Star Gate

Chapter 177: The Sweet Thrills of Fighting (III)

The young man shattered his longsword before he had a chance to execute his move! Granted, it was just an ordinary sword, but its quality was still up to par if it could be stored here. It seemed to have completely shattered when it couldn’t contain the killing intent it was being infused with.

“My teacher taught me,” Li Hao answered with resignation. “That’s why he wants me to fight you, chief. He wants me to consolidate my internal force so that I can shape it into a sword.”

“Wait... wait!” Liu Long shook his head. “Aren’t you comprehending the aura of the earth?”

I’m so confused. Why are you fashioning your internal force into a sword?

“I need to attack and defend!”

Liu Long both understood and was surprised at the same time. The lad wanted to combine two auras! The man looked down at his arms, at where nine bloody holes gaped out of them from the two times that Li Hao had grabbed him. His trench coat was ripped and the young man’s first stroke had been quite a surprise. It’d left a tiny mark on his chest.

Liu Long was at a complete loss for words!

He looked at Li Hao—the lad seemed better off as only his palm had split open. That a Dominator had been forced to these straits... It didn’t matter that he’d underestimated his opponent so much before that he didn’t even care about the young man.

“I thought too little of you!” Liu Long sighed with emotion and returned to seriousness. “And I wondered why you were so insistent on training with me. I see—you want me to force you into consolidating your internal force, don’t you?”

“That’s right!”

“You should’ve said so earlier, I wouldn’t have made light of you so much...”

“I was thinking that chief might not have believed me if I said something!” Li Hao laughed innocently.

Oh for... Liu Long found himself at a loss for words. But it was true, that was highly likely. Would he have believed Li Hao if the lad said that he needed Liu Long to help him consolidate his internal force?

He’d sooner believe that pigs fly!

The director was about to respond when Yun Yao suddenly spoke from the depths of the basement. “Fight if you will, stop roaring. You’re being too noisy!”

She returned to her room, but shock reared in her heart. Li Hao... had forced their Dominator captain into retreat! Although she knew that it was chief who’d underestimated the young man, who was Li Hao?

He’d been a mundane a month ago, someone that Chen Jian sent flying with one slap. But now, he could match their captain in the blink of an eye!

“A genius? Perverse talent? Or is the bloodline of the eight families that stunning?” Yun Yao found it difficult to regain calm after she returned to her room. She thought of many things, things that were sealed by the past. Could this little team really come into its own? Could it be strong enough to reach that moment?

It hadn’t seemed possible before. After three years since formation, there were more than twenty dead and their strongest was Sunderer—the rest were Slayers.

Too weak!

This level of strength was fine in Silver City, but it would be the smallest scale team in White Moon City. And in the central region... it would be the local guard for a village.

Indeed, even villages in the central region could field this level of strength. In times of war, any village that managed to survive would have a local guard stronger than the Demon Hunters of old.

The team’s strength underwent an astounding change less than a month after Li Hao joined. Yun Yao... was lost.

......

Outside.

Li Hao scratched his head awkwardly. Were the roars too loud? Fine, he won’t roar later. It was useless to roar at a prepared opponent anyway. He put Yun Yao’s complaint out of his mind.

“Chief, show me your real skill! How are you going to force me into full effort with just this?”

“Okay!” Liu Long grinned. “I expected too little from you before. Li Hao, you’re more... frightening than I imagined!”

Not in terms of strength, but in rate of improvement.

In that case, I really won’t hold back. I’ll have you know that a Dominator is far beyond a Sunderer!

Waves reared to the heavens with his next punch. Liu Long even deployed his aura!

Li Hao suddenly felt that his opponent had locked onto him; an aura bore down on him. But having endured his teacher’s aura before, this little bit of aura wouldn’t keep him down. He kept his feet planted and flared the aura of the earth. Internal force and blood qi erupted as well, taking the shape of a dragon. The young man stomped his foot and remained as unmoving as a mountain.

After stabilizing his figure, he launched himself upward and pounced on Liu Long. Two sets of fists from four hands rapidly collided with each other. Li Hao was opting for a frontal attack!

Taken aback once again, Liu Long’s jaw dropped. A front attack? This is how you respond when I’m a Dominator?

Currently, however, Li Hao did not unleash the power of the Five Styles. Rather, there seemed to be sword qi shimmering over his fist. When the longsword shattered, it gave him the inspiration of using his body as a sword. His body was incredibly durable; his punch was as if a sharp sword being unsheathed.

Skin and muscle split with a soft sound—white bone gleamed out of Li Hao’s knuckles. At the same time, Liu Long was also injured by the keen fists—indeed, the fists were sharp! Both of his hands were bleeding after the clash and the bones of his hand could also be vaguely glimpsed.

“A sword?” The man grew more and more astonished. What kind of secret art was this?? It was so destructive! Not only that, but it emanated a suffocating feeling! Did Yuan Shuo know this kind of sword method? He’d never heard about it before!

“Break!” Liu Long grunted and waved his fists again. He kicked out at the same time and raised an immense wave.

Li Hao continued waving punches around like he would a sword. Fists shot straight at waves and he abruptly shifted them into claws. He wanted to imitate his teacher and sink his hands into a direct hold on Liu Long’s aura.

“How dare you!” Liu Long laughed from sheer anger. I’m a Dominator! You’ve got balls of steel to attempt this!

The wave exploded in Li Hao’s hands and erupted with domineering internal force instead. It turned his palms into sieves; blood dripped onto the ground. The young man finally experienced the strength of a Dominator, and he was quite gleeful! It wasn’t that he was brash and impetuous, but that he wanted to see how strong a Dominator and their aura were.

And now, he knew. They were very strong!

The scene he’d seen that day once more floated to the fore. To sever the heavens, earth, and immortality! All auras were obliterated beneath that stroke.

Sword intent rose in his eyes and internal force bloomed, condensing into a sword outside Li Hao’s body. He slashed it forward!

Humm!

The sword qi had already been deployed when the resulting sound wave arrived. It slashed into the dragon made of towering waves—the attack that’d just lacerated Li Hao’s palms was completely annihilated by a stroke of internal force.

The waves were extinguished. Meanwhile, Li Hao took advantage of a sudden favorable situation and tightened his grip on the sword infused with internal force. He wanted to slash forward again when a fist connected solidly with his weapon.

The sword exploded into tiny fragments and Li Hao vomited blood!

Liu Long did not follow up on the move. Instead, he looked quietly at where a new bloody mark had appeared on his palm. He regarded the young man for a long moment.

“You will practice one hour with me everyday, starting from today! Forget everything—your fists, your Five Styles. Use the sword of internal force to practice with me!”

“One hour?” Li Hao blinked.

“Is that too much?” Liu Long frowned. “It’s not. If you can persist for one hour everyday, I believe that you’ll officially reach the realm of perfection at the end of the month and fully consolidate your internal force!”

One hour was indeed a very long time to martial masters. Battle was usually over in a few minutes. Li Hao, however, started laughing.

“Chief, why don’t we... fight until we’re exhausted? What do you think?”

“Are you sure?” Liu Long ran through some calculations. For a peak Sunderer to fight until he was exhausted... that would be roughly an hour. Thus, he nodded. “It’s all the same!”

Li Hao smiled radiantly. You’re the one who agreed to it! How was it possible that he’d be exhausted? Sword energy was invincible! I’ll be able to fight forever if I absorb sword energy at the same time. A Dominator as a free sparring partner? How sweet!

“Then let’s start now, chief!”

“Now? Can you still fight?”

“Of course!”

“Alright!” Liu Long didn’t mind either way. His business could wait. It was much more important to help Li Hao set foot into peak Sunderer.

The two started exchanging blows again. Li Hao flew out with a bang moments later, unable to move from his prone position on the ground. Liu Long relaxed slightly. He’d depleted some stamina, but it was acceptable at roughly twenty to thirty percent of his capacity. All the same, fighting for too long would tire him out—he’d finally beaten the kid into exhaustion.

He was about to relax when the prostrate Li Hao suddenly sprang to his feet. One heartbeat later, the young man marshaled high spirits and flung himself at the director!

Liu Long blinked...

There was no time for his jaw to drop. Li Hao’s attacks were crazed and each blow gave Liu Long the feeling that if he was fighting the lad with his pre-Dominator condition, he could die to any of Li Hao’s strokes!

It was the fact that he was a Dominator that he couldn’t meet the young man with full strength. He might easily beat Li Hao to death. However, it was very tiring having to constantly pull his punches.

Liu Long sent Li Hao flying again after an indeterminate period of time—there were new bloody marks on his own body. They’d all come from Li Hao, but the young man was much more heavily injured.

But he sprang up again in less than a minute!

“Let’s continue, chief!”

......

Again and again, it was like Li Hao had discovered a whole new world. He was jubilant at having found a Dominator sparring partner. He didn’t need to be concerned about anything other than fighting as hard as he could. There was no worry of him killing Liu Long!

Bang bang bang!

Collisions rang out from the basement from 1pm to 5pm, to 6pm, 7pm...

It wasn’t until Yun Yao walked out that they stopped.

“Are you still not done yet today? Are you not going to eat? Are you not going to rest??” she demanded irritably. “You’ve been fighting since 1pm, it’s been seven hours!”

“Hoo...” Liu Long heaved for breath. While he was a Dominator, it was tiring to fight someone for seven hours.

Li Hao also panted heavily and looked around blearily. “Seven... seven hours?”

So fast! I thought it was only one or two!