[Who stood at the pinnacle of the Dao of mooching?]

A Heavenly Emperor was powerful, but not invincible. If they truly had the strength to wipe out every forbidden zone without suffering a scratch...

Then when Ruthless leveled the Heaven-Cutting Mountain Range with a single sword strike and slew the Imperial Dao Fire Spirit, she certainly would not have minded erasing the other Life Restricted Areas along the way.

Even if Ruthless stood apart from the world and paid no heed to the Life Restricted Areas, Great Emperor Wu Shi, who came after her, had a deep blood feud with the Underworld. If he could have eradicated the Underworld Forbidden Zone, he would have spared no effort.

Yet the Underworld Forbidden Zone still existed. Back then, it had used the power of the Heaven-Penetrating Netherworld Treasure to flee the world and hide within chaos. Even Wu Shi had failed to find it. Clearly, a Heavenly Emperor might be powerful, but he was not all-powerful.

Otherwise, Azure Emperor's visit to the Divine Ruins would not have ended with merely seizing the Desolate Pagoda and slaying two great accomplished saint spirits. He would have erased the Divine Ruins Forbidden Zone and taken the Flat Peach Immortal Elixir home while he was at it.

A Heavenly Emperor was powerful, but alone. The Supreme Beings were diminished, but they banded together for protection. Like a man facing a wolf with a flimsy stalk for a weapon, both sides had reason to fear the other.

Neither the Heavenly Emperors nor the forbidden zones wanted a fight to the death that left both sides gravely wounded, allowing some hidden mastermind to reap the spoils.

This was not Lin Xian's speculation. It was the true balance of power in the Great Universe.

The forbidden zones of the Big Dipper had declined before, but they had never disappeared.