Chapter 890: Breaking Through to Seal a King

“Preliminary Emperor realm?”

Hearing this, Di Wushe suppressed his surprise—he himself was a Preliminary Emperor, and upon realizing the mysterious old man Li Hao spoke of matched his own combat power, his sense of reverence faded.

“Then, Master, why don’t they switch to cultivating the Emperor Dao?” Gu Mofan asked.

Dao Yuan Immortal Emperor shook his head. “Switching would mean denying everything you’ve ever been. Though they’re merely comparable to Preliminary Emperors, their lifespans rival those of Immortal Emperors—in short, they’ve all achieved immortality. Unless there’s conflict, there’s no need to switch.”

“If it were me, I’d rather restart—so long as I could reach the pinnacle.”

Di Wushe said calmly, his eyes fixed solely on the relentless pursuit of the peak.

Hearing his second disciple’s words, Dao Yuan Immortal Emperor smiled faintly. “You chase the pinnacle because you’ve never reached it. In the primordial chaos of ancient times, they were already at the peak—unrivaled in the world. At that time, your Master and other Immortal Emperors had not yet been born. Having ruled one dynasty for endless eons, ruling another brings little novelty. Besides, even becoming an Immortal Emperor doesn’t mean you’ve reached the pinnacle.”

Upon hearing their Master’s words, Long Qingge and Lei Jingfeng were stunned. Long Qingge exclaimed in astonishment: “Master, are you saying there are beings above Immortal Emperors?”

“Not exactly.”

Dao Yuan Immortal Emperor shook his head. “But you know well of my two greatest achievements in life: first, opening the ultimate Dao Source Immortal Seal; second, creating the Ultimate Dao Art, capable of shattering the foundation’s shackles and breaking through limits!”

“These are two Emperor Paths!”

“Simply put, if you’re talented enough, perhaps you could create a third, a fourth…”

“Even Immortal Emperors have differences.”

Hearing their Master’s words, both were awestruck, suddenly feeling the ocean of cultivation had no horizon, no end.

“At my level, the sun and moon coexist. If one seeks only self-preservation and not the welfare of all beings, even the ancient demonic cataclysm or cosmic upheaval cannot harm them. Yet over endless eons, one will inevitably uncover more Emperor Paths—but… to be invincible is also to be bored.”

“If you cannot bear the burden of all beings, you have no right to call yourself Emperor.”

For an instant, Dao Yuan Immortal Emperor’s eyes revealed a trace of weariness, but he quickly concealed it. He shook his head slightly and spoke to Li Hao:

“The heavenly power you’ve gathered from purging the two heavenly realms is more than sufficient. Have you encountered any strong foes on your path to ascend?”

Li Hao’s heart stirred—he sensed his Master was probing about the black-robed youth.

Before Li Hao could speak, Di Lingshu had already poured out everything—Li Hao’s missed opportunity with Tianxin and all else—in a rapid stream.

Shi Miao and Gu Mofan had already known on their way here, so they showed no reaction; Di Wushe and the others, however, were stunned, staring blankly at Li Hao.

The chance to become Emperor—this junior brother had voluntarily abandoned it?

Hearing Di Lingshu’s words, Dao Yuan Immortal Emperor showed little reaction, only glancing at Li Hao with mild surprise, then smiling faintly:

“It seems your Dao heart is too lofty—and too straightforward.”

Li Hao froze, expecting reprimand, but received only this light remark.

Di Lingshu was equally surprised. “Master, aren’t you angry?”

Dao Yuan Immortal Emperor cast her a cool glance. “Proving the Tianxin is indeed a peerless opportunity, but Tianxin is unfathomable—gaining it means losing it. Though regrettable, if your Dao heart is incompatible, there’s no need to force it. Otherwise, even as Emperor, you’ll carry cracks and flaws.”

Di Wushe, Gu Mofan, and Zhan Qinghuang all fell into thought, saying nothing.

Di Lingshu looked confused. “Master, are you saying this isn’t necessarily bad?”

“You’ve trained under me for centuries—not long, but not short either. Your time origin has reached the sixth level’s perfection, just one step short of the seventh. That missing step is because you haven’t yet comprehended it. Before the river of time, all things lack fixed nature. Today’s mountains and rivers may be tomorrow’s abysses; today’s world praises, tomorrow’s world scorns. What is good? What is bad?”

Dao Yuan Immortal Emperor gazed quietly at Di Lingshu. Each word resonated like divine sound, leaving her frozen in place. Her many resentments and sorrow for Li Hao seemed smoothed away. She grew dazed, as if countless scenes flickered before her eyes—and the long-sealed time origin realm appeared to subtly crack its bottleneck.

“Now, what are your plans?”

Dao Yuan Immortal Emperor turned to Li Hao, his gaze calm, yet as if seeing through all his thoughts.

Li Hao was momentarily stunned—he felt nothing could hide from this Master, as if the man perceived past and future alike.

He immediately bowed respectfully and replied honestly: “Disciple plans to break through and become a King.”

“Hmm.”

Dao Yuan Immortal Emperor showed no surprise, nodding. “Your foundation has reached its limit—you’re ready to take that step. As for Lingshu…”

He paused. “You’ll remain here to continue cultivating.”

Di Lingshu had never intended to break through alongside Li Hao. Though she could become a King at any moment, she had only fused ten chaotic laws—far short of the twenty-three. Naturally, she wished to accumulate more foundation.

“I never expected our junior brother would become a King first,” Long Qingge couldn’t help but sigh.

No sooner had he spoken than two sharp needles of cold light pierced him—he turned to meet Di Lingshu’s glare, and immediately fell silent.

Zhan Qinghuang covered her mouth and laughed. “Little sister, you’d better hurry up. Don’t let your junior brother leave you too far behind.”

Di Lingshu’s face flushed red. She glared at her. “Isn’t he your junior brother too? Don’t get too comfortable—given his cultivation speed, by the time you’re still here, he might already be a Preliminary Emperor!”

At these words, Zhan Qinghuang’s laughter died. Di Wushe’s smile vanished. Gu Mofan’s expression turned utterly blank.

Di Lingshu shrank slightly, suddenly realizing she’d provoked three people at once.

“If our junior brother’s cultivation speed truly is that fast, it’s naturally good—but we won’t stand still either.”

Gu Mofan said coldly.

Di Wushe’s face was icy. “I’ve sought my Emperor Path for tens of thousands of years—it’s nearly time I find it.”

“Even if our junior brother breaks through to King, cultivating the King realm isn’t like the Immortal Lord realm—each step is a new heaven. To reach King realm’s perfection requires ten thousand years. Do you really think we can’t break through our Emperor Paths within ten thousand years?”

Zhan Qinghuang narrowed her eyes at Di Lingshu.

Di Lingshu fell silent, but her Di Clan pride refused to yield. She muttered under her breath: “You can’t judge our junior brother by normal standards. Have you ever seen someone comprehend sixty-nine stars in a single day? Perhaps in just a few thousand years, he’ll reach Preliminary Emperor.”

Hearing her, Di Wushe and Gu Mofan’s stern expressions cracked. With Li Hao’s talent, such a possibility was real—after all, comprehending sixty-nine stars in a day was absurd. Other top prodigies needed ten thousand years to reach King realm’s perfection; for Li Hao, perhaps only a few thousand years would suffice!

“You—”

Zhan Qinghuang still tried to glare at Di Lingshu, but now she could only sigh helplessly. She suddenly felt that day might truly come—this junior brother was simply too monstrous.

“Lingshu has been surpassed. Now it’s your turn.”

At this moment, Dao Yuan Immortal Emperor spoke, glancing coolly at them. “Don’t let the last to enter become the first to lead. If that happens, all my efforts in nurturing you will have been wasted.”

Di Wushe’s lips twitched—he knew his Master was deliberately driving the knife home. Yet even knowing this, a sense of urgency gripped him.

As a Di Clan member’s pride, he couldn’t bear the thought of still being a Preliminary Emperor one day, only to see his junior brother appear before him—also a Preliminary Emperor. Too humiliating!

“Master, I’ll take my leave first,” Di Wushe bowed.

Then he turned to Li Hao. “Junior brother, when you break through and become a King, come visit me. I’ll take you to experience the ancient demonic battlefield.”

Li Hao nodded.

Gu Mofan and Zhan Qinghuang could no longer stay—they both bade farewell to their Master and hurried away.

Lei Jingfeng and Long Qingge stood aside, exchanging glances, both wearing grim expressions. Even the senior brothers felt the pressure of being overtaken—how much more so for them? Being caught by this junior brother was inevitable.

“Go. Break through at Ultimate Dao Mountain—no one can disturb you. I’ll guard you.”

Dao Yuan Immortal Emperor said.

Li Hao nodded, then took his leave of his Master and returned with Shi Miao to the courtyard atop the mountain.

“Finally, you’re breaking through to become a King.”

Shi Miao gazed intently at Li Hao, her eyes filled with joy and awe. From Ying Xiaoxiao’s memories, she knew how lowly Li Hao’s origins were—now he competed with the top prodigies of the Primordial True Realm, Long Mang, rising to become a King!

Becoming a King isn’t becoming an Emperor, but it’s a crucial step. In any major force, Immortal Kings are general-level beings—capable of holding a region, no longer easily exposed to danger.

“Mm.”

Li Hao’s emotions stirred. Few in the world achieve Immortal Emperor. Most brilliant prodigies spend their entire lives stuck at the Immortal King realm.

This was the realm closest to the ultimate.

Li Hao didn’t rush. He approached the ancient zither and played a melody to calm his heart.

All the killings and memories from the endless heavenly realms settled. Days later, Li Hao prepared everything, then chose to embed the thirteen stages of Painting Dao’s mental states into his physical Dao!

Instantly, as his mental states merged, his skill points decreased, and a vast, overwhelming force descended, piercing the void and arriving beside Li Hao.

The sky above the courtyard seemed pierced—a pillar of light shot straight into the heavens. The flowers, grasses, and trees in the courtyard trembled violently; curtains fluttered like battle flags.

This terrifying force spread outward from the courtyard, surging across the entire mountaintop, then down into the training grounds below.

“What’s happening?”

“Someone is undergoing Tribulation Crossing!”

“My heavens—seven-colored divine light! Who’s breaking through?”

“This aura—could it be becoming a King?”

From the mountaintop training grounds downward, the entire Ultimate Dao Mountain felt the profound aura. Countless disciples looked up, gazing at the summit—only seeing the towering seven-colored divine pillar, radiating terrifying temporal-spatial energy, as if even a brush of its edge would reduce one to ash.

“Little one, are you graduating after only three hundred years?”

At the mountain’s foot, the Preliminary Emperor giant turtle, Yuan Ming, who bore the Ultimate Dao Mountain, slowly lifted his head, gazing at the realm-divine light. His eyes shimmered with brilliant seven-colored radiance: “A temporal-spatial realm? That’s top-tier. Good.”

His tone held clear approval.

In just three hundred years, he fused twenty-three chaotic laws and opened a temporal-spatial realm—he’ll maintain his status as a top prodigy even among Immortal Kings.

“Our junior brother is breaking through to become a King.”

“The aura is impressive—no wonder he’s our junior brother.”

In other pavilions atop the mountain, the incarnations of Gu Mofan, Long Qingge, and others watched Li Hao’s King ascension.

Ten thousand Dao laws converged. This King ascension wasn’t merely Li Hao becoming a King—he chose ten thousand Dao laws to crown himself, selecting one law to establish his “King Law.”

Without doubt, Li Hao’s choice was the Nine Sequences Supreme’s temporal-spatial fusion.

Reverse-Time Heart—Li Hao’s realm was now the Reverse-Time Realm!

Outside the courtyard, Shi Miao could not approach. Her hair streamed behind her as she gazed at the youth bathed in ten thousand Dao lights.

Her eyes shimmered with brilliance, alive with awe.

Amidst the resonance of the Great Dao, as Li Hao established his King Law realm, his aura surged rapidly, smashing through the bottleneck’s shackles and entering the Immortal King realm!

The temporal-spatial laws condensed into a symbol on Li Hao’s forehead. The heavens and earth around him constantly shattered and reformed, like surging azure waves. In this cycle of destruction, the laws seeped in like cracked veins, binding tightly to Li Hao, giving him the sensation of being inseparably linked to the cosmos.

He raised his hand lightly—and the surrounding heavens and earth trembled, as if a single gesture could shake the void and shatter eternity.

“This is… a realm?”

Li Hao felt stunned. Now he understood why even top prodigies struggled against ordinary Immortal Kings. If laws were threads, then a realm was a wall!

No matter how many threads, how strong—they all snap when the wall collapses.

Unless one fuses twenty-four Chaotic Laws and unifies their operation, one cannot gain the power to breach the realm barrier.

At this moment, Li Hao felt the Heavenly Dao authority he had gained on the Heavenly Path stirring within him, as if seeking to merge into his realm.

But Li Hao suppressed it; he did not rush, instead pulling up his interface and integrating the thirteen greatest Chess Path heart-states harvested from the Ninth Heavenly Realm into his Way of Control.

As the formless Chess Heart of the Path merged in, the aura that had just receded around Li Hao suddenly surged forth again.

A grand divine light reappeared in the sky, but unlike the earlier seven-colored radiance, this one was dim and gray, exuding a Chaotic aura.

“Hmm.”

“What’s going on?”

“Has someone else broken through and sealed their title as King?”

“Two in a single day? And both on the summit—that’s where only direct disciples reside.”

Below the mountain, countless people, upon seeing this sight, wore expressions of astonishment and intense curiosity.

In the several pavilions atop the summit, Gu Mofan, Di Wushe, and others froze in awe, their eyes filled with shock as they stared fixedly at the small bamboo-fence courtyard.