Chapter 424: South Below and North Above (II)

Liu Long absorbed a great deal of energy as he sat next to Li Hao. Unattributed mysterious power strengthened the entire body without focusing on a particular area. What he would take in from Li Hao over the day would immensely fortify his physique. But... it still wasn’t enough!

In his current state, he was yet to reach an average of five hundred cubes per organ. No matter how much unattributed energy he took in, it didn’t have the targeted effect of quickly enhancing the five organs.

Just as Liu Long grew irritated and wanted to give up with regret, a new surge of energy entered his body. Shock gripped him and he opened his eyes with a jerk of his head. Li Hao happened to open his eyes at the same time and glanced at the man, not saying a word. Liu Long shut his eyes again, but sensed energies of the five elements surging toward him from the young man.

Plainly, Li Hao had sensed something and extracted the five elements to help Liu Long nurture his organs. The latter’s face ran through a variety of expressions, but he didn’t say anything. Emotions assailed his heart.

He knew a little of the Summoner of Spirit level, and that possessing auras for each of the organs was the best. Would a Summoner with just one kind of aura be strong? Perhaps he’d rival a Solar, what next? Did he continue to strengthen just that aura? What should go into the other organs?

He knew that Li Hao’s ultimate goal was to combine five sword auras. Yuan Shuo’s goal was to summon spirits with all five of his auras as well. But he... only had the water area of the Nine Forged Force.

Liu Long suddenly felt quite depressed and aggrieved. Was there no future for a Dominator with one aura? Must he reach perfection?

He suddenly recalled his father, the second spear of Silver Moon—the formidable Silver Spear. His father had been known throughout the land due to his command of a fire dragon spear.

That means... the Nine Forged Force isn’t just meant for the water aura, that one aura may be able to split into five!

It was all theory to Liu Long. In his current state, he wouldn’t possibly turn one aura into five without relevant comprehension and additional gains. It was better to set foot into Summoner of Spirit first.

He ignored the issue and energy flowing into his body. Whatever Li Hao was giving him, he would store it for now.

As Li Hao’s strength improved, he began meeting more opponents that were each more terrifying than the last. While he improved quickly as a Dominator, to the point of being able to defeat a late or even peak Solar, that was still far from enough!

If he could successfully lock the water aura into his kidneys, he might be able to stand toe-to-toe with Solars in conflicts.

......

Li Hao was devoted to his meditation, but took note of Liu Long’s condition during the process and sent the man some elemental energy when appropriate. He ignored everyone after that.

The team captains knew how to lock the auras into their organs, but it was another matter entirely if they would succeed. After all, they hadn’t been Dominators for long. They weren’t like Li Hao and could use sword energy as a shortcut. Massive quantities of sword energy had enhanced the young man’s body beyond imagination. He was possibly second to only Southern Fist.

He Yong’s blood qi was forceful, indicating that his body wouldn’t be too weak. It wouldn’t be able to endure such fierce blood qi otherwise.

Li Hao absorbed, distilled, and digested cube after cube of energy. Shards of mysterious power stones continuously added to a pile on the ground. Large sums of energy flooded his body as his organs swiftly grew stronger.

......

Another day passed in the blink of an eye.

Many on the team were saturated with energy and walked out of the cultivation circle, electing to practice their boxing routines and sword techniques to work it off. Some mid Sunderers depleted as much energy as they could when they left so they could return to absorb more, hoping to set foot into late Sunderer if possible. Many were those who’d taken that step over the past two days.

Apart from Li Hao and Liu Long, late Sunderers were the majority of the Demon Hunters. There were more than thirty of them now, with a few martial masters stuck in mid Sunderer. Late Sunderers could release their internal force from the head. That still proved difficult for a few people.

They’d been Slayers to begin with and left White Moon City with Li Hao on September 15. It was now September 23—remarkable progress in less than ten days.

Some who’d been late Sunderers to begin with were working on their auras. That included the originally mid Sunderer Li Hang, Wu Chao, and Chen Jian... Everyone was trying hard to comprehend the aura.

Liu Yan had been late Sunderer at the start—she waved her twin blades around. There was no sound from the group other than that of training. The Demon Hunters occasionally snuck a glance at their leader who was still furiously absorbing energy. The only other was Liu Long.

The sound of chains dragging occasionally sounded from Liu Long’s body, raising questions in the others. The sound of chains? Where did they come from? These people had yet to probe the depths of Summoner, that was a bit too far from them.

This instance was Li Hao’s longest one of absorbing energy.

......

September 24. Night.

Li Hao breathed out a long sigh before opening his eyes. He felt almost reborn after three days and nights of continuously absorbing mysterious power. His organs were now approximately five thousand cubes each. His Five Styles might not be any weaker than his sword aura now.

His auras hadn’t grown any stronger—they just felt fuller.

The group as a whole had consumed a great deal of mysterious power over the past day. Li Hao himself depleted twenty thousand cubes, whereas Liu Long also absorbed thousands of the five elements thanks to his care. That made for almost thirty thousand cubes of mysterious power and one hundred and ten pieces of mysterious power stones. There were only roughly fifty left in his storage ring. Plenty of mysterious power was left—more than forty thousand cubes of all attributes.

Li Hao rose to his feet and took a deep breath, punching out with a fist!

Boom!

A massive collision sounded—it was stronger than expected. However, the young man frowned. The initial burst of force wasn’t as strong as he wanted it to be. He punched again, observing carefully as he followed through. There were some problems that he took note of.

His organs were too strong, his body and bones strong as well. However, his blood and qi had become detriments. They couldn’t keep up. While his blood qi had increased alongside his organs, they didn’t improve at the same pace.

Southern Fist...

Li Hao thought of He Yong’s indomitable blood qi. His was significantly stronger than the young man’s. How had the man done it? His organs were so middle-of-the-road, so how was his blood qi so strong?

While Li Hao’s body was incredibly strong, the stronger he grew, the more he discovered that there were too many places that one’s body could be strengthened. It was almost impossible to not have any weaknesses.

No wonder martial masters stuck to one path. Either they focused on blood qi or the physical body. The sword aura was strong or the blade intent...

Hong Yitang’s sword aura was domineering and his body not bad, but even someone such as he had only managed to strengthen two aspects of himself. His organs were weak, thus leaving a gaping hole in his capabilities.

It’s too hard for martial masters to be comprehensively powerful.

Li Hao sighed to himself and erupted with the metal sword aura with a gentle wave. The metal aura used to break through his body, but was now contained to his fingertip. There was only slight bleeding. If things were as before, his entire finger would be blown off.

The young man familiarized himself with his increased strength; it didn’t rage out of control due to outstripping his capabilities. He was simply less familiar with his new strength. That was quickly rectified as he slowly gained full control over his enhanced capabilities.

His fortified body even led to further development of the Nine Forged Force. Li Hao’s muscles writhed as he punched out gently. Once, twice... eight times in simultaneous succession. Eight layers were no burden for him anymore, but he’d yet to reach the ninth layer.

The young man frowned slightly and punched again. Once, twice... eight times once more!

He tried again and again while chains rattled out of Liu Long’s body. The man was suppressing the water ripple aura and looked to have entered the stage of locking his aura. Once he did, he would count as having set foot into Summoner of Spirit.

However, Li Hao didn’t know what Liu Long’s next step should be. The man should focus on strengthening one aura first.

Yuan Shuo had theorized the Summoner level according to his own cultivation methods. Li Hao was currently not qualified to overturn his teacher’s thoughts or change certain cultivation methods. He’d thought of having five organs nurture one aura, but he didn’t know how it looked in practice.

The young man ignored Liu Long and punched repeatedly. Hints of a ninth layer were present when the night was fully dark. However, there was still something off about it. It didn’t flow as the previous layers did.

Li Hao smiled. That was good enough! It meant that he could deploy the ninth layer. He just wasn’t practiced enough with it and needed more time to familiarize himself. It wouldn’t take long so long as he held fast. His Nine Forged Force was almost complete!

Li Hao walked over to the practicing Li Heng. The latter was practicing his sword and whirled around when he sensed someone behind him. He jumped with shock when he saw his visitor and quickly paused. “Leader!”

“Well done.” Li Hao inclined his head with a smile. “The Weeping Willow Sword... turns the heavy into the light. Outsiders think this technique is soft and without force. They don’t know that it really hurts to be whipped by a willow. Its softness contains stiffness and pain.”

“You have a great eye, leader.” Li Heng smiled; it was concealed beneath the visor. “The Weeping Willow Sword is very strong. I haven’t trained it to that level yet.”

“Are there different levels to the Weeping Willow Sword?” Li Hao asked curiously.

“Yes!” Li Heng held nothing back upon seeing that his leader wished to chat. He tried to gauge Li Hao’s thoughts as he spoke, “There aren’t that many, just four levels. The first level is the basics. One reaches it after learning the breathing method and technique. The second manifests internal force as a sword. That part’s rather hard.”

Li Hao nodded. This was rather impressive!