Eternal Heavenly Emperor

Chu Hao kept speaking, directing from the side.

After observing for so long, he had already mastered Luo Ba's attack patterns, knowing when he would strike and where he would aim, all too clear in his heart. In fact, as soon as Luo Ba's elbow or shoulder moved, he could guess what the next move would be.

For him to dodge on his own was difficult, given that he had just entered the Martial Master Realm. However, after analyzing the strengths of Zhao Huan and his six teammates in his mind and deriving the best countermeasures, he was able to come up with the most targeted tactics.

If the combined effort of Zhao Huan and his six teammates was ten points, then before, under Luo Ba's assault, they could at most exert five points, but now it was a perfect ten.

On the contrary, with Luo Ba being completely targeted, his combat power had fallen to five points.

As one rose and the other fell, the situation obviously turned around in an instant.

Luo Ba was completely suppressed.

Therefore, Zhao Huan and his six teammates were naturally buoyed by morale, coordinating more seamlessly, and they had more faith in Chu Hao's commands. As soon as Chu Hao spoke, they followed without hesitation, making the formation's operational efficiency higher and higher.

"Damn it! To hell!" Luo Ba kept cursing and roaring, his eyes locked on Chu Hao, understanding in his heart that to break out of this situation, he had to kill this kid first; otherwise, he might actually be capsized in the gutter and taken down by these juniors.

Bang!

Despite sustaining a few heavy hits, he suddenly broke out of the crowd and lunged, his claws reaching out for Chu Hao: "Go to hell."

--A mere newbie in the Martial Master Realm could be killed by him in one move.

"Junior Brother Chu, be careful."

"Retreat quickly."

Zhao Huan and his six teammates quickly called out, unconsciously seeing Chu Hao as a comrade in their joint fight.

"Senior Brother Zhao, attack to the left."

"Senior Sister Zhan, attack to the right."

"Senior Brother Bai, stay one position behind Senior Brother Zhao, and attack after him."

Chu Hao stood still, but his mouth issued a series of instructions.

"Hahaha, you should take care of yourself first." Luo Ba laughed loudly. Now that Chu Hao had entered his attack range, with his fifth-tier martial master speed, he wouldn't give Chu Hao a chance to escape.

In the Martial Disciple Realm, even a tenth-tier Martial Disciple would not be much faster in terms of speed, but after entering the Martial Master level, it was different, as one could run movement techniques with Star Force to burst out with terrifying speed.

If one got close, there was no chance of escape.

Although there were pursuers behind, Luo Ba was confident he could kill Chu Hao before they caught up. Then the rhythm of the battle would once again be dominated by him.

Die, die, die!

He was closing in, both hands striking simultaneously.

Whoosh.

At that moment, Chu Hao suddenly shot up into the sky.

Luo Ba's movement paused, he didn't dare to leap up in pursuit because when falling from the sky, one's whole person would expose many flaws. But how high could one person rise? He would land in the blink of an eye, and all Luo Ba needed to do was wait.

At most, let this kid live two or three seconds longer.

He waited.

Huh? Why hasn't he come down yet? It's been more than two or three seconds, almost four or five seconds now.

Luo Ba looked up, and immediately his expression changed. Chu Hao's feet were continuously stepping in the air, which surprisingly kept him suspended in mid-air.

"Sky Stepping Technique."

"Well done, Junior Brother Chu."

Zhao Huan and his teammates praised him as they closed in.

Disaster.

It was too late for Luo Ba to attempt to rise into the air now; Zhao Huan and the others' attacks had already come. He hurriedly blocked and dodged, but everything was within Chu Hao's expectations, and he was hit repeatedly.

No matter that he was a fifth-tier martial master, what was it to have Star Force protecting his body?

Star Force wasn't limitless after all.

Puff. Luo Ba spat blood repeatedly, and now Zhao Huan's full unleashed attack power was already too much for him to handle, all the more so with six others supporting?

This time, Chu Hao didn't give him a chance to break out again, constantly directing Zhao Huan and his six teammates, coordinating the seven people's power perfectly.

After fighting for over ten more minutes, Luo Ba finally couldn't hold on. The excessive consumption of his Star Force greatly weakened his defensive power, wounds appeared frequently on his body, and blood splattered. In the end, Zhao Huan seized the opportunity, his sword piercing Luo Ba's heart and killing him.

"We won!" They all cheered. This battle was just too easy to win.

"Junior Brother Chu, your command abilities are truly impressive."

"Indeed, if it weren't for you, we might have been done for this time,"

"Also, Junior Brother Chu, you've learned the Sky Stepping Technique, right? It's truly impressive that you've already reached the Second Layer of Space-Condensing,"

Zhao Huan and the six others crowded around, talking over each other.

Chu Hao merely smiled, his brilliance shining through. He had nearly played with Luo Ba, the Blood Shadow Hand, at his own will, which was indeed impressive. There was no need for modesty.

They cut off Luo Ba's head, treated it with lime, and then stored it in a Mustard Seed Ring. After all, it would be too frightening to hang a human head on one's belt.

In the world of Sky Martial Star, the Mustard Seed Ring wasn't considered a top-tier treasure, but it was not so common that everyone had one either. Among the eight of them, aside from Chu Hao, only Zhao Huan had accumulated enough points to exchange for one.

Because the ring didn't serve to enhance combat power, ordinary disciples were unwilling to spend a significant amount of points to obtain one. Zhao Huan, as the leader of the River Down Courtyard, exchanged for the Mustard Seed Ring partly as a contribution to the team.

When they searched Luo Ba's body, they initially didn't find a Mustard Seed Ring. It was the careful observation of the two female disciples who discovered a clue on Luo Ba's belt. Upon opening it, they indeed found a Mustard Seed Ring.

As a lone tyrant like him, he would certainly carry something like a Mustard Seed Ring—or a mustard seed necklace, bracelet, earrings, etc. Generally speaking, a ring was the most convenient.

They emptied the contents of the ring's space and found a small pile of Star Stones, some gold and silver, and a cultivation technique.

The Star Stones were evenly divided among them. Gold and silver were actually not of much use; apart from paying for food and accommodation, resources for the cultivation of martial masters were required to be purchased with Star Stones.

Considering they would be a burden, they also stored the gold and silver in the Mustard Seed Rings. After some discussion, they decided to allocate the Mustard Seed Ring to Chu Hao.

—For having killed Luo Ba, Chu Hao clearly deserved the greatest credit.

Chu Hao demurred at first, but as the seven people insisted, he eventually accepted. This was for the best, as he could now openly and legitimately use the Mustard Seed Ring.

He sent his consciousness into the ring's space and discovered that this space was more than half smaller than the one he already had. That indicated Luo Ba's strength was probably not as great as the dried-up old corpse's.

"And there's this technique," they said, looking at the last book.

Blood Shadow Art.

This must be the cultivation technique practiced by Luo Ba. Just the name of the technique sounded rather sinister.

Upon opening it, they quickly discovered it was a Water Attribute cultivation technique. However, it was only an incomplete text, capable of cultivation only up to the Martial Master Realm, yet its rank reached a High-Grade Human Level.

"No wonder Luo Ba's Star Force was so solid. He cultivated a High-Grade Human Level technique," remarked Zhao Huan, expressing a touch of envy.

Everyone felt the same way. The cultivation techniques they practiced were only Middle-Grade or even Lower-Grade Human Level. The higher the rank of the technique, the faster the cultivation speed, and it could render the Star Force more solid and powerful.

Unfortunately, this was an incomplete text, only capable of cultivation up to the Martial Master Realm.

In fact, the techniques they obtained from the Yunliu Sect were also incomplete, targeting only their current realm. However, as long as they advanced in their realms, they would naturally obtain the corresponding chapters.

According to the Sect, this was to prevent the disciples from being captured by rival powers and tortured to reveal their techniques, thus causing the Sect's secret techniques to leak out.

But clearly, they were unlikely to obtain the subsequent chapters of the Blood Shadow Art. If they were to switch to this technique, they would have to start over from scratch. Moreover, upon breaking through to the Martial Sect Realm, they would have to change techniques again, which simply wouldn't be worth it.

"Let's take it back to the market and sell it. It should fetch a good number of Star Stones," they decided unanimously in the end.

Chu Hao, being of the Fire Attribute physique, wouldn't feel attached to the Blood Shadow Art, even if it were a Middle-Grade Earth Level technique. It probably couldn't compare to the Earth Flame Jue, so he had no regrets.

After burying Luo Ba's corpse, they continued on their journey.

Seven days later, they finally entered Gold Peak Mountain. With their arrival, the danger quotient skyrocketed, and they all became more vigilant.

The biggest threat was naturally the ferocious beasts. Thankfully, many high-tier ferocious beasts had entered their hibernation period at this time. Moreover, the Black Jade Pool was not located in the deepest part of Gold Peak Mountain, making it relatively safer.

No sooner had they entered the forest region than they encountered a Fourth Tier Martial Master level ferocious beast.

It was a Qingmeng Beast; although its strength was not as great as Zhao Huan's, its speed was incredibly fast. It was not afraid of Chu Hao and the others, even turning the tables and playfully giving them the runaround.

In the end, it was Chu Hao who took action. With his strong analytical skills, he took command and ultimately killed the Qingmeng Beast.

"We've struck it rich," they all said.

Generally speaking, even if there wasn't a huge gap in strength, in a complex terrain like a forest, the Qingmeng Beast would've been able to escape, thanks to its lower power. However, under Chu Hao's command, which was so precise that it verged on the abnormal, the Qingmeng Beast could only meet its demise.

Zhao Huan drew his long sword and gutted the Qingmeng Beast.

"What are you doing?" Chu Hao asked, puzzled.

"Martial Masters of the Martial Disciple Realm form an inner core within their bodies, also known as a Beast Core. We martial artists open the eight Proper Veins within our bodies in the Martial Master Realm, but ferocious beasts are different. At this stage, they form an inner core in their bodies to store Star Force. The stronger the beast, the more concentrated the Star Force stored in the inner core, making it a better cultivation resource for us martial artists than Star Stones, since the inner core contains only one attribute of Star Force," Zhao Huan explained.

Such a thing existed?

"Found it." Zhao Huan stood up with a blue bead, not much larger than a longan, in his hand. "We'll divide the inner core when we get back to the Sect," he added.

Everyone nodded in agreement; they couldn't divide just one inner core among themselves. Moreover, inner cores have attributes, so it was best if each person could get one that matched their own attribute.

(A new week, asking for recommendations and favorites)