Encircle and Kill

Peace City, in the main hall of the royal palace, the Yonghe Hall, a luxurious round table with nine seats stood at the center, matching the grandeur and majesty of the hall, exuding supreme dignity, authority, solemnity, and awe.

Nine well-dressed and dignified individuals were seated there, eight men and one woman, with two books placed in front of each: "The Way of the Martial Artist" and "Complete Rune Explanation."

At the head seat was an old man in a red and gold high-collared beast-patterned robe, his face full of wrinkles and hair completely white, but his eyes still sparkled with divine light.

He was the Lord of Peace City, the Great Elder, the Human King, the ancestral martial artist, the pinnacle of the human race.

The Human King spoke, "Ladies and gentlemen, please speak."

At this moment, a burly man in golden armor and a blue cape stood up. His beard and hair bristled, and his voice was like a deep bell, "Human King, this is against the rules. No matter who this 'guest' is, before distributing such things, we need to obtain our approval."

This burly man in golden armor was the Lord of Tufang City, the Fifth Elder, an ancestral martial artist.

The Third Elder stroked his graying short beard and nodded, "That's right, since ancient times, knowledge above the grandmaster level has been taboo and cannot be freely disseminated. Yet, these two books spread it without restriction. This shakes the foundation of our nine cities."

The Seventh Elder's thin face was full of smiles and wrinkles. He chuckled, "I think this 'guest' is a genius of the ages. These two books are simply incredible."

The Fifth Elder glared angrily, spitting, "Nonsense! What kind of genius is he? We nine here have all broken through the shackles of human bloodlines on our own and reached the pinnacle of this world. We are the true geniuses."

This compliment included the Seventh Elder, who couldn't respond and just laughed twice without saying more. Instead, he leisurely started flipping through the two books in front of him.

The Third Elder continued, "This 'guest' has his merits, but he has broken taboos. It's a pity!"

The Fourth Elder, a middle-aged man with a square face, expressionless and meticulous, spoke rigidly, "He cannot be kept!"

The Ninth Elder was a flamboyantly dressed woman who looked in her thirties but was actually over fifty. She covered her mouth and laughed, "Why can't he be kept? I'm very interested in this 'guest'! Haha!"

She cast a seductive glance at the old men present, challenging, "Are you afraid?"

The Fifth Elder immediately slammed the table and pointed at the Ninth Elder, "Insolent! You old woman can't speak properly, can you?"

The Ninth Elder rolled her eyes, completely ignoring him, showing she didn't care to talk to such a man.

The Fifth Elder grew even angrier.

The Third Elder quickly mediated, "Slow down, don't harm the harmony. Old Five, sit down."

The Fifth Elder pointed at the Ninth Elder, "She..."

The Third Elder's face turned stern, "Sit down!"

The Fifth Elder sat back down angrily, full of resentment.

The others remained silent, knowing that no matter what was said, the Human King would make the final decision, so it didn't matter if they spoke or not.

The Human King was just listening, and after hearing a satisfactory answer, he would directly decide and end the council.

At this moment, the Third Elder stood up, stroking his short beard slowly, "Since this 'guest' has shaken the foundation of our nine cities and broken taboos, we should follow the rules. However, considering he is a talent, if he is willing to follow our arrangements, we can spare his life."

He then looked around, finally fixing his gaze on the Human King, "I propose, first, to fully recall the scattered copies of 'The Way of the Martial Artist' and 'Complete Rune Explanation' and list them as permanent banned books; second, to send someone to find the 'guest' and bring him back for us to deal with face-to-face; third, to establish a Rune Exploration Institute to cultivate talents for the human race."

"What does the Human King think?"

The Human King opened his eyes and slowly said, "What do you all think?"

The others knew this was also the Human King's intention and had no objections. As for whether the already scattered "The Way of the Martial Artist" and "Complete Rune Explanation" could be recalled, none of those present doubted it because they had absolute confidence in their control over the human race.

Seeing no one speaking, the Human King nodded, "Then it is decided."

The meeting ended here, but the action had just begun.

The Human King immediately arranged for ten grand preceptor-level experts to start the hunt for Su Hao, aiming to bring him back as soon as possible.

...

Su Hao was happily selling books, going farther and farther away. He could no longer tell where he was on the Yonghe Continent.

He knew what he was doing might bring danger, so he stayed alert, keeping a two-thousand-meter radar on at all times. At the slightest sign of trouble, he would escape immediately.

That day, after selling all his books and about to leave, his radar detected ten powerful blood energies rapidly approaching him.

"Ten grand preceptor-level martial artists!" Su Hao's scalp tingled. They really thought highly of him, sending ten top human warriors to encircle him.

"Run!" This was Su Hao's first reaction. To fight ten grand preceptors alone, he would have to be crazy.

He immediately chose the direction with the weakest blood energy response and broke through.

Although the grand preceptor martial artist in the chosen direction had weaker blood energy, it was still stronger than Su Hao's.

But it didn't matter; he had runes.

'Airbreak,' he activated the first rune to reduce air resistance, followed by 'Burst' to increase speed, 'Camouflage' to lower presence, and 'Balance' to maintain stability...

Su Hao's speed kept increasing, almost breaking the sound barrier.

And the ten grand preceptor martial artists seemed able to accurately locate Su Hao, continuing to surround him.

"What's going on?" Su Hao was full of questions. He could sense them normally, but how could they sense him? Did they use some method he didn't know about?

In a few seconds, he would soon face one of the grand preceptor martial artists.

Su Hao immediately activated the runes on his armor: 'Hardness,' 'Deflection,' 'Barrier,' and 'Vibration,' while also activating the runes on his two blades: the long blade with 'Hardness,' 'Sharpness,' 'Penetration,' and 'Rotation,' and the short blade with 'Hardness,' 'Sharpness,' 'Penetration,' and 'Corrosion.'

In the next second, Su Hao saw his opponent.

The grand preceptor martial artist was in blue-gray patterned armor, his helmet revealing a resolute and indifferent old face, holding a broad-bladed long knife that glowed dimly.

Su Hao's mind went blank, "Isn't that a rune knife? The enemy is using a weapon I made to kill me?"

Su Hao suddenly showed a sinister smile. Playing with runes in front of him? They had the wrong idea.

Su Hao held his knives, adjusting his body position for a powerful strike during the sprint.

Getting closer.

The next second would determine the outcome.

"Triple Burst - Shadow Step!"

"Boom-"

After a loud bang, dust exploded, and Su Hao had vanished from the grand preceptor's sight.

The grand preceptor martial artist was first puzzled, then his long knife broke, and his vision followed the broken blade, spinning a few times in mid-air before falling to the ground.

"Clang~" "Thud~"

These were the sounds of the broken blade falling and the head rolling into the grass.

"Bang!"

With a muffled sound, the body fell.

Su Hao, who had crossed paths, did not look back and ran far away.

In the moment of passing, Su Hao struck twice: the long knife in his right hand cut the opponent's knife, and the short knife in his left hand severed the opponent's neck, nothing more.

But the key to success was his speed.

"Triple Burst" instantly increased his speed by more than double.

The grand preceptor martial artist had no chance to react, and his head and knife were cut into two.

In just a few breaths, the nine remaining grand preceptor martial artists gathered around the decapitated warrior.

For a moment, everyone looked at each other.

One of them, a martial artist in a white water-patterned cape, seemed to be the leader. He frowned, looking in the direction Su Hao had left, and coldly said, "Chase! No matter what, we must bring him back."

Then he turned to one of the martial artists with a red nose and said, "Old Cao, can you lock onto him?"

Old Cao nodded.

The group stopped talking and immediately pursued in the direction Su Hao had fled.