Chapter 919: Inviting a Savior (III)

At the same time, Evenround Martial.

“Li Hao!” raged the Black Armor. He manifested before the young man had a chance to respond. “What do you treat this place as? You come when you wish and leave when you want?? I’ll slap you to death for harassing me day and night!”

It was so damned annoying! He just wanted to quietly contemplate life and take a walk down memory lane. He wanted some peace and serenity to be a lonely hero... but this little bastard barged in again and again!

He wanted to strip Li Hao’s student status!

“I don’t wish to irritate you either, senior, but... the situation outside is changing too quickly. I’ve even encountered Saints...”

“What does that have to do with me!” snorted the Black Armor.

“I am a student of the university.”

“So what?”

“Does the dean of education not care about the survival of the students?”

“That was New Martial, not now!”

Very well then.

Li Hao laughed. “Fine then, senior. Let’s not talk about this. Do you not wish to go home?”

“Am I supposed to depend on you for that?” the Black Armor asked faintly.

“Yes!”

“Heh.” That was a derisive sneer, but Li Hao didn’t mind.

“Opening the Star Gate is one part of the issue,” said the young man. “Another part is that there might be heavyweights or powerful existences around the Star Gate. The third is that the main world might have disappeared. We need to find it. Once we resolve all three, we’ll have a chance of returning!”

“That’s correct,” The Black Armor said faintly. “Which of these three can you accomplish?”

“I’ll be able to open the Star Gate if I become master of the minor world! That’s a given.” smiled Li Hao. “As for the second point, I’ll be able to hold off the enemies with the strength of being master of the minor world. And third, if even the main world couldn’t stand against our enemies and disappeared... it will be hard to locate it. But at least this will be better than not being able to accomplish anything. At least we’ll have some hope then.

“Battle Heaven is putting in effort for the future, why doesn’t the senior nurse any hope?” Li Hao looked at the Black Armor.

“Because I know how difficult this will be.”

“Things were very difficult in New Martial, but didn’t it rise to glorious heights as well?”

“Do you think of yourself as the Human King?”

“Senior, people should have dreams,” chuckled the young man. “I’m not wildly daydreaming. I’m only twenty and haven’t encountered martial dao for long...”

The Black Armor paused. These words sounded familiar. He seemed to remember something from very, very long ago. Someone liked to speak in this manner as well.

I’m still young and have all these accomplishments at my age. Who can predict the future?

He closed his eyes and didn’t respond.

“I know senior is proud of New Martial and finds modern humans beneath your consideration,” Li Hao continued. “But if my physical body is strong enough to coalesce thousands of supernatural characters, can senior predict my future?”

“The world’s limit determines your limit,” the Black Armor responded calmly. “Even if you do become the master of the world, this is where your upper limit lies!”

“No, the limit of the world is not the key to humanity’s upper limit!” Li Hao frowned. “If this world isn’t strong enough, then I’ll break this world. If that still isn’t strong enough, then heaven and earth are the world, the universe is the world, chaos itself is the world! All is as I wish and the world is beneath my feet!”

“Does the senior think that the limits of Silver Moon are the limits of the human race? The human body is the greatest treasure! As cultivators, we know that martial dao trains the heart. However broad our hearts are, is however broad the world is!

“I don’t think I can do it,” Li Hao said seriously. “But I don’t think that the upper limit of cultivators is denoted by the world. It’s not important whether or not I can attain my goals, the important thing is that the senior doesn’t even think about the possibilities. No wonder you’re only a Saint!”

“......” The Black Armor paused.

No wonder you’re only a Saint!

“Senior, powerhouses abounded in New Martial. There was Empyrean King after Saint, Exalted Emperor after that level, and the Human King over everyone. They all existed! It’s not like they didn’t. Since they existed, why not follow in their footsteps?

“Of course, you might not succeed, but we’ve got to have dreams, right? Or is senior’s dream to stay here until you die of old age?” The young man felt that the Black Armor’s mindset was wrong, very wrong.

The New Martial citizens that he knew, including Director General Wang and the others, all had more aspirations than this one. Even though they were weaker, they gave Li Hao the feeling that they had more dreams they wanted to pursue.

Why was that?

Was this all that the dean of education at Evenround Martial University and the right hand man of the Human King’s sister was good for?

The Black Armor remained quiet. Very quiet.

“Dreams do not put food on the table,” he suddenly said after a very long time. “Perhaps the New Martial citizens that you’re familiar with are too far removed from those powerhouses. Meanwhile, I am... very close!

“Though I am so close to them, I feel that I am looking up at a mountain towering into the heavens. They can be observed, but induce despair when we’re that close. Do you understand?”

“No!” Li Hao shook his head. “Why should you despair? When I was very weak, everyone said that my teacher was the martial dao genius of this world, the ceiling of Silver Moon’s martial world. My only thoughts then were that this ceiling might one day be me!”

“That’s not the same...”

“What’s different about it?” Li Hao shook his head. “Forget it, some people like to split hairs. I don’t like talking to these kinds of people. There’s no point in preaching to deaf ears. I am just a seven element Arcanus, whereas senior was once a Saint. I am nothing to you.

“But one thing senior ought to know, and that’s that you are the dean of education. I don’t care if you want to live or die, but what about your students? As part of New Martial, you won’t set even your students to the side, will you? I’ve just resurrected the director general of Security at Battle Heaven a few days ago. Perhaps I can bring back your students.

“Puppets are strong, but senior should have a way to extract their mental strength, right? We can revive them if we have sufficient Water of Life and indestructible matter. Does senior not wish to ensure that either?

“I don’t care what the senior thinks, just that if you’ll be involved or not as their teacher. If you choose to abstain, then I shall never visit Evenround Martial again! But that also means that I will not offer any benefits to the university. Once the second awakening begins and the senior wishes to leave, you must seize benefits with your skill alone. I will leave you alone if you leave me alone, but I’ll cut down the senior if you provoke me or plague the world!”

“You... cut me down?” That angered the Black Armor to the point of laughter. “You want to kill me?”

“Like I just said, only if the senior provokes me!” Li Hao replied calmly. “I will unite the world soon and Silver Moon is mine! No matter what the senior thinks, I will be the king of Silver Moon then! I will have to kill you if the senior randomly kills, raids, or steals!”

“Just you alone?” sneered the Black Army.

“Just me!” Li Hao nodded. “Just me, the one who killed Hong Tu today, the one who executed the white tree of the Wind and Cloud Pavilion. I’ve eliminated this faction in one day with a few resurrected plant spirits and Director General Wang of Battle Heaven. Is that enough?

“It took me only half a year to accomplish all this! I will delay the second awakening for another half a year or full year. Will a Saint be anything special then?” He stared fearlessly at the Black Armor. “It’s been six short months, but I’ve already recruited a dozen plant spirits to my banner and taken over half of the world. I started from scratch! You can ask Jiang Yingli and Li Shengzhang if I can accomplish all that I speak of with another six months.”

The Black Armor didn’t say anything. The two robot cats had followed Li Hao in, but they were silent at the moment as well. They had to listen to their teacher in times like these.

The Black Armor looked around, silently considering the puppets that’d appeared. Some were eavesdropping, others were taking stock of the situation. No one said a word. He couldn’t be bothered to respond to Li Hao if he was by himself, but... he was a teacher.

Indeed, he was a teacher.

I still have a few hundred students,

the Black Armor self deprecated.

“What do you want me to do?”

“Kill enemies!”

“Who is the enemy?”

“It might be a plant spirit, it might be the vice commander of Skystar Town that’s turned traitor... I don’t know.”

“The vice commander of Skystar Town?” intoned the Black Armor. “Can you bring me out into the world?”

“I can try. I had no issues bringing an Immortal with me. But a Saint... I’ve yet to try that. On the other hand, I’m stronger than before, so I might be able to do so.”

“Evenround’s prices are clearly marked if one of us is tasked with a mission!” The Black Armor suddenly grinned. “How about this, you will resurrect ten students for each operation I participate in.”

There were four hundred students at the school, so ten at a time wasn’t much. But the weakest of these students was Apex, and the strongest was Immortal. Director General Wang had consumed ten thousand drops of Water of Life and five trunks of Immortal plant spirits for his revival. If the young man was to resurrect all of the students here... it would take an astronomical amount of resources!

“What if I don’t have enough resources after killing all of the enemies?”

“If not... you can... choose to revive them via mental strength. That will naturally weaken their strength, but they will be alive again!” offered the Black Armor. That method consumed far fewer resources.

Li Hao breathed out and nodded with a smile. “Very well, we have a deal. But if I may be so bold... how much strength have you recovered, senior?”

"Once we reach the place, give me ten thousand drops of Water of Life and one hundred million of the mysterious power stone that you speak of. I will not be afraid of any Saints then!”

Just listen to him! He wouldn’t be afraid of any Saints! It looked like even so many treasures hadn’t resurrected his physical body. The dean had only recovered some energy. So... was he not a Saint?

If he didn’t fear any Saints, was he an... Empyrean King at his peak?

“That’s too much!” Li Hao shook his head. “I can barely manage to collect sufficient Water of Life, but I’ll only have half that many mysterious power stones even if you empty my storage rings!”

Was this level of expenditure worth it?

It was if they could secure the mine. There was far more than that in the mine and he could collect more Water of Life through the plant spirits.

“Give it all to me.” The Black Armor was very calm. “But I’ll be able to handle crippled Saints only. If we encounter any peak Saints... you’ll have to pray for good fortune!”

Li Hao took a deep breath and cursed to himself again. These were all energy eating monsters! He wouldn’t have enough to feed them no matter how much wealth he had! Everyone was like this!

I don’t think I can live anymore if we don’t end up seizing the mine.

“Fine!” he agreed with a gnash of his teeth. Ten thousand drops of Water of Life were the equivalent of thirty million mysterious power stones. Plus another fifty million for resurrection meant eighty million in total.

For that, he’d invited a savior to join his next operation. But after this battle, he would have to resurrect ten more people. Even if they were only Apexes, it would cost at least ten million stones to resurrect just one of them, no?

That meant a total expenditure of one hundred and eighty million stones!

And if the plant spirits involved also wanted a payout... Was this war? It was just setting money on fire! It would be quite a loss for Li Hao if he didn’t collect at least three hundred million stones from the battle.