Star Gate

Chapter 408: One After Another (II)

The tiger by the lake had been a juvenile cub then. Well, it was a full-grown tiger according to a wild beast timeline, but based on its current mindset, that was when it was still a baby.

Martial dao... how long had it been since it’d seen a martial master? The world had apparently completely changed in the outside world. Martial masters that once dominated the land were either dead or had gone quiet. As for supernaturals... the tiger had seen a few in its time. They were too weak—they died with one swipe.

It sometimes thought back to that person and wondered if he was still alive. When he perfected his five auras, that arrogant human had declared that it would dominate the lands after it left Ash Mountain and unite the martial world. He would set foot into Dominator and pioneer the martial path beyond it...

Was he dead too?

The golden eagle also took a walk down memory lane as the tiger rifled through its memories. That had been a martial master, hadn’t it? A martial master of Skystar Dynasty. Its presence had not been apparent, so it wasn’t a supernatural. The eagle was once thrown down a mountaintop by a most villainous human. That human wanted it to hunt and fly. He beat the eagle if the eagle refused or ran away. A beating was in short order even if it flew too high!

The beatings came in mixed format as that scoundrel had been too strong. Any random pebble he tossed into the air reached several hundred meters high. There had been nothing the eagle could do. Now that it thought about it, that was all there was to the situation.

The giant ape on the other side didn’t think too much. It did recall a strange human who liked to imitate it a long time ago. The human lived with the ape and ate with the monster spirit, doing whatever the ape did. It hadn’t seen the human in a very long time—he was probably dead.

The ape snuck a glance out of the corner of its eye at the tiger and eagle not too far away. Those two had been beaten up by the human, right? It couldn’t recall if it was those two. Its memory during that time was hazy, a far cry from the clarity it possessed now.

It was difficult to say if these two had been the ones of his memories. The ape had asked a few times, but both denied it. Perhaps it was other members of their species? Who knew.

Only the enormous snake of the four monster spirits didn’t have much on its mind. It didn’t care about the human that’d just escaped, it only had eyes for the Golden Lotus. How much could it claim this time? They would have to wait another five years if they missed this opportunity. This area was their joint territory. Whether it was equal division, a fight to determine one victor, or any other manner, they’d yet to settle on a conclusive method.

The four monster spirits immediately forgot about that person. Whether the human had run off or was spying on them, they didn’t care so long as there was no interference in their division of the spoils.

......

Li Hao quickly returned to where the team waited, his clothes soaked through with sweat. Liu Long and the others wanted to greet him when they saw the young man, but he transmitted, “No one talk!”

An instant hush prevailed.

“We need to circle around this area...” Li Hao swallowed hard, finally able to relax slightly. Thank goodness he hadn’t been discovered, that would be horrifying. Knowing that the team was confused, he transmitted a further explanation, “There’s major monster spirits further inside, all of them unparalleled in strength! They’re so strong that they might be Director Hou’s level!”

Everyone’s movements stilled as they stiffened. What level was Director Hou? Someone who killed a Nova with one spear jab!

Major monster spirits, plural? Liu Long’s scalp crawled with numbness. When had Ash Mountain turned this terrifying? It was lucky that Li Hao had discovered them so early without mishap. Otherwise, the team was done for!

Li Hao swallowed hard. A light glittering in his eyes, he tore off a tiny piece of his clothes. It was so small that regular people wouldn’t see it with their eyes. He looked toward the mountain entrance—where the three great organizations still following him?

If they were, they had certain tricks up their sleeves. And if they followed him here, they would certainly press forward. Anyone would be curious when they saw the unique broken mountain.

He didn’t make too many arrangements. Too many would ring too falsely. Anyone slightly sharper on the uptake would find something amiss. Some fibers from his shirt caught in a moment of carelessness would be the best temptation. Regular people wouldn’t detect it and they wouldn’t care if they did.

I hope you idiots don’t keep chasing me. If you do, even Novas will meet their doom if you barge into that place!

Four Novas, much less one, would be the work of a few moments for the monster spirits even if they were on Hou Xiaochen’s level. Li Hao turned back to the group and transmitted, “Step lightly. It’s best if each of you can carry a comrade on your back and leave as few traces as possible. We need to stay far away... If it really comes down to it, we’ll go back the way we came in. If someone’s followed us into Ash Mountain, we’ll avoid them on our way back!”

“......” The Demon Hunters paused. Wasn’t the plan to go out through the eastern side to emerge in Rift Canyon? Why were they retracting their footsteps?

“Don’t look at me like that, we’ve already run into almost ten Solar level monster spirits along the way. There’s four here on par with Nova or even greater! I’m afraid of all of us dying before we reach the east. If someone’s following us, they’ll run into the Solar monster spirits before reaching this place. Let’s take stock of the situation first!”

Li Hao wanted to retreat. Could they really make their way past Ash Mountain and keep heading east? This place was sending chills down his spine. Thank goodness for his eyes or they’d be dead a long time ago!

That flower seemed to be a treasure. Ordinary martial masters or supernaturals might try to take it if they saw it. Li Hao didn’t go because he saw the balls of light. Those monster spirits might be existences like Hou Xiaochen—their presences were retracted. Regular people wouldn’t sense anything amiss and might treat them as regular monster spirits. That would make for quite a show!

Li Hao put this out of his mind and quickly led his team elsewhere. Traveling through such perilous conditions was also a type of training. Sweat drenched backs when the Demon Hunters cautiously crept through another Solar monster spirit’s territory. They’d seen this level of monster spirit before and weren’t that afraid. The true fear was that if the monster spirit discovered them and attacked, would that arouse the attention of the major monster spirits that were on par with Director Hou?

That was a truly horrifying proposition that even Li Hao was concerned about. Therefore, he didn’t dare do anything to the monster spirits they came across. He carefully steered everyone out of danger before finding a suitable spot to rest.

There was a buffer territory between Solar monster spirits that nothing resided in. It was possibly the demarcation between their domains. Li Hao led the Demon Hunters to a massive nest formed by a copse of trees growing randomly. Vines trailing down shrouded it from view and created an enclosed space beneath them.

Panting sounded only when everyone settled down. The group kept their voices low.

“Will we catch the attention of that monster spirit?” Liu Long muttered. They’d been less than one thousand meters away from the spirit overseeing the territory that they’d just traveled through. Those with keener eyesight had seen the monster spirit—it was a lion that was either sleeping or napping. Whatever it was, it hadn’t moved, but its presence was formidable. The Demon Hunters were terrified to be so close to it.

“It’s fine, we’re martial masters and the armor further conceals our presence.” Li Hao shook his head. “I’ve observed it, it’s fine.”

He observed the monster spirit’s supernatural ripples as opposed to its form. The appearance of supernatural ripples would mean that the monster spirit had discovered them. Lack thereof would mean that it hadn’t. This was an ability that the others did not possess.

Major monster spirits might also pretend to not notice the group, but their energy would give them away. However, who could read supernatural ripples?

Li Hao could.

The young man was finding his eyes to be supremely useful. They were sometimes more useful than sword energy. So... what had happened to the others who could see the scarlet shadows? There’d been multiple in Silver City, at least ten in one million. Even if some had died, one per one million meant that Silver City could produce one hundred.

Where had they all gone?

No one among the Night Watchers mentioned these people. If they possessed the same abilities as he did, it would be a snap of the fingers for the agency to uncover supernatural hideouts.

Despite the questions running through his mind, Li Hao didn’t intend to probe into the matter. He’d just ask about it obliquely.

“Chief, you guys stay here. I’m going out. Don’t go out without reason. If you need to answer nature’s call, do so here!”

Liu Long looked solemnly at the young man. Where was he going?

Li Hao didn’t explain himself. He wasn’t going to fish in troubled waters or shadow the major monster spirits. He just wanted to see if anyone was following him. If so... he wouldn’t mind stirring up some trouble and luring them all to that place!

The young man didn’t consider the notion of being a fisherman that benefited from a fight between snipe and clam. There was no such possibility with those four monster spirits present. The only potential was for his pursuers to be killed and him to wait around to collect their corpses.

Did monster spirits eat people?

They seemed to.

Did they eat storage rings?

Who knew, but maybe the rings would pass through their systems.

Li Hao’s thoughts were traveling too far, but they were also very simple at the same time. What if the monster spirits didn’t eat his pursuers after killing them? What if monster spirits produced fecal matter? They didn’t use storage rings, right? In that case, he might be able to pick up something once the monster spirits left.

It was more convenient to operate alone; dark mysterious power helped restrain one’s presence. He also had the bronze mirror on him.

Li Hao suddenly stopped and took out an energy ring, preparing to absorb more dark mysterious power. He’d found it useless before as he didn’t think himself in the insidious business of ambushing others. Martial masters took the fight to the enemy’s face! What need was there for dark mysterious power!

But now he felt that he should absorb some—not for ambush, but to further weaken his presence so that he wouldn’t clash with the monster spirits. Humans and monster spirits could coexist peacefully.

He quickly absorbed the mysterious power and crushed another two stones, leaving only eight in his storage ring. The young man had absorbed nearly five hundred cubes of dark energy by now. He didn’t lack it as peak Solar Yue Pu had supplied nearly two thousand cubes. He’d only absorbed half of his gains.

The sky darkened when he finished absorbing five hundred cubes. Li Hao’s figure shifted like a shadow before blending into the darkness. Dark energy didn’t strengthen him, but it did decrease his sense of being.