Star Gate

Chapter 530: Stillness (I)

Kong Jie and Huang Yu looked at Director General Zhao. After a while, the man smiled. “We can do that, but the caveat is that Hong Yitang cannot be involved. Li Hao has a good relationship with Hong Yitang and his daughter is part of Li Hao’s troop. There’s not much meaning to things if Hong Yitang helps out.”

“We need someone who can resolve issues and swiftly eliminate trouble,” Huang Yu declared solemnly. “Not someone who creates trouble and is unable to clean up after himself. That will only bring trouble to Silver Moon. The higher his position, the greater the trouble!”

The director general was in agreement, but he wanted Li Hao to manage the White Shark Raiders himself. It would be a test of his abilities.

“Do you think... he might actually be unwilling to join?” Kong Jie suddenly laughed.

“That doesn’t matter, we only take voluntary recruits,” Huang Yu responded indifferently. “A forcefully plucked fruit is not sweet. We will not have him join if he really is unwilling!”

Director General Zhao inclined his head.

“Additionally, Ole Hou...” Kong Jie changed the subject. “There will probably be a lot of trouble waiting for him. While Ole Hou took Golden Spear and the others with him when he left, Yellow Dragon in the central Night Watchers probably doesn’t want to see him land on solid footing in his new post. Ole Hou hasn’t said anything, but should we do something?”

He glanced at the two, as if waiting for their decision. Huang Yu furrowed his brows and sank into deep thought. The director general seemed to be writing something down. He raised his head when he sensed the quiet atmosphere and saw the other two looking at him.

“What are you guys looking at me for?” The old man smiled.

“Don’t you have any ideas, Ole Zhao?”

“Me?” the director general answered with resignation. “What ideas can I have? Little Hou isn’t weak either, so don’t be worried...”

“You and small mind...” chuckled Kong Jie. “So you guys had a few arguments. He just has different opinions from you! So he doesn’t like the idea of being all inclusive and the four institutions working together—just ignore him! Why must you have him share the same opinion as you?”

“What?” laughed Director General Zhao. “When did I ever want him to think the same way I do?”

“Fine fine fine!” Kong Jie didn’t say anything else. “Do you have any ideas or not? You’re so busy that one would think you have some great enterprise in mind, but there’s been nothing major in the province recently...”

“That’s all you know!” rebuked the director general. “All you know is to run your mouth and not pay attention to anything else!”

Kong Jie couldn’t be bothered to respond.

“He is beyond our reach in the central region,” Director General Zhao said after some thought. “I don’t have any good ideas... How about this, I’ll send a personal letter to Sky Sword as Silver Moon’s highest ranking officer. As a fellow Silver Moon denizen, maybe he’ll be willing to help if Little Hou runs into any trouble.”

“That guy...” Certain things came to mind when Kong Jie heard this. “He’ll do! Apparently Tyrant Blade is still alive too, do you know where he is?”

“No.” Director General Zhao shook his head.

“Almost everyone who’s seen him has died,” Huang Yu offered. “He’s hard to locate. But he might go seek out Yuan Shuo.”

“Hmm?”

“Don’t forget, Yuan Shuo has the blade of the Zhangs!” Huang Yu smiled meaningfully. “With Tyrant Blade’s domineering personality, he might be interested in that blade and look for a sparring match.”

“Yuan Shuo... probably isn’t a match for Tyrant Blade at the moment.”

“Who knows?” Huang Yu shook his head. “Yuan Shuo will stand a chance if he perfects his Summoner of Spirit realm. The five styles meld as one to nurture the five organs. Tyrant Blade won’t necessarily win without unsealing himself if he’s like us!”

“Then forget it, he’s tough to track down.” Kong Jie gave up that possibility. “Let’s write to Sky Sword first. Who else is in the central region apart from him...

“Is Northern Fist in the central region? Or has he gone somewhere else, like Great Li?”

“Don’t know.”

“Not sure.”

“Forget it, you guys lack sufficient information.” Kong Jie couldn’t be bothered to make fun of them. “But these Silver Moon guys seriously get around. The only one we’re sure of is Sky Sword. At least he’s been conspicuous enough these years that we can find him.”

The rest were all mysterious figures hard to track down.

“I don’t think we need to be overly worried about Hou Xiaochen,” Director General Zhao offered casually. “Yu Luocha and Golden Spear are with him. Yu Luocha is still in full command of her strength, whereas Golden Spear...”

The old man hesitated. “Golden Spear remains to be seen. He’s in a stage of self doubt at the moment. If he can’t snap out of it, he’ll be half crippled and this will be all that he amounts to.”

He shook his head, finding it a regretful situation.

“I’m ready to have Berserk Blade leave for the central region,” Huang Yu suddenly offered. “He’s as good as crippled if he keeps staying with me.”

The other two didn’t say anything, that decision was up to their compatriot.

“What about Light Sword?”

“She’s gone to the Xus... probably to address the issues with her cultivation method.” Kong Jie thought over the matter. “Although we don’t know the inside story behind Xu Feng’s death, it might have something to do with one of their rumored treasures. Will she do something?”

“Again, this is beyond our reach!” answered the director general. “Forget it, she doesn’t want to come under our hand either. We can only take each day as it comes. We need to set all this aside for now. Southern Fist came to me before he left to have the province prepare itself. The Sword Sect wishes to expand. Everything within five hundred kilometers of its mountain is to be sect territory. He Yong and Hong Yitang seemed to have reached an agreement. What do you all think?”

The two blinked, Huang Yu frowned.

“This is hard to say and I’m not certain of Hong Yitang’s goal.” Kong Jie thought for a bit. “There is certain room for discussion. As for our representative... let’s send Li Hao. What do you guys say?”

The other two looked at each other and nodded. An agreement had been reached on all Silver Moon matters in the near term.

“I have the army cordoning off Rift Canyon,” Huang Yu concluded. “No one is allowed in or out for the moment. There’s been some developments at Battle Heaven. I think it’ll take Li Hao to take care of those problems.”

The trio swiftly concluded the call after discussing these matters. Li Hao was temporarily viewed as part of the four institutions in the capacity of the Night Watcher leader. The young man remained in the dark about this and was even less aware that he was about to be promoted again.

At the moment, he was still in Southern Ford, watching a group of long-legged beauties dancing in the night. He was impressed at how they didn’t seem to be freezing in the chilly air.

......

A day of merrymaking passed. The Demon Hunters gathered back at the beach on the second day. Hong Qing and Hong Hao were yet to return as the Sword Sect was further away. It wouldn’t take them longer than two days by car for a return trip, however. Everyone else was present apart from them.

Li Hao took a close assessment of them. Many in the crowd showed faint signs of an aura. That wasn’t a true aura yet, just a prototype similar to when Li Hao comprehended the earth aura. It meant that they weren’t too far off and would soon be half step Dominators.

Approximately five among the Sword Sect showed such indications, whereas Liu Yan, Wu Chao, and Chen Jian of the Inspectorate were also the same. Aura prototypes also flickered around them.

Li Hao breathed out gently. The effects had been good. Battle was indeed the premier cultivation method for martial masters. There might be ten half step Dominators in his small team after a few days. As for officially setting foot into the stage, they would need to strengthen their aura.

They’d attained all of the other requirements whether it was the body, organs, blood qi, or bones. They were far stronger than ordinary martial masters. Having one-fifth of a crew of fifty becoming half step Dominators was a fantastic record. In all the years of the Silver Moon Guards’ formation, only one-tenth of them had reached the same stage. They’d also had to rely on the dao comprehension weapons to do so.

“We’ve had our day of fun, it’s time to go.” Li Hao looked at his people. “We’ll go back to White Moon City first to rest for three days. I’ll grant general access to the dao comprehension weapons that the Guards left behind. It’s up to you if you make use of it or not. Some of the auras within may not conform to your thoughts. They can only be used as reference, but still useful to comprehending the aura.

“I’ll take you on an excavation of a ruin after three days! And to the seas again within ten days. The White Shark Raiders are probably consumed by the confusion of consolidation at the moment. We might have some advantage in making trouble for them now, but that’s not important in my view. We won’t be afraid of them finishing their consolidation so long as our strength increases as well.”

He had two options at the moment—head straight for the pirates and kick in their front door. The Divine Kun Ship was fast and could hunt them down easily. The second option was to explore the ruins that Golden Spear had left behind.

Li Hao chose the latter. The White Shark Raiders were a known entity that he was in no rush to address. They wouldn’t brashly undertake action over the next couple of days, it would be a while longer. They would also be worried about Silver Moon laying a trap for them.

Therefore, the young man wanted to take advantage of this gap to explore the ruins that Golden Spear left behind. He might gain something. It wasn’t a convenient time to attempt Battle Heaven at the moment. The army was strong and strictly speaking, the cities of the eight families were all his. He shouldn’t go about randomly digging them up.

Of course these were just his thoughts.

“Some of you have never been to a ruin before, so this will be a good experience! You might gain something if you’re lucky, or run into some danger if you’re not. But martial masters should take risks in the end.”

No one had an opinion, there was just general excitement! Most of them were yet to explore ruins before. They knew there was a lot of treasure inside, but were unaware of what ruins were actually like.