Li Hao had previously ventured into the Death River of Feng Mountain in the Tan Palace, but his body remained unchanged, and the river was merely an illusion created by the deceased villagers. All he had to do was to perform rites for their souls and the river would be destroyed.
Now, he had regressed to infancy?
No wonder he had felt his strength fading away, as if something was depriving him of his power.
Was this the peculiarity of a Yu Du-grade Death River?
Li Hao was alarmed. As he tried to think things through, he felt drowsy and soon fell into a deep sleep.
...
When Li Hao woke up again, he found himself lying on a strange bed, his hands and feet soft and tender, and a soft blanket covering his body.
He was wearing only a diaper and seemed to be a few months old, rather than a newborn.
It hadn't been a dream after all... Li Hao finally confirmed that he was still in the Death River, but he was perplexed by his physical state. He felt like he should be able to get up.
Soon, Li Hao put his thoughts into action and, to his surprise, he was able to turn over and crawl on the bed.
This was definitely not something a newborn baby could do!
"I must be a few months old now..." Li Hao muttered, but the words that came out of his mouth were unintelligible babbles.
His vocal cords hadn't fully developed yet.
However, there was no doubt that something was amiss with the flow of time in this place.
He had only taken a nap, and while he enjoyed sleeping in, it shouldn't have caused him to sleep through months!
Li Hao stopped crawling and, with his tiny hand on his chin, sat on the bed deep in thought.
Suddenly, a golden word appeared before his eyes:
[Growth] Task Progress: 2.3%.
Li Hao was astonished. Had he already progressed to 2.3%? According to the task's requirements, he needed to live to the age of eighteen. Did that mean he was currently five months old? Time had flown by so quickly... Li Hao felt that if he kept sleeping like this, he would reach eighteen years old in no time.
By then, the main quest would probably begin.
Guarding Dragon City, this was the Death River of Dragon City... Li Hao's eyes flickered as he felt that he should make full preparations before turning eighteen.
This was a Yu Du-grade Death River, and it was definitely not going to be easy. Even for someone at the Tai Ping Dao Realm, there was only a "possibility" of passing through, indicating its extreme danger.
The door creaked open, interrupting Li Hao's thoughts.
A tall and slender young man dressed in fine clothing entered the room. With his sword-like eyebrows and starry eyes, he had an exceptionally handsome appearance.
When he saw Li Hao, who was about to lie down after sitting up, his originally solemn expression softened in relief. He whispered, "Little Mouse?"
Li Hao was about to pretend to rest when he heard the nickname and froze. Only the Fourth Young Master would call him that.
He looked up at the young man with a mix of surprise and suspicion, and immediately noticed a resemblance to the elderly Li Xiaoran he had met before.
"Y-you (Fourth Young Master)
?" Li Hao stammered.
"You still can't speak clearly, can you? If you're Little Mouse, just raise your hand." The young man, who bore Li Xiaoran's appearance, whispered.
Li Hao immediately raised his hand.
Seeing this, Li Xiaoran was almost certain of Li Hao's identity. He chuckled softly and said, "I was worried you would appear somewhere else, but it turns out you're right here in the God General's Mansion. It saved me the trouble of searching. I was wondering why my brother suddenly had a tenth son, and I guessed it might be you. Looks like I was right."
"It must be the Li family bloodline within you that caused my brother's obsession to bring you into his lineage."
Seeing Li Hao's helpless expression, Li Xiaoran smiled faintly and then turned serious. "I don't know if you've been in a Death River before, but it doesn't matter. This Yu Du-grade Death River is vastly different from what you've experienced. There are special rules here!"
"One of those rules is the deprivation of our original bodies and strengths."
"The flow of time here is also subject to a special rule. Do not easily lose consciousness. When you sleep or fall unconscious, time will accelerate, but your body will only develop according to my brother's perception and understanding of you, and there will be no other changes!"
"For example, if you were to behave in a mediocre manner in my brother's eyes and continue to sleep like this, you would wake up several years older, and your cultivation level would only reach the stage that my brother expects of you. Most likely, you would only attain the Heaven Man Realm!"
"In the upcoming battle for Dragon City, those at the Heaven Man Realm are as good as cannon fodder, almost certainly doomed to perish!"
Knowing that Li Hao couldn't speak, Li Xiaoran's expression grew more solemn as he continued, "If you die in this body, you will truly perish. Your original physical body will disappear, becoming nourishment for the Death River. Even your soul and consciousness will be imprisoned by this Death River, unable to reincarnate!"
Li Hao's heart sank. If he died in his current infantile state, would he truly die?
No wonder the Yu Du-grade Death River was so treacherous. Such a drastic drop in cultivation level would be unbearable for any powerful cultivator.
"Even those at the Reverse Fate Realm would be unable to survive here unless they cultivated to that realm within this Death River. But the time given to you is limited. Based on my current age, you have about eighteen years."
"By the time you turn eighteen, the attack on Dragon City will commence!"
Li Xiaoran took a deep breath and whispered, "You must grow and strive to cultivate to your original realm, or even higher, before that time comes."
Recalling the power Li Hao had displayed when breaking free from the Candlelight Divine Domain, Li Xiaoran felt slightly reassured, but his expression remained unchanged as he continued, "This Dragon City used to be one of the most prosperous cities in Yanbei. My Li family has guarded it for a thousand years. Several hundred years ago, an ancestor of ours slew a dragon king of the Dragon Clan in his rage, dismembered his body, and hung his dragon head on one of the walls of the city, hence the name Dragon City!"
"However, this act enraged the Dragon Clan, and the Dragon Gate plotted their revenge, gathering their strength. Several decades ago, when my brother was guarding this city, the Dragon Gate seized the opportunity and breached the city gates."
"That battle was earth-shattering, resulting in countless casualties. Even the reinforcements sent by the royal family suffered heavy losses, with half of their troops perishing!"
Li Xiaoran's eyes deepened with gravity as he said, "Therefore, the situation you will face when you turn eighteen is extremely perilous. But fortunately, this time, we can watch each other's backs. If we truly cannot resolve the situation, I have other means to ensure our survival!"
"However, it would be even better if we could take care of it along the way.
Li Hao was taken aback. He was about to say that cultivation wasn't difficult, especially for someone like Li Xiaoran, who was like a powerful reincarnator. With his prior mastery of techniques, he could quickly soar to great heights. Thus, passing through this Death River didn't seem like it would be too challenging.
But upon hearing Li Xiaoran's words, Li Hao immediately tried to recall his insights into the Sword Dao and the Chess Dao.
However, the moment his thoughts turned in that direction, he felt as if he were blocked by an invisible barrier, and he couldn't truly remember.
This feeling was too bizarre! He clearly knew how to wield a sword, but when he tried to recall, he forgot how to hold it!
And no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't remember how to exert force!
It was like a college graduate knowing they had studied hard and aced their exams, only to realize that they couldn't remember what was written on any page of their textbooks! They couldn't even recall the exam questions!
Wasn't this akin to starting university all over again?!
Li Hao was shocked.
Did this mean he had to cultivate from scratch again? Seeing the astonished look on Li Hao's face, Li Xiaoran immediately understood that Li Hao had tried and failed. He smiled faintly and said, "Don't panic. In the initial stages, you'll have to rely on yourself to cultivate again, but as your cultivation realm improves, the hindrance from this special rule will lessen, and you'll gradually be able to regain some of your original insights."
"In other words, the faster you cultivate on your own, the more your sealed cultivation memories will be revealed, and your cultivation speed will increase again later on!"
"Otherwise, if you truly had to start cultivating from scratch, even without taking into account the time acceleration during sleep, reaching the Heaven Man Realm in just a few short years would be the limit, and this Death River would become an impossible hurdle."
Li Hao breathed a sigh of relief upon hearing this. A thought occurred to him, and he wondered if he could continue absorbing experience through the panel here.
With that in mind, he called out the panel.
To his delight, the panel appeared before his eyes, the font shimmering.
But his joy was short-lived as he realized the panel was as blank as his face, just like when he had first transmigrated.
"Could it be that my original panel is still in my previous body, and now I'm stuck with this new body?" Li Hao pondered.
The Death River and the panel were both bizarre and inexplicable, and trying to figure out their interplay was futile.
However, the fact that the panel was still there eased his mind a little.
Without the panel, he wouldn't necessarily become useless, but his cultivation speed might not be as fast.
After all, he had reached the Heaven Man Extremis on his own, which showed that his understanding of martial arts was quite remarkable.
"Also, never wander out of the God General's Mansion at night. There are often demon attacks outside." Li Xiaoran cautioned, "This place is within the Dragon City, and most of the phenomena in this Yu Du-grade Death River are manifestations of your eldest brother's obsessions. So, you might encounter some unimaginable situations, but don't be too startled."
"It's not safe inside the Dragon City. I'll come to check on you often. You can sleep a few more times to quickly advance to the stage of foundation building and body refining before starting your cultivation journey."
"Don't worry. While you're sleeping and time is accelerating for you, time will pass normally for me. I'll come by day after day, but for you, it will feel like only a few months have passed."
Li Hao nodded. This Fourth Young Master was indeed considerate and meticulous in explaining many things.
After a few more instructions, Li Xiaoran left the room, leaving Li Hao to his thoughts.
After some contemplation, Li Hao decided to look for the chessboard, writing tools, and other items. Accumulating experience through painting and poetry would be a good start in this Death River, which seemed less safe than the real courtyard in the outside world.
However, to compose poetry, he would first need to be able to speak.
Soon, Li Hao realized that he didn't even know how to walk at the moment.
With a bitter laugh, Li Hao lay down, intending to sleep until he could walk.
...
When Li Hao opened his eyes again after a deep sleep, he felt his body rejuvenated and energized.
As he woke up, he heard the clattering of impacts, and warm sunshine bathed the courtyard before him. It was the same courtyard where the elderly lady lived—the Qinglian Court.
It was also in that courtyard that he had severed ties with his nominal father.
Li Hao's eyes flickered slightly as his thoughts were involuntarily drawn back to that incident, but he quickly reined them in.
Compared to the real-world Qinglian Court, the walls here seemed newer, and the clattering of wooden weapons echoed through the courtyard.
Li Hao saw four boys sparring with wooden weapons. Their ages ranged from three to seven years old.
And he himself was cradled in the arms of a noble lady—none other than the elderly lady, Chen Hefang.
"Juro, watch your brothers' training carefully. In the future, you must also become strong like them to protect our family and country," Chen Hefang said gently with a soft smile, her eyes filled with a mother's tenderness.
Li Hao was slightly taken aback, his mind flashing back to the elderly lady outside the Death River.
Six of the Li family's nine sons had perished, and she had taken to a vegetarian diet and chanting prayers, her hair turning silver-white with grief. All she wished for now was the safety and peace of her remaining children.
Li Hao fell silent for a moment, observing the four boys in the courtyard. The youngest among them was around three years old, but his stance and gait were remarkably steady. He played with a wooden staff, his eyes lively and mischievous.
Meanwhile, the three older children were engaged in a fierce sparring match.
"Cheater!" exclaimed the older child as his wooden sword was knocked away, his hand stinging from the impact.