Star Gate

“Is this the greatest killing move of core origin dao?” Li Hao laughed, finding it to be… not that bad!

He’d been observing the big tree all along to form a complete picture of the ancient cultivation system’s capabilities. But now, it was time for him to join the fight. He appeared in front of the big tree and infused his sword with various supernatural characters.

He soundlessly slashed out with an explosion of the wind, thunder, fire, water, metal, and earth elements!

Kaboom!

The blow pierced through the big tree’s image as if it was tangible! However, it immediately recovered. Dimmer than before, the coconut tree abruptly shrank into the size of a person. It came straight at Li Hao in a maddened charge. Damn it, this is all because of you, you little bastard! I’m going to kill you even if that means the end of my replica!

Li Hao vanished out of sight, but the tree was equally fast. One of its branches flailed like an arm and shot straight at the young man’s head when he reappeared. Li Hao was about to back away when two more figures flashed into view. They flanked the young man—Chen Zhongtian and Deputy Zhou.

The big tree wanted to pierce through their defenses, but a ‘sword’ character hovered in front of them and enveloped itself with the aura of ten thousand swords! The little tree likewise sent thousands of branches over. Seeing his side’s reinforcement, Li Hao stood his ground and accumulated his strength, bounding forward with a howl and a mighty pierce!

It threatened to rip the very void apart; supernatural characters manifested in front of the others at the same time. They brought their full strength to bear and unleashed their strongest blow!

Boom!

A massive collision sounded! Every leaf on the big tree trembled as it shattered the sword aura, beat back the little tree’s branches, and even ran through Deputy Zhou’s golden body…

However, that left an opening for a sword to stab straight at its core!

Bam!

Stellaris pierced through the tree trunk. Its core essence vibrated and five auras burst forth at the same time. A surge of intent from the Lifeless Sword technique exploded with a rumble—explosions constantly sounded in the void. A big tattered tree swiftly retreated one hundred meters. A massive face appeared over its trunk and it looked vengefully at the crowd.

“Do you seek to kill this seat to seize my core origin? Those are the delusions of wishful thinking!”

A surge of core origin surged violently—Li Hao knew that the coconut tree was about to self detonate!

The little tree’s core origin rippled violently as well and a projection of the imperial palace appeared. It crashed down with a rumble!

Bam!

The agitating core origin was immediately suppressed, drawing another incredulous look from the coconut tree. “The imperial palace…”

Boom!

All of its branches exploded and were devoured by the imperial palace projection! However, it seemed too much for the little tree to digest by itself. The projection shook and sent a strong surge of core origin to Deputy Zhou. The deputy absorbed it without second thought. Since he walked the path of ancient martial dao, it was quite appropriate for him to absorb such energy.

Li Hao and the others landed on the ground. While the rest were overjoyed, the young man frowned. It didn’t matter that everyone was more or less uninjured; more importantly was that it’d been so difficult to take down a replica. He wouldn’t have been able to prevent the coconut tree from self-detonating if it hadn’t been for the little tree utilizing the imperial palace.

This couldn’t be allowed to stand! They would be seeking death if they sought out the coconut tree’s primary body in their current condition. The biggest problem was that no one could take down the target with one blow!

Li Hao frowned, then smoothed out his brows after a moment. He took a deep breath and suddenly said, “I want to coalesce my last supernatural character of wood. Please wait for a moment and rest and recover on your own!”

Everyone’s expressions shifted. Seven… elements?

Li Hao didn’t explain himself further. He could sense that it would be difficult to kill the other without coalescing his seventh element. Seven elements could rip through the void in the outside world, but his elements weren’t that pure—at the very least, his wind and thunder were a bit weak.

As for whether or not his physical body could endure the strain… All he needed to do was to grit his teeth through the coalescence process. The element would be fully contained after that. It would simply consume additional life force and sword energy when it was utilized later on.

Li Hao found himself too weak without reaching great perfection in his elements of the five organs. He wouldn’t be able to take on the replica by himself, to say nothing of the primary coconut tree.

A wood aura flared through the surroundings and the group looked at him. Their previous joy had disappeared—they were too weak! All of them in conjunction delivered limited damage to the coconut tree replica.

The group quietly sat down cross-legged and mysterious power rippled over their body as they traced more characters. Their bodies started fracturing as well. Meanwhile, the little tree drizzled Water of Life on them without needing Li Hao to say anything.

Chen Zhongtian’s eyelids twitched at the sight. Hot… diggity… damn… what was with these people? They were terrifying! He felt that if they really killed the plant spirit’s primary body, that would produce many powerhouses that were much stronger than him.

This operation against the coconut tree’s replica fully demonstrated to Li Hao that the gap between the two sides was still very significant. Although his group wasn’t severely injured—in fact, no one was that injured at all as Deputy Zhou and Chen Zhongtian had blocked all of the attacks, it’d just been a replica they faced!

The coconut tree had said that it severed one-third of its core origin. Was Li Hao supposed to believe that just because the plant spirit had said so? Perhaps it was only one-fourth that it cut off.

Therefore, Li Hao understood that he could take the gamble, but he couldn’t do so without lacking any confidence whatsoever. He would lead the others to their deaths if he made wild gambles!

His wood element erupted and nearly split his body apart. His blood shot in all directions and his organs trembled. His body couldn’t endure the strain of seven elements. Although he was keeping the other supernatural characters in check, the strain of seven elements was still too much for him to bear!

Water of Life rushed into his body in a steady stream, as did sword energy. However, they had a difficult time grappling with his injuries.

Chen Zhongtian’s scalp crawled with numbness as he watched the sight! The lad was crazy, he was throwing his life away! Even if Li Hao set foot into seven element Arcanus, he would be ripped apart by the void when he left the ruins. Their space was exceedingly unstable at the moment. Emanating a tiny bit of energy would lead to the void ripping the cultivator apart!

What was the point of that?

Chen Zhongtian wondered at Li Hao’s actions, then sighed to himself. The point was… that this guy wasn’t an ordinary person!

The little tree didn’t have time to spare for absorbing core origin. It rained down Water of Life; Li Hao wasn’t the only one who couldn’t endure his breakthrough. The rest of the group also suffered from splitting skin and shaking organs.

The Black Armor had drawn close to them at some point in time—but Chen Zhongtian had been completely unaware! That was terrifying.

The Black Armor looked at Li Hao, observing the young man. The latter was still unable to stabilize his power after a while. The ‘wood’ character could not fully take shape. It quickly broke apart whenever it teetered on the edge of success.

“You are not qualified to endure seven element Arcanus at the moment,” the Black Armor said slowly. “Your physical body is too weak!”

Li Hao ignored the Black Armor and continued his efforts, leading to some dissatisfaction from the dean. He’d issued a warning out of the goodness of his heart! Troubles would develop with Li Hao if this continued. It was one thing to exult in the glories of youth, but to ignore the words of a New Martial Saint… Li Hao was too arrogant!

The young man roared at this time.

BOOM!

His wind and thunder elements abruptly flared with life. Stellaris soared into the air; the ‘exterminate’ character took in the wind and thunder elements, then darted into the sword!

“Oh?” blinked the Black Armor. The young man roared again, finding it not enough!

Under the Black Armor’s astonished eyes, Li Hao howled angrily and slammed his hand on his chest. His golden armor receded, revealing bare skin. The young man tore through his heart without hesitation.

As blood sprayed everywhere, an expressionless Li Hao looked down at his organs!

Chen Zhongtian was well and truly horrified by the scene. What was this? Committing suicide?

Li Hao ignored the rest and observed his beating heart. His organs were trembling violently and crumbling away. It wasn’t enough for him to have suppressed his wind and thunder elements.

“The five elements…” Li Hao murmured. His ‘fire’ character manifested in front of him and a ferocious tiger howled over it.

The young man took a deep breath, grabbed the tiger, and shoved it into his heart. His heart shook with rumbles and began fracturing. As the rest looked at him wide-eyed, he explained calmly, “Our characters are the combination of mental strength and aura. They are of the same origin as our organs and body! The supernatural locks are strong and hide within our organs, yet do not crush our organs. This holds true even for mundanes!”

A mundane also possessed supernatural locks, so why didn’t their organs crumble completely? Why didn’t their four limbs fall apart?

“Whether it is the five organs or four limbs, there must be a special space inside them,” he declared firmly. “There is a treasure inside the human body that is nurtured within. Our strength returns to our self and our body does not break!”

Most of the group felt that he was speaking another language, only a few brightened with understanding. A keen light shone out of the Black Armor’s eyes!

Li Hao slowly forced the ‘fire’ character into his heart. A million thoughts ran through his mind as he continued, “There must be another space within the human heart. It can contain the supernatural locks and is the source of our treasure. It nurtures our blood qi, and while I do not know where it is, it might have something to do with the supernatural locks. Our blood qi is most cleverly hidden somewhere!”

The more he spoke of this theory, the more certain he grew. He continued compressing the ‘fire’ character. “I’m going to shove the characters into this special space like they’re supernatural locks. They won’t harm the body that way and will be utilized only when they’re needed!

“Even if we suffer damage in the process, it will only be that of a split second. Our mind intent and blood qi are both stored in this marvelous place…” Li Hao spoke with absolute conviction. “There must be such a place in the human body. The supernatural locks would not be harmless toward us otherwise…”

The Black Armor looked at Li Hao with astonishment! He watched as the young man slowly placed the ‘fire’ character deep in his heart. Li Hao quietly perceived his organ and even picked up his beating heart with one hand! It was quite a stunning act.

The young man suddenly frowned as the character disappeared into his heart and spat out a mouthful of blood. The heart drummed thunderously, threatening to explode!

etvolare’s Thoughts

He went straight from battle to immediate cultivation like the victory didn’t matter -- well, I can see why it didn’t to him.