Star Gate

Chapter 181: Peak Sunderer (III)

There was an audience behind the sparring duo. Liu Yan and Yun Yao watched silently, their hearts clenched with anxiety as it didn’t seem to be a practice session at all. It was a struggle to the death between hated rivals! Every move targeted the vitals!

This was often the case, but the situation seemed more dangerous today.

The two on the sidelines watched the fight without saying a word or discussing anything. Offering comments on the site of two battling powerhouses was disrespect to the two combatants. If the audience wished to make conclusions, they should wait until after the battle concluded.

Both Liu Yan and Yun Yao reaped great benefits from their observation. They were both martial masters—Yun Yao had been an experienced Slayer before she ascended to Darkmoon. Naturally, both of them understood the perils and horrors encompassed by this fight. They could not afford to undergo this type of practice.

If they were in Li Hao’s shoes, they would’ve been crippled long ago and could not recover. Liu Yan’s mouth opened as she watched and she wanted to gasp, but she forced the urge down.

Liu Long suddenly relinquished the hatchet and threw it at Li Hao, breaking through the young man’s sword intent. A fist quickly followed it, breaking Li Hao’s rib cage with a thunderous crunch. The young man was also sent flying by the blow.

Advancing relentlessly, Liu Long didn’t give time for Li Hao to struggle back to his feet. He swiftly advanced and punched once more!

A boom so loud sounded that it was as if Liu Long had punched a human drum. The young man vomited blood; the look in his eyes grew unfocused...

He hadn’t felt that a big gap between him and Liu Long a few days ago, but after these punches today and a fully deployed aura, Li Hao was suppressed to the point where he could barely muster any resistance. Any ambush he launched was instantly evaded.

With Liu Long in close quarters and no longer pausing between blows, Li Hao felt that he would die from the next punch. He really would die!

Blood sprayed across the basement and the young man hit the ground heavily. Liu Long still did not show mercy and ruthlessly stomped down! He’d hoped to draw out Li Hao’s potential, but perhaps he’d been too unrelenting. The young man did not have a chance to strike back—if this continued, their practice was over for the day.

It was at this moment that Li Hao suddenly opened his eyes wide. Sword intent brimmed in them! He’d been thinking back to the stroke he saw that day; the slash that severed heaven and earth was constantly on his mind. But now that he mused over it, he suddenly thought that perhaps... the focus of that stroke was on severing immortality and the self!

The swordsman had cut down his own unending life so he could create that move!

It was initiation without return, one stroke to crown oneself victorious. Either the enemy was vanquished or the swordsman perished. Each stroke was the final stand of his life!

Li Hao seemed to partially comprehend in the last possible second and reached a faint resonance with that stroke. The swordsman he’d seen had not considered the possibility of survival when he initiated his move. There’d been only one thought on his mind—slay the enemy!

As Liu Long’s foot loomed in his line of vision, the young man finally realized that he’d been focused on the wrong area. To sever heaven and earth was just a battle cry to that person. The true core of his intent lay in severing the self, destroying the path of retreat, and going down with the enemy!

The sword must see blood when it was deployed, whether his own or the enemy’s!

“Hup!” rang out a massive yell, a tiger’s roar. The aura of the earth trembled! A protective film appeared in front of Li Hao—such was the aura of earth. It immediately stopped Liu Long and halted his foot.

Li Hao waved his hand around—his palm like sword! This sword carried with it the conviction of mutual destruction with his enemy. There would be no retreat or surrender!

Killing intent flooded the basement, a chilling sensation felt by even Liu Yan and Yun Yao hiding in the back. The arctic tinge made their scalps crawl with numbness.

The young man’s palm split open, unable to endure his killing intent, but he didn’t care! Either his enemy died or he would stand no longer!

“Kill!”

Bam!

A huge collision rang out when the stroke slammed into Liu Long’s foot, fracturing his bones. Visible shock in his eyes, the man swiftly backed away. The stroke carried such heavy killing intent it was like the swordsman wanted to go down with his enemy!

Liu Long grit his teeth against the pain and punched outward. Li Hao remained firmly in place and neither evaded nor dodged the blow. There was no retreat for his sword! It either ended the enemy or was his downfall!

He slapped his left hand against the floor to prop himself up, flinging his right hand forward as a sword again.

Bam!

Another massive collision rocked the area as the stroke cut through Liu Long’s wave. Li Hao’s hand slammed down like a sword, cutting into Liu Long’s fist with a wet thwack and spraying blood everywhere. The young man, however, did not deviate from his original intention and switched direction, sending his hand at Liu Long’s head!

The man roared and propelled another giant wave through the premises. He shouted consecutively, layering waves and internal force upon each other. His life was under threat! Liu Long could bear it no longer and ceased holding back on the Nine Forged Force.

Boom!

The tremendous method crashed into Li Hao and deformed his palm, twisting it until it snapped. Liu Long raised a foot and connected solidly with the young man, sending the latter flying. The director didn’t follow up his attack, choosing to touch his throat instead. His hand came back with blood! His throat had suffered a flesh wound!

It was Li Hao’s sword intent!

Liu Long looked at himself with a complicated gaze, sorrow welling up from his heart. This was another day of injuries. His throat was bleeding, his hand and foot were almost broken... Not even a Dominator could be tormented like this!

This time, Li Hao remained prone on the floor for a very long time. It was his turn to die after the sword stroke with his entire strength failed to kill the enemy. Thankfully, Liu Long didn’t intend to actually kill him.

However, it still took almost eight minutes before the young man could slowly struggle back up with a pale face. He’d suffered grave wounds even with the aid of sword energy.

“Chief...” Li Hao suddenly smiled at Liu Long. “I... seem to be able to deploy the sword at will now!”

Liu Long inclined his head. “You have completed your consolidation of internal force. I’m more curious about how you suddenly erupted in that moment. Did you think of something?”

“I need to sever the self!” Li Hao nodded.

Sever the self?

Liu Long turned over the response in his mouth and abruptly frowned. “This sword technique and method are too brutal! I’d thought it was exquisite before and just accompanied with too much killing intent. But your comprehension plainly indicates that this is a move that must be fed blood when it is utilized!”

This blood could stem from either the enemy or the wielder. Liu Long abruptly understood that Yuan Shuo had not invented this!

“The inventor must be a fanatic swordsman! He kills with every move he makes or ends himself instead! He kills for the sake of killing...”

“Teacher says that the moment martial dao and the supernatural domain appeared, it was for killing!” Li Hao smiled. “So I rather think that this stroke demonstrates that admirably.”

“You...” Liu Long wanted to say something, but sighed wordlessly without saying anything else. Indeed, whether it was martial dao or the supernatural, they both focused on killing. However, there was also defense, withdrawal, and fleeing as possibilities as well...

Li Hao’s stroke truly only focused on killing. There was nothing else to be found within it.

“Your move is very strong!” the director complimented it highly. “My throat might’ve really been slit if I didn’t bring out the Nine Forged Force just now!”

He utilized his entire aura, but had still almost died.

Slightly embarrassed, Li Hao smiled bashfully. Liu Long nearly scowled. Don’t smile like that! Bah, that’s disgusting!

“You’re heavily injured, chief. I don’t need to spar anymore now that I've consolidated my internal force with sword intent. Come with me to my teacher’s so he can look after you. We don’t want any aftereffects to result from your wounds!”

Liu Long rolled his eyes. Your teacher? Forget about that! I’m not an idiot after all of these days! He’d known a long time ago that any special healing method was likely from Li Hao—including the energy he’d used to break through. The young man’s fast recovery from all of his injuries possibly had to do with the sword that he kept on him. How would Liu Long still be oblivious at this stage?

Of course, knowing was one thing. Liu Long did not intend to expose the young man. It was enough to know, there was no need to bring it out in the open and portray himself as smarter than others.

“Shaping your internal force into a sword and consolidating your sword intent... You’re really something, Li Hao!” Liu Long complimented again. “If this was twenty years ago, you’d be able to earn a title of Sword King or something similar in the martial world of Silver Moon! My father was one of the Three Spears, your teacher was king of the Five Styles. Your current accomplishments rival them...”

It was incredible. The young man, however, shook his head.

“I’m far from it! Chief, a reputation is earned from fights and battles. It’s not awarded just because I reach that cultivation level.”

He himself knew that there was quite a gap between him and the greats of yore. What did he lack?

True slaughter!

His teacher and those peers had forged their accomplishments step by step. Li Hao just benefited from a higher starting point. The excavation to come was when he would truly grow and develop.

Accomplishing the consolidation of his internal force meant that he’d completed all of the training available at the Sunderer level. From now on, he could focus on preparing to advance to Dominator. It was only now that he truly sensed the strength of being a Sunderer—he was finally a peak Sunderer!

While he technically counted as one when they were in the mines, that condition was a far cry from what he commanded today. The most apparent difference was that he could easily direct his internal force wherever he’d like. All of his force traveled wherever he pointed.

This was most likely one of the greatest trademarks of peak Sunderer.

......

Li Hao no longer practiced with Liu Long after reaching perfection. He brought Liu Long to his teacher so that the injuries accumulated over these days could be addressed. Liu Long observed propriety and thanked Yuan Shuo, but he kept his eyes trained on Li Hao.

You sure can act, huh, kid!

Li Hao didn’t mind. One day’s acting was one day gained. He would give up the act only when there came a day in which he couldn’t keep it up anymore.

So long as I don’t feel awkward, the awkward ones are you guys. None of you are rude enough to expose me.