Chapter 514: Fishing for Fifty Thousand Years
Chapter 514: Fishing for Fifty Thousand Years
Seeing Li Hao surpass her, Chu Yueli's eyes flashed with a mix of shock and anger. She was already at the Immortal Lord Realm, yet she had lost to this young man in the Time Essence Realm.
However, she had already witnessed Li Hao's proficiency in Time Essence on the Heavenly Dao Bridge. Otherwise, he wouldn't have been able to evade the Great Dao Lock on the bridge.
Moreover, Time Essence was not her primary focus. To quickly establish herself in the Imperial Clan, she had been trained in the Fire Dao from a young age, thanks to her mother's legacy within the Nine Sequences.
But this journey was not to the Five Dao Origin City, where the Fire Dao Divine Tree could significantly enhance her. She knew that with her current Fire Dao Realm, it would be a stretch to gain the Divine Tree's recognition and secure the Dao Fruit.
Other Immortal Dynasties would certainly have individuals like Chu Tianhuang competing against her. Therefore, she chose to broaden her foundation by cultivating Time Essence, laying the groundwork for her future.
And over these five years, her efforts had not been in vain. Originally, she had no foundation in Time Essence, but now she had reached the First Level of the Time Essence Realm and was pushing toward its peak!
All of this was thanks to her cultivation in front of the Time Essence Divine Tree, where the resonance of the Time Dao had greatly accelerated her enlightenment.
"Only five years of cultivating Time Essence, and he surpasses me. What kind of skill is that?"
Chu Yueli gritted her teeth, her heart filled with frustration as she watched Li Hao's figure grow farther away.
Whoosh!
At this moment, Li Hao continued to accelerate along the Time Essence, swiftly overtaking one figure after another.
Soon, he came across several figures with formidable auras, ascending against the flow of the river of time.
"Hmm?"
One of the imperial-robed figures turned his head, recognizing Li Hao. Surprise flashed across his face, but he quickly became understanding, remembering that Li Hao had demonstrated a high level of Time Essence on the Heavenly Dao Bridge.
"You're here too. Why did you come so late?"
Chu Tianhuang asked with a light laugh.
"I took a detour to explore other places, so I arrived late."
Li Hao replied.
Chu Tianhuang was momentarily speechless, then laughed. He hadn't seen Li Hao in Time Essence City, so it was indeed possible.
"Did you visit the Five Dao Origin City or the Shape Mastery Origin City?"
Chu Tianhuang inquired.
"The Five Dao."
"That guy should be there too, right? Did he obtain the Divine Tree Dao Fruit?"
Chu Tianhuang asked politely.
Li Hao knew he was referring to Boya Xuejian. In the Yan Chu Immortal Dynasty, Boya Xuejian was probably the only one Chu Tianhuang considered a true rival, as the others were far behind.
Including the third-place contender from the Imperial Clan, who likely didn't even register in his eyes.
"I'm not sure. You can ask him later", Li Hao said. He had no habit of revealing others' information, and his relationship with Chu Tianhuang was only a casual acquaintance.
Chu Tianhuang nodded slightly, then changed the subject with a smile. "Good luck. This is the last spiritual explosion. Let's see who can gain the Time Essence Divine Tree's recognition."
"Alright."
Li Hao responded, then stepped on the time fragments, ascending against the turbulent flow.
"Hmph."
Beside him, there were four others, all at the Immortal Lord Realm, exuding formidable auras.
At the sound of Chu Tianhuang and Li Hao's conversation, everyone glanced at Li Hao. Upon seeing that he was only at the True Immortal Realm, their expressions turned complex, but there was no disdain, only dissatisfaction.
As a True Immortal, being able to keep up with them was a talent worth recognizing, and geniuses would naturally respect one another.
However, Li Hao's attempt to compete for the Dao Fruit seemed a bit overambitious.
Being able to keep pace did not mean he could be a true rival; that was a different matter entirely.
Swoosh!
One of the young men let out a cold snort and suddenly shot upward, breaking through the temporal fragments in the chaotic river of time, rushing toward the tree crown.
The other three also exerted themselves, quickly pulling away from Li Hao.
Seeing this, Chu Tianhuang said to Li Hao, "I'll go ahead", and then unleashed a deeper mastery of time, moving like a wisp of ethereal light, rapidly swimming through the river of time.
Li Hao's eyes narrowed. These few had a surprisingly high time essence realm; he sensed they were at least at the peak of the third level.
He retracted his gaze and maintained his mindset, undisturbed by the widening gap between them. The time essence tree had already made it clear when he emerged from the Origin Secret Realm of time. He hadn't truly intended to compete for the Dao Fruit.
He had come here to find a good spot to fish. Even without the Dao Fruit of the time essence tree, a significant catch would still bring a substantial improvement.
By not contending, no one in the world can contend with him!
Li Hao embraced his Dao Will, his eyes scanning the surrounding temporal fragments. Without the distraction of competing for the Dao Fruit, his thoughts settled on these countless, chaotic fragments of time.
Each fragment represented a moment from the 1st Rank's past.
There were buried years and his own memories, scenes unfolding one after another.
The child sitting alone in the bustling Divine General Manor, gazing up at the starry sky in the dead of night.
The young man born into wealth and fame, spending his days on music, chess, calligraphy, and painting, fishing and playing in the countryside.
Li Hao smiled slightly as he looked at one particular fragment, seeing many moments of warmth he had almost overlooked.
Eating pastries with his mother, choking from swallowing too quickly, causing the usually calm and composed matriarch of the Divine General Manor to panic.
In the cold, bright moonlit night at the border pass, the young man slept soundly in the tent, while outside, an elderly figure sat in the shadow, silently guarding and watching.
"Mother... Old Feng..."
Li Hao's eyes flickered, filled with longing.
Old Feng had accompanied him to the True World and joined his sect, but his mother and others remained in the Tian Yang Pseudo World.
Li Hao thought that after this Southern Domain Battle, he would find time to return to the Tian Yang Pseudo World to visit.
The fragrant pastries from the little alley in Qingzhou City had been a long time since he last tasted.
Among these temporal fragments, besides the heartwarming scenes, there were also moments of Li Hao battling demons, defending the city, and the back view of him stepping out of the Divine General Manor under a sky of snow.
But now, seeing the past hardships, his eyes remained calm, without a ripple.
He continued moving forward, forward, following the flow of time, rising from the mortal world to stand among the elite of the great true world's imperial clans.
In the end, those imperial clan figures remained ahead of him. His time essence was at the third realm, not yet at its peak, while Chu Tianhuang and the others had already reached the pinnacle of the third level.
Time essence was more difficult to master than other great Dao comprehensions. Reaching the peak of the third level was extremely challenging, even for those below the Immortal Lord Realm.
Finally, Li Hao's steps seemed to be tripped up, and he could no longer move forward.
He knew his limit had been reached. Fortunately, there was a branch nearby, and a relieved smile spread across his lips. He leaped over and landed on the branch.
He didn't look up at Chu Tianhuang and the others who were still struggling to advance. Instead, he sat on the branch, with many other figures below him.
In this Time Essence Divine Tree, although Li Hao was inferior to the top-tier experts like Chu Tianhuang, his Time Essence rank of three layers surpassed over ninety percent of the people present.
Seeing Li Hao sitting high on the branch, unreachable, many of those who had already reached their limits below him had mixed expressions.
Most of those here were in the Immortal Lord Realm, with fewer in the True Immortal Realm.
At this height, Li Hao was the only one in the True Immortal Realm sitting here.
"Damn it!"
Chu Yueli had long stopped, unable to advance any further. She stood on a vine, looking up at the figure on the high branch, a flash of surprise in her eyes followed by inexplicable anger.
"He actually..."
Yue Xi also saw how high Li Hao had climbed and couldn't help but be momentarily stunned. She hadn't expected that Li Hao, who had just arrived, could climb so high on the Time Essence Divine Tree!
She was a bit dazed, but eventually, a bitter smile slowly spread across her lips.
Compared to when she was a beginner, she had long given up the idea of competing with this junior brother after witnessing his various feats.
But she couldn't understand it.
Despite being extremely ordinary in every aspect, how could he repeatedly create such astonishing feats?
If it were Gu Yan, she could barely understand, after all, he was the descendant of the Ancient Sword Immortal, born with a sword spirit immortal body, and possessed the strongest talent in the Sword Dao, but Li Hao seemed to lack these advantages.
Soon, the time currents swept over, enveloping Li Hao's figure, making it impossible to see him clearly.
The others were also caught in the time currents, swept away by the time torrent, unable to see each other.
They could only cultivate in their respective time torrents.
Li Hao felt the resonance of the Time Dao around him and smiled. He extended his thread of time into the surrounding torrents, where countless fragments of time flipped and turned. His thread extended deeper and deeper.
Then, he closed his eyes, fell into a quiet contemplation, and immersed himself in fishing.
Fishing was a skill that required calmness, patience, and composure, and it also helped in tempering one's Dao Heart.
Using time as a thread, he touched the fragments of time in the torrent. The chaotic time torrent now felt like rippling water waves to his refined senses.
The fisherman felt the changes in the water, the extension and tension of the fishing line, and the movements and states of the prey.
But this time, he wasn't fishing for living creatures; he wanted to catch the more distant past and its secrets.
Ten thousand years ago, the ancient demons and the True World fought a great battle, a fact known to all in the True World.
Li Hao had heard about it countless times but had never seen it with his own eyes. If he could catch that tragic and heroic moment, he could witness it firsthand.
His thoughts drifted, feeling the changes in the time fragments around him, his mind completely immersed in fishing.
Time quietly slipped by.
The spiritual explosion had ended without anyone noticing, and everyone was scattered at various points on the Time Essence Divine Tree, immersed in cultivation and comprehension.
The entire Origin Secret City became quiet, a peaceful stillness.
After an unknown amount of time, Li Hao's thread of time continued to extend, and he touched the fragments of time from ten thousand years ago, but that wasn't what he wanted.
He extended further, to twenty thousand years ago, thirty thousand years ago... Li Hao felt his consciousness transform into a fishing line, flowing upstream against the river of time, continuously exploring the past.
During this process, his consciousness seemed to detach from his physical body, giving him a sense of floating outside the universe.
It was a profound loneliness and fear, as if his soul could freeze at any moment.
But Li Hao's Soul Spirit was extremely powerful. He had consumed many ancient demons in the Yan-Chu border region, refining over five hundred Divine Bones, making it comparable to the Divine Souls of many Immortal Lord Realm cultivators.
His consciousness was increasingly constrained, but the span of time he traversed grew ever more distant. When he reached fifty thousand years in the past, Li Hao felt he had reached his limit.
He could no longer continue his reverse exploration or fish for events from the past. Fifty thousand years was the farthest he could reach.
Li Hao could only remain here, feeling the fragments of time around him. After a long while, he finally touched one and immediately grasped it.
Time reeled back, and in an instant, his consciousness returned to his body. The timeline before him stretched out, and a fragment of time appeared.
Li Hao saw that the fragment depicted a scene from the 1st Rank war.
The battlefield was in a certain Immortal Dynasty, where numerous massive, sky-obscuring demons were battling the powerful figures of that Immortal Dynasty, causing chaos and darkness.
"Where is this place?"
Li Hao was somewhat surprised. The scene in the fragment showed a vast and intense war, affecting a wide territory. However, he did not recognize the Immortal Dynasty, and the demons in the battle were not ancient demons but various fierce demons and Immortal Deities.
In the end, as the fragment dimmed, one of the powerful fighters, in dire straits, suddenly transformed into a meteor and streaked across the sky.
The light gradually faded, and as the fighter was about to die, he tore through the void and fell into a misty valley.
Li Hao was taken aback, and a thought crossed his mind. Fifty thousand years ago, in an unknown place, the fighter was at least an Immortal King Realm.
"Could there be any treasures left behind in that valley by the fighter before his death?"
Li Hao thought to himself.
He then shook his head. With fifty thousand years having passed, such a long time, it was likely that any treasures had already been found.
Moreover, he himself did not lack legacies. After all, he had the Immortal Emperor's Legacy, and a mere Immortal King Realm legacy would not be of much help to him.
However, if he couldn't use it, others could.
If there really was such a good thing... Li Hao silently memorized this fragment of time, thinking that if he could obtain the great geomantic map of the Southern Domain True World, he might be able to find that place of the fighter's fall.
He retracted his thoughts and tried to cast the line again, hoping to fish for more, but suddenly, the surrounding time currents stirred.
Then, a cold voice sounded:
"You've been here long enough. It's almost time to end. Here is a portion of my essence nectar, a gift for you."
As the voice spoke, a dense, radiant light orb appeared in the colorful currents before Li Hao.
Li Hao was stunned. The cold voice was very familiar—it belonged to the Time Essence Divine Tree.
"Nectar?"
Li Hao was bewildered and couldn't help but ask, "Senior, what is this?"
"Don't ask. Absorb it well. I believe that in the future, your name will be remembered in the great true world."
The Time Essence Divine Tree said, its voice still cold.
But Li Hao could sense that compared to its previous coldness, the voice now had a bit less chill.
He was somewhat puzzled. The aloof demeanor of the Time Essence Divine Tree had made him dare not have any thoughts of familiarity, but now, it had suddenly given him nectar.
However, he still clasped his hands and said, "Thank you, Senior. I will remember this favor, even though you don't need it."
No further sound came from the surroundings.
Li Hao reached out and took the nectar.
In the secret realm of the Time Essence Divine Tree, a silver-haired Space Divine Tree Incarnation stood there. Her face was very similar to the Time Essence Tree Incarnation, but her expression was gentle and soft.
"Sister, are you feeling soft-hearted?"
The Space Divine Tree Incarnation covered her mouth and chuckled lightly.
(End of Chapter)
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