Star Gate

Chapter 638: Be a Good Person (II)

“I understand the minister’s meaning.” The beguiling woman nodded. “But if Li Hao wishes to run... Countless ruthless wolves prowl the wilderness outside the royal city! He’s worse off than us in one aspect—he cannot easily set foot outside the city. He’s dead if he does!”

Everyone had to put on a show of adhering to the rules when inside Skystar City confines. It was one thing to act from the shadows, but on the surface, no official personnel would attack Li Hao. If the young man left the royal city, however, then all bets were off! All sides would want a bite of such rich meat.

“Therefore, if he wants to just run like he did before, he’d be dead wrong! That’s one point. The second is that as the vice commander of the Night Watchers, if he damages buildings or kills innocent civilians during his clashes, I think we’d have the responsibility and obligation to demand an explanation from the Night Watchers. They would need to explain themselves to the dynasty!”

“Well said!” Minister Liu applauded loudly. “You hit straight at the pain points! That’s right, compared to the Colosseum, Li Hao’s greatest difficulty is not us, but that he leaves the city or harms civilians. That will limit him in what he can do!

“Hou Xiaochen wants to use Li Hao to intimidate us, but he’s made the wrong move. There’s more restraining factors on the boy than us!”

Li Hao was strong, but there was also too much trouble facing him. Being hobbled as he was, it was hard for him to bring the same level of battle strength to bear as he demonstrated in the east.

“But we still must remain alert!” He laughed and transmitted to the woman, “Send a kill order to Celestial—not just Celestial, but Red Moon or Yama will do as well. Additionally...”

“...alright, that’s enough for now. Dismissed!” He waved off everyone after giving a few mental orders. Minister Liu thought further after everyone was gone and headed to the rear of the ministry headquarters.

A few secret passages later, he came up to a secret room.

“Father.” He waited outside instead of entering the room.

“Do you think all of this is still not a guarantee of success in killing Li Hao?” A voice traveled out moments later.

“That’s right!” The minister wasn’t shy about his reservations. “Someone like Li Hao isn’t easy to kill! He wields two divine weapons and Hou Xiaochen will also make moves at critical moments. The latter is not weak as even I am not assured of triumphing over him.

“It won’t actually matter if we truly lose the Colosseum. If we must, we’ll just keep a lower profile and accumulate fewer riches. But in current circumstances, displaying such a stance will cause more than the loss of a single Colosseum. Father, you understand that as well.”

“Ai!” sighed an aged voice from the secret chamber. “We are imprisoned by fame and wealth in the end!”

Minister Liu didn’t respond. Indeed, they were all imprisoned by fame and wealth because they were mortal! The first generation of ministers all had grand aspirations and vision, but what of them now?

They’d become evil dragons in other people’s eyes. The passage of time and changes in their position, as well as other factors, had caused the nine ministries to lose their original purpose and no longer seek reforms. Reality was quite sobering at times.

“You’ve sought me out for a reason,” sounded the aged voice again. “What do you wish for me to do?”

“When it comes to Li Hao, we have to kill him in a split second!” Minister Liu thought for a moment. “I’d like to borrow... an Arcanus talisman!”

An Arcanus talisman!

A faint pressure emitted from the secure chamber. “You know that my cultivation level is not fully stabilized. Stripping out some of my power to create this talisman is an enormous depletion with consequences that may be greater than you imagine!”

“If we kill Li Hao, father, we’ll be able to seize two treasures of the eight families. Two of them! That will make up for father’s losses! The high cost of the talisman is also why they won’t believe that I would search out father at this point in time and ask you for such a sacrifice just for the sake of killing Li Hao!

“Hou Xiaochen, Yao Si, and even those guys at the Inspectorate will be watching me from the shadows. They might seize the opening as soon as I make a move. Therefore, I won’t do anything to give them that opportunity. They’ll never believe that it’s father’s abilities that will appear on the scene instead!”

“You make some sense,” laughed the old man in the secret chamber. “So a lion needs to bring full force to bear when hunting a rabbit! Indeed, someone like Li Hao cannot be underestimated. Even an Arcanus talisman may not kill him. According to what I know, he might’ve used a core origin talisman before. Who knows if he has more? If he does, that is sufficient to negate the blast from an Arcanus talisman.”

Minister Liu furrowed his brows. Were there more of those talismans? Surely not! The boy would’ve used them at the end of Xu Qing’s pursuit. But if he really did have more... they were in for a difficult time.

“Then father’s meaning is...?”

“Since you’ve made up your mind, then evil must be completely eradicated. You need to cut the weeds and dig up the roots. As opposed to a slow trickle of incremental cost, it’s better to pay a bigger price upfront to get something done once and for all!” rasped the old man as he taught his son. “The Xus slowly added fuel to the flames, but ended up with devastating losses. How can the Lius make the same mistake with that example staring at us in the face?

“One Arcanus talisman may not kill Li Hao. Talismans are dead, people are alive!” lectured the old man as Minister Liu listened silently outside the door. “The die has been cast, so let us up the ante. We have twelve handheld energy bombs in our warehouses. Use them all.”

The minister was privately taken aback. Energy bombs were what Fan Chang had used in the fight over the sea. The detonation had forced a partially unsealed Hong Yitang to back away, and that had only been one such bomb!

The Lius were so magnificently wealthy that they had twelve bombs in storage. Each of them was a grave threat to metamorphosis experts, with death even possible if one was not careful. These items did not cover the same range as a city annihilation missile, but the force they erupted with outstripped that of those missiles.

City annihilation missiles covered a larger range and could more easily carpet bomb an area. Twelve energy bombs however... even those greater than metamorphosis might die! Not even Arcanus supernaturals dare say that they would live under such a barrage.

“One Arcanus talisman and twelve energy bombs... As well as metamorphosis experts Wu Yong and Liu Sha taking the field, and the three great organizations as well...” Minister Liu reeled off. “Father, this kind of encirclement will ensure that Li Hao dies, right?”

This was quite the arsenal they were bringing to bear! If they were lucky, they would even kill an Arcanus. But his father was right, since they’d decided on their course of action, then they should make an even greater gamble. If they won, they would naturally make up for their losses.

“I don’t know,” the old man answered wearily. “Everything is possible. But since we’ve taken action, then there is no room for regret. Regret will only make you hesitate and waffle with indecision. Whether right or wrong, success or failure, you’ve made your greatest effort. If you still fail... then it is Li Hao’s destiny to survive this time!”

They were posturing to kill an Arcanus with what they were leveling at Li Hao. What else could they do if even this failed?

“Understood, thank you for the lesson, father!”

“Think nothing of it. Come for the Arcanus talisman tomorrow!”

“Understood!” Minister Liu left.

Within the secret chamber, a slightly drooping old man shook his head with a sigh. Li Hao... may not be so easy to kill. An heir to the eight families was still hopping around after encountering so many dangers. He was far from an easy target.

But at this stage, this was all they could do.

......

All sides were readying their preparations. Those within the Nine Dragons Pavilion were about to leave after eating and drinking their fill. The group bumped into guests from the other private rooms as they departed their room. Whether or not it was coincidence, that was difficult to say.

Hou Xiaochen nodded at the others coming their way and bent at the waist. “Greetings to the various ministers!”

Quite an assembly had left the other rooms. Some nodded smilingly back at him, others ignored him. The latter assessed the Night Watcher trio and quickly left.

“Good luck!” Yet others flashed radiant smiles brimming with meaning. “The security of Skystar depends on you. Do well!”

“......” The various ministers left as well. Li Hao quickly scanned their faces and committed them to memory. He then looked at Hou Xiaochen for clarification.

“Those were the ministers of Internal Affairs, Examinations, Judiciary, and Foreign Relations.”

“Are they the weakest four ministries?” Li Hao asked lightly. The other three of Armed Forces, Inspectorate, and Administration had always struggled with each other over who was number one.

Finance and Commerce were renowned to be rich. Finance was wealthy due to provincial tax revenue and a trading company under their banner. Commerce’s income didn’t come from taxes, but from the various business conglomerates and small-to-medium enterprises. It was difficult to say which was wealthier. These days, money represented strength.

“Stop being so full of yourself,” Hou Xiaochen laughed. “As weak as they may be, they’ll beat you like you’re a child!”

“I am a child,” Li Hao chuckled. “How old am I and how old are they?”

“Oh, you!” Hou Xiaochen shook his head. “Forget it, let’s go. It’s enough for now that people know your face.”

Li Hao nodded. It was time to go back. As for where he would live... who knew? He would follow Hou Xiaochen for now. He turned to the manager. “Is my droplet of Water of Life packed up and ready to go?”

The manager fidgeted uncomfortably. You’ve really got a thick face!

“That... ah... requires one hundred thousand stones in payment,” she had no choice but to say.

“Didn’t Minister Liu say he was treating?”

“Ah... when he left... he said... he said...”

“Chubby went back on his word??” Li Hao blinked and couldn’t help but curse. “He’s one of the nine ministers and reneges on his word to treat us to dinner??”

Heavens above! What kind of person was this? He said to put it on his tab, but regretted his generosity. The hell man!

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