At the same time.

Countless powerhouses quietly kept an eye on Li Hao’s locale. Some of the statues in an unknown location deep within the chaos even opened their eyes. Countless worlds appeared within their gaze. They, too, seemed to be observing the young man.

The cultivator of time... seemed to have met with danger.

While the biggest statue in the middle did not open its eyes, it also quietly watched over everything. Was there a need for Skyward to return ahead of time? Was the cultivator of time going to perish on this occasion?

Some considerations rose to the fore. Although the cultivator of time hadn’t fully grasped time yet, the Skyward master didn’t wish for him to die like this.

He came to a decision. It might not be the best time to return yet, but it might have to be on this occasion!

......

The days passed one by one. Things were endless in the chaos. One month was but the blink of an eye.

The chaos was so quiet this month that it was frightening.

Although it’d always been very quiet, war had also raged endlessly. There was steady bloodshed of eighth ranks, so it was unnerving how quiet this month was, even with the east in turmoil.

Even mid and low ranks could sense the impending storm, to say nothing of the high ranks!

......

The one thousandth entrance was fully complete. News spread that exalted emperors could begin transporting into Allheaven Hall after three days.

The system to share dao throughout the eastern region had been fully completed. One thousand entrances were scattered throughout worlds, the void, and some islands.

The entire region waited with bated breath.

On the edge of the eastern region, in a small world.

The Reincarnation master arrived. There was an entrance here.

A third rank was on duty here. He wore a look of fawning servility and stood with his head down behind Reincarnation. “Milord, this is the entrance to the secret realm!” he murmured.

Reincarnation studied it for a while and did not venture inside.

“The entrance is simply Myriad Changes’ mirage realm,” he said calmly. “The key is not here. It’s Li Hao’s dao of time that makes it possible to transport mental entities!”

Myriad Changes’ mirage realm was a nice construct, but it was just nice. It wasn’t all that useful. Reincarnation had known about it early on, but hadn’t been that interested. This was just a relatively independent space.

“This thing can separate the mind from the body,” Peng Cheng observed with some interest. “That’s intriguing. Can Fellow Daoist Reincarnation sense the core of time?”

The man could not. Logically speaking, there should be a passageway that existed for transport, even if those utilizing it were only mental entities. But thus far, he was yet to discover it.

The Reincarnation master had sensed it long ago. Since he neared six thousand daos, he could pick up a hint or two. They were very weak, however.

“The disturbance will be great as soon as someone uses it,” he chuckled softly. “Even if my impression of it isn’t clear now, it will be once everyone starts teleporting to the same spot. Those with three or four thousand daos will be able to detect it then.”

Li Hao wasn’t that strong yet, whereas time was. Time was a discreet dao, but just that wasn’t enough. The young man would have to enhance time and theorize it to a higher level. Otherwise, he would be hard pressed to conceal the dao from premier existences.

Peng Cheng inclined his head and glanced at Reincarnation again. “Are we going in with our mental strength or... tracing the source of time and following it with our primary bodies?”

Their battle strength would be limited if only their minds went over. They would barely be able to cause any trouble, but would be able to probe a thing or two about this enterprise. If their primary bodies tried to trace the source, the concern there would be that Li Hao might be too far away for an accurate lock onto his location.

He was said to be at the Ninth City of the alliance of mid worlds. However, who could be certain that he was still there?

“Our primary bodies naturally have to be mobilized if we wish to kill Li Hao!” Reincarnation laughed and suddenly looked to the south. “We won’t be fast if we’re the ones on the hunt, but someone speedy is coming!”

Peng Cheng sensed some ripples a second later. They were moving at such a high velocity that it couldn’t be believed. All things stilled as time seemed to pass them by. A low hum sounded, reverberating through the area before a massive monster spirit appeared.

It bristled with spikes, but wore a pair of wings.

Monster spirits held sway in the south. Their overlord Spring Autumn was a monster spirit.

Being a chaos spirit, Peng Cheng was one with monster spirits. The look in its eyes shifted as it knew the newcomer.

The massive monster spirit was a hornet cloudcrier, a very special type of monster spirit. It was very small—appearing to be the size of a regular human even as an eighth rank. And this was its primary body!

Logically speaking, the stronger the monster spirit, the bigger their primary body. At eighth rank, their size should boggle the mind.

But this was as big as the monster spirit got.

This Exalted Hornet Emperor was famous throughout the chaos. Its spikes could puncture on sight and were filled with lethal venom. One spike had taken out one seventh rank once, and this guy had a countless number of them!

It was also extremely fast, so fast that it couldn’t be believed. The hornet cloudcrier possessed some ability to pass through space, but it wasn’t an exalted emperor of spatial dao. It was just so fast that it was abnormal.

The monster spirit was fast, venomous, possessed sharp spikes for weapons, and could utilize sound waves for weapons. This was a threat for any eighth rank.

Peng Cheng looked on gravely. While this guy’s strength wasn’t the most premier, he knew that he wouldn’t measure up to the newcomer in battle. Both of them possessed roughly four thousand daos, but Peng Cheng wasn’t as fast as Hornet.

This guy was the strongest under Spring Autumn’s command. That position was not occupied by Spring Autumn. So the monster spirit overlord had sent Hornet!

That indicated that Spring Autumn placed a great emphasis on this expedition.

“Reincarnation, Peng Cheng, I’m not late, am I?” Hornet wasn’t big and didn’t project a domineering presence, but it came with a fatal sense of threat.

The monster spirit’s poisonous spikes could outright poison a seventh rank to death. It functioned the same as a great dao!

That was utterly terrifying.

“I hadn’t thought that Fellow Daoist Hornet would be the one to join us,” Reincarnation smiled. “We are much more assured of success this time!”

This guy was so fast and had so many venomous spikes to use. It could poison a great dao before anyone realized what was happening. Didn’t Li Hao have a lot of great daos? Let’s see if he can stand against Hornet’s dao of poison!

“Has the north not sent anyone?” Hornet’s compound eyes creased in a smile.

Five Elements was located to the north and jointly overseen by five exalted emperors. Each of them was formidable and wielded at least four thousand daos. Just one of them might not be the strongest in the chaos, but if they combined all five elements, then even Chaos Sky and Spring Autumn would be wary of them.

Would one of the five come?

“They should be here soon,” Reincarnation murmured as he looked into the distance. Hornet said nothing else. It was normal for it to arrive ahead of time since it was so fast.

A ripple traveled through the void as they were momentarily lost in thought. The entire chaos seemed to freeze.

Reincarnation raised a brow after a while and smiled. “Who would’ve thought... that it would be that one here in person!”

Hornet’s pupils contracted rapidly before it quickly relaxed.

“So one really did come...” Peng Cheng was slightly surprised. “The Exalted Earth Spirit Emperor is here in person! I thought that the Five Elements wouldn’t act alone.”

The Five Elements were strongest in a combined force. It enabled them to stand against any powerhouse. But individually speaking...

The Exalted Metal Spirit Emperor was strong enough, whereas the other four were slightly worse off. They weren’t even on par with Reincarnation. Weren’t they concerned about their quintet being destroyed if something happened to their representative here?

These five had quite some nerve!

The void was frozen solid while immense strength of earth formed a dao domain that came down over the chaos. A third rank world nearby seemed to be spontaneously petrified. Moments later, an exalted emperor with a sallow complexion hovered in front of everyone.

“This seat is here!” He laughed as he looked at Reincarnation, then at Hornet.

“To think that Fellow Daoist Earth Spirit would be here in person! This is such a surprise!” Reincarnation smiled radiantly.

Earth Spirit curved his lips without a word. It was true, the Five Elements typically mobilized in a group. Rarely did they set out alone because the death of one might weaken the entire system. Their position as the overlord of the north was usually stable. Losing one might destabilize it.

But since he’d dared come, he was naturally confident.

“Fellow Daoist Earth Spirit has come in person!” Hornet’s voice was slightly shrill and quavered a little. “Can it be that Fellow Daoist Metal Spirit has grasped all five elements?”

They would only be unafraid of losing one if their leader had grasped the other daos. To a certain extent, killing Earth Spirit was more significant than killing Li Hao. That would eliminate an overlord of a region!

“Fellow Daoist Hornet is immensely knowledgable!” Earth Spirit chuckled in an almost foolish manner.

Everyone blinked at these words. Hornet inwardly snapped to attention. The Five Elements were blood brothers and each adept in one of the five elements. They were domineering and unparalleled when all five elements were one.

However, they had one major drawback—they could not incorporate any other daos. None of them could cultivate the other four elements.

But based on what Earth Spirit was saying, their eldest brother might be able to, and to spectacular success. If that was the case, then it completely changed the game to have Metal Spirit able to wield the five elements by himself.

“Congratulations!” Reincarnation laughed readily. “I’d say that Fellow Daoist Metal Spirit stands a chance of making it to ninth rank with the combination of the five elements! No wonder Fellow Daoist Earth Spirit is here in person. Is the chaos to see the birth of a second ninth rank in one million years?”

“We’re a far cry from that,” Earth Spirit smiled broadly. “Big brother has simply comprehended a tiny bit of earth dao. But I thank you for your good wishes, Fellow Daoist Reincarnation. I hope he comprehends the other three elements soon.”

A merry Reincarnation did not respond to that, but he was quite on guard. Had Metal Spirit only comprehended the earth element? He might have more since Earth Spirit had dared expose himself.

Could it be that this age was about to return to the era of one million years past and see large numbers of ninth ranks come to be?