Star Gate

Chapter 492: Borrowing Books (III)

A shadow appeared in the library a while after the group left—a turtle. When it looked at the screen, some additional titles blinked into existence. They were written in red and more conspicuous than the golden names.

“It’s enough to peruse those at this stage. The rest can wait!”

Titles such as the Education of the Martial King, Regulations of the Nether King, Compendium of the Cast God... Many of them were incomplete and were the library’s most valuable collection. Li Hao and the others lacked the proper authorization to access them. They were purposefully kept away from these books due to the content’s complexity; they were beyond Li Hao’s reach. With the group’s identities, they would easily change the course of action for the martial masters of this age if they read these titles.

The old turtle waved a foot to dim the entire library before its shadow vanished.

......

At the same time, Li Hao’s group was quite satisfied. They quickly walked out of the ancient city; Li Hao waved to the three Silver Armors on the walls when he passed through the gates.

“Troop leaders, I’m heading out. I’ll come back to visit later!”

“Be careful and good fortune!” the leader of the Seventh Troop said calmly. He didn’t express much reluctance as this wasn’t a place for the living to remain long. Undesirable effects might occur if they did.

While the leader of the Seventh Troop didn’t say much, the normally quiet leader of the Ninth Troop suddenly transmitted, “Twelfth Troop Leader, you can try placing some energy stones in the old exchange point when you pass by General Pagoda on your way out. Perhaps... you can trade for some essence of life. General Pagoda may be simply asleep and not dead.”

“I see, thank you!” Li Hao nodded. He’d seen that mentioned on the travel guide. Essence of life... was probably Water of Life. The hot spring had contained some and the ancient city was inert due to a lack of this energy.

General Pagoda... a plant spirit... was it the tree? A tree could be made a general? A tree spirit, was it?

Li Hao waved goodbye again and departed the perimeter of the ancient city. The three Silver Armors watched them go.

“Ole Nine,” said the leader of the Seventh Troop when the group was fully gone. “You had a lot to say just now. It’s been so many years since your great-grandfather graduated from Demonic Martial, but you still curry favor with a descendant of the Sword Sovereign. Do you have no shame?”

“Curry favor?” Ole Nine responded calmly. “I just gave a friendly reminder to a fellow comrade! Not to mention, there’s no need to curry favor with anyone. The commander is a direct disciple of Demonic Martial, take it up with him!”

“No way!”

The three troop leaders were more sentient than before and spoke of events past after a bit of conversation. They were much more awake and alive now, and more stabilized existences after becoming weapon souls.

......

Outside the city.

A group of twenty-eight humans and one dog convened. Yuan Xingwu might have reached an agreement with Hou Xiaochen and the others. Li Hao didn’t know and didn’t care. They were one less—Light Sword. She was likely waiting at the platform.

Li Hao ignored that detail as well and fell in step beside Hou Xiaochen.

“Director, are you giving up on the Black Tortoise Seal?” he asked after a while.

“......” Hou Xiaochen couldn’t be bothered to answer a question that was so obvious.

“What if there’s more people from the three great organizations waiting when we exit?”

“We’ll just kill them all!” Hou Xiaochen replied decisively. “Most of the powerhouses entered the ruins, the ones left behind are weaklings. It’s not like the three great organizations will send a continued flood of personnel to Silver Moon, so we don’t need to worry about that.”

“Did you kill the General of Northern Pacification?” He Yong suddenly asked. Even Yuan Xingwu’s footsteps faltered; the death of that personage was causing extreme unrest in the three northern provinces. Were Hou Xiaochen and the others behind that?

They’d only somewhat suspected it at first, but now everyone was more or less certain because Hou Xiaochen’s group was very strong. They were very likely to have killed that peak Nova that was protected by thousands of troops.

“What, do you seek revenge?” Hou Xiaochen smiled. That one had been from the royal family.

“No, but if you killed him... I’ll need to stay away from you.” He Yong raised an eyebrow. “While that guy caused a lot of complaints and grumbling, him being alive was far better than him being dead. The three provinces are unstable because you killed him, which will impact the nineteen northern provinces and Silver Moon.”

“Think whatever you’d like.” Hou Xiaochen grinned. “I did it if you say so.”

“Pfft!” He Yong snorted and said nothing else. Li Hao listened quietly off to the side. He was a Silver Moon denizen who didn’t know much about his home province, much less the three northern provinces. It didn’t matter who’d died or if someone killed someone, it had nothing to do with him.

They soon reached the tree tunnel and the young man sought out what should look like an offering table. Tourists and Battle Heaven denizens liked to come here back in the day to present offerings that might be accepted for Water of Life. It might be out of order now since it looked like the tree was dead.

After a while, Li Hao noted a table in the darkness. It was very small and covered in dust. One could easily overlook it if they weren’t paying attention. He swiftly approached to look it over—there was a tiny hole on it. He regarded it hesitantly, should he put some energy stones on it?

Based on his understanding, regular mysterious power stones wouldn’t do. It had to be the energy stones that he’d received from the army. He only had 166 pieces—his own portion of ten and 156 from merits. If there was no response from the tree, he wouldn’t be able to get them back. Just like when He Yong paid for the hot spring, it was a complete waste if one didn’t offer enough.

Hou Xiaochen and the rest watched him, not knowing what the young man wanted to do.

Li Hao set his jaw. Well, one couldn’t trap a wolf without being willing to risk their child! Let’s give it a try! Perhaps he would be able to obtain some Water of Life from all those years ago. It was supposed to be a marvelous item; the hot spring from before only contained some dregs, but the effects were magical all the same. It could regrow limbs and whatnot, making it possibly better than sword energy.

One piece, two pieces...

Hearts spasmed when they saw Li Hao shove energy stones onto the table. The kid had so much wealth that they wanted to rob him! Those stones looked different from regular ones!

Six in a row did nothing. Li Hao began regretting his actions. Six energy stones were the equivalent of sixty mysterious power stones. What a waste! This tree was a bottomless pit... If it wasn’t for what the leader of the Ninth Troop had said, he really wouldn’t want to give it a try.

“Let’s do another ten. I’ll leave if there’s still no reaction after sixteen!” Li Hao grit his teeth and started placing stones on the table again.

There was no reaction after ten stones. Tears in his eyes, the young man prepared to go. He couldn’t keep betting on this bottomless pit! He’ll just view those sixteen as paying his dues. If not, it might be his life demanded later! It looked like General Pagoda was dead.

Just as Li Hao was about to withdraw, Hong Yitang suddenly said, “Try a few more!”

“Hmm?”

“There are some... ripples forming!” Hong Yitang sensed something. “Put some more in.”

Li Hao’s tears dried up and he put in a few more... then looked at Hong Yitang as he wanted to cry again. Five more!

Still nothing.

“Continue!”

The young man wanted to vomit blood, but Hong Yitang must have truly sensed something. He had to continue.

Twenty-five... twenty-eight... Li Hao also sensed something at thirty pieces. The table seemed to tremble. Pausing, he placed another six pieces on the table. That made for thirty-six, a massive depletion of his stores.

A drop of water slowly formed above the offering table. Hou Xiaochen’s eyes widened; Hong Yitang flicked a glance at him and tossed a flask to Li Hao. “Put that in there!”

Li Hao quickly collected the droplet. Was this Water of Life? He didn’t sense anything from it!

“It’s sealed. you’ll know when you use it,” Hong Yitang explained. “Let’s go, stop giving it stones. This seems like it’s from the reserves and there may not be more if you continue. This tree... seems to be fishing for more. Don’t shove in so much that you end up with nothing!”

Li Hao blinked. Fishing? He didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. Surely... not?

“Li Hao, will you like to trade that with me? I can offer an origin weapon...” Hou Xiaochen suddenly asked.

“No thanks!” Li Hao said flat out. I’m not short on origin weapons. What do I need those for?

Hou Xiaochen blinked wordlessly. That had been a... damned decisive no. He wanted to give the offering table a try too, but he lacked the stones of that purity level and he could sense some of the ripples as well. Giving more to the tree was likely just throwing meat buns at a dog. It did seem to be fishing for more and might not offer anything no matter how much it received next.

Slightly regretful, Hou Xiaochen led the group away. After they departed, the offering table trembled and the tree hole shook, like there was someone cursing up a storm...

The old turtle in the ancient city looked over and shook its head. It looked like General Pagoda had run out of all of its wealth. Although it wasn’t fully dead, it was just about. Too bad we can’t go out to help you. One drop less of life essence won’t do anything to you.

As for the energy stones it’d absorbed, they wouldn’t have much of an effect. It would take hundreds or thousands of stones to rejuvenate it. Everything else was a waste.

......

Light Sword was indeed waiting at the end of the tree tunnel. She wasn’t afraid to see the group come toward her. Sweeping her eyes over Li Hao, she ended up looking at Hou Xiaochen. “We can open the door and leave now, right?”

Hou Xiaochen simply looked at the wall. It was almost time. Moments later, he waved a hand to turn the wall translucent. The Silver Moon Guard was still waiting outside and were undergoing their preparations when the time arrived. A vortex soon appeared on the wall—the exit was open.

Light Sword was the first out and quickly disappeared. The others filed out as well. Battle Heaven was sealed off once more when the outsiders departed and the ancient city sank into complete stillness.