Star Gate

Chapter 164: Secrets of the Eight Trigrams (III)

Yuan Shuo looked at Li Hao. “Place the sword between us. I can sense that the stone blade is absorbing blade energy via stripping it out from the energy mixture. The sword should be doing the same. The energy mixture seems very strong, but it’s not suited for simply healing wounds.”

Li Hao placed the little sword in the center between teacher and disciple. It trembled as it absorbed a surge of unique energy. Sword energy intensified around them and after some thought, Yuan Shuo relocated the stone blade further away to avoid interference.

Teacher and disciple began operating the Breathing Method of the Five Styles. Yuan Shuo did so primarily to heal his wounds. Meanwhile, Li Hao was less injured. Most of the problems resulting from his overuse of power last night were quickly resolved after absorbing a good deal of sword energy.

Yuan Shuo issued reminders as he trained, “You can operate the Breathing Method of the Five Styles while you absorb the Sunflare blood pearl. Coordinate with the sword energy here to digest it. Just this energy alone makes this trip worthwhile, to say nothing of anything else!”

“Mm.” Li Hao swallowed the blood pearl without another word. His blood boiled the moment it entered his body and he entered the state he attained last time the scarlet shadow invaded his body.

His eyes lost focus as his blood frothed. He seemed to see through the stone ceiling when he raised his head and once more saw the massive diagram of the eight trigrams overshadowing Silver City!

As he was prepared this time, Li Hao wasn’t nervous. He was just curious—what was this diagram?

He took a close look. There were eight strings, of which one ran down and was tied to him. The other seven were, like last time, aggregated in one direction. That direction didn’t look to be in Silver City.

Li Hao widened his eyes, wanting to take a closer look. What did the eight trigrams mean?

He... seemed to catch a vague hint of something. It seemed to be the cosmos, and it seemed not to be. He tried to blink the image into focus and saw a person in the center of the eight trigrams.

A person?

Li Hao paused. He was seeing things, wasn’t he? The figure disappeared when he tried to take another look.

The young man’s heart skipped a beat and he decided to take a closer look at the red thread over his head. He followed it upward. What would he see at the top?

He strained his eyes and actually did see something special. There was a figure at the end of it—a person!

“Hmm...” Li Hao jerked with shock. The person looked similar to the relief that he’d seen outside! It was the person with a sword on his back!

One person, one sword.

The figure seemed to sense something when Li Hao saw it and suddenly looked downward. What kind of gaze did it hold in its eyes?

Arrogance?

The notion that it was unconquerable?

Or was it an act of overlooking the common people?

“The sword is Creative [1] and suppresses monsters!”

The sentence reverberated in Li Hao’s mind. His eyes turned bloodshot as something seemed to stab into them. Blurry vision afforded him the sight of a man wielding a sword and piercing the heavens!

“I can sever immortality with a sword! With life as the sword, I can cut down the heavens, the earth, the self!”

Boom!

Li Hao’s mind seemed to explode. He saw... he saw that person tear through the firmament with one stroke and destroy the cosmos. He saw that person subvert the heavens with that stroke and shatter the stars...

Two streaks of blood trailed from his eyes.

A swordsman!

This was a premier swordsman!

“Pah!” Li Hao spat out a mouthful of blood that welled up in his throat. It came infused with a ray of sword qi that was peerlessly sharp. The resting Yuan Shuo subconsciously raised a hand to prevent blood from splattering him...

Pfft!

The professor went slack jawed with shock as his hand was pierced through!

What?!

A mouthful of blood—and Li Hao’s blood—drove through his aura, broke through his consciousness, and pierced his palm!

“Li Hao!” Yuan Shuo couldn’t stop to think. He exploded into motion and grabbed his student. What was going on?

Li Hao blearily opened his eyes, finding his eyeballs seized with extreme pain and his vision hazy. He coughed weakly with some pain. “Teacher... I saw... a person with a sword... tear through the firmament... and destroy the cosmos...”

“Bulls...” Yuan Shuo was ready to launch into a lecture when he paused with shock. “Where did you see it?”

“In the sky!” Li Hao pointed upward with difficulty. “So scary! It was so scary that I felt they could kill me through a hundred million kilometers. They could kill me even though they’re a ray of sword qi—no, they can kill everyone!”

It’d been petrifying!

Although he’d seen it clearly, the other had plainly been very, very far away from him. So far that they were an incredible distance away. He’d only seen them and not come in contact with them—in fact, he’d only seen an impression instead of the real thing. Even so, that stroke had almost killed him!

Sword intent!

In this moment, he knew what sword intent was.

The little sword placed between them suddenly trembled and emanated faint sword qi. The mouthful of blood that Li Hao had spat out had also touched it.

Blood of sword qi!

Yuan Shuo’s expression was exceedingly grave and he looked up, but didn’t see anything. “Is there more?”

“The... the diagram of the eight trigrams... seems to correspond to some people... There also seemed to be a person in between...” Li Hao coughed blood once more. “He said that his sword could sever the heavens, the earth, and immortality...”

The young man was a bit lost. “Teacher... can humans... really be like as I saw and break through the sky with one stroke? Or was it an illusion?”

That gentle stroke would obliterate Yuan Shuo and Solars alike. It was an unfathomable blow!

Yuan Shuo stilled and said softly after a long while, “I don’t know. Perhaps there really was such an existence in the ancient civilization. And if you’re fine, that person might be... an ancestor of you Lis.”

“An ancestor?” Li Hao paused with surprise, then chuckled ruefully. “No way! If my ancestors were this strong... then my family would rule the lands! No, they’d rule the entire world! Would we be in these straits?”

Of course, no one could say for certain, but that immense strength was burned deep into his brain. He would remember that stroke for the rest of his life. He didn’t know what the person was cutting down, just that the blow severed everything. It would annihilate the strongest enemy, wouldn’t it?

Yuan Shuo didn’t have an answer. “How are you?”

“Awful...” Li Hao suddenly realized something else. “But the blood pearl’s strength seems more pure. I’m absorbing it bit by bit.” He jerked with astonishment and raised his hand for a look. “Teacher, do you think my skin’s gotten paler?”

Yuan Shuo subconsciously followed the young man’s gaze and took a gentle breath in.

“Not paler, but more unadulterated! That ray of sword qi... no, it might not be sword qi. It might be sword intent through the air. Whichever it was, it seems to have further purified your physique.”

What kind of ability was this? Teacher and disciple looked at each other; neither had any idea.

Yuan Shuo looked down at his hand—the bloody hole was slowly starting to close. His rate of healing was exceedingly slow even after absorbing sword energy.

“Teacher, let me heal you...”

“No!” Yuan Shuo shook his head with sudden fervor. “I want to keep this scar and this hole! Indestructible! What kind of strength is this? It feels even stronger than blade energy. Just one droplet of blood dyed with the sword intent ran straight through my hand and punctured everything about me. If that’d hit my head, I would be dead!”

He was a powerhouse who’d slain Solars, but could’ve died to a mouthful of sprayed blood. There would be no place to redress his grievances if he’d truly died. How terrifying!

Yet, it was this kind of terror that excited him.

“This might be a fortuitous opportunity, Li Hao. Our greatest opportunity lies in the road ahead!” Yuan Shuo suddenly had a goal and motivation. This was the direction forward. “One stroke to cleave the heavens and one stroke to sever the firmament...”

He stared at his hands and purposefully prevented the wound from healing. The professor wished to quietly study the ray of sword qi, but there was nothing there. There was no sword qi to begin with, just Li Hao’s mental perception.

This was both astounding and petrifying!

As for Li Hao, he discovered with surprise that after vomiting a few mouthfuls of blood, he could... project internal force from his torso! This was strange. Was he mid Sunderer now?

So easy!

In this moment he felt that this was all there was to mid Sunderer—it was weak. It was incredibly weak compared to even his teacher, to say nothing of the figure he’d seen. Relatively speaking, mid Sunderer wasn’t even a child.

Neither Solar nor Dominator could begin to compare to the scene he’d witnessed. If he could be thus, what need did he have to be to be afraid of Red Moon? He’d hack them apart with one stroke!

“Teacher!” Li Hao exclaimed.

“Hmm?”

“Is my sword a bit bigger?”

Yuan Shuo hastily ducked his head. Indeed, the little sword on the ground had originally been the length of a finger, but now it seemed to be approaching the length of a pair of chopsticks. It’d gotten bigger!

“It absorbed some blood...” Yuan Shuo glanced sharply at his student. “Your blood was tinged with something special, which in return was absorbed by this treasure. It might be partially unsealed. Does this sword look similar to what that person was using?”

Li Hao shook his head, he couldn’t be certain of that. All he’d seen was light from the sword and nothing else. It was a good thing that his sword had gotten bigger, but with it approaching the size of a pair of chopsticks, it’d be difficult to hide in the future. He couldn’t wear it on his back; this would be a little troublesome to resolve.

The young man picked up the sword and carelessly stuck it into the ground. It soundlessly pierced through the rock below it, stunning both teacher and disciple again.

So sharp!

They didn’t have an inkling that it’d become so sharp to the point that it easily stabbed through rock. The hall fell silent. Yuan Shuo suddenly felt that the secrets of Silver City and the eight families were possibly greater than anyone imagined.

1. The Chinese is 乾天, the first of Earlier Heaven bagua. Officially translated as the Creative, it refers to natural force. ?