Star Gate

Chapter 589: Demon Sword Erupts in All Directions (II)

Li Hao directed Panther to open its mouth and swallow the Windchaser Boot. Xu Qing watched it disappear with a pang to his heart. It was gone!

Xu Xing also watched with reluctance. Their family’s heritage treasure... was completely gone! While the monster spirits spoke of returning it, reality might be entirely different. Since the family had lent it out, they should expect to not see it again. That made this an easier pill to swallow. Constantly being concerned about it made for continual discomfort.

Those outside also saw the scene—Yu Qiao and the others looked on with solemnity.

“Then this king will go outside to announce the news,” Li Hao transmitted. “You want to intimidate those fellows, don’t you? That’s easy enough. How dare they insult monster spirits! I will be sure to tell the ancestor when I return to the Kui Mountains and let these humans know right now that monster spirits are not to be insulted!”

Now that sounded much more pleasing to the ear.

Panther sauntered outside. In its stomach, Li Hao held both boots and thought for a bit before shoving them on his feet. Not only that, but he hesitated before transmitting to Panther, “Panth, I... want to do something pretty far out in a second. I want to rip through your stomach, so you’ll suffer some heavy injuries. I’ll give you more energy after that’s done, what do you say?”

Panther’s eyes widened! You... want to kill this dog?

“Pretend like you’ve been ambushed by someone, do you understand? When your stomach is opened, activate your bloodline power and spontaneously erupt with strength. Attack Yu Qiao or the young master of the East Pole Duke. After that, you can feign an inability to match them and be beaten back...” Li Hao rapidly sketched the instructions for putting on a show. He wanted to create a massive disturbance.

The young man guessed that these people wouldn’t necessarily do anything here, but also that he himself wouldn’t be able to retreat if he didn’t do anything. They might waylay him outside the duke’s territory. Meanwhile, the duke would send him back with an escort. The situation would be tricky to maneuver around then. The Steadfast Duke wouldn’t let him go back alone.

Once they reached the mountains, despite the big snake being willing to help, Li Hao didn’t want to create greater trouble for the snake. His previous thoughts had been that having the help of a major monster spirit was for the best. What did the life or death of a monster spirit have to do with him?

But the great snake had helped maintain the integrity of his cover—there was a tie of connection between them. Therefore, Li Hao had to reveal his identity before he left. He needed to ensure that his actions would not affect the Kui Mountains, that he was just borrowing their name. Once he exposed himself, everyone would know that all of this had nothing to do with the mountain.

That would also prevent trouble from descending upon the Kui Mountains.

Be it humans or monster spirits, Li Hao’s principles were the same. I help you, you help me. Since the big snake was willing to help him, then he could not bring annihilation down on its head.

Panther wasn’t very willing.

“There’s enough sword energy!” Li Hao transmitted.

Panther was still conflicted.

“I won’t ride you next time, you can ride me instead...”

The dog’s eyes brightened. Now that was more like it! As scary as ripping apart the stomach sounded, monster spirits possessed durable bodies. Hence, it wasn’t outside the realm of consideration.

“I’ll use Water of Life to heal your wounds.”

Panther had no more objections after the latest suggestion. With that, Li Hao understood that the dog had agreed.

“Walk closer to them!”

Panther strutted its way to those assembled outside, toes high and nose in the air—the very picture of unbridled arrogance.

“The Kui Mountains monster spirits are willing to officially ally with the Steadfast Duke!” Li Hao expressed through mental ripples. “When this king returns to the mountains, the dragon god will immediately send out five Novas, one hundred Solars, and a thousand monster spirits beneath Solar to assist the duke in Calm Borders!”

A variety of expressions flickered across faces at his words. Some beamed from ear to ear! Those people were certainly from the duke’s faction. They were all in good spirits upon hearing the golden dog’s words. Five Novas, one hundred Solars, and a thousand other monster spirits... that was enough.

“Not only that,” Li Hao continued bluffing. “But the Kui Mountains will supply the Steadfast Duke with five hundred drops of Water of Life every year...”

BOOM!

Everyone jerked with surprise; the duke’s heart skipped a beat. He almost burst out with curses in his surprise. You don’t need to talk about that! We’ll be targeted for our riches now that you have! This will result in unexpected trouble on our heads!

But he quickly thought of another possibility—this might actually be a good development. He wouldn’t need to be wary of too much with the Kui Mountains supporting him. This might even be a good opportunity to recruit some people—those premier heavyweights! After all, five hundred drops of Water of Life was an astronomical figure!

Yu Qiao and the others looked very unpleasantly. Was the monster spirit joking with the number of five hundred drops? Was it bluffing? If this was true, what was the point of fighting anymore?

Yu Qiao despaired—why had the Kui Mountains suddenly appeared on the scene? Judging from the looks of things, they really did have support from ancient monster spirits, and more than one at that. Damn it, why??

The Xus were hotly ambitious and the rest of them just wanted to protect themselves. Was there anything wrong with that? Why must they be treated in this manner?

Yu Qiao wasn’t willing to accede to fate, but there was nothing he could do. The only decision he could make was that the monster spirit had to die here. Even if he himself died in Calm Borders during the attempt, he needed to preserve an avenue of retreat and spark of hope for Firebright province.

As Yu Qiao made ruthless plans for the immediate future, the eldest son of the East Pole Duke was likewise immensely grave. The golden monster spirit pranced beside them and looked at them sideways with quite some arrogance.

“You humans better not think of overturning this partnership. It’s impossible! This king is no fool. There may be humans who wish to kill me, but there will be powerhouses from the Kui Mountains soon to welcome me back...”

The Steadfast Duke was starting to find this behavior untoward. There was also a thing called too much arrogance! This kind of talk would easily infuriate Yu Qiao and the others. They might put their lives on the line and fight to the death if pushed too far. It was enough to just intimidate them—even rabbits scratched and bit when they were backed against a wall.

The duke’s expression changed midway through his thoughts. It was fast—so fast that he didn’t see anything before the golden monster spirit cried out with anguish and clutched its stomach. A bloody mark had appeared and large quantities of blood gushed out!

“ROAR!!” An anguished cry rang through the air. An enormous monster spirit manifested, its presence ferocious like it was a giant primordial beast.

“Ancient monster spirit...” gasped someone in the crowd.

“Damn you all!” Li Hao rasped. “How dare you ambush one of a noble ancient bloodline!”

ROAR!

The roar shook heaven and earth as Panther slammed a paw down on Yu Qiao. The man was actually in an incredulous daze himself. Who’d done it? They were very bold! But there was no time to consider that much. Something had happened to the monster spirit, it was attacking him, and the Steadfast Duke would never let him go for this even if he wasn’t behind it!

“Kill!” he shouted and punched Panther. “Xu Qing wishes to capture all of us in one fell swoop. He is colluding with monster spirits and pirates. Kill him!”

The crowd milled about restlessly. The eldest son of the East Pole Duke clenched his jaw and strode through the air, a spear materializing in his hands to stab toward Panther! The Helios representatives also made up their minds in a series of flickering expressions. This partnership could not be allowed to succeed!

“This king will remember you guys!” Li Hao snarled. “Firebright, East Pole, Helios... Await your destruction! The Kui Mountains will avenge this slight unto the death!”

The Steadfast Duke was watching the proceedings with horror. He still couldn’t determine who it was that had attacked the golden monster spirit. Were there powerhouses acting from the shadows?! And yet, now wasn’t the time for an investigation.

“You bastard!” The duke punched at Yu Qiao’s group, his presence soaring to the sky. “How dare you! Everyone, help me capture these cretins!”

Although he was concerned about experts hidden in the dark, he couldn’t very well watch the monster spirit die in front of him. He wouldn’t be able to shoulder the responsibilities if that happened! How had a simple show of strength turned into this... It was shocking that Yu Qiao and the others were so bold as to attack at this time!

Perhaps they weren’t the ones behind the initial attack, but they made their moves as soon as it was injured. It was plain to see that they’d already decided to kill the golden dog.

BOOM!

Powerful presences erupted in all directions. There were so many that the earth started shaking. Countless buildings around the hall were leveled and various powerhouses of other provinces were also buffeted by the winds. Some were frightened, others were grave.

Who should they help? Do they help the Steadfast Duke or Yu Qiao and the others?

“Stand with us!” Yu Qiao shouted. “Do you think Xu Qing will show you mercy if we die? The Xus are ruthlessly ambitious and have long wanted to conquer the east. All of us will die unless we become their dogs! Use this opportunity to kill this monster spirit! The Kui Mountains won’t know the truth! It will be the death of the Xus when the ancient monster spirits come for them!”

Some among the crowd were tempted by the words; a dark shadow flashed toward Panther. It was obstructed by other powerhouses in the next second.

“You bastard Yu Qiao!” Xu Qing roared. “You will die today!”

Damn it! Everything had been going so well, but this imbecile dared mess everything up for him!

“Retreat with the envoy!” Xu Qing blasted Yu Qiao back with a fist and sent the eldest son of the East Pole Duke flying with another punch. He was incredibly domineering, but there were a lot of people standing against him.

He had numerous supporters on his side, but not that many premier powerhouses. The more elite one was, the less willing one was to bow their head to another’s banner. Even Red Beard looked on indifferently and swiftly retreated with his men, not raising a hand to help.

No one could guess at his thoughts given the cold expression on his face. However, he knew that so long as the Steadfast Duke Manor stood, so long as Xu Qing was present, then the Red Beard Pirates would not be his. He would have to take commands from this man for the rest of his life.

But if he was dead...

Then the Red Beard Pirates would be his.

Several people swiftly appeared next to Li Hao. The second steward, Xu Xing, and another premier powerhouse. Judging from his ball of light, he looked to be of the metamorphosis level.

One of the three generals!

Light Sword had killed five generals, leaving the Sky, Earth, and Yellow Generals. This one seemed to be the lowest ranked Yellow General. It was uncertain whether he’d reached metamorphosis, but he looked weaker than Qian Feng and Fan Chang from before.