Star Gate

Chapter 799: A Massive Leap Forward in Strength (II)

“Yes!” Li Hao nodded. “It does have something to do with those guys using the ultimate art of Tranquil Star. It’s also related to my master’s Breathing Method of the Five Styles, and the Incantation of the Blade of Blood. This character is basically a massive melting pot. I’m still theorizing more details.”

He wouldn’t have dared say this before, but the young man had gained many more reflections after reading The Accounts of Evenround. He displayed his ‘water’ character without further ado. It wasn’t just the water aura, but water and fire at the same time. They melded together, demonstrating resistance at first that Li Hao forced down.

A peculiar surge of fire and water energy assimilated together. BOOM! The young man tossed it to He Yong and singed his eyebrows.

Wide-eyed, He Yong stared out of his blackened face, his fist still extended. A blank expression hung on his face. “Hot damn!” He offered after a while. What the heck was that?? It was at least twice as strong as the singular character from before!

“I came across some new knowledge in the ruins,” Li Hao chuckled. “That was my first try, so apologies, Martial Uncle He!”

He Yong was at a loss for words!

Hong Yitang smiled. “Interesting. Do you guys want to see mine?”

A ‘sword’ character manifested and sword intent oscillated, transforming into thunder and lightning. It morphed into flames before the group could react, which then changed into a massive mountain...

It all changed very quickly!

Hong Yitang didn’t meld his two elements together like Li Hao did. Rather, he summoned each element with a casual wave. His character transfigured into a variety of elements in the blink of an eye—too fast to keep up. The most astounding of all was that there was no conflict between them!

The sight made the group suck in sharp breaths. Li Hao and Hong Yitang’s characters seemed to be different, but no matter what, they could see what made this ability unique.

“Do you... guys count as martial masters? Or supernaturals?”

“I don’t know either.” Li Hao shook his head. “A type of fusion, I guess? Or a melting pot like I said. It’s different from being a martial master and different from being a supernatural... If you want to call it a new path... but this is all there is to it for now, so I don’t think it counts as one. What it does do, however, is resolve the problem of mysterious power being a resource in the outside world...”

This was the only way he could think of to solve the issue!

“There’s another key problem that hasn’t been fixed!” Li Hao added after some thought. “The one of the body!”

Indeed, the young man felt that if his path was to be smoothly taken to the end, then strengthening the body must be tackled for it to be a success. Otherwise, it would not be a new dao at all!

This path was more suited for people, but if one’s body was weak, Water of Life was still required to protect the organs during each breakthrough. If there was no solution for this, were they all to give up cultivating if he ran out of sword energy one day, or if they could not rely on plant spirits?

There was an over reliance on plant spirits at the moment! This problem didn’t exist in the ancient civilization, so ancient martial dao had been a wide avenue that led straight to great dao. Unfortunately, modern humans were not suited for it, not unless they underwent the same treatment as Deputy Zhou.

However, if everyone’s body was forcefully modified by a premier heavyweight, that would change them from being modern humans! And was it possible to modify the bodies of tens of billions of people? Would there need to be a new dao then?

This was the great problem facing Li Hao at present; he didn’t know how to resolve it. Hong Yitang said that he could coalesce more characters to resolve it, but what characters?

The characters had to do with supernatural locks; Li Hao’s energy of wind and thunder were tied to strengthening the body and blood qi. And. yet, they didn’t accomplish the effect that he wanted. Did other supernatural locks exist in the body to strengthen one’s entire being?

“That’s hardly an issue.” He Yong was indifferent. “We all face that problem. Being able to solve part of the problem is a win at our current stage. Having an answer for mysterious power coming from the outside is incredible enough!”

That was the truth! He hadn’t thought that Li Hao wouldn’t be satisfied and want to resolve even the problem of their weak bodies.

“That’s true...” Li Hao smiled. “I’m just thinking... that there may be an answer to the issue of our bodies. My teacher’s breathing method may be the key, it’s just not complete yet.”

He somehow felt that the Breathing Method of the Five Styles might be the solution. Its effects were just too slow at present and not as noticeable.

The human body was a massive treasure hunt, not enough of it had been explored yet. The Breathing Method of the Five Styles ventured only into the five organs—that was insufficient. Li Hao felt that his teacher confined himself to a tiny area. If his teacher incorporated a dozen more secret arts with the breathing method... he might be able to strengthen everything...

Mmhmm, it was time to seek out his teacher and have Yuan Shuo stay in one place for once. The old man should spend more effort on considering how to assimilate eighty more secret arts—ones for strengthening the limbs, the brain, the bones, and blood qi...

If all of them were incorporated, wouldn’t the breathing method outright enhance the entire body then? That was the direction that his teacher should proceed in!

The group thought it over and nodded as well.

“Your teacher’s idea last time was to meld the auras into the five locks and have them strengthen the body in turn. That is a good idea,” raised Sky Sword. “But now you’re individually separating them into characters. According to your teacher’s theory, would it be the equivalent of melding all of the locks together if you combined the characters together? Would that resolve the problem of the body’s weakness?”

Li Hao raised his eyebrows. Sky Sword’s proposal was sound.

“I can give it a try, but right now... even I haven’t melded my aura into that many looks. I need some time! But even if I succeed.... I think there will still be problems as you’d have to endure this process in the beginning.”

“Stop worrying over it!” He Yong agitated. “Just tell us how to do it! Just teach us! As for how to fix the body... we’ll all have ideas when more of us walk this path. I feel that we’ll come across the answer more quickly when there’s more of us cultivating in this way!”

His words made sense!

“Martial Uncle He is right...” Li Hao laughed. “But are you really not going to consider just outright breaking your locks?”

He Yong snorted. What would he consider that for? Just look around at the state of the world! He felt that he would turn into the next Golden Spear soon if he didn’t catch up to the others. Tragic, depressed, and running off elsewhere to possibly die in an isolated locale. There would be nothing left of his body to recover.

“Silver Moon martial masters cultivate the heart, not internal force alone. Let’s just be more decisive and do whatever should be done!”

Li Hao agreed with his words and quickly described his process. The group found it to be easy enough, which was to be expected. A cultivation path would not be suited for all if it was too difficult. Those who needed to could learn it—that was a new dao.

“This will require a lot of Water of Life!” Sky Sword frowned. “I have a bit left, but it might not be enough! Based on what you’re saying, it’s still a significant sum even if it’s less than what ascending as an Arcanus needs.”

Indeed, the resource consumption required was still significant! Granted, Sky Sword was already a two element Arcanus, or rather, three element now. His physical body had already been strengthened, but the process that the young man explained was one of devouring life force. Hence, Water of Life was necessary to fortify oneself with.

Now he understood Li Hao’s worries from earlier, why the body and life force were all problems.

“Don’t worry, I have Water of Life!” Li Hao smiled. The little tree had been converting this resource for him the past couple of days. It’d been doing so to pay the fine before. Now that there was sufficient quantity to pay it off, they were swimming in Water of Life.

He’d killed so many people this time that mysterious power stones were his greatest gain, after the mallet of the Hongs. Panther had collected roughly fifty-five million from the little lake. Most of the rest were poor, but the Sky Roc King had been very rich indeed.

The various factions hadn’t seemed to want it to pay, so it’d carried five million stones on it. It’d all gone to Li Hao in the end. Combined with the other bits and pieces he collected, that made for sixty-five million stones in total from the Evenround expedition. It was less than what he expected, but thinking of it as spending fifty million stones to visit Evenround Martial—Li Hao found it quite a good trade!

He also knew now that the little tree might need only three thousand stones to coalesce one drop of Water of Life. It’d voluntarily lowered the price to four thousand pieces after the expedition. It, too, needed to recover and cultivate.

Li Hao actually wasn’t going to hold back on payment. Even if they’d stuck to the previous ten thousand stones per drop, his gains from this exploration were sufficient for sixty-five hundred drops. That was an astronomical sum!! Granted, the little tree couldn’t just endlessly convert Water of Life from morning to night.

“The senior helped a great deal in the ruins,” Li Hao laughed before Sky Sword could say anything. “Those who didn’t are...”

“Don’t look at me!” He Yong raged with tragic sorrow. “What are you looking at me for?! I’ll take out twenty drops, alright? That’s all I have!”

And it was from Li Hao!

“I remember that martial uncle has at least twenty-five drops...” Li Hao smiled meaningfully.

He Yong nearly vomited blood. How do you even remember that? Yes, the young man had given him more before, but he’d forgotten it himself! Must you really empty me out? He Yong moped. I stood guard in Skystar City, I did my part too, alright?

“Then... Light Sword...” Light Sword scowled at He Yong. That guy has some savings, but I really don’t. If I did, I would’ve used it long ago, would I wait until now? Blast you, He Yong, why must you drag me into things?

“That’s enough, I’m just joking,” Li Hao laughed. “I’ll need everyone’s help in the operations to come. Obtaining benefits means needing to put forth equal effort. A transaction of equal value is what Director Hou often says and what the ancient civilization often refers to as necessary competition in martial dao. You must fight for your own benefits. Only with effort expended is there reward obtained. There will be plenty of skirmishes ahead of us!”

It was a given! No matter what, he needed to seize the ruins, take care of the City of Supernaturals, nine ministries, three great organizations, and seven divine mountains... How could he do that without sufficient powerhouses? Supernaturals could easily ascend as Arcanus now without thought of anything else. His side could not fall behind.

“Let’s set this aside first and focus on the cultivation of supernatural ability characters,” Li Hao changed the subject. “After that, I need to see how many elements each of you can endure. Don’t be afraid of using resources, it’s best if you can train to the utmost. I’m of the mind to attack a plant spirit inside the ruin next and test our strength! It goes without saying how great the gains there will be, and I’ll also be confident of handling the various factions after that!”