rank major world, and strengthen them even further. Once the world master returned and took up residence in Orchid Forest, they wouldn’t even fear an eighth rank’s attack anymore.

Such was Orchid Forest now!

Prior to this, Orchid Forest would’ve been hard pressed to stabilize its own dao, to say nothing of gaining independence. Now look at the company they kept!

The king of Silver Moon was a fifth rank, the crown prince of Light was peak sixth rank. The New Martial Sword Sovereign was a seventh rank, and Fog Mountain had returned to peak seventh rank. And with the recently departed Li Zhu as a seventh rank as well...

This combination might still have trouble attacking an eighth rank major world, but a seventh rank world was completely within their grasp.

Prior to the assault on Red Moon, members of this group had either been crippled or weak exalted emperors. All of them had made rapid advances in the blink of an eye.

......

A group of powerful exalted emperors dragged a world to a very discreet, almost completely empty spot. They tossed Orchid Forest onto the spot and set up a few domains with the dao of hiding. Their task complete, they dashed toward Skyward.

No one cared what might happen to Orchid Forest. Placing it here wasn’t much of a problem. As for the Orchid Forest mid ranks... the group didn’t want to bring them along. They were too weak.

Skyward, we’re baaaack!

There was a half crippled Red Moon master there and a Skycloud master that’d nearly been the death of Fog Mountain. There was also the Human King, the Orchid Forest master, and the Skycloud dao universe. Things might be more interesting there!

And while Li Zhu had run off, Li Hao felt that he’d probably gone to Skyward as well. Otherwise, would he be off helping the Human King and the rest if he didn’t?

The fifth rank Li Hao was immensely confident of his actions, despite being only a fifth rank.

I’m not as strong as a seventh rank, but I think I might be able to take on Void if we fought each other right now. And who the heck is Void??

A peak sixth rank of six extreme daos!

I’m probably not on par with the old Sword Sovereign, but I’m not that far off!

It was plain to just how inflated Li Hao’s ego was at the moment. He felt that he could sweep through sixth ranks!

With Silver Moon still in the Skyward dao universe, he couldn’t just ignore it. What if someone discovered it? Although the dao chess was concealing it, it could be found by anyone else at any time.

The young man didn’t use a teleportation chance for this return; he was concerned that the ripples would be too great and easily detected. Hence, everyone chose to ford the chaos universe at large.

......

Within the chaos, a group of people swiftly passed through the void.

Apart from Li Hao and the rest, Gan Wuliang had also set foot into fourth rank. His ascension brought the new additions of the Pagoda King and Celestial Pole into fourth rank as well. One had to say, the Pagoda King had also gained a great deal from this operation.

He’d bounded from second rank to fourth rank.

If both the Pagoda King and Celestial Pole counted as part of Silver Moon, then Li Hao’s side had suddenly gained three mid ranks in the blink of an eye.

Panther was the same, but it’d yet to return to Silver Moon, the world itself hadn’t absorbed the vast sum of energy. The dog needed the cooperation of the world in order to set foot into fourth rank.

Hong Yitang hadn’t absorbed much energy this time, so he was still a third rank. But since the twin dao universes complemented each other, it wouldn’t be long for him as Gan Wuliang was a third rank now.

Mo, Xun Ruo, and Cicada were left. They didn’t break through after the fighting, whereas Mo had entered second rank earlier. The remaining two were third ranks; Cicada had improved slightly compared to when he first joined.

Xun Ruo had been a third rank when he came and he was still a third rank now. Li Hao had told him before that he was free to leave, but he did not depart. Although he was aware of the young man’s intentions, with the destruction of four major worlds in Red Moon Region... Xun Ruo felt that even if he was so shameless as to insist on not leaving, he would be permitted to stay by Li Hao’s side.

As dangerous as the endeavor might be, look at how those following the young man improved at such a furious pace!

Hence, even if Li Hao mentioned it again, he would refuse the dismissal with everything he had. He would declare that he was willing to die for Silver Moon!

Of course, he wouldn’t actually mean that.

Lin Hongyu was still a second rank. Her ascension was slower and had much to do with Li Hao. Zhang An had just become an exalted emperor and needed time to stabilize his cultivation.

As for Yuan Shuo... he was currently a resident of Li Hao’s river while focusing on his cultivation. It remained unknown whether or not he would be able to become an exalted emperor.

The last entity of interest was the extremely low profile Number Two. It’d absorbed a great deal of world origin this time and felt more real than ever. As for its strength... that was difficult to determine, even for Li Hao. But based on the sight of Number Two, it’d gained quite a lot from the venture.

That was four major worlds, after all. There had been a lot of resources in them.

No one knew how strong Number Two would be in the real world. Perhaps... it might be the next Ash Emperor?

Who knew?

The Ash Emperor was a peak seventh rank powerhouse. These people were the newest sum total of Li Hao’s side. Apart from Li Zhu, the presence of two seventh ranks greatly bolstered their confidence.

Meanwhile, Li Hao was starting to calculate when they might part ways.

Having reached seventh rank, the Sword Sovereign wouldn’t benefit much from further partnership with Li Hao. In the same vein, it wasn’t appropriate to not share the spoils with the Sword Sovereign if their partnership continued. But if they did, they couldn’t afford the Sword Sovereign’s share anymore!

There might be some chances in continued cooperation with Fog Mountain. After all, Fog Mountain had his eyes set on eighth rank!

Although he’d broken free of Skycloud at the moment and was working for himself, he was still one step away from eighth rank. That opened up the gates to working with Li Hao, assuming that the timing was right.

The other person of consideration was Void. He was a peak sixth rank now and would face great difficulties if he wished to enter seventh rank. His cooperation with Li Hao would continue for a while longer.

It was all just business transactions!

Li Hao didn’t intend to travel with them forever, nor did he think that they needed to always follow him. All good things eventually came to an end and everyone had their own fortunes to pursue!

He’d never thought of gathering a bunch of people to his banner and dominating a region. If that was the case, the combination of the Sword Sovereign, Li Zhu, Fog Mountain, New Martial, and perhaps Orchid Forest would soon create a new major faction out of them.

However, who would lead it?

Fog Mountain did not wish to be exploited and had given up even the world that birthed him. Orchid Forest did not wish to be absorbed into Red Moon and would rather die in its resistance...

Both Li Zhu and the Sword Sovereign had seceded from New Martial.

Which of these people would voluntarily become someone else’s subordinate?

From beginning to end, it was only Silver Moon faces that were gathered beside Li Hao. It was only these people that still needed him. But come the day in which they came into their strength, they... might not need him anymore.

Li Hao was turning over all of these thoughts in his mind. His gains had been tremendous and he hadn’t needed to absorb the dao crystals to enter fifth rank. There were still six billion dao crystals and more than forty worlds in his storage ring. This level of foundation was enough to fortify Silver Moon several times over!

Perhaps it was time to make a trip home.

As for the Skyward dao universe... should he fully open it at this time? Or should he keep it closed and throw everyone out, then seal it shut again?

Various possibilities surfaced in his thoughts. Up ahead, Fog Mountain and the others traveled with a complicated mix of emotions, particularly Fog Mountain!

He’d had to relinquish his power not that long ago and leave Skycloud. He’d thought that that was the end of the road for him, that he was crippled for the rest of his life.

However, Li Hao’s appearance helped him recover to peak condition. He didn’t lose anything and easily broke free of Skycloud’s control, Hence, he grappled with a very complex set of emotions on the way back.

There was also one point that he hadn’t mentioned—Skycloud!

If the world master wasn’t present and Deepsea also at Skycloud, that left only two seventh ranks at the major world!

If...

He didn’t dare say anything more!

Light was in similar straits, but Light had three seventh ranks in residence. It was formidable and much more stable compared to Skycloud. And the key was, Fog Mountain hailed from Skycloud!

If he was willing to raise his hand against his home... he could outright kill those two seventh ranks! It would be another eighth rank dao universe in Li Hao’s pocket!

But he didn’t say anything. Did Li Hao know about this?

Fog Mountain felt that someone as smart as the Silver Moon king would surely be aware of the possibility. However, the young man hadn’t said anything either.

Everyone seemed to have forgotten about Skycloud. A world with two seventh ranks in residence would be difficult to conquer even by an eighth rank, but what if it was toppled from within?

Fog Mountain had served at Skycloud for far too long and he’d been the face of the world when resolving issues. He was first in command beneath the world master—did he really have no foundations to speak of?

There were plenty of Skycloud exalted emperors still willing to listen to him. And so, Fog Mountain was very conflicted. He was deathly afraid that Li Hao would set his sights on Skycloud. What would he do then?

The young man would be well and truly rich if he obtained another eighth rank world. In fact, Fog Mountain could even exile the world master and take control of the world himself.

But... I would have never given up my strength if this was a course of action I was willing to consider.