Chapter 1709: Setting a Small Goal (II)

The group made fast time through the chaos, each with their own thoughts in mind. Li Hao spoke up amid this silence.

“The situation is still very complicated over at Skyward. There are three eighth ranks on that world... Blazing Sun and Dragon might have already arrived, but have not entered within. The dao universe is closed, after all. This means that the eighth ranks of all four regions might be present.”

Nods abounded within the group. This was very likely. Two of the regions were closer to Skyward, but none of the eighth ranks would just sit and wait when they received word that a ninth rank dao universe was opening. They’d possibly been waiting in the vicinity or had been searching for a way to enter the dao universe.

“We’re not a weak group, we’re quite strong, in fact! With Senior Fog Mountain and Uncle Li present, we’ll be very strong. Void, myself, and the rest of us may not be able to kill a seventh rank, but we should be able to stand against one!

“Therefore, we can just barely count as three seventh ranks. If Senior Li Zhu has headed on ahead of us... then we can count as four. We won’t have to worry about even meeting an eighth rank.”

They weren’t fighting on anyone’s home world. If that wasn’t the case, then the gap between a seventh and an eighth rank wasn’t too great.

Well, there would always be one at the end of the day. However, if the fighting took place on someone’s home world, then the advantage would go to whoever owned that territory.

“We have certain goals in mind with this trip as well!” Li Hao said swiftly. “First, we will liberate the Human King and Orchid Forest master! They will not be weak if they’ve joined hands, our only concern is if the three eighth ranks fight them in tandem!

“Second, get everyone out of the dao universe. Skyward’s dao universe has not yet revitalized and Silver Moon is stored within. It’s not safe for them to be inside!

“Third, vengeance for whatever slights and grudges we hold!” Li Hao looked at Fog Mountain. “Those who challenged us before, such as that Waterpeak, can be killed if possible! Leaving enemies alive just creates latent threats for us. We should eradicate them when we can!”

He didn’t mention Skycloud.

“Finally, it’s best if we can kill the Red Moon master. If not... then we need to injure him gravely!” Li Hao said coolly. “An eighth rank wanderer is a terrifying notion! We’ll be too easily dispatched once we split up and encounter him in the chaos!

“Therefore, we need to force a cultivation decline from eighth rank even if we can’t kill him. He may have retained eighth rank strength for now, but it will be unstable! It will be easy to send him down from that cultivation level.

“We have no fear of seventh rank wanderers, but an eighth rank is too dangerous!”

The group nodded once more. Those four goals would not be easy to attain, but they weren’t entirely without hope.

“Hao Moon, satisfy one of my requests!” Void couldn’t help himself. “I want to find a major world and silence it!”

Think of me too! I really want to still an entire major world. There are four major worlds behind us, but you showed mercy and didn’t slaughter them. Are there any major worlds left for my experimentation then?

My dao of emptiness will surely improve if I can silence an entire major world.

Li Hao blinked and looked at his friend. He’d almost forgotten about Void.

Void understood the look in his eyes and looked wordlessly back at Li Hao! He

knew

it!

Li Hao hadn’t said a word to him all along, he knew that his friend was just making empty promises! What a jerk!

“And a fifth point!” Void added himself. “We must seize Skyward! We’ll activate the world domain and expel all of the people. There’s not a big population on Skyward, so all of them can be thrown out or resettled elsewhere.

“We can stay at Skyward and use it as our base of operations. I will silence it. Sending a ninth rank world into the emptiness will surely result in marvelous effect!

“Skyward must have fallen silent long ago and only gradually revitalized when people came. My effort will also help Silver Moon enter a period of development...” Void looked at Li Hao. “You should be aware of that, why didn’t you mention it?”

“It’s too hard.” Li Hao frowned slightly. “Also, we’ll need more than two seventh ranks if we wish to consolidate our control over Skyward. Even if we close the world gates, we’ll need multiple seventh ranks to defend against an eighth rank onslaught since the dao universe is yet to revitalize...”

This will mean that a lot of us are trapped here.

“We’ve worked together quite a few times, Hao Moon!” Void couldn’t help himself. “The Sword Sovereign and Senior Fog Mountain have enjoyed a pleasant partnership with us as well. To be honest, we also think that the division of spoils is unfair to you.

“We are a similar type of person and not the sort to be satisfied just because everyone else seems satisfied!

“Seizing Skyward and temporarily stabilizing it will be your compensation for leading the successful operation on the four major worlds. The New Martial Human King also owes you one after his teacher has entered seventh rank and New Martial has eliminated a major threat. Although the eighth rank of that threat is still alive... they owe you nonetheless!

“The same goes for the Orchid Forest master...” Void looked at Li Hao. “If you wish for Silver Moon to develop well, then it needs to be at peace for a while. I know that your mind isn’t on Skyward, but if Silver Moon continues to drift through the chaos, when will it have a chance to grow into its own?

“Seniors, do my words make sense?” Void turned to the Sword Sovereign and Fog Mountain. “If we seize Skyward on behalf of Silver Moon and give it to Hao Moon, that will be his portion of the spoils. Everyone will be squared away this way.

“The friendship between gentlemen is as pure as water. Hao Moon thinks that if he takes a little less and we take a little more, we will be happy that way. But are the two seniors happy?”

Fog Mountain happened to quite agree with Void’s words. Prior to this, he’d been struggling for what to do.

“That’s right! What a good idea! It’ll be difficult to pull off, but what kind of compensation would this be if there was no difficulty involved in it?” Fog Mountain quickly said, quite admiring the idea. “This is a good suggestion. I also think that Silver Moon needs a quiet period of development. I can play for some time. If we work together and jointly consolidate Skyward, we should be able to hold it for at least one hundred years...”

This would resolve his inner conflict! Otherwise, there would be no end to his suffering.

Li Hao was walking away with too little. What were six billion dao crystals worth?? A dao universe was the real treasure!

One could collect dao crystals anywhere if one put enough effort into it. If not, destroying a couple of mid and minor worlds would result in six billion all the same. But could one easily kill the master of a world?

Anything else was not worthy of mention in Fog Mountain’s eyes!

“Seize Skyward?” Li Hao raised an eyebrow. He looked at the crowd. One had to say, like called to like. Birds of a feather flocked together.

His principle was that it was sufficient for no one to suffer a loss when everyone worked together. It was fine if he walked away with less. With how much strength he had, it wasn’t necessarily good for him to have rich pickings.

But perhaps his thoughts had been wrong. While he thought it was normal for others to take some more, they felt that it was all thanks to Li Hao that the plan had been a success. Although the young man was weaker than them, they would be embarrassed all the same if he wasn’t allotted a fair amount of the spoils.

Prior to this, they had no choice but to accept what they were assigned. Hence, whether it was Fog Mountain or the Sword Sovereign, they felt that Void’s suggestion was very solid.

If they could take Skyward, the world would only be an empty husk. Even so, the presence of multiple seventh ranks would consolidate the world. That would give a chance of fast paced development. At the very least, they wouldn’t have to wander aimlessly through the chaos anymore or be constantly on guard of being annihilated by another.

Skyward also had some dao foundation sites left. Those opportunities would be even more valuable once Skyward’s dao universe revitalized.

“That will be quite hard...”

“It won’t be so long as the Skyward dao universe remains asleep,” Void interrupted. “Everyone’s fixed their eyes on the dao universe. We just need to prove that it won’t revitalize for the immediate period of time.

“No one will fight to the death against a bunch of seventh ranks for an empty shell! I’ll convince Light, which will leave only Skycloud, Blazing Sun, and Dragon in the field.

“When it comes to Skycloud...” Void paused when he looked at Fog Mountain. “If we can kill Deepsea, the Skycloud master will be forced to go back to his world since he no longer has Senior Fog Mountain to make use of. If he doesn’t... he’ll become the next Red Moon.”

Fog Mountain didn’t make a sound.

The young man looked at him; a resigned expression crossed his face when he saw that the entire crowd was staring at him.

“Don’t look at me,” he said to the group. “To be honest, I still thought of Skycloud as my home for hundreds of thousands of years. Well... we’ve fully broken away from each other. If they aren’t willing to let the issue go, then we’ll kill those from Skycloud as well!

“I’m not stupidly loyal,” intoned Fog Mountain. “It’s just that I couldn’t let go of my ties to them before. Skycloud has made me return all of my strength, so I’ve given back everything that I should. If they come for you instead of you taking the fight to them... Then do whatever you see fit!”

His only request was that they do not attack the Skycloud main world. But if Skycloud exalted emperors doggedly kept on their trail, then the group should kill whoever they needed to kill!

Fog Mountain wasn’t decrepit and stuck in his ways. While he’d severed relationships of many years, he wasn’t of a mind to take vengeance. What’d taken place earlier counted as a full severing of their ties.

Everyone breathed slight sighs of relief to hear Fog Mountain’s thoughts. They’d been under quite a bit of pressure before because since they were all in a partnership, it was an awkward situation to outright suggest attacking Skycloud.

“There’s no need to worry about Blazing Sun,” the Sword Sovereign suddenly said. “New Martial’s home world should have already reached that region, so it might launch an offensive soon. The attacks might not target Blazing Sun—that’s an eighth rank world after all. It could be Flaming Sun major world within that region.

“Once New Martial erupts with action and marches on Flaming Sun, the Blazing Sun master will retreat, no matter what. He’ll be afraid that New Martial will head to his home next!”

“So that leaves only Dragon Region as a potential source of trouble?” asked the group.

“That’s right. Dragon is further away from Skyward Region and it has a Vajra major world that is also of extreme yang. If New Martial declares that they will move against Vajra after Flaming Sun, Dragon will have to withdraw as well!” explained the Sword Sovereign.

“That will leave New Martial as the public enemy...” murmured Li Hao.

“What makes you think it isn’t now?” The Sword Sovereign looked oddly at him.

“......” The young man had no appropriate response.