Chapter 556: Silver Moon Swordsmen (III)

Li Hao charged the moment that the other powerhouses retreated. Out in front, Xu Zhen and the others didn’t mind the action. It wasn’t Li Hao’s first time rushing out. Everything was fine so long as it wasn’t Hong Yitang.

It was then that the young man suddenly roared, “Kill!”

A ferocious tiger seemed to descend from the mountain; his roar reverberated in their ear drums. A formidable mind intent exploded. The group saw a lot of things—mountains, rivers, a tiger, a tree...

The lithe Weeping Willow Sword danced through the air, but this time, it struck like a venomous snake! It was locked onto one person and nothing would deter it from its target. It was everywhere and anywhere. Lights of five colors shone in all directions. Seawater rocked violently and waves reared. Xu Zhen was propelled a step forward. Eyes widening, he attempted to kick Li Hao away as before.

But this time, the young man remained unmoving after a loud collision!

“Be careful!” shouted the old man with white hair. He swiftly stepped forward and blasted with a punch!

Li Hao’s sword didn’t seem that fast, but it took only a split second for it to descend. It struck with a swift stroke!

Xu Zhen felt that there were branches all around him—no, that was sword light. He didn’t know where the weakness was in Li Hao’s sword method. Roaring, he sought to shatter the sword light. However, he felt a terrible pain in his right leg. Li Hao had punched him with his left hand and fractured the right leg that Xu Zhen had just kicked at him with.

Sword light draped over him like a spider web. It flashed across the vision, then vanished!

Xu Zhen ran from Li Hao’s vicinity, a shocked expression on his face. “You little brat, not bad! You actually tried going for me!” he laughed uproariously.

Li Hao took a few quick steps back. Panting slightly, he began accumulating sword aura again.

Xu Zhen continued laughing loudly, covering up his fear. Meanwhile, the frantic white-haired old man and the middle-aged man quickly drew close to Xu Zhen. That had been terrifying! Thankfully Li Hao’s sword was all show and no force. It wasn’t too destructive. The young master duke was fine.

If anything had happened to him, the Steadfast Duke would surely explode. It hadn’t been long since Xu Feng’s death, Light Sword turning traitor, and five generals dying. It would be unthinkable if something happened to Xu Zhen as well!

The others casually looked at the Xu representative. It wasn’t long before someone hummed with surprise. The general director of Near River tilted his head at Xu Zhen. The latter was celebrating his escape and also jeering at Li Hao for being surface level and no substance. He’d thought that he wouldn’t be able to avoid that stroke, but it suddenly melted away. He was fine!

However, more hums of surprise sounded around him. The old man didn’t notice it at first, but his expression shifted drastically in the next moment. Xu Zhen blinked when he noted the old man’s expression.

What’s this about?

“Young... young master duke...” stammered the old man. Shock brimmed in his eyes.

Lines of blood were beginning to appear on Xu Zhen’s face, expanding like a spiderweb and fracturing his skin. He didn’t feel any pain—just an itch on his face. He reached out to scratch his itch and spontaneously shattered his face! His hand began to fissure like a porcelain object, countless cracks spreading across it and pieces of flesh and blood falling off.

“Im... impossible!” Xu Zhen panicked. How was this possible?! Everything had been fine!

𝗳𝚛𝗲𝕖𝕨𝕖𝗯𝚗𝚘𝕧𝕖𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝕞

He attracted attention from everyone present.

Li Hao appeared once more, soundlessly striking a mid Nova that’d turned for a look. Hong Yitang also roared in the opening and stabbed his sword forward, abandoning his defense. Everyone was still looking at Xu Zhen, staring at the man cracking like a porcelain doll with his pieces falling into the waters below. The white-haired old man and muscular, middle-aged man were terrified out of their wits. The world spun before their eyes!

They had no thought to spare for the others, which created another opportunity for Li Hao.

“Kill!” The young man struck again, no longer gentle and weak, but ferocious and domineering. His blow detonated viciously; the mid Nova trying to escape froze for a split second, feeling like countless branches were entwined around him.

That split second cost him his life. When the sword descended, he died much more quickly than Xu Zhen. Stellaris chopped him into two halves!

Li Hao killed two people in the blink of an eye. In the same vein, Hong Yitang completely gave up on defense and struck explosively, bringing his magnificent technique to bear on his targets. The other mid Nova was minced to a pulp, unable to offer the slightest resistance. He collapsed to the ground and exploded!

Hong Yitang immediately returned to defense and Li Hao raced back to the defensive perimeter. It took only the span of a breath. The others had fully retreated, but their eyes widened at their reduced numbers.

Dead!

Xu Zhen was dead, two mid Novas had been promptly killed. Only ten were left out of thirteen... Everything had happened too quickly.

“Young master duke!” The white-haired old man was losing his mind as he clutched at pieces of flesh. Xu Zhen was dead, and in such a gruesome manner! He’d been diced by ten thousand cuts!

If word of this got back, would the Steadfast Duke forgive them even though he’d already suffered such extreme losses?!

The old man looked at the middle-aged man; his colleague stared back at him. Both of them were very strong—one was a mid Nova and one a late Nova. They were both fine, but the direct lineal descendant of the duke had been killed. How were they supposed to explain themselves?? No matter what... they could not remain here any longer.

The two instantly made up their minds. They needed to leave. Whether it was to go back and beg for forgiveness on their knees or run for their lives, they could not remain on the scene. With that decision made, they grabbed Xu Zhen’s storage ring, collected a few pieces of flesh, and whirled around to run.

They were extremely decisive and immediately took action, but a paw surged out of the water below and slammed into the middle-aged man’s crotch. The man looked down incredulously, finding that his lower body had been pierced through by an animal’s paw!

Before he could react, a dog’s mouth appeared and bit him in two!

BAM!

White Hair punched a black dog back; it hauled the bottom half of the middle-aged man away. Red swiftly bubbled up in the waves. The black dog reappeared with a violent light in his eyes, looking at the shellshocked White Hair. Just as Li Hao had surmised, although Panther hadn’t fought that many times, it was first class when seizing the proper opportunity for battle.

The string of developments stunned the rest of the attackers.

Four

of them had died before anyone had a chance to react and the one running was facing off against a dog! What... in the world was this situation?!

Hong Yitang finally had a chance to breathe from being mobbed. He looked at Li Hao with some gratification—the kid didn’t disappoint, alright! Although he’d killed only the weakest, leaving the strongest, reducing their numbers by so many meant that the threat posed by the attackers was greatly reduced.

Four out of thirteen were now dead and another was facing off against Panther in the distance. There were only eight left on the spot. The developments caused a disturbance among the remaining attackers. Near River’s general director looked around solemnly, wanting to retreat as he looked at the trio. However, he was also concerned that he’d become the target if he backed away.

“Earthturner Sword, Demon Sword... you are as if your reputations!” he said gravely. “In that case, then let this matter end here...”

Apart from him, none of the other eight said a word. They were still grappling with their dismay. How had Li Hao suddenly killed a late Nova and where had that dog come from?? Their plan to win through a war of attrition was suddenly null and void. In fact, they rather regretted their actions.

A hulking powerhouse transmitted to them all, “We can still win if we work together with our full force. Don’t you guys want the sword of the Lis and the Windchaser Boot? A few dead means a few less to split the spoils!”

This was the Buddha Mountain representative. Li Hao’s attacks hadn’t scared him, he still wanted to try! The caveat was that the two metamorphosis powerhouses had to be willing to put their full force into the fight.

......

“Li Hao, Hong Yitang can handle the two in metamorphosis, I’ll take care of the three peak Novas,” sounded a voice in Li Hao’s ear. “That leaves the three late Novas to you, can you handle that?”

It was Light Sword. She was awake, but her wounds were still very severe. That meant she could only go against the three peak Novas. Li Hao was required to stop or kill the three late Novas.

“Alright!” Li Hao transmitted back. He could try! As for whether or not he could, who knew? Being constantly on the defense and passively striking back was not the style of a swordsman.

The three quickly reached an accord. While their attackers dithered over if they should retreat or continue... Sword light flashed!

BOOM!

The trio didn’t give them a chance to converse or retreat. Hong Yitang was extremely excited and cursed loudly, “You little bastards! If it wasn’t to protect them, I would’ve long cut off a few heads for fun!”

He was no saint! He was a butcher who’d once gone to the central region himself for some blood pearls. Li Hao found him kind—that was because the young man was blind!

A sword stroke reverberated through the air!

The world spun before the eyes of the Near River general director and the Steppe Prince’s commander. They were sucked into a sealed off pocket of space as Hong Yitang spat out, “You two will fight with me in here. Either you die, or I perish!”

Humm!

Sword qi broke through the air as the two’s eyes widened. There was no need to hide anything any further. Immense strength erupted from them as the general director employed a blade and Qian Feng used a spear. They were both origin weapons and further enhanced their wielders on the spot.

The three fought so fiercely that they blasted water straight out of the sea.

Her face still wan, Light Sword swept out her sword and illuminated the land with radiance. She pronounced sternly, “Black Widow, a North Sea pirate, and the guy from Buddha Mountain—none of you are leaving!”

“How much longer can you keep this up, Light Sword?” Having kept her identity concealed all this time, Orange Moon finally spoke with gravity. “We’ve already decided to leave, but you decide to pursue this to the bitter end...”

“Have you forgotten who we are, Black Widow?”