Star Gate

Chapter 61: A Victorious First Battle (I)

It was a roar that inspired dread and panic!

Zhou He’s ears rang so loudly it felt like they’d been pierced through. He was immediately caught on the back foot since he was unprepared. Li Hao leapt into the air with a massive leap!

Going airborne was a grave taboo in battle, something Chen Jian had told the young man on his first day. However, it was a move Li Hao loved to deploy given his proficiency in the ape style.

Due to his experience from the first day, he propelled his feet through the air to rise to the ceiling, then kicked his feet so he descended in a rotating fashion!

BAM!

He sent Zhou He flying through the area. There was no time to follow up before a piercing sound split the air. A dagger stabbed at his temples!

Li Hao grabbed the woman’s wrist with a quick backhand and erupted with cutting strength from his fingertips. It sank into his opponent’s wrist and elicited an anguished cry. The young man’s right hand grabbed the fallen dagger and stabbed it into the woman’s wrist for good measure!

CLANG!

Oddly enough, the metal connected with a loud collision. The human skeleton was extremely durable, yet neither was the dagger an ordinary weapon. One pierce ran the hand through!

“AHHH!” shrieked the woman.

Deaf to her torment, Li Hao grabbed the woman’s neck with his left hand and slammed her against the wall.

Bam!

Another loud collision rang out as numerous bones broke. Li Hao pulled out the dagger, then punctured her hand to nail her right hand on the wall!

“Li Hao!” Zhou He wailed when he landed on the ground, vomiting blood. Their target had fixed his companion to the wall! This show of savagery was at complete odds with the information he’d gathered!

Kind, simple, honest, loyal, shy… Such were the characteristics and descriptions he’d gathered from others. They weren’t unfounded speculations as they stemmed from casual mentions by his classmates, gossip from his neighbors, and evaluations from his colleagues.

No one ever mentioned that he was such a brutal and cruel person!

……

“Tsk tsk tsk!” Liu Yan clucked her tongue. As they said, a dog that bites does not bark! Even she, a veteran, found Li Hao ruthless. Although the Yuan surnamed woman was slightly older, she was still a woman. Despite that, Li Hao first broke her wrist, then nailed her hand to the wall for good measure so she wouldn’t escape!

Was this a rookie’s first encounter with practical combat? He was more vicious than a great many veterans!

The Demon Hunters all brought their full strength to bear against supernaturals, but they wouldn’t necessarily show the same degree of ferocity against a woman yet to reach Slayer of Tens. At the very least, Chen Jian and Wu Chao might find it difficult.

Liu Long and the others continued to quietly observe the fight. This is Li Hao’s first battle… right? Honestly, is this really his first time pitting himself against others? Is this really his first time seeing blood?

Damn, just look at his moves. Pure martial masters rarely used weapons—if they did, they used their own. Li Hao, on the other hand, grabbed the enemy’s dagger and used it against its owner without hesitation!

The weapon was far sharper than a hand or foot. That stab into the hand completely crippled the woman’s palm. With her wrist broken, her entire arm was useless if death didn’t already loom.

Seeing that Li Hao was such an unreasonable Slayer, he completely dominated the woman in terms of strength given that she wasn’t even a Slayer.

……

Immersed in the thick of battle, Li Hao didn’t have the effort to spare to consider what the team might be thinking. The only thought on his mind was something his teacher had once taught him.

“Ignore everything once you start fighting. Whether right or wrong, remember that you have to be the only one left standing!”

Yuan Shuo said that when passing on the New Book of Five Styles. Those who walked the path of martial dao either made no move at all, or moved to end their enemy. There was no need for extraneous talk—just defeat all enemies first whether one was right or wrong. Beat them into the ground until they had no capacity to fight back! If they were still alive, then all sides could sit down for a chat of who was in the right.

Giving opportunities to the enemy was just a declaration that one had lived too long. Therefore, Li Hao didn’t think there was anything wrong with his actions.

After nailing the woman to the wall with her dagger, he scrambled up with his hands and feet like an ape and flung himself at Zhou He.

Zhou He was another Slayer and, strictly speaking, stronger than Li Hao. However, he was much weaker at the moment since one of his arms was a bloody mess and his spleen potentially damaged from the earlier ambush. Zhou He panicked at seeing his attacker advance swiftly.

“Don’t, I have intel…” he shouted.

Bam!

Li Hao struck without hesitation, stretching out a hand curved into a claw for the Black Tiger Heart Gouge!

Gibbering with abject fear, Zhou He frantically crossed his arms in front of his chest. He’d just reached forward with both arms when Li Hao’s hand connected, swiping downward with splayed fingers like a vicious tiger pouncing on prey!

Pfft!

Flesh burst apart and sweat poured from Zhou He’s forehead. Pain! He was somewhat curtailed in his counterattacks, whereas Li Hao rained a furious barrage on him from all sides!

“Li Hao… your death is nigh… I have very important information for you…”

“ROAR!!” Another Tiger Roar Through Mountain and Woods!

Blood flowed freely from all of the openings on Zhou He’s face. His breathing hitched and his movements slowed.

Li Hao only felt that the man was an incredible fool. His teacher had said that those who practiced martial dao needed to retain a breath inside their body. That breath was used to brace oneself for action and coordinate breathing with external skill. Zhou He continued talking as he fought and he was far from an expert. Lacking both internal and external skill, he was easily targeted and interrupted!

Such was the benefit of a premier martial teacher and tutelage from a Dominator of Thousands! Zhou He learned from a Sunderer at most—possibly even another Slayer. Martial dao, after all, was in decline!

Li Hao’s roar perfectly interrupted Zhou He’s return breath, forcing him to swallow his words with a slight internal injury. His hands and legs moved disjointedly. It was the perfect opportunity for Li Hao to wrap his arms around his opponent!

Bear Hug!

Craaaack!

Sounds of bone crunching and breaking rang through the area. On guard against a return kick from his opponent, Li Hao stomped with vicious momentum and smashed through Zhou He’s right leather shoe. Blood, flesh, and bone intermixed as the man howled with anguish!

……

“Hiss!” Five sharp breaths in unison!

Chen Jian looked at Liu Long, then at Liu Yan.

“Was… was he playing dumb when he sparred with us before?” he muttered nervously. This was Li Hao’s first time in combat? Bullshit! The kid was absolutely brutal and coldly calculating. He crippled the woman first, then set his sights on Zhou He. They were both Slayers, but Zhou He couldn’t mount resistance to a rookie!

Looking at the current situation, there was almost no possibility for the man to turn it around.

However, a solemn Liu Long was focused on something else entirely.

“Are there that many killing moves in the Five Styles?”

Indeed. Whether it was the ape style or the others, every move from Li Hao’s New Book of Five Styles was lethal! Gouging the heart, ripping and tearing, crushing hugs, tiger fists… His Five Styles was a bit different from other people’s. Every move and technique was merciless and relentless!

This was something they didn’t normally observe—or it’d be more accurate to say that Li Hao was typically less comfortable in his own skin. Had Yuan Shuo revised his New Book of Five Styles again? There was so much killing intent in this version!

Everyone thought his martial method was for general health and well-being; his normal glacial speed seemed to confirm that. But now that a Sunderer like Liu Long took another look at this method, it was plain to see how lethal every detail of it was!

The techniques centered on the enemy’s vitals!

The heart, throat, eyes, crotch, spleen, waist, and kidneys were Li Hao’s primary area of focus. He freely jabbed the eye, grabbed the throat, and grasped the crotch without reservation!

The more Liu Long saw, the more taken aback he was. Martial masters didn’t focus only on attacking—strengthening the body was another main area of concern. Combined with the rise of hot weapons, it meant that many of their killing techniques had evolved with the times.

Meanwhile, Li Hao’s Five Styles seemed to be a return to the primordial past!

“The New Book of Five Styles…” Liu Yan, another expert about to set foot into Sunderer, frowned. “It utilizes the instinctive hunting styles of five animals. It is always a struggle of life and death between animals. If a hunt fails, the hunter starves to death. It is a constant interchange of brutality and savagery! While it sounds like child’s play, it’s actually an extremely barbaric martial method. What we see normally seems to be the… neutered version!”

Li Hao seemed to have returned to his origins in this moment. Of course, he missed quite a few opportunities since he was a rookie. If it was Liu Long, he would’ve broken Zhou He’s neck in the first few moves.

But since Li Hao’s legacy stemmed from a premier martial master, Zhou He couldn’t begin to measure up to him!

The young man shoved his shoulder forward as the team talked, throwing Zhou He forward, then yanking him back. His shoulder slammed into the man’s chest—crunch!

Innumerable ribs broke before Zhou He crashed to the ground, blood spewing from his mouth. He exhaled more air than he breathed in, a potential sign of further internal damage. Despite the man’s eyes losing focus, Li Hao didn’t relax his guard.

The young man looked around, then quickly backed away. He turned and ran for the other side, leaping into the air to make a neat turn and whip his right leg out!

The woman, about to remove her mangled right hand from the wall, didn't have time to dodge before Li Hao’s foot hit her neck with a loud crack!

Bone fractured before the woman hit the ground. Fresh blood dyed the floor red.