Chapter 2078: The Skies Change (III)

Li Hao’s flesh and blood continued to crumble away and reform. He wasn’t all that strong without the dao river. His body was mediocre, despite being nurtured by the river. But after this reformation, he would be a powerhouse even without the dao river.

He would have seventh rank strength on his own, and yet... what was seventh rank worth in the current chaos?

They couldn’t make a difference whatsoever, but it was enough.

Even though I’m only a seventh rank, it’s a seventh rank that’s wholly mine. No one can strip it away from me and I can’t give it up. My dao is mine.

The Human King’s dao is that of all daos becoming one and his dao being him. This is the same concept.

“The source of the chaos is the source of its energy...” Li Hao looked thoughtfully at the sky.

“What do you want, Li Hao?” Spring Autumn shifted impatiently. “Do you want to die?”

“Fellow Daoist Spring Autumn, don’t you think these worlds are beautiful?” Li Hao turned back.

“Are you thinking of the Order master’s dao combination?” Spring Autumn glanced at the mirror. “You’re better off giving that up. The Order master was said to be very strong, but he died on this path as well!”

She’d noticed it too but didn’t delve into further research. She also knew that perhaps Li Hao wasn’t just stopping here for the view.

“Using countless worlds to create your own dao domain and wanting to become the master of the chaos... That was the nine layers that Order was creating! But that also meant that he’d be able to control the entire universe.

“There were so many ninth ranks a million years ago, how would they submit to something like this? Chaos Sky is even more domineering than him!” The girl shook her head. “Therefore, my thoughts are that we should lie low for a while and let Chaos Sky fight those ninth ranks.

"We should avoid the limelight and come in after! None of them are anything good, it doesn’t matter if one or two of them die...”

She had a very clear understanding of the situation and had been carrying out her suggestions all along.

Spring Autumn simply wanted to temporarily weaken whoever was stronger. If Chaos Sky was stronger, then she wanted to bring Chaos Sky down a few notches. She wouldn’t let him eliminate everyone and conquer the chaos before the ninth ranks arrived.

Li Hao didn’t say anything. He stood by and watched for a while. Just when Spring Autumn wanted to turn on her heel and leave, so that Li Hao could deal with Chaos Sky by himself, he left the hall.

Spring Autumn was staying not because she’d fallen in love with Li Hao. She just didn’t want him to die to Chaos Sky. That would cause some aberrations to develop within the chaos. Or if he was captured by Chaos Sky and became a puppet of order, like he appeared to be before, that would also be very dangerous.

It was best for Li Hao to remain alive and be someone who could block Chaos Sky’s unification of the chaos. That would be most ideal.

Hence, the cicada cursed with satisfaction to see the young man finally leave.

So you’re also afraid, huh! That guy’s gonna be back before long. Do you think the two of us can actually fight him in his territory??

Li Hao turned over certain thoughts as he walked. He soon reappeared near the Chaos Sky world gates. A large number of exalted emperors hovered threateningly nearby. They stirred with a desire to take action and even wanted to stop the two from leaving.

These two could wait for the dao master to return! The group could sense it, the dao master... was returning!

The eighth ranks suppressed at the bottom of Li Hao’s river brightened with joy. The dao master was returning. Order was being rebuilt!

Indeed, the west seemed to be recovering from Li Hao’s endless depletion of energy. It was strengthening by the second, a development that Spring Autumn had detected. That was why she’d been so anxious.

Now that Li Hao was at the exit, she wasn’t worried anymore. They could leave anytime!

None of these small fry, rotting fish, and expired shrimp could keep them. If it wasn’t for Li Hao’s repeated obstruction, she would’ve already laid waste to all of Chaos Sky Region.

But now... forget it. Chaos Sky might go completely crazy if she did so and chase her down. Li Hao was so unreliable that he might not help her.

“Let’s go!” Spring Autumn took a large step with her bare feet. Li Hao, however, paused.

“You go on ahead, fellow daoist. I’d like to wait for Fellow Daoist Chaos Sky. My master was at Five Elements major world and he might... be a captive now.”

“You’re going to wait here for death?” Spring Autumn paused and started cursing. “Do you really think you’re that strong? That eight thousand dao rules make you invincible?”

Your master?

Your master can just die if it comes down to it!

What does a seventh rank weakling matter?!

“Didn’t you say you want to break the origin of the chaos and resurrect people? If your master dies, bring him back with the rest! Run away to come back another day! Do you not get this concept?!”

It was the first time that she felt Li Hao was so spineless!

It pissed her off!

“The fellow daoist should go,” Li Hao laughed. “I’m suppressing six eighth ranks here. Fellow Daoist Chaos Sky won’t want to see me kill them, so... we might just end up exchanging hostages. It’s why I haven’t killed them yet, so that it’s not a complete death feud between us. That would be a situation too difficult to resolve then.”

It was like he’d been certain from the start that his teacher would be captured. There was no helping it, the gap between the two was too great.

Even if his teacher swallowed the entire world of Five Elements and set foot into eighth rank, or perhaps rivaled the Five Elements overlords, he... would still be unable to face Chaos Sky.

“You...” Spring Autumn gnashed her teeth, the look in her eyes changing. “Are you going to let these guys go?! And let Chaos Sky continue to grow stronger? Are you going to work for him if he threatens you with your master?!”

If that’s the case... then I’m going to kill you first!

Spring Autumn’s eyes narrowed. If this is what you insist on, Li Hao, then you can’t blame me.

With that, she ceased debating her next steps. This bastard... was so damned irritating! Countless shadows charged him like an army of thousands of warhorses.

Spring Autumn had decided to slice and dice this kid first! She’d throw the Chaos Sky eighth ranks into the mix as well!

These people couldn’t be permitted to live!

Chaos Sky had too many powerhouses under his banner. Six eighth ranks might not be able to do anything to her, but what about ten?

Fifteen?

Or more?

She wasn’t actually invincible. There was also a true gap between her and a real ninth rank, but that gap could also be bridged by sheer numbers!

“Is there a need for this, fellow daoist?” Li Hao backed away. “If we really go at it with each other and end up inflicting injuries, that will really benefit Chaos Sky once he returns. You should take advantage of this opening to leave.

“We haven’t really done anything to Chaos Sky major world or damaged our relations with each other. And with the ninth ranks still in the picture, Chaos Sky won’t want to make enemies out of us either. It will only give ninth ranks an opening to take advantage of!”

Li Hao quickly backed away as he spoke, moving so swiftly that it was like he was traveling through time. Even the seasons began to wither and flourish...

This intensified Spring Autumn’s annoyance!

Screw you, Li Hao! You don’t use the daos of withering and flourishing against Chaos Sky, but you use my dao against me!

She glared ferociously when she saw that several rounds of attacks had no effect. She might really have to pay an enormous price to take down the young man, but with the return of Chaos Sky imminent...

The little girl spat out a vicious swear before darting into the void. 𝒻𝑟ℯℯ

“I’ll be the first to kill you if you dare surrender to Chaos Sky!” Spring Autumn vanished on the spot.

Once she was gone, the eighth ranks in the river relaxed with relief. It had been an unfortunate day, but also a very lucky one.

What was fortunate was that Li Hao had repeatedly stopped Spring Autumn from killing people. That meant Chaos Sky major world was almost completely untouched, aside from losing some dao strength and the six of them suffering some injuries.

What was unlucky was that someone really had attacked them, and two powerhouses at that. Thankfully, the dao master had been prepared. Li Hao had also restrained himself due to his concern about his master.

That was the greatest silver lining of the situation!

Everyone would be safe once the dao master came back. And with the biggest threat that was Spring Autumn having left, they were all much more at ease.

An emboldened Peng Cheng spoke up, “King of Silver Moon, you know how strong the dao master is. The ninth ranks have not returned this time, but our dao master would have been able to stand against them even if they did!

“You have neither destroyed Chaos Sky major world nor killed our cultivators. Although we have suffered some injuries, it’s all minor matters. If the Silver Moon king can join our side, then the chaos is sure to be unified...”

“The Silver Moon king might be unaware that the Nine Layer Guard once served under the Order master,” coughed the old man with a longsword running through him. “There weren’t that many of us then, and there are only twenty-eight of us left now! There are eleven eighth ranks, including me, and seventeen seventh ranks...”

Eleven eighth ranks!

That meant apart from the Nine Layer Guard, there were five more eighth ranks, making for a total of sixteen. They also did not know that Chaos Sky had just subdued four of the five elemental envoys and four other eighth ranks. If they did, morale would soar.

That would be twenty-four eighth ranks!

Not even Skyward back in the day had so many eighth ranks to command. The earlier return had been peak condition for the man. He still only had twelve eighth ranks then.

As for the other regions, they might not have as many eighth ranks as Chaos Sky did, even if they pooled all of their personnel together. It might take a combination of New Martial, Silver Moon, chaos beasts, Spring Autumn, and the four regions to cobble together that many eighth ranks.

It was clear to see that Chaos Sky’s scale of operations over the years was far vaster than what anyone could imagine.

Li Hao didn’t say a word. He was still drawing on the world’s dao strength. It really was very dense. This premier world rivaled some ninth rank worlds and was, in fact, more richly stocked than the silenced ninth rank worlds.

Half of the dao strength entered his dao river, the other half was integrated into Li Hao’s body. He also continued to weaken the eighth ranks.

This made Peng Cheng very uneasy!

This one... was still draining their dao strength. Their cultivation might drop a level if this continued! And this was of secondary concern. The key was... was this guy planning on going toe-to-toe against the dao master?

Spring Autumn hadn’t dared to do so and had already run off because of it. Would Li Hao be that bold?