Star Gate

Chapter 644: In the Dark of the Night (II)

Other than those who were supernatural veterans of many years and masters of their own major factions, which meant that they partook of vast quantities of life essence to stabilize their organs, it was very difficult for anyone else to set foot into Arcanus.

The path of metamorphosis to Arcanus was hazardous and fraught with peril.

“Don’t worry, Commander Li.” The petite woman beamed as her husband turned over Li Hao’s words. “Brother He called us here naturally because he trusts us. Whether it\'s the divine sword of the Lis or the Windchaser Boots, are those treasures for the likes of us?

“To be hunted by the world... To be honest, we two are without support or patrons. We don’t have the commander’s confidence to be enemies with the entire dynasty! Powerhouses abound in Silver Moon’s martial world. One battle was sufficient to draw out Sky Sword, Tyrant Sword, Southern Fist, and the Five Styles King. How would we dare provoke such an existence?”

She was much more diplomatic than her husband and beamed merrily. “These people make their moves because they wish to seize the sword of the Lis. If they don’t dare, would we dare? Commander Li thinks too highly of my husband and I.”

“That’s right,” Yang Shan added sheepishly. “Don’t worry, Commander Li.”

“I’m very much at ease.” Li Hao smiled. “I just don’t wish for accidents or mistakes to happen. I also prefer making things clear, in case unexpected developments happen along the way. You two are Martial Uncle Southern Fist’s friends, so I don’t wish for us to end on a bad note.”

“I’ll be the first to beat them to death if they dare turn on you,” He Yong snorted. “Don’t worry!”

“......” Yang Shan furiously rolled his eyes and couldn’t be bothered with anything. “I can try entering metamorphosis, but my wife likely can’t. The ascension of supernaturals comes with certain physical requirements and contact with the locks. My wife is a bit removed from that.

“But if she continues to absorb sword energy and elemental power, she has a hope of rising to peak Nova. If metamorphosis... She would need to acclimate to her increase in power first. Otherwise, it will be too difficult for her to control and she’ll explode instead.”

It was easier for supernaturals to advance, but the dangers within were greater than for martial masters. Their strength came from the absorption of outside forces rather than their own body. In that case, they would easily lose control if they progressed too quickly.

“That’s fine.” Li Hao nodded with understanding. “One metamorphosis and one peak Nova is better than what we’ve got now! So we’ll fuel our fights with our battles. After we take down the Four Seas Company, we’ll head to the Skystar Colosseum and drag out everything Minister Liu has. You won’t be far off from Arcanus then!”

With that, he shut his mouth and focused on supplying sword energy and elemental power. He also absorbed the energy in the process. The temporary bridges of the five organs operated at a high speed as power surged into his organs. He didn’t need to focus on each individual organ as they were all strengthened at the same time.

Next to him, Panther continuously absorbed power as well. Li Hao sighed. The dog... ate a lot! It ate more than anyone, but its strength didn’t seem to change. It’d been like this when it left Battle Heaven and was still this way now. He’d asked it a few times if it’d improved, but Panth always shook its head. Li Hao couldn’t tell if it had or not.

The young man mentally set the dog aside and concentrated on strengthening himself while sword energy gushed out. He was going to armor himself to the teeth! It was best if he could find his footing in Skystar City as the royal city was a critical piece to understanding the dynasty as a whole. It was most ideal if he could intimidate the entire capital with the upcoming operations and buy himself some breathing space.

As he absorbed energy, Li Hao turned over other thoughts in his mind. The fragment of a mirror appeared—the mirror from the Steadfast Duke. It fulfilled surveillance purposes, but couldn’t be refined. It seemed to be able to monitor only a small area.

The young man furrowed his brows and took out another fragment moments later. It was the shard of a weapon that looked like a blade or a sword. It was one of the six weapons that’d been stored on the third floor and was valued as equally as the three earth rank origin weapons. While its presence seemed formidable, there wasn’t much purpose in keeping it around.

Li Hao took out Stellaris. Could his sword devour it? It’d only devoured weapon souls up to this point, could it swallow physical pieces? If it did, would that unseal it a bit more?

These days, Stellaris was much more useful than before. Li Hao could control it as he would, but he still couldn’t refine it into his body. That meant it hadn’t been fully unsealed yet.

He operated the Breathing Method of the Five Styles while the fragment hovered in front of him. It seemed to spark some hunger in the little sword. He brought the fragment closer; a faint suction wafted out of the sword. The fragment trembled and then seemed to soften. It then transformed into something like golden water as it flowed into the little sword.

Hints of something else shimmered over Stellaris as the scene changed before Li Hao’s eyes.

“KILL!” Thunderous sounds of fighting traveled into his ears. There was a person slashing through the firmament. Though his long blade broke, he cut the enemy into thousands of pieces before fragments of his weapon rained down.

Li Hao was then propelled back to reality. That must have taken place when the long blade broke. A powerhouse who used the blade had killed his enemy, but also shattered his weapon. What the young man had held was one of the fragments that scattered over the ground.

More sword energy surged from the little sword. Other than that, no other changes were immediately apparent. After some thought, Li Hao took out three earth rank origin weapons. He owned numerous origin weapons—a full thirty-five of them. They were all loot from the last raid. Apart from that, he’d taken six drops out of a stash of sixteen to give three drops each to Light Sword and Earthturner Sword. His teacher hadn’t wanted any Water of Life as he had some himself. After using one drop in the Nine Dragons Pavilion, Li Hao had nine left.

Upon some consideration, he placed four drops in a flask and tossed it at He Yong. The man received it with a look of shock!

“I may not be able to suppress martial uncle’s locks in time during battle. But with Water of Life, martial uncle can unseal yourself as you wish. It will help martial uncle suppress your power in time so long as the locks aren’t fully broken!”

“You’re outright buying my life!” He Yong sucked in a sharp breath. Some things weren’t that easily accepted. In all his years of experience, He Yong had never obtained so many benefits in one go as four drops of Water of Life.

“You’re joking, martial uncle.” Li Hao looked at the five he had left and took out two flasks, placing one drop in each. Yang Shan and his wife jerked with astonishment, realizing the significance of his actions.

As they expected, Li Hao respectively tossed them a flask. “This is a life-saving measure!”

“So generous!” An excited Yang Shan nearly clawed his flask out of the air. “Commander Li is so magnificently generous! This is my first time witnessing the magnanimity of Silver Moon martial masters. Ole He is a huge miser and I’ve never seen him be generous...”

He Yong sneered. No shit, I’ve got to have wealth first before I can splash around. I’m poor as fuck! There aren’t many Silver Moon martial masters with money. Most of us spend as much as we have. Where am I supposed to get treasures to share with people?

“Our thanks to Commander Li!” hastily thanked Qin Lian, Yang Shan’s wife.

“As I should!” Li Hao chuckled. “A life-saving measure comes with the caveat that you need to put your life on the line. Please consider the situation well.” He looked at the three earth rank origin weapons in front of him. “I have many origin weapons, but not that many earth rank ones. Lower ranked ones aren’t useful to us.

“The three here are a set of armor, a blade, and a mallet. The three of you can allocate them as you see fit. They are available to you as a loan, not a gift. The Water of Life is a gift.”

“Naturally, naturally.” Yang Shan grinned widely. “Can I use the blade?” He quickly added, “And my wife can use the armor. Ole He’s defenses are powerful, he can take the mallet!”

He Yong rolled his eyes again. Just listen to yourself! But... the mallet was nice all the same. He gleefully picked up the weapon. “Now we’re armed to the teeth!”

He had his bronze armor and now the mallet. If only he had a pair of boxing gloves... With four drops of Water of Life protecting his life, he was completely outfitted.

Yang Shan and Qin Lian picked up their origin weapons and drops. Li Hao ran quick calculations—he’d just spent six drops and another thirty thousand mysterious power stones worth of sword energy. Based on the little tree’s prices, that was ninety thousand stones. But according to the Nine Dragons Pavilion, the figure would be ten times higher! One million stones!

Indeed, the thirty thousand stones that he’d expended could be traded for three drops from the little tree. Didn’t that make for a total expenditure of nine drops? Rounding that up to one million wasn’t too much either. Stellaris should charge some handling fees.

“I’ve paid such a high price of one million stones, if I don’t reap that much...” Li Hao said slowly as he looked at the group. “It would be a loss! I very rarely conduct transactions at a loss! Of course, your increases in strength will be real, but that is not key to me. Do you understand what I mean?”

“Don’t worry!” Yang Shan said excitedly. “Commander Li, we’ll throw down everything we have to make this a big one!”

The young man had already paid such an incredibly high fee. With such a generous boss, even the Tranquil Duke paled far in comparison. This was true generosity! They had to serve such a good boss well!

Another key was that if they wished to become Arcanus, Li Hao was indeed a key figure. Without Li Hao, it would be as hard as ascending to the heavens for them to enter that cultivation level. It wouldn’t happen unless they joined another major faction—but who would want them? Was it worth offending the Tranquil Duke to accept the married couple? Would regular factions dare let them immediately make the breakthrough?

It might have to take three to five years of service before they won sufficient trust. That was too onerous. Judging from Li Hao’s attitude, that might not matter with him.

......

The cultivation session was not yet over. Li Hao continued to absorb sword energy to saturate his supernatural locks. He’d filled the one of the heart before in a cultivation session of a full ten days. During that session, he improved his aura, completed the bridges of the five organs, and continuously absorbed energy. He’d saturated four locks by the time he left East Shore. This time, he started on the fifth lock.

He’d yet to touch the ones of his limbs, a course of action that was the opposite of the direction that most usually took. His teacher had said that it wasn’t necessarily a good thing for his auras to be so strong. His sword overview wasn’t strong enough, so he needed to proceed slowly. It was better to complete his sword overview first and then improve his abilities. Otherwise, his five auras would easily rage out of control.