“You’ll need a lot of energy for this false chaos, right?” asked Void.

“Yep. The queen can provide part of it and we have some reserves of our own too. But that’s not enough. We’ll certainly need more to create a chaos...” answered Li Hao. “We also need to find an absolutely quiet and safe place to put it in. In addition...

“I don’t know enough about the chaos yet. People say that the nine layers of the chaos universe might be the dao of a powerhouse. That means I might need to look for more stuff that I need and observe the structure of the nine layers, as well as the layouts of the worlds. That will help me perfect my dao once more...”

It was an exceedingly complicated process. Li Hao had the ability to slowly perfect his ideas bit by bit after entering seventh rank. He hadn’t been able to do that prior to reaching that cultivation level.

The dao of calamity somewhat helped enhance his strength, but not by much. It was his breadth of vision that’d expanded after he ascended to seventh rank.

A quick flurry of discussion broke out. Instead of stealing or looting from others, they would walk the path of establishing their own chaos universe. It was a good development, but also one filled with difficulties and hassle.

“This is a good proposition that will benefit everyone,” Fog Mountain said after a while. “We naturally support it, of course. Also, you’re right. Mindless slaughter and raids have very little benefit for eighth ranks.

“It is nigh impossible for us to reach peak eighth rank, even ninth, that way. However, it is hard for us to fulfill the conditions required for such a process.”

“That’s why we need a bit more time,” Li Hao nodded. “But at least we have a goal in mind and can make preparations for it! We actually don’t have any concrete goals in the outer regions. It’s just taking things one step at a time.

“There’s pros and cons to such a state of mind. The cons are... the unexpected often crops up because we have no plan. That’s what happened this time and it nearly did us in!”

Nods abounded through the group and more interest flared in what Li Hao had proposed. Crafting a chaos?

It seemed immensely feasible in producing a world, but a chaos? Was that possible?

Li Hao sank into deep contemplation. He’d killed a bunch of powerhouses in the previous battle and devoured an eighth rank dao universe. He’d also obtained a seventh rank dao universe, but in doing so, realized an immense drawback of their current situation.

These dao universes no longer satisfied them as seventh or eighth ranks.

How many dao universes would he have to devour if he wished to reach eighth rank? The same went for the others.

How many people would he have to kill for that and how many worlds would he have to silence?

Energy might be a fixed constant, which wasn’t important. What was important was that the death of one eighth rank didn’t automatically result in the birth of another. It might take ten eighth ranks to produce one...

How much slaughter would have to occur for everyone to become a seventh or eighth rank? Perhaps... it was time to shift gears.

Establishing a chaos and creating more worlds, building a universe that was his entirely... might help everyone more. It would also help him complete his own dao system.

It would be a marvelous experiment.

Li Hao glanced at the longsword in his hand. The Firmament Sword was really quite useless these days! A sixth rank sword could do nothing! It might not be of any use even if it advanced to seventh rank...

There were also a lot of other people who might need to have their eyes opened to what the worlds were. That would broaden their vision. Only then would they have hope of improving one step further. That might also be the key to Silver Moon becoming a seventh rank world.

Various ideas took shape in his mind.

Li Hao didn’t feel the thrill of victory, not only because he hadn’t accomplished anything particularly noteworthy in the battlefield, but because he clearly sensed the lurking threats and a bottleneck to his strength.

His side might be currently caught in a huge bottleneck as everyone had improved too quickly. Almost the entire group had improved again after the war in the four regions. Whether it was the seventh or eighth ranks, none of them had been at this level before.

After the last battle and the deaths of so many powerhouses, only the dao chess advanced one level forward. Li Hao didn’t even bother assessing the queen’s fifth rank strength.

This was not the outcome he wanted.

......

As Li Hao’s group departed the eastern region, all sides began to contact each other. Great trouble was upon the outer regions!

The powerhouses of the four regions were far stronger than they’d imagined. Strength was one thing, the key was that these guys were much too ruthless!

And now there was one less eighth rank world among the eastern region’s host of sixteen. Reincarnation had suffered grave losses and none of the other major worlds were a replacement for it. Few were those on par with Gemini, but Gemini had fallen too!

Could they not panic after both occurrences??

Various eighth rank words began to gather together. Seventh rank worlds also rushed to join them. Li Hao had inadvertently facilitated the unification of the east. Well, one had to say, that was often the effect they exerted in an area.

The scattered forces of the east came together as one. News of the happenings continued to travel toward the west, north, and south.

The four regions had been a tiny place known only for Skyward in the past. Now, a few more names were attached to it. The Human King of New Martial, Thunder Emperor of Thunder World, Li Hao of Silver Moon, and the Light master. Some were familiar with Long Zhan as well. These all became the focus of attention.

......

In the outer regions.

Gemini had been toppled and Reincarnation was gravely injured in the eastern regions. Cloud Dust major world also no longer existed. A seventh rank world was normally an overlord of a region as well. But now, no one cared that it’d vanished.

Granted, Cloud Dust was unique in that, while it was a seventh rank world, its world master was actually a vassal of Chao Sky. This world was an important pawn in the eastern region, so its demise raised a kerfuffle.

Reincarnation had had a great chance of reigning dominant over the east, but after losing three eighth ranks, there was hardly a chance of that.

It was rather the second rank Arctic Frost that suddenly, bizarrely, became the foremost faction of the eastern region. It had three eighth ranks and the world master commanded more than five thousand dao rules. That made for a premier eighth rank.

There was less internal competition in the eastern region these days. Everyone was on tenterhooks!

New Martial, Silver Moon, the Dragon Region, Light...

All of these four region factions were targets to be wary of. They were robbers in the eyes of the outer regions!

The New Martial Human King continued to roam around, terrifying whoever caught sight of him. The worlds in his path dreaded the sight of the man. Wherever he went resulted in an immense fuss.

For the moment, no one dared disturb the area that Thunder World had parked in. Both Fog Mountain and the Thunder master had demonstrated eighth rank strength. Regular worlds didn’t have a death wish in offending these characters.

......

Thunder World.

The Thunder master struggled with a headache. His world was massive and had fully set foot into eighth rank after devouring another eighth rank exalted emperor. This kind of world was very hard to compress and difficult to take with him.

But leaving it here... made it a huge target.

Li Hao’s desire was to keep a lower profile this time, letting the Human King be the visible target. That would free them up to make their plans in the shadows and quietly develop.

But if Thunder World stuck out like a sore thumb... that was an immense hindrance to that notion.

Should the Thunder master devour the world? Then what of the inhabitants inside? What about his exalted emperors? Were they all to become wandering cultivators?

The people likely wouldn’t be able to accept being an eighth rank world in one breath and wandering cultivators the next.

As much of a headache the Thunder master grappled with, so was the Orchid Forest master in the same straits.

He’d left the four regions due to the general unrest found within it, but it’d only been a few days of peace before the outer regions shook violently. The man fully understood at this point that it wasn’t a region being unsettled, but that any place with Li Hao, the Human King, and others was a place where peace would be in short supply.

The Thunder master’s concerns were also his concerns. Contrary to Fog Mountain and the rest, he and the Thunder master had their own worlds. Were they to give up their worlds in order to continue with Li Hao’s escapades?

Should they migrate their population into Ling Yue’s divine nation? Or should they move the people to Great Li World? Or Silver Moon instead?

No matter what, none of the choices were appropriate for the two world masters. They would think that they hadn’t done right by their people. It would be living under another’s roof if they opted for this course of action.

Civilization would end and order would disappear. These would be a people without a homeland then.

Indeed, a homeland.

This concept was faint in the chaos, but a people within a world had their foundations so long as that world remained. Once it was gone... then they were wholly without a home.

The Human King’s New Martial still stood, as did Li Hao’s Silver Moon. That imparted a baseline confidence to the two.

Should they give up their worlds?

While both high ranks were decisive people, they hesitated this time. It was a difficult decision to make.

......

Reincarnation.

Li Hao’s side grappled with hard choices.

Reincarnation major world.

The sudden developments had dealt a grave blow to the world. It was a loss that they weren’t able to recover from. The chance to be overlord of the east was now forever out of reach, and these events might be the fuse that led to Reincarnation’s demise!

The Reincarnation master wore a solemn look on his face. The Human King and the rest were all alive. Their troubles might not be over yet.

The eastern region had lacked an overlord for many years and its forces were not united. Of the sixteen eighth rank worlds—fifteen now, given Reincarnation’s damages—many probably still found the situation too much of a hassle to work together.

Everyone felt that the Human King wouldn’t turn his sights toward them, that he attacked only Reincarnation and Gemini because there was a grudge between them.

But... was that the only motivation for going on the offense?