Chapter 417: One Step to Heaven, One Step to Hell (II)

“Roar!!” The four monster spirits were hot on Hong Yitang’s heels and landed behind him. The man coughed incessantly and blood bubbled out of the corner of his lips. Black longsword in hand, he turned to face them.

“I want... all of your mysterious power stones! And... the lotus in this valley... I want half of it...” He could see that the lotus was now golden in color instead of green. The man bared his teeth. “I told you... that I was just... passing by, but you wanted to fight! Now both sides... are heavily injured... You will pay the price... of the stones and half of the flower. And we... if we cannot stop our worsening condition... you will bear... the consequences... of which you are well aware of!”

The four monster spirits were likewise highly aggrieved and full of suffering. No one was well off at this stage, but...

who knew that you guys are so strong? If we’d known, we wouldn’t have wanted to kill you.

Unbidden, they were reminded of that person of yesteryear. Martial master... Were the martial masters of Silver Moon this terrifying?

“We can give you mysterious power stones,” responded the eagle. “If that is enough to recover your seal, then...”

Can we not give you the Golden Lotus? It’s too important!

Hong Yitang laughed and didn’t respond, he stared down the four monster spirits. A vicious hint flashed through the tiger’s eyes and the ape snuck a glance at Southern Fist, tensing to take action.

Hong Yitang chuckled and pointed his sword at the eagle. “Right now, this instant! Don’t think that it’ll benefit you to drag out the situation. If this really drags on... there might be surprises in store for you given the disturbance we’ve created! There are countless monster spirits in Ash Mountain, but how many dare enter Silver Moon? Why don’t you try it today?”

A keen light glinted out of the eagle’s eyes. It dove without another word and grasped the blooming Golden Lotus. There were eight flower petals, but six seeds. The eagle sent four petals and three seeds to the human as it climbed back into the air.

“This is not a treasure to enhance blood qi,” came a ripple from its mind. “It may not be useful to you. If not, we hope that we can trade for it with other treasures!”

It would be such a waste of this treasure if the humans couldn’t use it. This was the Golden Lotus, a unique treasure, not one to enhance blood qi or the physical body. This was a treasure that bestowed intelligence and was effective on the mind and spirit.

“Cough cough...” Hong Yitang smiled as he inspected the treasures he held. “How would we not find it useful? Do you think I’m that bumpkin Southern Fist? This is an item that enhances mind intent! The lotus of golden petals is recorded in the ancient records, but I don’t know about these seeds... I’ve never heard of them. This is the flower I’m thinking of, right? It blooms with eight petals, but the ancient records also say that this exists in a very special sea...”

The man glanced at the small lake below. “This lake is far from ordinary! This lotus shouldn’t grow here under normal circumstances, but that’s nothing to do with me. In this case, our battle today is concluded!”

Golden eagle and the other monster spirits remained quiet. They watched as Hong Yitang flew away, whereupon the tiger suddenly sent out a ripple. “Is that demon still alive?”

“Of course!” Hong Yitang laughed. “He’s fallen behind because he’s been kept under guard for a few decades, but I’m sure he’ll soar to the skies soon. Although he’s entirely too cocky, I have to say that his talents and potential are unparalleled! You guys might see him soon!”

Shifting looks appeared on the faces of the monster spirits. Still alive! That person had been the strongest among the thirty-six that year, but now one of the Seven Trash Swords and Crippled Fists of North and South that he spoke of demonstrated unparalleled strength. They were terrifying!

So... what of the demon?

The swordsman said that he’d fallen behind, but that he would catch up. Also, just two of the thirty-six Silver Moon powerhouses were already this strong. How many more like them existed in Silver Moon?

“Are you the strongest of the thirty-six?” the eagle suddenly asked.

“I don’t know,” Hong Yitang chuckled. “You can try fighting them or asking around. I only know that Sky Sword and Tyrant Blade are pretty good. Southern Fist is likely less than them, I don’t know where Northern Fist is. Golden Spear shouldn’t be on my level, and you can ask around for the others.”

“......” The monster spirits were silent. Sky Sword, Tyrant Blade... Didn’t they say that the martial masters of Silver Moon had faded into obscurity? Was this the obscurity that they spoke of?

“Oh, I forgot to say, there’s someone else who’s certainly very strong! Ying Hongyue, the master of the water Nova from earlier...” Hong Yitang guffawed. “You can go have some fun with him. He’s apparently been preparing all along, so I think he can probably beat all of you into the ground with one punch each.”

The four monster spirits remained silent. Ying Hongyue!

“That guy is really very, very strong. He’s probably just waiting for the right time like me, but he’s definitely stronger than me. I lack some things, he might not!” With that, Hong Yitang floated away. The strongest of the Thirty-Six now might be Ying Hongyue. He’d never lacked for blood pearls, so he might’ve shored up some flaws long ago.

......

Off in the distance.

Li Hao continuously withdrew sword energy, gradually extinguishing the sparks over He Yong. They were a little ways off from a full dousing, however. The young man permitted sword energy to emanate for a bit more before stopping.

“Is there no more?” He Yong asked frantically.

“Mmhmm.” Li Hao nodded. “Martial Uncle He’s supernatural lock should be up to the task now. Martial Uncle Hong’s organs are breaking, so I should treat him first.”

“I...” He Yong didn’t finish his sentence. His lock responded again, true, but... it was so weak. He wanted to absorb more energy. Yet seeing that Hong Yitang had returned, he had to keep his mouth shut. The guy was almost dead. If he didn’t remain on his toes, Hong Yitang would just as soon hack him into two.

He Yong was rather satisfied at the moment. Only confusion and shock lingered. What was this energy from the young man? It could meld into the supernatural locks and repair them! That was incredible!

Yuan Shuo’s sudden recovery from his wounds, subsequent breakthrough to Dominator, and swift ascension to Summoner must have something to do with it.

Hong Yitang returned as He Yong mulled over the energy. The former flicked a glance at Southern Fist and coughed, “What are you thinking about?”

“Nothing.”

“Are you plotting something?”

“How would I?!” He Yong grew irate. “Are you belittling my character??”

“Do you

have

character?” Hong Yitang snorted. “What character? You’ve enslaved yourself to the royal family, so what character do you have to speak of?”

“Enough of that!” He Yong harrumphed. “Are you any better than me?”

“Of course! At least I don’t do the royal family’s bidding!”

“Hmph!”

“You can snort, but it’s still the truth,” Hong Yitang coughed. He looked at Li Hao with a twinkle in his eye. “How come you decided to help us? You could’ve waited for us to fight to the death with the four monster spirits and then scavenge a ton of treasures. We might be dead after killing those four, so all of the treasure will belong to you then!”

If that scenario played out, Li Hao would soar to the heavens with one step. The bodies of two incomparable martial masters, four major monster spirits corpses, a complete Golden Lotus, origin weapons, mysterious power stones...

It would more than likely take place. If the conflict had extended to that stage, Hong Yitang might not have been able to control himself either.

Li Hao glanced back at the man and thought over his answer. “Emotion.”

“Emotion?” Both men blinked. What emotion?

“My teacher’s emotions,” Li Hao explained calmly. “My teacher told me one day that he had no hope of progressing to Dominator. His heart was damaged, so he’d settled down in Silver City to retire. If it couldn’t be helped, he could erupt one final time to kill the trespassing Red Moon supernaturals.

“There was a certain emotion he carried with him, perhaps... despair? Or reluctance? I’d wanted to stay in hiding and perhaps even watch the show, but the same emotion appeared in you and Senior Southern Fist. That’s why I shouted and revealed myself.”

Hong Yitang fell silent. A variety of expressions played out over He Yong’s face, he didn’t have any words either. Had they despaired?

Very much so. His despair reached a peak when he broke his own supernatural lock. He’d thought that his life was over with; he wouldn’t accept the outcome even if he became a supernatural powerhouse.

The young man’s words had been a lifesaver, a beacon in the dark.

“Your methods are... extraordinary!” Hong Yitang said after a long moment. “The eight families really are something!”

He summarized his thoughts with a chuckle. Li Hao didn’t respond, he continued to quietly induct sword energy into Hong Yitang. The man seemed to be a bottomless pit. Any sword energy that was directed into his body promptly vanished without a flicker of change. He instantly digested any sum of sword energy that was conducted into him.

A flurry of mysterious power stone shards added to a growing pile on the ground. The four monster spirits delivered a batch of stones as well. It wasn’t much at approximately six hundred stones. Hong Yitang felt that monster spirits of their status should have much more. When combined with the gains from the three great organizations, that totaled to roughly nine nine hundred stones.

They continuously shattered as unending energy surged into Hong Yitang. He rose when there was roughly one hundred left and smiled at the young man. “That’s enough, you should keep the rest of the stones for yourself.”

He tossed a storage ring over. “There’s a jumbled assortment of crap inside that belonged to the Revolution King and others. I’m also giving you one flower petal and one lotus seed as payment. Don’t... use them randomly. Make use of them when you’ve melded five auras together, or you’ll strengthen one aura beyond salvage and lose your equilibrium!”

Li Hao collected the remaining stones. There was still plenty of energy left in the little sword—what it’d absorbed from the origin weapon had been replenished. This meant that the two had consumed the equivalent of eight hundred mysterious power stones to recover from their wounds. Not that much had been needed in actuality, their cultivation should be more fortified than before.