“The Tianwang Fleet is one of the four major military forces of the great families. From its leader down to every officer, all are members of the Wang family.” Long Yun stared at Yang Hao. “According to previous intelligence, the fleet’s configuration includes two battleships and five destroyers, plus around two hundred smaller offensive warships. While its combat strength isn’t at the top tier of the Empire, it’s definitely dominant in the neighboring star clusters.”
Yang Hao finally understood the seriousness of the situation. He stammered, “You mean the fleet tailing us right now is the Wang family’s Tianwang Fleet?”
“Exactly. This is the Wang family’s most powerful force, the trump card that makes them valued within the Empire. Now that they’ve deployed it to hunt you down, you can imagine how seriously the Wang family takes you.” Long Yun sighed, giving Yang Hao a look that said “you’re doomed.” “You’re their thorn in the eye, their mortal enemy.”
Yang Hao popped a Huorong Pill into his mouth and swallowed it whole. The extreme spiciness didn’t even bring him to his senses.
Long Yun wasn’t done scaring him yet: “The Tianwang Fleet’s true strength isn’t in its warships, but in its people.”
“People?” Yang Hao opened his mouth, and a burst of true fire shot out, scaring him into quickly shutting up.
Those nearby weren’t surprised. Ever since Yang Hao developed the habit of taking pills, he’d occasionally spew fire. Sometimes, Long Yun even roasted chicken wings, letting the kids in the Hao Sword Group have a barbecue feast.
But today, Long Yun had no mood for that: “The Tianwang Fleet’s main force is the King Sword Master Corps. This martial arts unit is a first-class sword master unit in the Empire. Their strength is definitely something you’d never want to face.”
“A first-class sword master unit?” Yang Hao was still trying to wrap his head around it. “Didn’t we defeat Wang Tao’s swordsmen unit before?”
“Imperial martial units are classified into three tiers: second-class, first-class, and super-class. Wang Tao’s unit was merely a second-class swordsmen unit. While it was quite formidable on Remon Star, compared to the King Sword Master Corps chasing us now, it’s like comparing children to adults.”
“If even Wang Tao was just a small fry, then everyone in the King Sword Master Corps must be monsters?”
“Not monsters, but even scarier than monsters.” Long Yun’s voice turned icy. “In the Empire, those below the eighth battle level are called swordsmen or martial artists. Only those at or above the eighth level can be called sword masters or martial masters. Though just one character different, their actual combat power is worlds apart.”
“Wow, so by that logic, I’m almost at the sword master level already.” Yang Hao shamelessly boasted.
But Hunyuanzi immediately burst his bubble: “Almost means you haven’t reached it. You only exceed the eighth level when you use Xin Jian (Heart Sword). Otherwise, you’ll have to wait until you reach the Hehe Stage.”
Long Yun nodded and delivered the final verdict: “In the Royal Swordsmen Corps, only Wang Tao reached the sword master level. But in the King Sword Master Corps, every single member is a sword master. Their commander might even have surpassed the fifteenth battle level. They’re practically terrifying killing machines.”
Yang Hao’s mouth hung open. After a long pause, he finally got it: “So you’re saying that Wang Tao, whom I struggled so hard to defeat, would only be a lowly foot soldier in the King Sword Master Corps?”
“Bingo.” Long Yun said.
Thud! Yang Hao collapsed. His skin turned bright red, and flames spewed from his eyes, ears, mouth, and nose.
He had completely fainted.
About an hour later…
“Yang Hao! Yang Hao!!” Long Yun’s anxious voice sounded like it came from far away.
Yang Hao struggled to open his eyes. He felt like he was in a freezer. Snow and ice surrounded him. Dressed lightly, he shivered from the cold: “What the hell is this place?”
“You finally woke up. These bastards almost froze me to death.” Hunyuanzi’s voice trembled. The only reason he wasn’t really dead was because of the warmth inside Yang Hao’s body. “This is practically murder. I suspect they want to kill you and claim the reward themselves.”
Unlike Hunyuanzi, Yang Hao wasn’t that suspicious, but he was puzzled about how he suddenly ended up in the coldest storage room of the spaceship. This cold storage was specially built by Yang Hao, filled with medicinal herbs brought from Remon Star, for long-term pill production.
“How did I get here?” Yang Hao saw Long Yun and X13 both wearing thick down jackets, mysteriously standing in front of him. “And X13, you’re a robot. Why are you wearing a down jacket?”
“I hate the cold, I hate ice. I hate everything.” X13 had no good words. “I wear what I want. Who needs a reason?”
Long Yun stared closely at Yang Hao, carefully checking that he was fine before pulling him up from a big block of ice: “When I mentioned the King Sword Master Corps earlier, you got scared, fainted, and started spewing fire all over. So we brought you to the cold storage.”
“Scared?” Yang Hao’s brain was frozen stiff, unable to think straight. He touched his gallbladder area. “Seems like it’s not broken.”
“Anyway, as soon as I mentioned the King Sword Master Corps, you fainted.” Long Yun’s face was full of mockery. “Isn’t that being scared out of your wits?”
“Damn it!” Yang Hao muttered to himself. He knew perfectly well that it wasn’t the pursuers that scared him unconscious, but something was definitely wrong with his body. “What’s going on?” He had to ask Hunyuanzi.
Hunyuanzi seemed frozen stiff too, reluctantly answering: “What else could it be? It’s the backlash of true fire. Your body is filled with too much true fire. When your qi can’t suppress it, it backlashes.”
“How could that happen?”
“You’re asking me?” Hunyuanzi grumbled. “I’ve warned you many times that Huorong Pills aren’t for casual consumption. You chew them like peanuts every day. Isn’t that asking for trouble?”
“But I used to eat them too.” Yang Hao protested. “Why didn’t anything happen before?”
“Before, you had plenty of women. You could eliminate the internal true fire by absorbing yin energy.” Hunyuanzi reminded him. “But now, think about how long it’s been since you’ve touched a woman.”
He didn’t even need to think. Since Shi Ming’ai’s incident, Yang Hao hadn’t even touched a woman’s hand. Although before departure, Empress Ming had been willing to give herself to him again, Yang Hao was too depressed to react at all.
“Now what?” Yang Hao rubbed his stomach. Some meridian areas still hurt, clearly indicating that the true fire backlash wasn’t resolved—it had just begun.
Tai Sui Yellow Amulet Paper FuLu Taoist Love Talisman Traditional Chinese Spiritual Charm Attracting Love Protecting Marriage