Chapter 926

“Mm.”

Li Hao nodded, but his mind wasn’t on this—he only wanted to grow stronger as quickly as possible.

The fastest way was to fully traverse the Emperor Path of the Realm King.

When the flowers bloom, butterflies come naturally; as for the competition for True King’s Deputy, Li Hao had no particular thoughts—if he was strong enough, the position would naturally be his; if not, even if given to him, it would be useless.

“Then I’ll head to the Tower of All Realms.”

Li Hao said.

“Wait, aren’t you going to hear the competition rules?”

The Immortal Emperor said.

“No need. Once I’ve figured out a few things, I’ll give my all to climb the Tower of All Realms.”

Li Hao said, then bowed farewell and turned to rush toward the Tower of All Realms.

“This kid…”

The Immortal Emperor paused, then realized—the kid’s implication was that he had no intention of joining this competition.

“No family, alone—does that make him less eager for the True King candidacy?”

The Immortal Emperor’s eyes flickered slightly; he naturally knew all the details about Li Hao.

The Immortal Kings who came here to cultivate in the Abyss all had clean backgrounds, but everyone else came from great clans—they had to compete for the True King’s Deputy position to protect their families, or at least cultivate good relations with the True King and his Deputy to ensure their clan’s safety in war.

Shaking his head, the Immortal Emperor let it go and walked over to the Star Empress: “Let’s begin. Put some pressure on these kids.”

“What about that child?”

The Star Empress glanced toward Li Hao, who had already vanished into the Tower of All Realms.

“This kid’s thoughts are strange, different from the others—ignore him.”

The Immortal Emperor shook his head; he’d already announced the competition. Whether Li Hao participated or not was his own business.

It wasn’t mandatory anyway—forcing someone to join would be meaningless if they refused outright and showed indifference.

Still, it was like handing buns to refugees—something everyone fought over—and he hadn’t expected anyone to show no interest.

“Shi Miao…”

Just before entering the Tower of All Realms, Li Hao glanced at the Emperor’s grounds but didn’t see Shi Miao—he guessed she might be challenging inside the tower and didn’t dwell on it.

He randomly chose a level: Level 61.

Once inside, six Ancient Demons emerged from cracks. Li Hao didn’t even look—he raised his hand and slashed out a terrifying sword qi that split the very space, instantly killing all six Ancient Demons at the seventh layer of Immortal King realm.

Now, Li Hao’s cultivation had reached Immortal King fifth layer; his raw power alone was hundreds of times greater than that of an Immortal King first layer!

Each realm advancement multiplied his divine energy five to sixfold—fifth layer wasn’t simply twenty-five times first layer. For example, Immortal King second layer was five times first, third layer was five times second—that’s already twenty-five times.

Now, his divine energy was five hundred times that of an Immortal King first layer!

This was why Immortal Kings struggled to challenge across realms—just two or three layers’ difference created a near-qualitative abyss.

Luo Ningshuang and Su Wan Yi had Ancestral Emperor power, yet could only bridge a hundredfold gap.

“If I go all out now, I wonder if I can reach Level 90.”

Li Hao’s eyes flickered, but he quickly pulled his thoughts back—current results meant nothing; the True King would be chosen based on final scores.

His mind turned inward: five realm domains connected, mutually unobstructed.

“All seven arts have reached Level Thirteen. Seven top-tier realm cores are enough to merge into a Sovereign Realm Domain, making me a King among Immortal Kings.”

“But compared to a King, if I can step onto the Emperor Path, I’ll ascend instantly and become an Emperor!”

Li Hao’s thoughts settled on the Myriad Phenomena Poetry Heart and the Chaos Cooking Heart.

He called up his interface and examined his Body Dao and Control Dao.

His Body Dao had embedded two hearts: Reverse Time and Creation.

His Control Dao was Formless; his Sword Dao was Void Penetration; his movement art was Boundless!

Now, he planned to embed the Myriad Phenomena Poetry Heart and the Chaos Cooking Heart into other Daos.

“Since embedding Creation, my body has changed—my Immortal Body has improved and transformed!”

Li Hao’s eyes held thought. Earlier, he had upgraded the Heavenly Immortal Body from the Tianyang Immortal Emperor’s legacy into the Heaven-Earth Immortal Body. Now, he felt his Immortal Body subtly shifting as it absorbed these two hearts, gaining unique power from them.

The Reverse Time Heart let him effortlessly sense time’s flow, as if countless grains of dust surrounded him, within reach.

The Creation Heart infused his Immortal Body with a more terrifying force.

Something akin to fate!

“These hearts bring extraordinary power—if properly combined, they may yield unexpected results.”

Earlier, when he embedded Void Penetration into his Sword Dao, he noticed the sword art became noticeably sharper. Now, with his cultivation rising, this power was gradually manifesting—the Sword Dao carried extreme destructive force, amplified by his Chaos Ultimate Power and the absolute killing power of his Sole Self Sword Dao, making his sword qi terrifyingly sharp.

“Control Dao—governing all things under heaven and earth, formless and shapeless. Formless is all forms. All forms plus Myriad Phenomena—what changes will this bring to Control Dao?”

Li Hao thought silently.

He planned to embed the Myriad Phenomena Poetry Heart into his Control Dao.

As for the Chaos Cooking Heart, he intended to embed it into his Sword Dao.

He felt combining Void Penetration with Chaos in his Sword Dao would elevate his sword power further.

But this must be done slowly—first, ensure the six realm cores remain stable.

He withdrew his thoughts, took a deep breath, and silently willed: Embed the Myriad Phenomena Poetry Heart into Control Dao!

As the heart embedded, instantly Li Hao felt his soul heat up, and a vast Dao inheritance poured in.

Then, though his soul still resided in his body, it felt as if it had detached, naked and exposed to heaven and earth.

The sun, moon, stars, the cosmos, countless Dao dusts and chains—he suddenly could “see” them all. His vision revealed a world dazzling beyond imagination.

His soul’s eyes could directly perceive the roots of Dao, tracing its paths.

“Myriad Phenomena—all things, all phenomena!”

“Control the Formless—undetectable, untraceable. Myriad Phenomena governed, all things mastered!”

Li Hao murmured to himself—he felt his Control Dao had ascended, terrifyingly so, far beyond any other Immortal King’s control.

His control technique had transcended Immortal King realm; this direct insight into Dao’s roots, mastery over all Daos and all things, felt like reigning supreme, master of all creation.

What is mastery? That is Emperorhood!

Merely through Control Dao, Li Hao had already touched the threshold of Emperorhood!

One thought, all things arise; one thought ends, all things fall silent!

“The Tower of All Realms’ rules…”

Li Hao looked up and saw, in this vast emptiness, thick black chains of law sinking deep into the land below, as if reaching straight into the Abyss.

Above these chains, they stretched into the heavens, seemingly connecting to higher levels of the Tower of All Realms.

He had caught a glimpse of the fundamental law of this Emperor artifact!

But Li Hao didn’t overreach—he didn’t try to seize or control it. That would be theft, a challenge to the Star Empress for dominion over the Tower.

Even without the Star Empress, the Tower’s own consciousness was Emperor-tier—he couldn’t subdue it.

“Control Dao… Level Nine…”

Li Hao felt his Control Dao level had risen. As one of the Nine Orders, it had been Level Eight—now it ascended another step.

As he absorbed all these Dao insights, he immediately sensed a new realm core forming within his realm domain, shattering the previous structure.

“Six realm cores…”

Li Hao took a deep breath—he knew six wasn’t the hardest part. The true difficulty lay in fusing the seventh core, a challenge dozens of times greater than before.

Countless Immortal Emperors using reincarnated bodies had failed at this final step.

“Six realm cores can only match the strongest reincarnated bodies of Immortal Emperors…”

Li Hao thought of the black-robed youth, the Emperor reincarnation on the Ascension Path—he hadn’t seen him in this True King competition, but he assumed that after becoming an Immortal King, the youth would unlock more of his past-life power, advancing faster and stronger.

After all, merely awakening ancestral Emperor power in bloodline granted extraordinary combat strength—let alone direct Emperor reincarnation.

“At Immortal King realm, I’m still not invincible…”

Li Hao thought silently.

But he also knew it was too early to consider such things at his current fifth-layer Immortal King cultivation.

If not invincible, he could still lose to Ancient Demons.

“Balance!”

Li Hao activated his will, controlling his realm domain to scatter the six realm cores.

Now that his cultivation had risen and his soul strengthened, and his Control Dao had improved, his control power was hundreds of times greater than before—but the six realm cores pulled fiercely. Still, Li Hao found them easier to manage than before.

Under his division, the six realm cores drifted toward each other, yet his enhanced control gave him far more time to think and test the correct path.

“The most stable way to balance six realm cores is to group them!”

Before embedding the realm cores, Li Hao had already formed a rough idea—that’s why he came to test it.