Star Gate

The two puppets were horrified beyond belief and wanted nothing more than to burrow into the ground. A terrified Li Shengzhang shrank in on herself, deathly afraid of drawing the shadow’s attention.

The world seemed to change when the shadow pronounced its judgement; it was like countless people were gathered in audible worship. The city came alive and the slumbering plant spirits awoke. Many of them had sunk into deep slumber after Hong Tu drained them of Water of Life.

When they came to and saw the faint shadow in the vicinity, all of them bent over and some even prostrated themselves. They were uneasy, afraid, and petrified!

The white tree was the most terrified and panicked of all. “No… Supreme Zhang… this minor spirit has not betrayed New Martial… I have never thought of doing so…”

When Panther heard that Li Hao was gone, the Monster Spirit Envoy projection that it was about to gather instantly dispersed. The dog shook like a leaf and didn’t dare move a muscle.

The faint shadow was the only thing that existed in the world.

“An execution is deserved!” The judgment was repeated and reverberated in the void.

BOOM!

The bloody ‘execute’ character fell with the landing of the great seal. In the air, the white tree’s great dao was fixed in place by the staff. It spontaneously collapsed!

The tree howled with pain as its colossal primary body appeared—only to crumble away. As the ‘execute’ character finalized its descent, it reduced the formidable white tree to a pile of shards that exploded!

“This minor spirit… really… didn’t betray New Martial…” Mental strength surged with grief and resignation.

Truly! It didn’t dare!

But there was no one that it could explain itself to. This was just the physical materialization of some marks left on the city lord seal. The shadow wasn’t a real person and had been summoned by the acting city lord through blood qi. It was an item that all main cities possessed. The white tree just hadn’t thought that it would be brought out on a simple excursion.

“Is this worth it?” The fading white tree projected its mental strength at the pale Director General Wang. “Is it? This is the means of the supreme, a method by which major cities use to kill Empyrean Kings or even stronger. Is it worth it to use it on me?”

All color had drained from the director general’s face and he swayed, barely on his feet. “It’s worth it!” He clenched his jaw. “You bastard shattered my hopes of returning home, fucking hell! I have to kill you to relieve some of my rage!”

Boom!

The mental strength exploded and churned through the premises. Director General Wang didn’t care about that. He grabbed some fragments and shoved them into his mouth. This method couldn’t be used on a whim; he was on the brink of death. Despite being an Immortal, he would also be done for if he was the slightest bit unlucky.

He had simply been too irate and despairing just now. If he’d known all of this would happen, he would’ve targeted the white tree from the very beginning! But who would’ve thought then that Li Hao would die so easily?

All was quiet in the world, save for the sound of Director General Wang furiously devouring the white tree. The Black Tortoise Seal lost its luster and the character completely dimmed. And yet, everyone stood blankly in place, no matter what side they were on.

What was that?

It was just a written character, a bit of might lingering from countless eons ago. And yet, it spontaneously eradicated an Immortal that used to be a Saint! There wasn’t even a chance to resist. The white tree hadn’t dared to resist even when death stared at it in the face. It simply sobbed that it hadn’t turned traitor.

“Gulp!” Someone swallowed hard, prompting Hong Yitang and the rest to leap into motion and rush toward the broken hall. The director general’s sudden berserk fury had almost made them forget that something seemed to have happened to Li Hao.

They charged over and peered at the tattered structure. There was… nothing inside!

“Arf arf arf!” barked Panther, a lost look in its eyes. Li Hao was… no more? Where had he gone?

All of the revitalized plant spirits inside the city were exceedingly weak. They were prostrate on the ground, no one daring to stand up.

Still overwhelmed with fury, Director General Wang swallowed the last pieces of the white tree. He glared frostily at the surviving Eight Legions and guardians when he was done. Gnashing his teeth, he leered, “All of you can die. There’s no need for you to be alive. All of you can despair just like me…”

Bam!

A guardian tried to flee from his palm strike, but was instantly pulverized to minced meat!

Director General Wang was clenching his teeth so hard that they threatened to break. I’ll just fucking stay here and wait for death! There’s no need to go out anymore, there’s no point in doing that. The Ninth Division leader will probably kill me next time he sees me. I’m here to protect Li Hao! I’m fine, but the kid is gone.

I took the city lord seal when I left and a tendril of the old turtle’s core origin!

All of Battle Heaven was telling me that I needed to protect Li Hao well because I left with our greatest treasures. I was careless and negligent. My failure to use the city lord seal before this was a demonstration of being afraid of death.

That is a huge taboo for those of New Martial!

“AHHH!!!” Director General Wang screamed. He’d previously felt it beneath him to attack weaklings, but now he launched a furious barrage against the remnants of the Wind and Cloud Pavilion. Corpses littered the ground in the blink of an eye. However, the sight didn’t cheer up the director general. He was beyond depressed!

Just as he was about to descend into full madness, a figure abruptly barged into the ruins. Whirling around with bloodshot eyes, Director General Wang readied to kill the newcomer.

“Why didn’t you guys bring me along for the fight?” the newcomer yelled. “That damned kid, I said to bring me along when you attacked the Wind and Cloud Pavilion! How come everyone left and I was the only one who didn’t know what was going on??”

The person landed on the ground—an infuriated Yuan Shuo!

He happened to see the director general laying around. Yuan Shuo didn’t know the man, so he punched Director General Wang without further word. The latter was glaring at him with reddened eyes like Yuan Shuo had killed his father. Who wouldn’t he hit, if not the director general?

Bam!

Yuan Shuo was highly confident in his move. Who in this world could withstand one of his blows? He’d metamorphosed again!

BAM!!

The enormous recoil sent him reeling. His arm exploded from the impact. Director General Wang blinked in his rage—he’d seen Yuan Shuo before, but the old man didn’t know since he’d been a cocoon then.

“This is a misunderstanding! I’m from Battle Heaven!”

Yuan Shuo was about to charge forward again with his blade when he paused and took a good look at his opponent. Someone from Battle Heaven?

“Yuan Shuo, Li Hao is… no more!” Earthturner Sword’s voice came with some urgency at this point.

“Huh?” Yuan Shuo started and vanished, reappearing in front of Earthturner Sword. He looked around with a slight frown. No more?

The old man’s nose twitched and his five auras manifested. He seemed to sense something as his expression shifted. “Idiot who did things he shouldn’t have!”

The world shook when he operated the Breathing Method of the Five Styles! Each of his five styles erupted in unison! A powerful force manifested and streams of blood shot out with his roar. Yuan Shuo reached into the void and came back out with a stone blade!

Radiance flared out of the stone blade as the old man ripped through the void amid the crowd’s astonished eyes. A ferocious tiger appeared—not Li Hao’s, but Yuan Shuo’s. It carried a stone blade in its mouth before suddenly disappearing!

Yuan Shuo slammed his hand on his chest and coughed out a mouthful of blood essence. “Find him and pull him back!” he exhorted.

Boom!

Ripples shook the void; even Director General Wang stared dumbly. What was this? Where had that ferocious tiger with the blade of the Zhangs gone off to? Not even the director general could determine where the tiger left.

“Thank goodness I’m here,” cursed Yuan Shuo. “I’m always the one cleaning up after you guys. What’s the use in keeping a disciple around for? There’s so many powerhouses around, but you useless lot still let him burrow into the secondary dimension!

“Whether it’s modern people or ancient, you’re all trash. You let the Wind and Cloud Pavilion throw him into the secondary dimension! What’s Li Hao keeping around a bunch of trash for??”

“……” No one dared make a peep while Yuan Shuo went on a tirade. Even Director General Wang felt so awkward that he didn’t know what to do with himself.

“Is… Li Hao… not dead?” he asked carefully.

“Shut up! It’ll take you dying first before he dies!”

The director general wasn’t annoyed by the snippy response. On the contrary, he heaved a large sigh of relief and plopped to the ground, relief in his eyes. Li Hao… wasn’t dead!

“Where’s my sword?” A voice seemed to echo in the air. It sounded confused.

Where’s my sword? Why can’t I locate it? Thankfully, he saw a tiger holding a blade in its mouth at a critical moment. Why… did they look familiar?

Everyone present was overjoyed. That was Li Hao’s voice! So he really was still alive!

……

Li Hao was currently wandering among the cosmos in the form of a ferocious tiger. He was highly excited to see another tiger, one that rode on a large stone blade. Floundering for direction, he surged forward and grabbed the stone blade that the other tiger rode on.

……

In the outside world.

Yuan Shuo grunted and used his fresh blood as a catalyst, drawing a road of blood in the void. Formidable energy burst out of his body as he roared, “Return!”

Boom!

The world shook as a person appeared—or rather, a tiger shadow. Li Hao maintained his grip on the stone blade and followed it out of the void, his mind befuddled.

Yuan Shuo sank to the ground with weaknesses, cursing up a new storm. “You always get up to no good!”

He cursed loudly without thought of his image. Thank goodness he’d gotten here in time and realized where Li Hao was. Granted, he also knew that his disciple had nowhere to go. If he was to flee, there was only one place that he could flee to.

After all, the secondary dimension of the human body was something that Li Hao himself had spoken of. He was the one who’d discovered it. With how bold the young man was, he’d certainly run here in a moment of need.

Li Hao’s figure came into view, prompting Director General Wang to leap up and grab the very feeble young man. Unfortunately, he ended up squeezing the tiger’s claw to dust with a loud crunch. The director general had simply wanted to express his concern, but froze upon noting this horrifying development.

Newly back in human form, Li Hao looked at his shattered palm, then greeted the other wordlessly. This wasn’t him putting on an act to gather pity, but that he really was as fragile as a porcelain doll at the moment.

Director General Wang just crushed my hand.

The director general ardently wished for the ground to swallow him.

etvolare’s Thoughts

And now YS will crush his for you, don’t you worry.