Star Gate

Chapter 172: Going or Not? (I)

Peace returned to Silver City once more.

The Night Watchers focused on training diligently after they broke through. As they weren’t short on mysterious power, everyone’s goal was to further consolidate their cultivation. Even the swiftly progressing Li Hao had room for improvement. There was much of his teacher’s power of the five elements that he’d yet to utilize.

Although he wouldn’t advance again in the short term, he could focus on strengthening his organs. That would prove very useful to him after he became a Dominator.

......

While Silver City fell silent, all was not calm in the outside world. A massive canyon could be found to the south of Silver City, roughly one thousand kilometers away. Locals gave it the name Rift Canyon twenty years ago as it split the province into two.

With Rift Canyon as the marker, Silver Moon was divided into a northern and southern section. Silver City was to the north, White Moon City to the south. The province name was taken from the two major cities in the north and south back in the day, with Silver City in front.

One had to cross Rift Canyon to travel from White Moon City to Silver City. It was inaccessible by cars and used to hold a suspension bridge. No one built more bridges after it was damaged. This was why Huang Yun and other powerhouses elected to fly if they needed to travel through Rift Canyon.

This didn’t mean that mundanes couldn’t pass—they just needed to follow a winding path into the canyon, traverse it, then follow the path back up. The less straightforward process added a few dozen kilometers to the journey.

Rift Canyon was exceedingly long and frightfully wide. Though it was called a canyon, it was more like a basin. It spanned more than thirty kilometers at its widest portion; powerhouses didn’t choose to fly through that area either as it was too wide.

On this day, a few tents marked the usually empty Rift Canyon. They were found to the north of the geological structure. More tents were being erected around the canyon, each of them separate from another. Some were placed close together whereas others were several hundred or thousands of meters apart.

A dozen tents were erected in the northernmost tip. If Li Hao and the others were here, they’d recognize one of the people milling about. It was the speedy Sunflare, Huang Yun.

The supernatural acted as a supervisor as several Starlight raised tents. He frowned as he watched them work and looked in a certain direction. A figure landed from the sky moments later. It was tall, hulking, and appeared more like a demon god. Extremely thick leather boots clad their feet; they fractured the earth with a single stomp.

The Night Watchers assembling tents in the surroundings snapped to solemn attention and quickly gathered together. Huang Yun stepped forward as well.

“Hu Po, what are you doing here?”

The stocky man swept a slightly dismissive glance over the Night Watcher. “Step aside, we wish to set up camp here!” he intoned.

“Yama’s campgrounds are not here.” Huang Yun frowned. “According to our previous agreement, your territory is three thousand meters in that direction...”

“I will set up camp here today!” The man named Hu Po speared Huang Yun with a frosty look. “To put it plainly, I want this place! Its feng shui is good, I like it!”

“Hu Po!” An angry expression crossed Huang Yun’s face as fires of fury burned in his heart.

Hu Po was the resident Yama powerhouse in Silver City. The three great organizations had branches in Silver Moon province as well. Their structure was similar to the Night Watchers, perhaps even stronger.

There was a Yama court master holding down the fort in Silver Moon. According to Night Watcher intelligence, the leader of the Yama organization called himself the favored son of Yama—the Yama King. There were ten court masters below him. The one in Silver Moon was the tenth court master, one who called himself the Revolution King. [1] He was a Solar, and this Hu Po was one of his heavyweights.

The Revolution King was low ranked in the Yama organization. He was the weakest of the ten court masters, but only relatively speaking compared to the rest of the organization. In Silver Moon, a Solar was heaven.

This time, the Night Watchers partnered with various major organizations to jointly explore the ruins. As the location site was known ahead of time, these people were here to set up camp in advance and await their main force.

Hu Po was the Yama powerhouse in charge of their campground. He was a formidable Sunflare who might even be slightly stronger than Huang Yun.

All sides had settled on where everyone would pitch their tents, so it was the last thing on Huang Yun’s mind that Yama would trespass. Hu Po was plainly doing this on purpose and not as a brash impulse! This was premeditated; the Night Watcher could even sense some strange gazes in the vicinity paying attention to them. It might be those from other organizations.

Why is this happening? Huang Yun thought quickly. Did they think the Night Watcher site was better or held certain secrets? Or did they just want to probe the government’s supernatural organization?

Numerous possibilities flashed through his mind, but Huang Yun knew that there was no backing down from this. Once he gave way, the Night Watchers would be caught on the back foot before the expedition even commenced. Hao Lianchuan would take him to task then!

“Hu Po!” he snapped back. “Is this your intention or the Revolution King’s intention? Or does this come from other Yama powerhouses, or even other supernatural organizations?”

“I already told you, it’s because I like this place!” Hu Po looked coolly at him. “Wind Demon, don’t think you’re on equal footing with me just because you can run fast. You will either step aside or see what true strength is today!”

Huang Yun cursed inwardly, his ire rising.

“So you wish to challenge me?”

“And what if I do?” Hu Po sneered. “I can snap your tiny arms and legs with a quick slap. But I won’t kill you, since you’re a Night Watcher. The Night Watchers are so... impressive!”

Huang Yun could sense collective fury behind him and knew that if the situation continued, the general public would be disappointed in the Night Watchers. He cut the talk and coalesced a sword of gale wind in his hand.

“Hu Po, I will help you along since you insist on courting death. You have been wanted by the Night Watchers ever since you committed murder in Silver City. We would’ve killed you long ago if it wasn’t for the Revolution King stopping us. You’ve got some nerve to come shooting your mouth off today...”

“Hahaha!!” Hu Po threw his head back with laughter. “Wanted? The Night Watchers have a wanted notice out for me? I’m so scared, so very very scared!”

He flung a punch at his opponent, one as domineering as Mount Tai! A mountain seemed to descend upon Huang Yun—the power of earth, and not of the defensive sort. Each ability might map to its origin element, but that didn’t mean there weren’t differences between abilities.

Earth could defend and attack. A large mountain bore down on Huang Yun. He shouted and waved a baleful wind into existence, sending it churning through the land.

Two Sunflares thus clashed in battle.

......

Off in the distance, people watched the battle. Figures flashed in and out of sight on a cliff face, each of them wearing a ghostly face mask. This was the trademark characteristic of Red Moon.

“Hu Po has improved extremely rapidly since setting foot into Sunflare, but the guy’s very cocky.”

“He has a right to be. It’s only been roughly five years since he joined Yama? But he’s already a Sunflare and can get the upper hand against a veteran supernatural like Huang Yun. He has the right to be arrogant.”

“I hear that Hu Po comes from Silver City?”

“Mmhmm. Liu Long of the Silver City Inspectorate—no, Night Watchers now, has an old feud with him. Hu Po seems to have killed his girl’s man...”

“Hahaha, then isn’t he Liu Long’s savior? How is that a feud? Liu Long should pour tea and wine for Hu Po!” Several Ghostfaces laughed jeeringly. They didn’t have a good impression of Silver City. Divine Brokensky had died there and upstairs bided their time out of consideration for the greater picture. But Red Moon had become a supernatural tyrant starting twenty years ago, how could its members endure such humiliation?

If it wasn’t for them being strictly forbidden from action and a Yuan Shuo who could kill Solars, these people would’ve long rushed over and razed the city.

After more ridicule, another Ghostface asked, “Will Hu Po be able to swap out his campground?”

Hu Po’s actions naturally came with a reason—an unspoken accord between the three great organizations. They would not give what the Night Watchers wanted, that was the right and proper order of things.

Due to a lack of knowledge about the ruins, the organizations didn’t know whether the Night Watchers had randomly picked a spot or purposefully chosen their campground. Regardless, they would shatter the Night Watchers’ plans.

None of the three great organizations were fools. They’d clashed with the Night Watchers over these ruins many times. That the agency had abruptly voluntarily given way didn’t necessarily bode well. Perhaps they wanted to use the three great organizations as scouts and cannon fodder.

This was a possibility that everyone understood, but also felt that there was no reason not to partake in a feast that’d been delivered to their doorstep. Not only did the three great organizations wish to be involved, they wanted all of the mid and small sized organizations in Silver Moon to be a part of it. There was safety in numbers, and it was up to individual strength as to whether or not an organization would have any share of the pickings.

The battle in the distance intensified as the Ghostfaces spoke. Winds howled and cut through the earth like knives, ringing with metallic collisions when they collided with opposing energy. But it was apparent from the flow of battle that Huang Yun was suppressed. A large mountain bore down on him, crushing the winds out of existence.

Even the Ghostfaces were surprised. So it would seem that regular Sunflare really couldn’t withstand Hu Po’s Mountain Suppression technique! Huang Yun was a veteran supernatural of more than ten years—that was a very long tenure in the supernatural domain. His battle experience was rich and varied, yet it was a lack of strength that created his losing position.

“Hu Po displays the style of a martial master...” someone raised.

“That’s normal, he was a martial master in the beginning. As a Slayer, he was once the captain of a security detail for a Silver City corporation. How would he keep the situation under control if he didn’t have some strength to his name? I have to say, martial masters do indeed possess better physique than ordinary supernaturals after they cross over. Martial masters advanced on the battlefield back in the day, so they have real strength to their name.”

Even though martial masters had declined, their battle experience remained valuable. All of them were valuable assets in the field. Many premier supernaturals were conversions from martial masters.

A loud explosion traveled from the distance as Red Moon conversed. Huang Yun howled and raised gale winds, surrounding the mountain. He was bringing his full strength to bear!

Mysterious power exploded and sent countless rock fragments flying. It was at this moment that the mountain exploded, making room for Hu Po to stride through the air.

“This is called your full strength?” he snorted. “Wind Demon, you’re too weak! Forget it, this bores me. Night Watcher Solars will be along for my head if I kill you, hahaha!”

With that, he left through the sky, leaving behind a Huang Yun with blood welling from his mouth.

1. Revolution as in rotation, cycle. This seemed the least silly name. ?