Everyone was in a good mood. They weren’t nervous about taking shelter in Thunder Region. In fact, it was good for the tribulations to be stronger. Otherwise, the Dragon master would charge right in.

Void’s cultivation level stabilized and the dao chess was in high spirits as well. Number Two had fully descended upon this plane of reality. Its four stubby legs drew Panther’s interest. The two dao masters had also taken in a lot of energy.

Yuan Shuo had set foot into fourth rank, as had Yuan Shuo, Lin Hongyu, and the queen. He Yong and Deputy Zhou were well on their way to fourth rank.

Almost everyone had improved in their cultivation level. Silver Moon had even produced a few new exalted emperors. There were a few more spots available after the world set foot into sixth rank. Some of the later generations were starting to verify their dao as well.

The world as a whole had taken a huge leap forward, but Li Hao now owed a great deal of debt.

He’d paid off what he owed to Number Two and Void, but was deeper in the hole when it came to the dao chess. He was now short one eighth rank universe and owed the Human King a seventh rank dao universe.

The young man had thought he might end up with a seventh rank world after all of his efforts. But as it turned out, both seventh rank worlds had gone to the Thunder master.

The situation had been so critical then. If the Dragon master did not return, yet the Thunder master set foot into eighth rank... Li Hao had been prepared to eradicate all of the seventh ranks.

What a pity that he’d fallen one step short. He would have six more worlds if he’d succeeded. The young man would be truly rich then.

Li Hao himself was still a sixth rank. He hadn’t created more minor worlds, but his one thousand worlds were on a completely different footing now compared to before.

Meanwhile, the scrap metal that was the Firmament Sword had only made it to sixth rank after devouring so many seventh rank corpses. Li Hao was very disappointed in the weapon. It was such a piece of trash!

There’d been so many seventh rank chaos beasts. Although much of their dao strength had dissipated, it should’ve made it to seventh rank at the very least!

But it was only sixth rank. How discouraging!

Li Hao didn’t dwell on everyone’s gains. He looked at the Thunder master with a question. “How much time will it take for us to ford Thunder Region?”

“Under normal circumstances, at top speed, and without encountering danger, it would be forty-five minutes at most. It’s hard to say, though, once we encounter danger. We might be trapped and killed in here!

“Also, this is just Thunder Region itself. We have to pass through some thunder pillars if we want to exit the region. Those are equally dangerous. I wanted to make the journey once and leave with Thunder World, but the pillars erupted and nearly destroyed the world. I had to give up and return to the four regions.”

The Thunder master sighed with the memory. That had been back in the day, when he was weaker. He was an eighth rank now!

“Does Fellow Daoist Hao Moon know the dao of destruction as well?” he couldn’t help but ask.

Li Hao nodded.

“Powerhouses of my world once tried walking that path, but it doesn’t hold up against chaos tribulations as well as we thought,” remarked the puzzled Thunder master. “Why does it seem that the fellow daoist is unscathed after facing a seventh rank tribulation?”

This greatly confused him. He readily admitted that Li Hao was strong, but one thing that everyone overlooked was that Li Hao had faced his own tribulation giant the entire time in the earlier battle. The cat had devoured it for many people, but the young man hadn’t needed that service.

It would seem that a seventh rank tribulation didn’t have much of an effect on Li Hao. Why?

Was that due to the power of destruction? Surely not.

“It’s not just the power of destruction, but also a certain strength of calamity,” Li Hao explained with a smile. “There are at least eight thousand daos in the chaos tribulations and I’ve only become acquainted with some of them. That is enough for me to absorb a great deal of tribulation strength...

“Since the Thunder master is an eighth rank, you also know that tribulation thunderbolts are not just destruction and lightning!”

The man paused at the declaration, then nodded thoughtfully. “That’s true. I’ve given it thought before, but couldn’t analyze it. I only know that there is destruction and lightning...”

“It’s hard to decipher, I can’t do it either.” Li Hao nodded.

How can you negate its strength if you can’t analyze it either? wondered the Thunder master.

Li Hao sat down cross-legged, not minding whether the ground was clean or dirty. The crowd’s interest was piqued and they sat down to listen as well. The Thunder master was unused to this manner of conversation, but quickly sat down too when he saw that he was the only one standing.

“I’ve been attempting to capture tribulation strength lately and decompose it through time,” explained Li Hao. “When the seventh rank tribulation hit me, you might not have noticed that I responded with the star of time. Time is composed of ten thousand daos!

“I used time to perform a cursory analysis of the tribulation. That’ll do for now, which results in tribulations having a limited effect on me. That’s because I’ve disassembled part of its strength!”

Although Thunder World sat in Thunder Region, Li Hao had certain thoughts in mind.

“Thunder Region looks to have been set up by a major powerhouse, perhaps a ninth rank. It might have been the Skyward master or a dao master of calamity. The tribulations here might not be the result of chaos, but man-made.”

“A dao master of calamity?” blinked the Thunder master. Who?

“This is all just speculation,” Li Hao continued. “I’m saying this because I wondered why chaos tribulations could gather here. You mentioned that there are a lot of thunder pillars around that produce tribulations. Therefore, my thoughts are that the pillars are dao squares!”

“Are what?” The Thunder master didn’t understand. It was rather the dao chess that responded.

“Do you mean to say that Thunder Region is similar to a weapon like me, that each pillar represents a dao, and that all of them become the force of destruction?”

“Based off what the Thunder master has said, yes.” Li Hao nodded. “Why are there unending chaos tribulations here? This place can’t continuously challenge the limits of chaos order, can it? So there are two possibilities.

“One, this place can produce its own tribulations as a function of those pillars. That would mean that the thunder pillars are daos of a dao net. Each pillar is on dao. There are more than eight thousand pillars in Thunder Region!

“Two, there was an unparalleled heavyweight or possibly a powerhouse of time, or of daos of two extremities, who deployed their domain here. That in turn attracted the chaos tribulations. However, that doesn’t seem likely since this place is quiet when there are no trespassers.

“Therefore, I theorize that the Thunder Region is actually a place to comprehend dao! It is a place to understand the dao of calamity. Such a dao master might have once appeared in the four regions, or perhaps the Skyward master is familiar with it. They set up the Thunder Region as a result.

“Of course, eight thousand is just my speculation. I’m guessing that there might be more than nine thousand. Spatial dao is comprised of 9,999 daos. Calamity dao might rival it.”

“So you mean that this region is actually a cultivation site??” asked a shocked Thunder master. “That each pillar is a line in the dao net?”

As an eighth rank, even a newly ascended one, he had certain thoughts about the great dao. He wouldn’t have reached his heights if he didn’t.

The Thunder master was extremely shocked. He looked at the young man with skepticism. You’ve never been out of the four regions. Is this kind of conclusion believable?

“Why else would Thunder Region appear out of nowhere?” nodded Li Hao. “I’m more curious why it’s the four regions being surrounded. Is that because of the Skyward master? Or some other reason?

“In addition... is it meant to protect Skyward? That will prevent powerhouses from entering Skyward before it is fully revitalized. If not, countless powerhouses from the outer regions would’ve long dismantled it.”

There were many heavyweights in the four regions, but even more in the outer regions. They’d easily sent two eighth ranks to the battlefield—that was clearly not the sum total of their strength. There might even be a ninth rank in the outer regions.

So why didn’t they all come to the four regions?

The answer to that might have to do with Thunder Region.

“I’m curious and would like to take a look around outside.” Li Hao looked beyond the world. “I’ve been cultivating the sword dao of calamity lately, but right now, it’s only the dao of destruction. It’s not quite calamity yet. If the truth is as I surmise, then chaos tribulations won’t be able to harm me in the future!”

He was getting tired of thunderbolts crashing into him. They fried his hair for no good reason. I’ll just absorb them when I comprehend the dao of calamity. That will put an end to them. Who likes sizzling day in and day out?

“But the Dragon master might enter Thunder Region with his powerhouses...” said the Thunder master. Are we really not going to consider running for our lives? How are you in the mood to spend more time here?

To be honest, the Dragon master wanted to take in the sights in the outer regions as well. He’d been confined to the four regions for too long; he was sick of them. Life was too difficult here. The slate would be wiped clean out there.

No one will know of my tragic past, I’ll just be an eighth rank! I’ll dominate the scene for once. It’s so humiliating living in Dragon Region. I’m kept underfoot everyday.

“It won’t happen that quickly,” Li Hao assessed. “I’m not familiar with the Dragon master, but he’s certainly someone to plan before he acts. He’s a tyrant and an overlord with vision. That’s apparent from those marching beneath his banner.

“If nothing unexpected takes place, he’ll spend some time pacifying his people and then... if he’s really going to march into battle... it’ll be against the monster spirits and not me!”

“The monster spirits?” repeated the Thunder master. “We killed so many of his subordinates and Phoenix was even one of his dao partners. Do you really think he’ll still focus on the monster spirits first and not us?”

“It’ll definitely be them!” Li Hao said assertively. “He knows that you’ve devoured two major worlds and may have set foot into eighth rank. Meanwhile, I can wield time. He might not have guessed that before, but he’ll certainly know that now given his strength. Add with New Martial watching from the sidelines...

“While I don’t know what’s happened to Skycloud and the others, they are most likely no longer threats. That makes us and New Martial the biggest threats!”

So he’ll definitely eliminate the smaller threats first. That will strengthen himself too. Although there are eighth ranks among the monster spirits, some of their powerhouses might surrender when the Dragon master appears on the scene.

Only the Ironeaters will fight to the last.

He’d seen it when they chased the chaos beasts. Some monster spirits hadn’t been willing to go after their enemies and just wanted to play for time. If the Ironeaters hadn’t forced them into action, they might not have rebelled at all.

Hence, the eight monster spirit exalted emperors were the easiest to subdue.

I’d take them on first too if it was me!