Chapter 77: Ambush
In the main hall of the Royal Palace in He'an City, the Grand Hall of Eternal Harmony, a magnificent round table occupied the center, complementing the grandeur of the hall and exuding supreme dignity, solemnity, and majesty.
Nine elegantly dressed individuals sat around the table—eight men and one woman. Two books, "The Path of the Martial Artist" and "Complete Guide to Runes," were placed in front of each table.
Seated at the head was an old man wearing a red and gold high-collared animal-patterned robe. His face was wrinkled, his hair completely white, but his eyes still radiated a vibrant light.
He was the City Lord of He'an City, the Elder Supreme, the Human King, and the Ancestor of the Martial Artists—the strongest member of the human race.
The Human King spoke, "Please, go ahead."
At this moment, a burly man in golden armor with a blue cloak stood up. His facial hair was thick, and his voice resonated like a tolling bell. "Human King, this is not proper. Regardless of who this 'passerby' is, they should have obtained our consent before spreading such things."
This man in golden armor was none other than the City Lord of Tufang City, the Fifth Elder, an Ancestor of the Martial Artists.
The Third Elder stroked his white beard with his hand and nodded. "Indeed, since ancient times, teachings above the level of Grandmasters have been considered taboo and not to be freely spread. Yet, these two books have been circulated indiscriminately, which undermines the foundation of our Nine Cities."
The Seventh Elder, with a thin face adorned with smiles and wrinkles, chuckled. "I, on the other hand, think this 'passerby' is an extraordinary genius of our time. These two volumes are simply unbelievable."
The Fifth Elder glared with round eyes, spewing saliva as he retorted, "Nonsense! What kind of genius is he? The nine of us sitting here have broken through the shackles of human bloodlines through our own efforts and reached the pinnacle of this world. We are the true geniuses."
The Seventh Elder found himself at a loss for words and could only chuckle twice, no longer speaking. Instead, he leisurely flipped through the two books in front of him, savoring them with relish.
The Third Elder continued, "This 'passerby' indeed has some redeeming qualities, but he has violated the taboo. What a pity!"
The Fourth Elder, a middle-aged man with a square face and an expressionless demeanor, spoke abruptly and tersely, "No mercy!"
The Ninth Elder, a woman with a flamboyant appearance who appeared to be in her thirties but was actually over fifty, covered her mouth and giggled, "Why not show some mercy? This old lady is very interested in this 'passerby'! Kekeke!"
As she spoke, her provocative gaze swept across the elderly men present. She taunted, "Could it be that you're all scared?"
The Fifth Elder immediately pounded the table and pointed at the Ninth Elder, "Outrageous! Can't you speak properly, old woman?"
The Ninth Elder rolled her eyes in response, completely ignoring him, making it clear that she didn't want to waste her breath on such a man.
This infuriated the Fifth Elder even more.
The Third Elder quickly intervened, trying to defuse the situation. "Calm down, calm down, let's not spoil the atmosphere. Fifth Elder, please sit down."
The Fifth Elder pointed at the Ninth Elder and said, "She..."
The Third Elder's face turned stern. "Sit down!"
Reluctantly, the Fifth Elder sat back in his seat, his face full of discontent.
The others remained silent. They all knew that no matter what was said, the final decision would be made by the Human King, so it didn't matter if they spoke or not.
The Human King was merely listening. Once he was satisfied with the answers, he would make the final decision and end the council.
At this point, the Third Elder stood up, stroking his beard, and spoke slowly, "Since this 'passerby' has shaken the foundation of our Nine Cities and violated the taboo, let's follow the rules. However, considering his talent, if he is willing to listen to our arrangements, we can spare his life."
He looked around the room and finally turned to the Human King. "I propose the following: first, we retrieve all the scattered copies of 'The Path of the Martial Artist' and 'Complete Guide to Runes' and permanently ban these two books; second, we send people to find the 'passerby' and bring him back for us to deal with face to face; third, establish an Institute of Rune Exploration to cultivate outstanding talents among the human race."
"I wonder... what does the Human King think?"
The Human King opened his eyes and spoke slowly, "What do you all think?"
The others knew that this was also the opinion of the Human King, so they had no objections.
As for the question of whether the books "The Path of the Martial Artist" and "Complete Guide to Runes" had already been scattered and whether they could be retrieved, no one in the room doubted their control over the human race.
Seeing that no one was speaking, the Human King nodded. "So be it!"
The meeting came to an end.
The meeting was over, but the action had just begun.
The Human King immediately arranged ten Grandmaster-level experts to initiate a manhunt for Su Hao, aiming to bring him back as quickly as possible.
...
Su Hao was still happily selling books, getting farther and farther away. He couldn't even pinpoint his exact location on the Eternal Harmony Continent anymore.
He knew that what he was doing could be dangerous, so he remained vigilant, keeping his radar scanning within a range of two kilometers. If he sensed any danger, he would immediately flee.
On this day, after selling all his books and about to leave, his radar immediately detected ten powerful auras closing in on him at an extremely fast speed.
"Ten Grandmaster-level martial artists!" Su Hao's scalp tingled. They really valued him to send ten elite warriors of the human race to surround him.
"Run!" That was Su Hao's first reaction. Only a lunatic would try to confront ten Grandmasters as an Ancestor. He immediately chose the direction where the aura was weakest and prepared to break through.
Although the Grandmasters in the chosen direction had weaker auras, they still surpassed Su Hao by a fair margin.
But that was fine. He had runes.
"Space Break!" He activated the first rune on his armor, reducing air resistance. Then he activated "Eruption" to increase his speed, "Camouflage" to decrease his presence, and "Coordination" to maintain balance...
Su Hao's speed became faster and faster, almost breaking through the sound barrier.
Yet, these ten Grandmasters seemed to be able to accurately locate Su Hao and continued to close in on him.
"What's going on?" Su Hao was puzzled. He could sense that they were normal, but how could they sense him? Could it be that they were using some method he was unaware of?
In a few more seconds, he would face one of the Grandmaster-level martial artists.
Su Hao immediately activated the runes on his blades—"St
urdiness," "Deflection," "Barrier," "Vibration." At the same time, he activated the runes on his armor—"Sturdiness," "Sharpness," "Penetration," "Rotation"—as well as the runes on his short blades—"Sturdiness," "Sharpness," "Penetration," "Erosion."
The next second, Su Hao saw his opponent.
This Grandmaster-level martial artist was clad in blue-gray patterned armor. Underneath the helmet was a resolute and cold face, holding a wide-bladed longsword that gleamed with a dull light.
Su Hao's mind went blank. "Isn't that a rune blade? The enemy is using the weapon I created to attack me?"
A strange smile appeared on Su Hao's face. What a joke! Playing with runes in front of him?
Su Hao gripped his blades with both hands, adjusted his body position during the charge, and prepared to exert force.
They approached.
The next second would determine victory or defeat.
"Triple Eruption—Shadow Glide!"
"Boom!"
After a loud explosion, dust filled the air, and Su Hao had already disappeared from in front of the Grandmaster-level martial artist.
The Grandmaster martial artist was initially puzzled, then his longsword shattered, and his field of vision flew away with the broken blade, spinning in mid-air before landing on the ground.
"Clang~" "Plop-plop~"
The sound of the blade breaking and the sound of a head rolling into the bushes echoed.
"Boom!"
A muffled sound, and the body fell to the ground.
As Su Hao brushed past, he continued on his way without even looking back.
In that instant, Su Hao had struck twice, his right long blade breaking the enemy's sword, and his left short blade slicing through the enemy's neck. That was all.
But the key to success was his speed.
In just a few breaths, the nine Grandmaster martial artists gathered around the beheaded one.
For a moment, everyone looked at each other in disbelief.
One of them, wearing a white watery-patterned cloak, seemed to be the leader. Frowning, he looked in the direction Su Hao had left, and coldly said, "Chase! No matter what, we must bring him back."
Then he turned to look at one of them, a martial artist with a scarred nose, and asked, "Lao Cao, can you lock on?"
Lao Cao nodded.
Without another word, they immediately pursued Su Hao's escape route.
(Translated by begs)