Chapter 839: Invincible! (III)

“According to my father’s memories, energy suddenly disappeared from the world one day,” the little tree slowly began. “And then core origin dao disappeared. We spontaneously entered a period of no energy or great dao. No one could go anywhere as the void turned extremely fragile. Powerhouses that left their main cities easily perished.

“Therefore, they could only stand against the siege and wait for rescue, safeguarding the cities.

“The powerhouses didn’t all immediately die in a split second. They slowly fell silent as they ran out of options. They fell asleep amidst despair, but firmly recalled their mission and typically wouldn’t abandon their duties.

“Skystar City’s mission was to protect the mine. There should’ve been energy left at the mine after it disappeared from the world. Logically speaking, the guards should’ve continued to defend their positions or come to the aid of the other positions. They wouldn’t have experienced a sudden death of their powerhouses and lack the means to collect their core origin...

“Therefore, there’s only one possibility. There must have been a rebellion in Skystar City and a traitor within. That caused a scene of heavyweights fighting each other and the death of many, creating the kind of energy barrier that we see here.

“The ruins under nine ministry control are that of the city’s vital locations. That means that these places suffered attacks, resulting in the deaths of the experts standing guard. That’s why there’s a barrier of disordered core origin where they died!”

Since the little tree knew where the disordered energy must come from, it quickly deduced the matters of yesteryear. Riots and uprisings must have occurred at the ruins that the nine ministries occupied. That resulted in a high number of heavyweight deaths. They were all core origin powerhouses, making for no survivors in these locations.

“So... how are... the plant spirits alive?” Li Hao frowned. Were they the traitors? The ancient civilization was still prosperous then, how did the plant spirits dare rebel?

The little tree didn’t know and was unable to deduce a possible theory. The coconut tree was dead, it would have to ask the other plant spirits to learn of what’d happened back in the day.

Meanwhile, Li Hao remembered that he had a mission at hand. He was to investigate why Skystar City had cut off energy supplies that year, plunging the eight main cities into silence. The eight cities had been able to battle through flight, but when their energy was depleted and no longer replenished, they could not be activated any longer.

“Can we.. go there?” asked Li Hao.

“We can, but it’s very dangerous,” answered the little tree after some thought. “It’s even more dangerous for core origin cultivators. The mine will cause fluctuations in core origin energy. It... should be fine for you guys, but I’m not sure. We can have Southern Fist give it a try.”

“......” He Yong looked around blankly. What did that mean?

Why are you sending me?

The little tree had simply picked a person at random. Everyone disliked He Yong, so the tree felt that it wouldn’t matter to pick the man. That wouldn’t result in hostility from the rest of the group, so it was a marvelous choice!

Li Hao laughed and looked at the black fog. Disordered core origin...

Now that’s interesting.

The young man didn’t explore further and thought for a bit. “Senior Tree, please stay here and stand guard...”

The little tree blinked.

“I’m worried about the other plant spirits from Skystar Fortress sensing something,” explained Li Hao. “Although we might not be able to pass through the black fog, Minister Chen says that the bramble rose wants to move against these plant spirits. In that case, there might be a way through. With senior on guard here, you can intimidate them at an appropriate time!”

Their partnership and the little tree’s existence could not be exposed at this time. The tree understood and sent back, “Will do! But if I’m not with you...”

“Don’t worry, I’ll be fine so long as I don’t encounter an Apex. I’ll make sure to come back for the senior if I enter another ruin.”

That satisfied the little tree. That worked just as well.

“Then let us leave this ruin, everyone!” There was nothing else for Li Hao to address. He was certain to visit the core zone of Skystar Town one day, but not right now. He needed to dismantle the plant spirits one by one. It’d be best if he could kill all of the plant spirits in the nine ministries before moving on to the one at the center.

He contemplated certain matters as he walked and suddenly said, “Is the Qian weapon the Hover Sword?”

“No, it’s the Blazing Ax.” Chen Zhongtian shook his head.

“Then what about the Hus?” Li Hao frowned. “I didn’t see their weapon when I killed Hu Mingfa. Your weapon is exceedingly strong. If Hu Mingfa had used it against me, I would’ve been in for a terrible time.”

The weapon of a Saint! One that could awaken and appear nondescript in the outside world, but be truly formidable inside the ruins. The Qians might not have brought theirs along because they wished to suppress the Skystar King.

How had Hu Mingfa not brought his along after his father was dead? It was his last gamble that he’d staked everything on. Li Hao hadn’t discovered an ultimate weapon in Hu Mingfa’s belongings. If there’d been a weapon of a Saint present, the Black Armor would’ve given him a high price for it.

“The Hu weapon is a curved blade. I’m not certain what it’s called either.” Chen Zhongtian gave it some thought. “Someone might’ve taken it after you killed Hu Xiao—it’d be Armed Forces or Administration.”

“Taken it?”

“Yes.” Chen Zhongtian nodded. “The Hus weren’t strong enough. There was one less person keeping the old Skystar King contained with Hu Xiao’s death. They might’ve taken it to reinforce the seal!”

“Would Hu Mingfa have handed it over?”

Chen Zhongtian smiled without a word, leading to instant comprehension. Yes, Hu Mingfa would’ve handed over his family’s greatest treasure. He wasn’t strong enough to keep it. If he insisted, he would offend the premier heavyweights of two ministries and might even lose his place among the nine.

It was also a dog eat dog world with the nine ministries.

“Then this means that the nine ministries took a Saint weapon from me!”

“......” Chen Zhongtian had nothing to say to that. The rest of the group also tilted their heads back at the sky. The young man... made some sense, but wasn’t it inappropriate to blatantly give voice to it?

......

A group of people walked out of the ruins. Everyone looked worriedly at Li Hao when they set foot back in the outside world, but nothing developed. The young man smiled, this was the expected reaction.

There were also unexpected reactions. Deputy Zhou frowned as a bloody mark appeared on his body, vanished, then appeared again.

The group paused and stared at him.

“Ah... I might’ve absorbed too much energy,” he coughed gently.

Those gathered were stunned! It was apparent from a glance who among them was strong and who among them was weak. Being injured by the void represented that Zhou Chuan was infinitely close to the level of breaking the void.

Deputy Zhou sighed with resignation, feeling very uncomfortable as another bloody mark appeared on his body. “To think that space really would be this fragile... Thank goodness I suppressed myself somewhat. Otherwise, I’d have to remain in the ruins and wait for the second awakening...

The void as they knew it was simply too fragile. His strength had not yet reached the level of breaking the void, so it rather felt like he was being confined ahead of time.

Inspiration struck Li Hao and he summoned four out of five auras. He could sense some pressure, but when his fifth aura appeared, the void suddenly agitated. The young man frowned, then let his fire aura appeared.

And then... there was nothing else.

“Is Deputy Zhou stronger than me?” Li Hao found the discrepancy odd.

The deputy looked back at him with a slight frown, then shook his head. “It’s not that, but have you discovered that no bloody marks have appeared on my body after you displayed the fifth element.”

“Eh?” Li Hao raised an eyebrow. What did that mean?

“The times are different now,” sighed Deputy Zhou. “The cultivation path of the ancient civilization is slightly repulsed by this world. It does not fit mainstream knowledge, so it is subject to greater restriction. You seem... less affected.”

Is that so? Then doesn’t that mean I can utilize my full strength?

He punched outward, yet space seemed to rip apart. He immediately retracted all of his auras in the next second—only then did people notice that his golden armor had almost been shredded.

“Um... it’s not a problem for me to be exposed,” Li Hao said with resignation. “But that I am restricted when I take action as well. The void really will tear me to pieces and my physical body will likely fall apart in a few seconds!”

His body wasn’t as strong as Deputy Zhou’s! There was nothing that could be helped about this situation.

“How interesting.” The deputy couldn’t help but laugh as well. “This means that the void doesn’t reject you, but that your physical body is too weak and cannot endure its strength. It’s probably too hard for you to tear through the void and travel five hundred kilometers at once!”

Li Hao could quietly survive in the world, but his physical body wasn’t durable enough to support further action. Otherwise, he might be able to cover five hundred kilometers at once like the Apexes of old could.

“That may not be the case either,” Li Hao suddenly laughed. “There is such a thing as spatial supernaturals.”

The group paused.

“I remember that we once spoke of the spatial attribute among supernaturals, right?” continued the young man.

People exchanged glances with each other for a while until Chen Zhongtian intoned, “I’ve heard about this before. There was even someone who once sold a storage ring that was said to belong to a spatial supernatural, but we never found the owner. It’s hard to say whether such a supernatural exists or not. There’s been no sign of them among the major factions, at least.

“If they really do exist... I suspect one of them is a spatial attribute cultivator.”

The group focused on him. Who?

“The one at Administration!” chuckled Chen Zhongtian.

“Isn’t he a martial master?” Li Hao raised an eyebrow.

“He is!” Chen Zhongtian nodded. “But a martial master who’s saturated his spatial lock will also possess those powers. Of course, I’m not certain. It’s just that he ran off really quickly in some prior engagements. He was faster than anyone, so I kind of suspect him.”

Everyone understood Li Hao now—the spatial supernatural lock! But... where was it? Li Hao didn’t know either.