Star Gate

Chapter 729: Making Out Like Bandits (IV)

Li Hao put the mini tree away in a storage ring and took out a pile of seeds. “Senior, how long will it take to cultivate the rations I need with these kinds of seeds?”

“Their quality... is poor! They require a lot of modification as they are very poor strains. I would say... three months.”

Li Hao sighed upon receiving the assessment. So what they had was indeed low quality, and this was the best that Director General Zhao could gather! It looked like even the crops of this age were a marked degree worse than those of the ancient civilization.

Since the little tree’s main body was still present, it would have no trouble working on these seeds. Li Hao had no reason to linger in the imperial palace. He’d gained quite a lot on this trip back to Silver Moon! There was the little tree’s replica, five hundred drops of Water of Life, and two thousand sets of armor that Huang Yu had collected for him.

He also had all sorts of random armor, with the Black Armaturas the most at one thousand sets. There was also armor from various troops that Li Hao didn’t recognize. Who knew where Silver Moon had gotten those from and if they belonged to proper, official armies?

Li Hao rushed to Rift Canyon without pause. This time, Panther was his steed. He’d gotten tired from all the flying.

......

Director General Wang was surprised to see Li Hao return to Battle Heaven. The entire city trembled as it looked down loftily. An enormous tree that nearly enveloped that entire city seemed to rustle for a moment.

Li Hao had purposefully let the little tree out to intimidate it. It trembled and shook, not making a sound like it was dead. Shock gripped its heart! As expected, General Pagoda will still live! Not only the general, but the other plant spirits of Battle Heaven didn’t seem to be fully dead either. They were wrapped in the general’s enclosure and retained some vitality. Perhaps they could also come back to life as well.

The little tree shook with trepidation. Director General Wang decided to fly straight through the city until he reached the front gates. He saw the young man off in the distance and also the mini tree. Contemplating something, the director general vanished once more.

Li Hao brought the little tree forward and quickly approached the city gates. The little tree suddenly landed on the ground and transformed into a tree the height of a person. It bent slightly at the two characters like it was bowing.

The young man was surprised, but quickly understood. The little tree likely knew the origin of these words. Perhaps those of the imperial palace had mentioned it. The little tree reverted back to its miniature form after the bow and hovered unmovingly over Li Hao’s shoulder.

“Troop Leader Li!” The three other troop leaders landed at the same time, looking at Li Hao, then at the little tree with surprise. “A plant spirit? they asked with confusion. “Where does this plant spirit come from?”

“The imperial palace.”

“Imperial palace?” The Seventh Troop leader seemed to think of something and said after a moment, “Oh... the... abandoned palace? I remember... I vaguely remember... that there was a tree at the gates... But... it wasn’t this one...”

“That was my father!” The little tree’s energy ripples undulated.

“You can communicate with them?” Li Hao looked at the little tree with surprise. The three troop leaders communicated with him through the armor, not through pure mental ripples.

“We are of the same core origin dao. Their core origin has not dissipated, so we can communicate with each other.”

Li Hao understood, so this was the case!

“I see!” exclaimed the Seventh Troop leader. “What a pity, but it’s to be expected. So many of the Battle Heaven Army have fallen after all these years and we have decayed as well. Time urges us on the path of old age. Just surviving is good luck enough!

“What a pity that General Pagoda has not awakened. He would be able to talk with you then.” The troop leader turned to Li Hao. “Is Troop Leader Li going to the barracks?”

“Yes, I’m going to trade in some armor.”

“You’ve gotten more armor?”

“That’s right.”

“It looks like your reinforcement troop is about to expand again!”

Li Hao laughed again and didn’t chat further. He walked toward the barracks with the little tree. One inside the city, the little tree fell even more silent.

“Is your father dead?” The words suddenly formed in the tree’s heart. “What a pity. He was a loyal soldier. I remember that he was the only one who refused to leave when the imperial palace was abandoned. The one from the Cat Palace gave him a Cat Fruit. Was even that insufficient to save him?”

The little tree’s heart trembled! Who was this?!

“It’s me.” A turtle floated out of the bottom of the tree’s heart.

“Senior!” answered the tree with some shock. “The senior is still... still... present...”

“I am a divine weapon and will not decay. Why would I not be present?”

“But Stellaris... the Windchaser Boots...”

“They’re different from me. I am an ancient soul weapon—Stellaris and the Windchaser Boots were later modified. The Sword Sovereign does not like a weapon with its own consciousness, so he asked the Divine Forge Emperor to craft them anew. Not to mention, any soul weapon wouldn’t last to the next fight in the Sword Sovereign’s hands...”

That was true! The Sword Sovereign’s sword intent resulted in the death of either his enemy or himself whenever he fought. It would be the height of misfortune to be Stellaris’ soul weapon. There would have to be a new one every three days as all would be gone once the Sword Sovereign struck.

“Senior, I...”

“We are just having a casual chat. There is no need to be afraid. You are the descendant of an imperial palace guard and have inherited your father’s profession. Although it’s just a palace and has been abandoned... You received the recognition of the noble Cat Tree, which makes you the same side as us. Not to mention... who dares offend someone from the Cat Palace? No one will do anything to you!”

The little tree remained shyly quiet. Of course the Cat Palace came with an exceedingly high status! But that was in times past. Who knew what the situation was in Battle Heaven now? Not to mention, the Cat Palace was an abandoned palace, not one truly in use.

The old turtle’s figure began to dissipate. “There’s no need to mention this meeting to Li Hao and you do not need to speak too much of the past with him. The past is in the past, do not let New Martial interfere with the existence of this age! Let all proceed as it should!”

“This junior understands!”

“Mm.” The old turtle dispersed, the little tree quieted down, and Li Hao remained unknowing of everything.

......

Military Supplies.

Zhang Liang was struck speechless by the thousands of sets of armor that Li Hao took out. “It’s one thing if the armor is from the Skystar Army, at least they’re an official army! What is all this junk?? This is... armor from the security guards of a martial university! You want to trade it in like regular army issue??”

“This is from the protective detail of merchant convoys! You’re turning this in?!

“And... and this... oh my heavens, this is children’s armor! This is for children! It’s a toy! You want to trade this in?” The deputy commissioner was highly disdainful of the array set in front of him. “You’ve brought back all manner of bric-a-brac! I simply don’t know what to say!”

Li Hao glanced at his offerings sheepishly. Was that so? Weren’t they all armor?

As scornful as Zhang Liang was, he took careful inventory. “There’s twenty-two hundred sets here,” he concluded wordlessly. “Only sixteen hundred of them come from an official army. The rest is trash!”

“Commissioner Zhang...”

“Deputy commissioner!”

“I know, I know. Here’s the situation—didn’t I trade in twenty-three hundred sets before? I had one hundred to begin with, the Silver Moon Guards have five hundred, which makes for twenty-nine hundred total sets. How about I trade this lot for twenty-one hundred sets? That makes for an even five thousand!

“I can’t have an uneven number, can I? That would look so weird and lose face for the Battle Heaven Army. People will look at me and count a little over four thousand. They’ll wonder what happened to the rest, did I lose several hundred in previous battles?”

Did his words make sense?

A little! But Zhang Liang wasn’t convinced. “That... while you make sense, I’m the one who has to suffer through military punishment if I give you several hundred extra sets!”

“Give it to him!” A voice manifested in Zhang Jiang’s mind.

“Commander...” Zhang Liang jerked with surprise, then glared at Li Hao. Asshole who got in through connections! Pah! You’re so shameless! But what could he say now that the commander had spoken? “Fine, you make sense. You can have twenty-one hundred sets!”

“Thank you, Commissioner Zhang!”

“Deputy commissioner!”

Li Hao didn’t care about the proper title. He exulted in his success. The commissioner really had agreed to his request! Damn if that didn’t feel nice!

Meanwhile, the little tree was astonished. How was the matter settled like this? Didn’t they say that the Battle Heaven Army practiced strict military discipline?

But very quickly, it realized that this was because of Li Hao. The young man had an easy time no matter where he went. He could insist on his way here—proof that he really did have support from Battle Heaven.

The little tree was once more stunned by the human’s capabilities! The heir of the eight families was a fish in water no matter where he went! The Lis were indeed at their head! It looked like even Battle Heaven was wary of the Sword Sovereign’s renown.

Zhang Liang quickly brought out the armor and tossed them at Li Hao. He ignored the young man after that, not wanting to talk to someone who made it to his position through connections!

Li Hao didn’t mind. He gleefully walked out of the door. The commander’s office wasn’t his next stop. He simply lingered outside the building for a bit and saluted before running off. This was just to ensure that the commander wouldn’t be able to say that Li Hao hadn’t properly greeted his commanding officer after his return.

Inside the office.

The commander looked on wordlessly. That was truly such a perfunctory way of going through the motions!