Star Gate

Li Hao spotted five balls of light after a while. Wang Ming’s was sizable, the other four were lesser.

“This guy really isn’t afraid of death. He’s brought four Darkmoons with him!” Li Hao was struck dumb by what he found. Light and nimble on his feet, he swiftly approached the group that’d set up camp. He’d absorbed a good deal of wind energy and was skilled in the deer style. A few leaps in the darkness propelled him several hundred meters forward so that he landed gently on a tree.

Looking in the direction of the bonfire, Li Hao saw Wang Ming and Zhou Qin, as well as three girls who weren’t that old. He didn’t look too closely at them. Having a party in the middle of the night would draw attention from anyone keeping an eye on the location.

The young man looked around, casting his eyes below the ground as well. His eyes were particularly bright in the darkness. They soon darted back to a spot—he vanished where he was and reappeared on another big tree. A ball of light was within his vision. It wasn’t big, so it was likely a Fullmoon level. It was inside the tree instead of below the ground—a wood supernatural!

So there was a wood supernatural hidden nearby, observing the group.

Li Hao looked around again, wanting to see if there were any scarlet shadows around. Red Moon members loved sending out their shadows to surveil the target because the shadows were formless and intangible. They were oftentimes more useful than supernatural abilities.

The young man did indeed pick up a moderately sized scarlet shadow after looking around. It floated at a location further away from the ball of light, directly facing the wood supernatural. Had the supernatural set it there out of concern for being targeted by someone?

“So it really is a Red Moon supernatural...” Li Hao smiled from his vantage point. They hadn’t run all this way for nothing. Darkmoons wouldn’t dare target Wang Ming and the others, so there must be a Red Moon base nearby. He’d just failed to discover it during the earlier reconnaissance.

The young man waited silently for a bit and suddenly sensed movement underground. Ears twitching, Li Hao focused his eyes on a ball of light that’d suddenly appeared. An earth supernatural!

The earth supernatural quickly burrowed to the wood supernatural and poked his head up. The two were very close to each other, making their conversation impossible to identify.

He didn’t mind either way; Li Hao watched the swiftly departing earth supernatural and ignored the one on watch duty. The earth supernatural abruptly vanished after asking almost a thousand meters.

Li Hao blinked. The ball of light had disappeared? The young man frowned. If the ball of light had disappeared... that meant the other had burrowed deep into the ground. Regular earth supernaturals wouldn’t go that far down because too much pressure would be exerted on them.

“The base is underground?” Li Hao was slightly surprised, but also found it perfectly logical. As more powerhouses joined the Silver Moon branch, they would jointly create a new headquarters. An underground place didn’t seem that hard and offered more privacy.

However, it would interfere with his observations if they were too far down.

The young man landed gently on the ground and thought for a bit, sending a surge of earth sword aura below him. As the aura drilled down, his mind intent spread out and afforded him a larger range of observation. His vision expanded alongside his mind intent and he sensed certain supernatural ripples.

Supernatural ripples were noticeable and easy to pick up if one was near them. Li Hao silently took stock of them and had an estimation after a while.

“Four or five Sunflares, thirty-some Darkmoons. It’s a decently sized stronghold!” He looked into the distance again and saw a few more scarlet shadows. These Red Moon members had hidden their shadows deep, positioning them on paths that people were certain to pass through. The supernaturals would be quickly alerted when someone found this locale, making it very difficult to hunt them down.

Li Hao vanished on the spot after making observations for a while.

......

Moments later.

Li Hao returned to where the Demon Hunters were. Some of the Guards were lying in complete exhaustion on the ground—feeling much better after momentary rest. Everyone returned to their feet upon seeing their leader return.

“I’ve discovered the enemy!” Li Hao cut straight to the chase. “There’s a Red Moon stronghold up ahead with roughly forty people and four or five Sunflares. The rest are almost all Darkmoons.”

A disturbance shifted the crowd—he’d discovered a Red Moon nest just like that? That easily? They weren’t rookies and knew that the three great organizations kept their spots under strict concealment. It was hard to catch even a hint of one. Li Hao had simply gone out for a walk to find one?

If his information was true, it was a strong hiding spot.

“It’s just a few Sunflares... You guys are in black armor that they won’t be able to break. Added to that Sunderers on our side, it’ll be easy to defeat them!” Li Hao chuckled. “Do keep in mind that these are all Red Moon members. They’re tasty tidbits for the taking! Blood pearls do exist and they’re the biggest treasure for martial masters. Killing the people here and taking their blood pearls will meant that a lot of Slayers will become Sunderers tonight!”

The group stared with agitation and Hong Qing quickly asked, “Leader, will you be making a move too?”

“No, you guys are in charge of the battlefield. Deputy Liu and I will be covering the surroundings. We’ll eliminate anyone who gets away!” Li Hao wasn’t going to be part of the fighting, a decision that worried Hong Qing and the others. Their enemies were not weak.

Also, the Demon Hunters weren’t too familiar with each other yet. The teams comprised of Sword Sect or Inspectorate members were better off, but those with intermixed people would have a difficult time coordinating since they were unfamiliar with each other’s strengths.

“Go on!” Li Hao ordered and described the area that the enemy was in.

Underground... was a difficult proposition for martial masters. However, Li Hao knew that once they appeared in Red Moon territory, they would soon raise the organization’s alarm and attack. The presence of the Demon Hunters meant that they’d been exposed!

......

“Are we really not going to do anything?” Liu Long frowned as they walked off. “It’s their first time working together and they may not be able to utilize the armor to its full advantage...”

“The enemy’s a motley array as well. They’re shoved together from a bunch of other provinces and have no coordination to speak of. Running drills is too much of a hassle. We’ll naturally grow familiar with each other through fighting...” Li Hao changed focus. “You can take care of the wood supernatural near Wang Ming. I’ll keep an eye on things here. Regular Sunflares won’t be able to kill martial masters outfitted in black armor, but that peak Sunflare might actually kill some. Having people die under my nose in our first battle... that would damage morale!”

No one could die in the beginning. When the team grew familiar with fighting and morale was high, that was when they’d be able to accept losing some of their own when encountering danger. They needed to win every single fight from the start!

Li Hao didn’t understand military affairs, but he did understand one concept. Even a worm would dare fight a dragon if the worm won every battle.

......

Within the underground base.

A loud hubbub roared as Red Moon members seemed ready to eliminate Wang Ming and the others. Just as some resident experts prepared to move, Long Ear suddenly frowned. “Hold on!”

“What is it?”

“There’s footsteps coming from the ground. Eh? There’s more than one... there’s a lot of people...”

The group blinked when they heard his report. A lot of people?

Long Ear continued to listen intently and frowned ferociously at the ceiling above him. “Their footsteps are very heavy, as if they’re moving with equipment. There seems to be... forty or fifty people.”

“That many? Is it a merchant convoy?” Someone else sensed the ground above them and didn’t detect mysterious power ripples. So many who were not supernaturals... then it was merchants?

No one considered the possibility of martial masters. Who would send nearly fifty martial masters out together? Martial masters were hard to locate in the vast Silver Moon. Although the Silver Moon Guards were more or less public knowledge now, not everyone knew about them.

“Forget them. If it’s just a merchant convoy, we’ll take it out when we’re done with business at hand. Nothing will be left after a handful of flames!”

“That’s right!” The crowd clamored excitedly, not paying this any heed.

Some supernaturals, however, tilted their heads with wariness. “The divine shadows seem to have picked up on something. This... doesn’t seem to be a merchant convoy, but army troops?”

Someone’s scarlet shadow had detected something and sent back a few images. Brows knitted together when they reviewed the images. Armor?

An army unit wearing armor? Were they trying to relive the ancient past? None of the modern day armies were outfitted with such equipment—although there were rumors of the royal family possessing troops of black armor.

The group of Red Moon supernaturals were perplexed by the latest development. An armored unit? If it wasn’t for the size of the crowd here, some would think that they’d traveled back to the ancient past. Where did such an army unit come from in this day and age?

“It’s not the Black Armaturas, is it?” someone snorted, mostly cracking a joke. The Black Armaturas resided in Skystar City to protect the royal family. They didn’t even participate in the war of the central region, so how would they possibly appear in a forgotten place like Silver Moon?

“Shall we go take a look?” someone raised. Further discussion commenced, but the hulking peak Sunflare suddenly frowned. His eyes widened with dismay.

BOOM!

The world underground shook with a loud rumble. The sturdy buildings began trembling like an earthquake was upon them. Multiple supernaturals panicked as they were dozens of meters below the surface. Infinite soil was over their heads. The earth supernaturals might be fine in the event of a cave-in, but the others would be out of luck.

Was this an earthquake?

“Go up!” Everyone started running for the passageways that led upward. The base wasn’t completely sealed off as that meant they were all doomed without earth supernaturals.

As people ran for the outside world, some earth supernaturals quickly flew through the dirt.

......

At the same time, directly over the buildings.

Li Hao stomped his foot and reverberated the earth sword aura. After shaking the earth a few times, he vanished on the spot. Not coming out? Then have a good taste of the earth sword aura!

The Demon Hunters rushed over as soon as he left. Heads popped out of the ground at the same time, catching both sides off guard. They’d encountered the enemy before anyone was prepared.

“Kill!” Liu Yan was very clear headed. She’d encountered many situations like this and grunted without a word, manifesting her twin blades and stabbing it at the nearest head!

Hong Qing quickly regained her senses and slashed with her sword!

All of the martial masters reacted properly now. The encounter was unexpected, but they were slightly more prepared than the enemy because they were here to kill Red Moon members.

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