Star Gate

In the distance.

Ying Hongyue’s expression changed slightly. He grabbed Violet Moon and Indigo Moon, disappearing on the spot.

Li Hao appeared on the same spot a beat later. He looked into the distance with a laugh. “Shake in your boots, Ying Hongyue! You better tell your master to be careful and hide in the same dog den as you. Otherwise, you’re the next one I’ll kill!”

“You’ve broken a lot of people’s hopes in shattering the mallet of the Hongs, Li Hao,” Ying Hongyue’s aloof voice came in from far away. “You’re the one who should be careful! Many are the New Martial existences who wish to return home. You’ve just ended their dreams. It may be that you’re the number one public enemy of the eight main cities now.”

“They’re welcome to come!” Li Hao sneered. “Who dares move against me from the eight main cities? Who is able to do so? I’ll eradicate whoever dares do so! Go collude with them if you have the ability to, Ying Hongyue. Collude for as much as you’re worth! I’ll have to thank you if any swear fealty to you, it makes it easy to identify who I should execute!”

In the distance.

A solemn Ying Hongyue didn’t look back. Li Hao was… very strong. Not only that, but he was highly arrogant and brazen to the extreme. He didn’t care who the eight main cities gave their allegiance to. The young man’s words might not be fully true, but there were some hints of truth in them.

Li Hao would kill whoever supported Ying Hongyue. Could he do it?

Not in the ruins. But once out of the ruins and pre-second awakening, the current Li Hao was frightfully strong. Not even Ying Hongyue was fully confident in taking him on. As for the seven bloodlines becoming one…

……

The news swept through the land like a gale force. The Wind and Cloud Pavilion was no more!

Ordinary people didn’t have much of an impression when it came to this organization. They simply knew it as the faction that produced various rankings. It’d offended Li Hao in recent times and was slapped with the title of the fourth evil supernatural organization for its impudence.

It wasn’t long after that that the faction was toppled. This was all a good show to ordinary people. But to the various organizations of the world, the Wind and Cloud Pavilion was a faction that could field a dozen Arcanus in one move.

Another key was that Li Hao’s group had entered their ruins to eradicate them. Although Li Hao’s losses were currently unknown, it was sufficient to highlight a terrifying point—Li Hao’s side possessed the ability to kill seven element Arcanus.

That was a given bare minimum!

Perhaps he could do so through the resurrected plant spirits of Battle Heaven, or perhaps he could do so for another reason. No matter what, many had realized that the ruins were no longer safe.

In the past, one could take shelter inside the ruins even if one encountered strong enemies. They wouldn’t die so long as the existences inside the ruins didn’t betray them. But now, they were no longer safe harbor. Unease rocked many a faction on this day.

……

Li Hao didn’t go after anyone. He simply stared silently at the mirror. Numerous figures floated across it—nearby powerhouses such as the Celestial Sword Immortal, Yama, lord of Yonder Mountain…

The notable heavyweights of old were no one noteworthy in Li Hao’s eyes. Of course, they were strong. They were at least all peak six elements based on their life force. It was unknown if they could bring the strength of seven elements to bear. But what of it even if they could?

“This is a great treasure, it just costs too much to use!” Li Hao shook his head. He’d expended one million mysterious power stones for scanning a tiny area. How was this a legendary treasure? It was an insatiable glutton!

The young man frowned in the direction that Ying Hongyue had escaped in. When he took stock of Ying Hongyue’s presence, he’d sensed another existence nearby. Otherwise, Li Hao would’ve followed up on the hunt. The mirror had only managed to bring a smear of blood-red into view with its scan. The target quickly escaped the mirror’s range.

“A scarlet shadow…” Li Hao frowned. He knew about the scarlet shadows, they were just puppets. Therefore, that shouldn’t have been a scarlet shadow, but something similar. Its life force hadn’t been too strong as it’d simply flashed across the screen. It moved with extreme speed, however, and disappeared in the blink of an eye.

What was that? Was it the existence behind Ying Hongyue? He knew that there was someone supporting Red Moon from the shadows. That party likely wished to open the Star Gate as well, so they supported Ying Hongyue in their quest. They might’ve appeared after the first awakening. His own teacher had said that Ying Hongyue already had a backer when he tried to kill this old enemy.

That had been a very long time ago!

“Now that the mallet is gone, they have to seize Stellaris if they wish to open the Star Gate…” Although the sword was long on the enemy’s list, it’d now become critical as it was the only hope after one of the eight family weapons was destroyed.

“All Night Watchers and provincial branch directors are to convene in Skystar City in three days’ time!” Li Hao’s voice echoed through the land once more when his thoughts traveled here. “The Night Watchers are to undergo a reorganization! Those who do not present themselves will be executed with no exception! You can try me if you think of yourself as invincible!”

The Night Watchers in the nearby South Peak and Sagittarius provinces shook with fear. Li Hao was about to overhaul the agency. The Night Watcher director of South Peak was dead and the one of Sagittarius had wanted to curry favor with Li Hao. He swallowed hard, wishing for nothing more than to instantly teleport to Skystar City. What if he was late??

Only he was aware of how formidable Li Hao must be to have eliminated the Wind and Cloud Pavilion. The young man must have killed at least one plant spirit. Who would dare offend such an existence? Could the three great organizations and seven divine mountains kill a plant spirit?

……

News spread swiftly.

Skystar City.

Some powerhouses were already underground. The ones left behind to stand guard sighed with a mixture of emotions. The Wind and Cloud Pavilion was truly incompetent to be eliminated so easily!

Inside the Nine Dragons Pavilion.

Numerous heavyweights gathered. Some of the ministers that didn’t enter the royal ruins drank their irritations away.

“Why isn’t Chen Yao here?” someone asked with a gentle laugh. No one responded. The Inspectorate might have changed sides; there was nothing much to say.

It wasn’t just Chen Yao, but all of the nine ministries that had declined by quite a bit. The Ministry of Internal Affairs and Finance were quite perfunctory in their responses these days. Only they themselves knew what was truly on their minds.

Meanwhile, Armed Forces and Administration might have their own plans in mind. Of this, the others were aware of. But what could they do about it?

The mighty nine ministries were starting to decompose and lose their unity. They’d felt that suppressing the royal family was their top mission before, but now?

Now… the Skystar Commander Office had spontaneously grown stronger and furiously swallowed the profits of all sides. Although the three great organizations hadn’t truly lost anything yet, the lords of Buddha and Sky Roc Mountain were dead. Sky Sword Manor might as well not exist, and only the mountain lords of the remaining four knew their true situation.

All of the leaders of the world factions were likely very apprehensive and worried at the moment. The City of Supernaturals had chosen to call for a cabinet meeting and were still in the thick of things. How ludicrous. Perhaps Li Hao would be there to eliminate them before they came to a decision.

……

The skies shook!

Inside the Skystar ruins.

Several powerhouses were present—the old ministers of Administration, Armed Forces, Examination, and Foreign Relations. In addition, the old Skystar King and a thousand Black Armaturas were also present.

Of the nine old ministers, Li Hao had killed two and Chen Zhongtian wasn’t present. Neither had anyone invited him. Finance and Internal Affairs hadn’t sent their previous ministers. Both their old and current ministers were alive; no one knew what the Mu family and Liu family were thinking. The Ministry of Finance had stayed hidden ever since Li Hao eradicated the Four Seas Company.

Over on the Internal Affairs side, the Mus didn’t make a sound since Mu Xiaorong was still being held in the Skystar Commander Office dungeons.

Four old ministers convened, each brimming with a mighty presence. Of them, Qi Pingjiang and another old man were particularly ferocious. The other looked younger, but was the old minister of Administration Zhao Tianyang. He was a truly premier existence of modern society and an existence on par with Ying Hongyue and the old Skystar King Jiang Chen.

There was another old man dressed in golden armor standing in their midst—Jiang Chen. His face was wan and he smiled weakly. “Old friends, is there a need to continue to restrict Us now that things have progressed to this step?”

Qi Pingjiang ignored the old king and looked off into the distance. “The disordered core origin is separating us and it’s difficult to collect it. Revered Rose, is there a way to break this restriction?”

Disordered core origin could be found at each of the vital points of the ruins. If they wished to take joint action, they needed to sweep aside this energy first.

“It’s not difficult to do so,” laughed Jiang Chen. “The strength of a peak Immortal is sufficient to break through it. All that we need is for all of you to notify your respective plant spirits first. There will be no issues if there is no resistance or intervention!

“Old friends, why don’t you ease the seal first and let me activate the formation inside the city? We need to confine that one first or this will be a difficult trip.”

No one said a word; they all looked at Zhao Tianyang. Qi Pingjiang was no exception. He was their leader and the one who made it possible for the nine ministries to overthrow the royal family. It hadn’t been an easy task to accomplish back in the day.

Zhao Tianyang was in no hurry. He waited for a while before saying, “The Wind and Cloud Pavilion has fallen!”

The group was surprised. It was difficult to receive news from the outside world when one was inside the ruins. How had he done it?

Zhao Tianyang smiled to see the group turn to him. “It’s not as complicated as you think. Armor is functional within Skystar Town and the Ministry of Administration sends messages through the armor as soon as they receive information. Emperor Chen likely knew of it before me.”

No one responded. It wasn’t a difficult maneuver; what made it difficult was that Zhao Tianyang had received a military rank inside Skystar Town. This meant that he owned his own suit of armor, and it wasn’t black in color. It was at least silver!

Black armor couldn’t be stored within the body, but silver armor could. The group hadn’t known about this detail before.