Star Gate

Chapter 283: The Terrifying Hou Xiaochen (II)

“So you’ve made it out, Revolution and Violet Moon!” Hou Xiaochen smiled at them. His smile was exceedingly benevolent as he inclined his head at the two. He then turned toHu Dingfang and the rest of the contingent, deepening his nod. “Not bad!”

Quite a few had survived; it looked like Zhang Ting had not. It is what it is. The director glanced at Li Hao, then at Liu Long. He smiled again. “Well done, all of you! Making it out is good news.”

Those of the three great organizations quickly took to the air and flew toward the perimeter. There was too much pressure associated with remaining inside. The Parity King and Red Hair were waiting for them outside.

“Has Ding Chen not come out?” asked a cloaked person with an eerie voice.

Hou Xiaochen turned for a look, then pivoted back to Hao Lianchuan. “This is Half Mountain, you know him, right?”

“Half Mountain...?” Hao Lianchuan responded with surprise. “Hasn’t he been gone all this time?”

“Cut the nonsense!” Hou Xiaochen interrupted. “He’s asking you a question, where’s Ding Chen? Half Mountain has ascended to Nova,” he added. “Do you think he would’ve been absent otherwise? He is a Nova titan now, so be on your best behavior and answer honestly. Where is Ding Chen?”

“Ding Chen and Kong Qi died inside the inner city,” a wordless Hao Lianchuan answered honestly. “You might know about the situation inside. There’s a Gold Armor that killed Ding Chen with one punch and broke his origin weapon. As we ran, Kong Qi turned a bit silly and insisted on taking to the air. He was shot down by the city’s defensive system!”

The deputy director immediately looked at the cloaked person when he finished. “Don’t say that I’m making up stories, Half Mountain, ask Violet Moon and the Revolution King. Red Moon and Yama do not run with the Night Watchers and they witnessed everything as well. Don’t accuse me of foul play...”

The cloaked person looked at the two mentioned.

“He speaks the truth!” Violet Moon confirmed with a slight frown. “Not only Ding Chen, but I suffered severe injuries too. Origin weapons can’t fend off those monsters!”

“Then... what about the others?” Half Mountain asked coolly. “Are they all dead?”

He could understand the two Solars dying to misfortune, but what about the remaining Sunflares?

“Without the protection of their Solars...” Violet Moon responded calmly. “Don’t look at me, we won’t protect your people for you. The inner city is dangerous beyond imagine and they were all eliminated by the Gold Armor after your Solars died. No one will go above and beyond for yours, so don’t say we left them in the lurch. There was no reason to save them!”

These words were cold-blooded, but they made perfect sense. We did see them get killed, but who would save someone they don’t know that’s not of the same organization?

Half Mountain was silent beneath his cloak. Two Solars had led a contingent of multiple Sunflares and carried an origin weapon, but they were all lost!

Well, no, six had made it out. But this meant that their core strength had all died!

The Silver Moon leader of Celestial brooded beneath his cloak. Their losses had been too great!

“So... you didn’t obtain any treasures from your foray into the inner city?” he asked.

“We did, there’s a lot of powerful origin weapons!” the Revolution King answered faintly not too far away. “Their lowest is sky level and mysterious power stones litter the ground! We picked up quite a few just by randomly gathering them!”

People on the cliffs shifted when they heard these words. There were bystanders all throughout the surroundings, they just weren’t able to draw closer.

“And that’s not it, there’s a puppet above Nova!” Violet Moon jeered. “Victory over Nova supernaturals is guaranteed if you can bring it back! The only thing holding you back from claiming it is yourself! We weren’t strong enough and could barely keep our heads on our shoulders!”

They tag-teamed to showcase how horrific the situation was inside—not to help anyone, but to absolve themselves of responsibility. It’s not that we were weak or incompetent, but that it’s too dangerous inside!

Violet Moon and the Revolution King understood that their immense losses were a grave matter. They would be in grave trouble if their organizations launched investigations into potential wrongdoing. In that case, they would shift the blame to someone else. They wouldn’t assign it to the Night Watchers since it would be a display of incompetence if they couldn’t defeat even Hao Lianchuan.

Therefore, the scapegoat had to be the ruins. Not to mention, it was indeed very dangerous inside the inner city. It was also the truth that the Gold Armor outmatched all of them.

The premises fell silent as everyone understood the reports being made. The treasures were irretrievable as there was a powerful puppet protecting them. Its execution of the origin-weapon-equipped Ding Chen was proof enough of its awful might.

Red Hair, the Parity King, and Half Mountain frowned. That strong? Granted, they weren’t concerned since they were Novas. As strong as it sounded, a puppet was just a construct at the end of the day. It wasn’t some mysterious unknown factor. It was rather the sky level origin weapons and mysterious power stones that sent their blood boiling.

Was all of that real? Red Hair looked at Violet Moon.

“It’s true,” she transmitted with a nod. “There’s at least one sky level origin weapon found in the one place that we investigated. There are also mysterious power stones everywhere. We obtained forty, Yama about the same, and the Night Watchers a little more at fifty...”

The organizations themselves had found some as well, making for total gains of approximately one hundred stones on the expedition.

Red Hair was slightly moved when he heard the response. They’d picked up so many through a random sifting? Truly? Then these ruins were a bit terrifying and incredibly important.

As they conversed in silence, someone roared in the distance, “We don’t care about the ruins or three great organizations, or even the Night Watchers! I just want to know if Yuan Shuo’s disciple Li Hao made it out alive??”

The voice was loud and sonorous!

Seeing that someone had mentioned him by name, Li Hao looked at Hao Lianchuan.

“I am Li Hao!” he called out when he didn’t indicate otherwise.

A coarse man swiftly ran over to a cliff face and didn’t come down it. “You are Li Hao!?” he roared from the top. “I ask you, has your master really advanced beyond Dominator?”

“Probably.” Li Hao nodded. “I’m not certain of the particulars.”

“Bullshit, how do you not know?!” yelled the man. “That means he’s really set foot into Summoner of Spirit, hasn’t he?”

“I really don’t know,” Li Hao said once again. “But my master said he was a Summoner when he killed Sun Yifei...”

“Then he is!” the man threw his head back with laughter. “You, come with me!”

Li Hao looked on blankly. Who was this person? He was a martial master since there was no ball of light around him, but most martial masters were just Sunderers. Dominators were few and far in between—even if he was one, how arrogant did he have to be to tell Li Hao to follow him in front of all of these Solars?

“What are you looking at?” the man barked with laughter. “It’s fine if you don’t know me, it’s enough that I know you! Come with me, the rest of these guys all want to kill you. I’ll let you go when you bring me to your master. That’s safer than staying with them!”

Li Hao was still at a complete loss.

The man began to grow angry when he saw that the young man remained unmoving, then laughed uproariously when he thought of something. “I forgot to introduce myself. I was famous enough in Silver Moon back in the day! I am Southern Fist He Yong! I was not lucky enough to share a destiny with the supernatural throughout these long years, but managed to ascend to Dominator in the central region. However, Dominator of Thousands is not worth speaking of!”

Li Hao’s brain rang with incomprehension. Being a Dominator was... very formidable, but... it was nothing in a crowd of Solars and Novas. You’re... so cocky!

Southern Fist He Yong!

The young man had heard his teacher mention the title once—the North and South Fists of Silver Moon. So this was who they called the South Fist King?

“Don’t be afraid,” He Yong chortled. “I don’t share a deep grudge with your master. Let’s put it this way, none of those who lived from one of his fights hold much enmity toward him. I am indeed not much as a Dominator. Let me further introduce myself—He Yong has lost face for the Silver Moon martial masters. I could not eke out a living these years and had no further path forward. I joined the Skystar royal family a few years ago as their lackey, teaching their sons and daughters martial arts. I might count as a royal martial official!”

Li Hao blinked. The royal family?

The Skystar royal family didn’t have much of a presence, but this was still their era. Although the royal family had retreated behind the scenes, they yet retained their strength. The nine ministries also answered to the royal family in name.

The martial masters of Silver Moon hated the talons of the government the most. Just as He Yong said, he was the shame of Silver Moon martial masters with his current profession! And yet, his status was high. An instructor of the royal family could even be considered the teacher of emperors.

“I don’t represent the royal family on this trip,” He Yong laughed. “Nor could I ever. I just want to find Old Demon Yuan and tell him that I’m still a martial master. I want to see this Summoner of Spirit level for myself! If you go with me and these guys bar the way or even kill me, they’ll be antagonizing the royal family. While it isn’t much in our times, a camel that starves to death is still bigger than a horse. Who would dare easily set themselves against the royal family?!”

His laughter was filled with arrogance, but also tinges of resignation and sorrow. He didn’t say that he’d kill whoever prevented him from leaving, but that whoever stopped and killed him would be in trouble.

What was that, if not sorrow?

The vaunted Southern King of Silver Moon had to make use of these kinds of threats to force some reservation into hearts...

Off to the side, Hong Yitang could no longer stay silent.

“Brother He,” He was both a little angry and reluctant to accept the situation. “I thought you would say that whoever dared stop you would be met with a punch to the face and a quick trip to hell!”

“Yo, the Earthturner Sword is still alive!” He Yong hooted with laughter. “We won’t do, we’re too old! Martial masters aren’t good enough in an era with the supernatural! But Yuan Shuo seems to have found a way forward. Therefore, I want to see just how strong Summoner is. Can it kill those greater than Solar? Can it fight Ying Hongyue??”