Killing a seventh rank would facilitate Red Moon to explain himself to the Dragon master. The key to his actions was that the Exalted Ironeater Emperor would certainly not surrender after this.

Red Moon had just ensured that the Ironeaters would not join the dragons. If that ever came to pass, then the formidable dragons would be even harder to manage.

Indeed, Red Moon had killed that Ironeater seventh rank on purpose! He’d even done so in a way that no one would be able to fault him for it. The man had hoped that Silver Moon and New Martial would reinforce the monster spirits. It’d be best if both sides inflicted awful damage on each other.

What a pity that neither of the two showed signs of movement. Damn them all!

As an eighth rank and once a world master, was Red Moon truly willing to be a dog for someone else? That put him at the mercy of another’s beck and call!

On the other hand, the Dragon master was too strong and he had too many powerhouses under his command. This was the only way that Red Moon could interfere with the other. It would prevent the dragons from recruiting more powerhouses. Otherwise, a peak seventh rank like Ironeater might have a chance to become an eighth rank under the Dragon master!

Black Tiger and the rest didn’t understand the nuances, but they, too, felt that it wasn’t likely that they would be able to recruit the Ironeaters after one of their seventh ranks was killed.

“Kill them!” roared Black Tiger. “There’s no need to show them any more mercy!”

It’d pulled its punches before to see if they could bring the Ironeaters to heel. But now... death was the only possible outcome.

“I surrender!” roared the Fire Pig master. It was deathly afraid that it would follow in the dead Ironeater seventh rank’s footsteps.

Ironeaters were the boss of the five monster spirit worlds. Flying Wolf was number two since they possessed two seventh ranks. Flying Wolves were wolves marked with two heads. They witnessed the Ironeater master’s final madness in dominating various chaos beast seventh ranks, but they... could see no more hope.

The remaining Ironeater seventh rank charged by its world master’s side. But once they were surrounded, they were dead without a doubt.

The two wolves gave up the fight and one of them growled, “My brother is willing to surrender!”

Five out of the eight seventh ranks had chosen to surrender. The Ironeaters had lost one seventh rank, so the remaining two would likely find it hard to survive.

The monster spirit resistance appeared quite impotent at this moment.

A violent light glinted out of the Ironeater master’s eyes. He glanced at Red Moon hiding behind the line of chaos beasts. Killing intent and hatred shone hotly out of his eyes. It would be fine if the chaos beasts killed his brethren, but this human was completely shameless!

How dare he ambush an Ironeater! He deserved death!

The Ironeater master wouldn’t be so bitter if it simply came down to his skill being inferior. But an eighth rank could kill them in direct combat. Why go through an ambush?

It was even more despicable to go into hiding behind chaos beasts after completing the ambush!

He didn’t care that the other five worlds had chosen to surrender. Since there was no way out for them, it might be worth yielding to preserve their lives.

But he himself hadn’t planned on surrendering. And now that his own had been killed, that would never happen!

Black Tiger came bearing down the rear. Chaos beasts surrounded the Ironeater duo on all sides. The Ironeater took a look at his brethren behind him. The latter teetered on the edge of disaster and might die at anytime...

His rampaging emotions found a second of calm.

“Red Moon!” snarled the panda. “I will come back for you!”

Red Moon’s expression slackened with surprise before he grunted, “Stop it!”

Black Tiger pounced on empty air. The void trembled as a dao universe spontaneously collapsed. The two Ironeaters’ presence oscillated wildly—a seventh rank dao universe exploded!

The Ironeaster master grabbed the remaining seventh rank and darted into the void. He burrowed into the nearby Thunder Region with a shout, “Red Moon, I will have your head so long as I am alive!”

Red Moon’s eyes widened. He looked at the halted chaos beasts and then at Black Tiger. The eighth rank was very, very close to the monster spirits and... had failed to catch their quarry. The panda had had the chance to detonate its dao universe and run!

Red Moon’s expression shifted from the implications.

Someone strode in from the vicinity, as leisurely as if he was taking a walk through the park.

It was the Dragon master.

No one knew when he’d arrived. Red Moon’s eyebrows shot up as he hadn’t sensed it either.

Had the Dragon master just come to them? If not, that meant he’d had a chance to stop the Ironeaters from leaving. Why hadn’t he?

“My liege!” Black Tiger didn’t seem surprised by the Dragon master’s presence. He was just baffled and confused by how the battle ended. The emotions weren’t apparent on his face, but he was indeed puzzled.

He’d stood a chance of stopping Ironeater just now, but the Dragon master had sent a transmission that distracted him and given the Ironeaters an opening. Why was that?

The Dragon master simply looked into the distance and said softly after a while, “Let them get away. They’ll either die in Thunder Region without the protection of a world, or escape to the outer regions. Ironeater is a promising talent among the monster spirits. He might have a chance to enter eighth rank without the hindrance of a world.

“If he becomes an eighth rank, he’ll surely seek vengeance on you.” The Dragon master turned to Red Moon. “Be careful these days...”

Red Moon’s face twitched. Damn it! What does he mean by that?!

Well, I think I get it, but I also don’t understand. You’re sparing Ironeater to act as a balance for me. But at the same time, aren’t you afraid of Ironeater becoming a major threat to you?

Is that worth sparing his life, you asshole?!

Red Moon realized that the Dragon master had stayed his hand on purpose to let the two monster spirits flee. But had he done so just to keep Red Moon in check?

What a blasted bastard he was!

Red Moon had wanted Ironeater to fight to the death with the chaos beasts, but now he was the one in trouble after Ironeater ran off. This was no weakling. Although he was just a seventh rank and didn’t even have a dao universe anymore, he would have to be careful if the panda really did become an eighth rank!

“Red Moon... there are no further enemies for Dragon Region now that the five worlds of monster spirits have surrendered. You can go about your business and help me recruit some human powerhouses...”

The look in Red Moon’s eyes shifted before he vanished on the spot.

“My liege, why... let those two get away?” Black Tiger couldn’t help itself and transmitted the question. “Ironeater is indeed strong. This might be future trouble for us!”

“I wish to curtail Red Moon and prevent him from having some other ideas in mind.”

But... you didn’t need to go to these lengths, did you? Black Tiger still didn’t understand. If Red Moon doesn’t listen to you, just kill him.

“Fine, that’s just one reason,” transmitted the chuckling Dragon master. “The second is that I want Ironeater to seek out Li Hao. He has no other options left now but to go to Li Hao! No one will help him if he enters Thunder Region and does not approach the young man.”

But...

Black Tiger really couldn’t help itself anymore. “My liege, Ironeater is very strong and the other Ironheart is also formidable. Aren’t we...”

Supporting the enemy?

Why are we doing this? We know full well that he’ll go to Li Hao, but we’re giving the human two seventh ranks. Is that really okay?

The tiger didn’t question anything when it came to the Dragon master’s decisions, it was just a bit worried.

“Ironeater’s battle strength will decline in the short term in the absence of a world. He will not enter eighth rank,” the Dragon master clarified. “We need to give Li Hao something to do so he’s not focused on coming back to make trouble for us. I’m not prepared to move against them yet, so they can struggle for a bit themselves...”

Black Tiger still didn’t understand. Would those two guys dare start a civil war when they arrived?

“Why do you think Ironeater never left, despite knowing the dangers?” the Dragon master explained. “He never considered leaving until we arrived on his doorstep. That’s because the outer regions are even more dangerous for him.

“There’s also a reason why Ironeater refuses to yield to me. A long, long time ago, there were five brothers in his family. All of them were formidable and Ironeater major world had a chance of becoming an eighth rank world...

“But a seventh rank from the outer regions visited us once and clashed with the Ironeaters. The foreigner wasn’t weak, so he killed two of Ironeater’s brothers. They had a chance to seek revenge...” The Dragon master paused. “But I stopped them from doing so and let that one go. Ironeater has hated me since.”

Black Tiger was quite surprised by what it was learning.

“Why did that happen?” It continued to be confused. Its liege lord was tyrannical! That shouldn’t have happened!

The Ironeaters were in Dragon Region, at the end of the day. Relations shouldn’t have been this hostile early on. With the Dragon master possessing grand ambitions, how would he permit a foreigner to enter his territory and kill two Ironeater brothers?

Even if he hadn’t been able to respond in time, he shouldn’t have stopped Ironeater from gaining vengeance.

The Dragon master sank into his memories and said after a while, “It wasn’t an appropriate time to kill that one then. Dragon Region had just settled down and the seventh rank had an immense background. It would’ve resulted in some trouble for us if he’d died here.

“We had just put down roots in Dragon Region and were yet to find our footing. If the death of a seventh rank resulted in a visit from one or two eighth ranks, that would’ve been highly troublesome!

“Sparing Ironeater this time... is also partial compensation for some of my decisions that year...”

“My liege, do you mean that... we couldn’t afford to offend the seventh rank?”

“Mmhmm.” The Dragon master inclined his head. “There are some tyrants in the outer regions apart from the newly ascended Chaos Sky. There are also some peak eighth ranks with more eighth ranks under their banner, as well as a plethora of seventh ranks. That seventh rank belonged to one of them.

“I was not nearly as strong then as I was now. I’d only just entered eighth rank,” sighed the Dragon master. “I’d just established my base here. This was not yet called Dragon Region. If Ironeater’s actions resulted in a fast reaction from the other, that would’ve been a small matter.

“What concerned me was that they might interfere with my plan of conquering Dragon Region. And so I suppressed Ironeater to let that person go, which is why he hated me ever since...”

It was the first time that Black Tiger learned of this past story. No wonder Ironeater had never sought to coexist peacefully with the chaos beasts, despite being suppressed for so many years. No wonder he’d only wanted to fight.

“So my liege means to say... that if Ironeater finds Li Hao and the rest, he might start a conflict between them and the foreigner?”

Would he? Would the foreigner even remember this piece of ancient history? Even if they did, would they take action? After all, Ironeater was the victim in the situation. The other hadn’t died and even killed two of the monster spirits.