Chapter 130: The Commonalities of Martial Masters (II)
“And here I always thought I was the strongest in Silver City,” Liu Long took a self-deprecating breath. “But first it was Yuan Shuo, now it’s him... how laughable.”
“My teacher is different!” Li Hao declared. “I promise that my teacher only just broke through a few days ago—when I entered Slayer of Tens. He didn’t hide it on purpose!”
Liu Long’s eyes widened. Really? He’d thought that Yuan Shuo had broken through a long time before and was just hiding his strength all this time.
“Teacher was probably weaker than chief before this!” Li Hao was aware of the knot in Liu Long’s heart. The chief even suspected that Yuan Shuo had been aware of Little Yuan’s death and just hadn’t bothered to care. The professor only became involved when Li Hao was dragged in.
But this wasn’t the case!
“I would never hide something like this!” Li Hao said solemnly. “If teacher was a Dominator and did nothing when Little Yuan died.... I would not have this kind of relationship with him! I would hate him, not admire him! I admire him because if teacher was a Dominator then, he would’ve killed whoever was attacking Little Yuan! Do you believe me, chief?”
“I do!” Liu Long nodded and took a deep breath, recovering his calm. “A Solar eh... interesting. And Yama having something to do with this.
“I’ll report this and see if I can get Director Hao to come to us. Director Hou won’t be able to leave White Moon City. Since these guys dare conceal their identities, I have both personal and official reasons to uproot them!”
And that was the response from the branch director of the Silver City Night Watchers. Whether it was Liu Long or Yuan Shuo, martial masters were sometimes quite diabolic and vicious. They didn’t need evidence or other arguments. The moment that Li Hao identified the other as a Solar in concealment, their first thought was to strike first, strike fast, and strike them dead. Everything could wait until after the enemy was dead—they wouldn’t be wrong, in any case!
And if they did happen to be wrong... Well, that was the other side’s fault for concealing their strength. An expert that was of no help whatsoever to Silver City, one that didn’t lend a hand or even inquire after the city when danger descended, was worth just as much dead. Liu Long and the others wouldn’t regret killing a character like that.
“If we can kill him ourselves, teacher won’t want any of the thousand cubes of mysterious power that will result from a Solar,” Li Hao said after thinking for a while. “That can all go to the team, including the three Sunflares!”
Liu Long’s eyes shot wide open! He suddenly understood multiple things. One, the other side had an additional three Sunflares. Two, Li Hao had discussed this with Yuan Shuo. They wanted to take care of this under the table and share none of the benefits with anyone else!
Of course, this couldn’t be all there was to it. Other factors had to be in play. Liu Long’s thoughts raced rapidly...
“Qiao Feilong has a ruin under his control!” Li Hao muttered before the man had a chance to think things through. “Or possibly a ruin! Whatever it is, it likely belongs to my clan, so teacher and I want only that and we can’t have too many people learning of it.”
“But you can tell me??” Liu Long’s temples throbbed. He knew something was wrong when the kid mentioned doing the deed by themselves! He hadn’t thought Li Hao would be so forthright as to just say the reason why.
A ruin!
A ruin that belonged to the eight families... now he understood what the young man meant.
“Chief is trustworthy! I trust teacher the most in Silver City, then chief!” Li Hao nodded.
“Hah!” Liu Long sneered. “Forget it, I don’t need that. Have fun yourself, don’t drag me into your games. I want to live a few years longer. What level am I? A Sunderer! It’s one thing if there’s one Solar, but you say there’s another three Sunflares?? Li Hao, are you getting too full of yourself?”
The kid seriously had!
Kill those guys by ourselves? And you want me to work with your teacher? BAH! I’m cannon fodder!
“Cannon fire!” Li Hao thought for a moment. “We can fire cannons at the mountains in the outskirts, that won’t affect anything. I’ve also thought about the issue of the three Sunflare. So long as we’re willing, we can just throw weapons of mass destruction at them!
“The justification is simple—collusion with Red Moon! We won’t mention Yama at all. We’ve offended Red Moon as it is, so what’s a little more offense? Yama will never admit that they’ve got people in Silver City, so they can only suffer in silence.
“Chief, can hot weapons kill Sunflare?”
Liu Long sank into contemplation. “It’s... possible if they’re caught off guard. But Sunflares wield a little bit of aura too. Aura is a concept hard to explain, so let’s just put it as they have a sense of danger.
“They’re so fast that if they possess any other supernatural abilities, such as the ability to move through earth, they’ll escape in the blink of an eye. Cannon fire will have limited effect. Of course, they’ll be heavily injured all the same if they suffer a direct hit. They might not die, however.”
Sunflares were highly perceptive; cannons weren’t so fast to the point that this level of supernatural couldn’t react. Such was one of the limitations of hot weapons.
If weapons of mass destruction that could cover a dozen kilometers at once were deployed, then even Sunflares would find it difficult to survive. This scale of weapon only appeared on battlefields in which both sides were gravely wounded and mutual destruction was an option. It wasn’t a good outcome for either side if not.
Take the central region, the Night Watchers had utilized a city annihilation weapon in one such conflict and level a soaring mountain into flat terrain. That was the kind of suitable territory. If fired within a city, countless people would accompany the destruction of buildings and property.
Li Hao brainstormed briefly. “Chief, would you be able to cope with the three Sunflares if you broke through to Dominator?”
“It depends on their strength, if they’re mid Sunflare or whatever. If we martial masters are all as strong as your teacher, then of course we can take them on. The key thing is that not everyone’s like your teacher.”
Liu Long didn’t think he’d be greater than Yuan Shuo even if he did break through to Dominator, not to mention that he couldn’t.
“Chief, have you comprehended the aura?”
“Not yet... but I’m beginning to!” Liu Long furrowed his brows. “I used too much force last time and injured my arms. I haven’t had the chance to give it a try and my blood qi is slightly depleted. I’ll need some time to recover.”
He agitated his blood the entire night when facing the scarlet shadow, and he’d relied on his strength as a Sunderer to ignore his wounds. Otherwise, he would’ve long been crippled. Li Hao didn’t even know that the chief was gravely injured because Liu Long didn’t permit his condition to show.
Thus, he spoke up when he saw that the young man planned for him to join this operation. It would be the gravest trouble if Li Hao suffered from a misjudgment due to lack of information. Liu Long could stand against regular Sunderers, but he would most likely lose against Fullmoons or Plenilunes.
“You’re beginning to?” was all that Li Hao cared about.
Liu Long inclined his head. “I looked into the origins of the Nine Forged Force. The key to the nine layers resides in each layer being stronger than the previous! Their origin is quite clear—the waves!” He didn’t keep anything to himself since he’d taught the Nine Forged Force to Li Hao. “Have you ever seen the sea?”
Li Hao shook his head. Silver City was an inland city!
“Then you need to go take a look. There’s a sea shore near White Moon, so I’ve seen the sea.” Liu Long took a trip down memory lane. “When waves churn over the sea’s surface, they start off as small spray that is propelled forward by waves to the rear. Each wave moves in roughly the same way, yet when two waves are layered over each other, they erupt with stronger force! A tidal wave can result when sufficient waves are layered, such is the might of the heavens!”
The man recounted the rest with some fear. “I once saw an enormous wave that was over one hundred meters tall! It started off as a regular wave, but when compelled by the wind, it was like internal force building upon each other in our blood flow. A series of waves stacked on top of each other to raise one that was over hundred meters tall! It pounded a large boulder to pieces and swept through the beach!
“I was a Slayer then, but still felt that I couldn’t survive in such an environment,” Liu Long sighed. “When your teacher spoke of aura, I immediately thought of that day! White-crested waves surging and leaping to the sky, bearing an aura to destroy everything! I want to imitate the layering of waves and smash onto my target as if splitting bamboo, but my body doesn’t allow me to do so!”
He shook his head. “I’ve never used Nine Forged because my body didn’t let me, but now I wonder if I could comprehend the aura of the method if I tried? It’s a pity that I understood it too late,” he sighed again. “But I still want to try. Maybe I can use mysterious power to help me recover after resting for a while. Remember, Li Hao, you better go see the real sea when you can layer your force nine times. Observe the true waves! Speaking of, are you capable of Twice Forged now?”
He’d never asked because he didn’t think it likely. It hadn’t been long since Li Hao came in contact with the method.
“I am!” Li Hao grinned.
“Seriously?” Liu Long started.
Li Hao punched without another word, erupting with a second layer of force at almost the same time. He didn’t project his internal force, just simply moved his arm.
Bam!
Liu Long also reached forward and grabbed the young man’s fist, shaking slightly as he did so.
“You’ve learned it??” he asked in disbelief. The lad really had learned Twice Forged? That was too fast!
He didn’t mind the dog that’d quickly grasped Thrice Forged. A dog that could become more than it was was a very perverse existence. Li Hao, on the other hand, was just a human! He’d learned it so quickly?
Li Hao’s grin brooded. I know Thrice Forged too, want me to show you?
Nah, that’d probably scare the chief out of his wits.
The addition of another Sunderer who knew Thrice Forged wouldn’t affect the battle situation much at this point. The young man would come clean otherwise. Since it wouldn’t, there was no purpose in saying anything.
“Genius!” Liu Long complimented from the bottom of his heart. “You can deploy Twice Forged! This means you’re in the mid-latter stage of Slayer of Tens. That’s so fast!”
A Slayer could deploy Thrice Forged at most. Since Li Hao could manage Twice Forged without much pressure, he’d plainly entered mid to late stage of this level.
“This isn’t important, chief.”
“It’s very important!”
“It’s really not,” Li Hao insisted. “Chief, my teacher has a treasure that can heal others with special effect. Do you stand a chance of breaking through to Dominator if your wounds are fully healed?”
“My injuries aren’t the typical type...” Liu Long frowned.
“Can they be worse than my teacher’s? His heart was almost pierced through.”
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