Chapter 1147: Each With Their Own Schemes in Mind (I)

Li Hao nodded and looked at Yu Qiao, then at another old man. That was probably the East Pole Marquis. He’d met the marquis’ eldest son before—that person was also here and standing next to the old man.

Li Hao remembered that the East Pole Marquis had sent out troops to harry the Xus when the Xus chased him. Director General Zhao had promised them certain benefits in turn when the second awakening began.

However, the circumstances now were vastly different from what they had once been.

Li Hao swept a glance over the group and inclined his head at Yu Qiao.

“I hear that Elder Yu contributed greatly toward the stabilization of the east,” the young man voiced a pleasantry. “I have been busy all this time and didn’t have a moment to thank the elder for your efforts!”

Yu Qiao smiled wryly in response. What great contribution to stabilizing the east? That was because they wanted to make the eastern continent their kingdom. He bore his own share of ambition and wanted tranquility throughout the east to support it. Only then would he be able to concentrate on his enemies. Who wanted their own territory to be a mess while they dispatched enemies?

That so-called accomplishment of ensuring peace and stability had been in pursuit of his own interests. But all of that now passed into the hands of another master!

Wise were those who recognized the circumstances of their times and adjusted accordingly. Li Hao had rebuffed the various nations—Watercloud surrendered, Great Li withdrew, and Divine Nation was toppled. Yu Qiao did not intend to follow in the Xu footsteps of rebellion.

“This is what I should do!” Yu Qiao’s smile broadened at Li Hao’s words. “You praise me too highly, my lord!”

“The East Pole Marquis...” began the young man.

“No no, that is a joke, Your Lordship,” the marquis quickly interrupted. “That was a title conferred by the fake royal family. All of that is now in the past, my name is Zhou Qi and I am the director general of the East Pole province...”

Li Hao is a marquis. If I am one too, wouldn’t that be putting myself on the same footing as him?

That was a mistake that the wily East Pole Marquis would never commit!

“The Jiangs did not set up a false dynasty,” Li Hao shook his head. “They ruled over Skystar for two hundred years and bear much of the credit for unifying the dynasty! It is normal for all dynasties to decline and weaken in their sunset years.

“There is no need to deny their contributions. Just the achievement of unifying ninety-nine provinces is sufficient to have their names recorded in history. No matter how many dynasties there are to come, we cannot erase the one of the Jiangs.”

“It is this old man who is unworthy and ignorant of Your Lordship’s magnanimity...” the East Pole Marquis said solemnly.

Li Hao waved him off, not interested in flattery. He took a look at the rest and then at others in the distance. “Where are those from Helios?”

“My Lord.” Light Sword quickly stepped forward to explain. “Helios worships the divine spirits and in particular, the sun god. However, Your Lordship killed the sun god a few days ago. That organization was formed on the basis of their faith. Right now, its followers are in despair and the organization disbanded. Its powerhouses have long fled.”

Li Hao blinked. He hadn’t thought that this would result from his actions. So Helios worshipped the sun god? Now that was a pity!

The death of their central faith was a devastation of a mental level to these worshippers. It was quite normal that the organization would outright dissolve in the aftermath.

The overlords of the eastern provinces heaved a sigh of relief after a period of conversation. Li Hao seemed easy to talk to. In contrast, Light Sword was quite overbearing in the east these days. She killed all dissidents and those who offered resistance without a second word. There was no room whatsoever to negotiate!

Although everyone was gathered in this locale, some provincial leaders were absent. They would never be in attendance!

As for Zhao Shuguang’s presence... he was here to pick up the pieces and arrange people to fill in the gaps. Otherwise, the dynasty was so enormous with a multitude of matters to attend to. He would not spend so long in one place if there wasn’t something to take care of.

Just as the group thought that the young man was very friendly, Li Hao instructed with a smile, “Commander Hu, since Helios has disbanded, we need to consider their former members. The regular members can be left alone with some surveillance, but their senior executives might be en route to Divine Nation in the west. Send someone after them and kill them all. Don’t let anyone make it out of the eastern continent!”

“I hear and obey!” Light Sword quickly responded.

The others sweated profusely at the orders. The former leaders of Helios might be in grave trouble!

Li Hao was taking a very hard line against religious sects at the moment. He was well acquainted with the dangers that they might bring.

“Director General Zhao, are you certain of the location?” He looked toward the director general.

“Yes, sir.” The director general nodded and pointed into the distance. “It’s just ahead of us. The entrance is a bit unique as it’s inside a big tree. What’s interesting is that the tree seems to be forming a spirit...”

This might be the only tree in this age on the cusp of becoming a plant spirit. There were many plant spirits in the world, but all of them were antiques. While modern beast spirits abounded, Li Hao had never met a modern plant spirit.

“A plant spirit forming? How interesting. It requires a lot of energy and time for one to form, unless this one’s been inundated with energy all along. Otherwise, it’s impossible for it to produce a spirit in such a short period of time.”

It’d only been twenty years since the world awakened. That was long enough for beast spirits, but plant spirits required much more time than that.

“I am rather surprised myself,” nodded the Director General Zhao. “This also goes to say that this set of ruins might be like the ones that belong to the traitors—they don’t lack energy. They never have!”

Li Hao furrowed his brows and nodded. Not lacking energy was not good news.

“Let’s go take a look!” The young man said nothing more and led everyone onto the ship. The vessel took to the air and flew toward a mountain in the distance. The tree was on the mountain.

A different sensation was palpable when they drew close. Energy was very dense in this locale.

Under normal conditions, ambient energy was faint around the ruins as the existences inside absorbed it all. A dense concentration indicated that the existences within the ruins did not draw from the outside world.

A pine tree stood erect on the mountain.

Although it was winter, the tree stood in full leafy glory, completely unaffected by the elements. It trembled slightly, like it sensed danger.

“The entrance is inside the tree trunk,” Director General Zhao quickly explained. “We only learned about these ruins after coming in contact with some Xus.”

Li Hao nodded and took stock of the surroundings. He did indeed perceive a void in the premises, which meant there were ruins present. But since it was difficult to determine how strong the powerhouses were inside, he was not at liberty to rashly barge in.

Just as the young man wondered how to probe the ruins, the tree shook again. Its trunk gradually turned translucent and a blurry figure bubbled up.

Li Hao’s eyes widened. He could sense an external surge of mental strength that didn’t belong to the tree. That indicated it didn’t originate from the tree, but that someone was attached to it through their own mental strength.

Was it an existence from the ruins?

A face appeared on the tree and transmitted, “Is the little friend a descendant of the Sword Sovereign, the heir of the Lis?”

“That is me,” Li Hao confirmed. “Is the senior a powerhouse from Tranquil Star, the ancient sacred land of cultivation?”

“You could say that.” A voice emitted from the illusory face. “This is one massive misunderstanding. I came in contact with the Xus a long time ago and learned that someone had killed many of their powerhouses in the outside world. Hence, I decided to empower them slightly.

“However, that seems to have caused trouble instead. It looks like I’ve been isolated from the world for too long and misunderstood the situation at hand.” He seemed to know that Li Hao had come to demand an explanation, so was very polite. “It is fortuitous that no major issues developed from my actions. Since the young friend is a descendant of the Sword Sovereign, we’re all of the same family at the end of the day...”

𝒻𝑟ℯℯ𝑤𝑒𝑏𝑛𝘰𝓋𝑒𝓁.𝒸𝑜𝘮

“These are small details,” Li Hao interrupted with a smile. “This junior holds sway over Skystar Dynasty at present and has always respected the New Martial seniors. Standing next to me is Director General Wang of Battle Heaven Security. If there are any misunderstandings, we can simply resolve them.

“There are many New Martial seniors in present times who are willing to help me build a peaceful world. Senior is located at a site known as Tranquil Star, but that is an ancient sacred land of cultivation. I had not desired to disturb senior prior to this, but Director General Wang did not believe the legitimacy of this location.

“He insists that there is no Tranquil Star in Silver Moon world, which leaves me rather confused as well. If the senior is willing, might you be willing to enlighten me?” A puzzled look entered Li Hao’s eyes. “Tranquil Star... I am familiar with some of their descendants, such as Jiang Yingli, Li Shengzhang, and others. They have indeed never mentioned the city moving to Silver Moon world.”

“It is to be expected that they are unaware of this.” The human face on the trunk looked at Li Hao with gratification. “This is more accurately called a satellite city of Tranquil Star and existed long ago.

“The young friend should be familiar with New Martial. The Human King and Supreme Zhang were omnipotent, so they had many measures in place for many eventualities.

“When the Sword Sovereign gathered vast numbers of powerhouses to follow the Human King into other universes, the Human King was worried that the minor world would not remain safe after the Sword Sovereign’s departure.

“He sensed some problems developing early, such as those from Red Moon universe possibly infiltrating this world. They wanted to use the minor world against the main world...

“Therefore, the Human King secretly contacted the Exalted Tranquil Emperor and had him send some people to Silver Moon minor world to build a satellite city. They were to take up residence here in order to handle any unexpected occurrences.

“We just didn’t expect the enemy to go so far as to outright close the Star Gate, break the grand formation of the eight main cities, and shatter a large number of mines. All of it caused Silver Moon to sink into silence, which also negated the purpose of the satellite city...”

Li Hao raised an eyebrow. This ruin was a contingency plan left behind by the Human King and others? Was this claim true or false?

It was most likely ninety percent false and ten percent true. Even if the Human King had made certain arrangements, would he have relied on these people?