Star Gate

The sky darkened as He Yong chatted with Li Hao. Eventually, the old martial master breathed out a happy exhale. “It’s been a good day. It’s really nice to talk to you, kid, despite your teacher not being here. That’s a bit of a pity.

“It’s been such a long time since remarkable juniors have appeared in the martial world. As a senior, I’ll give you one final piece of information for free...”

Li Hao perked up his ears. He Yong chose to transmit his next words so that Wang Ming wouldn’t hear them.

“Remember to stay in Silver Moon if you want to comprehend more auras! If you want to walk further down the path of martial dao, do so in Silver Moon! Silver Moon is a special place and might’ve been the center of the world a very, very long time ago. Any tree or blade of grass that’s old enough might be where an invincible powerhouse once attained enlightenment. Only here can martial masters grow stronger!

“Countless people have their eyes on Silver Moon. I suspect that Hou Xiaochen continuously refused to leave because he’s still on the path of martial masters. He has yet to reach its end, so he won’t easily leave before that.

“Not many people knew before, but now many do. Immense powerhouses will be here soon because the province may hold treasure that can resolve some thorny problems for supernaturals and make them strong again.

“Silver Moon will soon become a focal point of the world. Even if some leave for the time being, they will quickly be back. Your teacher will come back. If Hou Xiaochen does depart this time, he’ll return. All of those powerhouses in the central will come!

“Ying Hongyue, the Yama King, Celestial... All of them will visit! The central region is just a route to gaining greater strength. The destination is Silver Moon!” He Yong smiled and concluded, “The royal family will come too! There are countless threads that connect the royal family to Silver Moon. No one knows where the royal family’s ruins are, but I know a clue or two. They may be in Silver Moon!”

Li Hao sucked in a sharp breath and looked at the old man.

“Go on back,” the old martial master said aloud with a grin. “Martial dao will rise again! This land belongs to martial dao. It once did and it will be again! Supernaturals can become martial masters as well, they just lack something at the moment. Some proceed far down the supernatural path not because they’ve given up on martial dao, but because they wish to travel further on it. They are now very, very strong. Once we sort out how to convert the supernatural back to martial masters, a batch of veteran martial masters will quickly return!”

Li Hao nodded without a word and raised a cupped fist salute. “Thank you for your pointers, senior!” He looked at Wang Ming. “Let’s go!”

Wang Ming was rather confused, but he’d heard the key piece of information—supernaturals could become martial masters. Ecstatic, he wanted to ask more questions, but had to catch up to Li Hao since his senior brother was swiftly departing the residence.

“Supernaturals can become martial masters, huh?? I’m rich!” he said with quiet exuberance.

Li Hao was speechless. Did you not hear everything that came after that? There are problems having to do with this process, ones that haven’t been resolved. Does this guy have selective hearing?

......

He Yong watched as the two young men left. He broke out in a grin when they drove off. “Martial masters... martial world... the world at large!”

Things were finally getting interesting!

I, Southern Fist, will rise again on this ancient land. Wait for me!

......

Li Hao did not leave his office again after visiting Southern Fist. He needed to digest the senior’s words.

Within his office.

Li Hao held a pen and drew over a piece of paper. Silver Moon, the three northern provinces, the martial world, the central region... He’d liked to view case files and gather information during his time in Classified Affairs. Sometimes, words spoke and gave Li Hao a lot of material.

There were hidden powerhouses in Silver Moon who’d never revealed themselves. Hou Xiaochen’s exposure might be part of a bigger plan. The young man wrote down a few names—Hou Xiaochen, Huang Yun, Kong Jie, Zhao Chengguang.

These leaders of the four institutions had most likely reached an agreement with each other. Li Hao didn’t believe that they weren’t aware of each other’s level of strength. Apparently, Director General Zhao had always been at odds with Hou Xiaochen. Was this a two man show, or was it a result of an unsatisfactory split of goods? Or did they simply disagree on something?

The three commanders of the Skystar Guards... The Guards had been established by the royal family. Did these people have something to do with the royal family? If Hou Xiaochen was one of them, was he betraying the royal family right now?

Various thoughts floated to the forefront, to which Li Hao quickly suppressed them all. It was enough to keep them in consideration, there was no need to pursue them to the bitter end. He just needed a good sense of appropriateness so that he didn’t foolishly become someone else’s pawn.

Flaming Phoenix Spear, spear intent.

Li Hao wrote down the weapon name. Could he borrow it? That was an origin weapon, and a very high level one. It might prove difficult to borrow if he brashly put in a request. But since Hou Xiaochen seemed to value him at the moment, perhaps it was a possibility.

Strength was the foundation of everything. The ruins of Battle Heaven were still there and yet to be fully explored. Another expedition might set out at the end of the month or next month; Li Hao knew that there was a slight connection between himself and the ancient cities.

The eight families of Silver City were likely relevant to Battle Heaven.

He wanted the defensive origin weapon as well, despite a lot of people having their eyes on it. If he was unsuccessful with the origin weapon, he still needed the mysterious power stones inside the city. For the little sword to recover its energy other than sources such as the stone door and origin weapons, the easiest source was these stones.

“I need to be stronger for the next excavation!” Although he was short on time, Li Hao wasn’t willing to give up. In his current state, the ruins of Battle Heaven held the largest amount of mysterious power stones. Any other place might be more dangerous than the ruins.

He drew and wrote over the sheet of paper for a bit, then shredded it and burned the fragments with sword intent from the fire tiger. Although he wasn’t a supernatural, he was able to call upon some supernatural techniques after gaining the fire tiger sword.

At the moment, Li Hao possessed eight hundred cubes of wood energy and six hundred cubes of metal energy. Those precious babies could not languish in storage. Other than the two hundred cubes of metal energy that he was reserving for Wang Ming, he didn’t need to strengthen his organs with the remainder. Instead, he could trade them for some other attributes.

He knew the uses for wind and thunder energy. Li Hao walked out of his office when his thoughts traveled here. He didn’t go next door to Manager Yu—he didn’t want to be overly familiar with the first generation Violet Moon. Rather, he headed upstairs.

Manager Yu was handling general affairs in the office next door. She briefly sensed the happenings outside of her door and didn’t mind them. No one cared what Li Hao did as long as he didn’t lose himself in the city or kill more people.

......

Fifth floor.

Hao Lianchuan was buried deep in paperwork when he saw Li Hao arrive. “Do me a favor...”

“Do me one first,” the young man reversed their positions. “Director, help me trade for some mysterious power.”

“......” Hao Lianchuan didn’t know what to say. Can’t you see that I’m busy? Why are you coming to me for such a trivial matter?

“I got these cubes from someone else and can’t trade them easily.”

Fine then, he understood.

“How many and what do you want?”

“Twelve hundred cubes, swap them for wind and thunder.”

Hao Lianchuan frowned and looked at the young man. What did he want with wind and thunder energy? Yuan Shuo had traded for plenty of the five elements before. General speculation was that they had to do with the five visceral elements. Wind and thunder, however, were baffling.

Twelve hundred cubes were neither too much nor too little. Hao Lianchuan nodded after some thought. “Will do, I’ll check our vaults in a bit. I’ll swap them out for you if we have any. There aren’t that many wind and thunder supernaturals, so not many have a need for them.

“Now you do me a favor,” he quickly said. “Didn’t you say that blood pearls can strengthen supernatural locks? I got a Sunflare level one through my connections. Can you help me see if it’ll work? If it does, I’ll figure out a way to get a higher level one. Wouldn’t we just be wasting our energy if it doesn’t?”

It was plain to see that he dearly wished to grow stronger. Everyone wanted to.

A Sunflare level blood pearl was almost useless to Hao Lianchuan, but if it strengthened his supernatural lock by only a little, that was still hope. Many supernaturals faced similar straits. Ascension was easy, but how was one to ascend if one couldn’t see the locks to break them?

“Alright, but I’ll have to send my internal force through your entire body for a close inspection,” Li Hao responded. “Are you fine with that, director?”

He also wanted to gain a deeper understanding of supernaturals. Since one had come knocking at his door, he would make full use of the opportunity. According to Southern Fist’s words, supernaturals could convert to martial masters. If that was the case, then the implications were horrifying!

Some supernaturals were domineering beyond belief. If they could become martial masters again—if Novas could become martial masters—then what level would they be? How would mind intent be resolved? Or would they be martial masters without mind intent?

They were still formidable in the absence of mind intent as their physical bodies would be enhanced to unfathomable levels. Mind intent might not be the only path.

Purely physical martial masters?

Li Hao was rather excited by the possibility.

Hao Lianchuan thought it over and set his jaw, nodded without care. “Very well, go ahead and try! To be honest, I haven’t had any motivation since making it to Solar because I haven’t been able to see my next lock. That failure means a lack of a future. Many supernaturals fall into this state when they come across the same situation. They muddle through the days without purpose since this is all they can amount to.”

Li Hao didn’t say anything. This was similar to martial masters after they reached Dominator. There was no future, so what was the point of anything?

However, true elites would try to peer into the road ahead. If there was no path, then they would walk it themselves.

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