Star Gate

Irritated mental strength erupted after the visitors left the underground palace.

“How dare a bunch of ants haggle with this seat!”

The Skystar King didn’t say a word. If they are ants, then my Jiang family is pretty much the same. He kept these words to himself and didn’t voice them aloud. It would be difficult to escape the grasp of the plant spirits after the second awakening, but even more difficult to do so prior to the second awakening. Everything was too hard in this age. Plant spirits were king.

However, it felt much better to think that everyone was in the same straits.

As for Li Hao… the Skystar King didn’t know how the young man had reached an accord with the plant spirits. Three thousand stones for one drop of Water of Life was an incredible rate. How had he done it?

If the old Skystar King could make use of this opportunity to gain full control over Skystar Town… then their family might not lack these resources in the future. That would be most ideal!

The Jiangs would swiftly grow stronger after this incident. Everything would be completely different after they took full control of Skystar Town. As for the plant spirits, their help was needed for the moment. Their help would still be needed even with an abundance of mysterious power stones. After all, the world belonged to humanity, did it not?

It wouldn’t matter if there was an extra emperor emeritus installed.

……

Just as all sides reached an accord in the royal palace, Li Hao swiftly dashed to Silver Moon. He busily took stock of his inventory along the way. There were only fifteen thousand drops of Water of Life after killing five plant spirits. That wasn’t much. Combined with what he already had before, that made for twenty-five thousand drops. The jug was almost full to the brim.

And while the five plant spirits were of the Immortal level, they were much weaker than that cultivation strength. Any core origin energy they had left entered Panther’s stomach. Though they killed so many people, the group only collected sixty million mysterious power stones. That wasn’t a lot. Li Hao was rather regretful that he gained so little after killing so many City of Supernaturals heavyweights!

Granted, it was nice that Panther, the jujube tree, redwood tree, Deputy Zhou, and the little sword were full. At the moment, Li Hao only had Panther by his side. The dog yawned lazily, wanting to sleep. It was too full as it’d eaten too much!

The black dog was a weird one. It didn’t need Li Hao’s protection as it wasn’t weak. In fact, it might be stronger than the young man, but its strength was concentrated in its blood. Only when it burned its blood could it erupt with greater strength. Otherwise, it was only a mediocre peak six elements in regular times.

That meant that the void didn’t attack the dog, leaving a great deal of freedom for Panther’s movements. It would have to stay in the ruins if that wasn’t the case.

“Panth, who do you think I should revive this time? Should I switch to another city, like the main city of the Zhaos?” Li Hao hesitated over his next course of action. If he revitalized another entity in Battle Heaven, then that city’s strength would swiftly reach infallible heights. It might grow out of his control. Although Battle Heaven had given him a lot of aid, he felt that he couldn’t fully rely on that ancient city.

That would be too dangerous!

His thoughts had always been focused on helping Battle Heaven recover. But at some unknown point, Li Hao had started having his own plans in mind instead.

“Arf arf arf!”

“You also think that we can’t put all of our eggs in one basket, right?”

Panther rolled its eyes. I didn’t say nothing. Whatever, he’s just asking. He already has his next step in mind.

It was very familiar with Li Hao after keeping the young man company along this road. The dog might know Li Hao better than anyone else.

“The little tree, the main city of the Zhaos…” Li Hao murmured, thinking back to the pagoda tree and its thirty-six auxiliary generals. He’d collected five trunks of Immortal-level plant spirits, that was quite the harvest! Battle Heaven was also his most familiar city. He at least knew a thing or two about it.

“Must I resurrect a plant spirit? What about a person?”

How about Director General Wang or the Ninth Division leader? Although the commander had beaten him up twice, he was… a reliable character. Would the indestructible matter be useful to them?

Those of Battle Heaven had said last time that a decayed physical body could be recovered through sufficient indestructible matter. Surely the amount from five plant spirits and endless energy would be sufficient for one person!

It might be difficult to restore a Saint level personage, but the Ninth Division leader and others were only Immortals.

Li Hao had come to an initial decision. Perhaps… he didn’t need to focus on plant spirits for his recovery efforts. There was too great a gap between humans and plant spirits. The unexpected could easily occur. Even if five Immortal-level trunks could revitalize only one human as opposed to five plant spirits, and restore one to the mediocre level of Immortal at that… the young man had made up his mind.

He would restore a person!

Jiang Yingli and the others were temporarily outside his range of consideration. Number one was that he wasn’t familiar with them. Number two was that they would be hard to separate from their puppet form. Only a Saint would be able to do so, and their dean of education might not be willing to at the moment.

With these thoughts in mind, he raced back to Silver Moon. He had returned after three days! The commander and the others would surely be happy to see him.

……

Battle Heaven.

The city was a bit more lively these days, some more noise emitted from its streets. After General Pagoda revitalized, it automatically absorbed energy from the nearby void. Although there was almost none to be found in Silver Moon, the world continued to awaken and produce a certain amount of energy on its own. That could be absorbed by the plant spirits.

In this regard, Battle Heaven was actually in a state of revitalization. The pace was just so slow that one could not imagine it. It might fully come back to life one thousand years later—if there was energy available throughout this time. One thousand years wasn’t too far away for the city’s residents. They could take things slowly since they weren’t in a hurry.

Battle Heaven was very calm and at peace. Ever since Silver Moon understood that Li Hao had reached an agreement with the ancient city, the province’s people no longer ventured inside. Instead, they set a guard outside the cliff face entrance. Hence, the armored soldiers at the city gates no longer stood at their posts.

Some started repairing the houses inside the city. There were also many structures in the outer city that needed to be maintained. Although everything would eventually recover on its own, it would do so at an unfathomably slow pace. Since there was nothing for the soldiers to do at current, this was good enough to fill the day with.

The busy Director General Wang lifted his head and looked outside the city. He was at a loss for what he was seeing.

The old turtle manifested as well, its mood rivaling that of the dean of education at Evenround Martial. What was he doing here again? They wanted him to come more often when he wasn’t here, but once he did, the ancients scorned his presence as well. Why did he visit so often? Did he have that much time on his hands?

The last time he came and stayed a week, he took endless treasures with him. Here he was again, did he want to empty out the city??

Outside the city.

General Pagoda was also confused. What was Li Hao doing here again?

The young man had just set foot into the city and boomed heartily in a loud voice, “Seniors, I have come to see you!”

Everyone inside the city, whether they were working, hibernating, or cultivating, looked outside. Some did so with resignation, others with jubilation. Zhang Liang of Military Supplies, for example, would’ve been grinning from ear to ear had he possessed a face.

My dearest Commander Li is here!

He’d been promoted yesterday according to wartime regulations. The plant spirit and city guardian had approved him to be the commissioner of Military Supplies. Even though his promotion was nothing more than changing his armor to a golden color and gaining a nominal title, it was enough.

He’d accomplished in death what he hadn’t been able to in life, how was he not elated? If it wasn’t for the fact that he needed to hold down the fort at Military Supplies, he’d want to rush out to welcome his adorable, lovable Commander Li.

……

General Pagoda’s figure wavered into view as he managed to pull a smile. “The Eleventh Division leader has returned.”

“Greetings to General Pagoda!” A joyous Li Hao inclined his head as if he was a patrolling officer. The general didn’t know what to say. “Please visit Battle Heaven in a bit, general. I have great matters to announce. We need to hold a small meeting.”

“……”

You? Hold a meeting? What meeting? When did it become your turn to hold a meeting in Battle Heaven? How do you command enough dignity to?

As much as he dismissed the young man, the old tree was shrewd in its old age. It’d also inherited some of its ancestor and companion emperor’s shamelessness, so it hid all of these words in its heart.

“Then… alright.”

“Mmhmm, I’ll have to trouble the general to make a trip then!” Li Hao walked away, chuckling. “I’ll head to the city first.”

The general laughed as he watched the old man saunter off. The young were full of energy, alright! The rest of them had grown old!

……

The city gates.

Li Hao called out to the three troop leaders. “Troop leaders, head to the city lord manor in a bit for a meeting!”

The three looked at each other. A meeting? What meeting? We’ve been dead for countless years and even get our missions through our armor. Since when did we need to hold meetings?

Li Hao ignored them and continued marching off.

etvolare’s Thoughts

Any SOTR readers out there? I alwasy feel a bit odd seeing JC as the villain lol.