Chapter 1884: Peace On All Sides (I)
The Dragon master delivered three punches on a trip to Light major world. He didn’t do so to start another battle, but to tell them that if they wished to fight, the only outcome would be grave injuries on both sides. New Martial may have more eighth ranks, but Long Zhan was stronger!
The Light master was heavily wounded after receiving two punches while sitting in his home world.
Either you guys withdraw, or I withdraw. There can be no other option!
As for who withdrew, that depended on one’s strength. If both sides refused to back down, then conflict was inevitable. Since the Light master had not been able to take all three punches and New Martial was of a mind to retreat, then the Light master had no other option.
The Light master was both shaken and dejected. “Long Zhan’s strength is horrifying!” he sighed after a long moment. He hadn’t felt that way before. How had the dragon suddenly grown so strong?
“He’s freed himself from Dragon major world and established his own dao domain,” the Human King suddenly laughed. “He’s walking the path of all daos becoming one! This guy really is a thorny opponent. Whether it is you, Red Moon, or Blazing Sun... none of the other eighth ranks in the four regions measure up to him!”
“You are also an eighth rank now,” the Light master couldn’t help himself. “Are you truly unable to fight him even when you join forces with the Ash Emperor?”
The Human King was so strong that he could suppress an eighth rank when he was a seventh rank. Was the Dragon master so far ahead of him even when he was an eighth rank?
“There’s actually not much of a difference between seventh and eighth rank.” The Human King shook his head. “At this level, we either consider the ultimate limit of great dao or the depths of one’s foundations. Or we consider the number of dao rules one wields. The Dragon master holds more than six thousand, which puts him beyond the reach of someone who I can take on for the moment!”
“All daos becoming one?” the Light master repeated thoughtfully. He understood the concept, but also knew that it was very hard to attain. “Has the Human King... melded your own dao rules?”
“Guess!”
“......” The hell am I guessing?? Why are you playing these kinds of games at your age?
...fine. The Human King is still young, but I’m not young. I’m not in the mood to guess anything.
The Light master speculated that the Human King’s internal world was the manifestation of a personal dao domain. As for how many dao rules the Human King had melded into it... that was hard to say.
Three thousand?
Four thousand?
There weren’t six thousand, at the very least. Otherwise with the Human King’s personality, he long would’ve taken on the Dragon master.
That he hadn’t indicated that the Human King also knew that he was no match.
The Light master was rather depressed and sighed softly, “After reaching eighth rank, we also know that the road ahead is difficult. How are we to walk it? Establishing our own dao might help us with ninth rank, but we’ve paid an unspeakable price to reach eighth rank!
“It’s one thing if we succeed in the path of all daos becoming one, but what if we fail? Do we relinquish our major worlds? Cultivation of the general population within our worlds gives us hope of accumulating enough over a period of time that will lead us to ninth rank. Quantity leads to a change in quality in the end!”
But...
Would they still stand a chance if they relinquished their worlds?
Not at all.
There were advantages to owning a major world. When a larger portion of the general population cultivated and more powerhouses were born, it would strengthen the dao master despite not being able to help them ascend. It was a cumulative effect. If one hundred thousand years wouldn’t do it, then they could try for a million years. If one million didn’t work, then two million...
As time went on, one would draw infinitely closer to ninth rank, even if one never set foot in that cultivation level. Such was the biggest advantage conferred by a world.
“This is one type of way,” nodded the Human King. “There’s more than one way to cultivate!”
Surges of strong presence erupted out of the distance at this time. There were multiple seventh ranks and even an eighth rank.
“That black tiger made it to eighth rank!” The Human King raised a brow. “Li Hao’s in for it now. He killed its wife, right?”
“The Exalted Black Tiger Emperor...” The Light master raised his eyebrows. Another eighth rank!
Blazing Sun and Skycloud had died in the last conflict, but New Martial gained two eighth ranks. Now there were Black Tiger, Fog Mountain, and the Thunder master. There were more eighth ranks in the four regions compared to before.
However, it’d been a changing of the old guard. Only he was left maintaining a world, but could Light major world continue on as before?
Even the Dragon master had abandoned his.
“Human King, if we leave, then the humans of the four regions...” The Light master glanced at the Human King. There were infinite worlds filled with humans out there and he was supposed to be the Human King!
“They’re not New Martial citizens!” the Human King answered calmly. “Alright, even if they were, the Dragon master won’t immediately start slaughtering humans after he takes the four regions. His current goal is to conquer the four regions and build a garden out of them!
“There are at least three dozen major worlds of humans in the three regions. If he really starts slaughtering humans, that might enrage them and those who weren’t going to fight would participate out of self-preservation...”
The Dragon master wouldn’t do so yet, at the very least.
The Light master sighed once more and looked into the distance, “Are we really going to leave the monster spirits to their own devices?”
This was likely the end of the road for the eight monster spirit seventh ranks. His previous thoughts had been that once the Dragon master clashed with the monster spirits, Silver Moon and New Martial might be able to flank him and deal a heavy blow to the other. But now, the Dragon master had seized control of the situation as soon as he arrived.
Li Hao hadn’t shown himself at all. He might have exited out the other side of Thunder Region. Clearly, he didn’t care about the survival of the monster spirits at all.
These guys were truly cold-hearted at times. The Light master had thought that they would treat the monster spirits as allies. As it turned out, that had never been in the cards.
......
At the same time, the perimeter of Thunder Region.
A great battle commenced.
Eighth monster spirits were entangled with chaos beasts that’d ambushed them. Tremendous presences rampaged through the battlefield and another dozen seventh rank presences rose in the blink of an eye.
The Ironeater master waved a metal club around, smashing it through the void. Even the newly ascended Black Tiger could immediately break through the panda’s defenses, since he was in residence on his world.
Black Tiger snarled with fury! The monster spirits were damnable creatures. If it wasn’t for them, the chaos beasts might have stood a chance last time!
The five monster spirits were respectively Ironeater, Bull, Iron Eagle, Fire Pig, and Flying Fox. Ironeater major world had three seventh ranks, whereas Flying Fox possessed two seventh ranks. Bull, Iron Eagle, and Fire Pig each had one seventh rank.
Countless chaos beasts were gathered in front of the worlds. There were more seventh ranks than before, presenting quite a daunting sight.
Bull and Iron Eagle had long wanted to surrender. The two world masters suddenly stopped fighting.
“I am willing to yield!” bawled a massive bull.
An eagle spread its wings wide and cut through the void with razor-sharp feathers, trying to escape. Its attempts were foiled, so it also called out, “Qingqiu, I, too, am willing to yield! It was the Ironeaters who forced us into striking back last time. They are so strong that there was nothing we could do!”
Two out of the eight seventh ranks had spontaneously chosen to surrender. Since they couldn’t defeat the enemy, safeguarding their own lives was more important.
The Ironeater master didn’t make a sound. He simply smashed through the void with his club, erupting with such ferocity that he even temporarily suppressed Black Tiger. Rage and resignation could be glimpsed from his bloodshot eyes!
The monster spirits were not of one heart. There was no helping it. The chaos beasts were too strong.
They’d thought that last time was an opportunity, and it had been, given the degree of injury that the chaos beasts had suffered. But now... who would’ve thought that the chaos beasts would abandon their worlds and create more exalted emperors from it.
There were also more seventh ranks hidden among the dragons!
Now that Black Tiger had set foot into eighth rank, all hope was lost. Red Moon defecting to the enemy was the final nail in the coffin.
Ironeater had hoped that perhaps New Martial and Silver Moon would participate when the chaos beasts came, but... there were no hints of reinforcement.
He wasn’t surprised that two monster spirits had chosen to surrender. If it wasn’t for his doing, they would’ve given up a long time ago.
“Ironeater, you are the only stubborn holdouts among the monster spirits!” chuckled the Qingqiu fox. “The Dragon master is mighty and wise. What part of him isn’t worthy of your allegiance?”
Although they’d fully overcome the monster spirits and the remaining ones were also tempted to lay down their arms, the Ironeaters continued to resist. Qingqiu was in charge of the monster spirit situation and did not understand this mentality. Why were the Ironeaters so obstinate??
A red light flashed through the scene. Before the Qingqiu fox had time to react, an Ironeater seventh rank fighting a chaos beast paused. The light in its eyes faded away.
The Ironeater seventh rank’s great dao collapsed!
“Damn you!” snarled the Ironeater master, completely losing control.
The Qingqiu fox frowned. Black Tiger’s eyes widened as well, distracted from its fight with the Ironeater master. Despite his deep grudge against the Ironeaters, it knew that this was a very strong race worthy of recruitment. Their world master was a peak seventh rank.
If a race of three seventh ranks were willing to serve the chaos beasts, then that would be a tremendous boon.
And yet, Red Moon had surreptitiously attacked one of their powerhouses and outright killed them! How was surrender possible after that?? The Ironeater master led the vanguard in the resistance. He would never give up the fight now!
As expected, the Ironeater master howled his outrage to the void. “Red Moon, this seat will kill you even if it takes my life today!”
The world behind him began to swell!
The Ironeater master sent Black Tiger flying backward with a blow and rushed past the tiger, not caring that this left his back vulnerable. He sped for Red Moon, wanting to kill the human more than anything!
So what if Red Moon was an eighth rank?
That was a very strong level, but he was a human exalted emperor without a world and had a very weak body. Nor was he an eighth rank that’d ascended through his own dao domain. What did Ironeater fear?!
Red Moon laughed and backed away, retreating behind the chaos beasts. He didn’t linger after ambushing one of the Ironeater seventh ranks. He had absolutely no desire to fight a berserk Ironeater master.
If they were to meet in single combat, they had to do so without worlds at either of their backs. What he’d done was enough.
