Star Gate

“I promise I won’t kill you, Li Hao, so long as you teach me how to coalesce these supernatural characters. I already have some ideas about them, so I’ll be able to experiment on my own even if you don’t teach me. When I become master of this world, I assure you that I will keep you in mind for plenty of good things…” Being trapped inside the great hall, Hong Tu didn’t wish to continue this mutually destructive fight.

“You’re certainly confident in yourself!” Li Hao cast a strange look at the other. Just look at the straits they were in and the enormous losses that he’d suffered! Hong Tu wanted him to teach a secret art and was promising the sun and moon to him? What was the man thinking?

Li Hao carried roughly ten thousand drops of Water of Life on him. He’d consumed or otherwise wasted one thousand drops in this battle. It was an incredible expenditure, as well as one hundred decimated energy bombs, a nearly shattered golden armor, and a destroyed mallet of the Hongs…

Although this wasn’t a fight that dragged on, it was one that resulted in heavy losses for the young man. His supernatural characters were tattered beyond recognition. Who knew how long it’d take for him to repair them?

And now Hong Tu called for a ceasefire, that he would take care of Li Hao when he became master of the world. What kind of joke was that??

“Then what do you want?” Hong Tu looked coldly at him. “What else can you do apart from setting off energy bombs? If you do that again, you’ll be the one to die!”

At the very least, he was in a much better state than Li Hao. The young man had been able to turn into a gust of wind the first time because he had a treasure protecting him, giving him time to withdraw from the blast. It fended off most of the detonation. Li Hao wouldn’t be able to repeat that action if he set off another massive explosion again.

“I have one move that I’ve kept in my back pocket all this time because I didn’t dare use it… Do you want to give it a try?” Li Hao smiled.

Hong Tu’s expression shifted slightly. Did he have more aces up his sleeves?

A ferocious tiger manifested next to Li Hao. It was covered with injuries, but raised its head high and proud. It skewered Hong Tu with an arctic glare as Li Hao walked inside it. The two seemed to become one. He was the ferocious tiger and the ferocious tiger was him.

“I don’t know if I’ll be able to survive…” sighed Li Hao. “Or if I can come back from this… But even so, I won’t be satisfied unless I ensure your death first!”

A huge assortment of energy bombs appeared in the surroundings, more than last time!

“Li Hao, we can talk things out,” Hong Tu hastily offered. “This is just a minor world, there are many worlds in the universe. How about I give up this one? Don’t do anything brash…”

Li Hao was already part of the tiger. He beamed radiantly. “The human body is said to have a secondary dimension. I’ve always wondered if I can enter that dimension if I become part of the aura. However, I’m a little afraid of death and felt the idea too dangerous. Wouldn’t I be done for if something goes wrong? But now… you’ve gotten my ire up. You’re just a second-gen who loves to cheat!”

The young man turned to smile at Stellaris. Remember to bring me back, little sword. The ferocious tiger threw its head back with a howl!

It vanished among the void and completely disappeared amid Hong Tu’s incredulous stare. There was no sign of life to be detected anywhere. Meanwhile, the mountain of energy bombs ignited.

“Open!!” Hong Tu howled with dismay. Damn it! Why hadn’t this shitty hall opened its doors yet?! Damn it all to hell! Where had that bastard Li Hao gone off to?!

The hall doors were swinging open, but an even stronger surge of energy ripped through the surroundings!

BOOM!

Heaven and earth shattered; cracks appeared in the hall. The mirror wanted to return to Hong Tu’s hand, but Stellaris caught up to it and prevented it from moving. Cracks also crawled over the mirror as it was buffeted by the energy!

Craaaack. As the cracks grew, they ultimately reached a point in which repairs were impossible. Hong Tu continued to yell and threw out treasure after treasure. All of them were immediately obliterated as soon as they emerged into the open. He switched to origin weapons, all of which instantly blew apart as well.

BAM!

It was his physical body’s turn to explode. Hong Tu wailed with pain, but his mental strength remained and it darted toward the mirror. Stellaris exploded with radiance and struck!

“No! I am a Hong…” Hong Tu roared with outrage. Stellaris was cutting down his mental strength even in the absence of its master! It was well known that it didn’t possess a weapon soul, so why could it continue to fight on its own?

Hong Tu wasn’t willing to accept this! He’d forsaken too much on his quest to become master of this minor world. He’d given up returning home, the strength of a Saint, his powerful physical body, and everything that was him to begin anew.

His only hope had been to become part of the new era and be accepted by the world. He wanted to replace the consciousness of the world with his own, becoming the new master of the age. But why… had things developed like this??

He’d known there was a problem when Li Hao ascended. Therefore, he’d wanted to eliminate the young man no matter what. In his eyes, there was no reason why he should fail. Li Hao had entered his territory, just as he’d anticipated. There was Revered White here and his guardians. Hong Tu had the copy of the Mirror of Wind and Cloud, as well as the immense mental strength from his past self. Even an Immortal might fall if one came.

Li Hao was just a seven element Arcanus, a cultivator on the same level as him. The young man’s cultivation level wasn’t even as stable or strong as his, so why had all of this happened? A so-called favored son of heaven was invincible among peers. Hong Tu had felt that he was such a person, but today, everything went awry after meeting Li Hao. Why was that?!

Shifts in his mental strength resulted in it splitting apart as two people. They looked exactly the same, but their bearing was very different. One was much more mature and calm. He looked at the swinging Stellaris and suddenly sighed, “Something that is not mine cannot be mine even through force, is it? But doesn’t the martial dao spirit of New Martial denote that we must fight for everything? Is it wrong for me to fight for my future?

“The Hongs produced four emperors—there is too much honor and pressure being born in such a family. I want to walk further along my own path. I will take what the Sword Sovereign doesn’t want, is there anything wrong with that?”

He refused to accept this situation and was also angered by it!

Am I wrong? No! I am only wrong by the fact that I am too weak. One must fight for their own within martial dao. Not vying for an opportunity I see would be the greatest regret of all!

Hummmm!

The longsword slashed down, severing the enormous mental strength. The other Hong Tu wailed with anguish. Had his era ended before it even began?

“You won’t be making it back, Li Hao!” he suddenly shouted. Don’t you think of returning if I do! So you want to use Stellaris as a homing beacon? In your dreams!

His mental strength burned with a backdrop of an agonized howl. The mirror suddenly transformed into an empty void that enveloped the world. It enshrouded Stellaris and held the sword within itself.

Although Hong Tu’s mind was starting to fragment, he viewed the scene with contempt and scorn. “Don’t even think of coming back! You won’t be getting what I can’t have!”

BOOM!

His last vestiges of mental strength exploded. Stellaris struggled and erupted with rays of scintillating sword qi, but the mirror fully enclosed it. The sword vanished without a trace.

The mirror dropped to the ground with a thud. There were only countless fractures left inside the great hall and a battered mirror. It seemed to have a sword sealed inside.

The world finally fell silent!

……

At the same time.

The combatants paused when massive explosions sounded once more. The white tree and Director General Wang were in no mood to continue their standoff. They rushed to the tumbling great hall, seeing that cracks had formed through it.

Man and tree swiftly scanned the insides, freezing at what they found.

Nothing! There was absolutely nothing in the vast structure but a broken mirror. There was neither Li Hao nor Hong Tu.

“How is this possible…” Director General Wang didn’t believe his eyes, nor did the white tree. It was even more astounded, even shocked!

It knew how many aces Hong Tu could pull out. Not only was the mirror formidable, but he’d kept some of his Saint-level prior self’s mental strength. He could recover to his past self at a critical moment. While he wouldn’t immediately return to being a Saint, he would recover a great deal of strength.

Regular seven element Arcanus couldn’t possibly kill him. Therefore, the white tree had thought Li Hao was doomed the second he entered the great hall! But where was he now? There was no presence emanating from the tattered mirror. That meant Hong Tu was dead!

The white tree shook with incomprehension and an inability to accept the sight in front of it. Director General Wang was even more unwilling to accept it.

“The fuck?!” he snarled with crazed fervor. “Fucking hell! This is my first time out of the city and my first mission with him. We said that we’d help Battle Heaven recover first…”

Now that Li Hao was dead, not only could he not explain himself to Battle Heaven or the Ninth Division leader, but he wasn’t able to leave the ruins either. It also meant that they wouldn’t be able to open the Star Gate. Even Stellaris was gone!

There was no more bloodline of the Lis, there was nothing of anything! Could those of them remaining in the ruins open the Star Gate and return to the main world?

That wasn’t possible!

Therefore, this world had become their prison! Their hopes were shattered, completely shattered!

“Fuck you, you piece of traitorous shit!” Director General Wang howled at the white tree. “I’m going to kill you no matter what it takes!”

It was the end of the road for him! He couldn’t leave this set of ruins or return to the main world. He wouldn’t be able to live with himself if he didn’t obliterate this piece of firewood!

Did people think that the Saints of yore were noteworthy?! He’d simply thought that Li Hao would be fine with all the trump cards he had, so the director general hadn’t brought his greatest moves to bear! Blood qi surged into the vicinity as he called upon the Incantation of the Blade of Blood. His mental strength and qi were one!

Not only that, but a Black Tortoise Seal appeared in the air when he grasped the air with his hand. One large character appeared on it, one written by an invincible powerhouse!

The word spontaneously manifested as the seal was bathed in blood qi—execution!

Indeed, execution!

“Traitors have appeared in New Martial!” Director General Wang yelled. “The plant spirits have rebelled, so I, Director General Wang Ye of Battle Heaven Security, will carry out the duties in my capacity as acting city lord! With blood qi as sacrifice, I implore Supreme Zhang to execute the traitor!”

The ‘execution’ character on the seal grew more vibrant as it absorbed the blood qi. The white tree shook with terror and garbled an explanation, “No… I haven’t turned traitor! I… just followed the young lord’s orders… I have not rebelled…”

“Execute the demon!” A faint shadow appeared in front of the shocked crowd. It wielded a wooden club, or possibly a disciplinary whip. It was very faint and quite aloof, as if passing judgment.

“An execution is deserved!” came the calm declaration. The white tree was horrified!

etvolare’s Thoughts

Er, someone tell the director general...