Chapter 1023: Setting Up Army Formations (I)

Silver City, the northernmost city of Skystar Dynasty.

The small city of one million didn’t usually attract much consideration. Not that many were even aware of it. But as increasing numbers of powerhouses walked out from its walls and knowledge of the eight families spread, it quickly became the center of attention.

Ying Hongyue of the three great organizations, Li Hao of the Skystar Commander Office, Yuan Shuo who’d taught for many years at Silver City, Commander Liu Long of the Demon Hunter Army...

All of these people came from that insignificant little city of only one million. It was a place of bitter cold and as north as one could travel in the central plains. Today, it once more became the focus of the world and the subject of everyone’s keen interest.

Li Hao had come, and not just him, but also Great Li on the other side of Ash Mountain.

......

As the saying went, one grew both fearful and expectant when nearing home. Li Hao stood on the deck of the battleship as it flew closer to Silver City and looked into the distance. Desolate and bleak, such were the characteristics of Silver City. Having experienced the prosperity of the central region, the city that he’d once found bustling now paled far in comparison.

All of the buildings in Silver City were rather small. There weren’t that many cars either, most people traveled via bike or foot. It stood all by its lonesome at the foot of Ash Mountain.

Legends spoke of this location being the center of the world one hundred thousand years ago. Sword City was also said to have been based here; the modern Silver City was not that ancient city. It had been rebuilt on the same site.

A moderately-sized group of people stood next to Li Hao. Director General Wang was also on the ship’s deck. He looked into the distance and saw the outline of Silver City.

“Sword City... has indeed disappeared,” he sighed softly with emotion. That grand metropolis had been the head of the eight cities and the center of the world. But now, there was only a tiny city standing in its place.

Li Hao lifted his head at the sky instead of responding. He could see the diagram of the eight trigrams again after returning to Silver City. It was clearer than before and visible without requiring energy from scarlet shadows as a catalyst.

Light danced in his eyes. This was a massive eight trigram that shrouded the entire city. Eight lines! One of them was connected to him and looked to be decently thick. The others led in another direction. Li Hao frowned slightly. Some of them were weak—likely due to the shattering of their heritage weapon. But... the lines ran in the wrong direction.

The young man’s frown deepened. The red lines pointed to the other side of Ash Mountain. Was Ying Hongyue... not in Silver Moon or the three northern provinces? Was he actually in Great Li or moving with the Great Li army?

Various thoughts filtered through Li Hao’s mind. The diagram wasn’t that clear at the moment because he was physically located outside Silver City. However, he could still see it. He took a closer look at it again, not seeing the mirage of his ancestor due to the distance. Neither did he see the doorframe hidden deeper within the cosmos.

The young man knew what that was now—the Star Gate. It was the passageway leading out of this world and to the main world. He’d once seen something similar to a monster seated near it. Li Hao mused over the entity once more. What was that? And what was the eight trigram diagram involving the Star Gate?

“Director General Wang, I once spoke to you of the eight trigrams over the Star Gate,” the young man said softly. “You didn’t tell me what it was...”

“I’m not sure myself,” responded the director general after momentary hesitation. “The Star Gate is the Star Gate, but the eight trigrams that you speak of might be the Eight Trigrams Suppression Formation. That is a formation assembled by the main cities, but it was broken back in the day and thus severed communications between the eight cities. As for why it’s appeared here... it may be due to Sword City, or it may be an auxiliary formation.”

The Eight Trigrams Suppression Formation!

Li Hao knew about this formation. The Exalted Blood Emperor had split apart the world with one stroke and sectioned it into eight portions to craft this formation. It was an oppression formation to prevent the world from giving birth to its own consciousness. This would prevent the minor world from breaking free of the major world’s control.

But now, the eight trigrams formation hovered over Silver City. This was a deeply meaningful development. Silver City contained a lot of treasures, such as the stone door that Li Hao had discovered before. It was said to be a heritage site for the eight families and its unique energy was the combined force of the eight families. Now it looked that the energy of the formation was particularly targeted against the scarlet shadows.

The scarlet shadows were Ying Hongyue’s invention. Yuan Shuo once said that the scarlet shadows were a type of puppet. The strength of the eight families happened to perfectly counter such entities.

Li Hao had caused an explosion in Silver City back when he still lived in the city and thought that he could use the power of the eight families to blast Ying Hongyue to pieces next time he met the man.

However, he later discovered that there was no energy of the scarlet shadows on Ying Hongyue.

Numerous thoughts flashed through Li Hao’s mind upon this return to Silver City. He looked out over the city, a gesture echoed by many others. Numerous people were curious about this city and only lacked an opportunity to visit. Now that they set their eyes upon the urban gathering, it was... completely different from what they expected. There was neither a grand, majestic air draped over the buildings nor the presence of ancient, everlasting heritage.

It was just... ramshackle and rundown.

Was this Silver City?

The battleship flew toward its destination, trailed by an army of millions that moved over the land like a plague of locusts. A constant drone of movement and the stamping of feet shook the land, nearly caving it in in some parts. They swiftly made their way to Silver City.

The earth quaked and mountains swayed!

......

Silver City.

Director General Zhao stood at the dilapidated city gates. He was joined by Golden Spear and a few other martial masters. Their faces were pale as they looked at the overwhelming sight approaching them.

“This is Yuan Shuo’s disciple?” asked a puzzled old man next to Golden Spear.

There was a person standing on the deck of the ship. Its golden glint could be seen from many kilometers away. Those standing next to Director General Zhao were all people who’d gone to Great Li early on. They were familiar with Yuan Shuo, but hadn’t thought that Yuan Shuo’s disciple would accomplish such feats in this short period of time.

No matter how strong the endless army coming their way was, at the very least they looked intimidating.

The flying ship also contained many armored soldiers. Some of these veterans’ old friends were only qualified to be Li Hao’s minions. One had to say, the world was quite different when comparing the perspective of the average martial master to that of Li Hao’s. They’d never fathomed that those of the martial world could reach such heights.

“It’s him.” Golden Spear nodded with a complicated look in his eyes. “Demon Sword Li Hao. Yuan Shuo took him as his final disciple when the lad was fourteen. The old man only taught him literature at first, but now they’ve set foot down the path of martial dao.”

The other veteran martial masters knew a thing or two—all of Silver City had been discussing Li Hao for the past two days. Even so, they found the young man’s background to be too surreal to be believed.

Li Hao had been a minor inspector in Silver City just half a year ago. Half a year later, he led an army of millions and returned to answer the call against foreign invaders. It was mind-boggling, to say the very least.

A figure drifted down from the battleship as they spoke. Li Hao appeared with a tremble of the void and smiled, “Director General Zhao, Senior Golden Spear, and all of the other seniors... Li Hao is honored to see you again!”

The director general was rather emotional at where life had taken both of them. “It has only been a short while, but the commander’s brilliant and noble demeanor has become even more awe-inspiring.”

“You’re poking fun at me, director general.”

“I’m only speaking the truth.” The smile remained on Director General Zhao’s face. “But fair enough, now is not the time to discuss this. The commander has summoned all of the provinces in the cardinal directions to gather at Silver City and be ready for Great Li. Silver Moon is run by me, so I am here on behalf of those orders. Please show us the way, commander!”

Li Hao raised an eyebrow. This highly experienced bureaucrat had administered Silver Moon for nearly forty years. One had to say, he changed expressions and mood at the drop of a hat.

That wasn’t an insult. On the contrary, the young man found the director general to be very interesting in critical moments.

Director General Zhao had been the highest ranking official all these years. He’d made plenty of arrangements in the battle to come, but decided to defer to the young man first since Li Hao had just arrived.

The young man did indeed have some ideas in mind, but the director general seemed to have cleared all of the obstacles out of his way.

“Surely you jest, Director General Zhao!” Li Hao smiled. “Silver Moon has relied on the director general’s constant and tireless effort all these years to be where it is now. Corpses of those who froze to death can be found on the side of the road in all of the northern provinces but Silver Moon. All of us have food in our bellies and clothes on our backs. That has much to do with the director general’s efforts.”

“Everyone put forth their own efforts to guarantee our prosperity.” Director General Zhao smiled and looked at the others landing on the ground. He dropped the rest of the pleasantries. “Commander, we should set up a proper celebration to welcome your arrival, but we are in an emergency situation. Shall we hold a meeting first?”

“We shall!” Li Hao inclined his head and took a look at the sky. It seemed to be ready to drizzle. His bloodline stirred weakly within his body.

The young man’s domineering presence evaporated the next second and the diagram over Silver City trembled. It was a very strange reaction.

Li Hao looked at the sky once again, an action mirrored by others. Certain changes seemed to be rippling through the sky as thunderclouds gathered. Was it about to rain? But the rainy season had just passed.

The young man suddenly spat golden light from his mouth and wafted sword intent from his body. As the rest of the group watched on, stunned, a ray of sword light pierced through heaven and earth!

Boom!

Thunderclouds dispersed and melted into raindrops that wished to hit the ground. But another supernatural character flashed through the air and dismissed the clouds and rain. The sight stunned Golden Spear and the rest! Even Director General Zhao watched, agog.

So... strong! Just how strong was Li Hao?