Star Gate

The establishment of a branch was indeed good news; their only fear was that someone other than Liu Long would be chosen to be the director as he was only a martial master. The branch would not be good news then.

“There’s nothing to worry about!” Liu Long remarked indifferently. “Our goal isn’t to exercise control over the new branch—its presence means that Silver City has become territory that must be protected! If they do tap someone else to be the chief commissioner, they’ll have to send at least a Fullmoon of the Darkmoon level. That’s another good thing, not bad!”

The team mulled over his response, not as excited as one might think. This was worthy of celebration only if Liu Long became director of the new branch.

As she mused, Liu Yan suddenly lit up. “Why don’t we ask Professor Yuan to join us? With his presence, there’s no way the director will be anyone else…”

Liu Long stared at her before snorting, “Do you think that’s possible?”

The heck are you thinking? Not to mention, with Yuan Shuo’s personality, he wouldn’t be a responsible overseer. Actually, he might bring trouble with him instead. Forget it, Liu Long would rather that those upstairs send a peak Darkmoon.

He turned to Li Hao with a faint smile. “Did you absorb mysterious power last night?”

The young man nodded.

“How do you feel? Are your supernatural locks loosening?”

“No, still the same old!” Li Hao shook his head.

Liu Long frowned. He was wavering in his cultivation due to Yuan Shuo’s new accomplishment, but also because he proved unable to make the crossover. His continued failure was motivation to continue down the martial dao path. Yet Li Hao was young, this was his best chance. If he continued to strengthen his body without ascending… it would grow steadily more difficult to join the supernatural.

“Forget it, there’s no hurry!” Liu Long dropped the conversation. Haste would not do them any good. There was no helping it, some people never made the crossover because they couldn’t find the appropriate mysterious power that was their match.

They could only wait! Perhaps Li Hao would easily cross into the supernatural when the time was right.

The team of six counted great gains after the supernatural battle of a few days ago. Once everyone recovered, they would be all the stronger for it even if no one made the crossover. With the Demon Hunters enormously strengthened and potentially a few more Night Watchers, they would have much stronger capabilities to defend the city.

Li Hao’s mind was elsewhere. “Chief, I’m still a third rank inspector for the moment,” he said shyly. “The second rank appointment has yet to be announced. Did I contribute enough this time? If so, can I be promoted to first?”

“……”

Dead silence! Liu Long stopped in his tracks. This was what the kid was concerned about at a time like this? The hell??

He’d completely forgotten all about this because he was a commissioner inspector. The next rank upward was chief commissioner, a rank he wasn’t qualified to attain if the new branch didn’t come through. There was only one chief commissioner in all of Silver City—Mu Sen.

“You…” Liu Long choked on his spit. “Fine! I’ll write up a report for you. You did indeed make an enormous contribution and I guarantee a position of first rank inspector, if not commissioner inspector!”

“Then my monthly salary increases to ten thousand, doesn’t it?” Li Hao smiled bashfully.

“You were just allotted thirty-two cubes yesterday,” Liu Long couldn’t contain his irritation. “They’re worth tens of millions! Do you really care about pocket change?”

Why was the kid so muddle-headed at times?!

“Chief, I don’t know if mysterious power can be sold and I wouldn’t dare sell it even if it can be,” Li Hao sighed. “Every step is difficult without money! I broke my teacher’s floor tiles yesterday and he wants me to repair them. I asked around this morning and they’ll cost around one hundred thousand altogether!”

“……” Liu Long gaped speechlessly. Was Yuan Shuo even human? You want your student to upgrade your tiles for you??

The young man grinned at seeing the captain fall silent. “Chief, how about you lend me some money?”

“Eh?” Liu Long blinked and said awkwardly, “I don’t have any money either.”

How is that possible?! Li Hao stared at the man. Damn you’re miserly, you don’t want to part with even that! You’re a commissioner inspector, your salary is high! How can you possibly not have money?

Liu Long didn’t bother explaining that he really didn’t have any. He didn’t even look at his monthly paystub before giving all of it away. He only cared about mysterious power and other things related to the supernatural. Nothing else mattered. Whenever payday arrived, he gave it to the families of brothers fallen in battle.

The other Demon Hunters were in a similar state. They didn’t care about money. Roughly twenty comrades-in-arms had died in various missions; not all of them were single. Mysterious power couldn’t be offered in compensation, only money could. They were fed and clothed by the government, so no one thought about money.

Li Hao had to give up the idea of borrowing from the team when he realized their mentality. What a bunch of poors! Although they all received a decent allotment of mysterious power, no one would sell any as it wasn’t enough for personal use. All that mattered was sufficient food and drink, who cared about wealth?

“Chief, I went to ask my teacher last night how martial masters can break through to Dominator,” Li Hao changed the topic. “He told me everything and said that you’re a pseudo peak Sunderer! Your strength is there, but you’ve yet to encounter the consciousness. Therefore, you don’t count as a true peak Sunderer.”

This piqued Liu Long’s interest; everyone else perked up their ears. The newly ascended Liu Yan also grabbed a fistful of Li Hao’s shirt. Since they continued to fail the crossover, it would be tremendous if they could learn some Dominator secrets.

“What my teacher means is that the primary reason lies with chief’s insufficient understanding of the true nature of the Nine Forged Force. Back in the day, my teacher traveled to the mountains and befriended tigers in order to comprehend the meaning of the Five Styles. This was relevant to understanding their aura!

“To be more exact, he says that just as everyone is different, so is every secret art distinct. The key is to grasp the core essence of the secret art! The Five Styles’ can be found from nature and with the aura from the five animals when they attack. Teacher’s never practiced the Nine Forged Force, so he doesn’t know where to begin. He did say, though, that chief will never break through to Dominator if you don’t understand this!”

Liu Long sank into deep contemplation. The consciousness and aura! He knew these terms, but not how to comprehend them. His father had never spoken of them, likely because he himself hadn’t known at the time of his death. If he had, he would’ve rivaled Yuan Shuo.

The true nature of the Nine Forged Force?

The deputy chief came up empty-handed after some thought, but at least he knew where to start looking. He smiled at Li Hao. “Did your teacher send you with this message?”

“No.” Li Hao grinned simply. “He simply told me about it. Since it has to do with chief, I have to tell you!”

“Hahaha!” Liu Long laughed heartily, seemingly in good spirits. “Very well! I acknowledge this favor from you. As for Yuan Shuo… I won’t be bothering with him.

“We’ll have some peace and quiet because Yuan Shuo cleaned house over the past couple of days. Everyone should focus on absorbing mysterious power, training, or undertaking some law enforcement missions if you have nothing to do.” He turned to Li Hao. “You can ask me any questions you have about the Nine Forged Force. But your primary method is still the New Book of Five Styles, don’t get your priorities confused. My method harms the body, it’s less than the Five Styles.”

He was very familiar with his family’s heritage; it harmed both enemy and wielder. It was fine if Li Hao could practice it, but no matter if not. Another thought suddenly struck him. “Where’s Panther?”

He actually missed the little black dog.

“It’s with teacher,” Li Hao chuckled. The dog had secretly learned the breathing method and also absorbed some scarlet shadow energy yesterday, landing itself in a state of metamorphosis. His teacher had bade the dog to stay behind, but who knew if he wanted to teach or beat the dog?

Liu Long inclined his head without further question. There was nothing to be said if the dog was with Yuan Shuo.

“Chief, I’m going out,” Li Hao raised upon seeing the deputy chief prepare to leave.

“Now?”

“Yes, I want to visit Little Yuan’s tomb.”

“Ah, I see!” Liu Long nodded. “Go on, there’s nothing happening now and your teacher and Director Hao are both present. There shouldn’t be any issues. But don’t go out of the city and be careful of Red Moon members.”

After issuing a few reminders, the captain left quickly as he had affairs to tend to. Liu Yan piped up as soon as he was gone, “Little Hao Hao, do you want big sis to go with you?”

“That’s alright, I’ll go myself.”

Liu Yan didn’t insist since this was a tomb-sweeping excursion. A strange look entered her eyes when the young man left. The kid… Liu Yan had sensed his condition more clearly than the others when she was on top of him earlier. His blood flowed extremely quickly!

At first, she thought he was excited because her body was next to his. But close observation indicated this wasn’t the case. It continuously circulated that fast!

Your blood flows so fast… Liu Yan suddenly smiled in the direction of Li Hao’s departure. He’d improved again, hadn’t he? And judging from his lack of mention… he was planning on tricking his enemies to the end, wasn’t he?

Her thoughts traveled back to when she broke through last night. She was nowhere near as happy as she appeared because the crossover would be incredibly difficult as a Sunderer. In fact, she almost wept when she realized her accomplishment. She’d adjusted her attitude for today and announced it as good news.

Liu Yan sighed inwardly when she thought of Li Hao. Don’t be obsessed with martial dao, there’s no future there. The woman was highly envious of Night Watcher youngsters that set foot into Darkmoon so easily. She hoped that Li Hao could make the crossover soon and not further improve in martial dao.

“Tomb sweeping…” Perhaps she should visit that dead asshole since Li Hao had gone to visit his friend. It’d been so long! With her supernatural dreams in tatters after her breakthrough, perhaps she could go see him.