https://novelcool.info/chapter/Chapter-305-Triple-Divine-General-Eternal-Guardian-Deity-First-Update-/13450472/
https://novelcool.info/chapter/Chapter-307-Return-to-Immortal-Gate-Ultimate-Realm-Takes-on-Disciples-Part-2-/13450475/
Chapter 306: Seeking the Dao (Second Update)
Chapter 306: Seeking the Dao (Second Update)
As the imperial decree was sent to the Nineteen Provinces, Li Hao also returned to Liangzhou Heavenly Gate Pass.
The familiar city walls and banners still stood, and the news had yet to reach here, so the soldiers stationed here were still unaware.
Li Hao didn’t disturb anyone and quietly returned to the Wattle Yard.
The young girl practicing swordsmanship in the courtyard sensed the presence of the young man and was startled out of her cultivation. She looked up at Li Hao, her face full of surprise:
“Young Master, you’re back.”
Beside her, Sword Demon Jiang Lichen glanced at Li Hao, his eyes narrowing instantly.
In the short time since they last met, Li Hao’s aura seemed even more restrained, like an unfathomable vast cosmos, quietly standing there. Every movement he made seemed to hold the power to move stars.
Li Hao glanced at Ren Qianqian, a fifteen-year-old girl, one year younger than him, but she had already crossed into the Tianren Realm.
“Did you teach her this?”
Li Hao looked at Jiang Lidust.
Jiang Lidust pursed his lips: “I can’t teach someone to become a Heavenly Being. She figured it out on her own. Probably from spending too much time with you, the Monster, and sensing something from you.”
Ren Qianqian blushed slightly at this. She had originally followed Li Hao to surpass her father and become a Heavenly Master, but she achieved her lifelong goal in just two short years.
Now, her talent and strength could rank her in the top five on the Heaven and Earth List.
And this was despite her being low-key and not engaging in any disputes.
Li Hao nodded and smiled at Ren Qianqian: “Now that you’ve achieved your goal by staying by my side, do you still want to continue following me? You’re still young and can take advantage of your youthful years to explore the world.”
Ren Qianqian shook her head quickly: “No, I want to continue cultivating. I want to accompany Young Master to see the scenery at the top of the mountain.”
Li Hao sighed, “But I don’t want to climb the mountain. The view from the top is just one kind, but the scenery at the base of the mountain is diverse and colorful.”
Ren Qianqian was taken aback and immediately said, “Then I’ll stay with Young Master at the base of the mountain and watch the smoke rise from the mortal world.”
“You’re quite poetic,” Li Hao laughed.
Ren Qianqian blushed slightly.
Li Hao didn’t try to persuade her further. Instead, he scanned the area with his divine sense but didn’t see Old Feng’s presence. He then expanded his consciousness to cover the entire city but still couldn’t sense him, which made him frown. He asked immediately:
“Where’s Old Feng?”
By now, Ren Qianqian knew Feng Boping’s name and identity. Seeing Li Hao ask, she quickly replied:
“After you left, Elder Feng suddenly regained his senses, as if he had become a different person. He told us he was leaving and asked me to inform you that he would be waiting for Young Master in the Land of Sages.”
“Huh?”
Li Hao was taken aback, a bit surprised by the sudden news.
But then he thought about the events in the Mourning River.
Old Feng went to the Land of Sages?
“Your old friend is most likely a Sage Incarnation, reincarnated to cultivate.”
Jiang Lidust explained to Li Hao: “Although such occurrences are rare, they are not unheard of. Among the world-class prodigies in our Dayu Dynasty over the past few thousand years, there have been such cases. They would cultivate quietly and then suddenly rise to the first rank before disappearing just as quickly, like shooting stars that rise and fall.”
Li Hao fell silent, pondering the abilities of those in the Sage Realm, which were beyond the imagination of ordinary people.
However, though the world was vast, there was always a chance of meeting again.
But one less old friend in the mortal world.
Li Hao scanned the courtyard and asked, “What about the other two?”
He was referring to Ying Xiaoxiao and the Old Tea Vendor.
“Apparently, they went to gather Slaughter Resentment.”
Jiang Lidust asked, “Is there another war outside?”
Li Hao nodded: “The Imperial Palace was almost destroyed.”
The Imperial City’s plea for help hadn’t reached Heavenly Gate Pass, as the demons had launched a rapid attack, and the soldiers far away at the border were unaware.
Although Dayu's intelligence network was quite efficient, the vast expanse of the territory made it difficult to keep everything under control.
Hearing Li Hao's words, Ren Qianqian was greatly alarmed. The Imperial Palace, the supreme place in her heart, had almost been destroyed.
In contrast, Jiang Lidust merely raised an eyebrow and said, "Since you're back, the trouble there must have been resolved, right?"
"Yep."
Li Hao continued, "But it seems that many members of the Imperial Clan were killed. Don't you want to take a look?"
Jiang Lidust's eyes flickered with indifference. "I have no children or a beloved lady to worry about, so there's nothing for me to see."
Li Hao could sense there was a story behind his words but didn't press further. Some things were too deep to be resolved with a few words.
As Li Hao settled into the small courtyard, the imperial edict spread across the provinces. While the outside world was in heated debate, Li Hao took Ren Qianqian to the Monster Lake, several hundred miles beyond the Pass, to go fishing.
To Li Hao's disappointment, the lake, which had been thoroughly cleansed and left with a strong deterrent, yielded nothing. After a whole day of fishing, he had only eaten a few oranges.
It seems the demons have been scared away, Li Hao thought to himself, which was why his fishing trip was a bust.
He didn't use his Divine Sense to probe the depths of the lake. As a fisherman, he prided himself on using his fishing skills and knowledge of the water to make judgments. Using Divine Sense would be like casting a net directly, robbing him of any sense of achievement.
As dusk approached, Li Hao returned with a demon he had killed in the mountains.
"Tonight, we'll have roasted demon boar."
Li Hao said as he returned to the wattle yard.
"Master, did you catch this while fishing?"
"Yep."
"But this looks like a demon from the mountains."
"It's amphibious."
"Oh..."
After a simple meal, Li Hao replenished his 180Go Stone.
When night fell, he made his way to the mountain top where he often sat with Old Feng, carrying a small pot of wine. He drank and admired the cold moonlight alone.
When the pot was empty, Li Hao opened his palm, revealing the Mourning River Gold Paper, which recorded his few Mourning River Virtues.
Li Hao focused his mind on the Gold Paper and soon entered the Virtue Treasure Vault.
Various Virtue treasures were displayed inside, floating like golden orbs, ready to be exchanged with Virtue points.
Li Hao's gaze fell on the Fate Reversal Power. While it was extremely useful, granting a second life, it held little significance for him now, as he faced Enlightened Realm beings who could obscure the will of heaven.
Li Hao scanned the vault and noticed that in the Ultimate Realm section, both the Divine Power and the Heaven-Earth Meridian could be exchanged. However, the Heaven-Earth Meridian required 30,000 Virtue points, while the Divine Power required 10,000.
The Heaven and Earth Dharma Image was not available, nor were any other items in the Ultimate Realm section.
The selection was quite limited. To others, these might be precious treasures, arousing excitement, but for Li Hao, they were just options to pick from.
The Path Enlightenment Fruit could help one achieve enlightenment, but it only worked with a certain probability, not guaranteeing success.
Li Hao decided to exchange for one, but not to use it for cultivation. Instead, he planned to use it for cooking.
With his Physical Body Dao at the eighth stage, he needed to enter the Dao to gain further points. Similarly, to break through the eighth stage bottleneck in Cooking Dao, he needed a Dao Heart. Using the Path Enlightenment Fruit for cooking would make it easier to enter the Dao.
However, he needed to first advance his Cooking Dao to the eighth stage; otherwise, the probability of enlightenment would be lower.
Additionally, Li Hao found that various Mindsets, such as Poetic Heart and Sculpting Heart, could be exchanged for 100 Virtue points each, similar to the Sword Heart.
Without hesitation, Li Hao exchanged for them.
However, the Spiritual Immersion Mindset was not available, which was a significant disappointment for Li Hao.
If it were, he could use it to enhance his Chess Dao, Fishing, and other artistic skills, leveraging the Spiritual Immersion Mindset to elevate his Sword Dao and Body Movement Techniques beyond the seventh stage.
Li Hao now masters the following attributes:
Physical Body Dao at the 8th Rank, Yu Dao at the 7th Rank, Body Movement Path at the 6th Rank, Sword Dao at the 6th Rank, and Fist Dao at the 6th Rank.
In terms of Artistic Skills: Chess Dao at the 6th Rank, Music at the 4th Rank, Poetry and Literature at the 3rd Rank, Sculpture at the 3rd Rank, Cooking at the 7th Rank, Art Dao at the 7th Rank, and Fishing at the 5th Rank.
Remaining Art Skill Points: 1 point.
With the exchange of two Mindsets for Poetry and Literature and Sculpture, Li Hao’s Poetry and Literature and Sculpture skills immediately advanced to the 4th Rank, breaking through the bottleneck.
He was able to accumulate experience again, all the way to the Sixth Rank bottleneck.
His Art Skill Points also increased to 3 points.
The continuous battles had left Li Hao without the time to properly focus on his cultivation.
Instead of rushing to exchange for a Path Enlightenment Fruit, he decided to first enhance his Cooking Dao experience.
In the following days, everyone in the city saw Li Hao bringing back a demon from Beyond the Pass each day to host banquets for the entire city.
The various delicacies prepared from the demons were served on the tables of the city’s soldiers, bringing great satisfaction to everyone.
Li Hao, in his incarnation as a cook, devoted himself to cultivation.
Several months later.
With each cooking of a Demon King, Heavenly Gate Pass had become a culinary capital, attracting many people from all over to visit.
The war had ended, and the top demon forces outside the Dayu Realm had been almost completely wiped out. The demon forces under the secret control of Emperor Yu, centered around the Star and Moon Academy, had gathered various demons to form the largest demon force in the realm.
With the dynasty under Emperor Yu's control, the demons beyond the pass were also under his jurisdiction.
The frequent wars in the various states had finally come to an end, allowing for a period of rest and recuperation.
This peace led to increased commercial trade and travel between the states. Many of Li Hao’s old friends and disciples from Tan Palace Academy also came to visit Heavenly Gate Pass.
In the Wattle Yard, Xiyian incarnated as a red-dressed maiden, following beside Li Hao.
Song Qiumo also arrived. Li Hao had mentioned her to Emperor Yu, and she now enjoyed the honor of being the Dayu State Guardian Beast, with a temple built in her honor. Her Waist Badge contained the array marks of all the states, allowing her free passage throughout the Dayu Realm.
In Li Hao’s Heavenly Earth Space, the Candlelight Deity and Lady Yin had absorbed the Buddha’s Relic. This relic contained the residual power of the Buddha-Demon Fusion, which was well-suited to the Candlelight Deity and Lady Yin, who were originally a dual-bodied entity. After absorbing the relic, their bodies began to merge, forming a large sphere, with an unknown time of awakening.
Li Hao had also sent Li Qianfeng, whose cultivation had been nullified, back to the Li Family, thus bringing this long-standing grudge to an end.
As his cooking sessions increased, and with the use of Demon King-level ingredients, Li Hao had killed all the Demon Kings in the Liangzhou region. He then went to the Great Wasteland Sky to catch some more.
In less than half a year, his Cooking Dao experience finally reached the 8th Rank Perfection.
Without hesitation, once his experience reached the bottleneck, Li Hao found a Lonely Peak and exchanged for the Path Enlightenment Fruit from the Virtue Treasure Vault.
This Path Enlightenment Fruit was entirely green like jade, with patterns on its surface and a radiant glow within, emitting a strange fragrance.
Li Hao took a look, then directly bit into and swallowed it.
(End of Chapter)
Chapter end
Report
