Star Gate

Chapter 761: Mass Cultivation (II)

His tasks complete, Li Hao ignored the troops. He wouldn’t have anyone ascend as a supernatural at this stage—he didn’t have any armor suitable for supernaturals. Ascending now would render the Battle Heaven armor useless.

The powerhouses in the crowd sat down cross-legged to absorb the energy. Panther prepared to do the same, but Li Hao sent it flying with a kick. None for you! The dog devoured energy at every opportunity to do so and ate from morning to night. If it joined in, at least thirty percent of the energy present would end up in its stomach.

Li Hao ignored everyone else and simply looked at Hong Yitang. The man raised an eyebrow when he saw the young man look his way. He followed Li Hao to the rear.

......

The rear yard.

It was very quiet, no one disturbed them. Hong Yitang looked at Li Hao, the young man looked back at him. “How many supernatural locks did Martial Uncle Hong break that day?”

“Six.” Hong Yitang smiled. “You broke six, as did I. You are of the wind and thunder attributes, I am of thunder and fire.”

That meant to say that he’d broken one of the five organs. Li Hao nodded. That Hong Yitang had broken the one of the spine meant that he’d saturated it a long time ago and possessed a strong skeleton.

“So Martial Uncle Hong only saturated ten locks before that?”

“Only?” Hong Yitang burst out laughing. “Do you find that weak? I only had nine locks before, one out of the five organs was not fully saturated. I only finished that one when I completed the circulation of the five organs in East Shore province.”

His battle strength had been tremendous prior to that because he possessed ten saturated locks. Nine put one on par with an Arcanus, ten made one stronger than a regular Arcanus. It was the level of a stabilized Arcanus.

But in that last battle, just a stabilized Arcanus was not enough. Therefore, he chose to break six supernatural locks. Combined with his formidable strength to begin with, that was how he killed the Steppe Prince with one blow.

“Has your blood qi of the zifu not been saturated?”

“No, I’m almost there.” Hong Yitang didn’t mind his less than perfect scorecard. “I don’t focus on blood qi to begin with.”

Li Hao nodded and thought for a bit. “Martial Uncle Hong, I completed the deployment of my fire and water abilities a few days ago. You saw some hints of it that day...”

Hong Yitang raised an eyebrow. He had indeed seen a fire ability, but it vanished at the end. It’d also been a very unique flame. Li Hao didn’t explain himself further and simply manifested the two characters.

“The ultimate art of Tranquil Star?” Hong Yitang’s eyes widened.

“Something similar!”

The fire character flew toward Hong Yitang and exploded with a roar. The man shook and responded with thunder and lightning, but was swiftly overcome...

An odd look appeared in his eyes; Li Hao put the characters away. Hong Yitang was silent for a moment before taking a deep breath. “I know why Yao Si agreed.” He understood!

“I’m not at liberty to tell others for the moment.” Li Hao looked at him. “But since Martial Uncle Hong has chosen to ascend to the supernatural... Although our paths are slightly different, martial uncle once told me that all the auras beneath the heavens are in the heart. The aura is determined by the heart. Therefore, it does not matter if a martial master lacks five auras. Just one sword is enough!

“Martial uncle... are you willing to try? You can meld your supernatural locks and abilities into one character, forming a unique word. I’d also like to see if this method is more universal...”

“Are you using me as a lab rat?” Hong Yitang laughed.

“A bit,” Li Hao laughed as well. “I’m wondering if this result can be accomplished through making a sword aura the core. That might be the Refiner of Spirit that I wish for!”

His teacher’s theories were to ultimately combine the auras as one. In that case, was melding them into the characters accomplishing the same deed? Hence, he did wish to continue the experiment in seeking out Hong Yitang, as the man only had one aura. If he succeeded and could combine more abilities into his word, then Li Hao’s worry about those with fewer auras would not need to be entertained.

“You still haven’t understood what I mean by auras springing from the heart!” Hong Yitang smiled. Li Hao blinked.

“Who says the sword aura is the only aura?” chuckled the man. “If I say it is fire, then it is fire. If I say it is earth, then it is earth. Forget it, you haven’t fully understood this yet. Just give me a brief overview. I’ll demonstrate the concept for you if I find it doable.”

Surprised, Li Hao nodded and quickly described everything he’d attempted.

“I see... so it’s the same concept,” Hong Yitang murmured. “The ancients’ concept of the three cavities and core origin dao to the modern day notions of supernatural locks, aura, and now melding supernatural abilities with characters...

“The ancient records speak of core origin dao ultimately being discarded as the people could reach grand perfection through cultivating through themselves. The ultimate conclusion to draw from all this is that all paths lead to the same outcome in the end—they are all daos of grand perfection!”

The methods may be different, but he vaguely felt that the final result would be the same.

“Right.” Li Hao also nodded. “All daos come together as one at the ultimate end. Whether it is supernatural or martial master, everything is reshaped for our own use!”

“This is what it means for all daos to return to one!” Hong Yitang understood the theory behind Li Hao’s knowledge. His blood qi frothed and expanded as rivulets of blood, instantly being refined into essence. Sword intent wafted out of the man as thunder and lightning manifested inside his body.

After some thought, a character slowly materialized in front of Hong Yitang.

Sword!

Li Hao was indifferent—it was only to be expected that Hong Yitang coalesce a sword character. But the unexpected occurred next. The word abruptly sizzled with electricity and roared with thunder! The elemental power within Hong Yitang’s body surged into the character, much to the young man’s surprise!

Sword... thunder and lightning...

Hong Yitang continued to quietly infuse his character with energy, tracing it to full completion. Li Hao swiftly took out drops of Water of Life and crushed them to release life energy. Hong Yitang ignored everything and continued to direct energy into the word. There was no answering peal of thunder this time, a development that he also ignored as he steadily refined the word.

After a while, the ‘sword’ character sparkled in the void like a living bolt of lightning. The man heaved a long breath, noticeably tired. “The thunder attribute has been incorporated into the character...” He grinned happily. “Look, Li Hao. This is what it means for the aura to spring from the heart!”

His character suddenly morphed into a gout of flame!

Li Hao jerked with shock.

“I told you the first time we entered Battle Heaven that auras are without attributes. Attributes come from the thoughts of you and I. If I think it is fire, then it is fire! Your thinking is a bit too simplistic!” Hong Yitang pointed out. The energy of fire within his body spontaneously melded into the character. Bolts of lightning danced around as flames erupted with a roar!

The sword character was changing colors!

“Your master’s Breathing Method of the Five Styles incorporates five kinds of aura. Overlaying the auras on top of each other makes them stronger, but it’s also just comprehending the same aura five times over. That is why your master is a genius and why ordinary people like us can only grow stronger through one aura.

“However, that doesn’t mean that one aura is limited to one attribute! Li Hao, your wind and thunder attributes are unable to be incorporated within because you have too many predefined notions about them! Of course, our paths are different, so naturally our thoughts are different!”

Li Hao was quite very surprised. Hong Yitang had indeed instructed him during their first visit to Battle Heaven and told him that there were no inherent attributes within auras. It was all determined by the mind. The young man remembered that teaching well. But today, he saw that they could be freely switched between! How was this possible?

Li Hao stared dumbly at Hong Yitang. Since he understood the theory, he’d comprehended them according to whatever concept he had in mind. But he didn’t know that auras could still be converted between different attributes once they took shape!

Earthturner Sword was known for his earth aura! But what the heck was this?

“Stop staring, it’s not like you’ll understand more the longer you stare. Since you have already formed a certain line of thinking and understanding of the world, then you should proceed according to your understanding. You don’t have to imitate me, it may not be effective to do so.

“My aura isn’t as strong as the type that is layered on itself multiple times! That is the truth as well. Mine just has a bit more variations—or as your master puts it, more bells and whistles. He’d say it’s completely impractical!”

Hong Yitang laughed, finding Yuan Shuo’s words to be true in a certain way. His aura did indeed possess many permutations and looked quite impressive, but one type of aura was one type of aura in the end. Yuan Shuo had comprehended it five times over and overlaid it five times over. Those were two different notions.

Li Hao had accomplished the same, but to the young man’s eyes, it was Hong Yitang who blew his mind! That one aura could become a myriad of possibilities, didn’t that mean that one character could encompass everything then? So wouldn’t that indicate that Hong Yitang wasn’t subject to any restrictions and could meld anything he wished to?

The young man’s mouth dropped. This wasn’t fair! I haven’t even finished refining my wind and thunder attributes, I’m wondering how to comprehend their auras! He can just use one character to contain them all. What the hell am I doing then??

“Don’t think too much, I’m just employing a kind of shortcut. I should still be weaker than you in the end!” Hong Yitang tried to speak some words of comfort as he could read certain thoughts from the young man’s face.

“You’re... different from other people,” Li Hao said in a daze. “They also have one singular aura, but they don’t possess the all-inclusive properties that you do!”

Other people couldn’t change their auras at will, could they?

Hong Yitang seemed to have some stamina left and continued to incorporate his fire attributes into the character. “Why must we be concerned about the attributes of a singular aura?” he asked in an unhurried pace.

“What?”

“The unattributed can accommodate everything!” he explained. “The difficulty level is just a bit higher, that’s all. Don’t you have an independent sword aura of your own? Consider it as a catch-all for everything and throw at it everything you have that can’t be formed into a character for now. Make it a huge melting pot!

“That may turn it into a motley array of attributes, but it won’t be weaker than regular supernatural abilities either. That’s all it needs to be! You must realize, Li Hao, that not everyone has to be special. When only a select few are geniuses, that makes them special. It’s enough for everyone else to be mainstream!”

He felt that the young man’s thinking was starting to deviate onto a tangent. Li Hao seemed to think that everyone was a genius and all should walk this path. But who said that only geniuses could cultivate?

Hong Yitang wanted to say that he, too, was a genius. He wasn’t ordinary either. Somehow, the young man felt that if Hong Yitang could manage this feat and others couldn’t, then that meant his method couldn’t be universally applied to all.

Bullshit! I’m a genius, so of course I can do some things that other people can’t! Hong Yitang inwardly groused. I can utilize your method because I’m a genius. You little bastard think that everyone has to be able to use it for that method to be a viable way forward. Do you think you’re the only genius in the world? Who isn’t a genius at our step of cultivation? Do you expect everyone to be the same as you?