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!

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.

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