Bab 136: Chapter 272: Primordial Spirit, the Seventh Extreme Realm
In less than half a day, Li Hao had once again arrived in Youzhou.
This time, understanding the speed of the old man, Xia Yuandu, he didn't rush his journey. After all, besides reaching his destination, the scenery along the way was also important.
Upon reaching the Xia family again, just as he approached the gate of the Divine General's mansion, he saw Xia Linglong standing there to welcome him personally. This time, there were a few more people with her, including three elderly men with profound and restrained auras, who were obviously elders of the Xia family.
Seeing the young man descend from the back of the Candlelight God, the elderly men who had been leading the army outside all fixed their gazes on him.
The incident in Youzhou, where he had slashed the Valley Master of Gluttony Valley with his sword, calming the chaos and disaster, was witnessed by countless people.
In addition, when they had rushed to Qingzhou, they had learned that the Dragon Gate and the Holy Palace, which had been besieging Qingzhou City, had also been annihilated by Li Hao.
The leaders of these two powerful forces were both at the Grand Unity realm, and they had been a thorn in the side of the several Divine General mansions for many years. Now that Li Hao had slain them in one fell swoop, it left a deep impression on these elders.
"General Haotian, please come in."
Xia Linglong gently gazed at the young man before her and invited him with a smile.
Meeting him again, her feelings were once again different from before. Having witnessed Li Hao's slaying of the Gluttony Valley Master with Xia Yuandu, and learning that he had gone to Qingzhou to kill Long Jue Shen and Feng Lingxiao, those two old demon kings, she now knew that this young man, despite being only in his teens, had already reached the pinnacle of the Great Yu Dynasty.
Aside from the True Person of Qian Dao Palace, perhaps only the acknowledged second strongest, the Buddha Lord, could rival him, and even then, the outcome was uncertain.
Many of Xia Linglong's generation, including the next generation and those of Li Hao's age, had also heard the news and come to catch a glimpse of him.
Hearing that the legendary young man was coming, many of the younger generation of the Xia family were extremely excited, filled with both curiosity and reverence.
Born into a military family, they carried the honor of the Xia family, but most of them also had a desire to pursue strength. After all, in the army, it was not words but actual combat skill that mattered.
And most of those born into military families were straightforward and preferred actions over empty words. Real strength and real achievements were what commanded respect.
And Li Hao possessed both.
Whether it was his awe-inspiring Four Establishments cultivation or his feat of slaying the leaders of the demon kings, it left his peers far behind.
"It was said that when he was fourteen, he was already at the Fifteen-Mile realm. Logically, after reaching the Fifteen-Mile realm, his cultivation speed should have slowed down, but instead, it has accelerated."
"So this is General Haotian? He's indeed as young as the legends say."
"I heard that the Gluttony Valley Master was slashed by his sword. Even among those at the Grand Unity realm, he's like a murderous god."
The various descendants of the Xia family gazed from afar and whispered among themselves.
Some of the extremely talented proud sons and daughters had complex expressions in their eyes, not of jealousy, but of feeling an enormous gap and a blow to their confidence.
While they were still competing with their peers, this young man had already stood out among their parents' generation and even the elders, like a bright moon surrounded by stars, exceptional and outstanding.
The gap was just too vast.
When they arrived at the Xia family's guest hall, Li Hao sensed the enthusiastic atmosphere and immediately told Xia Linglong that he wanted to visit the Ling Yuan Pavilion.
Xia Linglong could also tell that Li Hao seemed to dislike the noise. There was a sense of tranquility within this young man, as if he were sitting atop a distant, serene peak, no matter where he was.
Immediately, she asked the various descendants of the Xia family to leave and then led Li Hao to the Ling Yuan Pavilion.
Li Hao asked Xi Yan to wait on the back of the Candlelight God and followed her inside.
He then asked Xia Yuandu to help take care of Ren Qianqian.
Ren Qianqian had been nervous and uneasy during the entire journey, and at the same time, her heart was filled with excitement and surprise. She never expected that Li Hao would receive such a warm reception from the Xia family, who were also a Divine General mansion.
Seeing that Li Hao was about to leave her side, her heart tightened, but she still nodded obediently, putting on a smile to reassure him.
Xia Yuandu noticed the young girl's unease and, to avoid making her too nervous in the face of the majesty of the noble family, took her to his own yard to wait.
On the other hand, Li Hao arrived at the Ling Yuan Pavilion.
Xia Linglong smiled and said, "General Haotian, this is the most important place in my Xia family, the Ling Yuan Pavilion. With a spirit that soars above the clouds, our ancestor built this pavilion with the hope that our Xia family could collect all the martial arts in the world and make them available for future generations to practice, mastering the techniques of countless families and creating a brilliant martial arts era."
Li Hao nodded and said, "To create a martial arts era, we would need to share these techniques with the world."
Xia Linglong was slightly taken aback, and after a moment's pause, she looked deeply into the young man's eyes and said with a smile, "General Haotian speaks the truth. Our Xia family originally intended to invest middle and lower-grade techniques into martial arts gyms across the land, teaching them to the common people. Although this would mean arguing with the literary scholars in the court, it wouldn't be too difficult. The real challenge lies in the rampant demons beyond our borders. With external worries unresolved, internal troubles may arise."
Li Hao was a little surprised, but after a moment's thought, he immediately understood.
The external worries were the demons. If martial arts techniques were widely shared at low prices or even for free, the number of martial artists in the world would increase rapidly. And with more martial artists, it would be easier for chaos to occur, leading to internal troubles.
Some martial artists in the jianghu might have martial skills but lack martial virtues. As long as they were paid, they would do anything, including working for the demons. All they cared about was profit.
If the demons infiltrated and colluded with these jianghu sects, and both internal and external troubles erupted together, promoting martial arts in this way would only accelerate the decline of the Great Yu Dynasty.
But to suppress the demons, more martial artists needed to be cultivated, creating a contradiction.
If the martial artists were managed, it would be equivalent to enrolling them in the army. If the number of enrolled martial artists became too large, providing for their food, lodging, and cultivation resources would be a huge expense. Without wars to fight, the burden on the country would be too great, and they couldn't just disband the army afterward.
If they were disbanded, these martial artists might cause chaos and become bandits, harming the common people.
Therefore, the court had to strike a balance between using martial artists to slay demons and controlling their numbers. Finding this balance required great wisdom and involved countless ingenious methods and strategies that couldn't be fully explained.
"Everything in the world has yin and yang, but balance is hard to determine," Li Hao said.
Governing the world was not his forte, as it required understanding the human heart.
And once one saw through the human heart, life would inevitably become less interesting.
He could endure the loneliness of drinking alone, but he couldn't bear a life devoid of interest.
Hearing Li Hao's words, a hint of thought flashed through Xia Linglong's eyes, and she looked deeply at the young man before her. "General Haotian, please. You can stay inside for as many days as you like, as long as you promise never to reveal what you see."
"I will not betray the trust of the master of the Xia family," Li Hao said.
With that, he stepped into the Ling Yuan Pavilion.
The pavilion was filled with books of secret techniques, and Li Hao glanced around, seeing that the layout was similar to the Listening Rain Pavilion.
He didn't waste any time and quickly flipped through the books, recording each one into the panel.
However, the true bodies of those two mighty demons were both at the Heard Dao Realm!
They had refrained from attacking the Great Yu Dynasty directly, choosing instead to use these external demonic forces to constrain the dynasty. If not for his intervention, they would have continued to hide in the shadows.
If they truly intended to invade and occupy the Great Yu Dynasty, all they needed to do was assassinate the Emperor, slaughter the royal family, and then usurp the throne. Following that, they could easily annihilate the five Divine General mansions with the might of the imperial capital. That would be the optimal strategy.
The fact that they hadn't done so meant they were either too foolish or incapable of carrying out such a plan.
Either the True Person of Qian Dao Palace was too formidable, or there were hidden powers within the Great Yu Dynasty that made them hesitant, and they needed to gather more external forces to force them out.
Now that Li Hao had slain the incarnations of those two mighty demons, they would undoubtedly view him as a thorn in their side. Merely their incarnations were so formidable; Li Hao didn't feel confident that he could defeat their true bodies. If he could further enhance his strength, he would have a better chance.
At this moment, as he recorded the cultivation techniques, Li Hao didn't discriminate and included the body-refining techniques as well. He recorded them all into the panel.
With the Eight-Segment Body Refinement Dao as a foundation, he began to deduce and improve the mediocre and low-grade techniques, elevating them to high-grade and then to supreme levels. He then merged them, creating even more high-grade techniques.
As he recorded each manual, a flood of information poured into Li Hao's mind, but with his current robust physique, he could easily digest it all.
Tens, hundreds, thousands!
Every cultivation technique and secret manual in the Lingyan Pavilion was recorded into the panel as Li Hao wandered through the pavilion.
To his surprise, he found that most of these techniques were geared towards spirit refinement and object manipulation, with relatively fewer body-refinement techniques and even fewer sword techniques, fist techniques, and blade techniques.
Li Hao had heard before that each of the five Divine General mansions had their specialties. The Li family was known for their diverse techniques, the Xia family excelled in spirit refinement, and the Wang family was known for their bizarre techniques, specializing in incarnations and puppetry.
During the Shen You and Shi Wu Li realms, cultivators from the Xia family were generally stronger than those from the other Divine General mansions.
Their supreme spirit refinement technique was almost on par with the royal family's techniques.
The same was true for their object manipulation techniques.
This discovery delighted Li Hao, and he felt that he had come to the right place.
As he recorded each spirit refinement technique, Li Hao's Seven-Segment Dao of Control swiftly digested them, and the divine soul force within him began to rise slowly at first and then faster and faster.
Li Hao immediately enveloped himself with the Domain, concealing his aura, and sat down to cultivate in the pavilion.
His divine soul manifested behind him like a golden war god, its body ablaze with flames as it refined his soul.
The top-notch supreme spirit refinement techniques of the great families could refine the soul up to twenty li.
The royal family's top-notch technique could refine the soul up to thirty li.
Li Hao originally possessed three top-notch spirit refinement techniques from the Li family, and with Wind Elder's help, he had also obtained the royal family's first spirit refinement technique, allowing him to refine his soul to the level where he could project it up to fifty li away.
Now that he had reached the Four Establishments realm, his divine soul naturally strengthened, and he could easily project it for a hundred li.
However, this distance was achieved with the aid of his Dao Intent and the enhancement his soul received from his advancement in realm. Without these factors, his limit in the Shen You realm was still fifty li.
Li Hao guessed that to reach the pinnacle of the Shen You realm, he would need to be able to project his soul for at least a hundred li.
At this moment, as he deduced and improved the spirit refinement techniques, Li Hao cultivated on the spot, forming seals with his divine soul and enveloping himself in divine fire.
All of this was isolated by the Domain, not even a hint of temperature leaking out.
As he cultivated, Li Hao's divine soul underwent continuous changes, absorbing the moon's essence drifting in the heavens to refine and perfect his soul.
Spirit refinement techniques were similar to how demons cultivated by absorbing the essence of the sun and moon. However, most demons, aside from those with exceptional innate talent, could only absorb the moon's essence due to its gentle nature. The sun's essence was too intense, and absorbing it directly could burn the divine soul.
However, at this moment, as Li Hao's divine soul strengthened, he could simultaneously absorb the essence of the sun and the moon, his divine soul burning with scorching divine yang fire and exuding a terrifying aura.
With just a collision of divine souls, Li Hao could easily incinerate another person's soul.
As his divine soul continued to refine and strengthen, the connection between his soul and his physical body became even tighter. During this rapid enhancement, Li Hao had a hunch that perhaps, by pushing the Shen You realm to its extreme, his soul alone could achieve immortality, even if his physical body perished!
Normally, when the physical body was destroyed, the divine soul was relatively fragile and needed to find a vessel quickly. Otherwise, prolonged exposure to the heavenly sun would incinerate the soul.
However, at this moment, Li Hao's divine soul, having absorbed the sun's essence in its cultivation, was no longer afraid of the scorching sun.
Time passed.
As Li Hao fused one spirit refinement technique after another, his divine soul rapidly strengthened. Suddenly, he felt himself entering a profound state, his divine soul seemingly shedding its old self and being reborn.
The golden flames that had enveloped his divine soul behind him now surged into his body, and his soul took on a solid golden appearance.
"This is..."
Li Hao's eyes snapped open, and with a thought, his divine soul burst forth from the Domain and shot out of the pavilion's dome, standing tall in the sky.
Illuminated by the sun and the moon, his divine soul, which had previously been somewhat illusory, now resembled a golden true body.
Suddenly, his divine soul vanished, slipping into an ethereal space, seemingly a layer between dimensions.
Soon, his divine soul reappeared.
Li Hao tried this repeatedly and suddenly realized that he had reached the pinnacle of the Shen You realm. Aside from the enhancement of his divine soul's power, even if his physical body perished, his soul could exist for an extended period.
Furthermore, his divine soul could now traverse through spatial fissures, a place that even the Dao Heart realm cultivators couldn't reach unless a Taiping Dao realm expert used their Domain to squeeze it out.
To think that this was a capability achieved merely at the Shen You realm; it was simply terrifying.
"Illuminated by the sun and the moon, one can wander the vast void and traverse the fissures of nothingness..."
Li Hao's eyes shone with realization as he named this pinnacle of the Shen You realm as the "Primordial Spirit."
At this moment, his divine soul had indeed transformed and was somewhat different from ordinary souls. Li Hao felt that perhaps only in a battle of evenly matched opponents would he truly experience the full benefits of reaching the pinnacle of the Shen You realm.
However, for now, the mere fact that his divine soul could traverse the vast void and that only the Domain could force it out was already an incredibly exaggerated capability.
If he had mastered this ability earlier, just the ability to assassinate with his soul would have made it difficult for anyone below the Taiping Dao realm to deal with him.
And to think that this was something achievable at the Shen You realm.
Li Hao retracted his divine soul and continued his cultivation.
That would be the true limit.
But to reach it might be ten times more difficult than attaining the extreme realm.
The extreme realm itself is extremely challenging, and not many of the proud and talented members of the ancient saint tribes could attain it, let alone the final realm.
Time flew by.
After a long while, Li Hao finally halted his divine soul cultivation, as the enhancement from the various techniques had reached its peak.
Li Hao released his divine soul and exited the Ling Yuan Pavilion, appearing outside the city in the blink of an eye. He then traversed mountains and rivers, flying under the sun and the moon. The scorching sun, which used to be able to burn his divine soul, now bathed him in warmth.
The essence of the sun was more refined and powerful than that of the moon, and his divine soul absorbed it, nourishing itself constantly.
"I've heard that only those with extraordinary ancient Demon King bloodlines are naturally able to absorb the sun's essence, while other races, including most of the dragon clan, can only absorb the moon's essence for cultivation," Li Hao thought to himself.
Li Hao knew that the speed of his divine soul was much faster than that of his physical body, which meant that he could easily kill most enemies with his soul without moving his body.
After wandering for four to five hundred li, Li Hao began to feel a chill, and the connection between his soul and physical body weakened. This feeling was peculiar, as if the world around him was also changing, with illusory seawater appearing to wash over his body.
As he continued forward, it was as if he were walking deeper into the illusory sea, and getting lost would be extremely dangerous.
"Relying solely on the divine soul, one cannot completely break free from the physical body," Li Hao thought.
His divine soul began to return.
He quickly flew back the hundreds of li and, upon reaching his physical body, Li Hao stretched his body slightly before continuing his cultivation.
This time, he focused on Object Manipulation Laws.
The Fifteen-Mile realm gets its name from the ability of the divine soul to manipulate objects within a range of fifteen li in an instant.
This is the limit for most people without a special background.
And fifteen li is the speed at which one can exert their full power, not their normal state. Similar to how someone at the Fifteen-Mile realm can rush for fifteen li, they can burst out and manipulate objects within a fifteen-li radius for a short time, but they might be exhausted after doing so two or three times.
The royal family's Object Manipulation Law can be cultivated to a range of twenty-five li.
Other top-notch techniques can reach twenty li.
There is a qualitative change in battle when the difference is five li. By the time the opponent makes a move, they might have already been killed.
This is also the reason why the strong members of the royal bloodline can dominate all directions. At the Fifteen-Mile realm, their Object Manipulation speed of twenty-five li is almost enough to easily kill any opponent of the same realm.
Li Hao had previously cultivated this technique to forty li, and after absorbing numerous techniques in the Tianji Tower, he had reached eighty li.
Now that his realm had improved, his divine soul had strengthened, and his Object Manipulation speed had increased further.
As he merged the various Object Manipulation techniques, Li Hao's divine soul flew out once more. He picked up a speck of dust from the ground outside the Ling Yuan Pavilion and controlled it from a distance of a hundred li.
As his Object Manipulation speed continued to increase and his understanding of Object Manipulation deepened, Li Hao gradually touched upon the profound meaning of Object Manipulation.
No matter how fast one manipulates objects, it is still inferior to traversing the void.
And when one's speed reaches the extreme, it seems possible to tear through the cosmos and traverse space.
...
...
Two days later, Li Hao walked out of the Ling Yuan Pavilion.
Xia Linglong didn't know how long Li Hao would stay, so after sending him to the pavilion, she didn't wait outside. After all, as the head of the Xia family, she had many matters to attend to.
Especially now that Youzhou had just gone through a crisis, with the Gluttony Valley Master being slain and the remaining demons either slaughtered or driven away, the cities destroyed by the demons needed to be rebuilt, and the injured and grieving common folk needed to be comforted and helped.
While Xia Linglong was busy, she received news that Li Hao was leaving the pavilion, which surprised her.
"He's leaving after just two days?"
Xia Linglong was puzzled but then realized that Li Hao might have memorized all the top-notch techniques and didn't need to cultivate them further.
She immediately put down what she was doing and went to see him off.
Li Hao greeted the family head and expressed his gratitude before preparing to leave.
"General Haotian, my Xia family has two Demon Kings, although they are not as powerful as the ruler of the cosmos, but they can help guard your mansion," Xia Linglong invited.
Li Hao smiled and said, "There's no need for such hospitality, Xia family head. Being able to visit the Ling Yuan Pavilion is already a great favor, and those Demon Kings would be better used by your family to fight enemies."
Xia Linglong looked at Li Hao and saw that he wasn't pretending to decline, so she couldn't help but admire him. After all, these were Demon Kings, and even though Li Hao had no use for them, it didn't mean they were useless.
When the Xia family learned that Li Hao was leaving, they saw him off once more.
Li Hao bid farewell to the Xia family with Ren Qianqian, the Candlelight God, and Xiyuan, who had crawled back onto his wrist, and left Youzhou.
Before leaving, Li Hao left two chess pieces with the Xia family, saying that they could be used as his battle flags.
Li Hao had infused these two chess pieces with power marks, sealing them with sword intent and domain rules. They could easily kill even those at the Supreme Mastery realm, and would heavily injure those at the Taiping Dao realm.
When Xia Linglong learned about the power of these two chess pieces from Li Hao, she was stunned and deeply grateful for his generosity.
Although the Xia family was a Divine General mansion, brilliant and powerful, the recent crisis in Youzhou, coupled with the appearance of the Holy Emperor's clone outside Qingzhou City, had made them anticipate great challenges for the Great Yu Dynasty in the future.
Receiving such a powerful treasure was an enormous favor.
Compared to Xia Linglong's endless gratitude, Li Hao considered it merely a repayment for his visit to the Ling Yuan Pavilion.
After all, he had gained a lot this time, breaking through to the limits of the Shen You and Fifteen-Mile realms and attaining the extreme state! In addition, the other techniques had improved his swordsmanship, fist techniques, and body refinement, further enhancing his strength.
Aside from the Four Establishments realm, he had now reached the limit in all the previous seven realms of martial arts.
...
Half a day later, Li Hao returned to Tianmen Pass and immediately sensed an extremely sinister aura within the city as soon as he arrived.
This aura was not concealed in the slightest, neither arrogant nor restrained, but naturally emitted, causing Li Hao's eyes to narrow slightly in surprise.
Some soldiers in the city saw Li Hao's return and hurried to report to him.
Li Hao indicated that he already knew and returned to the bamboo fence courtyard with the Candlelight God.
There, they saw a disheveled figure sitting where Li Hao used to drink tea, drinking alone.
His clothes were tattered, and there were two severed iron chains with shackles on his wrists.
Status Power Mingguan
-- Peringkat
Power 
-- Power
stone