Chapter 853: Another Promotion (I)

Li Hao was quite depressed when he walked out of the commander’s office.

Why??

According to his assessment, a division leader was an Apex, a reserve commander was an Immortal, and an army commander was a Saint. Was there anything wrong with his thinking?

Not at all!

𝗳𝚛𝗲𝕖𝕨𝕖𝗯𝚗𝚘𝕧𝕖𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝕞

Even a peak Apex was doing well for themselves if they maintained being an Apex after so many years.

Therefore, while I may be weaker than my opponent, it shouldn’t reach the point of being defeated with one punch! And he also uses the sword!

Although it’d been a punch that defeated Li Hao, a wave of sword intent had spontaneously suppressed his aura and mind intent. That was the manifestation of a sword cultivator! Various thoughts ran through the young man’s mind as he drooped with dejection. C’mon, he’d easily killed an Apex replica! His confidence was shattered!

He set one reluctant foot in front of the other and inwardly cried to himself. He still wasn’t free of this nightmare!

Li Hao sped straight to the city lord manor. Director General Wang was the best!

......

The city lord manor.

Director General Wang had returned to his post and was jauntily seated in a casual manner. He seemed to be in high spirits and even smiled when Li Hao came through the door. Although his face was enclosed by the golden armor, the young man could sense the smile.

It was certainly a sardonic smile!

Damn it!

“What... level is that commander?” Li Hao couldn’t help but ask.

“Not much of a level, he’s not that strong,” laughed the director general. “He’d only just set foot into the Immortal level that year, but he improved quite quickly and reached peak Immortal when the great silence was upon us. To be honest, that’s nothing worthy of note!”

Peak Immortal?

“Are all division leaders this level of strength?” Li Hao mumbled.

Didn’t you say last time that they were Apexes?

“Of course they aren’t,” laughed Director General Wang. “Immortals are usually reserve commanders, but you know that’s under normal circumstances. They aren’t during special occasions. Your division leader was due for a promotion that year, then unexpected events delayed that from happening.”

Alright then! That was depressing! No wonder he had the right to confer military titles upon others. It meant that while he was nominally a division leader, he’d long since taken over the duties of a reserve commander.

Peak Immortal placed him on par with the bramble rose? The commander had said that the plant spirit needed to bow its head when it saw him. That was true—this was a major personage of the Battle Heaven Army. Skystar Town was on a lower ranking to begin with.

“It’s just peak Immortal. Do you have that right, director general?” Li Hao asked again since he couldn’t rest easy. “How much strength does he have left?”

What do you mean just peak Immortal??

Director General Wang wanted to roll his eyes at the question.

“How much strength he has left depends on whether his mental strength has increased over the years, or weakened in the great silence. The stilling of core origin dao may not have impacted him that much...”

“Oh?” Why not? Li Hao didn’t understand.

“Because he’s...” Director General Wang suddenly stopped speaking with a cough. “Nothing, let us move onto other topics.”

Li Hao was skeptical of the sudden change and looked at the director general. The latter had just been issued a hefty warning—

damn if that guy isn’t overbearing!

Why had he been issued a warning?

Because the guy’s dao wasn’t that of pure core origin either. All methods led to the same dao, all became one in the body, Li Changsheng was the only one beneath the heavens! [1]

But that was only in the beginning. After that, the Eternal Sword Sovereign wasn’t the only one in the world. All methods led to the same dao!

The soldiers saw limited effects from the dissipation of core origin dao since all daos led to the same destination and not everyone pursued core origin dao. This branch in particular had very weak bodies. At times, Director General Wang wondered if the Li clan had influenced modern humans too much. Their bodies were so weak!

Who knew?

Back in the day, Silver Moon Territory revered the Li clan as their leader. Perhaps the Sword Sovereign’s dao was so domineering that it affected the entire world. It wasn’t as apparent before the great silence, but quite apparent afterward.

Countless thoughts ran through the director general’s mind. It was also unknown how much strength that one in the army retained. He was a tough nut to crack. There weren’t many who’d awakened to begin with and this one didn’t like to talk. It made for lonely days in Battle Heaven. He sat in his office from day to night—it’d been tens of thousands of years!

“Then is the director general an Apex or Immortal?” asked Li Hao, breaking into Director General Wang’s thoughts.

“Me?” the man chuckled. “Why do you want to know?”

“No reason, I’m just curious,” Li Hao explained. “Because I’ve met Immortal level plant spirits, so I’m wondering if the director general of Security at a main city... is just an Apex?”

“Heh,” snorted Director General Wang. “Don’t ask about me, I’m just here to fill space. It wasn’t long that I set foot into Immortal before everything happened and I am far less than your commander. Security is an inward facing agency, we don’t fight external enemies. Otherwise, my rank is not a low one.”

Someone who’d just set foot into Immortal? Then his strength should be less than the plant spirit. The plant spirits have been alive all this time and their physical bodies remained intact. None of these people had their physical bodies anymore.

“Don’t think random thoughts,” the director general said softly.

“Eh?”

“I haven’t read your mind, I can just make an accurate guess at your thoughts,” Director General Wang replied. “Don’t compare the powerhouses of the main cities with the plant spirits in the wilderness. Do not ever compare the heavyweights of the military with the monster spirits either! You must understand that in the New Martial age, human cultivators could fight three peers at once under normal conditions.

“Cultivation level is one thing, but battle strength is another. Humans conquered the world. Would monster spirits have come under our rule if we could not defeat monster spirits of the same level? Monster spirits have strong bloodlines and bodies, but what else do they have?” the director general snorted with laughter. “Nothing else! Whereas humanity has the strongest battle methods, weapons, commanders, will, and faith. That is why we were able to dominate the four cornerbacks back in the day and conquer the world!”

Li Hao sank deep into thought.

“That’s all there is to plant and beast spirits. You’d be quite mistaken to think you can handle heavyweights of the military after killing plant and beast spirits. You must commit to memory that if you meet with any New Martial military powerhouse—the kind that’s turned traitor—you must treat them as a higher level of existence when fighting them. You will be dead without a doubt otherwise!”

Li Hao bobbed his head up and down. So that was the case!

“And another point—there were many paths in New Martial, core origin was just one of many. There was another era before New Martial, that one trained weapons and the physical body. They were still unquestionably domineering without core origin dao! Of course...” Director General Wang thought for a bit. “They don’t seem to be present in Silver Moon Territory, are they?”

“Does the director general mean that these people were still very strong without core origin dao? That they retained peak condition?” Li Hao frowned.

“Not to that degree. After all, their physical bodies likely declined in the absence of energy. Only if their mental strength remained formidable would they stand a chance. Otherwise, they pretty much reached the end of the road when their bodies fell apart.” Director General Wang introduced more of the situation back in the day to the young man. “Do you have more objectives at hand with your visit this time?”

“I’d like to try and revitalize General Pagoda.”

“Oh?” The director general was surprised. He took a look when Li Hao brought out a massive tree trunk. "The Golden Coconut is dead?”

“Ah, Director General Wang knows this plant spirit?”

“I do, it’s the guardian plant spirit at Security in Skystar Town. All of Security falls under my purview, how would I not know it?” chuckled the director general. “The Security of the eight main cities were higher placed than the one at Skystar Town and I visited the town a few times. I was familiar with the Golden Coconut, so... why have you killed it?”

“It supported the nine ministries behind the scenes and disturbed Skystar Dynasty. It should be killed!”

“Perhaps that should be the case from your perspective,” Director General Wang said slowly after a while. “But from my perspective... it is difficult to survive to present day...”

“They want to come to Silver Moon to devour all of you. Does the director general still think you’re on the same side?”

“......” Director General Wang was speechless.

“I’ve been to the ruins and seen that those at Skystar Security are likely all dead. There is disordered core origin on the scene and only the Golden Coconut was alive. There aren’t even bodies to be found of the others.”

“Disordered core origin?” Director General Wang blinked and turned solemn. “Tell me what you saw there.”

Li Hao sketched out what he’d found at the ruins, resulting in prolonged silence from the director general.

“Did unrest seize Skystar Town? There is even disordered core origin... That means a large sum of powerhouses abruptly died on the spot...” sighed the man. “It looks like the town cutting off energy supplies back in the day might have had something to do with the unrest.”

Director General Wang looked at the Golden Coconut’s tree trunk with a smile. “This is a nice item that may really revive General Pagoda. It’s exceeded my expectations that you were able to come by it so quickly...”

“I have to thank the imperial palace guard for its help,” Li Hao chuckled. “It was so helpful to sever half of its core origin to create a replica.”

“Don’t tell me about that,” laughed the director general. “I cannot call the shots in this. Tell General Pagoda.”

Of course he understood the young man’s connotations, the lad wanted some benefits. However, the director general truly couldn’t make the decision. Li Hao fell silent with a wordless look.

1. Changsheng are the same characters as ‘eternal’ here. ☜