Chapter 449 - Forceful Charge
The setting sun was completely red, just like blood.
On the long street, a youth was frantically running towards the Stone Country Capital. His hair rolled up behind him. Its shape was like a flood dragon, and rumbling sounds could be heard as it pierced through the sky.
“He returned!” Someone said under their breath. With a flushed red complexion and tightened fists, there was both great hatred, apprehension, and an even greater coldness in this individual’s expression.
“The little Stone has returned. What kind of storm is he going to raise this time? Who will inherit the great inheritance of Stone Country?” There were people who were shocked as they gazed into the long street.
Shi Hao’s return had attracted the attention of many cultivators. In reality, after the short battle at Misty Rain Restaurant where he left shortly after, it was practically impossible for someone like him not to draw any attention!
There was the hostile Rain Clan, the valiant princes, and many others. At this moment, Stone Country’s atmosphere was extremely tense, and everyone had a feeling that another great storm was brewing!
In the imperial palace’s direction, the aura of a dragon surged. It was as if the imperial lord had appeared. A true dragon circled about, startling everyone within the imperial family.
Chi!
An expanse of purple rain scattered down, emitting chi chi sounds. Purple clouds curled up around the skies, bringing with them a mountainous pressure as they surrounded Shi Hao.
With a point of Shi Hao’s finger, the entire sky of purple rain exploded. He then rushed towards the sky. This attack couldn’t stop his steps in the slightest.
“Dao friend, please leave!” A shouting sounded. A middle-aged cultivator appeared. It was he who had taken action to stop Shi Hao’s advance.
Shi Hao’s expression was cold. Currently, strange changes were taking place in the imperial capital. Right now, an individual was trying to cut him off, not wanting him to enter the sensitive area at this crucial moment.
“Out of the way!” These few words emitted endless killing intent. Even though he was just a youth, Shi Hao emitted an overwhelming pressure.
“Little friend, calm down. There is no need for such killing intent. Let’s have a seat. This poor daoist wants to speak with you for a bit.” He sat in the air and maintained a dignified appearance before beginning to chant sutras.
Hua la la
Above his head, a purple dao book appeared. The book began to flip by itself, the pages flying with streak after streak of light. The aura of the great dao circulated, emitting an extremely brilliant radiance.
Shi Hao felt like the dragon aura within the imperial palace had something to do with himself. It appeared when he set foot into the city. The Stone Emperor was able to light his divine flame through his extraordinary methods, and as such, he might have left something behind for Shi Hao.
Now that he was purposely stopped by someone, he naturally seethed with cold intent. Even though he was handsome, outstanding, and even possessed an immortal aura, once he released his killing intent, he immediately turned into a death god.
“Little friend, please calm down and enter a state of meditation. I wish to discuss the dao with you.” When the daoist priest opened his mouth, his eyes flickered with purple light. A horn appeared on his forehead that resonated with the dao book.
“Do you serve the Heaven Mending Sect, Immortal Mountain, or Western Sect?” Shi Hao’s finger was like a blade as it pointed out. He didn’t waste any time with extra words and instead already made a move.
Qiang!
Thick sword energy pierced high into the sky. It was sparkling and dazzling as it tore through the air with penetrative force. This was one of his most powerful precious techniques: the sword intent he comprehended from the stalk of grass on the beast skin.
A single blade of grass to hack down the sun, moon and stars!
This was the power portrayed on the roll of beast skin, as well as the goal of Shi Hao’s efforts. Being able to hack down the great stars of the universe with a raise of his hand, this was true might!
“En?”
The daoist priest’s expression changed. His background wasn’t simple, allowing him to exceed many of his peers. Otherwise, how could he become a protector and protect his sect’s honor? He felt an extremely cold wave of killing intent. This streak of sword energy was too terrifying. Not only did it attack at his body, its might was even crushing his spirit.
Above his head, the dao book continuously flipped about, creating large amounts of symbols to form an enormous formation. It then suppressed towards Shi Hao.
Zheng, zheng...
The cry of the sword was incredibly loud. Shi Hao’s sword intent immediately blasted apart the expanse of symbols and hacked down. However, this dao book wasn’t ordinary. It quickly flipped about, increasing the concentration of symbols in the formation by more than ten folds.
Hong!
Finally, the great formation was completed, trapping Shi Hao within. Meanwhile, the daoist priest continued to sit there. The horn on his forehead shone and resonated with the dao book.
“Daoist friend still won’t sit down?” The daoist priest spoke. He activated the dao book, and a wave of purple energy filled the air and suppressed downwards to press Shi Hao onto the ground.
The hazy purple clouds swirled about like a vast sea.
In the distance, the king level experts were shocked. This power was so great, and the magical artifact was even more shocking!
“Cease your rudeness. Do you think my Wasteland Heavenly Lord Manor is empty?” A group of old cultivators hurried over. Those were Grandpa Fifteen’s old brothers. When they heard that Shi Hao had appeared, they quickly came to provide assistance.
It was because they had a premonition that the strange scene in the imperial palace was tied to Shi Hao’s appearance. It might be related to his future prospects.
With a weng sound, a green spear flew over. It released precious light, but as soon as it approached, it crumbled apart inch by inch and shattered from the purple clouds.
“How powerful. Break for me!” Another individual took action, bringing out a copper imprint. It quickly enlarged to the size of a small mountain. This was a king level magical weapon.
What was shocking was that as soon as the copper imprint descended and entered the formation, the purple dao book swept out an expanse of radiance, and a crisp kacha sound could be heard.
Finally, with a hong sound, the king level artifact shattered. It exploded into a blast of light and broke into pieces.
Everyone on the long street became fearful. This dao book was even more powerful than they had thought, actually being able to quickly shatter king level magical weapons. It could be seen how much pressure the little Stone was enduring.
“Uncles and grandpas, please retreat. There is no need for you all to take action.” Shi Hao spoke.
He never showed contempt towards this daoist as soon as they met, because with his fame, normal people definitely wouldn’t dare to take action. Those that dared to do something like this all definitely possessed areas that they were confident in.
Inside the formation, Shi Hao felt a type of pressure that came from the dao book. That item was no small thing. If it was just the daoist by himself, he definitely wouldn’t be able to stop Shi Hao.
“Break!”
Shi Hao shouted loudly. His entire body shone, and every inch of his body flowed with sword intent. This was an utterly terrifying scene.
His pupils opened, and his entire body was releasing sword intent. He was as bright as a blazing sun as he directly left the ground and rushed towards the dao book.
What kind of precious technique was that? Everyone was astonished.
Shi Hao’s entire body flowed with sword energy, releasing divine light. All of the sword radiance swept towards the precious book.
Within the keng qiang sounds, he closed the distance. The sword energy was like rainbows as it struck down on the dao book, sending it flying.
The daoist was greatly alarmed. The dao book was no longer under his control and was about to separate from his body. His expression immediately changed.
“Fix!” He bit down on his tongue, and blood essence was spurted out. It activated the purple dao book, once again causing it to descend and suppress Shi Hao.
Divine light curled up about, and purple clouds seethed. This dao book suddenly became more powerful, and the pressure increased by ten-fold. Even the powerful Shi Hao was pushed downwards. Despite his flesh being so powerful, he still almost exploded.
“Mountain Deity Dao Book!” Someone cried out in alarm.
“The Heaven Mending Sect had a mountain deity who reached enlightenment. The things he left behind after his afterbirth turned into a dao book, and that book was brought to the wasteland region!” Someone from outside the region was aware of the truth and expressed his shock.
There was a purple mountain in the Heaven Mending Sect that was bathed in spiritual essence year round. Eventually, it gained intelligence. As it listened to the sect’s teachings, it slowly cultivated its own great divine ability.
Finally, it transformed into a mountain deity, leaving behind a precious book that was passed down.
In the final moments before his departure, the mountain deity opened a school several tens of thousands of li away. It accepted a group of daoist priests as its disciples. They didn’t enter the Heaven Mending Sect, but they were still extremely respectful towards the sect.
“Even though they don’t belong to the Heaven Mending Sect, they can still be considered protectors of the mountain.” Everyone finally learned about this daoist priest’s identity.
“Wait, this is just an imitation of the mountain deity’s dao book and not the real divine magical artifact. En? There is a portion of divine energy.” Someone noticed the truth.
The more they found out, the more the people became astonished at Shi Hao’s strength. He could actually stop this type of dao book.
Chi
A streak of dark light flew out. Shi Hao held the broken sword in his hand as he activated the sword intent. With this artifact’s support, the power increased many times over, sending the dao book flying.
Pu
When he raised his hand, his left hand drew out a streak. The daoist priest’s head tumbled, and fresh blood soared high into the air.
Everyone was left dumbstruck. This was a king level figure, yet he was killed just like this. For the little Stone, this wasn’t even that great of an effort. The only thing he felt some pressure from was that dao book.
Scarlet multicolored light surged. After the daoist priest was killed and blood essence surged, it entered the dao book. It didn’t retreat and instead released strand after strand of divine aura.
“Not good!” The Wasteland Heavenly Lord Manor’s people were all shocked. This was an item that gained divine might from a divine magical artifact. It might truly be able to display the real divine might of the magical artifact.
Shi Hao remained fearless. Since he dared to hurry to the imperial capital, how could he not have made any preparations?
However, before he took action, a wave of draconic aura flew out from the imperial palace’s direction. It flew over with extreme speed, and with a pu sound, the dao book was turned into powder.
“The dao book that experienced the support of a divine artifact was actually destroyed. There is definitely something extraordinary left behind in the imperial capital!” Many people were inwardly shocked, and at the same time, their eyes burned with passion.
In the distance, fairy Yue Chan said, “You all have seen for yourselves. Now that supreme experts have all vanished, there aren’t many that can suppress him in this world.”
The young experts at her side that came from different great regions were all known as great geniuses. At this moment, their expressions were all serious, and they nodded.
Shi Hao seemed to have thought of something. He turned around and looked in this direction. “I seem to be missing a servant girl to order around at my side. I guess you’ll be the one.”
Everyone was stupefied. Was this spoken towards fairy Yue Chan? This was too reckless. How many people dared to blaspheme against the Heaven Mending Sect’s extraordinary fairy? He actually wanted to… use her as a maid.
Even fairy Yue Chan was stunned. Then, she laughed indifferently and said, “Would you be able to do it?”
“You’ll know in the future.” After speaking, he turned around and left.
They both knew that after today, it would be hard to maintain friendly feelings. It was impossible for them to drink together again. When they met again, there would only be a battle of life and death. The loser could only accept death or be taken prisoner.
Along the way, Shi Hao was stopped four more times. They were all powerful king level figures. They held strange magical artifacts to stop him.
He didn’t know what powers they belonged to, but in the end, they were all killed by Shi Hao ruthlessly. He tossed the heads of the four king level experts on the ground. All cultivators stayed silent out of fear.
The imperial palace was right in front of him. It was extremely grand and magnificent. Inside was a true dragon. Mist curled up around it, and it carried a terrifying pressure that left everyone trembling in fear.
“Stop him!” Someone on top of the walls shouted. The imperial palace was on lockdown, and he wasn’t allowed inside.
“I heard that his majesty wrote down an imperial order to allow Shi Hao’s entry as soon as he appeared. Why are you all stopping him?!” The Wasteland Heavenly Lord Manor’s elders shouted.
“What imperial order? Never heard of such a thing!” The face of the general on the wall became overcast and he ordered everyone to draw their arrows. They were magical arrows specifically refined to deal with individuals with profound levels of cultivation.
At the same time, the symbols on the walls lit up. A great formation was opened to suppress and kill Shi Hao!
“The great formation was damaged from the calamity.” Shi Hao’s eyes flickered with light. Even though this was the case, he still felt a tremendous pressure.
The Wasteland Heavenly Lord Manor’s people were all angry. They truly heard of this imperial order, but it was suppressed by a few individuals and was never passed on.
“Back off! His majesty’s imperial order is here!” Suddenly, an old imperial bodyguard at the city wall began to read it publically.
The general’s eyes became cold. He was going to take action, but as if he heard a summoning, he turned around and left, brining everyone with him into the imperial palace.
The great doors were opened wide. Shi Hao walked inside. Since he came today, he wasn’t going to show any kindness, and at worst, he was going to create a bloodbath. He definitely wouldn’t allow Stone Country’s foundation to fall and end up under the control of great sects from outside this region.