Star Gate

“Royal uncle, is… no one taking a stand?” the ninth prince transmitted to the Prince of Southern Conciliation. “The Tranquil Duke should be cohorts with the Martial Duke. I thought the Tranquil Duke was fully confident in his abilities, judging by how he was antagonizing Li Hao today. But he was beaten to death with one slap…”

The ninth prince had thought that the duke had quite the trump cards up his sleeve. How had he died so suddenly? It was… so perplexing!

The Prince of Southern Conciliation walked off without a flicker of change in expression. “He didn’t anticipate either that there would be such a difference between three and five elements,” he transmitted back. “Neither did I expect that Li Hao wouldn’t be an ordinary five element Arcanus. He’s on par with six elements! That palm strike didn’t even give the three element Tranquil Duke time to react!

“It’s not only him, but Hou Xiaochen, Hong Yitang, and Yao Si who are also incomparable. They locked onto a few powerhouses in the audience, including me. Their presences were finely honed in on me and I would’ve suffered an overwhelming reaction if I’d done anything…”

There hadn’t been any time to react or room to maneuver in! The duke was dead in the blink of an eye! Even if the Valiant Duke was of the mind to do something, would he have dared move?

No!

“Then… what do they mean by this?” The ninth prince didn’t understand. These two dukes hadn’t come to the capital just to provoke Li Hao, had they? They must have another goal in mind.

The Prince of Southern Conciliation glanced at him. Do you really not know, or are you pretending not to know?

“Royal uncle, the Tranquil Duke isn’t that dumb. What did he want?” transmitted the seventh princess as well.

The Prince of Southern Conciliation did not respond. It wasn’t until they were very far away that he transmitted, “Could the Valiant Duke have come to Skystar City without my permission? Would they have dared antagonize Li Hao if there wasn’t anyone who guaranteed their safety?”

“……” The two royal children blinked and fell silent with incredulity. Their royal father was behind this? But… why?

The Prince of Southern Conciliation couldn’t be bothered to explain further. Why? Because even if there was some friction between the royal family and three founding dukes, they were of one whole in the end. It was a different concept compared to the nine ministries or Li Hao. The royal family and three dukes possessed the same goals and origins from two hundred years ago.

The nine ministries had tacitly given way to Li Hao’s desire to establish some authority on this occasion, but the royal family wasn’t willing to let the young man proceed so smoothly. However, they were simply going to be a small pest and somewhat keep the young man in check. The royal family would then discuss important matters with the two dukes.

But now look at the situation! One of the dukes was dead! Would the Valiant Duke be willing to converse with the royal family now?

Absolutely not!

That royal brother of his always thought so highly of himself and felt that Li Hao wouldn’t dare do anything. Reality proved otherwise! He beat the Tranquil Duke to death on the spot and asked if the royal family wanted to demote him. Look at what his royal brother had been forced into responding with!

This was simply just creating trouble for himself!

The Prince of Southern Conciliation heartily vented his feelings to himself. The Valiant Duke would now probably run off in the middle of the night and unease would rock the southern continent. That guy wouldn’t stay in the royal capital, no matter what!

This had been a prime opportunity to discuss peace between them, but his royal brother had made a royal mess of it all! The old Tranquil Duke would certainly be dissatisfied with this turn of events and point his ire at Li Hao and the Skystar King. The western and southern continents would fully rage out of their control!

……

At the same time.

Chen Yao was rather surprised and transmitted to his father, “Were those two dukes… from the royal family?”

“Most likely.”

“The Skystar King… really is… There’s really no other way to put it… has great ambition but scant ability. He’s far worse than his father!”

The old inspector general nodded with a sigh and transmitted back, “That’s what people also say about you!”

“……” Chen Yao almost vomited blood from anger!

His father didn’t feel like he’d said anything wrong. This is how you evaluate the Skystar King and it is how others evaluate you as well. Great ambition, scant ability, and far worse than his father! But none of you think that of yourselves.

As expected, the second generation that grows up in a greenhouse is not up to scratch. Our generation was stronger and surged forward with great momentum. We beat the shit out of the Skystar King. Although we didn’t fully attain all of our goals, it was already incredible in that age to overthrow the royal family.

Chen Zhongtian thought fondly of these past events—they were quite the accomplishment. But when it came to their sons, everything took a turn for the worse. The second generations took their places, but each was worse than the rest. They showed no signs of improvement after fighting for a couple of decades.

They used to not criticize each other since they were in similar conditions, but now there was a pack of wolves roaming the world. If these second generations were supposed to take a stand, they might not emerge victorious. Those wolves weren’t old, but they were all from that blasted Silver Moon. People from that province all had a certain feral quality to them.

It looked like he and his old friends needed to take the stage soon to keep things under control, or the situation would soon grow out of hand.

Chen Yao cursed to himself before saying, “Hou Xiaochen… Did Hou Xiaochen use his mind intent to suppress the Tranquil Duke? Isn’t he a supernatural now? Why is his mind intent still so strong, and how can he still use spear intent?”

Chen Zhongtian sank into deep thought. As the strongest present, his senses had captured a few hints. He transmitted after momentary thought, “I’m not sure, but what I can be certain of is that these guys… might have all hidden their strength. Be careful and don’t needlessly aggravate them! Li Hao must be at least on par with a six element if he could kill the Tranquil Duke with one palm strike!

“He’s improving so quickly that it’s unbelievable. I also think that his Arcanus level is different from other people’s Arcanus level!” The old inspector general frowned faintly. “You must be careful. Also, those old fellows took action without hesitation and went straight for the jugular. Li Hao might have promised them something. We might have to deal with a few more thorny opponents in the days to come…”

“Maybe he promised to help them ascend to the supernatural domain?”

“Possibly!”

“Silver Moon martial masters have always refused to ascend,” Chen Yao clucked his tongue. “Why have they lost those reservations now?”

“The Breathing Method of the Five Styles?” The old inspector general was just as baffled as he didn’t have more information. “It’s hard to say. Let’s wait and see. The Arcanus Ranking will be out in three days. I’d like to see if that pavilion has the ability to imitate the Daoist Wind and Cloud of old. It will be interesting if they do.”

“Aren’t you worried about being exposed?”

“Heh!” The old inspector general didn’t care. “What am I afraid of? I’m not interested in seizing power and my son is useless. You tell me, what am I afraid of being exposed for?”

Fuck you! Chen Yao cursed his useless git of a father. The old man loved insulting him, had he gained another daughter lately? I have no idea! I haven’t bothered to care if he’s sired a few more bastards lately. He already has so many that I can’t be bothered.

……

The rear yard of the Skystar Commander Office.

Six old men scrambled up from the ground and took off their masks. They cast strange looks intermixed with curiosity at Li Hao. Moments later, someone stuck up their thumb.

“As expected of Yuan Shuo’s disciple… No, you should be Yuan Shuo’s master. That guy’s not as crazy as you!”

They hadn’t believed it when they received Li Hao’s transmission. The young man sent them only one sentence, “Have some fun killing the Tranquil Duke!”

“……” Jubilation seized them seconds later as the old men flung themselves forward without another word. They’d thought it would be difficult to kill the duke, but Li Hao took the field himself and slammed through the man with one palm strike!

So violent, so brutal, we like that! This trip was worth it, alright!

The old men were highly excited. The years had been too boring and they’d all been despondent after the great loss they suffered in Skystar City. This trip was helping them shake off the gloom!

“It’s the seniors who are strong,” Li Hao laughed, the very picture of humility. “Deputy Zhou told me that all of you were well known throughout the land back in the day, that each of you could bring part of the world to heel by yourselves. I just couldn’t take it anymore and let my anger get the better of me. I hadn’t thought that the seniors would show me so much face. Li Hao has created trouble for everyone!”

“The lad is too humble.” An ethereal-looking old man stroked his beard with a smile. “But it’s good to be humble. Silver Moon martial masters have ever been humble. This is good! It speaks well for your future!”

“You lavish me with praise.” Li Hao smiled radiantly. “It has been a long day for you and I’ll have my people arrange residences for you. They’ll deliver Water of Life for you to brew some tea or take a bath with. It’s been a long journey, so please go rest first…”

The old men hadn’t wanted to live in government headquarters and reflexively wanted to decline when they heard Li Hao’s words. Water of Life, tea, bath…

Holy hell! Could they leave after that?

“What a good lad, what a promising talent!” Smiles wreathed the faces of the old men. “Yuan Shuo has done well to raise such a disciple with high potential. This is to the fortune of Silver Moon martial masters, so we shall avail ourselves of your hospitality!”

“As it should be!” Li Hao beamed merrily. “Please stay for a while. This place is big and I have so much Water of Life. I was worrying over how to use it all!”

“Then… we’ll have to stay for a while.” The group roared with laughter and grew even more enthusiastic. “Don’t stand on ceremony with us now, Little Li. Us old fiends are still a bag of tough bones. Call upon us anytime you need to kill someone!”

They walked toward the rear under Liu Long’s hearty guidance, exchanging transmitted conversation all the while with immense excitement. What a good place! This trip was so worth it!

Hou Xiaochen and the others didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. What were these old farts doing here? They were the old guard and a bunch of killing enthusiasts. And Li Hao was inviting them to stay? Did he feel that he didn’t have enough on his plate already?

etvolare’s Thoughts

There’s a rather long author’s note after the end of this chapter concluding the end of his October (funny how the chapters lined up like that!) and discussing his ranking/asking for votes. He wrote 2.4 million characters in the first 100 days! Most CN web novels fall between 6-8 million characters and update for a couple of years, so he essentially wrote 1/3 of the series in... yeah okay my math breaks down there.

What I found funny was that he says he wants to aim for #1 on the ranking again next month. If he doesn’t, he’ll step on the heels and "poke the butt" (he really wrote that) of whoever’s #1.

Guess we found where inspiration comes from for how the old geezers in SG curse heh.