Chapter 368: Primordial Spirit, Seven Extreme Realms (Combined)

Less than half a day later, Li Hao arrived again in Youzhou.

This time, mindful of Grandpa Xia Xia Yuanwu's pace, he did not rush his journey, for beyond reaching the destination, the scenery along the way mattered too.

Upon returning to the Xia residence, as soon as he reached the gates of the Divine General's Mansion, he saw Xia Xia Linglong personally standing at the entrance to welcome him—and this time, several others had come as well, including three elderly figures whose qi was deep and restrained, clearly senior members of the Xia family.

Seeing the boy step down from the Candlefire God's back, the veteran elders who had previously led troops in battle all fixed their gazes on him.

The fact that Li Hao had slain the Lord of the Gluttony Valley with a single sword, triggering a tidal wave of swords to quell disaster, was witnessed by countless people.

Moreover, when they rushed to aid Qingzhou at once, they learned that both the Longmen and the Shenggong forces besieging Qingzhou City had been utterly exterminated by Li Hao.

The leaders of those two major factions were both Tai Ping Dao realm cultivators, and for years they had been a constant thorn in the side of the several Divine General Mansions—now, in a single day, Li Hao had cut them down, leaving these elders stunned.

"General General Hao Tian, please come in."

Xia Xia Linglong gazed tenderly at the boy before her and smiled in invitation.

This time she met him again, her feelings were different from before; having witnessed with Xia Xia Yuanwu how Li Hao slew the Lord of the Gluttony Valley, and later learned he had slain the two ancient demon kings—Long Long Jueshen and Feng Feng Lingxiao—in Qingzhou, she already knew that despite being only in his teens, this boy stood atop the entirety of Emperor Da Yu.

Aside from the True Person of Qian Dao Palace, perhaps only the universally acknowledged second-strongest, the Buddha Master, could challenge him—and even then, victory was uncertain.

Many of Xia Xia Linglong's generation, including the next, and those of equal age to Li Hao, had all rushed here upon hearing the news, watching from afar along the mansion's corridors.

Learning that the legendary boy was coming, many young Xia family members were extremely excited, both curious and reverent.

Born into a military family, though burdened with the Xia family's glory, they all inherently admired strength, for in the army, disputes were settled not by words but by fists and feet.

Most of these straightforward military-born individuals shared this mindset: they disliked empty talk and pretense; true cultivation base and tangible achievements were the only things that truly commanded respect.

And Li Hao possessed both.

Whether it was his awe-inspiring Four Standing realm cultivation base, or his exploits in slaying demon king leaders, either alone was beyond the reach of his peers.

"They said he was already at the Fifteen Li realm at fourteen. Logically, his cultivation speed should have slowed after reaching that level—but instead, it accelerated."

"Is this the General Hao Tian General? He really is as young as the legends say."

"I heard he cut down the Lord of the Gluttony Valley with one sword—he's a demon of the Tai Ping Dao realm."

Many Xia family youths gazed from afar, whispering among themselves.

Some of the most gifted prodigies among them also wore complex expressions—not out of envy, but from a crushing sense of distance, their confidence shaken.

They were still competing with their peers, not yet standing alone at the top, while this boy, surrounded by the admiration of his father's generation and even the elders, stood like a crane among chickens, bathed in the glow of stars.

The gap was simply too vast.

Upon entering the Xia family's reception hall, Li Hao sensed the warm, lively atmosphere and immediately told Xia Xia Linglong he wished to visit Lingyuan Pavilion.

Xia Xia Linglong noticed Li Hao seemed to dislike the commotion; this boy carried an inner stillness, as if seated atop a mountain peak, serene and distant, no matter where he was.

She promptly dismissed the young Xia family members and led Li Hao toward Lingyuan Pavilion.

Li Hao told Xiyuan to wait on the Candlefire God's back.

He then instructed Grandpa Xia Xia Yuanwu to look after Ren Ren Qianqian.

Ren Ren Qianqian had been tense and uneasy throughout the journey, yet her heart was filled with excitement and astonishment—she never imagined Li Hao would receive such honor even in another Divine General Mansion like the Xia family's.

Seeing Li Hao about to leave her side, she grew anxious at once, but still nodded obediently, offering him a smile meant to reassure him.

Xia Xia Yuanwu noticed the girl's discomfort; to spare her from being overwhelmed by the stern dignity of the Divine General Mansion, he took her to his own courtyard.

Meanwhile, Li Hao entered Lingyuan Pavilion.

Xia Xia Linglong smiled: "General General Hao Tian, this is our Xia family's sacred place—Lingyuan Pavilion. Its aura soars to the heavens. Our ancestors built this pavilion hoping the Xia family could gather all martial arts under heaven here, allowing future generations to freely study and master ten thousand schools of technique, creating a brilliant martial era."

Li Hao nodded and said: "To achieve a martial era, you must share the techniques."

Xia Xia Linglong paused slightly, gazing at the boy, then smiled faintly.

"General General Hao Tian speaks truly. Our Xia family originally planned to distribute lower- and mid-grade techniques to martial academies across the land, teaching the common people. Though this would again spark debates with the court's literati, it wouldn't be too difficult. The real challenge now is the demons ravaging beyond our borders—external threats remain unremoved, and we fear internal unrest."

Li Hao was slightly surprised, thought for a moment, then understood immediately.

The external threat was demons. If martial techniques were widely distributed at low or even no cost, the number of martial cultivators would surge drastically—and more cultivators meant more chaos, leading to internal instability.

Some rogue martialists possessed martial skill but lacked martial virtue; as long as there was profit, they would serve demons without hesitation, driven solely by greed.

If demons infiltrated and allied with these rogue sects, triggering both internal and external crises simultaneously, promoting martial arts in this way would accelerate Emperor Da Yu's downfall.

Yet to suppress demons, more martialists must be trained—this was the contradiction.

If martialists were organized and conscripted into the army, and the army grew too large, feeding, housing, and supplying cultivation resources for them would become a massive burden—especially during peacetime—and they could not simply be disbanded.

If disbanded, these martialists would scatter and turn to banditry, becoming a scourge to the people.

Thus, the imperial court needed martialists to slay demons, yet also needed to control their numbers—achieving this balance required immense ingenuity, countless ingenious strategies, and could never be fully explained.

"All things are like yin and yang, yet balance is hard to define."

Li Hao said.

He was not skilled in governing the realm—that required insight into human hearts.

But once you fully understood human hearts, life inevitably became dull.

He could endure the solitude of drinking wine alone, but he could not endure a dull life.

Hearing Li Hao's words, Xia Xia Linglong's eyes flickered with thought, then she gazed deeply at the boy and whispered: "General General Hao Tian, please—stay as long as you wish inside. Just promise you will not reveal its contents."

"I will not betray your family's trust, Lady Xia."

Li Hao said.

He then stepped into Lingyuan Pavilion.

Inside, the pavilion was filled with martial manuals; Li Hao glanced around and saw its layout resembled that of Tingyu Pavilion.

He wasted no time, swiftly flipping through the books and recording each one into his panel.

Previously, he had selectively recorded manuals, but now he had no time to painstakingly verify whether each was redundant—he would record them all first.

After all, in his panel, they only took up a name—no harm done.

Since the battle in Qingzhou City, where he slew the two Heretic Gods' avatars, Li Hao had raised his guard. Though he was now at the Tai Ping Dao realm, openly, only one person in the Emperor Da Yu Divine Dynasty could surpass him, and with hidden ones, perhaps no more than three.

But those two Heretic Gods' true bodies were both Wen Dao realm! Yet they had Chichi not attacked Emperor Da Yu, instead using these Jingwai demon factions to tie it down—if not for my intervention, they would have remained hidden.

If they truly wished to conquer Emperor Da Yu, they need only kill His Majesty, slaughter the imperial clan, and directly seize the throne—then strike from the capital to annihilate the Five Divine General Mansions. That would be the optimal path.

They have not done so—not because they are foolish, but because they cannot.

Either the True Person of Qian Dao Palace is too powerful, or the hidden forces of Emperor Da Yu make them wary, forcing them to rely on external forces to draw them out.

Now, having slain their two avatars, they must see me as a thorn in their eye. Even their avatars were this terrifying—if I face their true bodies, I have little confidence of victory. The more power I gain, the better my chances.

At this moment, as he recorded the martial manuals, the body-refining techniques were no exception—all were recorded into his panel.

Using the Eight-Stage Body Dao to refine body techniques, he pushed lower- and mid-grade manuals to upper-grade, upper-grade to supreme, then fused them to create even more upper-grade techniques.

As each manual was recorded, torrents of information flooded Li Hao's mind—but his current physique could digest it effortlessly.

Dozens, hundreds, thousands! All the martial manuals in Lingyuan Pavilion were recorded into his panel as he wandered through them.

Among these techniques, Li Hao discovered most were heavily focused on spirit refinement and object manipulation.

Body-refining techniques were few; sword, fist, and blade techniques were also relatively scarce.

Li Hao had heard before that the Five Divine General Mansions each had their strengths: the Li family studied broadly, the Xia family specialized in spirit refinement, and the Wang family's techniques were strange, excelling in cultivating avatars and controlling puppet mechanisms.

At the Shen You and Fifteen Li realms, Xia family members were generally stronger than those of other Divine General Mansions.

Their supreme spirit-refining technique approached that of the imperial clan.

The same was true for object manipulation techniques.

This delighted Li Hao—he felt he had come to the right place.

As he recorded each spirit-refining technique, his Seven-Stage Object Dao rapidly absorbed them, and his spiritual soul's aura slowly rose, then accelerated.

Li Hao immediately enveloped himself in his Dao Domain, sealing his aura, then sat cross-legged to cultivate.

His spiritual soul manifested behind him like a golden war god, flames blazing across his body, refining his soul.

The supreme upper-grade spirit-refining methods of great families reached at most twenty li.

The imperial family's supreme spirit-refining technique reached thirty li.

Li Hao originally possessed three supreme spirit-refining techniques from the Li family, and with Elder Feng's help, he stole the imperial family's first spirit-refining technique, elevating his spiritual soul to fifty li of Shen You.

Now that he had reached the Four Standing realm, his spiritual soul naturally strengthened, easily extending a hundred li.

But this distance was achieved through his Dao Mind and the soul-shaping effects of his realm advancement; apart from these boosts, his limit at the Shen You realm remained fifty li.

To push Shen You to its absolute limit, Li Hao guessed, required at least a hundred li.

At this moment, as the spirit-refining techniques were refined, Li Hao cultivated directly, forming seals with his soul, spiritual fire spreading.

All of this was sealed within his Dao Domain—even the heat did not leak out.

As he cultivated, his spiritual soul continuously transformed, absorbing the moonlight drifting through heaven and earth, refining and replenishing his soul.

Spirit-refining techniques resembled how demons absorbed the essence of sun and moon—but most demons, unless exceptionally gifted, could only absorb moonlight, for moonlight was gentle, while sunlight was fierce and easily burned their souls during absorption. Yet now, as his soul strengthened, Li Hao absorbed both solar and lunar energies simultaneously, flames of blazing solar fire igniting upon his soul, radiating terrifying power.

Merely the collision of his spiritual soul could easily ignite another's soul.

As his soul's refinement intensified, its connection to his physical body grew tighter. In this rapid ascent, Li Hao had a delusion: perhaps, when Shen You reached its ultimate limit, the soul alone, if unbroken, could grant eternal life!

Normally, when the physical body was destroyed, the soul was fragile and needed to find a vessel quickly—or prolonged exposure in the air would see it burned away by the divine sun.

But now, having absorbed solar essence in his cultivation, Li Hao's soul no longer feared the divine sun's burn.

Long time passed.

As one spirit-refining technique after another fused, Li Hao's soul surged rapidly, and he entered a mysterious state—his soul suddenly underwent a transformation, reborn from its old shell.

On his back, the golden flames that once burned now surged inward; his soul became entirely crimson-gold, solid and dense.

"This is…"

Li Hao opened his eyes, his mind stirred, his soul erupted, bursting out of the Dao Domain and soaring straight through the ceiling of Lingyuan Pavilion, standing in the sky.

Bathed in sunlight and moonlight, his soul gleamed golden, no longer ethereal but now like a true golden body.

His soul suddenly erupted, vanished, and slipped into a phantom realm—seemingly a rift between dimensions.

Soon, his soul reappeared.

Li Hao tried repeatedly and suddenly understood: he had reached the absolute limit of the Spirit Travel realm, and his abilities, beyond enhanced spiritual powers, allowed his soul to persist long after his physical body perished.

Moreover, his soul could traverse spatial fissures—places even a Dao Heart realm could not reach—unless a Tai Ping Dao realm wielded its Dao domain to crush it out.

Consider this: such an ability belonged to the Spirit Travel realm—it was simply terrifying.

"Bathed in sun and moonlight, one may spirit-travel through the Void, traversing the rifts of nothingness…"

Li Hao pondered, naming this absolute limit of the Spirit Travel realm "Primordial Spirit."

At this moment, his soul had indeed transformed differently from ordinary souls; Li Hao felt that only in a battle of equal strength would he fully appreciate the advantages of the Spirit Travel absolute limit.

But even now, merely the ability to traverse the Void—where only a Dao domain could force him out—was already astonishing.

Had he mastered this ability earlier, merely by sending his soul to strike, few beneath the Tai Ping Dao realm could have stopped him.

Remember, this was achievable at the Spirit Travel realm alone.

Li Hao retracted his soul and continued his cultivation.

The cultivation of numerous soul-refining methods did not end upon forming the Primordial Spirit; under these techniques, Li Hao's Primordial Spirit continued to grow and strengthen.

Li Hao had long known that beyond the absolute limit lay a final realm.

That was the true ultimate.

But reaching it might be ten times harder than the absolute limit.

The absolute limit was already exceedingly rare—even among the heavenly prodigies of the Ancient Holy Clans, few achieved it fully, let alone the final realm.

Time flew by.

After a long while, Li Hao's Primordial Spirit finally ceased its cultivation; the enhancements from all these methods had reached their peak.

Li Hao sent his Primordial Spirit forth, exiting Lingyuan Pavilion, and in an instant appeared beyond the city walls, then crossed mountains and rivers, soaring beneath sun and moon—the once soul-burning sun now warmed him gently.

The solar essence, denser and stronger than lunar radiance, was absorbed by his Primordial Spirit, continuously nourishing it.

"I've heard only a few ancient demonic kings with extraordinary bloodlines can naturally ingest solar essence; other races—even most dragon clans—can only absorb lunar radiance for cultivation."

Li Hao thought inwardly; his Primordial Spirit's flight speed far exceeded his physical body's, meaning he could kill most enemies with his soul's swift strikes without even moving his true form.

After wandering four or five hundred li, Li Hao began to feel cold; the connection between his soul and body grew faint. The sensation was strange—when his body grew cold, the world around seemed to shift, as if an ocean, half-real and half-illusory, washed over him.

Moving forward felt like walking deeper into this illusory ocean; once lost, it would be terrifying.

"By soul alone, I cannot yet fully sever myself from my physical body," Li Hao thought.

His Primordial Spirit began to return.

Hundreds of li passed swiftly; upon returning to his body, Li Hao stretched slightly, then resumed cultivation.

This time, it was the Art of Controlling Objects.

The "Fifteen-Li Realm" derived its name from the soul's ability to control objects fifteen li away in one breath.

This was the limit for most without lineage or backing.

Fifteen li per breath was the speed of full exertion, not normal pace—like a Fifteen-Li Realm cultivator rushing forward: he could explosively hurl his controlled object fifteen li, but only two or three times before exhausting himself.

The Imperial Art of Controlling Objects could be cultivated to twenty-five li.

Other supreme techniques reached only twenty li.

Though fifteen li and twenty li differed by only five li, in combat, it was a qualitative leap.

What is five li? The opponent might be slain before even moving.

This was why imperial bloodline warriors could dominate all others: within the Fifteen-Li Realm, the imperial twenty-five-li control speed could effortlessly slay any same-level opponent.

Li Hao had previously cultivated to forty li; after absorbing many techniques in the Heavenly Mechanism Tower, he reached eighty li.

Now, with his realm elevated and his soul strengthened, his control speed increased further.

As the various Controlling Object techniques merged, Li Hao's Primordial Spirit flew out again, pinching a speck of dust from the ground outside Lingyuan Pavilion, enveloping it in power, and controlling it over a hundred li.

As his control speed increased and his understanding deepened, Li Hao gradually touched upon the subtle essence of Controlling Objects.

No matter how fast you control objects, it's not as good as traversing the Void.

And when speed reached its extreme, it seemed capable of tearing the Void and traversing space.

…

…

Two days later, Li Hao stepped out of Lingyuan Pavilion.

Xia Xia Linglong did not know how long Li Hao would stay, so after delivering him to Lingyuan Pavilion, she did not wait outside—after all, as head of the Xia Clan, she had many duties.

Especially now, though the Gluttonous Valley Master had been slain and the remaining demons slaughtered or driven off, the cities destroyed by demons needed rebuilding, and countless civilians required comfort and aid.

While Xia Xia Linglong was busy, she received word that Li Hao had left the pavilion and froze.

"He's out already? Only two days?"

Xia Xia Linglong was surprised, then realized Li Hao must have memorized all the supreme techniques in the pavilion—no need to cultivate there.

She immediately abandoned her tasks and went to greet him.

Li Hao exchanged a few pleasantries with the clan head, expressed his thanks, and prepared to leave.

"General General Hao Tian, my Xia Clan has two demonic kings—though not as powerful as this Void Sovereign, they'd make excellent guardians. You should go see them."

Xia Xia Linglong invited.

Li Hao smiled: "Clan Head Xia, no need to be so courteous. Simply viewing Lingyuan Pavilion was already a great favor—I leave the demonic kings to you for battle."

Xia Xia Linglong studied Li Hao; seeing no false modesty, she felt genuine admiration—this was a demonic king, after all. Even if Li Hao couldn't use it, it wasn't useless.

Learning Li Hao was leaving, the Xia Clan again saw him off.

Li Hao took Ren Ren Qianqian and Zhuohuoshen, along with Xiyan, who had immediately crawled back onto his wrist, bid farewell to the Xia Clan, and departed Youzhou.

Before leaving, Li Hao left two chess pieces with the Xia Clan, saying they could serve as his battle standard.

These two chess pieces bore Li Hao's power markings; within them sealed sword qi carried Dao domain rules—easily killing even an Ultimate Technique realm cultivator, and severely wounding a Tai Ping Dao realm cultivator.

When Li Hao explained the chess pieces' function to Xia Xia Linglong, she instantly felt they burned in her hands.

Stunned, she was awed by Li Hao's skill and deeply grateful for his gift.

Though the Xia Clan was a Divine General's Mansion, radiant and glorious, the recent Youzhou crisis, coupled with the revelation of the San Huang Shen's avatar beyond Qingzhou City, had made them sense the Great Yu Divine Dynasty faced immense challenges ahead.

To receive such a priceless treasure was nothing short of a great favor.

Compared to Xia Xia Linglong's endless gratitude, to Li Hao, it was merely payment for Lingyuan Pavilion.

After all, his gains were immense: he had fully broken through the Spirit Travel and Fifteen-Li Realms, mastering their absolute states! Moreover, other techniques had significantly improved his swordplay, fist arts, and body refinement, further strengthening his power.

Aside from the Four Standing Realms, he had now reached the absolute limit of all seven preceding martial realms.

…

Half a day later, Li Hao returned to Tianmen Pass. Upon arrival, he sensed an extremely sinister aura within the city.

The aura revealed itself openly—neither arrogant nor concealed—simply radiating naturally, causing Li Hao's eyes to narrow slightly in surprise.

Soldiers in the city, seeing Li Hao's return, hurried forward to report.

Li Hao said he was already aware, then returned with Zhuohuoshen to the bamboo-fenced courtyard.

There, a disheveled figure sat at Li Hao's former tea spot, pouring and drinking alone.

His clothing was tattered, and on his wrists were two broken iron chains and shackles.

(End of Chapter)