Star Gate

Chapter 566: I Want To Keep A Low Profile (III)

The speaker quieted and suppressed his blooming rage. He knew that to speak further was to lose more face, so he might as well stay quiet!

“Alright, the conversation can end here,” Ying Hongyue chuckled. “You guys should keep a close eye on those fellows. Northern Fist and Tyrant Blade have all shown themselves. Sky Sword stays quiet and doesn’t make a sound, but we should still be careful of him. And don’t toy Hou Xiaochen to death, the consequences won’t be pretty!”

He raised a tea cup with a smile. “Cheers to exterminating Silver Moon and a brighter future! Let us drink to that and go out to kill Li Hao. Remember, the young man is hard to kill. Don’t think of holding back on anything—bring out all the one-time use items you have.

“Worst comes to worst, we die. If we win, that is a lifetime of glory and riches! I’m sure that we all have people who’ve broken their sixth lock. Ah, since we’re all here, why don’t we use this opportunity to name the sixth realm?

“Nova was a nod to nine suns—I’ve always thought it to be an ugly name,” laughed a merry Ying Hongyue. “Let’s go for a prettier name for the next level. This is a metamorphosis for us, so why don’t we call it... Zenith? The ultimate culmination, the zenith of intent...”

“Enough, do you think we haven’t read the ancient tomes ourselves?” Yama said aloofly. “Why follow in their footsteps? There’s no point in that! Call it that if you want to. There will naturally be a name for it when it is officially present and more dwell within it. You don’t need to worry about this detail!”

“You’re the one who first proposed the name of Nova. It’s such an ugly name!” Ying Hongyue teased. “Then we’re settled. We can discuss the rest later. Remember to notify me when you catch Li Hao or take the sword of the Lis.”

No one responded to him and the screens swiftly dimmed. The smile slid off Ying Hongyue’s face when all of the screens were dark and he sighed. “Misery will be upon the people... Ah I have sinned and created more trouble for Silver Moon. I wonder if there will be fewer of my old friends after this... What a pity!”

As much as he lamented, a brilliant smile spread over his face again.

“Where’s Green Moon?” he asked. Only Green Moon was left in the vast headquarters of his, but there was no sign of her to be seen.

“Lady Green Moon has gone to Skystar City...” someone quickly responded from below.

“She’s being silly!” Ying Hongyue furrowed his brows and quickly relaxed them again. “Forget it, she can do as she wishes. These people all have wild natures and don’t listen. They will suffer for their impetuousness!

“She can do as she wishes,” he smiled. “Notify the senior, second, and third elders of the elder council to go for a walk. All of them are permitted one drop of Water of Life and one peak Nova blood pearl! Don’t be in a rush to do anything. Just observe. They can be happy fishermen if Earthturner Sword and Light Sword happen to be entangled by others!”

“Understood!” Someone quickly ran off to notify the elders.

There were many powerhouses among the elder council—Tidal Wave and Red Hair had counted among their number, though their ranking hadn’t been high. Today, Ying Hongyue was sending out his three senior elders.

“Also, notify the Ancient Guard to dig three feet underground and find that gopher Yuan Shuo! The old guy’s probably gone off to rob graves again!” Ying Hongyue frowned. “The old thing spent the last couple of decades studying various ancient graves. If he finds any treasure, it won’t take him long to grow stronger again. Even if he doesn’t, he might find something or multiple somethings to give us a huge headache!” 

He shook his head with a sigh. “The ignorant are fearless, or perhaps the guy doesn’t care at all. If he runs into one or two living existences of the ancient times... Heh, we’ll all be in for it then, won’t we!”

Yuan Shuo didn’t care about any of that, but Ying Hongyue did. Even if they were to unearth ancient existences, now wasn’t the time. It would create too much change in the world. It was one thing to encounter a friendly existence, but if they found one that was irritable, violent, or wanted to engage in widespread slaughter... That would be no fun for anyone.

“Understood!” Another Ghostface left. There were large numbers of Ghostfaces here, ready for orders at any time and to conduct communications.

“Have the three northern provinces grow even more chaotic. Silver Moon is too stable at the moment. Huang Yu and the rest have too much time on their hands, so let’s give them something to do! The royal family’s been quiet this entire time—let’s see if they still are now. If the sword of the Lis is lost, they won’t have another chance with their Skystar ruins.

“Oh, darn, I forgot to say that the sword can access the Skystar ruins. Heh, let’s spread this news too and have the royal family join in the fun!”

“Leader, it’s not a good time to engage in open hostilities with the royal family,” cautioned a Ghostface. “They might turn on us instead if this news is leaked!”

Ying Hongyue considered the suggestion and nodded with a smile. “That’s true! Then forget it. What’s circulating now is sufficient for everyone to take action.”

He turned quickly and left, as dashing as ever and hardly bothered by Silver Moon’s troubles. Li Hao and the rest may be improving quickly, but... so what?

......

Silver Moon.

The provincial government.

There was a very large group of people sitting in silence.

“Can we have Light Sword take shelter?” Kong Jie asked waspishly. “I should’ve thought of this, but in Hou Xiaochen’s absence, I completely forgot when no one reminded me. Did the director general also overlook this point? Now that the uses of the sword have been exposed, our troubles come one after another!”

He really didn’t think of this beforehand because in his eyes, not that many would consider this point. He’d always thought that supernaturals didn’t understand martial masters. In doing so, he completely overlooked a few things in that some people knew martial masters all too well!

“It did occur to me, but we still had to save her.” The director general breathed out gently. “Additionally, I thought that people like Ying Hongyue would keep it to themselves if they knew because they wanted it for themselves. The more that know, the worse. I hadn’t thought that he would make it public...”

“Hadn’t thought?” Kong Jie fretted. “Why didn’t you think of it? Don’t we all know what kind of person he is? He’s a typical lunatic and it’s not the first time he’s done something that harms others without benefiting himself...”

“Alright, there’s no point in talking about any of this now!” Huang Yu interrupted. “We were in a rush to save Light Sword, so we had to do what was most convenient and practical. Sending Li Hao to save her was the best option.”

“But now Li Hao will be in grave, grave trouble!” Kong Jie raged. “I negotiated with him to have him mount a rescue mission. You two... I’m thinking that you two targeted even me in your plot! You might have foreseen all of this! You two bastards schemed against me as soon as Hou Xiaochen left, didn’t you??”

“......” The two ignored him.

“I’m most likely right! Out with it, what do you want?! To force Li Hao out of Silver Moon? Or to have him draw all the attention so that creates space for you guys to do something? It looks like the agreement of the four institutions is null and void and you’re shunning me, aren’t you?!”

He was never one to think too much because Hou Xiaochen had been on his side all these years. Hou Xiaochen was the brains of the operation, so he listened to the man most of the time. But these two looked to have reached another agreement as soon as Hou Xiaochen left, ostracizing the inspector general.

“We don’t mean that at all.” The director general frowned. “First, this was indeed contrary to our expectations. Second, time was of the essence then! Third, the unknown danger was more severe than Light Sword dying.

“Having accepted our payment, Li Hao should’ve considered the risks within. He shouldn’t have gone out just for the sake of the mission! Fourth, we will still protect him so long as he is in Silver Moon. This matter blowing up is trouble for us too, so no one is doing this on purpose. Additionally, this fallout has much to do with Li Hao’s blatant actions. He could’ve avoided the ensuing trouble if he’d bided his time in the dark and not taken an outright stand!

“Truth be told, his actions were completely beyond our expectations. He’s always been someone who plans first before acting, and does not take action without utmost confidence. Not to mention his grudge with Light Sword. Do you think we could’ve anticipated that he would just go in with guns a-blazin’ like that?”

“But Light Sword would’ve died if Li Hao kept a low profile...” Kong Jie protested.

“I said so before that sending Li Hao was a choice that was our best. We left the rest to heaven’s will,” Director General Zhao shook his head. “But I have to say, his decision was very surprising. The trouble that he’s now in has much to do with our oversight as well.”

The old man thought quietly for a while. “I can understand if you feel apologetic about it, but don’t get too emotional over it. We’re discussing how to cope with the situation, not just venting our feelings.”

“Then what do you say should be done?” Kong Jie calmed down. “You have the most ideas, what do you think?”

The director general rubbed his temples. “We have several options. First, we make an example out of someone. Have our powerhouses take a trip outside the province and kill some people! Second, throw out the sword of the Lis and have them dog eat dog! Third, have Li Hao himself say that all of the weapons of the eight families have this function and give Ying Hongyue a taste of his own medicine. But... people might not believe him.

“Fourth, have Li Hao vanish for a while and stay out of the public eye. That will afford him greater safety. Fifth, have someone pose as Li Hao and go to the central region to raise a fuss. Draw attention to the central region!”

The director general rapidly gave out a few ideas. Kong Jie mulled them over and cursed to himself before saying, “I’ll try to contact Li Hao. Additionally, give me a transmission pendant! I’ll give it to him so he can share some of our intelligence. He can’t stay ignorant forever!”

Huang Yu and Director General Zhao looked at each other and nodded. The young man should indeed receive a pendant, or he was too uninformed otherwise. Who knew where the young man was at the moment? He might not even know what’d happened recently.