Star Gate

Chapter 830: Killing an Immortal (I)

Li Hao’s body rose in the gloom of Evenround Martial and promptly vanished. He reappeared in the Skystar Commander Office and vomited a mouthful of blood. A violent surge of mental strength agitated from the rear yard. Within the Hu ruins, a coconut tree stirred with maddened fury. It could sense that its replica was no more!

Damn it, that asshole! Didn’t the little bastard say that he was highly confident? Where’s my replica?!

It sensed Li Hao’s presence before long. The young man was covered in blood; sadness and anguish swam in his eyes. A dog of blood arduously trailed behind him. He coughed out an apology before the big tree could rage when he approached the sumptuous hall in the rear yard.

“My... apologies... I hadn’t thought... this would be the case... You should sense it too...” Li Hao stretched his lips in a ghastly smile. “All of my people are dead!”

The tree shook. All of them... dead?

“Thankfully... I used the Windchaser Boots... to escape... at the last second...” Li Hao took out the boots and Stellaris and hefted them in his hands. “My injuries are too severe... I require... Water of Life... There is hope... so long as I’m alive... I will enter the ruins... to recover first... You can take these two weapons first. I need to borrow one hundred drops of Water of Life... it will... be a worthwhile trade!”

The big tree stilled. It’d wanted to rage against the young man’s impotence, but found its fury slightly dissipating when it looked at Stellaris and the Windchaser Boots. The young man just... wanted to come in?

“Give me these items and I will give you Water of Life...”

“Cough cough!” Li Hao shook his head. “I need to enter the ruins. Water of Life has such a dense presence when actively used. That will alert everyone in the city to the gravity of my injuries and I will die without further question. The nine ministries and royal family will not relinquish the chance to kill me... cough cough...”

“Protect me for a while inside the ruins,” Li Hao panted for breath as blood flowed freely. “It’ll be a day at most for me to recover from my wounds. The Skystar Commander Office still stands so long as I am alive!”

“You...” The big tree wanted to inquire more about what had happened and who killed its replica, but Li Hao’s injuries seemed to be worsening and his presence fading away. After some thought, the big tree sent the mental ripples of, “Then come in!”

It wasn’t particularly wary simply because it was very confident. The ruins were home turf for the plant spirits, it should be Li Hao who was worried about setting foot inside. It knew that the young man was flailing around randomly for any sort of help in his current state. Li Hao was dead without a doubt if the coconut tree harbored any sort of ill intent.

But speaking of, why couldn’t it have any personal motives?

The big tree was highly tempted. Li Hao had a lot of origin weapons on him and possibly mysterious power stones as well, despite what the young human had said. All of it would belong to the tree if it killed Li Hao. It would continue to send the Hus out and have them retake the Ministry of the Judiciary. That would mean its core origin resulted in three of eight heritage weapons and possibly other treasures as well

Wasn’t this reaping such a fat profit?

It thought rapidly, worried that the same thought would occur to Li Hao as well. “Hurry and come inside,” conveyed its mental ripples. “Be careful of people detecting your condition...”

A door of light manifested in the air. Li Hao quickly darted through it, grabbing Panther with him. He spat out a mouthful of blood with a cough, completely oblivious to the implications behind his actions.

The door of light immediately vanished and the big tree swayed excitedly in the ruins. This Li Hao was such a fool! He gave his trust so completely that the tree was wondering if it should save the young man instead. Maybe killing the human for his treasures wasn’t the best course of action?

But upon thinking of how uncontrollable and domineering he was, that made him less useful than the Hus. The tree didn’t lack for talented subordinates, it just needed biddable ones. In that case, weren’t the Hus most suitable?

Well then, the big tree could only offer an apology to the young man. It was his fault for carrying so many treasures on him! None of the plant spirits in Silver Moon could give a thought to reviving once Li Hao was dead. The coconut tree had its decision once its thoughts traveled here—Li Hao would die! It could take revenge for the death of its replica later, after the second awakening.

Li Hao tumbled to the ground with Panther. The first thing he saw was a towering tree that seemed to have coconuts ringing its top. There was a small town in the distance, one with tiny figures in it that were rapidly converging in this direction.

The Hus?

Li Hao didn’t have time to think before looking back at the big tree. A keen light glinted in his eyes! This was a true Immortal level existence!

......

The tree in the ruins was bigger than one could imagine. Its trunk and leaves shimmered with a golden color. The coconut fruit around its top appeared somewhat shriveled. As Li Hao assessed the plant spirit, the people in the distance made their way over.

There were men and women. They were young, but strong. Li Hao was surprised to identify multiple Arcanus amongst them when he swept a glance over them. The Hus? So they had multiple Arcanus left!

They could naturally see Li Hao if he could see them. The young man in the lead scowled when he saw Li Hao’s face clearly. “It’s you!” he declared bitterly.

Li Hao looked at him, not recognizing the speaker. However, he looked a bit similar to Hu Mingfa, so he might be Hu Mingfa’s son. Li Hao couldn’t care less and ignored the young man. He looked at the big tree instead and coughed “Senior, lend me one hundred drops of Water of Life. Once I am recovered, I would request that you give me the Hus to dispose of!” n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

He went into another coughing fit that ended with blood streaming out of his mouth. Not too far off in the distance, the Hus had been very wary of their visitor. But now, they assessed his condition with raised eyebrows. Li Hao was... injured?

The coconut tree was also debating whether or not to exterminate Li Hao. The young man would bring it a lot of advantages from his position in the outside world. But... he was hard to keep under control and didn’t take orders as readily as the Hus.

After hearing the young man’s latest words, the tree felt that it definitely could not keep Li Hao around. There wasn’t a speck of respect in the human’s bones. He was here as a supplicant, but he was still giving orders. The tree was an ancient powerhouse! Li Hao was entirely too bold and completely without reverence. Keeping him around might be creating trouble for oneself.

The coconut tree came to a decision in this moment.

A faint red light emanated from Li Hao’s eyes. He wanted to see through the big tree and locate its heart of life. However, the big tree seemed to sense something. A slightly wizened face appeared on its tree trunk. Its lips opened and closed as mental ripples traveled forth. “Very well, but you need to give me the Windchaser Boots and Stellaris first.”

These powerful weapons might be utilized to greater effect in Li Hao’s hands, but it was better to avoid some trouble. Although the coconut tree wasn’t afraid of Li Hao, it was best if the young man was completely disarmed. Li Hao would be at the tree’s mercy then; it would be able to take care of a six or seven element Arcanus, to say nothing of a mere five elements.

“Milord!” The Hus understood the situation at hand, but accepted it with reluctance and some fury. Li Hao was gravely injured! But the plant spirit wanted to help him recover!

The Hus fell silent as soon as the face on the tree trunk looked at them. They knew only dread and pain. Not only was the plant spirit unwilling to kill Li Hao for the Hus, but they had to watch quietly as it helped their enemy.

The coconut tree was very pleased with the reaction. These were the kinds of servants it wanted. They could only listen to his commands. See, these ones here didn’t dare twitch a muscle without its command, even though the nemesis who’d killed their father and grandfather was right in front of them.

Such were ideal servants. Li Hao was absolutely too arrogant and cocky. Otherwise, his bloodline was noble and his identity so precious that the coconut tree didn’t really want to kill the young man if it could help it.

Li Hao frowned slightly before nodding. “Alright!” He sighed and walked toward the big tree while holding Stellaris.

“You can just toss it over!” The tree declared with displeasure. What was this fellow doing in coming closer? The tree didn’t want more to do with Li Hao.

“This is the heritage of my forefathers,” the young man responded calmly. “It represents my ancestors and the Li clan has always revered our ancestors. The senior is joking, how can I just toss it over?

“Li Hao is a disgrace to the family and has no choice but to temporarily use Stellaris as collateral. As the Sword Sovereign’s personal weapon, I hope that the senior can also show Stellaris and the Li clan the respect that we deserve!”

Li Hao looked rather unhappy as he reluctantly offered up the sword with both hands. “Senior, please... accept this sword and keep it well. I will soon return with the mysterious power stones!”

The coconut tree grew even more displeased, but... forget it. It didn’t want to give rise to anything unexpected. It was enough that the young man handed it over. All this talk of respect and dignity was an utter joke. The Sword Sovereign might’ve died countless eons ago. Therefore, the tree viewed Stellaris with a complete absence of respect.

But it didn’t refute Li Hao’s words. Two massive leaves extended from the tree like arms and reached toward the young man. He continued coughing and raised his hands high. Just as the tree’s leaves reached over, a ray of sword light soundlessly sparkled from the blade.

It was like heaven and earth had been cut apart. Although the endlessly keen Stellaris encountered unparalleled resistance, a crack sounded amidst the piercing sound of scraping metal.

Crunch.

Two arms broke. The two arm-like leaves fluttered to the ground as two lifeless, golden leaves. The spontaneous development didn’t register to the coconut tree at first. It was thinking—where did Li Hao get this courage from? Also, Stellaris was really very sharp to enable Li Hao to reach beyond several cultivation levels and sever two of its leaves with one move. Were the leaves of an Immortal level existence so easily severed?

The Hus nearby were first stunned, then overjoyed. He’s gone mad! That was the first thought in their minds, that Li Hao had gone completely crazy. The coconut tree had reiterated that it would avenge the Hus, but the family members had despaired after seeing the two transact. Li Hao chose this moment to go on the offensive, what was this if not courting death?

Ancient existences were invincible and not to be provoked in the eyes of modern superhumans, particularly the plant spirits! They were undying and had survived since the ancient times. They weren’t armored warriors with lingering mental strength or will, but truly indomitable heavyweights!

And yet, Li Hao chose to attack such a being!