Chapter 833: Breakthrough, Arrival!

The news that demons had come to Suzhou Emperor Star to challenge human prodigies spread not only among the Su family but also reached the Lin, Jiang, and other great clans.

Jiang family, Jiang Shen Mansion.

"Demons come to challenge? Perfect—come as many as you like, I'll kill them all!"

A young Jiang family prodigy spoke coldly.

"So this is the opportunity my master spoke of when he sent me down the mountain—no wonder he ordered me home."

Another Jiang youth said, the same prodigy who had been defeated by Su Wanxue at the Sword Pool's Crown Tournament, and also Jiang Huanhuan's fourth brother.

"They seek to slay our human prodigies—then let us use this chance to slay their demon prodigies!"

"Exactly. Even if they didn't come, in another thousand years I'd still go to the border battlefield and slaughter them until heaven and earth turned dark."

All Jiang family members burned with battle lust; facing demons, none would retreat—otherwise how could the Jiang family stand as one of the pillars of northern human civilization?

Lin family.

When the news reached every courtyard, numerous Lin family prodigies gathered, yet one figure raced toward the ancestral grounds to deliver the message to that imperial prince—the very pride of the Lin family today.

Outside the ancestral grounds, an old Lin elder sat in a rocking chair and halted the messenger.

Upon hearing the news, Snow Elder shook his head slightly and said calmly, "Such a trivial matter doesn't warrant disturbance—I'll inform him myself when he emerges. If he makes it in time, let him slay all those demons; if not, let that little Su girl try her best—other clans should finally prove useful."

Beyond the three great families, other clans were also actively preparing, pouring all their resources into their most elite prodigies.

Some families chose to send their finest prodigies to defend human dignity and seize the chance to make their name by crushing demon ambitions in this first-ever contest.

Others opted to send reserve fighters, hiding their true dragons to prevent their demise and the family's decline.

In the deep garden of the Su mansion, within the Immortal's Courtyard.

Su Muqing and Li Hao flew back into the courtyard one after the other; as soon as they landed, Su Muqing stepped forward toward the hall, but paused at the threshold, then slightly turned her head to look back at the youth in the courtyard.

"If you still have a shred of pride, then cultivate hard."

As she spoke, she frowned slightly, thinking her words were unnecessary.

Though Li Hao had the right to compete, he was only at Immortal Lord Realm Level One—his cultivation base was far too low; even with superior movement techniques, fleeing in actual combat would be useless.

Moreover, the demons wouldn't play by any code of honor—they'd only match same-level opponents, and those who took the field would mostly be demon prodigies at Immortal Lord Realm Levels Seven or Eight, even full cultivation, all deliberately arriving just before their soul lifespan limit.

Li Hao's soul lifespan was too short, his realm too low; if he trained diligently, he might qualify for the next contest—but that's a thousand years away, by which time his soul lifespan would exceed the limit again. This grand clan struggle had no room for him to play a part.

She shook her head, dropped the thought, and turned her mind inward as she entered the hall.

Three years—mere moments to her—she must seize this chance and advance further!

With a bang, the hall door slammed shut.

Li Hao glanced at the vanished back, withdrew his gaze, and sat back down on his carving chair.

"Three years…"

Li Hao's eyes flickered slightly—if within these three years he could break through to Level Twelve in carving art, his combat power would surge dramatically.

The plight of northern human civilization was dire; if there was any chance, he wanted to contribute his own strength.

Thinking this, he picked up his carving knife and began carving earnestly.

The wood in his hands soon took shape into a human form—exactly like Ying Xiaoxiao.

Previously, Li Hao had refused to carve her using Level Eleven carving art, unwilling to desecrate her; now, only when carving her could he fully immerse himself and attain deep insight—he felt this was the only way to accelerate his understanding of carving's true essence.

He infused his insights from painting art into his carving.

Carving and painting seemed similar, yet were profoundly different.

To mortals, one used the brush as a blade, the other used the blade as a brush.

But in Li Hao's eyes, their cores were utterly distinct.

Carving appeared to be painting on wood, yet in truth it was removing flaws, condensing nature, and sculpting a flawless object born of heaven's own design.

Painting art, by contrast, gathered the five forms and cultivated the true self.

Color, ink, form, intent, soul—all were painting.

What they shared was that painting art contained the laws of space and time, and carving art also contained the laws of space and time.

"The most precious carving in the world is perhaps that which uses time and years as its blade, shaped through countless changes…"

Li Hao's eyes flickered.

The divine wood in his hands gradually took the form of Ying Xiaoxiao—standing gracefully in his palm, her posture elegant, her gaze full of youthful vitality and the gentle warmth of a long-lost friend.

Li Hao carved silently, each stroke and cut a memory of her.

Time slipped away quietly.

The Immortal's Courtyard was rich with immortal energy; even without deliberate absorption, vast amounts flowed into Li Hao's body.

One year later, his immortal energy accumulated to a bottleneck, then silently broke through as he remained immersed in carving—rising from Immortal Lord Realm Level One to Level Two!

With the realm breakthrough, Li Hao's immortal energy instantly doubled, surging to three times its original level!

At True Immortal Realm, each level doubled one's energy; at Immortal Lord Realm, it tripled!

The difference was subtle at first, but as cultivation deepened, each threefold increase compounded into an astonishing gap.

Thus, the higher one's realm, the harder it became to overcome multiple levels—even top prodigies like Su Muqing could only overcome three or four levels at Immortal Lord Realm; if facing another prodigy, with their techniques canceling each other out, overcoming one or two levels was already extremely rare.

Li Hao felt nothing from the breakthrough—he remained lost in carving.

His Heaven-Earth Immortal Body also continued refining.

Another year passed.

A faint hum resonated within Li Hao's body; his Immortal Body and Primordial Spirit, like two players in a game of Go, ended in a stalemate.

As the stalemate settled, both sides fused inseparably—his Heaven-Earth Immortal Body now truly coalesced, entering Minor Completion!

Though only Minor Completion, Li Hao felt his entire body's power surge violently, far exceeding the gain from his realm breakthrough.

The power of his Primordial Spirit's golden bones now fully merged into his Immortal Body—he felt that even raising his hand could unleash terrifying Primordial Spirit destruction.

Over these two years, Li Hao had devoured ancient demons daily, adding over two hundred more golden bones to his Primordial Spirit—now totaling eleven hundred!

Li Hao sensed his Primordial Spirit power drawing ever closer to fullness, nearing some mysterious legendary realm.

He knew—it was the Primordial Spirit's Final Stage!

Back then, the Divine in the True Sovereign Tower had been a Primordial Spirit Final Stage being, surviving even that cataclysm—True God, indestructible!

If Li Hao could attain True Godhood, he felt even an Immortal King might struggle to kill him—perhaps even escape an Immortal Emperor's grasp.

Yet he still had a long way to go before reaching that distant final stage—though he was drawing ever closer to its threshold.

As time passed, the news of demons challenging human prodigies on Suzhou Emperor Star spread gradually among the clans.

The entire Suzhou Emperor Star buzzed with murmurs.

Beyond the clans, many ordinary immortals and gods, upon hearing the news, grew furious, eager to step onto the battlefield and slay the demons themselves.

The elite prodigies of every clan shut themselves away, training fiercely in final preparation.

Over the past two years, Jiang Huanhuan and Lin Jinrou had not appeared in the Su mansion; no sign of Su Wanqing or Su Wanxue could be seen in the Immortal's Courtyard; the sealed hall door remained utterly unmoved, as if fossilized.

Only Wu Ma and the courtyard maids occasionally passed by.

Li Hao continued his silent cultivation, devouring ancient demons daily.

The corpses of ancient demons he had hunted during the Southern Region trials were nearly consumed—he estimated the remaining flesh would last him less than two more years.

Still, once he finished them, he planned to ask the Su family for more—no need to hunt them himself.

…

Outside Suzhou Emperor Star, in the starry void.

A pitch-black warship surged forward, teleporting instantly from distant deep space; its hull radiated imperial might, and upon arriving at the edge of the Emperor Star, it had already stirred certain entities within.

"This is the northern human empire's Emperor Star?"

"I heard the recently active Su and Lin families reside here."

"Hmph. The Su family? Their scent is delicious."

On the warship's deck stood a line of tall figures—some slender with cold, stern faces; others burly, radiating mountain-and-abyss-like aura; still others graceful, with delicate, radiant features like a cold, brilliant moon—each possessing a unique aura that would draw all eyes wherever they stood.

And there were twenty such individuals on the deck.

Among them, five figures stood out most prominently—each surrounded by faint illusions of great Dao phenomena, their heads seemingly connected to invisible, profoundly hidden fate forces linking to distant stars.

The howling celestial winds outside the ship whipped their immortal robes into a roaring din; each stood like a nail, aura blazing, eyes icy.

Around them, three profound figures gazed at the colossal Emperor Star ahead.

Outside the Emperor Star, a faint golden phoenix silhouette circled—but invisible to ordinary eyes.

They knew: this was the Emperor Star's fate-soul.

Plants that gained sentience became spirits; birds and beasts became demons; mountains, rivers, and earth all possessed their own fate-souls—so too did Emperor Stars.

From the circling ancient phoenix shadow, the Emperor Star's fortune was clearly flourishing, surely gathering many prodigies.

"They've sensed our arrival."

One figure murmured.

"I wonder if they'll send a few suicide pawns, or dare to fight to the death? I heard the Su and Lin families have produced imperial-grade prodigies—I hope we get to see one."

Another spoke calmly, his eyes purple, with lightning flickering and dying within, radiating terrifying power.

The warship slowly advanced toward the Emperor Star until it was swallowed by its radiant light and entered within.

On Suzhou Emperor Star, hidden elders of every clan raised their heads, staring in shock at the horizon.

An unhidden, profoundly evil and grotesque demon aura charged forth from beyond the Emperor Star.

"They've come!"

An elder of one clan, hunched and frail, suddenly ignited his dull eyes with icy light.

"Wake the young master—prepare to slay demons and purge evil!"

Another clan elder whispered, his eyes brimming with unmasked killing intent, his entire aura erupting without restraint.

This is the Imperial Star of the Human Race, this is our territory—how dare that demon beast roam freely and unleash its aura to oppress us!

As the massive warship descended upon the Imperial Star, the grotesque, evil aura of the demon beast spread like a dark cloud, engulfing the land. In the thirty thousand immortal cities of the Imperial Star, every citizen felt a chilling, icy dread—as if some slimy thing had surged down their throat into their gut, churning relentlessly, filling them with unbearable nausea and discomfort, alongside an uncontrollable, shuddering terror.

"It's the demon's aura!"

"Such terrifying energy—what level of demon is this?!"

"Could it be a Demon Emperor?"

"No, impossible. When an Emperor travels, the Imperial Road pierces the true world's starry expanse—visible even to a three-year-old child."

Across every immortal city, countless people were stunned, gazing upward—but their vision was limited, especially on the far side of the Imperial Star, where they could not see the warship. Yet that monstrous, evil pressure felt like the demon itself breathing into their ears; everyone felt it.

As the demon's aura spread, countless souls across the Imperial Star trembled in fear. Suddenly, countless overwhelming, invincible auras erupted skyward from every corner of Suzhou Imperial Star, like blazing divine pillars piercing the heavens!

These invincible auras came from the great clans—many ancestral elders, long in slumber, had awakened at this moment, unleashing their power, brimming with fury and killing intent!

In an instant, the entire Suzhou Imperial Star became a battlefield between humanity and demons, as terrifying auras filled the sky, shielding the immortal cities and standing in opposition to the demon's aura.

BOOM.

In Suzhou City, the Su family's aura suddenly surged upward, like a celestial god rising from the earth.

Those within the Su family's courtyards who were cultivating or in seclusion all felt this vast, mighty power—pure, yang, towering like a mountain, standing firm.

Li Hao, immersed in carving, lifted his head. The haze in his eyes gradually cleared, and he returned to awareness.

Before him, a celestial manifestation appeared above the Su family—its body immense, like an ancient titan. Even with Li Hao's vision, he could only see its calves and knees; its upper body stretched tens of thousands of zhang upward, piercing through the clouds.

"This is…"

Li Hao's gaze grew grave. The aura of this manifestation belonged to Su Zhenyuan, head of the Su family—radiating imperial might, yet clearly inferior to the might of a Supreme Emperor; it was not the true power of an Immortal Emperor.

With a creak, the front hall door shattered open, and a figure stepped forth on the wind—it was Su Muqing.

Her gaze settled on the towering manifestation, her expression solemn.

"The three-year deadline…"

She whispered softly. Three years had passed—and the demon had arrived precisely on time, as promised!

Li Hao turned his gaze to Su Muqing. She sensed his stare, glanced at him, and immediately noticed his cultivation had advanced one level—to Immortal Lord Realm, Second Layer.

It seems my words earlier still had an effect on him… but after so long in the Exile Academy, it was time for him to break through.

Su Muqing withdrew her gaze, no longer looking at Li Hao. Whether he broke through or not meant nothing to this battle.

The key was that she herself had broken through these past three years.

She was now at Immortal Lord Realm, Seventh Layer!

Beyond her realm advancement, she had improved in other ways as well.

"A demon with a thousand-year soul lifespan… Let me see you."

Cold light flickered in Su Muqing's eyes, brimming with frost.

High above, thunder roared. A black warship descended, parting the clouds, its boundless pressure descending upon Suzhou City.

Beyond the Su family, the Lin family, the Jiang family, and other clans within the city all felt this oppressive force.

"Three half-step Imperial Lords?!"

In the Jiang family, a silver-haired woman with a divine moon mark on her forehead sat within the Jiang family's Grand Void Hall, her eyes fixed on the heavens, piercing through the hall's dome to see the scene upon the black warship.

In the next instant, her silver hair flew wildly without wind, her immortal robes swirling, and a celestial manifestation erupted from her back—rapidly extending, soon surpassing the entire Grand Void Hall, even causing the surrounding Jiang Divine Mansion to shrink beneath her feet. The manifestation rose higher and higher, as if Suzhou City itself now lay beneath her tread.