Chapter 457: Majestic (IV)

He Yong and Hong Yitang were so strong that it made Golden Spear shudder. At the same time, an unpleasant feeling of being left behind stole into his heart. He’d thought that he proceeded far down his path compared to his crowd of old acquaintances.

But today... today... it looked like... perhaps... His heart was heavy with suffering. Earthturner Sword and Southern Fist both seemed to have created their own dao.

And myself?

Even Qimei Staff, someone weaker than Golden Spear, had left behind some of his staff intent in his final moments battling Yuan Shuo. That intent which remained as a solidified staff brought so much pain to Golden Spear that he nearly collapsed!

He’d broken free of Yuan Shuo’s suppression thanks to Hou Xiaochen’s help and advanced to a deeper level. He’d strengthened his body, blood qi, and mind intent these years. Everything that was him seemed to grow stronger and balancing out. These had also been pointers that Hou Xiaochen had given him.

But somewhere along the way, he seemed to have missed something and become mediocre. He seemed to have lost his soul. When he looked at the Bronze Armor across the way, he seemed to see wordless judgment emanating from an aloof gaze. Though he did not glimpse Earthturner Sword’s eyes, the man seemed to be saying—is this what the first spear of Silver Moon has amounted to?

Golden Spear lost his focus. In his distraction, he suddenly tilted his head at another street. There was a Black Armor there erupting with strength. It punched again and again, as if He Yong reborn. And yet, that boxing style was not like He Yong. They came one harder than the other!

“Silver Spear...” Golden Spear murmured, thinking of Silver Spear Liu Hao. That kind of boxing intent reminded him of the spear expert who delivered blows with increasing ferocity. Kong Jie followed his gaze, surprised at what he found.

Li Hao punched unceasingly, immersing himself in the Nine Forged Force and the leaping waves of the sea. Each wave was stronger than the one before. His blood qi and internal force erupted with fury!

He’d started off being suppressed by Xie Gang, but could now return blows on an even footing and begin to overpower the man. Li Hao grew increasingly excited. This was what he wanted! While there were powerhouses casting their focus in his direction, he didn’t really want to stop. This feeling of breaking his shackles was what he sought!

Rumble!!

Violent collisions sounded on both sides. Sounds of people cutting through the air echoed through the city. An angry Li Hao wanted to snarl with fury. These people were so hateful to interrupt his process of comprehension!

A surge of blood qi bubbled up in him—he still wasn’t utilizing the three auras. Instead, he called upon the Incantation of the Blade of Blood and aroused his own mental strength and blood qi so that his fists would be ever more penetrating and berserk!

“A blade of blood...” Xie Gang started, finally sensing something wrong. Only the living possessed blood qi! This person knew the Incantation of the Blade of Blood! He’d heard of it before, that it was the secret art of the Five Styles and had been exceedingly famous in the ancient civilization.

Li Hao...

The name flashed through his mind, but he immediately thought of Yuan Shuo instead. Yuan Shuo was skilled with the Five Styles and boxing, whereas Li Hao was skilled with sword auras. The person in front of him wasn’t using the sword. Was it Yuan Shuo fighting him??

Startled, Xie Gang roared and smashed a punch forward that exploded like a meteorite. Not only that, but a suit of armor manifested over his body. The yellowish-brown protection was his origin weapon. His defenses were much more formidable with an origin weapon at hand!

Li Hao continued undaunted, swiftly drawing close to his opponent. Seeing as he was clad in silver armor, he didn’t find himself any less equipped than with an origin weapon.

The two met with their fists!

One punch, two punches, three punches...

The Nine Forged Force erupted with indescribable might as Li Hao punched in a demented frenzy. He shook his opponent’s armor with his blows, pummeling Xie Gang’s organs to pieces. Xie Gang also hit the silver armor and shook Li Hao’s internals.

Both of them were only attacking without defending. They both knew that whoever fled or retreated first would suffer misfortune.

BAM!

Li Hao saw balls of light swiftly approaching them. Enraged beyond belief, he was the maniacal sea that just wanted to destroy everything in front of him. The Nine Forged Force was the method that he’d identified the earliest as one that he could comprehend an aura from, but now that he’d already grasped the metal, earth, and fire auras, he was growing frantic that the Nine Forged Force was the only method that he hadn’t produced an aura from yet!

Novas were almost on the scene—he roared and layered all of his internal force. One layer, two, three... Nine layers overlapping one another erupted at the same time!

BOOM!

Another loud collision sent Xie Gang flying. He spat out blood and pieces of his internal organs, but also laughed. He sensed Novas on their way!

The guy in front of him looked to be Yuan Shuo, no wonder he was so strong! What a pity for him that he’d failed to kill his opponent. So this was all Yuan Shuo was good for, huh!

A violent light glinted in Li Hao’s eyes as he snorted coldly. And even stronger force exploded from him. This time, not only did the Nine Forged Force erupt, but so did the metal sword aura spontaneously collect and detonate!

Explosion!

Li Hao appeared like a sword in front of Xie Gang and smashed down his fists, each of them the unsheathing of a sword!

Bam!

𝑓𝓇𝘦ℯ𝘸𝘦𝑏𝓃𝑜𝘷ℯ𝑙.𝑐𝑜𝓂

Another earth-shattering explosion marked the fracturing of Xie Gang’s armor defenses amid his baffled eyes. His organs exploded into smithereens!

Li Hao furrowed his brows and collected the body with a wave of his hand. He looked at the powerhouses rushing to the scene—one of them seemed to be that Xu Feng...

The young man snorted to himself. He’d been so close to coalescing his aura from the Nine Forged Force! Although he’d grasped some of the sensation, his process had been halted halfway. Who knew when he’d be successful?

That damned bastard!

Li Hao refrained from lingering and swiftly jumped into the next street. Here, He Yong roared before sending Yellow Moon flying with another punch. Meanwhile, Hong Yitang seemed to have been waiting for Li Hao. He laughed to see the young man hop over and projected his voice by Li Hao’s ear. “You wanted to see my sword, didn’t you? I’ll let you have a look today!”

Li Hao tensed with surprise and quickly looked over. He didn’t think much of Hong Yitang’s move at first, just that it was majestic and vast. It carried some hints of peace and didn’t seem that sharp.

However, his expression abruptly shifted drastically!

The majestic sword encompassed all like the great earth. As Yellow Moon struggled, she suddenly felt like the earth and sky had been inverted. It was like her entire being was suppressed—fear shone through her eyes!

Earthturner Sword!

This was Hong Yitang’s Earthturner Sword!

The vast sword of earth didn’t appear all that fast, but all Yellow Moon could do was to be dumbly rooted to the spot and simply watch as it landed on her head!

Boom!

A loud collision ripped through tremendous defenses! The heavy sword without an edge smashed down like the skies were falling. It was what the scene reminded Li Hao of. Yellow Moon was pulverized to pieces from the stroke, incomprehension and shock flooding her eyes as she died. Wasn’t Earthturner Sword long crippled? Why was he so strong?

“Let’s go! I waited a long while to show you this stroke!” Hong Yitang’s laughter rang in Li Hao’s ear. He reached forward to grab a storage ring. “The others will be here before long if we stay here!”

The three bounded through the streets and vanished on the spot; Li Hao still marveled over what he saw. Was that the true Earthturner Sword? His own earth sword aura seemed so weak in comparison!

Hong Yitang seemed to have waited a long time to be able to demonstrate his move to Li Hao. The young man thought back to what he once said, that he would teach the Earthturner Sword to Li Hao if there was time. Today’s display... had been a lesson.

The young man’s bottled resentment at not forming the water aura evaporated. The majestic stroke had given him different inspiration.

......

A group of people arrived moments after the trio fled. They were already very fast, but everything had disappeared by the time they arrived.

Green Moon’s eyes darted around, not seeing Yellow Moon in the vicinity. However, she suddenly focused on a pile of mangled flesh and blood in the distance. It was swiftly being devoured by the ground!

She rushed forward to examine it, horror overwriting her expression.

“Retreat!” She roared and promptly led her people out. Fear warred with shock in her heart! Something had gone drastically wrong! This city was much more than it appeared to be. Yellow Moon was dead, and dead very quickly! Who’d killed her?

......

In the plaza.

Hou Xiaochen looked ahead and sighed softly after a while. “I’ve overlooked this person... His heavy sword is without an edge and heavy weights are nothing to him. He is indeed the greatest swordsman beneath the heavens!”

Manager Yu looked at him with widened eyes.

“Earthturner Sword,” Hong Yitang said softly. Manager Yu’s eyes widened further—remarkable! How was this assessment possible?

“I know who the person that stopped me that year is!” Hou Xiaochen laughed.

“You mean... twenty years ago?” gasped the manager.

“Yes!”

“Impossible...” she murmured subconsciously...

“it’s him alright,” Hou Xiaochen’s laugh deepened. “I didn’t think of it then. It looks like he’d already broken through then, so no wonder he turned down Yuan Shuo’s challenges. What a frightening fellow!”

Manager Yu fell silent, trying to come to terms with what she’d just heard. So Earthturner Sword had already been a Dominator then?

My goodness!

Hou Xiaochen was recalling an incident in which he’d wanted to eliminate some people, but someone had stopped him. They’d said nothing other than stand in his way. The two parted ways after a quick fight, and it now looked like that mysterious person was Hong Yitang!

How interesting!