Chapter 555: Silver Moon Swordsmen (II)

Waves of shock roiled in the hearts of the powerhouses attacking the trio. Had the heavyweights themselves brought their full strength to bear?

No.

At the very least, the two in metamorphosis hadn’t brought all of their power to bear. Under these circumstances, whoever was the strongest would become Earthturner Sword’s primary target. That wasn’t a good idea, considering that the attackers weren’t all from the same faction and there were a lot of them.

Even so, thirteen premier heavyweights were a force to be reckoned with, even in the central region. Such strength was sufficient to annihilate some of the stronger organizations. And yet, they couldn’t break the defenses of a single person. How incredible!

Of the two metamorphosis titans, one wore a mask and the other black armor that somewhat resembled the kind from Battle Heaven. The armored one couldn’t help but sigh with appreciation, “Earthturner Sword is probably number one among the Seven Swords of Silver Moon...”

Just this defensive technique alone was sufficient to place him at the head of the Seven Swords. It was airtight and present everywhere at the same time. Not to mention, Hong Yitang’s reaction skills, internal force, and battle experience were already first class!

Upon seeing that the armored heavyweight had the presence of mind to judge the battle as he fought, someone cursed inwardly.

Our current situation is because you two aren’t bringing your full strength to bear!

He bit his tongue and didn’t say anything, but his sentiments were shared by many. Everyone present was an incredible heavyweight, there was no pulling the wool over anyone’s eyes. The armored man’s identity was revealed as soon as he opened his mouth. A name appeared in people’s minds—Fan Chang!

This was someone who was absolutely a mover and shaker in the world. He was the tyrant of Near River province, the one who held all the reins of power. Originally just the director general of the provincial government, he’d later consolidated all of the provincial institutions and built the Director General Office. He was Silver Moon’s old neighbor and apparently the backer behind the Sea Monster Raiders, one of the eight pirate factions.

Fan Chang, the nine ministries, and the royal family were thorns in Silver Moon’s side. No wonder he needed to conceal his identity. If he exposed himself and killed Light Sword, he might draw vengeance from Silver Moon martial masters.

Near River and Silver Moon were too close to each other.

But in this moment, no one minded Fan Chang’s identity. By this point of the battle, most of the thirteen’s identities had been more or less revealed.

Fan Chang cursed to himself. He was one of the metamorphosis experts. The other under a cloak was not from Celestial. If his guess was right, his counterpart was the commander of a certain prince's royal guards.

The Steppe Prince!

Indeed, Fan Chang had met the prince a few times. To think that he would possess greater strength than previously thought! The Steppe King was Hou Xiaochen’s superior and the one who’d built the Skystar Guards.

His manor was not too far away from the North Sea. Plainly, someone had come from his side. This person’s name was Qian Feng, one of his major leaders.

Of the four peak Novas, Fan Chang knew that one of them was from the Steadfast Duke and another behind a mask was Orange Moon. She wasn’t fooling him, and neither were the other two concealing their identities.

One was a pirate—a duke under the North Sea King. Fan Chang wasn’t familiar with his name, but he called himself the Duke of Sea Pacification. Fan Chang had heard of the title before and smirked at how shameless and ignorant the pirates were. It now appeared that they weren’t weak as this one was a peak Nova.

I wonder what level the North Sea King is?

He had to be metamorphosis at the very least. Who knew where he’d gone to be continuously absent from the field?

Fan Chang recognized the other peak Nova as well, it wasn’t someone from Celestial or Yama. Those two hadn’t seemed to have time to send their powerhouses. Only a late Nova represented them. This peak Nova was from one of the seven divine mountains—Buddha Mountain. It was hard to determine who they were, exactly, but their place of origin was evident from the techniques they used.

The seven divine mountains weren’t as well known as the three great organizations, but anyone in the know was aware that they weren’t weak.

The lord of Sky Sword Mountain was the Sky Sword. Lord Yonder of Yonder Mountain was an absolute titan. A major monster spirit that’d once swallowed a Nova with one gulp ruled over Sky Roc Mountain. It was said that the leader of Buddha Mountain had once descended like a Buddha to wrestle about a cease in fighting with his exceedingly fierce path of slaughter. This was a demonstration of pure strength as well.

......

𝘧𝘳𝘦ℯ𝓌𝘦𝒷𝘯𝑜𝑣𝘦𝓁.𝒸𝘰𝓂

Everyone had their own schemes in mind. While they appreciated Hong Yitang’s strength, they were highly confident of victory. No one had expended much of their energy, but Hong Yitang was plainly beginning to falter.

Li Hao’s five auras were starting to balance out. Stellaris began shaking in his hand. He didn’t look at Hong Yitang—it was the limits of what the man could do that he was still defending. The young man didn’t know how much longer Light Sword needed to stabilize her wounds. He wanted to send her sword energy as she might not be able to suppress her supernatural locks in her current state.

Various thoughts flashed through his mind as five chains encircled Li Hao’s five organs. Although he didn’t know much about the five organs as a whole yet, he had some of his own reflections.

The five auras followed the five chains to connect and collide with each other. This was his first attempt to meld five auras together. Just because they’d manifested didn’t mean that they could be combined. They hadn’t been fully turned into one before. It was just that his sword aura overview had been strong enough to suppress them.

This time, he wanted to see if the five auras could be naturally combined and not forcefully suppressed.

His body trembled when the five auras came in contact with each other, like he’d been electrocuted. His organs were so fortified that they’d long reached the standard of ten thousand cubes. But now, they were shaking and cracks beginning to form in them.

Li Hao’s heart skipped a beat!

That strong??

In that case, he could not forcefully attempt to meld his five auras. He could only have the sword overview tame them and lead them in battle.

“Hup!” Hong Yitang roared. Flames rose in the air and evaporated countless tons of seawater. Domineering internal force erupted and shook the four corners, forcing all combatants back.

He spat out a large mouthful of blood and panted for breath, waving his longsword around. The skies and earth seemed to swap places and he seemed even stronger than before. However, the various powerhouses could read a thing or two from his condition. Hong Yitang couldn’t hold his breath anymore. This was his final eruption before he declined—he was already declining.

A look of suffering crept into Hong Yitang’s eyes. If it wasn’t for protecting these two, he wanted to erupt and kill a few people. But once he did so, his defenses would break. He stood a chance of making it out alive, but Li Hao and Light Sword wouldn’t.

The man clenched his jaw! He would wait for an opportunity. He would wait for Li Hao to finish and Light Sword to awaken. Only then could they turn defeat into victory. Otherwise... he would have to think of how to escape. He trusted that Li Hao would not attempt anything futile. He also trusted that Light Sword would not collapse so easily. She just needed some time after absorbing the Water of Life. She would absolutely recover some battle strength.

It was a similar situation in which the two trusted that he could defend them to the last.

“Yup!” Hong Yitang roared once more, enlarging his defensive circle instead of shrinking it. Their attackers willingly gave way, ruthless looks entering their eyes.

You won’t hold out for long!

Li Hao had mostly put his five auras in order, he just didn’t have enough time to fully consolidate them. But that didn’t matter, this was good enough. Stellaris trembled when he infused the little sword with the five auras. When he utilized the sword nurturing technique, the little sword dimmed and stopped shaking.

To nurture one stroke!

The young man opened his eyes and focused on Xu Zhen among the thirteen. There... might be quite a different reaction if this one was to die. Panther should also be prowling around, looking for an opportunity. If Xu Zhen died and his people ran, the dog would certainly take advantage of that opening.

With that, Li Hao raised his sword and charged out again!

It was weightless as before, just like a willow leaf. And just as before, he was attacked on all sides as soon as he showed himself. The barrage was so fierce that his silver armor shuddered violently and began shrinking back into his body, revealing his true form.

There were limits to the silver armor and the young man wasn’t able to fully deploy its complete abilities at the moment.

The Weeping Willow Sword struck again and was sent off course by a fist. The recipient reached for Li Hao’s arm, wanting to seize the sword. The young man struck back, but his riposte was impotent.

After a few blows, Li Hao quickly retreated back into the defensive circle. As regretful as the attackers found the development, they were in no hurry. The young man’s power wasn’t worth mention in this situation. Apart from the two mid Novas who needed to be careful, the rest weren’t worried.

“Stop being so stubborn, Hong Yitang! If you back away now, Li Hao hands over the sword of the Lis, and Light Sword hands over the Windchaser Boot, then all three of you can live! If not, none of you will be making it out alive today!” The speaker was one of those in metamorphosis—General Qian Feng from the Steppe King.

Hong Yitang didn’t respond. He’d sensed something from Li Hao’s sword intent, an omen of something about to erupt. The young man wanted to kill, but could he do it? The man didn’t know, but he didn’t mind creating an opportunity for the lad.

Hong Yitang roared when Qian Feng finished speaking and seemed to abandon his defenses. He shattered heaven and earth, parting the seas with his stroke. It was as if the sea was caving in.

The group jerked with surprise and some charging at the forefront quickly backed away. Those weaker couldn’t react in time, but Hong Yitang abruptly withdrew his sword and took a defensive stance again. The group of attackers cursed loudly to themselves.

What are you scaring us for?!

The stronger of the group included their fellow pursuers in the insults.

All of you are so scared of death, no wonder you can’t take down the targets!

Some of the mid and late Novas were standing in the front now because they’d been a bit slower to retreat moments ago. Li Hao’s eyes darted rapidly around, this was his chance! It was so lovely to work with martial masters! Hong Yitang was so adept at creating the right opportunity.