Star Gate

Chapter 672: Arcanus! (III)

“I’m a Nova!” Li Hao laughed. He’d required only an hour to cross the threshold that most found impossible to attempt. His thoughts turned to Hao Lianchuan, someone who was possibly still stymied by an act as simple as breaking five supernatural locks. I... took only an hour to go from nothing as a martial master to becoming a Nova.

The fifth lock hadn’t been too hard, the true test would come at six.

The subsequent clash and conflict between thunder and wind would be the most troublesome. Of course, Li Hao had a trump card to play in the form of sword energy. As violent as the clash might be, he could neutralize it with sword energy.

However, he wouldn’t utilize it unless he had no other choice. While sword energy could neutralize mysterious power, the calmed power lacked its inherent domineering qualities. It was transformed to a gentle current. However, the strongest aspect of supernaturals was in their dominating power!

He could rest and recover from his injuries with sword energy, but it was best not to use it in battle. That would turn the overbearing mysterious power into a fluffy sheep.

Li Hao was in no hurry to break the sixth supernatural lock. He focused on swiftly devouring energy instead, pulling from large sums of mysterious power stones to strengthen the energy inside his body.

Not only that, but his five organs were in operation as well. He was building the true five bridges between them—five chains slowly melded into each other. Yuan Shuo hadn’t wanted him to rush this process because it might strengthen the five organs beyond control. Li Hao didn’t care about that anymore. The circumstances would also be different after he transformed into a supernatural. Perhaps he wouldn’t need them anymore.

Even if he did, he most likely wouldn’t need to be concerned about them raging out of control.

He focused on building the five real bridges because he needed to seal off the organs to prevent mysterious power from invading them. Otherwise, the previous bridges of internal force would soon be swallowed. When mysterious power invaded the five organs, they would easily turn even the organs into an amalgamation of mysterious power.

Chains shot through the air; five crystalline chains stood side by side. There was a ferocious tiger crouching on one of them, a willow tree swaying on another, a stalwart mountain peak firmly planted on one chain, and one with waves rearing over it...

Li Hao wanted to completely fuse these five into one chain. That would shut off all access to his organs, saving them for the day in which he converted back to martial dao.

Two chains crashed into each other. Fuse!

BOOM!

Mind intent erupted as their auras clashed with each other. It gave Li Hao a preview of how auras with different attributes conflicted with each other. Their collision created an effect that was very close to Arcanus suffering.

Water and fire intermixed, giving rise to rumbles of explosive energy within the mountain cave. Sword intent enclosed the area with a protective dome. The Eternal Sword emanated sword intent to suppress the twin auras. For the moment, these auras could not rip through another aura that the young man had comprehended.

Panther opened its mouth outside the cave, devouring everything in the four directions. No energy remained; all of it found its way into the dog’s stomach. The more it took in, the more agitated it became. This meant that the mysterious power in Li Hao’s body was growing stronger. That was not good!

At the very least, the dog’s limited heritage memories from its bloodline painted a picture of the Human King as a martial master. The ancient path of energy had ultimately been defeated! Perhaps that was too far off for Li Hao, but Panther felt that they could walk to that step!

Of course they could! Would Li Hao be able to surpass the ancients if he could not convert back?

Back in the mountain cave, Li Hao focused on perfecting the bridges of the five organs while absorbing mysterious power at the same time. He needed to be unequivocally strong before he broke through the barrier of the zifu and truly became an Arcanus.

......

Li Hao disappeared.

The second day.

No one had seen Li Hao all day and no one knew where he’d gone. Perhaps he’d run off!

This possible development quickly made the rounds, perpetuated by those who wanted everyone to know that Li Hao had disappeared after a trip to the Nine Dragons Pavilion.

Within Skystar City.

“Apparently, Demon Sword ran away in the middle of the night!” someone roared with laughter. “Isn’t that interesting? He said he was going to behead nobles, but he’s run off!”

People rushed to and fro on the streets. Some wore wooden expressions, others tightened their fists.

“They said that he ran off a few days ago as well,” someone snorted. “And then the Four Seas Company was no more!”

They didn’t believe it! Those bearing hope didn’t believe that Li Hao had deserted them. They weren’t willing to believe it. He’d just lit a spark of hope for them. Everyone wanted to see nobles being brought to justice. But... what if Li Hao really had run off?

Then this world would utterly be without hope. It would be such a dark and dim place. The hope that’d just flared to life in their hearts would resolve into an even bleaker abyss.

“Just wait and see if you don’t believe me! He might actually be dead instead of running away. He’s offended the three great organizations and might’ve been assassinated!”

“Hmph!” No one was in the mood to debate. They were all a little worried and somewhat expectant. Three days... no, it was two days now. Would Demon Sword come back? He wasn’t really dead, was he?

No one was willing to believe that he’d truly left them behind.

......

Night Watcher headquarters.

Hou Xiaochen leaned back against a chair, wordlessly contemplating something. Li Hao hadn’t discussed his plan of beheading nobles ahead of time. Hou Xiaochen had cursed the lad for a few words at first, then quickly understood the young man’s intentions.

And yet, this was when Li Hao disappeared.

Hou Xiaochen thought for a while longer before taking out a transmission pendant. “Sky Sword, has Li Hao gone to Sky Sword Mountain?

Last time, Manager Yu went in person to pull Sky Sword out of seclusion. After that, the two sides exchanged transmission pendants to facilitate communication. Thus, Hou Xiaochen decided to still ask the man first.

“No!” The response was simple and to the point.

Hou Xiaochen furrowed his brows. No? Then where had Li Hao gone?

“Will you come?” He sent after some quiet moments.

“We’ll see.” With that, Sky Sword turned his pendant off. Hou Xiaochen didn’t know whether to laugh or cry; the guy was so haughty!

“Little Yu, where do you think Li Hao’s gone off to?”

Manager Yu shook her head, but her thoughts traveled to Li Hao’s visit yesterday. He’d come to ask about supernaturals converting back to martial masters. That gave her some ideas, but she didn’t know if she should voice them or not.

She didn’t dare say anything because they were too horrifying. The young man they spoke about was a Silver Moon martial master, the hope of this generation and of countless people. He stood a chance of continuing to smash through more obstacles and continuing forward. There was more hope resting on his shoulders for him to even surpass the older generation.

Martial masters were the key and core to Silver Moon. Not to mention, Li Hao would need to break six locks to stand a chance against his enemies. That would be those of the four limbs and two of the organs. But once he broke two locks of the organs, that would mean he had almost no hope of converting back. Such were the straits that Sky Sword found himself in.

Of course, that might not apply since he could possibly be a unique supernatural. No one was certain of what attribute he was.

Manager Yu truly wanted to relay the conversation to Hou Xiaochen, but she recalled how Li Hao had grinned so radiantly at her last night. “Don’t tell Ole Hou, I’m here to speak to Yu Luocha, not Secretary Yu. Yu Luocha is an eccentric, high-handed person who doesn’t run her mouth.”

Manager Yu attempted to say a few words, but ultimately stayed quiet instead. She was beginning to regret her actions from last night. She shouldn’t have said anything to the young man! If things had progressed according to her expectations, then... many people would be disappointed.

“Little Yu, are you alright?” Hou Xiaochen’s question brought her back to the present. She lifted her head and responded somewhat guiltily.

“I’m fine, just a bit worried that Li Hao seems to be getting himself into increasingly greater trouble. We don’t have time to breathe between the incidents. The guy’s too tyrannical, he’s different from before!”

Hou Xiaochen glanced at her and didn’t say anything. “It might not be that dangerous. Most in the world are unstable Arcanus.”

“The nine ministries may be willing to pay a hefty price if they wish to kill Li Hao,” the manager whispered. “They’ll whisper in Arcanus ears that so long as they take action, the ministries will pay large quantities of Water of Life. Red Moon might offer up large sums of blood pearls. They won’t be sitting on their hands! Ying Hongyue can absolutely offer high quality blood pearls to some Arcanus if they could kill Li Hao for the organizations.

“Some Arcanus might take the risk because they lack these resources to begin with. Some metamorphoses might be tempted to do the same or force themselves to ascend for the sake of a promise or tangible benefit!

“Certain metamorphoses can absolutely be Arcanus. Those who haven’t chosen to make that leap refrain because it is too dangerous. The various institutions only need sufficient resources to quickly create a batch of Arcanus!”

“Have you not thought about this, director?” Manager Yu looked at Hou Xiaochen. She didn’t believe that he hadn’t.

The man sighed without a response. He had! There weren't many Arcanus in the world yet, but there were plenty of metamorphoses. Would they be willing to take the risk of ascension if the various institutions were willing to pay a hefty price, such as fifty drops of Water of Life?

The opportunity was right in front of them. Ascending to Arcanus might not lead to death, but future attempts to advance after missing out on this opportunity would most likely lead to self-detonation. Fifty drops of Water of Life more or less guaranteed nearly complete stabilization of the five organs.

One could not underestimate the ability and riches of these major organizations. Fifty drops were quite a lot, but Hou Xiaochen believed that everyone could stand to offer it. They wouldn’t need to risk their own Arcanus at that point in time, they could just use outsiders.