“True enough...” Li Hao nodded slowly. “But what if we have the ability to defend against the onslaught, or even constantly digest the chaos strength? Wouldn’t that be the answer?”

“You would have to be an eighth or ninth rank to do so, but what is the purpose of such action when you reach that level? Do you want to absorb more chaos strength? Isn’t that putting the cart before the horse? You should be considering how to purify your dao strength then, not take in more energy.”

That was also true!

Li Hao nodded. What the cat said was indeed the case.

The young man shook his head and put the matter out of mind. He’d simply been theorizing about the possibilities of a chaos beast rising to seventh rank when the tangent occurred to him. He wouldn’t attempt grounding his dao in the chaos, anyhow.

He wasn’t certain of success, so that’d be a complete gamble that he might not win. There might not be any benefits to be had if he won the wager, so only fools would undertake this task.

“Dragon major world really is gone!” he said excitedly instead. I guessed right!

Number Two didn’t say anything. So what if Dragon major world is gone? There’s a large number of seventh rank worlds here. Why do you carry yourself like you’re the strongest in the universe apart from seventh ranks?

The kid’s getting too big for his britches! Did you forget how you were as pale as a ghost just now when you thought about the Dragon master being onto you? There’s a few seventh rank worlds just in this vicinity!

“We just need to wait for those world masters to set foot into my trap and for the other Silver Moon martial masters to arrive. I’m going to take over these worlds one by one and spread toward Dragon major world...

“But the Dragon master is not to be trifled with,” Li Hao said solemnly. “I suspect that he’s the strongest being in the four regions!”

“Then let’s leave him alone...”

Li Hao shook his head before the cat had a chance to finish. “He’ll come for me once I swallow these worlds, even if I leave him alone! But I’m not going to let these worlds be either. I’m doing this on behalf of justice!”

Aw screw you!

Number Two couldn’t be bothered to bring the young man’s intentions to light. That was only part of the reason. Li Hao probably did pity the humans that suffered so miserably in Dragon Region. The other motivation behind his actions was that he was too young.

It was impossible that he was doing all this purely for the sake of Dragon Region humans. One could only say that it was a happy coincidence.

Liberating humanity would be the flag that he marched under. Strengthening himself and his worlds would be the harvest that he reaped. The two did not conflict with each other.

“You’ll need a massive world to hold all of those humans if you bring them together!” The cat offered a word of caution. “But that world will be too big for you to take with you! Once you have to leave it behind... it will be a present for the Dragon master! He would’ve had to eradicate them world by world before, but you’ll have gathered all of them together for his convenience!”

Li Hao nodded. That was true and a very troubling possibility. Not to mention, were the humans of Rat World... still alive?

Ole Zhao and the others may have run off, but the general population was not so easily moved. The trio had also been weaklings on a minor world. If they’d been mid ranks, they might’ve had a chance of running off with a minor world.

That was too hard for Director General Zhao to manage.

They’d previously only had to consider how to occupy a major world to settle these people. But what if they lost and had to flee?

Damn, that would leave behind a feast for chaos beasts!

“This is definitely something to consider,” Li Hao said with a solemn expression. “I’m not a chaos beast and will find it difficult to haul a world around. Panther is only fifth rank, so traveling with Silver Moon is already a stretch for it. There’s no hope for Panth to transport yet another major world. What a pity that Panth isn’t as strong as the Ash Emperor...”

With that, the young man snuck a glance at Number Two.

You and the Ash Emperor are from the same family. If the Ash Emperor can do so, can... you? The Ash Emperor can go wherever it likes with a peak seventh rank world in tow. Can you not do the same?

Number Two wanted to smack the young man to death with its tail! It knew that Li Hao was plotting after itself again.

“Number one, this cat is not Big Cat!” it grumped. “Number two, Big Cat is one with the New Martial world. Most critically, it was born of the dao universe. That makes it special. Logically speaking, living beings are not born in a dao universe. Where does life spring from if there is no world origin? But Big Cat was born of the core origin universe...”

Li Hao blinked and paused. That was right, the dao universe! The Ash Emperor wasn’t born of the world, but of the dao universe. So how could... the dao universe give birth to life?

He’d never considered this question before.

The young man paused and looked at the cat for a very long time. “You’re... very right. How did the Heavenly Emperor of New Martial create Ash Emperor in the dao universe? That... shouldn’t have been possible!”

Any place with living beings born in them would contain a world origin! And a world origin appeared only in a world. A dao universe was not a world.

A dao universe was just a unique space formed out of the great dao. The only exception was if this dao universe could form a source of life on its own. But if that was the case, that would indicate that the core origin universe could have given birth to life.

Apart from the Ash Emperor, no one else from New Martial was born from the core origin dao universe. Why was that?

The Heavenly Emperor had only been a peak sixth rank. How had he accomplished this task?

“It’s hard to say.” Number Two twitched its tail. “That’s why Big Cat is very special and I’m not that special. They say we’re one and the same, but Big Cat really was born in the dao universe. And me?

“I’m just a projection. There’s a fundamental difference between the two of us. I wasn’t born from the Silver Moon dao universe either, so I can’t do what Big Cat does and combine the world and dao universe as one to haul around as I would.

“In reality, New Martial and Big Cat are nearly completely integrated. There’s not a hint of repulsion between them. That’s why it moves around so freely!”

This was something that not even chaos beasts measured up to. They did not originate from the worlds.

“Right, chaos beasts are born of the chaos.” Li Hao blinked. “So... do you think there’s a unique world origin within the chaos?”

“......” The cat paused as well before nodding. “There... should be? That would be very normal for it to have one since the chaos can bestow an origin of life to the worlds. Then... the chaos itself should possess one too.”

Li Hao nodded again. That was right. So the appearance of the Ash Emperor really was an accident. How had life come to be in a dao universe?

How strange!

No one in New Martial ever mentioned it. If a dao universe could give birth to life, then the future would be wondrous indeed. They would all be able to freely travel with their worlds. Chaos beasts would die with envy!

“So Senior Number Two... can’t take a major world with you?”

“I’m just a chaos beast,” the cat answered dejectedly. “I don’t count as a life form of the dao universe. So I’ll have to reach seventh rank first before I can bring a seventh rank world with me, and I can’t travel too quickly with it. Do you understand?”

“I do!” Li Hao was rather regretful. “There’s a difference between the senior and the Ash Emperor...”

“Of grouse!” Number Two rolled its eyes. “But Big Cat also has a drawback, and that’s because it’s born of New Martial. It can only fully become one with New Martial. It’ll be just as slow and limited with other worlds!”

But isn’t that enough?

Li Hao didn’t voice that thought aloud. “What a pity that Panth wasn’t born from the Silver Moon dao universe. Otherwise, it would be able to run around with Silver Moon however it wanted to! It wouldn’t stand out at all!”

This guy is never satisfied! Number Two didn’t dignify those thoughts with a response. There is only one Big Cat in existence. Why else am I called Number Two?

Li Hao said nothing else. He was contemplating the situation. That’s right, so many people are waiting for me to save them. Since I’m going to save them, I’m not doing this just in the heat of the moment. I’m really going to save them. Even if it’s just for looks, I can’t abandon them when the going gets tough!

But Silver Moon can’t hold that many people. We’re going to devour so many worlds, where are they all going to go? It’ll take a seventh rank world to hold them all, no? How am I supposed to carry a seventh rank world with me??

This is such a headache!

I don’t have a seventh rank chaos beast on my side! Even if Number Two really enters seventh rank, it’ll still be a hassle assuming the cat is willing!

Li Hao was suddenly grappling with an enormous problem. Everything had been going well until... this detail.

He really wished that he had someone on his side like the Ash Emperor. They could carry the world and leave when they wanted to leave, stay when they wanted to stay. What a pity that I don’t have that ability.

His dao river contained many worlds, but immaterial worlds were false worlds at the end of the day. They weren’t real!

Anyone living in them would eventually die of hunger as food would not grow on such worlds. They could not nurture life. It would only be a matter of time before they starved to death!

Li Hao had finally encountered a problem he could not solve on his path of cultivation. It would remain unless his own dao river could produce an origin of life.

Clearly, that was impossible!

I would be the ruler of existence if I could do that! Why would I need to run around with anyone?

“How did the New Martial dao universe birth the Ash Emperor?” Li Hao sank into deep thought, completely at a loss. New Martial was so strange!

Did it have something to do with the War Sovereign?

It... shouldn’t.

Time didn’t have the ability to create life, did it?

But... that wasn’t out of the question either!

This was such a headache and it wouldn’t be resolved in the short term. They could only take it one day at a time. Things would eventually sort itself out, somehow.

If it really couldn’t helped, they could squeeze in hunker down in Silver Moon for a while. Or he could silence them all and send them into a deep sleep. There wouldn’t be any problems if the duration was short.

But they would all die if anything happened to Li Hao.

Time continued to flow when one was silenced. When enough time passed, someone would die all the same.

If he silenced them all, he could just about shove them all into a minor world. It wasn’t too humane, but that would be out of consideration if things progressed to that step.

......

After Dragon major world disappeared, world masters began to arrive at Li Hao’s locale. The Dragon master’s departure had nothing to do with them. That was a ponderous being whose presence did not affect them.

The region might be briefly engulfed in disarray if all of the seventh ranks left, but there were a lot of them still present. So hence, Dragon’s affairs naturally had nothing to do with these world masters.

......

Silver Moon’s exalted emperors also began surreptitiously making their way over. They moved slowly as they didn’t dare move draw attention to themselves.