Star Gate

Chapter 459: Metamorphosis (II)

“What are you looking at me for?” Hong Yitang smiled. “Your teacher is very strong. To be honest, I wasn’t certain of my chances when he challenged me. Thus, I stepped back. It wouldn’t be a glorious victory and it would’ve been an even more humiliating defeat. He forced me to grow stronger so I wouldn’t be in the position of losing face! My teacher hailed me as the greatest genius of my time, I was a Dominator a long time ago. I’m not sure if I was faster or Hou Xiaochen, but we both made it to that level very quickly.

“Therefore, I felt certain pressure in rejecting your teacher’s challenge. It forced me to continue moving forward. Otherwise, would I have the face to show myself in the martial world if I, a Dominator, was defeated by Yuan Shuo?”

Li Hao was surprised at first, then quickly let the point go. So Hong Yitang had been a Dominator long ago! The greatest genius... And Hou Xiaochen had broken through a long time ago as well. All of these people had; they were thus stronger than his teacher. But these Dominators felt incredible pressure from a Sunderer. It was plain to see just how arrogant and brazen the Five Styles Beast King had been then!

Yuan Shuo with his auras melded together was indeed terrifying. These two powerful martial masters were now teaching his student for him. It was Yuan Shuo’s duty to undertake and he would’ve carried it out had he not left. What a pity he hadn’t enough time to impart these notions and experience!

Both martial masters were sharing their personal experience to give Li Hao pointers and prevent him from taking a wrong turn. At the same time, the young man was forming a personal reflection of the old guard of Silver Moon martial masters.

“The two martial uncles mean to say that sometimes I am... too calm?” he asked after some consideration.

“That’s right!” He Yong laughed. “Martial masters should be hot-blooded! Look at those Battle Heaven soldiers. They’re dead now, but their blood probably ran hot when they were alive. They had faith and aspiration! They never considered what their path of retreat looked like when they threw themselves into battle. And you, Li Hao, are not afraid of death, but you’re afraid of this and that. Just what are you afraid of?

“So what if you make an enemy out of the entire world? Your sword presses forward without pause, but your person... that remains to be determined!”

“It is a good thing to consider gain and loss as well as to know retreat and advance.” Hong Yitang inclined his head. “It’s not that this is bad as your master also knew to be afraid and run when he met a strong enemy. No one is that fearless or dumb enough to go to their deaths. But if we’re thirty percent sure of things, we can give it a try. A fifty percent chance is an equal chance of victory, yet you seek out eighty or ninety percent. That’s being a perfectionist!”

Li Hao quaffed his wine and sank into deep thought. Was that so? To be honest, he’d never thought about this before, but at the moment, this did sound like the case. It probably had to do with his experience, or lack thereof.

It hadn’t been long since he set foot on the path of martial dao and he’d always had a habit of keeping something back in front of others. He didn’t like revealing all of his secrets. This was part of the vigilance that he’d developed over the past year, which was why he always appeared somewhat reserved in front of others. He always held back thirty percent of his strength when he fought as he worried about being completely seen through by people.

He’d fought to his heart’s content and full abilities when he killed the six Solars because he knew that there would be no problems resulting from his fight once he killed them all. But this time, he knew that there were powerhouses nearby that he could not kill. Therefore, he chose to withhold some of his strength and refrain from exposing too much of himself.

Thus, it hadn’t been nearly as enjoyable to kill Xie Gang as it’d been to kill the six Solars. It fell below the satisfaction he’d received when killing Yu Xiao and Huang Jie. He’d felt hobbled at every turn.

Li Hao hadn’t thought much of it at first, but now that the two seniors spoke to him about it and their opinions percolated through his mind...

“Don’t pause to consider your responses every time we have a conversation!” He Yong complained with a brewing headache. “Be more natural and direct. It’s fine if you get things wrong, no one will blame you! You’re in your twenties, but act like you’re in your sixties or seventies. Yuan Shuo really hasn’t done much for your tutelage!”

Li Hao felt incredibly awkward.

“Anyway, it’s good that you know now. Ole Hong and I are here, so just view everyone else as already dead. Think of it as they’ll be unable to make it out alive. Do whatever the hell you want and if anyone does exit the city alive, we’ll deal with it then!”

“You mean that I should pretend none of them will be leaving the ruins alive, so it doesn’t matter how much of myself I expose? That the dead keep their secrets, right?” That had been Li Hao’s mindset when he fought the Solars.

“Yes!” Hong Yitang smiled. “It may be hard to quickly turn your mindset around, so just think of it this way! You’ll punch or strike with your sword much more smoothly. It won’t be like earlier—I felt so uncomfortable watching you use the Nine Forged Force!”

It’d been as maddening as being unable to finish the act of procreation—so unbearable that Hong Yitang wanted nothing more than to take Li Hao’s place!

“Why can’t your Nine Forged Force coalesce its aura? It’s not just because your opponents aren’t strong enough or caught you off guard, it has to do with your mentality. Find an initial Nova next time and fight them without consideration of anything else. You don’t necessarily have to use the Nine Forged Force, you’ll still come to certain reflections even without employing it. I feel that comprehending the aura is only a matter of time in that case!

“Do you know why I showed you that stroke in the final moments of the last fight?” Hong Yitang asked in conclusion. “I wanted to tell you that you should adopt a more majestic demeanor in your style! If you really can’t, then be like He Yong and be more tyrannical or ruthless! Your potential is so good—be it the bloodline of the eight families or your comprehension of aura—that we can’t bear to see you cripple yourself on the path of martial dao...”

The current Li Hao was so incredibly strong, but Hong Yitang was mentioning the idea of being crippled and He Yong looked to be quite in agreement! Plainly, both of them didn’t approve of some of Li Hao’s current methods.

With the young man’s personality, he rejected whatever he didn’t accept, but he was an amateur when it came to martial dao. If there was someone willing to teach him, he was willing to learn with a humble heart. This was a field he wasn’t adept in, so he would listen to the experiences of his elders.

The two exchanged a look and relaxed with relief. The kid really had a wondrous potential. They couldn’t bear to watch him proceed down the same path, which was why they’d waited until he came to deploy that move. Otherwise, Green Moon and the others wouldn’t have seen anything at all. Battle would’ve been over a long time ago.

It looked like that sword stroke had not been in vain.

“Killing Yellow Moon increased my merits by a lot.” Hong Yitang changed the topic with a chuckle. “I now have thirty-five points, a full ten points more than before! Ole He, you have less than me now, don’t you?”

He Yong snorted and didn’t reply. He did indeed have fewer points at thirty-one. He’d been at twenty-eight before. While he didn’t receive credit for killing Yellow Moon, aiding in the efforts had won him a sizable three points! This was their first sign that one did not have to kill the enemy to accumulate merits.

Li Hao verified his numbers. Although he’d taken off his armor, its functions were not affected since it was still on him. He stood at... twenty-one points. This was less than the other two, much less.

He Yong was at thirty-one, Hong Yitang was at thirty-five. The gap was suddenly enormous between them and Li Hao. Killing Xie Gang had granted him only two points and initial or mid Solar only seemed to be worth one point. Late or peak Solar were worth two points. Li Hao wasn’t fully knowledgeable of the grading rubric, he would just watch as points flashed across his visor.

“The outer city is probably a bit of a mess now,” he said instead of continuing the topic of merits. “The Red Moon delegation is probably panicking now that Yellow Moon is dead. There are also quite a few other casualties as well—we killed roughly thirty Solars and one hundred Sunflares... Everyone’s withdrawn and can soon count heads to know how many are dead. Ambushes will be harder to carry out next.

“But they’re still very strong despite so many dying... Martial uncles, do you have any ideas of what we can do?”

“Not really.” Hong Yitang shook his head. “Just that we’ll deal with whatever crops up! We fight if we can and to be honest, so what if the Battle Heaven army is truly defeated? Will these people be able to take the city just like that? Don’t forget there are even more powerful existences inside the city, and that we haven’t fully explored the barracks yet. Who knows if there aren’t stronger entities inside? The Red Armors might not be weak either. As supervisors, they may just be the last ones in the field...”

“Then I won’t think that much either.” Li Hao nodded. “I’ll do as the martial uncles say and find a chance to fight an initial Nova! It’ll be a sweeping success if I can grasp the water aura, and I might be lucky enough to comprehend the wood aura too. The world’s my oyster then...”

“What a pity that we don’t know the Weeping Willow Sword!” He Yong sighed.

Li Hao blinked. What did he mean?

“You don’t know what the Weeping Willow Sword is? That’s a normal reaction, it’s been lost. It’s a sword technique that’s suited for comprehending the wood aura. Or it might not be the wood aura since everyone’s perception is different. It can give you some sort of insight into the wood aura, though.”

“Um... I know it!” A thought stuck Li Hao.

“Hmm?”

“I know the Weeping Willow Sword. Martial Uncle He, will it really help with the wood aura?”

He Yong fell silent and looked meaningfully at Hong Yitang. Holy fuck, the look in his eyes seemed to say. This kid not only has good potential, but his luck is incredible too. Of course, he’s the heir to the eight families. His luck has to be first rate to survive to this point.

“Then that’s fine.” Hong Yitang rose without a word. “It’s good that you know. You should do as you see fit. We won’t participate in the particulars of how you cultivate. Yuan Shuo will say that we’ve taught you wrongly in that case. We’re just giving you advice, we’re not your masters.

“Let’s go back, there’s no point to ambushes now. You should fight with the army a few times next and gain different reflections. Martial masters liked to join the army back in the day and fight with them on the battlefield. It’s how Sunderers and Dominators rose to their level. Where else would they find so many enemies to kill? Keep at it, you have much to learn apart from improving your strength!”

Li Hao bobbed his head. “They say that having an elder at home is the most valuable treasure. You are truly kindhearted, martial uncles!”

“......” The two ignored him and his words. Who you calling old! We’re martial masters, we’re not old!

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