Star Gate

As Li Hao made his way toward the rear of the school campus, a nearly annihilated tree abruptly stopped all motion. It returned to a state of absolute stillness, like it'd completely died out. The only sight it presented was a tattered stump covered with sword marks and a set of roots split down the middle.

A person appeared a moment later—Li Hao!

He likewise saw a tree, one that'd been severed into two and left with only a few tree roots. The roots had been further hacked apart. They stabbed into the ground like each of them were sharp blades.

"The sword tree?" Li Hao blinked. The guardian plant spirit of Sword City wasn't anywhere else but the newly built school grounds!

And it was dead!

There seemed to be the barest sliver of its stump left. The roots were broken and cracked in a messy disarray. They would be valuable treasures to most people, but to Li Hao... they were worthless.

This location was the densest concentration of sword intent that he'd detected in the city. When he extended his senses, he detected vague hints of two types of sword intent clashing against each other. Clearly, Li Daoheng had paid a price to kill the sword tree. The two had fought here.

The Sword Sovereign himself had nurtured the sword tree to maturity. He'd apparently practiced his sword beneath its shade. The tree could be considered as a direct disciple of the Sword Sovereign. Technically speaking, it could even call the Human King its senior brother!

"Peak Saint? He's killed even the roots of the sword tree planted by the Sword Sovereign... This guy's pretty scary!" Li Hao murmured to himself with some regret. "What a pity that the Lis have been eradicated. Not even this tree could save Sword City at the end of the day. It looks like the Sword Sovereign miscalculated! We're one hundred thousand years too late, Stellaris. Otherwise, we could've taken on Li Daoheng ourselves!"

There was no sound and no response. There was only that ruined tree to be found.

"It looks like there's no hope of that!" Li Hao sighed with utmost grief. "How we can get back to our world is already a big enough problem. The Silver Moon world bestowed by the Human King is about to fall into the hands of the enemy! What a pity, what an utter pity!

"I'd thought that I'd be able to find some ways or ideas to use against Zheng Yu, the exalted emperor, and Li Daoheng. But there's nothing here!"

Li Hao murmured incessantly to himself, lamenting both himself and the circumstances that he'd found within Sword City. Stellaris vibrated in his hand, emitting mournful tones like it was crying.

Sword City was gone!

The young man sighed repeatedly, golden light sparkling in his eyes. "So what if I've inherited the Sword Sovereign's sword eye? What good is that for? What can I do when I'm not strong enough? I can only kill some false Empyrean Kings after a year of cultivating, what does that accomplish?

"Everyone says that I can bring glory to the Li family name again and take back what is ours, but how am I to do that when the enemy is so strong?

"Little sword, ah little sword, there is no hope for us in this life. Perhaps we won't even be able to leave this place. We'll grow old here and die!" Li Hao was incredibly pained and flourished the longsword with a sigh, slashing forward!

Mind and strength became one and the longsword broke through the air.

"We're too late!" Li Hao declared tragically. "I bear the will of my forefather, the Sword Sovereign, but lack the appropriate strength for it! I've only had time to train for one year... Time was not on my side!

"The seal is about to break and the exalted emperor will overrun the world. These are the times and this is our fate!"

Sword intent crisscrossed the vicinity!

A very faint hint of mental strength, so fine that it was nearly undetectable, rose from the sword tree. It didn't emit a sound or cause a disturbance. It simply watched silently.

Li Hao waved his sword around, too dejected to contain himself. He pierced through the firmament with one move!

"Forget it, what's gone is gone," he sighed. "The sword tree is dead, so let's dig up its roots and bury it! The city will be razed to the ground when the seal breaks. Stellaris, you and I will meet our end here as well. That's just as well!"

The young man raised his longsword to dig up the tree roots.

......

Tattered tree roots stood upright in place. They trembled only when Li Hao drew near and raised his sword to dig up the roots. A burst of sword intent dashed at the young man!

Shocked, Li Hao cut it down on the spot!

"What manner of evil goes there??" he demanded. "How dare you attack the direct descendant of the Sword Sovereign?! I am his direct lineal descendant and the new master of Stellaris. This is Sword City, not a place where you can conduct your vile deeds!"

He swung his sword at the tree stump!

A ragged shadow that threatened to fade out of sight appeared. Judging from its appearance, it was a woman that was in an extremely weakened state.

Li Hao cursed up a storm to himself. The sword tree was female??

He'd long detected some abnormalities in this place, that it was different from the other locales. He'd actually detected something special about the tree when he approached, but his guess had been that it was a descendant of the sword tree. Perhaps the old tree had given birth to a new tree, just like the imperial guard had come to be.

But now, it appeared that may not be the case. The shadow was so feeble and broken—this wasn't what it looked like when an old tree gave birth to the new. Although the imperial guard was also weak, it didn't take shape like this.

This was clearly a shadow of the sword tree, it was still alive!

But how had it not recovered after all these years? Or had it been more grievously injured before and this was already after it'd recovered somewhat?

Li Hao was actually delighted to finally find something alive! As for whether it was a male or a female tree... that wasn't important.

The Sword Sovereign had remained unmarried for his entire life; this was gossip that Li Hao couldn't be bothered with. The young man had reeled off his spiel in order to lure the tree out of hiding. It must've been concerned that Li Hao was an enemy, so it was a good thing that the tree had shown itself!

The illusory figure swayed; its sword intent was readily apparent. Although its features were impossible to make out, its outline indicated that it would have a good figure if it could solidify in human form.

"How did you enter the city?" it wheezed, ignoring Li Hao's descending stroke.

"Who are you?" The young man blinked.

"Why play dumb?" The sword tree ignored the blatantly false question. She whispered weakly, but was as calm as ever. "Didn't you say all that to lure me out of hiding? I am here now, so I ask you, how did you enter Sword City?"

"Are you the sword tree?"

"I am the one asking questions!"

"I'm worried if you're a scout left by Li Daoheng, so I'm asking you first!" Li Hao smirked.

"Hmph!" sneered the shadow. "Being coy?"

"Right back at you!" Li Hao sniffed. "I'm concerned about the same thing. It looks like you're smarter than other plant spirits, making you kind of similar to another plant spirit I know."

"Who?"

"A redwood tree called Redwood Mountain. Is the senior familiar with the name?"

"No! That tree must be unimportant!"

Well, that was true enough. The redwood had been a wild plant during New Martial, a mere Immortal. How would it even enter the sword tree's awareness? This was the strongest plant spirit in all of Silver Moon, a peak Saint!

Human and tree were locked in a stand-off; both had asked questions, but neither was willing to answer.

"Senior, you might fade away if you refuse to budge!"

"So what?" snorted the sword tree. "I was half dead to begin with and just struggling with my last gasps! Do you think I would pay any attention to you if it wasn't for seeing Stellaris return?

"But it's also because of Stellaris that I guess you belong to the filth?" the tree spat. "He took Stellaris with him that year. Now that it's here again, he must have found a way to control it!"

"Li Daoheng?"

"I've guessed it, haven't I?" the sword tree laughed coldly. "What is his goal in sending you so many years later? Is he worried that we aren't fully dead? Or does he want to tell me that he can control Stellaris now? How ludicrous!"

"Li Daoheng? The senior thinks I'm Li Daoheng's heir?" Li Hao hooted with laughter. "Well, that's fair enough. He had Stellaris, the bloodline of the Lis, and the sword intent of the Sword Sovereign..."

It was normal for the tree to be suspicious. This was a place that sealed away an exalted emperor! Could regular people enter it?

"It's hard for me to prove my innocence," Li Hao chuckled. "The senior might not believe anything I say, so how about this, I'll just briefly defend myself. Li Daoheng's a piece of shit and his entire family...

"Wait, I can't insult his family. I'm on pretty good terms with Ninth Division leader Li Daozong, so I won't insult Li Daoheng's family. Li Daoheng's less than a piece of shit..."

Li Hao's defense was to insult Li Daoheng from head to toe. After he was finished, he moved onto creating baseless rumors. "That guy doesn't like humans and likes to get it on with all sorts of disgusting things, like a moon! He screws even the moon... Honestly, he shouldn't even be counted as human...

"If he ever had descendants, they'd be the kind to be born without anuses..."

"......" The shadow swayed slightly.How crude!But... did that mean this person wasn't with Li Daoheng?

Just as Li Hao said, it was very hard for him to offer a concrete defense. Li Daoheng knew everything he knew. Nothing he could employ would make a difference!

His greatest support was Stellaris, but based on the sword tree's words, Li Daoheng had been the one to take it out of the city. Thus, Li Hao bringing it back made it difficult to explain himself instead.

Passing through a sealed area holding an exalted emperor was not a feat achievable by regular people either. Perhaps only Li Daoheng could manage it.

How could the sword tree not suspect Li Hao? Even he found himself very suspicious!

Insulting the man wouldn't prove anything either, but it would set the sword tree more at ease. Someone as proud as Li Daoheng would not permit his descendants to insult him like this, and would his heirs dare consider such an action?

A deep-seated contempt, disdain, and scorn was very difficult to feign!

The shadowy figure relaxed slightly. "How did you enter the Eight Trigrams Suppression Formation?" It remained looking at Li Hao.

"Stellaris brought me in!"

"I know, I'm asking how you made your way past the exalted emperor's area and entered the city..."

"Like so." Li Hao vanished with a ripple of peculiar energy. The sword tree swayed, collecting its senses with immense shock! The young man had been standing very far away before, but was right in front of it now.

"That's how I got inside!" Li Hao smiled. "I had people attack the seal to create disturbances in it, hid myself in Stellaris, and inched my way over. Do you believe me?"

"What... is this? Some kind of illusion or mirage?" The tree quailed.

"I can't tell you."

The tree fell silent. This method... was incredible! Naturally, it quickly found its composure again since it was widely experienced. "What is your goal in Sword City!"

"To find treasures, items, and ways to kill the exalted emperor, Li Daoheng, and claim Silver Moon world!"

"You hope for too much, there's nothing left. Sword City was toppled and only I lingered on. The faintest hint of core origin that remains helped me recover a little over one hundred thousand years. I may be less than Immortal now... What can you find to use against them?" answered the despondent tree.

"Where did the Sword Sovereign used to live?" Li Hao asked merrily.

"......"