Star Gate

A curved blade appeared in Lin Hongyu’s hand. The void seemed to break when she thrust it forward and immense blood qi rushed to the clouds. It was apparent from that move alone that she was also a martial master like Chen Zhongtian, using origin weapons to protect her meridians.

Wind and thunder roared as the advent of a storm! An incredible downpour covered the land in a misty haze.

Blade light pierced through the vicinity. The peak six elements Lin Hongyu was formidable beyond belief. She slashed through wind and thunder, broke through the deafening rain, and split apart the waves.

Meanwhile, flames rose from the ground as Li Hao reached out with his hand! Golden sword qi swept through the land. Sand dunes undulated over the desert, forming a towering giant that punched at Lin Hongyu.

The two hadn’t said a single word since encountering each other. To meet was to go for the other’s throat. Both were surprised by the sudden battle, but neither of the two showed the slightest desire to pull their blows or fire only warning shots.

Li Hao had been experimenting with the abilities of his five elements recently. It was a stroke of luck that he happened to run into a powerful opponent that fulfilled his testing needs. The giant of sand shook the world when it punched out. Lin Hongyu grunted and slashed through the sky with her blade. The giant collapsed!

Incredible!

The woman was domineering indeed. No wonder she ranked above Qi Pingjiang. Her true ranking had been number five, behind Li Hao, Ying Hongyue, the old Skystar King, and the old minister of Administration.

Her curved blade scored the void, showing that it could break through the void as a possibility. Li Hao didn’t mind. He closed his eyes and sent the wind howling around him. Thunder and lightning danced with glee!

The five elements converged from all sides. Metal, wood, water, fire, and earth flared through the hazy mist across the ground and formed five elemental powerhouses. A fire tiger, willow tree, waves…

The five heavyweights rushed Lin Hongyu. The woman’s expression changed drastically. What is this??

Li Hao directed his elements elsewhere instead of drawing closer to his opponent, turning them into mind-boggling displays of skill as appropriate of the Arcanus level. Lin Hongyu rose into the air, breaking through the void again with her curved blade. Her hair fanned out like thousands of sharp daggers, piercing through the sky.

The five elemental heavyweights could not stop her!

RUMBLE!!

A massive impact broke through the enormous wave. Lin Hongyu whirled around to flee. She knew she was in grave trouble when the five elements appeared. Li Hao also had wind and thunder to draw on, which meant he’d set foot into seven elements. The only reason why he couldn’t bring all of his strength to bear was because the world did not tolerate seven element Arcanus.

Regardless, she needed to depart the scene. Otherwise, she might soon die to Li Hao’s hands. Never did Lin Hongyu fathom that she’d be attacked halfway on a casual trip to Jade Flute Mountain!

“Trying to leave?” Li Hao looked coolly at his opponent. Lin Hongyu’s expression changed drastically as the world snapped into place around her as a cage!

The domain of the five elements sealed off the four corners. Li Hao approached her through the air. “Since we’ve bumped into each other, stay!”

“Commander Li!” Lin Hongyu demanded solemnly. “Do we have a grudge with each other?”

“Yes.” Li Hao smiled. “Three Arcanus from the City of Supernaturals tried to kill me at Evenround Martial! The Heaven’s Eye threatened my master at Skystar Sea to force him to hand over the secret arts of the Five Styles! You tell me if there is a grudge between us!”

Sword light shot through the air before Lin Hongyu had a chance to respond. A sword slashed out, the firmament split open!

Lin Hongyu’s jaw dropped with dismay. “This is impossible!” Seven elements!

She roared and broke through the void with a swing of her blade. A redwood manifested in the void, its presence formidable. It jerked with dismay as soon as it appeared!

“Apex level??” Mental ripples roiled violently.

“Break the blockade!” Lin Hongyu shouted.

BOOM!

The tree’s branches shook and shattered the void. It brought unimaginable battle strength to bear, piercing through Li Hao’s domain of the five elements. The void shattered, but sliced the big tree to pieces at the same time.

The young man grunted and withdrew his power of the five elements. Lin Hongyu broke through the air and vanished. The big tree was immediately sliced to smithereens. A cold look on his face, Li Hao summoned thousands of rays of sword intent with one hand and swung Stellaris, detonating the tree!

A surge of core origin agitated—the precursor to self detonation. Li Hao’s cage of the five elements descended once more and confined all of the core origin. It still churned ferociously!

Li Hao frowned at it. That big tree should’ve been the replica of a powerful plant spirit. It possessed the battle strength of an Apex, but was unable to bring its full strength to bear once it left the protective zone of his personal domain. The void would swoop in then to cut it to pieces.

Breaking the domain of the five elements was a suicidal move for the big tree. And yet, it’d done so without hesitation for Lin Hongyu. Didn’t it know the consequences of its actions?

Li Hao looked at the streak of green fast disappearing in the distance. His voice shook heaven and earth as it pursued the figure.

“Lin Hongyu, you will lead the one million inhabitants of the City of Supernaturals and offer your complete surrender within ten days. Otherwise, you can escape today, but you cannot escape forever. I’d like to see how many core origin replicas are willing to sacrifice themselves for you—or even the primary body itself!” Li Hao denounced coldly. If it hadn’t been for the Apex-level replica buying time for Lin Hongyu, she would already be dead.

Although the redwood’s replica had shattered, it was still struggling. It looked at the young man with disbelief and incredulity. “Who… are you?”

“Li Hao.” Li Hao frowned at the violently shaking ripples. He wasn’t willing to absorb core origin power, but wouldn’t it be a waste to not absorb it? Forget it, he would save it and gift it to the little tree’s primary body as a greeting gift.

I’m such a polite person!

Although he was irritated at Lin Hongyu running off, he didn’t mind it that much. So what if word got out about his strength? Seven elements? There were three more seven element Arcanus on the ranking. Did it matter if he became the fourth?

“Heh, this is rather interesting though…” Li Hao looked at the tattered redwood replica. “You are willing to sacrifice your own replica in order to protect her. You would’ve retained your strength if you continued to fight me inside the domain. Why did you break it?”

The replica didn’t respond.

“It doesn’t matter if you don’t say anything.” Li Hao raised an eyebrow. “It’s my lucky day to pick up an Apex core origin replica for free. I need a greeting gift for my return to Silver Moon, so this is perfect!”

The big tree wanted to speak on, but intent of the Lifeless Sword erupted!

Boom!

Core origin shattered as the replica was eradicated from the world. Core origin power began to drift away on the wind, but Li Hao enclosed the pieces with a domain of the five elements. The young man was powerful beyond belief in this moment!

……

In the distance, Lin Hongyu fled with an ashen face. When had she ever thought that she would end up in such dismal straits with an Apex replica protecting her? Not only was the replica no more, but she’d almost died on the spot. She would’ve died without the replica.

“That’s impossible… seven elements… and being able to fully deploy the strength of seven elements…” Lin Hongyu was white as a sheet. How could Li Hao have reached these heights?? It was unbelievable!

She was to lead the City of Supernaturals in surrendering within ten days…

Lin Hongyu had originally thought that even if three seven element Arcanus appeared, she would be fine if she allied with Jade Flute and Sunset Mountains. After all, those of seven elements could not fully exert themselves. Their strength would be much diminished even if they could avoid being severed by the void.

What happened today was particularly hard to accept. She was beside herself; Lin Hongyu had always thought that she was the martial master with the strongest potential beneath the heavens. Making it to peak six elements at thirty years old with origin weapons protection her meridians made her the strongest martial master.

There was nothing to Arcanus! She hadn’t thought much of seven element Arcanus, but today, she discovered that this level was incredibly strong.

This encounter was a surprise to both sides, but the results made Lin Hongyu despair. Why was Li Hao so strong?? The redwood’s replica was gone!

A variety of thoughts ran through her mind and she gave up her trip to Jade Flute Mountain. She ran as fast as she could, back to the City of Supernaturals! Perhaps… only there could she find peace of mind.

Not even the City of Supernaturals was safe. Only the Lin secret base nearby could shelter be found. The primary body of the redwood could also be found there as well.

……

The desert.

Li Hao laughed. Not bad! This was a nice pickup for a casual walk outside. The fight hadn’t been intense as the tree’s replica had shown a suicidal tendency. Otherwise, if they fought inside the domain of the five elements, it would be very difficult for Li Hao to kill the replica as he didn’t have the little tree with him.

Of course, he was invincible in the outside world and could withdraw the domain to achieve that, but that might facilitate the big tree’s escape.

“Presents come to me when I set foot outside… I wonder if the woman will bring her one million citizens to surrender in ten days time?” Li Hao had simply issued a threat. It was fine if they didn’t surrender, he would eradicate them all the same!

The big tree had lost an Apex level replica. He was even considering whether he should rush over to kill the primary body. He laughed softly and left through the air.

Someone raced to the scene long after his departure. The void fragments had returned to a complete whole. The newcomer observed carefully with some disbelief. “The void is broken… who did it?” he asked softly. Had they gone down together with their opponent?

This was a demonstration of strength beyond the limits of the world. That was why the void had broken. Was it the replica of a plant spirit, monster beast, or something else? It couldn’t be a modern human… right? The three seven elements on the ranking all seemed to be at home.

etvolare’s Thoughts

What do you guys think, surrender or masscre incoming?