Star Gate

Li Hao was planning on wrapping up absorption of mysterious power when his teacher produced a round jug. “Fire energy!”

The young man’s eyes lit up. His teacher was amazing! Anything he wanted was swiftly procured! He continued to conduct mysterious power, gradually strengthening his heart with the new provision. His body established a stable circulation system as all five organs had been enhanced.

Li Hao’s body trembled when the circulation completed. There was a noticeable increase to his internal force, but not to the point of breaking out of the body. He paid it no heed and continued taking in mysterious power two cubes at a time.

After an indeterminate period, thirty of the cubes that he’d been allotted and an additional eight from his teacher meant that Li Hao had digested thirty-eight cubes of attributed energy in one go! Combined with the two earth cubes from before made forty in total!

This was a sum unattainable by Liu Yan and the others over numerous years, not to mention there simply hadn’t been that much for them to absorb.

When Li Hao was finished, he had a feeling that… he could project his internal force! He grunted and punched forward. Not quite enough! He drew on the Nine Forged Force next. One layer isn’t enough, so let’s try two layers!

Twice Forged!

Threads of light shimmered over Li Hao’s fist with the increase in internal force. He crushed the floor tiles with a loud punch!

Joy seized him—was he a Sunderer?

Yuan Shuo, however, frowned. “That’s good enough, you’re almost there. You just barely managed to project internal force with Twice Forged. Eh, you can count as a Sunderer now. But what the hell did you punch my floor tiles for?”

This little bastard! Yuan Shuo looked around the room with a sour expression. I spent a ton of money on these tiles and you broke them all! Why are you such a pain?

“Teacher, I’m a Sunderer!” What did the gleeful Li Hao care about this?

“So what?” Yuan Shuo responded sternly. “You’re an initiate, and barely at that. Strictly speaking, you’re not a Sunderer either. Wang Ming is the same age as you and he’s peak Halfmoon. When he enters Fullmoon, that’s a late Sunderer! Do you think you’re something?”

The kid would get way too full of himself if he wasn’t taken down a peg!

“Teacher, I…” Li Hao mumbled sheepishly. Can’t I be excited for a little bit? I’m a Sunderer!

“Also, your combat ability is extremely poor. That’s enough, you can stop here for now!” Yuan Shuo said firmly. “Take the rest of the day to familiarize yourself with your new condition!”

He strode out of the training room; a beatific smile blossomed over his face and his fists clenched tight as soon as he exited! A Sunderer of Hundreds! To think that he might raise a Dominator in his old age! Although the kid utilized external force for his breakthrough, it wouldn’t matter so long as he could comprehend the consciousness. If he became a Dominator as well… there would be two Dominators under his school of teaching!

Keep it together! Yuan Shuo cut through his internal jubilation. I can’t show anything! I’m a Dominator who’s killed a Solar. He’s just a measly Sunderer, a rookie initiate that I can kill with a single slap!

His emotions settled down. Right, that’s right! He broke the floor tiles outside with a single stomp and harrumphed, “Have someone retile my floors tomorrow! All of them! You’re paying!”

“……” Li Hao looked on awkwardly. I… I don’t have much money. Your tiles are really expensive, teacher! He finally recalled how poor he was; the joy of breaking through to Sunderer immediately dimmed. I don’t have any money!

……

Twice Forged enabled him to project his internal force, indicating that Li Hao had truly reached the Sunderer threshold. He wouldn’t be an official Sunderer until he could project internal force through one single instance of deployment.

But he didn’t care about that! He danced around with foolish joy. How many days had it been since he became a Slayer? Just three or four days!

As for how much mysterious power he’d absorbed in total—not that much. Liu Yan and the others might have absorbed more than him. His key difference was that he digested a great deal of cosmic power when he took in mysterious power. The jade sword was legendary!

It neutralized the scarlet shadow’s power and mysterious power, decreasing the violence of their impact. It also improved the structure of energy to make it more suited for nourishing the body, as opposed to the supernatural tendency of exhausting potential.

Li Hao punched excitedly. The New Book of Five Styles! He also tried the Nine Forged Force. One of the drawbacks of martial dao was that switching between methods required utilizing a different breathing technique. The Nine Forged Force had a proprietary technique and the Five Styles possessed its own breathing method.

When he practiced Nine Forged Force, he needed to halt the Breathing Method of the Five Styles and change to the Nine Forged Force breathing technique. It required a short and simple process, which would only shorten as he grew more proficient in the method. However, this was a clear detriment in a fight between powerhouses.

Li Hao dwelled on this con as he swapped methods, wondering if his teacher had a solution. The Nine Forged Force didn’t seem that useful for now, but he could sense the might of this secret art. Once Forged placed him on par with Liu Yan as he wasn’t a Sunderer. Twice Forged made him a Sunderer and enabled him to project his internal force. His strength immediately climbed beyond that of Liu Yan’s.

And this was just Twice Forged! What about three times or four, or even more? Once he reached Nine Forged, perhaps he would step into mid or late Sunderer…

“Hup!” He put everything out of his mind—he could think about this after solidifying his new level. Li Hao’s newest goal was to master Thrice Forged. His internal force was more abundant than before and his body stronger. There was enough internal force for his use and his body could withstand the backlash, but the third layer of force was difficult to control. It was hard for him to swiftly reach a state of stacking layers on each other. If he couldn’t accomplish this process, then there would be nothing special about his internal force; he wouldn’t even be able to project it.

“Teacher says my combat ability is lacking and that my reflexes aren’t fast enough, but strength breaks all methods!” His thoughts slightly differed from Yuan Shuo’s at this stage. Li Hao was of the mindset that since he’d just become a Sunderer, of course he was no match for Wang Ming. But if he reached peak Sunderer first, would Wang Ming be able to match him?

Therefore, he would raise his cultivation level first, then his strength, then slowly temper his strength when he reached the bottleneck of consciousness. That was when he would have time to slowly increase his battle experience!

What Li Hao had in mind was to exercise superiority through cultivation level!

Take his teacher, for instance. Dominators were immensely powerful, but he might not rival his teacher when he reached the same level. But what if his cultivation level was even higher?

Prevailing in the face of adverse circumstances is the stuff of legends, but that also illustrates how difficult it is to achieve. Dominating others through sheer strength is the norm, and the expected outcome is set ninety-nine percent of the time…

Li Hao’s mind flitted through various thoughts as he practiced martial routines. His thoughts broke free from the usual in that most people considered how to be invincible in their cultivation level, whereas the young man wondered if he should always strive to be one level higher than the enemy.

So you’re unmatched in your level, but if I’m higher than you, how’re you supposed to fight me?

“Therefore… I can’t stay in place. I need to keep absorbing power until I can’t!”

Mysterious power, scarlet shadow energy, cosmic power. He needed to digest all of these as quickly as possible. It wasn’t a cause for pity that the jade sword was about to be exhausted. Transmuting it into his own strength made it his. Power not grasped in the hand would never be his.

……

Sounds of Li Hao practicing continued throughout the night. Yuan Shuo didn’t disturb the enthusiastic lad in his first contact with projecting internal force. On the contrary, it would be best if this enthusiasm could be sustained. Only then would Li Hao grasp a brighter future.

……

Li Hao did not collect the scarlet shadows within the city as Hao Lianchuan was still present. That continued to be on his agenda and needed to be accomplished soon, because the young man was concerned that Red Moon would send their people to collect the shadows. He would grab them as soon as the director left.

It wasn’t as if Red Moon would dare send anyone before both Hao Lianchuan and Yuan Shuo departed. Everything was accounted for in Li Hao’s calculations.

……

Early next morning.

Li Hao once more rushed to the Demon Hunters base. The team was in better condition two days after battle. The most heavily injured Wu Chao could leave his bed now.

Everyone was in high spirits!

They’d experienced the heaviest fighting ever in this mission, but it was the only time that there were no fatalities. This put everyone in a good mood, including Liu Long. Not only that, but the early rising Liu Yan smiled beguilingly when she saw Li Hao.

“Little Hao Hao, big sis loves you!” She plastered her body onto the young man’s.

Li Hao looked around awkwardly and whispered, “You should… button your buttons together!”

“Does Little Hao Hao still get shy?” Liu Yan chuckled. “You’re not shy at all when stabbing people!”

“Did you personally see him stab others, vice captain?” the still injured Wu Chao laughed hauntingly. “Heh, us men will probably never get a chance to experience how he thrusts his weapon!”

Liu Yan flicked him a cold glance. “Shut up, trash! You’re the most heavily injured, why do you think you can crack lewd jokes with me?!”

Wu Chao immediately shut up with some resignation. I mean… yes, but it’s not like I had a choice!

Yun Yao was changing Chen Jian’s dressings and spoke placidly without turning her head, “Vice Captain Liu, someone in her thirties should be more modest. Li Hao is still young.”

“Who are you calling in her thirties?!” Liu Yan flew into a rage. She didn’t dare provoke Yun Yao in normal times, but the team doctor had just thrown down the gauntlet!

Who was in her thirties?!

I just turned thirty!

Yun Yao didn’t want to continue arguing after delivering a knockout blow. She looked at Li Hao when she finished with Chen Jian and smiled faintly. “You’re not injured, are you? If you are, you can come to me.”

“Bah!” Liu Yan spat derisively, but softly since she was wary of Yun Yao.