Star Gate

Chapter 293: Cultivation, Temporary Leave (II)

Yun Yao walked out of the rear of the basement, wearing the glasses that she was tweaking. She glanced at a couple of people, ignored Li Hao and Liu Long, and looked at Wang Ming. Sunflare? her expression shifted slightly. So fast!

Despite the big mouth that he was, Wang Ming hadn’t had a chance to mention that he’d made it to Sunflare before he left for the ruins. They’d departed straight from Yuan Shuo’s house and he’d remained in closed door cultivation after ascending.

“Captain Liu, Little Hao...” Yun Yao greeted the others. She didn’t say anything upon hearing that Liu Yan had gone to White Moon City.

Liu Long inclined his head at the group and smiled at Yun Yao. “We collected quite a bit of water mysterious power on the trip. I’ll give you some later...”

“No need!” Yun Yao refused. “We didn’t go and loot is divided according to contribution. We didn’t contribute, so it’s inappropriate to split your mysterious power.”

Liu Long didn’t protest. The team sometimes ardently coveted mysterious power, but were enormous sticklers for the rules other times. They were unwilling to receive someone else’s gains if they didn’t participate in collecting it.

Liu Yan’s desire for revenge had been too urgent. She wouldn’t have dared to take Li Hao’s blood pearl otherwise.

“Director Wang... is a Sunflare?” Hu Hao suddenly asked.

Wang Ming finally found his place in the crowd and beamed widely. “That’s right, I ascended to Sunflare!”

“Really?” exclaimed an incredulous Li Meng. “So fast?”

“It’s not that fast, very run-of-the-mill, actually,” Wang Ming laughed heartily. “I’m only initial Sunflare and need a few more days for mid Sunflare. I didn’t improve that much this time.”

Is he even listening to himself? Li Hao flicked a glance at the young supernatural. This guy kept a very low profile in front of him and the chief, but immediately swelled with cockiness in front of the team. Granted, Sunflare was indeed worthy of admiration from Li Meng and Hu Hao.

Wang Ming finally had a chance to strut; he’d been taken down too many pegs before. When Li Hao and Liu Long both proved to be stronger than him as Dominators, he wasn’t of a mind to throw his weight around. Neither did he have a chance to. Now that there were two Darkmoons in front of him, it was time to put on a show!

Wang Ming took the stage for the subsequent duration of the reunion.

The group listened intently to soul-stirring and heart-shaking renditions of events in the ruins. Occasional shock and horror crossed their faces. Black Armors were peak Darkmoon and could kill Sunflare. Bronze Armors were Sunflare, Silver Armors could kill Solars, and the final Gold Armor...

The handsome supernatural understood the limits of propriety, at the very least, and didn’t mention Zhang Ting’s murder. Hence, Li Hao and Liu Long couldn’t be bothered to keep him in check.

Li Hao wasn’t interested in watching theatrics. He rose and headed for the lounge in the back. This was where he would refine mysterious power.

It would be safer at his teacher’s house, but his teacher wasn’t home. Here was just as fine. Liu Long and Wang Ming hadn’t appeared overly strong in the ruins, but Sunflare was still peak battle strength for Silver Moon.

With the large amounts of heavyweight that’d died this time, there was a newly developed power vacuum among provincial supernaturals. If it wasn’t for reinforcements from the central region and curious visitors from neighboring provinces, Sunflares would reign supreme in the province.

......

Inside the lounge.

It was very quiet. The soundproofing was good. Li Hao thought for a moment, then decided to absorb earth and metal energy first. He’d taken in the least amount of these elements.

Mysterious power wafted through the air as the young man began absorbing energy. Sword energy purified mysterious power; there was enough in the little sword for his purposes.

Time passed, bit by bit. Li Hao’s spleen began to strengthen as he digested more earth energy. Pure earth elemental energy continuously enhanced the spleen, the effects trickling down to the sword of heavy earth inside as well. The chains grew stronger, firmly locking the sword in place!

The more it was thus, the harder it would be for the spirits to break out of the organs. It was also a demonstration of the depths of his foundation.

Li Hao had made up his mind to infuse his organs with one thousand cubes each. He would supplement with the mysterious power stones if he didn’t have enough energy. He wouldn’t leave seclusion until the organs were in balance.

Time was of the essence since he’d promised Hou Xiaochen that he would be at White Moon City in three days. He had to go as that one was terrifying. Of course, there was another reason as well—a Nova level scarlet shadow!

Hou Xiaochen had said he would give it to the young man, then withheld it out of concern that Li Hao wasn’t strong enough to digest it. The latter was very tempted by it—how nutritious would a Nova level shadow be!

He actually wanted to cart it back to Silver City before eating it. The diagram of the eight trigrams had been visible before when his bloodline was activated through eating the scarlet shadows. Perhaps that was the side effect of the shadows, but it took a very powerful shadow to do so.

The first time he saw the diagram had been through a peak Sunflare shadow—Li Hao had been very weak then. The second time had been through a Sunflare level blood pearl and it proved exceedingly valuable for the young man. He witnessed that sword stroke!

Now that he knew the sword aura, Li Hao felt that he might gain new insights if he could see that same stroke again. His comprehension might deepen to the point of grasping other sword auras.

Although such thoughts ran through his mind, he didn’t delay his conversion of mysterious power. Not only was he strengthening his organs, but hard at work practicing the Nine Forged Force as well. All he could manage was six layers at the moment, which was a far cry from Liu Long’s nine layers. He wasn’t planning on relinquishing the Five Styles, Nine Forged Force, or Ghost Shadow Sword. There was just too much he needed to do at present and many areas that he needed to improve upon. For the moment, he lacked the time to carefully study and research the secret methods.

Tendrils of energy unfurled within the lounge as he absorbed them. Mysterious power permeated the entire basement thanks to his cultivation. The rest of the team ceased their conversations and focused on cultivating as well. Mysterious power would soon disappear into the air if they didn’t quickly absorb it.

Liu Long and Wang Ming had both emerged from the ruins with their own harvests. They buckled down to work when they saw how Li Hao was making use of time and entered closed door cultivation to digest their gains from the expedition.

......

At the same time.

White Moon City.

Hou Xiaochen’s matters were known far and wide after one night.

The southern quadrant of the city, Night Watcher headquarters.

The Night Watchers that bustled to and fro from their office building today were a little nervous, yet also proud. Plainly, they knew of what’d happened at Rift Canyon. Their boss had slain a legendary premier titan with one move. It was unbelievable!

Because of this, everyone within the agency treated him with even more veneration. It also represented that more danger was upon them.

Hou Xiaochen had killed a Red Moon elder. Violet Moon had made it out of the province, would the organization send more people? What kind of strength would they be if there were more newcomers?

Violet Moon was the weakest among the Seven Moons; the other six were no slouches. Ying Hongyue was so powerful that it was horrific! Thus, the agency couldn’t help the general air of unease.

The Night Watcher building wasn’t tall. Hao Lianchuan was calculating the gains and losses from the expedition, casualties and fatalities, taking inventory of the spoils, recording deeds of merit, and calculating distribution.

The door to his office opened as he made notes. There were very few in the agency who dared barge in without knocking first. Hou Xiaochen had said he was recovering from his injuries in seclusion, so it could only be Manager Yu who was paying a visit to his office.

Hao Lianchuan knew the identity of his visitor without needing to take a look. “Is something the matter again?” he asked with a new headache brewing. There was nothing good if this grand secretary had come in person. She would go to Hou Xiaochen if it was positive news.

A faint smile appeared on Manager Yu’s face before quickly vanishing. “Yes, there’s people from the provincial government who say they wish to hold a four-way meeting! Us, the Inspectorate, the military, and the provincial government. Since the director is resting, you must be our representative.”

“......”

Hao Lianchuan greeted the statement wordlessly. Me? What good am I for? Can I actually make any decisions?

“There are more visitors in Silver Moon lately, which will lead to certain unrest,” the secretary continued. “Although there won’t be that many large-scale attacks, scuffles between supernaturals, martial masters, and the like will cause damage and loss all the same. We need you to handle some of the powerhouses.

“A group of martial masters have converged upon White Moon City. They wish to see Yuan Shuo. If not, they wish to see Li Hao!

“Representatives from organizations, aristocratic families, and the nine ministries in the central region have come with a desire to meet Li Hao. They would like to discuss the blood pearls and secrets of Summoner of Spirit.”

Hao Lianchuan’s headache morphed into a migraine that threatened to blow his brains up!

“Is there more?”

“Yes!” The faint smile appeared on Manager Yu’s face again; it disappeared just as quickly as the first time. “The Tiger Wings wish to commandeer Li Hao for themselves...”

“Fuck that!” Hao Lianchuan might not be able to call the shots in the other matters, but he could in this one. “Tell Hu Dingfang to get a life! Heh, does he want to ask about Summoner of Spirit as well?”

“He didn’t say, so it’s hard to tell,” Manager Yu replied calmly. “Besides, will Li Hao know? Chen Yuhua was also at Rift Canyon, she might already know about the secrets of Summoner. It’s probably not for this.”

Chen Yuhua had been at Rift Canyon?

Hao Lianchuan didn’t say anything. Perhaps Yuan Shuo had met his disciple in the canyon. Perhaps he hadn’t. Hao Lianchuan couldn’t be bothered to be concerned. He dropped the last topic after his flat-out refusal.

“There are so many matters to take care of and Director Hou won’t give me concrete guidelines. This is difficult to resolve,” he complained.

“Director Hou said that it’s all up to you when he entered seclusion!”

Up to me? What does that mean?

“It means that whether you agree to these matters or not, it doesn’t matter,” the secretary explained more plainly. “The director will admit to it if it turns out to be a good decision, and you'll take the fall if it’s not. We’ll remove you from your post if it comes down to it, it’s not like we can kill a Solar like you. Therefore... do as you wish!”

The fuck?! Hao Lianchuan wanted to curse out loud. He understood now. So these were Ole Hou’s thoughts. He was damned... shameless. When push came to shove, it was Hao Lianchuan who agreed to everything. It had nothing to do with Hou Xiaochen.