Chapter 861: The Ultimate True Transmission, Foundation Beyond Limits

“Now that I have enough art points, it’s time to put the twelve-stage cooking mindset to use.”

After reading the reasons for failure, Li Hao thought to himself.

In the first decade, his music and poetry both rose to stage nine; in the following decade, he comprehended both arts to stage ten, transcending the mortal realm into the Sacred State.

This also increased his art points to nine—if all were used to enhance the Chaotic Dao, they could elevate it from stage four to stage seven!

But Li Hao knew that when the Chaotic Dao reached stage six, the Heavenly Dao energy required would be immense, and the force he had previously absorbed from the Heavenly Dao essence, which had swirled in his dantian, had been fully consumed during his ascent from stage three to stage four.

Therefore, before heading to the Infinite Heavenly Realm, he had at least three art points available to invest in other Dao paths.

But Li Hao had no intention of expanding into other major Dao paths; after all, the Chaotic Dao’s later stages demanded too many art points, and even his music and poetry art points might not suffice—so art points must be spent with precision.

The Body Dao and the Control Dao were obviously crucial, the very source of combat power.

Next came the Sword Dao, Li Hao’s strongest offensive technique.

And the Movement Dao was indispensable.

Aside from these, the Fist Dao could wait; there was no need to rush its advancement.

“Add points!”

Li Hao silently murmured, consuming his cooking mindset to enhance the Movement Dao.

Instantly, his mindset shifted—he gained a brand-new understanding of movement, and a torrent of Movement Dao insights flooded his mind, as if countless beams of light danced before his eyes.

Among those beams of light, Li Hao seemed to see ancient divine birds galloping, and the exquisite trajectories of immortal energy in motion.

“The true essence of movement… is merely evasive maneuvering.”

“The highest good is like water; movement, too, is like flowing water—light, soft, without fixed point of contact, yet brimming with immense power.”

“Movement is like clouds, like wind…”

Li Hao sank into these ever-changing insights, as if he himself had become a beam of light in the cosmos, constantly shifting trajectories, each one exquisitely profound, imbued with the laws of time and space, capable of traversing the fissures between heaven and earth.

Long moments passed; when Li Hao opened his eyes again, his Movement Dao had risen to stage twelve.

Simultaneously, his Grand Void Spirit Travel technique also advanced further, surpassing the level of the prodigy from the Jiang family of the Northern Region, reaching the absolute peak attainable by an Immortal King.

At the same time, his own previously extrapolated Supreme Invisibility Movement technique rose once more, unlocking a new tier, pushing the concept of formlessness and tracelessness to even greater depths.

All other movement techniques also evolved on his interface, transforming into higher-tier immortal movement arts.

Li Hao summoned his Shadow Clone and recalled it, then immediately reconstituted it.

The newly formed Shadow Clone inherited his stage-twelve Movement Dao; though it could only manifest thirty percent of its full power, it was still stronger than before.

“Losing is losing—no need to burn your Primordial Spirit and harm yourself.”

Li Hao told his Shadow Clone.

Burning the Primordial Spirit was a desperate, life-risking tactic; in this Chaotic Dao Arena, Li Hao intended to use only his Shadow Clone for sparring, to gain combat experience.

“Understood.”

Upon hearing Li Hao’s instruction, the Shadow Clone nodded; in his previous loss, he had not burned his avatar’s Primordial Spirit—it was one of his hidden cards, unnecessary to reveal during sparring, or he might not have lost at all.

“This time, though my avatar lost, I myself suffered no ill effects—it seems my Shadow Clone and my true body are truly separate, since we cannot fully share memories; I can only access his memories by reviewing them myself.”

Li Hao thought to himself.

Thus, in the Chaotic Dao Arena, he could now challenge anyone without risk to himself.

Even if his avatar was shattered, only the Shadow Clone would be affected; when the damage became severe, he could dissolve it and reconstitute a new one.

After instructing his Shadow Clone, Li Hao prepared to continue meditating on music.

His music had reached stage ten, and his experience was nearly full, but his mindset insights remained purely intuitive—he had no clear direction yet.

As Li Hao was about to begin his meditation, his Master’s voice suddenly reached his ears, summoning him to the main hall.

Li Hao was surprised; his Master never disturbed him unless necessary. Though twenty years felt long to him, to his Master and the other senior disciples, it was but the blink of an eye—fleeting.

Li Hao immediately rose and hurried to the main hall.

When he arrived, he saw the grand hall empty except for his Master, seated as always before a chessboard, his eyes deep and profound, as if containing the power of temporal and spatial transformation, his thoughts unreadable.

“Disciple pays homage to Master.”

“You’ve come.”

Dao Yuan Immortal Emperor looked up, saw Li Hao, and a faint smile touched his lips. “In these twenty years, you’ve lived on the mountain, yet your cultivation seems stagnant—have you hit a bottleneck?”

Li Hao knew his reciting poetry and playing music in his courtyard couldn’t escape his Master’s notice; he bowed his head. “I’ve encountered bottlenecks, but I’ve broken through them all.”

Dao Yuan Immortal Emperor chuckled. “I’m not referring to your music bottleneck—I mean the bottleneck in your Chaotic Dao refinement. You haven’t refined a new Chaotic Dao in twenty years, stuck at the ninth. If anything confuses you, come ask me anytime.”

Li Hao was startled—he had refined nine Chaotic Dao paths, and except for Shi Miao, he had told no one. How did his Master know?

Could the Immortal Emperor truly know everything?

Seeing Li Hao’s astonishment, Dao Yuan Immortal Emperor smiled slightly. To prevent misunderstanding, he said: “Your rank on the Chaotic Dao Rankings, though hidden, only obscures the eyes of others. To us Immortal Emperors, the list is perfectly clear—your position has remained unchanged for twenty years, and you’ve even been surpassed.”

Li Hao understood at once, then realized—the Chaotic Dao Rankings were created by the Chaotic Immortal Emperor in conjunction with Heavenly Dao power; the man likely knew every single person on the list in detail.

“This…”

Li Hao scratched his head—he couldn’t possibly say he was deliberately slowing his cultivation to avoid drawing attention.

And now that he knew the Chaotic Dao Rankings held no secrecy from Immortal Emperors, he was even more relieved he hadn’t rushed to elevate his Chaotic Dao to stage five.

“Your defeats in the Arena have allowed you to touch your bottleneck. Earlier, your insight into Chaotic energy was astonishing, so I planned to let you first explore Chaotic energy until you hit a bottleneck, then impart my true transmission. Now that you’ve reached it, it’s time to pass on my true method.”

Dao Yuan Immortal Emperor said calmly.

Li Hao froze—he finally understood why his Master had summoned him.

True Transmission?

His eyes glimmered slightly, curious and eager.

Seeing Li Hao’s expression, Dao Yuan Immortal Emperor smiled. He saw no resentment in Li Hao’s eyes. Had his Dao heart been weaker, twenty years without transmission might have bred discontent—but this boy looked as if he’d found treasure, as if he’d never even expected such a thing.

“Each Immortal Emperor has his own Imperial Path.”

Dao Yuan Immortal Emperor smiled. “Mine differs from those of Chaotic and Original. Disciples under the Chaotic Sect cultivate the Chaotic Spirit Refinement Method, which condenses their immortal energy into liquid form, imbuing it with Chaotic energy to forge a Chaotic Dao Body. Moreover, they infuse a trace of Chaotic energy into their Primordial Spirit, granting it far greater destructive power than other Primordial Spirits at the same level!”

Li Hao instantly narrowed his eyes—he felt this method was incredibly powerful, akin in some ways to his self-developed Heaven-Earth Immortal Body, though his own fused Primordial Spirit and body more thoroughly, lacking Chaotic energy in the Primordial Spirit.

“The Original Immortal Emperor’s disciples cultivate the Great Extinction Art, which grants mastery over Original Extinction Law—a law created by the Original Immortal Emperor himself, not one of the twenty-three Chaotic Laws, but a newly forged Original Extinction Chaotic Law, synthesized from all twenty-four Chaotic Laws!” Dao Yuan Immortal Emperor said.

Li Hao was stunned.

He had never heard anyone could synthesize twenty-four Chaotic Laws!

Seeing Li Hao’s dumbfounded expression, Dao Yuan Immortal Emperor remained calm. “Shi Miao must have told you about the Chaotic Stars—once, there were seventy-two Chaotic Stars, capable of synthesizing twenty-four Chaotic Laws!”

“If you can fuse all twenty-four Chaotic Laws into one, you attain the Chaotic Ultimate Law!”

“If Chaotic Laws represent the pinnacle of the Immortal Lord realm, then the Chaotic Ultimate Law is its ultimate limit!”

Dao Yuan Immortal Emperor continued slowly: “After synthesizing the Chaotic Ultimate Law, you can transform the combined power of the twenty-four Chaotic Laws into a unique, singular Chaotic Law—irreducible, incomparable, surpassing the power of the twenty-four Chaotic Laws. When perfected, its strength rivals that of one who has synthesized all twenty-four Chaotic Laws!”

Li Hao was stunned—was synthesizing twenty-four Chaotic Laws truly the ultimate?

And someone had actually achieved it—no wonder he was an Immortal Emperor!

“So if disciples of the Original Realm directly cultivate the Great Extinction Art, they bypass the entire process of comprehending Chaotic Stars and synthesizing Chaotic Laws, leaping straight to the fusion stage? Once mastered, their power would far exceed others at the same level!”

Li Hao couldn’t help but say.

Dao Yuan Immortal Emperor nodded slightly. “Precisely. If two disciples both take three hundred years to train, the Original Realm disciple will lead. While others are still comprehending Chaotic Stars, even a beginner in the Great Extinction Art matches the power of synthesized Chaotic Laws, effortlessly crushing peers at the same stage!”

Li Hao inwardly gasped—it was terrifying. After three hundred years, others were still grasping Chaotic Stars or had just synthesized their first Chaotic Law, while the Original disciple already wielded power equivalent to synthesized laws!

“In the early stages, the Original Realm’s combat power rises fastest!”

Dao Yuan Immortal Emperor said slowly. “In the middle stage, Chaotic Sect disciples catch up. Once the Chaotic Spirit Refinement Method is perfected, both their Primordial Spirit and Chaotic Dao Body become terrifying forces within their realm.”

Li Hao looked at him expectantly—what about you, Master?

Dao Yuan Immortal Emperor read his thoughts and smiled. “Though my title is Dao Yuan, my true Imperial Path is the Ultimate Dao!”

He told Li Hao: “What is the Ultimate Dao? It is the Dao beyond the extreme!”

“Simply put, you must first reach the extreme before you are worthy to cultivate my Dao and unleash its true power. Thus, if you join my sect, you may seem mediocre in the beginning, average in the middle—but once you reach the extreme, combined with my Ultimate Dao, you will be utterly peerless in your realm!”

At this, Dao Yuan Immortal Emperor’s face showed a hint of pride.

Li Hao asked: “Master, are you saying I must first synthesize all twenty-three Chaotic Laws before I can cultivate this?”

Dao Yuan Immortal Emperor shook his head. “You can begin cultivating now—I mean releasing its full power requires reaching the extreme, not twenty-three Chaotic Laws, but twenty-four!”

He looked at Li Hao. “Given your current state, you may already cultivate this method. Its name is the ‘Ultimate’!”

“Ultimate?”

Li Hao’s heart tightened.

“Correct. The Ultimate has five tiers. Mastering the first two in the Immortal Lord realm is already top-tier talent!”

Dao Yuan Immortal Emperor said. “The threshold for the first tier requires at least reaching the stage of synthesizing Chaotic Laws!”

“The second tier demands synthesizing twenty Chaotic Laws before you can barely comprehend it!”

Li Hao was stunned—synthesizing Laws just to begin cultivation?

The threshold was terrifyingly high.

Those who could synthesize Laws were already prodigies of the Immortal Lord realm—only a few tens of thousands had emerged in the past hundred thousand years, yet they barely qualified for the threshold of this method!

Seeing Li Hao’s shock, Dao Yuan Immortal Emperor smiled. “The difficulty is matched by the reward! Even mastering the first tier of the Ultimate triples your combat power!”

He fixed his gaze on Li Hao. “Not through burning divine blood—through your entire foundation. You’ve already forged True Divine Blood. If your True Divine Blood is one hundred drops, mastering the first tier of the Ultimate makes it equivalent to three hundred drops! Your movement, your immortal arts, your Immortal Body—all tripled!”

“After this tripling, if you then burn divine blood in battle, the increase becomes transformative.”

Li Hao froze, stunned and awestruck.

Tripled foundation?

If so, this method was absurdly overpowered!

If mastered, even his Shadow Clone could match his current true body’s power!

And his true body? It would unleash even more staggering strength.

He was fully aware of the overwhelming power gap between himself and his shadow clone.

The Dao Source Immortal Emperor smiled and said, “The true brilliance of this method lies in its power only manifesting at its ultimate peak—I named it Wuji because it truly breaks through boundaries, allowing further growth even beyond the limit!”

Li Hao felt a chill run down his scalp—break through the limit?

After all, no matter how gifted or monstrous a cultivator, there are always limits to the ultimate and final realms.

If both sides are at the ultimate realm, it comes down to combat experience—but Wuji delivers a decisive, conclusive blow.

No wonder Master said this method is mediocre in the early and middle stages, but truly divine in the later stages.

“I now transmit it to you; study it well.”

The Dao Source Immortal Emperor raised his hand, and a beam of light shot forth, striking Li Hao’s forehead.

In an instant, Li Hao felt an immense torrent of Daoic consciousness flood into his mind—he saw stones shatter, lightning arise and vanish, young sprouts break through soil, and rain descend from clouds.

All these scenes seemed to tell him: beyond the extreme, there is still a new path!

Long moments passed before Li Hao came back to himself; his mind now held a new Immortal Art—Wuji.

This Immortal Art consisted of five chapters, but with his current Chaotic Dao realm, he could only comprehend the first level.

Li Hao knew that beyond the final realm, no higher tier should exist—but this Immortal Art skillfully amplified power through the Immortal Dao, enabling a temporary transcendence!

“Thank you, Master!”

Coming to his senses, Li Hao quickly bowed in gratitude.

“Go cultivate. If by the time the Infinite Heaven Domain opens in three hundred years you have grasped the second level, great fortune awaits you,” said the Dao Source Immortal Emperor.

“I shall do my best!”

Li Hao said.

After bidding farewell to his Master, he returned to the bamboo-fenced courtyard and began studying the Wuji Immortal Art.

Meanwhile, beyond the gates, news of Li Hao’s avatar’s defeat had already stirred the entire world.

The twenty-year legend had finally fallen—shocking countless cultivators, yet also revealing the true extent of Li Hao’s limits.

“He’s already fused nine Chaotic Dao streams!”

“Incredible—how many years has it been?”

“He seems to have finally hit a bottleneck; no longer as astonishing as before.”

“He never lost before—I thought he’d already fused Chaotic Dao to an extreme level. Scared me.”

In several Chaotic Immortal Cities, whispers and debates raged everywhere.