âSir, I donât intend to erase everything heâs accomplished or deny who he is,â Deputy Zhou explained, âIâm just stricken with the fact that this guy doesnât know to cherish the results from the Skystar battle and the exceedingly good name that he built for himself. He wasted a huge opportunity!
âHou Xiaochen isnât cut out for this either, he didnât consider these issues much or to this degree. After the defeat that the nine ministries and three great organizations suffered, the nine ministries plainly donât want to fight anymore. At this time, the Ministry of Finance is probably laughing at the rest since theyâve suffered the least. The Inspectorate is being opportunistic because they havenât lost anything. Li Hao can absolutely rope them in to form a new line of defense!
âAs for the Ministry of Armed Forces, your senior brother is there. Drop the lines about him leaving a long time ago, did your master actually remove him from the rolls? If not, then he is still your senior brother. You can go to him and see if you can reach an accord with the Ministry of Armed Forces. Of course youâll have people there that you want to eliminate or settle grudges with, but that can be saved for later.
âAnd the Ministry of Administrationâthey donât see you as a major enemy for the moment. Their enemy is the royal family. Why canât you negotiate some of your problems away?
âPeople also helped you before in the east, like the East Pole Duke or Yu Qiao of the Firebright province. Youâve now killed three generations of the Steadfast Dukeâs lineage and the Xus are threatening to topple over. Are you going to just leave it at that? You can absolutely send representatives to the east and meet with those two. Even if you donât partner with them, you must lay claim to the outcome of battle. Youâre the one who killed the Steadfast Duke, why arenât you doing anything about it?
âAnd the City of Supernaturals, are you not going to say anything after you killed one of their Heavenâs Eye? Only martial blockheads do that. You guys... even if itâs just a gesture, you should send someone to the city to threaten them or offer compensation. You canât just decide to do nothing!
âThe same goes for all of the supernaturals that were killed that day, particularly the Starlight Pirates and their dozen dukes. If you donât wish to partner with them, you should at least contact the other pirate factions and have them divvy up the Starlight Pirates. You can just offer them moral support for that action. That will spell the end of the Starlight Pirates and not create an enemy that might come after you in the future!â
The more Deputy Zhou said, the more disappointed he became. âLi Hao, you are a very good candidate for being the leader of the martial world, but you are truly unsuited to be this kind of leader. Iâve been observing you all along and find that you are the same as your master! This was how your master conducted his affairs back in the day. He felt that since the people I defeated could no longer rise again or have a change in fortune, what did he care about them?
âAnd then what happened? Ying Hongyue, the Celestial Sword Immortal, Yama, Buddha Mountain, Yonder Mountain... All of them rose again! Your master is in the most dismal straits these days and you resemble him more by the day!
âWill you be stronger than your master? No, you will be the same! Do you think that the Starlight Pirates arenât worth much with the death of the North Sea King? Do you think that the Xus are worthless with both generations of Steadfast Dukes being dead? Do you think there is no threat from a heavily injured lord of Buddha Mountain whoâs become a supernatural? Do you think nothing of the City of Supernaturals with one million supernaturals? Theyâll stop after killing you, one Arcanus!â
â......â Li Hao was shell shocked. He thought back to his recent actions, his thoughts and conclusions, and nodded after a long moment. He had nothing to say.
Deputy Zhouâs words were not easy to listen to, but they did touch upon some key points. Li Hao hadnât had the mental bandwidth or capacity to consider certain things before. Some subjects had never even been on his radar.
Leader of the martial world... Just like his teacher? His teacher had left many enemies behind in the world and the young man sometimes snorted at Yuan Shuo for not bothering to see his job through to the end.
He suddenly understood his teacherâs actions today! It wasnât that Yuan Shuo had left the job undone, but that he simply hadnât cared enough. Take Li Hao, for instance, he felt that there was no further threat from the Xus and North Sea pirates. Eradicating them was a waste of time and money.
But... what would the situation look like many years later if he didnât improve at all? He would be the greatest public enemy, just like his teacher! At that time, people would say that the Demon Sword of yesteryear dominated the world, but now he was in such pathetic circumstances. He was less than a dog!
âDeputy Zhou, how about you come to Skystar City with me?â Li Hao lit up.
â......â
Dead silence.
âLi Hao...â coughed Director General Zhao.
âSir!â Li Hao interrupted solemnly. âSilver Moon needs only you! It is a waste of talent for Deputy Zhou to be here! Perhaps Skystar City is the best stage for him! I donât know any of this, but that is alright!â
The young man spoke excitedly, like he hadnât suffered a blow from the lecture. âSomeone told me that itâs fine if you donât know everything. So long as you know how to use people and dare use others, then itâs fine!
âNo one is omnipotent, Iâm not! Iâm young, I havenât seen much of the world, I donât know anything... but none of that matters! I can learn, and while the process may be long and arduous, itâs not an issue if I surround myself with the right people!
âDidnât the royal family make me the Skystar governor general?â He looked raptly at Deputy Zhou. âIf you come, Iâll make you the Skystar deputy governor general. The royal family wonât say anything, Iâm entrusted with all the power! Youâll be the deputy, Martial Uncle Hong Yitang will be the headmaster, Director Hou will look after the Night Watchers, and me... Iâll be in charge of killing enemies!â
Li Hao waved his hand and spoke seriously, âAs for what I base my confidence in and what you guys can place your hopes in...â He thought it over. âFirst, Stellaris and the identity of the heir of the eight families! Second, Iâve been promoted and Iâm a division leader of the Battle Heaven Army now...â
Gold armor flashed!
The two old men started. Gold armor? Division leader?
Li Hao was putting to practice what heâd just learned. Itâs just a trick! My reinforcement troop is no different from being a division leader, right?
âThird, I can unite the Silver Moon martial world. At the very least, a lot of people find me trustworthy and that I am worthy of striking up a relationship with. At the same time, they find that the official authorities are not worthy!
âFourth, I have some clues to my next cultivation level. My strength will continue to rise!
âFifth, I know a very easygoing plant spirit. It will even fight for me!
âSixth, Battle Heaven may be able to fully awaken soon. Iâve already become part of their inner workings and have very good relations with them. Theyâre willing to put their full force behind me. Some of their premier powerhouses will awaken very soon...
âSeventh, the strongest heavyweight of our timeâYing Hongyueâis afraid to face me at the moment. He has not successfully assimilated his seven bloodlines together...â Li Hao listed all of his strengths to enhance his standing, ultimately looking at Deputy Zhou. âTherefore, you may think Iâm wet behind the ears, sir, and that I donât know much. But Iâm not a saint and itâs not like I was born knowing all this. Iâm just an ordinary person who made it to this position step by step. It hasnât been long since I left Silver City. Is this enough?
âIf not, Iâll continue to add to my list of strengths. Iâm sure I can do it!â
Director General Zhao stared at the young man. Deputy Zhou also looked at him before suddenly grinning. âYouâre... an interesting one!â
âCome with me, Deputy Zhou!â Li Hao smiled widely.
âI was just pointing out some problems to you...â
âIâll give you one hundred drops of Water of Life!â
â......â Deputy Zhou blinked.
âLi Hao...â coughed the director general.
âTwo hundred drops!â Li Hao waved his fists around and set his jaw. âAnd thatâs not it. Iâll give you more benefits when I get richer! Your job will be easy. Go to Skystar City and settle all this for me! Take care of all this! Whether itâs negotiations, recruitment of others, you can say whatever needs to be said to whoever you meet.â
The deputy looked at Director General Zhao; the latter wanted to roll his eyes. âOle Zhou, weâve worked together for forty years...â
âHeâs offering two hundred drops of Water of Life!â Deputy Zhou continued looking at his superior officer. That was so much!
The director general wanted to vomit blood. The hell was this?? Li Hao was trying to steal his subordinate right in front of him. How was this appropriate?!
âLi Hao, how do you have so much...â
âI do!â the young man answered emphatically. âOf course I do! My plant spirit charges me twenty thousand stones per drop. I collected more than seven million stones before this and traded them in for three hundred drops. Iâm giving most of it to Deputy Zhou!â
â......â
Twenty thousand stones? For one drop?
âWhere... is this plant spirit?â the director general asked ponderously.
âEh?â
âAh...â the old man coughed. âIâm asking if it will affect Silver Moon. Is it near Mount Cat Head?â
Li Hao instantly went on the alert. What did the old man want? You want to lure my people away from me? âDonât even think about it, sir. Thatâs a guardian plant spirit that only I can contact. Anyone else who goes will be killed! Itâs already recovered to the level of an Apex and can tear through the void. Itâs powerful beyond belief!â
â......â Director General Zhao sighed. What a pity!
âSir.â Li Hao turned to Deputy Zhou again. âYou can see where the problems are, which means you can take care of them! As the saying goes, the prudent bird chooses a fine tree to nest in. Iâm sure that the director general wonât mind and wonât obstruct your future. Nothing will happen in Silver Moon before the second awakening. Thereâs not much point in staying here to waste the deputy director generalâs talents!â
â......â Deputy Zhou stroked his mustache, then looked at his superior officer again.
âAre you mocking me, Li Hao?â Director General Zhao laughed with anger.