Star Gate

“If we join hands to stabilize the chaos, then... we might be able to send a ninth rank through...” Calamity said.

Everyone looked at him. Do you mean you?

If so, forget it. No one is willing for anyone else to return ahead of time. Setting aside the matter of time, there’s not much spirit left in the chaos. If someone makes a move first and absorbs it all... who knows if we’ll even be able to make it out anymore?

Calamity was not trustworthy.

“We should be working together! Modern cultivators of the chaos are not benevolent sorts. We would have no fear if we could all descend. But if we trip each other up, then it only benefits others in the end!” Calamity concluded with some annoyance.

How would we be in these straits if it wasn’t for these guys insisting on killing my dao spirit?!

His replica wouldn’t have died that easily either!

It was too hard to succeed when all of them were busy tripping each other up.

The Calamity master fired back, “If we insist on dragging each other down, then we might give rise to irrevocable mistakes in the end! If no one trusts me, then choose someone fair and just, someone we all trust. Have them head to the chaos, kill Li Hao, and choose another cultivator of time!

“We must stop Li Hao from establishing his own chaos. He has to break chaos dao in order to do so, which will cause all of us to lose certain things...”

Such as unlimited energy!

The group sank into silence.

A... fair and just ninth rank?

Did someone like that exist??

“We can create some restrictions,” Calamity proposed. “Such as some checks and balances. Li Hao isn’t too strong yet, I’m more concerned about him quickly growing stronger. That would really be too late then!

“He possesses eight thousand dao rules now when he incorporates ten thousand spirits. If he continues to improve... then when will he reach nine thousand? It might be soon...”

Many powerhouses had made their moves in that battle, but Li Hao was the only one that the ninth ranks were discussing now. Time was the only existence they cared about.

“If we are to send one person, then I pick... Disorder!” Skyward said.

The group paused. A statue that was in a disheveled state opened its eyes.

Me?! Why??

He wasn’t that strong and didn’t have the loudest voice among the ninth ranks. Hence, he didn’t speak up much and didn’t fight for anything.

What’s the point in choosing me??

“The current chaos isn’t enough of a mess!” said Skyward. “Chaos Sky and the others are holding back, they haven’t truly clashed together. Even if a ninth rank’s primary body truly descends, how much strength can they bring to bear when there is insufficient spirit?

“Once a ninth rank does descend, these people might join hands again! Only when the chaos is thrown into turmoil first will that solve the problem. Large numbers of heavyweights need to die, hostilities flare, and a rift might even develop between New Martial and Silver Moon.

“If Disorder descends, there will be no one within the chaos to curtail him. He can throw the entire chaos dao into disarray! Order will collapse. This will be another key in preventing Chaos Sky from establishing order.

“A secondary reason is that disrupting chaos dao will make it difficult for them to organize it. It will slow the speed with which they improve.

“Third, the powerhouses of the modern chaos all walk the path of a myriad daos converging. There are a lot of great daos floating around and they haven’t been fully organized. This is the perfect time for Disorder to flex his muscles. Once the chaos is unsettled, the spirit of disorder dao will strengthen. That will prevent a lot of problems!”

The crowd mulled over his words and looked at the statue that wasn’t all that strong. The dao master of disorder!

This was the existence that’d agitated the chaos back in the day, but so many powerhouses had been around that he’d been swiftly suppressed after he stirred up the waters just a little. While he toed the line after that, he was hard pressed to take another step forward on his cultivation due to being checked by the other ninth ranks.

He didn’t have that many dao rules either, just nine thousand or so. He ranked toward the bottom of the ninth ranks.

It was... a good idea to choose this person.

It was a better idea than choosing Calamity, at least!

Calamity had grand ambitions, whereas the dao master of Disorder had one inherent drawback. Disorder and order were on opposing sides, yet disorder itself also required there to be order in the chaos.

It was a very paradoxical state of being!

It’d caused the ninth rank to hesitate after reaching this cultivation level. Should he build order first, or disorder?

The two impulses clashed with each other. Hence, he’d hardly improved over the years.

“Me? Descend?” Disorder said slowly. “That’s not appropriate, is it... Setting aside whether or not I have the ability to suppress them, even if I do, it’s going to be very dangerous. I might not be able to gain much...”

He didn’t really want to go. Although other people wanted to return to the chaos, he... was rather glum about the idea.

If I go and create disorder, then you guys will come back around to step on me. Aren’t I just wasting my effort then?

“Your dao of disorder has not made any headway in all these years,” said Skyward. “I suspect that it might be because order hasn’t fully collapsed yet! Building order among disorder might be a path for you.

“Chaos Sky might have something to do with Order, so I think you can go take a look...”

The dao master of disorder paused, sinking into deep contemplation. Is order what’s been interfering with me all this time?

The others were also pondering if it was appropriate for this guy to go. But... there didn’t seem to be anyone else more suitable.

“It is... not out of the question for me to descend,” said Disorder. “But the chaos isn’t necessarily safe at the moment, even though I am a ninth rank! Ninth ranks might not necessarily dominate eighth ranks at present due to a lack of spirit, especially when it comes to cultivators such as Chaos Sky...

“Therefore, I have a requirement to be fulfilled if everyone wants to send me!”

Nearly audible curses rippled through the group. You have a demand to pose?? This was a chance that many of them wanted, but couldn’t even dream about!

There wasn’t sufficient spirit in the chaos at present. Supporting one or two ninth ranks was the limit. The key was, no one else was able to return even if they wanted to. Meanwhile, this joke wanted more from them?!

Skyward didn’t mind and smiled, “What are you thinking of?”

“Everyone needs to obey my commands! Whether it is people you guys have left in the chaos or those who have returned through other methods, everyone needs to follow my lead!

“I don’t want this to turn out like last time, when both Calamity and Skyward’s people arrived, but splintered into internal conflict. That only gave the enemy a bigger opening to take advantage of!

“Our losses will be great if we fight amongst ourselves.” Disorder seemed to be more composed than others at the moment. While he cultivated the dao of disorder, that didn’t mean he himself was in a mess. His thoughts were very much normal.

“With the separation of the chaos from its origin... I need sufficient personnel to create more disorder, strengthen myself, and contend with all sides. That will be how I can create further unrest!

“As for Li Hao, the cultivator of time...” Disorder paused before continuing, “Killing him before we find a suitable successor means the possibility of time being extinguished. That would be the greatest danger of all to us, so I do not recommend killing him before we have complete confidence in a possible successor appearing.

“We should even be willing to pay a small price to let him establish his own chaos. At the very least, we can be certain that the third gen cultivator of time walks out from the false chaos that he creates...”

“That makes sense.” Skyward nodded at these words. “Although everyone thinks that Li Hao is no longer suited to wield time, that doesn’t mean we can kill him at will. If we do, then the light of time goes out and no one can inherit it anymore.

“That will mean all of our years of waiting... were for nothing!”

Calamity frowned, but also nodded upon further thought. That was true!

Although he felt that it wasn’t out of the question, what if... it really did turn out as Disorder and Calamity said? Wouldn’t they be in real trouble then?

They’d waited a million years for time! How dire would things be if no one could cultivate it anymore?

“The third gen will walk out of the worlds that Li Hao creates, which makes him a source of trouble that is second to only Li Hao. But if he isn’t as troublesome as Li Hao... then this is our only choice!”

“He won’t have too much knowledge of the chaos...”

“That’s right, a cultivator from a minor world won’t know anything. He should be easier to control than Li Hao.”

“That’s true!”

“......” After some discussion, the group of exalted emperors agreed with Disorder’s suggestion.

Meanwhile, Disorder raised no more objections. If they could agree to even this, then it wasn’t out of the question that he make a trip. Perhaps it would be an opportunity. He’d been kept under foot by the other ninth ranks all this time.

If he was the only one to return... this might be a chance to change his lot in life.

......

The ninth ranks were preparing to once more descend upon the chaos. In the meantime, Li Hao focused on perfecting his fifth set of worlds. The first four thousand had been fully saturated with energy.

He’d expended a great deal of resources to do so, so there might not be enough left for the last set of one thousand. They’d seized more worlds on the last engagement, but Li Hao had discovered that the more worlds he had, the harder it became to saturate them with energy.

If five thousand worlds were already this difficult and consuming so many resources, then it would become even harder when there were more worlds.

No wonder people didn’t like to take the path of turning their worlds into dao. The required resource consumption was horrifying!

They’d eliminated almost all of the major worlds in the eastern region, but this was all that he amounted to. How could anyone else seek this path?

Li Hao’s reserves ran out at forty-five hundred worlds. That was less than anticipated and he needed five thousand to possess sufficient strength to do certain things. Without reaching that level, he was roughly seven thousand dao rules or so. That should make him weaker than the rest.

“I need another seven or eight seventh rank worlds, or two to three eighth rank worlds. It’s not enough otherwise.” Li Hao made some swift calculations.

If this was in the past, then one major world could easily saturate one hundred worlds. That wasn’t enough now, so he might need to prepare more worlds than he’d previously thought.

Or perhaps... he needed to get a ninth rank world from somewhere! That would be enough.

Skyward was a possible candidate. Sadly, it’d been exhausted by New Martial. It was the only ninth rank world on the surface in the chaos.

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