“Director!” Hao Lianchuan asked nervously as soon as they left the provincial government headquarters. “Are you really going to leave?”
“If I keep staying here, especially after killing a Nova, the central region will label me a traitor,” Hou Xiaochen responded as he walked. “I was ready to leave the moment I made my move.”
“But... what will we do when you’re gone?” A headache was brewing at Hao Lianchuan’s temples. Silver Moon will be in trouble once you go! A new director will absolutely start with a purge of personnel.
“It’s not like I’m leaving right away!” Hou Xiaochen grinned and climbed into the car. Li Hao had learned his lesson and shot for the passenger seat.
Hao Lianchuan rolled his eyes. Little bastard! Granted, he happened to have business to discuss with Hou Xiaochen, so he took a seat in the back next to the director. Frowning, he continued, “Director, why can’t you use your usual excuse of being unable to travel because of old injuries flaring up?”
“As opposed to wanting me to stay, you’re better off growing stronger!” Hou Xiaochen glanced at him. “It’s been a year since you’ve ascended to Solar and you’ve been lucky enough to recently set foot into mid Solar. At your speed, when will you ascend to Nova?”
“I don’t have enough potential,” Hao Lianchuan admitted with resignation. “I’ve only discovered four supernatural locks and have yet to locate my fifth. Even if I set foot into peak Solar, I have no hope of making it to Nova.”
Supernaturals improved quickly, particularly when they were in possession of sufficient mysterious power. The caveat was that one needed to identify their supernatural locks first. Even if one was unable to open all of them in one go, those like Hao Lianchuan could slowly wear away at a lock until it finally opened. Each tiny crack and fissure would grant him vast sums of mysterious power and enhance his body.
It should be a fast track to peak Solar, but he was not that talented. He’d become a Solar after breaking his fourth lock, but lost his direction after that. He had no choice but to slowly absorb mysterious power and gradually grow stronger.
That made him the same as the kind of martial masters slowly accumulating their strength. He was as if a Dominator without sight of the next steps. He had to inch his way forward until the fifth lock appeared.
“However many supernatural locks you can see isn’t necessarily an indication of potential!” Hou Xiaochen frowned slightly. “Whether it’s martial masters or supernaturals, just breaking the locks doesn’t mean a good thing!”
“But ascension is impossible without breaking the lock...” Hao Lianchuan chuckled wryly. “My bottleneck is that I’m unable to discover the fifth lock. I think I’d be able to become a Nova otherwise. Forget it, let’s think about this once I inch my way to peak Solar.”
Hou Xiaochen frowned and thought for a moment. “It’s not impossible to find a lock that you cannot locate.”
Hao Lianchuan blinked. How?
“Ask Li Hao!” Hou Xiaochen said after more thought.
Li Hao went slack-jawed in the front seat. Ask me? How am I supposed to know? Hou Xiaochen is just creating trouble for me, isn’t he?
“Ask Li Hao?” Hao Lianchuan was also surprised. “How would he know? Every person’s supernatural lock is in a different location. Even if they’re in a similar position, I can’t break it if I can’t pinpoint it!”
Everyone knew that there were locks around the four limbs, but so what? Could he see his? He couldn’t, so how could he locate it? How was Hao Lianchuan supposed to shatter it without a clear direction?
“Li Hao can summon the spirits of the organs,” Hou Xiaochen explained with calm composure. “The spirits need to be locked in place. Since he can do that, he can naturally identify where the supernatural locks are...”
Li Hao’s heart skipped a beast. Locking the spirits! This was a Summoner secret that he hadn’t spoken of, but the director was aware of it!
Hou Xiaochen didn’t care in the slightest what Li Hao thought. “I don’t know what method he used to swiftly enhance his five visceral organs and manifest his locks. The locks are employed to confine the intangible auras! But since he and his teacher can do so, that means they can swiftly strengthen a person’s locks to the point where they emerge! Your supernatural locks may be so weak that you can’t sense them yourself.
“An aura is a very intangible thing that cannot be confined to an organ under ordinary circumstances. Li Hao doing so also means that he has discovered a new use for supernatural locks. Ask him. If he has no idea, then I’m out of ideas too.”
Hao Lianchuan looked at the young man with surprise.
“Well...” Li Hao replied without looking at the deputy director. “My teacher and I can indeed accomplish that, but it probably has to do with the fact that we’re martial masters. I’m not sure about the others... Director Hao is not a martial master, so if his supernatural locks are weak, then they need to be strengthened first. Perhaps he can take a blood pearl to resolve that issue.”
“A blood pearl?” Hao Lianchuan quickly responded. “I have, the effects weren’t great.”
“That’s because the blood pearl wasn’t strong enough! Take a Nova level one, that should be useful and manifest the deputy director’s fifth lock.”
It was a good idea! But it had to be tested to see if it worked. Li Hao and Yuan Shuo had swiftly enhanced themselves because the latter was strong to begin with, while the young man utilized sword energy to distill elemental power. None of that needed to be revealed. They could consider other methods if this didn’t work.
Hao Lianchuan’s eyes glinted with a new purpose. Red Moon! He’d simply wanted to exterminate them on a general principle before. Now? If things were as Li Hao said, then he needed to pay more attention to them.
“Li Hao, you’re a martial master and won’t see much improvement if you stay with a group of supernaturals.” Hou Xiaochen ignored the topic at hand. “Have Little Yu accompany you to the Guards tomorrow. It’s time for them to take their place on stage. Spend a few days growing accustomed to them before leaving the city.
“Beat the three great organizations either to the point of submission or to the point where they commandeer more powerhouses from the areas. You can discuss exploring the ruins with them after that. We don’t have enough people for the expedition as it stands!”
Li Hao rather understood some of Hou Xiaochen’s concerns. Perhaps the director felt that there weren't enough people to die in the ruins! Instead of simply killing people to establish his authority, the director seemed more inclined for the organizations to send more powerhouses instead. The newcomers would explore the ruins for him. How devious!
The young man wasn’t that interested in the Silver Moon Guards. No matter how strong they were, they couldn’t be that strong. Well, with how his horizons had been broadened today, he couldn’t afford to be careless either.
Outside White Moon City, in an opulent residence.
There were numerous residences nearby—a vacation spot for White Moon’s affluent citizens. Several powerhouses were congregated here.
“Those in the know can tell that this is a frame-up!” Blue Moon complained. “We wouldn’t choose this timing even if we wanted to take Li Hao, and we definitely wouldn’t send Solars to get him. He was so close to Hou Xiaochen, we don’t have a death wish!
“This is just their excuse to move against us!” the man snorted. “Hou Xiaochen plainly wants to exterminate us. Since he’s made the first move, don’t blame us for answering in kind! Half Mountain, has Celestial reached a consensus?”
The cloaked man standing across from him answered in a haunting voice, “We will consider it if Red Moon gives us a Nova level blood pearl!”
Blue Moon looked coldly at him; Half Mountain remained unmoved.
“That’s not impossible,” Blue Moon said after a while. “With a prerequisite—we kill Hou Xiaochen. There is no problem with the blood pearl if that is accomplished.”
He was casting the situation with a rosy light as a blood pearl was a nonissue if they killed Hou Xiaochen, but if they failed, there would be no need for payment.
On the other hand, Half Mountain smiled after some consideration. “Alright!”
Blue Moon was surprised by the agreement—he’d thought that the other would not be open to the idea. But he was, that was strange!
“Parity, what are your thoughts?” Blue Moon looked at the Parity King standing not too far away.
“Let’s wait and see,” responded the Parity King with a frown. “The governor general of the three provinces has been killed and those provinces are not too far from Silver Moon. Will that affect us?”
The rest of the group frowned as well. Who’d killed that extraordinary figure? Whoever had done so represented supreme strength and was a terrifying existence. Despite being several thousands of kilometers away, the three provinces were still close by. If unrest brewed, it would drag in Silver Moon.
“I don’t know,” Blue Moon took a deep breath. “Regardless, let’s take care of the troubles in Silver Moon first! The rest can wait.”
The others didn’t protest. There was no room for them in Silver Moon if they didn’t eliminate Hou Xiaochen and the province was not territory they could give up. Otherwise, they would’ve abandoned a place after the deaths of so many Solars. It was just a border province, who cared about this place in the span of the vast ninety-nine provinces?
The Night Watcher headquarters.
Li Hao leaned against a chair and tilted his head at the sky. He was still thinking when Wang Ming pushed the door open.
“Congratulations, senior brother!” the visitor said merrily. His grin broadened when Li Hao glanced at him. “I hear that you went with Director Hou and the others to a meeting this morning. There were only four of you. That’s so impressive. Are you getting a promotion, senior brother?”
Li Hao had been the lowest ranked out of the four that attended, but he wasn’t interested in discussing this. Today had been a big blow to him. However conspicuous he had been yesterday was however depressed he was now. Yesterday, he’d thought that he was solidly top ten in Silver Moon, if not top five. But today?
And this is what was out in the open. What about in the shadows that lurked beneath? There was so much more to Silver Moon than met the eye. Li Hao fully recognized now that the province wasn’t run of the mill. A regular province would not have so much hidden strength. Why was there a need to hide so many powerhouses? All of the leaders of the various institutions were hiding their strength.
He’d been unable to get a read on Hou Xiaochen—but was the man simply mysterious, or was his cultivation too high for Li Hao to grasp? Was he stronger than Nova? What were they wary of, for all of them to be concealing themselves?
If Li Hao’s lack of being able to identify someone’s cultivation level meant that they were stronger than Nova, then he’d seen four people stronger than Nova today. Did the central region possess any?
Were those who claimed themselves to be Novas truly Novas? People such as Ying Hongyue?
It hadn’t been long since the Nova level appeared, but Li Hao had the sudden feeling that these bastards might reveal the previous level only when they entered the next. Hence, the Novas might be a step beyond and announced the cultivation level only when it no longer applied to them. There was absolutely a group of people walking ahead of the rest.
The supernatural domain had appeared twenty years ago and a new cultivation level appeared every few years. The Nova level had been publicized in the central region for several years, whereas Silver Moon hadn’t even known the name of the level before. Their news traveled so slowly that Silver Moon denizens thought the level had just appeared when, in reality, it had been present for many years.