Star Gate

Chapter 823: Killing the Replica, Coalescing Arcanus (I)

“Senior!” Li Hao walked over with a radiant smile. The Black Armor did not respond. Unbothered, the young man continued, “Senior, this student has a question to ask.”

“Speak,” the Black Armor responded evenly.

“Senior, how should I ensure the elimination of a plant spirit that was of the Immortal level in the ancient civilization?” Li Hao cut straight to the chase. “It’s awakened to a certain degree at this stage, but it shouldn’t have returned to the Immortal level yet. Under these circumstances, how should I guarantee killing them?”

The Black Armor looked at the sky. It was very dark and there was a lunatic standing in front of him! A fellow who’d just reached six elements wanted to kill an Immortal. Did he want to challenge someone stronger than him? That was fine, but one needed to consider how great the difference in strength was. Not to mention, there was a metamorphosis stage in the modern system. The difference between the two wasn’t bridged by just one or two minor cultivation levels.

“Do you know what the Immortal level represents?” slowly asked the Black Armor as he looked at Li Hao. The young man shook his head.

“In the ancient civilization, grades one through nine were still of the mundane level! Entering Apex from grade nine was a metamorphosis that made one too strong to imagine! The ‘Emperor’ rank after it was later modified to Immortal so we wouldn’t accidentally infringe upon the titles of some true heavyweights. The new name also indicated that bearers were undying and indestructible...

Li Hao looked at the Black Armor. Undying and indestructible? They still died all the same, aren’t you dead?

The Black Armor seemed to know what he was thinking—or rather, Li Hao had forgotten his capabilities and was letting his mind run wild in front of the entity.

“That is what is said about the ranks.” The Black Armor didn’t mind the impertinence. “But after one thousand, ten thousand, one hundred thousand years... Or rather, endless time, the indestructible crumbles away all the same! The greatest existence or golden body also declines if there is no energy supporting them. But those plant spirits have survived to present day. Strictly speaking, they are all truly immortal!”

How many years had it been? Time was the greatest enemy in all eras. Even if one’s potential was so tremendous that it defined the age, it would continue to wear away at one for ten thousand, one hundred thousand years.

The Black Armor didn’t continue further and said faintly, “The key to killing an Immortal cultivator lies in two points—first, severing its core origin! This is very important as there is no more core origin dao in this world, but the opponent’s dao still exists. It simply cannot depend on the true dao of the world. It is no longer stable and cannot draw upon an unlimited supply of energy from the core origin dao.”

“Then... how do I sever their core origin dao?” Li Hao raised a brow.

“Your supernatural characters combined mental strength and aura,” responded the Black Armor after a long moment. “It is a unique dao in itself. Only great dao can be brought to bear against great dao! Pure blood qi attacks, internal force blows, or mysterious power moves cannot harm great dao. The aura, however, can!

“You have Stellaris in hand. So long as your aura is strong enough and your supernatural characters powerful enough, you’ll be able to cut their dao down with one swing!”

Li Hao turned over the meaning behind those words. Only great dao could harm great dao!

“Secondly, once plant spirits awaken, there is certain to be a vast reserve of Water of Life in their bodies. Any plant spirit would ensure so. Therefore, the greatest taboo in battle is to drag the fighting out. Once the clash drags on, they might utilize all of their Water of Life in a critical moment and return to peak condition!”

“Will they have Water of Life in their bodies right after awakening?” Li Hao’s expression shifted slightly.

“Of course,” the Black Armor responded faintly. “Any plant spirit of any era would do so. Ask the little tree next to you if you don’t believe me. It may be extremely weak, but it will also store a vast quantity of Water of Life, even if its strength is yet to recover to its peak!”

Li Hao immediately released the little tree; it felt very awkward at having heard the conversation! One might as well outright say that the little tree had grifted a lot of mysterious power stones during its transaction with Li Hao.

But since the Black Armor had already spoken, the little tree had to respond, “I did... keep some for myself. I’m not certain of the other guy though.”

“You all do!” the Black Armor affirmed calmly. “If you don’t want to have to go through killing it twice, then you must kill it before it fully erupts! Otherwise, it’s not just a matter of finding them difficult to kill, but that you’ll gain a lot less for your victory.”

Li Hao nodded rapidly. So this was the case! Thank goodness he was shameless enough to approach the Black Armor with his questions. The little tree might not know as much as this one.

“Thirdly, as a partially awoken Immortal and a plant spirit, its defenses will be difficult to break. So long as a plant spirit lives, its body remains very durable!”

Li Hao frowned.

“Therefore, you need to concentrate your strength if you wish to kill it,” continued the Black Armor. “Break through the heart of its life force—the core of a plant spirit, the equivalent of its heart. Wherever the densest concentration of its energy is during battle is where the heart of its life force is.”

The Black Armor reached out, sending the little tree into a panic as it landed in the former’s hands! The Black Armor pointed at a certain spot on the little tree’s trunk. “This is where the heart of a plant spirit’s life force is. Only in breaking it will your attacks have marvelous effect. Otherwise, it will only be a scratch even if you hack them into two!”

Li Hao quickly bobbed his head up and down with the new knowledge. He looked at the little tree—thank goodness it didn’t have a face, or it’d be stricken with panic, fear, and terror at the moment. This Saint level existence was too horrifying!

“Are you relying on this little tree in your bid to kill the plant spirit?” The Black Armor looked at Li Hao.

“Yes and no!” the young man laughed dryly.

“It’s not that you don’t stand a chance.” The Black Armor pondered. “But that the core origin dao of the world has disappeared and what is left can no longer increase. Everything is possible after a long duration of sleep! But be careful and don’t give the other a chance to self-detonate. All of you will die then!”

Self-detonate?

Li Hao raised an eyebrow at the new thought. It didn’t need to be further said that an Immortal level existence would be terrified of death now, having painstakingly hung on to present day. If it was taken down by a group of ants... it might very well self-detonate in a grand way at the last possible second. If it did, how Li Hao and the rest would survive would be the question.

“Thank you for your pointers, senior!”

The Black Armor ignored Li Hao and remained standing in place. Truth be told, the young man was curious, why did this fellow just keep standing there?

Once again, he forgot that his thoughts were an open book to the entity.

“I am the dean of education at Evenround Martial,” the Black Armor said faintly. “I am in charge of assembly at the field and emergency combat readiness. When I stand here, that represents that we are to be combat ready!”

Is that so? Li Hao thought sheepishly. Alright then! But... you’re just one person, what’s the point of being combat ready by yourself?

He didn’t ask further as this dean was a bit aloof. He wasn’t as friendly as Director General Wang. Li Hao was starting to discover that most ancient existences were incredibly removed beings. Those willing to chat like the little tree and Director General Wang were very few.

Perhaps they didn’t think much of present day humans, or perhaps they’d lost all hope a long time ago.

Li Hao turned back to the school gates and rubbed his eyes for another look at the toy puppets. One of them seemed to have opened their eyes just now! He knew that the toys were puppets, but did puppets have a need to open their eyes?

The young man cast a strange look at them, then at the puppets patrolling the premises. These puppets seemed... off somehow.

There was only an empty clearing in front of the school gates. Was there a need for several hundred puppets to be patrolling this area? Could it be that they were... alive?

Well, no, not even the Black Armor counted as alive. Various thoughts rose in his mind, but he didn’t dare voice them aloud. Whether it was the Black Armor or Director General Wang, none of them had asked Li Hao to do anything for them. They didn’t want the young man’s help in reawakening, nor did they want mysterious power stones from him.

Who knew if they felt there was no need to trouble Li Hao because he was too weak, or if revitalization was already out of reach for them. They were all humans, not plant spirits.

......

Li Hao looked down at a storage ring and hesitated, should he eliminate the big tree’s replica here? It would be a perfect chance to probe the other’s strength...

Upon further thought, he decided to wait a bit longer. He could wait for everyone to finish their transformation and summon everyone joining the operation. They would jointly move against the big tree!

......

The conversion process took a very long time. Night had already fallen by the time Li Hao’s group emerged. He quickly returned to Skystar City with his people.

Skystar City, Skystar Commander Office’s.

A group of well-known names had gathered. All of them were powerhouses and rather excited.

“Then I would ask Deputy Zhou to stay behind and stand guard...” Li Hao looked at Deputy Zhou, following his initial plan.

The deputy looked at him and smiled, “I should go in too. There’s not much use for me alone if something happens to all of you.”

Li Hao raised an eyebrow and took a closer look at Deputy Zhou. He wasn’t certain of this one’s precise strength as the deputy was an ancient martial cultivator, but the Arcanus Ranking placed him high.

“Then... let us go in together!” Li Hao nodded. This was just as good. “We should split up first. Wait for me at the western ruins, I’ll be there shortly!”

The group shifted with confusion, weren’t they all going in together?

“I have some other arrangements in mind,” Li Hao smiled. “I’m going to determine our opponent’s strength and methods first!” n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

Although his team didn’t quite understand, it was fine by them and they left one by one.

......

The rear yard.

Li Hao visited once more, this time with hints of solemnity. “I have discovered the hiding spot of the Wind and Cloud Pavilion,” he said lowly. “And I’m leading people against them right now! Thirty million stones is a small matter if I come back alive, the Wind and Cloud Pavilion definitely have their own reserves!”

The big tree hadn’t thought that the human would take action so quickly. After all, it’d only been two days since the Wind and Cloud Pavilion showed itself. Seeing that it lacked a source of news and didn’t know the true state of things, however, its mental ripples undulated back, “Then I wish you good fortune. Don’t worry, there will be no issues, not with my replica present.”

Li Hao hesitated, then asked, “But if we meet with strong foes... I hope that senior’s replica... will fend off our opponents for a moment or two...”

The coconut tree wanted to curse loudly. What do you mean by this? Are you going to run first if it turns out you can’t overcome them and let my replica die? You’re absolutely awful!