Star Gate

When it looked like some wanted to protest his decisions, the inspector general that didn’t look too old slammed his hand on the table.

“These matters are so settled! They are such trifling issues. It is a loss to the dynasty that the previous duke has died, but Xu Qing’s always been a slight irritant. Have the royal family bestow him with posthumous honors. Yellow Dragon, go make the request in a personal audience with the king!”

Emotion flickered across Yellow Dragon’s face, but he nodded in acceptance. “Inspector general, is there any room for discussion when it comes to promoting Li Hao?”

A peacemaker commissioner!

That was a major figure in the Inspectorate hierarchy. Hou Xiaochen had been one before, as was Kong Jie now. Typically speaking, one province only had two serving in that capacity. The inspector general and director of their Night Watchers had to be strong enough to have both positions filled. If they were weaker, there might only be one peacemaker commissioner.

Strictly speaking, Yellow Dragon was also a peacemaker commissioner. Titles weren’t as emphasized in Skystar City; strength and actual duties were.

“What, do you have opinions otherwise?” The inspector general cast a quizzical look at him.

“Not exactly…”

“Then it’s settled! Right, I forgot that you’re also the commander of the northern Night Watchers. I’m giving you a mission—arrest the five great bandits! Kill however many you can!”

Yellow Dragon suddenly felt like he’d swallowed a fly. However, the inspector general was correct. Eliminating bandits was indeed the responsibility of the northern commander. But these five were… Damn it! The weakest Yuan Shuo was an overwhelming character. A fully fused five auras at his cultivation level propelled him to metamorphosis! Not to mention, his disciple was very strong now as well.

To be able to escape from Xu Qing—even if he hadn’t unsealed himself at first—indicated that Li Hao was at metamorphosis as well. The young man had the ability to defy metamorphosis experts, and one also had to keep in mind the methods he employed against Red Beard. How was Yellow Dragon supposed to defeat them?

He knew that this was the inspector general’s punishment for him, a rebuke of him interrupting. The nine ministries had become the personal faction of whoever gripped the reins of power. Whatever the inspector general said was law and there was no room for contradiction. Yellow Dragon just didn’t want to accept his circumstances!

Creating five new fugitives for Silver Moon wasn’t a loss for the province. Yellow Dragon didn’t care about the late Steadfast Duke either. However, one could clearly see that the inspector general was favoring Silver Moon. Why? He couldn’t make sense of it.

The inspector general shouldn’t be related to Silver Moon. Did he just want to sit back and watch tigers fight? And there was Hou Xiaochen to consider…

Yellow Dragon suppressed his urge to say more and raised another topic instead. “I’ll do my best, inspector general! Also, regarding Deputy Hou Xiaochen’s major disturbance at the Skystar Academy…”

“Right, although he was on a mission, his methods were too crude!” said an amused inspector general after some consideration. “He even killed a teacher while he was there! Judgment must be passed even if that teacher was guilty of a crime. The Inspectorate and Night Watchers may be law enforcement agencies, but we cannot use our power like this!”

He slammed his hand down on the table with some anger. “Hou Xiaochen is used to calling the shots in Silver Moon and forgot that this is Skystar City!” he denounced with slight anger. “He is to be demoted one rank to a high rank chief commissioner. His salary will also be garnished for three years as an example to others!”

Yellow Dragon frowned, a reaction echoed by another deputy director. “Inspector general, isn’t this… too lenient? The Skystar Academy is an institute of higher learning jointly established by the nine ministries and royal family… Hou Xiaochen was entirely too brazen.”

“That’s true!” The inspector general nodded. “The punishment is too light for him to remember the lesson…” He paused, but it seemed like a planned pause to give time for the others to fall silent. “How about this, isn’t he the Skystar commander? Charge him to arrest or kill one thousand members of the three evil organizations within three months. He has to count at least one hundred Solars and ten Novas among that number. That will make amends for his deeds!”

Expressions shifted at what the inspector general said. What did he mean? Did he want Hou Xiaochen to declare war on the three great organizations with open backing from the Inspectorate, one of the nine ministries? What did the inspector general want?? Did he actually seek official hostilities, or did he want to borrow another’s hand to kill Hou Xiaochen?

The group didn’t know because anything was possible. Or had the death of the previous Steadfast Duke caused this one to be unwilling to stay out of the limelight?

Whatever it was, it made Yellow Dragon fidget even more uncomfortably. Hou Xiaochen now had a legitimate reason and support from the inspector general to move against three great organizations. Given Hou Xiaochen’s character, he might use this as a pretext for his own ideas and deploy the powerhouses of the Inspectorate and Night Watchers for his own purposes.

Since it was the inspector general’s command, there would be no refusing Hou Xiaochen. Yellow Dragon and the Night Watcher director were just deputy directors at the Inspectorate. Their superior organization possessed significant charisma and execution ability among the nine ministries. Its authority remained strong.

“That will be all for now, dismissed!”

Seeing as the inspector general was about to leave with a flourish, a deputy director couldn’t help but interject, “There’s one more matter, inspector general.”

“Mmhmm, what is it?”

“Ah,” the person continued doggedly. “The Ministry of Administration has sent another letter mentioning combining our agencies for joint enforcement…”

The logic sounded simple; the Ministry of Administration proposed reforms throughout the ninety-nine provinces. They wanted to confirm the position of a provincial leader. Take Silver Moon, for instance, the provincial government should be officially instated as the commander-in-chief of the province. The other institutions should answer to it in the hierarchy of power.

The Ministry of Administration even proposed establishing a position of governor general as a permanent position overseeing all other officials in the province.

Some provinces already had similar arrangements, such as Near River. Their provincial government had been elevated to the Director General Office, and their governor general was their director general of their provincial government.

“Does he think the world isn’t chaotic enough already?” laughed the inspector general. “Establishing a local overlord would add to the mess. Or does he think that since he’s the loudest voice at the Ministry of Administration, he’ll be able to dominate the other eight ministries even if there is more confusion?”

No one made a peep—too much was involved in this matter. The Ministry of Administration had been ranked first among the nine ministries when they were established, but the Ministry of Armed Forces and Inspectorate were equally strong. Although the former was first among the ministries in name, the latter two respectively held the reins of military power and law enforcement. These were highly authoritative institutions as well.

The Ministry of Armed Forces had proposed establishing a Governor General Office multiple times over the years—the proposal had been declined each time!

The inspector general thought for a bit and smiled. “It’s not undoable, but he can’t just appoint the director general from the provincial government as the governor general. When the building is about to fall, how can a scholar helm the ship?”

Eyes widened at his words and some more cautious people said lowly, “Please be careful, inspector general!”

The building is about to fall!

Skystar Dynasty had stood for two hundred years. The nine ministries seemed stable and secure, the royal family seemed mostly secure, and all was at peace apart from the three great organizations occasionally stirring up trouble. As more technologies were excavated from the ruins, there even appeared to be a budding picture of prosperity.

It was horrifying for an overseer of one of the nine ministries to voice such words. Even if this thought was shared by many, no one dared voice it aloud.

“Hahaha, fine. Leave that line out of it and send them back this response.” The inspector general left.

The group heaved sighs of relief after he was gone and Yellow Dragon took advantage of the opening to complain, “Not only is the inspector general not punishing Li Hao of Silver Moon, but he’s promoting the kid! Isn’t that just fostering this kind of lawless atmosphere? I say that Li Hao is the source of chaos in our times. How many people has he killed in such a short while?

“He barged into the Steadfast Duke’s manor today, he might barge into our offices tomorrow!”

Some nodded with a smile and others pretended not to hear him.

“Take it up with the inspector general if you don’t agree with his decisions. There’s no point in complaining about this to us.”

Yellow Dragon cursed to himself. Would I say this to you if I could get through to him? I obviously want all of us to rise up together!

The Night Watcher director that’d sat like a statue all this time suddenly took his big cup of tea and strolled outside. He hadn’t said a word from beginning to end and was so relaxed that it was like the matter had nothing to do with him.

The others weren’t surprised by his reaction. They began discussing other matters instead, such as the boldness and madness of Silver Moon martial masters, their strength, and how strong might those of the sixth cultivation realm be.

More news arrived amid their conversation. A high ranking officer walked in and announced, “A piece of news has just come in and is quickly disseminating…”

People cocked their ears to listen—they hadn’t paid attention to any developments due to the meeting they were in. What news had come in?

The officer’s scalp crawled to suddenly find himself as the center of attention. “Due to the appearance of a sixth level expert in the east, the City of Supernaturals has swiftly proclaimed the development and given the level a name. It is already being popularized…”

A shocked silence stole through the crowd before someone cursed, “The City of Supernaturals? What are they sticking their noses into things for? Since when did it fall to them to name a cultivation level?!”

This wasn’t a matter about naming a cultivation level, it was an issue of governance over the supernatural domain. It should fall to the Night Watchers to create a new name, they were the official authorities and the only law enforcement agency with supernatural strength.

The City of Supernaturals was located in the central region, a city that was entirely forged and occupied by supernaturals. Someone had mentioned it to Li Hao before, but the young man hadn’t paid attention to that trivia.

“We didn’t think about this and they stole a march on us!” Someone slapped their head with regret. “These guys are assholes! So what name did they pick?”

“Arcanus!”

“What?”

“Arcanus!” the speaker repeated. Blank stares and faint frowns abounded in the crowd.

“Did they say why they chose this name?”

“Yes! It is said that the sixth realm is a result of a second broken lock of the organs and the fusion of two supernatural systems. One possesses supernormal powers after that level stabilizes and can truly destroy cities and nations…”

Arcanus! [1]

1. The Chinese name for this realm is the Buddhist term Abhijñā. It is a concept of "higher knowledge" or "supernormal powers" ascribed to buddhas and their chief disciples. ☜

etvolare’s Thoughts

I spent a while naming this new level because as tempting as Magic Encyclopedia was, that was a bit silly. Given the magical nature of the supernatural domain, “arcane” and “occult” both seemed to like options. The Latin root of arcane seemed quite appropriate as a singular cultivation level, which was what I settled on.