Dusk had fallen in Silver Moon, but it was very bright where he stood. Silver Moonâs roads were pitted and marked with potholes, but the roads here were broad and straight...
On the other hand, it wasnât all good! Li Hao saw tattered structures along his wayâa village by the sea had burned down. Sounds of crying traveled into his ears and Li Hao steered Panther closer for a listen. The language was the same, but the accent was slightly different.
âThat damned Black Mountain Brigand... has taken all of our food at this time of the year! Arenât they just forcing us to die?â
âDad, letâs ask the Sacred White Army for shelter!â
âWhat bullshit Sacred White Army! Theyâre also rebels and bandits...â
âDad, Skystar Dynasty is done! War is upon us! Donât you see that itâs chaos everywhere in the world? Whether itâs the Black Mountain Brigand, Whirlwind Bandits, Starlight Pirates... Life is impossible these days! Those supernaturals and martial masters bully everyone, thereâs no way to survive!
âSo we rebel! The Sacred White Army will feed us at least. We canât plant again in this season and our rations have been taken. The government is the same as the bandits... What are we waiting for if we donât rebel? Death?â
A noisy din echoed in Li Haoâs ears as he heard someone say, âThe Black Mountain Brigand is cruel and vicious. Since when did they just take things, burn the village, and leave without killing anyone? I say that itâs the blasted Sacred White Army pretending to be the mountain robbers to force us to join them!â
âWho cares, we need a way to survive! Out of all those bandits, at least the Sacred White Army treats humans like people. So weâll join them! Weâve all got some skill to our name. We can work for them if they want us, at least weâll be able to eat and feed our kids!â
âThatâs true! Câmon, letâs go to them...â
âOle Zhangâs second son is part of the Sacred White Army...â
âDamn it, the little bastard probably led disguised Sacred White members to attack us... Ah, forget it!â
â......â
The look in Li Haoâs eyes shifted when the voices traveled into his ears. Was there chaos in the world? This was a province in the north that was closer to the eastern continent. It was called Dual Continents as a nod to it spanning two continents.
Judging from the conversation, the Black Mountain Brigand, Sacred White Army, and Starlight Pirates were very active here. However, the government either seemed to be unable to exterminate these pests or unwilling to! Instead, they were forcing people to take to the hills and become outlaws!
A sudden thought struck Li Hao and he swiftly steered Panther past the burning village. There were some supernaturals dressed in white in a nearby grove. They were keeping an eye on the village.
âItâs all burned to the ground...â
âGood!â
âOle Zhang is there, right? Theyâll all join us with a bit of persuasion. The men of this village are very comfortable in the water, theyâll be an elite marine force with some training. Iâm estimating that ninety percent of them will successfully become supernatural if we induct them and theyâll be water supernaturals...â
âWell done!â
â......â Those in white were celebrating their success, drawing a frown to Li Haoâs face. Indignation flared in his heart. Burning down a village, seizing their rations, forcing them to become bandits... They should die!
Just when he was about to put all of them to the sword, someone else spoke up. âHurry up and lead those people away from here! The Black Mountain Brigand will be here before long and nothing will be left alive of that village when they get here!â
âYeah, those guys are too brutal...â
Li Haoâs sword froze mid swing. After a long moment, he sighed softly to himself and steered Panther away. Right or wrong? There was no right or wrong!
The government was incompetent and bandits ran the show. None of the parties were anything good, not even the Sacred White Army. But when it came down to the lesser of two evils, at least Sacred White didnât kill people. Judging from their tone, all of the villagers would die once the Black Mountain Brigand showed up!
If he took a stand for justice now and killed the supernaturals, Sacred White would probably take revenge on the villagers, to say nothing of the Brigand swooping in opportunistically. It wasnât like he could send all these people to Hong Yitang from so far away.
âRight and wrong... is hard to determine! What I see may not be the truth!â Li Hao understood more of the world now. Why did cultivators have to travel the land? For precisely what heâd just witnessed.
A situation was first perceived as a sin at times, but intervening might be an even bigger sin. The young man remained firmly focused on the foundational reason.
âThe underlying reason is that the government is incompetent! They are unable to eradicate these bandits, didnât raise the proper defenses, and couldnât protect the peopleâs livelihood. I canât deem this Sacred White Army as the good guys just because they donât kill people. I can only say that theyâre kinder among the bandits...
Li Hao smiled and took out a jug of alcohol for a swig. The world was about to go to pieces; regular life was already falling apart. Who knew how much longer the status quo could be maintained? All of those local tyrants and hotly ambitious were probably waiting for this day to arrive.
âPanth!â
âArf arf!â
âThey all say that being a dog in a peaceful era is better than being a human in troubled times. Tell me, do you think itâd be more carefree to be a dog?â
âArf arf!â
âMan!â Li Hao sighed. This was a dog that couldnât speak. âThe tree spirit, snake, and birds can speak. But you? You canât at all. You should at least be able to transmit your thoughts, but you... you canât do even that. Youâre so dumb!â
The dog lowered its head with suffering. That wasnât being dumb, it was just a different species. Who knew what the truth was?
âHow about I teach you how to read and write?â Li Hao suddenly grinned. âIf you knew how to read and write, youâd be able to write out your thoughts. Those transmission pendants are two-way communication devices since we can input and send words through them. If you and I create something similar, weâll be able to communicate! We wonât have to guess then!â
âArf arf!â Panther was terrified. No way! Its bloodline seemed to be terrified of reading and writing.
âYouâve agreed? Thatâs perfect. Youâre the best, Panth! Iâll teach you when we have a moment!â
âArf arf arf!â Panther barked its head off. Youâve misunderstood! I didnât agree!
Li Hao threw his head back with laughter and ignored the dog. You agree if I say you agreed! Tell me your real thoughts if you have the ability to!
He chugged another mouthful of alcohol and stopped teasing the dog. He closed his eyes in meditation and began saturating his supernatural locks instead of honing the five auras. Would he be able to unseal himself if he saturated the lock of his heart and not of his limbs?
He Yong and the others started with their limbs; their battle strength rose greatly when those locks were saturated. Take He Yong, for example. He was the equivalent of mid Nova under normal conditions. Heâd filled five locks totalâthe four limbs and one of his organs.
Would one be late Nova or even peak Nova if they saturated six locks? Light Sword seemed to have mentioned that sheâd completed two locks of the organs. Under normal circumstances, she was the equivalent of peak Nova without unsealing herself.
A sealed Hong Yitang could face off with experts in metamorphosis, of that Li Hao was well aware of. Heâd been so in Ash Mountain, which meant Earthturner Sword had saturated at least three locks of his organs, maybe even four!
âItâll take at least another day before I reach Calm Borders province... Maybe I can fill my heart lock during this time...â
That supernatural lock had already absorbed a lot of energyâso much energy that it seemed a bottomless pit. The key thing was that the cultivator was hard pressed to know how much energy his locks had devoured. Li Hao could only measure it in terms of mysterious power stones depleted, which was several thousand pieces.
He wanted to try a different path. What would happen if he focused on the locks of the organs first? He had the Water of Life and sword energy in hand, so he wasnât afraid of problems developing. The locks would just start breaking at the worst. He should be able to suppress those effects. This path might even enhance his battle strength.
At the moment, his five auras were temporarily stitched together. Properly fusing them was too hard. Li Hao felt that he didnât have the potential to complete that in a day or two. That wasnât achievable by a human. In that case... he could saturate his supernatural locks first.
A vast quantity of sword energy, mysterious power, and elemental energy surged into the lock. The confined tiger in his heart stirred restlessly. The lock shook without pause and seemed to be physically manifesting.
Li Hao ignored the changes and continued absorbing energy, prompting supernatural locks to materialize throughout his body. The four limbs, five organs, his forehead, belly button, and spine. Twelve locks shimmered in and out of sightâindeed, twelve.
According to modern general knowledge, there should only be nine locks. At the same time, everyone knew that there was one in the head. It was commonly believed that supernaturals with special talents were a result of shattering the lock of the head. As for why there were different attributes of supernaturals... perhaps it was a function of mutations.
Therefore, everyone knew that there were ten locks in the human body. And yet, twelve appeared over Li Haoâs body.
The spine as the bone, the shenque as body. [1]
The young man didnât pay attention to this. Humans might have more than twelve locks in their bodies. When he advanced to subsequent cultivation stages, he had a hunch or insight into more. There should be more than twelve supernatural locks. It might be that his potential was too weak or he himself too weak to summon the others.
If the supernatural domain continued to develop as it did, it would be terrifying. Shattering one lock meant one cultivation level. Twelve locks meant twelve cultivation levels. The strongest supernatural of the modern world seemed to have only broken five.
Li Hao wasnât aware of whether there were supernaturals stronger than Nova. But since Hong Yitang and the others kept such a cautious, low profile, there might be. The young man didnât mind. As he continued to absorb power, various thoughts ran through his mind. If he could break a lock after filling it to capacity, should he try unsealing himself?
Itâd be nice to enhance himself by a minor cultivation level, if not a major one. He could kill late Novas now. It would be great to kill peak Novas!
1. Shenque is a special acupoint located in navel that is connected to the twelve regular meridians and internal organs. â