Chapter 274: The Terrifying Ancient City (IV)

Li Hao had taken note of the rocks’ peculiarities when he scanned them; his unique eyesight revealed that they contained a lot of energy. However, he didn’t fathom that they held so much! Even he felt that they’d struck it rich this time.

The young man swiftly counted their new gains. Altogether, there were thirty-two rocks of varying sizes! According to Wang Ming’s explanation and his own estimation, there were at least ten thousand cubes of mysterious power here, or even more...

It was an astronomical amount that blew the mind!

“It’s... going to be tough to bring all this out!” Wang Ming breathed heavily. “They’re not small items and we didn’t enter the city. If other people see that we suddenly have a bundle of stuff...”

Reaping treasure was one thing, but there were a lot of Solars inside the city that they had to face. Long faces marked the trio. Did they have storage rings they could use? How about a space attributed supernatural? Any idiot would know they bore treasure if they carried a bundle around like that fellow just had!

“If worst comes to worst...” Liu Long set his jaw. “I’ll swallow them all! Martial masters have strong stomachs and organs. I can pass them through my system when we get out!”

“......” Li Hao and Wang Ming bestowed him looks of disgust at the same time.

Ew, gross.

But upon further thought, that might be the best way of concealing their newfound gains. It was ten thousand cubes of mysterious power! Solars and Novas wouldn’t mind casually eliminating them for this harvest. And they didn’t even need to consider absorbing the energy on the spot. They were full from the last round, how could they take in any more? Not to mention, they couldn’t split so much mysterious power between them no matter how they tried!

Just as they debated how to handle their wealth, golden light abruptly erupted from the center of the quiet city! Startled, the trio looked over in that direction. Thanks to the feeble light from the pagoda, they saw... a fist!

It was a punch! Just one punch smashed a fleeing figure to smithereens—the figure was no more. It was a bit familiar... Despite their distance, everyone’s vision was quite keen. That fist had come with light, illuminating the sky enough that certain details could be glimpsed.

Li Hao’s jaw dropped; Liu Long and Wang Ming shook with horror. That had been... Ding Chen!

Indeed, the figure running for his life was the mid Solar from Celestial equipped with an origin weapon! He’d been blasted to pieces by one punch!

Li Hao also saw a thin sword race across the sky. There seemed to be a vicious beast superimposed on it. It was hard to make out, the young man gathered it was similar to the snake shadow he saw before. He’d cut that snake apart; this particular beast was shivering from terror.

The golden fist punched out once more, reducing the beast and sword into dust with a loud collision!

A gold level origin weapon was decimated in a split second! It wasn’t snapped into two or broken, it was obliterated out of existence and it happened in the blink of an eye!

Multiple figures darted out of the city center in the next moment, they flew as fast as they could!

Golden light flashed beneath the pagoda—a Gold Armor hovered in the air!

It didn’t give chase and simply watched the intruders scatter in every direction possible. He’d killed Ding Chen because the man had sought to take the Black Tortoise Seal from his hand.

The Gold Armor floated silently in the air while Solars fled helter-skelter from the city, an incomprehensible shock on their face.

A Gold Armor?! Fuck! They thought it was just decoration, but it’d come alive! That Silver Armor had erupted with power beyond Nova in the last possible second, so what about this Gold Armor??

Had it recovered its consciousness?

Possibly not!

The soldiers seemed to fully disappear when they did. But even without his full capabilities, he was likely... a Nova, wasn’t he? That Silver Armor had been late to peak Solar! Or was he even greater than Nova?

If they backed him into a corner and forced him to regain his consciousness, would that place him beyond Nova??

No one dared consider the possibility. The soldier had killed mid Solar Ding Chen with one punch and an origin weapon with another. That was enough for everyone to know that there was no point in working together. They would just be picked off, one after another!

Run! The only thing to do was run! They were all doomed if they didn’t run!

Li Hao shook with fright at the city gates.

Hot damn, a Gold Armor!

He turned and ran for safety as well! This was too terrifying!

As he scuttled away, the enormous city gates began creaking close. The young man didn’t notice it at first, but his heart skipped a beat when he turned back for a look.

The gates are closing?! I don’t know how the others will be, but Hao Lianchuan and Hu Dingfang won’t be able to make it out! They can’t all fly in the city!

Director Hao’s done for! He’s twenty kilometers away and the gates will be closed soon! And that Kong Qi too, they’re the only Solars who haven’t tried the second passageway!

Li Hao grew frantic. Director Hao was a good man, it’d be such a pity if he died. The young man wanted to see if he could stop the gates from closing—even a little while would do. He whirled around and ran back—Liu Long and Wang Ming had no choice but to follow. They’d also seen the gates start to close.

However, Li Hao started in the next moment. The gates began opening once more when he drew near them!

What... the heck?

......

At the same time.

The Gold Armor glanced at the city gates. The crouching turtle in the air also seemed to open its eyes and look at something in that direction.

A direct lineal descendant of the eight families?

It was unknown whether this thought came from the old turtle or Gold Armor.

It dissipated as soon as it formed. Battle Heaven welcomed guests and all lineal descendants of the eight families. The eight families were of the same breath and branches. The city’s gates should be flung wide open when one visited!

Of course, the caveat was that the city reawakened first...

Indeed, reawakened. Li Hao hadn’t been able to open the city gates before because the city had been fast asleep. It stirred with some life now.

The Gold Armor remained unmoving, as did the crouching turtle. The latter seemed to be a sculpture and permitted the intruders within the city to run madly!

Battle Heaven did not fear enemies and welcomed all guests so long as they weren’t out of line. They did not, however, welcome thieves and robbers. The ancient city once more sank into silence with the appearance of the Gold Armor. Only sounds of people breaking through the air could be heard.

The Solars were frightened out of their wits. Hao Lianchuan was as pale as a sheet and manifested the Flaming Fire Phoenix beneath him. He rode something that resembled a phoenix and shot for the city gates. There was no time to consider or respect that this was the director’s prized origin weapon!

Hu Dingfang appeared to be an existence akin to a deer. All four of his limbs were on the ground as he jumped and leapt wildly, moving faster than flight. He was also terrified out of his mind.

The same went for all of the others. No one was in the mood to fight even if they bumped into each other. Escape first, nothing else!

......

Li Hao watched with a strange look at the city gates. He glanced at the gates, then at the people about to arrive. The young man suddenly grabbed the mysterious power rocks and started eating them. One... two... three...

“Eat them!” he growled. Liu Long and Wang Ming jerked with realization and started stuffing their faces. These people might take the rocks away from them as soon as they arrived! Eat first, nothing else!

Li Hao judged the remaining distance between the group and the gates, they looked for Director Zhou and the earth supernatural Zhao Huan. Would they make it back in time? He was going to run as soon as Hao Lianchuan and Hu Dingfang were almost here.

Close the city gates!

As for whether or not they could be opened again or if people could fly out... he couldn’t give consideration to that!

The Sunflares and Darkmoons hadn’t penetrated the city as deeply. Some Sunflares could be seen churning their way to the city gates before long. Li Hao saw Zhao Huan and Director Zhou, but there was no sign of the Darkmoons to be seen. He didn’t see any of them, but neither did he care about them. They were possibly all spies, so who cared about them! None of the Darkmoons had stayed with any good intentions.

The Sunflares made it through the gates and Director Zhou took a moment to grunt, “What are you standing there for? Run!”

These fools were just standing here dumbly! What were their brains made of??

“We should... wait for the director...” Li Hao stammered.

Fucking hell, this idiot kid!

Director Zhou grabbed him and made a run for it. “Forget them, they’re fast...”

Li Hao felt impossibly weary. What could he say now?

The city gates started swinging shut as soon as he was pulled away, but no one noticed it at first. It was Hao Lianchuan and the others in the distance that took note. The deputy director sweated profusely. The city gates were closing?

Run!

He propelled himself with every iota of strength and stamina, fleeing for his life. The Flaming Phoenix Spear picked up speed and raced at a pace even faster than missiles!

The city gates were closing and he couldn’t fly! But even if he could, he’d worry that he wouldn’t be able to make it out either.

A ball of sparks zoomed past him. The Revolution King shot out like a gust of wind and Violet Moon also tumbled out as a bolt of lightning. Hong Yitang wasn’t strong, but he seemed to be a giant bear rolling along the ground. Li Hao watched with a dropped jaw—what kind of ability was that?

Being as strong as he was, Hu Dingfang leapt out with a mighty push of his legs!

Over on the Celestial side, Kong Qi was the weakest. He threw caution to the wind when he saw the gates creak shut and flew into the air, wanting to dive past the gates. Unfortunately, he hadn’t taken the second passageway and was blasted out of the sky by a ray of white light.

He was gone! There was no sign of him to be seen!

Celestial had suffered minimal losses before this, but they were down two Solars in the blink of an eye. The Celestial Sunflares that’d made it out were openmouthed with shock. That’s it? They were gone? Their two leaders were dead, just like that?

BOOM!

The city gates were fully closed!

“Huff huff huff...” Violent panting sounded in everyone’s ears. Solars sweated profusely, perspiration pouring down their faces. The events of today would likely feature in nightmares to come.