Star Gate

“Dismissed, all of you, and do as I say!”

“Understood!” Red Moon members streamed out of the room. Once they were gone, the scarlet cloak appeared.

“Why have you sounded the retreat? What’s happened?”

“The central region is a mess and the Skystar Commander Office is sweeping through everything,” Ying Hongyue responded faintly. “It’s no longer safe. We need to change to a new locale!”

The scarlet cloak hesitated for a moment before quickly asking, “And where would you like to go?”

“The north!”

The north? The scarlet cloak jerked with surprise. “Silver Moon?”

“No, the three northern provinces! Also, it’s best to have Yama and Celestial convene with me. The three of us need to act as one. If not, true trouble might be upon us later.”

“Celestial and Yama… then…”

Ying Hongyue cut the scarlet cloak off. “Do whatever you wish! I understand your desire to not put all of your eggs in the same basket. However, I also know that you’re behind Celestial and Yama as well. If we continue to fight alone in the present circumstances and keep each other in check, we might be creating more trouble for ourselves instead.”

“Do you think… that Li Hao might have claimed some first-mover advantages?” asked the scarlet cloak after a while of silence.

“Perhaps.”

“I need to make a report of this before we can come to a decision,” replied the scarlet cloak.

“Try to give me a response as soon as possible!”

“Alright!” The scarlet cloak disappeared.

Ying Hongyue watched aloofly in the direction it’d gone. He rose to his feet. Waiting for the situation to develop further was not a viable course of action. Whether Li Hao’s side won or not, Li Hao’s group might enter a period of explosive development next. If Ying Hongyue continued in the same vein, he might truly lose to the young man one day.

His backers didn’t trust him. He had to do something, or else, just wait for death.

……

At the same time.

Silver Moon, Battle Heaven.

General Pagoda suddenly awoke. Not only that, but the old turtle’s form showed itself as well. The Ninth Division leader also appeared before long.

General Pagoda took human form and looked at the firmament. “Have you two… sensed something?” he asked ponderously.

“Has there been a shift near the Star Gate, or is it something else?” intoned the old turtle. “I somehow felt a faint change percolate through the world just now.”

It seemed to be localized near the Star Gate.

“I don’t know if a small problem has occurred by the Star Gate,” nodded General Pagoda. “According to what Li Hao told us before, a diagram of the eight trigrams has appeared. It should be the one of the Eight Trigrams Suppression. Perhaps it’s sealing something. What has Li Hao done now? Why does it feel like… the seal has loosened?”

“What has he done?” The group exchanged glances. What could the young man do? If it wasn’t killing Ying Hongyue, then… it was breaking more heritage weapons.

Who knew?

There was a ninety-nine percent chance that the lad had broken another heritage weapon.

“It’s fine so long as Stellaris remains,” the Ninth Division leader said calmly after a while. “My only concern would be… that this reckless young man will one day break even Stellaris. That would be most troublesome.”

The trio shook their heads. Surely not. The Human King had crafted Stellaris. It was near impossible for Li Hao to break it at his current stage of development.

“This isn’t anything to be concerned about,” continued the Ninth Division leader. “Have you two sensed the changes in the world? The change in core origin…”

Change in core origin?

The two old creatures looked at each other. “We have not sensed anything. What have you perceived?”

There truly wasn’t much change to core origin dao—it continued to be sealed away.

“There seems to be another type of core origin in the world,” the Ninth Division leader mused. “Can it be from the supernatural characters that Li Hao used last time? Have they produced a new great dao universe?”

“They can’t have developed to that level, can they?” The other two found the notion incredulous. But if their comrade had sensed it, then perhaps there really had been some special changes. It was possible he could sense it because he was also from the Li family.

“Based on what we’ve detected lately, Apexes may be able to emerge in the outside world after a few days,” reminded the Ninth Division leader. “The world seems to be revitalizing at an increasing pace. Even though the mine remains as it was, the world is awakening on its own.”

The other two both nodded; they’d sensed such developments as well.

“Over the next period of time, Immortals from the main cities or other places might be able to walk around outside if they’re weak enough,” the Ninth Division leader quickly added. “General Pagoda should make haste to absorb more energy and revive as much of the Battle Heaven barracks as soon as possible. We need to be able to mobilize the other units deeper in the city…”

General Pagoda nodded. This was the most urgent task at present.

……

On this day, not only were there unusual disturbances in Battle Heaven, but the same for many other Silver Moon locales. The same occurred in the main city of the Zhaos.

Director General Zhao walked out of the ruins with a slight frown on his face. Would Apexes be tolerated in the world so quickly? How had the world recovered so swiftly?

A headache brewed at his temples. What had Li Hao gotten up to in Skystar City? Enormous mayhem may soon be upon the province if no one came to Silver Moon or redirected more attention to it. There were too many ruins here, ones of main cities, minor cities, martial universities, family heritage zones, sects of wandering cultivators, and all sorts of other places.

The province was very weak at present!

That blasted kid took away even Huang Yu. Those in the main cities are starting to want to head outside…

Various thoughts entered Director General Zhao’s mind as he grappled with what to do next. Main city heavyweights could not freely walk around before, but now the world was starting to revitalize. The weaker Immortals that were still alive might be able to venture outside in a few more days. That… would truly be the start of pandemonium.

It’d be fine if they’re normal people, my concern is that… they’ve lost their minds.

Who wouldn’t find it unbearable to be essentially locked away in a prison for one hundred thousand years? Some had probably long gone crazy.

Director General Zhao walked toward the provincial government building when someone darted out of it.

“Director general,” he said urgently. “We’ve received word from Silver City. Its energy levels have suddenly risen and show signs of spreading outward.”

“Eh?” The man blinked. How was that possible! There was so little energy in Silver Moon that any that appeared was swiftly absorbed. How could there be any left over to spread elsewhere?

This was nothing to be joyous about—it was a horrifying development. There was surely something sinister behind unusual changes!

“Send someone to investigate,” frowned the director general. “And notify Li Hao. In addition… make sure we’re battle ready.”

“Understood!” The figure sprinted away, leaving Director General Zhao to rub his forehead.

There was never a dull moment, and now he needed to do everything himself. He was just one person and couldn’t clone himself. What was the use of Li Hao and the rest going off to Skystar City? They had to come back in the end!

Anything was possible in Silver Moon at present; they could possibly cross over to seven elements if they made good use of it! Those guys would regret running off sooner or later!

……

Skystar City, the Skystar Commander Office.

Li Hao had just finished scratching at the surface of various trivial tasks when he summoned a few people into the office. Silver Moon martial masters all had their missions—he called for another group of people.

……

The great hall of the Skystar Commander Office.

The group shifted uneasily. Some of them came from the nine ministries, some from the Night Watchers. They were all geniuses. Hu Qingfeng, Dao Sword, and the others numbered among the Night Watcher delegation.

Dao Sword was calm, whereas Big Eyes and the other two were apprehensive. Qi Gang from Administration stood not far from them. They’d all been part of the Divine Masters Ranking back in the day, or were famous in their respective headquarters. They were all Novas or even Arcanus at a young age.

Some of them didn’t even know what’d happened. They’d simply received word from the Skystar Commander Office summoning them for registration.

Li Hao had not returned yet; there were some who worked for the Skystar Commander Office among the crowd. Hu Qingfeng couldn’t help himself and sidled up to Hao Lianchuan.

“Director Hao.” His face was wreathed with smiles. “Does Commander Li have a special mission for us? I see many here who are not of the Skystar Commander Office…”

Hao Lianchuan didn’t know what Li Hao wanted either. The man had worked with the Demon Hunter Army ever since arriving at Skystar City. Although his strength had improved at a decent clip—he’d even set foot into mid Nova thanks to the aid of tremendous resources—this level of strength wasn’t that useful in his current place of employment.

He’d participated in the battle at the royal palace, but nothing else. Hence, he didn’t know what Li Hao had planned. Hao Lianchuan wouldn’t speak of it either even if he knew.

Hu Qingfeng was also rather irritating to the eye. This fellow had thrown his weight around like no other when they were in White Moon City and still lived a happy life these days. Hao Lianchuan was kept busy silently cursing the man.

How is he still alive?

Another group of people entered the hall just as he wanted to fob Hu Qingfeng off with some excuses. Hao Lianchuan was surprised by the new additions—Wang Ming, Hu Hao, Li Meng, Yun Yao…

These were familiar faces, but also slightly different. They were all supernaturals.

Indeed, there were no martial masters present.

etvolare’s Thoughts

I have no idea why, but I have the sudden urge to scream MORTAL KOMBAT!