Star Gate

“Dumb dog!” Yuan Shuo patted Panther’s head with a laugh. “As a major monster spirit, you can’t continue this way! Monster spirits should have their own aspirations. I know of a place—Sky Roc Mountain. There’s a major monster spirit there, the Sky Roc. If you kill it, you’ll have a bright future ahead of you!

“Don’t think of yourself as invincible just because you’ve learned some things from humans. Monster spirits hail from ancient origins. Some things are available to you, but not to humans. There are no weaklings among the descendants of ancient monster spirits. The current stage of martial master secret arts may not be as strong as your kind’s ancient heritage.”

Yuan Shuo didn’t care whether the dog would accept what he said or not. He was just offering a few tips. He turned and left, quite dashing in his decisiveness and without any sentimental concern.

Li Hao rose to send off his teacher and sighed softly when the man was out of sight. “He should just say that he’s gone off to find Jadelight Sword. Was there a need to say all that other stuff?”

Being of a mind to look for women at his age… It looked like a disciple wasn’t as interesting as a woman to his teacher!

Off in the distance, Yuan Shuo turned around with a hint of killing intent just before he was about to vanish. This traitor! Damned if he didn’t want to clean house! The brat created rumors from day to night! Who was going to go look for a woman?

I’m just going to see if Jadelight Sword’s been beaten to death. What is this traitor thinking about?!

The old man was slightly saddened about leaving Li Hao because it meant he would have to stand on his own two feet. That was just as well! Those of his generation were not suited to sit idle and enjoy the fruits of other people’s labor. They didn’t like doing so either, other than the shameless He Yong who loved to scrounge off others. Yuan Shuo and the others weren’t interested in doing the same.

……

Li Hao spent a few more days absorbing sword energy after his teacher left. When his seclusion reached ten days, he departed as well. It was his longest stint of closed door cultivation ever—a full ten days.

It was the end of October and almost the beginning of November by the time he emerged. If he continued cultivating in this vein, he might be able to saturate his locks, but it wouldn’t result in the great improvement that he wanted. The auras were the key. He needed his to grow stronger and he also wanted to go back to observe his ancestor’s move again.

All of that depended on one thing—the blood pearls that would activate his bloodline. He needed ones of high level for his purpose.

If his auras were too strong, his sword overview wouldn’t be able to lead them. And if the auras weren’t fully fused at that time, they would be a pile of loose sand. Li Hao would actually become weaker as his auras grew stronger.

It was because of these considerations that he decided to continue on his journey with Panther by his side. The dog completely ignored what Yuan Shuo said. There was no way that it was going to leave! What a comfortable life it was to follow Li Hao around. It might be beaten to death at any second if it left, that would be horrible!

…….

Li Hao left the villa on the last day of October and headed south. One would reach the central region if traveling south through East Shore. Heading north would take one back to the northern provinces. The young man didn’t choose to go back yet, he wanted to visit the central region and witness their powerhouses for himself. He wanted to see more of the world.

……

The central region was a vast territory that encompassed twenty-two provinces. There were more than a thousand cities of varying sizes within it—its population was much more dense than the bleak and poor north. There were two billion people residing in the central region, but statistics weren’t accurate in this day and age.

Some remote locations and overlooked corners of the land were forgotten in the census and many officials were unreliable in their course of work. There should be much more than two billion in the region as the territory was stunningly large.

He Yong had once told Li Hao that there were cities of supernaturals in the central region. Mysterious power was dense in the area and there were more supernaturals born than could be imagined. There was at least one supernatural per one thousand people, and that was He Yong’s estimation. Li Hao felt that this wasn’t necessarily accurate as math wasn’t the guy’s strong suit.

Based on this ratio, there should be two million supernaturals in the central region! Two million! What kind of notion was that??

At the very least, Li Hao had never seen so many supernaturals before. The most he’d seen was when the central and northern supernaturals gathered to explore Battle Heaven. That had been nearly two thousand supernaturals from all nineteen northern provinces. While that wasn’t every supernatural from the north, many wandering supernaturals had been among their number. They’d only amounted to two thousand.

For there to be two million supernaturals in the central region and increasing every year… Their numbers would increase explosively if war didn’t break out! Wouldn’t there be more than one hundred thousand supernaturals in a province?!

And that was just supernaturals, that didn’t include martial masters. How many supernaturals were in all of Silver Moon? As impoverished as the province was, surely the gap shouldn’t be that great.

Therefore, Li Hao brought a hint of disbelief—or rather, curiosity—as he entered the central region from East Shore.

……

East Shore province itself was part of the central region. However, the region itself was further divided into different sections. There was a central belt among the twenty-two central provinces. With Skystar City as the center, the four provinces around the edge of the belt were known as the Four Peaks: North Peak, South Peak, East Peak, and West Peak.

Only upon entering these four cardinal provinces did that place one among the central belt. The four cardinal provinces were the core of the central region. East Shore was too close to the sea. Li Hao’s current target was one of the provinces around Skystar City—East Peak.

In the eyes of locals, only the area within the Four Peaks was their central region. This ran counter to the rest of the dynasty; they viewed the entire area as the central region. There was still a chain of superiority within the dynasty.

Those of Skystar City looked down on everyone outside the city. Those within the Four Peaks held themselves loftier than those outside. The rest of the central region disdained the four continents. And of the four continents, the other three jointly held the northern continent in contempt. The northern continent most despised the northernmost Silver Moon, and within Silver Moon, Silver City was held in poorest regard. It was located the furthest to the north and was old, tiny, and poor.

There was no further target once one reached Silver City. Great Li seemed to have fallen many years ago, or Silver City inhabitants might’ve been able to look down their noses at the even more northern savages.

Li Hao was quite resigned by this chain of disdain. He was immediately met with sidelong glances when he entered a central city because he wore an outfit made in the northern style. Passersby seemed to be saying—where did this northern savage come from?

Li Hao ignored their reactions. This was his first time visiting a central city and seeing the lives of central mundanes for the first time. It was a moderately sized city that seemed on par with Silver City, but appeared much more prosperous. There were many skyscrapers, some with color. The buildings in Silver City were gray and white.

Li Hao had always felt that his home was good enough since no resident ever froze or starved to death, but this tiny city of the central region resembled Southern Ford in its prosperity! Southern Ford was Silver Moon’s biggest port city.

Ole Hong lied to me. The thought rose in Li Hao’s mind. Ole Hong had said that war was present in the central region and that chaos had engulfed the territory. He painted a picture of the people struggling in misery, which made Li Hao think that life was terrible in the region. However, a small city like this bustled with such prosperity that it made the young man pause with confusion.

He’d seen for himself the desolate conditions of Near River’s coastline. Officials colluded with bandits and innocent people were killed to obtain military merits. The central region was a far cry from that!

The sympathy he’d felt for the people of the central region immediately evaporated. Not to mention, people viewed him with contempt and pity! Li Hao felt that he’d been massively misdirected and lied to by Hong Yitang.

Who said that the central region was in a sorry state? Silver Moon wouldn’t catch up to this singular city with another thirty years of development! All of their people looked plump with smooth skin, how are they suffering??

Li Hao was as if a country bumpkin entering town for the first time. In reality, he was a country bumpkin. Even White Moon City residents would be labeled bumpkins if they came here.

He peered to and fro as he walked down the streets, giving one the impression of a new face in town, here to eke out a living from the north. There was even a dog by his side—a stray from an unknown origin. A savage and his stray were the perfect match!

“Hi!” someone called out to Li Hao from behind. A chubby middle-aged man grinned radiantly and gave Li Hao a good first impression. He came across a bit like Hao Lianchuan as this was how Fatty Hao liked to smile as well.

“Are you from the north, little brother?”

Li Hao didn’t know the man, but he didn’t know anything about this land or its people either. Walking ten thousand kilometers was part of cultivation, so Li Hao nodded with a smile. “You’ve got a keen eye, big brother!”

“Hahaha! I can tell with one glance that you’re a man from the north. You’re brawny and sharp on your toes, it’s obvious that you’re a skilled hand!” the fatty chuckled with enthusiasm. “Is this your first time in the central continent? Are you here to look for a job? Do you know anyone here?”

“No… I’m just here for a look…”

“You don’t know anyone here?” Fatty’s grin deepened. “Then life will be a bit difficult for you. The central region isn’t that friendly to outsiders and it’s hard for northerners to find jobs. It would be easier if you had someone from home to help you out.

“But you seem to me like a forthright, outstanding kind of guy. Do you have the strength to come work for me? You’ll get a monthly salary of four thousand coins, as well as room and board!”

Li Hao sucked in a sharp breath. That high??

As a civil servant for Silver City, his monthly salary was one thousand coins as an intern and two thousand when he was an official employee. It took a promotion to first rank inspector for him to earn that much a month. So any random job here paid four thousand coins a month??

“My thanks, but I’m good!” Li Hao’s view of the fatty rose. The latter was being so warm-hearted in wanting to find a job for him! Although the job would be under someone else’s hand and the pay may not be the highest, the central region suddenly seemed like a good place.

Of course, it would be a joke for him to look for a job. Who was Li Hao? A provincial deputy director of the Night Watchers and a high rank chief commissioner! The highest ranked official in this city would most likely be lower than him.

Get a job?

He wouldn’t work a day in his life. Granted, he was working for the dynasty at the moment.

etvolare’s Thoughts

Who’s with me and thinks that fatty is just out to con Li Hao? Xianxia equivalent of human traffickers...