Inside the city.
Li Hao threw himself against his confinement again and again, but he was having difficulty breaking through the defenses of five ultimate powerhouses. They had almost completely surrounded him.
âLet me out to kill them!â the young man suddenly transmitted. âIf you donât, do you think six locks is my limit? Canât you see that I am of the wind and thunder attributes? My locks of the organs are completely fine. As weak as my body is, it can endure the strain of another broken lock. Do you really want to battle to the death with me?â
The five old men looked solemnly at each other.
âLet me out!!â Li Hao transmitted again. âI need to kill these guys for threatening my master! I can leave you old dogs alone, but I have to land a few blows on them!â
The five heavyweights exchanged grave looks. Do they let Li Hao go?
Li Hao had killed so many Arcanus and even Hu Xiaoâso long as they kept him trapped, that would keep him from the martial masters outside. Their supernatural locks would fully break sooner or later and some of their organs might explode.
That was the chance that Ying Hongyue and the others had seized upon. If both sides coordinated well, then all of the Silver Moon martial masters might be eliminated today.
âDo you think theyâll share the Breathing Method of the Five Styles with you once they obtain it?â Urgency crept into Li Haoâs cold tones. âIâll give you three seconds to think. If you donât let me go, Iâll break the seventh lock and weâll see who kills who then!â
The five looked at each other again. Moments later, the enormous whetstone in the air relaxed somewhat. Li Hao promptly disappeared from the center of the encirclement. The five old men furrowed their brows, not knowing if this had been a good idea or not. But their decision didnât seem like it would worsen the situationâthey rather hoped that Li Hao and those people would beat each other to the point of being broken and bleeding!
The Silver Moon savages were very hard to bring to heel. Currently, hesitation marked their movements since they were concerned about Li Haoâs safety and needed to endure the risks of their locks fully snapping. Even Yuan Shuo moved with some indecision.n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om
But if Li Hao was free... a different development might appear.
The five still looked around uncertainly and with a complicated mix of emotions. Theyâd let Li Hao goâwho knew if this would give rise to even worse circumstances?
......
Ying Hongyue and the rest smiled as Yuan Shuo responded to them. As they thought! They wouldnât find much effect if they moved against Yuan Shuo by himself. But now, the old manâs wavering was a very good outcome.
The death of an Arcanus thatâd barely managed to ascend didnât matter to them. Arcanus were hard to come by, but if the Breathing Method of the Five Styles could effectively raise them to another level and consolidate their organs, then the Arcanus level might not mean much in the days to come.
As such thoughts ran through their mind, Ying Hongyueâs face twitched and he looked to their rear.
Li Hao already glimpsed them, but didnât say anything. He summoned Stellaris and stabbed it into his heart. Heart blood rushed into the sword, an action he hadnât taken against Hu Xiao. He was incensed beyond words, the peak of wrath!
Stellaris furiously sucked in blood, turning scarlet. Li Hao knew that his upcoming opponents were thornier and stronger than the five old ministers. But... so what?
He was as pale as a ghost with how much blood essence the sword absorbed; his organs felt like they were collapsing. But did he care?
He didnât!
He was waging war on the nine ministries, but the three great organizations interfered again and again. Do you really think that youâre one family?!
Sky Sword stirred restlessly as his broadsword began shaking. Li Hao shot through the void with a blood-red longsword. Unbounded sword intent emanated from it while blood circulated through the surface.
âSever!â A harsh shout sounded from the sky. The sword stroke that descended was as if the one that Li Hao had seen that day. He was in a towering rage and stabbed his sword at a target without thought of anything else!
He didnât aim at the leaders of the three great organizations because he knew they were very strong, he couldnât necessarily kill them! He aimed at the powerhouses behind themâthe Red Moon elders, Steppe Prince, and lord of Buddha Mountain!
These people had just weathered a huge battle. A sword descended with killing intent that pierced through heaven and earth!
Ying Hongyueâs eyes widened as he hesitated, then grabbed Orange and Green Moon before vanishing. Yama cursed under his breath and immediately vanished into the void. Celestial Sword Immortal was faster than them and had already disappeared. Their people were already dead. Since Ying Hongyue would rather save two weaklings instead of his elders, they wouldnât expend the effort to take Li Haoâs world-shaking sword stroke head-on!
Boom!
The void exploded as the two elders and Steppe Prince gaped with dismay. Golden light sparkled around the lord of Buddha Mountainâa protective golden body! The Steppe Prince roared as something exploded with a rumble. Fire flickered into existence around him. Though he was a martial master, he decisively broke one of his supernatural locksâfully broke one of themâto instantly grow stronger and vanish on the spot.
It was too late for the two elders, however. They were much weaker compared to these people and did not have any foundations to speak of. Despair appeared in their eyes.
Off in the distance, the fleeing Ying Hongyue seemed to be pricked by a guilty conscience. He flung out his fan; it immediately appeared beneath the longsword, but promptly broke with a crunch. The fan thatâd held off Sky Sword was completely obliterated!
Ying Hongyue grunted, frowning solemnly. Stellaris had been unsealed by quite a bit...
Crunch!
The void cracked as the longsword swung down. The two elders were reduced to powder and a large fissure opened in the sea. All of the water in its path evaporated, an opening that was swiftly filled by other seawater that raised towering waves!
Li Hao was apparent to the rest by now, his face stark white! He looked coldly at those fleeing. The golden light around the lord of Buddha Mountain had cracked. While he was covered in blood, he was still alive. The livid Steppe King had retreated far away; fire energy wafted from him.
He was a martial master and had suppressed Huang Yu and Hou Xiaochen before this. He was a vaunted powerhouse with nine saturated locks! The full breakage of one of them utterly infuriated him!
âLi Hao!â The Steppe Prince glared at the young man. Since fire energy drifted around him, he no longer had any reservations. âYouâve done well!â
Fully breaking a supernatural lock was an immeasurable loss to a martial master. How could he not be enraged!
âYou can speak to me after you break two more!â Li Hao flashed him an arctic look.
The prince remained silent. There was still hope to convert back to being a martial master when only one lock was broken. But a few more... he would be unable to attempt the conversion no matter what enormous price he paid.
The five old men swiftly arrived, followed by some current ministers. The sky over the sea thronged with powerhouses in the blink of an eye. There were those from the three great organizations, several divine mountains, and the representative from the City of Supernaturals in front. They had not retreated.
The old men had brought more Arcanus with them, but they didnât draw nearer. They were waiting for something, weighing up something. If they joined hands with the other group, they would still be able to eliminate Li Haoâs people. While theyâd suffered heavy losses at twelve Arcanus today, Li Haoâs side was still the more dangerous. He didnât have enough time to repair everyoneâs supernatural locks; their only option was to emulate the Steppe Princeâs actions. But if that happened, then the young man would find it highly regretful.
He may have become a supernatural, but he could not extinguish hope for all martial masters.
Li Hao plunged the blood-red sword into his heart without another word. More blood gushed forth and he turned even paler.
âYou have not reached the step of forcefully unsealing Stellaris.â Ying Hongyue frowned. âYouâll only consign yourself to death through a depletion of blood qi! Li Hao, we just want the breathing method. Itâs not yet for martial masters to meet each other in fights to the death...â
Li Hao said nothing. When he pulled out Stellaris, the hint of an ancient sword intent blossomed from the little sword. The young man swayed, unsteady on his feet. He stared at Ying Hongyue before abruptly smiling, âSo youâre Ying Hongyue!â
The man did not respond.
âYouâre very strong, youâre ridiculously strong! But... I know why you donât make a move against me!â
Ying Hongyue still did not respond!
âI know why you leave as soon as you see me!â Li Hao roared with laughter. âYing Hongyue, how does it feel to be caught in a cocoon of your own making?â
âDonât force my hand, Li Hao,â Ying Hongyue remarked faintly with a frown. âI may not be able to kill you, but your master and friends will all die!â
âNo no no, itâs that you donât dare to!â Li Hao threw his head back, laughing uproariously. âYing Hongyue, my Li family is the head of the eight families! Youâre so ambitious to swallow seven bloodlines and combine them as one! But your bloodline seems to be afraid of my bloodline! Ying Hongyue, youâre playing with fire!â
âYou can try it too.â The manâs brows drew tightly together.
Li Hao continued roaring with laughter! He could see seven threads over Ying Hongyueâs head, which meant that the man might be able to see the same! The threads seemed to have something to do with the diagram of the eight trigrams in Silver City, but they showed some resistance. Some of them even wanted to draw closer to Li Hao!
The young man suddenly understood why Ying Hongyue didnât go to Silver City or kill him in person! He knew why the man kept sending underlings to kill the last heir of the eight families!
Ying Hongyue was afraid of him!
Or rather, his bloodline resisted him because heâd devoured seven familiesâ worth!