Chapter 1108: Sword Dao Abilities (IV)

The Jade Mountain ruins.

Li Hao reappeared as the very picture of good health. Earthflare frowned, then quickly smoothed out his brow.

“The commander... seems stronger than before.”

“It’s all thanks to the senior’s pointers,” Li Hao smiled. “I also cultivated for a bit just now and cleared some more acupoints...”

“Do you wish to continue?” Earthflare inclined his head.

“Of course!” Li Hao made his next move at full strength. The sword stroke drew a scintillating arc through the air. He no longer went on the offensive, but focused on defense.

Earthflare was surprised by the reaction. He smiled and dedicated himself more fully to the task.

Li Hao suffered another blow moments later, his skin splitting open amid a spray of blood. Earthflare, however, looked solemnly at his target. This guy... could take harder blows now. He might need to use more Red Moon power to infiltrate the young man.

Additionally, why did it seem like he’d lost connection to the previous Red Moon power he’d sent into Li Hao? The state of affairs was baffling.

Li Hao abruptly activated his bloodline power and erupted with a resplendent surge of sword intent. He churned some Red Moon energy to pieces, bestowing instant enlightenment upon Earthflare.

The bloodline of the eight families! The bloodline of the Lis!

So it turned out that the Sword Sovereign’s bloodline power, or rather, the strength of sword dao, had destroyed some of the Red Moon power. No wonder Earthflare couldn’t sense his previous input. He was reminded of Ying Hongyue. That man had utilized the bloodlines of the eight families to eradicate plenty of Red Moon power.

Earthflare decided he needed to be more ruthless when it came to Li Hao. More energy needed to be infused into the young man to suppress his bloodline.

The Red Moon powerhouse moved faster when his thoughts traveled here.

Bam bam bam!

Two figures collided repeatedly in the void. Li Hao was continuously injured, but grew fiercer the more he fought. He seemed to have gone berserk and didn’t care about his own survival. He didn’t want to think about anything anymore. His only goal was to hurt his opponent.

That’s right, he wanted to inflict some pain.

If one attempt didn’t succeed, he would try ten, one hundred, one thousand times more...

Li Hao ignored the passage of time!

BOOM!

The young man’s head was partially caved in after a massive collision. After a round of vomiting blood, he coughed for a breath of fresh air. “Senior, please wait a while... I’m... going to recover from my injuries!”

“Does the commander still wish to continue?” Earthflare raised an eyebrow.

“Yes!”

“Very well.” A frowning Earthflare nodded after a long moment. Li Hao was... tough to get rid of. He should’ve infused the young man with sufficient Red Moon power to possess him by now. There wasn’t much meaning in continuing the match, but since Li Hao insisted and Zhang An was waiting in the wings, Earthflare didn’t say anything to the contrary.

Li Hao disappeared once more.

......

Thunder and lightning roared in the Hao Cosmos once more. It violently buffeted the young man and smacked tendrils of red energy out of him. A myriad of daos stampeded through them, crushing them so that Li Hao could devour the energy.

Acupoints popped open in quick succession. 360, 370, 390...

Li Hao maintained his number of open dao meridians at twenty-four, but his number of cleared acupoints built. He didn’t leave the dao universe until he attained 400 acupoints.

......

The scene repeated itself a few times. Those on the outside were slack-jawed with astonishment. Only Yuan Shuo knew what Li Hao intended; he was quite nervous on his disciple’s behalf. Had the Red Moon powerhouse not discovered after so many times that his previous power had disappeared?

......

Earthflare had indeed detected that something was wrong. He frowned as he observed only minute traces of Red Moon power within Li Hao’s body. That was very strange since he’d directed a large amount of energy into the young man. The level that he’d infiltrated Li Hao with was sufficient to make a Saint lose their composure back in the day.

Why was Li Hao completely unfazed?

Earthflare’s frown deepened as he once more laid into Li Hao with a punch. Another burst of energy contaminated the young man’s body.

At the same time, Li Hao knew that his condition had raised the other’s suspicions. In response, Stellaris flared with magnificent power that annihilated a tendril of Red Moon energy.

While Li Hao was quite regretful at wasting the energy this way, Earthflare blinked. Was Stellaris the reason why the young man remained unaffected? Had the sword eradicated all of his previous energy? If that was the case, then... this was very troublesome!

Earthflare’s head started aching. Influencing Li Hao was consuming too much of his reserves. Red Moon power was similar to core origin energy in that it was hard to recover once depleted as neither type of energy could reach Silver Moon world.

He could recover some because there was an exalted emperor in residence over this world. But to expend so much to obtain one Li Hao... It may not be worth it.

What was equally strange was that Li Hao’s strength was growing stronger. His body’s physical defenses had reached terrifying levels. It was at this moment that Earthflare’s sleeve ripped from one of the young man’s attacks.

The man frowned at the damaged garment. Li Hao had started off being unable to touch him to now ripping his clothes. This was a frightening development!

The Red Moon powerhouse took the fight much more seriously. He changed his fist into a palm strike and sent Stellaris spinning off course. His hand curved into a claw that grabbed Li Hao’s head. A blast of Red Moon power seeped into the young man through his head.

“Li Hao!” roared Zhang An.

“I’m fine!” Li Hao grit his teeth. He exploded with formidable strength and slammed down on the palm with Stellaris!

Earthflare once more backed away and raised an eyebrow at the sight of five bloody holes on Li Hao’s head.

“You’re getting stronger,” the man smiled. “It’s getting hard for me to pull my punches. Do you need to rest and recover?”

“I’m fine, let’s continue!” Li Hao needed to absorb more energy this time. Who knew if the fellow would be willing to continue after this? He probably wouldn’t dare employ so much energy that he outright controlled Li Hao. Zhang An was right here, he would prevent that from taking place.

The battle continued; Li Hao didn’t even exit the ruins to heal his injuries. He guzzled Water of Life, clearing more acupoints as he did so. It was then that Earthflare realized what the young man was doing—clearing acupoints instead of opening dao meridians.

What a strange young man and a perplexing choice! Clearing one hundred acupoints might not be as useful as opening a few dao meridians. Wasn’t this just a waste of effort?

But one point worthy of celebration was that there was a significant accumulation of Red Moon power within Li Hao’s body. If that wasn’t the case, Earthflare would start suspecting that the young man could expel the energy from his body.

The countless drops of Water of Life that Li Hao was gulping came from the plant spirits. While his acupoints were being cleared at a speedy pace, it wasn’t as fast as when he utilized the power of great dao.

450 acupoints, 500...

Earthflare was noticeably impatient when Li Hao reached the end of his Water of Life reserves. This was taking too long! Would Li Hao ever call it quits??

BAM!

He sent the young man flying with another punch. A different look had entered Li Hao’s eyes. He looked around with some greed, ruthlessness, and distaste.

Earthflare registered the change with a mental jerk. He couldn’t infuse the young man with more energy. Any more would cause Li Hao to rage out of control. Too much Red Moon power had accumulated in his body and Earthflare’s own reserves of this unique energy were half empty.

Damn, it’s so much harder to infiltrate this guy than a Saint! Is the Li family all that, huh?

Li Hao could also sense the change in himself. He was looking at the other very greedily and hated Earthflare to the point of wanting to kill him. The young man could tell that he’d reached his limit. However, he was yet to injure his opponent. Only when he delivered a wound did it mean that his own strength would transform.

“Senior, I’ve depleted my Water of Life and need to head outside. We can conduct one final battle when I return, how about it?”

Earthflare heaved a sigh of relief. Damn, it was finally the last fight.

“Very well!” It was finally over! He’d rather fight Zhang An than continue sparring with Li Hao. The young man was too annoying.

......

Li Hao disappeared and reappeared in the Hao Cosmos. A thunderbolt as thick as a pillar greeted him upon arrival, shocking the young man.

KABOOM!

He was sent flying every which way by the lightning. Li Hao seemed to have brought too much Red Moon power with him this time. The dao universe was infuriated and smote him with countless thunderbolts. Each of them sizzled with scarlet energy, of which the young man furiously devoured.

510 acupoints, 520...

As soon as he reached 574 acupoints, 360 of them would form a major circulation!

Li Hao continued to absorb energy, eventually clearing his 574 acupoint with a rumble. 360 unattributed dao meridians manifested, as did the image of a sword within Li Hao’s body!

A new supernatural character slowly coalesced in the void, becoming a wispy ‘sword’ character. The Hao Cosmos shook violently when it was complete; a massive sword flew out of the unattributed sector and expelled all unattributed energy from it. The world trembled with a loud rumble!

A ray of sword intent formed in the dao universe. All cultivators that walked the path of the sword suddenly felt something different!

An incredibly formidable sword intent materialized over Li Hao’s body. Stellaris shook next to him, as if overcome by joy!

The young man himself began to change. Waves of white energy unfurled from the Hao Cosmos and enveloped form, forming a cocoon. Joy lit Li Hao’s eyes. This was... a supernatural ability of sword dao!

It was the first round of sword dao abilities. Logically speaking, there should be nine more rounds, with the final round being the complete sword dao ability. But just the first round... gave the impression of metamorphosis.

This was a bigger change than opening the physical body meridian.

Rumble!

Incredible changes were taking place within the body. The sword dao sector within the dao universe spontaneously expelled all other sectors from it and surpassed the five elements in the blink of an eye. The other supernatural characters within Li Hao’s body, even the ‘dao’ character, showed signs of giving way as well.

Li Hao beamed with glee! This was astounding!

He howled and formed the 360 acupoints into a sword—the ‘sword’ character. The extremely intangible character melded into Stellaris the moment it appeared.

Boom!

A sword descended!

Rumbles and crashes echoed in the dao universe, the blow hewing through countless celestial bodies in front of it. Li Hao hastily dropped the strength behind the blow, not wanting to harm someone on his side.

He was so jubilant that his feelings couldn’t be put into words. He was so much stronger than before! It somehow felt the same as when he forced all thirty-six meridians open, but that had to be a misconception. He was undeniably stronger than before!

“You can be my whetstone, Earthflare!” Li Hao threw his head back with laughter and vanished from the dao universe. A Saint could be his test subject!

This result completely exceeded his imagination. He’d already been prepared for his body to collapse and a need to force his meridians open. But he’d met the wondrous Earthflare at this ruin—oh glorious day!

By way of thanks, Li Hao could show him what a true sword dao ability was.