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Chapter 507: Pirates (I)

After a while, he saw a door to a secret room. Li Hao opened the door to discover that this was the ancient archives room, where the Guards stored most of the ancient tomes that they’d discovered on their expeditions. Some of them were ordinary titles, but it was a good find to the young man all the same.

He selected one at random and flipped it open. It was in good condition—the words “War of Southern Jiang” were written on the page. A battle record? Now this was a rare sight. The ancient books that Li Hao knew of rarely discussed topics like these.

The first chapter started off with—In the first year of the New Martial calendar...

New Martial seemed to be the beginning of a new era, a particular calendar designation. Li Hao had seen it in many ancient tomes. The ancient civilization utilized the New Martial calendar, and there was another primordial civilization before that.

The young man quickly scanned the pages. This was a book that not many would pay attention to. He didn’t know if anyone else had read it or if there was even anyone who could. There should be, right?

It was Li Hao’s first time seeing general overviews of ancient powerhouses. The Human King, Martial King, Nether King...

Monikers in lieu of names appeared in the book. According to the book, Southern Jiang seemed to be an old haunt of the Human King during the ancient civilization. When he was out traveling the world and seeking to improve his weak self, it was invaded by an alien race called the Earth Dwellers. A massive war erupted in Southern Jiang as a result.

The weak Human King traveled with large numbers of human powerhouses into the enemy’s lair, so that the human territory of Southern Jiang wouldn’t suffer damage. Although it was exceedingly dangerous to venture deep into enemy land, all of these people did so without a second thought, so as to protect the ordinary people of Southern Jiang!

Eliminating the enemy outside our home! Refusing to let the enemy take half a step into human territory, even if the price was to fall in battle outside their homeland and being unable to be brought back to their final resting place...

Li Hao had wanted to scan the book quickly, but he fell silent and continued paging through it to read more closely. The book described a ghastly battle and mentioned a name he was familiar with.

“In the war between Southern Jiang and the Earth Dwellers, the sixth rank Eternal Sword Sovereign stunned the world by employing his sword Sever Immortality to strike down an eighth rank enemy. The Human King wailed with grief and brought a dying Eternal Sword Sovereign to his battles in the Earth Dweller home. They fought ferociously throughout the land. The battle of Southern Jiang witnessed the first taste of the Human King’s might and caused the name of the Eternal Sword Sovereign to be known throughout the two worlds...”

The Eternal Sword Sovereign!

This was a name and title that Li Hao was more familiar with. People seemed to call his ancestor that. According to the book, his ancestor was very weak then. Sixth rank... was quite weak according to the ancient tomes that Li Hao had pored through before. He could deduce from what he’d read that cultivators wouldn’t even have manifested their mind intent at sixth rank. Their physical bodies would be slightly stronger than most—it was eighth rank that was hailed as grandmaster. This was a fight akin to a Sunderer killing a Dominator, or perhaps a little more impressive than that.

Ten years to hone a blade and shaking off the image of trash with one stunning stroke. This hadn’t even been the most impressive battle of the entire war!

The weak and fragile Human King of the ancient civilization began his rise with this war. He took the fight to the Earth Dwellers despite being a fourth rank—the book described the enemy as ninth rank powerhouses. They might be on par with modern day Novas, whereas a fourth rank was just initial Sunderer...

Yet in this war, the Human King killed untold numbers of the enemy, razed their major cities, and saved the Eternal Sword Sovereign. Humanity fully defeated the Earth Dwellers after this war. It was hailed as the most important skirmish in the rise of the Human King, and closely detailed his berserk fury, despair, tenacity, and wisdom in that age.

There was such a large gap in strength, but everyone willingly charged to their deaths. Many human powerhouses died in this campaign, but a line from the book emblazoned itself in Li Hao’s mind.

During the most critical moments of battle, older grandmasters called upon the Incantation of the Blade of Blood and detonated themselves against the enemy. In the New Martial age, there were no grandmasters that died of old age. They only died on the battlefield. When their time in the world was up and their blood qi depleted, they raced for the depths of the Earth Dweller home and fought fiercely against immense enemies. They battled to the death and never looked back!

It was merely text on a page, but that was sufficient to make Li Hao’s blood boil. He thought of the Battle Heaven Army! He’d alrady thought that the army was comprised of elites among elites, but now that he looked at it... the martial masters of that era were incredible!

They knew that they could not withstand the ferocious enemy, yet all of them still charged to their deaths. There were no elderly martial masters in their time, just martial masters dead in action! They threw themselves into the depths of the enemy camp when they reached an advanced age, fighting tirelessly by themselves...

The young man flipped page after page, sensing the emotions behind the words and picturing the scenes in his mind... He put himself in those occurrences. Was this how that era had been? Then what of the Star Era that I am part of? Are there people with that kind of mentality in this day and age?

But... we don’t have external enemies, just civil discord. Li Hao sighed after a long moment and shook his head. It was very hard for those kinds of characters to appear in the modern world. There was certainly text inside this book that was quite unforgettable to the young man.

Martial masters of that era ventured deep into enemy camp just to keep the enemy out of their home. It was more dangerous to do so and their casualty rate was higher, but these powerful martial masters raced to the frontlines to protect ordinary people all the same. They did so heedless of consequences, finally obtaining victory at a higher price.

They would’ve lost fewer people if they let the enemy into Southern Jiang territory, but that would’ve resulted in high numbers of civilian deaths.

However...

If it was modern times, how would the ruler decide if expending tens of thousands, even one hundred thousand civilians, could lead to the destruction of dozens of Novas?

The Martial King had been mentioned in passing in the book, very few lines were dedicated to him. He’d been the leader of humanity in that area and the one to give the order to take the fight to the Earth Dwellers, so that the enemy would not venture into human territory. Though the martial masters would meet death in higher numbers, they did so without regret.

“The times... are different now,” Li Hao murmured. The modern world was no longer that age.

But the book also said that the New Martial era started from them, that they’d founded this age. Far from naturally giving rise to a new age, it was these people who’d established such a fervent era. The book ended on a note that such campaigns were just one of many thousands upon thousands. The Earth Dwellers attempted many invasions during the New Martial era, but they never set foot on human territory, no matter how strong they were!

The enemies were formidable beyond imagination in the New Martial era, but they were ultimately destroyed beyond human territory. Lights remained on in thousands of homes, peace and prosperity flourished. The faith of humanity was shared throughout millions upon millions of people. Everyone believed in their powerhouses. Countless youngsters answered the battlefield’s call and died in foreign lands, but they did so without regret.

“Complete exaggeration...” Li Hao muttered. This was just a book of historical fiction, there must be elements of overstatement involved. He didn’t believe that this was really how the ancient civilization had been.

At the same time, how did that explain the Battle Heaven Army?

There was still a certain degree of mental impact to the young man. Li Hao laughed wryly. What he’d seen and heard the most these days was destroying the enemy outside of the gates. Had he gotten too sensitive to it, or was he thinking too much? Everytime he saw those words, it was like they reminded him to not utilize Silver Moon as a battlefield. Whether it was pirates or powerhouses, it was best if they were all destroyed outside the province. They could not be allowed to disturb the lives of ordinary people or drag mundanes into the fighting.

Hao Lianchuan also reminded him to not wait until the pirates invaded. It was better to take the fight to them.

“The Human King... Eternal Sword Sovereign...” Li Hao murmured in a daze. Were these two really that strong?

No, not strong. It was a kind of ultimate fervor and hot-bloodedness to fight the strong when one was weak. Was the Human King the killing fiend he’d glimpsed?

What kind of concept was fourth rank? He’d rampaged in all directions in a place rife with ninth rank enemies, carrying the dying Eternal Sword Sovereign by his side. He ultimately reaped stunning battle accomplishments and war loot, thus marking his official rise within humanity.

Various concepts echoed in Li Hao’s mind; he swiftly put down the book and walked toward the next area. He’d just wanted to take an inventory count of what was here. He should stay away from these books in the future. It gave rise to a certain impulse every time he picked one up, one to let go of all of his reservations and stop waiting patiently!

It was not terrifying to be weak, it was terrifying to not dare let loose even once. But if he did... he might die in a moment of carelessness. Li Hao didn’t want to die yet.

He walked forward and entered another secret room. A ship that sparkled with light sat here—it was very small at only one meter across. However, the young man knew that this was the origin weapon. It should be able to grow bigger if the weapon soul was awake.

Li Hao summoned Stellaris and knocked it gently on the ship. “Show yourself if you’re awake. Otherwise... I’ll chop you into two!”

The ship remained unmoving. Li Hao knew that it wasn’t afraid of a simple sword; he summoned sword intent with a visualized move...

A weapon soul immediately presented itself. It looked like a big fish, but also like a bird. Li Hao frowned at it, what kind of monster spirit was this? A fish that could fly?

“I can claim you, yes?” He ignored its trembling. “The kind through blood?”

While the big fish didn’t say anything, the ship itself trembled. After his experience communicating with the Flaming Phoenix Spear, Li Hao took it as a tacit agreement.