Star Gate

Chapter 280: Comprehending the Sword (II)

Of the Seven Swordsmen, only the Earthturner and Sky Swords were known to be alive. Yuan Shuo had killed three, leaving two unaccounted for. Li Hao turned over Hong Yitang’s words in his mind.

All things could be the sword!

These were the words of a swordsman, of a veteran martial master. Perhaps they praised swordsmen too highly, but what he said made sense. Although Li Hao had comprehended the sword aura, he’d always felt that it belonged to the metal attribute!

The earth aura was naturally of the earth attribute, so he’d created the Sword of Mount Tai. But this so-called Sword of Mount Tai was just wrapping the effects of gravity around the sword aura. It wasn’t a true melding of the two.

Granted, Li Hao felt that he’d succeeded in combining the two auras, but after hearing Hong Yitang’s words, he felt that... perhaps he hadn’t really succeeded.

True success did not look like this.

It should appear more as a complete fusion of both earth and metal in a single stroke. The sword was the sword, it didn’t need further enhancement from a mountain peak. Both earth and metal could be deployed at the same time, or in a blow more than the two, or as a new type of power combined from both elements.

Such was the experience of a veteran martial master. Each sentence was extremely evocative of much more—provided that one possessed sufficient intelligence to understand it.

Seeing Li Hao in deep thought, Hong Yitang watched him silently. He, too, reflected on certain things, and with a degree of sorrow. The life of a swordsman was beyond him now! Could the young man in front of him raise sword dao back to its former glory?

Who knew!

But he recalled the domineering sword intent that he’d vaguely sensed before. Whether it was the martial world of Silver Moon, of swordsmen, or of blade wielders, they’d all fallen to the Five Styles. Could animals reign as king?

Bah!

The martial masters didn’t accept it, absolutely not! But they were all defeated in the end, despite their refusal to bow their heads!

If Yuan Shuo’s disciple could surpass his master and be known for sword dao, how interesting would that be even if it was an internal Five Styles discipline affair! Hong Yitang wanted to giggle when he thought of the possibilities.

If Li Hao could defeat the old man through sword dao and as a martial master as well... Well, Hong Yitang wanted to whoop with laughter and applaud with mirth. That’s right, we can’t defeat you, especially after you’ve become a Summoner. You’re so domineering and it’s meaningless if we defeat you with supernatural powers. But what about a pure martial master who’s also a swordsman?

Surely the Sky Sword would share his thoughts—and not only the Sky Sword, but the other guy alive would think the same. But that one...

Hong Yitang became distracted as he thought of another one of the seven. Was that person still persevering? Even the Sky Sword had given up, was there hope in holding out?

Perhaps... there was. Yuan Shuo had found the path to Summoner. If he’d known of this possibility, he would’ve doggedly hung on that year as well. Sadly, the time had passed, but he hoped that that person would meet with a good end.

“Martial uncle Hong!” Li Hao jarred him out of his thoughts.

“What is it?” Hong Yitang smiled.

“Martial uncle, you say that all things can be the sword, so is the essence of the sword the metal attribute or not?”

“Of course not!” Hong Yitang shook his head. “Metal is just the medium with which to forge a sharper sword! But if a stone sword is keener than a metal sword, would you say that the sword’s essence is metal? If iron and metal hadn’t been distilled, then the sword would’ve remained wood, porcelain, and stone. Would you then say that the sword is of the wood or earth attribute?

“Li Hao, you must differentiate between the sword and its medium! The sword is a technique, a method, an art! Of course, it’s also an aura to you now and auras are not delineated by attribute. You give it its attribute!

“Do not fall into the trap of categorizing all things by attribute, that’s incorrect!”

The man suddenly relished in the joy of teaching a disciple and continued with relish, “Does your aura have an attribute? It does not! It’s all from your own imagination. Take Liu Long, for example, he thinks his aura is the waves and practices the Nine Forged Force. But do you know what attribute his father, the Silver Spear of Silver Moon, was?”

Li Hao shook his head.

“It was fire according to today’s definitions! His father’s spear was of fire, it blazed like a fiery dragon and had nine dragons overlaid upon it. The Silver Spear was also called the Fire Dragon Spear!

“But would you say that the Nine Forged Force is a fire attribute method? Of course not, and it is not of water either. That depends on your comprehension. Everyone’s is different.”

Li Hao fully understood in this moment. Auras were not dependent on attributes! His teacher’s possessed them because the five animals happened to map to five different elements. Therefore, his comprehension was thus as well, but that didn’t mean Li Hao had to follow in his footsteps.

I see!

His teacher had not spoken of this before—perhaps he wished Li Hao to walk the path of the Five Styles from the very beginning. As it turned out, Li Hao proceeded down the way of the sword. The young man had comprehended the aura the day he used it, Yuan Shuo hadn’t had time to explain anything else at that time. A premier swordsman now filled in the gaps of Li Hao’s knowledge.

“A sword is not categorized by attributes!” Li Hao thought of something—then his sword aura could not be melded into random auras or shunted toward the metal attribute. If he finalized a move in that direction, his sword aura would have to be of that attribute.

He’d wanted to assimilate his sword into the five organs before, but perhaps he didn’t need to do so now.

“Martial uncle, the sword aura is all-encompassing, right?” asked Li Hao. “If my sword aura is unattributed and I comprehend the fire or earth sword, then will they meld into one like my teacher’s five auras? I won’t need to purposefully look at them separately...”

“That’s exactly what I mean!” Hong Yitang nodded with a chuckle. “You finally have a handle on things. The sword is not the one and only!”

“So any other aura I comprehend can be used as a sword, right?”

“That’s right!”

“Therefore, the sword is the general outline and I can study the topics and subtopics beneath as I would, ultimately putting them back together in a general outline again, right?”

“Smart boy!” complimented Hong Yitang. Yuan Shuo’s disciple really was very smart! He was correct, the sword was a general outline!

Li Hao was rather agitated at the moment. So I can have a fire, earth, wind, and water sword... I can switch to whatever attribute sword I want so long as I’ve comprehended that aura, and then combine everything together! It will be an innovative sword intent!

The five organs nurture the five spirits... What if I nurture five different swords in them and ultimately fuse them into a sword of general outline?

The young man contemplated numerous possibilities and even tried experimenting with his ideas. He wanted to transmute the mountain in his spleen into a sword! A sword of earth!

He’d formed a new understanding of sword dao.

......

“Li Hao’s having a good conversation with that person!” Hu Dingfang remarked.

“Who do you think is winning?” Hao Lianchuan glanced at the commander.

“Huh?” Hu Dingfang looked blankly back at him.

“What are you looking at me for?” Hao Lianchuan chuckled. “Hong Yitang is very shrewd and wouldn’t strike up a conversation for no reason at all. Li Hao isn’t so inclined either. The two must have their own plans with how energetically they’re chatting with each other.”

Hu Dingfang wasn’t interested in this. He frowned at the distant inner city. “Do you think... we can still go inside?”

“Nope!” Hao Lianchuan shook his head. “There’s no hope, don’t even think about it! While we might be able to when powerhouses of the central region arrive, I think we can forget about seizing the turtle seal. That Gold Armor is terrifying—remember how strong the Silver Armor was when he reawakened?

“These ruins cannot be explored at the moment. Even five Novas will be only going to their deaths. This was just one spot of danger in the inner city, how much of it did we explore?”

A muffled grunt sounded nearby as he spoke—Li Hao spat out a mouthful of blood as his organs suddenly bled. Hu Dingfang and Hao Lianchuan swiftly disappeared and reappeared around Hong Yitang. The two were frowning—what was going on here?

Hong Yitang looked at them innocently. I didn’t do anything!

“It’s fine... just some bleeding from the spleen.” Li Hao smiled. “It has nothing to do with martial uncle Hong. It’s my internal injuries that are too severe and have yet to fully heal...”

“You absorbed three Sunflare level blood pearls,” Hao Lianchuan couldn’t help but say. “But you still aren’t fully recovered? Just how severe were your injuries?”

He wanted to call bullshit, but it really did seem like the young man was yet to return to full health. Look, there was internal bleeding again!

“That Kong Qi was too strong and left a surge of dark force in my body...” Li Hao said helplessly.

“Didn’t you say before that it wasn’t Celestial?”

“Director Hao, they had two Solars before,” the young man laughed ruefully. “I couldn’t say it was them even if it was, that would just be creating trouble for the Night Watchers. It’s fine if I’m injured, but is it worth it to have the agency gain new enemies on my behalf? I can speak of this only because they’re dead. It must have been Kong Qi... But forget it, what’s the point of going through all this when he’s dead?”

“Then I’ll go find Violet Moon and get a few more blood pearls!” Hu Dingfang declared with a brewing headache. How were these injuries acting up again? Li Hao had reaped nothing but wounds on this expedition, this wouldn’t do. He’d thought that he’d be able to help the young man secure a treasure or two, but look at how the situation had turned out!

“Hao Lianchuan, take out a wood attributed mysterious power stone!” He suddenly set his jaw.

“Huh?”

“What, I have twenty of those stones, can’t I ask for one of them?” the commander said coldly. “The results are wondrous when the stones are absorbed. Although it’s a bit wasteful, how is he to rise to Dominator if his wounds continue to linger? Can you take responsibility when too much time is wasted? One wood stone should help him make a full recovery and strengthen his constitution. It’s just one stone, can I not ask for even that?”

“It’s not that...” Hao Lianchuan answered with resignation. “My point is that we can locate the best healer for him when we return or supply some wood energy. Using a mysterious power stone is too wasteful...”

“Then we waste it!” Hu Dingfang insisted.

“Don’t... waste...” Li Hao coughed up blood.

“Hao Lianchuan!” Hu Dingfang roared. “We obtained fifty mysterious power stones this time, so what of a single one?!”

Hao Lianchuan rolled his eyes. For fuck’s sake, you... Fine, whatever.

A wood stone appeared in his hand after a while. The stone was green and brimmed with vitality.

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