Chapter 252: Breaking Through to Dominator of Thousands (V)

The aura of the earth contains the aura of the sword, and the aura of the sword contains the aura of the earth. ...Earth encloses sword?

Li Hao coined a new term and turned his thoughts to earth supernaturals. Some of them utilized spikes of wood and occasionally embedded sharp rocks in the spikes to stab the enemy to death! His earth aura abruptly shifted and a sword seemed to grow from the ground. On strict defense up to this point, Li Hao abruptly struck with the sword!

It cut into his opponent, causing the dark supernatural’s heart to jolt with fear. The urge to run gripped him. Was this kid about to ascend to Dominator of Thousands? The man wanted to flee! His body shifted as he prepared to escape, but a vigorous aura of the earth swelled around him. There seemed to be numerous intangible walls within his vicinity!

Li Hao stepped forward and slashed at his target. Spikes jutted out of the formless walls at the same time, all aimed at the Celestial Sunflare!

The man shouted with fury upon seeing that he couldn’t get away. He jabbed back in response, finding a perfect opening to pierce through. However, a wall seemed to appear over Li Hao’s sword. The supernatural’s sword slowed like it’d sunk into a swamp; he found it impossible to advance further. It was then that Li Hao swung his sword in a reverse sweep and severed his opponent’s arm!

“Ahhh!” A pained gasp broke out of the Celestial member. He stared incredulously at Li Hao, shocked that an earth aura had risen out of a sword aura. What was that??

Li Hao, however, was overjoyed. Who cared what his opponent thought?? He swung again and again, his sword aura as unending as the force of the earth. It shot forth from all directions, leaving countless marks on the supernatural’s body.

Seeing his opponent wracked with pain and about to roar with fury, Li Hao abruptly changed the sword aura around his weapon. It was now exceedingly robust, as weighty as Mount Tai coming down on his target! Hints of a keen blade were intermixed with sturdy presence at the same time, forming a strength that could destroy all things!

The combination of earth and sword aura!

The earth aura enhanced strength—who said that the earth was only good for defense? It could also attack! Li Hao’s sword stroke was similar to the heavy earth attacks of earth supernaturals, but contained an indomitable power of destruction as well!

Boom!

Rumbles rang out as sword light enveloped the shadow. At the end of the alley, Liu Long widened his eyes for a look when he heard the disturbance. There appeared to be a mountain bearing down in the sword light, one that was of blades and fire!

Craaaaack!

The earth aura forced the Celestial Sunflare to his knees in unbearable agony. Sword light flashed by and sliced him into two! Despite killing his opponent, Li Hao did not stop. He waved his sword again and summoned the Sword of Mount Tai. He slashed forward!

Faint marks were inflicted onto the ground with a large

bam,

but they quickly began to repair. The young man took a step forward and sprinted for Liu Long, his earth and sword aura exploding in unison.

The team captain frowned and sent a wave roiling in response. Wave and a stroke of Mount Tai collided with each other. Wave was extinguished and Mount Tai was decimated with a loud explosion. Their respective wielders grunted softly. Li Hao slashed forward again—Liu Long met him with a punch. The young man needed a little more of a push to complete his breakthrough, just as Yuan Shuo had once furthered the process when Liu Long progressed.

He didn’t mind giving Li Hao a hand, just that this hand was extended with great difficulty.

It was exceedingly easy for Yuan Shuo to hit me, but damn if it isn’t painful for me to hit Li Hao...

The three auras clashed again with a loud

bang!

Liu Long pushed off from the ground as he was forced backward. Irritated, he answered with a wave of the Nine Forged Force. He was going to churn the Sword of Mount Tai away, obliterate the mountain peak, and stamp out the sword qi in one fell swoop!

Li Hao struck once more, unending and unbounded! How could waves ever destroy the earth?

Humm!

Various noises echoed in the alleyway as a wave of nine layers could not destroy Li Hao’s sword technique. The wave weakened until the young man struck a dozen times in the blink of an eye!

Liu Long firmly planted his feet into the ground as a massive collision rang out. This time, he stumbled back more than ten steps and didn’t stop until he crashed into the buildings on the other side of the alley. He almost fell into an ancient house!

Pfft!

Shocked, he spat out a mouthful of blood. After shock came... a mental breakdown as he could not accept the outcome. How was this possible?! Even if Li Hao had risen to Dominator, the lad was just an initial Dominator!

I’ve been one for a few days now and I’m a veteran martial master. What of Li Hao??

Across the way, the young man came back to his senses. His expression shifted slightly when he saw Liu Long spit out blood and he bit through his tongue, coughing out blood himself.

“Chief... is... really... amazing...” he panted. “I’ve... suffered... internal damage... If I hadn’t strengthened my five organs during this time... The Nine Forged Force... would’ve shattered my organs... Chief... you... were too ruthless!”

Liu Long looked skeptically at Li Hao. Was this real?

“Chief...” Liu Long garbled. “Hurry and get me... out of here. The disturbance... was too great... others will have... sensed it.”

“Alright!” Liu Long suppressed his skepticism and swiftly offered his back to the young man. “Are you hurt?”

“Yes!”

“Have you broken through?”

“You can say that!”

Breaking through to Dominator didn’t result in a large commotion. That was ever the case with martial masters. Their strength extended from inside out, so any changes were contained within the body. Supernatural ascension caused a significant ruckus as the breaking of locks and chains clinked and clanked without end.

Wang Ming advancing to Sunflare, for instance, had been a noticeable event. Li Hao, Yuan Shuo, and Liu Long hadn’t given off external signs when they set foot into Dominator. It was a spontaneous convergence of aura and consciousness.

Liu Yan rushed over at this time. “Li Hao, how could you hit the chief?!” she murmured.

“I didn’t, it was because... the pressure to break through... wasn't enough. I needed... chief’s strength... to stimulate the change... in my aura! Chief... was too strong... and hurt my organs! We need to... retreat!”

Liu Long was beginning to feel embarrassed, but he was still skeptical.

Am I really too strong? The hell, I feel like I’m the one who was injured, so how come your wounds are worse? Were you injured when you fought the other guy earlier?

“You’re very strong to meld two auras together... I hadn't thought that you’d succeed so quickly. Li Hao, I feel that you... you might soon exceed me.”

Might?

Liu Long himself wasn’t certain of that. He could only keep his doubts to himself. The kid was nothing good and might not tell him the truth if he asked.

Li Hao smiled from his position on Liu Long’s back.

Thank goodness I acted fast enough, or chief might die from anger right now.

He was reliving everything that had just happened. The Sword of Mount Tai was the name that he gave his move. It was as weighty as Mount Tai, but also incomparably keen. He had a hunch that killing Sunflares wouldn’t be a difficulty with it in hand!

Li Hao was beginning to feel a little too pleased with himself. He couldn’t! He needed to remain grounded and keep a low profile!

Teacher could kill Solars as soon as he became a Dominator because he melded five aura together. I’m nothing compared to him! It’s hard for me to kill mid or late Sunflares at this stage. When I’m compared to teacher... forget it, I need to work harder!

Meanwhile, the captain who carried him did seem a bit weak.

A Dominator with just one aura... is a little too weak for words! Man, I have to keep in mind that I need to show face to the chief in the future. I can’t be stronger than him in front of others, he might not be able to accept it.

Li Hao happily reminisced over events that’d just taken place. The most noticeable difference of becoming a Dominator was being able to direct his aura according to his will—this was the effect of mind intent!

The aura and mind intent were the same concept. It was called the aura in the Sunderer stage, whereas Dominators liked to call it mind intent. As mind intent, it could be directed by one’s thoughts.

Prior to this, Li Hao had to stomp his foot whenever he activated the earth aura. It wasn’t that he had a particular habit of doing so, but that stomping his foot made it easier to connect to the earth. He had to think back to the sword stroke of that day whenever he deployed his sword aura because simulating that scene helped him access his aura.

All of that took time. Granted, it was a very short period of time and wouldn’t normally delay anything. But if the enemy was familiar with his capabilities, they might interrupt him when he stomped his foot.

After he advanced to Dominator, Li Hao found that he didn’t need to undergo those preparatory motions. He could call upon his aura as soon as he thought about it, such was mind intent! Not only that, but the young man realized that he had many more reflections and discoveries to sort through.

Various bottlenecks had been shattered after he progressed. There had been limits to the amount of internal force he could store before. Now that the upper limit was broken, his body started generating more force. He could even sense the locks within himself—the so-called supernatural locks. They sealed off a lot of his body. His consciousness continued to slowly transform. Li Hao closed his eyes to let the sensations wash over him.

Liu Long avoided other supernaturals as he carried Li Hao on his back. He carefully walked around the streets. Some movement could be heard from where they’d just battled—more fighting. It was most likely people struggling over the mysterious power left by the dark supernatural.

Neither Liu Long nor Li Hao had taken any because they wanted to stall for time. As was demonstrated, no one could ignore several hundred cubes placed there for the taking. They wouldn’t bother chasing their enemies for the moment.

Who would forgo mysterious power waiting to be claimed? Powerhouses that’d rushed to the site were probably already ripping at each other for the spoils. Fights like these were a frequent sight on the streets of the outer city. Who knew how many would be alive to reconvene at the inner city gates?

Liu Long trotted to the edge of the plaza, but didn’t set foot in it. He stopped next to the perimeter as there were fewer people here. Any fights that broke out in this proximity would be easily noticed by those standing guard outside.

“How are you now?” Liu Long whispered. Were the boy’s injuries that bad? He’d been skeptical before, but now wondered if he really had hurt Li Hao that badly. A Dominator should recover quickly enough.