Star Gate

Chapter 279: Comprehending the Sword (I)

“There were two main factions in Silver Moon’s martial world back in the day,” Hong Yitang continued. “One of them was the community of martial masters that you know of and the other was the talons of the dynasty. Ahem, the latter wasn’t... you understand!”

Li Hao did!

Hong Yitang smiled to see that the young man was on the same page as him. “The government wanted to ban martial dao, a decree that required the appropriate strength to reinforce. Therefore, the dynasty raised a crop of their own martial masters to take down the veteran martial masters. The ones from the dynasty had only one mission—hunt down those from the martial world!

“No one heard of Director Hou before the supernatural domain rose, but he quickly made a name for himself in the Silver Moon Inspectorate. He reached the top shortly after the Night Watchers were formed, so we suspect that he was once one of those from the government!

“He might’ve been a strong martial master,” Hong Yitang said softly. “Then borrowed Skystar Dynasty’s strength to swiftly cross over. He was at least a Sunflare when he ascended, and with the low number of supernaturals back in those days, he only needed to grasp opportunity to swiftly become a Solar.”

It was the swordsman’s judgment that Hou Xiaochen was either a Heaven Favored or a martial master who’d crossed over as a Sunderer. The public don’t know much about Hou Xiaochen as martial masters of the dynasty had their identities concealed and names hidden. They operated in the shadows; it wasn’t a good idea to build a strong reputation as that would lead to retaliation from the martial world at large.

“I see...” Li Hao nodded. All could be explained if that was the case. If Hou Xiaochen had been a government martial master assassin back in the day... that would speak to a certain strength. A weakling wouldn’t be able to undertake this kind of mission.

But... talons of the dynasty didn’t sound like... virtuous and upstanding people... Forget it, what am I insulting myself for? Li Hao stopped himself sheepishly. Weren’t the Night Watchers in similar circumstances before? They worked exclusively on behalf of the government but operated in the shadows.

Falcons and dogs of the government were what the martial world called these people. Meanwhile, those of the martial world were unstable factors of society according to the Night Watchers. They ruined public security, fought and killed everywhere they went, created a ton of homicide cases, ignored the law...

People like Yuan Shuo were the type that the government hated the most!

Of course, Yuan Shuo kept a lower profile afterward and when the supernatural domain rose, they committed even worse acts that cleared his name somewhat. In actuality, the old demon had been a wanted criminal in his time.

Hong Yitang didn’t speak further when he saw that Li Hao appeared deep in thought.

“I see that you practice the sword,” the man continued when both of them were present in the conversation again. “Your teacher practices the Five Styles and walks the path of the five auras. Although he knows the sword, and knows it quite well, he does not possess an aura of the sword!”

Li Hao lit up.

“There were once seven swordsmen that were more well known in the Silver Moon martial world.” Hong Yitang smiled. “They called themselves the Seven Swordsmen and had all comprehended sword auras. There is more than one of them!

“I see that you know the Ghost Shadow Sword—you’ve received its heritage, have you not?”

Li Hao nodded. He loved discussing these topics with martial masters. Although his teacher possessed a wealth of knowledge, he was not a swordsman. As such, sometimes his knowledge in this area was less than these swordsmen.

“Of the seven swordsmen in times past, there was the Earthturner Sword, Ghost Shadow Sword, Thunder Wind Sword, Light Sword, Ambiguous Sword...” Hong Yitang continued upon seeing obvious interest from the young man. “These seven people knew seven different sword auras! In my view, swordsmen are never weak. They can’t measure up to your teacher, of course, he’s a perverted genius to meld five auras together. He wouldn’t be a match for any one of the swords if he only commanded one aura.”

Li Hao nodded while inwardly criticizing, the key point is that teacher grasped five auras. Also, why are you ranking your Earthturner Sword as number one?

Hong Yitang didn’t mean to boast or flaunt his past accomplishments. He simply decided to share some knowledge upon seeing that Li Hao practiced the sword. “If you wish to walk the path of sword dao, yet not become the eighth sword of the seven... then you need to be like your teacher!”

Li Hao looked on blankly.

“The sword isn’t a type of sword aura!” Hong Yitang had to explain. “The Earthturner Sword is connected to the earth. Heaven and earth are turned upside down through the strength of the ground when it is deployed!”

The young man brightened.

“The Ghost Shadow Sword is vast and vicious,” Hong Yitang chuckled. “Its core lies in the shadow being formless and traceless! Isn’t that similar to the dark attributed supernaturals of our times?”

Li Hao turned over these words in his mind.

“The sword can go through a thousand changes and ten thousand variations, there is far more than one sword aura! No one denies that the auras of the five styles are strong, but is their connection as strong as the one between the sword auras?

“The supernatural focuses on attributes, so we can also look at sword auras in the same light. Metal, wood, water, fire, and earth are all sword auras! So can the wind, thunder, rain, lightning, dark, light, space, and void coalesce sword aura.

“I wouldn’t say anything if you were simply going to follow your teacher’s path, but I can vaguely sense that you have a different understanding of sword dao. Your path may not be your teacher’s path. Then I hope that another swordsman can come out of Silver Moon’s martial world—a powerful one!”

Hong Yitang concluded with some regret, unspeakable regret. He felt the same mix of emotions as Sun Yifei did, despite the latter becoming a late Solar. He had not walked his path of the qimei staff to the end! In the same vein, Hong Yitang’s Earthturner Sword was just an empty name now.

The martial masters of Silver Moon did not forget the days in which they shone so brilliantly! The Seven Swordsmen had swept the lands until they were defeated one by one. Now some of them were dead or no longer claimed the title. The Earthturner Sword was just the leader of a mere Sword Sect and not the swordsman of old!

“If your teacher can meld five auras together, why can’t you do the same with the seven swords, or even eight and nine?”

Li Hao’s jaw dropped and he scrambled to put his thoughts together. “Ah... martial uncle Hong, even if I comprehend multiple sword auras, I’ll be old before I can assimilate all of them into each other!”

He’d never manage it!

“How can that be?” Hong Yitang chuckled. “The first to be melded together will always be the toughest because the swordsman is searching for the right way. He lacks experience and knowledge, but the second will be easier.

“How did your teacher manage to fuse five? He must have his own method, his own rules, his own system. What you need to do is to use your superb potential to comprehend more sword auras. It’s fine if they’re not of the sword—remember that anything can be a sword!

“The earth is a sword, the sky is a sword, thunder and lightning are a sword, everything is a sword!

“A miscellaneous assortment is less than the essence! Everything can be defined as the sword. When you walk the path of the sword, even your teacher’s five auras can become the sword. However he has put his together is how you can try with yours!

“You are likely the only one who stands a chance to. The others don’t know how and your teacher probably won’t teach them.” Hong Yitang laughed in a self-deprecating manner. “What a pity that we don’t have potential or ability like that. You have very good foundations and a tremendous advantage in timing. Breaking through with one aura makes you an ordinary martial master. You will never surpass your teacher that way. What the martial world wishes to see most of all is for each successive generation to be stronger than the one before!

“We want everyone to know that the martial world still exists, that martial masters still exist!

“It’s an immense pity that the heritage of the Seven Swordsmen has ended,” the man sighed. “Your teacher killed the Thunder Wind Sword, Ghost Shadow Sword, and Ambiguous Sword. He knows them very well. If you can comprehend more sword auras, Li Hao... come find me. I’ll teach you the Earthturner Sword!”

Li Hao blinked and stared incredulously at Hong Yitang. The martial world placed a great importance on legacy! It couldn’t be casually bestowed upon another, even when the speaker in question was no longer a martial master. The Earthturner Sword was no unknown man of anonymity.

That Hong Yitang had been able to survive in the ruins indicated that his experience and others were first rate, even if his strength wasn’t. Would such a person freely give away his precious sword and knowledge?

“What, do you think I have ill intentions?” Hong Yitang smiled. “If you really master several sword auras and have the chance of surpassing Yuan Shuo, becoming the premier swordsman of Silver Moon and legitimizing Silver Moon’s martial world... Swordsmen are stronger than the Five Styles. No matter whose disciple you are, you would be worth making an exception for!

“And if you really do manage the feat, I'l let you in you a secret. The strongest of the seven—the Sky Sword—is still alive! He is a great personage now. If you can meld sword auras together, I can introduce you to him for further tutelage!”

“The Sky Sword?” Li Hao blinked.

“That’s right,” Hong Yitang chuckled. “You can ask your teacher about him. He fought the Sky Sword three times. The first time ended in failure, the second time in a draw, and he finally won on the third attempt. But having killed so many people, did he kill the Sky Sword?

“Your teacher didn’t triumph until he melded the five auras together. It’s easy to tell from that how strong the Sky Sword is!”

Li Hao sucked in a sharp breath. Really? I’ve never heard teacher speak of it. His teacher couldn’t win until he commanded the joint five auras... how strong did the Sky Sword have to be?

“Is he... still alive?”

“Of course!”

“Is he a supernatural now?”

Hong Yitang’s face dimmed and he nodded. “Yes! And he’s a so-called Nova. Even the Sky Sword has no choice but to become a supernatural. This is why I admire your teacher!”

“Well... my teacher has always wanted to become a supernatural...” Li Hao said hesitantly. “But he’s never succeeded...”

“It’s not that he didn’t succeed!” Hong Yitang shook his head. “I know what your teacher is thinking—he wanted to enter Dominator first, then make the crossover. He wanted to have a taste of the glories of Dominator of Thousands. Do you really think he wouldn’t have his ways if he wanted to become supernatural?”

Li Hao fell silent. His teacher had indeed mentioned it before that he’d wanted to be a Dominator before becoming a supernatural. However, he was injured and cut off from the path of Dominator. Hence his focus changed to directly entering the supernatural domain, but it was too late then.

Hong Yitang sighed and said nothing further, but Li Hao committed the matter to memory. His teacher had another enemy—the Sky Sword! This one was already a Nova, his teacher really knew how to pick them.

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