Star Gate

“My strength is very weak and I’ve recovered very little. My core origin might outright disperse once I sever an Apex replica. This is no joking matter… I only barely managed to set foot into Immortal back in the day. I would not have survived to present day otherwise…”

Any being still alive in the world was at least an Immortal. Li Hao had yet to encounter an Apex survivor—the little tree was a unique case because its father had sheltered it. There would be no little tree if not.

“Don’t worry, senior, it will be very safe this time,” Li Hao chuckled. “We’ll bring your replica back. If any accidents occur, we’ll kill an Immortal plant spirit to nourish you with.”

The power of seven elements circulated his body as the others released their presences as well. Even Panther borrowed the group’s influence and emanated a peculiar presence.

“Then we’re heading in, senior…”

The jujube tree was quite resigned by the situation outside its front door. It wouldn’t necessarily lose in a fight, but where had all these people come from? All of them seemed to have quite the background, would a bigger development occur if they really engaged in a battle?

And didn’t modern society say that there were few powerhouses in the outside world, that their strongest was Arcanus? Why had the world changed in this way in the blink of an eye?

“I’ll cooperate…” It sighed deeply with helplessness after a long moment. “It’s just… you’re too heartless, Sky Sword!”

Sky Sword was an utter bastard!

The man remained calm. What was there to be heartless about? It wasn’t like they were that familiar with each other! It wasn’t like he didn’t pay anything when trading with the ancient pant spirit. All it did was supply some Water of Life—he’d paid a great sum of mysterious power stones!

His partnership with the plant spirit didn’t run that deep, unlike the nine ministries that’d almost become one with theirs. He’d simply exchanged a few words from beginning to end.

A ghastly scream rang out from the cave before long. The mental strength behind the door immediately weakened and a storage ring floated out. Li Hao frowned when he inspected it and saw a little tree standing in the object.

“This is an Apex replica? It’s at most peak six elements!”

The jujube tree looked wordlessly at the world beyond the door. Weak ripples came after another long pause, “I will… die… if I sever more.”

Li Hao sent his consciousness into the ring without asking permission and took stock of the replica. “It’s seriously weak and doesn’t even feel as strong as the little tree. If I’d known ahead of time, I would’ve said to just outright kill it!”

“……” The jujube tree didn’t make a sound. If I’m weak, it’s all Sky Sword’s fault. I’ve never met a less motivated fellow.

“Forget it, it’s better than nothing. Don’t worry, senior. With this level of strength, you may not have a chance to fight. I’ll bring it right back to you!”

The mental strength disappeared from outside the mountain cave and the tree fell silent. Having half of its core origin forcefully taken and being called weak… was too humiliating.

“Senior Sky Sword gave it too little,” sighed Li Hao. “It hasn’t recovered much.”

“I thought it would recover on its own without need for my help,” Sky Sword answered awkwardly.

“……” Alright then, Sky Sword’s train of thought was unusual. Li Hao could only treat this as an unexpected surprise. It was nice to have a peak six elements plant spirit replica, but it was too weak. Thank goodness he’d located some puppets to help him, or it would actually be difficult to handle any Immortal plant spirits that he encountered.

The group was’t in a hurry to leave as the City of Supernaturals’ meeting wouldn’t happen for another two days. They could wait until tomorrow to leave—they weren’t too far away.

……

At the same time, the City of Supernaturals bustled with activity, as if a momentous occasion was upon them. Countless supernaturals had returned to the city, thronging the streets like it was the new year.

Inside the city lord manor.

Lin Hongyu continuously sent out her senses to scan the streets. Had Li Hao’s group come yet? How many would he bring? Or would the young man not show at all because he wasn’t at ease about their partnership?

Various thoughts ran through her mind and she conversed with the replica in her storage ring. “Milord, we might need you in the end.”

The redwood tree didn’t respond. Need me? It felt like it’d sold itself in this operation and hadn’t even fetched a high price for its services! What an utter loss!

……

Li Hao’s group made quick time to the City of Supernaturals on the second day. They split up—Li Hao, Chen Zhongtian, Panther, and the two puppets in one team. Earthturner Sword with Sky Sword, and Hou Xiaochen with Deputy Zhou.

The latter two teams of government authorities and martial world cohorts were used to working together. Li Hao stuck with Chen Zhongtian in a half defensive, half observation position to prevent the old man from running off on some other duties. He wouldn’t betray them, but his reputation was even poorer than Southern Fist’s. He might very well abscond halfway to go make more babies with someone else.

……

A light flurry of snowflakes drifted from the sky. It was almost December. Since the City of Supernaturals was in the central region and not too far from Sky Sword Mountain, Li Hao wasn’t in a rush to complete the trip. He tightly wrapped himself in a fur coat and rode on a horse—Panther had turned into a rather ugly horse.

The two puppets from Evenround Martial looked around curiously, quietly taking in the sights and flanking Li Hao as if they were his guards. Chen Zhongtian had wanted to fly on his weapon, but when he realized the slow pace that Li Hao set, he bought a donkey from an old man by the side of the road. The donkey was quite curious about Panther and occasionally rubbed itself against it, immensely irritating the dog.

Roads in the central region were mostly level and cars sometimes passed by them. There were also plenty of passersby rushing to and fro. Refugees from various parts of the dynasty could also be seen. They resolutely walked forward, possibly wanting to head to Skystar City. The clothes on their backs were threadbare, but having reached the central region, at least they stood a chance.

Li Hao looked around from his vantage point on Panther’s back, seeing hints of corpses that’d fallen from cold or starvation. He only watched and didn’t alight from his mount.

Chen Zhongtian was a shrewd man and looked sidelong at the young man when he noticed that Li Hao spent the trip in silence. “Eighty years ago, frozen corpses like these littered the side of the road whenever winter arrived.

“It pained me to see them too, so I was determined to change something. Back then, robbers were everywhere to be found. The world under the Jiang family rule was a study of suffering and misery…

“I went to Skystar City later on and spent some time climbing up the ranks. I then overthrew the royal family alongside those people and built the nine ministries. The Inspectorate was my choice of establishment as I wanted to ensure safety for all.”

Li Hao didn’t deny those words. Perhaps that really had been Chen Zhongtian’s aspirations back in the day. No matter what, this was the truth.

“But things changed ever since the first awakening twenty years ago,” sighed the man. “The army lost its greatest function and it was difficult to conduct Inspectorate affairs. When one person’s strength was greater than the collective’s, we found the situation difficult overall. And then the plant spirits revitalized, and not in a feeble form as they did at first, but with immense strength.

“They’d awoken long ago, but were in a half dead state. The times then were not the times now. Everything changed twenty years ago.

“Ying Hongyue and his comrades broke a sealed vein in a ruin twenty years ago,” Chen Zhongtian continued upon seeing Li Hao remain silent. “That instigated the first awakening. Sometimes I think that if the awakening hadn’t occurred, we might’ve been able to complete the reforms that we planned. Perhaps… we wouldn’t be the infamous nine ministries now.”

“Perhaps!” Li Hao nodded. “Without superhuman strength, the army would still be the army and the Inspectorate would still be the Inspectorate. You don’t need to explain yourself, just admit that you’ve committed certain acts.

“The Inspectorate is corrupt now as well. I’ve seen its people take thousands of refugees for the mines. I’ve seen local inspectors collude with robbers. I’ve seen soldiers pretend to be pirates. I’ve seen a director general be the chief of a pirate faction and a duke that is the patron of pirates…

“The officials are not the officials and the robbers are not the robbers. The nine ministries are plainly very strong, but say that they’re constantly on guard against the royal family. Excuses are just excuses at times. If you can divert so many personnel to kill me, can’t you divert some to cleaning house?”

Those were just excuses. Look at all those Arcanus that’d appeared to kill Li Hao! With all those Arcanus, any group of pirates would face nothing but death!

Chen Zhongtian inclined his head and didn’t defend himself. Next to himself, the two puppets looked around for a while.

“This is boring, I want to go back to school!” Jiang Yingli suddenly said.

“……” Li Hao blinked.

“Me too, I want to go back!” agreed Li Shengzhang. “I thought there was just less energy in the world, but now I see how messy, how poor, and how pathetic it is. Silver Moon was very prosperous in our time. Although we focused on military matters, the people were very prosperous. It was completely different from the sight presented now.”

They didn’t want to stay anymore, or perhaps they felt that this place was no longer the era of their memories. It was New Martial no more, but an ignorant, blighted, chaotic time period that’d fallen behind. It neither felt like home nor seemed familiar. It was just a foreign place to them.

Li Hao didn’t say a word. Perhaps they could dismiss the world as a messy place they couldn’t stand, but could he?

Probably not, I was born in this era. Everything I do now is to make it better, isn’t it? Hong Yitang says that our period will only become worse if no one does anything. Only when someone takes action will light gradually shine on this time period, right?

Li Hao smiled, not finding fault with what the puppets had said. This world deserved scorn from the ancients. It was just a backward and dark era. But aren’t I taking action? It will not continue to be like this very soon.

“Li Hao, do you want to be the emperor of this age?” Li Shengzhang suddenly asked.

“I don’t know.” Li Hao smiled.

“Don’t know?”

“I don’t care if I’m emperor or not, people just have to listen to me.”

Isn’t that the same? Chen Zhongtian looked at the young man with surprise. “Commander Li, do you think imperialism is better when world peace is achieved, or a democracy?”

“I don’t know, so long as people listen to me.” Li Hao smiled.

Chen Zhongtian started. What kind of answer was that?

“I don’t know what kind of system is good, I just know that I like to pick out the thorns. Any system will work if I don’t see a problem, and it has nothing to do with the system if I do see a problem. It has to do with the person!”

So an authoritarian rule? Chen Zhongtian didn’t think that was a good idea either. But he simply thought about it and then set the matter aside. The group continued forging onward amid the snow.