Star Gate-Chapter 1107: Sword Dao Abilities (III)

Within the Jade Mountain ruins.

Earthflare’s presence was a bit disorganized when Li Hao set foot into the ruins.

“Commander Li’s come!” He smiled and looked at Zhang An, forcing his lurking trepidation into a smile. “Earthflare greets Dean Zhang!”

“You are not from one of the eight main cities?” Zhang An frowned slightly at the man.

“I am not,” chuckled Earthflare. “I am just a wandering cultivator. The dean should not be aware of me since you occupy a high position. I was just a minor character back in the day...”

“A Saint level minor character?” Zhang An asked coolly. “A Saint is no minor character in even the main world. You’re quite the humble person!”

“Many thanks for senior’s aid.” Li Hao flashed a brilliant grin. “Everyone has opened so many dao meridians! According to our earlier agreement, I owe the senior several hundred million mysterious power stones and tens of thousands of drops of Water of Life.”

“There’s no rush for payment in full. If the commander is short on resources at the moment, we can wait a while before paying off the balance...” Earthflare seemed to be quite the easygoing person.

“We can hardly do that!” Li Hao protested with a smile. “We must always pay our debts. I, Li Hao, never fail to honor a debt. But... I do have a small request that I wonder if the senior is willing to agree to?”

“Please go ahead, commander.”

“I love challenging the strong.” A sword manifested in the smiling Li Hao’s hand. “If Senior Earthflare is willing to spar with me. I’ll pay everything we owe to the senior after we’re done.”

Earthflare looked at the young man with surprise. He glanced at Zhang An and saw that the dean was tacitly agreeing to Li Hao’s suggestion. Completely taken aback, Earthflare wanted to burst into incredulous laughter for a second.

Did Li Hao think... he was invincible in Silver Moon world? Did he know who he faced?

A Saint! Earthflare was also a fully recovered Saint, not one of those half crippled by lack of energy. While he’d expended a great deal of resources to fortify Li Hao’s people, he was a Saint nonetheless.

Based on the current power ranking of the world, he didn’t need to bother with anyone below ninth level Sun and Moon. Although Li Hao was stronger than those people, the young man was still trash in Earthflare’s eyes.

He wants to fight me?

Earthflare smirked. Granted, he knew that Zhang An would certainly make a move if he really killed Li Hao. But... why should he kill the young man?

Li Hao had presented himself on a silver platter. Earthflare had been mulling over the notion of contaminating the young man and felt that it was certain to be a very troublesome attempt due to Zhang An’s presence. But wasn’t the opportunity at hand since Li Hao said he wished to spar with Earthflare?

“The commander... jests.”

“No, I mean it!” Li Hao responded solemnly. “I would like to witness a Saint’s might for myself because I want to attack a main city next. They are sure to have Saints among their roster. A good person like senior is all too rare. I’d like to spar with the senior to understand the magnificence of a Saint!”

It was only now that Earthflare understood the request was real.

“We can do that!” he agreed, then looked at Zhang An. “Will the dean mind if I accidentally hurt Commander Li?”

Zhang An frowned and looked at the young man.

“The dean will not interfere.” Li Hao took a deep breath. “Senior Zhang is only in charge of one task—pulling me out of the senior’s grip if I am on the verge of death. Apart from that, there is no need for Senior Zhang to take action no matter what happens!”

Zhang An wanted to say something; he really couldn’t help himself anymore. It was fine if anyone else was possessed, but Li Hao was the heart of the entire Skystar Commander Office. If he...

“After you, senior!” Li Hao flew out without giving Zhang An time to say anything.

The dean took a deep breath and gave up the effort. Li Hao was no fool. He should understand the risks at hand and have his own plans in mind.

The young man drew his sword!

In the void, the Sword Sovereign projection also drew his sword with the same exact motion.

Acupoints lit up over Li Hao’s body and supernatural characters gathered. A sword slashed out, formidable in its momentum!

Earthflare hadn’t minded the young man’s offensive at first; a serious look now entered his eyes. “The heritage of the Sword Sovereign... is indeed remarkable. Commander Li’s potential is extraordinary!”

He vanished without making use of a weapon. Li Hao’s sword broke through the void in a stabbing gesture, but Earthflare was already behind the young man.

Li Hao whirled around with a punch, but Earthflare vanished once more. He brought his sword back, breaking through the void again. However, there was no sight of his opponent to be seen.

“The commander is very strong,” his voice sounded in the air. “You should be fine against late Immortals, but peak Immortals... is where the commander will start running into a wall.”

This was Li Hao’s true battle strength. Earthflare refrained from saying that the young man was still very far off from matching a Saint.

Li Hao didn’t respond. Instead, his blood qi surged as a supernatural character flew out of Zhang An’s body. The young man growled and forced several acupoints opening, raising his battle strength by several notches.

The void broke when he struck with his sword and a ferocious tiger descended, ready to devour people!

Boom!

Earthflare made his move as well, rushing at Li Hao’s back with a punch. The young man turned into an ape and wanted to dodge the counterblow, but had no place to run to. His back suffered a direct hit, the skin splitting apart and blood spurting out. A surge of power entered through the wound and promptly vanished.

Off in the distance, Zhang An’s expression shifted with alarm.

Li Hao stumbled, spat out a mouthful of blood, and turned his head with shock. “So fast!”

Was this the speed of a Saint? The extremity of speed could be deployed at his cultivation level. The young man could already rip through the void.

“It’s not my speed that’s fast, but my reaction,” chuckled Earthflare. “Your aura is powerful, but also very weak. It is but a stutter in mental strength to Saints and your reaction speed does not compare to mine...”

He was just as friendly and affable as Yuan Shuo.

“If you wish to fight Saints, you must be able to match my reflexes at the very least!” Earthflare instructed with enthusiasm. He vanished to deliver another punch.

Li Hao also disappeared. Sword light sparkled in the air as he slashed with endless rays of sword light. The illumination was overwhelming, but it didn’t connect a single time with the Red Moon powerhouse.

Bam!

A fist imprint appeared on Li Hao’s chest after a loud collision. Another tinge of red flashed past.

“I can’t keep up...” Li Hao said gravely after he spat out blood.

“That’s alright, you stand a chance after acclimating to Saint abilities,” Earthflare laughed. “Your offensive ability is strong and there’s not much difference between Saints and Immortals after the disappearance of core origin dao. You’ll catch up after a few more rounds.”

He made another move, landing numerous fist imprints on the young man’s body.

Li Hao focused solely on how he might counter his opponent. He opened his sword eye and vanished, managing to ensure that the next punch only grazed his face. All the same, his cheek split open from the blow.

“Oh? The sword eye?” Earthflare’s surprised voice echoed in the surroundings. “Not bad, not bad at all. You can just barely evade my attacks now. You should fight Saints more often and temper yourself. As a favored genius of the age, you should challenge those stronger than you.”

Li Hao focused on evasion as Earthflare struck again and again. His few counterattacks were a waste of energy as they proved futile.

Boom!

Punch after punch connected with the young man, peppering his clothes with fist imprints. After a loud collision, Li Hao’s chest was outright shredded with a deep injury.

He fell heavily to the ground, blood oozing from his wounds. Struggling to catch his breath, he considered the situation solemnly. His opponent was just toying with him, but there was such a gap between their levels of strength that he couldn’t put up a fight at all.

Although Earthflare possessed a physical body and had never lacked for energy, he was still much stronger than Li Hao anticipated.

Li Hao had anticipated dealing some damage to his opponent even if he was no match for them. As it turned out, not only did he not touch a single hair on Earthflare’s head, but more incredulously, he’d begun to track the other’s movements. Granted, Li Hao still wasn’t able to catch up to his opponent.

Earthflare was terrifying, as were Saints!

“Senior...” The young man took a deep breath, spat out a mouthful of blood, and panted for air. “I’m going to head out for a bit and recover. I hope the senior continues to instruct me after a moment or two...”

“You can rest here if you need to heal...” Earthflare raised an eyebrow.

“I absorb too much energy, the amount available here is not enough.”

Earthflare nodded with a gentle smile.

“Please wait here for a moment, Senior Zhang. I’ll be right back.” Li Hao left after a glance at the dean.

Zhang An was also frowning, but he nodded in approval as well.

......

Li Hao swiftly walked off, disappearing once he exited the mine.

Within the Hao Cosmos.

As expected, the dao universe trembled when Li Hao darted in and a domineering wave of dao power churned toward the young man. Thunderbolts struck in a maddened fury, drawing rivulets of blood and open wounds on their target!

Surges of scarlet power were forced out of Li Hao. The young man set his jaw against the tremendous pain and ignored the happenings. How am I supposed to match his speed? He keeps sending Red Moon power into my body. Li Hao was well aware of Earthflare’s ulterior motives, but he didn’t mind in the slightest. This was a very valuable resource to the Red Moon denizens.

What he was more concerned about was his complete failure in one aspect against Saints—his reaction speed. If this continued, he still wouldn’t be able to hit the other despite his battle strength being sufficient.

There are a myriad of daos out there... isn’t there one that can improve reaction timing? Or can I only strengthen my aura for that purpose?

Both the aura and mental strength could enhance reaction speed, yet they were difficult to enhance. Li Hao contemplated the matter as he absorbed the fragments of great dao power. 360 dao meridians manifested in his body and various acupoints lit up in close succession.

The young man kept his number of open meridians at twenty-four. Only then could he restrict the heavenly dao and battle strength tolerated in the world.

Acupoints were cleared on the other dao meridians. Just as he thought, he needed to clear at least one acupoint on each of the other 324 dao meridians. Compared to his original 250 acupoints, he needed a total of 574 acupoints to satisfy his basic need of completing a foundational major circulation!

That would complete the sword dao supernatural ability.

Li Hao had cleared more than 300 acupoints by now, but there was still a long way to go until 574.

I need to keep absorbing Red Moon power... My only concern is that Earthflare will realize what I’m doing or think that he’s expended enough energy on me...

That would be the worst of all!

Countless notions appeared in his mind. Li Hao didn’t leave the dao universe until he cleared his 340th acupoint.