“Then... are there worlds in this area that are open to outsiders?” Li Hao inclined his head. “I mean worlds meant for exchange of dao or marketplaces...”

“There are!” Kang Han immediately responded. “There are such worlds located at the layer barriers—the disorderly zone that divides the layers. But they’re not worlds, since those aren’t normally open to the public. They’re chaos islands—artificially created continents.

“Some of these places are occupied by powerhouses, but all are open to wandering cultivators and commerce. They typically guarantee a certain degree of safety, but also charge a protection fee.

“You are free to exchange dao reflections and some wandering cultivators certainly do so. However, the senior also knows that great dao is unique to each person. Even those of the same attribute might not be the same. We also have to be on guard when conversing with another...”

He snuck a careful peek at Li Hao before continuing, “Islands controlled by major worlds are relatively safer. There are more powerhouses there, so transactions involving worlds, dao crystals, weapons, and even dao methods take place. Of course, slaves are also traded as well...”

Slaves?

Li Hao turned the notion over in his mind.

“Do wars happen frequently here?” he asked softly.

“Wars?” Kang Han looked nervously at Li Hao. “Does the senior mean... civil discord, or battles between worlds?”

“The ones between worlds, naturally.”

“There are, but not that many. They’ve been picking up in number lately, though,” sighed the man. “The Exalted Chaos Sky Emperor hails from the west and apparently wants to unify the chaos universe! Other local rulers are furiously expanding their territory as a result. Although the east does not have a definitive ruler, there are many eighth rank worlds.

“They are currently fighting each other, which is burdensome for smaller worlds like mine.” Kang Han shrugged his shoulders helplessly. “It was peaceful enough for the smaller worlds early on, but that’s no longer the case with the appearance of a ninth rank exalted emperor.

“Everything’s a mess. Therefore, quite a few of us have moved toward Thunder Region. We hope to welcome the powerhouses that emerge from the four regions and also gain information. Is it a possibility for us to take shelter in the four regions?”

“Take shelter in the four regions?” Li Hao burst out laughing. It was a hotter mess in there than it was out here! And these guys from the outer regions wanted to head inside... they really dreamed big!

But it was an interesting proposition.

Those of the four regions sought sanctuary outside, whereas those outside wanted to flee inside. Thunder Region had become a line of demarcation that made people think it was a natural refuge.

“Have you ever met the Exalted Spring Autumn Emperor of the south?” Li Hao felt it was a waste of a question as soon as he asked it.

“That is the overlord of the south.” As expected, Kang Han responded awkwardly. “We refer to the four cardinal directions, but they’re simply much too big for mid or low ranks like us. We might spend our entire lives traveling through just the eastern quadrant!”

He hadn’t seen many eighth rank worlds from the east, much less the eastern ruler. Those were prohibitively far away. In the absence of a dao universe, mid or low ranks could only fly!

How long would the flight time be?

It was normal to spend decades or a hundred years on a single trip. Some weaker exalted emperors might die before they arrived at their destination. In light of that, who dared travel too far?

“Is there teleportation in the outer regions?”

“Teleportation?” blinked Kang Han before shaking his head. “We can do so within a world, but the disorderly chaos dao is everywhere out here. It would have to take another visit from the Skyward master to establish a teleportation system here!”

Clearly, they were aware that the Skyward master was a ninth rank of spatial dao.

Li Hao nodded. So it seemed that the outer regions lacked a powerhouse of spatial dao.

“Then... are chaos beasts strong in the outer regions? I mean the chaos?”

“Chao beasts?” Kang Han shook his head. “Not really, but they’re a very big threat to wandering cultivators! Chaos beasts are born in the chaos and lack a home. They devour worlds at will, making them a public enemy.

“Some sectors undergo regular purges of chaos beasts and some islands put them up for sale. There’s one good point about chaos beasts, and that is they can transport a world. If one can be tamed, then moving a mid or minor world is an easy task.

“Many powerhouses specialize in capturing chaos beasts to sell to world masters of mid and minor worlds. Granted, some premier existences might set out to capture seventh rank chaos beasts. That’s beyond our imagination!

“There are some seventh ranks among the chaos beasts—it seems to be easier for them to ascend than humans. They can transport major worlds. For major world masters, it’s worth it to spend their entire fortune to buy a seventh rank chaos beast. Not only will they be able to shift their world around, but the chaos beast can also be a vanguard in battle. Their bodies are very durable...”

“Capture chaos beasts?” Li Hao was rather surprised. “Seventh ranks are hard to capture, no? Are eighth ranks doing the hunting? But the price for their services won’t be cheap. Not that many can afford their wares, right?”

“The price is very high... but I don’t know any of the specifics. I’ve only heard of this...”

Li Hao nodded again. The Dragon master would fly into a rage if he was here. But he wasn’t, and this had nothing to do with the young man.

From Li Hao’s perspective, he’d killed a large sum of chaos beasts because they ate humans. And when it came to the Dragon master, since humans could eat and enslave chaos beasts, why couldn’t his kind do the same in reverse?

This was the innate conflict between different species. The key was, there was a fundamental paradox to chaos beasts. They couldn’t produce worlds, but fed off worlds. If they didn’t, they would find it hard to improve from the messy array of chaos strength in the universe.

With this natural conflict or even hatred in mind, conflict between the two species was inevitable.

“Do you know where Gemini is?” Li Hao asked after some thought.

“Eh?” Kang Han blinked as he rummaged through his thoughts. “I do, they’re the closest eighth rank world to us. They’re in the eighth layer and I’d have to fly three years to reach them from where we are.

“But since the senior is a high rank, you should be able to make the trip in a month. It will be even faster if you utilize your dao universe...”

Travel was speedy with a dao universe at one’s disposal. Li Hao nodded, that wasn’t far. But if even a high rank needed a month... then strictly speaking in terms of scale, that was a frightfully long distance.

The chaos was clearly much bigger than the four regions, but those had been terrifyingly big to Li Hao before!

With his broadened vision, they no longer appeared that overwhelming.

“Is there an end to the chaos?” he asked. There was one in the four regions as they were bordered by Thunder Region. Since the man referred to various cardinal directions, was there another border out there?

“Eh?” Kang Han blinked again. Why did this one love to ask weird questions? “I... really don’t know the answer to that. However, I’ve heard rumors that there is, but that it’s not a typical border.

“Apparently the edge of the chaos is more chaos, but it is so disorderly that you’ll lose your mind if you approach it. You’ll be seized by insanity!”

A zone of no order?

Li Hao mulled over the concept. “No order?”

“Yes, that’s what I heard, but I don’t know the particulars. We’re just weaklings and have never traveled so far. Apparently some high ranks once visited and went insane after. If even high ranks fell to madness...” Kang Han shuddered with horror. “That’s why we don’t dare visit even if we know a bit about it. It’s too dangerous.”

Li Hao sank into deep thought again. The edge of the chaos was more chaos, but it was a zone that completely lacked order. Even high ranks might lose their mind after entering. That degree of disorder was terrifying.

He’d thought that the current chaos was disordered enough. It was highly unfriendly to those yet to verify their dao. Any who ventured off world and was not an exalted emperor would either die or go crazy. But now, the borderlands seemed even more dangerous.

“Then do you guys know where the ninth ranks have gone?”

“What?”

“The Skyward master and the rest,” explained the young man. “They should still be alive, do you know where?”

“What?” Kang Han blinked. “Not dead?”

No way!

Li Hao frowned. So the other didn’t know that the Skyward master was still alive. But he obviously had to be. If he was dead, then the Skyward dao universe would’ve long imploded.

Those who were yet to visit Skyward were unaware of the particulars, but powerhouses that had would’ve made their own judgment call. People such as the Skyward master and master of calamity might still be alive.

In that case, where had they gone? 𝓯𝓻𝓮𝙚𝙬𝓮𝙗𝒏𝙤𝒗𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝒐𝓶

The young man had thought that he would be able to obtain more information in the outer regions, but perhaps Kang Han knew too little because he was too weak. Maybe the powerhouses in the outer regions were unaware as well, or perhaps the ninth ranks were indeed dead.

As for why Skyward’s dao universe remained, perhaps that was a function of it being preserved because it was silenced ahead of time?

Li Hao had once sensed some circumstances, so he knew that it was more likely than not the Skyward master was still alive.

Li Hao glanced at Kang Han while various thoughts rose in his mind. A fourth rank... was not weak, but he knew too little.

“My apologies for another question... but are there premier powerhouses that teach dao in the chaos?”

“......” Kang Han looked awkwardly back at the young man. Why... would you ask a question like that? Of course not!

Li Hao fell silent at the reaction.

“So none of the premier heavyweights of the chaos are willing to share their dao?” he said after a long moment. While this was to be expected, it was still a pity for that to actually be the case.

What a shame.

Li Hao was very interested in conversing about dao. He wanted to collect ten thousand of them, but the caveat to that was understanding these daos. He’d seen many of them and studied them, but most of his daos were not strong. Only a premier powerhouse’s dao was strong enough.

One conversation and one sparring match might be worth a million years of meditation.

“Probably not...” Kang Han elaborated stiltedly. “But that might happen if you join a faction. Some seventh and eighth ranks regularly hold lectures within their worlds...”

But they weren’t open to outsiders.

Li Hao nodded in understanding. He’d come to a general overview of the outer regions. This one didn’t know any further details. After a while, the powerhouses under his banner returned.

“We found an uninhibited place to settle down at for now,” said the Thunder master. “We don’t stand out since the world of emptiness is obscuring us. But... no one lives here despite the dense concentration of chaos strength. There are no worlds at all. Life is certainly lavish in the outer regions...”

He’d lived such a dismal existence in comparison. Thunder World had been blockaded for many years and the nearby chaos strength stripped away. Regular people didn’t care about that, but he did.

They’d chosen an excellent place with very dense chaos strength. It was much denser than some places in the four regions. Major worlds needed to eat as well. Producing dao crystals was difficult when they lacked sufficient chaos strength.