“Come if you dare, Phoenix!” snorted the Thunder master. “With Long Xuan and Earth Dragon dead, I foresee that the Dragon master will come back with nothing to show for his visit to the three regions. This emperor awaits all of your deaths!”

Boom!

Thunder and lightning exploded, flashing through Thunder World as it sped toward Thunder Region. They wouldn’t win in a fight, so they could only run.

The Phoenix master watched on with a cold look in her eyes. Thunder Emperor, do you think we’ve been sitting idle on our hands all these years?

Just as the world was about to fully disappear into the region, it stuttered for a split second. The world trembled violently. The Thunder master was still standing at the world gates, looking out over his domain. His eyes turned red when he realized what’d happened!

A sixth rank stood near the world origin, having destroyed almost half of it with one punch. Thunder World quaked as silence threatened to settle over it.

The world origin hadn’t broken, just partially shattered. It might sink into silence, but it would be a silence that could be recovered from.

Color drained from the Thunder master’s face and he grit his teeth with incredulity. “I already don’t trust anyone! I began to suspect even myself after the Silver Moon king gave me a reminder, but I never suspected you...”

He’d kept a sharp eye out after Li Hao reminded him that he might be beset with spies. He viewed all new joiners in recent years as agents from other factions. The Thunder master felt he was going overboard as he suspected even local exalted emperors.

There was only one person he’d never suspected and, in fact, trusted more than the others. He’d stationed that person near the world origin. This was a critical locale as it was the source of life for the entire world. The world would die if it was broken.

World masters retained control over the world origin under normal circumstances. If the dao master and master of the world were one and the same, then the dao master exercised authority over it.

With Thunder World facing so many external enemies, it was best to have some help pushing the world into Thunder Region. Since the world master oversaw the dao universe, it would be faster if someone else helmed the world origin.

And yet, the person he trusted the most had damaged the world origin! The entire world was in a half silenced state.

As the Thunder master was not a chaos beast, he could not swallow his world and go on the move with it. When the world shuddered to a halt, there was no way for him to force it forward into continued motion.

At the moment, he was stock still with disbelief.

Who was the sixth rank that’d betrayed him?

Someone with even more experience than him. This person had helped him before he became the Thunder master, so this turn of events was truly hard to stomach.

The wizened sixth rank stood near the world origin and sighed with emotion.

“I won’t say anything about the future prospects of the world,” he said softly. “And I won’t claim to be acting out of a desire to preserve it. Neither will I expound on the advantages of swearing allegiance to the chaos beasts.

“I’ll just... the only thing I want to say is that Thunder World has become a burden to you. Go on! Leave the dao universe and become a wandering cultivator. You will still be that invincible Thunder Emperor that way!”

The old man didn’t want to say anything, nor was he willing to say anything.

Go!

There is no future left for Thunder World. We are impoverished after so many years of blockades. This world does nothing but drag you down. Is there any other seventh rank world master who trades their own dao foundation crystals for resources?

You are the only one!

Even wandering cultivators do not have to do so. It’s a complete joke for seventh ranks to be in such straits.

Go on then!

Leave the dao universe and hand over the Thunder World. Whether you journey through the other three regions or head through Thunder Region, a seventh rank of the thunder attribute will find a warm welcome wherever he goes.

There is no future here anymore.

“Today, I call you my teacher for the last and final time!” the Thunder master declared frostily. “You cannot make any decisions on my behalf! Even if you wish to do this, you must ask my permission first!”

He was enraged beyond belief, yet also disappointed and grief-stricken. His own teacher didn’t think well of their chances and despaired. Whether it was truly out of interest to help the Thunder master or to swear fealty to the chaos beasts, all that the Thunder master felt was sorrow and resignation.

His own teacher had betrayed him!

“The Silver Moon king just killed two seventh ranks and New Martial is fighting the Dragon master. There is still a chance for our world!” he shouted with unbounded disappointment!

He’d been in a very good mood just now, truly. None of that was to be found anymore.

The Thunder master had felt that there was hope for them all. But as it turned out, no one else thought the same way. They didn’t think there was the slightest hope for themselves.

There were seven seventh ranks surrounding Thunder World, of which three were world masters. Thunder World itself was an empty husk. It would only continue to struggle for death if it entered Thunder Region.

In that case, they might as well surrender!

If Thunder World came under Phoenix’s rule and the Thunder master relinquished the dao universe, he would be able to travel through Thunder Region as a thunder exalted emperor. The chaos beasts would not chase him through it. He would be free!

“Thunder Emperor, wise are those who recognize the state of the times they are in!” The Phoenix master smiled and sent her voice through the world. “I reiterate what I said before. We only want the world and not your life! Neither do we want the lives of the humans or other exalted emperors of the world!

“If you want dao crystals or imperial weapons or other worlds, we can give them to you! But if you seek to destroy the world, are you really so willing to kill the humans and exalted emperors who have fought for you for so many years?”

The Thunder master shook. He really had been seized by an impulse to destroy the world just now, so that the chaos beasts wouldn't have it. But what the Phoenix master said stabbed into his heart!

Thunder World!

It held more than ten billion humans and several dozen exalted emperors. It’d been with him all these years and suffered immensely for it. No one had lived well for a single day of their lives...

They’d run to and fro, lacking even cultivation resources for the exalted emperors. It was easy to imagine how desperate they would be.

All of them labored greatly under the misery inflicted by the power of destruction. It erupted at regular intervals, killing people and leaving the survivors gasping for breath.

What would happen to them if he destroyed the world?

Fury, despair, and pain still shone in his eyes.

Exalted emperors appeared, some with complicated expressions, others with furious glares.

“We would rather die than surrender!” someone yelled.

“We will not be the captives or slaves of beasts!”

There were still those who did not wish to eke out a miserable existence, but many more who remained silent. Some of them were locals and had fought by the Thunder master’s side all these years, but it’d been too many years.

Life was so hard here.

There were no cultivation resources to be at hand and thunder tribulations often flooded their world. The power of destruction wore away at them, demolishing their bodies, wills, and minds. There was no hope to be seen, even now.

The Thunder master ground his teeth and looked at the old man standing next to the world origin. “You guys could’ve told me if you wanted to surrender. Why make the decision for those of us who don’t wish to capitulate?”

“Because... we knew that you would not agree,” sighed the old man.

“So you damaged the world origin for it?!” The Thunder master’s might built as he shouted with outrage. The dao universe trembled before a loud rumble roared through it. The old man’s expression shifted as he sighed one last time.

His great dao snapped with a loud crack!

He stood before a master of dao and his great dao was situated within the Thunder dao universe. And yet, he still chose betrayal. Naturally, there was no way he could withstand the dao master’s fury. Death was the only outcome.

The sixth rank was not Fog Mountain. He was not as strong as Fog Mountain to be able to defend against the destruction of his dao origin.

The Thunder master chose to punish the traitor!

Outside the world, the Phoenix master raised an eyebrow. The Thunder master still wanted to resist!

She wasn’t afraid of resistance, just that the human might lose his mind and destroy the entire world.

Meanwhile, the Thunder master outright killed the sixth rank. Some anguish could be glimpsed in his frosty look. If you’d told me that you wanted to surrender... I would’ve let you go. You are my teacher, I never would’ve stopped you. 𝘧𝓇𝑒𝑒𝑤ℯ𝑏𝓃𝘰𝑣ℯ𝘭.𝘤ℴ𝘮

And not just you!

I can understand that anyone’s tired of fighting for so many years. All of you can go if you want. But why must you betray me?

Thunder World had no choice left after losing its mobility.

Some of the exalted emperors were ashen-faced, but the Thunder master sighed. “Anyone who wants to leave may leave. Just tell me and I will move your great dao out. The world is weak and doesn’t have much dao strength to give to you. Everyone who leaves can do so with thirty million dao crystals...”

Jerks of astonishment ripped through the crowd. The world master had just killed his own teacher! Would he let everyone leave like this?

“Phoenix! I’m not giving up!” the Thunder master called out. “But I won’t stop anyone who wants to leave! They can decide if they want to join you or just wander through the chaos!”

The Phoenix master smiled. This was good! The Thunder master was at the end of the road.

His dao universe would be much weaker after it lost some exalted emperors. This was another way of weakening him. He was weakened to begin with, which would only be exacerbated if more people left!

That would also give him less ability to go down in a blaze of glory.

“Thunder Emperor, I said before that I do not wish to kill you or anyone in the world. They can join Phoenix to become our foreign elders. We have more than one hundred of them, and quite a few humans as well.

“I will not stop them if they wish to depart entirely. But with the unrest in the four regions these days... the future of a chaos wanderer is dim indeed...”

The Thunder master sat quietly over his world. The look in his eyes was dead. These people were only concerned about one point, that he would destroy the world himself. That was the only reason why they were willing to negotiate with him.

The truth was, he had nothing to stand on after the world ceased being able to move!

Seven seventh ranks would be able to kill him, even if they took the fight into Thunder World!

It’d taken only a moment for his previous joy to transform into his current despair.

And here I’d been so confident, thinking that I would have a chance with the Silver Moon king killing some seventh ranks...

All of that is nothing now!