“If the Skyward master and the rest are still alive,” the Dragon master suddenly said to Red Moon. “Do you think they refuse to return because they cannot, or because they’ve yet to accomplish their mission? Are they lingering somewhere out there out of a refusal to return?”

“Well...” Red Moon frowned slightly.

“Red Moon!” Long Zhan tilted his head at the human. “You are a smart person. Those who are dumb have long died!”

Red Moon didn’t know what to say to that.

“Perhaps they are unable to return?” he offered after a long pause. “Or perhaps their return will result in massive consequences. Apparently more than one ninth rank left back in those days. Such a contingent of powerhouses is almost invincible in the chaos. Since they have no equal, can anyone kill them?”

“Then what kind of circumstances do you think...can prevent this band of ninth ranks from returning?” nodded Long Zhan.

“I do not know.” Red Moon shook his head.

“It either has to do with the chaos itself or a cultivation level behind ninth rank. Or... they have turned on each other,” smiled Long Zhan. “Perhaps there is a clash between order and disorder? You are right, who knows the actual truth?

“You share a deep feud with New Martial and Silver Moon.” The dragon gave Red Moon his full attention. “The dao of desire should be very strong, but I do not sense that from you...”

Red Moon didn’t make a sound. Was he being jeered at?

“Human hearts are complicated, as are cultivator hearts,” the Dragon master said quickly. “Everyone has desires. It fills any place they occupy. There is no reason for such a strong dao to be so weak! Growing stronger is a desire, staying alive is a desire, everything is a desire...

“Red Moon!” The Dragon master once more considered the man. “I’ll help you if you help me, alright?”

“How does... the Dragon master wish for me to help you?” Red Moon asked warily.

“Skyward will need a vast sum of dao strength to revitalize.” Long Zhan took a deep breath. “It needs a lot of things and to satisfy a lot of requirements. The desires of weaklings take a long time when it comes to cultivation, but what about powerhouses? How about a group of powerhouses or even... the desire of a ninth rank?

“Do you think the Skyward master wishes for his dao universe to awaken or not?” The dragon stared intently at Red Moon. “No matter what, does he have any desire in him? He must. In that case, I will stimulate his desire for you to absorb. In return, I will absorb the strength of Skyward. How about it?”

Red Moon’s eyes widened. He understood.

The dragon was guessing that the Skyward master was still alive, but had his sights set on the dao universe all the same. He didn’t want to simply inherit it anymore, but to lure the Skyward master into sending forth a large sum of dao strength for Long Zhan to absorb and cultivate.

Red Moon’s part in this was to absorb a portion of the desire.

“Whether it is Fang Ping or Li Hao, they are improving so very rapidly,” Long Zhan said softly as Red Moon considered the idea. “Fang Ping killed Drifting Life in the last battle and Li Hao ended Earth Yang. Can you kill an eighth rank, Red Moon?”

The human was silent for a while before shaking his head. It would be very hard to, if not outright impossible.

He’d lost his dao universe and world without extracting much strength from it before he cut himself off. He was just managing to retain eighth rank strength. It would be a tall order to kill an eighth rank.

He would be lucky enough not to be killed in return.

“Since you aren’t confident enough to kill an eighth rank, you’ll fall to their hands sooner or later!” laughed the Dragon master. “Are you unwilling to take a risk for once?”

“It’s too dangerous,” exhaled the Red Moon master. “You...”

You are not simply inheriting dao comprehension, but taking it by force and even luring the other into appearing. The Skyward master is a premier existence even among ninth ranks, no?

Are you really that unafraid of death?

“It’s because it’s dangerous that the harvest will be rich. How will you reap anything if you’re always afraid of your own shadow? Li Hao’s group always puts their life on the line and profits handsomely from it. Are you... sure that you don’t want to give it a try?”

“Then if... we’re trapped by him... or... he returns and descends through the dao universe...” Red Moon was highly conflicted.

“Then we die!” Long Zhan proclaimed calmly. “Clearly, we are unable to fight a real ninth rank, so there will be nothing left to do then but die! But whether it is Thunder Region or Skyward, they have stood here for one million years with no signs of these people’s return.

“Are they going to do so this time? If we’re that lucky, then we can just wait for death!” laughed the dragon. “Compared to the crisis at hand, don’t you think that it’s thinking too much to be considering this?”

“Then I... just need to swallow the strength of desire coming from him?”

“Or rather, it can be put this way. It will be a desire related to reviving his dao universe. In my eyes, whether he wishes to reawaken or extend his strength to us, these actions will come with a goal. Desire can be found within a goal, you can devour it all!

“If you do not further improve, you will soon fall behind in a chaos filled with eighth ranks. You have less than three thousand dao rules at your command!”

“Then I’ll... give it a try.” Red Moon nodded decisively when he heard the last of the Dragon master’s analysis.

“Very well,” the dragon smiled. “There’s no rush. You can make your preparations while we wait for the best timing! If we do not gain absolute force, the day we walk out of the Thunder Region might be the day of our doom.

“This rare period of peace is a golden opportunity for us. Li Hao’s group is outside, buying time for us to develop.”

Red Moon didn’t know what to say. Can the situation be interpreted this way?

Perhaps.

......

Time continued to pass.

The New Martial Human King remained busy, sowing apprehension and alarm wherever he went.

Some of the eighth rank worlds in the eastern region began to discuss an alliance, albeit at a slow pace. With a visible threat in their sights, those who would have never worked together before began to lean toward a partnership.

The vanished New Martial main world was a significant threat in their eyes. In addition, the close proximity of Thunder World also agitated some powerhouses.

At the same time, Reincarnation shut its world gates tight and seemed immersed in the pain of losing three eighth ranks. Led by Arctic Frost, the various worlds of the east opened lines of communication with each other. Reincarnation was left out of these efforts.

A discussion was held for many days and a decision was ultimately at hand.

In a snowy-white palace on Arctic Frost, its world master thought matters over before saying, “Those who come from the four regions are highly dangerous. The New Martial Human King is working alone, but immense in battle. New Martial’s whereabouts are unknown, but Thunder World is close at hand!

“We shall eliminate Thunder World first and dispose of this thorn in our sides. That will restore tranquility to the eastern region...”

After numerous days, the assembly agreed to eradicate Thunder World first. If not, having an eighth rank world hovering on the sidelines was very troublesome.

“Silver Moon might wish to convene with Thunder World, but their strength is less than New Martial. Fog Mountain and the Thunder Emperor are both eighth ranks, fortified by numerous seventh ranks.

“We must strike fast and with complete devastation if we wish to dispatch them...” Arctic Frost considered the strategy to take. “We are currently in touch with only twelve eighth rank worlds and fourteen seventh rank worlds. If we are truly going to work together, then we must mobilize five eighth ranks and more than ten seventh ranks.

“That is the most surefire way to undertake this endeavor. The rest are to stay behind on guard, in case New Martial takes advantage of the opening!”

There were more than fifteen eighth ranks gathered from the twelve eighth rank worlds, but not all of them could be deployed on a campaign. That would be too risky. Some needed to remain and hold down the fort.

Five were certainly enough for their purposes. One should always pick on an easy target. Silver Moon appeared to be that target.

In addition, Silver Moon King Li Hao had demonstrated some unusual abilities in the fighting. He was able to teleport through the chaos without requiring the use of a major world. That ability was very dangerous to them all!

The young man had to be disposed of. Otherwise, he would be a continuous threat with how few ripples his transportation method generated. They needed to take advantage of when he was weak.

“Is there a need to notify Reincarnation?” someone asked.

Arctic Frost wanted to say that Reincarnation only had one eighth rank left, so he clearly wouldn’t send himself into battle. Not to mention, I’m the boss here!

But he smiled upon further thought and nodded. “Sure, let’s send him a message. We know the troubles he’s been beset by, so Reincarnation only needs to support us with two or three seventh ranks!”

That was just as well! Reincarnation needed to put their back into things as well. They couldn’t send the sole eighth rank they had left, a few seventh ranks would do. If they died... it would be just as nice to further weaken Reincarnation.

The group quickly reached a consensus. One had to say, Li Hao’s presence always prompted people to work together. This occasion was no exception. The long scattered eastern region was managing to pull together with some unity for once.

......

Reincarnation sneered when he received his message. “It looks like Arctic Frost is tossing their hat into the ring to be the eastern overlord! Unfortunately for them, this position isn’t so easily filled. Send people to answer his request. Two or three won’t be enough. Send four!”

He looked at the weak eighth ranks next to him and considered his comrades.

“Let’s take advantage of their desire for Thunder World to find the Human King and kill him! If we can’t do that, we need to dig up New Martial and expel them from the region!”

The newly revived Drifting Life gnashed his teeth with hate. “I’m going to kill that guy!”

The Reincarnation master had paid an untold price to resurrect them. They’d lost some of their battle strength for it, but managed to retain eighth rank strength.

However, the price really had been steep.

Those brought back from the dead had nearly halved their lifespans. Cultivators typically did not have to worry about their lifespans at eighth rank, but now they could clearly sense that they had much less time to live.

There were also the corpses of the eighth ranks, seventh ranks, dao crystals, and world origin that the world master had expended...

The consumption was frightful. Not to mention, Reincarnation had become a Chaos Sky vassal. Although it was an alliance in name, Drifting Life recognized it becoming a vassal world.

Their dreams of becoming overlord of the east were no more!

The Reincarnation master flicked a glance at Drifting Life and said faintly, “You died once already, don’t be so impulsive anymore. One resurrection is fine, but two or three times... You might die from limited lifespan as soon as you’re revived a second time, to say nothing of the resources required. You’re already half dead now, do you understand?”

Drifting Life burned with hatred, but could only nod. The last battle had been too awful. He was even slightly afraid of the Human King now.

The Reincarnation master said nothing else, but looked into the distance at where Thunder World was. Arctic Frost had discussed amongst themselves for many days, but Thunder World was yet to transport away or disappear. What did these guys of the four regions have going through their minds?

Did they think that those of the eastern region wouldn’t join hands against them? That would be too childish if it was their line of thinking. The eastern region wouldn’t come together in ordinary times, but if someone was a fatal threat to them, cooperation was a given.

The Reincarnation master put the matter out of mind. It saved him a lot of trouble since Arctic Frost wished to attack these guys.