Chapter 840: Invincible! (IV)

Of one thing Li Hao was certain of, and that was if he couldn’t strengthen his physical body, he could try enhancing his spatial lock. He might have different results traveling through the void with that. Hence, Deputy Zhou’s concerns that the young man wouldn’t be able to tear through the void were misplaced. Li Hao had just caused more than one hundred locks to surface. Was the spatial one not part of it?

No way! Not only is the spatial lock in there, but I’ll find even the invisibility one. I’ll turn invisible so you guys can’t find me.

The group chatted for a while before Chen Zhongtian left with reluctance. No one spoke up to keep him, which quite disappointed the old minister. What a pity that these people were still on guard against him.

The rest followed Li Hao through the doors of the Skystar Commander Office. When Liu Long sensed their return, he quickly shot out of his office. “The ranking’s out!”

“What’s the situation in the outside world?”

“They’re all discussing it!” Liu Long responded quickly. “The ranking says that there’s three seven elements. The full reaction hasn’t taken place yet. We’ll have to wait and see how people react.”

“Alright!” Li Hao nodded. “You should ascend to Refiner of Spirit as soon as possible, chief. Only then will you improve rapidly.”

Liu Long smiled and didn’t say much else. He quickly left after greeting the rest.

𝗳𝚛𝗲𝕖𝕨𝕖𝗯𝚗𝚘𝕧𝕖𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝕞

“What a pity about Golden Spear!” Hou Xiaochen suddenly said. A hush stole over the group.

“That may not be the case,” Manager Yu interjected. “Golden Spear will progress faster if he can shatter his internal demons and complete the saturation of his locks. His aura will increase as well. He wouldn’t have been of much help even if he’d stayed.”

Surprised, Hou Xiaochen glanced at Yu Luocha.

What, have you also found the courage to talk back to me now?

Li Hao couldn’t be bothered with the exchange. He took out a transmission pendant and frowned at it, sighing after a long moment. “This teacher of mine... is seriously... Forget it, I can’t find him again. Please keep an eye out for me, everyone. I don’t know what ruin he’s gotten into now.

“Seniors, please go out and walk around if you’d like to leave. I don’t need that many people even if I’m to take action against the Wind and Cloud Pavilion. I’ll be sure to invite everyone next time I enter a ruin to eliminate another powerhouse.”

They didn’t need to stay together in regular times; everyone present had their own business to attend to on a regular basis. Someone immediately disappeared right after Li Hao finished speaking.

The young man blinked and looked at the empty spot. He couldn’t help but say, “Senior Thunderleg... really moves very quickly!”

“He’s just feeling guilty!” Hou Xiaochen said faintly.

“Don’t bully him, do you think Silver Moon's martial world is full of pushovers?” Tyrant Blade retorted coldly. This was an open threat at Hou Xiaochen!

A dangerous light glinted in Hou Xiaochen’s eyes before he abruptly shut his mouth. Southern Fist, Northern Fist, Sky Sword, and Tyrant Blade were all glaring in their direction. Hou Xiaochen, Huang Yu, Deputy Zhou, and Kong Jie worked for the government, but the others were part of the martial world.

There was no further task at hand now that they’d eliminated the powerhouse in the ruins. It wasn’t as if they enjoyed everyone’s company on a regular basis. Since Hou Xiaochen had dared glare at them, the martial masters naturally wouldn’t respond kindly.

Hou Xiaochen was rather dejected by the response. These martial world guys were seriously petty!

“Then I'm heading back to Silver Moon.” Huang Yu rose to his feet. “It’s time to go, Ole Kong.”

“What?” Kong Jie blinked. “You can go if you want, what are you bringing me with you for?”

“Eh?” Huang Yu paused.

“Eh what?” snapped Kong Jie. “You go back, I haven’t seen my daughter yet. I’m here to see her! What do you know? You don’t have a daughter! I’ll leave in a few days!”

“......” Huang Yu was speechless.

Fine, I get it, you want to stay. You’re so damned... shameless.

“Is Commander Yu leaving?” Li Hao was confused.

“There are military matters to take care of, so I should not stay for long,” Huang Yu declared solemnly. “I would stay if my strength was lacking, but now... I do not need to do so. Call upon me whenever you have need!”

“Then go well, Commander Yu.” Li Hao nodded. “But let’s not tell Director General Zhao about the matters here for now.”

“Oh?” Huang Yu was puzzled, but nodded after some thought. “Alright!”

He was off.

“Are you wary of the director general?” Hou Xiaochen looked at Li Hao.

“Not entirely!” the young man responded after some silence. “It’s just that he has a deep relationship with the ruins. I’m wondering if some of the Silver Moon powerhouses in the ruins will be leery of me now that I’ve killed a plant spirit. After all, strictly speaking, they are the ones on the same side and we... we are of the new age!”

He was even debating if he should deliver the coconut tree’s trunk to Battle Heaven. Granted, he was very familiar with them, so it should be fine, right?

“There are many ruins in Silver Moon!” Hou Xiaochen answered after turning over the thought. “We do need to take certain precautions, but there aren’t any problems at present. Ole Zhao should know a thing or two, but we can keep this under wraps if you wish.”

Li Hao smiled. It was good that Hou Xiaochen understood.

“Then our next step is to locate the Wind and Cloud Pavilion!” said the young man. “I need their treasure.”

He had great use for it as he wanted to probe everyone’s strength. Those in the outside world weren’t important—it was those inside the ruins. He would easily be accidentally defeated if he didn’t have full information about them.

What the Wind and Cloud Pavilion possessed could detect the strength of someone’s life force. That was perfect for these ancient powerhouses. Li Hao truly wasn’t moving against the faction because they were at odds with him. He simply had great use to come for their treasure.

“Seniors, please spread out and make a close investigation for me. South Peak is key. Don’t alarm them if you bump into them. It’ll be time for us to flex our muscles once we take them down!”

He was just making small, probing feints at the moment. Li Hao’s words invigorated the group!

“Sounds good!” They smiled. They would find the Wind and Cloud Pavilion and seize their treasure that measured strength. Once Li Hao found a weak plant spirit after that, he was sure to exterminate it. That would be an opportunity for all of them.

......

At the same time, Silver Moon.

A head popped out near Ash Mountain. It dusted itself off and complained loudly, “The exits are always in shitty places. Why can’t they be in nice spots?”

The rest of the body burrowed out after a round of cursing. It took a deep breath and threw its head back with laughter. “It’s only been half a month and I triumphantly emerge from seclusion today! Who else is there but me in this vast world? I can stand even against Arcanus now!”

I, Yuan Shuo, have taken another step forward in half a month. I can battle and kill Arcanus! This time, those bastards won’t be able to measure up to me no matter how fast they improve! There’s one flaw to my character—I love slapping faces!

You guys snap your supernatural locks, but I don’t! I’ll tell you what it means to be the Five Styles Demon King!

Yuan Shuo further cackled as he thought of the core origin replica in his ring.

That guy said that it’s absolutely on par with six element Arcanus. It might even be able to battle a seven element if it’s inside a ruin!

I, Yuan Shuo, am now invincible in the world! Did you guys really think that I wouldn’t dig up one of those antiques? I know plenty of them—this one’s easier to negotiate with. But it’s also because I have extraordinary potential that they think this is a good investment. Very good!

“Jadelight, the dynasty is our oyster from now on!” Yuan Shuo was in fine fettle. The world was vast, but there was no one who could stand against him. He might not be the strongest, but he held a powerful core origin replica. He was invincible before the second awakening!

Foolish disciple, I’ll let you know this time who’s the granddaddy and who’s the grandson!

Jadelight also crawled out of the exit and nodded without objection. Yuan Shuo now possessed the battle strength of an Arcanus and could call upon the strength of a six or seven element Arcanus. What was that, if not invincible? It’d only been a short while since the Arcanus level appeared!

“C’mon, let’s go to Skystar City!” Yuan Shuo brayed with laughter. Old Demon Five Styles was arrogant to begin with. He’d suffered quite a blow last time and was here to stage an ultimate comeback!

It’s only been half a month! Your jaws will drop from shock! They’ll fall right off your face!

Jadelight smiled as well. Those guys would truly be surprised this time. Yuan Shuo was indeed incredible to catch up to them so quickly, and the key thing was, he hadn’t even snapped his supernatural locks. This fellow truly knew a lot.

......

The central region.

There wasn’t much news about the Arcanus Ranking in Silver Moon, but it was the hottest topic in the central region. Yuan Shuo rushed to the central region in the highest of spirits, but he wilted when he obtained a copy of the ranking.

Three seven elements!

Fine then, he could let that slide, but what was his disciple doing at peak six elements? And what about all these Silver Moon martial masters??

Even though Li Hao had added more names to the ranking to make it a list of fifty, the weakest started at three elements. The battle strength that Yuan Shuo was so proud of wouldn’t even earn him a place on the ranking.

The old man was incredibly dejected!

Jadelight also perused her copy of the ranking and couldn’t find any words to express herself with. Even He Yong was on the ranking! Although he was ranked last, it stated clearly that he was three elements Arcanus. So even He Yong was three elements?

She snuck a sidelong glance at Yuan Shuo. He was probably suffering from a devastating blow.

After a long while, Yuan Shuo snorted and ripped the ranking to pieces. “These guys must’ve opened their supernatural locks and ascended to the supernatural domain. That is not the proper way! If I wanted to, I could open them at any time and stomp on three and four elements!”

Jadelight didn’t say anything. A hot flush crept onto Yuan Shuo’s face.

“Come, let’s go to Skystar City and determine the situation...” He made quick time amid deep confusion. Had they all broken their supernatural locks? That was not a good development for a martial master. Had Li Hao broken even the ones of his organs?

His disciple had a chance of returning to martial dao before and Yuan Shuo had instructed him not to be hasty before the old man departed. Had Li Hao encountered a critical condition?

Yuan Shuo collected information as he traveled and finally learned that Li Hao had only started his counterattack after the nine ministries exerted pressure and the Wind and Cloud Pavilion appeared. He killed numerous powerhouses, including even Qian Wanhao and Hu Mingfa. Those such as the lords of Buddha and Sky Roc Mountain were also dead.

It’d only been a few days, but it seemed like a drastic upheaval had seized the world. Yuan Shuo suddenly felt that he’d been cut off from the outside world for ages. Each of his closed door sessions resulted in such a sensation. He’d been in seclusion for longer this time, but it was still only half a month. It was as if the entire world had changed and society’s rate of development was faster than a few years ago.

He was equal parts uncomprehending and resigned. Yuan Shuo made quick time for Skystar City.