Chapter 475: Enormous Gains (I)

Li Hao walked out of Military Supplies with an additional book—Building Five Bridges—and a flask with ten fruits. It had to remain sealed until he wanted to use it; the fruit inside might expire as soon as he opened the flask. They might’ve rotted away and decayed long ago if they were held inside a storage ring.

He also had forty-six small stones that were very translucent. Their caliber was far beyond what ordinary mysterious power stones measured up to.

He Yong and Hong Yitang also had the book in their possession. Hong Yitang had traded the rest of his merits for Mind Fruits and He Yong headed to the Recruitment Hall to be promoted to a Bronze Armor. That was something not distributed at Military Supplies.

The three paged through the book. After a while, He Yong sighed, “I need to learn how to read!”

He didn’t know ancient text! It felt so awful to have a secret art in his hands and be unable to decipher it. Damned awful. Indeed, He Yong wasn’t able to make any sense of what he read after flipping through the book. Meanwhile, Hong Yitang gleaned a bit of meaning and sank into deep thought.

Li Hao paged through the entire book and discovered it to be an interesting theory. One could categorize it as a cultivation method, but it wouldn’t enhance one’s strength. It was a very unique method in the young man’s eyes.

Five bridges...

The five bridges of heaven and earth were to be built between the five organs, creating a massive circulation cycle that connected them. Just that theory alone was thought provoking, not to mention the book indicated that this was a rudimentary cultivation method back in the day. This meant that everyone cultivated in this manner during the ancient civilization.

But what of the supernatural locks? The book says that the five bridges are a communication of energy. Are the bridges the supernatural locks?

There were five locks, each corresponding to one of the five organs. The young man didn’t have inspiration at present as to how to build the bridges, but perhaps the supernatural locks could become a key link between them.

“Martial Uncle Hong, do you think we can use the supernatural locks as metal suspension bridges to connect the organs?”

“I don’t know.” Hong Yitang shook his head. “The ancient civilization’s cultivation system is some parts different from ours. The modern system has independently developed to present day, sketched out by generations of martial masters. It might not measure up to ancient knowledge, but it has its own unique characteristics.

“Take our mind intent, for example. To be a Dominator is to possess it—it’s a middle of the pack accomplishment. But in the ancient civilization, mind intent is hard to manifest, much less cultivating five at a time like your teacher.”

Li Hao understood some of the differences between the modern and ancient systems. “There’s great value in using ancient knowledge as a mirror, but it might not actually be useful.” He nodded. “We can give it a try. It will be a great thing if it succeeds!”

Hong Yitang nodded, whereas He Yong asked restlessly, “Um... can you translate this for me? It was pretty expensive and a complete waste if I can’t read it.”

The book would be a paperweight for him then.

“Let’s wait until I have time.” Li Hao smiled. “There isn’t much text, but mistakes might crop up with an impromptu translation. They use different terms in the ancient civilization, so I need to corroborate with other ancient texts to make a proper translation. If I just go at it, some of what I say won’t make sense.”

Fine then!

He Yong could only wait. This further reinforced his desire to learn how to read. Just look at his current straits!

He headed to the Recruitment Hall to trade-in his equipment when they passed by. A satisfied He Yong remerged moments later, equipped with a Bronze Armor. Li Hao noticed some new data in his armor—soldier He Yong had become the leader of the Second Company!

“I’m finally an officer!” He Yong exulted. Being a company leader was the equivalent of a centurion. He would start getting depressed if he didn’t receive a promotion for long. Being a soldier was no fun.

He held no resentment over spending one hundred merits for the upgrade. A bronze armor’s defensive ability and comfort were much stronger than a black armor. Black armor could not withstand attacks from Solars or Novas; it was even easily ripped apart by Novas. And while Novas could send their energy into bronze armor, it was much more difficult to rip that equipment apart.

Bronze Armors had died over the course of holding off Xu Feng, but that’d come through self detonation. Xu Feng hadn’t been able to punch through them in one blow, and that was under the circumstances of those soldiers being long dead. For someone like He Yong wearing bronze armor, a Nova didn’t have much hope of breaking his equipment.

The trio walked outside after they were newly equipped. Metallic clanging sounded before long—a Red Armor presented itself. Its color was more vivid compared to the ones they’d seen before.

Unique ripples traveled out of its armor when it caught up to the three. “Troop Leader Li, are you headed out of the barracks?”

“Yes.” Li Hao nodded.

“According to wartime regulations, you are not to leave the barracks without an urgent mission as you are new recruits who have yet to complete your training!”

“......” The three pause, what did this mean?

We can’t leave?

“Um... will I explode if I exit the city?” Li Hao thought something.

“Yes!”

“......”

“Not only you, but the armor of a company leader will also explode!”

“......” He Yong was no longer happy. Dazed, he cursed himself for obtaining that promotion!

But since the Red Armor had caught up to them, it did so for other reasons. “The commander has issued orders that you three are not martial cultivators of our time or ordinary rookies. As the city is nearly asleep, you may not be able to complete your training if you remain here.

“Thus, the commander wishes for me to convey to Troop Leader Li that you should go to the Mission Hall if you wish to leave Battle Heaven. Accepting an outside mission will permit you to leave the city. Although these missions have long expired, they can still be accepted. In fact, it’s better that they have expired. You can remain outside indefinitely. But you cannot directly leave Battle Heaven—you’ll be marked as traitors and be in a lot of trouble then!”

Commander?

Li Hao thought of the Gold Armor, the one who’d demoted him! Otherwise, the two of them might be the same level. Then

he

was the commander of the Ninth Division.

If the commander wore gold armor and the one in the city lord manor wore gold armor, then what of the commander-in-chief of the Reserve Defenders? Was there another color of armor beyond gold?

One could leave the city only with a mission in hand. Thank goodness the army had sent someone with a reminder. The trio would be in such trouble if they left outright!

“I see, where is the Mission Hall?” Li Hao asked.

“Do you wish to go right now? I can lead you there.”

“Let’s go take a look!”

The Red Armor headed off without another word; the trio made use of this opportunity to take a close look around. A parade ground, dorms, buildings...

It was all very simple, but a very large complex. A unique stone formed the ground—the same material as the one outside, but one that looked even more durable.

“Is this the headquarters of the Battle Heaven Army?” Li Hao couldn’t help but ask after they walked for a while.

“No, this is the Ninth Division. Headquarters is located further in. The city houses only the Reserve Defenders. The other divisions are encamped elsewhere and frontlines only returns in between battles...”

Further in...

The trio looked in the relevant direction, but didn’t see anything other than pitch black. So this meant that there was a commander-in-chief in residence in the city?

“Is the commander-in-chief of the Reserve Defenders present?”

“I don’t know, we are not aware of his movements. We have not seen him in many years. Perhaps he has left, perhaps he has fallen silent.”

“Have you never been tempted to leave after the others did?” He Yong couldn’t help his curiosity.

“No, our mission is to protect the city and the people within.”

“Then...” He Yong hesitated before his next question. “Are the people... dead?”

“Yes, some died of old age, some left of their own volition.”

“Are there other cities nearby?”

“......” The Red Armor seemed to be rifling through its memories and also considering whether or not it could reveal this information. “Yes! The eight guardian clans built eight cities throughout Silver Moon to safeguard the Star Gate!”

“......Star Gate?” the trio quickly followed up.

“My memory is lost, I have forgotten what the Star Gate is!”

Had it truly forgotten, or was it unwilling to say? Li Hao thought of the stone doorway in Silver City. Was that the Star Gate?

These ancients knew a lot. Battle Heaven’s greatest wealth was in these dead people, not resources. The information they knew and the cultivation system of the ancient civilization was all worthy of reference.

The eight guardian clans built eight cities to safeguard the Star Gate. So that meant there were seven other cities in Silver Moon? And this place had been called Silver Moon since the ancient times?

Li Hao was rather confused. Silver Moon came from the names of Silver City and White Moon City. Why did this one hail this place as Silver Moon?

“Has this locale always been known as Silver Moon?” asked Hong Yitang.

“This is the land of the silver moon, so of course it is Silver Moon! This part of the cosmos is all hailed as Silver Moon because its moon is the most beautiful color of silver!”

Silver? The trio blinked. But... it wasn’t! The moon in the sky was marked with some red. What silver was there?

Li Hao looked around dazedly. This entire part of the cosmos was called Silver Moon... not just this locale.

The Red Armor led them to another hall.

“There were eleven troops in the Ninth Division, making for eleven thousand people,” Li Hao suddenly said. “With one thousand dead, there should be another ten thousand. If there are three thousand outside the city, that means there are seven thousand here?”

The Red Armor did not respond.

“Can you not speak of that?” Li Hao couldn’t help but ask.

“Not... the one thousand dead you speak of is wrong! We are all dead,” the soldier replied calmly. “The Tenth Troop was just the first to fall, we are all dead! There are more than eleven thousand in the Ninth Division as we need to take into account the officers, Military Supplies, Supervisory Guard, Education, and Training... There are fifteen thousand people in the Ninth Division.”

One division possessed fifteen thousand members!