At the Yuan residence.
Li Hao and Yuan Shuo stared wide-eyed at the two pills before them. Indeed, these items had been refined into the shape of medicinal pills.
Even Yuan Shuo could not hide his excitement. "I didn't expect Hou Xiaochen to actually send such treasures. These must have been extracted after he killed powerful Red Moon experts. Origin God Armaments can extract them... I wonder if my stone saber can do the same."
He cared far more about this.
Originally, he had thought only Li Hao was capable of doing so. Even if Yuan Shuo had entertained some ideas of hunting down Red Moon's people to seize their Red Shadows, the core problem remained that he could neither see nor touch them.
How could he extract anything?
Yet if Hou Xiaochen could do it, why couldn't he?
Wasn't his stone saber an Origin God Armament as well?
Yuan Shuo was quite confident it was. If it truly was an Origin God Armament, it had to possess some special property capable of achieving the same extraction.
With that realization, his mind raced with possibilities.
He wanted to take action!
Against whom?
Red Moon, of course.
Previously, he hadn't dwelled much on this idea. He couldn't defeat Ying Hongyue anyway, making petty revenge pointless and dangerous, as it would easily draw their attention.
But what if killing their people allowed him to extract Red Moon power?
That was a priceless treasure for a martial master.
Yuan Shuo was thrilled not just by obtaining this Blood God Seed, but because teaching a man to fish was far better than giving him a fish. What he wanted most was to learn Hou Xiaochen's method of extracting Red Moon energy.
Once he possessed the technique, he could bleed Red Moon dry—provided he stayed alive and wasn't hunted to death by their top experts.
"No... I must find an opportunity to ask Hou Xiaochen!"
Yuan Shuo rarely got worked up, but now his excitement proved difficult to suppress. "Once I figure it out, whenever the mood strikes, I can go on a sweep. We might strike it rich! Combined with sword energy, I think you'll reach Thousand-Battler in no time."
Li Hao grinned, completely unable to hold back his laughter.
"Teacher, it feels like this Solar Radiance Blood God Seed is only slightly weaker than that large Red Shadow from last time. Could that earlier Red Shadow not have been at Three Sols?"
"Probably not. That Duan Tian was only in early Three Sols, so the Red Shadow he carried was likely at peak Solar Radiance."
Back then, Yuan Shuo had absorbed most of the peak Solar Radiance shadow's power while Li Hao took a smaller portion, using the opportunity to step into early Hundred-Breaker.
This time, Yuan Shuo planned to let Li Hao absorb the entire Solar Radiance pill. Li Hao should have no trouble completing the exterior projection of inner force through his torso. As for whether he could project inner force from his head, that remained uncertain and slightly dangerous.
Still, it shouldn't fall far short.
By that time, having also grasped the embryo of force, Li Hao would be at the perfection of Hundred-Breaker.
Reaching Thousand-Battler would then only require a deeper comprehension of force for a smooth breakthrough.
Having paved the path and mapped out the future for his closed-door disciple, Yuan Shuo felt all the more that he couldn't linger here for long. He had to leave to divert everyone's attention away from Silver City.
"We go to the ruins tonight!"
Yuan Shuo made his decision, lowering his voice. "We need to move quickly. If we can't open it this time, we'll wait. I'll find a way to conceal the entrance, and you'll act as though it doesn't exist. Once we have enough strength, we can explore it again."
From his brief glimpse earlier, he knew that ruin was definitely extraordinary.
Take that door, for instance. He had tested it with a punch, and it hadn't budged in the slightest.
If Li Hao's sword and his own saber failed to open it this time, they would have no choice but to bide their time.
"Understood!"
Li Hao nodded, his eyes fixed on the red pill before him, his anticipation mounting.
Last time, unable to digest the energy on his own, he had engaged in dual cultivation with his teacher, who absorbed a large portion. This time, his teacher had his own Three Sols pill, leaving Li Hao to enjoy this one entirely alone. The results might exceed his wildest expectations.
Neither master nor disciple spoke further.
Both were wrapped in their own thoughts, daydreaming of the wonderful prospects ahead.
They waited for nightfall to visit the ruins.
Hao Lianchuan had already departed. Silver City was once again their domain; even if they stirred up some minor commotion, they could handle it.
...
Dusk gradually deepened into darkness.
By past nine in the evening, night had thoroughly fallen.
At the Yuan residence.
The pair didn't take a car this time, opting to travel on foot.
Beneath the cover of darkness, two figures bounded and leaped like apes. Incredibly swift and light on their feet, they made virtually no sound as they dashed through the night, clad in black.
Although Yuan Shuo's injuries had not fully healed, his speed remained far beyond Li Hao's.
Initially, Li Hao tried to keep pace using the Ape Art, but he continually lagged behind.
Once they cleared the city boundaries, Li Hao stopped relying on the Ape Art. Planting his feet firmly on the ground, he let a faint aura of force radiate outward, drawing upon the power of the earth to deepen his comprehension of the earth's force.
The previous fusion of his vital blood with force had served as another elevation for him.
His grasp of force had grown even deeper!
Now, sprinting across the ground, he relished the thrill of solid earth beneath his feet, accelerating steadily as he dashed along.
Ahead, Yuan Shuo glanced back and quickened his pace, a smile gracing his face.
Wonderful!
The kid had actually developed an extraordinary comprehension of force instead of merely walking his teacher's path. That was not a bad thing; on the contrary, it filled Yuan Shuo with pride and gratification.
He was exceptionally strong himself and held his own force in high regard.
Yet that didn't mean he wanted Li Hao to walk the exact same path by adopting the Five Animals' force. As the pioneer of the Five Animals' force, Yuan Shuo had set a bar that Li Hao would find difficult to surpass, and that was not an outcome he wished to see.
He picked up speed. Behind him, Li Hao pondered as he ran.
Still not fast enough!
Having his feet firmly grounded was fine, but it still felt too slow.
Within the Five Animals Art, both the Ape Art and the Bird Art could boost speed, but Li Hao had rarely practiced the Deer Art.
Among the Five Animals, the Tiger and Bear excelled in offense, while the Ape and Bird specialized in evasion.
Only the Deer seemed middling.
It couldn't fly high like a bird, lacked the ape's agility, and possessed none of the tiger or bear's raw power.
The *New Book of Five Animals* stated that the Deer Art emphasized lightness.
Yet could it truly be lighter than a bird?
At this moment, thoughts raced through Li Hao's mind.
He recalled his teacher's words: within the mountain forests, apes were agile;
in the open sky, birds flew untethered;
yet across the plains, the deer reigned supreme. Even fierce tigers and leopards found hunting deer exceedingly difficult, for the deer's lightness was no empty boast—in an instantaneous burst, a deer's speed could surpass that of top predators.
Furthermore, the core of the Deer Art lay in natural, expansive movement.
Its point of explosive power was not in the legs, but in the waist—a distinction that set it apart from the other animal arts.
Ordinarily, shouldn't explosive speed come from the legs?
No, the Deer Art's burst originated from the waist.
The core and waist exerted force to drive the legs.
Fascinating!
With these insights clicking into place, Li Hao executed the Deer Art he had long overlooked. Engaging his waist and abdomen, he pulled upward through his core, lightening his body.
Instantly, he felt weightless.
It felt just like when he had absorbed wind energy back then, making his entire body far more buoyant. Without any change to the strength of his legs, he could clearly feel himself moving much faster.
Like the wind, Li Hao dashed across the land.
In that instant, the vast expanse seemed to transform into his personal grassland. Moving faster and faster, Li Hao even felt the urge to let out a long howl to vent the restless energy pent up inside him.
Ever since his ties to the Eight Great Families were exposed, he had become the center of everyone's attention.
Yet that wasn't the life he wanted, nor did he enjoy being scrutinized.
He preferred living in quiet obscurity rather than enduring the limelight.
Rising and falling in rhythm like a buck, leaping and bounding across the terrain, Li Hao grew faster and faster.
Ahead, Yuan Shuo couldn't help glancing back once more, a look of surprise crossing his face.
What a kid!
He had thought Li Hao was only suited for the Ape Art, which was why he had focused primarily on teaching it. But seeing him now, it seemed Li Hao simply hadn't applied himself before; his execution of the Deer Art was remarkably adept.
He didn't look like a novice at all.
Yuan Shuo came to an abrupt halt. When Li Hao caught up, Yuan Shuo bent slightly at the waist, parted his legs, and chuckled softly. "Follow me!"
With those words, he vaulted forward like an elk across the plains, clearing a dozen meters in an effortless, supremely graceful leap.
Li Hao hastily watched his teacher, noting the subtle differences between their postures.
Adjusting his stance slightly, he quickly kept pace.
Under the starry sky, the elder and youth sprinted wildly across the wilderness, stripped of any urgency. Only a sense of lightness remained, to the point where they even forgot about the ruins.
"Ruins are merely external aids; a martial master must rely on himself!"
Though they urgently needed the ruins to elevate their strength, running across the wilderness like this was a form of cultivation in its own right.
Both Li Hao and Yuan Shuo understood that such an epiphany was well worth their time.
...
Up in the mining mountain.
Hu Hao startled awake. Leaping to his feet, he emerged from a mine shaft and gazed into the distance.
Chen Jian hurried after him, carrying a rocket launcher in his hands.
The two had been chatting just moments ago. Chen Jian had returned to the city during the morning meeting to gather rations and pick up his Blood God Seed, and he had been asking Hu Hao whether he should use it when Hu Hao suddenly sensed approaching visitors.
Far off in the dark, two black-clad figures tore up the mountain like nocturnal panthers with ferocious, blistering speed, startling even Hu Hao.
"Who is it?" he whispered.
Chen Jian turned grim. "I don't know. The boss didn't mention coming..."
It wasn't Liu Long.
Li Hao and Yuan Shuo had originally planned to give notice upon reaching the foot of the mountain, but they had completely forgotten in their exhilaration and were heading straight for them.
Hu Hao grabbed Chen Jian and took to the sky, cloaking themselves in the darkness.
Chen Jian looked down, his shock deepening with every passing second.
"Martial masters!" he murmured. These two were martial masters, not supernaturals.
Had one of them been slower, he might have suspected Li Hao and Yuan Shuo. But both moved at astonishing speeds, throwing off his judgment. In his impression, while Li Hao was fierce, he was undeniably a martial novice still in the Ten-Slayer realm.
And if the boss were coming, he would have notified them beforehand.
Who were these two?
Growing tense, Chen Jian tightened his grip on the rocket launcher, sorely tempted to fire a shot their way.
Just as his nerves flared, the two figures suddenly leaped like birds, taking flight and gliding through the air.
Chen Jian froze.
"The Five Animals Art!"
That was definitely the Five Animals Art!
That meant they had to belong to Yuan Shuo's lineage. Yuan Shuo might be one of them, but who was the other?
Kicking off the air, gliding, landing, and leaping once more...
Hu Hao, a supernatural who had never studied the martial path, found the display breathtakingly aesthetic. Natural and relaxed, it held not an ounce of clumsiness, exuding only a sublime harmony with nature.
Recognizing the Five Animals Art eased their tension slightly.
Yet both remained perplexed: who was the second person?
Yuan Shuo was likely present, but could the other be an older disciple of his?
Before Li Hao, Yuan Shuo had taken on other students who were now older, having been accepted years ago.
Only Li Hao remained in Silver City. Had one of those former disciples returned?
Mid-thought, the two figures below kicked off the ground and soared dozens of meters into the air, rising level with Hu Hao. Hu Hao caught sight of their faces; neither wore a mask, only black garments.
He froze... and nearly tumbled out of the sky!
It wasn't that his mental fortitude was fragile, but that the second person was actually Li Hao!
Chen Jian's jaw dropped so wide he nearly dropped the rocket launcher.
Li Hao!
He had been wracking his brain over which senior disciple this might be, only for it to be Li Hao.
Li Hao of the Ten-Slayer realm!
How was that possible?
"Li Hao..." Chen Jian muttered, completely dumbfounded.
Was that truly Li Hao?
Hu Hao was equally horrified. Li Hao was supposed to be a Ten-Slayer?
Hadn't they said Li Hao had only recently taken up the martial path?
What kind of Ten-Slayer was this? If all Ten-Slayers were like this, ordinary Hundred-Breakers wouldn't even be able to catch up to him with this speed alone!
Suspended in midair, Li Hao suddenly snapped back to his senses.
Catching their stunned gazes, he realized he had been far too conspicuous.
The run had simply felt too exhilarating and smooth. He had kept cycling through the Five Animals Art without thinking, forgetting that they had already arrived and that he was supposed to be merely a "Ten-Slayer" martial master.
How could a Ten-Slayer run so fast and jump so high?
In a flash, Li Hao dropped from midair.
Flipping like an ape on the way down, he landed with a soft thud, his foot sinking slightly into the earth as he stabilized himself without tumbling.
Yet he wondered if that looked too unnatural... Having fallen from such a height, ought he to take a tumble?
Then again, this was a dusty mining site; wouldn't rolling around on the filthy ground be unpleasant?
While he hesitated, Hu Hao descended with Chen Jian.
Chen Jian immediately blurted out, "Li Hao, you... how did you jump so high?"
Li Hao flashed a grin. "I broke through to Hundred-Breaker tonight!"
"Huh?"
Chen Jian stood frozen. Even he hadn't reached Hundred-Breaker, yet Li Hao already had.
Hu Hao, on the other hand, showed a look of understanding.
Li Hao must have advanced.
Otherwise, he couldn't possibly be that fast. Not only had he broken through, but his mastery of the Five Animals Art was also astonishingly refined—it was simply incredible.
Li Hao smiled. "Teacher supplied me with plenty of mysterious energy and guided me step by step, so I finally managed to break through."
"Congratulations..."
Beyond that, Chen Jian was entirely at a loss for words.
Beside them, Yuan Shuo walked over with a light chuckle. "Alright, your turn will come soon enough; everyone will have an opportunity. He stays by my side, so it's only natural his progress is slightly faster."
Well, with Yuan Shuo backing the claim, they had no choice but to accept it.
"We're going in to take a look. Keep watch outside," Yuan Shuo instructed, and Chen Jian nodded hastily.
Hu Hao nodded slightly as well, unable to resist another glance at Li Hao.
Hundred-Breaker!
This nominal young senior brother had reportedly been an ordinary person just last month. In the blink of an eye, he had reached Hundred-Breaker, while Hu Hao remained in Lunar Nether—and merely at the peak of Crescent Moon, not yet at Half Moon.
Granted, he had obtained a substantial amount of mysterious energy this time, so reaching Half Moon shouldn't be an issue. Even so... strictly speaking, he and Li Hao were now in the same tier.
A sudden wave of inferiority washed over him.
Li Hao offered an innocent smile. "Brother Hu, Brother Chen, I'll head inside to look around. If there's anything useful for everyone, I'll share it once we're done..."
Chen Jian chuckled simply, not saying anything.
Hu Hao exhaled softly. "Don't worry about it. It belongs to you anyway. We've already received generous compensation. Besides... we can be considered fellow disciples now..."
Li Hao blinked. Fellow disciples?
He hadn't been present when Yuan Shuo made that declaration.
Yuan Shuo said calmly, "I took Wang Ming and the other two as nominal disciples."
"Ah?"
Now it was Li Hao's turn to be astonished. When had that happened?
"We'll discuss that later!"
Yuan Shuo gave him no room to pry further, striding directly forward.
Li Hao could only offer an apologetic smile, murmuring, "We'll chat later, then!"
The two watched as Li Hao and Yuan Shuo vanished into the mine shaft. Hu Hao remained silent, while Chen Jian couldn't resist whispering, "Brother Hu, do you think... it's better to be a martial master, or a supernatural?"
The supernatural path he had yearned for suddenly didn't seem so glamorous.
Hu Hao was speechless. *I'm a supernatural, you're a martial master, and you're asking me?*
"I used to think martial masters advanced very slowly, but... look at Li Hao."
Hu Hao smiled wryly. "Can he... can he really be treated as the norm? It depends on your own choice. I'm not familiar with the martial path, so it's hard to compare."
Chen Jian sighed inwardly, suddenly wondering if he had been foolish to fixate solely on becoming a supernatural.
Perhaps he should just consume that Blood God Seed and break through to Hundred-Breaker instead?
...
Meanwhile.
Li Hao followed Yuan Shuo through the winding turns of the mine shaft. Before long, they arrived before an iron door, surrounded by shattered fragments that resembled ice crystals.
"This door?" Was it special?
His teacher had mentioned a door was here.
"Where are your eyes looking? They made this themselves to keep intruders out. It used to be embedded with ice crystals to prevent the supernatural aura from leaking."
Yuan Shuo pushed the iron door open, revealing an expansive cavern illuminated by crystal lamps.
A cavern inside a mining mountain?
That was quite an unusual sight.
Scattered living supplies lay around, along with fallen rocks and shards of ice crystals—clearly the result of the earlier artillery bombardment shaking the area.
Stepping inside, Li Hao sensed a faint hum of energy.
Just as his teacher had said, it felt like a mixture of sword and saber energy.
"There's nothing good left here; everything was stripped away, and any treasures were long since consumed by Qiao Feilong's group."
Having visited once before, Yuan Shuo led the way with familiar ease.
The cavern was both vast and deep.
It wasn't particularly rugged, indicating the Qiao family had developed it for some time.
Everyday necessities were present. Li Hao even spotted toiletries and cookware. Clearly, those three Solar Radiance experts had regularly cooked meals here. They certainly were diligent; Li Hao didn't even cook for himself.
After walking along the cavern for a while, carvings began to appear on the rock walls.
Li Hao glanced over them. They seemed unremarkable—simple reliefs, somewhat weathered and blurred, likely carved by ancients.
Yet after a few more steps, Li Hao came to a halt.
Sensing him stop, Yuan Shuo looked back. "It's further ahead!"
"No..."
"Teacher, come look at this."
Yuan Shuo frowned and walked over, following Li Hao's gaze toward the wall. It was a faded stone carving.
A figure was etched into the stone, indistinct and blurred.
The figure held a sword.
Though not very clear, the weapon was slender, almost certainly a sword.
The figure stood before a doorway, seemingly about to step through, with their head turned back to look behind them.
Yuan Shuo studied it for a moment, unable to glean much.
"A person entering a door carrying a sword. What of it?"
He looked at Li Hao. "You think it's connected to your sword?"
Li Hao nodded slightly. "Yes, I have that feeling."
"It's just an ordinary carving, already worn down. Let's keep moving; we might find more ahead."
Li Hao said no more, following his teacher onward.
...
After walking a bit longer, they entered an entirely different space: a vast, empty underground hall.
The hall was utterly stripped bare, likely looted clean by the Qiao family.
The first thing that caught the eye was a stone door.
Indeed, it appeared to be a solid stone door standing prominently at the far end of the hall.
It stood erected there, and the energy Li Hao and his teacher had felt was radiating directly from it.
"Be careful!" Yuan Shuo warned. "They set up camp here most likely to open this stone door. Qiao Feilong's wife turning into that monstrosity might also be related to it."
Faint scorch marks from explosives and signs of fire could be seen on the ground.
Evidently, they had repeatedly tried to force the door open.
Yuan Shuo stepped forward, inspected it closely, and said, "Come here."
Li Hao hurried up and immediately noticed something peculiar.
There was a small indentation on the stone door.
"A mechanism?" Li Hao asked with interest. "Could inserting my family's sword open this door?"
"Hard to say."
Yuan Shuo examined it for a moment before answering, "We can test it... but first, let's absorb the sword energy to heal our bodies and refine our Blood God Seeds. That way, if something unexpected happens, we won't be caught unprepared."
He feared that inserting an item might trigger an unforeseen disaster.
That would spell serious trouble.
Since energy was currently leaking out, his stone saber was already stirring restlessly, as was Li Hao's sword. They might as well heal first.
"Alright!"
Without further ado, Li Hao stepped back with Yuan Shuo, seating themselves cross-legged a safe distance from the stone door.
Here, the small sword at his chest grew remarkably active.
Circulating the Five Animals Breathing Art, Li Hao's eyes lit up. Even without relying on the sword, he could draw in a strand of energy himself—though it felt slightly different from the sword's pure energy.
Probing it, Li Hao's expression shifted. "Teacher, this seems to be a blend of several energies, not pure sword energy."
"Mm."
Yuan Shuo nodded. "I feel it too. There's saber energy mixed in. It might be a composite produced by the Eight Great Families' energies. For now, our primary focus is absorbing sword energy to heal..."
Looking at Li Hao, he added, "Place your sword between us. I can feel the stone saber drawing in and filtering out the saber energy; the sword should do the same for sword energy. While the blended energy feels potent, it isn't suited for targeted healing."
Li Hao complied, setting the small sword down between them. The miniature blade hummed softly, drawing in that distinct energy.
Instantly, the surrounding concentration of sword energy surged.
After a moment's thought, Yuan Shuo set his stone saber aside, placing it further away so its saber energy wouldn't interfere with them.
Next, the pair began circulating the Five Animals Breathing Art.
Yuan Shuo focused on treating his wounds. Li Hao's injuries weren't severe to begin with, and after absorbing ample sword energy, the damage caused by the previous night's exertion was largely mended.
As he cultivated, Yuan Shuo instructed, "You can take that Solar Radiance Blood God Seed now. Channel the Five Animals Breathing Art and use the sword energy here to help digest it. If nothing else, these energies alone make the trip well worth it!"
"Understood."
Li Hao didn't hesitate, producing the Blood God Seed and swallowing it in a single gulp.
The instant it went down, his blood began to boil.
In that split second, he seemed to reenter the state he had experienced before.
Li Hao's vision blurred as his blood seethed.
This had never happened before, except when that Red Shadow invaded his body last time. Looking upward, his gaze seemed to penetrate the stone ceiling, and once again, he beheld that colossal Eight Trigrams diagram.
It spanned the entirety of Silver City!
Having prepared himself this time, Li Hao felt no panic, only curiosity. What on earth was this Eight Trigrams diagram?
He inspected it carefully: eight distinct lines.
One of them connected directly to him.
The other seven converged toward a single distant direction, just as before—evidently beyond Silver City.
Li Hao widened his eyes, straining to see more clearly.
What did these Eight Trigrams signify?
Faintly, he felt as though he caught a glimpse of something.
It looked like a starry sky, yet not quite... Blinking hard, he seemed to spot a figure at the center of the diagram... a person?
Li Hao froze. Was he seeing things?
Looking closer, the silhouette that had appeared just moments ago was gone.
Li Hao's heart gave a slight thump. Pondering for a moment, he began tracing the red bloodline above his head, following it upward to see what his line corresponded to.
Straining his vision, he genuinely caught sight of something extraordinary.
At the end of the red line, he saw another figure... a silhouette!
"Uh..."
Li Hao gasped. This silhouette bore an uncanny resemblance to the carving he had seen earlier.
It was a person bearing a sword!
One person, one sword.
The instant Li Hao laid eyes on the figure, it seemed to sense his gaze and looked down abruptly. What kind of gaze was that?
Arrogant?
Invincible?
Or looking down upon all living creation?
*"Sword: Qian Heaven Quells Demons!"*
In that moment, a voice seemed to thunder across Li Hao's mind.
The next instant, Li Hao's eyes burned crimson as though pierced by an invisible needle. In his blurred vision, he faintly saw a figure wielding a sword, cleaving the heavens with a single strike!
*"I have a sword that can sever longevity!"*
*"All living beings as the sword—severing heaven, severing earth, severing self!"*
*Boom!*
In that fraction of a second, Li Hao felt as if his head had exploded.
He saw it... He saw that person slash through the firmament, shattering the starry sky with one strike.
He vaguely perceived the heavens collapsing and the stars crumbling beneath that singular blade...
Two streaks of bloody tears abruptly spilled from his eyes.
A swordsman!
That was a supreme swordsman.
*Pfft!*
A mouthful of fresh blood sprayed from his lips, instantly unleashing a terrifyingly sharp burst of sword qi. Yuan Shuo, who was in the middle of healing, instinctively raised a hand to block the spray...
*Squelch!*
The blood shot straight through his palm, causing Yuan Shuo's face to pale drastically!
What?
A mouthful of blood—Li Hao's blood, no less—had actually pierced through his force, shattered his spirit intent, and drilled a clean hole through his hand!
"Li Hao!"
Casting everything else aside, Yuan Shuo erupted with power and lunged forward to grab him!
What had happened?
Li Hao opened his dazed eyes, his vision swimming in agony as everything blurred before him.
Frail and coughing in pain, he wheezed, "Teacher... I saw... I saw someone holding a sword, cleaving the heavens and shattering the starry sky..."
"Nonsense..."
Yuan Shuo started to scold him, but froze in horror. "Where did you see that?"
"In the sky!"
Li Hao pointed upward, speaking through agonizing pain. "Terrifying! So terrifying that... I feel as though even across billions of miles, a single wisp of their sword qi could kill me from afar—no, kill everyone!"
It was simply too terrifying!
In that instant, even though he had seen the figure, he could distinctly tell they were unimaginably far away.
It had merely been a sight, not a genuine encounter—barely even a sight, just a faint lingering impression... Yet even so, that single strike had nearly claimed his life.
Sword intent!
In that moment, he truly understood what sword intent meant.
Beneath them, the small sword placed in their midst suddenly began to vibrate faintly, emitting a subtle wisp of sword qi. Li Hao's sprayed blood had splashed across the blade.
Blood imbued with sword qi!
Yuan Shuo's expression turned exceedingly grave as he looked up, seeing nothing above.
He asked in a deep voice, "Was there anything else?"
"There was also... that Eight Trigrams diagram... It seems to correspond to certain people, and there appeared to be someone at the center as well..."
Li Hao coughed up more blood. "That person also said his sword severs heaven, severs earth, and severs longevity..."
At this moment, Li Hao felt utterly bewildered. "Teacher... can a person really cleave the sky with a sword like that? Or was it just an illusion?"
Against a strike like that, Yuan Shuo, Three Sols—everything would be utterly wiped out in a casual sweep.
It was a strike beyond imagination!
Yuan Shuo fell silent for a long time before speaking softly. "I don't know. Perhaps in the era of ancient civilization, such beings truly existed. Furthermore, if you're certain of what you saw, that person... might be an ancestor of your Li family."
"An ancestor?"
Li Hao stared blankly, then let out a bitter laugh. "That can't be! If my ancestor was that powerful, my family would have become a regional hegemon long ago—no, a global hegemon! Would we end up like this?"
Of course, no one could say for sure.
Yet that staggering might was now deeply engraved into his soul.
That one sword strike was something he would never forget.
He didn't know what the figure was striking at, only that the single slash tore through everything. No matter how formidable the foe, they surely would have perished beneath it.
Yuan Shuo pressed no further on the matter, asking instead, "How do you feel?"
"Miserable..."
Pausing, Li Hao added, "Though the Blood God Seed's power seems to have become much purer, and I'm absorbing it now."
With that, Li Hao paused and looked at his hands, remarking in surprise, "Teacher, do you think my skin looks a bit fairer?"
Yuan Shuo instinctively looked over, drawing in a sharp breath.
"It isn't fairer; it's purified! That sword qi just now... no, perhaps not sword qi, but the sword intent transmitted across the void—it purified your constitution."
What kind of power was this?
The master and disciple exchanged stunned glances, struck speechless.
Yuan Shuo then looked at his palm, where the bloody puncture wound was slowly closing.
Even with the aid of sword energy, the healing progressed sluggishly.
"Teacher, let me help heal you..."
"No!"
Yuan Shuo shook his head, a fanatical gleam suddenly igniting in his eyes. "I want to keep this scar, this hole!"
He sounded almost euphoric. "Nothing can withstand it! What kind of power is this? It feels even stronger than saber energy! Merely blood tainted by a wisp of sword intent managed to pierce straight through my hand, straight through everything I had... Had that hit my head just now, I would be dead."
A mighty warrior who had slain a Three Sols expert, nearly killed by a mouthful of spat blood... If he had died like that, there would be nowhere to voice his grievances.
It was terrifying!
Yet that terror fueled his excitement.
"Li Hao, perhaps... this is our greatest opportunity, our path forward!"
He had suddenly found a goal, a driving purpose.
Yes, this was the direction to strive toward.
"A sword to cleave the firmament, a sword to sever the vast skies..."
He stared fixedly at his hand, deliberately halting the wound's closure to quietly experience that trace of sword qi. In reality, there was nothing physical left, for there had been no actual sword qi to begin with—only Li Hao's spiritual perception.
Incredible!
After coughing up several mouthfuls of blood, Li Hao made a sudden discovery: he could now project inner force through his torso.
He felt an odd sensation. Had he reached the middle stage of Hundred-Breaker?
Just like that?
Naturally, in this moment, middle Hundred-Breaker felt entirely insignificant.
Compared to his teacher, he was weak.
Compared to that transcendent figure, he wasn't even on the level of an infant.
Right now, Three Sols and Thousand-Battler seemed utterly trivial compared to the majesty he had witnessed.
He mused that if he ever attained such power, what reason would he have to fear Red Moon?
He could simply cleave them to death with a single strike!
A moment later, Li Hao gasped. "Teacher!"
"Hm?"
"Did my sword get bigger?"
Yuan Shuo hastily looked down. Sure enough, the miniature sword on the ground, which had originally been the length of a finger, was now roughly the length of a chopstick.
It really had grown!
"It absorbed some blood..."
He looked sharply at Li Hao. "Your blood just now carried something special, which seems to have been absorbed by this thing, perhaps undoing a layer of its seal. Tell me, could this sword be the very weapon wielded by that person?"
Li Hao shook his head; there was simply no way to tell.
He had only seen a blaze of sword light, completely unable to discern the blade's true form.
Still, the sword growing larger seemed like a good thing. Though at the length of a chopstick, it would be harder to conceal, and carrying it openly was inconvenient—which posed a bit of a dilemma.
He picked up the small sword and casually stabbed it downward... Without a sound, it slid effortlessly through the solid stone floor.
Both master and disciple froze in awe once again.
So sharp!
It hadn't radiated any perceptible sharpness, yet it pierced stone as easily as butter, meeting zero resistance.
For a time, the entire hall fell dead silent.
Yuan Shuo realized that the secrets of Silver City and the Eight Great Families were likely far beyond anyone's imagination.
Chapter 67