Chapter 1757: Harvest (III)

Skycloud major world.

Only four exalted emperors stood within a massive hall—two eighth ranks and two seventh ranks. They were discussing Li Hao.

“The Silver Moon king is strong and seems to walk a path similar to the Sword Sovereign’s path of a myriad daos becoming one!” marveled the Skycloud master. “I’m more curious about whether New Martial has any sort of control over him?

“A vast sum of resources have been wasted on a bunch of weaklings. He’s even handed over control of the Skyward universe. Brother Red Moon, do you think there’s anything we can cook up about this?

“Conquering the four major dao universes should have satisfied the cultivation needs of the Sword Sovereign, Earth Dweller King, Orchid Forest master, and Fog Mountain. Silencing Skyward was done to pursue Ming Tang’s cultivation. New Martial has gained a decent amount from recent operations, but will the Human King be satisfied with that given his enormous appetite?”

The Skycloud master looked at Red Moon, the latter raised an eyebrow in return. “Does Brother Skycloud seek to drive a wedge between them? Silver Moon is weak, what use is there in getting them to turn on each other?”

“We can’t look at it that way!” laughed the Skycloud master. “The Silver Moon king is good friends with Ming Tang. If Ming Tang really does become a seventh rank, he will hold some authority in Light! In addition, Orchid Forest and Fog Mountain are overlords in their own right. If the Silver Moon king can drag them into his camp while he is at odds with New Martial, it will weaken New Martial, if nothing else!

“Otherwise, based on what I know, the Human King, Ash Emperor, Sun God, Martial King, Sword Sovereign, and Earth Dweller King can set foot into seventh rank. Even the Exalted Blood Emperor and Earth Emperor have hopes of doing so after New Martial seized Flaming Sun major world. If that is the case, then New Martial is a very thorny opponent indeed!”

And with Light’s five high ranks, if Void ascended as well and was aided by the traitor Fog Mountain as well as the Orchid Forest master...

Skycloud and Red Moon would be in grave trouble!

“I understand,” the Red Moon master inclined his head. “But there are deep ties between New Martial and Silver Moon. The Human King should have met the Silver Moon king on a prior occasion and tacitly agreed to the young man occupying Skyward. They have an understanding in place! It won’t be easy to drive a wedge between them.”

“Then we kill the Silver Moon king!” said the Skycloud master. “He is the key to connecting the two sides! Fog Mountain and the rest might choose to break with New Martial if he is dead. Without that tie, the Exalted Light Emperor will also make the correct decision.

“For the moment, Light and New Martial show signs of allying due to Ming Tang and Li Hao’s friendship. That is not good for us!” He switched to a new tack at this point. “I have some ideas in mind. Is Brother Red Moon interested in them?

“Speak of what you wish.”

“I’d like for Brother Red Moon to head to Blazing Sun Region and corral the Blazing Sun master and others into an offensive against New Martial. We will create some pressure for New Martial so that the Sword Sovereign and Earth Dweller King will retreat from Skyward. In the meantime, I will contact a few people to launch an offensive at Skyward and kill Li Hao!”

Red Moon frowned slightly.

You want me to attack New Martial?

That wasn’t an entirely hopeless endeavor if they coordinated with Blazing Sun. However, the key was...

“The Dragon master has yet to take a stance this entire time,” said Red Moon. “The scourge of New Martial is not a problem for everyone. Even when I’m thrown in the mix, there’s not much hope for Blazing Sun to take down New Martial. But if the Dragon master is included...”

The Red Moon master’s eyes narrowed and he laughed coldly, “The Dragon master is a chaos beast and can move his world. Although he might not be as strong as the Ash Emperor, he can create a geographical advantage for himself!

“He will be able to fight with his world, which will spell doom for New Martial!”

New Martial was a very difficult opponent to encounter these days because anywhere was home territory for it. In all of the chaos, only chaos beasts possessed such abilities, and high rank ones at that. The key was that taking a world with one was not that easily done, but the Ash Emperor was able to do so effortlessly!

However, if the eighth rank Dragon master brought his world to the battlefield and turned it into the main site of conflict, then it would be much easier to fight then.

“I will personally visit the Dragon Region to reach an accord with the chaos beasts!” Red Moon said as his thoughts traveled here. “As for that Silver Moon king... With Brother Skycloud present, it will be easy to eradicate them once the Sword Sovereign and others leave!

“The key still lies with Light. So long as the Light master stays out of things, Orchid Forest and Fog Mountain aren’t worth much!”

“That’s right,” the Skycloud master nodded. “But the most important person now is Ming Tang. I’ll converse with Light. Ming Tang is just a member of Light major world. Does its world master really want to drag the entire major world into the abyss?”

A chilly look entered his eyes at this point. “New Martial’s whereabouts are unknown, but Light is standing still in one place. The Light master is not an eighth rank chaos beast either! If he stubbornly refuses to see the light, then we can set aside New Martial for a moment and smash that shit stirrer to pieces!”

Thanks to Light’s interference each time, it’d prevented the situation from developing how Red Moon or Skycloud wished to proceed. Light major world was a formidable force to deal with, after all.

Everyone would be extremely caught on the back foot if this continued. It was fine if they didn’t find New Martial. Uprooting the unstable factor that was Light was just as nice.

The Red Moon master nodded with a smile. He quite agreed with Skycloud in this regard. “I, too, hope that the four domains can unite as one against external enemies! Whether it is New Martial, Silver Moon, or Fog Mountain, these are newly risen scourges or traitors who have turned their backs on their worlds! They ought to be executed!”

The Skycloud master inclined his head. He’d wanted to kill Fog Mountain all this time. It was agony to have the man still alive and part of existence. Everytime the Skycloud master saw Fog Mountain, he felt that he looked upon a source of brewing trouble.

The two seventh ranks beside the Skycloud master didn’t say a word. They had personal relationships with Fog Mountain, but the current Fog Mountain had completely disengaged from Skycloud and even killed Deepsea.

Fog Mountain created too much of a disturbance for Skycloud. Perhaps the next time they came across each other was when Fog Mountain met his doom.

......

All sides discussed recent events on this day.

Various Silver Moon powerhouses on Skyward returned to their home. Birds chirped and flowers emanated their fragrance through the air of Skyward, but there were no signs of inhabitation on the world anymore.

All of the dao foundation sites that once littered the land were gone. There were no more sites for others to comprehend dao.

Li Hao was prepared to leave as well. The dao chess shadow reappeared with an emotional sigh. “Then I shall enter the dao universe once more. It will be hard for them to find me, not to mention that I’m not weak! Are you sure that you won’t be sealing away Silver Moon this time and want to take it with you?”

It was surprising that the young man had decided to take his world with him!

𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝔀𝓮𝒃𝙣𝓸𝒗𝒆𝒍.𝙘𝒐𝒎

“I’m taking it!” Li Hao nodded. “Silver Moon is a fifth rank world now with dozens of exalted emperors. If I seal it away again...” He laughed ruefully. “I can’t say for sure that I’ll be able to manage the feat, but if I really can and large numbers of powerhouses appear in the world as a result... I really can’t feed them all anymore!”

His first instinct had been to seal off his home again. But now?

Forget it.

Who knew if he could seal off a fifth rank world? Even if he could, several hundred years would pass in the blink of an eye.

I can’t feed so many hungry mouths even if I sell myself!

There were pros and cons to his decision of taking the world with him. A big advantage was that they would have no issues with a sixth rank. With so many exalted emperors present, they could beat the other to death if they swarmed their target.

But the drawback was that Panther would not be able to hide easily with Silver Moon in tow. The dog wasn’t as strong as the Ash Emperor. Although it had set foot into fifth rank, there was still a high degree of difficulty in walking around randomly with Silver Moon.

Panth wasn’t able to travel that quickly.

“Then... I can only say to be careful,” nodded the dao chess. “I promised one transportation chance to Void last time. He didn’t end up using it, so you can teleport back anytime through the brand that I previously left in your river! I have sufficient energy now!”

Having absorbed countless dao crystals, the dao chess had greatly recovered. It would have had difficulties with strong heavyweights in the past. That was no longer the case.

“My thanks to the senior!”

“No, it is I who should thank you! If it wasn’t for your help, my recovery would be in constant jeopardy. Billions of dao crystals are hard to come by already, and even if anyone produced that sum, perhaps their goal would be to refine me.

“Li Hao, have you never thought of refining me? I was very weak before and you had sufficient strength to suppress me.”

It was a ninth rank weapon at the end of the day. And yet, with all of the immense heavyweights in Li Hao’s group, no one thought of forcefully refining the dao chess. That used to be an eighth rank dao universe!

To be honest, the treasure was rather glum about this.

Do they... not think that much of me?

It wasn’t weak anymore, given that it possessed seventh rank strength. But before that, it was sixth rank at most. That group could have absolutely curtailed the treasure.

“Is there a difference?” chuckled Li Hao. “Not to mention, the dao chess is not an offensive treasure, but a supplemental one. The senior is sentient and not much different from regular cultivators.

“If I refine the senior... I’ll have to feed you, and do so selflessly. We’re just transacting with each other right now and throwing a bit of a personal relationship into the mix. Isn’t that even better?”

Whoever owns the dao chess needs to keep it in style!

“But I would fully belong to you guys then.” The dao chess still didn’t understand. “I would have to self-detonate if you commanded me to. But now...”

“If the situation has deteriorated to the point in which we need the senior to self-detonate, then it’ll be hard for us to walk out of it no matter what!” Li Hao burst out laughing again. “In the same vein, if the senior really wants a master, I think Brother Void is a suitable match. Once he is unable to progress further on his cultivation path, the senior can try becoming one with him...”

The dao chess smiled faintly, but with immense regret. Were all cultivators of time so prideful? It’d hinted in a very obvious fashion that it would agree to Li Hao taking it with him.

And yet, the young man had refused time and time again.

Damn it! A ninth rank weapon is volunteering to go with you, but you don’t want me?! I have my own pride to think about! I can’t force myself on you, can I??

“Then I look forward to when we meet again.” The dao chess had no choice left but to smile. “I trust that you will return when Skyward’s dao universe revitalizes. Perhaps things will be more lively then!

“Others have claimed various Skyward dao stars today—they are sure to return to peak condition soon while being nourished by various major worlds. If they return to Skyward then, the world might officially be reawakened at that point!”

The dao chess looked at Li Hao. This is your goal, isn’t it? Those other worlds are nurturing the dao stars they have claimed, but they also know that the dao universe might truly revitalize when the dao star returns home!”

But, that would be something everyone wishes to see! What use was there for that dao star if the dao universe did not come back to life?