Star Gate

Chapter 322: Clouds Shift On All Sides (I)

Supernatural energy surged from all corners of the city. A ray of light shimmered out of Night Watcher headquarters, cutting through the void to head straight for the alley.

Up in the air, a shuddering Hao Lianchuan was still struggling to accept what he’d seen. He wasn’t afraid of the powerhouses surrounding him, but that the scene from earlier was so noteworthy that it was branded into his mind’s eye.

Li Hao’s final blow spoke of unparalleled ruthlessness. The young man knew that reinforcements were here, but the look in his eyes remained harshly unyielding. He risked his life even in the last second to kill Huang Jie. It was a look that Hao Lianchuan was unable to describe.

Did it belong to a wild beast that’d broken out of its cage?

Was it vengeance, or pure bloodlust found in slaughter?

The deputy director looked down again, seeing the figure on the ground still struggling to stand.

......

Inside the little alley.

Li Hao regained his footing with great difficulty. Sword energy surged into his body to swiftly repair some of his wounds. The last vestiges of scarlet shadow energy were a very complementary match for sword energy.

The ferocious tiger returned to its cage!

Wafting the energy of fire, the tiger sword docilely entered the heart. It seemed to be waiting for its next target as it lacked the uncompromising struggles from before. It crouched down to bide its time, hiding within the mountain forest and looking for the next moment to pounce.

......

Within Mt. White Moon outside the city.

A multicolored tiger with a broken tooth swiveled its head to scan the surroundings. It gingerly took probing steps into the forest. Violence glinted out of its eyes the moment it vanished.

Zhou Qin frowned faintly and his friend beside him shifted uncomfortably.

“That tiger...” the latter murmured. “Glanced at us with a pretty scary look when it left. Are we letting it go just like this, Ole Zhou?”

Zhou Qin was quiet for a while, but nodded without a word. Yep, they were letting it go just like this. Wang Ming’s friend had asked him for a favor; it was just a tiger. He didn’t ask around when it came to that newcomer—there was no need to. He could guess a thing or two—Li Hao of Silver City, a martial master.

A martial master... He thought back to how Li Hao had looked at him at their first meeting. It bore some resemblance to the tiger he’d just released. Zhou Qin was no fool, he felt it likely that the tiger would want revenge. But he was more afraid of that martial master!

He wasn’t terrified, just... afraid. It was hard to put into words.

Old Demon Yuan Shuo! Zhou Qin had asked around when it came to his disciple. By all accounts, Li Hao was supposed to be an upstanding boy. Yet, Zhou Qin felt that this was the result of a masterful act. Li Hao ought to be a cruel and brutal person as well.

Would the old demon’s disciple be a kind and benevolent soul?

The tiger had known to bide its time and suffer quietly because it lacked the strength to break out of its confinement. It might come back for its old captor after it accumulated enough strength back home. In the same vein, what if Li Hao one day possessed sufficient power for his aims?

Tremendous upheaval might take place then!

It wasn’t that Zhou Qin was smarter or more observant than the rest; he’d just seen a different look from Li Hao than other people ever had. He’d witnessed a bearing that was at complete odds with the sincere, honest diligence the young man was reputed to possess. Just how did those rumors start, anyway?

......

Within the alley, Li Hao had no mind to spare for that tiger. He scrambled to a standing position with difficulty and abruptly smiled faintly. Tilting his head back for a look, he saw a fiery phoenix soaring proudly and Hao Lianchuan standing next to it, looking back down at him.

This time, the deputy director saw Li Hao’s smile. It was such a pure smile! Horror pricked at Hao Lianchuan’s heart. He’d known before that the kid was nothing good, but how was he smiling so purely after killing so many people and being so heavily injured himself?

Was this real or another disguise?

But was there a need to keep up the facade when there was no one around? That meant his smile was genuine, so he felt... comfortable and satisfied? Did he think he’d done a good job killing, that all of these people deserved to die?

Not even Hao Lianchuan knew what he himself was thinking at the moment. It was a complicated mix of emotions.

The young man chuckled and limped over to the dead Ole Huang. He rummaged through the corpse and took out a storage ring, leaving the rest untouched. He moved on to Yu Xiao and retrieved another ring after some searching.

Li Hao then walked up to the Dominator. The latter’s head was gone and his body a tattered ruin. The young man searched all the same and found a booklet with some pages ripped out of it. This was normal, quite a few people liked to do such a thing.

The spear-wielding Dominator must have excised the breathing method from the manual that he carried around. There were also those who didn’t carry any manuals on them—that was also commonly seen.

Two storage rings and one booklet detailing a secret art. Those were the only objects that Li Hao looted. Moments later, he picked up the Dominator’s broken spear tip and stabbed it at Ole Huang’s head. He continued with Yu Xiao and the others, matching each of his moves precisely to where he’d cut into them with his sword. Traces that he could not conceal were thoroughly destroyed, obliterating traces of the sword.

A ray of light sparkled in the sky as he finished his simple cleanup. Li Hao didn’t need to look to know that it wasn’t Hou Xiaochen, it was Manager Yu. It would not be the director who came. Hou Xiaochen might not be in the city. Who knew where he’d gone over the past couple of days?

The ray of light landed in front of Li Hao. Manager Yu looked at the young man, he looked back at her and bent slightly at the waist. “Greetings to Manager Yu!”

The woman swept a glance across the scene and saw the bodies. She looked back at Li Hao and read some traces from his condition. Her eyes darted around and she said slowly after a long moment, “Hao Lianchuan had you act as bait?”

“Yes.”

“Do you know how much trouble you’ve caused?”

“A little!” Li Hao nodded with a smile. “But I think that Director Hou can handle it, it’s just some small annoyances. Since the director needs to see my worth, I’m demonstrating it to him! None of this is a problem if the director thinks I’m valuable enough. On the other hand, if I think the director doesn’t have the ability to protect me... I’ll have to consider if I should continue to stay in White Moon or not.”

“There is no problem with giving you shelter,” responded an aloof Manager Yu. “But that doesn’t mean that you can continuously create trouble for the director...”

“Wrong!” Li Hao shook his head. “The director should know that I’m a martial master! Old Demon Yuan’s disciple! As a martial master, the requirements for giving me shelter is to resolve these troubles for me! True martial masters do not grow up in a greenhouse. My master was thus and I am thus!

“Manager Yu should’ve been a martial master once too. I can sense a weak aura from you, one that was transmuted to the supernatural. Since the manager used to be a martial master who’d grasped the aura, I think you understand more clearly than the director that people like us are born to make trouble!”

The secretary’s eyes glinted. Li Hao! So he’d sensed some aura from her... It’d been so many years that she’d almost forgotten she was once a martial master. She looked around once more and said coolly, “Do not do this again. You can go back first, I’ll take care of the troubles here. But I must remind you, the concealment of a moment is not the concealment of a lifetime!”

“That’s enough!” Li Hao smiled. “It doesn’t need to be too long, just until I become a Summoner. If the manager wishes to see it, I can put on a demonstration for you and the director. I can show you what it truly means to be a Summoner! My teacher is just an initial Summoner and a fair distance away from his five spirits emerging from the organs. I might be a little closer! When that comes to pass, I think the annoyances of today won’t be a problem at all!”

The five spirits emerging from the organs!

Manager Yu’s heart shook. She knew a bit of what’d happened when Yuan Shuo killed Sun Yifei—two spirits had emerged from his organs. What about Li Hao?

While Huang Jie wasn’t a martial master and his level of peak Solar a little less than Sun Yifei, he wasn’t that much weaker. Although Manager Yu hadn’t seen the fight for herself, she could glean a thing or two. Li Hao may not have the ability to kill Huang Jie, but he’d certainly fought the man. He might really only be a hair below his master, which put him above countless martial masters!

The second greatest of Silver Moon’s martial world?

Manager Yu’s thoughts were unreadable and her mood was a bit glum. “You can go!” she said after a while.

“My thanks!” Li Hao raised a cupped fist salute and headed outside. He suddenly turned back to ask, “Do you have a storage ring?”

Manager Yu furrowed her brows.

“If you do, do you have any Night Watcher uniforms on you?” Li Hao pointed at the rags hanging off his body. “These are ruined and it’s too obvious I’ve been in a fight. Could I have a change of clothing?”

She’d almost forgotten about this detail. Manager Yu breathed out softly and waved a brand new uniform into existence. She tossed it at Li Hao. It was different from regular uniforms as its luxurious fabric was apparent at a glance.

Li Hao had seen it before! Hou Xiaochen wore this kind of uniform. The young man smiled and stripped down without a hint of embarrassment. He put on the new clothes and a new pair of boots, shaking off the blood and gore on his body with a slight vibration of internal force.

Hou Xiaochen’s clothes fit him; they were a tiny bit smaller since the man was roughly three centimeters shorter. That was fine, the difference wasn’t noticeable.

“Manager, do you know how to release fire?” Li Hao threw down his ruined clothes. “If not, you can have Director Hao help.”

“I’ll take care of it!” Manager Yu said nothing else as she glanced at him.

Li Hao nodded and strode off. He didn’t take or ask about the mysterious power of the two Solars. Manager Yu and Director Hao needed to use the bodies; they wouldn’t be able to give a proper explanation if the bodies were turned into a bloody mess. It would also make the Night Watchers seem like small-minded people to strip out mysterious power as soon as they killed a person.

How could Li Hao do such a thing?

As for storage rings, that was fine. He had to take some treasure after killing someone. It’d be wasted effort otherwise.

The manager frowned after Li Hao vanished at the end of the broken-down alley.