Chapter 843: Chapter 843: Domain (I)

Yuan Shuo entered Skystar City at the same time. He did so openly on this visit; various factions received word as soon as he walked through the city gates. There wasn’t much wariness against the old man these days. People’s only concern was that his disciple was quite unusual. For once, Yuan Shuo enjoyed the treatment of being able to saunter into a city without anyone daring to cause trouble for him. The only regret he felt was that he hadn’t accomplished this through his own merits, but through his disciple. Damn if that wasn’t embarrassing!

......

The Skystar Commander Office.

Li Hao wordlessly greeted his master and Jadelight Sword’s arrival. His master had the habit of picking the best timing! He arrived as soon as they finished divvying up the spoils. There would’ve been a share for you if you’d come just three days earlier!

Indeed, it was three days since the group had defeated the coconut tree. It was only now that Yuan Shuo showed himself.

“Teacher!”

Yuan Shuo looked at Li Hao and inclined his head. “Not bad!”

Li Hao also sized up the old man with a twinkle in his eye. His teacher seemed to be stronger than before. That was some nice improvement for these two weeks!

Yuan Shuo didn’t respond and treated the complex like his home. He headed for the main hall.

“Have you opened all of your supernatural locks?” he asked as he walked.

“Yep.”

“You were in too much of a rush!” sighed Yuan Shuo.

“The enemy was too strong.”

“That too.” Yuan Shuo nodded. The enemy was very strong, but it also had to do with Li Hao being too hasty. This disciple of his was always in a rush. “I might’ve been able to help you return to martial dao in another few days.” He still found the young man’s situation slightly regretful.

“Is that important, teacher?” Li Hao smiled.

When they last communicated through the pendants, Yuan Shuo had a hunch that Li Hao might snap his supernatural locks. He hadn’t thought it would take place so quickly. The locks might still be intact if he’d emerged from the ruins earlier.

Yuan Shuo walked into the main hall and sat down, grabbing a tea cup for refreshment.

“That’s Martial Uncle Southern Fist’s.”

“Is this his house?” Yuan Shuo flicked a glance at Li Hao.

“......” The young man smiled and didn’t say anything else.

Yuan Shuo didn’t mind the cup’s former user and continued drinking. He spat with disgust after a while, “Does He Yong not brush his teeth?”

“......” Li Hao grinned.

“You mentioned last time that you wanted to resolve the issue of making mysterious power become part of the body,” Yuan Shuo cut straight to the chase. “I see there’s only a faint sheen of mysterious power coming from your body now. Have you solved the problem?”

“More or less.” Li Hao nodded. “I’ve been wanting to tell teacher, but I haven’t been able to get in touch with you.”

“You said before that the aura and mysterious power can coexist at the same time,” Yuan Shuo asked slowly after some thought. “Have you accomplished that? I don’t sense any aura coming from you. Whether it’s internal force or mysterious power, neither of the two matter. The key for martial masters of our age lies in the aura!

“I’m not saying that we must have internal force to be a martial master. Martial masters do not care about that. Let’s put it this way, there is a thousand years of history behind martial dao by our current age. It existed at the start of the Star Era.

“Generation upon generation of humans improved on martial dao until we ultimately created the aura. One could say that it is the collective wisdom of a thousand years of Silver Moon denizens. They determined the most suitable way of cultivation for current humans.” Yuan Shuo began a lecture of martial dao origins for his student. “After the ancient civilization fell silent, several rounds of obstacles rolled through Silver Moon and there was even a period of great stillness. It wasn’t until the start of the Star Era calendar that we truly built a new civilization.

“Humanity did so to adapt to the adverse environment. Keep in mind that when there was no energy throughout the land, it was very difficult to become a powerhouse in Late Martial. Later on, humans discovered the aura—it did not require energy!

“This is a unique system that evolved out of necessity in the end times, a period in which there was no energy!”

Li Hao’s eyes widened. The aura did not require energy. Martial masters needed energy, but they could also replenish their bodies through eating food.

“You are still a martial master so long as your aura exists...”

“It exists!” Li Hao nodded, drawing a raised eyebrow from his teacher. “I combined all of my energy into a special force. My aura is still there...”

“Show me!”

Li Hao promptly summoned the fire aura. A ‘fire’ character floated in front of Yuan Shuo. The old man’s eyes narrowed as he grabbed it.

Boom!

The fire aura erupted with a tiger roar. Yuan Shuo frowned slightly and manifested a giant ape with a wave of his hand.

Bam!

Tiger and ape collided into each other. Yuan Shuo was plainly weaker, but the giant ape abruptly ballooned to twice its size. A black bear and a small deer also manifested, creating a creature that didn’t resemble any particular animal.

The strange amalgamation burst forth with incredible strength. The five auras became one and crashed down on the tiger with a loud rumble!

Yuan Shuo exhaled heavily and laughed when he saw the tiger give up the struggle. “Interesting!” He looked at Li Hao. “This is the Tranquil Star art from the ancient civilization, right?”

Intrigued, he grabbed the character for a closer look. Li Hao kept a strong grip on the tiger to make sure that it wouldn’t struggle. Yuan Shuo employed both mind intent and his own aura to investigate this new contraption.

“This is indeed interesting. Mysterious power, internal force, blood qi, mind intent, and the aura have nothing to do together and cannot coexist. But they’re fused as one in this thing. The aura is the key, it is the medium for everything. The aura is as if a great dao, there is nothing without it...” Yuan Shuo keenly observed the supernatural character.

Li Hao let him do as he wished. That this was Yuan Shuo’s first priority after arriving was in line with Yuan Shuo’s style. The young man turned his attention to greeting Jadelight Sword. “Martial Aunt Jadelight, did you obtain the second half of the Jadelight method?”

He’d noted that Jadelight’s strength also showed marked improvement. But strictly speaking, she’d just barely managed to set foot into the stage of saturating her supernatural locks. That meant to say she’d just reached the peak of being a martial master. She wasn’t too strong yet and would just barely make it to Arcanus if she snapped her supernatural locks now. It would be a very far reach that might not succeed.

Of course, it was still a vast improvement compared to a few months ago.

Jadelight was an aloof person, but she was polite to Li Hao. “I did, but it’s not that suited for my current style. Your master said he’ll modify it and is still working on it.”

Modify... and you believed him??

Granted, it made sense that she would believe him. Yuan Shuo was very skilled in this area. At the very least, it was better than Jadelight modifying it herself.

“You should have a few more supernatural characters up your sleeves, show them all to me...” Yuan Shuo brought up.

“Teacher, you won’t be able to keep them under control if I bring them all out.”

“......”

Yuan Shuo directed the full force of his gaze on the young man, as did Li Hao look at his teacher. Three seconds later, he summoned the rest of his characters. A Yuan Shuo with clenched teeth erupted with fury and vented his annoyance via a thorough beating on supernatural characters that Li Hao had purposefully weakened.

The young man smiled and ignored his teacher, opting to drink tea with Jadelight. The two chatted idly as Yuan Shuo began his investigation anew. The supernatural characters were a simple contract, so someone like Yuan Shuo should’ve instantly grasped them. For some reason, he kept studying them.

Li Hao was knowledgeable enough after recent events, he just lacked experience and tempering in the ways of the world. But he let Yuan Shuo be—perhaps his teacher was trying to decide if he wanted to do the same for himself?

The old man poked at the characters and even shoved his own aura into them. It was... highly uncomfortable. The characters were a projection of the body, so with Yuan Shuo shoving his aura inside... It was... eh... slightly shameful. Li Hao regarded his teacher with resignation, what was Yuan Shuo doing?

The pigeon that was Yuan Shuo occupied the sparrow's nest and utilized his five auras to thrash the ferocious tiger. He beat the tiger so badly that Li Hao’s fire aura wanted to rage with fury.

“This development of yours doesn’t work!” Yuan Shuo frowned. “You’ve got one character corresponding to one aura. How many auras will you need to comprehend before you succeed?”

The man thought for a bit. “If you want to rapidly improve, I recommend you abandon the other auras and keep only one, using one to transform into a myriad of others...”

“That’s what Martial Uncle Hong does!”

“It’s an awful idea!” Yuan Shuo immediately changed his tune. “I was just saying that earlier, you cannot do so at any cost!”

“......” Li Hao nearly burst out laughing. You were just saying that I should abandon all of my other auras. But his teacher’s thoughts happened to coincide with Hong Yitang’s. The young man did want to smile at that. What a coincidence!

Yuan Shuo had finished his study of the characters and turned over his thoughts. “Although the method is simple and even a little crude, I have to say that it’s innovative to fashion them into words and have the aura be the medium. You even took pointers from the Incantation of the Blade of Blood and ultimate art Tranquil Star. That’s very good!”

The old man rarely praised people, but he voiced a few compliments for his student’s work. He sat in thought for a bit.

“This undos some of the barriers between martial masters and supernaturals, combining the two roads as one.” Yuan Shuo sank back into contemplation and said nothing for a long time.

Li Hao and Jadelight Sword waited quietly by the side—they waited for half an hour.

“Have you tried connecting to the heavenly aura?”

Li Hao blinked. What heavenly aura?

Yuan Shuo frowned to see his student at a loss. “When I told you about the Breathing Method of the Five Styles, I also mentioned the modified Five Styles. Have you not studied them?”

Li Hao remained silent.

“Or perhaps you think that my Five Styles does not measure up to the secret arts of the ancient civilization, that a modern human cannot create a secret art more powerful. Is that so?”

“Not at all...” Li Hao hastily said.

“Of course you do!” Yuan Shuo laughed. “There’s nothing wrong with thinking that either. The limit of my Five Styles is Refiner of Spirit, whereas the sky was the limit for the ancient arts. One is in the heavens and the other on the ground, why would you think much of my methods?”