Star Gate

Chapter 510: Heading Out to Sea (I)

“But leader, the pirates are a bunch of animals that don’t care about anything other than their own pleasure. Their supernaturals even research various ways to kill and slaughter mundanes—burning them alive, sealing them in ice, burying them alive, making them split open by first freezing and then burning, or ripping them open...” The young man grew more agitated as he talked and burned with fury. “These animals won’t stop when you howl with anguish—they just get more and more excited!

“They find fun in killing people and don’t do so for cultivation or looting treasures. What’s useful for them in regular cities is just food, clothes, and daily necessities. People would give them all of that if they wanted it. But they want women as well, and at that point... there are actually people who are willing to offer themselves...”

Li Hao furrowed his brows, but remained silent.

“Yet they aren’t satisfied with that! Cruelty runs in their veins!” snarled the young man. “My baby sister was only five... They...”

He clenched his teeth and stopped talking.

Li Hao looked at him and asked bluntly, “What is your name?” He didn’t hide the fact that he didn’t know the speaker’s name. The young man had only been a Slayer when he first arrived. Li Hao recalled most of the Sunderers’ names, but didn’t know many of the Slayers.

“Hong Chou!”

Li Hao’s look sharpened. That was the Hong of Hong Yitang, wasn’t it? And the Chou of... of enmity for his family being slaughtered?

Li Hao nodded without comment. “As the pirates might attack, I would like to head out to sea to observe them first and familiarize ourselves with fighting on water. We’re unaccustomed to the seas and Sunderers will find it difficult to fly over open water. The difficulty level will be high. Regardless, we accepted the mission. What do you guys think, shall we take a look?”

The Demon Hunters looked at each other.

“Of course!” Hong Qing quickly piped up. “Leader, since the Sword Sect has joined the Demon Hunters, we will not shrink back!”

In the distance, the stocky Wang Chao—nephew of Wang Henggang—said in a muffled voice, “We of the Inspectorate are not afraid of death either! If we were, we wouldn’t be part of the Inspectorate!”

“We are all Demon Hunters now, there’s no need to separate ourselves so clearly,” Liu Long clarified. He turned to Li Hao. “Just give the order, leader. The Silver Moon Guards’ first regulation is to follow orders. In Battle Heaven, the Battle Heaven Army’s first regulation is also to follow orders. Since we have joined the Demon Hunters of the Silver Moon Guards, we will obey whatever order you give so long as it is not carelessly made. We will kill enemies or rush into the battlefield!”

“I haven’t led so many people before, so it’s taking some getting used to,” Li Hao laughed. “Then let’s head out to sea sooner rather than later. Director Hou’s departure may be causing some people to stir with interest. We set out tonight. Prepare some food and water, everyone.”

He thought of something and flung out a bunch of storage rings. “Pick one each, they’re all storage rings.”

The group paused. Storage rings? The team leaders looked at each other—they knew what that item was, but the sight in front of them was incredulous. Only Solars possessed these items! Storage rings didn’t require a Solar’s strength to use, but that only that level of supernatural could afford to buy and hold onto one.

How many were in front of them? Fifty? Sixty? Or even more!

“Leader, this...”

“Just some battle spoils from before,” Li Hao chuckled. “There’s too many of them for me to use. I only need a few. You can bring some more food and water for the journey and store your black armor inside. That can’t be retained within the body, but it’ll transform into a small round ball after I activate it. Transport will be much more convenient then.”

He’d yet to activate the black armor he already owned. It couldn’t be stored within the body, but could be minimized to the size of a ball after activation. The ball was much bigger than the ones of the bronze and silver armor. Its mechanisms were more complex and were still the size of a head in ball form. It could only be stored within a storage ring; usage was very inconvenient otherwise.

Bronze armor was different. The user didn’t need to personally put it on—it instantly manifested. Silver armor could be stored within the body, and what made black armor complicated was that one needed to open the ball, turn it back into armor, then put it on...

There had been too many Battle Heaven soldiers back in the day and black armor was standard issue. Less care had gone into its manufacture, but even so, it was already quite formidable.

“It can turn into a round ball?” This piqued the crowd’s interest.

“Activate? What other special functions might there be?”

“......”

“I don't know about special functions.” Li Hao smiled at the outpouring of interest. “But I do know of one benefit, and that I’ll be able to contact everyone within five hundred kilometers. Its defensive capabilities will be a bit stronger and wearing it will facilitate our assembly of the Ten Rings Mountain Seal Formation. When the Battle Heaven Army fell into formation, they did so instantly. The armor is so incredible that they’ll heighten the chances of success.”

This was information he read from the silver armor, it was a state out of reach for the current army. Assembling into formation required a connection between blood qi and internal force. The army was dead; only obsession lingered. It could not make use of formations. If it could, just three thousand troops would easily dismantle the Nova trespassers despite the weak strength remaining to them. That was most frightening of all!

Less than one tenth of the army’s strength remained after they lost their physical bodies.

The Demon Hunters were overjoyed. So this degree of convenience was possible?

Liu Long laughed and suddenly took out a large black ball. It instantly morphed into armor that he swiftly opened and put on. “My set is activated. This mode is very convenient and much stronger than before. The sets that you guys are accustomed to work well against Sunflares, but can do almost nothing against Solars. I’ve discovered that the armor is exceedingly high quality. So long as we have sufficient blood qi and internal force, even Solars will find it difficult to break in the short run!”

Surprised glances were exchanged throughout the crowd. So the armor was that impressive?

“Its defensive capabilities remain very strong,” Li Hao supplemented. “They are just greatly reduced before activation and require the support of special energy from the city. It should be much stronger after activation.

“Also, it’s possible to fly with this armor.”

The Demon Hunters jerked with surprise again. Fly? Martial masters could not fly before they reached Sunderer. Once they were Dominators, they could make use of mind intent to walk through the air like birds. Sunderers had to push off from the ground to soar through the air. They could hover for a bit, but flight was out of reach for them.

“I haven’t tried it with Sunderers,” Li Hao continued uncertainly. “But both Deputy Liu and I can. However, we already possessed the qualifications to fly, so it’s difficult to determine if the credit goes to the armor. I haven’t fully grasped all of the armor’s functions either.”

Excitement swirled through the crowd.

“Also, as the armor is a fully contained system, it might be able to be used in the sea. Once again, this is just my speculation. We can test it out and see if it holds up.” He was also surprised by how versatile the armor was, but perhaps this was only to be expected given how strong the ancient civilization was.

......

Li Hao entered the office area after he left the plaza. Some people were waiting for him.

“Senior brother...” Wang Ming greeted him with a beaming grin.

“Call me troop leader!”

“......” Wang Ming had no choice but to change his honorific. “Troop leader, Li Meng and the others have arrived.”

“I see them.” Li Hao appraised the three additions. Yun Yao was as quiet as usual. She inclined her head at the young man, the very picture of refined tranquility.

“Senior brother... leader... director...” Li Meng was the most simple out of them all. She was almost squealing with excitement. “Forget, I should call you leader. Leader is the most benevolent of them all! You haven’t forgotten us even after coming into your own...”

The three of them had complained when they were assigned to Silver City and were even more uncomfortable with the situation after Yuan Shuo forcefully took them as disciples. But now... they were all excited beyond belief.

Hu Hao was much quieter. He resembled Yun Yao’s taciturn state and murmured, “Leader.”

The three of them were Fullmoons—the equivalent of late Sunderer. They needed to enter Plenilune if they were to become peak Sunderers. They hadn’t even set foot into Sunflare yet.

Granted, this wasn’t a slow pace. It was all relative. Compared to Wang Ming, they did appear slow. The four had been on similar footing before, but he was a late Sunflare now and might already be a peak Sunflare attempting to ascend to Solar if he hadn’t purposefully controlled his progression.

Li Hao waved a hand and summoned four sets of armor. “Wear these. While the armor will suppress your mysterious power, it also prevents supernatural detection.”

The Battle Heaven Army was not the one of energy. There was another specialized army for those talents. Thus, the black armor levied certain restrictions on the supernaturals, but Li Hao wasn’t looking to them for combat ability. He just needed support from the sidelines.

“I’m leading the team out on a mission tonight. You know about what happened before and that there will be certain dangers involved. You guys...”

“No objections here!” Li Meng shrieked. “I can do anything if I can be as strong as senior brother Wang!”

“......” Li Hao stared at her. This girl was so excitable and the least dependable supernatural he knew. She liked to focus her attention randomly in prior occurences and even tried to peek at Yuan Shuo teaching his disciple. She was almost beaten to death for that transgression, but she still hadn’t learned her lesson.

“How far can your third eye reach now?” he asked instead.

“One thousand meters?” Li Meng wasn’t certain either. “I’ve never tried to reach its limit.”

Li Hao nodded. That would do. He could see balls of light, so the only concern he had was that the other was a martial master. Then he wouldn’t be able to see who he faced. On the other hand, Li Meng would be able to.

That set up a situation in which he could glimpse all supernaturals within one thousand meters and Li Meng could identify all martial masters. Their abilities complemented each other and prevented enemies from approaching them.

However, their range was too short. One thousand meters was much too short. If it was just Li Hao, he would be able to see balls of Nova light ten thousand meters away if there was nothing obstructing his vision.

“Sis Yun, you’re a water attribute and skilled at healing. You can handle regular martial master wounds, right?”

“I can.” Yun Yao nodded slightly. “So long as their organs aren’t severely damaged, I can heal regular wounds.”

That was good.