Star Gate

As for Battle Heaven aiding Li Hao, they hadn’t supplied him that much apart from the identity of a commander, the two characters of the city’s name, and some armor and other equipment. It was far less than what the outside world thought.

Hence, while outsiders felt that Li Hao had reached his current status only through Battle Heaven, the reality of the situation was that the young man had relied more on Silver Moon martial masters and the little tree from the imperial palace. Those two parties had given him much more help.

Such was the situation that Battle Heaven understood as well.

“I will earn it all back for you when I have my body again,” Director General Wang promised when he saw how reluctant Li Hao was. “At my current level, regular Immortals are no match for me after I reclaim my physical body. Ah, the caveat is that I’m not churned to pieces by the void.”

He hadn’t thought of resurrecting before, but now, Li Hao had prepared Immortal plant spirits and Water of Life. The chance to step forward in a physical body again was right in front of him. He would be a fool to give it up!

“Very well then,” Li Hao sighed. “I hope that the director general can fight with me once we leave and obtain more opportunities for ourselves.

“Director Pagoda, I’ll need to take some of the auxiliary generals with me this time. Five, I think. Too many won’t do either and I may not necessarily be able to protect them all.”

“Five… will do.” The general thought for a bit after glancing at him. “But they’re almost completely inert and will need some core origin or other energy to stimulate their consciousness. Otherwise, they will be hard pressed to absorb energy of their own accord.”

I knew it! I have to leave behind something every time I come here.

“Not too much, just Water of Life will do. It’s not a high price to stimulate their consciousness, a few hundred drops is enough.”

Li Hao rolled his eyes at himself. Is that not a lot? Five plant spirits means a couple thousand drops! I just gave you ten thousand, here goes another couple thousand drops. What I collected from killing those plant spirits is all going to you guys!

Embarrassment nipped at the heels of the group as well. New Martial powerhouses were accustomed to fighting for their own needs. Li Hao was the one giving them vast sums of resources again and again.

“Eleventh Division leader, Battle Heaven is not a glutton that only knows how to eat,” coughed the old turtle. “We are in some difficulties at the moment. Once the second awakening begins or when the world can accommodate the city again, we will be sure to repay the Eleventh Division leader in full.”

General Pagoda nodded as well.

“The Battle Heaven Army is never one to take without payment!” intoned the Ninth Division leader. “Don’t be miserly. Since you’ve set the process in motion, be more generous. Battle Heaven will remember this favor!”

“Just listen to the Ninth Division leader!” Li Hao grinned. “Am I the sort to to expect payment when bestowing favors?”

Guess what, I am!

The group didn’t know how to respond.

“In that case, General Pagoda should stimulate the plant spirits’ consciousness first and tell them the situation. And another thing—they must listen to me when they leave Battle Heaven! That includes Director General Wang. We can discuss things, but they must obey my commands in important matters. We can give up this entire idea if anyone finds this inappropriate!”

“Don’t worry!” sighed a resigned Director General Wang. There was nothing to say to that. Li Hao was an interesting fellow—he was so materialistic that there was nothing anyone could say about it.

The young man grinned and turned to the others. “Everyone, it’s only a matter of time before I resurrect everyone if all goes well. There’s no rush! Battle Heaven is the first ancient ruin that I explored and I am part of its ranks as well. We are on the same side here. My first thoughts go to you whenever I gain anything and not anyone else.

“Battle Heaven’s spirit has survived through the years and it is sure to be the first to revive among the eight main cities…” Li Hao looked at Director General Wang after his speech. “Then please hurry and return to your physical body, director general. I don’t have much time and need to get back as soon as possible. I’m going to take care of a few matters now and will return in a day. Is that period of time sufficient?”

“Just about!”

“Then I am off! Meeting dismissed!” Li Hao turned and left, leaving another three thousand drops of Water of Life when he departed. His stores of twenty-five thousand were halved after one meeting.

He was off to visit the little tree and give it core origin to absorb as a reward. He also had to search out Huang Yu. As for the resurrection process, he didn’t need to watch it. Li Hao had a good hunch of what it would entail and couldn’t be bothered to take a look. That would just be a waste of time.

The group looked at each other after Li Hao left. It was a long while before the old turtle said, “I’d thought that the young fellow would need to rely on us, but… how surprising. He’s developed at such an incredible pace that he’s killed five Immortal plant spirits in such a short period of time. There must be people helping him.

“Recover as soon as possible, Director General Wang, and see what you can do once you leave. Us of New Martial almost have no face left to our name.”

“I’ll try my best, but I’m afraid I won’t be able to stray too far from him,” Director General Wang said awkwardly. “It’ll have to depend on the decision!”

“You only have one mission when you leave, and that is to investigate which of the eight main cities is the traitor,” boomed the Ninth Division leader. “That is all!”

“You…”

“Just because we don’t speak of it doesn’t mean that there isn’t one!” the commander snapped coldly. “What is the point of playing deaf and dumb and lying to ourselves? You only have one other point of consideration beyond this mission, and that is to follow Li Hao’s orders. He is a general in the army and you are subject to military orders in times of war!”

“My rank isn’t any lower than his.” Director General Wang was at a loss.

“That doesn’t matter!” The Ninth Division leader couldn’t be bothered and rose to leave. “Keep one thing in mind, Wang. We New Martial people have already died once and do not fear a second death. I hope you do not change once you are resurrected!”

“There’s no need for you to worry your pretty little head about that! You’re not the one paying to revive me, what do you care!”

“……” The Ninth Division leader didn’t know how to respond to that. What was that little bastard being so arrogant for? “You have to rely on one from the Sword Sovereign lineage in the end. Capital Martial is only good for show!”

“……” Fuck you back to the primordial times! “You do it if you’re so good! Get ten Immortal plant spirits so you can take his orders, follow by his side, and run his errands! Heh, so a direct student of Demonic Martial, descendant of the Sword Sovereign lineage, and side branch of the Li family has to rely on a Li descendant of countless generations for help. I’d shove myself into a manure pit if I were you!”

“You little gnat!”

“Guardian, you see that?? He wants to hit me! I’m the acting city lord! It’s mutiny if he touches me! Aren’t you guys going to do anything about it??” Director General Wang yelled as the sight of a Gold Armor spraying sword intent was terrifying.

The two guardian entities of Battle Heaven looked at each other and promptly vanished.

Clattering sounds sounded from the city lord manor. The Ninth Division leader took to the air not long after, leaving behind another Gold Armor sectioned into pieces in the manor. A strand of soul hovered tragically over them.

“He did it for your own good,” sounded the old turtle’s voice. “The golden armor was almost one with you. I was debating how to strip you out from it, but he did the job. This is good!”

“Is this how one should separate person from item?!” Director General Wang cursed loudly. He settled down after a few ominous rumbles. What was he supposed to do when he couldn’t beat the other?

“Hmph, just you wait until I recover my physical body!” The strand of soul disappeared with the five wooden logs.

The old turtle sighed. You… might not be a match for him even after recovering your physical body. That guy’s mental strength is growing ever stronger.

……

The imperial palace.

Li Hao remained very polite toward the little tree. As waves of core origin energy appeared, the little tree’s primary body devoured them without hesitation. This was heaven! It felt so good, goodness it felt so good!

Its massive crown swayed continuously. Was this a dream? It hadn’t done much lately, at least its primary body hadn’t done much other than growing a batch of rations. And yet, there was a continual stream of core origin for it to absorb. This felt so surreal!

It was too young in the consideration of Silver Moon Territory proper. It might be the first plant spirit after the New Martial era. Small and piteous compared to other plant spirits, it couldn’t even absorb as much energy as the others.

If it wasn’t for the eruption of energy twenty years ago, it might’ve died a while back. Even so, it could still intimidate Golden Spear back when Li Hao first arrived in its ruins. At that time, Golden Spear was a Nova.

Now that its replica had absorbed vast quantities of energy and its primary body also taking in energy, the little tree felt that it could return to the level of strength that its father wielded. Granted, it knew that this was a mistaken impression, but it was still very excited.

How comfortable this was!

Li Hao laughed at this time. “Senior Tree, do you have a name?”

“Eh?”

“A name,” Li Hao repeated. “There are too many awakened plant spirits these days, I can’t keep calling you Senior Tree.”

The little tree paused. A name? It was just a plant spirit born of the last imperial palace guard, what kind of name would it have?

“How about I choose one for the senior? Imperial Guard? The one who guards the imperial majesty.”

“As you wish.” The little tree didn’t really care about what it was called.

“Senior Imperial Guard, do you wish to see the outside world?”

“Outside world?”

“Yes, the imperial palace is very safe now and no one dares come here. The senior won’t have the strength to continue guarding the palace if you stay here. The opportunity comes if you leave before the rest of the plant spirits are fully awake. Otherwise, how is the senior to guard the palace with this level of strength?”