Chapter 686: Slaughter (III)

Even Hu Xiao couldn’t help but take a sidelong glance. Sky Sword was unequivocally strong given that his Arcanus cultivation level was fully stabilized. No wonder he conducted himself so conspicuously! Three Arcanus had been sent to stop him, a level of treatment that no one else received.

Martial masters summoned their blood qi elsewhere on the battlefield. Earthturner Sword’s strength swelled by a massive proportion, one matched by the Steppe Prince.

“You’re very strong, Hong Yitang.” The prince remained smiling. “You’ve saturated all nine of your supernatural locks, haven’t you? But... it seems that I have too!”

𝒻𝘳ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝒷𝘯ℴ𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝑐ℴ𝑚

He was a martial master as well!

Indeed, a martial master. His blood qi surged so ferociously that it almost crashed through the void. The Steppe Prince continued to smile. “Step aside, Light Sword. That bandit from the North Sea will entertain you. I’m going to have fun with Hong Yitang!”

Light Sword’s expression shifted slightly; she parted the seas with her sword. An old man walked out from the bottom—one in a shirt cut off at the arms and wielding dual axes. He seemed particularly menacing!

The North Sea King!

He flicked a glance at the Steppe Prince, then at Light Sword, and ultimately addressed the distance in a loud voice. “Nothing better happen to my grandson, Hu! If so, don’t blame me for what I do!”

“Nothing will!” Hu Xiao’s voice came back on the wind.

“Good!” The North Sea King flung an ax at Light Sword. “You should’ve anticipated today when you killed one of my dukes!”

Light Sword frowned slightly and dodged swiftly. She turned and fled after taking another look at Hong Yitang. She would only drag him down with her if she stayed. Her opponent was also an Arcanus!

By now, all of the martial masters understood that all sides had invested in a great deal for this operation. All factions had in the world made up their minds to exterminate the Silver Moon martial masters!

There were five Arcanus from the three great organizations, the old duke, lord of Buddha Mountain, the Steppe Prince, and the North Sea King. That made for nine Arcanus on the outskirts of Skystar City to hunt down martial masters who came to reinforce Li Hao.

Meanwhile, there were five Arcanus and seven metamorphoses inside the city. No, there were nine metamorphoses if one counted Yellow Dragon and Qi Zhao. The nine ministries had mobilized fourteen Arcanus for this battle—a highly unexpected decision!

......

Even the inspector general resting inside the Inspectorate was shocked and surprised.

“They’re all crazy,” he murmured. “They’re all here with unstable cultivation levels...”

“It’s to be expected.” His father stroked his beard. “Silver Moon martial masters pose too great of a threat. Since the ministries have made the first move, they need to see it through to completion. Who would’ve thought that all of these Silver Moon guys would rush here one after another, despite knowing that this is a trap!

“Forget it, we’ll just hunker down like this.” He shook his head and looked at his son. “We won’t offend anyone and it’s fine if we lose some authority! Here I was thinking of maybe adding some additional splendor to the scene if there were only three to five Arcanus, but Ole Hu and the others aren’t giving me the chance to...”

“Which side would you be adding splendor to?” asked the inspector general. The seven ministries, or Li Hao?

“Guess!” chuckled the old man.

“Not interested!” The inspector general shook his head at the screen. “Forget it, we’ll do as you say and stay out of the limelight. We can’t afford to offend any of them. They’re all mad.”

There were more Arcanus than cabbages by the side of the road. An Arcanus like him with an unstable cultivation should stay at home.

His father nodded. It was better if they kept their heads down, in case they became a target for others. They were the only ones out of the nine ministries who’d yet to express a stance. The Ministry of Finance had already eaten a loss and Li Hao was one of theirs. It would be very dangerous to stick their noses out now.

......

The northern gates.

Li Hao still did not make a move, even though battle raged around him. He Yong, Hou Xiaochen, Yu Luocha, and Qin Lian clashed with their opponents. Even Panther had rushed out after a loud bark. The young man remained where he was.

He wasn’t playing it cool, he was just waiting. Waiting for someone to come!

Stellaris stirred in his hand. It’d been nurtured for a very long time without much effect. The five auras were merged as one and this might be his last stroke as a martial master! All of his internal force had been absorbed, only a little remained in the sword—the vestiges of the last remains.

He would no longer be a martial master after he deployed this stroke. He might be one at heart, but not in terms of strength. Li Hao looked at the Arcanus in front of him.

“Is no one coming for me?” he asked softly. The waiting Stellaris seemed to cheer. Were none of them going to come for him?

“Are we needed to kill you?” Hu Xiao laughed and looked at Yellow Dragon. “Take him!”

Yellow Dragon blinked.

Why? You guys are all present, why aren’t you making a move?

Hu Xiao didn’t say a word. The time had come to test Yellow Dragon and have him fully break with the Inspectorate. He also wanted to test Li Hao and see if the young man had more trump cards up his sleeves. Were there more core origin talismans, or others?

It didn’t matter if Yellow Dragon survived or not.

Yellow Dragon cursed to himself and looked at those next to him. He set his jaw and transmitted to them, “We go together! He’s killed metamorphosis experts before, so he’s not weak!”

That old fart wanted him to prove himself and openly declare his loyalty! That fucker!

“Don’t worry too much,” Hu Xiao’s voice sounded in his ear. “If you succeed, we’ll be in charge of everything you need to ascend to Arcanus!”

Yellow Dragon’s eyes lit up! He roared and punched at Li Hao. What could the young man do with multiple Arcanus staring at him? The others seemed to have received certain promises as well and made their moves too!

Big Eyes and the other two wavered with indecision not too far away. They wanted to help, but ultimately decided against it. That would be courting death.

Li Hao, on the other hand, frowned. Yellow Dragon and the others were just small fry that could be eliminated at any time. It was nice to kill Yellow Dragon, but that wasn’t what he wanted to do at the moment. He wanted to reserve his final strike as a martial master for an Arcanus.

What a pity!

The young man sighed with some regret. This might be the greatest regret of his martial master career, that he didn’t kill an Arcanus with his martial dao.

“To sever the self.” It was a soft cry that reverberated through hearts, the four corners, and the world.

One stroke!

All of his remaining internal force melded into the little sword. He would no longer be a martial master after this blow. Whether it was his mind intent or sword intent, those would all be supplemental to his power and just existences to protect his organs. His five auras would completely extinguish and withdraw into his organs. Even if they erupted again, there would be no power behind them because there was no internal force bolstering them.

The tiger howled and the mountain peak shook! They seemed to have realized that they might be forever trapped within the five organs after this eruption. Or if Li Hao was unable to convert back to being a martial master, the locks of the five organs would one day break to their complete demise.

“ROAR!!” The tiger snarled, fissuring the earth!

The stroke descended so quickly that it cut through the void. The Arcanus standing nearby collectively took a step back!

Crack!

The void seemed to break apart. When Li Hao retracted his sword, it was dim. Yellow Dragon, Qi Zhao, Deputy Director Zhou, and three other deputy directors stopped in front of him—two metamorphoses and four peak Novas. All of them halted at this moment.

Yellow Dragon led the pack and forcefully turned his head to look at Hu Xiao.

Why... didn’t... you... save me?

Hu Xiao looked on gravely. “Is this your final ace?” he asked softly. “You want to take down an Arcanus as your burial goods? You certainly defy expectations, Li Hao!”

BOOM!

All six heavyweights exploded!

The scene induced brief silence on all sides. Even the powerhouses fighting each other paused, looking in Li Hao’s direction. Six experts that included two metamorphoses had died to a singular stroke!

“Nice! Yeah!” came overwhelming cheers from somewhere in the city. They promptly vanished in the next second. Citizens in the city couldn’t help but cry out at the stunning scene. However, they promptly shut their mouths when they realized how inappropriate their reaction was.

Li Hao heaved a heavy sigh and slightly shook his head. He smiled at the six that’d been detonated. “What a damned waste!”

Although he’d killed six powerhouses with one move, there wasn’t anything to be happy about. He really didn’t think much of Yellow Dragon. What a pity that those Arcanus hadn’t come.

The people around him were heavily dismayed at what they’d witnessed. What a powerful stroke! But they also quickly detected the inappropriate nature of the blow. That should have been Li Hao’s full force—his internal force and auras seemed to have extinguished after it!

Had the young man completely depleted himself?

Hou Xiaochen put everything out of his mind and erupted with maximum strength. He thrust his spear forward and sent the commander from the Ministry of Armed Forces flying!

“Count me in!” Another Arcanus took to the field—the deputy minister of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. Both of them targeted Hou Xiaochen, whereas He Yong and Yu Luocha were occupied by the metamorphoses.

Hu Xiao said nothing further. There was no need for words at this stage of the game. They’d probed everything they wished to probe, it was time for Li Hao to die and this farce to end. A ruler manifested in the air and crashed down on Li Hao. It seemed to confine heaven, earth, and the four directions as it swung at the young man.

Li Hao raised an eyebrow and looked in a particular direction. Someone was walking on air out of the city.

A punch blasted forth! It shook the four cardinal directions and stunned even He Yong. Off in the distance, Northern Fist also snapped his head their way.

BOOM!

The ruler shattered to pieces; a powerful origin weapon was instantly demolished. Yao Si continued walking toward them, looking at Hu Xiao and then Li Hao.

“You say that I’m disgusting?” He smiled at the young man.