Star Gate

Life was truly too hard for Li Hao. He’d reaped tens of millions of mysterious power stones when he took down the City of Supernaturals, but given this rate of consumption, how much longer would his stores last?

That was tens of millions! Would he be able to support all of his treasures and people if he didn’t take over the mine? There was also the army, various vessels, shield, void chain, and earth driller to consider…

Li Hao’s mind almost imploded.

“Ai!” he sighed. It came down to energy. And yet, the key was that the world lacked energy. There was no energy throughout heaven and earth. There was supposed to be innate energy in the world; it could support so many powerhouses back in the day. Where had it all gone?

Although the world was revitalizing, it hadn’t recovered to a high degree. Did that mean there was somewhere in this world that contained large quantities of energy?

All energy in the world had spontaneously disappeared the day everything changed. Where had it gone? To the Star Gate?

Was it the Star Gate? Or had it gone elsewhere to be devoured by someone else?

Endless possibilities filled Li Hao’s mind. There was only one thing he knew for certain at present, and that was that he could not rely on killing others for his sole source of mysterious power stones. If he didn’t make the mine his, everyone on his side, his weapons, and all revived ancient entities might soon enter a stagnant period.

Nothing was useful without the support of the mine.

“Have you finished taking an inventory of what we gained?” Li Hao looked at Deputy Zhou. The deputy was in charge of tasks like these.

“We have.” The deputy nodded. “The gains are nothing impressive. One thousand drops of Water of Life, five million mysterious power stones, and forty origin weapons—that’s quite a few and they’re all high level. There’s also eight dying plant spirits. That makes up the sum total of our gains.”

“……” Silence. This was all they’d collected after killing hundreds of Arcanus, seven element Arcanus, and an ancient Saint. This was even worse than what they’d collected from the City of Supernaturals.

The group exchanged resigned looks with one another. They’d all depleted a great deal of resources for this fight, Li Hao even more so. They might’ve been excited about this level of harvest back in the day, but now… this represented a transaction that didn’t even cover their costs.

Other than the mirror, they’d invested more than they’d received on all counts.

“Is that it?” Li Hao asked glumly.

“Hmm… most of it was probably with Hong Tu. But he died and didn’t leave anything behind.” Even if Hong Tu had a storage ring, it’d likely been destroyed by the explosions.

Li Hao sighed, then looked at the bunch of eager old men in front of him, then at the sheepish Director General Wang. There probably had been Water of Life left in the white tree, but the director general had eaten it all.

At the same time, the young man knew that the director general had likely paid a heavy price to kill the white tree. He looked weak even now.

“Let’s go, it’s time to withdraw!” Li Hao glanced at the eight captured plant spirits, frowning at them. What should he do with them? Kill them?

Eight Immortal trunks could produce almost sufficient indestructible matter to resurrect the Ninth Division leader with. However, Director General Wang didn’t really want to kill them and felt that their crimes did not deserve death.

Being the foremost powerhouse of the group, Li Hao had to show him some face. But that was eight plant spirits! All of them had to be Immortals back in their time to survive to present day. If they later revitalized bearing a grudge, that would also be trouble for Li Hao.

Would they carry a grudge?

Probably…? After all, based on what the others said, these plant spirits answered to the Hong family. It was difficult to determine whether they would carry a grudge or not.

“Plant spirits… you did not attack me and are near slumber,” Li Hao suddenly said after momentary silence. “Director General Wang has begged for mercy on your behalf. Hong Tu deserved his death and you guys… can sever one third of your core origin and remain here to meet your fates!”

The eight plant spirits stirred faintly. They were unfathomably weak at the moment. They would fall fully asleep after severing one third of themselves. What fate awaited them after that… was likely death.

Director General Wang didn’t speak up in protest, and neither did the rest. Li Hao acted authoritatively at times. No one could speak any sense into him when he was in such a state.

“Why go to that level of waste?” Stroking his chin, Yuan Shuo suddenly frowned. “Not to mention, we should either kill them or take them with us after this place has been exposed. It’ll be to someone else’s benefit if they fall asleep here.”

He flicked a glance at Li Hao. “Your brain is seriously inflexible sometimes!”

The site of the Wind and Cloud Pavilion’s headquarters had been exposed. Someone might come after they left; wouldn’t they attack eight sleeping plant spirits that they stumbled upon? On the other hand, if they killed the plant spirits themselves, they would be able to revive some powerhouses back in Silver Moon.

“Take them back with us!” chuckled Yuan Shuo. “They can be subordinates for the imperial guard. All main city plant spirits have auxiliary generals. The imperial guard was the first to swear fealty to you, so we need to give it a proper title. It’s a loss of face for it if there’s only one in its command!

“Bring these eight back and have them form a guard. That’s not enough either. We can bring back all the ones we don’t want to kill and fill out the guard’s ranks…”

“Teacher, my main issue is lack of resources!” Li Hao laughed with resignation.

“I know, but don’t we have the big mine over there?” Yuan Shuo laughed with delight. “It’d be an affront to ourselves if we don’t take it back! Also, with those eight over there, we can even put their self-detonation to use if that’s what they end up doing.”

“But…”

“It’s fine,” Yuan Shuo interrupted his disciple. “The plant spirits were under the banner of the Wind and Cloud Pavilion and the Hong family of old. They didn’t answer to Hong Tu. If worst comes to worst, we can kill them after fattening them up a little! Will we be afraid of a mutiny then?”

Li Hao thought it over before nodding. Director General Wang heaved an inward sigh of relief. There weren’t many who could persuade the young man from his decided path at times like these. Thank goodness Yuan Shuo could say a few words!

The young man didn’t say anything else after thinking the matter over. There were plenty of plant spirits that wanted to join his side these days. The redwood tree of the City of Supernaturals and the jujube tree of Sky Sword Mountain both wanted to offer their allegiance. There were eight more here and the five from Battle Heaven. He abruptly had many plant spirits under his command. It was thirty-one more mouths to feed.

“Then let’s head out first!” Li Hao concluded. “I’ll go out first. Wait a while after I leave so I have time to assess the situation!”

He grinned and left the ruins with the mirror in hand.

……

The outside world.

It’d been a few hours since Li Hao’s group went inside. There was no sign of activity anywhere. Who’d won?

No one knew and no one dared barge in. It was a battle between Arcanus inside and there were certain to be plant spirits or their replicas inside. Even a severe element might be venturing inside to their deaths if they wander in.

The bystanders could only wait.

A figure manifested in the sky as everyone stood by outside. “The evil supernatural organization Wind and Cloud Pavilion has been completely eradicated for their role in disturbing the supernatural domain,” it announced in a grand, aloof voice. “The Skystar Commander Office has zero tolerance for misbehaving superhumans!

“The three evil organizations and other superhuman parties are to hand over their criminals within the allotted time. Apart from the three evil organizations, all factions are to create a registry before the end of the year. Those who fail to accomplish this task will be sentenced as evil supernaturals!”

The magnificent voice boomed in all directions! The powerhouses waiting in the surroundings sighed. It looked like the Wind and Cloud Pavilion hadn’t been able to stop Li Hao’s rise either. They’d lost!

No one was aware of how strong the pavilion had been, but they’d been able to field at least a dozen Arcanus in the field. That meant an equal amount of heavyweights waiting in the wings. There were also plant spirits to consider, but they were all gone.

Li Hao’s side plainly possessed the ability to kill plant spirits within the ruins.

……

In the distance.

Ying Hongyue coughed up blood. He set his eyes on a far point in the horizon, at where a Li Hao radiating a forceful presence watched over the land.

The Wind and Cloud Pavilion had lost. What level was their strength? It was one thing if they only had one plant spirit that hadn’t been fully revitalized. But what if they were more than that?

A faint circle of light pulsed beneath the heavens. Ying Hongyue furrowed his brows and tilted his head at the sky.

……

At the same time.

Figures flashed through Li Hao’s mirror before vanishing. Soon enough, some of them were fixed in the reflection. The young man regarded the treasure with interest. What a fascinating item! Although it consumed a lot of resources, its abilities were truly unparalleled.

He didn’t look at anyone else because he knew Ying Hongyue was nearby. That was the first figure that drew his interest. The mirror captured life force; Ying Hongyue’s was formidable. Based on Li Hao’s judgement, it was a little stronger than his own.

Seven elements? The young man raised an eyebrow. The Arcanus Ranking had been made according to the pavilion master’s own judgment and hierarchy of power. Li Hao was doing the same now as that was the only method available to them. The treasure didn’t give them an absolute measure of strength, so they could only determine it obliquely.

Is Ying Hongyue really a seven element Arcanus? If so, why could he walk around in the outside world? Or was he seven elements only in critical moments?

Li Hao disappeared with these thoughts swirling in his mind.