Chapter 388: The Strong Pass is a Mountain of Iron

Hao Yi often thinks back to that afternoon more than thirty years ago.

He was keeping an appointment with a close friend to go to a restaurant for drinks.

At that time, that friend was not yet called Master Master Yunshen, had not yet become a monk, and could still drink and eat meat with him.

While passing by a courtyard, he heard cries for help coming from inside.

It was the voice of a little girl.

Without much hesitation, he pushed open the door, walked into the courtyard, and discovered the children who had been trafficked inside.

That was the handiwork of the Shen family, one of the five great clans of Datong Prefecture at the time.

And so, the river of fate changed its course at that very moment.

From then on, Datong Prefecture gained a powerhouse who dared to expose all kinds of evil deeds and feared no struggle against any powerful figures!

Many years later, Shangguan Xiao asked Hao Yi a question:

If he hadn't walked into that courtyard that afternoon, would the subsequent trajectory have been completely different?

Hao Yi smiled; this was actually a question that didn't need an answer.

Because the evil of this world was right there, and he would have encountered it one day.

He couldn't escape it.

The fire in his heart, sooner or later, would always be ignited!

His Master told him: You are the entire future of a sect.

And so, for the first dozen years of his life, he fought for those words of his Master.

That rescue on that afternoon allowed him to see a different side of this world.

In the dark, it was as if a voice was telling him: You should do something.

And so, for the latter decades of his life, he traveled everywhere for the sake of the suffering common people, fighting again and again against those "beasts" in the darkness.

He spent his whole life fighting for others!

Fortunately, he was also always able to achieve victory.

He fulfilled his Master's dying wish.

But this world, he could not change.

After more than thirty years of hard struggle, he wanted to fight it out from the beginning once more.

But the moment the news about Shangguan Xiao was sent back, he suddenly felt that some things no longer seemed so important.

At this very moment, above Glory Square, Hao Yi once again thought of that afternoon many years ago.

He thought of the wind that day, the clouds that day, and the sunlight that day.

The battles he should have fought, he had already fought; the Dao he believed in, he had already upheld.

The path ahead, he would walk for himself!

"You suffered intense interference while breaking through your realm, leading to a failed breakthrough and damage to your Dao foundation; all the implants in your body were severely damaged. It was Master Shi Caiming who came forward to protect you, and then asked Master Master Zhihai of Baoyun Temple to use the Five-Phase Reversal Method to drive the implants in your body to grow in reverse, stopping them from continuing to collapse, which is what saved your life."

"Brother Yi, we lost."

This was what his only surviving friend said to him after Hao Yi woke up from a coma due to his severe injuries back then.

"Master Shi Caiming reached an agreement with those people: you must leave Datong Prefecture alive, and from then on, you cannot step foot into the prefecture again. If you break the agreement, whether you live or die, Master Shi Caiming can no longer intervene. Senior Brother, no matter where you go from here, to the ends of the earth, I will accompany you!"

This was what Shangguan Xiao said to Hao Yi afterward.

"Master, since the Five-Phase Reversal Method can drive the implants to grow in reverse, can it allow the severely damaged implants to regain new life?"

This was the question Hao Yi asked Master Master Zhihai of Baoyun Temple.

His situation was different from that ancestor of the Chen family.

That ancestor of the Chen family had only incorporated one type of implant, and it was still possible to remove this implant without losing his life, then start cultivating from the beginning.

But Hao Yi had already incorporated five types of implants, and he was only half a step away from building his Dao foundation; the implants had already fused deeply with his body, and removing any one of them would cost him his life!

So Hao Yi asked Master Master Zhihai if it was possible for the severely damaged implants in his body to recover.

This was the only path that could possibly allow him to recover.

"Amitabha, this technique was originally used to correct mistakes. In the process of martial arts cultivation, if the growth of the implants shows slight deviations, this technique can be used to correct them. But the extent it can correct is very limited. Donor, your injuries are too severe. To let the injuries heal completely, one must reverse all the implants to their initial state; even the person who created this technique cannot do that.

And even if you could truly create a miracle and start over, you should know very well that everyone only has one chance in their life to build a martial arts foundation; the damage to the root power of the implants cannot be repaired even by the Five-Phase Reversal Method."

Master Master Zhihai said to Hao Yi.

"Could the Master pass this technique to me? This junior wishes to try."

"Alas, foolish child..."

Later, Hao Yi still learned this unique skill of Baoyun Temple—the Five-Phase Reversal Method.

Afterward, he told this decision to his only surviving friend:

"... The Dao foundation I built was the 【Core of Steel】. After mastering it, I will possess the 'Refining Matter' divine ability, which can refine all things. I briefly possessed this divine ability when I was breaking through my realm, but it hadn't stabilized yet. Later, when the incident happened, I thought that since I was going to fall in realm anyway, I would take advantage of the time before I had completely fallen to refine an object with the Refining Matter divine ability..."

"Perhaps one day I can still use this object, or perhaps I will never be able to use it in this life. You keep it for me."

"Alright."

His friend promised him.

Later, in order to stay in Datong Prefecture more discreetly, and also to better help Hao Yi keep this object, his friend chose to enter the void, becoming a monk.

And so, many years later, Baoyun Temple gained a Master Master Yunshen.

At this time, above Glory Square.

Hao Yi reached out and beckoned, and that object buried for more than thirty years broke through the soil from that peach blossom forest of Baoyun Temple.

A brilliant stream of light turned into a long rainbow in the sky, and after streaking across half the city, it entered Glory Square and fell into Hao Yi's hand.

This was a blade!

"Heaven and earth as a furnace, creation as the craftsman. Melt steel into liquid, refine steel into a core," this is the description of the 【Core of Steel】 Dao foundation.

The Refining Matter divine ability can refine all things; it is truly all things in the literal sense.

As long as one can pay the equivalent price.

More than thirty years ago, at the moment before falling in realm, Hao Yi consumed forty years of his lifespan to refine the power from his breakthrough into his own personal blade!

This power could be preserved in the blade for forty years.

Everyone only has one chance in their life to build a martial arts foundation; once missed, it will never come again.

But Hao Yi used the Refining Matter divine ability to preserve this chance for himself for another forty years!

Forty years, this was the deadline Hao Yi set for himself.

The average lifespan of ordinary humans in this world is about 70 years; every time a martial artist incorporates an implant and trains it to the Qi Transformation stage, it increases their lifespan by about 10 years.

Hao Yi broke through to the Dao Foundation stage at twenty, was already at the peak of the Dao Foundation stage at twenty-two, and was only twenty-five when he built his martial arts foundation and broke through to the realm of a Martial Arts Master.

So theoretically, he could still live for about 95 years.

Because of his severe injuries, deducting more than ten years of lifespan, he could still live for at least 80 years.

So he chose to split this lifespan in half, using the Refining Matter divine ability to consume 40 years of his lifespan to leave a turning point for his future breakthrough.

And then use the remaining 40 years of his lifespan to create a miracle!

Hao Yi did not tell Shangguan Xiao about this; he couldn't tell the other party that he might only have 40 years left to live, and that he still intended to use those 40 years for one last fight.

When making this decision, he didn't leave any time at all for himself and Shangguan Xiao...

Now, thirty-seven years have passed.

Hao Yi has returned to the place he reached all those years ago.

With his powerful willpower and transcendent talent, after countless attempts, he successfully used the Five-Phase Reversal Method to restore all the implants in his body to their initial state.

Then, starting from the Embryo Nourishing stage, he returned to the peak of the Dao Foundation step by step!

No one can imagine the hardship involved in this.

The strong pass is a mountain of iron, yet today we step over it from the beginning.

For a person who might only have forty years of life left to spend thirty-seven years starting over, what kind of powerful willpower does that require?

After arriving in Datong Prefecture, Hao Yi had been preparing for the final breakthrough.

He actually didn't have absolute certainty either.

Let alone ten percent, he actually didn't even have one percent of certainty!

Because this kind of thing had never been done by anyone throughout history.

If it weren't for the fact that Zhang Chen Zongyang's case was suddenly closed and Shangguan Xiao was to be executed by slow slicing today, Hao Yi would actually have needed to prepare for a while longer.

But today, he had no choice but to act in advance.

In the air, that blade fell into Hao Yi's hand, and the power refined into the blade more than thirty years ago also returned to his hand.

This time, because the power and insights after the breakthrough had already been prepared in advance, success or failure was only in an instant, depending solely on Hao Yi himself.

He no longer had to worry about outside interference.

If he succeeded, he could immediately take action to save people.

If he failed, he could at least die together with Shangguan Xiao.

This was the reason he chose to break through his realm at Glory Square.

After appearing, he had been trying hard to adjust his state.

Li Fei's appearance bought him more time and also gave him a chance to fully "warm up."

Otherwise, when Wen Ke and the others attacked Hao Yi earlier, Hao Yi definitely wouldn't have been able to hold on and would have had to choose to break through immediately.

Actually, Hao Yi could have waited a bit longer, waiting for Xu Jing to take action to deal with Li Fei, and then Xu Jing would continue to let the people below attack Hao Yi.

In this way, Hao Yi could have bought himself even more preparation time.

But even if he chose to go against his former "Dao," some things would never change.

Seeing that Xu Jing intended to turn and kill Li Fei, Hao Yi decisively chose to break through his realm.

Even though he still did not know the true identity of this "Blood-Faced Ghost."

Xu Jing was the first person on the scene to perceive the power contained within that blade; it was the power of a divine ability!

But he did not have time to act and intercept that blade.

This was not only because the blade came fast enough, but also because the blade was at a sufficient altitude, exceeding the effective range of his divine ability.

This was the reason Hao Yi chose to ascend into the sky.

Just as Li Fei had speculated, he was a pragmatic person who would not do anything specifically for the sake of showing off.

Above Glory Plaza, the "sun" that Hao Yi had transformed into suddenly retracted all its light.

Xu Jing looked up at the sky.

Li Fei also paused for a moment and looked up at the sky.

Everyone present looked up at the sky.

The next second, the "sun" burst forth with light once again.

This time, the light was ten times, a hundred times more intense than before!

This time, it was true sunlight pouring over the city!

Requesting monthly votes.

PS: There is some content I did not explain too much in the main text, such as why Hao Yi suddenly chose to go against the "Dao" he had upheld for so many years.

Before this, he had even had serious disagreements with the protagonist, emphasizing the importance of the law.

After reading this chapter, I think everyone might better understand his "giving up."

After all, for someone who might only have three years of life left, he had actually "upheld all the Dao that should have been upheld."

(End of this chapter)