Star Gate

Chapter 548: Sword Unsheathed! (I)

A merchant convoy from the Ministry of Finance?

Li Hao thought back to the Liu youngster who’d died in Battle Heaven—he seemed to have been from the Ministry of Finance too. But that had nothing to do with Li Hao, it was Qi Gang and Hu Qingfeng who’d killed him.

The nine ministries all had their own flags. Skystar Dynasty also had its own flag as well. It just hadn’t flown in many years. There were three Solars in residence on the ship. It looked like the Ministry of Finance was very strong!

Li Hao rose into the air and flew toward the ship. A man in his thirties kept a weather eye out. The sky was bright enough that he could easily pick out the powerhouse approaching from above. They exuded no presence, which meant they were either a premier martial master or a Nova!

“Who goes there?! We are the Four Seas company under the Ministry of Finance, a faction of the nine ministries...”

BAM!

Li Hao landed as the man was speaking. The latter’s expression shifted drastically and a dozen supernaturals converged on the decks. Everyone was on high alert and very worried. Who was so bold as to attack a ship of the Four Seas??

Li Hao displayed a medallion in his hand. “I am a high level chief commissioner from the Night Watchers...”

“How dare you!” roared a supernatural when they heard the newcomer was a Night Watcher. “How dare Night Watchers barge onto a vessel of the Four Seas! Which branch are you from?”

Li Hao blinked, then smirked. “You shrink and cower when you see pirates, but lay down the law when you see the Night Watchers!” He kicked out his leg!

BAM!

The speaker was sent flying and smashed onto the deck. Li Hao looked at the man in charge. The latter wanted to speak, but a flash of sword light cut him off. Cold sweat drenched him as his hair fluttered to the ground.

“They say that the nine ministries are the same as the three great organizations. I didn’t believe it before, but now... I do.” Li Hao said this because the man had seemed ready to attack. When the young man revealed his identity as a Night Watcher, it drew hostile action instead! These guys had been more apprehensive when he was an unknown factor.

Was this a trading company under the nine ministries’ jurisdiction? They were worse than the pirates!

“Chief Commissioner... I...” The man swallowed hard.

“Cut the bullshit. Have you received word? Light Sword has been surrounded and seems to have entered the North Sea. Do you know where she is?”

The man’s heart skipped a beat. Why was this person asking about Light Sword? He must be very strong. Was he a premier martial master? Or a premier Nova? But would a character like that only be a chief commissioner?

He didn’t dare say anything other than answer the question. “We received word two hours ago, telling us to avoid certain areas...”

“What do you use to communicate?”

The man paused, hesitated, and took out a jade pendant. “This is a transmission pendant excavated from the ancient ruins. We started using them several years ago. The major organizations and factions all have them.”

Puzzled, he snuck a glance at Li Hao. This one... wasn’t pretending to be a Night Watcher, was he? It didn’t make sense that he wouldn’t know this at his level of strength.

“This transmission pendant can reach fifteen hundred kilometers. Every organization or faction can respond quickly because there’s a transmission hub in certain locations. They can relay messages to specific people or dissemble them on a large scale. That requires time, however, and sometimes the transmission hub doesn’t receive the news in time...”

Li Hao was surprised by the jade pendant. Was this so? So they had methods like these to call upon? He really didn’t know about this. No wonder news traveled very fast sometimes—such as when battle exploded in the eastern region. Silver Moon knew of it in less than five hours. Not even the fastest messenger could travel so quickly.

The ancient civilization was incredible alright! That much was obvious from the armor.

Li Hao carefully looked it over and saw that there was small text on it already. The man explained nervously upon seeing plain interest, “This kind of pendant can only store ten messages as there isn’t enough memory inscribed inside. Any message it receives is displayed on the surface. If you wish to send one back, look for the red button on the pendant. You can press it, input your message, and send it to the closest transmission hub.”

It wasn’t the most convenient, but far more superior to modern day communication equipment. Li Hao did indeed find some messages stored in it upon closer inspection. The latest was two hours ago.

“Light Sword has entered the North Sea and is being pursued by various powerhouses. Battle will soon commence. All personnel in the North Sea are advised to retreat. Light Sword is strong and many are hunting her...”

She’d entered the North Sea two hours ago! Li Hao swiftly reviewed a mental map of the sea—it was very big. She could’ve covered five hundred kilometers at most after entering from the east. That was how much he’d traveled himself.

That meant they were still far from each other as the North Sea didn’t just run from Silver Moon to the East Sea. It spanned the entire province along shorelines that were not connected to Silver Moon. That indicated there was at least another fifteen hundred kilometers between them. Even if they traveled at full speed, they wouldn’t meet for another two or three hours. And full speed really meant full speed, they would have to cross more than two hundred kilometers an hour.

No wonder I haven’t found her yet... Li Hao realized with resignation. Added to that the time she'd spent before, it was incredible that Light Sword was still alive after almost ten hours of running. She likely wasn’t utilizing her full strength to escape either, and it’d take him another couple of hours to rush over.

As Li Hao read the messages, the man in front of him sweated profusely and secretly observed the Night Watcher. There were many Night Watcher organizations around them—Near River, North Sea, and Sea Mountain were all possibilities. Which one was this powerhouse from? Or was he just borrowing their name?

“Can I borrow this?” Li Hao suddenly looked at the man.

“Of course!” He nodded rapidly. “You can take it anytime you wish, sir.”

“Is this also a tracking device?”

The man paused, then nodded. “Yes, but we can’t see the location data. Only some of the transmission hubs can.”

“If I wish to ask for information, will I need some sort of code, secret passkey, or special greeting?”

The man groaned inwardly, conflicted. This he didn’t dare answer. It was one thing for his transmission pendant to be seized, that was no big deal. There were indeed some secret passcodes to prevent information from being stolen and the secrets of the nine ministries from being lost. Revealing these secrets, however, was an enormous crime!

“What, are the Night Watchers unable to be supported with some intelligence reports?” A grinning Li Hao understood.

“It’s not that, sir, just that the Night Watchers are a different system from us. I...”

“Very well!” Li Hao didn’t force the issue. He laughed as he looked at the supernaturals around him. “You haven’t been pirates, have you?”

“What?”

“You haven’t done what pirates would do, have you?” Li Hao repeated calmly.

The bottom fell out of the man’s stomach and he hastily shook his head. “Of course not, we’re a group under the nine ministries at the end of the day. We’re different from the others. If discovered... Ahem, we cannot dishonor the nine ministries.”

“It wouldn’t matter,” Li Hao laughed. “Whether it’s the merchant ships, trading companies, or pirates, it’s all the same! But a group directly under the nine ministries wouldn’t stoop so low as to raid the ordinary citizens on the shorelines, would you?”

“Of course not!” the man protested. “We would never do something like that!”

Li Hao said nothing further and turned to leave. The man couldn’t hold himself in check, considering his pendant had been confiscated.

“If I may... ask your name... sir...?” he ventured carefully, regretting his words almost as soon as he said them. He shouldn’t have asked! People unaware of his intentions might think he wanted revenge. But he absolutely didn’t, not at all!

It was just a jade pendant, he could find an excuse for that. And upstairs wouldn’t fault him if he really couldn’t overcome the enemy. Asking so bluntly like this... was asking for trouble!

“Li Hao of Silver Moon!” the young man answered with a smile, departing through the air as the crowd grappled with what they’d heard.

Li Hao of Silver Moon!

“Li Hao of Silver Moon...” The man’s expression shifted drastically when Li Hao was gone. “Disciple of the Five Styles and of Yuan Shuo, heir to the eight families...”

What was this guy doing out here? Wasn’t he in Silver Moon? And that wasn’t the crux of the issue—there was a message regarding Li Hao in the pendant! Please please please don’t see it.

In reality, Li Hao had seen it already. He just didn’t care.

“After the Four Seas company enters Silver Moon and concludes their business, they are to stay in the province for a period of time and collect information regarding Li Hao of Silver Moon...”

Li Hao didn’t find it strange that the nine ministries were interested in him. He wouldn’t even be surprised if they had designs on him and wanted to seize the sword. Neither would he be taken aback if they wanted to just kill him. Thus, the man’s worries were misplaced.

“Sir, that Li Hao is too arrogant!” Someone next to the man couldn’t help but protest as he stared in the direction Li Hao had vanished in. “It looks like he’s going to seek out Light Sword. He’ll be dead before long if he’s this cocky! There's a lot of people who want to kill him...”

The man flicked a glance at him and raised an eyebrow. “Would you still be speaking if that’d been the three great organizations or a heavyweight from the pirates?”

“Huh?” His subordinate blinked. What did that mean? Of course he wouldn’t! Those people were so cruel!

The man sighed inwardly and said nothing else. Li Hao had been right. Everyone was afraid of the three great organizations, the eight pirate factions, but not the official authorities—for no reason other than they were subordinates of the nine ministries!

This was a frequently seen issue as they could do nothing to those factions. But when it came to the official authorities, there was plenty they could do to those they knew.

However, everyone would be well served to remember Li Hao’s other identity.