Chapter 882: Severing the Emperor Path

Although the Divine Sovereign had come to the Infinite Heaven Realm in his previous life, this reincarnated body had gained little heavenly dao force; if he missed this opportunity, this reincarnation would be incomplete, and he would inevitably fall behind others in the Immortal King realm—his gap with Li Hao would only grow wider!

“You, you!”

The Divine Sovereign was furious, nearly driven mad—he never expected Li Hao to be so insane, recklessly determined to fight him to the death.

“Want to force me out? I’ll trade three domain artifacts for your three—see how you compete for the Heavenly Path then.”

The Divine Sovereign gritted his teeth, the threat in his words unmistakable.

“Without domain artifacts, I can still ascend to heaven—but you must leave!”

Li Hao’s face was cold as he activated his domain artifact and surged forward at full speed.

With the collision of the two domain artifacts, a tremendous disturbance erupted in the void; thousands of li of nearby chaotic dao seeds were startled—some fled, others rushed toward the commotion.

Yet at this moment, neither Li Hao nor the Divine Sovereign cared about those chaotic dao seeds; both sought only to kill the other.

Boom!

The two domain artifacts were evenly matched, until Li Hao’s artifact first lost its power—ten seconds ahead of schedule—it was crushed under the weight of void order, instantly shattered and stripped of power.

But Li Hao didn’t hesitate—he pulled out his second domain artifact, swiftly unsealing it: another flying sword, hurtling once more toward the Divine Sovereign!

“Insane!”

The Divine Sovereign was shocked and enraged—he hadn’t expected Li Hao to be serious. Golden light enveloped his body, blocking the sword’s assault—but after three seconds, his second domain artifact also reached its ten-second limit and shattered on the spot.

As the sword slashed toward him, the Divine Sovereign had no choice but to pull out his third domain artifact; his eyes burned with pure, furious rage—he knew he had truly lost this opportunity, but even so, he would fight to the end: drain Li Hao’s domain artifacts completely, and spread the word far and wide that Li Hao had exhausted his.

Boom!

With the unsealing of the third domain artifact—a pair of divine boots worn on the Divine Sovereign’s feet—he suddenly stepped through the void and fled outward.

Li Hao also commanded his flying sword to pursue at full speed; the two domain forces entangled, locked in fierce struggle, neither able to shake the other off.

Though the Divine Sovereign had cultivated the ultimate realm after returning to the Void, and could surpass Li Hao’s movement speed with that realm alone, the domain artifact’s effect rendered such teleportation unnecessary—after all, the suppression of Immortal King power, though the ultimate realm was strong, could not be fully reversed.

Soon, seven seconds passed, and Li Hao’s flying sword shattered on cue.

Freed from the sword’s restraint, the Divine Sovereign did not continue fleeing—he suddenly spun back and charged toward Li Hao.

The divine boots shattered the void, enveloped in domain force, appearing above Li Hao’s head, ready to crush him beneath a single footstep.

He did this to force Li Hao to use his third domain artifact.

Otherwise, using only two artifacts to exhaust his three would be a terrible loss.

Li Hao saw through the Divine Sovereign’s plan and showed no hesitation—he had planned all along to use all three artifacts to drive him out and kill him.

Hum!

A hum resonated as the third domain artifact soared upward, golden threads of light unsealing from its surface.

As domain force spread, this third artifact took the form of a flute, emitting a wave of flute-tones that blocked the Divine Sovereign’s assault.

The two domain forces clashed, neither yielding, neither able to overcome the other.

“You have only three seconds left—see what other tricks you have!”

Li Hao wielded the flute artifact, firing a blade-like domain force that pierced through time and space, striking directly at the Divine Sovereign’s divine boots.

“Now you’ve no domain artifacts left—see how you die on the Heavenly Path!”

The Divine Sovereign glared at Li Hao with a twisted face, “If I lose this opportunity, you’ll lose your chance at the Heavenly Path too!”

As he spoke, he no longer engaged Li Hao directly—he had three seconds to flee at full speed.

As he turned to flee, Li Hao controlled the flute artifact to pursue behind him; just as the Divine Sovereign was about to escape, his divine boots artifact suddenly shattered—the ten seconds were up.

“Die!”

Li Hao surged forward, the flute artifact like a verdant divine light, wrapped in terrifying domain force, resembling a miniature world, hurtling toward the Divine Sovereign’s body to crush him.

The Divine Sovereign’s pupils contracted—he turned to look, and his figure flickered and vanished, activating his fifteen-li ultimate realm power.

But the flute artifact’s domain force had already enveloped him; though his ultimate realm power allowed him to pierce through domains—an astonishing ability—he was still detected by the domain, which instantly gathered thick force to suppress him.

“I won’t let you go!”

The Divine Sovereign roared, and his body exploded—his immortal body ruptured, and all three hundred drops of true divine blood within him were suppressed, beginning to decay under the domain force’s pressure.

Even an Immortal King could not instantly kill an Immortal Lord who had condensed true divine blood through the ultimate realm—he could only slowly grind it away with domain force, requiring time.

The remaining seven seconds were enough to grind away most of his true divine blood; even if he couldn’t kill him directly with the domain artifact, the remaining drops could still be suppressed by Li Hao himself—if he could capture him alive, that would be even better.

But the Divine Sovereign clearly had no intention of falling into Li Hao’s hands; under the artifact’s suppression, all his true divine blood ignited, struggling fiercely—but ultimately he could not break free from the domain’s seal, and his own injuries accelerated rapidly until he was fully annihilated.

One second later, the domain artifact burst with a loud pop, shattering.

Li Hao stared into the void—the Divine Sovereign’s body and aura had vanished completely, utterly erased.

Yet Li Hao knew the man might not truly be dead—he had seen the three indestructible ultimate realm power the Divine Sovereign displayed; after all, someone who survived the ancient demon catastrophe must have extraordinary survival methods.

But it didn’t matter—as long as he couldn’t step onto this opportunity.

“Lost three domain artifacts—but fortunately, I still have three from my shadow clone.”

Li Hao thought to himself.

When crossing the Flip-Realm Mountains, the three domain artifacts carried by his shadow clone had not been detected—they were treated as an independent entity—so he had six in total; losing three merely brought him back to parity with others.

“I forgot to ask him where Yuan Zu is.”

Li Hao’s eyes flickered—he and the Divine Sovereign had come to the True Realm together; now that the Divine Sovereign had awakened his past-life memories, Yuan Zu, Li Hao suspected, was no ordinary figure either.

Once he emerged, he could use fate calculation to determine his approximate location.

He glanced around, suppressing his own aura; the Extreme Dao Method ended, and a powerful weariness surged over him, leaving him utterly drained.

He hadn’t felt this way in a long time—since mastering the Celestial Star Meridians, his immortal energy had been nearly limitless—but now, even as endless immortal energy flowed into his body, he could not dispel this weariness.

Li Hao took a deep breath, steadied his mind, and used his spiritual sense to detect seven or eight chaotic dao seeds creeping toward him from within thousands of li—the earlier disturbance had drawn them.

“First, find a place to rest.”

Li Hao felt even lifting a finger was exhausting; in this state, unless he used a domain artifact to defend himself, it was better to avoid confrontation.

His figure flickered, leaving the spot, and he found a mountain peak, carving out a cave within it to rest.

“This Divine Sovereign is no fool—having cultivated for a hundred thousand years as a pseudo-Emperor, he possesses too many ultimate realm techniques; I was forced to use the Extreme Dao Method just to suppress him—my own Immortal Lord-level ultimate realm, Chaotic Wuji Law, still couldn’t kill or subdue him.”

Li Hao’s eyes flickered; though he had decisively defeated the Divine Sovereign, he now felt the man’s strength. Fortunately, he had cut off his opportunity—should the Divine Sovereign reincarnate again, he would do so using hidden divine blood, and Li Hao suspected that blood’s location lay outside the Infinite Heaven Realm.

Of course, if the man had the audacity to split divine blood within the Infinite Heaven Realm, Li Hao would be powerless to stop him.

Fortunately, in this ninth heaven realm, the man had no courage to enter again.

“Have my shadow clone check the other heaven realms.”

Li Hao thought to himself.

If he encountered the Divine Sovereign in another heaven realm, his shadow clone would deal with him.

He activated his will—the shadow clone coalesced, nodded to Li Hao, then handed him two domain artifacts, keeping only one for himself before leaving the cave.

Having done this, Li Hao sat within the cave to recover.

Meanwhile, in a cave on a mountain peak in the Primordial Realm.

Suddenly, golden light emerged from a secret array deep within the cave; then, a figure coalesced from the liquid gold, shifting into human form—the Divine Sovereign.

Naked, he stood in the cave, recognizing the familiar surroundings—his face turned ashen.

“Bastard!!”

He growled low, slamming a fist into the cave wall—activating the secret array, which unleashed thirty-six thousand golden threads forming a net that engulfed the entire cave.

“Damn it, damn it!”

The Divine Sovereign was enraged—this fool had actually driven him out!

He had watched this crucial opportunity slip through his fingers.

He had not absorbed enough heavenly dao force, nor had he stepped onto the Heavenly Path!

This meant he could not, in this life, use heavenly dao force to attain the Heavenly Heart and walk the shortcut to Emperorhood!

Outside that Emperor path, only self-discovered Emperor paths remained.

But as a former peak pseudo-Emperor from his past life, he knew how difficult self-discovery was—especially now, with countless Immortal Emperors having already opened all major Emperor paths; what remained to be opened was nearly gone, and he himself could not conceive of any path left to forge.

“I’ll make you die!!”

The Divine Sovereign’s face twisted in fury, his rage so intense he nearly wanted to reincarnate immediately—this life was half-wasted!

“Heavenly dao has returned, granting the chance to attain the Heavenly Heart—and you’ve severed my Emperor path—this enmity is unforgivable!”

The Divine Sovereign’s eyes burned crimson, filled with fury and boundless killing intent.

“I lack heavenly dao force—but neither will you reach the Heavenly Path! Fortunately, I left a hidden avatar outside!”

On a mountain peak in the second heaven realm of the Infinite Heaven Realm.

A figure sat cross-legged, eyes closed, his aura profoundly concealed—he had not hunted the surrounding chaotic dao seeds, nor disturbed anyone else.

As an avatar, even if he hunted chaotic dao seeds, he could not absorb their heavenly dao force; if not absorbed promptly, the force would dissipate back into the heaven realm—so hunting them was meaningless.

This avatar was originally meant to meet him and handle special situations—but now, it would serve only as a messenger.

“You’ve exhausted your three domain artifacts—I’ll make sure everyone knows!”

The avatar opened his eyes, brimming with killing intent, then flickered and vanished from the mountain peak.

Several days later.

In a cave on a mountain peak in the ninth heaven realm, Li Hao opened his eyes—the weariness in his gaze had largely faded, but the feeling of bodily depletion, the utter lack of strength, still left him shaken; clearly, this technique must be used with caution—even the Celestial Star Meridians could not restore him.

“Time to resume hunting.”

Li Hao immediately rose; twenty days had passed, ten remained before the Infinite Heaven Realm closed—he must clear this ninth heaven realm as quickly as possible.

After all, he would need considerable time on the Heavenly Path ahead.

As he moved, his spiritual sense spread, quickly detecting two chaotic dao seeds within thousands of li—one to the east, one to the west, resting quietly.

Li Hao’s figure flickered, speeding toward them; in moments, he arrived before one chaotic dao seed.

Boom!

The fated sword qi pierced through, piercing and pinning the brain of the chaotic Dao seed to the ground the moment it raised its head.