Star Gate

Chapter 695: Chicken Soup for the Soul (I)

The northern city gate.

Hou Xiaochen and the rest were confused. They’re already spoken to propose that Li Hao withdraw with them and return to Silver Moon. It was safer there as the province still possessed strong battle strength.

Yet, the young man didn’t make a sound.

He’d just eliminated a portion of nobles—everything would return to what it was before if he left now. Therefore, he wouldn’t leave right this very moment. That would nullify today’s battle in which nobles and powerhouses died.

So long as he remained in Skystar City, he would be the barometer of the city—the greatest barometer of the world. This was also one way to intimidate the four corners of the land!

“Li Hao...”

The young man raised hand to interrupt Hou Xiaochen. “What are we afraid of?” He smiled and looked into the distance, at where the nine ministries were. “I want to be a thorn in their side! I’ll stab right into their heart! They’re very strong and might have only displayed part of their strength, but... so what?

“There is no need to be concerned about me, but if there are any of you who should leave, please do! I have the Windchaser Boots in hand and at my current stage in power, they won’t be able to keep me here if I don’t go toe-to-toe with them!

“We must be diligent in our efforts to exterminate evil! What is the point of just starting the job?” Li Hao assessed the unrest within the city and then at the restless Night Watchers around him. “Do you see that? Some of the Night Watchers seem to be following orders well too!”

“Those Night Watchers are my old subordinates,” Yao Si said faintly. “None of them were that bad to begin with. They’ve just been oppressed by Yellow Dragon these years...”

“Then why did Director Yao turn a blind eye and deaf ear all these years and allow them to be suppressed?” Li Hao looked at Yao Si.

The man started to say something, then fell silent after a harrumph. Why? Are you blind? Did you not see all the powerhouses today? As strong as I am, do you think I would still be here today if I didn’t keep my head down then and bide my time?

Once Yun Haoran died, the leader of the Night Watchers became a thorn in the side of the various institutions. If he’d maintained his strong demeanor of old, he would’ve died a long time ago.

Li Hao knew all this, but he was still annoyed for no reason other than Yao Si’s habit of drinking Water of Life. That attitude of watching a good show irked him even now.

Yao Si couldn’t be bothered with adjusting the young man’s attitude. He left. It was just as irritating for him to spend time with Li Hao. The key point was that Li Hao now directly issued commands to the Night Watchers without going through him. What was the point of his presence?

Li Hao was the Skystar vice commander—he was outranked by the commander, deputy director, and director. He himself knew full well how many ranks separated the two of them, but he issued orders like he was the director himself!

“It’s good that he’s left. We can continue training. I wouldn’t have wanted to keep releasing sword energy if he stayed!” Li Hao didn’t bother keeping his voice down, leading to internal curses from Yao Si in the distance.

Did you say that on purpose for me to hear? I care about matters of dignity like that! My organs are stable. I only lack the cultivation path for the next stage. I don’t care about the energy you have.

His battle strength increased significantly when he unsealed himself, but he didn’t suffer the corresponding significant damage like the others did. He could nurse himself back to health. After cursing at Li Hao in his mind, he ignored the young man.

Yao Si was in a better mood when he returned to headquarters and saw Little Ye look at him with a worshipful expression. However, his mood immediately plunged to extreme irritation.

“The director... was so heroic this time! You’re still the great hero of my heart!”

Yao Si was delighted at that.

“The director recovered your past glory under Commander Li’s guidance! I think the Night Watchers will recover before long!”

Yao Si was most unamused by that. I’m the director! He’s a vice commander and many levels below me! So many levels! It’s not him leading me, it’s me leading him! The Night Watchers is my territory, do you understand??

......

The northern city.

Li Hao continued to look at the central quadrant of the city. The struggle between the nine ministries and royal family seemed to have died down. It appeared that upon seeing that the Silver Moon contingent wasn’t participating, the royal family decided to continue biding their time.

This balance was the result that Li Hao wished to see. This was good! It would make him uneasy if one side won. He’d killed so many Arcanus that the royal family clearly felt that it was time to act. They hadn’t risen before, but chose to violently revolt today, likely because Hu Xiao was dead.

The ripples of power coming from the Ministry of the Judiciary were plainly weaker than the rest of the ministries. Their old minister was dead and his son was weaker than his father. He produced weaker energy ripples when manipulating their divine weapon.

Various powerhouses stood by Li Hao’s side and looked in the relevant direction. Golden light shimmered in Li Hao’s eyes. His eyes had always been able to see energy ripples—possibly due to his bloodline. The little sword had unsealed only by a little more today after absorbing a great deal of his blood—possibly due to the purity of his bloodline.

But at this moment, his eyes demonstrated slight changes. He could see the energy ripples around him—not just pure energy, but some of internal force as well. He looked sideways at Hou Xiaochen; the man likewise tilted his head back at Li Hao.

Light sparkled in the young man’s eyes. He could vaguely make out the thick chains of supernatural locks. This confirmed the changes in his eyes.

Why? Li Hao tightened his grasp around the little sword, finding a possible reason there. Perhaps the little sword absorbing blood had led to some purification of his bloodline. Was that possible?

He wasn’t sure and had always had questions as to why his eyes could see certain things. He seemed to be different from cultivators with the heavenly eye.

Heaven’s Eyes made use of powerful mental strength to peer into certain things. That wasn’t his modus operandi. Li Hao utilized his bloodline, not mind intent. Heaven’s Eyes just seemed to have a stronger mind.

The young man didn’t speak of his speculations; he surveyed the surroundings to find many martial masters still lingering on the scene. Meanwhile, some had run off right after absorbing some sword energy. They’d run so quickly that they were long out of sight.

“Senior Thunderleg is gone.” Li Hao looked at Hou Xiaochen. “Director, what crime did he commit?”

This was the only martial master to come in reinforcement that he was less familiar with. Li Hao only recalled the man’s wretched appearance.

“There were some bystanders present when he sparred with Deficient Leg twenty years ago,” Hou Xiaochen responded faintly. “He vented his spleen on the crowd when he lost and killed two dozen people.”

Li Hao’s brows drew together in a frown.

“Those people wanted to watch despite knowing that powerhouses were fighting,” Yuan Shuo dismissed what he viewed as foolish actions. “They acted like they were watching monkeys turn tricks at the circus. It doesn’t matter that they’re dead! You overcorrect in certain matters! Martial masters normally do not fight near mundanes. The ones watching were also martial masters. There has been a rule in Silver Moon since the ancient times that if you watch powerhouses fight, then you are responsible for your own injuries!”

“He killed people on purpose!” Hou Xiaochen looked coldly at the old man. “Yuan Shuo, your disciple is dispensing justice! And what of you?”

“Such are the rules of the martial world!” Yuan Shuo refused to back down. “The law is the law, but so are the rules the rules. All martial masters tacitly accept it, which makes it a superhuman rule. It’s not appropriate to apply the same rules to both superhumans and mundanes! He didn’t drag mundanes into the violence, so don’t mix up Thunderleg with these nobles!

“And, if you want to talk about breaking laws in a way that affects mundanes, very few of us have committed such crimes. If there are any, there is only one. You should arrest Southern Fist!”

He Yong looked around blankly.

“Thunderleg is much better than Southern Fist in my opinion!” sneered Yuan Shuo. “Thunderleg killed some bystanders in a martial world matter, Southern Fist often leaves without paying when he eats out! He’s like a hooligan who terrorizes the market! If you want to apply the law, I say kill him first! No one will object to that!”

The law-abiding Northern Fist nodded at Yuan Shuo’s words. “Little He does indeed show a fair disregard for the rules,” he said softly after some thought. “He likes to commit embarrassing acts. His reputation was the worst among the people when we were all active in the martial world. Not even Ying Hongyue and the others were as infamous as him.”

The main reason for that was that the latter group was active in the martial world, unlike He Yong who had a habit of not paying for his meals in the civilian world.

“I pay my debts when I have money!” He Yong squawked with outrage. “I put a few meals on my tab because I didn’t have any money! I discussed it with the boss that I’ll pay when I have money! I just owe them money, it’s not like I won’t pay them back!”

What was this, a ‘ruin Southern Fist’s reputation party’?

“Go ask around in Silver Moon if I paid them back as soon as I had money!”

“When have you ever had money?” someone snorted.

He Yong blinked and cursed under his breath. Of course he had! How were they looking down their noses at him?!

Li Hao didn’t add to the conversation as he was contemplating if the law should differ according to the population. It would be a fundamental difference in the law, not the same system with two different applications as was present now. If the line of separation was superhuman vs mundane, with each side following their respective laws, then which system should apply if superhumans interfered with mundanes?

This was a great matter for deliberation that he’d never considered before. He certainly thought about it a lot today. Thunderleg, for instance, took out his anger on some bystanders after he lost a match. Since this was in accordance with martial world custom, Yuan Shuo didn’t see a problem with his actions.

However, Hou Xiaochen found these actions untoward and that the perpetrator be taken into custody. Hence, Thunderleg foregone all of the potential benefits and ran off after absorbing a tiny bit of sword energy. He was plainly afraid of Hou Xiaochen.