Chapter 152: Slaying Solar, Destroying Sunflare (I)

Qiao Mining headquarters.

A streak of blade light illuminated the void outside the building and threw radiance in all directions on the street. A head shot into the air and exploded.

Heaven and earth stilled.

Blood seeped out of the corner of Yuan Shuo’s mouth and dripped onto the ground. Cold, heartless, he did not pause. He waved the blood-red stone blade and threw himself at the black shadow!

“Boss...” Stupefied, the black shadow couldn’t believe the sight. It fell back on old ways and called out the honorific by habit. Qiao Feilong had been a genius in its eyes for all these years, an invincible personage. He’d climbed his way up the city’s ranks and slowly accumulated his fortune, scheming against Yama to silently develop to Solar. He was even prepared to establish his own supernatural organization and vie with the other three greats and the Night Watchers...

It was all over today.

Qiao Feilong was dead!

While Yuan Shuo had kept him on the back foot before, he hadn’t reached the point of complete defeat. But Yuan Shuo broke through all of his defenses in a single instant and decapitated him as Qiao Feilong brimmed with full battle strength!

“Im... impossible...” The black shadow didn’t believe it!

Meanwhile, Qiao Peng was still alive despite being used as a weapon; despair dawned in his eyes. He hadn’t resented his father when the man said to abandon him. There was no need to give in to that kind of emotion.

Perhaps that was the only move that could be made to keep Qiao Peng alive. To keep everyone alive. But the shadow... his mother, had been too hesitant and cared about him too much. She’d been bogged down by Li Hao and missed the best opportunity to strike!

Whose fault was it?

HIs mother wanted to save him and became irresolute for it. The best timing slipped through her fingers, so the blame for his father’s death in battle should lay at her feet.

But she did so to save me...

Resignation filtered into Qiao Peng’s eyes. Resignation, grief, and pity. And of course, a little regret. He didn’t ascend to the supernatural even in the end. He would never welcome the opportunity that his father spoke of.

“We’ll die together...” Qiao Peng suddenly struggled fiercely in Li Hao’s hands. Li Hao subconsciously clenched his hand so tight that it ripped into Qiao Peng’s throat. Blood sprayed everywhere, but the Qiao young master didn’t care.

Was survival still a consideration at this point?

No!

Only with his death would his mother go insane and relinquish any hope. She would kill Li Hao and make him their burial goods! There was no need to consider Yuan Shuo, they were no match for him!

The playboy displayed a ruthlessly decisive personality in this moment. He did not wish to die when there was hope to live. When that hope no longer existed, he wanted someone else to pave the way first.

“Peng’er!” shrilled a furious and crazed voice. The shadow was still caught in the throes of despair by Qiao Feilong’s death when she saw Qiao Peng’s throat crushed and blood spraying everywhere.

She fully awoke in this moment. It was her hesitation and dithering that resulted in the failure of this battle. Qiao Feilong didn’t blame her—he simply died with regret. Her son didn’t blame her and resolutely decided to die as well. And she... she would kill Li Hao!

Yuan Shuo was coming, but startling killing intent exploded from the shadow. She would make him lose a student—no, his final disciple! To martial masters, a final disciple was more precious than a son. Even though he’d risen from the metaphorical dead with his breakthrough to Dominator, he would still be anguished by the death of his disciple.

“Die!!” The shadow shot forward like a knife. She’d been turned into this state through an accident. A unique power had hit her when they excavated the ruins, but it didn’t kill her as it’d combined with the special energy in the ruins. It contained heating properties that retained her soul, or rather, her spirit.

Yuan Shuo was unable to discover her due to this energy. It was very special and difficult to be detected. It was a similar case to how he was unable to discern the sword energy at first. It wasn’t until Li Hao extracted some that he could begin to sense any. The energy of the eight families seemed to carry unique attributes for concealment.

The black shadow no longer had the capacity to consider too much. Her heaven and earth, her husband was dead. She hadn’t dared reveal herself to her son out of worry that he’d be saddened by her state. But for all her doting and love, her son was not long for this world.

How had everything happened so quickly?? There was only one thought on her mind now—kill Li Hao!

She shot out like a sword, aiming for Li Hao’s head. Although the young man had forced her into revealing herself, she was still, in essence, an unique mental entity. Her speed was unparalleled as she sought to smash Li Hao’s head.

The young man’s eyes widened. He didn’t know if his opponent was the same as the scarlet shadow or if it could hurt him, but he wasn’t willing to take the risk under these circumstances. Li Hao grunted and stomped his foot!

The earth trembled while he raised Qiao Peng. Erupting with a unique aura, Li Hao commanded a surge of blood qi and internal force to combine with the aura.

The Incantation of the Blade of Blood!

Yuan Shuo taught him many things over this period of time, but he only had the lad memorize the Incantation instead of practice it. This method was one of mutual destruction with the enemy. Of course, Li Hao wasn’t able to use it as he lacked an aura.

It had been the most remote possibility on Yuan Shuo’s mind that his student would comprehend a fledgling aura so quickly, and it was in the same vein that Li Hao threw caution to the wind when his survival was at stake. The Incantation of the Blade of Blood erupted!

Blood qi, internal force, and the beginnings of aura swiftly melded into one. His decisiveness fully matched Yuan Shuo’s—the young man was terrifyingly calm when death stared at him in the face.

The black shadow hesitated for a split second when the bleeding Qiao Peng was thrown at it. Even now, she couldn’t bear to ruin Qiao Peng’s corpse. Motherly love was magnificent, but it wasn’t appropriate when it came to matters of life or death. The merest moment it slowed was sufficient opening for a particular blood qi to rise around Li Hao.

𝒇𝒓𝙚𝒆𝔀𝓮𝓫𝒏𝓸𝙫𝓮𝓵.𝓬𝙤𝙢

The Incantation of the Blade of Blood!

He didn’t need to kill anyone with it, he just needed to hold off his enemy. His teacher would be here soon, very soon!

Humm!

A sonic wave broke through the air as Yuan Shuo shot over like a flying sword. He fractured the earth when he pushed off and raised his blade high upon arrival!

The black shadow wailed and evaded Qiao Peng, flinging herself at the target.

Rumble!!

A blood-red barrier shattered. Li Hao was still too weak and his aura yet to fully form. Thus, his Incantation didn’t reach Yuan Shuo’s level and couldn’t kill someone beyond his cultivation. He spat out a mouthful of blood when the barrier broke, just so spraying it onto the little sword. It agitated in response and seemed to grow a little bigger.

Li Hao stabbed it forward without another thought!

Screech!

The shrill sound of friction between two pieces of glass sounded out. Black smoke wafted from the shadow from where it’d been injured, whereupon the little sword instantly devoured the tendrils. It seemed to have come across something delicious or from the same source as it. The jade sword was taking the initiative to devour the unique energy that was the black shadow!

Yuan Shuo finally arrived at this time. Instead of engaging in meaningless chatter, he struck with his blade!

A loud bam rang out instead of the sharp screeching that Li Hao raised. The stroke split the shadow into two, and the stone blade in Yuan Shuo’s hand also seemed to sniff a hint of something different.

The stone blade erupted with a devouring force that swallowed half of the black shadow. Yuan Shuo shook with surprise, but didn’t have time to consider the development. He waved the blade around to slash the other surviving half.

“The ruins!!” shrieked the black shadow with notes of despair and unwillingness. She wanted to reveal the secrets behind the ruins so that others would make trouble for the teacher and disciple duo. They could be her instruments of revenge for her family being exterminated.

“ROAR!!”

Tiger Roar Through Mountain and Woods!

Li Hao and Yuan Shuo mimicked each other precisely and emitted tiger roars at the same time. The roars shook the land and concealed everything!

Revealing one’s secrets before impending death was a common course of action. Yuan Shuo once said that the best way to prevent enemies from causing trouble when on death’s doorstep was to kill them outright, denying them the chance to speak.

A less ideal method was to create a bigger disturbance that would cover up the enemy’s movements.

Of course, if one was completely fearless, then the enemy could be permitted to say whatever they wished. Yuan Shuo would simply kill whoever came knocking on his door afterward. Teacher and disciple plainly couldn’t afford the third at the moment, so two tiger roars instantly obscured the shadow’s shriek.

Li Hao combined aura and internal force in the little sword; it seemed to swell larger in response. He once more stabbed the weapon at the black shadow. Yuan Shuo acted without hesitation and slashed with the blade as well!

The black shadow was nailed into place by two opposing forces when blade and sword acted in concert. It was ripped apart and the weapons seemed to transform into gluttons, ravenously devouring its energy.

“Boss... Peng’er...” An anguished voice echoed upon the wind. It was the shadow’s final words. It didn’t care whether or not it lived after Qiao Feilong and Qiao Peng were dead. It was neither human nor ghost to begin with, death was just death. The only thing it felt was a bitterness that it hadn’t died first, that its hesitancy at a critical moment had cost her husband and son their lives.

Bam!

A tendril of black smoke exploded. Most of it was swallowed by the blade and sword, leaving a tiny bit to fade away in the air.

Just as teacher and disciple finished the three Qiao family members, a dog’s barking suddenly sounded from the side of the street. Both Li Hao and Yuan Shuo turned to see Panther claw the ground in the darkness. A person’s head could vaguely be seen before the little black dog smacked it to pieces!

Yuan Shuo furrowed his brow—not because Panther had killed someone, but because there were still supernaturals not afraid of the immense ripples of this kind of battle. An earth supernatural had slipped in to observe at close quarters!

The ignorant were fearless!

Someone that Panther could bat to death with one claw was either Starlight or a new Darkmoon. As Yuan Shuo and Li Hao had been focused on the Qiaos, they hadn’t paid attention to anyone else. It wasn’t like the interloper would’ve gotten away either. Teacher and disciple would’ve made sure he did not leave once they’d taken care of their affairs.