Star Gate

Chapter 926: Trust (I)

“Go help the rest!” fired off Li Hao. “Help the imperial guard and others!”

The two plant spirits immediately flew toward the little tree.

A corner of the imperial palace projection—the little tree’s core origin dao—came into view in another remote corner. It suppressed a trellis rose. Despite utilizing this ace, the group still had trouble overcoming their Immortal opponent. The main issue was that the eight plant spirits were almost useless as they’d recovered to a neglible degree.

Even further away, Director General Wang smashed punch after punch at the void. He roared consecutively, anger building within him. It was one thing for the Black Armor to be the first to finish with his target, but even Li Hao was faster than him! This was humiliating!

The shadow of a large shield erupted over the director general. It hovered on the edge of visibility and took the shape of a turtle. Completely ignoring any attacks that came his way, Director General Wang smashed a willow tree to pieces!

When the tree’s great dao appeared, the director general flung out the city lord seal. Although the item didn’t have the power to kill a Saint, its appearance instantly crushed the great dao. Director General Wang bellowed and unleashed a flurry of hundreds of punches. The void trembled, the great dao crumbled, and an agonized wail rang out!

Three sides of combat were over in the blink of an eye. @@novelbin@@

The Black Armor spontaneously appeared in numerous locales and delivered light palm strikes to kill humans that’d yet to come to their senses. He was so fast that his speed couldn’t be imagined. Some people didn’t even have a chance to see a figure.

The people left behind by the various ministries served to simply maintain communications with the outside world. They weren’t strong. If they were heavyweights, they would’ve been deployed elsewhere a long time ago.

All of them died in a heartbeat.

Back in the imperial guard’s corner, the eight surrendered plant spirits abruptly erupted with all of their strength, even at the cost of their core origin dispersing. They needed to kill their target before the redwood and jujube tree arrived! They would be in dire straits if they didn’t accomplish that!

With so many plant spirits lending a hand and the coordination of the two puppets, neither was the little tree willing to have someone come to its aid. The imperial palace trembled; there seemed to be a faint shadow that appeared over it—a cat.

CRACK.

The little tree retracted the imperial palace projection and waved its branches with fatigue. It looked toward the rear and saw that the redwood and jujube tree had just arrived. Thank goodness they’d killed their opponent before reinforcements came! It’d be too mortifying otherwise.

After all, Li Hao wanted it to lead the plant spirits under his banner.

......

At the same time, the outside world.

An old man suddenly frowned at the Ministry of Finance—the old minister. He looked at the rear yard. Had... a ripple emanated from the ruin just now?

But there were people on duty aboveground, preventing anyone from slipping into the ruins. Deputy Zhou was the heavyweight in residence at Finance.

The same scene could be found elsewhere. In order to prevent the various ministries from sending concealed heavyweights to the ruins or having the three great organizations infiltrate their ranks, the powerhouse assigned to that locale took up a position near the ruin entrance. The various ministries weren’t too concerned since these people would only be going to their death if they were so bold as to enter the ruins.

And yet, the old Minister Liu didn’t quite understand what he’d detected. Had it... come from a plant spirit?

He swiftly walked to the rear and smiled at Deputy Zhou. “Deputy, the Ministry of Finance will fully cooperate with the registration. Why don’t you have a seat in the main hall...”

“There’s no need!” Deputy Zhou smiled radiantly. “Being paid by the government means I need to steadfastly carry out my duties. The Skystar Commander Office is investigating all corners of the city, I cannot neglect my responsibilities. Don’t land me in hot water, old minister. I’ll just stand guard here for a bit.

“Don’t worry, I won’t brashly enter your ruins. Wouldn’t that be nursing a death wish?”

“I didn’t mean it that way,” smiled the old minister. He was still uneasy. Had something... happened?

......

The same scene played out at the Inspectorate, Commerce, and Internal Affairs.

Chen Yao flicked a glance at the Inspectorate ruins and couldn’t be bothered to respond. That thing was probably dead. Who cared? It was the plant spirit’s fault for ripping them off!

Over at the Ministry of Commerce, its old minister was dead and the current minister didn’t sense anything. He simply found old fart Northern Fist to be an eyesore in the rear yard. He was incredibly irritating and wouldn’t stop jabbering about his rules.

It was damned annoying!

......

At the Ministry of Internal Affairs.

Yao Si and Hou Xiaochen were present. The old minister frowned at the rear yard. Yao Si was there while Hou Xiaochen drank tea with them in the main hall.

The current minister Mu Hai smiled easily when he saw his father look to the back. “Director Hou, if I may be so bold, my daughter hasn’t committed a grave crime. When will the Skystar Commander Office release her?

“I gained a daughter in my old age and my father quite likes his granddaughter,” the minister continued meaningfully. “If Commander Li is willing to release her, then... the ministry can discuss anything.”

“Don’t worry, it’ll be soon, very soon!” Hou Xiaochen laughed heartily.

Father and son looked uneasily at each other. Was this operation today only to investigate the number of superhumans at each institute? Why were there ripples coming from the rear yard?

......

There was quite a disturbance at the ruins that saw the death of a plant spirit. Those that didn’t also had heavyweights at their ruin entrance. Both Sky Sword and Earthturner Sword sat at the doors of the royal palace entrance, forbidding anyone from leaving or entering. The nearby princes and royal descendants were so livid that they wanted nothing more than to kill the two martial masters on the spot!

Since when did anyone dare treat the royal family thus?!

“Sky Sword, how long is your investigation going to last??” someone shouted angrily.

“Until Commander Li tells us to withdraw,” Sky Sword said bluntly. “That is when our investigation will end!”

“......” The crowd nearly choked to death on their rage! What kind of response was that?? Would the investigation last the rest of their lives if Li Hao never gave the order to withdraw?

He Yong’s hearty laughter came from the main hall. He was having a delightful conversation with the Skystar King that no one knew anything about. Everyone was blithely unaware that great changes were taking place in Skystar Town. Four plant spirits had been executed where they stood.

......

Inside the Skystar Town ruins.

Li Hao’s people quickly convened, absent the eight Wind and Cloud Pavilion plant spirits. They split up into duos and took root where the four dead plant spirits had stood. Energy flowed into their withered bodies; the flow of energy within the city started anew after a brief hiccup when the plant spirits died.

Four corpses laid in front of Li Hao. Abundant Water of Life flowed from them. He collected all of it and looked at the little tree. “Imperial Guard, you can devour three trunks and one third of the core organ power. Senior Jujube can devour the fourth and a third of the core origin power. The rest will go to Senior Redwood.”

The imperial guard was embarrassed by the division. “Um... I...”

“Senior Imperial Guard’s palace projection is highly useful,” Li Hao explained. “Not to mention, you are of a lower cultivation level to begin with. Swallowing these will give you a chance of becoming an Immortal. Senior Redwood and the others are all Immortals. They won’t make it to Saint if they devour the trunks. This is the best use of our resources.”

“The commander is right!” the redwood hastily said. It was satisfied with the division. One third of the core origin they’d collected was more than a singular plant spirit’s core origin. That made it better off than the eight from the Wind and Cloud Pavilion, no?

Those guys were so pitiful that they were only rewarded with the ambient energy in the surroundings. And strictly speaking, most of this wasn’t its battle loot. What it and the jujube tree had received exceeded the value of the plant spirit they’d killed.

The imperial guard didn’t say anything else. It knew that it was weaker than the rest. A massive trunk emerged and branches reached out, grabbing the corpses of three Immortal plant spirits. It would take a while to fully digest its gains.

The jujube tree was also highly delighted. It’d recovered much before, but these were bonafide Immortal-level plant spirits in front of them. It would recover a great deal more after devouring it and the core origin power. It might even return to peak condition!

Although it wasn’t as strong as the redwood, it wasn’t any less than the sunflower they’d eliminated. As it thought, the future was bright with Li Hao! The young man was nothing like that unreasonable, miserly Sky Sword!

Li Hao collected the fruits of the plant spirits. This was another wonderful resource that he didn’t have time to use at the moment. He gave some Water of Life to Director General Wang, then looked at the Black Armor.

Did he need any?

The Black Armor didn’t say anything because he hadn’t expended much in the battles. Everyone’s gazes snapped to a certain section of the city—a massive ball of light had appeared there. That was a production of the city’s formation activating; some energy ripples undulated from it.

Perhaps the fight was already happening inside. It didn’t look to be over yet. Li Hao took out a mirror and looked at the Black Armor. “Will they sense anything if I use this mirror to probe them?” The perception of powerhouses was very strong.

“A copy of the Mirror of Wind and Cloud?” The Black Armor identified it with a single glance. “No, because battle is occurring inside and the energy ripples are too strong. Even if they sense anything, they will think that it’s a probe from their opponents. The weak will not sense it in ordinary times, but Immortals will surely detect a thing or two.”

Li Hao understood. As he thought, there were limitations to the mirror.

“The main thing is that you’re too weak,” said the Black Armor as the young man began to draw certain conclusions. “If I were to wield it, perhaps even Empyrean Kings wouldn’t be able to sense the probe. This item is a derivative of the wielder’s strength.”

Fine then. Li Hao didn’t mind a sudden dig at his abilities.