Star Gate

“All of you guys were gone when I woke up,” Yuan Shuo complained. “I only learned that you’d come to fight the Wind and Cloud Pavilion when I asked. Didn’t I tell you to notify me when you set out to battle them?”

“Um well, you were a ball then…”

Screw you! Yuan Shuo didn’t have an appropriate response. He was dwelling in his metamorphosis state then, so he couldn’t blame Li Hao. You just would’ve been lost forever without me! The old man fell silent after inwardly grumbling about the situation.

Li Hao looked around to see numerous plant spirits around him. He looked curiously at Director General Wang. “These plant spirits…”

“Serve the Wind and Cloud Pavilion!” the director general explained.”The pavilion established a branch at the inception of Silver Moon territory. Hong Tu held down the fort then. He was already a known personage as a Saint—his status and identity were very elevated.

“In the entire world, there were only a few who were higher ranked than him. They could be found at Evenround Martial University and the Lis. The rest of the people, including my Wang family, were less than him.”

Jiang Yingli and Li Shengzhang didn’t say anything. When it came to personal strength, those such as the Human King and Green Emperor were powerful beyond bounds.But when it came to family influence… the Hongs were more formidable than the Lis of Tranquil Star.

They could be counted as the foremost family. There were some families with two emperors, and more than one at that. But when it came to one family with four emperors… there was only one such family.

“I thought Hong Tu left when the Wind and Cloud Pavilion evacuated from Silver Moon,” Director General Wang continued. “Who would’ve known that not only did this guy not leave, but he stayed here and reincarnated instead!”

Reincarnation was not the same as forming one’s physical body anew. It was a completely different concept. Reincarnation was a kind of rebirth, the experience of the next life. It took significant determination to give up everything and start anew. One had to cultivate from nothing to recover their past strength. Although they had their past memories to draw on, the memories weren’t complete, which made this life different from the past.

Hong Tu demonstrated incredible willpower in choosing to reincarnate, but… he chose the wrong path. Or rather, he met Li Hao. He might’ve stood a real chance had he not encountered the young man. He would take his path to new heights and claim everything for himself. It wasn’t a foolish plan, just that he died to Li Hao in the end.

The young man nodded continuously. Reincarnation! It might be more terrifying than the mental strength resurrection that the Lu Zhen Research Center studied.

“How does it compare to mental strength resurrection?” Li Hao asked since the thought had occurred to him.

“Mental strength resurrection… is a bit simpler, but one’s strength will decline after it is complete. There isn’t much of a change from one’s prior self if the process is successful. Reincarnation, however, means starting from zero. Even if there are memories to draw on, the memories will be hazy…”

“It seems that Director General Wang possesses a high understanding of this process?”

“It was practiced in New Martial!” the director general admitted frankly. “Many citizens of New Martial underwent this experience. Of course, our main world was different in that it supported resurrection. The minor world doesn’t as there is no boundary between the yin and yang world here.”

Li Hao nodded thoughtfully. It appeared that the main world of New Martial was a much more complete place than his world. He didn’t mind it much. As the heir of the Lis, he could sense that these people viewed him as one of them. But for him, he thought of himself as from Silver Moon.

This was his home. He was born here and grew up here. Hence, he didn’t really care about New or Old Martial, main or whatever world.

He carefully looked over the mirror. This was his greatest gain from this trip. It was such a treasure! Sadly, this appeared to be all that he’d obtained for his efforts. What a shame! He hadn’t even collected Hong Tu’s storage ring. Li Hao scanned the plant spirits in the city—there were eight of them, but they seemed even weaker than General Pagoda’s descendants.

All of them seemed so feeble that it looked like they would collapse at any second. Was this… a result of malnutrition? Li Hao regarded them with resignation. All he would gain from killing them was the trunk of an Immortal. There probably wasn’t a single drop of Water of Life to be harvested from them.

Meanwhile, he himself was so extremely weak that he needed nutrition.

Li Hao glanced at the rest. They seemed fine. Silver Moon martial masters were much stronger than the Eight Legions, and it’d been the two puppets and Deputy Zhou handling the enemy’s seven element Arcanus. The deputy’s injuries were slightly heavier, but he was recovering quickly as well.

To be able to eliminate the Wind and Cloud Pavilion without suffering any losses themselves, apart from Li Hao’s grievous wounds, was a wonderful outcome in itself.

“Then I’ll refine this thing first and take out Stellaris. I can’t sit easily until I do that.” Li Hao looked at everyone. “Let’s count our battle spoils. Also… these plant spirits…”

He eyed the frail plant spirits, debating whether or not he should kill them.

“The Wind and Cloud Pavilion… is not an enemy faction,” Director General Wang spoke up after initial hesitation. “Well I mean, the one who faced us was and Hong Tu certainly was, as was the white tree that attacked us. But these plant spirits only followed orders and didn’t take the field…”

Even though he’d wanted to kill all of them just moments ago, he spoke up to beg for mercy on their behalf now. The plant spirits had simply been following orders. They were sworn to the Wind and Cloud Pavilion and to the Hong family.

Since Hong Tu had wanted to steal this minor world, a world that was Li family territory, he deserved his death. The Earth Emperor of the Hong family could have nothing to say in protest. But it would be a shame to kill these plant spirits.

Li Hao furrowed his brows and looked at Director General Wang.

“I’m not ordering you,” coughed the man. “Just… explaining the situation.”

He was starting to understand more of Li Hao. The young man didn’t consider himself to be part of New Martial. Neither was he truly. It was just Battle Heaven that subconsciously felt that since Li Hao was of the Lis, that made him part of New Martial.

But in actuality, Li Hao seemed to like following his own heart. Director General Wang found that to be very normal! Geniuses of the age always seemed to be thus. No matter how strong their seniors were, they felt that they could create a new era.

“Let’s wait and see.” Li Hao ultimately decided. “I’ll refine the copy of the Mirror of Wind and Cloud first before making my decision.”

A vast quantity of Water of Life flowed into his body to quickly repair it. His mind intent probed the mirror, meeting with great resistance. He didn’t care. Sword aura rampaged through it as he forcefully refined the treasure. He contemplated what he’d just experienced as he made the item his.

He’d entered his aura and set foot into the secondary dimension. Although it was just a quick second, Li Hao had dwelled there for quite a while. He saw a sky full of stars, a variety of supernatural locks, and aura wandering through the area. He might… not have been alone.

Perhaps the secondary dimension of the human body was a common area like the core origin universe. It was a big universe that others had not found their way or hadn’t discovered yet. Perhaps everyone’s supernatural locks were within that space.

How else would his teacher have been able to lead him back out?

Li Hao’s thoughts traveled back to his teacher’s metamorphosis from a cocoon. He hadn’t understood it before, but comprehension now tickled at the edges of his comprehension. His teacher was so bold that he might’ve set foot into this dimension ahead of time. One had to say, Li Hao was highly admiring of Yuan Shuo.

The young man had entered the secondary dimension only because his back had been against a wall and he had no other choice. Yuan Shuo looked to have entered it of his own accord.

Teacher’s body has changed because of it… Therefore, the secondary dimension of the human body might contain special energy that can strengthen the body…

Despite his teacher being right next to him, Li Hao didn’t ask for confirmation. Just as the old man had said, one should experiment and try a notion first before asking questions. One should strive for practical application first and then hypothesize how to solve an issue. Only then could one more clearly understand what they wanted.

Martial dao was very interesting! The corners of the young man’s lips curved upwards. As opposed to being a king or an emperor, he’d rather be a wandering hero. Sometimes, he felt that if the supernatural domain hadn’t appeared and the martial world was as it used to be, then he might be a famous hero traveling throughout the world.

He would be carefree and easy like his teacher, focusing on martial dao. Li Hao had derived much enjoyment and satisfaction from his duel of swords with Hong Tu.

The dao of a myriad swords, the dao of a myriad daos… The dao of supernatural characters, of core origin. The inner world…

Various possibilities floated in his mind. The ferocious tiger roamed over his body, abruptly vanishing and reappearing with something in its mouth. A peculiar force blossomed in Li Hao’s body when the tiger spat it out. The force nurtured his heart and instantly restored it to full function.

Very interesting…

Li Hao’s smile deepened as he refined the treasure. The secondary dimension seemed to contain a peculiar strength that could not be harvested. But he’d just found out that the aura could devour it. That meant to say that the aura could extract this energy and use it to nourish the entire body.

The humans of the new age possessed exceedingly frail physical bodies. This might have something to do with the secondary dimension.

Every age had its own path. The aura was a unique hallmark of this era. It seemed to be capable of many things that other existences could not achieve.

Enlightenment dawned on Li Hao. The aura was key! He’d now comprehended seven auras and was a seven element Arcanus in the true meaning of the cultivation level. Not only did he possess the auras of the five elements, wind, and thunder, but he was almost successful with the dark and light auras as well.

If all of them could enter the secondary dimension to absorb this energy, wouldn’t that bring infinite energy to fortify his body? This would be more useful than Water of Life or sword energy!

Those two resources were just as good, but they didn’t result in the marked transformation of the physical body that he was looking for. Perhaps they weren’t suited for the humans of this era. Humans of the new age could perhaps strengthen themselves or even transform through these resources, but there was a limit to how much they could take in and it wouldn’t propel them to the next stage.

More possibilities bloomed in Li Hao’s mind.

etvolare’s Thoughts

This is a very neat way of differentiating between the cultivation systems of the two ages.