Star Gate

“Then come with me now, senior. There’s no time to be lost. Those guys might make a mess of things and end up detonating the mine. That will really be a loss of everything then.”

The Black Armor hesitated and turned to the puppets. “Stay here and don’t go off anywhere! I’ll be right back…”

A complicated mix of emotions assailed him. He truly hadn’t wanted to leave school grounds; he just wanted to quietly wait here for death. But these students were young and not willing to accept such a fate.

“It’ll be quick. Let’s go, senior!” smiled Li Hao.

The Black Armor said nothing and cast a quick glance around him when the young man deployed his personal domain. “This thing of yours has limited isolation properties. It can bring me out of the ruins now, but it will be difficult for me to return after I absorb the gains from battle!”

“One battle will consume a good portion of your strength,” chuckled an unconcerned Li Hao. “What’ll be so hard about that then?”

“……” Kid, do you mean that you won’t be replenishing my strength after I’m depleted from battle? That’s what you mean, isn’t it?

Fine, it makes a certain sense. Whatever. The dean didn’t care.

When the Black Armor saw that the two robot cats were going to follow him into the personal domain, he leveled a hard stare at them. “You wait here! Only I am needed, what are you two doing heading out as well?

“Teacher, we can come along to run errands,” Jiang Yingli quickly said. “Li Hao’s new dao is very interesting, so we’d like to observe it…”

Bullshit! cursed the Black Armor. They just didn’t want to stay in the ruins anymore. He didn’t refuse them; the group quickly exited the ruins.

Ponderous heavenly might descended the moment they emerged in the outside world and the void shook violently! Li Hao’s domain of seven elements flared with power to stabilize its local space. The young man frowned with surprise. Was the Black Armor stronger than Director General Wang even in this condition?

Li Hao had only been a five element Arcanus when he fetched the director general and five sleeping plant spirits. The ripples then weren’t as strong as this time’s!

“It is a new sky indeed!” laughed the Black Armor as he tilted his head back at the firmament. “The void is a bit unstable and the will of heaven does not tolerate us. These heavens are starting to have their own consciousness and reject those of New Martial.”

What a feeling it was, to be lords of one era and subjects in the next. New Martial was no more and even the heavens refused to accept them.

Li Hao looked up as well. Though he didn’t see anything, he knew that this patch of the world was possibly starting to develop its own consciousness. He smiled, not minding the situation. “If the heavens do have a consciousness, it’s a randomly scattered one. You can just ignore it.”

“It’s a good thing for people of your age if the heavens are conscious.” The Black Armor looked at him with surprise. “That means they will favor you a bit more…”

Yet the young man didn’t seem to like that?

“I don’t need the heavens to favor me and I don’t like having someone control my life,” Li Hao laughed. “My life and death is not up to destiny and my prosperity is not determined by the heavens! I would be highly displeased, if in the end, everyone thinks that I succeeded because I was fated to!

“All of my efforts and hard work would be negated by a simple ‘the heavens decreed it so’. Wouldn’t that be a rejection of everything that I am?”

The heavens decree it so? Li Hao laughed dismissively. How hard had he worked to walk to his present heights? Was his labor supposed to be nullified through a simple word of fate?

How dull would that be!

The Black Armor turned over his words and finally regarded Li Hao with more attention than he had before. “You’re right, heaven’s will doesn’t mean much of anything. The will of heaven in New Martial was the Heavenly Emperor, but he was ultimately killed.

“It then became Exalted Emperor Qin, but he couldn’t emerge triumphant over the Human King. So you’re right, heaven’s will is only aimed at weaklings. It cowers when it encounters the strong!”

“There was a will of heaven in New Martial?” Li Hao grinned with interest.

“Of course.” They chatted as they walked. “The will of heaven was much stronger then as this is just a minor world with a budding consciousness. Heaven’s will was very strong in New Martial and it could manipulate the world! It was ultimately erased from existence and replaced by the Human King. However, he wasn’t interested in acting in the same capacity.”

“The Human King has such charisma!” Li Hao nodded. “Emperors have always been hailed as the son of heaven. If I become Silver Moon’s king, I’ll have people call me Dao Master.”

“Dao Master?”

“Yes, the master of great dao. What does senior think about that?”

“……” The Black Armor didn’t want to respond. You’re a boy wet behind the ears with quite a lot of courage and bold talk. Li Hao was very interesting at times.

The young man chuckled and ensured that his domain remained stable as they flew toward the Skystar Commander Office. They were close by, so although the world brought a lot of pressure to bear, Li Hao’s personal domain held up beneath the stress.

He’d wanted to scare the Black Armor, but thought better of it when he saw how indifferent the man was. He’s so boring.

The Ninth Division leader was an externally aloof, but inwardly passionate guy. This one was cold inside and out, and didn’t care if he died or not. To be honest, Li Hao found it difficult to spend time with someone like this.

……

Within the ruins.

The others didn’t react when the Black Armor entered; the plant spirits remained calm. However, Director General Wang’s expression shifted.

“Martial uncle!” He quickly walked up and dipped his head, inwardly tensing with nerves.

“You’re a generation off,” the Black Armor responded calmly. “All martial university students are one family and of the same generation. I come from Demonic Martial and you’re from Capital Martial. I have never taught there, so you can just call me senior!”

“I wouldn’t dare!” Director General Wang was wreathed in smiles. “It’s such a delightful surprise that martial uncle is still alive…”

“You didn’t come visit me even though this is such a delight.” The Black Armor immediately deflated the lie. “Is Daomaster Li still alive?”

“He is…”

“Good.” The Black Armor nodded. “It’s good that he’s alive, that’s very good. What a pity that it’s likely to be an uncomfortable existence.”

Daomaster Li?

Li Hao blinked and looked at Director General Wang.

“The Ninth Division leader!” transmitted the man.

Li Hao understood, but still found it strange. A Li surname and a sword wielder… Were they from the same family? Granted, there were many with the same surname that wielded the sword in New Martial.

“This is Skystar Town?” The Black Armor looked around, ignoring the plant spirits. Some of them stiffened when they recognized him. He ignored their reactions and looked through the disordered core origin.

“Silver Moon’s biggest mine still stands. That is the greatest silver lining in this situation.”

“We will have to rely on martial uncle’s might to seize the mine in this operation,” Director General Wang hastily said.

“Might? Are you making fun of me?”

“No…” The director general nearly sobbed. How would I dare make fun of you?

Li Hao looked strangely at them. Was there a need for the director general’s behavior? Was he that afraid of the man? Even if the dean was one generation older and used to be a Saint, the director general had just killed a Saint. Hadn’t the white tree been a Saint? The dean didn’t seem to have revived to the same degree as the tree.

Director General Wang couldn’t be bothered with Li Hao. What did the young man know?! The man in front of them… was different. He was one who could bring countless imperial descendants to heel. Any of these children were unbridled and enormously proud of their backgrounds. What were the duties of a dean of education?

To punish them! He could hit or beat them whenever he wished. Would this responsibility fall on the shoulders of a normal person? Was enormous strength all that was needed? They could go to an Empyrean King for that, why use a mere Saint to keep these students in line?

It was because he had a formidable background as well! It was so illustrious that these imperial descendants didn’t dare cause trouble. They could only meekly fall in line!

Few were those in New Martial who could instill fear in the hearts of exalted emperors and make them follow instructions. It was rare that anyone could whip them into shape.

The Black Armor didn’t care what he was thinking and looked around again. “Sudden death, disordered core origin—who turned traitor among the eight families? I haven’t been willing to consider it, but now we must. It can’t have been General Pagoda, could it?”

“……” Director General Wang quickly protested, “How can it be? Martial uncle mustn’t think random thoughts…”

“I’m just saying.” The Black Armor smiled. “It’s just that your guardian general’s ancestor… Well, the ancestor was fine. But its companion exalted emperor, the Pagoda King… There’s not much we can say about him.”

Li Hao started and looked at the director general. The Pagoda King? Was it alright to directly use the title of an exalted emperor? Wouldn’t there be repercussions?

Director General Wang didn’t have the bandwidth to explain to Li Hao. “That was in the early days of New Martial, it was different later on. Not to mention, the Battle Heaven characters are different…”

“True enough!” nodded the Black Armor. “Then you tell me, who turned traitor?”

“It’s… hard for me to say.”

“That’s fair. It seems impossible to me, but it did so happen. What you speak of is impossible to consider. Can it be the Zhaos who walked the path of energy?” murmured the Black Armor. “Their ancestor was Alliance Head Zhao, an outstanding man of the age. His descendants shouldn’t be thus, should they?”

Director General Wang looked ruefully at the man. Stop guessing, what’s the point in that? You can say their names, I can’t!

The Black Armor grinned. “I’m just saying a bit more because I’ve just come out. Don’t be afraid, I’m the one saying their names, not you. What are you afraid of?”

“That’s true! I’m not… afraid!” the director general laughed dryly.

“Give me the items.” The Black Armor looked at Li Hao. “Otherwise, I might not be able to fight even this guy with my current level of strength.”

“Martial uncle is too humble…” The director general was ignored.

etvolare’s Thoughts

That’s a fascinating explanation of the will of heaven. Is there anything similar in other novels?