Star Gate

Chapter 568: Exchange (I)

Li Hao didn’t care about anything other than his pay. He still needed to visit the ruins and it wouldn’t do to show up without sufficient treasure.

Kong Jie cursed to himself and left without another word. Hong Yitang burst out laughing after the inspector general left. “You’ve got some nerve!”

Kong Jie was a premier heavyweight at the end of the day, but the little guy showed him no face at all! Li Hao was completely unfazed. When the Silver Moon authorities sent him on a rescue mission, they should’ve considered the fact that he might be exposed. He’d briefly considered it as well, but didn’t think too much of it.

No matter what, he accepted his pay with complete peace of mind. This was payment for a life! There was nothing to be embarrassed about for money that he’d risked his neck to earn. The authorities might not mention it if he didn’t demand to be paid, then ultimately forget about the second portion. There was no time to waste in pretending to be polite. Director General Zhao and the others would absolutely pay him while Earthturner Sword and Light Sword were both by his side.

Kong Jie reappeared after roughly ten minutes. He tossed a storage ring to Li Hao. “This is yours. Do you know that you’ve almost emptied out Silver Moon?”

There was no way that was true!

Thirty thousand mysterious power stones and three origin weapons were a lot, but for that to be the sum total of these guys’ fortune? Li Hao would never believe it!

“Then I’ll go fetch the Demon Hunters. You guys wait a moment for me. If you have other business, Martial Uncle Hong, then you can go.”

“It’ll be safer for you if Earthturner Sword stays at a time like this...” Kong Jie hastily protested.

Hong Yitang looked at Kong Jie, the latter quickly transmitted an explanation. Hong Yitang frowned and sharpened his look at Kong Jie, then looked at Li Hao. Ying Hongyue... seriously had too much time on his hands!

“Then I’ll...”

“Martial uncle, you should go back to the Sword Sect!” Li Hao interrupted. “It may not be safe there. Once powerhouses sneak into Silver Moon, no place is adequately defended other than White Moon City. The sect is not safe if you are not present. The world knows how strong martial uncle is and may threaten you with it.”

Hong Yitang hesitated. It was one thing to not know, but now that he knew... worries were beginning to creep in. And yet, tremendous trouble was coming for Li Hao.

“Don’t worry, martial uncle. I’ll stay at White Moon from now on,” Li Hao continued. “As bold as those guys may be, they won’t court death at the capital. Commander Yu, Director General Zhao, Inspector General Kong, Deputy Zhou, and Light Sword will all be at White Moon in the days to come. If anyone dares come, they’ll be going to their deaths!”

“Then be careful.” Hong Yitang nodded after some thought. “The Sword Sect may indeed be unsafe. Contact me anytime if you need me!”

“Alright!”

Hong Yitang no longer waffled. It was truly much safer at White Moon City. If he wasn’t at the Sword Sect, however, the enemy might really steal a march on him! With that said, the man left without bidding farewell to Kong Jie.

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The inspector general wanted to say something, but said nothing out of resignation. He actually wanted Hong Yitang to stay if possible. The man was very strong and the capital’s defenses would spontaneously be raised to an extreme peak if he stayed. There were no faults that could be identified in Earthturner Sword’s defenses.

What a pity that the Sword Sect was his territory.

Li Hao turned to leave as well. Light Sword wanted to follow him, but the young man deterred her. “You don’t need to come with me, it’s very close. I’ll be back soon. Senior, you should chat with Inspector General Kong. He paid a lot for your rescue!”

Light Sword looked at Li Hao, then at Kong Jie. That was true, the official authorities did indeed spend a lot of resources to save her. No matter what, she needed to exchange some pleasantries with them.

Therefore, she stayed while Li Hao vanished on the spot with Panther.

......

Li Hao’s eyes sparkled after a while of flying. A light that was almost visible flashed out of his eyes and casually scanned the surroundings. He ultimately looked into the sky before quickly ducking his head with a slight frown.

Someone seemed to be following him and their presence felt a bit eye-searing, but they were keeping their distance. The young man couldn’t make out who his pursuer was. Li Hao realized who it might be after a while—either Director General Zhao or Huang Yu. One of the two was keeping an eye on him, possibly for protection or for surveillance...

Li Hao didn’t like it much, no matter what it was. Not to mention, he was about to visit the little tree. He didn’t want their presence to elicit the tree’s misunderstanding.

After some thought, he steered the Divine Kun Ship to the ground. The ship smashed a massive hole in the earth and continued its descent. Li Hao made use of the commotion to vanish from the vessel. Under his command, the origin treasure continued to make its way through the ground.

Huang Yu furrowed his brows from his position in the sky. What was the lad going beneath the ground for? A ruin? He knew that the Demon Hunters had gone to explore ruins, but wasn’t aware of exactly which ruin it was. If Li Hao was descending here... was the ruin here?

Huang Yu watched silently instead of following the young man down. After a while, the giant ship settled belowground. When it remained unmoving for a while, the commander found it odd. Had something amiss occurred?

But he detected no energy ripples. Caught in contemplation, he chose to be quiet.

......

Li Hao had long departed the area. The earth sword aura erupted when the Divine Kun Ship landed, creating a small tunnel beneath the ground. Skilled at subterfuge, the young man made use of the vessel’s descent to depart. He would park the ship there for a while; Huang Yu could look after it.

This was Li Hao’s first drill at avoiding pursuers in the dark. He wanted to try and see if he could escape from beneath their nose. He utilized the Windchaser Boot in his exercise, instantly clearing one thousand meters—this was the limit of many powerhouse’s senses.

Using it three times in a row consumed a great deal of internal force, but it also propelled him three thousand meters beyond the Divine Kun Ship. When he took his bearings again, the young man couldn’t sense that he was still being followed.

Good!

Not bad at all, the Windchaser Boot was worthy of his identity as a martial master. Combined with dark energy that concealed one’s traces, it was truly impossible for ordinary people to detect anything.

After shaking off his follower, Li Hao made quick time and arrived at Mount Cat Head before long. A few flashes later brought him to the mountain cave. It’d been quite a few days since he left. Although the team had brought sufficient rations with them, they might be antsy after so long.

Li Hao jumped down the hole and felt a faint mental ripple before he landed.

“You seem to have obtained a nice weapon... and comprehended another path?” The little tree’s welcoming ripple ended on a surprised note.

So fast!

Was it this era’s people that possessed more potential or was the young human that strong? It’d only been a few days! The tree had thought Li Hao would require a few more opportunities with core origin before he succeeded.

Who knew that the young man would only require one trip in the outside world? It was a very short period of time for the tree, yet Li Hao had succeeded.

“I was just lucky!” Li Hao responded casually as he landed. The Demon Hunters were much more reassured to see that their leader had returned safe and sound.

“You’re finally back!” Hao Lianchuan piped up. “It’s been a few days. We were going to go out and find you if there was still no sign of you.”

Li Hao smiled and was surprised when he looked at the man. “Peak Solar?”

That was fast!

When he looked at the others, he could see that many of the martial masters seemed to have grasped the aura, but their improvement wasn’t as obvious as the supernatural. Wang Ming hadn’t advanced for a very long period of time—he was an initial Solar now. Hu Hao, Li Meng, and Yun Yao all showed significant progress, particularly Li Meng. She had been a Plenilune before, now she was a Sunflare.

Li Hao had left behind some mysterious power stones when he left so that the little tree could release some energy for everyone to train in. It looked like the effects were wondrous.

“Training here is great for us supernaturals!” Hao Lianchuan laughed heartily. “We suffer too many latent injuries because mysterious power is too overbearing. Even though our injuries were greatly relieved by the energy you supplied before, mysterious power remains very tyrannical. Training here is a gentle, tender process that makes me feel that I’ve recovered some of my expended life force...”

“These people have consumed too much of their potential!” came a ripple from the little tree. “Especially this fatty, he’s depleted too much! The people of your time are very special. There seem to be some seals inside your body that contain your potential and protect your body. But these martial masters that walk the path of energy are a bit different... Life energy can recover some of their life force, but I can only emanate some life energy. I can’t help them fully recuperate.”

Li Hao understood! Supernaturals depleted too much potential. Under these circumstances, depleting potential was depleting life force. They would die, sooner or later!

Powerhouses of the ancient civilization could live for a very long time—a thousand years was no problem after they crafted their golden body. But whether it was modern day martial masters or supernaturals, none could do the same.

One could sense a thing or two from assessing their own life force. A martial master’s mind intent was so strong that it wore away at the body. A supernatural’s mysterious power was so tyrannical that it eroded vitality. That was why supernaturals cultivated so quickly and were so strong. At the same time, such abrupt eruption inevitably led to the loss of certain things, such as length of life.

Li Hao took out a wood origin weapon and ten thousand mysterious power stones, shifting them to the little tree’s roots. “This is your payment!”

The little tree swayed with good spirits. Although the stones weren’t worth much, having such a large sum of them was good. The origin weapon looked to have come from a plant spirit. It would be useful for the little tree. Though it’d severed off some core origin, that power wasn’t very useful to it at the moment. It lacked energy more than core origin. Core origin was a matter that would be relevant only later. For now, it would recover if it possessed sufficient energy.

Li Hao suddenly flung out a lot of other items including the wind chime and boxing gloves. Eleven origin weapons clattered to the ground, not counting the one he’d just given the tree. Even the little tree was taken aback! Although none of them were high level, being presented with such a large sum of them was surprising nonetheless.