Star Gate

Chapter 166: Breaking Through (II)

“......” Yuan Shuo looked silently at his student. No, that’s not it. My mind doesn’t work as fast as yours and nowhere am I that blackhearted. Kid, I'm really curious what your heart looks like!

The professor said the interaction between the scarlet shadow energy and eight families was good because they could lure Red Moon powerhouses to this ruin in the future, break their scarlet shadow, and possibly create a very unique situation. Red Moon members would be blown up by themselves.

Fine, that was essentially the same thing. He just hadn’t thought that Li Hao would pursue that line of thinking and think of transporting energy out to proactively use as a bomb!

Teacher and disciple shared similar thoughts, but Yuan Shuo felt that he was much more benevolent than the kid. He just wanted to lure people in, but Li Hao wanted to go on the offensive. The kid was seriously combative!

Yuan Shuo said nothing further and simply frowned. “This energy will likely be hard to collect!”

It was a mixture of eight energies and not much exuded. Most of what they could collect was sword and blade energy. It might have something to do with the two weapons physically being on site.

The Qiaos had probably been collecting this energy all along, but found it difficult to amass as well. The ice crystals were unlikely to be effective—Qiao Feilong would’ve stockpiled mass quantities of energy otherwise.

Li Hao nodded and dropped the subject. “Teacher, let’s go out and finish digesting the scarlet shadow energy or we might be blown up any time. That would be a huge loss.”

“Hahaha, that’s true!” Yuan Shuo’s mirth faded into sorrow as he laughed. Damn it, he was so unlucky today! He was a right and proper Dominator, but had almost died on two occasions. This lousy ruin was too dangerous, it felt more perilous than the one the Night Watchers had found. While it looked like there was nothing here, it would easily turn into his grave in a moment of carelessness.

Teacher and disciple didn’t dare train further on site. Yuan Shuo picked up sword and blade, carefully following his student out to finish digesting the scarlet shadow energy. Otherwise, if they accidentally utilized this strength and it spread into the surroundings again, they would meet their doom here tonight.

Both weapons seemed to have absorbed a great deal of energy, so there should be enough for their purposes for now.

......

The two left the hall and returned to the karst cave. When Li Hao passed by the relief, he looked at it for an extra moment.

“Teacher, the person I saw could be the one in this carving. With the sword on his back, it’s obvious from a quick glance that he’s a stunning powerhouse.”

“Stop looking at him, there’s no point. He’s too far removed from us.” Yuan Shuo grinned. “We need to work hard so that one day, you and I can set foot on this path as well. Remember, this is not an obstacle to your training, but motivation for progress!”

“Understood!”

Teacher and disciple encouraged each other for a bit before returning to absorb scarlet shadow energy in the karst cave. Li Hao could sense internal force forming in his head. It was a very peculiar sensation, somehow slightly numbing like a dog was licking it.

Wait, this isn’t a feeling.

Li Hao was struck speechless when he opened his eyes. Panth? The fuck?? How did the dog get in here?

He hadn’t brought the little black dog when he and Yuan Shuo set out this evening, how did it find this place? And it really was licking him!

“Arf arf!” Panther looked tearily at Li Hao, as if saying how could you bear to leave this doggy behind? It’d sniffed the wonderful fragrance of energy, so it’d run furiously through the night. It was almost completely exhausted by the time it found this place. This had been a lot to ask of it!

Yuan Shuo also opened his eyes and was jarred into laughter when he saw Panther. “The dog’s got some skill to follow us through dozens of kilometers! I underestimated you, huh? I thought that it wasn’t a good idea to let you grow stronger since you’re becoming more than a dog, but look at you chasing after us anyway.”

He’d left Panther behind on purpose. It wasn’t a bad thing for Li Hao’s dog to grow stronger, but a dog was a different species in the end. There were stories from the central region that monster spirits had eaten Solars with one gulp. That was horrifically frightful. This dog knew too much, so what if it turned on Li Hao in the end?

“Arf arf arf!” Panther barked fawningly.

“This is part of your destiny since you’ve come!” Li Hao chuckled. “Looks like I won’t be getting rid of you anytime soon! Absorb as much of the energy that leaks out, I won’t purposefully give any to you.”

“Arf arf!” Panther was satisfied. It didn’t care that it was getting scraps—just scraps were enough.

Li Hao closed his eyes and continued digesting the scarlet shadow’s power. Some energy leaked out from teacher and disciple in the process, or the explosion from earlier wouldn’t have occurred. The young man once more felt a numbing sensation on his head, but it wasn’t from a dog licking him. It was the true circulation of internal force that was affecting his head.

A gaze that crackled with electricity! Li Hao understood the saying when he opened his eyes. Internal force exploded around his eyes, making it seem like electricity ran through them.

Yuan Shuo didn’t need to open his eyes to sense what was taking place. “It’s very dangerous when internal force enters the head in late Sunderer!” he whispered. “Of course, this danger is only relatively speaking. Everything will be fine if you don’t take any foolish action...”

He suddenly cursed and opened his eyes. “Stop! Are you daft?? Aren’t you afraid of going blind by directing internal force into your eyes?”

“Aren’t we supposed to project it out of us?” Li Hao asked with bafflement.

“You idiot!” Yuan Shuo cursed again then sighed, “Alright, I forgot to remind you because you improve so quickly that you advance before I’m done talking. I don’t even have enough time to teach you.

“The eyes are very weak. Although internal force is gentle and not as domineering as mysterious power, you’ll go blind all the same if it injures the eyeballs. Everything in due time. Internal force needs to first nurture other tissues, then follow internal systems to gradually meld with the eyes. It is a sign of you having reached late stage Sunderer after it flows into the eyes. Don’t be in a rush, take it one step at a time...”

Li Hao shoved internal force into his nose as soon as the professor stopped talking and gave himself a violent nosebleed.

“You focus too much on instant success!” Yuan Shuo frowned.

“Teacher speaks truly, but I wasn’t brashly forging onward.” Li Hao’s nosebleed was so severe that tears streamed out of his eyes. “My thinking is that I possess sword energy that heals any injury so long as it is one that can be recovered from. In that case, I can be appropriately bold. Teacher, it would be a waste of this blood pearl if I don’t digest it all today. Who knows when we’ll next come across a Sunflare level one?

“I can’t always live under teacher’s protection, you have your matters to attend to as well. As teacher’s final disciple, I should be rebuffing teacher’s various enemies in accordance with tradition. Take Red Moon, for instance. Custom dictates that I should be in the field since they have trodden on our threshold. I should either kill or cripple them, not hide behind teacher and enjoy days of peace!”

The young man flashed a bashful smile. “‘Teacher, do you think my words are right?”

Yuan Shuo suddenly didn’t know what to say. A final disciple... I accepted you not to bolster my side against strong enemies. I just wanted you to inherit my knowledge.

This changed the moment Li Hao set foot onto the path of martial dao. He became Yuan Shuo’s martial disciple!

The professor remained silent for a while before flashing a smile. “That’s right! You are very similar to when I was young. I was just like you when I was a kid, then idled my time away in my middle age. I grew despondent with the rise of the supernatural, so I rather hope that you are always this successful!”

With that, he no longer curtailed Li Hao’s drastic impetus. Perhaps the young man was right. Yuan Shuo could not protect him forever, he needed to shoulder certain responsibilities himself and grow.

Blood continued to flow out of Li Hao’s nose. He’d been very bold and decisive. Of course, this was built on the foundation of sword energy. Otherwise, such a violent impact of energy would lead to severe consequences. On the whole, martial dao was a process of following proper order and advancing gradually.

Nose, ear, mouth...

Li Hao’s internal force began erupting in certain places. His inexperience shone through his first time wielding such power and his internal force rampaged so ferociously that his soft tongue also seeped blood. It hurt the first time and was an ordinary occurrence the next.

Yuan Shuo watched silently as he digested the scarlet shadow’s power. The more he assessed his student, the more satisfied he was. Low profile, intelligent, bold, ruthless, and sinister... These were just his own thoughts as he would still say to others that Li Hao was very kind.

As a martial master, how could one not be treacherous? They had to be sinister and cunning, even vicious! Unassuming sweet souls died quite early.

A gaseous layer slowly enveloped Li Hao’s face—a sign of internal force about to complete projection from the body. Internal force formed a unique defensive system once it could be projected from the entire body. Martial masters were able to avoid certain ambushes at that stage and attacks could commence from any part of the body. Any body part could be a lethal weapon.

“Hhnnn...” Li Hao grunted softly as he couldn’t withstand the enormous pain. Even his tears were blood-red. He furrowed his brows and clenched his teeth against the pain. “Teacher, the eyes are too fragile. I’m not afraid of death, but I am afraid of going blind. Is there a way to avoid that?”

“So you’re also afraid at times too, ya little punk?” Yuan Shuo snorted, but quickly smiled. “I told you to study literature, but you wanted to practice martial dao! And it’s one thing if you train, but can’t you read a few more books? I already told you to utilize your own body system to strengthen the eyes!

“Your tear glands are located in the bone over your eye socket. Do you know what tear glands are?”

“They’re used for tears!”

“So you already know!” Yuan Shuo finally found a way to comfort himself. “Cry some and send the power of the scarlet shadow into your tear glands. The same goes for your internal force, don’t pressure it into your eyes. That’s too dangerous. Just cry, cry as much as you can without fear of wasting your tears. Each tear is a strengthening!”

Cry? Li Hao thought of something. “Can Li Meng’s third eye be strengthened in the same way?”

“Yes, but that girl is careless and impetuous—she cannot be taught. If I teach her, you might see a person with a blind third eye tomorrow morning.”