Star Gate

Chapter 581: Bluffing Too Much (I)

A thousand thoughts swirled in Li Hao’s mind, but he continued bluffing. “How are you worthy of meeting my ancestor? Not to mention, the ancestor is asleep and will not stir for minor matters. This world may be changing soon... Forget it, you don’t understand what I speak of. You can meet the ancestor—I will lead you to the imperial palace myself when you are a supreme powerhouse. Do you dare visit?”

Xu Xing trailed off sheepishly, but confirmed that the monster spirit came from the imperial palace. How frightening! No wonder a mere Solar monster spirit could become an envoy of the Kui Mountains. So it had quite the background!

He could neither accept nor refuse the monster spirit’s request at this stage.

“This is a very important matter,” was his only possible response. “Please wait for a moment, I must report this to my father...”

“How annoying!” Li Hao snapped. “Humans are so much trouble. Or have you actually lost both boots, not just one? Don’t try to lie to us monster spirits! Tell us if you’ve lost both of them, don’t try to trick us. You can’t afford the consequences! You will show me the boot even if you don’t lend it to us. I must confirm you have it! If you don’t, your family has no right to discuss anything with this king. It’s a complete waste of this king’s time!

“Also, it’s not certain if the Windchaser Boots are a treasure of the eight guardian clans. We’ll discuss further after seeing the real thing. If you do not show it to us, you Xus will have lied to the Kui Mountains. You can just sit tight and wait for our vengeance then!”

“......” Xu Xing had absolutely no idea what to say. Vengeance? Who the hell lied to you guys?? You’re the ones who came to us and start spouting vengeance before we’ve come to any sort of agreement! Monster spirits are monster spirits alright, they have absolutely no patience or rationality.

Xu Xing’s heart pounded with fear at the thought of almost irking a group of monster spirits for no reason at all. He quickly offered a few placating words before having the second steward take Li Hao to the Hall of Visitors to rest. He himself quickly sped to the rear yard. He knew that his father was keeping an eye on things and that asking for his father’s opinion now was imperative.

Li Hao was also quaking in his boots. His youth showed! Next time he did something like this, he needed to consider all of the details beforehand. He would’ve been in huge trouble if the big snake had said there was no envoy.

I need to remember this lesson well... and should I ask around for a dragon transformation method since the big snake helped me?

He didn’t have one, in any case. Would Battle Heaven have any? He could also ask the little tree.

I need to take a look at the Windchaser Boot at the very least. When that happens, I’ll have a chance of stealing it!

There was something off about the Steadfast Duke’s manor. He’d sensed the feeling of being placed under constant surveillance ever since entering. Xu Xing also frequently referred to a transmission pendant. He probably thought the monster spirit wouldn’t recognize the item, but Li Hao did.

In that case, was Xu Qing keeping an eye on him from the shadows and monitoring him? It would be frightening if that was the case. He hadn’t seen any sign of the man. Granted, there were a few big balls of light in the rear yard. Perhaps Xu Qing was there. Could he observe the rest of the complex from the rear yard and even eavesdrop on conversations?

There must be a surveillance system in the complex, one that’s incredibly strong. But I have no idea what it is. I can sense some surveillance even here...

Li Hao inwardly rejoiced that he hadn’t been so bold as to directly slip into the manor. He’d wanted to tunnel his way in. Thank heavens I didn’t do that!

......

Panther was led to a small building for visitors while those in the rear yard began their discussion. In actuality, Panther didn’t rest either. Would a monster spirit, especially a descendant of an ancient personage, be willing to nap docilely? That didn’t fit the image of an ancient monster spirit—since when were these entities so biddable?

Thus, the dog padded out as soon as the second steward left. It didn’t make an effort to disguise itself and walked straight out. Picking a servant at random, it growled, “That weakling over there, come here! Show this king around!”

He carried himself like he would eat the servant if they didn’t comply! The young servant trembled with fear, unable to agree and not daring to disagree. He was on the verge of peeing himself when Panther showed its teeth—this was when the second steward abruptly came back!

This further confirmed for Li Hao that he was under watch. The man had returned too quickly while Panther hadn’t exuded any presence or attacked anyone. The steward had known a split second after Li Hao took action. The young man would behead himself for the enemy if there was no surveillance system around.

“Will the envoy not rest for a while? The Kui Mountains are far from East Heart City and you’ve been traveling hard along the way...”

“Do you think this king is one of you weak humans?” Li Hao retorted. “Not to mention, what kind of rundown place is this? It’s so small, how is it fit for rest? There is also a very low concentration of energy. Cut the bullshit and show this king around. You humans know how to live well! A mere duke can enjoy such a large residence...”

The second steward’s face twitched. This minor monster spirit was so rude! The steward was a Nova, but the monster spirit was throwing its weight around as a Solar!

Of course, he knew that the monster spirit came with quite a background and didn’t dare provoke their visitor. “What would the envoy like to see?”

“Your treasury!” Li Hao transmitted after thinking for a bit.

“What?”

“Your treasury!” Li Hao repeated brusquely. “I want to see how well off your duke is! Are you worthy of working with the Kui Mountains? Are you qualified to be our partner? Your treasury is your foundation—if you don’t have sufficient mysterious power stones, origin weapons, and Life of Water, then what kind of major faction are you?”

“......” The second steward was dazed senseless. It was his first time meeting such an arrogant person—monster spirit! No, he’d known some monster spirits before too, but were they all like this at heart? So direct, so brazen? If it wasn’t for this guy’s background, the steward would slap the monster spirit to death with one hand! It was too cocky!

“What, are you afraid of this king robbing you?” Li Hao snorted. “Is the duke afraid of the Solar that this king is? Not to mention, would this king want your treasures?”

Li Hao’s mental ripples carried hints of derision and contempt. He summoned a jug with a wave of Panther’s paw. It was sealed shut and opaque, but the dog casually tilted out ten drops of Water of Life.

“Serve this king well and I may give you a few drops. This king has plenty of this!”

The second steward went slack-jawed with shock. He’d been greatly moved when Li Hao took out one drop. Damn, monster spirits are rich! But now, it was shock and madness. He even had the desire to kill this monster spirit for its treasure!

Oh my heavens, what did I just see?! I saw ten drops of Water of Life being casually poured out of a large jug. Being a steward of the Steadfast Duke’s household, he was one of decent experience in the world. He knew how precious the Water of Life was. One drop represented one life!

......

At the same time, the rear yard.

The supernaturals flared their presences at the same time. The Steadfast Duke crushed his second chair, startling a Xu Xing who’d just arrived.

“Your Grace!” gasped the powerhouses. There was killing intent, greed, and madness swirling around the gathering. That was a massive jug! A very, very big jug! If tilting it produced ten drops of Water of Life, how many drops were there in this jug?

Heavens above! How many lives did that represent?

Xu Qing was also thinking that if he had this jug and so much Water of Life, he would be able to enhance his organs to an extreme and just unseal his battle strength without concern for anything else.

“Sit down!” he abruptly commanded in the next moment. The greed in his eyes morphed to solemnity. “Everyone, sit down! Have you all lost your minds? Do you know what so much Water of Life represents? It represents that there’s truly a monster spirit that’s survived the ancient times, that the imperial palace really exists, that this little monster spirit really has an incredible legend behind it. It really is noble beyond belief to treat Water of Life as actual water...”

The more he said, the more fear set in. “Look at all of you going crazy at the sight of treasure. Aren’t you afraid of not being alive to use it? Or do you think you can run off after seizing the treasure, leaving the manor behind to suffer monster spirit wrath? It would only be my people who dies!”

Expressions on the powerhouses’ faces shifted drastically when they heard this and they quickly suppressed their greed. “We know our shortcomings, Your Grace!” They rose and bowed.

“Hmph!” snorted the duke. He’d been briefly seized by an urge to kill the monster spirit as well. He wanted to cast everything aside and rush out to slaughter the weak monster spirit. But reason won out in the end.

There were no more doubts in his mind. This was indeed a blue-blooded descendant of an ancient monster spirit with a magnificent identity. There might be more than one since monster spirits couldn’t coalesce Water of Life.

How much was in that jug? There had to be a premier monster spirit alive somewhere.

The more the duke thought about this, the more he was horrified by the implications. He frowned ferociously before relaxing with a sigh. “This is good! The Kui Mountains are close to us, so they came to us first. It looks like they want to work together as well. Modern society is different from the past. As this golden monster spirit says, ancient entities may not be able to easily walk about or be used to our world. This makes sense.

“But, it’s all speculation. If they truly wished to venture forth, then they would be existences that we cannot withstand.” With that, he looked at his son. “Go show it around. Take it wherever it wishes to go.”

“Father, it wants to go to the treasury...” protested a shocked Xu Xing.

“Take it!” Xu Qing answered resolutely. “Is our treasury really a treasury to it? It might just be curious or want to be entertained. I would be willing to trade the entire manor for its jug—it just wouldn’t be willing! Or you can try asking it if it wants to make the trade.”

Seizure by force was the most idiotic decision to make. He wasn’t a wandering cultivator who acted without thought of anyone else.