Star Gate

Chapter 725: Stealing Away Talent (III)

“No!” Li Hao responded seriously. “I think that I need a strategist, someone who will advise me tactically. Martial Uncle Hong is a teacher and a friend. Light Sword is pure martial strength. Director Hou may be skilled at strategy, but he is pulled in many different directions these days. Additionally... the director should be more skilled in martial strength, so I don’t think I want to tax him further.”

“You want me to go to Skystar City?” Deputy Zhou interrupted the director general as the latter opened his mouth to speak. “Then what if I tell you to bow your head to Ying Hongyue? He is an ultimate powerhouse and your enemy. What if I have you apologize for your actions and ask for punishment? Are you willing to listen to me then?”

“I can!” Li Hao was very calm. “There’s no problem with that so long as he accepts! I can even get down on both knees and ask him not to retaliate against me. The caveat is that he is willing to accept so. What’s the problem with that?”

“......” Deputy Zhou blinked, then looked at Li Hao. “What if he wants Stellaris?”

“That won’t do, that’s my bottom line. I can bow my head, but I cannot cross my bottom line. That would be another sort of trouble.”

“What if he wants you to hand over the Silver Moon martial masters?” laughed Deputy Zhou.

“Then he does not mean to truly accept my olive branch. You yourself are a Silver Moon martial master and he knows what martial masters are like. I will not do so. If I did, then he would not believe my olive branch is real.”

Deputy Zhou fell silent with consideration. “Last question! Do you wish to be the Skystar King?”

“I don’t care. I can and I don’t have to either,” Li Hao replied as calmly as ever. “If no one wishes to be king, then what does it matter if I’m the one who’s king? As incompetent as I am, I think I’ll do a better job than the current Skystar King!”

“......” Such arrogance!

Deputy Zhou began laughing and stared at the young man. “I can go... I have nothing else better to do. Traveling to Skystar to see old friends isn’t out of the question. Do you mean it when you say two hundred drops of Water of Life?”

“My word is my bond!”

“Then we’re agreed!”

“Cough cough cough...” Director General Zhao seemed ready to cough his lungs out. “Ole Zhou, you shouldn’t subject yourself to the rigors of travel at your age...”

“I’ll be fine, Water of Life will keep me in good shape!”

“There will be lots to do in Silver Moon now, Li Hao wants to take in refugees...”

“Those are all trifling matters!”

“Ole Zhou, you and I have worked together for forty years. Are you leaving after just a few words?” the director general couldn’t hold himself in anymore. “What are you thinking? Skystar City isn’t a kind place...”

“He’s offering a lot of money!” Deputy Zhou pointed at Li Hao. “Two hundred drops! I’ll stay if you give me two hundred drops too!”

Screw you! Where would I get so much Water of Life from?

Director General Zhao was extremely soul weary. He looked at the young man, then at the deputy.

“Go on then, all of you can leave!” he sneered. “Li Hao, don’t think you’re making off with some riches today. Anyone can paint a pretty picture, but execution ability is the most important! I know Ole Zhou much too well, he’s skilled at strategizing, but not at putting words into action! He can talk anyone to death, but nine out of ten attempts fall flat when he tries to do anything.”

“Is this how you view me after all these years, Ole Zhao??”

“Is there a problem with that?!”

“No problem, then there’s nothing else that needs to be said between us!” Deputy Zhou quickly dumped some documents on the director general’s desk. “Here’s my handover. You know all of my duties, so you can take over all of them right now! I’ve gotten bored of working with you after forty years. It’ll be nice to have a change of environment.”

“I don’t mean it that way, Ole Zhou...”

“Ole Zhao, Li Hao is right. There’s not much going on Li Hao these days. I’ll be back after the second awakening of the supernatural.”

“......” Director General Zhao wanted to erupt in loud curses. They hadn’t discussed this! How had this meeting turned into a two-man comedy? Ole Zhou had never said anything like this before!

Fucking hell! What is this? You run off just because you want to! Have you considered me at all?

The old man looked at Li Hao again, finding the young man’s actions utterly reprehensible. Despite that, he still felt compelled to remind, “It’s not a good investment to pour too much energy into Skystar City. Silver Moon is your foundation...”

“I know, but has the director general ever heard of the saying that the enemy should be destroyed outside the gates?” Li Hao grinned.

“I...”

“I’ll come back in two days for you, Deputy Zhou! I’m off now!” The young man immediately vanished.

Director General Zhao was speechless and looked at his old colleague when Li Hao was gone. “What’s gotten into you?”

“Nothing much, I’m just bored.” Deputy Zhou stroked his beard. “Don’t you think taking a look outside is very interesting?”

“You know what our situation is!” The director general sighed. “How do we have any time to spare? Massive changes might arise after the second awakening!”

“Everything will be fine so long as you are here.”

“Okay, tell me honestly, what are you thinking?”

“I’m really not thinking much,” laughed Deputy Zhou. “I just wanted him to angrily walk away with some introspection after my lecture. He might give up then, or he might rise again. Never did I think that he would ask me to go with him. It seems like a nice idea after thinking it over, so I agreed. Not to mention, two hundred drops of Water of Life is nice! It can fortify my body some.”

Director General Zhao was too weary for speech. Their ties of friendship had been snapped just like that!

“Whatever you want!”

“There’s nothing you can do otherwise.”

“I... Get outta here!” The director general was irate. The old thing really was going to leave. They’d been together for forty years, and this was how he was abandoned? I hate you right now!

“Then I’ll go back and pack my things... Let’s grab a drink later for a send-off!”

“Send off your ass, get out of here!”

A merry Deputy Zhou walked right out. The director general sighed when he was gone and shook his head with resignation. “He’s old, he’s truly gotten old... He just has to catch up with the times, huh! Is the bloodline of the eight families so much better?”

......

Li Hao walked out of the administrative government building. He was first happy, then a bit pained by his unexpected expenditure. Were two hundred drops worth it? Could Deputy Zhou really bring so much benefit to him?

Based on what the director general said, the deputy was only skilled at strategizing and raising questions. However, what the young man needed was resolving of these problems! If the deputy couldn’t settle them, then raising the issues was a futile endeavor.

I was a bit impulsive just now!

Forget it, he was spending money to purchase peace of mind. Deputy Zhou should be a powerful martial master. Even if he didn’t prove much use when it came to strategy, it was nice to have a strong bodyguard. The young man couldn’t see through him even now, so he should be pretty strong.

Two hundred drops... two million stones... That’s nothing!

Li Hao comforted himself. This was good. It was hard to buy happiness, but he was very happy at the moment! Even if the deputy only talked a good talk, being able to identify issues was better than not. Forty years worth of being an official was different, alright! Look at that, no one else around him mentioned these problems.

Li Hao felt much more peace of mind after thinking this through. That was settled, then!

......

Li Hao did not return to the Night Watchers. He went straight out of White Moon City as he wanted to go back to Silver City first to take the blood pearls. He wanted to see if he could witness that stroke again. It was fine that his own sword intent had fallen silent. As he grew stronger, there was a possibility that even metamorphosis blood pearls would be ineffective for him. Where was he supposed to get even stronger ones?

......

Silver City.

Li Hao didn’t greet anyone. He dashed straight to the mines and hid in the underground ruins. The young man tossed back all three blood pearls at once as he worried taking too few of them would lead to no effect. Perhaps he’d only see the diagram of the eight trigrams again when all three were in his stomach.

His blood churned and frothed as energy from the blood pearls entered his bloodstream. Some changes appeared in his eyes. Li Hao lifted his head and saw a massive eight trigram in front of his eyes. Compared to last time, he saw much more on this occasion.

The cosmos!

Indeed, he seemed to see a cosmos. Last time, he saw someone standing in the middle of the diagram. Instead of seeing that this time, he saw only the unbounded cosmos. There was a door standing in the depths and something seemed to be near it.

Li Hao looked around in a daze, but still recalled that he had a goal. He raised his eyes upward to follow the thread of red emanating from his head. Light flashed before his eyes as an illusory figure appeared.

There were again minute differences from last time. It seemed to be an old man as he could see more clearly this time. His hair was disheveled and he wielded a longsword. A ray of sword light illuminated heaven and earth!

“The Lifeless Sword!” Sword intent bearing the meaning of annihilation and the wherewithal to destroy everything struck. A sword thrust forward to render everything into nothing!

It was a stroke stronger than the one he’d experienced last time. The one of severing the self destroyed strong foes when deployed, but it also ended the wielder. This one wasn’t the mutual downfall of enemy and wilder, but reducing the entire world into the void. Nothing existed after it.

“Everything has fallen silent...” Li Hao murmured as the thought popped into his head. What a terrifying stroke!

Everything was gone after the old man’s move. There was only chaos and darkness. Was this what was meant by a premier swordsman?