Star Gate

Xu Qing’s eyebrows shot up after he kicked the young man—Li Hao’s arms were wide open as he clung to his opponent. Holding on for all he was worth, he forced out through grit teeth, “What are you blathering on about?! Kill him!”

Why did his teacher have time to chat?? He needed to either run or fight! If he wanted to talk, he should wait until they killed Xu Qing or were killed by him. Otherwise, there would be all the time to catch up in the underworld!

Boom!

Xu Qing rapidly kicked his right foot several times, creating several cracks in the silver armor with sickening crunches. Yuan Shuo, however, did not make a move. He simply watched the action below as various auras swirled in his body. Not only that, but he suddenly opened his mouth and bit down on Panther.

“I’m going to borrow some blood, Li Hao will return it to you later. The blood of major monster spirits has the effect of strengthening the organs. You’re also a martial master dog with an ancient bloodline. The power in your blood is very strong and a perfect match to my needs…” His voice sounded in the dog’s ears before Panther howled with pain. The old man was biting its butt!

I knew it! I knew that the old man wanted to eat me since a long time ago! I thought I wouldn’t need to be afraid of the old man once I got stronger, but he’s totally taking advantage of the situation!

Panther could feel Yuan Shuo sucking its blood as he sank his teeth into dog flesh.

“Awoo!” Panther whined. This was so painful! It’d lost so much blood today, what an awful day!

The sigh stunned both Xu Qing and Li Hao. What… in the heavens? They saw Yuan Shuo bite Panther’s butt, then… lick it??

Even Xu Qing paused in a momentary daze. He immediately realized in the next moment—was this… partaking of blood from a major monster spirit?

Yuan Shuo’s five organs were shaking violently. Four of them were very strong to begin with; his comparatively weaker spleen resulted in a slightly weaker earth aura. It corresponded to the bear aura, which caused some discrepancies between the fusion of his five auras. His wasn’t a convergence, but a true fusion.

The blood of major monster spirits was indeed beneficial for the five organs—that was a characteristic recorded in the ancient records. But modern monster spirits did not possess pure bloodlines. As strong as they were, they didn’t amount to much.

Since Panther’s bloodline had been activated, it was pure enough. It was also a dog that’d feasted on the best energies—Stellaris, Water of Life, core origin… It was fed by Li Hao in the outside world and the old turtle in Battle Heaven. Modern monster spirits fed on a random assortment of energy and a faint miasma of mysterious power. Therefore, Panther’s bloodline was quite good and stronger than even some ancient monster spirits.

Yuan Shuo had sensed this quality as well. He’d been hesitant that the idea was feasible, but discovered that it was a stroke of brilliance! The dog’s blood wasn’t pungent and in fact, was slightly sweet. What a cute little dog! I’ll be better to it and keep it around for its blood…

Panther seemed to sense the old man’s thoughts and looked on with humiliation and fury. Damned old man, I’ll bite you to death sooner or later!

Yuan Shuo’s organs hummed as he ignored Li Hao. Since his disciple could still strike back, that meant he wouldn’t die so quickly. He could afford to wait. It was necessary to have effective tools to do good work.

Meanwhile, Xu Qing’s expression shifted slightly. He grunted and kicked Li Hao up again. A large crack was apparent on the silver armor as the young man continuously vomited blood. Though sword energy surged furiously into his body, it was still very difficult to withstand these kinds of attacks…

Yuan Shuo threw Panther away. The dog staggered limply to the ground in an extremely weak state. It weaved around like it was drunk—a result of losing too much blood. Panther wanted to cry!

“You’ve infuriated me, Xu Qing!” a low chuckle rang out before something like a small deer flashed in front of Xu Qing, but resolved as an ape swinging through the air. It darted in close to land a punch!

Tiger, bear, deer, ape, and bird appeared before melding into one—a person! Yuan Shuo!

Xu Qing seemed to return to the days of old. This was what had happened before—Yuan Shuo had used the Five Styles to beat him, the future duke, into a mental collapse. If It hadn’t been for the previous generation duke being alive and the Xus having too much status, he would’ve died that day!

“Do you still think it’s that time?!” Xu Qing roared and kicked with his foot! Do you think I’m the Xu Qing you once knew, and do you think you’re still the Old Demon Yuan that once dominated the land?!

“You’ll always be that piece of trash!” Yuan Shuo yelled and punched, something jutting out of his fist—the stone blade. One loud collision later revealed a hole in the sky-rank armor that Li Hao had not been able to break!

BAM!

Yuan Shuo was as if a ferocious tiger. When he turned and waved his fists, it was like a tiger whipping its tail around. He hit Xu Qing with another punch and shattered the armor on the man’s right leg!

Li Hao’s jaw dropped and Xu Qing’s eyes were wide with dismay.

“Roar!!” A ferocious tiger roar traveled through heaven and earth!

“Aoou!” A golden eagle spread its wings to soar through the sky.

Five animals manifested like five major monster spirits. One enormous bear threatened to strain the limits of heaven and earth. The earth fractured when Yuan Shuo stomped his foot. Xu Qing had just landed when the ground split open!

Now in bear form, Yuan Shuo deployed yet another punch. The startled Xu Qing froze on the spot, then pushed off with both feet. Terror filled his eyes as he quickly flew an evasion pattern.

BOOM!

Heaven and earth were torn apart!

Yuan Shuo was domineering beyond imagine and looked coolly at the fleeing Xu Qing. “Trash! Aren’t you going to unseal yourself? If not, I’ll outright beat you to death!”

“Impossible!” Xu Qing gasped instead. “How is this possible?!”

Even now, he was the most premier among metamorphosis experts or even a little stronger. But when facing Yuan Shuo… he was the one suppressed!

“Your internal force… your auras…”

“If the only thing we look at is cultivation level, auras, and internal force, then we can forget about experience and potential! What’s the point of fighting then? You’re still that old piece of trash!”

He dove like a bird!

“Idiot disciple, look clearly and see what is meant by a true fusion of the five auras! When the auras are melded as one, I am aura. I am the bear, the tiger, the eagle… I do as I wish!

“I can roar like a tiger, fight like a bear, dance like a deer… It’s very straightforward when the auras are one, there’s no need to switch between them and ultimately lose the key essence of the five auras…

“Metal, wood, water, fire, and earth. The five auras correspond to the five elements. When I punch, all five elements are deployed. Why would there only be fire and water?”

BAM!

An explosion rang out as heaven and earth shattered. Concurrent deployment of fire and water created a resplendent detonation. Yuan Shuo punched out while clutching the stone blade, sending Xu Qing flying with blood streaming out of a wound!

The man’s armor had been punched clean through and furiously worked to repair itself. As he flew back, Xu Qing incredulously vomited blood. Fear crept into the bottom of his eyes. That Yuan Shuo was back! But it was impossible—Yuan Shuo’s internal force seemed on par with Li Hao’s, yet his aura was much too strong!

Just a single aura by itself wouldn’t be much stronger than Li Hao, but a combined five auras was more than simple layering on top of each other. The complete whole erupted with the power of ten or twenty layered auras!

An unpleasant expression appeared on Xu Qing’s face as fear settled in his heart. This was a repeat of the suppression of yesteryear, the fear of almost being beaten to death. He thought he’d forgotten, but he plainly hadn’t. He thought he didn’t care anymore! But it all came rushing back when he faced Yuan Shuo again.

“Trash is always trash,” Yuan Shuo sneered like the demon he was. “You became a premier martial master only because of your family, so how are you premier? You’re just trash pushed up to your position through an accumulation of resources. C’mon, unseal yourself! Let me see how strong you are when you’re not sealed! Martial masters that rely on unsealing themselves for battle strength are all trash!”

“……” Li Hao’s jaw dropped. He chose to stay silent and focus on furiously absorbing sword energy to heal his injuries. This offended all martial masters beneath the heavens, especially the premier ones, including Hong Yitang and the rest!

The young man was also stunned—was this the true fusion of five auras? Why? That combination completely overpowered the metamorphosis level Xu Qing. Of course, it also had to do with the man’s innate fear of Li Hao’s teacher.

Indeed, even Li Hao could tell that Xu Qing was afraid of Yuan Shuo and wasn’t confident against his new opponent. He moved timidly against Yuan Shuo, as if another person entirely.

Even so, Yuan Shuo’s offensive skill had reached a stunning level when he was able to easily break through a premier martial master’s defenses with just one punch and kick. His auras, internal force, and blood qi seemed to have all melded together.

It wasn’t just the combination of the five styles, but also some characteristics of the Incantation of the Blade of Blood. And yet, his teacher hadn’t utilized the Incantation yet.

Li Hao was lost and found that his confidence over these days had been crushed by his teacher. This was truly cutting deep into a person. He would probably be driven up a wall if he was the enemy too!

Boom!

Yuan Shuo seemed to transform into a golden eagle and curved both hands into claws. He grabbed Xu Qing’s arms and summoned a tiger over his arms that bit down on the armor.

The origin weapon was noticeably dented.

Yuan Shuo then twisted his body into an incredible angle and kicked backward with his legs, connecting with Xu Qing’s head. The latter snarled irately and flared his blood qi, churning through the land with a tornado. However, Yuan Shuo’s five auras shook it to nothing!

“ROAR!” Yuan Shuo suddenly manifested a third hand and, as Li Hao watched raptly, struck upward from below as a mallet!

“AHHH!!” Xu Qing screamed and forcefully wrestled out of Yuan Shuo’s grip. He shot into the air, doubled over and clutching his lower body. His face was pale as he looked at Yuan Shuo below. Madness appeared in his expression. “Yuan Shuo, you forced me to do this!”

BOOM!

Something exploded—another supernatural lock! He’d blown two now and his presence soared for it. It eclipsed a He Yong at full strength, despite having only snapped two locks!

etvolare’s Thoughts

Oh, it’s been a while since we brought life to someone.