Star Gate

Chapter 272: The Terrifying Ancient City (II)

“It’s been about an hour, right?” Li Hao rose and looked at the inner city. It was so silent that it was disquieting. The young man frowned slightly. It was just twenty kilometers from the gates to the pagoda. Since Solars could fly, they should reach it relatively quickly. Would a fight over treasure still not be resolved after an hour? Not to mention, there was barely any movement coming from that direction.

None of the people who’d entered the city had emerged. Li Hao had thought that some might come back quickly if they found nothing, but no one did!

There were thirty people left in the expedition at this stage. Apart from the trio at the city gates and the dead Zhang Ting, the rest of the twenty-six were gone!

“Should we go in to take a look ourselves?” Whether it was Wang Ming or Liu Long, both held themselves with enormous confidence. We’re so good that we took out a Solar! Let’s check out the city!

“There’s no rush!” Li Hao cast another glance at the city, then at the two characters overhead. He still decided to comprehend “Battle Heaven” first. Although he wanted treasures and origin weapons... to break and replenish sword energy, he’d also had his eyes on these two words for a while!

The two characters took priority! No matter what the situation was, the rest of the expedition team would return in the end. It was best if everyone was injured from fighting each other—the trio outside might be able to claim some easy pickings.

Li Hao’s thoughts were the same as Zhang Ting’s at the moment, and he’d just confirmed that martial masters could fly in the city. They had freedom of movement even without going through the second passageway.

In that case, not much held him back. He bounded upward and climbed up the massive city gates. They were his stairs and he quickly made it to the top of the gates. He took a seat; the city gates were a staggering width at two or three meters. It was like he was sitting on a bed.

The two characters hovered in front of him, seemingly on the wall, yet not at the same time. They seemed to float in the air or even in another plane.

Li Hao reached out to touch them, but also vaguely sensed that he couldn’t! It was a very complicated set of circumstances. After a moment, he forced out another drop of blood from his heart and shot it at the characters.

Boom!

As the blood entered the writing, Li Hao found himself in another area—another world! His consciousness faded in and out; he seemed to make out a startled exclamation of, “His Imperial Majesty is here!”

“His Imperial Majesty has come!”

An entire city’s denizens seemed to be surprised, cheering, and working themselves into a fervor.

“His Imperial Majesty is invincible!”

Li Hao’s mind still wasn’t the clearest. He wanted to open his eyes, but found that he couldn’t. He vaguely made out a figure landing from the sky. Countless figures surrounded it—excited, inspired, jubilant.

“Your Imperial Majesty, this small city is newly established. If you don’t mind, we would be honored if you would give us a name...”

“That is far too polite of you!” answered a gentle voice, one far less tyrannical than Li Hao expected. “We are of the same origins if we delve into the particulars...”

The imperial majesty that’d broken through the void seemed to say something else that elicited a cheer from the entire city. Following that, the scene shifted in front of Li Hao’s eyes and he appeared in someplace new. Weren’t these the city gates that he was sitting on?

Except... they seemed a little different. Lacking the air of ancient simplicity, they seemed newly formed.

When the scene shifted in front of Li Hao again, the back of a figure was apparent in front of the young man. It’s that person! The moment that he wrote out the calligraphy! The young man seemed... to be witnessing a different era.

The person raised a writing brush in the dusky lighting and searched through his thoughts. The voice from eons ago sounded forth again, “I’m not good with names and really don’t know what to call the city... I’m different from that guy, he loves to come up with dubious titles and be very proud of himself for doing so...”

These words seemed both self-deprecating and sarcastic.

“Very well, I bestow the name of... Battle Heaven!”

The final pronouncement caused a disturbance in the crowd. Cheers rang madly, enthused shouts roared—the city’s denizens were very agitated. Battle Heaven!

It seemed to represent something incredible as the powerhouse who’d welcomed this personage earlier was also moved. An old man’s voice echoed by Li Hao’s ears as he reacted emotionally, “Battle Heaven? This... this isn’t appropriate! This is Your Imperial Majesty’s title...”

“It is alright, Battle Heaven is not truly my title either. Even if it is, it refers to times past. He is worthy of veneration, but I... I am not him! His life is one worthy of recollection, however, so let the city be called Battle Heaven! He showed a preference for nurturing talent, so my hope for the city of Battle Heaven is to produce fine sons for the human race. You may not use my name to conduct improper acts!”

“We would never! Your Imperial Majesty shows us great favor in bestowing us this name. Who would dare dishonor this august title?!” A shout reverberated through the ages! The old man was caught in the throes of fervor, he almost seemed like he was in a fit. The city’s name had laid a holy mission upon their shoulders!

Li Hao nearly vomited blood as the din of cheers and roars swelled more than ten times, a hundred times louder than before! Why were the people so agitated? He thought of the Silver and Black Armors. Battle Heaven seemed to be an exceedingly sacred title, an existence that did not tolerate indignity!

“Battle Heaven!”

“Battle Heaven!” Yells and whoops sounded in unison, shaking time itself and sending their excitement, hot-bloodedness, and a torrent of emotion through history. Li Hao’s blood boiled at the happening!

This person had only voiced a few regular words and given a name to elicit such a reaction. It was incredible! Li Hao was being shaken senseless!

The scene brightened in front of him after a long while; the figure was already writing. Brush in hard, he carefully penned the two characters. Fiery spirits surged through Li Hao the moment the figure raised his brush. When he completed the “Battle”, the young man suddenly understood the people’s reaction. He witnessed battle intent flaring out of the character, placing himself in the center of a battlefield.

Powerful enemies surrounded him, but he fought!

One person against heaven and earth, fighting and killing without end. There were wild beasts and monster spirits around him, but he charged again and again to kill!

Slaughter the enemy, exterminate everything! Battle did not stop when enemies yet existed!

Li Hao was caught in the middle of the scene. He’d become that person and felt it in this instance. A blade! He wielded a blade and sliced off enemies’ heads one after another!

There was another person in front of him, too hazy to be identified. One could just barely make out that he was rampaging in all directions without any reservation. He also wielded a blade!

Countless heads flew up into the air beneath the blade. A harbinger of slaughter!

Li Hao felt both muddleheaded and exuberant with battle intent. Who was that person? Whose body was he borrowing in this era? Was it that imperial majesty?

He didn’t know!

He only knew that whenever this person struck, it felt like the young man was the one striking out with his blade. The bloodshed continued until they reached the vault of heaven and ran out of enemies!

When they killed everyone, the figure in front of him paused and said something. Li Hao perked up his ears and focused his mind, wanting to hear what was being said. He turned all of his attention to catch one sentence that petrified with its implications.

“Damn, they’ve got some nerve. They wouldn’t obey when I told them to commit suicide, so I had to raise my blade instead. But I killed them all in the blink of an eye?”

Who is this?? Li Hao quailed. So arrogant! He’d killed everyone on the battlefield because they refused to commit suicide? Why... did he seem more bloodthirsty than Li Hao’s teacher?

This was a true demon!

The scene changed again as his mind reeled. He returned to where the imperial majesty was writing—the “Battle’ character was complete. Next was “Heaven”.

Li Hao was transported to another scene the moment it was finished, one drastically different from before. He stood in the cosmos and saw a person in front of him, one that was still the person from before.

“How are you worthy of being called the heavens? You deserve to die! Heavenly Emperor? HAH!”

BOOM!

The sun and moon shattered and the stars dimmed. A presence so powerful that it stole the breath from one’s lungs had its head crushed in a split second!

BAM!

Li Hao felt like his brain would explode! This person was outrageously arrogant, tyrannical, cruel, and brimmed with killing intent! And he... seemed to have killed someone called the Heavenly Emperor...

Who dared call themselves that? A frozen Li Hao didn’t know. Who dared? Did the Skystar Emperor dare call himself that?

Of course not!

No one dared hail themselves the emperor of the heavens, but this one who did seemed to have just been murdered! And his killer was the incomparably cocky guy from before.

......

Li Hao woke up. He was certain he was awake this time, truly awake. He no longer saw the bloodthirsty fiend or the imperial majesty writing characters. He saw Liu Long and Wang Ming beneath him.

The two characters above his head seemed very ordinary now; he hadn’t gained much... He only remembered that the imperial majesty he’d been with had killed a few people with the blade, then watched someone else commit murder.

Was that really all he’d gained?

Li Hao’s mind wobbled—no, he’d gained much more! He’d witnessed a different world, the strength of the ancient civilization. These people really could shatter the sun, moon, and stars! That person had crushed a heavenly emperor’s head with one move!

A blade...

Li Hao didn’t have a blade, so he subconsciously waved the Earthturner Sword in his hand. Some different reflections floated to the fore and he so naturally waved the sword around...