Star Gate

Chapter 754: Disturbance (II)

“Stop assessing her so cautiously.” Yao Si smiled, a grin that widened when he saw that Li Hao was on high alert. “She just simply admires you. You beheading those nobles that day won you the adoration and worship of many.”

Li Hao blinked, worship?

“That’s a nice feeling!” He smiled after a beat. No wonder Little Ye was always so abnormally enthusiastic. He’d even suspected that she might be a spy. Abrupt enlightenment descended with Yao Si’s explanation and he burst out laughing.

Yao Si couldn't be bothered explaining too much. He glanced at Li Hao. “Are you really going to start a tenth ministry?”

“Does the director think I'm joking?”

“It’s not that... just that I think we should make some more preparations.” He turned to the young man. “Although you have the strength of four elements, establishing another ministry... Even if the royal family does not care, the one in the Ministry of Administration will not sit idly by. He and the one in the Armed Forces are premier heavyweights. They might possess three or even four elements.

“Of the nine ministries, there are three real powerhouses. The Ministry of Administration, Ministry of Armed Forces, and Ministry of the Inspectorate.”

The other six were on a slightly lesser footing, so it was these three that fought for supremacy to begin with.

“The fourth may be the old minister of the Ministry of Finance,” Yao Si continued. “The old guy is very strong, he’s just much more diplomatic and possesses a lot of wealth, so he’s more like a trader.”

Having lived in Skystar City for many years and been familiar with those ministers early on, Yao Si knew them decently well.

“The old minister of Administration is very strong, his son isn’t weak either. A strong father raises strong children!”

Li Hao sank into deep thought. He’d yet to cross paths with the Ministry of Administration. “I don’t care, I’m still going to establish my ministry, even if it takes another fight!”

“Then you need to be careful of them,” Yao Si changed tactics to simply reminding Li Hao upon seeing how resolved the young man was. “As for me, I can at most fight the other ministers even if I unseal myself now.

“You also have to be careful of the three great organizations, as well as the City of Supernaturals. They might seek revenge after that woman died.”

“What’s the deal with the City of Supernaturals?” asked a mystified Li Hao. “Apparently the nine ministries, royal family, seven divine mountains, and three great organizations all have bases there. They’re based in the central region and had more than a million supernaturals at their peak. Are the nine ministries truly letting such a formidable force just develop as it will in the central region?”

He truly was curious about this City of Supernaturals. At first, he thought it was established by the nine ministries. But upon further perusal of information, he didn’t find that to be the case. That the city could even name the Arcanus realm meant that they were a faction to be reckoned with. It represented that they weren’t afraid of drawing ire from the nine ministries.

“The City of Supernaturals...” Yao Si took a moment to marshal his thoughts. “It’s a bit complicated. It was all fun and games first, but they gradually developed as powerhouses moved in. The people who founded the city didn’t matter, the key was those who later took up residence. They’re the one who altered its layout and elevated its status.

“Do you know the ancient aristocracies?”

Li Hao blinked, thinking of something. The big snake had said that he possessed the heritage of an ancient aristocracy. It was more likely than not that the Lis were an ancient aristocracy. But with Yao Si’s question, he seemed to understand something. “Do you mean...”

“Yes!” Yao Si nodded. “It’s just like the eight families of Silver City, but the ones of Silver City weren’t well known at first. It was only after certain things were uncovered in the ancient ruins that people knew of the eight families’ existences.

“These ancient aristocracies might have inheritances from the ancient civilization, or their forebears might have cultivated ancient secret arts when they excavated ruins several hundred or thousands of years ago. Their knowledge has been passed on since, generation through generation until some families of illustrious history were formed.

“They were the ones who built the City of Supernaturals. The nine ministries and royal family later sent their representatives to the city, as did the three great organizations and seven divine mountains. That was how the city gradually grew stronger!

“Strictly speaking, this is the situation of Silver Moon as well.” He looked at Li Hao. “The martial masters of Silver Moon are also the kind with generational legacy. It’s just Silver Moon martial masters love to fight, so any families with this kind of inheritance were fought out of existence before long.

“Silver Moon actually has quite a few ancient aristocracies.” Here, Yao Si didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. “But Silver Moon martial masters are too foolhardy and each new generation rises on the corpses of the older generation. Tell me, what kind of family can endure such conflict?”

Silver Moon was the location equipped with the foundation for ancient family development, but the province had no such aristocratic level! Was that not strange? But for someone who knew Silver Moon, it was a very natural outcome.

Those of Silver Moon love to fight too much! Yuan Shuo was just one such representative, and all Silver Moon inhabitants were thus. From weak to strong, from ancient to modern times, they fought nonstop!

After sweeping through the world, they returned home to continue fighting. They did not stop until they were crowned first throughout the lands.

Under such circumstances, how could the province produce a strong family through the ages? It wasn’t possible for every generation to be strong, but as soon as one generation weakened, challengers would be at the door. There was no way for people to deny such challengers unless they moved.

Liu Long’s family once was a renowned martial family, but his father accumulated too many injuries from too many challenges and eventually succumbed to them. The Nine Forged Force had many heirs, but at Liu Long’s generation, he could do nothing other than cower in Silver City.

Li Hao blinked at the explanation, then couldn’t help but laugh.

“Don’t laugh!” Yao Si protested wordlessly. “There’s a reason why your eight families declined. From the information that we uncovered, your families had martial masters among them five generations ago. It was more than likely that someone later beat them to death, which caused the decline of your families.”

Li Hao blinked.

“Don’t doubt me, it’s the truth!” Yao Si laughed ruefully. “The weakening of the eight families had much to do with the culture of Silver Moon’s martial world! Or do you think the eight families really were so down on their luck? But there was one good aspect about the martial world in that they did not fully eradicate families. Whether it was out of womanly mercy or the rules, once a family’s martial masters died in battle, people normally did not take the matter further. Otherwise, it would be an enormous question of whether or not the eight families would exist at all a few generations ago!”

Li Hao understood! So this was the case! There had been powerhouses among the eight families before, but they were unable to persevere after years of challenge. Hence, they faded into obscurity in the end.

By now, Li Hao didn’t know what to say about Silver Moon’s martial world. Perhaps... this was what a true martial world was like!

“Therefore, the ancient aristocracies of the City of Supernaturals are just some martial master families with ancient heritages?”

“Mostly!” Yao Si nodded. “With the rise of the supernatural, these families had more people and therefore, martial masters to ascend as supernaturals at first light. They quickly won a place for themselves, but they aren’t without their drawbacks. They focus on their own family members, so there are very few of them, but many powerhouses.

“After the supernaturals grew stronger, their heavyweights decided to form a city of their own. They gathered many members of the ancient aristocracies to build the City of Supernaturals together, wanting to carve out a place of their own in the Skystar Dynasty.”

“I see!” Li Hao fully understood now. “Then... which family did the Heaven’s Eye we killed belong to?”

“I’m not sure,” Yao Si smiled. “I stopped paying attention to things five years ago, so I don’t really know much about the City of Supernaturals now. Their powerhouses don’t come out often, so I’m not sure if it’s a heavyweight of their families. Perhaps they’re a younger addition... but it doesn’t matter.”

Li Hao nodded. Yao Si was quite willing to talk to him today. If this was in times before, he probably couldn’t be bothered with the young man.

“I see!” Li Hao didn’t press for more.

“When are you going to commence your plans?” Yao Si further asked.

“In the near future...” Li Hao thought it over. “But I’d like to do certain things before that. There might be troublemakers in attendance at our opening ceremony, so I’d like to poke around first.”

“What do you intend to do?”

“I’m going to release word that I’m going to officially establish my office, whereas Director Yao can also release word that the Night Watchers will be joining me. The exact date... is to be determined!” Li Hao grinned. “Whether it is the nine ministries or three great organizations, all of them want to kill me! Right, didn’t the Ministry of Finance relinquish a grade two ruin? These guys probably think that killing me outside allows for too many unknown variables. Perhaps they want to lure me inside and kill me there.”

That was very possible.

“I’d rather like to make use of the opportunity to eliminate some of them!” Li Hao stroked his chin. “I can get rid of some before my full strength is exposed...”

Here he was, waiting to lure the nine ministries into the ruins to kill them before they had a chance to do the same to them!

“The ruins aren’t an appropriate place,” Yao Si cautioned with alarm. “You’ll easily give rise to grave trouble as the nine ministries have partnerships with some ancient monster spirits...”

“I know!” Li Hao laughed. “But it’s not yet time for the awakening, so at most they’re using some core origin strength in the event of a partnership. They might form a replica and possibly reach the strength of a three, four, or even five element Arcanus, right?”

“It’s possible!”

Li Hao smiled and sent his mind into the storage ring. “Senior Tree, is your replica able to fight against the replicas of some other plant spirits in the ruins? They might be the equivalent of four or five element Arcanus...”

The little tree was surprised by the question, but responded, “Whether it is four or five elements, it’s all part of your Arcanus realm. In the ancient civilization, that was weaker than Apex. I may have severed half of my core origin and thus made myself weaker than a regular Apex, but I’m definitely stronger than anything below Apex.”

Li Hao understood. In that case, what was he afraid of?