The Human King hadn’t done much after New Martial first appeared in the chaos. He was in closed door cultivation the entire time and only stirred to action when New Martial and Red Moon were embroiled in conflict.

However, was that clash an accident, a regular occurrence in the chaos, or...?

To think that such a passageway existed in the void... Did that represent that the Skyward master could return at any time?

Then why didn’t he?

If Skyward major world continued to attempt revitalization and its people truly could return, then wouldn’t it be an easy matter for the Skyward master to return as well?

What was so difficult about a revitalization? What was he waiting for?

Countless questions swirled in Li Haos heart. In addition, did one have to fully assimilate with the chaos to glimpse this passage? Why couldn’t the queen see it?

Had she never mentioned it because she was too weak to see it, or was his situation a bit special because he’d incorporated time within himself?

The passageway wasn’t rooted in anything!

It traversed the chaos like a long river, twining through Thunder Region and stretching toward the far reaches of the western region. It seemed to connect the east and west.

Li Hao seemed to become part of the chaos the moment he assimilated with chaos dao. He even saw glances from others in that moment.

Indeed, he saw other glances, not sensed them.

Those looks felt tangible and emanated light in the darkness, as if the eyes of wolves. They lanced through the endless gloom, shaking and stunning Li Hao!

Someone really could see through the darkness!

No, not even the strongest person could see that far. So this meant that the gaze was... dao!

Indeed, it was the great dao itself.

These people’s dao had become part of the entire chaos. Well, if they had, then they should be in the same state that Li Hao was in. These people’s dao... seemed independent of the chaos, but permeated it all the same.

They were not of the chaos, yet could be found everywhere. Hence, they could sense any disturbance within the chaos at any given time. They might have paid a price to be able to see everything, but this also served to prove that everything happening in the chaos had taken place right under their noses.

Where were these people and what were they doing?

Was the Skyward master on the side of good or bad? Why had those ninth ranks vanished back in the day and where had they gone?

Could the chaos not tolerate them anymore?

Too many questions surfaced in Li Hao’s mind. He even saw the incomparably distant western region at this point. Some glimmers of light could be found there—it was like he’d returned to the weak days of yesteryear, when he could see the energy of cultivators in the form of flickers and sparkles.

The young man possessed this ability early on. It was the sword eye that came with his bloodline!

After Li Hao grew stronger, he came to understand what kind of ability was in his eyes. What he’d noticed were illusory dao meridians, and he’d been able to observe them largely due to the Sword Sovereign’s influence on the dao universe.

Hence, Li Hao could observe the energy formed by the coalescence of dao meridians. He hadn’t been able to analyze the strength of martial masters because martial masters hadn’t cultivated dao meridians at first. That was the path of supernaturals.

It wasn’t that martial masters kept their strength to themselves, but that the two systems were different. Li Hao had utilized this ability to steer clear of danger many times. This time, he seemed to be witnessing the same.

He was very strong now, as was the enemy and all other cultivators...

This rendered the sword eye ineffective. He could use it on weaklings, but what was the point of that? Just extending his senses toward them would tell him everything he wished to know.

As for powerhouses, Li Hao hadn’t sensed a thing when the three eighth ranks had been hidden. Naturally, he hadn’t seen anything. Now, however, he seemed to be able to see them once more.

Why was that?

Chaos dao!

Understanding dawned. The sword eye was of the same system as dao meridians, which made the core nature of the sword eye as part of the Sword Sovereign’s dao. It was the key to the dao universe, which conferred upon Li Hao the ability to see dao meridians.

Therefore, his assimilation into the chaos brought more great daos and even dao domains into his purview. Did this also represent... that chaos dao might be the source origin of all daos?

Was that the case?

Or was it that chaos dao was similar to dao origin of a dao universe?

That would make chaos dao similar to the star of time in Silver Moon’s dao universe, and similar to the planet of desire in Red Moon’s dao universe. It would be the equivalent of the core of any other major world dao universe out there...

This was why almost all chaos cultivators walked the path of chaos dao!

Prior to his assimilation, Li Hao hadn’t expected that this might be the result of his integration. It made the queen seem so... useless in return. How had she not sensed anything from her experience?

Apart from learning that she could partake of endless chaos energy, the queen hadn’t brought any unique comprehension to Li Hao after becoming part of chaos dao. It took his own integration to reap this harvest.

As the saying went, reading ten thousand books did not measure up to walking ten thousand kilometers. Truth was obtained only through practical application.

A deeper inclination developed in Li Hao’s mind. Since he’d become part of chaos dao and could sense the daos of others now, did that mean that whether it was the dao universe or chaos beasts, they were all part of the same system as chaos dao?

That sounded like redundant bullshit, but based on what the young man had observed thus far, perhaps ninth ranks had broken free of this system!

Hence, things were different at that level.

All chaos beasts, wandering cultivators, dao universes, and worlds were part of the same system as the chaos dao. Ninth ranks, however, were not. What did that mean?

Li Hao didn’t know.

The young man was clueless when his theorizing reached this point. Did it mean that one had to jump out of this system to ascend to ninth rank? Or was one no longer part of this system at ninth rank?

Or was it that ninth ranks were completely independent of the chaos? That gave rise to the possibility that the chaos did not tolerate ninth ranks, which was why they could not return.

But if they were not tolerated, the ninth ranks had all once been part of the chaos. That was a contradictory theory.

In addition...

Li Hao looked to the west once more. There were some glimmers of light there, so far away that it seemed to be the end of the never-ending chaos. That represented that the light must be astounding!

Was it the Exalted Chaos Sky Emperor?

So it further meant that Chaos Sky was yet to break free of this system. Hence, he was not a real ninth rank!

Li Hao shifted his gaze toward the Dragon master, blinking with astonishment when his eyes came to a halt. He saw things very clearly because the Dragon master was closer to him. He was a big ball of light to Li Hao, just as how those supernaturals had once been.

The dragon was very bright!

A massive ball of light took shape as a dragon, hovering protectively around the Dragon master. That was the physical realization of countless dao rules integrated together. Li Hao gave a quick count and ended up with almost seven thousand!

Was Long Zhan stronger than before?

The young man had only been able to make a cursory judgment call because he hadn’t been able to see the dragon’s strength prior to today. Interest piqued, he studied Long Zhan further...

The Dragon master seemed to see something and whipped his head around, a harsh look in his eyes.

“Silver Moon King, this king does not take you to task for absorbing chaos strength here. How dare you spy upon me!”

His heart quailed with shock. How could the kid spy upon him?? Li Hao was just a seventh rank!

Li Hao, on the other hand, raised a brow. He could see several eighth ranks aside from the Dragon master. The dao of eighth ranks and seventh ranks were different to him now.

It was a difference that did not involve the presence of a dao domain. That was a different concept entirely.

Black Tiger’s dao was very simple. He had only one dao instead of several thousand, yet it was akin to a ferocious tiger. It shifted with endless bloodlust. It wasn’t as complicated as the Dragon master’s, but it was sizable and undeniable in its own right!

Some others nearby possessed daos of similar strength.

One was Red Moon. He was stronger than Black Tiger, but possessed multiple daos like the Dragon master. It indicated that Red Moon didn’t simply walk the path of desire, but a joint amalgamation of desire.

Li Hao had known early on that desire wasn’t just one kind of dao. This confirmation verified his understanding.

The second was Feng Yan!

Feng Yan had set foot into eighth rank, which was a new discovery for Li Hao. He also made a key finding—there was something else on Feng Yan’s great dao. A thread connected her dao to him!

Li Hao’s eyes widened. This was... the dao treaty.

Since he and Feng Yan had once signed a dao treaty, it’d created a kind of dao that was the thread. He and Feng Yan were connected through it. The treaty stated that if he made a move against Feng Yan, he would encounter a seventh rank tribulation if he was a sixth rank.

An addendum stated that once he became a seventh rank, he would face an eighth rank tribulation!

He was a seventh rank now and this dao treaty continued to be in effect. Once he attacked Feng Yan, an eighth rank tribulation would descend upon him.

Not a flicker of emotion had crossed Feng Yan’s face when she saw him just now, as if he wasn’t the murderer of her mother. It would seem that the naive phoenix princess had grown greatly and even concealed her strength from him.

All of it was laid bare to Li Hao now. That line still existed!

The young man’s consciousness began returning to his body. The river of dao churned madly as large quantities of chaos strength flooded it. The second set of one thousand worlds furiously absorbed energy. A group of exalted emperors corralled and organized everything for Li Hao.

The young man had thought that the Dragon master might attack him, so he’d kept his eyes in that area.

As it turned out... the Dragon master didn’t. He didn’t even raise a hand to obstruct Li Hao. It was like Long Zhan had accepted the inevitable and didn’t care about it. Or perhaps he didn’t want any accidents to develop as he didn’t wish to exchange blows with Li Hao.