Star Gate

At the same time.

Ruins throughout the lands shook in reaction.

Skystar City, underneath the palace.

The bramble rose transformed into a humanoid shape and looked to the north with confusion.

“How strange…” it said after a long while. “There was a ripple through earth and sky just now, and it seemed to come from the eight main cities…”

The rose was too far away from the disturbance to sense clearly, but there was a faint perception of… someone awakening? The bramble rose frowned. It would be enormous trouble if one of the main city plant spirits revitalized. Hopefully, that wasn’t the case!

The rose’s frown deepened when it glanced at the entrance to the mines in the distance. The second awakening was yet to start and it couldn’t leave the ruins at the moment. There was no meaning in sending out a replica as it couldn’t withstand any of the true powerhouses in any other ruin. It was also highly risky to sever sufficient core origin for a replica.

They could only hope for the second awakening to take place as soon as possible.

Damn it! If it wasn’t for the others constantly standing in its way, the second awakening would’ve happened long ago. Unexpected developments often took place during long nights.

Red Moon headquarters.

Ying Hongyue was cultivating when his eyes snapped open. The scarlet cloak materialized in the air. “Something’s happened at Battle Heaven. Li Hao might have gone back and supplied a large sum of energy. General Pagoda might have awoken!”

“Where does he get so many treasures from?” Ying Hongyue frowned. “Although the various factions supplied quite a bit at their last attempt to kill him, you also said that the revitalization of the Evenround Martial powerhouse depleted most of it. He’s been furiously cultivating all this time, so where does he get so many mysterious power stones from?”

“I don’t know.” The scarlet cloak was equally nonplussed. “Thank goodness that the disturbance wasn’t great. Even if General Pagoda has awoken, it will barely be conscious. It would be frightening only if he’s revitalized to the point of activating Battle Heaven. Right now… it’s almost a nonexistent possibility!

“We need to eliminate Li Hao as soon as possible,” it insisted nonetheless. “He will bring us a lot of trouble otherwise. He’s been working towards the revitalization of the entire city this entire time. Battle Heaven is ranked number two among the main cities, it was on par with the city of the Lis back in those days!”

“Eliminate? How should we do that?” Ying Hongyue scowled at the difficult task.

“You can do it!” offered the scarlet shadow.

Ying Hongyue sneered. “I can do it? How?”

The scarlet shadow was silent again. “You do not need to be on guard against us, you should focus on eliminating Li Hao first! Our goals are the same. Haven’t you been hiding your strength throughout our partnership because you’re worried that we’ll take action against you?”

“You think too much!”

“It is a threat to both of us if Li Hao is permitted to develop like this,” cautioned the scarlet shadow. “Don’t forget, you’re his biggest enemy and you always have been. Be careful of raising a tiger that turns on you! Certain matters are open knowledge between us, be careful of being tripped up by matters of your own making!”

‘I don’t know what you’re talking about!”

“If you say so,” laughed the scarlet shadow. “Perhaps you have your own plans in mind, but the danger is borne by us all. Just make sure you don’t regret your actions in the future!”

The scarlet entity vanished. Ying Hongyue stared in its direction with a menacing look. They certainly had strong intelligence networks! It knew of the changes in Battle Heaven as soon as the disturbance occurred. He hadn’t even received word yet!

Li Hao…

Ying Hongyue looked to the north with a deepening frown. The kid certainly had a few tricks up his sleeves! How had he done it?

The man sank into deep thought and laughed eerily after a long moment of silence. Then let’s give it a try.

……

Battle Heaven.

The massive city rumbled as it expanded. A towering tree that had stilled in silence emanated a faintly aureate glow. Overwhelming presence gradually manifested in the surroundings, exerting so much pressure that Li Hao had trouble breathing.

He backed out of the tree hole and tilted his head back, finding himself able to see the skies overhead now. A tree with slightly sparse branches radiated with new life. A leaf larger than a person grew out of its branches. Mental strength swept in all directions. It didn’t hurt Li Hao and simply spread in the environment.

“It’s been so long!” sighed an astoundingly aged voice. “I’m alive again, old turtle!”

A faint glow erupted from the Turtle Pagoda and the old turtle’s voice drifted back, “Indeed, it’s been so long that I thought you would not be able to revive ever again.”

“I really did almost die. I likely wouldn’t have made it to today if I didn’t absorb some energy twenty years ago… There are too many bastards in Silver Moon and they took too much. Entirely too little made it to me…” the big tree said slowly.

The other places were well enough, but there was a large group of powerhouses and plant spirits in Silver Moon that were all very strong. They fought each other for the initial wave of energy as they all wanted to survive. That drained all of the energy that flourished in the province!

A middle-aged, old man appeared on the massive tree trunk. Despite appearing middle aged, he had a head of white hair while the rest of his face wasn’t that old. He walked out of an illusory haze from the trunk and stopped in front of Li Hao. “Well done, little fellow!”

Li Hao grinned, slightly on the alert, but quickly responded, “Li Hao greets the general!”

“Well done!” the old man responded, but didn’t mention anything else. He looked at the city with an emotionally laden sigh. “So I see Battle Heaven again… I thought the opportunity would never come upon me ever again.”

Another old man materialized in the air. He was bent over with a walking cane; a turtle shell would complete the look.

“Congratulations, Ole Pagoda!”

“To both of us!” The white-haired General Pagoda smiled. “But I haven’t recovered enough, I’ve just barely regained my sentience. There is no more energy to absorb in Silver Moon… ai!”

“That’s good enough!” chuckled the old turtle. “You’re better off than the others.”

“That’s true enough.” General Pagoda inclined his head and glanced at Li Hao. “Troop Leader Li has accomplished a magnificent feat. I am honored to be part of it.”

“This was only to be expected!” Li Hao beamed radiantly. “It was just the killing of an Immortal plant spirit. My people almost all died, but we still succeeded. It’s fine that we suffered some injuries, we’re all part of the Battle Heaven Army! It only cost us one or two hundred million mysterious power stones and thousands of drops of Water of Life. Some people were also left with injuries that they cannot heal from, but giving up even our lives would be worth it to review the general!”

“……” The premises quieted down. General Pagoda didn’t say a word and the old turtle immediately vanished. This has nothing to do with me.

“I do understand the hardships within…” The old man inclined his head after a while.

“It’s fine, it’s really fine!” Li Hao shook his head. “This is as we should do! The general doesn’t need to stand on ceremony! The imperial palace guard actually asked to devour the Golden Coconut’s trunk and said it would give me twenty thousand drops of Water of Life in return. But I didn’t find that appropriate!”

The young man frowned. “It takes three hundred stones to coalesce one drop, twenty thousand drops would just be six million stones. That’s the equivalent of sixty million modern stones, but it takes one hundred million to revive the general. That would be my loss!

“Not to mention, I am a Battle Heaven troop leader, not the imperial palace!” Li Hao finished with another wide grin.

“……” General Pagoda said slowly, “I have just awoken and find that my strength may not match my ambitions…”

“That is true and completely understandable,” Li Hao nodded. “The general should rest more!”

Is this a matter of resting more? thought the old tree.

“I’ll go kill a few more Immortal plant spirits to fortify the general with. They’re all bad guys, so there’s no need to think too much about this. As for the danger… there’s nothing to it. The general doesn’t need to sever a core origin replica for me, that would damage you too much!”

“……”

Did I say anything about that? Did I say anything at all?

“But we get injured too easily and need Water of Life for that,” Li Hao continued. “We can recover faster that way and collect more for the general. I hear the imperial palace guard say that the stronger plant spirit seniors can convert Water of Life faster and at a cheaper rate.

“It requires three hundred stones for one drop. Apparently someone of the general’s level only needs one hundred. I still have a couple million energy stones at hand—about three million. Can the general help me convert them to thirty thousand drops? I’ll summon various powerhouses when I leave so we can hunt down foes together!”

“……” It was so silent that everyone’s ears rang from the lack of sound.

“One hundred stones a drop… and you say you heard that from the imperial palace guard?” General Pagoda said slowly after a very long moment.

“That’s right!”

“The little fellow who came last time?”

“Yes.”

“Is he still at the imperial palace?”

“Correct.”

“Go back and tell it that I will visit it when the world can accommodate us.”

“……” Li Hao coughed dryly. “Then… I shall pass on the message when I return.”

“Give me the energy stones,” General Pagoda said with resignation. “My consumption rate is not that low. If times were as before, you could have as much Water of Life as you wished. But it is truly out of the question for the moment as my own reserves have run dry. Give me three million energy stones, I can give you ten thousand drops in return, but I will need three days.”

The times were different and it was nearly starving to death itself. There was nothing it could offer to Li Hao. Although it wouldn’t retain much energy from the stones, the passage of energy through its body would more or less moisten its parched trunk. That would be a kind of revitalization as well.

Doesn’t that make you the same as the little tree? Li Hao looked down on General Pagoda. Well, the general was much faster. It could coalesce ten thousand drops in three days! It would take the little tree thirty days for the same amount, or it could operate day and night to produce Water of Life, but that would consume mysterious power stones at three times the regular rate.

Mighty were the strong, alright. They converted mysterious power stones at a much faster rate.

Li Hao poured out all of his stones, unconcerned that the pagoda tree would keep them for its own use. He had more than thirty million mysterious power stones on hand. Some could be kept for the little sword—although Stellaris wasn’t quite willing to eat them lately. Still, having some was better than none at all.

etvolare’s Thoughts

This poor tree’s gonna get taken along for a ride lol.