Chapter 229: Three’s Company

“Go? Chief, are you crazy?” Li Hao licked his lips. The chief had gone crazy! Go where? “So many people have died up there, that’s all mysterious power!”

The chief must be crazy. He loved mysterious power, but wanted to leave when the ground was covered by it?

Liu Long’s jaw dropped at the young man.

You’re the crazy one! What are you going to do if the Black Armors come back? You want to be rich so badly that you’re going to throw your life away for it!

“Chief, they’re just killing trespassers and are alerted by light, sound, and flight. That’s not much of a problem if we keep the noise level down. They must be back to the inner city by now. Let’s hurry before someone else comes along and brings the soldiers back.” A bold thought suddenly struck Li Hao. “Chief, why don’t we... just follow these guys from now on?”

If they kept quiet, didn’t talk too loudly, didn’t create light, or fly... then the Black Armors may not be able to discover them. The guys from outside might not know all this and fights may break out. The trio could follow the soldiers around and collect the corpses! There was so much mysterious power for the taking, which was exactly what he needed. Energy of the five elements was best. Wind and thunder would do too.

Liu Long and Liu Yan gaped. To seek fortune in the midst of danger was something they could do given their daring, but approaching the battle site before the soldiers responsible for this slaughter were safely far away...

They truly hesitated at the idea.

“C’mon!” Li Hao ignored them. What was there to fear? Black Armors didn’t seem alive. If they were puppets, they must be subject to specific commands. There would be no issues so long as the trio didn’t violate those commands. This was also recorded in some ancient books.

Chief and Liu Yan don’t get it, they just know to be afraid. In these circumstances, it’s more dangerous to randomly run around.

Li Hao tossed all worries to the back of his mind. Was there anything more alluring than mysterious power at this time?

He swiftly ran up to the plaza, but turned pale as he scanned it. The ground... seemed to be devouring the flesh and blood! Not only that, but it was drinking the dissipating mysterious power as well!

The young man swallowed hard as his heart skipped a beat.

The earth!

He’d sensed a unique power in it before. Did... it devour corpses and mysterious power?

My heavens! Is this city alive?

Sweat beaded his forehead, but he couldn’t give any consideration to this. He set his jaw and began picking up the larger body chunks.

No wonder the soldiers didn’t clean up the battlefield or move the corpses, there was no need to. The remains would vanish after a while like they never existed. A demonic air and unspeakable evil permeated this ancient city! It was horrifying beyond belief!

Li Hao quickly gathered a few body parts and fled when he filled his storage box. This was damned terrifying, the ground ate people!

......

It wasn’t until the trio returned to their earlier alleyway, putting some distance between themselves and that plaza of execution, did composure start to make its way back. Li Hao gave a long exhale. Danger filled every nook and cranny of this ancient city!

They didn’t dare enter the shops that lined the streets. Li Hao had wanted to go inside one, but he and Liu Long sensed danger at the same time—it was the instinctive reaction of a martial master. Thus, they didn’t dare set foot inside and ran back to the alley.

They didn’t know what lay in wait inside the shop. Perhaps something similar to Black Armors? Regardless, it was not a place to venture into.

Li Hao contemplated for a moment as he looked at the energy storage box in his hand. “Chief, sis.” He looked at Liu Long and Liu Yan. “Stand guard at the two ends for me for a bit. I want to cultivate.”

“Now?” Liu Long frowned. This wasn’t a good time to train. It wasn’t a problem for them to stand guard as the young man cultivated; he had no need for pure mysterious power after he became a Dominator.

It was similar to how Yuan Shuo hadn’t cared about mysterious power at first. It was useful to him only when Li Hao could distill pure elemental energy for him to strengthen his organs. Liu Long was the same, so he didn’t think of being cut in for a share when Li Hao collected the energy.

Liu Yan was even less likely to say something. She knew the young man had a unique energy that was very useful to martial masters. Li Hao training at this critical moment might result in significant progress into Dominator. If that was the case, that would help everyone.

“Now!” Li Hao nodded. “Some of the supernaturals from the small organizations have escaped. They’ll certainly encounter those who entered afterward and probably join forces with them. In that case, the soldiers might not be able to stop them if their forces swell. We don’t dare enter the inner city, so we’ll bump into them sooner or later. Therefore, I want to use this opportunity to see if I can make it to Dominator.”

Liu Long said nothing else and walked to the end closest to the inner city. He stooped without making a sound. His position would prevent Black Armors from entering. Liu Yan went to the other side.

Li Hao calmed his breathing and decided to grab his final opportunity with both hands. There wasn’t much sword energy left. His teacher had chosen to absorb scarlet shadows instead of sword energy because he wished to preserve the final dregs for his student. Yuan Shuo likely hoped he could set foot into Dominator.

The young man grasped two kinds of aura, but neither of them were that strong. They were only fledgling auras, but they might be strengthened if he melded them together. That could be enough to propel him into Dominator.

Melding...

There was no ideal opportunity that gave rise to the blending of sword and earth. But somehow, his teacher had managed to fuse five auras together in his past. That spoke to a requirement of skill and talent. According to Yuan Shuo’s teachings, there were commonalities between all auras. Finding those, magnifying the commonalities, and focusing on those would give one the chance to combine the auras.

It was very simple, yet also difficult.

Li Hao’s present task wasn’t to meld his auras, but to strengthen his organs. The auras and rising to Dominator would come later and could be situation dependent. Strengthening the organs was the true foundation to future progress. When he was a Dominator, he could choose to quickly summon his spirits as opposed to slowly walking through the method. He needed to enhance his organs so that when he was a Summoner, the elevation of one organ would not shatter the other four.

Before the Breathing Method of the Five Styles was modified, it was likely only Yuan Shuo and a few veteran Dominators would be able to nurture the spirits without destroying the organs.

These veteran Dominators would subconsciously strengthen their organs if they didn’t find a way forward after dozens of years at their cultivation level. A strong inside and outside was the goal of all martial masters.

A new martial master such as Li Hao would find it easier to ascend to the heavens than strengthen his organs if he didn’t have the aid of elemental power. He reached a hand into his storage box and took out a piece of bone.

Blood and other liquid still clung to it, but he was impassive to sights such as these now. After scanning it with his senses, he determined that this was fire energy. Fire energy was more commonly found and it strengthened the heart!

As the Breathing Method of the Five Styles operated, sword energy seeped out of the sword at his waist. Compared to what it had been before... Li Hao could only say that he’d been oblivious in his youth and wasted it extravagantly. Even the dog had enjoyed a great deal of it! Now that he sensed how feeble the current was, there was nothing to do but regret past actions. Thankfully, the sword energy could still distill mysterious power despite the slower flow.

Fire elemental energy was swiftly extracted, leaving behind unattributed mysterious power to strengthen the body. Meanwhile, fire elemental energy enhanced the heart. The bone appeared to be from a Darkmoon as it didn’t contain much energy. Li Hao continued with another piece when it was quickly depleted.

It was said that mysterious power was stored at some organizations’ secret bases or in ruins. Some origin weapons could also produce it on their own, or produce it with the help of certain methods. Mysterious power contained by the human body was the lowest quality and least efficient. Beggars couldn’t be choosers, though; this was the only way available to Li Hao as he needed such a vast sum.

Yuan Shuo had absorbed one thousand cubes of fire energy to strengthen his organs and nurture the fire heart ape. If Li Hao wished to reach his teacher’s level or even approach it, his organs would have to absorb another eight hundred cubes after the two hundred of each element he’d taken before. Only then could he safely summon his spirits.

Of course, strengthening all five visceral organs was an immensely difficult task. He could simply focus on one at first. Li Hao set his concerns aside first and absorbed however much he could take in. He didn’t differentiate and took in any energy that came his way. Wind energy lightened the body. Thunder energy strengthened the physique. All of that could be absorbed.

The crux of the issue was the dwindling reserve of crucial sword energy. Would there be a chance to replenish it within this ancient city? After all, it looked to be connected to the eight families.

One minute, five minutes, ten minutes...

Booming sounds traveled from a distance after half an hour. A solemn Liu Long quickly returned to the young man.

“Cease cultivating as soon as possible. A team of one hundred Black Armors just vanished, probably to stop more newcomers. It’s not just Black Armors this time, I saw one that was potentially a centurion because its armor was bronze!”

Bronze-armored soldiers had appeared after the black ones! If Black Armors were Darkmoon, what were Bronze Armors?

Sunflare?

These soldiers were highly trained and undying. How strong would a Bronze Armor be? Just their black-armored brethren could kill multiple Sunflares, so would a Bronze be capable of killing a Solar?

Li Hao gravely contemplated the situation and swiftly paused his absorption. There wasn’t much left. At the same time, it had been a decent harvest. He’d absorbed roughly eight hundred cubes of mysterious power, which filled him to capacity. However, it hadn’t been an even distribution of elements. Fire had been the most at three hundred. He’d managed to absorb some of the other five except water, which meant that his kidneys were noticeably weaker than the others at the moment.

“Let’s go take a look!” The young man rose to his feet and swiftly congregated with Liu Yan at the other end.

“Be careful,” the woman kept her voice down. “This street didn’t seem all that right just now...”