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Chapter 696: Chicken Soup for the Soul (II)

The nobles beneath him blinked. They’d thought they were dead without a doubt! But they were released instead? Really? Those who’d run away were the descendants of major noble families. Li Hao was going to arrest them instead?

No one believed their ears!

Some were too fearful to move while others gingerly observed the situation. Upon seeing that Li Hao really was ignoring them, they cautiously moved their feet, then quickly fled the scene with glee!

One person getting away was the start of an avalanche. The rest of the nobles swiftly vacated the premises.

“Why aren’t you killing them?” Hou Xiaochen glanced at Li Hao.

“There’s no real meaning to that.” Li Hao shook his head. “That first batch is enough! I’ll find time to take care of the rest. That’s enough for today. Letting them go back will also intimidate the others and create some trouble for them...”

He laughed and looked down the Avenue of the Nine Ministries before turning back to Hou Xiaochen. “You should leave Skystar City as well, director! Go back to Silver Moon! It’s enough that I’m here.”

“You alone won’t do!” Hou Xiaochen frowned.

The young man turned to the rest instead of arguing. “Li Hao is grateful beyond words for the support shown by various seniors today! The seniors had to leave in a rush last time, please stay another day or two this time. I will release more sword energy when I have finished with my tasks at hand and help the seniors consolidate your organs!”

He looked at Yuan Shuo when he was done. The old man glowered, knowing what his disciple wanted.

“You want me to teach the path of Refiner of Spirit? It’s all theory apart from the Breathing Method of the Five Styles. You can choose to do whatever so long as it doesn’t involve the specific legacy!” Yuan Shuo truly didn’t care so long as the Breathing Method of the Five Styles wasn’t passed on. The rest was just theoretical concept.

For the rest of the crowd, however, the breathing method wasn’t necessarily the most useful for them. It was Yuan Shuo’s hypotheses that they were most interested in. Even Sky Sword halted his steps when he heard this and chose to stay.

This was when Panther abruptly reappeared. The black dog had been absent all this time and soundlessly slipped over to Li Hao’s side. It bubbled with delight, but didn’t make a sound. Li Hao looked down at it and raised an eyebrow.

“Panth, hand over everything from the people that the director and others killed!”

“Arf arf arf!” Panther protested. You want me to hand it over?? It’d just returned from scavenging the battlefield.

Li Hao knew it’d gone. He himself hadn’t collected any of the spoils, but he knew nothing would go missing, if for no reason other than there was a dog keeping an eye on everything. This was how they’d operated for each battle. Panther wouldn’t let a single scrap of treasure slip through its claws.

Who was in the frame of mind to stop and collect loot in the middle of battle? Only this dog. No wonder it’d disappeared after taking down one metamorphosis expert. It’d probably been cleaning up the battlefield ever since.

The group looked at Panther. There were so many powerhouses dead after the clash—Arcanus alone numbered fourteen. There were nine metamorphoses, a number that included Yellow Dragon and his colleagues, as well as numerous Novas.

With local sovereigns as the Steppe Prince, the Heaven’s Eye, and Hu Xiao, there was certain to be an abundance of treasure. There was also the North Sea pirate and his many years of plundering, as well as the old Steadfast Duke...

Any one of these figures were as rich as a nation!

The sheer potential of the wealth tempted some in the crowd. He Yong looked at Li Hao a few times—how about we divide up the spoils?

Sky Sword and a few others didn’t care about this topic. The nine ministries seemed to have fully quieted down. Sky Sword assessed their condition for a bit before saying, “It might be safe enough to stay, but you might also face attack from both sides!”

There were two possibilities in that the nine ministries would not move against Li Hao and the rest from now on. That would free up the royal family for other endeavors. The alternative was that the two sides reach an agreement with each other.

That response interrupted Li Hao’s further speech and Panther took advantage of the opening to slip away. Plainly, the dog was independent enough that it didn’t desire to share the spoils. Li Hao wanted to yell at the dog, but Hou Xiaochen stopped him.

“It’s fine if the dog takes it all. Whether it’s mysterious power stones or Water of Life, none of that has much of an effect on us. We don’t need them, we need the way forward!”

It was a small matter. The true matter lay elsewhere. Hou Xiaochen looked at Hong Yitang, the man had kept his composure all along. “Brother Hong, how many supernatural locks have you broken?”

“Why do you ask?” Hong Yitang smiled.

“I’d just like to see if you stand a chance of converting back.”

“It doesn’t matter.” Hong Yitang really didn’t care. “I’ll just continue down the path of energy if I can’t. At least there’s a straight way forward. I can try the system of three or four elements after I strengthen my organs. There shouldn’t be much of an issue with that.”

He didn’t want to explain himself further; Hou Xiaochen fell silent after a sigh. With how things stood, Li Hao, Hong Yitang, and Sky Sword were in similar straits—full Arcanus. All three had been martial powerhouses and supreme geniuses, so it filled him with complex emotions to see them thus.

Li Hao neither spoke nor asked anything. He’d been ready to face the situation by himself, so the arrival of so many heavyweights was an immense surprise.

Of course, he’d known that people would come, but the arrival of Yao Si and Thunderleg was still quite a surprise. The two fairweather participants from the Inspectorate didn’t ruffle Li Hao’s feathers. He didn’t take them into account for his plans since their minds were often changing.

This time, the young man was prepared to spend a period of time in Skystar City. It was a complicated situation at the dynasty capital and it wasn’t normal for so many Arcanus to have appeared. It meant that they possessed a lot of Water of Life, and what he saw was only the tip of the iceberg.

There must be ruins here, and many. Perhaps Skystar City was the old Skystar Fortress. It was said that this place used to have massive mines and was safeguarded by an army. Battle Heaven records spoke of ten Skystar armies keeping the peace. All contact was eventually lost with them.

Li Hao was quite certain that this was where the Skystar ruins were. Did the nine ministries and royal family jointly excavate the ruins, or did they explore separate ones? Various thoughts ran through his mind.

“Let’s find a place to talk about our experiences as a supernatural,” Hong Yitang raised. “We can leave the floor to them. Things will be fine in the immediate future.”

Li Hao was surprised and quickly surmised that Hong Yitang had something to say. He rather owed Earthturner Sword after this venture. The others didn’t say anything, so the two took a step in the air and vanished on the spot.

Yuan Shuo snorted after they were gone, immensely put out. There that fellow went again! Granted, he was quite resigned that Hong Yitang had fully unsealed himself. He wanted to do the same, but Hong Yitang had stopped him from doing so.

Jadelight stood next to him. She hadn’t been of much help in the fight, but she didn’t mind. It was paramount that Li Hao remained alive, and he was. “Didn’t you say that you grow stronger when you meet strong foes?” she transmitted.

Yuan Shuo cursed to himself!

“What do you know! This would’ve been the greatest battle of our era if they’d forced my hand! The hell do you know!” he transmitted back.

“You have more trump cards?”

“No shit! Who doesn’t have a few aces up their sleeves?” Yuan Shuo blustered, but he was actually considering if he should make some more preparations. His disciple was growing ever more unreliable and he couldn’t always hope to rely on outside force.

......

By the sea.

Instead of discussing supernatural affairs, Hong Yitang asked, “What is your goal in staying here?”

“I don’t know.” Li Hao shook his head.

“You don’t know?”

“Mmhmm.”

“How are you engaging in all this nonsense when you don’t know?” Hong Yitang laughed. “You’ve actually broken a lot of unsaid rules with everything you’ve done. Silver Moon, for example, has been preparing an invasion by these powerhouses. And yet, the nine ministries and royal family aren’t ready... You left so little time that no one’s ready.”

“Isn’t that good?” Li Hao laughed as well.

“Oh, you!” Hong Yitang sighed with emotion. “Your master isn’t ready either. He’s always been confident, likely because he’s reached an agreement with a plant spirit or monster beast. Or he might know where they are located and hasn’t dug them up yet. But judging from his recent performance, he seems to have uncovered one...”

Li Hao nodded in agreement after some thought. “He might have discovered a plant spirit and reached an agreement with it, resulting in my teacher’s organs being rapidly strengthened.”

He’d seen some signs as well. Yuan Shuo’s combination of his five organs was the result of absorbing significant Water of Life. That hadn’t come from Li Hao, Yuan Shuo had dug it up himself. Perhaps he’d found a plant spirit in the central region and remained in contact with it.

However, partnership with plant spirits wasn’t necessarily a good prospect. Revitalizing them might lead to unpredictable results.

“Skystar City is not a kind place,” Hong Yitang nodded. “Staying here means being surrounded by tigers and wolves. The foundations of the nine ministries have not yet been fully called upon.”

“Are the old ministers not it?”

“Not necessarily.” Hong Yitang looked at the city again. “The one from the Ministry of Administration never took the field. Only seven old ministers appeared. The one from the Ministry of Armed Forces was also missing. They’re the two strongest. The third strongest... is probably the fairweather guy.”

“Him?” The old man from the Inspectorate?

Li Hao nodded upon further thought. That old man was indeed powerful. He’d killed the Chu River King as soon as he showed up. The young man hadn’t been able to read anything about him afterward because the old minister hadn’t done anything after. He didn’t cough either and rather seemed like a martial master. Li Hao didn’t read a ball of light from him.

There were martial masters and supernaturals among the nine ministries. Hu Xiao had been a supernatural, but the old fart from the Inspectorate seemed rather like a martial master. It was hard for Li Hao to read anything from them at their level of strength, but he could still determine who was a pure supernatural since their ball of light burned too brightly.