Star Gate

“Li Hao and his teacher Yuan Shuo… Yuan Shuo…” Wang Ming sighed with emotion. This personage was much more preeminent than Liu Long.

Both were Sunderers of Hundreds, but Yuan Shuo had broken through twenty years ago. In other words, he’d sat at the peak of martial dao before the supernatural domain appeared. On the other hand, Liu Long had required mysterious power to break through to Sunderer. That was entirely different compared to someone who’d ascended via pure mundane skill alone.

Not to mention that the professor was a renowned authority of ancient civilization. Known throughout all of Silver Moon, his reputation was both striking and remarkable.

“The Five Styles and breathing method… Rumors speak of a hidden breathing method that’s even stronger. Sadly, that one is eccentric and hard to approach. I wonder how Li Hao managed to become his student?”

Yuan Shuo had a decent number of disciples, but Li Hao was his only student in recent years. His previous students had either graduated or died. The professor was more than seventy years old and hadn’t accepted students in a long time. Li Hao was an abrupt and baffling surprise to many.

……

Li Hao couldn’t be bothered with Wang Ming’s befuddlement.

The Veteris Institute.

A familiar place.

Quiet and peaceful was the school’s normal state of affairs. It was most known for the Ancient Studies major, a department overseen by Yuan Shuo. It was due to him that the school was so well known. Its alumni were highly sought after by many factions in the province.

Yuan Shuo possessed a great breadth of knowledge, so even without accepting more disciples, graduates of his department were very well known. They were highly active in exploring the assorted ancient ruins associated with various cities.

Bygone civilizations were an area that all of humanity probed. According to fragments of ancient documents, there was once an incomparably glorious civilization before their current one. It broke apart at the end of its time and utterly vanished in the river of history. Few were records left of it.

Unearthing the past facilitated transcendental development of many modern things. Communications, transportation, hot weapons, and even the supernatural domain benefited from excavating ancient ruins. Many crucial technologies came directly from them, enabling the agricultural society of mankind to progress into an industrial one just a few decades ago.

Discoveries were so numerous that some technologies were temporarily set aside, resulting in disjointed development across the board. Enormous attention and resources were given to hot weapons, but communications lagged far behind. Thus, it was difficult for those of Silver City to converse with anyone in another city. According to Yuan Shuo, one could easily reach someone else millions of kilometers away in the ancient times.

Their communication system spanned the entire continent!

Modern day devices were effective for only the same city, a clear sign of imbalanced societal progress.

No one stopped Li Hao when he rode his bike into the Veteris Institute. Although he wasn’t a student, his inspector uniform gave him a free pass. A few fully detached houses came into view when he cycled down a shaded trail. These residences belonged to the senior professors of the Institute and this lane normally saw very few visitors.

Someone jumped out of the bushes as soon as he approached and stood in front of the young man.

“This part of campus is off limits! Trespassers are not allowed!” he declared coldly.

“I’m here to visit Professor Yuan!” Li Hao raised his head with a smile. “Are you new? I’m a student of the professor. Li Hao, third rank inspector of the Inspectorate. I’ve come before and it was always Brother Zhang on duty. Are you with the Inspectorate or the Institute’s protection detail?”

“Elder Yuan is not receiving visitors at the moment!” the man replied gruffly without listening to Li Hao. “He will be in seclusion for the foreseeable future.”

Li Hao raised his eyebrows. “Did my teacher say that? Well, I’ll make things easy for you and place a call, but…” He smiled at the man. “I think this is a decision made by the protection detail or some other organization. Teacher doesn’t have a habit of secluding himself, so don’t decide for him even if you’re a so-called supernatural organization!”

The man’s expression shifted and he looked frostily at the young man.

“Just saying.” Li Hao had been extremely wary of the shadowy Night Watchers before, but he didn’t care about them anymore. What was wrong with just saying some stuff?

If the Night Watchers were truly keeping tabs on him, then they knew that he’d joined the Demon Hunters. In that case, it was right and proper that he knew about them as well.

The man in front of him glowed faintly of mysterious power. He was weaker than Liu Long or even Liu Yan, but it was highly likely that the Night Watchers had sent him to protect Yuan Shuo.

A true supernatural was either absent or in concealment. Whatever the situation may be, this guy wasn’t supernatural. He was likely a martial master who’d absorbed some energy, an existence like Liu Long and the others.

The middle-aged man frowned and grunted, “A moment, I’ll make a report of this!”

Li Hao said nothing further.

There was no need to unnecessarily antagonize the Night Watchers. At the same time, the state of affairs irked him since it definitely wasn’t his teacher’s idea to refuse all visitors. Did the Night Watchers have to restrict who his teacher saw?

The man disappeared for a while before returning with, “Go in!”

“Thanks!” Li Hao replied merrily and rode inside.

The man watched him go with a frown. He raised his hand to a black earpiece and muttered, “I didn’t check him. Will everything be okay?”

“It’s fine, let him through!”

“Understood!” The man said nothing more; he was just a bit surprised. Everyone else had been turned away, but this young man received free passage from his superiors. Yuan Shuo was about to commence his next exploration and word on the street was that this was a very important one. The professor was not to have any guests in the near future in order to prevent news from leaking and to ensure his safety.

……

The Yuan residence.

Li Hao parked in front of the door and set his bike to the side before knocking.

“It’s open!” came the resonant voice of an elderly man.

Yuan Shuo was practicing in a yard laid with blue bricks. Rather than the ferocity of the tiger style, he displayed the languid lines of a sunbathing turtle.

The door opened with a creak; Li Hao drew his lips in a smile unseen at any other time the moment he saw his teacher.

“Teacher!”

“Find a place and sit!” Yuan Shuo continued his routine without attending to his student.

At seventy years old, the esteemed professor was still hale and hearty. He wasn’t too tall at one hundred and seventy centimeters, but it was a decent height for an elderly man. Yuan Shuo had certainly been taller when he was younger.

His hair was peppered with gray and overall, his outfit was very simple with a pair of cloth shoes. Li Hao was used to his teacher’s appearance and habits. He took a seat nearby and watched the professor run through his boxing method.

His fists moved very slowly! Each one was as if a snail crawling over the ground. It induced yawns and lethargy, but Yuan Shuo never grew bored of it. Li Hao was very familiar with it as his teacher had practiced it for many years. In his view, his teacher sought to add another style to the Five Styles!

Yuan Shuo didn’t look at Li Hao, but he seemed to sense his disciple’s regard and guess some of what was running through the young man’s mind. Just as Li Hao was about to raise his cup for a sip of water, the plodding professor abruptly vanished on the spot.

A fist suddenly appeared in front of the young man’s eyes!

It was slow, so slow that it seemed more like a slow motion replay. Li Hao wanted to dodge it, but it felt like someone had locked onto him and he couldn’t move! Sweat beaded his forehead—this was similar to when the scarlet shadow locked onto him. It was identical terror, danger, and peril of life and death!

“Roar!”

Tiger Roar Through Mountain and Woods!

A sound wave attack!

Bam!

A palm struck his head; Li Hao didn’t even see his teacher withdraw his hand.

“What are you hollering for?” Yuan Shuo hectored. “It’s Tiger Roar Through Mountain and Woods, not a cat mewling on the street! You’ve learned shit about the tiger style, it’s the cat style in your hands!”

Li Hao awkwardly wiped away the sweat on his forehead and rose from his chair. “Teacher, you were so fast just now and I felt like I couldn’t move…”

“That’s because you’re too weak!” Yuan Shuo was immensely dissatisfied. “A third rate martial master relies on his fists and legs, a second rate deploys his aura, and a first rate locks on mentally. You’re not even third rate!”

“…” Li Hao rubbed his head, not minding his teacher’s scathing criticism. He wasn’t third rate because he wasn’t even a martial master! Only when he reached Slayer of Tens was he one!

“Not bad!” Yuan Shuo stopped—cursing was just a habit for him. “You’ve improved. You couldn’t even shout before, at least you’ve advanced beyond that. However… this may not be what I want to see either.”

The eminent elder shook his head. “Martial dao has declined. It’s enough to simply be healthy! It’s better to put ancient civilizations as your main profession—you won’t have to worry about food on the table or a roof over your head in the future. I was thinking that you have good potential. You’ll forge a place for yourself in this world if you focus on ancient studies in the event of remaining mundane. I can arrange for you to be an assistant professor or something after I retire. You’ll take over from me in a few decades. …ai, what a pity!”

Li Hao chuckled politely and didn’t say anything. He poured a cup of tea for his teacher and took a close look at the elder, finding the sight odd. Whether it was Liu Long or Liu Yan, starlight twinkled around all of the team members—even in an impure state. For Starlight supernaturals like Wang Ming, he emanated a very pure glow.

There was nothing around his teacher; Li Hao would’ve seen it long ago! Had Yuan Shuo never absorbed any mysterious power?

“What are you looking at?” Yuan Shuo sat down, kicked Li Hao away, and picked up the tea cup.

“Teacher…” Li Hao thought for a bit. “How come you’re different from Captain Liu? I feel a sinister cold whenever I approach the captain…”

“That’s mysterious power leaking!” Yuan Shuo said nonchalantly. “He’s useless, he’s trash, he absorbed too much random energy. He can’t digest it all, so of course there’s leakage. That’s the coldness you feel. I’m not trash like him.”

“……” Li Hao was thoroughly speechless. He was aware of how arrogant his teacher was, but it was his first time seeing his teacher like this. The one they spoke of was a Sunderer of Hundreds and the boss of the law enforcement team!

Was it appropriate to talk about him like this?

At the same time, Li Hao was startled by the implications of his teacher’s words. Did his teacher mean that he’d fully digested the mysterious power that he’d absorbed?

“Stop looking, you won’t see anything. Study what I’ve taught you and use it well. You’ll achieve greater things than Liu Long, understand?”

Li Hao understood! The Breathing Method of the Five Styles! So this meant that the breathing method was incredible enough to fully absorb mysterious power??

He didn’t have much in the way of experience at the moment, he just vaguely felt that this secret art might truly be remarkable. Of course, he wasn’t here for the method, but for the cosmic power in Stellaris. Li Hao ardently wished for his teacher to cross over so he himself would have greater support when facing danger.

etvolare’s Thoughts

This chapter gives us some more background about this world, and it seems like an odd mix of modern meets archaic, magic meets qi. Some of it is very realistic though, like weapons being developed first. Wasn’t that how microwaves were invented? You’d think they wouldn’t let communications lag so far behind. It’s so subpar that it’s a bit pathetic.