Star Gate

“My master’s enemies are everywhere,” Li Hao said in a low voice. “There are so many martial masters here and I’m his final disciple. There will be plenty of people who want to make trouble for me! I wouldn’t care if I represented only myself, but I cannot lose face for the Five Styles discipline!

“If not, people will say this is all there is to the Five Styles!

“I’m not interested in beating up weaklings. But if a Dominator provokes me and I can’t pull my blows in time, will it be fine if I end up killing them?”

Being a martial master back in the day, Manager Yu naturally knew what he meant. She tensed, thinking it over. “With your strength, there will be exceedingly few targets that you cannot control yourself against. It’s fine to inflict injuries throughout the course of sparring, but keep in mind that once you are at the Silver Moon Guards, they are your colleagues. They may not be of the same discipline as you, but beating colleagues to death is not what martial masters pursue either!”

“I’m not part of the Guards yet!” Li Hao pointed out. “Forget that. How about this, I will not seek to kill someone so long as they don’t insult the Five Styles discipline, my teacher, or try to kill me!”

Manager Yu had nothing else to say when the young man modified his words. She had been a martial master once and knew these particulars all too well. If the young man really did turn a blind eye and deaf ear to everything, he would not be able to find his footing in the world. No one would think much of him, even with his powerful teacher.

Meanwhile, Li Hao was rather excited. Numerous martial masters awaited and there were many auras to be acquainted with! While the occasion might not hold a candle to the prosperity of the former Silver Moon martial world, unexpected gains might await him in a place with so many half step Dominators.

Witnessing different auras would help him comprehend different types of martial dao. It might help him with grasping more auras himself. He wouldn’t be that interested if only supernaturals stood in front of him, but it was martial masters instead. There was even some hostility... No one could blame him if anyone dared run afoul of him!

The car slowly came to a half in front of massive gates.

The Silver Moon Guards!

The three characters were emblazoned on a signboard hanging over the gates. They appeared extraordinary, but Li Hao merely glanced once at them. It might’ve been Hou Xiaochen who’d written them. They paled far in comparison to the characters of Battle Heaven—there was no need to study them at length.

Overwhelming aura surged at them before the group alighted from the car. A teeming mass of people stood behind the gates—hundreds of martial masters!

Li Hao felt pressure bearing down on him as soon as he got out of the car. There was more than one Dominator in the crowd and troops of one hundred were swiftly assembling. Each troop stood in a square formation, levying more intimidation on the young man.

There wouldn’t be as much suppression on their visitor if the crowd had milled around aimlessly. A martial master stood at the front of each formation and a fatty stood at the head. He seemed a bit familiar... Upon second glance, he resembled a Mu Sen with smaller eyes. Li Hao immediately guessed that this would be the elder brother that Mu Sen spoke of. This was the second-in-command and deputy of the Silver Moon Guards.

“Greetings to Manager Yu, greetings to the one of the Five Styles discipline!” The fatty called out from a distance and beamed radiantly.

The manager alighted from the car with an aloof look and didn’t say much. Li Hao buttoned his collar and, after some thought, rolled up his sleeves. There was a time and place to play the part of a timid weakling. It was meaningless to do so in front of a group of martial masters, some which were the same age as him. They plainly wanted to humiliate him at their first meeting; he wouldn’t permit them to have their way!

Hou Xiaochen obviously wished for him to join the Guards. In that case, he would be the one teaching them a lesson! If one wanted to find his footing in a place, he had to take action when he must.

Li Hao stood next to the secretary’s side and walked with her. The pressure built as they stepped forward—the stifling sensation was immense! A miasma of blood qi even appeared over the square formations. Every martial master regarded their visitor with a frosty look and coursing qi. Most supernaturals probably wouldn’t be able to control their mysterious power from agitating in response at this distance.

“Mu Lin!” called out Manager Yu.

The fatty jogged over with a smile. “Manager Yu, please forgive us for not going out to meet you!”

“Are you still running drills at this hour?”

“That’s right, I can’t help it if the brothers wish to get in more practice. I can’t stop them at all!” Mu Lin looked merrily at Li Hao. “You’re Li Hao, right? I’ve heard about you—the final disciple of the Five Styles! My brother often mentions you and says you’re quite a talent. Nice to meet you, I can see that the rumors are true!”

The young man inclined his head and said nothing in response. He focused his attention on the martial masters standing behind the deputy. All of them glowered back at him. Li Hao carefully sensed those in the surroundings. A faint air of blood could be found in their presences. It would appear that they’d been in battles before. They weren’t the type of martial master that shut themselves away in seclusion. Now this was interesting. Who had these martial masters once fought? It was impossible for a Dominator to battle without anyone knowing of it.

Li Hao suddenly smiled at those standing in formation. “It looks like the various seniors nurse certain dissatisfaction with me. Perhaps it has to do with my identity as a Five Styles disciple...”

Some eyes widened among the crowd. Was he bowing his head?

“My master killed a lot of people back in the day, perhaps he killed some of your friends and family. But death and injuries are normal when martial masters spar. Those who cannot accept that should withdraw from the martial world as soon as possible!”

The young man beamed radiantly. “Since there seems to be general anger floating around, why not give voice to it? Here I am, I don’t mind being a target. Those present who feel a need to spar with me can step forward! If you think you are no match for me, then all of you can come at the same time. I’ll fight every one of you!”

“......” Ringing silence echoed around the plaza before a loud hubbub started. How cocky!

Across from him, Mu Lin started. This wasn’t right! This wasn’t the Li Hao that his brother spoke of! This kid was so arrogant!

“You need to think carefully about this, Li Hao!” a Dominator in the distance said coldly. “This is the Silver Moon Guards and we might not do anything to you out of consideration for the director. Things are different if you provoke us, though!”

“An ax wielder...” Li Hao chuckled when he noted the weapon that the speaker held. “Are you a disciple of Mountain Ax? The one that my master killed with three punches? My master says that Mountain Ax isn’t weak, he just didn’t live up to the hype. That was why my master couldn’t check his blows in time.”

“You bastard!” Ax Wielder leapt into the air and landed in front of Li Hao, regarding the young man with a frosty look. “You court death, Li Hao!”

“Don’t give me that,” sighed the young man. “We’re both martial masters and you showed me the greatest enmity when I arrived! You want nothing more than to hack me to death in one swing, so why should I be polite?

“In that case, let’s cut to the chase and be more direct. Since we’re martial masters, we don’t need to pretend to be supernaturals. We can speak frankly of any grudges we have with each other and then start beating each other, right?”

“That’s right!” sneered Ax Wielder. “You’re kinda interesting, Li Hao! I’m Chen Jin, a disciple of Mountain Ax. But I’ve been a Dominator for five years and will not bully a junior. I’ll have my disciple put you through your paces. I’d like to see what caliber of talent this generation’s Five Styles disciple is!”

“You don’t need to do that!” Li Hao took a step forward in his leather boots and cracked the ground. He sent a half-hearted punch drifting through the air. “You can do the deed yourself, I’m worried your disciple is too weak!”

“Hmph!” Chen Jin snorted and swung his ax. He knew that Li Hao’s punch came from the tiger style. A punch of the Five Styles wasn’t worth anything. It was too slow!

Li Hao frowned upon seeing that his opponent wasn’t bringing his full strength to bear. “Who do you think you’re belittling without even using your aura?”

He roared like a tiger overseeing his domain, causing Chen Jin to cough violently. Blood seeped at the corner of his mouth as his organs shook! The man’s expression changed drastically and he shouted with fury, chopping swiftly with his ax! A mountainous ax head seemed to appear above him as he made his move—Mountain Ax!

He’d known that he faced a strong enemy as soon as Li Hao roared. The young man struck with abandon. Since his opponent was now putting his full force behind the blows, he could answer in kind. Otherwise, it would appear that he was belittling the man.

His punch sped up—it was fast, very fast! Though he didn’t use the sword aura, a ferocious tiger manifested over Li Hao’s body all the same. A Five Styles disciple naturally used the tiger aura.

BAM!

Li Hao’s punch didn’t seem that fast, but it arrived first. He connected with the ax head before Chen Jin finished his swing. The tiger seemed to sniff out an enemy as it broke out of its cage. Cavernous maw yawning, it slapped the mountainous weapon and shattered it!

A meeting of auras!

Li Hao hit the weapon with a thunderous collision and broke the incomparably durable metal with a single punch! He jumped off the ground and punched again!

Bam!

Another loud collision saw Chen Jin take a blow to his chest. His rib cage broke with a crunch and he flew backward. Chen Jin of the Mountain Ax discipline had his aura shattered with Li Hao’s first punch and was gravely injured with the second!

Wham!

Chen Jin crashed to the ground and coughed up blood, staring incredulously at Li Hao. The entire plaza was so quiet that one could hear a pin drop.

Li Hao withdrew his fists and didn’t press his advantage. He looked around with a smile. “It looks like my Five Styles wins!”

Silence rang. Disbelief filled the crowd’s eyes and several centurions looked on with grave looks. Two punches had been all it took to defeat a Dominator of five years, the heir of Mountain Ax! This guy was stronger than they could imagine!

Mu Lin’s jaw dropped in his best goldfish imitation. Hadn’t his brother said that Li Hao was just a Sunderer? Bullshit! How old was that information??

A complicated look was also flickering through Manager Yu’s eyes. She knew that Li Hao’s sword aura was very strong, but... that hadn’t seemed like sword aura. Was that the tiger aura? Could the boy change his mind intent at will?

Two punches were all that was necessary to heavily wound a centurion and fling him to the ground. The rest of the Guards were still collecting their wits. Were... these the capabilities of a Five Styles disciple?

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