Chapter 503: The Skies Are Vast Enough for the Birds to Soar Through (I)

Hou Xiaochen left as soon as he said he would. The news of his departure swiftly spread throughout the land as the convoy began traveling to Skystar City.

......

In the central region, deep within a mountain.

A man with a slightly pale face sat on a throne within a hall. He was so handsome that it verged on the uncanny. He listened silently to reports being furnished by those beneath him.

“Leader, Hou Xiaochen has set out. Apart from Li Hao’s Demon Hunters, Yu Luocha, Golden Spear and the rest of the Silver Moon Guards have all departed the province!”

The man rested his chin in his hand, the very picture of laziness in his throne. He listened quietly, contemplating something.

A beautiful woman on his left wore long indigo robes; her eyes blazed with a venomous look. “Leader, the day that Hou Xiaochen and that bitch Yu Luocha reaches the central region is the day of their death! They trample on Red Moon’s dignity again and again. Hou Xiaochen, Yuan Shuo, and all those people deserve death!”

“Don’t throw out harsh words,” said the man in an even tone as he pressed his hands down, indicating for quiet.

The woman immediately stopped talking. There were people standing in the aisles on the left and right below the throne. There were even some Ghostfaces within the hall—they were all as quiet as could be, shrouding the hall with extreme stillness.

“Hou Xiaochen...” sighed the man. “These people from Silver Moon want nothing more than to feast on my flesh and drink my blood. But I haven’t done anything to them, so why all this hatred? I just want Li Hao...

“Whether it is the ruins of Battle Heaven or the mysteries of Silver Moon, I’m not interested in them at the moment. i just want Li Hao. Tell me, do you guys think that the eight families are not meant to die out? Things have become very interesting once we turned to Li Hao. The unexpected crops up again and again. First it was Yuan Shuo, then Hou Xiaochen... Things become ever more interesting.”

“Leader, then let us slip into White Moon City while Hou Xiaochen is away and capture Li Hao!” declared the woman in indigo.

“Hou Xiaochen wants nothing more than for you to do that.” The man seemed to roll his eyes. “There is still Kong Jie, Huang Yu, and that old ghost at the provincial government even though Hou Xiaochen is not in the province anymore. Of the three commanders, Hou Xiaochen is one, Huang Yu is the other, which leaves the third in quiet mystery all these years. Kong Jie isn’t the third commander, so I cannot think of any other candidates other than the one at the provincial government...

“Ai!” he sighed and shook his head. “It is a season of many troubles. How odious. If I’d known it would turn to thus, I should’ve struck swiftly when we discovered Li Hao and taken him from Silver City. Now that he’s left, he’s improved rapidly and may measure up to a mid Nova. This has become troublesome.”

“He’s only killed a Solar...” blinked Indigo Moon. How was he a mid Nova now?

Ying Hongyue leaned back against his chair and couldn’t be bothered with an explanation. It was tiring having to explain every detail.

Would Light Sword cause trouble for Li Hao for no reason at all? Sometimes, much could be derived from one piece of news. Even if Li Hao wasn’t behind Xu Feng’s death, he must have something to do with it. Just that development alone was sufficient to determine many other possibilities.

Li Hao might’ve excavated many treasures from the ruins. What a pity that the world was focused only on Hou Xiaochen. They ignored a lot of other critical details in his wake.

That was just as well. How else would Ying Hongyue’s brilliance be demonstrated if not for this? The man smiled, so handsome that he was overwhelming. In reality, he was only a little younger than Yuan Shuo; he was more than sixty years old. He was a bonafide veteran martial master, but only appeared in his thirties. He might raise delighted squeals from women if he walked around on the streets.

Ying Hongyue seemed to be turning something over in his thoughts. “Since Hou Xiaochen wishes to come to the central region, let him come,” he said slowly. “There is no need to interfere. As for Li Hao...

𝙧𝙚𝙚𝔀𝒆𝓫𝓷𝙤𝓿𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝙤𝓶

“White Moon City is too formidable to be touched unless I am there present in person. Otherwise, it is doubtful that we can accomplish what we wish. We will continue to lose people instead, making it much more of a loss than a gain. We don’t need to pay attention to them for now and it’s best to leave Li Hao alone. In fact, do not send any more people to him. Our chance comes when he is forced to leave Silver Moon when he can no longer progress in the province.”

After the ruins, he’d fully plumbed the depths of those in Silver Moon. Sending more people now could be playing right into their hands.

“And there is Violet Moon to consider. Have Orange Moon drop her mission of hunting Yuan Shuo and go to Silver Moon!” Ying Hongyue smiled in an exceedingly tender fashion. “Let’s show them abundant sincerity. I know what they want in exchange for Violet Moon. Have Orange Moon offer ten mid Nova blood pearls and three late Nova blood pearls. Also, make a promise to Li Hao that Orange Moon will no longer chase Yuan Shuo. Have him return Violet Moon after that.”

Indigo Moon listened with some jealousy and wanted to say something... but thought better of her impulse. Perhaps this was the most obvious point of Ying Hongyue’s charisma. He was very generous. These thirteen blood pearls were incredibly powerful as they were all of the Nova level. There were even some late Nova specimens. It might strengthen the enemy or resolve some of their problems, but he was willing to give them up.

If Hou Xiaochen had captured Green Moon and the others instead of killing them, Ying Hongyue would’ve ransomed them back as well.

“You are wise, leader!” said Indigo Moon.

Ying Hongyue rubbed his temples with a soft laugh. “There’s nothing wise about this. If I really was, I wouldn’t have underestimated these guys. I knew they were dangerous, but still let Green Moon and the others go. Look at how things turned out...” He shook his head with a sigh. “Such are the times and our destiny!”

Who could’ve fathomed that so many unexpected developments would occur in Battle Heaven? The three great organizations sent more than ten Novas, of which several were late Novas. They were already highly on guard against Hou Xiaochen. Based on Ying Hongyue’s judgment, Hou Xiaochen did not wish to unseal himself. Since that was the case, their losses wouldn’t be high. There must be other reasons at play if the three great organizations had been completely lost. With just Hou Xiaochen, Kong Jie, Yu Luocha, and a few others in the ruins, it would take all of them unsealing themselves to accomplish the deed.

“It’s all because of Hou Xiaochen’s wiles...” Indigo Moon quickly said.

“Wiles?” Ying Hongyue flicked a glance at the woman and sighed again. “Don’t constantly dismiss or belittle the enemy. That will make me feel useless. There’s nothing wrong with admitting to the enemy’s strength. If the enemy is strong and I suffer great losses, that just means I was unlucky and didn’t have timing on my side. If you say the enemy is trash, that exemplifies how dumb I am.”

“......” Indigo Moon was immediately struck dumb, but she wasn’t afraid, just slightly resigned. The leader didn’t seem to be in good spirits lately. If this was times past, he wouldn’t spend so much time and effort explaining himself.

“This is all my fault, I’ve been too lenient on all of you over the years.” Ying Hongyue shook his head again. “I’ve always felt that women didn’t need to be too strong, that women aren’t born to fight. Fighting is a man’s job, but this mindset has resulted in some bad influences on the ladies. After you guys set foot into Nova, people show you face and don’t normally attack you.

“This expedition has been a blow to the head and reminded you that the old friends in Silver Moon are all vicious sorts!”

He shook his head ruefully. Indigo Moon remained silent.

“Of the six of you, Yu Luocha ran off, Peacock and the divine girl died in the expedition, leaving you and Spider alive. When Spider returns... let’s try a bit harder!” Ying Hongyue looked down the dais and said slowly, “Send word to the Steadfast Duke that Li Hao killed Xu Feng. Light Sword will turn on them, so be careful.”

“Understood!” Someone vanished on the ground. As for whether or not this was true... it was true if the leader had said so. No one suspected anything.

“Light Sword... will turn traitor?” asked Indigo Moon.

“Yes,” sighed Ying Hongyue. “The loyalty of Silver Moon martial masters is not won like that! The Xus have whetted Light Sword’s appetite all this time with the Windchaser Boots, saying that Xu Feng will be in charge of them so long as the young master enters the metamorphosis stage. Light Sword has looked after Xu Feng like a mother and father these years, wanting nothing more than the young master to grow into his strength. Now that he’s dead... Light Sword will surely betray them.”

“With Light Sword’s personality, she should’ve turned on them many years ago,” Indigo Moon asked curiously. “Why wait until today? I didn’t think she was that strong before, but the news now paints her as very strong...”

“The Xus aren’t that weak either!” chuckled Ying Hongyue. “Not to mention, they didn’t lie to her. If Xu Feng had reached that stage, the family would’ve given him the boots. When the yin and yang come together then... It’s not important that Light Sword is old or incredibly unsightly. Most importantly, Xu Feng might be able to borrow the power of pure yang to fully ascend beyond Nova. It was an arrangement that benefited both parties, but nothing of that remains anymore.”

The man seemed to know a lot.

“Therefore, let’s keep watching the show. It’s not that I mean any harm to an old friend, I just want to remind the Xus to be careful. Once they take care of their troubles, they’ll have the ability to try Li Hao and Silver Moon for me. So they better not be caught off guard by Light Sword.”

“Got it!” Indigo Moon nodded, appearing quite naive despite her age.

A smiling Ying Hongyue admired her profile. A naive woman was good, being simple was good. He hadn’t let them be involved in too much over these years because he didn’t want their base nature to change. But now... it looked like that hadn’t been the best decision.

His harem lived in harmony, but it was difficult when they were actually sent out to do anything. Their chances of success were too low and not even on par with some martial masters or supernaturals.

I wonder if Hou Xiaochen and the others curse me for taking care of these martial masters to the point where they’ve been crippled?

“Leader, don’t we also need the Windchaser Boots?” added Indigo Moon. “Why don’t we take the chance to seize them?”

“The Liu family weapon came into the duke’s hands long ago.” Ying Hongyue shook his head. “There’s no need for open hostilities with them over this. The core of the eight weapons is still the sword of the Lis. It’s a pity we couldn’t locate it before, but now we are certain that it is either with Li Hao or with Hou Xiaochen.

“The blade of the Zhangs is likely with Yuan Shuo. That indestructible blade of his probably hides the blade of the Zhangs.”