Star Gate

Chapter 558: All Revealing Themselves (I)

News of the North Sea battle quickly spread in all directions. Various communication systems received word as soon as Li Hao and the rest left.

......

An island floated in the depths of the West Sea. In its center was a mountain so ethereal that it seemed immortals might be found on it. A person with a powerful presence was practicing a boxing technique on the mountain. He stilled his movements when a powerhouse broke through the air and stood on the outskirts.

“Mountain lord!” The newcomer respectfully looked down and held out a jade pendant.

The lord of Buddha Mountain glanced at him and asked calmly, “Crimson Feather is dead, isn’t he?”

The man’s expression shifted slightly and he didn’t say too much. “He is dead.” He kept his head lowered.

“Light Sword has unsealed herself for a very long time, she isn’t likely to be behind it. Which of the Silver Moon martial masters did it?”

“Earthturner Sword and Demon Sword.”

The old mountain lord inclined his head. Earthturner Sword wasn’t surprising, but Demon Sword Li Hao? Two swordsmen had gone to save Light Sword?

“Silver Moon martial masters...” The Buddha King shook his head, not sure of what he wanted to say. He took the jade pendant after a while and carefully perused the information on it. “Three humans and a dog created such carnage in the North Sea that the very waters shook from it. The dog should possess the bloodline of the ancient monster spirits... Demon Sword Li Hao is Yuan Shuo’s disciple alright!”

He didn’t seem to care about his younger brother Crimson Feather’s death.

“Mountain lord, Lord Crimson Feather...”

“He was too greedy. It’s his own fault for dying,” the Buddha King said calmly. “Is Light Sword’s Windchaser Boot that easy to seize? I told him that the location was too close to Silver Moon and might raise some attention because of it. It might draw in the Silver Moon martial masters. He didn’t listen and didn’t believe me. He went with a death wish that I saw coming from far away. But since I couldn’t persuade him otherwise, I could only let him do as he would!”

The powerhouse under his command widened his eyes. So the mountain lord had seen this coming?

The Buddha King sank into his memories instead of saying anything else. He shook his head to erase them from his mind.

Earthturner Sword, Demon Sword... His information indicated that Earthturner Sword had reached the ultimate peak of what was feasible for his path. The only unknown was how many supernatural locks he’d fully saturated.

Five? Six? Or even more?

Not every person could unseal their battle strength, and not every martial master could accomplish it. One needed to saturate their supernatural locks first—it was difficult to determine how many of his were at capacity.

Light Sword, Earthturner Sword, Hou Xiaochen, Huang Yu...

Various names flashed through the Buddha King’s mind. Had all of them reached that step? Silver Moon fellows were truly frightening! Yuan Shuo had also dropped out of the public eye. Where have you gone, Yuan Shuo?

“Forget it,” the man sighed at the end. “Tell our disciples to stay out of Silver Moon. Do not engage these people if they lack full confidence in winning.”

“Understood!” his subordinate barked out, then asked hesitantly, “Mountain lord, with Lord Crimson Feather’s death, do we...”

Not say a word? Wouldn’t that cause the renowned Buddha Mountain to lose face?

“Yama, Celestial, and the Steppe Prince have all lost people. The worst off is the Steadfast Duke. That old thing has now lost his son, grandson, and five of his eight generals. He’ll be the first to issue any sort of challenge or seek vengeance!

“Undercurrents race beneath the surface these days, no one is willing to be the first to declare war on Silver Moon. Those of the province refused to be lambs to the slaughter long ago and are striking back. Hou Xiaochen has entered the central region, Sky Sword created Sky Sword Mountain, Tyrant Blade can be found in the land... All of them are putting their lives on the line! We’d just be creating trouble for ourselves if we make a move now!”

Putting their lives on the line, lambs to the slaughter...

These terms puzzled his subordinate, but the Buddha King didn’t explain himself. Those who would understand would, and those who wouldn’t, would not. There were too many secrets buried in that province and powerhouses stared covetously at all of them. however, Silver Moon martial masters were not willing to allow others to interfere. The last attempt had seen thousands of supernaturals be buried in their ruins.

This was just the beginning and also represented that Silver Moon would not share their sacred land!

The Buddha King had long foreseen that conclusion. Silver Moon fellows were adept at fighting among themselves and presenting a united front against outsiders. Who would be willing to give up their sacred land on bended knee?

Martial masters aware of the situation were furiously striking back. Hou Xiaochen’s foray to the central region was the beginning of such a counterattack. He hoped to build a first line of defense outside of Silver Moon.

It would be much more difficult than he thought!

As more and more powerhouses were bottlenecked, Silver Moon would be forced to open up sooner or later. The supernatural domain was also improving as time went on. There were more metamorphosis experts these days and perhaps the province would have a better way for them to take the next step forward.

“You are dismissed.” The Buddha King waved his hand as the thoughts floated through his mind. “The central region is our current training grounds. We can set Silver Moon aside for now!”

“Understood!” The messenger swiftly departed.

Although the Buddha King returned to his boxing routine, he was distracted. Silver Moon once more came to the forefront of his mind, as well as a lot of other people. As the best and brightest among the western martial world, he’d been hailed as a walking god when he reached Dominator. He’d swept all of his opponents and thought nothing of the so-called sacred land of martial dao when he visited Silver Moon.

Reality dealt him a mortifying blow that he would not forget for the rest of his life. None of Silver Moon’s Dominators had come out to welcome him—only an excited Yuan Shuo in the midst of his rise challenged him when he learned that the best of the western martial world had come.

Naturally, the Buddha King couldn’t be bothered with the upstart and didn’t want to accept the challenge. However, his opponent came straight for him.

After a fierce battle, he proved unable to match the Sunderer level Yuan Shuo. His arms were broken and the impertinent Buddha King managed to infuriate Yuan Shuo so much that the latter decided to humiliate his opponent. He shaved the Buddha King bald to make him match his moniker and hung the man on the province’s boundary marker.

The Buddha King had wanted to die that day, but he lived through the shame and carried on to present day.

“Yuan Shuo...” The Buddha King suddenly smiled. It was good! It was good that the old man was still alive. He rather wished for Yuan Shuo to be as strong as possible. So long as Yuan Shuo was alive, so would the Buddha King’s shame live on. It propelled him onward in the face of cultivation challenges, never forgetting the mortification and disgrace he’d once suffered no matter how tired he was.

Yuan Shuo, certain credit has to go to you that Buddha Mountain is now one of the seven divine mountains! To think that your disciple would be raising a ruckus after you’ve disappeared. He wields the divine sword of the Lis and will probably become public enemy number one before long, just like you.

......

While Buddha Mountain was incomparably quiet, the central region was far from such a tranquil scene. A grand manor stood at the end of a prosperous avenue—the Steppe King’s manor.

This had been a sacred land eighty years ago; it was much less illustrious compared to before. The nine ministries had confined the royal family after the reins of power were turned over. Even one of their nine princes still kept an exceedingly low profile. He hadn’t done anything major aside from creating the Skystar Guards several decades ago.

Inside the prince’s manor.

A middle-aged man with a stern countenance sat on wooden chairs as he sipped tea. He put down the teacup after hearing the latest reports from the intelligence networks. “So Qian Feng’s dead... I’d thought that this would be another chance for him to break through after setting foot into metamorphosis. What a pity, what an absolute pity!”

What a pity that the loyal Qian Feng had perished. What a shame. Those vile Silver Moon barbarians were growing stronger yet.

“Go tell Huang Yu to have Silver Moon return Qian Feng’s body,” the Steppe Prince said after a long moment. “We need to give him a proper burial!”

“Milord!” some grieved among the generals standing in the hall. “General Qian has been killed, we are not willing...”

“You must be, even if you are not willing!” The Steppe King shook his head. “Now is not the time. There are more than just one or two people that comprise of Silver Moon powerhouses, there are a lot of them! If we start the war first, the ultimate result might be that we are the ones destroyed. No one from Silver Moon’s side might even die in that case.

“Our only recourse is to wait! Wait until there are more in metamorphosis and looking for the breakthrough. Once the fact that Silver Moon can be breached is known to the rest of the world, that will be when we destroy the Silver Moon martial world one and for all!

“I knew thirty years ago that this group of people would be trouble sooner or later. I wanted to fight fire with fire and use savages against savages, but I failed in the end. And now, their dangers are apparent.”

He’d known early on that the Silver Moon martial world would eventually be a problem. But the royal family had been too heavily suppressed then and the nine ministries didn’t really care about exterminating the martial world. They neither approved nor condemned such actions, but didn’t support them either.

I wonder if the nine ministries regret their actions now?

The Steppe Prince snorted to himself. Everyone wanted Silver Moon, but it wasn’t an easy target to conquer! It was also impossible to not subdue the province first before conquering the world. If they didn’t, how were they supposed to obtain benefits, rise to higher levels, and rule the world again?

Hou Xiaochen, you and yours think too simply. Those with ambition will charge into Silver Moon sooner or later. How is one to be the Human King without pacifying that province first?

......

Three sword wielders fought in the North Sea, sending shock in all directions.

Hou Xiaochen received word at first light—he’d just arrived at the central headquarters of the Night Watchers. He chuckled when he saw that those in the middle of a meeting glance downward and continue reading.

There were many directors at central headquarters. One principal, nine deputies. Hou Xiaochen made for ten deputies. There were eleven ranking powerhouses total. Of them, the most eye-catching was naturally the famous Yellow Dragon. Instead of assessing him, Hou Xiaochen looked at the statuesque Director Zheng.

He wasn’t as famous as Yellow Dragon; he kept such a low profile that the deputy severely overshadowed him. The Night Watchers were a subagency of the Inspectorate. It was logical for a Night Watcher director to be an Inspectorate deputy, but for a Night Watcher deputy to be an officer in the Inspectorate as well... The clear intent of checks and balances was at play here.

Plainly, Yellow Dragon had his backers, and they were possibly at the Inspectorate headquarters. They put him here to suppress the Night Watcher director.

“Congratulations, Ole Brother Hou,” someone called out while Hou Xiaochen was still looking at Director Zheng. “You have a good heir. Yuan Shuo’s disciple seems to be a deputy director of the Silver Moon Night Watchers. We’ve just received word that he annihilated a band of pirates in the North Sea. He seems to match the other little guys in Silver Moon...”

Pirates.

No one spoke of their true identity and clapped them with the identification of pirates. Even if Li Hao and the rest of them died, it would still be the work of pirates.