“My first condition is the sixth rank world of the water attribute,” Li Hao raised. "The fellow daoist agreed to this before. Second, the territory of one hundred worlds... must have at least sixty percent mid and minor worlds. I do not wish to oversee a bunch of desolate backwaters that don’t even count as a world.

“Third, no external exalted emperors are permitted entrance into my territory. Not even Phoenix exalted emperors will be allowed in! All trespassers will be struck with a chaos tribulation if they venture inside!”

“Eh?” The princess frowned. “Fellow daoist, this... request is not appropriate, is it? Forbidding external exalted emperors from entering is normal, but your territory is under Phoenix jurisdiction. My world’s exalted emperors may journey the four corners, so it is inappropriate that they are forbidden from entering!”

“Then... they need my permission to enter,” Li Hao modified after some thought. “Otherwise, I’d be worried of suddenly being ambushed by powerhouses...”

How would you ever be?

The princess repressed an eye roll. Wandering chaos beasts sure did have a strong habit of spooking at shadows.

“That is acceptable!”

“In addition, I will not work for Phoenix for the first ten years,” Li Hao continued. “I need to digest a sixth rank world and prepare for ascension...”

“That is fine as well!” The princess readily agreed. Ten years was a very short period of time. It was normal if one hundred years were needed for a fifth rank to devour a sixth rank world.

“And lastly, I wish to freely rearrange the worlds within my territory.”

“What?”

“For example, I might gather all of the worlds together to protect my world!” explained Li Hao. I might move the worlds into a protective circle...”

Seriously?

The princess didn’t know what to say. Are you that afraid of death within Phoenix jurisdiction?? This is ridiculous! If a powerhouse really does come for you, to be honest, none of those masters of mid and minor worlds will be able to save you.

There was no major issue with his request, this was just huddling together for warmth!

“That is fine, but may I remind you that once a hundred worlds gather together and absorb a large quantity of chaos strength, the area nearby might soon be depleted of energy...”

“That’s easy to fix,” laughed Li Hao. “I’ll move them to a new place after a while. I can change the range of my territory at will, anyhow. Once this side is empty, I’ll look for a new location...”

Alright then, so long as you don’t think it’s a hassle!

The Phoenix princess didn’t have an opinion otherwise. This was a minor detail. Everything that Black Dog had raised was trivial.

“I agree!”

“My thanks, Your Highness!” smiled Li Hao. “What a pity that the princess doesn’t promise to help me set foot into sixth rank. If that’s on the table, I can promise to serve Phoenix for one hundred thousand years...”

The princess smiled without responding.

We’d be in great trouble if you continuously failed to ascend. Although there’s not much of a barrier between fifth and sixth rank, some guys really have issues making the leap. Phoenix would have to quietly suffer a loss then!

She might not have minded such a trap before, but now everyone was on high alert against dao alliances. Every single detail needed to be considered, just in case something untoward developed.

“Then if the fellow daoist has no other opinions, we can sign the agreement anytime. But before that, I may need the fellow daoist to come with me and meet a few Phoenix elders...”

“I can do that!” Li Hao said calmly. A test, is it? You guys are worried that I’m just all show, eh? Bring it on!

...... 𝙛𝒓𝓮𝒆𝔀𝒆𝙗𝓷𝒐𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝓶

The two swiftly flew toward the city in the sky. Li Hao landed on a massive plaza. There was no one there aside from a few Phoenix elders. Some were in human form, others were in phoenix form.

Fiery strength rose into the sky. There were fifth and sixth ranks. Some outsiders could also be glimpsed; they were clearly not phoenixes. They lacked both fiery strength and the signs of being part of a dao universe.

The princess pointed at the cultivators in the plaza without another word. “The fellow daoist can pick anyone one of them for a match. This will just be a friendly spar!

“If the fellow daoist is unable to overcome any of them...” she switched to transmission. “A sixth rank world is just as great a temptation to them. Perhaps I will have to reconsider our agreement then!”

Li Hao wasted no time in manipulating Panth’s body to size up the exalted emperors. He settled on a massive beast that looked like a black bear.

“This fellow daoist!” Panther pointed its claws at the bear. “Let’s go for a round or two!”

The black bear stared coldly at Li Hao, clearly feeling belittled and overlooked. They were both fifth ranks, but the newcomer was very bold.

A surge of vast strength rushed out from a suddenly vibrating ground. The vibrations grew in intensity until they threatened to create a fissure in the earth! The giant bear immediately transformed into a beast one thousand meters tall and slammed its palm down on Li Hao.

Those around them exchanged glances with each other.

“This Exalted Black Dog Emperor knows how to pick good ones, huh?” someone smirked through transmission. “Although Fellow Daoist Vast Force practices a simple dao, his strength by himself can overcome ten others. He has so much of it that even sixth ranks will suffer from one of his blows...”

The black bear’s dao method seemed simple, but chaos dao was one of violence at its core. One that further focused on immense force could shatter the earth when they struck.

Under Li Hao’s control, Panther vanished from plain sight. Water-attributed strength surged in the dog’s place. Waves seemed to be rearing toward the heavens!

They were soundless and with no trace of Panther to be found. However, the sixth ranks on the perimeter started and jerked their heads upward, finding the dog hovering midair. It’d been so quick that no one had been able to catch a glimpse of its movement.

Panther’s claws slapped the waves into motion; they overlaid on themselves and surged in endless motion. A claw ripped through the void!

Boom!

The bear’s claw suddenly changed direction, yet Panther did not back away. The dog’s claws continued to move forward, drawing head shakes from the rest. Vast Force had quick reaction times as well, this Black Dog might not be as fast as its opponent, despite carrying a world around.

Wanting to go head-to-head... the black bear practiced a dao of force!

As smiles of sympathy spread through the crowd, the waves suddenly shook the heavens with a roar!

A massive collision left the dog’s claws splintered and a cold light in the bear’s eyes. so its opponent was no match for it! However, this was when Panther howled and a second collision rang out!

A third, a fourth, the waves furiously repeated themselves!

Endless dao strength was absorbed from the surroundings as massive waves folded in on themselves in a maddened frenzy.

“A water exalted emperor...”

“And... multiple layers?”

“Interesting!”

“It looks like a dao method that overlays on itself... but it poses high demands on the body... so only short-lived bursts are possible...”

“It looks like the Exalted Black Dog Emperor has trained his body well...”

Amid a flurry of discussion from Phoenix powerhouses and one last boom, force forged nine times was complete and crushed the bear paw with a loud bam!

Panther did not continue.

The giant bear cast a sharp glance at its ruined paw and retreated without a word. Its paw began recovering as soon as it left the fight.

The princess smiled at the sight. not bad! Vast Force was one of the strongest out of the fifth ranks they’d recruited. This one, however, had broken its paw. Black Dog was clearly stronger.

Of course, the dog still didn’t quite measure up to exalted emperors with major worlds in tow. But he was not bad! This was a worthwhile transaction to conclude.

“Well done!” laughed the Phoenix princess. “Fellow Daoist Black Dog and Fellow Daoist Vast Force have both done well. Fellow Daoist Vast Force, please go to the warehouse and collect ten million dao crystals for your injuries. We’re all on the same team here. There’s no need for bad blood after just a friendly spar!”

“Many thanks to Your Highness!” The black bear smiled. Ten million dao crystals were worth a minor world. So it’d suffered a bit after the fight, but the trade-off seemed worth it.

Li Hao watched silently. Phoenix major world seemed perfectly willing to splash resources around. They were also highly adept at using the carrot and stick, a far cry of knowing only might in his impression.

Cherished stereotypes were being loosened after this trip. What one saw with their own eyes was the truth and rumors were all hearsay.

“The signing of the dao treaty requires the oversight of a powerhouse,” said the Phoenix princess. “Does fellow daoist know how to sign an agreement?”

Li Hao shook his head.

“It’s very simple, the fellow daoist just needs to sever a small portion of your dao origin to make it part of the agreement. I will meld the dao origin of Phoenix major world with it. This will bear mutual testimony for our participation in this agreement.

“The dao origin is the fount of our great dao. Whether it is a dao universe or chaos dao, all of great dao’s origin lies within the chaos! Hence, offering up some of our dao strength will ensure that the chaos bears testimony to all this!”

Li Hao moved Panther’s head in a nod. He was aware of this and actually had some tricks up his sleeves to avoid signing the contract. There wouldn’t be much of an issue with hoodwinking a sixth rank, but... there was a seventh rank here, so he wasn’t going to make the attempt.

Apart from using his own dao origin instead of Panther’s, he hadn’t been prepared to dodge the signing anyhow. Since the Phoenix princess wished a powerhouse to bear witness... it might be a seventh rank.

As expected, an old man stepped forward. There wasn’t a strong presence about him, but Li Hao snapped to inward attention. A seventh rank!

And this wasn’t the Phoenix master, but a dragon! He could sense a draconic presence from the other.

The old man swept a look over Panther and smiled without saying anything. A book of dao contract appeared. He looked at the two participants.

“Have a look at the content, it’s all from dao characters. If there’s nothing amiss, Black Dog can sever a portion of your dao origin. The same goes for Feng Yan.” The old man smiled meaningfully at Panther at this time. “I will be able to easily tell if it is your dao origin of a fifth rank or not!”

Li Hao said nothing. He was fully part of Panther now. The dog had seized this body from another to begin with and was currently fully in its role as the Silver Moon heavenly will. It’d turned control of its body over to the young man.