Li Hao turned to one person in particular. “Teacher, I will select five worlds for you to absorb their world origin. Verify your dao with their strength! Your dao domain has formed, so today is the day in which you become an exalted emperor!”

With five worlds as the foundation and the fortification of a dao domain, Yuan Shuo would be at least a third rank. That was all there was to the five worlds, being propelled straight into third rank was more than ideal.

So long as he later gained sufficient energy, Yuan Shuo might be able to quickly break through to fourth rank and all the way up to seventh rank!

This was because he was equipped with a dao domain. A dao domain was the basis of a seventh rank and their most direct indicator of accomplishment. It was only a matter of time before cultivators who’d crafted a dao domain could reach seventh rank.

Li Hao selected worlds as he spoke, quickly collecting five minor worlds. They were minor worlds because there weren’t enough mid worlds around of the five elements. If some of the elements were mid worlds and some minor, then that would create an imbalance. It was better for a good balance to be struck, even if it was created from weaker worlds.

The humans within those worlds were terrified out of their minds when they saw a massive hand blot out their skies and pick up their world.

“This is the human powerhouse, the Silver Moon king!” declared the queen’s voice. “Those who believe in me can enter the divine nation, those who do not have faith can enter Great Li!”

Terror engulfed the five worlds. A portion of the general population entered the divine nation and another portion remained on the spot. The latter was only briefly there before they were moved to another world—the sixth rank world bestowed by Phoenix major world. It was the biggest world in the vicinity and could house the most number of people.

Apart from a few that were empty among the fifty-plus worlds, the rest all had a human population. There were ten billion humans at most and several billion at the very least. But if these worlds had been ruled by humans, then a population of several hundred billion would be expected.

That could not be found here. There weren’t even that many humans in the major worlds. The Dragon master had imposed heavy restrictions on the furious reproduction rate of humanity.

Despite that, there were a combined one hundred billion from all of the worlds present!

An enormous population streamed into the divine nation, as did the divine nation itself furiously grow larger. There’d never been so many humans to worship the same exalted emperor all at once! Not to mention, their god was just a newly ascended second rank!

The queen’s moon form ballooned dramatically; cracks snaked through it after dull rumbles. She’d set foot into third rank.

By now, even the queen was starting to grow afraid. Everything was happening too quickly! This power of faith was going to forcefully deliver her into the next plane of existence!

The corresponding increased flow of chaos strength further stunned the queen. She threw caution out the window and sent a current of faith into the star of time as well.

Li Hao immediately sensed the addition and flicked a glance at her. “The hell you doing??”

The fuck?? Who told you to send me the energy of faith?? Look at how much is streaming toward the star of time! What the hell are you doing?!

The queen pretended she didn’t hear anything. She couldn’t help it, she was out of ideas. It was just too much.

More than one hundred billion humans had joined her divine nation in the blink of an eye. The teeming masses were an unbelievable, crazed notion. The divine nation was even having trouble housing them all. People stood shoulder to shoulder in the streets—this was no longer a divine nation, but an ant nest!

But even so, there were still countless people pouring into the divine nation and providing more power to her. Although she could break through without stopping if there was enough faith, the queen still required some time to consolidate her cultivation level.

In addition, the stronger she was, the more chaos strength was drawn to her. As a first rank, she absorbed so much that a regular sixth rank would be hard pressed to digest. But at third rank, Li Hao felt that the chaos strength being redirected from the queen was sufficient for a seventh rank’s needs!

It was the equivalent of a seventh rank not doing anything and just madly absorbing energy to infuse Li Hao’s river of dao with.

Minor worlds over Li Hao’s river were quickly filling up with energy. At this rate, one world might be saturated in only two or three days. And that was a queen at third rank. What if she was fourth and fifth rank...

Could she fill a world a day later on? Or possibly be even faster?

In that case...

Li Hao took a deep breath. That was nuts. He only had five hundred minor worlds at most that required energy. They’d be full in less than a year. By then, he would have to kick the queen away if he didn’t quickly produce more worlds. If not, both of them would go down in a fiery explosion!

And this was the queen at fourth or fifth rank. Once she reached seventh rank... she might fill several minor worlds in a single day. That would be... astounding!

And such a hassle!

There was no time to consider this further as the new addition of faith needed to be dealt with. Faith was a marvelous resource, but also quite troublesome! There were pros and cons to it. If the queen absorbed too much faith over the course of her cultivation, she would brainwash herself!

That was an appalling idea!

There were also a lot of other things found within the power of faith, such as a certain kind of unspeakable... sense of responsibility.

Indeed, that was a logical outcome when several hundred billion believed in a cultivator and trusted them to the point of following that person.

Damn, this thing will be the death of me!

Li Hao was immensely resigned. He set his jaw and grunted, turning an immaterial world into a round ball. He absorbed the power of faith seeping into the star of time and shoved it into that world.

Faith?

This wasn’t faith! It was responsibility, a grave burden on his shoulders! Li Hao didn’t dare absorb it. The queen could set foot in that trap if she wanted to, but he refused to be dragged into it!

It was a horrifying notion!

“Suppress!” The Firmament Sword appeared to force the world into the depths of his river. “This world cannot be opened, no matter what.” Li Hao shook his head with some fear. “Whoever cultivates the dao within this world must serve the people for the rest of their lives!”

That was the most terrifying of it all!

Several hundred billion people erupting with one kind of faith, trust, and reliance on someone at the same time... Whoever cultivated such a dao would be highly unlucky and tied to the human race for the rest of their lives.

Li Hao was not a saint. He felt that he really couldn’t devote his life to serving an entire race.

I would go crazy if I cultivated that. Whatever, I’ll keep it around for now. It’d be a shame to waste it. What if a huge sucker comes around and is willing to absorb it?

He looked around him; the queen avoided his gaze. Don’t look at me. I can barely keep myself under control right now. If I absorb that amount of faith, it’ll be the end of me as well. I’d be under this faith’s control for the rest of my life!

She could be the mistress of faith, but she didn’t wish to have it dictate her being. Thank goodness Li Hao was an available conduit. Otherwise, she would’ve been overcome in a split second and turned into a servant of faith. She would be a sad excuse of an exalted emperor who only thought about how to serve mankind.

That was not the life she wanted!

Exalted emperors in the surroundings all avoided Li Hao’s eyes. Some even started whistling and adopted a jaunty, irreverent air. I’m not that kind of person, I’m not absorbing that energy!

“So much faith has been spontaneously produced and there is also trust from one hundred billion humans to deal with.” Void was the only one who showed interest. “Whoever cultivates this dao will become the true human emperor, won’t they?”

“That’s right.” Li Hao nodded with a cough. “This world should be called the world of the human emperor! Granted, it’ll be hard for life to be born on this world even if it has a world origin. Why don’t we go back and study it for a bit, then refine it into the human emperor seal?”

The young man grinned. I’m not cultivating it, in any case. Whoever wants it can have it. I won’t stop anyone from growing stronger or really wanting to serve mankind. Anything’s possible. All I can say is that we’re a bunch of selfish, money-grubbing martial masters. None of us are selfless or self-sacrificing.

If there was such a person among us, they’d jump at absorbing this strength!

“You cultivate the dao of faith.” He turned to the queen. “But aren’t willing to take in this spontaneous eruption of trust and faith. You’re so selfish!”

The queen pursed her lips and didn’t make a sound. The reaction was quietly admitting to what Li Hao had said.

Fine, I’m selfish. Happy now? Do I look like a self-sacrificing saint? Am I one? Am I worthy of being one?

I’m not, okay? And it’s not like you absorbed it either! You shoved it into the bottom of your river, so you obviously don’t want it either. It’s the pot calling the kettle black!

This was simply a minor interlude that passed after Li Hao cursed for a while. Regular people were not suited to cultivate this dao and neither was he. Perhaps the New Martial Supreme Zhang would like it...

Alright, probably not.

The supreme liked New Martial humans, not all humans. If he absorbed this, he would overturn Silver Moon, assuming that he was unaffected by the sense of responsibility within it.

Any possibility was a horrifying thought, so it was better off never being realized!

......

After that incident, Li Hao returned to refining and purifying the five elemental worlds.

“Jadelight, come here!” Yuan Shuo suddenly said.

“......” Li Hao blinked. What did his teacher want now?

Jadelight Sword also stared in the distance. What?

“What are you cultivating Silver Moon’s dao for? Silver Moon’s sword dao is led by Earthturner Sword and half occupied by Sky Sword. You’ll never surpass them if you stay in Silver Moon. Come to me and make your sword dao part of my dao domain. My domain will be open to only you for the rest of my life!”

“......” Everyone around them blinked. A public display of affection?? This old thing seriously did not know the meaning of shamelessness.

Jadelight Sword flushed bright red and scanned the scene. She didn’t say anything. Um... um...

“C’mon!” Yuan Shuo repeated forcefully. “Or do you want to be Hong Yitang’s concubine?”

Hong Yitang’s jaw dropped. The fuck, you old thing? Go on, get out of here! The more the better! The more you take with you, the more spots free up in my dao universe. Everyone wants to be an exalted emperor these days!

Take your woman, I don’t care! Geez!

I even abstained from claiming some sword dao in order to help your woman verify her dao. How dare you not acknowledge the favor I did you! Not only are you using us as a stage for PDA, but you have to get a few digs in at me??

Screw you, old fart!

Jadelight Sword was both awkward and shy. She flew out; the river of dao undulated before she reached her destination. A branch of the river tore off. Since she was just a first rank, it didn’t cause much resource depletion to let her go. Not to mention, she’d reaped quite a harvest from this battle. Nothing would go awry with her switching dao universes.