Chapter 886: Li Hao’s Scheme (I)

“Have Senior Jujube’s primary body come here as quickly as possible,” Li Hao declared after some thought. “It needs to come absorb energy as soon as possible. Otherwise, this overly dense concentration might create some issues.”

There were six more plant spirits that existed nearby, but energy levels were rapidly rising in the territories of the five that were dead. An energy tide was inevitable if nothing depleted them. The tide might engulf the entire central region.

It was only now that Li Hao realized the issues this entailed. He hadn’t paid attention to this detail before as they hadn’t killed that many plant spirits. With five dead in one go today, and five gluttons at that, the issues were easily apparent.

“So... we stop killing?” Sky Sword asked in a strange tone. “And... is there a use to shifting the jujube tree over?”

That plant spirit was very weak, what was the point in transplanting it?

“And will an energy tide erupt at my Sky Sword Manor if the jujube tree is moved?”

“...no,” Li Hao said after a long pause.

“Why not?”

Li Hao really didn’t want to answer that question; it was Hong Yitang who coughed gently. “We can tell from the skin and bones condition of your little tree that there’s insufficient energy at your mountain. It’s almost starving to death, how is an energy tide possible?”

“......” An awkward expression crept over Sky Sword’s face.

You say that like it’s my fault. Do I have any money? I’ve only accumulated several million mysterious power stones over these years and exchanged them for cultivation resources. And it’s not like there’s anyone wealthy in Silver Moon. If it wasn’t for all of us latching onto Li Hao, how would any of you have the right to laugh at me for being poor?

As poor as I am, I’m still richer than you guys! You can’t even bear to spend one mysterious power stone!

Frowning, Lin Hongyu understood their conversation. “So this means that we can’t kill any of the other plant spirits?”

𝚏𝕣𝐞𝗲𝐰𝕖𝐛𝐧𝕠𝕧𝚎𝚕.𝐜𝚘𝗺

“Not that!” Li Hao grinned. “Just that we can’t kill them today. Wait for me to transplant some starving plant spirits, that will stave off the energy tide. We’ll be able to kill the rest at any time then. There are plenty of hungry plant spirits in the world!”

Battle Heaven was one such place, there were thirty-six starving plant spirits there on the verge of death! If they could be transplanted to places of abundant energy, that would naturally prevent an eruption of energy.

How laughable! They were almost dying, how would there be additional energy to spare? Silver Moon constantly fretted over this problem. There were thirty-seven plant spirits in one major city, how many in all eight? And they were all starving to death.

None of them could outcompete their peers for energy. It was an amazing feat that the little tree had been able to claim any for itself. It’d only taken a little, of course. The little tree wouldn’t be so poor otherwise and run off with Li Hao as soon as it saw how rich the young man was.

There wasn’t a drop of energy left in the great void of Silver Moon! The province’s supernaturals wouldn’t all run for the central region otherwise. Although there were numerous plant spirits in the central region as well, they were so much fewer compared to Silver Moon. Added to that a great mine in the region, it might be possible that the plant spirits could maintain their functions. Supernaturals could also absorb some energy from the dregs in the air.

There was absolutely nothing to be found in Silver Moon.

“In that case, will any other troubles develop?” Lin Hongyu quickly asked.

“None at all. Take down all of the powerhouses in the eleven families and seal off their ruins. The plant spirits can’t get away!” Eliminating all of these people wasn’t part of Li Hao’s original plan; that would create too great a disturbance. But now, they had to die. What else would these plant spirits get up to if they had the space to maneuver in?

He needed to blockade the remaining six families first, then fully eradicate them once the energy levels receded somewhat.

“Senior Redwood also needs to swiftly return to your ruin and take root there. Absorb the energy in the void so that City of Supernaturals does not erupt with an energy tide. That would be great trouble!” Currently, Li Hao was the last person who wished for the second awakening to begin. This was not the redwood’s desire either. It could still eat its fill for the moment. Once everyone awoke, that was when the trouble would begin.

“Ah... shall we return to Silver Moon and transplant some plant spirits then?” coughed Deputy Zhou. He looked pleadingly at Li Hao. The plant spirits of their province were in such a pathetic state. They were starving! Meanwhile, Li Hao faced an eruption of too much energy and had to give up hunting enemies for it!

None of the eleven would survive their operation if it wasn’t for this.

However, Li Hao had the little tree in mind. As the imperial palace guard, it wasn’t willing to leave the palace. But its primary body wasn’t that strong as there wasn’t much energy on the premises. If the little tree’s primary body could come, it could claim the territory of all eleven plant spirits. There would be plenty of energy available even without mysterious power stones as this part of the world was naturally producing its own.

If plant spirits could walk about freely, the ones from Silver Moon would’ve long come here and sucked the central region dry!

Another point to consider was that the redwood tree had recovered by too much. Li Hao didn’t want to give it more chances to revitalize. He was in a dangerous position—playing with fire. The two puppets and his own people gave him a fighting chance, but once the redwood tree set foot into the next level with even more energy, then Li Hao will have played with so much fire that he set himself aflame.

It would be an enormous headache once the tree became a Saint. Currently, while it’d consumed a great deal of core origin, Li Hao had kept something in reserve—the indestructible matter. Now that core origin dao had vanished from the world, one could recover their strength if personal core origin was strengthened, but not take another step forward. It was also very difficult to enhance the plant spirits.

Core origin dao could not give them any support, not even if one’s cultivation reached the Saint level. The inability of the body to keep up with the advancement would result in a limited increase in strength.

Li Hao was on guard against the redwood suddenly breaking through. But at the moment, there was too much core origin floating around. Panther could store no more. It’d be a waste of killing plant spirits if they didn’t collect the loot.

The young man already had five corpses of Immortal-level plant spirits on him and a great deal of indestructible matter. He was also concerned that the redwood tree would start to consider other motives and make a desperate gamble to outright kill him.

Five trunks might not help it advance, but eleven?

It couldn’t conduct this action by itself, it needed Li Hao’s help. Yet its greed might rise the second Li Hao collected all eleven. The young man was keeping all of this in mind.

The increased density of energy in the environment was one consideration, potential mutiny from the redwood was another. Otherwise, he could kill another two before returning to Silver Moon.

“I will consider it!” Li Hao nodded at the deputy’s words.

“Those guys are getting off lightly!” the redwood remarked with regret. “Everyone who offends the commander deserves death!”

Li Hao didn’t know if it truly thought that, or just wanted to benefit from Li Hao collecting too much indestructible matter. But for now, he chose to halt the slaughter.

This operation opened his eyes to the fact that the presence of plant spirits wasn’t necessarily a bad thing. Their furious consumption of energy delayed the second awakening, which was wonderful. Another point was the plant spirits of Skystar Town. He could not randomly kill them if he didn’t resolve the matter of the mine first!

Once they did and a vast quantity of energy wafted out, the mine would easily collapse without plant spirits being present to deplete it. Thankfully, he hadn’t done anything brash last time. If he’d taken up Chen Zhongtian’s offer to kill the man’s plant spirit, he might have already caused enormous trouble.

Not only that, but there was the Wind and Cloud Pavilion! There was a ninety-nine percent chance that a plant spirit existed in their ruins. Although its strength was unknown, a great deal of energy would float freely once it was dead. Therefore, he needed to make full preparations to prevent an energy tide from developing.

It was best if he took a starving plant spirit with him and installed it there as soon as he killed Chen Zhongtian’s plant spirit. That would cut off any problem at its root. As for starving plant spirits... there were plenty in Silver Moon!

Li Hao laughed. He finally had a use for the province’s numerous, starving plant spirits. They would instantly suck an area dry whenever they were transplanted! That would permanently end the chances of a premature second awakening unless the mine exploded.

If he could move all of Silver Moon’s plant spirits over, it would probably take several hundred years before the second awakening was possible. Those guys could devour as much energy as the world produced.

......

The group quickly returned to the Lin family manor. Li Hao sent the redwood tree inside the ruins before departing.

Lin Hongyu couldn’t help herself on their way to the City of Supernaturals, or perhaps she just didn’t want to rein in her curiosity. “Is the commander... worried about the revered redwood? Is that why you stopped killing?”

“I do not want to test the plant spirits,” Li Hao said calmly. “The redwood grew unstable when I put away the trunk of the fifth plant spirit. It made no difference to it whether we killed more plant spirits because it could no longer absorb core origin. Killing more was an unnecessary risk, but it was still urgent for me to kill more. You guess at what would’ve happened if I continued?”

“Those not of our race will certainly have different thoughts in mind!” Lin Hongyu nodded. “Unless we suppress them by strength... the commander is right. Although you are strong, it will still be difficult to manage a fully awakened Immortal. You are a rare genius favored by heaven indeed!”

“No, it is you who are the rare genius favored by heaven!” Li Hao tilted his head at her with a smile.

“You praise me too highly, commander!” Lin Hongyu smiled bashfully.

The young man cursed to himself. This woman’s mind worked faster than anyone. She was as shrewd as they came! She guessed his intentions as soon as he stopped killing. Li Hao was wary of the redwood and cautious of being embroiled in the plant spirit’s ambitions. Hence, she immediately said that those not of the same race will have different motivations. It was a clear indicator that she hoped Li Hao would look at her separately from the redwood tree.

Of those present, the two puppets likely didn’t see through Li Hao’s thoughts, and neither did Sky Sword. Perhaps the rest could, but Lin Hongyu understood the young man’s concerns with a single glance. No wonder she was the city lord.