Star Gate

Chapter 744: Supernatural Ability Character (II)

A motionless Hou Xiaochen closed his eyes, his hand gripping his spear. He stood in the void, a myriad of thoughts running through his mind. More than a decade of biding his time, more than a decade of rising and falling with the age...

None of it ever brought any respect or peace. Those of Silver Moon had been quiet for too long. The most promising member of their younger generation, Li Hao, had been forced to ascend to the supernatural domain while he cowered and pulled his punches...

Too many thoughts assaulted Hou Xiaochen. Bureaucracy, balance, politics... Repeated withdrawals would likely only bring him the same result as the Steppe Prince. The prince hadn’t even had a chance to unseal himself before he was executed on the spot. Such was the fate of a premier martial master!

Yao Si’s face flickered rapidly through different expressions and those of the nine ministries trembled from the implications of Hou Xiaochen unsealing himself. They suddenly lost their earlier bravado.

......

The old inspector general’s voice traveled into his son’s ears. “Stay away from him, Hou Xiaochen was known as Sickly back in the day. It’s not the fact that he appeared weak and feeble that was the key, but that he was as vicious and sinister as a ghost! He doesn’t look like he can accept Li Hao obtaining another element, so be careful of being killed by mistake!”

The inspector general quickly landed on the ground. He could tell that Hou Xiaochen was struggling to maintain his reason. He would immediately be a premier Arcanus once he broke his supernatural locks. Powerful and domineering, he would command at least two elements. Three was entirely feasible, and he might even wield four if he truly lost his mind.

As for whether or not his physical body could endure it—he’d been called Sickly for many years, but was still alive. So who was to say that he wouldn’t be able to survive the ascension?

The heavyweights of the nine ministries were alarmed by what they saw. All casual banter vanished and they quieted down. Were they really going to force this one to become a supernatural? There were Li Hao, Earthturner Sword, and Yao Si inside the city... If it came down to that, it would be another bloody battle on their hands.

There was no sound of conversation in the surroundings anymore. Hou Xiaochen looked at the rest, not saying a word. He didn’t know what his thoughts were, he just knew that he wanted to kill someone, but had his reservations. He knew that his state did not align with the heart of a martial master, that he should not be in this state.

He... still had some duties that he’d yet to abandon.

Hou Xiaochen suppressed the fury in his heart and recovered his calm. Yao Si, Dao Sword, and a few others took more glances at him. Hou Xiaochen was still a keg of fire powder that they needed to be wary of. All of them landed without a word. The nine ministries likely wouldn\'t be doing anything today since they didn’t want another pitched battle on their hands.

......

Northern quadrant of the city, the rear yard.

Gouts of rampaging fire aura filled the fire character; Li Hao was finding the blazing sensation too much to endure. Even with his immense organs, only now did he understand how strong his body needed to be if he wanted to break a seventh lock. He could barely withstand it, and thank goodness he hadn’t broken the locks of dark and light either!

His body would probably collapse if he tried to break an eighth lock. Granted, he might be fine if he had sufficient Water of Life on hand, but the consumption of that resource would not be a small number then.

The fire character swiftly took shape, the ferocious tiger padded toward it, assimilating with it. It wasn’t filled with the despair that people might expect. Rather, there was some expectation intermixed with its emotions. It awaited a new life, to be reborn from the ashes!

BOOM!

The character trembled as it seemed unable to maintain itself. Li Hao’s eyes widened. Could it not be stabilized? What was it missing?? It was missing something! Could not even auras control the characters?

The supernatural lock was only partially melded into it, but the character was already showing signs of collapse. Wouldn’t it fully shatter if it was completely assimilated? That would be the end of the tiger aura’s hopes!

Li Hao sank into deep thought and exhaled after a while. Perhaps... he wasn’t being ruthless enough and hadn’t incorporated enough of himself in it.

“Hup!” He grunted and spat out an enormous amount of blood. He visibly deflated as his blood qi and mind intent surged toward the character. As expected, the character stabilized once more.

So he hadn’t paid a high enough price before this!

Droplets of Water of Life vanished to repair the five organs; sword energy also swiftly entered the body to provide blood qi and mental strength. The Breathing Method of the Five Styles continuously operated to envelop the character and fuse it all together.

Wind and thunder exploded within Li Hao’s body, attacking him. Everyone in the world seemed to be against him. The heavens themselves wouldn’t tolerate him. Finally, the power of the flames could no longer withstand the onslaught.

Wind and thunder exploded!

Panther could not keep up with the inflow of energy either. It panted with dejection. There was too much! Endless energy surged from all directions, there was so, so much that wanted to darted into Li Hao’s character.

Thunder and lightning struck from the clear blue skies!

RUMBLE!!

Gale winds howled!

The ‘fire’ character in front of Li Hao seemed ready to take on the cardinal directions. It immolated heaven and earth! A snarling tiger appeared over it with a slight tremble. It howled a challenge at the skies, as if wanting to challenge the heavens themselves.

“It’s still not stable enough...” Li Hao frowned. Why was this? He’d been incorporated a great sum of life energy into the character, so why wasn’t it fully solidified? He looked at the flames, thunder and lightning, and hurricanes in the air...

Rebirth from the ashes? Or was this more the tribulation that myths and legends spoke of? Was he encountering a cultivation tribulation?

Li Hao frowned. Was there really a need for this level of theatrics? He looked at the character in front of him and suddenly asked, “We are born to fight! Do you want to rush forward to crush the energy blocking your way?”

The flames rose in response and a tiger roar could be heard! Li Hao smiled, the character had gained some sentience.

“Well done! Then... kill!” The character disappeared with his grunt and vanished on the spot. BOOM!

A massive collision rang through the land. Flames enveloped everything and a fearsome tiger manifested with a snarl. It swallowed the onslaught of outside energy—it devoured the flames, slapped down lightning, and stomped on the winds!

The sun was blotted out over Skystar City and a fearsome hurricane raged.

Outside the yard.

Hong Yitang looked at the sky and murmured, “What have you done?”

What was that? The tiger aura? It didn’t look like it, but it did seem to be the tiger aura. He didn’t understand what was going on. Was Li Hao a full supernatural, or was he a martial master again? What was that tiger in the sky?

......

At the same time.

Skystar City, the palace, underground.

A swaying little tree suddenly drew itself upright and sent out faint mental ripples. “Skystar King, has something developed in the outside world?”

“Developed?” Seated in the central palace, a middle-aged man with a crown on his head looked toward the north. He inclined his head. “The Skystar Marquis Li Hao is located to the north. He is breaking through to his third element. Flames are scorching the sky, and wind and thunder are gathering. He must be exuding too much energy for his physical body to endure...”

“Is that so?” The faint mental ripples seemed to wish to extend further, but immediately sensed the rupture of the void devouring everything. Those ripples were no more. After a while, another faint surge of mental strength traveled out. “It feels a bit different... What a pity that I cannot investigate...”

There was no helping it. It was too strong, which resulted in the void tearing its mental strength apart whenever it extended outward. The void tore apart everything that was the tree. This was the problem that faced many ancient experts of old. Otherwise, it would be able to probe the situation since they were so close.

As of now, it could only silently perceive the world, sensing what was different, but unable to discern the changes within. Why did... it feel like a thunder tribulation?

There were no thunder tribulations in the New Martial era. When the Human King conquered the world in the late stage of that period, he felt that the unbridled consumption of energy by all martial cultivators in the world would destroy the heavens sooner or later. He commanded the Divine Forge Emperor to devise a thunder tribulation to test the masses.

This was a special treatment that applied to only premier powerhouses. It was far beyond the ability of modern day humans to trigger. New Martial did not restrict the weak, but rather built in more tests for the strong. They closely guarded against a lack of respect and veneration from later generation powerhouses. Devouring too much energy of the world would cause its collapse.

But even Apexes were not honored with a thunder tribulation!

The little tree’s mental ripples agitated. Perhaps... it’d sensed incorrectly. Not to mention, if it really was a thunder tribulation aimed at a powerhouse, all of Skystar City would be reduced to dust. There wouldn’t be the constant undulations that it sensed. It was thinking too much.

“Give me a copy of this person’s information!”

“Alright!” the Skystar King promptly agreed. This was a minor matter. Who would’ve thought that Li Hao grasping a third element would raise the attention of an ancient powerhouse?

......

At the same time.

Battle Heaven.

The old turtle was absorbing power from the world when the Tortoise Pagoda rippled. The turtle looked upward, through the cliff face and into the outside world. It seemed to see something.

“Guardian?”

“Everything is fine, it’s just that certain changes seem to have occurred in this world. For some reason, I find it related to Battle Heaven...” The old turtle didn’t know what was happening, just that this world seemed to have gained a bit more of some spirit.

The massive General Pagoda shifted off in the far distance, then returned to silence. Perhaps it’d also sensed something and wanted to struggle for it.

Direct General Wang was confused, he didn’t sense anything. Was the guardian mistaken? He didn’t know! The ancient city was sealed off from the rest of the world and his authority didn’t extend to all of it.

......

Many premier existences in ancient ruins sensed something, but they were either too far away to investigate or unable to look further despite close proximity. They could only sit with their thoughts.