Star Gate

“In actuality, the first batch of students we recruit will be those who aren’t afraid of death,” Li Hao said after some thought. “But that isn’t the key point either. I’m just thinking of raising the school’s banner and attracting some talent! I hear that the teachers of Skystar’s former Ancient Academy are having a tough time in the world. We can also target our recruitment efforts and undertake some reforms…”

Hong Yitang inclined his head.

“No matter how many students are at a school, there is still a limit to what it can do,” Li Hao continued. “The key is that it becomes universal. Of course, that’s obviously out of reach now, but it has to continue down this direction… We’ll go at it from both sides and not delay anything!”

“I know what to do now.” Hong Yitang nodded slightly.

“I hear that the East Pole Duke and Yu Qiao are exterminating the Xus under my name over on the eastern continent.” Li Hao turned to Deputy Zhou. “This is the deputy’s handiwork, isn’t it?”

“I simply had a chat with them.” The deputy smiled. “They feel that since the world is vast and the central government is far away, it’s enough to have a legitimate reason behind their actions. They don’t actually think much of the Skystar Commander Office.”

“Mm, that’s alright. They use my name and say that their actions are to take revenge for me… then I’ll satisfy them and pay a visit when I go to the east next time.” That was just as well, it meant he wouldn’t need to pay attention to the Xus in the east for a bit. Those two sides alone were enough to keep them preoccupied.

Li Hao continued to discuss some trivial matters—all affairs that’d happened recently. He asked about them all, whether big or small, so that no one would say that he neglected his management duties.

He didn’t actually want to manage anything—his goal was simple. Set up the overarching goal, kill everyone who annoys him, and after that… whether it was him continuing at the helm or someone else, that was for the future to decide.

He hoped that the supernaturals would keep to themselves this winter. It was shaping up to be a harsh winter, harsh enough to freeze to death. If a supernatural war erupted at this time and affected the entire dynasty, then hundreds of millions of civilians would be displaced. Half of them could either freeze or starve to death in this season.

Li Hao coughed gently after discussing the matters at hand. Everyone perked up their ears and inwardly snapped to attention. It was time to discuss serious business!

“Chen Yao came to tell me that the nine ministries and royal family, as well as the other organizations, are waiting for the second awakening to move against us. He was here to offer opportunistic help, but he also wanted to see a demonstration of strength and performance first.” Li Hao laughed, “I actually don’t care how they choose, but he did say something correctly. The second awakening is when a lot of our troubles begin!”

Everyone nodded.

“Silver Moon has ever been on guard against the second awakening,” Hou Xiaochen agreed. “We suffered an enormous setback in the first awakening. Our ruins… ai, they have enormous appetites. They spontaneously devoured all of the energy that blossomed and sucked us dry in a split second!”

He was very resigned about the situation and gave a rare sigh. “Otherwise, with the hot blood that runs in our veins, we would’ve produced quite a few premier powerhouses. Silver Moon didn’t give us the chance to do so…”

“Troubles are certain to come,” Li Hao said. “But we can’t idly sit by either, that’s not a good choice. We need to launch an attack when all sides don’t dare provoke us!”

Deputy Zhou and Hou Xiaochen kept quiet; everyone else looked at them. C’mon, Li Hao means you two. Aren’t the Silver Moon powerhouses waiting for the second awakening so they can counterattack when others invade?

It was the best plan that Silver Moon could come up with, as the province was weaker than the enemies it faced. Many veteran martial masters had died during their first rising, so few were the province’s counterattacks in recent years.

“None of this is key today. The key is that Southern Fist, Light Sword, and Deputy Zhou might be martial masters.”

Might be?

The group focused on Deputy Zhou.

“It… is hard to hear such words,” Deputy Zhou protested weakly.

“What level of strength are you, Deputy Zhou?” Li Hao smiled.

“It’s not as complicated as you think,” the deputy said with resignation after a while. “Let’s put it this way. I’m a special martial master, is it clearer like that? I walk the path of the ancient martial dao and walk it completely. I can do so because I accidentally obtained some benefits when I was young and my constitution was modified to be similar to an ancient martial practitioner’s. Therefore, it’s really not that I’m concealing anything like you guys think.”

An ancient martial practitioner!

“The orthodox ancient martial dao?” Li Hao looked at him with surprise.

“Yes!” Deputy Zhou admitted frankly. “I accidentally obtained some benefits in a ruin. A premier heavyweight about to petrify passed on some heritage to me. He converted my constitution with great arts during his dying breath.

“Therefore, I’m a pure practitioner of ancient martial dao. I have some small accomplishments to my name according to the ancient system. It’s just that with the demise of core origin dao, it is hard for me to walk another path. Hence, my achievements are less than everyone’s.”

“In that case… I understand a bit more,” Hou Xiaochen laughed. “So this means that the deputy has a very strong body! The ancient martial dao speaks of a golden body—that’s what you have, correct?”

“I do have that…” Deputy Zhou smiled. “But with how sparse energy is, a weak golden body is hard to maintain. Thankfully, Commander Li gave me some Water of Life and helped me nurture it. Otherwise… I wouldn’t be able to easily employ it.”

His admission drew everyone’s interest. A pure ancient martial practitioner was different from a modern cultivator who practiced ancient methods. Someone who walked the ancient path was one who made the same journey and attained the same levels and great dao as the ancient civilization. Practicing ancient methods, however, usually required some sort of modification to the method. Modern humans had weaker physical bodies, so the two cultivation philosophies were different. Martial masters focused on the aura, whereas ancient cultivation focused on core origin.

Li Hao relaxed with understanding—no wonder he hadn’t been able to see anything before. No wonder he didn’t find the deputy to possess a frail body. The others coughed incessantly or had wan faces, but that never appeared with this one. There was no talk of weak organs in the ancient martial civilization, so those symptoms would naturally not appear.

Deputy Zhou being frank now was likely out of a desire to not start an image of someone crafty and insidious. He was quite resigned to have the entire group staring at him like this.

“Let’s move on from Deputy Zhou.” Li Hao smiled. “Seniors Southern Fist and Light Sword are both martial masters. The rest, including Director Hou, count as supernaturals now since they’ve broken their locks.

“The path of the supernaturals is not an easy path at the moment. The way ahead is unknown, but I have no need to worry about things for everyone.”

The group focused on him. You obviously have something up your sleeves, so out with it! Hong Yitang was in the loop, so he was quite relaxed and awaited Li Hao’s next words.

“All of you can see it too, I am improving very quickly and don’t reveal anything in regular times.” Li Hao grinned. “I’m not purposefully hiding anything either. The biggest trouble that supernaturals run into is that mysterious power is an external force and the aura is off limits to them. They can only use supernatural abilities against enemies…”

“Out with it!” He Yong grumped.

“My point is, I’ve wandered off the path and may have found something new. But I don’t know what the future looks like or what the consequences may be, nor do I know what this means for my potential. For the moment, however, I can take mysterious power into my body!”

“Teach us!” He Yong immediately understood. “We love the unknown!”

“……” You’re so frank and decisive that it’s frightening.

He Yong was no fool. What do I care about the future? Large numbers of Arcanus were appearing at present. If he still failed to improve, he would be suppressed by them. No matter what the road was, it was enough that it could be taken. Who cared what the consequences were! A path that could strengthen the self was a good path. When more people tread it, it would become an avenue.

“I have one question,” Light Sword frowned slightly. “If we take this path, does that mean we need to break our supernatural locks? Is there any sort of restriction in this detail? For example, can I only break the locks that I’ve saturated? Or can I break as many as I’ve found, even if they’re not saturated?”

“You can also break ones that you haven’t saturated,” Li Hao answered from experience. “But you’ll be much weaker if you break those. Not only that, it means that your physical constitution, blood qi, and others will also be weaker since you haven’t saturated them.”

“So this means that even if we walk the same path as you, whoever saturated more locks before is still stronger?” He Yong asked in muffled tones.

Li Hao nodded. Of course! What else? Are you going to outright eclipse someone for no effort whatsoever? How is that possible!

A saturated supernatural lock is an indication of strength in one’s body, blood qi, mind intent, and five organs. It was possible to break an unsaturated lock, but the body might not be able to endure the strain.

The supernatural ability characters also needed a combination of mental strength and blood qi. Those that could not muster the requisite level of strength would fail. It wasn’t like setting foot into Arcanus just for breaking a supernatural lock.

“Have a taste!” Li Hao summoned his ‘fire’ character. A ferocious tiger hovered in the air. It was dim at first, then abruptly flared with flames!

It suddenly disappeared and reappeared over He Yong’s head. The man’s heart skipped a beat and punched outward!

BOOM!

The tiger disappeared; He Yong retracted his fist and frowned at it. “That’s really hot fire energy!”

There were scorch marks on his fist—what incredible fire energy!

Hou Xiaochen manifested a fiery phoenix and waved it at the ferocious tiger. Since he’d broken a supernatural lock, the phoenix was also a fire supernatural ability. It crashed into the tiger and immediately drifted apart since the tiger had ripped it to pieces!

“So it’s not just good for looks,” Hou Xiaochen mused thoughtfully. “The key lies in a denser concentration of power and easier manipulation. It’s stronger than Arcanus of the same level and combines mysterious power, aura, internal force, blood qi, and mind intent. In terms of quality, it’s stronger than even mysterious power!”

He’d sensed a lot of details from one exchange. Sky Sword was next to follow and sent out a ray of sword qi. He did not have the aura anymore, but his sword intent remained. He carefully probed the situation when his sword qi clashed with the tiger.

“Interesting, your teacher mentioned combining the five auras last time, whereas you’ve melded mental strength with internal force with mysterious power…” Sky Sword nodded. “It’s a good idea. It has something to do with those people using the ultimate art of Tranquil Star, doesn’t it?”