Star Gate

Chapter 291: Return (III)

Li Hao grew frantic! Were mysterious power stones truly ineffective for the little sword?

He called upon the Breathing Method of the Five Styles when a new idea struck him. The sword sprang more to life and energy surged out of it—but Li Hao didn’t absorb it. He directed the small sword to come in contact with earth energy instead.

There seemed to be some effect this time!

The little sword finally sensed the existence of this energy and took some in, but with an undercurrent of... distaste. It absorbed energy only for a little bit before leaving a muddled mess riddled with impurities.

Li Hao’s eyes widened with understanding. Stellaris felt that the remaining tangle in the car was too contaminated! But... the hell, man! This was from a mysterious power stone, the most unadulterated form of energy in modern times. Many were those who couldn’t bear to use the treasure. No wonder the little sword was never interested in mysterious power! It didn’t even find mysterious power stones pure enough—mysterious power was probably unwanted dregs in its eyes!

The young man’s head twinged with a headache! It’d absorbed some, at the very least. He could sense that energy was a bit denser in the sword now, but it didn’t abruptly thrum with life like it had when absorbing the origin weapon.

“Ai!” Li Hao sighed with resignation. At least some use had come out of the stone. He could absorb the rest, it felt similar to regular earth mysterious power. If sword energy could distill the essence of power... would the little sword absorb whatever it extracted?

Hang on, I’m an idiot. The purpose of sword energy was to purify and strengthen elemental power. That process consumed significant sword energy to begin with. Even if the little sword was willing to absorb the results and recovered some energy, wasn’t that just unnecessary consumption on both ends?

It would be a waste of both sword energy and mysterious power! He would reach parity with sword energy in the end, but be out of mysterious power. What was the point of that?

Li Hao dismissed the tempting thought and began absorbing the earth energy left from the fragments of the mysterious power stone. Wang Ming and Liu Long were already taking it in—what did it matter that they were not of the earth attribute? None of it should go to waste!

The young man cultivated all the way back to Silver City. Wang Ming drove the car and He Yong followed from a far distance without disturbing them.

......

At the same time, as Li Hao and the others made their way back to Silver City.

There was a province neighboring Silver Moon named Near River. A large river threaded through it, one that traversed the entire province and a dozen others. The river covered a great deal of territory and its riverhead was in Near River.

The river was named Cloud River—a river upon the clouds. It stemmed from a towering mountain that seemed to sit within the clouds. The mountain was named Cloud Mountain. Enveloped by clouds and fog year round, it hosted few inhabitants and visitors.

An old man set foot on it today, covering dozens of meters with one step. The soaring mountain did not overtax his stride and he quickly climbed to a landing halfway up the mountain. It wasn’t the cleanest as it was covered by fallen leaves and some rocks.

“Are you here, old friend?” called out the old man in a resonant voice.

A ray of sword light flashed through the air moments later as a sword fell from the sky!

The old man punched out with a mighty roar of a fearsome tiger. The fire heart ape manifested as well and dispersed the sword light with a deafening punch. A figure shimmered into view.

“Hahaha, the Jadelight Sword is as vicious as ever!” Yuan Shuo laughed uproariously. “Why so polite toward an old friend?”

A married woman less than forty years old stood in front of him with an arctic look in her eyes!

“You’re still alive, Old Demon Yuan!” she bit off.

“How would I die so quickly?” Yuan Shuo chortled. “Have you heard the news?”

“What?”

“That I’ve set foot beyond Dominator and become a Summoner of Spirit!”

“So?” she responded coldly, belying the stunned surprise in her eyes. No wonder he’d been so ferocious as to break her attack with one punch!

“So?” Yuan Shuo snorted. “So everything! Does the Jadelight Sword not wish to advance to Summoner and revitalize the might of the Silver Moon martial world? Will you continue to cower in Cloud Mountain and wait for old age and death to come?

“I see that you haven’t given up martial dao yet. So come back out in the world and summon storms of blood and violence again!”

The old man cackled like he was possessed, a far cry from what he normally presented. There wasn’t a trace of the benevolence that he showed Li Hao on his stern face. “You’ve become a Dominator and I see that your sword aura remains as impressive as ever. You don’t seem to have let yourself go...”

“Out with it.” The woman frowned. “Who do you want to kill and what do you want to do?”

“I want to hunt Red Moon powerhouses!” Yuan Shuo continued cackling. “And kill and strengthen ourselves! That little whelp Ying Hongyue is too big for his boots! Retribution is coming after he forced me to cower in Silver City for so many years! He raises a type of scarlet shadow that strengthens blood qi and internal force. All you need to do is eat thirty to fifty Sunflare level ones, or three to five Solars ones. Enhance your organs and I’ll teach you what it means to be a Summoner!”

“Why me?” Completely indifferent, the woman looked at Yuan Shuo in an unfriendly manner.

“Why you?” The old man thought for a bit. “I have too many death feuds with those of the Silver Moon martial world. I don’t have any other choice but you. The others are either too weak or they’re dead, or they’ve crossed over. You’ve persisted with the Jadelight Sword all these years, it’s a clear sign that your heart of martial dao has not died down. The key reason why is that I could’ve killed you back in the day, but I spared you in our fight because you were pretty. You owe me a life!”

“......”

Fine, there was nothing she could say to that! But was it correct to say that she owed him a life just because he didn’t beat her to death once?

She supposed... that it was barely correct!

Jadelight took a deep breath. “Then give me a moment to pack up my things. Also, tell me where we’re going...”

“Are you familiar with Red Moon’s movements in Near River?”

“A bit.”

“Then we kill the ones here first and make our way to the central region. If all goes well, you’ll be a Summoner by the time we reach our destination! If not, both of us will be dead.”

“I see.” Jadelight bounded upward and vanished from the landing.

Yuan Shuo guffawed. This woman’s figure was still so good after so many years... Ahem, what did martial masters think of this for? All that mattered was that her strength remained as before. It would be difficult if her abilities had declined.

The Jadelight Sword Wu Hongshan! One of the Seven Swords!

Three of the seven were confirmed to be dead. Only the Sky Sword, Earthturner Sword, and Jadelight Sword were still alive. Not even Yuan Shuo knew if the Light Sword was still around.

The Fists of North and South... The Three Spears of Silver Moon... There weren’t many of them left either. Qimei Staff was also dead, who knew if Deficient Leg was still alive?

Yuan Shuo thought of someone else as he walked down memory lane. Did Tyrant Blade yet walk the earth? There were numerous swordsmen and bladesmen in Silver Moon those years. Tyrant Blade dropped out of sight upon leaving Silver Moon. They could work together if he was still alive. That guy killed people in a wild torrent of violence and was unchecked in recklessness. It was beyond strange that there was no word of him. He was either dead or everyone who’d seen him was dead!

Wu Hongshan jumped down as Yuan Shuo ruminated, a small bundle on her back and a sword in her hand. She was ready to leave the mountain.

Her preparations were that simple! There was nothing to hesitate over after Yuan Shuo mentioned killing people and advancing to Summoner of Spirit. It was time to kill! Which of Silver Moon’s renowned martial masters didn’t have hands covered in blood? She was no exception!

“Let’s go!” Wu Hongshan declared.

“You’re fast,” Yuan Shuo chuckled. “Martial masters are always quick and decisive. Who knows how many hours any other woman would take...”

“You say a lot of useless stuff!” snapped out Wu Hongshan. “I am not your match today, but when I set foot into Summoner, your head will fall under my Jadelight Sword!”

“Just listen to yourself...” Yuan Shuo threw his head back with laughter. “And my concern would be that you can’t hack through my neck! To be honest, the Jadelight isn’t known for its destructive abilities. You’re not as strong as the dead Ambiguous Sword. I wouldn’t call upon you if it wasn’t for Sky Sword going to the central region!”

Wu Hongshan didn’t say anything. The Sky Sword was the strongest of the seven. She was indeed no match for him. But another thought struck her and she said coolly, “Just you wait. My sword methods have improved greatly these years, and I’ve discovered a secret. My sword method is a family heritage—what we see is only the beginning!”

“A family heritage?” Yuan Shuo’s interest was piqued. “Your sword method comes from your ancestors? But I’ve never heard that was the case. Your family isn’t an ancient house of martial dao.”

“I dug it out myself!” Wu Hongshan flicked a dismissive glance at him. “I didn’t have money to bury my parents when they died in my childhood. I dug open the ancestral grave and buried my parents inside, then discovered a sword manual!”

Yuan Shuo was at a loss for what to say. Is that so? He really didn’t know about this; she’d literally uncovered the secrets behind her sword method. Impressive! This woman was no kind soul or even a proper human, having dug up her ancestors’ grave as a child.

He didn’t say a word as they sped down the mountain, Yuan Shuo in the lead. It was an ideal day for killing people as the weather was clear. From today forth, his name would be known throughout Silver Moon and beyond the province. Everyone would know that he was back!

Wu Hongshan remained stony-faced behind him; her eyes brightened when she thought of some records in the sword manual. The Jadelight Sword was not an ordinary sword method, there were scattered mentions in the manual that it’d been an exceedingly powerful method in the ancient civilization. Its wielder was a follower of the Human King—it didn’t matter who this king was or how strong he was. What mattered was that there was an even stronger sword method beyond the Jadelight Sword!

The method’s owner—her ancestor—had a junior brother hailed as the Eternal Life Sword Sovereign. His feats in conquest were unmatched. I wonder if the Eternal Life Sword has been lost?

These were mere fragments mentioned in an ancient record, but they were sufficient to send Wu Hongshan’s blood boiling. She would return the Jadelight Sword back to its former glory!