Star Gate

Chapter 42: Master and Disciple Ascend in Unison (II)

Be careful of blood and qi that were a few hundred meters away? Were martial masters supposed to be strong?

The woman was young and hadn’t been supernatural for long. She’d met a few Slayers of Tens in her time—none of them could withstand a single blow! Only one Sunderer of Hundreds ever crossed her path—that one kept a very low profile during a visit to Night Watcher headquarters. He’d been unassuming, polite, and even slightly deferential to the Night Watchers that he met.

The era of martial masters was well and truly over!

Legends of yore, Sunderers of Hundreds were nothing more than grandiose stories in the present day. Not to mention, Yuan Shuo was injured. She was just taking a peek, nothing else.

Thus, she ignored her compatriot’s advice and opened her third eye with a chuckle. “Hu Hao, we have a duty and obligation to clearly scope out the situation to ensure that nothing happens to Professor Yuan. I’m just carrying out my responsibilities. Who knows if that Li Hao is plotting against the professor as we speak?”

Any excuse was sufficient grounds to prevent a reprimand. Hu Hao furrowed his brow and said nothing more. The Night Watchers held Yuan Shuo in less regard these days after his hopes of crossing over shattered. The professor was old and the organization also worked with other preeminent experts of ancient civilizations.

Yuan Shuo’s standing was in free fall.

“Be careful, a top tier martial master is still fearsome…”

“I know, I know!” the woman interrupted. Her third eye was fully open and she saw Yuan Shuo through a hazy mist of blood and qi. She also glimpsed a pair of eyes blazing with killing intent and fury, the look in them crazed from the humiliation of being scorned!

It was a pair of eyes that stabbed straight to the heart and cut through all living things!

“How dare you! Death to all who dare pry into my secret art!” Yuan Shuo took to the sky like a bird!

For the first time, Li Hao witnessed the ungainly fowl style in its true splendor. His teacher flew into the sky and spread his arms out like wings!

Yuan Shuo raged upon discovering his protection detail’s impudence! Many years worth of wrath boiled over in full fury. He was a bird hurtling through the sky. Although his movements were far from beautiful as he flailed through the air, his speed was shocking!

He crossed one hundred meters in a split second, landed gently on the ground, then rose again! While he couldn’t leap consecutively through the air, his jumping skills were incredible and he shot another one hundred meters after pushing off.

Yuan Shuo traveled almost three hundred meters within the blink of an eye. He was so quick that neither Li Hao nor the two supernaturals had time to react.

Fast, so incredibly fast!

Having achieved great perfection with the Five Styles, Yuan Shuo was well-rounded in every aspect of martial arts! He drew level with buildings thirty meters tall on his next upward bound. Upon the roof, the man and woman’s expressions changed drastically.

“Elder Yuan…” Hu Hao quickly spoke up.

“ROAR!!” A tiger howl suppressed everything.

BOOM!

Hu Hao’s ears rang and blood welled out of the openings on his face. He was momentarily deaf and mysterious power surged from his body. The man abandoned his attempt at an explanation.

The woman had expended a great deal of energy to open the third eye. Being young and inexperienced, she didn’t have a chance to react or even close her anguished eye before a fist loomed in front of all three eyes!

“You have some audacity to come sniffing around my secret art! KILL!”

Killing intent, malicious intent, blood qi… The woman’s three eyes were awash with the color of blood. That was the only thing she saw.

BOOM!

An enormous explosion rang out with Yuan Shuo’s punch. Bones and meridians resonated in unison, ripping through the air like a muffled clap of thunder.

“AHH!” shrieked the woman as all of her eyes bled profusely and massive mysterious power leaked forth.

“A minor punishment for a major transgression! I will spare your life considering it is your first offense!”

Bam!

Another massive explosion echoed as Yuan Shuo snapped his leg outward and sent the woman flying. Her bones broke with a teeth-numbing crunch!

“This is all a misunderstanding, Elder Yuan!” Hu Hao soared into the air with a sword of light in his hands. Though he sweated profusely, he didn’t dare make a move. All he could do was yell loudly and grab the woman that’d flown out, taking several steps back before stabilizing their forms in the sky.

The woman was unconscious in his arms; blood bubbled from her mouth.

Yuan Shuo landed on the ground with a frosty look in his eyes, breaking through the dirt with his step and leaving a deep fissure.

“Misunderstanding? Then let it be a misunderstanding! Have your superiors come to me if they think otherwise!” The elderly man’s aura began to decline and blood seeped from the corner of his mouth. He snorted coldly, “Go tell them that although Yuan Shuo is old and retains less than ten percent of his strength, he is not to be insulted by the likes of you! Martial masters may be on our way to becoming obsolete with the rise of the supernatural world, but we can still raise a meter of bloodshed if we are so inclined!”

“We would never dare!” A panicking Hu Hao landed on the ground and garbled out, “It really is a misunderstanding, Elder Yuan! This is Li Meng’s first excursion and she has no sense of propriety. Our mission is to protect you and when your yard was hidden from view, Li Meng opened the eye of truth because she was worried about you…”

“It will be treated as a misunderstanding!” Yuan Shuo said faintly. “Be it a misunderstanding or willful infringement, such are the rules of martial masters! Those not of my discipline cannot pry into the secret art of the Five Styles!”

The elderly professor suddenly clutched his heart and cast a sidelong glance at Hu Hao. He turned around and slowly walked off, heading for his house.

“Can’t kill anyone anymore,” he said forlornly. “If this was twenty years ago… no, three years ago. If this was three years ago and that chit dared intrude on me teaching a disciple, I would kill her even if she was a Night Watcher! What a pity that with old age comes incapacitation…”

Unspeakable sorrow and endless resignation filled his voice. The woman came back to wakefulness at this time and spat out a mouthful of blood upon hearing the words, but didn’t dare say anything. Yuan Shuo walked with an unsteady gait—this grandmaster of their age seemed truly old for the first time!

“I used my final strike on you guys. I wanted to save it for a rival… What a pity!” Yuan Shuo’s despondent voice traveled back to the supernaturals.

Hu Hao’s expression shifted drastically. Was this the end of the road for Yuan Shuo? He’d been gravely wounded a few years ago and erupted beyond his capacity today. Both the professor’s qi and blood were depleted. If his injuries flared up again and resulted in his death…

Sweat poured from Hu Hao’s brow! He looked at the woman when the old man disappeared from view and kept his voice down.

“We’re in big trouble!” he said in chilly tones.

“He… almost killed me…” The woman was irate.

“We’re in big trouble and not because you almost died!” Hu Hao set his jaw. “You forced him to use his final strike! If he doesn’t hold on until the end of this mission, if he’s not involved in this excavation and we can’t depend on him to open certain portions… You’ll be sent to the most dangerous areas if you don’t die from these wounds and be deployed on the most dangerous missions!”

The woman’s expression changed dramatically. She’d almost died moments ago—not only was she shaken by Yuan Shuo’s strength, but she was also the type to hold a grudge. That old guy was too savage! But upon hearing her compatriot’s words, she paled with dismay.

Yuan Shuo… was about to die?

Reeling with shock, she ignored her injuries and appetite for revenge when the consequences struck her. Only terror moved her now. “Is he… is he really going to die?”

“He was injured too deeply before and that just disturbed his injuries!” Hu Hao muttered. “The methods of a premier Sunderer of Hundreds are truly incredible! He bounded through nearly four hundred meters in an instant and his blood qi suppressed even mysterious power. He’s a terrifying martial master!

“But at the same time, those were the methods of his prime. He spent the last few years limping along after his heart was nearly shattered. What he’s done just now…”

The woman’s face flickered through a variety of emotions before she grit her teeth. “It’s all my fault. I’ll immediately make a request upstairs and use all of my savings, including an advance on my salary, to purchase a Heavenmend Pill! It will aid his recovery!”

Yuan Shuo could not die! They would truly be in enormous trouble if he died, particularly as a field mission was about to commence. He was the ancient civilization expert most familiar with that set of ruins!

At the moment, he was more important than anything taking place in Silver City. Li Meng and Hu Hao were here not to investigate the self-immolation cases, but to prevent those cases from affecting Yuan Shuo.

It was due to that that the professor issued multiple invites for Li Hao to move in. He was still protected by the Night Watchers at the moment.

Despite her own grave injuries, Li Meng had to sacrifice her life savings in exchange for a healing item for Yuan Shuo. It was peak frustration, but it was her own fault for not listening to another’s advice. She’d also underestimated the capabilities of a premier martial master!

Abject fear flooded her thoughts when she thought back to that pivotal moment.

“Hurry and make your report before it’s too late,” Hu Hao sighed. “I hope that’s enough to resolve the situation, but he was already clutching his heart when he left. I’m worried that his heart is bleeding. With Yuan Shuo’s pride, he would not demonstrate weakness in front of juniors unless he had no choice to!”

Yuan Shuo was an exceedingly proud person! Although the old man was imperious and unbridled, inexplicable condolences seized Hu Hao when he watched the retreating figure. There went the grandmaster of an age!

One single move exhausted the pinnacle of martial dao and could possibly result in his death! Hu Hao couldn’t bear the thought. This was too cruel to a peak martial master!

Heaving for breath, Li Meng looked at the distant Yuan Shuo once more. The minuscule hate at the bottom of her heart vanished and she murmured apologetically, “I… I didn’t think it’d turn out this way… He’s so aggressive and came for me before I saw anything…”

“Ai, forget it!” Hu Hao shook his head. Poking into someone else’s knowledge, and a secret art at that, didn’t fly no matter how one spun it. Li Meng hadn’t necessarily wanted to steal martial knowledge, but it was true that she’d fundamentally viewed Yuan Shuo with contempt.

She felt that supernatural strength was invincible and there was nothing to fear about an antique who hadn’t fought in many years. She’d even thought that Yuan Shuo wouldn’t discover her attention and been overconfident, resulting in this development.

“Enough of this, retreat! We need to stay further away!” Hu Hao helped Li Meng out of the area. They needed to notify their supervisors and obtain lifesaving treasures as soon as possible. They needed to sustain Yuan Shuo’s life for a period of time, at least, and mollify the professor. Otherwise, why would he bother working for them if he was about to die?

They were in big enough trouble as it was and their superiors would be furious with them if the situation degraded further. Who could’ve foreseen this happening?