Star Gate

Hong Tu was rather conflicted about taking the bead, but Li Hao grew stronger the longer the fight dragged on. It was more than apparent that great troubles would develop if he didn’t kill the young man as soon as possible.

Hong Tu grit his teeth. It was him either way, so what was the difference? He swallowed the bead!

He’d just return to how he was before. Perhaps Revered White and the rest would actually be happier for it; they’d think that the real young lord was back. Hong Tu laughed at himself—these guys probably all thought of him as less than his previous self, didn’t they?

Regardless, he would be confident of killing Li Hao after swallowing the bead. The young man was the most irritating person alive!

“Aw, screw you for not following the rules!” Having been casually aloof up to this point, Li Hao nursed budding irritation. I’m fighting you man-to-man here, but you keep cheating and now you bring out a bead with a Saint’s pressure emanating from it! It’s so damned obvious how dangerous that thing is!

This guy didn’t conduct himself according to what was expected! On the other hand, Li Hao was used to himself being the one cheating—not having his opponents cheat. Was it worthy of respect to hail from a big family? Who was Hong Tu looking down on, huh?

As Hong Tu paused to wonder what Li Hao might do in response, items that looked like small bombs appeared in the young man’s hands. The tattered golden armor swiftly reappeared over Li Hao’s body and six supernatural characters enveloped him, erupting with six auras at the same time!

He wasn’t activating his equipment to go on the offensive, but to defend himself. The mirror fragments materialized as well and blocked his entire body.

Hong Tu’s expression shifted slightly as he roared, “What are you doing?! You madman, this area is sealed off! The force from the energy bombs will kill us both!”

Indeed, energy bombs. Standard issue military supplies. Li Hao had twelve hundred of them and took out one hundred. These bombs were used to take down cities. Each of them could erupt with the full force of a six element Arcanus. Just one bomb alone wasn’t much, but hundreds of them would put the blast beyond seven elements.

“We’re fighting with swords, but you want to cheat.” Li Hao gnashed his teeth. “We bring out our treasures, but you still cheat. In that case, let’s go with something more exciting!”

Li Hao ignited one of the bombs before Hong Tu had a chance to digest the bead. KABOOM! The massive explosion ripped through the world.

BOOM! Aftershocks churned through everything in the great hall, obliterating everything in its path. Only Stellaris and the mirror remained; everything else was decimated. Explosions rang continuously!

The mirror fragments outside Li Hao’s body were obliterated and the six supernatural characters shattered. The young man swallowed large quantities of Water of Life, but was still hard pressed to defend against the blast’s might. His flesh and blood recovered, vanished, recovered, and vanished again…

Hong Tu screeched and wanted to summon the mirror back to him, but Stellaris prevented the treasure from moving. He set his jaw and had to spit out the bead. It immediately transformed into a shield that was blown to bits, but quickly recovered.

Immense mental strength ran together with the aftershocks of the energy bomb and cancelled each other out. Hong Tu didn’t know whether to be happy or sad. There was no hope of returning to his old self anymore; Li Hao had also just blown up the rest of his aces.

What a crazy person! Didn’t he know that continuing in this vein would just lead to a pyrrhic victory? Not to mention, Li Hao would be worse off for it. Hong Tu looked across the way to see Li Hao’s flesh vaporize again. There was no blood left for him to spray after he recovered right after that.

His newly formed body was ripped apart once more, weakening him each time it was torn to pieces. Some crumbling supernatural characters struggled to hang on; a battered tiger protected them and barely managed to keep Li Hao from being completely eradicated!

……

In the outside world.

Explosions rang without end as the great hall shook. While the shockwaves were contained within the hall, they wobbled the structure so much that it rose from the roots and tumbled all over the ancient city!

Those battling outside stared, openmouthed at the structural carnage. What was this supposed to mean?

“Why does it feel like a mine’s exploded…” murmured Director General Wang as he stared dumbly at the cartwheeling hall. Indeed, that’s what it felt like, but he knew it was most likely energy bombs.

Those items exploded with quite a force. At least eighty must have gone off to create such a disturbance and move the great hall treasure to this level. The director general knew that Li Hao had just received a large quantity of this bomb a few days ago at Battle Heaven. This was a strategic weapon given to newly formed divisions.

Suppressed by its opponents all this time, the white tree swayed with dismay at the development.

“Young lord…” This incredible force would give Hong Tu a very difficult time even if it was Li Hao committing suicide. Hong Tu was not yet at his peak, but this hall was the headquarters of the Wind and Cloud Pavilion back in the day. He was the only one who could open it.

It took him some time to open it now because he was no longer that Hong Tu. His old treasures and weapons weren’t a perfect match for him anymore. When Li Hao entered the hall with him, he’d spoken at length about random topics to stall for a bit of time and fully seal off the hall.

Would Hong Tu have time to open it now?

……

Inside the hall.

Explosions kept reverberating! After a long while, Hong Tu coughed up blood. The mental strength outside his body was almost completely gone. The man looked around blankly. That bastard Li Hao! He didn’t know if he should thank or hate the young man.

Li Hao had ruined his plans again!

Thankfully, Hong Tu himself wasn’t heavily injured. His organs were just a little damaged after the reverberations. There was no sign of Li Hao to be seen across from him.

Was the young man dead?

Such formidable aftershocks weren’t worth mentioning to a Hong Tu in prime condition. However, both of them were only at seven element Arcanus and this was a completely sealed off area. There was no place to hide from the explosions. Therefore… was Li Hao… dead?

Hong Tu would be dead himself if it wasn’t for Saint-level mental strength protecting him. Although Li Hao had also utilized weapons, treasures, and supernatural characters to protect him, the mirror fragments were on the ground. There wasn’t a hint of light in them and neither did they move anymore.

There seemed to be some pieces left of the supernatural characters. So… Li Hao had blown himself to pieces.

“Idiot!” Hong Tu suddenly sneered. He knew this was to be courting death, but the madman wanted to give it a try. So what if he managed to stop his opponent?

Regardless, it seemed that he needed to thank Li Hao for helping him give up the notion. As he watched, a chill breeze brushed past. Wind? This place was airtight, so there was a place for the wind to enter.

Another gust of wind blew by as Hong Tu wondered about this aberration, grazing bloody marks on his cheeks. Endless energy gathered in the void to become another supernatural character—wind!

The character spontaneously grew bigger in the wind and turned into Li Hao. A Li Hao without wearing anything over his body!

The young man swayed, ready to shatter at any time. Water of Life rushed into him to strengthen his fragile form. He smiled weakly, a cocky gaze still in his eyes. “Hong Tu, I’m alive and well. I was wondering how to comprehend the existence of wind before… but thanks to you, I thought of the principle that the wind is everywhere! An explosion is wind, the air is wind, all happenings can become the wind…”

Hong Tu stared frigidly at him! How was the young man still alive?? Although he looked incomparably frail, he was indeed still alive.

“Li Hao!” Hong Tu ground his teeth. “Is this the basis of your confidence?”

What were these characters? Why could they reform after being broken? Why could new ones be born?

Li Hao was whiter than a sheet and tottered over to his opponent with a radiant smile on his face. “My basis isn’t as strong as yours. You can rely on your ancestors, but mine didn’t leave anything to me. I can only rely on myself!

“But, the energy bombs are highly effective. Do you want some more?” Li Hao smiled ruefully when he considered how they were both seven elements. He had to pull out all stops and nearly kill himself in the process. This Hong Tu was a member of New Martial aristocracy alright! Just showing one of his aces resulted in Li Hao’s near time.

Life was different when one had wealthy family seniors! His only left him the gluttonous Stellaris and the key was, the sword was so trash. It only knew how to eat. Just look at his opponent! First it was a mirror, then a bead, then countless mysterious power and Water of Life…

Compared to Hong Tu, Li Hao suddenly realized how poor he was! Despite his generous ways before, he suffered in abject poverty! Was this the life of rich second-generations? Li Hao was so envious!

Who would want to fight for their own gains if the hardships of life didn’t demand it from them? If his forefathers were still alive, they could feed him delicious food and drink everyday. There was no need to scrabble for survival by himself!

It was so lovely being a rich or martial second generation. It was also said that his forefather was very poor—perhaps Li Hao would have to work for a living even if his forefather was still alive? That was a distinct possibility!

Random thoughts bubbled in Li Hao’s mind as he looked at his body—it was extraordinarily weak, so weak that there only seemed to be a layer of skin left on it. He was covered by skin fashioned out of the Water of Life. It was a sign that his physical body was rather weak. Otherwise, even just recovering skin would be difficult enough.

The stronger one’s body was, the tougher it was to recover. Li Hao was well aware of this theory. The weaker one was, the easier it was to recover. At the very least, he wouldn’t need indestructible matter.

“Do you really have a death wish, Li Hao?!” Hong Tu demanded with an unpleasant expression on his face. “That was a fluke! If you do that again, I’ll still survive despite having a hard time of things. But you… might not have any chances anymore!”

He could tell that Li Hao was just skin and bones, that the young man had nearly depleted his stores of energy. His mirror fragments were devoid of energy and his golden armor was nearly broken. What could Li Hao bring to bear to continue the fight? Going down together in a blaze of glory?