“I don’t know, Ironeater might start a war with the foreigner once he finds Li Hao. The foreigner was a peak seventh rank back in the day and could be an eighth rank now...” chuckled the Dragon master. “The continued unrest throughout the four regions will have elicited attention from a certain portion of chaos heavyweights.

“It’d be one thing if they remained unaware, but as soon as they see Ironeater emerge from the four regions... He nearly killed one of their own back in the day. Why not take revenge when the opportunity is at hand?

“In that case, if Li Hao dares bring Ironeater into the fold, he’ll have to be prepared for the trouble that ensues. Based on what I know of Li Hao, if he does accept Ironeater, he will readily shoulder the burden that the monster spirit comes with!”

That would grant the Dragon master enough time to bring all of the four regions under control. Everything could wait until after he consolidated this territory.

“Give Fire Pig, Iron Eagle, and Bull’s worlds to the Human King!”

“What??” Black Tiger jerked with utter shock.

The Dragon master didn’t explain himself. He looked at the newly surrendered monster spirit seventh ranks with a smile. “The general population of these three worlds, including the one of the tattered Ironeater major world, will be moved to Flying Wolf major world!

“I’ve reached an agreement with New Martial and Light for them to withdraw in exchange for three major worlds. I can’t be bothered with haggling further since one matter less at this point in time is preferable to one matter more. Do the three world masters have any opinions otherwise?”

The three seventh ranks remained quiet. Did they have any opinions?

They couldn’t voice them even if they did.

They’d thought they could keep their worlds upon surrendering, but the Dragon master promptly gave them to the Human King!

Meanwhile, the two Flying Wolf seventh ranks inwardly rejoiced. So it looked like their world would be preserved?

“Flying Wolf is now the most preeminent world among monster spirits,” smiled the Dragon master. “The Ironeater master has fled and his world has collapsed. That leaves the two Flying Wolf masters as the leaders of the monster spirits!

“There are some monster spirit worlds among the three regions, with even some major worlds to be found. There aren’t many of those, but there are some. I will have to ask you two to exert yourselves and make some trips to suppress or recruit those monster spirits for me!

“With New Martial’s departure, the four regions will soon be united!” The Dragon master continued, “I do not wish for life to descend into abject misery and suffering. It is best if we can coexist peacefully. Whether it is monster spirits, humans, or chaos beasts, it will be a general blessing if we can maintain harmonious relations with each other!”

The two Flying Wolf exalted emperors readily agreed. This wasn’t a difficult task to accomplish. After New Martial’s exit, the Light master probably wouldn’t dare a move, even if he remained put. The Dragon master had three eighth ranks and several dozen seventh ranks under his banner.

Although there were quite a few seventh ranks among the powerhouses of the three regions, they weren’t of one mind. Would they dare rise in rebellion?

Finally, the Dragon master looked around him and settled on Feng Yan with regret.

Phoenix was dead!

Phoenix had been a very important right hand woman to him. She’d accomplished a lot of tasks for him over the years, such as installing large numbers of spies and pawns in the three regions. And now she was dead...

“You should be aware of the situation on Phoenix.” He turned to Feng Yan with a shift in mood. “Your mother should have given you instructions while she was still alive. The four regions are about to become one and some of them have people that your mother put in place. I want you to contact them to either persuade the worlds they’re on to surrender and swear allegiance to me, or be eliminated!

“Only after we conquer the four regions will we have sufficient resources to propel some powerhouses to higher levels.

“A ninth rank has been born in the outer regions—he is busy conquering them. Meanwhile, Skyward is about to revitalize in the four regions. This is a secret locale that all sides are keeping tabs on and will not easily give up...”

Feng Yan nodded. Her eyes shone with worship.

“Dragon master, it is taxing to unify the chaos, even as a ninth rank,” she couldn’t help but ask after some thought. “If the ninth rank is not of the chaos race, then there is no need to vie for status like this. If they are human, then they are a natural overlord. Why conquer other territories like he is pursuing?”

She didn’t understand the ninth rank’s actions. Were they pursuing this course of action for power and reputation?

The Dragon master did so because he had no other choice. Chaos beasts were hunted throughout the chaos and discriminated against. They would be forever on the run and prey if he had not made a portion of the chaos his own.

And with chaos beasts normally carrying a world inside themselves, killing a chaos beast meant untold gains.

Hence, the Dragon master had led his kind to carve out territory of their own. It put an end to the constant humiliation. That was why he sought to conquer the universe. But why did that Chaos Sky do so?

The Dragon master hadn’t understood it before either, but now had new theories in mind. “Chaos Sky might not be a true ninth rank! He might be advancing toward ninth rank or have sensed the threshold. There are benefits to unifying the chaos, the foremost of which is establishing order!

“Order is the best method through which we can set foot into ninth rank!”

Order?

Confusion appeared on many faces.

“In the eyes of the humans, the chaos race is the greatest factor of instability as we wander throughout the universe,” sighed the Dragon master. “That is why we become their priority kill target as soon as we set foot outside the four regions.

The Dragon master’s eyes narrowed. At his level and being free of Dragon major world, he’d discovered that the path of ninth rank had much to do with the existence of order. It might be a shortcut that didn’t require the complicated assembly of a myriad daos as one.

Chaos beasts were the largest existence of disordered beings within the chaos! They were completely without rhyme or reason and wandered all over, devouring worlds and attaching themselves to chaos dao...

If chaos beasts were not eliminated, how was Chaos Sky supposed to craft his order? He should be stronger than the Dragon master, perhaps having comprehended seven thousand or even eight thousand daos. Or perhaps a bit less than eight thousand, but having other fortuitous opportunities to draw from.

He likely wasn’t a real ninth rank.

At the moment, he was taking in people from all sides in order to craft order and his own system of dao rules. He was preparing to truly set foot into ninth rank!

Many chaos beasts present didn’t understand the theory of what the Dragon master spoke of, but they grasped the connotations within.

“So my liege means that we might have to fight that ninth rank, whether or not we exit the four regions or not?” Black Tiger asked in a muffled voice.

“That’s right,” nodded the Dragon master. “Based on my speculations, the ninth rank may not be purely conquering the chaos for the sake of conquering. He’s building his own order to truly pave his way to ninth rank!

“Our obstruction will result in severing his dao, which will result in a death feud! But will the chaos race be stopped just like this? Therefore, there is bound to be a fight between us!”

A grave atmosphere settled over the crowd. How had they suddenly gained a ninth rank enemy?

Even though the Dragon master said that the other might not be a true ninth rank, the outer regions all claimed that one to be a ninth rank. Whatever cultivation level he was, the mysterious powerhouse was clearly very strong. Could... the Dragon master put up a fight against him?

“We take the four regions both to strengthen ourselves and to make preparations for Skyward’s dao universe,” continued the Dragon master. “The dao universe was fashioned by a premier ninth rank. It is immensely formidable.

“If we can seize it, we will be able to study it in detail. I wouldn’t go so far as to say that an ascension to ninth rank is guaranteed. In addition, we want it to also prevent the humans from obtaining it. Otherwise, they might be the ones to gain a ninth rank instead.”

The Dragon master looked toward Light major world with a smile. “The New Martial Human King and Silver Moon Li Hao are premier geniuses born of the four regions. The last thing they want to do is bow their heads to another!

“Throwing them out of the four regions... might give rise to some unexpected surprises! One side needs to conquer the chaos to complete his path to ninth rank. These prickly humans will be a thorn in his side that he needs to clean up. Otherwise, they will ruin his order!

“As opposed to exerting ourselves to kill them, we can just let them fight amongst themselves!”

The Dragon master seemed thoroughly convinced of an inevitable clash between the two sides. There would be quite a show to watch then.

The assorted chaos beasts didn’t understand their liege, but found his proclamations to be grand. Black Tiger didn’t say anything, even though it thought giving three major worlds to the humans was akin to supplying the enemy.

The Dragon master had already let Ironeater and the other seventh rank go to Li Hao. Since he wished to hand over three more worlds and their dao universes... so be it!

As much of a pity that Black Tiger found it to be, he trusted that the Dragon master would lead them all to a brighter future.

......

At the same time.

The Human King looked into the distance and sighed with amazement. “The five monster spirit worlds have capitulated. That was fast!”

Not that many had died in the process. It seemed that the Dragon master didn’t want to kill too many throughout the course of reunification?

The Light master was incredibly conflicted. The monster spirit worlds were no more, but they’d been helmed by eight seventh ranks. The Ironeater master was said to be strong at peak seventh rank. While he wasn’t an eighth rank, the gap between those two levels wasn’t that great.

But they were gone, just like that?

The Dragon master hadn’t even participated in the skirmish. If that was the case... Light would clearly be unable to resist the others once New Martial left. And being the only eighth rank world not under chaos beast rule, Dragon Region would certainly target him.

“Human King... will you really not consider staying?”

“We’re no match for them at the moment, so why stay? It’s more fun outside!”

“......” Very well then! It looked like there was no persuading him otherwise. “Then... if we leave... are you able... to take my world with you?”

“Of course!” chuckled the Human King. “I’ll leave Yin and Yang behind so Big Cat can take Light major world. No problem.”

The fuck?! The Light master barely repressed an eye roll.

The Human King looked merrily at him, waiting for the man to make a decision. The Light master was incredibly conflicted, so very conflicted!

This was an eighth rank major world! Could one give it up just like that?

If he could, then he wouldn’t be the Light master. He might have become a powerhouse on par with the Dragon master a long time ago. Desire, greed, and reluctance were the keys to curtailing powerhouses.

Even though they were well aware of the benefits of giving up the world, they still couldn’t bear to do so.

“Then I’ll use a sixth rank world to hold my people,” sighed the Light master after a long while. “Can the Ash Emperor help move that?”

“Of course!” The merry Human King remained looking at him.

“I’ve ruled over Light major world for almost one million years!” said a resigned Light master.

“Mmhmm, I know,” nodded the Human King. You don’t need to say that. Just tell me how you want to handle it. Are you giving it to me or not?

I won’t force you into it, but if you don’t give it to me... I’m leaving after we get to the outer regions. You won’t be able to sit with us.