Chapter 740: Rising From the Ashes (I)

“Dao, characters, melding dao into the characters!” Li Hao seemed to understand something as he sensed the clash between the characters and his two elements. It wasn’t the method that was wrong, but the power that he was infusing into the characters that was a mismatch!

“Therefore, only power that is suited to this dao can be incorporated into these characters... Whether it is wind or thunder, whether it is break or attack, they’re only mediums. They represent different paths!” New thoughts occurred to Li Hao at this time.

In that case, why don’t I write the characters for wind and thunder, then fill them with the relevant energy?

“What will happen when I use the strength of an Arcanus to trace them?” Wasn’t this the ultimate art of Tranquil Star?

Li Hao looked at the golden booklets in his hands. He wasn’t unfamiliar with this kind of technique; the two families’ ultimate knowledge centered on one intent—to follow one’s own heart. They used will to trace the characters and melded their dao within.

This was the highest level of learning that Li Hao had encountered thus far when it came to the ancient martial dao. Once these ideas formed in his heart and he had the beginnings of a plan, he discarded his previous attempt without hesitation and started anew.

The characters of “break” and “attack” spontaneously shattered. Blood qi flowed back to him and Li Hao absorbed some sword energy, as well as one droplet of Water of Life to recover from his injuries. Just as the Seventh Troop leader had said, there was no harm in trying a few more times if he didn’t run the risk of dying.

Blood qi welled up inside his body again and the power of wind and thunder gathered toward him. Supernatural ripples undulated and energy wafted outward, the supernatural cultivation realm of Arcanus as the base.

A large character started forming—wind!

Gale winds screeched, as if concentrating the auras of heaven and earth on this spot.

Crack!

The character in the air shattered in the next second. Li Hao spat out a mouthful of blood with a blank look on his face. Why... had the character broken? He’d followed exactly the steps of Tranquil Star’s ultimate methods, he was just building the words from a different basis of power. Why hadn’t it worked?

......

Inside the front hall.

Deputy Zhou busily worked at his duties and a newly returned Hong Yitang was explaining something to his daughter. Both of them suddenly looked toward the rear. A faint breeze brushed by, intermixed with the scent of fresh blood. The two were confused and Hong Yitang’s gaze sharpened with bizarre intent. What was Li Hao doing?

Was that a wind supernatural ability?

When it came to supernatural abilities, that was the technique that supernaturals called upon. They summoned the strength from the surroundings and not themselves, utilizing the outside world to enhance their power. Such were supernatural abilities!

When Yuan Shuo’s five auras reached perfection, they’d connected to forces in the outside world. Strictly speaking, he was actually employing supernatural abilities in his fight against Xu Qing.

Of course, he’d never look at it that way, but that was how Hong Yitang viewed the situation. Propelling the greater with the lesser—supernaturals used their own force to compel the forces of nature. Morphing into ten from the position of one, it made them instantly stronger. Such were supernatural abilities! They stretched from the inside to the outside, so what was Li Hao doing now?

Was the young man practicing his new abilities? Familiarizing himself with them? Was there a need for that?

As Hong Yitang steadily stared behind them, Hong Qing grumbled, “Dad, you still haven’t told me yet how you’re so strong!”

“I just randomly cultivated around!” Hong Yitang fobbed her off and grabbed a strand of passing wind. There seemed to be some power left within it. He sensed it, but didn’t find anything too unique about it. He actually didn’t understand what Li Hao had in mind. Wasn’t the lad in seclusion because he wanted to break more supernatural locks? He’d broken the wind and thunder attributed ones a long time ago.

......

Deputy Zhou also sensed the air for a moment and turned over certain things in his thoughts. He shook his head and decided not to think about any of them. Li Hao seemed to have failed to deploy his supernatural abilities, but would he be an Arcanus if he couldn’t manage that? What was going on?

The deputy didn’t quite understand.

......

Li Hao was equally perplexed. Why had the character shattered?

“Is the wind energy too strong? The solidification foundation not enough? Or is there another reason?”

Strange!

Li Hao sank into deep thought. Was his strength too scattered or what?

“Is the mix of blood qi, mental strength, and energy too much? Are they too disorderly to be blended into one?” The secret arts of the Incantation of the Blade of Blood and the Breathing Method of the Five Styles came to the forefront of his mind. Both of these had merging properties, but how was he supposed to use them in his supernatural abilities?

He’d just wanted to create something to prevent strength from seeping out of the supernatural locks. The young man wanted to be able to control the supernatural locks without having to break them. His interest was now piqued in another direction, however.

If he’d successfully written out the characters moments ago, then he wouldn’t care too much about the ancient art. But the moment the characters shattered, he realized that there was something unique at play here.

“How interesting! So the wind character broke because too much force surged in from outside. Then can I control what comes in? Can I input that force bit by bit and gradually trace the characters into stronger versions of themselves?” Various thoughts brewed in his mind—

let’s just give it a try! It’s not like I’ll die if I fail.

Li Hao laughed and recovered some more blood qi and mental strength. He swallowed another drop of Water of Life and spat out a mouthful of blood mist, using blood to trace the characters.

Wind!

𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝐰𝚎𝕓𝐧𝚘𝘃𝗲𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝕞

It was just one stroke, but Li Hao infused it with tremendous energy. More energy churned in from the outside world and a cool breeze blew through the northern city quadrant. A faint ripple of power roiled with it, darting into the young man. He was about to store it elsewhere when he felt a suction force. The outside strength instantly disappeared.

Li Hao raised his head and saw Panther looking at him with an expectant expression.

See, I ate it all. Aren’t I good?

The young man didn’t know whether to laugh or cry! The dog hadn’t cared about the first surge of outside power, so the character shattered. Plainly, Panth felt that that was a huge dereliction of duty. This time, it swallowed all of the power coming from the outside world in one gulp.

Li Hao wanted to say something, but blinked. Without the surge of outside energy, a shimmering golden light hovered in front of him. The stroke that he’d traced earlier gradually solidified and didn’t shatter!

The young man’s mouth dropped.

It stabilized...

He looked at Panther, the look shifting in his eyes. “Continue to absorb all of the power coming from the outside world. Don’t let any in unless I tell you to!”

“Arf!” Panther nodded, rather proud of itself.

Do you see that! I’m the most useful one in the end!

Li Hao smiled without a word. He continued to input wind energy, melded with blood qi and mental strength, to finish tracing the character.

The ultimate method of Tranquil Star? What an interesting method! I wonder if I’ll be able to erupt with great strength like a supernatural ability once I finish writing it out?

Various possibilities rose in his mind as he infused more energy into the character, finishing his writing.

“Wind!”

It was like a hurricane was howling in the room; he suddenly channeled half of his wind energy into it and finished the character. However, Li Hao frowned at it. It seemed to lack a certain liveliness that made it different from the ultimate methods demonstrated by the powerhouses in the golden booklets.

“Panther, let the energy in!”

The dog immediately stopped devouring power. Wind rushed around the “wind” character and a gale wind whipped up. The character instantly grew bigger while a peculiar ripple spontaneously erupted. It exploded like a supernatural ability detonating!

The large sum of energy rushing into the character blew it wide open! The resulting flare of energy instantaneously traveled down Panther’s mouth. Li Hao spat out another mouthful of fresh blood! The young man frowned, what had gone wrong?

“I can’t control the flow of outside energy... It’s furiously absorbed until it forms something like a bomb, then immediately detonates. It’s a good measure to harm enemies with, but that makes it a one-time use talisman. It’s more of a loss than a gain. Not only is the consumption of resources great, but the level of destruction is limited.” Li Hao scratched his head with awkwardness. It was just a small experiment, but he’d failed multiple times. He was imitating the work of prior seniors and following instructions from Tranquil Star. How could he fail when he was following a manual?

How am I supposed to create new martial knowledge like this?

His ego was starting to feel bruised. He wasn’t creating out of nothing, simply following the prescribed order and modifying the ultimate art of Tranquil Star. And yet, he failed. If it wasn’t for sword energy and Water of Life, he would be on the verge of death from these two tries alone.

Li Hao suddenly rather admired his teacher. Yuan Shuo was amazing! How had such a fragile old man thought to modify ancient martial methods? Why didn’t he just cultivate, instead of focusing his attention on improvement of the existing? It was such a dangerous process! The slightest misstep could lead to death!

The young man didn’t try further. He thought over his attempts and took out the two golden booklets, paging through them carefully and sensing the differences and crux of the material within.

“There’s nothing wrong with my steps, but this method benefits from the aid of great dao. Core origin power maintains the characters and prevents them from collapsing. I don’t have that power!”

His attempts were particularly haphazard as he didn’t have core origin to draw from; his characters were also rather weak and couldn’t withstand the surge of external force. But without the support of external force, none of the characters would have any might behind them.

To be equipped with both form and intent is very hard... There is no longer core origin dao in the world...