Star Gate

Chapter 572: Walking Out of Silver Moon (III)

Deputy Zhou said nothing further and led Light Sword inside. They took the stairs to where doors were flung wide open to the hall within. Kong Jie and Director General Zhao were both present. Huang Yu walked in as soon as the deputy entered with their visitor. The director general glanced at him.

“He’s back and at the base,” Huang Yu transmitted. “He shouldn’t be going back out in the short term since he’s just come back. Therefore, I decided to come for a look. I should say hi since Light Sword is here.”

The director general inclined his head and stood up, looking at Light Sword with a smile. “Light Sword of the Seven Swords of Silver Moon. I’ve met all of the others, but not you. To know a person by reputation is not as good as seeing them face to face. I finally meet you in the flesh today!”

Light Sword grumbled inwardly. If it wasn’t for the fact that she was barely passable now, she wouldn’t present these guys with her real face! When her thoughts traveled here, she thought back to what Li Hao had said about the provincial government paying him to save her. Thus, she didn’t stand on ceremony.

“I thank the group for your aid! I am humbly gratified, yet there is little common ground between us as we hold different principles. I will certainly help if the Silver Moon authorities require support in the future, but we can bypass everything else!”

“Light Sword, how do we have little common ground and differing principles?” Kong Jie smiled.

“Kong Jie, you have martial master blood on your hands after your years of being the inspector general,” Light Sword answered aloofly. “We naturally have little common ground!”

“What, was I wrong to maintain order in the province?” Kong Jie frowned. “I have a clear conscience as none of the martial masters I killed were the good sort. I would somewhat agree with you if you said the others weren’t anything good, but you criticize me? This means you are nothing else apart from a martial master—you don’t have the ability to determine right from wrong.”

Light Sword didn’t defend herself, so Kong Jie fell silent. There was no point in continuing this conversation.

“We’re all of Silver Moon, we’re all on the same side,” smiled Director General Zhao. “We’ve been hot-blooded since the ancient times. It’s fine if we fight behind closed doors. But Master Hu is direct, so we’ll be equally forthright. Your word is enough! If trouble stirs in the province in the days to come, we hope for you to lend a hand or two. We can cover each other!”

“I will certainly try my best!” was all that Light Sword replied with.

She wasn’t as enthusiastic or tearily grateful as they might’ve expected. Nor was she moved at the sight of seeing old countrymen or inclined to wax nostalgic about the past. She might be able to have a conversation if it was Yuan Shuo and the others present. But these guys? Forget it.

One of them was an official and strictly speaking, the other was a bandit. All martial masters of yesteryear were bandits. The group engaged in awkward chatter before Huang Yu asked bluntly, “How strong is the Steadfast Duke?”

“Stronger than me!” Light Sword speculated after a while. “The supernatural locks of his four limbs are definitely saturated and at least three more of his organs are.”

The others furrowed their brows. That strong?

“And you?” Kong Jie stroked his chin and looked at her.

“Two of mine are saturated.”

“Not bad!” Kong Jie smiled. “I thought all of you guys wouldn’t have improved much over the years. Southern Fist has probably just completed saturation of one lock and can barely break the ones of his organs. However, he’s so much cockier than you.”

“And you?” Light Sword asked equally bluntly.

“Me?” Kong Jie laughed. “Just two, I’m not quite there with my third.” He hesitated, then still asked, “Have you discovered the ones in your head, body, or bones? There are only nine altogether in the limbs and organs, but there should be many more than that in the body...”

The human body should be sealed on all fronts. There was one of the head that was publicly acknowledged, even though it was impossible to find. But whether there were locks in the body or bones remained a mystery.

“I don’t know, I haven’t sensed any.”

Kong Jie inclined his head and continued asking, “What aspect do you focus on?”

“The aura!”

“Those are the aspects available to us.” Kong Jie nodded again. “The aura, body, and blood qi. It’s mostly the same. Only Yuan Shuo is studying the path of the organs, but that happens to be the hardest to walk. I wonder if that guy has made any progress at all.”

He sighed and wanted to speak on when Huang Yu interrupted, “How many do you think Earthturner Sword’s saturated?”

“I don’t know.” Light Sword shook her head.

The others frowned, how could she not know? But they caught her drift. It wasn’t that she didn’t know or didn’t have her speculations, she just didn’t want to say. He must be stronger than her, so he was at either three or four locks.

“Are we able to break through to the next level if all five locks are fully saturated to their maximum capacity?” Light Sword asked in return.

“I don’t know, we’ve never tried.” Kong Jie shook his head. “At our current stage, there may not be any who can saturate all nine locks. We’ve enjoyed some of the advantages of the supernatural as we were in that domain first, then converted back to being martial masters...”

“So a return conversion is possible?” Light Sword raised her eyebrows.

“Of course!” Kong Jie nodded emphatically. “Your light energy is so strong that it can overcome many difficulties. We lacked that kind of energy at first, so we chose to walk the edge of the blade... but that left some disadvantages. Of course, with those drawbacks comes certain advantages.”

“Then can I return to martial dao if I become a supernatural now?”

“There’s hope to, but it’s also too dangerous and too hard!” Kong Jie shook his head. “Trying at this stage would be a very dangerous undertaking. Sky Sword is still a supernatural—I wonder what’s going through his mind. If he still doesn’t convert back and crosses beyond Nova... Trying to recover from two broken locks of the organs is too hard. There are still ways when only one is broken.”

“Perhaps he’s trying to find a better way out,” Huang Yu responded calmly. “He has his plans, he won’t be willing to be a supernatural forever.”

Light Sword listened quietly to the discussion around her. After a while, the director general asked, “Can Li Hao’s sword really suppress the five organs?”

“I don’t know.” Light Sword shook her head.

The group didn’t know what to say! They already knew that, and to hear it from someone who’d personally experienced the effects of the sword... It was saddening. Their money was wasted! That was three origin weapons and thirty thousand mysterious power stones!

“What are your plans next?”

“I'm going to stay with Li Hao for a few days and visit the Sword Sect if I have time.”

Very well then!

A resigned atmosphere settled down over the rest. Light Sword didn’t seem to want much to do with them.

“That is just as well,” Director General Zhao concluded after a while. “Take a transmission pendant with you. We’ll reach out to you if we have need of you. If not, you can do as you wish!”

Light Sword said nothing as she accepted a pendant and placed it within her storage ring. “Then I take my leave!” She rose and left.

“She’s the same as ever!” Kong Jie laughed ruefully as soon as she was gone. “She’s always uncomfortable when she comes in contact with us and can’t wait to be gone. I’d thought it might be different after we spent so much and with her being away for twenty years...”

“Just get used to it!” The director general was unperturbed. “Have you given the transmission pendant to Li Hao?”

“Yes.”

“Good. Have him stay inside for the next couple of days. The outside world is chaotic and while those guys might be slightly wary of us, their greed might rage out of control if Li Hao shows himself again.” Director General Zhao sighed, finding the situation difficult.

Silver Moon was now besieged on all sides with surveillance. Li Hao would probably be unable to temper himself with cultivation trips anymore, but he improved quickly and could train for a while at home.

The thoughts of the director general and others were simple—it wouldn’t be too much time if Li Hao spent a few months or even a year or two at the base. Thus, they weren’t in a great hurry.

......

Li Hao had already left the Silver Moon Guards’ complex. Thanks to his eyes, he evaded all supernaturals and all of the watchers. Clad in silver armor, he entered the sea before long. Panther followed him.

The dog had a sharp nose and sniffed out anything it wished. Its presence shored up some of the weaknesses in Li Hao’s eyes. He chose to leave when everyone thought that he wouldn’t leave. Catching everyone off guard was his aim!

He left Kong Jie’s transmission pendant in the base. It didn’t matter if he lacked intelligence reports, he’d just take a pendant from someone else.

I’ll kill White Shark if I can... or ignore him if I can’t. I need to get the Windchaser Boot first... Li Hao weighed up his options. He needed to pick up speed and travel to the Steadfast Duke’s manor. It’d been three and a half days since Xu Zhen’s death; he wanted to respectfully light a stick of incense for the man!

The Steadfast Duke was domineering, but Li Hao didn’t mean to assassinate him. He just wanted to seize treasure. However, escaping the ensuing chase was the true difficulty if he was successful. It was said that the remaining three generals were all of the metamorphosis level.

Patting the dog’s head, Li Hao sank into the sea and swiftly advanced. “Work well with me. If we succeed, I’ll hold a feast for you with mysterious power stones!”

“Arfwooo arfwoo!” Panther barked, spitting out the seawater that it swallowed. It wasn’t too comfortable on the seabed. Swimming was fine, diving was awful.

“Stop barking. We’ll walk on land as soon as we leave Silver Moon and take a look at the world. I’ve never been to any place other than Silver Moon. I only looked around the waters when we were in the North Sea...”

Traveling through water without the Divine Kun Ship made for slow progress. It might be much faster when Panther was his steed on land. The dog wagged its tail happily, unaware of Li Hao’s intentions. Land was the best!

......

At the same time, the eastern reaches, the province of Calm Borders.

This was where the Steadfast Duke’s manor was located. The royal family had bestowed a new name to the province when the duke calmed the eastern border for the dynasty.

A cloud of gloom hung over the magnificent manor these days. Five generals, the eldest direct son, the eldest direct grandson, a peak Nova resident expert, and a late Nova esteemed guest had died...

This was an inauspicious year for the Steadfast Duke—he’d lost nine Nova experts in a short amount of time! This level of strength was sufficient to suppress a province or two, but they’d died one after another and he’d even lost one of the Windchaser Boots!