Star Gate

It was true that formidable formations existed. Numerous records could be founded in ancient tomes. Li Hao knew quite a few ancient books that spoke of them; he’d been forced to memorize the material due to his teacher.

Manager Yu felt quite frustrated all of a sudden. Information that she thought was quite impressive was worthless when Li Hao spoke of it. The young man wasn’t the only one to give her this feeling. She couldn’t help but take a walk down memory lane—there was once an irritating fellow in the martial world who knew everything one spoke of. If someone presented a formidable secret art, he could give examples of countless arts much more powerful.

That person was Yuan Shuo, someone so infuriating it set one’s teeth on edge!

Yuan Shuo was widely learned at a young age. Of that, the entire martial world was aware of. He knew a lot and read all sorts of books. When modern choices couldn’t satisfy him, he grew curious about ancient books. Thus started his path of archaeology. By now, he knew much, much more and Li Hao showed signs of following Yuan Shuo’s development. Old Demon Yuan had just returned to the world, was there going to be a Little Demon Li?

Manager Yu instantly lost interest in the conversation. You’ll know when we get there!

......

The car headed for the northern outskirts after driving in the city for half an hour.

“There’s a sea in the northern outskirts, but it's only a bay and not a real sea. The North Sea traverses the continent and separates the central region from the north. Silver Moon holds only a tiny portion of it, we call it the Moon Sea.

“Taking the Moon Sea will deposit one in the North Sea. From there, one can travel to the central region, but it’s not safe. There are robbers and pirates in the waters, it’s not as safe as going by land.

“The Silver Moon Guards are stationed near the Moon Sea. It’s sparsely inhabited there and, as such, suitable for martial masters to train. The resulting disturbance from nearly one thousand martial masters is quite significant.” Manager Yu started giving an overview of the Guards when they were almost at their destination.

Her introduction piqued Li Hao’s interest. “Manager, does this mean that the barracks is by the sea?”

“Yes.”

“Then I can swim at any time?”

“If you’re not afraid of drowning.”

Li Hao was suddenly in a good mood. The Moon Sea... It didn’t matter that it was a bay. He’d never seen the sea before. Apparently, there were beauties there who didn’t wear clothes—ahem, beauties there who sunbathed.

“Are there beaches near the barracks, manager?”

“Of course, but there’s not really anyone there as that’s a military restricted zone.”

Li Hao was disappointed again. A restricted zone! What a pity! Not for himself, but for teacher. His thoughts had already traveled to when teacher might visit. He could take his teacher to watch sunbathing beauties! But it looked like he had to give up the idea.

......

There was a patch of man-made forest near the Moon Sea. It covered an enormous area at thousands of acres. There was a clearing within its center, a perfectly square one if viewed from overhead. It was empty in the middle and occupied by numerous buildings.

This clearing spanned several hundred acres; a scattered handful of people could be seen walking through it if one took an aerial view.

In a building below ground.

Grunts and shouts abounded. But since this was a restricted zone for the military, there were no visitors. The man-made forest surrounding them also provided soundproofing so that larger disturbances didn’t travel beyond the forest.

The buildings surrounded a massive plaza in the center—the sparring and parade grounds. This plaza was almost fifty acres itself and could hold one hundred soldiers in times of need. There weren’t many within it at the moment.

Although night had fallen, lights converged in the area and lit up the premises. Some people stood in the center of the plaza, a stark contrast to those training. Those martial masters wore the same uniforms that closely resembled Inspectorate uniforms, but were slightly different. They wore red badges while the Inspectorate and Night Watchers did not do so. The latter only had shoulder patches to indicate their rank.

The people in the plaza were dressed in casual or combat outfits. They represented a large variety of characters and were plainly not governed by typical rules.

A pudgy middle-aged man with eyes so small that they were slits in his face was the first to speak. “Manager Yu will be visiting shortly, apparently to escort someone here. It’s Yuan Shuo’s disciple.”

“Li Hao?” someone asked. Their sources of information were quite well informed.

“That’s him!” chuckled the fatty. “Yuan Shuo... was an old demon back in the day. Though we don’t have any dealings with him since he’d retired from the martial world when we became active, everyone here knows him, right?”

Martial dao had not sprung up out of nowhere. There were legacies and inheritances involved. Some faces darkened in the plaza.

“My martial uncle died to him, I know him!”

“He killed my master’s master!”

“If it wasn’t for the director protecting that old demon these years... We would’ve killed him a long time ago!”

“.......”

Yuan Shuo had killed quite a few notable martial masters back in the day. The speakers were all Dominators and their longest tenure at twenty years. Even with the appearance of mysterious power shortening the cultivation period required, the shortest tenure of those present was ten years. Their previous generation had been of Yuan Shuo’s time.

“Mu Lin.” Someone looked at the fatty. “I hear that your younger brother Mu Sen is on good terms with Yuan Shuo. Are you saying this to help that Li Hao?!”

“Now that would be a misunderstanding! How would I ever?” Mu Lin roared with laughter. “Not to mention, what am I supposed to help him with? Li Hao is a half step Dominator, not a little nobody. He killed the Qimei Staff’s eldest disciple, so he’s not a true rookie. His length of training is short, but he’s not weak!

“I’m just telling you all of this in advance.” Mu Sen grinned merrily. “So that you know what will be done with him when he comes.”

There was one officer in charge of the nearly one thousand of the Silver Moon Guards and one deputy. The deputy was Mu Lin, but his centurions didn’t quite like taking his orders. The fatty flinched and cowered when he fought, but was always first in line for benefits. It was quite annoying. But he naturally had his talents to be able to occupy the position of deputy for the Guards, such as... instigating trouble!

“I’ve given it some thought,” Mu Lin chuckled at seeing everyone remain silent. “How about we let him be a centurion? He’s Yuan Shuo’s disciple, after all, so we have to show him some respect. Although he’s not a Dominator yet, the Five Styles is well known. Perhaps he can punch above his class!”

“Out with whatever crap you’re cooking up, Mu Lin. What do you want to do?”

“How rude!” Mu Lin sighed. “Alright, to be honest, I don’t really want to do anything. I just want to have you guys put him through his paces. I’ve been wanting to create my own set of bodyguards. It’s so distressing not to have a single man beneath my command as I’m a deputy. I think highly of this lad and want to recruit him to be the team captain. What do you think about testing him out?”

The rest of the group frowned. What did this guy want to do? There were reasons for why Mu Lin was the deputy—his mind worked more quickly than the others, at least.

Some didn’t want to entertain him, while there were others who champed at the bit. Yuan Shuo’s disciple! Some wanted revenge, others wanted to humble the boy, and yet others wanted to befriend him...

Of course, no one would actually kill him since it was Director Hou who sent him to them. But a regular exchange of skill was fine, right? Martial masters spoke through their strength. They couldn’t be blamed for looking down on him if he joined them only through connections.

“Everyone, stop training!” Mu Lin announced in a sonorous voice. “We are going to have guests soon! The disciple of Five Styles King Yuan Shuo, his final disciple at that, will be arriving shortly. Be ready to welcome him!”

A hubbub of conversation started after his words.

“Old Demon Yuan’s disciple?”

“The old demon’s disciple dares come here? My master’s master died to the old demon...”

“He killed your master’s master? Pfft, keep blowing hot air! That old demon only killed famous martial masters, it’s not like I don’t know your background! The leader of the Iron Fists was strong enough, but he wasn’t even part of the rankings back then. What would the old demon go and beat him to death for?”

“......” Discourse arose round the plaza. There weren’t that many bearing actual hatred for Yuan Shuo because he only fought those with strength and status. Martial masters who weren’t famous enough back in the day wouldn’t receive his challenge letter.

Some people like to brag about a fight with Yuan Shuo all the same. “My master died to him” was an indication of strength. Those who received that treatment were all powerhouses in those years. Therefore, apart from those who truly came from renowned disciplines, the rest were mostly curious. There was no helping it, as a martial master—and Silver Moon’s martial master—one could not avoid that person and name.

Yuan Shuo!

If he’d been truly crippled and retired in Silver City, the martial world would no longer share his stories after a few years. But he’d stepped into the public again!

All of the martial masters in the barracks looked at the front gates. There was a massive set of doors there—or rather, an entire structure. All visitors must pass through it.

......

The car drove into the jungle. Li Hao opened his eyes and looked forward. He could see some balls of light. While he couldn’t make out martial masters, there were plainly supernaturals at the barracks. Not many, possibly used to supplement martial masters. Some supernatural abilities were very complementary with martial masters, such as the ability to fly or investigate.

The closer they drew, the more Li Hao’s blood frothed. There were many powerhouses here! He sensed the aura! With nearly one hundred gathered in front of him, their combined perception of aura created an atmosphere of pressure that loomed overhead.

The young man suddenly sat up straight and looked back at Manager Yu. “Can I kill people over the course of sparring?”

“......” The driver’s hands shook, as did Manager Yu frown faintly.

The source of this c𝐨ntent is freewe(b)nov𝒆l