Chapter 1893: Each to Their Own Path (III)
The supreme looked at the sights in the outer regions, then studied the distance.
“It’s better... for New Martial to take things slow,” he said slowly. “We should find a place to befriend the worlds nearby. Red Moon and Fang Ping has destroyed our reputation in the four regions, making it so that no one dares befriend us. Here, no one is familiar with us, so we can start anew!
“Apparently there are three main overlords in the outer regions. Only the east is devoid of such a figure. All of the worlds fight for themselves here. Since we’re out here, Brother Light might as well take a look around. We can’t just laze around and do nothing, can we now?”
The Light master furrowed his brows.
“It’s said that even just the eastern portion of the outer regions is much bigger than the four regions,” continued the supreme. “The four regions only have a few eighth rank major worlds. There are more eighth rank worlds in just the eastern region alone...”
“Is this not the supreme’s first sojourn out of the four regions?” Light was rather surprised by the explanation. He himself was acquainted with the outer regions because he had been the overlord of Light major world. Visitors from the outer regions had once come to his world.
But how did the New Martial supreme know of this as well? That faction had never set foot outside the four regions, no?
“We always have to be prepared,” chuckled the supreme. “New Martial is public enemy number one in the four regions and we’re almost unwelcome everywhere we go. There’s also too many of us with not enough resources to go around. I sent some people out of the four regions early on.”
“......” Light didn’t know what to say. Ah...
Light major world had stood for a million years in the four regions, but he never sent anyone to the outer regions. He’d simply felt that he would spend the rest of his life in the four regions. But now it looked like he was far behind everyone else!
How long had it been since New Martial’s rise? Look at how proactive they were!
Or had they long anticipated that New Martial would become wanted by all in the four regions?
The supreme didn’t say anything. Having various arrangements in mind was very normal. It was likewise nice to send people out for a look at the grander universe. There was nothing noteworthy about any of that.
......
The four regions.
New Martial had withdrawn, Light had disappeared, Silver Moon had departed, the monster spirits were pacified...
Unrest surged in the four regions as Black Tiger and Red Moon marched in all directions with formidable chaos beasts. According to the Dragon master’s demands, all seventh rank worlds were to congregate in one spot close to Skyward. That would facilitate management.
Chaos beasts would not invade their dao universes. Some seventh ranks would even help in transporting the worlds. The seventh rank worlds simply needed to offer up ten percent of the dao crystals produced by their dao universes every year. It was essentially paying tribute.
The Dragon master asked no more of them.
The mid and minor worlds were also to gather together to make it more convenient to manage. Those who wished to refuse the instructions could give it a try. There were more than twenty seventh ranks and multiple eighth ranks among the chaos beasts. That was more than enough to mount an offensive on a seventh rank dao universe.
Even if the seventh ranks wish to rise up in resistance, could they really form an alliance?
With the dissipation of veteran eighth rank dao universes such as Red Moon, Blazing Sun, Light, and Skycloud, that resulted in the first unification of the four regions in one million years!
As reluctant as the seventh rank world masters were to accept the circumstances, how many among them could truly bear to relinquish their world and leave?
The Dragon master had actually given them a choice.
They could chose to relinquish their dao universe and leave the four regions. With the lull period of Thunder Region in recent times, that made it possible to pass through it. The seventh ranks could even devour their worlds before leaving. The Dragon master didn’t mind.
The issue there was that it was so arduous to nurture a seventh rank world. How many could harden their hearts enough to forgo a dao universe, just like that?
They might stand a chance if they stayed. And the Dragon master only demanded one-tenth of their dao crystals. They could endure that demand with a clench of their teeth. It was acceptable so long as that truly protected them from invasion.
......
Dragon major world.
The world had shifted locations to Skyward. That was the heart of the four regions, not Dragon Region. The eighth rank world hovered near Skyward these days.
“The Dragon master bade the various worlds to congregate at this place, creating an unprecedented concentration of seventh ranks,” Feng Yan mused with puzzlement. “We will be in grave danger if they ever choose to rebel.
“There are at least thirty-six seventh rank dao universes left within the other three regions at present. They have a total of forty-two seventh ranks!”
It was a bit more than they’d anticipated as the chaos beasts had thought there would be roughly two dozen seventh rank worlds at most. However, some seventh rank dao universes had popped out of various nooks and crannies.
They’d been previously undetected, or their secret had been safe with a select few. All of them were out in the open now.
Of the more than forty seventh ranks, most of them were a combination of dao masters and world masters. Few were the worlds with those two positions separate. Although the chaos beasts had a strong troop of seventh ranks as well, especially when considering the monster spirit seventh ranks that’d sworn fealty, the human seventh ranks were still potentially a high threat.
Once they were gathered and chose to rise up together, that might result in a catastrophe.
The chaos beasts were taking only one-tenth of their dao crystals—that was too little. Feng Yan and the rest felt that they should kill a portion of the humans, intimate another portion, and devour some of the dao universes. The rest would be enslaved under dao treaties.
Humans reduced to slaves like Red Moon would be the best outcome.
The Dragon master was studying Skyward. He sighed softly after a long moment. “You must keep in mind that the chaos still belongs to the humans at present. Even if we really can fully conquer the entire chaos universe in the end, humans will still be the majority.
“It’s also not as if chaos beasts can furiously produce offspring just because we occupy the chaos universe.” Here, the Dragon master sighed with great emotion. “It was only us when we were limited to Dragon Region before. I turned a blind eye to what all of you did. That didn’t matter as much.
“But now, we cannot extort humans for too much. I know these people well. Few will rebel if we do not press them too hard. They’ll only think that they’ll lose everything if they mutiny and die for it.
“Therefore, taking ten percent of what they produce is already high enough. One-tenth of a dao universe’s production means that one entire seventh rank universe out of every ten is going to us. The supply is also ongoing without end...
“That’s one major point! The second is that our current strength is insufficient to both kill them all and withstand vengeance from the outer regions. Their existence is also the foundation of the four regions.
“If all of them die, that means the outer region will view it as the spontaneous loss of several dozen world masters. While some might be born from the chaos beasts as a result, it will be far les than the amount we’ve lost. That will give the outer regions some ideas instead.
“Third, the humans here are only a portion of what exists, it’s not all of them. There are many humans throughout the chaos universe. Killing one or two of them or even one or two worlds is fine. But if you exterminate all of the humans here... such wild action will only doom us.
“Even if the human sovereigns don’t personally care about our actions, they will be forced to respond since too many humans will have died!” The Dragon master shook his head. “So do not sacrifice our future on a momentary impulse. Our greater concern is to win higher standing for ourselves, that’s the top priority!
“The second is to establish communications with the outer regions as soon as possible. There are large numbers of chaos beasts outside—far more than the amount in the four regions. We need to trade the resources of the four regions for more of our kind outside!
“The presence of humans will facilitate those transactions. In addition, Skyward is still alive. It is not a dead world. Li Hao handed out dao stars to a lot of people last time. Now that all of those major worlds have congregated here and countless dao universes overlap in this area... They will serve to nurture and hasten its reawakening!
“It might even lead to the dao universe reviving sooner!” The Dragon master sighed as he looked at Skyward. “This is a good place, but even now I’m concerned that if it comes back to life...”
Will the Skyward master return?
It would be the start of the greatest trouble of all if he did.
Was he still alive?
Probably.
In that case, his greatest concern was that the revitalization of Skyward would also result in the return of its world master. That would be extremely troublesome then.
“You need to set foot into eighth rank as soon as possible.” Dragon master looked at Feng Yan. “You are far away from that stage at present. Eighth rank is a tough goal, but it’s also not that out of reach. Ninth rank is the true challenge!
“The path from eighth to ninth rank is arduous indeed. You probably don’t have any hope of building ten thousand daos...”
Feng Yan didn’t think much about that assessment. The four regions had only ever had one ninth rank in all of history, so it didn’t matter if she didn’t stand a chance.
The Dragon master shook his head when he saw how unconcerned the young phoenix was. His thoughts wandered to her mother. What a pity, she had great promise to enter eighth rank... and her potential and talents were all exemplary. She’d also raised his daughter well.
Sadly, Feng Yan was too young at the end of the day!
But she was also the only one of his offspring to enter seventh rank. The Dragon master also felt that he’d done wrong by Phoenix with her death in battle. If he’d forced his way out and returned after Long Xuan died... if he’d only been a little more resolute and come out earlier, then none of these brethren would’ve died.
Thus, he was ever so slightly more biased and favored Feng Yan.
“It will be tough for you to build the conventional domain of ten thousand daos. Even if you accomplish the task, you’ll need countless years to consolidate it. But, you have another path available to you—the one that Chaos Sky took!”
It’d been a very long time since the Dragon master last saw Chaos Sky, but he had certain speculations in mind when it came to that person.
“Walk the path of unification! Establish the order of the chaos! Turn what is unordered into order. You can visit the various worlds if you have no other pressing business at hand. There are certain things that you must learn, such as camouflage!
“I do not care if the humans hate me, fear me, or wish to kill me,” the Dragon master said softly. “You do not have to be like me either. The daughter of a tyrannical Dragon master might... have a kind heart. You might be innocent and pure!
“You can save some of who I want to kill, you can beg mercy for the worlds I wish to destroy. If I suppress them, you can help some humans in secret!
“Take it one step at a time and even build some temples in the mid and minor worlds. A dragon girl or phoenix girl is a totem for belief in some mundane worlds. I do not mean for you to walk the path of faith, just that you should collect some people’s hearts and build your own dao domain...”
The path he arranged for Feng Yan might not go very far, it would come down to himself in the end. If he could conquer the chaos... he would not walk the path of unification, but his daughter could.
Once he won sufficient standing, territory, and resources for the chaos race, then his daughter could subdue these humans and become their savior. It would be easy to accomplish—they just needed sufficient generations of humans to die. The later generations would not know their history.
Depending on how his daughter manipulated the situation, she would be able to reach ninth rank through the path of unification.
