Star Gate

Chapter 541: Partnership (I)

According to New Martial standards, people like Li Hao were very special. Mind intent was as simple as mental strength as it touched on the core origin of martial dao. Strictly speaking, these people had already set foot on the path of pursuing the ultimate peak of martial dao.

But when it came to strength... there seemed a massive gap between Li Hao and what the tree spirit knew. It didn’t know how to describe it as it was just a monster spirit, one made thus by its heritage. It wasn’t a major monster spirit through the efforts of its own cultivation. If it was, it could’ve answered some of Li Hao’s questions.

“Mind intent?” Something occurred to Li Hao as he looked at the tree. “Aura... wood aura... you are a tree...”

The little tree snapped to alertness when the young man waved his sword around, then quickly relaxed. He was practicing the Weeping Willow Sword. He stopped after a moment and asked, “Senior, what do you think of this sword technique?”

The Weeping Willow Sword was directly connected to the wood sword aura, but Li Hao hadn’t gained anything after several days of practice.

“This... seems to be a human sword method of the New Martial era,” answered the little tree. “It has some of the sensation of that age. It’s different from the martial dao you demonstrated before, right?”

“Right!” Li Hao quickly responded. “Will this help me in comprehending the wood aura? Ah, I mean like the concept of the ferocious tiger from earlier...”

He didn’t know how to explain the notion.

“Do you want to perceive the dao of the wood sword?” asked the little tree after some thought.

“Yes!” Li Hao nodded, that was basically what he meant.

“I don’t know how to, but if you train by my side and perceive the energy and core origin of life, you might be able to do so. What a pity that my father has fallen. He would’ve been able to help you otherwise...”

Li Hao lit up—could he really now? What he was most regretful of and felt the highest sense of urgency about was not being able to deploy five auras in unison. Would he be afraid of the White Shark Raiders otherwise?

“But the strength of my core origin has dissipated slightly,” added the little tree. “I need large sums of energy stones. The amount you gave is far from enough!”

“How many more do you need?”

“I need more than I need to coalesce life essence. It’s more difficult, so I need at least three times that amount to exude just a little.”

Li Hao froze with shock.

“Thirty.... thousand stones?!” Who the hell was the tree kidding?! Three thousand stones from the army was the equivalent of thirty thousand modern ones! This was an absolute joke!

“Core origin is a type of higher level strength. Even I am hard pressed to emanate it. It’s not impossible, however. You can kill...” The tree suddenly shut up. Li Hao realized what the rest of its words were and looked at it. The atmosphere grew taut.

The little tree hadn’t undergone too much tempering of life as it was just a product of inheritance. Hence, it’d actually let something important slip. So it would seem that killing humans or monster spirits who wielded core origin strength could also lead to its emergence.

The tree refused to speak further.

“Does the senior mean that if we kill existences equipped with core origin, that will lead to some dissipation as well?”

“That is right!” answered the tree despite a period of silence. So they would fight if the human wanted to kill it!

Next, Li Hao changed the topic. “Is there any other way? I just need to use a small amount of energy to trade for sufficient core origin strength that will help me grasp the aura. I have no other need for this strength...”

“You seemed to have grasped many different types already,” the little tree pointed out. “You’re very weird. There were a few like you in the New Martial era. If you wish to grasp more types of dao, you’ll need to block out your comprehension of other dao. Some heavyweights in our time had unique ways to accomplish that.

“I don’t have many good ideas to help you, but I can still exude some core origin strength. I might not need the mysterious power stones that you speak of...”

“What?” Li Hao asked excitedly, but worried that this other possibility would be even more of a hassle.

“You seem to have other divine weapons on you...”

“Divine weapons? Origin weapons?” A baffled Li Hao took out an origin weapon. He carried many on him—the Revolution King’s wind chime, Xu Feng’s boxing gloves and Heart Protector, and the Celestial Elder Crimson’s black sword. He also had a set of earth armor from a Yama leader.

The young man brought out the earth armor first. It had the lowest value. He also had the Divine Kun Ship as another origin weapon, but that one was different from the others.

“Not this...” transmitted the little tree. “If there are any suited to me, such as ones of the wood attribute, they will supply large sums of the energy that I need. The divine weapons were made from the corpses of plant and monster spirits back in the day...”

It abruptly realized that it’d said the wrong thing again!

Li Hao was looking at the collapsed tree off to the side. The tree was shattered, but it hadn’t been completely pulverized. Did the little tree mean that it could absorb energy from its own kind?

“Father’s body has become the palace’s defensive formation,” agitated the little tree. “It cannot be moved. It shouldn’t, even if it could. Don’t consider this possibility!”

“I understand, I’m just a bit curious.” Li Hao nodded rapidly. “Why... why is there a hole leading to the palace?”

Intruders wouldn’t be able to barge into this place if it was sealed off like Battle Heaven.

“You... don’t understand,” the little tree said with resignation. “I wouldn’t be able to absorb a single iota of energy if there wasn’t a crack. Father’s corpse sealed off the palace, making it impossible for me to absorb any power. I had to create a small crack so I could absorb a little bit of energy. Who would’ve thought that it would attract you guys after I did so?”

“Can it not be closed again?”

“It can... but I’ll sink into slumber once more if I do.” The little tree was quite resigned. “I could intimidate the one last time since he wasn’t that strong. I thought I could hold out for a while longer and store sufficient energy for a while of support. But here you are, and you’ve seen through the illusion.”

It was only because Li Hao could see the dwindling mysterious power stones that he’d stayed. Otherwise, the young man would’ve left or come back with more people like Golden Spear. Many thoughts popped into Li Hao’s mind.

“Senior Tree, does this mean that there are other powerhouses who are asleep till today like you? Some of the New Martial heavyweights, for example...”

“Why would they need to sleep?” intoned the little tree. “Father had to enter sleep because he was gravely injured and was entrusted with the safekeeping of the palace. The powerhouses of the New Martial era would not choose to slumber, you do not understand! If there are any left, they either cannot leave their location like me, or they are too heavily injured, or they are bound by duty.

“I understand your meaning. You wonder if there are New Martial heavyweights remaining that did not leave with the Human King. That is impossible! Anyone who could fight all left!”

Anyone who could fight all left.

Li Hao briefly experienced the emotions for himself. “Then... didn’t the Human King leave some people behind to safeguard his territory?”

If a tree could live for thirty thousand years, then what of the other heavyweights of the ancient civilization?

“I don’t know, probably not... In my memory, the Human King would take the field himself if he could eliminate the enemy. If not, he would go forth in full strength. He would not leave powerhouses behind to stand guard. There shouldn’t be much danger in the rear either. Enemies were eliminated on the front lines. If confusion appeared in the rear, then it was internal conflict or trouble they’d created themselves.

“The Human King’s philosophy was that he was busy killing enemies in foreign lands. If chaos gripped his home, then it was their fault and their fated outcome to die. He wouldn’t care. The Human King couldn’t bear for the people to be hurt when he was benevolent, but when he was in a vicious mood, everyone should be afraid.”

Li Hao was quite interested in the turn of conversation. The ancient Human King!

If he mapped to the figure of Li Hao’s memories, then that would be interesting indeed. That personage was heartless beyond compare, but also a kindly ruler according to what the little tree said.

He either put his full force behind his blows or set off on a campaign with all of his people. Even more interesting was that he wasn’t concerned about trouble from the rear. If there was, he wouldn’t address it. Any trouble was internal discord. Go and attack yourselves however you will. I won’t care if you’re all dead.

With the current situation...

Li Hao hadn’t heard of any invasions by unknown races. It was just the dynasty constantly at war with itself.

“We shouldn’t talk too much about the Human King,” said the little tree. “It’s best not to mention the names of these powerhouses. They might sense their real name if you use it too often, despite being separated by countless years and distance. This might not be a good thing, it could be bad as they cannot determine whether it’s friend or foe using their name. They might use certain methods to curse whoever’s using his name.”

“No way?” Li Hao blinked. “It’s been so many years...”

“Everything is possible!” reminded the little tree. “This world may be under some restrictions. We are unable to mention their real name. This is a kind of protection to separate friend from foe. We might be killed through a curse if we use their real name now!”

“But what if you have the same surname and given name...”

“You know not the profound mysteries of dao!” The little tree gave up communicating. Li Hao was too stupid... No, he’d seen too little of the world and didn’t understand it at all.

There was nothing the young man could say. He was used to the ancients scoffing at him, and now even an ancient tree looked down at him. Did it want his help or not?

“So you mean that if I give you sufficient wood energy or wood origin weapons, you’ll be able to release some core origin power to help me comprehend the aura?”

“Yes.”

“Will I be able to coalesce my mind intent? The stuff you saw earlier?”

“I don’t now.”

Very well then! Let’s give it a try.