Sovereigns Fall Like Rain

Eighth-rank worlds were destroyed one after another. At that very moment. Outside the Thunder Realm. Li Hao slashed out with his sword, marshaling the power of a thousand worlds, and the Giant Elephant Realm Lord roared with frenzied fury! Its colossal form swelled until it was as vast as a star. Compared to it, Li Hao seemed like a speck of dust, yet that dust-like sword strike left a bloody hole piercing right through its gigantic body! Blood erupted outward like a surging river, gushing like a geyser! The Giant Elephant Sovereign roared and thrashed once more. At this moment, its overwhelming might obliterated the lightning giant above its head. Though covered in lightning scars, it had finally freed itself from the hacking and slashing of the tribulation. These lightning giants were apportioned strictly according to the number of people present—one per person, scrupulously fair. If you killed yours, the others would not come looking for you in the short term. Of course, this was only the first wave. This time, there might well be more than one wave. Once a large number of cultivators and Sovereigns were slaughtered, a second wave might very well begin. Li Hao paid that no mind. Having dispatched its lightning giant, the Giant Elephant Sovereign could finally free up its focus. Roaring in fury, it charged toward Li Hao, its gigantic tusks threatening to tear heaven and earth apart! Trading blows, suppressing, defeating, slaying... These were four entirely distinct stages! Li Hao was far from weak at this moment. Having fused two Great Dao universes, he could not claim to be invincible among seventh-ranks, but he was fully on par with a Realm Lord. Even so, killing the Giant Elephant Sovereign was far more difficult than killing the Earth Dragon and the two Dragon Clan Sovereigns had been. Even though the creature was wounded, scorched by lightning, and had one of its gigantic hooves severed by his sword... It could still fight! Only at a moment like this could one truly appreciate how astonishingly powerful one had to be to slay a seventh-rank Realm Lord inside their native world. It required far more might than he currently possessed. The Human King of Xinwu had once accomplished such a feat by slaying the Lord of Extreme Darkness. Seeing that the beast remained stubbornly difficult to kill, Li Hao exhaled. Damn it, having exhausted so many methods, dealing with this lot was still such a headache. They really were forcing him to play his trump card! In that instant, he struck with his sword once more. At the same time, a bright moon manifested between heaven and earth. At a moment when low- and mid-rank Sovereigns were almost wiped out and high-rank Sovereigns were struggling merely to survive, this bright moon radiated fourth-rank power! A fourth-rank Sovereign! What use could that be? Though the Giant Elephant Sovereign sensed something amiss, it had no time to ponder. Li Hao's sword exerted immense suppression over it, and its wounds were severe. Surviving and holding the line right now was victory enough. It truly could not spare the attention to worry about what a fourth-rank bright moon could achieve, even knowing that this Silver Moon King would never waste effort on futile gestures. In an instant, the bright moon turned illusory. A tremor ran through the Giant Elephant Sovereign's heart, sensing trouble. In that split second, the flow of energy through its Chaos Dao seemed abruptly blocked, and its connection to its Great Dao universe was cut off in a flash. It was only a fraction of an instant! Yet when supreme experts clashed, such a lapse was fatal when already teetering on the edge... This was an outright death sentence. Last time, the Queen had used this very move to nearly finish off the Earth Dragon, and she had only been a second-rank back then. This time, she was a fourth-rank! The effect was on a completely different level. Moreover, the Giant Elephant was currently suppressed by Li Hao and had no means to counterattack, unlike during the confrontation with the Earth Dragon when Li Hao could not pierce the opponent's defense. Now, the Giant Elephant realized the sheer gravity of the crisis! In an instant, it roared with all its might, "This moon can assimilate our Chaos Dao! It severs our Dao!" The roar reverberated through heaven and earth! It knew disaster was upon it and that it might be finished. Last time, the Earth Dragon Sovereign had realized this too and tried to send word, but had failed to get the message out. Now, other Sovereigns were nearby, and in that split second... the chaos Sovereigns were seized with shock! Assimilating the Chaos Dao? Severing the Dao of a seventh-rank Sovereign? This was... impossible! Just moments ago, the Giant Elephant had seemed capable of holding on a bit longer. But right at this instant, a sword slashed down, bursting with the power of a thousand worlds, cleaving the colossal white elephant straight in two from top to bottom! With the transmission of its seventh-rank power cut off for that fleeting moment... deprived of its Great Dao power, how could its physical body alone withstand Li Hao's strike? In a flash... the white elephant was split apart! The Queen, manifested as the bright moon, trembled violently and stumbled out, cracks marring the moon's surface. Forcefully interrupting a seventh-rank with fourth-rank strength was agonizingly difficult. Yet... the Queen smiled! Her smile held a touch of smug satisfaction. When slaying the Earth Dragon last time, the impact had not been so obvious. But this time, she had directly severed the Chaos Dao of a seventh-rank, helping Li Hao slay a seventh-rank and effectively reversing the battlefield! How about that... for High God Lingyue? *Rumble!* The gigantic white elephant collapsed with a thunderous roar, its Great Dao shattered, its physical body broken. At that moment, the surrounding chaos Sovereigns turned deathly pale. The Black Tiger had been fighting two opponents at once, yet it had managed to tear apart one tribulation giant, while another left it covered in wounds. Now, it ignored that giant completely. A shrill, reverberating roar shook the surroundings: "Tongbao, Fire Phoenix, Bai Ling..." Those were the names of three seventh-rank powerhouses. The Black Tiger roared with desperate fury: "You... understand!" *Clang!* A shrill, metallic cry rang out as the call of a phoenix resounded through heaven and earth. The Fire Phoenix seemed to erupt in an instant, sweeping across the expanse and forcing the Thunder Master back. Surging with renewed power, she flapped her wings and shattered her lightning giant. Bathed in blood, she cast everything else aside and hurtled straight toward the bright moon! Not just her—the colossal golden rat let out a piercing shriek, snapped its own tail to transform into a streak of light, and vanished from the spot, shooting straight for the Queen as well! The White Tiger took a direct hit from Kongji's Six Paths Divine Fist, using the momentum to glide across the void, lunging straight for the Queen. The Black Tiger was coughing up blood violently as it, too, charged toward her! Kill her, kill the Queen, kill Li Hao! That was their sole objective now. If not for that... this bright moon's power could actually sever the Chaos Dao! She was only a fourth-rank, truly weak, and without someone creating an opening for her, she posed no threat to a seventh-rank. Yet... if such a person ever reached the seventh rank, she would become a living nightmare for the chaos beasts! She would pose an existential threat of extinction to their entire race! Today, even if they died here, they had to shatter that moon and slay Li Hao. As long as they killed these two, even total annihilation would be worth it! At this moment, lightning giants and impending threats ceased to matter. When the Giant Elephant used its dying breath to warn them that the moon could sever the Chaos Dao, they knew what had to be done. With the Giant Elephant dead, the entire balance had crumbled. If the stalemate continued... they would likely still die, and the other seven realms had no strength to spare for reinforcements. In that case... before they died, they would gamble everything! A burst of madness! A desperate bid! Kill those two! In that instant, Dao Chess blanched, the Thunder Emperor blanched, and Kongji blanched... None of them had expected the Sovereigns of the chaos race to be so fierce, so crazed, and so utterly fearless of death at this critical juncture! This was something... that countless human cultivators could never bring themselves to do. When disaster loomed, people usually scattered to save themselves! If these beings truly tried to flee, not all of them, but at least one or two would have a real chance of escaping... Yet not a single one ran. Every last one fought with reckless abandon. Four seventh-ranks charged toward Li Hao simultaneously! They let the lightning tribulation strike them down, and let the Thunder Emperor, Dao Chess, and Kongji assault them from behind, entirely uncaring. It was as though... they would gladly pay any price just to slay those two. Kongji roared furiously, "Halt!" His Six Paths Divine Fist unleashed an unbridled barrage, holding nothing back. In a frenzy of eruption, he burned through revival after revival, letting his hair turn pure white, burning through his foundational lifespan to keep these foes pinned down! The Thunder Emperor also roared. With rumbling crashes, countless bolts of lightning struck down from the heavens. Even he was visibly shaken. These beasts had gone mad. Completely and utterly mad! To say nothing of the others, if the Fire Phoenix tried to flee now, she genuinely had a shot at getting away. He had no way of fully suppressing her; she was simply too powerful. Yet not one of these seventh-rank Sovereigns ran. *** Having just slain the Giant Elephant, Li Hao was in a momentary lull of exhaustion. In the next breath, he sensed an overwhelming sense of doom, a suffocating aura of death completely enveloping him. Meanwhile, the moon that the Queen had manifested was already beginning to fracture. The smugness she had felt just moments before vanished entirely. Her illusory body emerged, her eyes filled with despair. There was nowhere to run! Four seventh-rank Sovereigns had gone insane, willingly throwing away their lives just to slay her and Li Hao. In fact, she was receiving even more attention than Li Hao. A mere fourth-rank had provoked four seventh-ranks to gamble their lives against hers. Perhaps... this was an achievement worthy of the history books? Silver Moon's history? Or the history of the chaos? At that moment, the Queen chuckled. She knew she was likely finished. With things as they were, the four terrifying auras had locked onto her completely. Even the three Great Dao universes of the Fire Phoenix Realm, Mighty Tiger Realm, and Tongbao Realm bore down on her, pinning her in place! Before the four experts even reached her, their crushing pressure was already threatening to obliterate her on the spot! The moon was shattering! Li Hao, positioned below, was also targeted, though less severely. The primary target of the four experts was actually the Queen... Li Hao had known that her ability posed a threat—specifically to chaos beasts—but he had never anticipated it would trigger such a scene: four mighty experts completely disregarding their own lives just to kill her. Back then, the Earth Dragon Sovereign had fought to send out a message with his dying breath... Now, Li Hao understood completely. This group of chaos beasts differed from those he had encountered before. They possessed souls, purpose, aspirations, and dreams. The Dragon Lord had bestowed this upon them. A race! Yes, for the chaos race to truly establish itself in the chaos and become hegemon, these powerhouses of the chaos race were determined to eliminate a future threat like the Queen, even at the cost of their lives! Only while she was weak could she be eliminated immediately! When a fourth-rank severed the chaos power of a seventh-rank, to the Queen, it was a triumph and an achievement; but to the chaos beasts, it was an existential catastrophe, one that could even threaten the Dragon Lord's life. If a fourth-rank could sever the Giant Elephant today, what about a fifth-rank? A sixth-rank? A seventh-rank? The invincible Dragon Lord might one day die at the hands of this nobody! "Die!" "Die!" "Die!" "Die!" Four fierce howls sounded as if from a single throat, freezing the chaos itself. The moon was cracking rapidly. Countless strands of faith energy spilled out, yet they were powerless to sustain the moon's existence. The Queen did not stand alone; behind her lay trillions of mortals within her Divine Kingdom. If she died and the Divine Kingdom collapsed, every single one of those people would perish. Li Hao's gaze turned chillingly cold as he looked around. He had thought this would be a smooth and effortless campaign, only for these chaos beasts to shatter his illusions time and again! Fine then, consider my horizons broadened. It showed him that his experiences in the Three Regions were not the whole story, and that Sovereigns were not all cowards terrified of death. The incident with Red Moon had merely been luck and coincidence. It turned out high-rank Sovereigns could possess faith and conviction as well! Naturally, he still had trump cards. Whether reversing time or freezing time, the four seventh-ranks were formidable, but he could simply trade a life for it—at worst, exhausting his lifespan and walking through life and death once more. He had already walked it four times, losing four hundred thousand years of lifespan. Losing another hundred thousand years was not out of the question. And yet... He had other means at his disposal! Why must he walk the path of life and death again? Owing a debt was still better than that. In that split second, Li Hao let out a sharp cry. Time manifested briefly, and the nearby Dao Chess vanished, reappearing beside Li Hao in the blink of an eye. Li Hao could have paid further costs to summon the others over, but that would be no different from freezing time. He refrained. Instead, he smiled and looked at Dao Chess: "Senior, lend me your eighth-rank universe..." "..." Dao Chess stared at him, that fleeting instant feeling like tens of millions of years! Dao Chess understood. Looking toward Li Hao's Great Dao river, it understood completely: this bastard wanted to merge the eighth-rank universe's power into his river to magnify the strength of his thousand worlds... The brat was unwilling to walk through time or life and death again; he wanted Dao Chess to yield its true body to let him assimilate its Dao? What a shameless schemer! The thought flashed in an instant. In the next moment, a chessboard materialized and abruptly split open. A Great Dao river emerged from the depths of the board, revealing a universe within. Dao Chess did not know what had possessed it, whether it had been sweet-talked by Li Hao or bewitched... Yet at this moment, it actually surrendered its true body's universe. The universe instantly merged into the Great Dao river. The thousand worlds had originally been minor realms, but with a universe voluntarily assimilated into them, they seemed to swell in an instant, solidifying together as though becoming a single realm! The previously scattered Dao power converged at an unbelievable speed. A complete fusion! Just as the Supreme had previously gathered a thousand clones into one, these thousand worlds acted like a Great Dao universe, merging into the river, which then flowed into Li Hao's body. Li Hao's aura surged dramatically! The Sky Sword was no longer in his hand; a fifth-rank sword could no longer keep pace with him. The Dao Chessboard instantly morphed into a sword! In that breath, time seemed to stand still. Grasping the longsword, Li Hao slashed toward heaven and earth! "The Bright Moon Ascends!" The sword struck! This strike seemed to unleash ten thousand Daos, as if a thousand worlds were crashing down, evoking the phantom of the Sword Venerable—its offensive might even surpassing the Sword Venerable himself... At this moment, it carried the sheer ferocity of the Sword Venerable uniting a thousand bodies to crush a seventh-rank with a single blow! An instant kill! The Tongbao Rat, moving the fastest, had just appeared when the sword fell. With a thunderous *bang*, it detonated, its physical body blown apart in an instant! The longsword rippled, and in the next second, a massive ring materialized, reminiscent of the Earth-Overturning Sword of the past, defending all quarters! Simultaneously, the remaining three Sovereigns arrived, crashing into the outer edge of the sword ring with a deafening boom. Behind them, the Thunder Master and Kongji charged forward together, while Er Mao lunged with open jaws to swallow the Black Tiger! With a soft murmur, Li Hao vanished from the spot, traveling along the river of time. A vast river descended as if from another void, and he materialized directly behind the Fire Phoenix Realm Lord. He struck downward! Despair crept into the Fire Phoenix Realm Lord's eyes. Li Hao had appeared behind her in an instant. The others were already closing in; the assassination... had failed. With the death of the Tongbao Rat, she knew it was over. A tragic smile crossed her face, tinged with helplessness as she gazed into the distance, toward Tianfang... When will you return? A golden gleam ignited in her eyes! In the next instant, she exhausted all her remaining strength, no longer attempting to fight back. The Fire Phoenix Universe churned violently, and its Dao Source vanished completely. In the distance, Feng Yan, who was still resisting the lightning tribulation, jolted! The Fire Phoenix Realm's Dao Source surged directly into her Great Dao, completely detaching from the Fire Phoenix Universe. The essence blood in her body burned furiously. Her mother's voice echoed in her ears: "Go to Tianfang! Use the method of bathing in fire to flee to Tianfang... Find the Dragon Lord and tell him everything that happened today. Tell him that the Silver Moon King has become a mortal threat. Tell him... we failed! But we still wish to see the future of the chaos race..." A blaze of fire illuminated heaven and earth! The Fire Phoenix Realm Lord's gaze turned resolute. With a tremendous boom, her massive body dissolved into roaring flames, incinerating heaven and earth, the void, and all of existence! The full might of a peak seventh-rank erupted, immolating herself! Her shrill scream shook the heavens: "Black Tiger, protect Feng Yan and leave!" The Black Tiger, having lagged behind from fending off the two seventh-rank tribulations, was currently the farthest from Li Hao and his allies. Its eyes burned blood-red. The Fire Phoenix Sovereign shrieked once more: "Go! Feng Yan!" Feng Yan! The Black Tiger's blood-red eyes cleared slightly. Feng Yan! The Dragon Lord's daughter. They had lost. A crushing defeat. Even with four realms united, they had suffered a catastrophic defeat. In the next instant, the Black Tiger vanished, breaking free of Er Mao. A star manifested above its head and shattered instantly, obstructing Er Mao's voracious maw. That had been its Great Dao star, but it was no longer needed! It broke away from the battlefield in a flash. It did not fear death, but now that the outcome was decided and defeat absolute, with the Fire Phoenix burning herself to stall the enemy... it had to take Feng Yan away. She was the Dragon Lord's most brilliant descendant. *Roar!* A roar shook heaven and earth. The Black Tiger Sovereign appeared before Feng Yan in an instant, hoisting the blood-burning Feng Yan onto its back before transforming into a gust of black wind that streaked toward Tianfang. Behind them, Er Mao moved to pursue, but Li Hao shouted loudly, obliterating the Fire Phoenix with a massive boom! "Don't pursue!" Li Hao bellowed, "Surround and kill the White Tiger!" The various powerhouses struck together, lunging straight for the White Tiger! Yet the White Tiger Sovereign revealed a faint smile. Glancing back at the direction where the Black Tiger had vanished, its essence blood ignited completely. Slaying me? A good thing! If you kill me, you won't have time to chase the Black Tiger. The Black Tiger had escaped... and what a marvelous escape it was! "The chaos race shall rise, and no one can stop us!" The White Tiger roared in mad defiance, charging straight at Kongji behind it. It burned everything—itself, its Great Dao, its universe... Four realms had fallen, but the strongest of the chaos race was not dead. He lived, and he would return. Though the Dragon Lord was absent now, once he returned, he would be invincible! *Boom!* Following a cataclysmic blast, heaven and earth fell into absolute silence. Kongji was sent flying backward, his body covered in fractures. The power of recovery surged wildly within him, over and over... finally arresting his collapse. Li Hao had no time for pleasantries. He barked, "Kongji, devour one world..." With a shake of his body, two figures appeared—the two Dao Lords, exceedingly weak. "You two, devour one world!" Turning to the Thunder Master, he said, "You devour two worlds..." The Thunder Master froze. What did he mean? Li Hao had divided the four worlds in an instant. With no time to elaborate, he bellowed, "Er Mao, follow me!" Time manifested as a vast river unfurled. Taking Er Mao with him, Li Hao traversed space and time toward the distance! "Once you finish devouring, come reinforce us immediately! Thunder Master... you must break through to the eighth rank and wipe out the experts of the Seven Realms... Otherwise, when the Dragon Lord returns, it will mean endless pursuit!" At this moment, Li Hao had no leisure for anything else. He had to let them devour the four realms first. Over at Tianfang... with the fall of the Chiyang World, he already sensed that the barrier around Tianfang would soon break open. Once the Dragon Lord returned... he even felt an ominous premonition that the Dragon Lord was about to emerge! Devouring a world would surely propel Kongji into the seventh rank! The two Dao Lords, even if they did not reach the seventh rank, would reach the peak of the sixth rank; fused together, they could genuinely battle a seventh-rank. And if the Thunder Master could step into the eighth rank... they might still have a chance to wipe out all the experts of the Seven Realms! Li Hao took Er Mao with him at extreme speed. At that moment, Dao Chess manifested, radiating an extremely feeble aura: "What about mine?" "..." Li Hao ignored it. Yours? I just swallowed your true body's universe... you'll just have to wait. Now was hardly the time to worry about settling debts. At that critical juncture, devouring Dao Chess's eighth-rank universe had likely been the best choice. This way, he could continue fighting, and his strength had reached a pinnacle. Although it was still the power of a thousand worlds, it was fundamentally different from before! Moving at breakneck speed, he could probably catch the Black Tiger if he gave chase, but... what was the point of chasing a seventh-rank? What use was there in pursuing a seventh-rank that had abandoned its Great Dao universe? He needed to head to the territory of the Seven Realms! To seize worlds! To slay seventh-ranks! The river of time stretched out, carrying Li Hao forward at maximum speed. In the distance, battle still raged and flared. Seventeen Sovereigns were locked in bitter combat! The Iron Eater Sovereign was still pondering how to reinforce the Silver Moon King. Yet in the next breath, Li Hao's voice boomed through heaven and earth: "I am Li Hao, King of the Silver Moon... The four realms are routed, and the Fire Phoenix's faction has perished! Demons of the Five Realms, do not misunderstand..." Before his voice finished echoing, his sword slashed down. Er Mao's devouring power erupted, inhaling the surrounding void. A seventh-rank Sovereign locked in battle with the demon race suddenly stiffened, the Dao power within its body draining away at a terrifying rate! A burst of pure, unyielding yang energy flared—Jingang! This was the lord of the Jingang Great World, an entity Xinwu had considered before: the Jingang beast, an ape-like creature possessing immensely formidable pure yang power. Yet in that split second, its chaos power drained away, and the sword crashed down! The colossal Jingang beast roared in frenzy, knowing there was nowhere to flee—a seventh-rank demon beast stood right in front of it! In that moment, it bellowed, "Retreat! All realms retreat... to Tianfang... hurry to Tianfang!" They had originally been evenly matched. Now, the Silver Moon King had joined the fray alongside a seventh-rank cat resembling the Cang Emperor, suddenly adding two seventh-rank combatants... The tide of battle turned instantly. Roaring with wild fury, dazzling pure yang energy erupted from its body, detonating heaven and earth with a deafening boom. The blast tore through the opposing seventh-rank wild bull, leaving it battered and bloody. Yet its roar continued to echo: "Demons of the Five Realms, away from your worlds, you are nothing! Do you dare give chase?" It was a deterrent and a threat! As long as the demons of the Five Realms were unwilling to stray too far from their worlds, there was still a chance. The Iron Eater Sovereign moved to speak, but several seventh-rank Sovereigns among the demons showed hesitation and apprehension. In an instant, the chaos beasts broke away and fled! The Qingqiu Fox, manifested as a gigantic celestial fox, snapped one of its tails, transforming the surrounding void into a thick, misty expanse! A shrill screech echoed through the chaos: "Retreat! To Tianfang..." One after another, the chaos Sovereigns pulled back, took their worlds into themselves, and united their strength to steer their realms away, fleeing toward distant Tianfang! Li Hao was also sent stumbling by the detonation of the Jingang beast! Looking back... the giant panda clutching an iron rod roared furiously, "Pursue! Bastards, chase them!" Yet of the seven seventh-rank Sovereigns of the Five Realms, two or three hesitated. A single moment of hesitation cost them the tactical window. The Iron Eater Sovereign was utterly furious! Fools! They had a chance to annihilate these chaos beasts completely! Idiots! The giant panda was beside himself with rage. Disregarding the rest, three Iron Eater beasts appeared before Li Hao in an instant, and the Iron Eater Sovereign barked urgently, "Silver Moon King, use your method from earlier to take us with you! We must pursue and kill a few more..." Li Hao was somewhat surprised, but said nothing. Taking the three giant beasts with him, he vanished. The river of time unfurled, carrying them forward at blazing speed in hot pursuit of the fleeing chaos beasts! At this stage, every kill counted! Ahead, among the seven realms—no, six realms—there were still eight seventh-rank Sovereigns, led by the Qingqiu Fox. Despite severing one of her tails, she had failed to stall Li Hao and his group. She looked back and saw only five seventh-rank Sovereigns in pursuit—Li Hao could count as one. Could they still fight? They could! However... once they were pinned down, the hesitant Sovereigns from earlier might join the chase. Her expression shifted, and she glanced toward a seventh-rank fox within the realm. Among the nine seventh-rank Sovereigns across the seven realms, two realms possessed two seventh-ranks each. Right now, the realms could not be abandoned, nor could the Great Dao universes. Someone had to cover the rear! These non-Dao-Lord seventh-ranks were the best candidates to hold the line. The seventh-rank fox said nothing. Meeting the Qingqiu Fox's gaze, it charged out of the realm immediately, looking toward another realm in the distance with a low growl: "Azure Snake!" A colossal azure snake manifested between heaven and earth, emerging from the Cloud Snake Realm. This azure snake was not a Dao Lord either. Clearly understanding the intent, it appeared in an instant, glanced at the azure fox, and let out a chuckle. In the next moment, divine light flared in its eyes as it shot straight toward Li Hao's group! The azure fox snapped its tails one after another, shrouding the entire chaos in dense mist! The other six chaos Sovereigns said nothing, taking their realms inside them as they fled toward the distance with mournful cries. In this battle, the Dragon Domain had lost! They could only preserve as many realms and experts as possible to rendezvous with the Dragon Lord... If the Dragon Lord did not emerge soon, the Dragon Domain might face complete destruction! The six Sovereigns fled at extreme speed. Behind them, the two seventh-rank chaos beasts erupted with frantic, suicidal ferocity, actually managing to stall Li Hao's group. The three Iron Eater Sovereigns struck in concert, battering the azure snake into pieces! Li Hao and Er Mao also slashed the azure fox into shredded remnants! The Iron Eater Sovereign roared, eager to continue the chase... Yet Li Hao halted abruptly, gazing into the distance. In the next instant, he turned around and barked in a low voice, "Fall back! Return! The Tianfang realm has opened!" The Iron Eater Sovereign froze in shock! The Dragon Lord was coming out? Li Hao could actually sense it? Li Hao offered no explanation, swiftly retreating to their original position. There, he saw the remaining demon Sovereigns gathering around the Jingang Realm. His expression shifted, but without wasting words, he waved his hand, and Dao Chess manifested: "Devour the Jingang World first! Recover what you can for now, replacing your lost universe with a seventh-rank world..." Dao Chess felt thoroughly depressed! Everyone else had profited, while it was left holding the short end of the stick! Yet at this juncture, it had no room to be picky. Recovering whatever it could was better than nothing. Besides, its previous eighth-rank world had already been largely depleted, whereas this Jingang Realm was brimming with energy. It had not lost too much, though its upper ceiling had been dragged down. The demon Sovereigns seemed to want to say something, but Li Hao ignored them. For at that very moment, a terrifying aura erupted in the distance. The power of nirvana blanketed heaven and earth, and the Six Paths Divine Fist suppressed the void as Kongji came streaking across the expanses from far away with a thunderous roar! His speed was incredible! Further behind, the two Dao Lords steered their Great Dao world, radiating power as they rushed over just as quickly... Even further out, thunder erupted violently. The Thunder Master's aura peaked, showing signs of transforming toward the eighth rank as he charged over in a frenzy... Seeing this display, the demon Sovereigns fell completely silent. Moreover, the three Sovereigns of the Iron Eater Clan had not uttered a single objection. Li Hao was unfamiliar with these demon beasts and had no desire to linger. Looking into the distance, he spoke rapidly: "Will you... retreat on your own, or what? We must leave immediately. The Dragon Lord has emerged. For now, he may not dare attack rashly... but once he learns the situation, he will relentlessly pursue us to the death..." The Iron Eater Sovereign's expression turned grave: "The seventh-ranks under the Dragon Lord aren't just those few; there are others hidden... We originally planned to enter the Three Regions and seek shelter under an eighth-rank world there, whether Bright Light or Yunxiao..." "Yet now, Yunxiao seems to be gone, and Chiyang is gone too... As for Bright Light..." The giant beast looked at Li Hao: "Where are you headed?" "The Thunder Domain!" The Thunder Domain? The Iron Eater Sovereign hesitated; the Thunder Domain was far too perilous. He actually wanted to follow these people, who were extraordinarily terrifying figures in their own right, having breached four realms. But now... "I..." "We are entering through the Thunder Realm's side, which is too far. Your worlds are too distant, and unless you abandon your worlds to come with us... there's no time!" Li Hao stated bluntly, "You can enter the Thunder Domain from where you are; it's right nearby, so you won't have to travel far. Or you can band together to mount a defense... I cannot look after you right now. In this battle, everyone got what they needed... and the Dragon Lord may not necessarily attack you rashly..." "The mountains are high and the rivers long; until our paths cross again! Everyone... farewell!" Without another word, Li Hao waited until Dao Chess swept up the world and drew the Jingang World into itself, then harnessed the river of time to flee instantly with Dao Chess and Er Mao. Along the way, he swiftly picked up Kongji, the two Dao Lords, and the Thunder Master, whose lightning power continued to flare violently. Cutting straight to the point, Li Hao said, "The Thunder Realm is revived, and Tianfang has opened. Take the Thunder Realm and plunge into the Thunder Domain immediately!" The Thunder Master's face shifted, but he soon felt a surge of boldness: "I am on the verge of stepping fully into the eighth rank. It's almost done. Give me a little time, and combined with the demon race, we could fight him..." He had grown rather daring. Li Hao snapped in a low voice, "Out of the question. The Dragon Lord is definitely at the peak of the eighth rank!" What? Peak of the eighth rank? Li Hao knew just how terrifying the Dragon Lord was! The creature could sense time, which was the most frightening thing of all. With no time to waste, he steered the flow of time and swiftly stopped at various locations, picking up Redwood and the other Sovereigns who had been stationed to anchor the route of the river of time. Soon, they arrived back at the Thunder Realm. The group steered the Thunder Realm and plunged directly toward the Thunder Domain! They did not linger for even a second! This time, they had swallowed five entire worlds! Yet Li Hao remained heavy-hearted. The chaos race was far stronger and far more unified than he had anticipated. All told, how many seventh-rank Sovereigns had they slain? On the Fire Phoenix's side, of the seven seventh-ranks, only the Black Tiger had escaped. They had slain six right there! On the side of the Seven Realms, teaming up with the Iron Eater Clan, they had killed three, plus the Earth Dragon and Long Xuan earlier... A grand total of eleven seventh-ranks slain! By all rights, their forces should have collapsed completely. Yet they had not. They had actually managed to escape with six worlds in tow—that was the truly terrifying part! Of the twelve great realms of the chaos race, five had been destroyed, yet their main force remained largely intact. Six Realm Lords—no, including the Black Tiger, seven Realm Lords—and together with the Dragon Lord, eight Realm Lords were still alive! That was what made them formidable! Despite all the methods Li Hao's side had deployed, they still had not managed to eradicate them completely. The demons of the Five Realms had fought desperately as well, even if several had hesitated to give chase at the end. *** Tianfang. At this moment, the Great Dao universe split open. In an instant, seventh-rank experts scattered and fled in every direction. In the next breath, Bright Light, the Human King, and the Cang Emperor converged, fleeing toward the Bright Light World. Behind them, the Dragon Lord emerged from the Great Dao universe, accompanied by the Red Moon Sovereign and seven seventh-rank Sovereigns. The Dragon Lord wore a faint smile. He had slain Yunxiao, the outer-domain eighth-rank, and two seventh-rank Sovereigns, while subjugating Red Moon, eliminating three eighth-ranks in a single stroke! This expedition to Tianfang had propelled his grand ambition a massive stride forward! From now on, in the entire Four Regions, only an alliance between Xinwu and Bright Light could cause him the slightest pressure. The Four Regions had undergone a complete reshuffling, leaving only two major powers! He felt profoundly satisfied, even if a minor incident had occurred in the Dragon Domain— Two seventh-rank dragons had fallen. Yet compared to his harvest here, it was well worth the cost. However, the instant he stepped out... his expression changed. He gazed toward the distant Dragon Domain, and killing intent gradually seeped into his eyes. A terrifying aura of slaughter emanated from him, as though freezing heaven and earth! Many scenes unfolded in his sight. In the distance... six worlds and six colossal chaos beasts were fleeing frantically in his direction. On another side, the Black Tiger Sovereign, carrying Feng Yan, was burning its vitality without regard for the cost, desperately fleeing toward him. As if sensing something, the Qingqiu Fox in the distance suddenly raised her voice, letting out a shrill, weeping wail that reverberated through the chaos as her Dao power rippled in all directions: "Fire Phoenix, White Tiger, Jingang, Qinghu, Giant Elephant, Earth Dragon, Long Xuan, Long Ye, Azure Snake, Fire Phoenix Elder, Tongbao—eleven Sovereigns have fallen! Li Hao, the King of the Silver Moon, mastered a bizarre Dao, ambushed the Sovereigns, and threw our Dragon Domain into chaos..." *Boom!* A wave of draconic might shook the entire expanse! A colossal dragon coiled between heaven and earth, radiating an overwhelming, boundless aura in all directions! Without a word, the Dragon Lord steered his Great Dao universe, sweeping up his world as he vanished from the spot! His killing intent blanketed the entire chaos. The Silver Moon King! In the dragon's eyes, there was only cold, ruthless slaughter! I miscalculated. I knew Long Xuan and Long Ye had fallen one after another, but I thought the Thunder Emperor and the demon race were merely stirring up trouble. I anticipated some danger in the Dragon Domain, but I also knew there were numerous formidable Sovereigns of the chaos race stationed there! Even with danger, they should have been able to hold, and some losses were acceptable for the sake of the chaos race's grand cause! Yet this... cut him to the bone! It was not one or two, but eleven seventh-rank Sovereigns who had perished. The chaos race had suffered a catastrophic loss. "Li Hao! To the ends of heaven and the depths of earth, even if you flee to the outer domains, I will slay you!" A low roar reverberated across the entire Four Regions, fueled by the burning of his Dao of Life, declaring to all: I will kill Li Hao! Li Hao, do you have any idea whom you have provoked? The Silver Moon King? Xinwu! A chilling light surfaced in his eyes, sweeping toward the distant Bright Light Realm. They were in league together! Far away, the Human King, who had just arrived at Bright Light, paused slightly. Looking toward the Dragon Lord with a trace of helplessness, he bellowed, "Don't look at me! I didn't kill them! It had nothing to do with me—go find Li Hao for your revenge!" Why look at me? I didn't do anything! Besides... damn, had that kid Li Hao gone that crazy? Slaughtering eleven seventh-rank Sovereigns back-to-back? Tsk, tsk! What a feast he must have had! In the next instant, he grinned and clapped the Bright Sovereign on the shoulder: "Old brother, I'm borrowing your realm as our base camp. Otherwise, you're done for! I'll call our people to gather here; otherwise, the Dragon Lord will definitely attack Bright Light... Are you scared?" Scared? The Bright Sovereign stiffened completely. Damn it, of course he was scared. Life was becoming unlivable—not just because he had aided the Human King, but because... his son! His son was on Li Hao's side! Having slain eleven seventh-rank Sovereigns under the Dragon Lord... the Dragon Lord would grind his son's bones to dust! He looked at the Human King, speaking stiffly after a long silence: "Can... can we match him?" The Dragon Lord's faction possessed two eighth-ranks and fourteen seventh-ranks, all Realm Lord-level beings. The Dragon Lord was at the peak of the eighth rank, and having just slain Yunxiao and the outer-domain eighth-rank, would the power of two eighth-ranks allow him to attain the ninth rank? Even if he couldn't reach the ninth rank... granting that power to his subordinates might well forge another eighth-rank! That would mean... three eighth-ranks? With one of them at the peak of the eighth rank! Meanwhile, on their side, the Human King and the Cang Emperor showed faint signs of stepping into the eighth rank, seeming as though they had reached it yet not quite. Even counting himself, that was only three eighth-ranks... More importantly, none could match the Dragon Lord! Wait, Wushan... might have stepped into the eighth rank! In that case, they might still have a fighting chance. If one eighth-rank couldn't defeat the Dragon Lord, surely the Cang Emperor and Human King fighting together could match him? That thought gave him some comfort. In the next moment, he asked in dazed disbelief, "How did the Silver Moon King and his group pull it off?" How could they have slain eleven seventh-ranks? And from the look of it, those chaos beasts had joined forces, with seven of them currently regrouping over there. Many of them were Realm Lords, yet they had been butchered by Li Hao's group just like that? He could hardly fathom it! The Human King stroked his chin, shrugged, and chuckled: "Who knows! But it's a good thing. If the Dragon Lord had emerged with eleven more seventh-ranks on his side... heh, we'd have been in for a rough time!" Thank goodness! Otherwise, they would have had to pack up and flee right out of the Four Regions. *** Meanwhile, the Dragon Lord's murderous roar reached even into the Thunder Domain. Li Hao heard it clearly! He said nothing; it would be weirder if the Dragon Lord weren't furious. Beside him, Dao Chess was still feeling thoroughly disgruntled. My eighth-rank world turned into a seventh-rank universe... I got swindled! How miserable! Everyone profited except me. Even Li Hao swallowed my eighth-rank universe, so... how did I end up the only loser? Er Mao reached the seventh rank, Kongji reached the seventh rank, Silver Moon reached the peak of the sixth rank, the Thunder Master was about to break into the eighth rank, and every expert who participated reaped immense rewards... But what about me? It truly wanted to weep! Meanwhile, Li Hao absorbed and digested the eighth-rank universe, marveling at its sheer power while speaking casually: "Senior, your eighth-rank universe was rather hollow, with barely any good treasures left... I previously owed you a seventh-rank universe, which I've now repaid, so now I owe you an eighth-rank universe..." Right, keep adding to the tab! It didn't impact Dao Chess's combat strength significantly; it simply prevented it from returning to its peak for now. Back then, he had truly had no other choice; he couldn't walk the path of life and death again, as that would be a genuine loss. Now, it was fine—the seventh-rank debt had simply become an eighth-rank universe. "The Human King and his group must have succeeded as well..." Li Hao smiled suddenly: "The Dragon Lord's faction is powerful... but the Human King's side should still be able to hold out... I just wonder how Red Moon, Yunxiao, and Chiyang fared." After this massive upheaval, the situation in the Four Regions would become entirely clear. Beside him, the Thunder Emperor spoke gravely: "We are still inside the Thunder Domain. The chaos lightning tribulation is formidable... and it seems particularly hostile toward us... We cannot linger here long!" He actually wanted to ask... Li Hao, did you raid the chaos lightning tribulation's ancestral nest or something? Outside the tribulation, lightning power sufficient to destroy multiple eighth-rank Sovereigns had gathered. It was insane! Had he not devoured two worlds, the Thunder Realm would have been obliterated by now! Li Hao looked up at the sky. The entire world seemed wrapped in lightning. He sighed softly: "This chaos lightning tribulation has always had an axe to grind with me... Sigh, what a nuisance!" It wasn't by choice. I just invited everyone to undergo the tribulation with me, didn't I? Why single me out like this? He sensed it too: if they stayed in the Thunder Domain too long, a ninth-rank lightning tribulation might genuinely assemble to strike him dead! "Focus fully on digesting our gains from this campaign... We'll talk once that is done... Thunder Master, we'll trouble your venerable self to ward off the trouble for us..." The Thunder Master smiled wryly, but could say nothing. They had been exceedingly generous, tossing two great worlds his way out of pity. He... was bound by their generosity; forget fending off tribulation, he couldn't refuse even if asked to risk his life killing someone! Just now had been the greatest extravagance of his life—devouring two worlds in a single breath! It was the craziest thing he had done in three hundred thousand years. Tribulation... let it come, then! It would serve nicely to aid his digestion! Thinking this, the Thunder Master glanced at the group before him and secretly clicked his tongue. What a band of madmen—with such meager strength, lacking a single seventh-rank beforehand, they had dared to ambush a host of Sovereigns. Absolute lunacy! The most terrifying part was that they had actually pulled it off.