Star Gate

Chapter 401: The Fortune of Five Auras (I)

Celestial’s powerhouse was adequately outfitted. Their peak Solar was highly valued.

These were only the profits from today. The Demon Hunters had killed many supernaturals over the past few days and obtained nearly five thousand cubes of mysterious power. Trickles of power from close to one hundred supernaturals accumulated to a significant amount in the end. Unfortunately, the Demon Hunters netted only three mysterious power stones from those supernaturals

Indeed, they were all very poor. Only certain Sunflares possessed stones out of the one hundred—the stones were likely awarded from upstairs. It made for a total harvest of thirty stones thus far on their trip. Li Hao had consumed nearly twenty, resulting in a profit of ten stones.

He’d borrowed thirty stones from Golden Spear, which meant he carried forty stones on him at the moment. The team had collected seventeen thousand cubes of mysterious power.

He looked back at the tired assembly with a smile. “Did you all hear that? Profits. C’mon, let’s go find a safe place to absorb mysterious power. I’ll use the Breathing Method of the Five Styles to convert the energy to mysterious power more suited for everyone’s cultivation.

“Seventeen thousand cubes... are we going to leave that as war spoils for the enemy? No, we’re going to spend it all! There’s only so many of us—fifty-one if you include me—which means at least three hundred cubes each. We’ll live it up tonight!”

General glee seized the crowd! More than three hundred cubes each! Before they’d joined the Demon Hunters, it was enough to extract twenty cubes from a Darkmoon. How many Darkmoons would they have to kill for the bounty they were receiving today? To these martial masters, a Darkmoon was on par with a Sunderer, so that meant more than a dozen times of putting their lives on the line, and they had to win each time!

Whether it was the Inspectorate or Sword Sect, both Hong Yitang and Wang Henggang were very strong, but they wouldn’t give their disciples too much. After all, they weren’t that rich themselves. Not even the Night Watchers were that well off, to say nothing of themselves.

“Additionally, I have a dao comprehension weapon on me,” Li Hao mentioned as he walked. “It’s a broken sword from a swordsman of the ancient civilization. It can be utilized ten times, so the captains and late Sunderers who’ve killed the most people can give it a try!

“If you can become a half step Dominator, breaking through to Dominator won’t be too far away!”

The Demon Hunters were further delighted by Li Hao’s words. The young man said nothing else, he was focused on swiftly recovering from his wounds. Not only that, but he brought out some energy rings from his storage ring. He wanted to cultivate as well.

He possessed energy of all five elements of metal, wood, water, fire, and earth, as well as that of wind, thunder, and dark. They’d killed so many supernaturals that he didn’t lack any attribute. Li Hao executed the rules of distribution to the letter. Thirty percent of the gains went to him, which meant he was claiming nearly five thousand cubes himself. He’d killed all of the Solars by himself, so he could take even more.

Therefore, he didn’t need to follow the Guards’ rules of distribution.

Li Hao looked over the selection and chose five hundred cubes of the five elements, wind, and thunder. After brief hesitation, he chose another five hundred of dark mysterious power.

Four thousand cubes of mysterious power, but it would require roughly twenty energy stones to digest them all. One stone could convert nearly two hundred bucks of mysterious power. He was also injured, so he needed at least twenty stones for his purposes.

Ten needed to be held back as reserves out of the remaining twenty. The remaining ten would be converted to sword energy—that would supply mysterious power for the rest of the team so they could swiftly strengthen themselves.

Whatever they’d reaped needed to be quickly spent. Spending their harvest was the true strength. Who knew who it’d benefit in the end if they hoarded their treasure?

Ten mysterious power stones wouldn’t convert too much out of the remaining thirteen thousand cubes, but the team wasn’t able to absorb much either. A couple cubes was more than enough for a Sunderer. Out of the two thousand that Li Hao could convert, it would be quite an abundance for each person to absorb forty cubes.

Li Hao continued down the mountain path, exiting a natural path a while later and entering some trails that were very difficult to pick through. He even climbed a few cliffs and led the team another hour into the mountain before finding a natural-made mountain cave.

He quickly sealed off the entrance after entering the cave. “Start cultivating now. A state of total exhaustion is perfect for our purposes. Don’t rest—resting will cause your attention to slack!”

“Understood!” chorused the team, all of them very hopeful. No one took off their armor.

Li Hao crushed some mysterious power stones and started large-scale energy conversion. There was mysterious power of the five elements and unattributed power stripped out from them. The energy filled the void, available for martial masters to freely absorb.

It wasn’t their first time doing so. While they found Li Hao’s methods astounding, the team was used to it after several occurrences. They could sense the advantages of this converted energy—it was easier to absorb and also enhanced the physical body and organs in an evenly distributed manner.

They couldn’t fully appreciate the benefits of such energy at the moment. Only when they reached Dominator would they understand the significance of enhanced organs. It meant that the path to Summoner of Spirit was unfolding in front of them.

Liu Long was the one who understood this the most out of the team. He’d gained quite a great deal over the past couple of days. Being a Dominator, he absorbed energy very quickly and focused on the five elements. He could sense a noticeable improvement in his organs by now.

The man was highly envious of the rest of the team. They lived in the lap of abundance and knew it not!

None of them recognized their good fortune. Only after they entered Dominator and began pursuing the path to Summoner would they understand how beneficial it was to strengthen the organs during the Sunderer stage. Each instance of absorbing energy would save them several years of cultivation.

More than ten thousand cubes of mysterious power was just a number. The true benefits were far greater than the energy. If Hou Xiaochen and the others knew what was taking place, they’d likely be willing to pay ten times or a hundred times the price to trade for this special energy.

......

Li Hao set the team out of his mind and began his own recovery and cultivation. His lungs continued to seep blood and heal. The metal sword aura was too strong and erupted too ferociously. It also continued to struggle. Each time it struggled brought about another coughing fit.

His five organs still weren’t strong enough!

Their weakness stemmed from an inherent weakness in flesh and bone, so the young man needed to strengthen those first. Wind and thunder energy was his first choice. Sword energy surged out and raised a series of rumbles in his body.

All he needed was pure elemental energy—he expelled the unattributed energy for the other martial masters to absorb. Unattributed energy also strengthened the body, it just didn’t have much of an effect for Li Hao. But for Sunderers, unattributed mysterious power had a much better effect than regular power.

It was deathly quiet inside the cave of fifty-one people. Only Li Hao’s coughing and thunder roaring within his bones occasionally sounded, bringing a hint of life to the absolutely still cave.

Demon Hunter members continuously progressed through their dao. Mid stage entered late stage, initial stage entered mid stage.

The Slayers who hadn’t broken through earlier had all succeeded a long time ago. They all progressed to mid Sunderer. Some late Sunderers were feeling their way around the aura—not through the dao comprehension weapon, but through their own powers of understanding.

Hong Yitang’s daughter Hong Qing, Hong Hao, Wang Chao, and the others came to their own conclusions. So did Liu Yan and Li Hang, martial masters equipped with unique heritages. Wu Chao, Li Heng, and Chen Jian had progressed to late Sunderer. All of them had improved greatly over the past couple of days.

A few days of battle and cultivation was the equivalent of several years or a decade of hard work on their own!

There was a noticeable increase in the number of late Sunderers among the Demon Hunters; Liu Long had also taken remarkable steps forward. He was attempting to lock his aura in his organs, such as the water aura in the kidneys. However, his organs veered on the weaker side, so the process delivered stabbing pain to his organs. And yet, this was already a tremendous improvement. It meant that he proceeded toward peak Dominator.

He was much stronger than before and could take on late Sunflares with ease. He could even battle peak Sunflares, but the outcome would depend on the situation. Liu Long looked quietly at Li Hao. All of this had come from this guy. This little fellow was the scariest of them all!

The group quickly lost themselves in the joys of cultivation. There was none of the usual pain associated with absorbing mysterious power, just comfort.

......

As Li Hao’s group traveled through the night to Ash Mountain, others crossed the northern reaches of Silver Moon to where battle had taken place last night. Several powerhouses stood in the air and silently observed the traces left behind by yesterday’s battle.

A middle-aged woman with hair tinged blue casually summoned a piece of broken rock into her hand and looked at it closely. “He is the Demon Sword alright!” she said softly. This sword qi was unparalleled in its keenness! It was still domineering after a night of dissipation. The wielder had plainly reached unfathomable heights when it came to sword dao. Who among Silver Moon swordsmen could compare?

Sky Sword?

He was probably the only one who could stand against this one.

Powerhouses had ever hailed from Silver Moon. As expected, talents still emerged from this place despite its decline. An ignoble fellow such as Li Hao was now known through the dynasty after a night of battle.

A cloaked figure bent down not too far away and scrutinized a broken corpse. He shook his head gently. “This person was shaken to death beneath the ground. Li Hao is also skilled at the earth aura!”

“Sword aura, earth aura, and possibly the fire aura...”

“No, the metal aura!”

“......” After a flurry of conversation, the powerhouses fell silent. Li Hao was too perverse!

“Although Li Hao does not cultivate the aura of the Five Styles, we can still look at his accomplishments through that lens. He’s comprehended at least three auras, possibly four thus far. He’s developing very similarly compared to Yuan Shuo’s Five Styles!”

“It’s impossible for him to grasp so many in a month!” the blue-haired woman said coldly. “I would believe it if he advanced from Slayer to late Sunderer in a day, but to understand so many auras in a month is not feasible! Therefore, he must’ve grasped them beforehand!”