Star Gate

Liu Yan tilted her head solemnly at the young man and kept her voice down. “Did you stop me because the thing you met last time is somewhere in the surroundings?”

“Yes!” Li Hao nodded. “I can sense its existence!”

It didn’t matter that he wasn’t being fully transparent, it was all the same at a time like this.

Liu Yan’s eyebrows knitted together; she elected to respond from another angle. “Then what should we do? I can tell from Wu Chao’s condition that he’s taken a Potential Pill. Yun Yao created it—the pill utilizes mysterious power to stir up potential. However, the effects don’t last for long and Wu Chao will be fully crippled soon!”

They were roughly fifteen hundred meters away from the warehouse. It was a short distance, but also didn’t leave enough time for Wu Chao and the others to prepare once they arrived. The supernatural was too close on their heels. If they were caught, both Demon Hunters would die.

Li Hao tried to put his teacher out of his mind and swiftly thought through things. “Can you guys take down a Darkmoon together?”

Could the team do so without Liu Long? If they could, he could try to eliminate the scarlet shadow. The jade sword in his possession was his source of confidence!

Of course, he wasn’t fully confident in his chances.

“It’ll be hard!” Liu Yan responded. “But not impossible. It comes down to your… special internal force! I’ve barely expended any of my resources during our run. Mysterious power isn’t infinite, the supernatural must have expended quite a bit on a chase from the city. Judging from Wu Chao’s state, the two have exchanged some blows. We stand a chance if the supernatural hasn’t made it far down the Darkmoon path!”

“My injuries are almost fully healed,” Chen Jian added. “I’ll be able to block his attacks so long as he isn’t one of those with elemental powers. No physical blow is getting through me!”

Both of them looked at Li Hao, the rookie on the team—not because he was strong, but because of his special methods. They were placing hopes in him that he had methods to bring against the enemy.

The team was originally meant to protect the young man, but now their roles reversed. They needed to rely on Li Hao’s special ability to ensure they survived the night.

“Sis, what’s in the warehouse that you’re planning on using against the supernatural? We’re not running there to our deaths, are we?” Li Hao asked first. If they were going to just sit in the warehouse, what was the point of going there? Supernaturals weren’t fools, they’d guess that explosives were buried there. Utilizing those could only be a last move. Everyone would die together then.

“Ice crystal covers!” Liu Yan revealed. “We’ve utilized ice crystals to construct a distinctive environment in the warehouse. Remember, they isolate mysterious power!”

Li Hao thought back to the stores of energy he’d absorbed in the treasury. An ice crystal cover over the entire warehouse? But didn’t they say this is a precious resource? Where can the team get so many crystals to put a dome over such a large area?

“It doesn’t span a large section, just a small part,” Liu Yan quickly elaborated. “Supernatural damage can be avoided inside it! Supernaturals are less than martial masters if they can’t draw upon their powers. It’s not the entire warehouse, so we have to enter it first and find a way to lure them in…”

“So why didn’t you guys set it up inside the city?” Li Hao still didn’t understand. They’d come so far just for this?

“We should talk as we run, I’m afraid Wu Chao won’t hold out much longer!” Liu Yan said.

The trio resumed their sprint as the vice captain murmured, “It’s not a good idea to use weapons of mass destruction inside the city! Additionally, it’s very difficult to move the ice crystals here because they’re too fragile. They’re not strictly ice crystals, but a special crystal that a supernatural we hunted created before he died…”

Li Hao only partially understood the explanation, but he did grasp that an ambush was possible only here. Liu Long wanted to hold the final battle here because he wished to utilize the unique properties of these crystals against the supernaturals.

“Why don’t you guys make ice crystal armor or something like that?” The young man couldn’t help but ask. If ice crystals could isolate mysterious power, armor that negated their abilities would greatly diminish the supernaturals.

“We can’t! Ice crystals are a special material and not durable at all. Who knows if armor is even possible—but let’s say it is. All the enemy needs to do is move around a bit to shatter it. It’s usable only in fixed locations. You might break it through the course of your own movement!”

Li Hao fell silent with understanding. The trio continued running. The warehouse ahead was coming into view and Wu Chao’s ghastly voice rasped through the air.

“How dare you keep coming, punk?? There are countless explosives buried here and I’ll blow all of us to kingdom come if you set foot inside!”

Outside the warehouse.

Wu Chao and the others had entered the structure. The skinny man was bleeding from all of his orifices—the pill’s effects were almost over.

Outside the warehouse, Blue Ghostface had erected a dome of power to keep rain from drenching him. He didn’t enter the building as he knew there might really be large amounts of explosives buried here. These martial blockheads thought too little of supernaturals and the organization supporting them!

The scarlet shadow drifted toward the warehouse. Explosives? Hah! Could scarlet shadows be blown up?

“Arf arf arf!” Panther nervously raised. The scarlet shadow was coming!

Neither Wu Chao nor Yun Yao could call on any methods against the scarlet shadow. Explosives were useless once the shadow entered the building. They would only blow the team up!

“This had nothing to do with you, but you insisted on sticking your nose into it!” Blue Ghostface spat coldly outside the warehouse. “How many more crystal balls do you have? Bring them all out!”

Yun Yao had used the crystal balls a few times earlier. It was a rare item that could damage the shadows, but the supernatural was betting that Yun Yao didn’t have many of them. Perhaps she’d already used all of them! The Demon Hunters couldn’t possibly have too many since the item was related to mysterious power.

Yun Yao remained composed and took out a crystal ball. She tossed it without a word, aiming for the direction that the dog was barking its head off in.

Bam!

The crystal ball exploded. Yun Yao couldn’t see the result or effects, but Panther’s barking softened. The mental entity had been forced back once more. However, the team doctor knew that this was only the beginning.

It was true, she didn’t have many crystal balls left—just three. The intangible entity seemed invincible and was more difficult to take care of than supernaturals.

“Where’s Li Hao?” Blue Ghostface was in no hurry after trapping his quarry in the warehouse. They wouldn’t be getting away! He was more perplexed about where Li Hao and the rest of the team were. There were also no signs of the martial masters from the Ghostface organization. Had something happened?

As expected, martial masters are trash.

There were ten of them and one was a Sunderer. They were just out to capture two Slayers and a mundane. How could they fail even this??

He caught movement out the corner of his eye and turned his head back. Li Hao and two others appeared, oblivious to the presence of the scarlet shadow. They seemed to unwittingly stumble upon the scene; faces tightened when they saw Blue Ghostface.

“The whole gang’s here!” chuckled the supernatural. “Liu Long seems to have some skill to his name, he’s still alive! You guys aren’t bad either. Where’s Yun Gui and the others?”

He was plainly asking about the martial masters; Liu Yan and Chen Jian didn’t seem to have weathered a mighty battle. The supernatural could tell with a single glance that they weren’t injured. Internal force surged vibrantly inside Liu Yan, another sign that they hadn’t fought anyone. Where had his organization’s martial masters gone?

There was a Sunderer among them! They couldn’t have gotten lost, could they?

Granted, that was a possibility. The rain was coming down in sheets and it was nighttime. It would be hilariously ludicrous if they’d gotten lost!

Li Hao was slightly nervous as he could see a scarlet shadow flying toward him after they arrived. Panther barked from the warehouse and Yun Yao urgently called out, “Be careful of something ghostly approaching you guys!”

Wu Chao’s body was covered in blood and he shouted anxiously, “That thing is formless and intangible! You can feel it, but not see it! The organs burn after it enters the body!”

They were in trouble!

Liu Yan stood in front of Li Hao, wielding daggers in both hands. She looked alertly at the supernatural and bit off coolly, “The most mystifying things are still controlled by people! I bet you that thing will vanish if I kill you!”

She growled and launched herself forward, charging the other with incomparable speed! Chen Jian tightened his grip on his shield and also flung himself at the enemy!

There was nothing else they could do!

Based on what Li Hao said, ambushes were completely useless. The best plan of action was for them to preoccupy the supernatural and for the young man to find a way to exterminate the shadow…

The supernatural would lose its greatest ace if the shadow was gone. Only then would they have a chance of killing the enemy.

The scarlet shadow rushed Liu Yan the second the woman threw herself forward. Meanwhile, Li Hao abruptly turned tail and ran. “Hold them off, I’ll get reinforcements!”

He ran!

Blue Ghostface had wanted to eliminate the little Slayers of the Demon Hunters first; he was extremely irritated to see Li Hao run for it. Their mission was Li Hao! They could let the Demon Hunters go, but Li Hao could not stray out of sight!

The scarlet shadow raced after the young man!

A mortal could not outrun a shadow, but it wouldn’t kill the young man at the moment. Blue Ghostface gave orders for the scarlet shadow to simply impede and gain control over the target. He was most worried that Li Hao would somehow get lost in the wilderness or off himself. That would be the most dicey of all.

“Arf arf!” Panther rushed out in pursuit of the shadow. Wu Chao and Yun Yao wanted to follow, but the Darkmoon snorted. Countless raindrops sharpened into lethal points and shot toward the Demon Hunters.

The ability to manipulate water!