Star Gate

Chapter 327: A Bolt From The Blue (II)

Wang Ming understood!

“So you’re number two in the martial world?”

“I wouldn’t dare call myself that!” Li Hao grinned. “I’m not being humble, it’s the truth. Perhaps we could say that in the current Silver Moon martial world, but who knows how martial dao has developed in other regions all these years? How many Dominators do those vast territories have and have their Dominators reached another level? Hence, we can’t really say that.”

Wang Ming nodded. Hu Dingfang and his wife disappeared in the distance as they spoke.

“You weren’t too welcoming toward him,” Wang Ming remarked with regret. “We might’ve been able to borrow his strength otherwise. Hu Dingfang is quite a formidable person and his status is high as he commands the Tiger Wings.”

“I won’t get involved in his matter with teacher.” Li Hao shook his head. “That can wait until teacher comes back. Man... what a pity that I couldn’t collect any mysterious power from all the people I killed today. What a damned shame!”

It hadn’t been convenient to collect the energy after he killed his would-be attackers, so he had to forgo it all. While he’d strengthened his five visceral organs to the utmost that they could in such a short period of time, the more mysterious power, the better. There was a lot of energy to be harvested from two Solars and two Sunflares—roughly three thousand cubes!

All of it had been wasted!

Even Wang Ming found it a pity as he knew there was a metal supernatural on the scene. What a shame!

......

Wang Ming left after a bit more conversation. One had to know when they were overstaying their welcome. Li Hao had just experienced a great battle; he would be tired if someone continuously fawned on him.

Meanwhile, Li Hao was in no hurry to take inventory of what he’d looted. He showered first and thoroughly cleaned up before entering his room and taking out the two storage rings. He’d never seen them before, but he had a general idea of how to use them. He’d memorized quite a few ancient tomes, some of which recorded their usage.

It was simple—mental energy. Of course, modern interpretation of this concept pointed to the consciousness or aura. That special energy could access storage rings. Li Hao didn’t know how supernaturals did it—through blood, perhaps?

Who knew!

His consciousness exploded and sensed something in one of the storage rings. It felt like a barrier—Li Hao’s mind pierced it like a sword. A flurry of light danced in front of his eyes as he entered a small space.

It was pitch black, as if a small house. No, it wasn’t even a house. It was the size of a coffin and there wouldn’t be much trouble putting a person inside. His consciousness acted as a light, probing the contents of the space.

“Five mysterious power stones... rich guy!” Li Hao chuckled. Not bad, there were stones for the taking! It made sense since Yu Xiao had given him one before. Granted, the guy had only done so because he felt he could take it back. All the same, five mysterious power stones were a nice find.

Apart from the mysterious power stones, there was another familiar item. An energy ring, not a storage ring!

Energy rings were used to store mysterious power. Li Hao’s mind swiftly summoned the ring for investigation. It was similar to the one he wore—five compartments that held two hundred cubes each. Four of this ring’s cubes were full of wood energy!

“Yu Xiao!” Li Hao understood what he was seeing. These powerhouses had brought supplies with them on their trip. Eight hundred cubes of wood mysterious power were a significant amount. There might have been more before—the ring might have been full. The fellow had likely consumed some during his trip.

This was an unexpected gain! It was Li Hao’s first time obtaining mysterious power not from a corpse of someone he’d killed. These guys from the central region were wealthy upstarts, alright! They brought large sums of mysterious power on their trips to use as supplements. Silver Moon supernaturals couldn’t begin to measure up to them.

“The five mysterious power stones can be fed to the little sword. I can use the eight hundred cubes of mysterious power to nurture my wood aura.”

It didn’t matter that there was no sign of his wood sword aura yet. Li Hao grinned at the other storage ring. If a mid Solar like Yu Xiao carried such treasures on him, the other peak metal Solar should have quite the riches, shouldn’t he?

Aside from the energy ring and stones in Yu Xiao’s ring, there was also a motley assortment of random things. There were female undergarments that seemed to be... used!

Li Hao could only conclude that the guy had liked to dress up as a woman. He couldn’t bother with considering other implications. There were also some sets of Yu Xiao’s clothing and a medallion. The young man had one of the latter as well, it wasn’t a treasure. The token simply identified the bearer and represented a Night Watcher’s rank.

Being symbolic, there wasn’t much use to it.

Li Hao quickly turned his attention to the second storage ring. It was harder to open, but didn’t prove too great a challenge either. The contents were similar, just slightly more mysterious power stones at eight stones.

There was also an energy ring, but less mysterious power inside. The six hundred cubes quite disappointed Li Hao. It was plain to see that the peak Solar had depleted more of his supplies. Perhaps he’d used them over the course of daily training? What a waste!

When all of his gains were summed up, Li Hao came out with two storage rings, fourteen hundred cubes of mysterious power, and thirteen mysterious power stones. It was a small resupply of his stock of mysterious power stones. He was nearly running empty on those. His injuries had been so severe this time that he’d almost exhausted the energy inside the little sword.

Li Hao had only seven mysterious power stones left—they wouldn’t last long if he didn’t obtain more. With the addition of these thirteen, he was adequately equipped for the short run. The two Solars had given him either mysterious power or mysterious power stones. The rest weren’t worth mention. At the end, the young man looked at the booklet he’d scrounged from the Dominator.

“Hmm?” He jerked after a simple glance. What a familiar name!

The Hundred Battle Spear!

He’d heard of this spear method before—it belonged to one of the Three Spears of Silver Moon—Bronze Spear Zhang Jinan.

So the Bronze Spear was dead! Was the one in the alley possibly his heir or descendant?

Li Hao frowned, but didn’t mind his actions all that much. So that person was dead. Their identity was similar to his chief’s identity, which made them a martial second generation. It was impressive that they could set foot over the Dominator threshold.

However, they shouldn’t have had designs on his blood pearls.

The Three Spears of Silver Moon were renowned martial masters back in the day. They might not care about the Breathing Method of the Five Styles because their own secret art was just as strong. Now that Li Hao thought back on it, the other did show signs of the Hundred Battle when he struck with his spear.

But since that martial master hadn’t experienced the unending violence of yesteryear, his killing intent wasn’t as dense as Liu Long’s. Liu Long had fought multiple times during his duties in Silver City, after all. If Li Hao had killed the heir of Bronze Spear... did that mean Bronze Spear’s legacy had come to an end?

The young man flipped through the booklet as he thought. It detailed aspects that needed to be paid attention to when utilizing the spear technique and its basic principles. When he flipped to the last page, he found an absence of a breathing method. As to be expected.

In this vein, the Bronze Spear discipline was thoroughly obliterated if there were no other heirs! Since Li Hao did not know the breathing method, he possessed form without substance. If he tried to use the Hundred Battle Spear, he would just be flailing around with the motions.

The technique was intricate and useful for spear wielders even without the breathing method. It was a pity that Li Hao neither used the spear, nor was skilled in its practice.

“Martial masters really have nothing worth coveting!” Li Hao shook his head. If circumstances permitted, he wouldn’t be interested in killing martial masters at all. There was no point in doing so unless the other was a similar strength level to him, or even stronger. Only then was that meaningful. He would be killing for the sake of martial dao then, not just to kill.

It was pointless to kill the weak. The complete versions of secret arts were hard to come by and there was nothing to be had in killing a martial master. There was no mysterious power to be harvested, so what was the point?

Yuan Shuo had obtained the breathing method to the Ghost Shadow Sword likely because Ghost Shadow Sword had been overconfident. He’d been too self assured that he wouldn’t lose or die. He wouldn’t have left a complete record of his legacy otherwise.

This was all that Li Hao gained from his fights. Killing someone for their treasure was not a profitable business. Under normal circumstances, powerhouses that could kill Yu Xiao and the others wouldn’t think much of these items. To the young man, however, they were decent.

Li Hao tossed the two storage rings to the side. All he needed to do was take a look at them. He wasn’t that curious or enamored with the treasures . But they would indeed make his life more convenient. It was his fire sword aura that preoccupied his thoughts at the moment!

He sent his mind into his heart and clearly noted the current state of the tiger aura. It was vastly different from before. The thick chains of the heart wrapped solidly around a sword—a flaming red sword with a tiger head! A tiger head was imprinted on the sword itself, but in an indistinct fashion. The animal seemed to be resting.

“The fire sword and earth sword have materialized. It’s best if I get swords of the remaining elements next!” Li Hao was in no hurry to fuse the two swords together. He could wait until all five swords of the elements were present. His teacher’s experience would be very useful then. His process would be similar to assimilating the five auras, which would make his teacher’s method highly important reference material.

Li Hao would be able to save a great deal of time and utilize a shortcut in his next steps. The sword aura would then lead all of them! When he completed the combination, they would emerge from his organs together and erupt with incredible strength.

“I don’t have many clues when it comes to metal and wood, so I should focus on water first!” He didn’t know if he’d gain any inspiration from the sea. Perhaps he would, perhaps he wouldn’t. But in any case, he wished to take a look. He’d only reached seven layers of the Nine Forged Force at the moment. It would take a while longer for the ninth layer.

Novas were very strong. His assessment was that if he could bring forth three auras, he would be able to stand against peak Solar. Four might not match him with Novas, but he’d be invincible in the Solar level. When all five were present, that would truly give him a fighting chance with Novas.