Li Hao was piecing together the four members of his vanguard when Liu Long volunteered, “I’ll take one of the spots. I’ll send a warning as soon as possible if a seventh rank shows up with their world. My only concern is that they’ll be so quiet that I won’t catch wind of them!”

Someone else joined in after Liu Long broke the silence.

“I’m fast, I can take another side!” Thunderleg didn’t have a good reputation in the martial world, but he was very decisive at times. He stepped forward without hesitation.

Truth be told, everyone was aware of what was on Li Hao’s mind. It was better for those staying back to be weaker and have less potential, because the stronger ones might need to break through even more.

Battles and devouring other worlds were opportunities to advance in one’s cultivation. It was a bevy of chances that was useless for those in these four spots.

Liu Long and Thunderleg clearly understood the line of thinking. Their potential was limited, so they volunteered without hesitation.

“I’ll take a spot!” Golden Spear spoke up.

“Milord, I would like to take root in one direction as well,” the redwood hastily said. “I am a plant spirit, so my senses are stronger. I can stay behind!”

Li Hao was slightly surprised. He’d half expected the other three to volunteer since they were all Silver Moon martial masters. They would know what he was considering. But the redwood tree...

It was being very proactive.

It was once an Immortal level plant spirit nearly starving to death in a ruin. It was now an exalted emperor. This was peak existence for a plant spirit. The redwood tree didn’t know if there were plant spirit exalted emperors present in New Martial, but there’d been none in the years it’d been active.

There were several in Silver Moon these days. It was one, the little tree was one, and General Pagoda was another. This was astonishing compared to the complete lack of plant spirit exalted emperors back in the New Martial era.

And yet... the redwood wasn’t very satisfied anymore.

Lin Hongyu and it were usually tied together as partners. But these days, Lin Hongyu’s status... seemed to be in jeopardy. The western queen had been improving rapidly lately. While Li Hao never expressed anything or deepened his relationship with the queen...

This would not be allowed to stand.

The redwood tree was one of the few sensible plant spirits. Staying in the rear was a thankless task that could easily result in one losing out on opportunities. However, it also depended on who one was working for.

Li Hao was their leader!

Had he ever done wrong by anyone?

Even if the redwood did miss out on certain chances, at the very least, it represented Lin Hongyu. Holding down the fort in the rear and giving up a chance to ascend was a choice that both Li Hao and Lin Hongyu would quietly remember with approval.

Hence, the redwood was actually concerned that someone might take this chance from him. “Milord, I cultivate the path of the chaos and am a plant spirit. I’m actually very similar to chaos beasts! Even if I meet one, they might not recognize me. Or they might think that I’m one of them!

“I rather think that no humans should appear in public, that’s too dangerous! Any who are exposed will likely be killed outright. It’s safer for monster spirits and plant spirits to take on this mission!

“Even if we are discovered, whoever notices us might ignore us. Not to mention, we carry the presence of major worlds on us. They might think that we’re exalted emperors of a Dragon Region major world instead...”

Li Hao listened with interest and didn’t get a chance to say anything before Capsize Sea abruptly concurred, “That’s right, I think the same way! It should be me, redwood, the imperial guard, and General Pagoda staying back!”

This was a prime opportunity for those who’d joined Silver Moon from New Martial. Hence, Capsize Sea quickly jumped on the chance.

“We are monster spirits, which makes us similar to the chaos beasts. There’s also the five worlds that belong to monster spirits in the area. They haven’t erupted in open hostility against the chaos beasts yet.

“There’s only one human world in the region and it’s of the thunder attribute. Any humans who show their faces around here will absolutely draw attention! Your Lordship, it’s tough to say if it’ll be safer with us in the field, but we should be able to more easily adapt to the confusion in the chaos...”

“Very well, then it’s you four!” Li Hao nodded. He cut Liu Long off when the man wanted to say something. “It’s so decided! You guys can go to the four corners around this area. If you encounter an incoming seventh rank, contact me through the river of time using the false worlds that I’ve given you. Don’t think of taking any action yourself!

“I’m also going to make use of this chance to extend the river of time throughout Dragon Region. That will make it easier to contact each other and for me to keep everything under control!” the young man instructed. “The four of you should reach your posts as soon as possible. Once you do, simply place the world into the river!”

He marked four spots on the map. “Will the four of you be able to find your way?”

“......” The four exalted emperors stared speechlessly at him. Of... course? It’s not like we have a bad sense of direction. We're not the Human King!

Li Hao wasn’t thinking enough of them, but there was no helping it. Apart from the little tree being half a Silver Moon plant spirit, the rest were all solidly from New Martial. The Human King getting lost was a renowned occurrence, so the young man felt compelled to double check their sense of direction.

“That’s good.” Li Hao smiled when the plant spirits shook their heads. “We’ll head for Dragon major world’s former location when you guys are in place. Ah, while there’s only Thunder World on the east, that’s also where Thunder Region is. We need to be careful. Redwood, you should take the east. Thunder World might try and start something after the departure of the Dragon master. Be careful of them moving with their world. That might ruin the plan!”

The four exalted emperors nodded and committed everything to memory. Li Hao gave them four minor worlds filled with energy. Immaterial worlds differed from corporeal worlds in that, although they were filled with energy, they did not possess any weight.

It was just dao strength, which could be held within the body.

These four worlds were connected to the star of time. The four locales that Li Hao had set out weren’t too far away. That ensured that communication was possible, which meant that this was currently the most effective way of communicating within the chaos!

The four exalted emperors quickly moved out, leaving behind Silver Moon cultivators frustrated by their own incompetence. New Martial cultivators had stolen the mission to guard the four corners! It made Silver Moon martial masters appear to be timid and incompetent.

Li Hao looked at them, knowing what was going on through their minds. He smiled and didn’t say anything. Competition was very fierce within Silver Moon these days. Everyone was giving all they had to their assigned tasks. Even Celestial Pole and the Pagoda King, two renowned in New Martial for being lazy, tried to undertake some tasks whenever they could.

They were afraid that someone might see them loafing around. Internal competition was fierce for limited resources!

But this was good.

Everyone had been so idle before that they were nearly becoming sick from it. They were deathly afraid that they’d become useless. Li Hao might leave them on Silver Moon then, having them grow old and die with the regular population.

Well, that might be Celestial Pole’s fondest wish, but he couldn’t bring himself to ask for it. He could, but as one of the few mid ranks in the Silver Moon roster, he was concerned that he might be dragged out for a public beating if he didn’t do something with his strength.

So after repeated consideration, he decided it was best to work hard for now.

“C’mon, let’s go. Our destination is Desolate major world!”

This world was a sixth rank of unknown condition. Li Hao only knew that it was very close to Dragon major world’s original location, so it should be directly tied to it. Otherwise, how dare they be so close without some ability to their name?

In that case, it seemed normal that they advanced to seventh rank.

Whether it was to offer congratulations, watch a show, or try to seize such a world, a great deal of attention would be paid to the happenings. And with everyone thinking that Dragon Region was safe... particularly around Dragon major world... then there was nothing to be concerned about.

The seventh rank worlds in the surroundings were very far away. They might not receive word of an ascending sixth rank world, and might not come even if they did. It was a great taboo to brashly enter Dragon’s sphere of influence, particularly as a seventh rank.

It might easily be viewed as insubordination or hostile intent!

......

Li Hao wasn’t thinking that much about the ramifications of his plan, he simply felt that they were moving too slowly. He needed a seventh rank world to arouse public interest, even if he faked one!

Only then could he gather all exalted emperors with the fastest speed possible. As for what undesirable developments might resolve from that... he didn’t care. There was no way back at this stage. He would be exposed sooner or later, so who cared about anything else?

......

Dragon major world’s zone of influence.

A large hole formed in the central region after Dragon major world departed. Even though Dragon master had left with his world, no one dared occupy that territory. It didn’t matter that the chaos strength was denser there or that there were even traces of dao remnants.

Dragon major world had simply set out on a war campaign, it hadn’t been toppled. Who dared take its territory?

There were some sixth rank worlds nearby, ones with the greatest hope of entering seventh rank. Each of their world masters were peak sixth ranks. It was due to this potential that they could live around Dragon major world with their worlds.

Dragon devoured and exhaled chaos strength. It was also enveloped by a dao universe. The major world often shared the pure chaos strength it produced with other worlds around it.

Desolate major world.

This was a sixth rank world of medium strength. The world master was a giant lizard of peak sixth rank, a relative of the dragons. No one knew that for sure, but neither did anyone really care. There were many exalted emperors within that world and it was one of the few worlds that stood a chance of becoming a seventh rank world.

There were many humans on this world as well—constantly toiling away to help propel the world into seventh rank.

Compared to the worlds on the outside, Desolate was much more prosperous than them. It came down harshly on its humans, but not in terms of bloodshed like the worlds on the outer ring. Here, their exploitation was more in the sense of great dao.

Humans here worked very hard to cultivate and comprehend different types of dao. Dragon major world had once given guidance that a world’s great dao must be complete if it wished to become a major world. The more daos the population cultivated and the more they understood, the easier it might be to raise a world to seventh rank.

Humans were very gifted in this department because they could cultivate almost any dao. There were more restrictions imposed on chaos beasts in this aspect—most of them could only focus on one dao, and that was the dao of their inheritance. It might be the only great dao they could cultivate their entire lives.

Countless humans cultivated numbly on the world, training various dao methods that the world master procured from all over. Those with acceptable potential actually lived decent lives. Those without potential... quickly disappeared.

However, those with potential also suffered from an enormous problem, and that was that chaos beasts had decided that if a human had potential, they should produce children.

Weren’t humans great at reproducing?

Since one was talented, then one should have more children. One hundred, one thousand, or even more children...

Cultivators with potential would pass on a certain portion of it to their descendants. It was better than those without potential, at the very least. And so, some human cultivators despaired for their lives. Having children became a mission, a quota to meet each year. Failure to meet it resulted in death...

So whether one had cultivation talent or not, it was a miserable existence all the same.

Chaos beasts disregarded ethics as well. It didn’t matter who humans produced children with, so long as the children had more potential. So whether it was with siblings or parents... chaos beasts didn’t care!

It created a very abnormal world, but the effects were good. The world master was very satisfied that under such oppressive conditions, it could sense that the world had changed over the years. The great dao was more complete.