Star Gate

Chapter 721: Fool (II)

“What, are you hesitating?” Huang Yu suddenly smiled.

“There are no words to describe the depths of my gratitude for the commander’s previous help in Skystar City.” Li Hao raised an eyebrow. “But if Hu Dingfang’s position really came as the result of trading the Breathing Method of the Five Styles, then that means the commander also knows the breathing method. But if the commander is putting in a showing... I will let the matter go.

“However, this also means that the favor rendered by your earlier assistance is no more. On the other hand, both my master and I will also no longer pursue the issue of the breathing method.”

“Can you represent Yuan Shuo?”

“I think... I can!” Li Hao looked at the man. Huang Yu smiled slightly stiffly in return.

“It’s not because of the breathing method,” he said after a moment. “Hu Dingfang wouldn’t dare teach it to others either. Your master still walks this world, after all! Yuan Shuo did factor into Hu Dingfang’s promotion as your senior sister leveraged his reputation when she came to me. However, Hu Dingfang is also worthy enough of his appointment.

“As for the Bais, they are no major matter for you at the moment. They’re just the eyes and ears that the royal family have installed in various locales. These kinds of people are everywhere, but the Bais have been slowly distancing themselves from the royal family.” Huang Yu looked at Li Hao. “With me present in the military, there will be no major problems. What you worry of will not come to pass!”

Silver Moon was stronger than the young man imagined; Li Hao needed to have more confidence in his home.

“There is no need to view Hu Dingfang with enmity.” Huang Yu didn’t care about all of this. “So many years have passed and the breathing method has been modified many times over. Let the matter go.”

“So long as he doesn’t teach anyone else.” Li Hao nodded after some thought. “I naturally will not do anything so long as my master doesn’t say anything. But the rules of the martial world still exist. I will intervene if he passes on the knowledge!”

“You’re such a stubborn kid!” Huang Yu laughed, but didn’t say anything further. Such was Silver Moon’s martial world. The core of a secret art was not permitted to be freely disseminated. The commander changed the topic. “What do you think of Silver Moon’s army?”

“It’s very strong... but not enough!” declared Li Hao. “You have three thousand strong, but there’s several million supernaturals in the central region. As strong as the Silver Moon army might be, it will take ten people per supernatural. All the central region needs to do is to send thirty thousand supernaturals to overcome Silver Moon. Of course, this is just in terms of cold weapons. Adding in hot weapons might lead to a bit more of an effect.”

“Mmhmm!” Huang Yu nodded and considered the matter. “So we need to strengthen the provincial army as a whole. Do you have any ideas?”

What did he mean by that?

“What do you mean, Commander Yu?” Li Hao asked without a flicker of change in expression.

“It’s good to strengthen via mysterious power, but you also know how violent that energy is. The user easily ends up exploding!”

The young man understood! Sword energy! Li Hao looked at the other with a brewing headache. Huang Yu wanted him to supply the entire provincial army with sword energy?!

Oh... my... how much would that deplete of his resources? These are all martial masters, can you afford to cultivate them all? Martial masters had a much greater appetite than others, to say nothing of anything else.

“Also, I hear that the Demon Hunters are proficient in a small-scale military formation...”

“Commander Yu... is seriously asking for a lot!” Li Hao ground out through grit teeth. He was just here for a look, but the man flung out these kinds of requests. Sword energy wasn’t the only thing he wanted, he even wanted the military formation!

“I’m just saying,” laughed Huang Yu. “It doesn’t have to be that way. But what if we really do do it that way? Think about it. I can give you the position of vice commander! Those of Silver Moon must help those of Silver Moon!”

“I’ll think about it!”

“You have the support of the Battle Heaven Army and one of their positions, but you don’t have enough people. There won’t be enough people for your use even if you recruit all of the Silver Moon Guards!

“As opposed to recruiting people you don’t know, why don’t you choose from my people here? They may not be strong, but they’re soldiers as well. Our discipline is strict and orders are followed. If you can become the commander-in-chief of Battle Heaven’s armies, you’ll have countless powerhouses under your banner! One command will mobilize an army of millions and trample over Novas and Arcanus!

“Three hundred thousand from Silver Moon’s provincial army is a very good seed!” Huang Yu looked at the young man. “What do you think?”

Li Hao looked silently at him. The other seemed to understand a lot.

“You’re not the only one who’s a troop leader,” Huang Yu continued softly. “There are more in Silver Moon! But it’s very hard to become a division leader. Only division leaders can command ten thousand ancient soldiers! It’s even harder to become a reserve commander. But if someone can do so, they’ll be able to mobilize one hundred thousand soldiers!

“Why do you think that there are only three hundred soldiers in Silver Moon, and not one million or three million?”

Li Hao seemed to understand and raised an eyebrow. “Commander Yu means to say... that these soldiers can don ancient armor at any time?”

“There’s too few of them!” Huang Yu did not deny the conjecture. “We only have three thousand sets of armor at the moment!”

That was three full troops!

“The Battle Heaven Army?” A light flashed through Li Hao’s eyes.

“No!” Huang Yu shook his head. “The city of Battle Heaven has awoken to a higher degree and it’s different from the other cities. It has powerhouses in residence, so it’s very hard to obtain its approval. You were a product of fortune. Hou Xiaochen’s gone inside so many times, but still has nothing to show for his efforts.

“There are other cities apart from the eight major cities. Some of the smaller ones give out positions more readily... But sadly, a portion of the smaller cities has been destroyed. In all our years of exploration, we’ve only managed to have three of us be made troop leaders.”

Li Hao was surprised, then quickly realized, “Commander Yu is one of them?”

“Yes.” Huang Yun nodded. “And now you are as well, so Silver Moon has four thousand armored soldiers that can be mobilized. But that is far from enough. It’s too difficult to become a division leader.”

“What about the royal family?” asked Li Hao. “The royal family has many Black Armaturas...”

“They only have troop leaders as well, just more of them. They proceed to nibble their way to the top bit by bit instead of having one of them directly become a division leader. In the ancient civilization, their assessment of division leaders was exceedingly rigorous. Strength and military merits were both required!”

Li Hao understood. Division leader was a truly premier powerhouse. According to Director General Wang, they could tear through the void and travel five hundred kilometers in the span of one breath. Even if the position requirement was lowered, there was likely no one who could meet it at the moment.

So it looked like the royal family had indeed obtained the Skystar Army’s approval, but just in terms of multiple troop leaders, not division leader.

“If that difficulty level is so hard, you might as well focus on training a batch of powerhouses yourself,” Li Hao remarked. “That might be easier.”

“It’s not the same.” Huang Yu shook his head. “You can’t see anything now because there are too few of us. Once we reach a critical mass and the ancient armor can be interconnected, you’ll see then how strong the ancient armies were!

“Silver Moon yearns for someone to reach the rank of division leader, even reserve commander. If we can outfit the entire provincial army, we won’t have to fear anyone then!” Huang Yu was just commenting casually, he was well aware of the difficulties. What he had in his sights was Li Hao’s troop leader authorization. Since the lad was’t making use of it, he might as well lend it to the Silver Moon army.

“I’ll think about it!” Li Hao laughed without refusing or agreeing. His troop was a reinforcement troop now and thus, different. He could play around with twenty-three hundred sets of armor and another five hundred at the Silver Moon Guards. That made for almost three thousand.

But the provincial army did indeed have good foundations, and they were all soldiers. Their battle sense, coordination, and discipline were much stronger than those wandering martial masters. The Silver Moon Guards might not even measure up to the local army in terms of discipline.

This isn’t a wasted trip. Silver Moon’s army seems not bad!

“If Commander Yu is interested, you can choose a troop of one thousand from Silver Moon,” said the young man. “They need to be elites as they’ll be sent to Skystar City. I want to establish a martial academy there, in name only, of course. But I’ll still need some support from the province, it’s not like I can just have an empty school. That would be meaningless and an embarrassment.”

A thousand people would create some momentum for him.

“A martial academy?” Huang Yu raised his eyebrows. “Are you looking to imitate the martial universities of old?”

“Pretty much.”

Not really. He was just going to sell dog meat under a banner of lamb meat. It would dispel some people’s worries if Silver Moon sent over one thousand people. They would think that the school was a Silver Moon playground.

“One thousand...” Huang Yu asked, “Do you want them as bodyguards or something else?”

“Not bodyguards!” Li Hao shook his head. “If possible, I want to incorporate them into the Battle Heaven system.”

“You...” The commander furrowed his brows. “You only have authorization for one thousand, and it already sounds like you want to bring Silver Moon Guards under your command...”

“That’s right. I’m going to commandeer the Silver Moon Guards and then another one thousand!”

“......” Huang Yu looked at him, astonished. “What do you mean?”

“My troop is a reinforcement troop! I have a slightly larger quota...”

Huang Yu’s mouth dropped and he stared for a moment before cursing, “So there’s nepotism in the ancient civilization as well?”

The hell? Reinforcement troop?? I’ve never heard of that before!

“Then armor...”

“I have them!” Li Hao smiled at him. “Does Commander Yu have armor from other armies?”

“What?”

“Such as Black Armaturas or the Voidbreakers. I can trade them in at Battle Heaven and recruit more for my troop.”

Huang Yu was completely befuddled. “How... many soldiers can you have?”

“I don’t know.”

“What?”

“I didn’t ask and they didn’t say!” Li Hao chuckled. “The leading officer at Battle Heaven only said that I can recruit some people. He didn’t say how many.”