As Li Hao plotted his next move.

The eastern reaches of Dragon Region.

Massive pillars towered here; lightning shimmered in and out of sight. Thunder Region had existed for an unknown period of time. Chaos tribulations tore through the area in regular times, intimidating anyone who might wish to enter.

Recently, however, it’d entered a lull state. Some bolder folks dipped a toe in to travel between the four regions and the outer regions.

The outside was a massive area, a fact that powerhouses of the four regions looked forward to with great anticipation. Meanwhile, the silenced ninth rank world that was still alive caught the interest of those from the outer regions.

And so, many heavyweights wished to travel through the barrier.

Thunder Region was a perilous place, but there was one world located within it. It was half inside the region and half out.

Thunder World was split into two—thunder and lightning constantly danced through half of it and while the other half was relatively calm, the energy of thunder and lightning crackled through the air.

It was normal for a major world to support more than one hundred billion residents, yet Thunder World was different. It had many powerhouses, but very few weaklings since the environment was not suitable for mundanes. And with Dragon Region having sealed them off for many years, forcing them to take the risk of traveling through Thunder Region for resources from time to time, only thirty billion inhabitants were left after countless years.

This was a seventh rank major world! As much of a desolate backwater Silver Moon had been, it had ten billion to its name. For a seventh rank world to have only three times the population size of Silver Moon... it was clear to see how hard survival was on this world.

Almost half of the world was uninhabitable and only powerhouses could explore cultivation. Tribulations often took place in the other half of the world, resulting in Thunder World housing almost exclusively cultivators, thunder, and lightning.

It was impossible to train any other elements since they did not exist in the world.

The Thunder palace, where the Thunder master was.

It was very simple and crude, endless lightning flashed through the air. A tremendous amount of energy was gathered here, directing the thunderbolts in an organized manner so that they did not destroy the world.

A young exalted emperor hastily walked into the great hall with a look of joy on his face. “Your Majesty, Dragon major world has left!”

The Thunder Emperor was teasing a thunder dragon made of thunder and lightning. He cocked his head and rumbled after a moment, “Left?”

“Yes!” repeated the excited exalted emperor. “It’s news from the outside that Dragon major world is participating in the war between the other three regions! It rushed to Skyward yesterday and four seventh rank dragons pulled it over. The Dragon master will meet the other eighth ranks to jointly march on New Martial!”

“New Martial...” The Thunder Emperor was both surprised and impressed. He knew of New Martial, but had never met their powerhouses. He also knew how difficult it was to deal with eighth rank worlds.

If Thunder World wasn’t situated in Thunder Region, it would’ve long fallen to the Dragon master.

But New Martial had first fought Red Moon, then Blazing Sun, resulting in Skycloud and Dragon joining hands to march on it...

Sometimes, the Thunder Emperor admired them. Thunder and New Martial were both seventh rank worlds—New Martial was the public enemy of the four regions, but Red Moon was the one toppled out of the four. Meanwhile, Thunder World could only struggle for survival on the fringes of the four regions.

“New Martial... What a pity that the humans of the three regions don’t understand that Dragon major world is the true threat!” sighed the Thunder Emperor. Powerhouses of the three regions didn’t understand Dragon Region at all. The Dragon master threatened them all!

However, they were allying with Dragon instead to eradicate New Martial. They were complete fools! They should be allying against Dragon!

Sadly, he couldn’t leave. Even if he did and told the eighth ranks the truth of the region, he would likely be viewed as a joke. Who would care about the survival of a seventh rank world? Especially one in Dragon Region.

Dead is dead, annihilated is annihilated. You guys are poor and have nothing to your name. You have a pathetically small population and have been blockaded by Dragon major world for so many years. All of your exalted emperors are starving. Who’s going to take the risk of saving someone as destitute as you?

“Thunder Emperor, are we able to move our world and leave Thunder Region with Dragon being gone?” The young exalted emperor was still delighted. “Can we go to the other three regions? They’re all ruled by humans, so even if they don’t help us, they shouldn’t turn their weapons against us either...”

Life was too hard here. Thunder World had wanted to leave, many times, but how could they?

It was the same for traveling through Thunder Region. The Thunder Emperor might manage it by himself, but if he did so with his world, half of his people would die in the passage, if not all!

There was no way out for them if they did not depart Thunder Region. Enemies hemmed them in on all sides. Phoenix major world was not too far away. They would have to pass through Dragon Region if they wished to travel to the other three regions.

It wasn’t easy to move a world. Once the Thunder Emperor did so and left Thunder Region, he would truly be moving around with a death wish.

They might make it out of Dragon Region if they follow the edges of Thunder Region... but there were two other major worlds out there. His path would cross theirs if he did so.

Various possibilities ran through the Thunder Emperor’s mind. Such a rare opportunity was at hand with the departure of Dragon major world. His world was nearing the end of its tether and would draw attention from an eighth rank if they did anything.

“Is your information confirmed?”

“Confirmed and verified!” the young exalted emperor hastily responded. “Our people have consolidated reports from all over. They all say the same thing. Dragon major world left openly and were apparently met with powerhouses from the three regions when they exited Dragon Region...”

The Thunder Emperor sank into deep thought. Had the Dragon master really departed? That wasn’t outside the realm of possibility as the three regions were in significant turmoil lately. It was an opportunity for the Dragon master. Thunder World was clearly not as important to him.

There were also eleven other chaos beast worlds in the region. There was no worry of Thunder World running off.

“Has there been any movement from Phoenix and the other worlds?”

“None! It’s business as usual for them.”

The Thunder Emperor patted the tribulation dragon in front of him, like it was the Dragon master.

“There’s no rush,” he said after a while. “Dragon major world has just left and is not mired in fighting yet. We’ll be done for if they simply swing back around!

“But, there’s some preparations we can make. Let’s start with absorbing more dao strength in their absence. Our exalted emperors are empty shells at the moment. Although they have sufficient power of thunder and lightning, chaos tribulations also come with enormous power of destruction. It must be neutralized with a lot of dao crystals...”

He needed to lay hands on some resources first and help his exalted emperors return to peak condition. That would give them the ability to either force their way out of the region or slip away through the shadows.

Perhaps they could relax to an appropriate degree in Dragon major world’s absence. This might be a good time to collect some dao crystals.

“Right... are those guys from outside the regions willing to transact?” asked the Thunder Emperor.

“They are willing...” the young exalted emperor said awkwardly. “But Thunder World... has nothing to transact with.”

That was the most troubling of all. If they had treasures to trade, their liege would’ve long arranged people to head outside the four regions or to conduct business at Phoenix major world. But the truth of the matter was, they were empty on dao crystals.

Although a seventh rank dao universe was adept at converting chaos strength into dao crystals, the chaos strength in the surrounding area had been diverted away for a very long period of time. They did not have dao crystals, minor or mid worlds, battle spoils, or imperial weapons...

What else would exalted emperors want?

“Then dao foundation crystals...” offered the Thunder Emperor after a long period of quiet.

“No!” objected the other. “Thunder Emperor, we cannot use more dao foundation crystals. That is a seventh rank’s comprehension of dao! The more you use or collect means the less understanding of dao you will have. You will lose control over the dao universe...”

That was the exclusive property of a seventh rank!

One could coalesce dao foundation crystals, but that meant transferring one’s dao to another. It wasn’t teaching another, but outright severance and transfer of ownership.

It was also the only treasure that Thunder World had at present. The Thunder Emperor could collect dao foundation crystals of thunder and lightning. One dao foundation crystal was worth several tens of thousands of dao crystals.

“Let’s make the trade first. We need to have everyone at full strength!” sighed the Thunder Emperor. “The chaos tribulation is our best opportunity at extracting strength. It contains unbounded power of thunder and lightning, but the energy of destruction within cannot be expelled. It can only be neutralized!

“If it wasn’t for this, we wouldn’t need anything with our location in the Thunder Region...”

They were all exalted emperors of thunder and didn’t need dao crystals of other elements. But the twist was that chaos tribulations weren’t composed of pure thunder and lightning. If one did not counteract the power of destruction within, it was only a matter of time before the cultivator exploded from it!

It was a cultivation path of self-destruction!

Many in Thunder World ultimately self-detonated because they lacked dao crystals to offset that power.

“What a pity...” sighed the young exalted emperor. Thunder Region was a great place, an ideal cultivation site for thunder cultivators. It would be perfect if chaos tribulations were just pure elemental energy.

If that was the case, then Thunder World might be able to reach eighth rank. It wouldn’t sit on a mountain of treasure and still be struggling for dear life. Its days were harder than a minor world’s!

“Keep a close eye on the movements of the other worlds in the Chaos Alliance!” ordered the Thunder Emperor. He didn’t mind that more of his dao foundation crystals were going to be consumed. “The departure of Dragon major world doesn’t necessarily mean that we’re safe.

“We also need to keep an eye on cultivators from outside regions in recent days. Only a small portion can enter our world, not all. Mid ranks must be treated with even more caution. The Dragon master is already harder to deal with than we imagined. Be careful of letting them infiltrate our home!”

“Understood!” The young exalted emperor quickly left.

The Thunder Emperor breathed out a sigh of relief when he was alone again. Although he presented a strong and dependable front to others, the years had been very long and tiring. Sometimes, he really wanted to abandon Thunder World and just leave.

He would be a carefree wandering cultivator. So what if he didn’t have a major world or dao universe? He could visit the outer regions or quietly travel to the three major regions. But when he had a major world in tow, it was a significant shackle.