Chapter 208: Duel (IV)

A ray of sword intent!

Sun Yifei wanted to step into the clearing himself and stop Li Hao. His feet shifted as a reflection of his desire; the far off Yuan Shuo didn’t move from his position. It didn’t seem that he would stop his opponent.

However, Sun Yifei’s footsteps halted and anguish appeared in his eyes. His disciple... wasn’t forfeiting!

A frown crossed Yuan Shuo’s forehead and he flicked a glance at his age-old rival. Sun Yifei may be an outstanding martial master and excellent teacher, but he was not a good master. He did not make a move at this time. He hesitated because of the rules! The rules of the martial world!

Sun Yifei fixed an expectant look on his disciple.

Forfeit... I won’t let you die if you forfeit!

......

Sun Moxian also sensed danger in this moment. The situation was very dangerous! There was an exceedingly sharp sword intent coming from Li Hao’s hands.

But meanwhile, Li Hao seemed to be dithering over something....

Indeed, he was waiting. He waited for Sun Moxian to concede the duel. Although he wanted to kill his opponent and thereby cause Sun Yifei’s heart to waver, doubt crept through his thoughts when he looked into his opponent’s unfamiliar face.

Let’s give him a chance to forfeit...

It was the same as being defeated.

Sun Moxian, however, did not concede the match. His master had lost once and spent decades trying to regain his mental footing. This was the precise bridge that his master had jumped from!

Master might be gratified if I forfeit and live, but that might bring about a more severe impact than dying. Master might be stronger if I die. A grief-stricken heart might help him erupt with more power!

Not to mention, I am in the stage of gathering my aura. If I lose now, and to a rookie, how much motivation will I have left to eliminate my internal demon and set foot into Dominator?

A grin spread across Sun Moxian’s face. Outsiders were ever hard pressed to understand the resolve of a martial master! A staff of internal force appeared over his fists!

“Staff of Qimei!” he roared angrily. The blow seemed to contain a tangible aura of the earth—it threatened to shatter heaven and earth with an explosive roar!

I may die... but I haven’t lost yet! Doesn’t master say that the victor is never determined until the final moment?

The blow was incomparably threatening and aimed square for the center of Li Hao’s forehead. Sun Moxian wanted to smash his opponent to death with this final strike.

No matter how strong your sword is, you have to be faster than me! Let’s see who can stand firm in the face of danger!

Sun Yifei watched with agitation. His disciple neither yielded nor waited for death, Sun Moxian was stronger than him! It had been the same scene that year when he lost. When he lost to Yuan Shuo, he chose to jump off Rift Bridge instead of die to his opponent. His disciple was stronger than him!

Yuan Shuo, however, frowned slightly with worry. He hadn’t thought that Sun Moxian would still be able to erupt with a final strike at this moment. The young man’s internal force had melded with his aura—a sign of stepping into Dominator of Thousands.

Sun Moxian was breaking through at this critical moment! This was a feat that the Sun Yifei of yesteryear hadn’t been able to manage! Could Li Hao stop this blow? Life and death would be determined here and now. There would be a victor a heartbeat later!

Yuan Shuo was worried, he wanted to intervene! He was a teacher, a master, and a father. A teacher could stick to the rules and have his disciple die by the rules, but a father couldn’t! He would fall to a moral low ground against Sun Yifei if he intervened, but so what?

Li Hao roared with fury the moment the professor wanted to act! With hand as sword, strike!

One staff and one sword churned spatial turbulence into existence between them. The air exploded, as did the gravel around them. Supernaturals in the distance eyed the clearing warily!

“The killing intent of dual auras!”

Li Hao seemed to have comprehended the aura! These were two powerhouses ready to set foot into Dominator, not the rookies they were previously thought of. Even Solars grew nervous and gathered their attention, staring fixedly at the fight.

BOOM!

A collision that shook the heavens rang out. Sun Moxian looked blank as sword qi inexorably cut through his staff. How was this possible?? It wasn’t possible! That blow had been the pinnacle of his life. It was so unrivaled that he felt it was on the Dominator level!

But still it’d been severed by a sword!

A line of blood appeared on his forehead. There was nothing about this situation that he didn’t accept, he was just a bit confused. His lips shifted in a soundless question.

“It is not a blow of the mortal world!” Li Hao answered in between heavy panting, despite not hearing anything.

That sword was not of the mortal world! So you didn’t lose to me in terms of strength or aura, but that we have not seen the same worlds. I have witnessed that stroke, but you have not.

An expression of potential understanding spread across Sun Moxian’s face. He slowly toppled over after a long moment, hitting the ground with a bang. The line of blood crept from his head down his entire body.

Li Hao watched silently, neither agitated nor excited. This was the martial world! There was no grudge or hatred between them; this was only because their masters stood on opposite sides. They bathed in each other’s blood so that their masters could occupy a superior position in the battle to come.

“Moxian!”

“Senior brother!” Anguished cries traveled upon the wind. Sun Yifei instantly appeared inside the clearing, looking at his fallen disciple with grief. He... seemed to have made a mistake. He should’ve stopped the fight!

Killing intent rose in his eyes when he looked at Li Hao, but he instantly quelled it.

“I will kill you!” He pivoted toward Yuan Shuo and clenched his jaw.

I will!

“I await you!” Yuan Shuo answered coldly with a grave expression. His student had won, yet Sun Yifei did not break from the setback. He grew stronger instead.

But... so what?

Li Hao furrowed his brows and didn’t say anything.

Remarkably, Sun Yifei didn’t fly into a rage. He looked wordlessly at Sun Moxian on the ground. Raising a half hearted cupped fist salute, he stiffly walked out of the center of the clearing.

Well done, lad.

Yuan Shuo looked at Li Hao.

I will win too!

Sorrowful wailing rose in the air. Sun Hongxiu hugged a bloodstained corpse and keened with agony. “Li Hao, I’ll kill you!” she screamed hoarsely. “I will!”

Li Hao didn’t look at her. This was how martial masters should be. They did not cut down everyone on the other side today, and awaited their enemy’s vengeance tomorrow. Year after year, duel after duel, until they themselves died in battle one day. Due to the rules, his teacher wouldn’t kill Sun Hongxiu even if he won today.

Was this trite and cliche?

A little.

But Li Hao knew that his teacher was already someone who flouted more of the rules among martial masters. Compared to him, people like Sun Yifei were even more sticklers to irrelevant minutiae. This wasn’t a bad thing at times. Adhering to cliche ideals meant that martial masters might bear more qualities that promoted ties of kinship.

A variety of thoughts ran through Li Hao’s mind as he walked out of the clearing. He sagged to the ground as soon as he was clear; pain finally set in. He burned with so much pain all over. He’d won.

In the first battle, the crowd witnessed the magnificence of martial masters. It was a gorgeous spectacle and martial dao was indeed not bad. But by the second battle, no one was in the mood to offer any compliments. That had been only brutality! It was then that the supernaturals understood what was the martial society and world. Such had been Silver Moon twenty years ago. People died everyday—either on the way to deliver vengeance or falling to someone else’s revenge.

What did they fight for?

For reputation, for profit. One could say that the core essence of a martial master was slaughter. Martial masters were born to kill, to exceed the strength of mortals and explore the limits of the human body. They sought to make a name for themselves and exceed those who came before them.

That was the way of the martial dao.

Why... did someone have to die?

The thought rose in countless supernatural minds. As cruel as the supernatural world was, it was usually in pursuit of profit and treasure. The martial masters fighting in front of them did so for a grudge that was decades old, one that’d carried over to the next generation.

Some were surprised only in the last second, while others looked at Li Hao incredulously. Even Hao Lianchuan couldn’t believe his eyes. This was Li Hao? A young fellow who’d only grown familiar with martial dao in the last couple of years? He just killed a half step Dominator in a duel!

What if it’d been a supernatural in the ring? Would an initial Sunflare kill Li Hao or be killed instead?

The might of martial masters was on full display the moment they grasped the aura. It was pressure on a mental level! If martial masters became Dominators, supernaturals of the equivalent cultivation were no match at all. Simply bringing the aura to bear would weaken ninety percent of supernatural abilities—special abilities were the only exception. Those that specialized in offense would not be able to stand against a martial master of their level.

Establishing his reputation with one battle!

The name of Li Hao, disciple of the Five Styles, would ring throughout Silver Moon after this battle. It’d been many years since a young powerhouse like this roamed the martial world.

Up ahead.

Liu Long and his people quickly walked forward to help Li Hao up. The captain frowned at all of the blood on the young man and helped him to the perimeter without a word. The atmosphere here was too oppressive! It hung so heavily that a Dominator like him wanted to leave.

Everyone around the canyon also felt it; Sun Yifei was a volcano ready to erupt. He left Sun Moxian’s body in Sun Hongxiu’s care and barely moved his lips.

“Go!”

Take your senior brother’s body and go! Go back to the central region!

The moment Li Hao killed Sun Moxian was the moment Sun Yifei knew that he might not be leaving today. If Yuan Shuo’s disciple had improved so much in a few years, what about Yuan Shuo?

He could choose to avoid battle, but... was that truly an option? He was the Qimei Staff King! His disciple had already paid the ultimate price on his path of vengeance, could he leave after that?

Could he abstain from fighting?

No, he couldn’t!

“Master!” sobbed the two surviving disciples. They clutched Sun Moxian’s body as they wept.

They were too young. If Sun Moxian still lived, he might understand his master’s motivation. Sun Hongxiu and her junior brother were too young to have experienced much. They didn’t understand.

Sun Yifei stared at Sun Hongxiu and patted her shoulder. With Sun Moxian dead, the legacy of the Qimei Staff fell to her shoulders. He had other disciples, but he’d brought the most promising and smartest ones on this trip. These were the ones most worth cultivating—even the Slayer of Tens. He didn’t wish for all of them to die here and end his legacy.