Star Gate

“Understood!” Yu Luocha realized that the director was concerned she wouldn’t be able to rescue the young man. Even she asked uncertainly, “Can Li Hao… survive to that point?”

As fast as she was, she wasn’t that fast.

“It’s up to fate now… the kid wouldn’t have done all this if he didn’t have a bare minimum level of confidence in getting away. He might be able to use the Windchaser Boots since he’s seized them. In that case, he could be running very quickly. The duke may not quickly catch up to him!

“What I’m worried about is that since he’s not in Silver Moon, that will tempt powerhouses from various places to come out of the woodwork. He was their target to begin with, and now he is even more of one! Who wouldn’t want to kill the lad with two divine weapons on him?”

Yu Luocha quickly left without another word. They needed reinforcements in the shape of Sky Sword!

“Time to get to work!” Hao Lianchuan took a deep breath and looked at the silent Golden Spear.

“Hmm?” asked the latter.

“Li Hao is known throughout the lands, can we older folk fall behind him?” Hou Xiaochen declared. “Let’s throw Skystar City into disarray too and make it so that people don’t have time to cause trouble for him! Take the Silver Moon Guards with you—today, we start exterminating the members of the three great organizations hiding in Skystar City!

“Ah yes, have the Night Watchers assist us. Send word to those youngsters that as Night Watchers, the Skystar commander wants to summon them for a mission. They need not return if they are afraid of offending people!”

“Understood!” Golden Spear quickly nodded his head. The director was going to flex his muscles now!

Hou Xiaochen looked to the east after the man left and frowned once more. Li Hao was crazy! Although it was a given that the Steadfast Duke wouldn’t let him off the hook, charging to the east to attack the duke was beyond the pale. Who was the last person who’d been so crazy?

Though Hou Xiaochen took a walk down memory lane, he could not identify who was as crazy as the young man. Not even Yuan Shuo matched Li Hao’s brazen style.

……

Everyone beneath the heavens had their attention focused on this event. The true reports were soon disseminated—some jeered at the contents, others were shocked.

“Xu Qing is an idiot!”

“He was conned by a boy!”

“But we can’t underestimate Demon Sword. His boldness knows no bounds. He’s willing to walk out of Silver Moon under these circumstances and go on the offensive. Also, no one knows what he used to kill Red Beard. It might be the methods of the ancient civilization. This kid may have obtained some ultimate moves in Battle Heaven, so we have to be on our guard against him!”

“He gets into more trouble than his master and he’s more vicious! Xu Qing’s got to be absolutely crazy with rage after losing his two legitimate sons. Of course, the more important thing is that Li Hao’s got two divine weapons and the treasury of the Xus!”

That point was first and foremost on everyone’s minds, causing many factions and some provincial rulers to secretly send people to the east. Li Hao was being hunted by Xu Qing! The young man held divine weapons, treasures, and even Water of Life.

Everyone committed the title of Demon Sword to memory. They’d received a full understanding of his bold, mad, yet also highly comprehensive methods. While the people jeered at Xu Qing, their thoughts turned to the fact that Xu Qing had fallen for the claim of an ancient monster spirit. That meant that the monster spirit traveling with the young man was possibly of an ancient bloodline. It was said to be from the Battle Heaven ruins.

Then… could it be that the dog spirit was a descendant of ancient monster spirits in Battle Heaven?

In that case, Li Hao hadn’t lied about this. The dog was indeed an ancient monster spirit with an eminent background—Battle Heaven.

……

News quickly spread through the lands.

In a remote mountain forest of the central region.

The soil abruptly loosened in an area and a head popped out. It shook itself off and looked at the skies.

“Hot damn, we’re finally out!” Yuan Shuo beamed. “That took more than ten days!”

It’d been a dozen days since they entered the ruins and they’d almost died inside. Thank goodness it’d gone smoothly. Yuan Shuo was in excellent spirits and fine fettle. He’d gained quite a lot from the trip.

“Too bad that plant spirit was dead and didn’t leave behind too much Water of Life. Otherwise… Well, it’s good that it was dead. I may not have been able to win if it was alive.” The man burrowed out of the ground, followed by a radiantly smiling Jadelight Sword. She seemed to have gained quite a lot on this trip too, Yuan Shuo had been very helpful.

They’d dug a hole into the ruins and though they’d encountered many mechanisms, they also walked away with many benefits. It was only a dozen days, but Jadelight felt that her strength had taken a leap forward. This was so nice!

“Finally, no one will say that the master is less than the disciple.” Yuan Shuo grinned from ear to ear. “The kid only killed the commanders of the White Shark Raiders, and he may not have been the one to deal the final blow. I have refined four auras now and am almost there with my fifth. Come, let’s test ourselves against a mid Nova. If they’re easy to kill, we’ll go to a peak Nova!”

Yuan Shuo was highly cocky at the moment. It was just a dozen days and less than twenty since the kid had killed the pirates. As good as he is, as much sword energy as he has, he can’t possibly improve so much in such a short amount of time.

The master is less than the disciple? My five auras are almost fully refined! Once I succeed, I will outmatch a regular Nova even if I’m still a Summoner of Spirit.

He was in a fantastic mood! The excavation hadn’t been for nothing.

“Let’s check the transmission pendant and see if there’s any news…”

“I threw it away!” Yuan Shuo rolled his eyes. “It’s not mine, am I supposed to bring it with me when robbing graves? That gives people a lock on my location! Stay sharp, Jadelight. Not to mention, what can happen in such a short period of time?”

Despite his words, he did want to find someone to ask about recent events.

“C’mon, I remember there’s a stronghold of the three great organizations up ahead. A Celestial pavilion, if I recall correctly. Let’s go investigate…” He waved Jadelight forward and prepared to move out when he glanced overhead. A figure flashed through the sky. Just when he wanted to take a closer look, another figure broke through the air.

Are they looking for me? Yuan Shuo went on the alert. Have I been located? But I don’t have a transmission pendant on me.

Another figure shot past with extreme speed. These were all powerhouses and looked to be flying to the east. Each of them was darting through land and sky, heedless of resource consumption as they looked to be in a great hurry.

What’s going on? Yuan Shuo looked on with confusion. Had something major happened?

Another figure seemed to come toward them as he grappled with his thoughts—it was another person at extremely fast speed. The old man’s eyes moved quickly and he bounded into the air, appearing in front of the other in the blink of an eye!

A middle-aged man promptly screeched to a halt with wariness; his expression morphed to dismay when he took a clear look at who’d stopped him. He turned to flee!

“An old acquaintance!” Yuan Shuo struck with his fist. “Heh, aren’t you that… that person? What are you running for? I’m not going to eat you. I remember seeing you twenty years ago. What province are you from? Your dad seems to be a senior executive of that province, right?”

The person’s expression shifted rapidly as he perceived the threat behind him. He quickly stopped again and turned around. “Big brother Yuan, I’m just passing by and didn’t see anything. I’m a Night Watcher now, and one of the branch directors. I’m not part of the three great organizations anymore…”

“The Night Watchers? Then forget it, I can’t be bothered with you!” Yuan Shuo cackled. “Give me your transmission pendant! Ah, I saw a lot of people fly by in the sky just now, all of them in a huge hurry. What, are they going to pick up money? You’re also in a rush, so tell me, what are all of you guys doing?”

“Do you… not know, big brother Yuan?” murmured the middle-aged man as his expression shifted some more.

“No shit, would I be asking you if I did?”

“This matter has something to do with you too, big brother.” The man took a deep breath. “Something’s happened to Demon Sword!”

Demon Sword!

Yuan Shuo blinked. What Demon Sword… Li Hao? But Li Hao was just Li Hao; Yuan Shuo wasn’t used to people calling Li Hao Demon Sword. Using the moniker in lieu of the name meant that it was widely accepted by the people. Regular martial masters didn’t receive this kind of treatment, particularly in this era. It was too hard to create a reputation for oneself!

Was this a result of Li Hao killing the White Shark Raiders?

“Have the White Shark Raiders come for revenge?”

The middle-aged man stiffened and looked at the man. You’re… seriously behind the times! The White Shark Raiders incident practically happened in the Stone Age! They might not even cause trouble for the young man now.

“No, it’s the Steadfast Duke!”

“Ah, I see. The Xu Feng matter, right?” Yuan Shuo guessed at some of the truth. “I knew that the truth wouldn’t be concealed for long…”

He casually glanced at the transmission pendant and promptly lost his train of thought. After a long moment, he narrowed his eyes at the middle-aged man. “This is from today?”

“Yes!”

“Why did he go to the Steadfast Duke’s manor? This says that he ha one of the Windchaser boots to begin with…”

“Scroll up, big brother Yuan. There’s another piece of massive news from a few days ago!”

Yuan Shuo hurriedly paged through the pendant and roared with laughter. “So he killed the Steadfast Duke’s eldest son a few days ago… Isn’t he something! I would think that I’ve been in seclusion for a dozen years instead of a dozen days!

“So Xu Qing’s leading people to hunt him down. What are all of you guys running to the east for?”

“I’m just… going to gather some more information,” the middle-aged man said apprehensively. “If there’s a chance to, I’m going to help Demon Sword since he’s big brother’s disciple…”

“Am I the idiot or are you the idiot?”

“No… I just… you see it too, big brother… I’m just an initial Nova… What kind of bad intentions can I have… I’m just going for a look…”

“Forget it, I’m not a killing fiend,” Yuan Shuo barked with laughter. “Too many people are going there, you won’t make a difference. Don’t tell anyone that I was here! Don’t say anything about me! That’s right, I remember you… What’s your name again?”

The wordless middle-aged man tried to prevent his eyes from rolling upward.

“Don’t lie to me, I remember beating you back in the day. Although I don’t remember your name now, I’ll find it when I look through some records. I’m kind and benevolent, but my disciple is vicious and cruel! I’ll have him look for you if he doesn’t die from this, how about it?”

etvolare’s Thoughts

How big a tantrum is YS going to throw this time, eh?