Star Gate

Li Hao reached the Battle Heaven city lord manor after some walking. The Turtle Pagoda remained standing at the city center. It remained slightly dark inside the city, but it was brighter than before. Director General Wang stood at the manor doors, looking at Li Hao with a slightly interrogative look. What are you doing here?

“Greetings to the director general!” Li Hao clicked his heels and stomped his foot, shaking the ground.

“Greetings to the Eleventh Division leader.” There was nothing for it but to answer in the same vein.

“Please send out the notifications right now that we are going to hold an emergency wartime meeting!”

“……”

“As a division leader and one of the highest commanders of the army, I have the right to call for such a meeting,” Li Hao reminded the director general when the man didn’t move.

One of the highest commanders of the army? Alright then, Li Hao did count as such.

Director General Wang was at a loss, but it was fine since everyone had time on their hands. The guy wanted to be beaten up, didn’t he? The Ninth Division leader would certainly teach him a lesson.

Very well, you want to hold a meeting, don’t you? I’ll let you hold it. Director General Wang couldn’t be bothered to advise otherwise. Since Li Hao had a death wish, what was the director general supposed to do about it? His golden armor glowed with a faint hue as the summons for an emergency meeting was issued!

The Ninth Division leader, Zhang Liang, and a Red Armor rose from the barracks side. The Red Armor was from the Supervisory Office. It looked like one of their senior officers had awakened during this time. As for what title they were, Li Hao was unaware.

The three troop leaders at the city gates just barely possessed the right to participate in the meeting. They also took to the air and flew toward the city lord manor.

General Pagoda walked through the void with a hint of resignation. The young man just didn’t let up, did he?

The old turtle outright manifested in the manor. It looked at Li Hao, then somewhat threateningly at Panther next to the young man. Why didn’t you try to speak some sense into him, dog? I’m not helping you later if you get beaten up.

The group swiftly arrived at the city lord manor. Even though Battle Heaven was mostly inactive, the inner city was still operating. Even though all parties involved cursed to themselves, they still presented themselves when a wartime meeting was called.

……

The great hall, city lord manor.

Director General Wang remained in the head seat. He was the acting city lord and thus oversaw all matters in Battle Heaven despite his relative lack of cultivation. When General Pagoda and the old turtle arrived, they took up positions flanking the director general.

The Ninth Division leader entered moments later. He sat down next to General Pagoda with a red glint from his visor. The commander stared wordlessly at Li Hao.

Clad in new golden armor, Zhang Liang was the next to arrive. Li Hao almost didn’t recognize him, it took the commissioner’s mental ripples for the young man to make the identification.

“Welcome back, Eleventh Division leader!”

“…you’re much too polite, Commissioner Zhang!” Li Hao laughed. The man was in a great mood after being promoted.

The Red Armor quietly took a seat further away from the head seat. Its existence felt minimal as it didn’t say a word.

The three troop leaders swiftly arrived as well. They saluted and filled in the empty seats in the middle.

“You should take a seat as well, Eleventh Division leader!” Director General Wang looked at Li Hao. “You are the one who called for this meeting, I hope this was not in jest. Emergency wartime meetings are convened only for important affairs in the major cities. You will… be punished according to military regulations if you order a meeting for frivolous purpose.”

“If there is someone who treats military regulations as child’s play, I will let him know that that is furthest from the truth!” sneered the Ninth Division leader.

Li Hao beamed radiantly and remained standing. “We are all forthright people that don’t waste time, so we can skip the nonsense! The second awakening is at hand, yet the level of Battle Heaven’s revitalization is not ideal. Skystar Island has recovered to a much greater degree than us.

“Once the second awakening begins, how much can we revitalize even if we take in some of the newly available energy? There are too many plant spirits in Silver Moon. How much can they absorb and recover?” Li Hao coughed. “Based on this premise, we cannot sit and resign ourselves to our doom!

“Although Battle Heaven is quiet, our battle spirit yet blazes! Do the humans, powerhouses, and soldiers of New Martial wait for death in their cities from day to day? Does that still make them of New Martial?”

“……” No one answered him. You’re just blowing hot air. No one wants to be like that, but what can we do about it?

“Ninth Division leader, you are the foremost among the Battle Heaven Army. Have you never considered saving yourself? You stay in the office from day to night. Can you save Battle Heaven through studying documents?

“Has New Martial only taught you to while away the days in your office and wait for death?”

“……” The Ninth Division leader was a bit irate, but he didn’t make a sound.

“I ask you, have you considered leaving the ruins in all these years to save yourself?”

“……” Director General Wang coughed. “Eleventh Division leader, it’s not that we don’t help ourselves, but that we can’t leave the ruins either. The void outside is too unstable.”

“I know!” Li Hao frowned. “Would I not know that? But monster spirits can sever core origin for their replicas, can humans not do the same? My memories tell me that we can too. Why do the humans in the ruins not consider this course of action? Instead of forging ahead, you cower inside the cities and shy away from engaging the monster spirits.”

“……” A resigned Director General Wang had to explain, “There are still differences between us and monster spirits. Their primary bodies still exist, so it changes nothing for them to sever some of their core origin. It doesn’t affect their foundations. Meanwhile, there is only mental strength left of us. We’ll fly apart if we separate any of it from us. The ensuing ripples might obliterate us entirely.”

Li Hao seemed to specialize in attacking people’s weaknesses.

Did his words make sense?

They did, a little.

They were also completely useless hot air in a way. Everyone wanted to save themselves, the key laid in if it was possible. The slightest misstep would lead to annihilation.

“This reason… is barely acceptable!” Li Hao nodded. “So does this mean that you guys are willing to save yourself so long as there is a more stable, safer option available?”

The director general nodded, to which the young man nodded back. “That’s good. I thought you’d had the New Martial spirit erased from you and only knew to sleep like the one in Evenround Martial University. It looks like Battle Heaven’s spirit burns on!”

“……” The Ninth Division leader was growing irritated. “Is this all there is to the meeting?”

“What are you in a rush for?” Li Hao rebuked, resulting in the commander nearly flipping the table.

“Eleventh Division leader, we are all very busy,” the director general quickly played peacemaker. “Please… get to the point.”

“Alright, then my point is that, according to what I know, everyone is dead now due to your physical bodies declining and lack of indestructible material. You can only live on in mental spirit form or even as the weapon souls.

“You can still recover if you procure sufficient indestructible material. But these days, it is hard for anything to produce that resource apart from plant spirits and beast spirits. The times are different and the strength cultivated is different.

“In that case, as a Battle Heaven commander, I cannot idly sit by and watch the outside world recover, but the city remain quiet!” Li Hao declared solemnly. “Therefore, I have decided… that I will kill those Immortals or even Saints to seize their primary bodies and extract indestructible matter.

“It will be used to revive a military commander such as the Ninth Division leader. Once he recovers his physical body, he can set off in the world with me and seek ways for self recovery or for the city to revitalize by itself…”

The hall was silent.

“This method…” the old turtle began silently. “The Eleventh Division leader once killed an Immortal, so you know the difficulties within. This is one major factor. The second is that it might be more economical to revive a plant spirit at present. It consumes too many resources to resurrect a human body—the price paid for one might be sufficient to revitalize three to five plant spirits…”

“We can’t view things this way!” Li Hao objected. “The more plant spirits that recover, the more ripples it will produce. It might result in action from other powerful plant spirits. General Pagoda’s awakening, for example, aroused attention from the plant spirits of the major cities and Skystar Island.

“There won’t be enough energy for the revitalized plant spirits if we keep wakiing them, and it might cause so much wariness from all sides that they join hands against us.

“You guys ask General Pagoda if there was a large disturbance when the general awoke. Did it raise attention from the various cities? Although you don’t speak of it, I’m well aware of the possibility that someone might have turned traitor among the eight cities! In that case, we cannot continue focusing on the plant spirits. We need to turn to the unexpected and revitalize a human instead to deal a grave blow to the enemy!

“Additionally, New Martial is the domain of humanity, after all. Whether it is the vice commander of Skystar Town or the heavyweights of the eight main cities, should we give face to humanity or the plant spirits? Reviving a human would facilitate communication on all sounds. Another plant spirit… Even General Pagoda is less effective and wields less authority than a New Martial commander, don’t you?”

The general itself nodded at these words. That was the truth.

“Have you come here just to say this?” intoned the Ninth Division leader.

“Yes!” Li Hao nodded. “Just this. It won’t do for the Ninth Division leader to not help yourself. Whether it is to open the Star Gate, return home, or march across the cosmos once more, it has to be humanity who does so!”

“Do you know how much it takes to revive a human?”

“I don’t.” Li Hao shook his head. “But we can work toward this goal. Do we give up simply because the consumption is great? Tell me, how many of those prior Immortal plant spirits will it take to help the Ninth Division leader re-craft your physical body?”

“Ten of them!” the commander said with annoyance.

Li Hao’s jaw dropped. “Um, the Ninth Division leader was just peak Immortal back in the day. How come you need so many?”

etvolare’s Thoughts

Damn, that is a lot.