Star Gate

Chapter 977: Embracing the New Age (III)

Li Hao stowed the ‘dao’ supernatural character with a smile. “The new dao can be popularized, but what should be done with the old martial masters and supernaturals? The martial masters are easy enough to handle, they can easily switch between the systems. Not to mention, martial masters above Dominator wield significant advantages...

“Then what of supernaturals? They’ve broken their supernatural locks, some of which may be among the 36. How to enable their recovery, if they have to start over, or whether they can incorporate their strength into the new system are questions that we must tackle next.

“We must, otherwise overhauling the cultivation system will be unfair to them, which would not benefit us either!”

Heads nodded.

“We do have a way,” Li Hao continued.” “At present, the supernatural locks that have been broken are mostly those with attributes. They can be used to coalesce supernatural characters! Supernaturals that progress from Starlight to Darkmoon, then Sunflare, Solar, and eventually Nova have broken the four locks of their limbs and one of the five organs. They’re not supernaturals of special attributes.

“Breaking the locks of the four limbs can be viewed as building their foundations for the fourth level of Mountain and Sea, but we need to find a way to solve their issue of their broken circulation. As for the locks of the five organs, just one supernatural lock is sufficient!”

The group nodded in agreement.

“The locks of the four limbs are part of the thirty-six,” Yuan Shuo interjected. “They’re just broken ahead of time, which means that their circulatory system won’t be as strong as others. But at their cultivation level, their physical body is stronger than a regular person’s. They’ll be able to endure more of the force resulting from broken locks, so that’s not a big problem!

“They’re not ordinary people, so they can suffer greater damage to their body. Mysterious power is a highly destructive power to begin with as it pummels the body both inside and out. Supernaturals need to endure the pain from this impact as well, so their current path isn’t a major issue.

“It’s just that Novas will need to coalesce a supernatural character, which means this dao will have to be disseminated and taught to others...” He looked at Li Hao. “Are you willing to permit that?”

The Five Styles had been transformed into the Breakthrough Incantation—Yuan Shuo was willing to let that be known by others since it would only benefit a bunch of martial brutes. But if the way to trace the supernatural characters was taught to others... that would give rise to a crop of supernatural character cultivators.

As of now, this was Li Hao’s undeniable advantage.

“What does teacher think?” The young man smiled.

“You can do that, but... at present, I think it’s better to disseminate the Breakthrough Incantation first since there are strong enemies at large,” Yuan Shuo offered after a moment of silence. “We can convert cultivators below Nova to martial masters without aura or supernatural abilities first!

“Novas and Arcanus are the minority, after all. They can wait for a while. Those of this level are either with us or our enemy. Those with us will learn the method, whereas enemies... can do without!”

Whether it was Novas or Arcanus, supernaturals at this level were overlords of their locality. Yuan Shuo felt that there was no need to mass distribute something that would benefit them.

As for other cultivators, they would have one attribute to their name. The weakest of Starlight would be able to draw on whichever element resulted from the lock of their five organs. That was fine, it wasn’t the biggest issue since that was only one dao meridian. None of the five organs were part of the thirty-six, so they could be ignored for now. It would not have a great effect on battle strength.

Only when it came to Novas and Arcanus did one fewer dao meridian equate to one less minor level, and hence a great impact on battle strength. This was also why Yuan Shuo didn’t wish to share the method to draw supernatural characters.

One fewer dao meridian for Solars would turn them into Sunflares. That would be a visible weakening of strength. With the Breakthrough Incantation, however, they could quickly catch up. Thus, that deficiency wasn’t a cause for concern.

“Teacher’s words ring of experience and sense!” Li Hao nodded with a smile. “Whether it is Novas or Arcanus, those who are not with us are against us. There are almost none who are neutral! Then, it affects nothing if I do not teach others how to draw supernatural characters.

“The Breakthrough Incantation needs to be shared so that ambient energy levels are decreased. The world is awakening, but once tens of millions of humans cultivate and absorb its energy... Hahaha, I will further delay the second awakening!

“But if there are too many who are cultivating, they’ll need to replenish their blood qi and physical bodies with nourishment. Although the sacred grain is incredible, there’s too little of it. Not to mention, they’ll need to eat other tangible food at some time, not just grain. Plant spirits can raise the grain we need, but other food...” Li Hao looked at Panther, the dog looked innocently back at him.

What are you looking at me for? Do you want to eat meat? I’m just one dog. Even if you want to eat me or want to feed me to everyone beneath the heavens, there won’t be enough of me to go around!

“Although the Hao Cosmos returns energy to us, it requires a catalyst from the outside. One has to be a cultivator in order to access that universe,” Yuan Shuo remarked. “So we do need nutritional items at our current stage. However...

“We might not need meat,” he smiled. “It is said that there was a pill in New Martial that could nourish blood qi. It was created from herbs and other naturally growing ingredients. This was part of the dao of pills!”

“Pills have a good effect when it comes to supplementing blood qi,” the Black Armor suddenly offered. “And it’s easy to refine them. There should be many records in the Lu Zhen Research Center if you access it. It was the Director Lu himself who created the blood qi pills. He was their proponent since the early days of New Martial. But to locate the necessary herbs in this period...

“The world has just awoken, so much of it was as in New Martial. Those ingredients should be readily available. There might be some minute differences, however, so you may have to make some substitutions!”

“The Lu Zhen Research Center also looked into these topics?” Li Hao raised an eyebrow.

“Like I said, its namesake created the pill,” the Black Armor responded calmly. “Director Lu Zhen was the father of the Human King’s teacher. He is our senior and a premier researcher of initial New Martial. This site is just a branch that one of his students set up. What can be found inside is just the basic fundamentals!”

Li Hao smiled with delight. His problems were solved then!

“Judging from your words, you seem to want to standardize martial dao and make it available to all?” asked the Black Armor.

“Yes!” Li Hao nodded. “No matter how strong or weak, I wish for everyone to be able to train! It will fortify their bodies, extend their lifespans, and decrease the ailments they suffer from! They will be more vigorous when it comes to work and won’t drag down their entire family if they fall ill.

“If everyone walks the path of martial dao, then superhumans will no longer be special. Only then will true equality be possible! A difference in strength does exist in martial dao, but if everyone knows it, only this difference will exist. There will be no class differences!

“Once the boundary between mundanes and superhumans is dismantled, everyone will have the chance to become a powerhouse. Only then will the future be bright and obstacles surmounted!

“I’ve been studying New Martial lately,” Li Hao pivoted with a serious look. “I was curious why there wasn’t a large difference between social classes in the later days of New Martial. I realized that this was because everyone had opportunities!

“Whether it was civilians or exalted emperors, every youngster from every household had a chance to become a heavyweight. There were martial universities throughout the world. Those with high marks enrolled, studied and trained, and became powerhouses! This was the core concept of New Martial and a trait that I quite admire.

“The prevalence of martial universities in New Martial gave everyone an equal chance. Whoever established them was the real Human King!”

“......” The Black Armor blinked, looking at Li Hao with a very complicated look in his eyes.

“Um... it was martial uncle’s grandfather, Supreme Zhang, who established martial universities throughout the world,” Director General Wang couldn’t help himself. “They didn’t exist at first, but when Supreme Zhang became the Minister of Education, he rolled it out to the entire world. That became the basis of civilians rising through life...

“Whether it was the Human King or the exalted emperor of Battle Heaven, they were all civilians back in the day. They graduated from the martial universities...”

“Supreme Zhang? What a truly incredible man!” Li Hao praised sternly. “I, too, hope that there is someone who can assist me, this age, and this world in this manner! The dao of characters needs to be established as a dao beneath the heavens, as a path for all!”

He turned to face the group. “Seniors, which among you can help the world and all of life with creating this dao?”

“......” No one responded; expressions shifted wordlessly. They were being asked to do as New Martial did in disseminating martial dao throughout the world, building martial universities through the land, and spreading education far and wide so that no one would be tied to their social class...

Hong Yitang’s expression flickered through a variety of changes. Li Hao’s magnificent goal was too great! Hong Yitang could build schools and be a proponent of education—he was already doing that. But Li Hao wanted far more than that!

He wanted this age’s Supreme Zhang!

Who could stand by his side to herald the dao of peace for the world? With Silver Moon as the foundation for professions and to pave a smooth path for the new era...

The Black Armor didn’t know what to make of this. That was his grandfather whom even the Human King respected! But today, the fellow with the greatest potential of this age said that he wanted a supreme just like his grandfather, someone who could create a new dao and era with him!

Who could do that?

Zhang An was highly satisfied that someone of this caliber, who’d never met his grandfather, would be so admiring. At the same time, he was also wondering who was up to the task.

“I am willing to accept this duty, but I would not dare be compared to Supreme Zhang of New Martial.” Hong Yitang raised his head. “I will disseminate dao throughout the world and weaken the barriers between social classes. I can... remove some of the obstacles for the new era!”

Yuan Shuo had also been grappling with the speech and suddenly sighed, “I am willing to accept this duty as well. I will write books of dao and teach the new martial dao, as well as establish research centers of martial dao. From now on, the martial world no longer exists!”

He sighed with a great mixture of emotions. The martial world was... no more. Yet this was his disciple in front of him. This was their age, their world, their heavens.