Chapter 179: Peak Sunderer

Li Hao had always nursed a question in his heart. He couldn’t help but voice it when Wang Ming mentioned the topic again at this time.

“Ole Wang, you keep saying that you’re a genius. How do supernaturals define what a genius is?” He was very curious about this.

Did fast progress make for a genius? Some possessed a lot of mysterious power, some very little. It depended on one’s family background—those with power or money could obtain a lot of mysterious power. Absorbing a vast sum of energy resulted in a speedy rate of improvement. Was that a genius?

Didn’t that make for a sloppy definition of a genius?

“Are you doubting me?” Wang Ming grew anxious.

“No, I’m genuinely curious.”

The handsome young man snorted, visibly dissatisfied. But knowing that Li Hao was truly in the dark, he explained, “Supernatural geniuses are determined by several different dimensions. First, the efficacy of mysterious power absorption. For example, I can retain 0.7 cube of one cube of metal mysterious power. Only 0.3 cube will dissipate as waste.”

Li Hao raised an eyebrow at the detail. Efficacy of absorption! A seventy percent conversion rate was quite impressive. Mysterious power tended to drift away and disappear in its natural state. Li Hao’s absorption rate was high due to the addition of sword energy. Without it, he would retain only fifty or sixty percent when trying to absorb mysterious power by itself, even in conjunction with the Breathing Method of the Five Styles.

Other people would retain even less due to lacking the breathing method. Liu Yan and the others usually only absorbed twenty or thirty percent.

That Wang Ming could convert seventy truly made him a genius from this point alone! Of course, he counted as a genius only in terms of potential.

“That’s one facet,” Wang Ming continued. “The second is the number of supernatural locks one locates!”

Li Hao plastered an attentive expression on his face. He really didn’t know any of this.

“All humans have supernatural locks inside their bodies, even the Heaven Favored!” Wang Ming lectured. “The Heaven Favored just have theirs open from birth—but not all of the locks. According to current supernatural knowledge, there are nine locks in our bodies! You are Heaven Favored if one of them is opened when you are born. That indicates you innately possess the strength to be Starlight, that you don’t face any obstacles setting foot into this level.

“Two supernatural locks open at birth means you can ascend to Darkmoon without any difficulty. You’ll instantaneously set foot into that level the second you absorb enough mysterious power. And so on and so forth for the rest of the levels. Three open locks means you’ll directly set foot into Sunflare...” Wang Ming waxed eloquent with envy. “That makes for the Heaven Favored! So far, the strongest we know had three locks open at birth. His starting point was Sunflare... Sunflare! The final destination for many, but only the beginning for him!”

Li Hao nodded, that was very awe-inspiring. A connate Sunflare! Setting aside their future and potential, their starting point was everyone’s end. This was an existence that many would never catch up to, even if that Heaven Favored didn’t improve for the rest of their lives.

The Heaven Favored... were well deserving of their name.

“People like us can only slowly explore on our own,” Wang Ming commented. “Not all supernatural locks are apparent from the start. Each supernatural needs to gradually locate and unearth their locks. Some can discover three or four locks when they’re Starlight. Being able to find so many means that they have the potential to be Sunflare or Solar!

“If people still don’t pinpoint their fourth lock by the time they reach Sunflare, it means that Solar is likely out of reach for them. They aren’t able to open the fourth lock because they don’t even know where it is!”

One was unable to break the confines of the body, even as a peak Sunflare, due to an inability to open the next lock. It wasn’t that it was too difficult to do so, but that one didn’t have the potential to do so because one couldn’t unearth the fourth lock.

Li Hao understood his colleague’s overview and asked, “How many locks have you discovered?”

Wang Ming was a Darkmoon, so that meant he’d opened two locks. Had the guy found three, or maybe four?

“Five!” the handsome young man answered proudly. “Impressive, right?”

“Very!” Li Hao laughed with a nod. “But Ole Wang, supernatural locks are located inside my own body. Doesn’t that mean I’ve discovered however many I say that I’ve discovered? No one can overrule me. How would anyone know that I haven’t really found one hundred locks?”

“You think too lightly of supernatural methods!” Wang Ming shook his head. “It’s not that simple! Of course, it’s hard for regular methods to detect the truth. The Night Watchers, however, have a test for rookies. Rookies need to pass the origin weapon’s inspection—the origin weapon can confirm how many locks you’ve discovered.”

“Oh?” That piqued Li Hao’s interest. “How?”

“What do you need to know this for? You’re not a supernatural.”

“Maybe I’ll be one in the future?” Li Hao chuckled. “Besides, I feel like I have at least ten supernatural locks in me!”

Wang Ming flashed a polite and uninterested smile.

Nice bullshitting! Keep at it!

While Li Hao talked like he was joking, he really wasn’t. Ten supernatural locks? He felt he had more than that! His supernatural locks materialized during some of his training sessions and he’d sensed roughly ten around his organs alone. There were locks around his head and they seem present around his limbs as well.

He had a ton!

They twined and wrapped around him as thickly as stalks in a field. Sometimes, he suspected it was the heavens themselves that didn’t want him to ascend to the supernatural domain. Li Hao had thought that he needed to open all of the locks, but now it seemed that breaking just one was enough.

Should I give it a try?

Nah!

He recalled his teacher’s admonishment that he shouldn’t consider joining the supernatural in the near term.

Li Hao didn’t explain further, even though he could tell that Wang Ming didn’t believe him. “Ole Wang, where does it place you among the Night Watchers that you’ve discovered five?” he asked curiously.

“It makes me a premier genius!” Wang Ming answered proudly. “Three locks indicate Sunflare, four locks point to Solar, five mean that I have the potential to be greater than Solar!”

“What about nine?” Li Hao smiled. “Since you mention the extent of supernatural knowledge is nine total locks, there must be someone who’s discovered all nine before. If one lock equates one cultivation level, then nine... must be unfathomable!”

Wang Ming shook his head. “A Heaven Favored in the central region discovered all nine—he’s a veteran who’s rumored to be greater than Solar. Based on what we’ve heard from him, supernatural locks become harder to break the more we’ve already opened. This is a normal phenomenon.

“In the same vein, the more locks we’ve opened, the more dangerous it is to open even more. Unanticipated danger often strikes! I believe only up to five locks have been broken thus far. I’m not definitively sure if someone’s opened a sixth lock and entered yet another level higher than Solar!

“But it’s only a matter of time!” the handsome young man added. “The supernatural domain is developing at a fast pace. There were only Starlight at the beginning twenty years ago. Darkmoon appeared in less than a year and Sunflare less than three. When I asked around, I learned that Solar have been around for more than ten years! Also, existences above Solar were present in the central region five years ago!”

Five cultivation levels had appeared in a scant two decades. It’d been five years since the last level appeared. Based on this rate of development, it was highly likely that a sixth cultivation level would appear in the near future.

Li Hao inwardly reeled with shock. This truly was monumental speed! Perhaps there would be powerhouses of the ninth level at the end.

“Are there many heavyweights greater than Solar in the central region?”

“Tons!” Wang Ming responded casually without explaining further. “Now do you know why I’m a genius? I absorb mysterious power fast and at a high efficacy, and I have tremendous potential! Hu Hao and Li Meng are also well off in the Night Watchers, but they’ve only discovered three locks. It means they have a path to Sunflare, but no future beyond that.”

He raised himself up and in the process, lowered his compatriots down a notch.

How shameless!

It was already a worthy feat to locate three locks. Some people never found their third and could only ponder over the path to Sunflare while dallying as a Darkmoon. Supernatural locks were the barrier to progress in this domain.

“So does this mean you just need to break your third lock to immediately ascend to Sunflare? You won’t encounter any major bottlenecks?”

“That’s right!” Wang Ming chuckled merrily. “That’s why I want to use the mysterious power we were awarded with last time to set foot into Plenilune. And then, I want to borrow the strength of a blood pearl. If it’s really as you say and can enhance the effects of mysterious power, then it might help me open the third lock and set foot into Sunflare!

“And if that’s the case, then my rate of improvement isn’t any slower than the Heaven Favored!” he said excitedly. “So Li Hao, don’t be playing me. I want to put in a request to headquarters for the Sunflare blood pearl. I’ll be in trouble if this doesn’t work.”

“You can request something like that?”

“Of course!” Wang Ming nodded. “The Night Watchers are all about deeds of merit. Treasures are there to be traded for. Director Hou says that treasures and resources have value only when they circulate. Not many trade for the blood pearls because they’re useful for rookies, but rookies didn’t want to pay the hefty price for it. Thus, some are left in storage and people don't pay attention to them. If you’re certain of what you say, I’ll find a way to request it.”

“How much does it cost?” Li Hao was curious. “What’s the price tag for the Sunflare level blood pearl?”

“It’s not just price!” Wang Ming explained. “It also requires the appropriate grade in the Inspectorate system! Sunflares are open only to chief commissioners. I’m just a commissioner inspector, so logically speaking I can’t request one. But I know many chief commissioners and our director is one too, so I can ask them to trade it for me.”