In the tumultuous blood lake that seemed to turn the world upside down, Li Hao's clothes had already dissolved, leaving him naked.
The Qiankun Jade Belt slipped from his body, and he grabbed it, wrapping it around his arm and holding it high.
However, the material of the Qiankun Jade Belt was clearly inferior to Li Hao's body. Just being splashed by the blood of the demon saint was enough to cause it to show signs of corrosion and damage.
A corner of the space within the belt was exposed, like a gap, with blood rippling into it.
"Where...where are we?"
The Chi Xue Teng Yao Wang extended a blood-colored tentacle from within the belt, cautiously probing the outside situation, only to be splashed by the surging blood. It let out a painful cry.
"Ouch!"
"My powers seem to be restrained. I can't fly."
Chi Xue Teng Yao Wang tried to fly out of the spatial compartment but was alarmed to discover that it couldn't mobilize its internal energy.
It saw Li Hao, his arm raised high above the lake's surface, his body already torn and tattered, revealing bloody muscles and bones. It paused, as if understanding something.
"Are...are we going to die?"
It asked in a trembling voice, its tone gentle.
Hearing its words, Li Hao was surprised to find that he was accompanied by a demon in his final moments.
A bitter feeling rose in his heart, and he looked around, but all he could see was endless darkness, with no sign of the cavern walls.
Falling chunks of flesh and blood splashed into the lake, causing violent ripples that pushed his body back and forth on the lake's surface. He had no idea how far he was from the walls.
"I'll try to see if I can find the wall."
With that, Li Hao began to swim vigorously, kicking his legs and swinging his lone arm in one direction.
However, large pieces of limbs kept falling along the way, and the splashing waves pushed him back.
The demon saint's body, which had somehow remained intact, now rapidly disintegrated into ancient, rotten chunks of meat, collapsing and sinking into the putrid, bloody lake.
"Be careful."
Chi Xue Teng Yao Wang hurriedly warned.
Li Hao saw a falling limb about to hit him and quickly swam to the side as fast as he could. But he was still grazed by it, dragging his body into the depths of the blood lake.
A sense of suffocation overwhelmed him, and Li Hao quickly grabbed the Qiankun Jade Belt, struggling to swim back to the surface.
By the time he resurfaced, most of the flesh on his body had been shaken off and corroded, leaving only a few strands of meat hanging from his white bones, a horrifying sight.
Li Hao raised his skeletal arm, looking at the Qiankun Jade Belt gripped by the five bones of his hand. The gaps between his fingers were huge, unable to block the blood at all. The belt was completely soaked and severely corroded.
"I never thought I'd bring you to such a place of death."
At this moment of life and death, Li Hao actually felt himself calming down. He looked up at the distant sky, where the massive Prisoner Island seemed minuscule, occupying only a minuscule area in his vision.
His gaze drifted to the vast sky of the secret realm, empty of clouds or mist, and he murmured:
"There are also wonderful things in the outside world. It's a pity that I won't have the chance to show them to you."
"Ouch... it hurts."
Chi Xue Teng Yao Wang's tentacle crawled out of the space within the belt again. Although it was complaining about the pain, it started to wrap around Li Hao's arm.
"Eat me. We're going to die anyway. If you eat me, you can hold on a little longer."
Li Hao was stunned. "You want me to eat you?"
"Don't you want to? Were you just trying to pressure me earlier, hoping I'd self-destruct?"
Chi Xue Teng Yao Wang's tentacles wrapped around Li Hao's skull and cheeks, like gentle hands caressing his skeletal face.
"Now that it's come to this, we're both going to die. If my fate is to be eaten, then I'd rather it be by you..."
"Why?" Li Hao asked.
Chi Xue Teng Yao Wang didn't answer. Instead, its tentacles blossomed with bloody light, and it actively poured its blood into Li Hao's skull-like mouth.
"Because we shook on it before..."
"I won't leave you. So, as long as I die before you, it's you who left me, and I won't be breaking our agreement..."
Its voice grew weaker as it spoke. Its body emerged from the space within the belt, turning into a blood-colored beam that coiled around Li Hao's head and entered his body.
It wasn't Li Hao eating it; instead, it was actively sacrificing itself, offering its blood and energy to Li Hao.
When it had seen the young man holding the Qiankun Jade Belt high, even as his body was corroded and tattered, it knew it had chosen the right person.
Li Hao froze, floating in the blood lake.
He had promised it before that he would take it out of the Great Wilderness, taking a bite every day as interest.
Back then, it had guarded its body jealously, treating it as a treasure.
Now, before the young man could fulfill his promise, it had already given itself to him.
It was just a demon that Li Hao had never truly cared about.
Li Hao thought of the tentacle that had quietly wrapped around his little finger, and his eyes turned red.
His head was covered by the bloody light, and a vast amount of bloody energy flowed into his body, nourishing his skeleton.
His flesh, once refined to the point of being comparable to a nine-forged divine weapon, now seemed to loosen some sort of bottleneck under the nourishment of this vast bloody energy.
At this moment, the speed at which the blood lake eroded his bones also slowed down. Moreover, Li Hao could sense a profound power emanating from the blood.
He paused, then quickly activated the True Demon Spirit Devouring Technique, absorbing the profound bloody power from the lake.
Before, he had been unable to absorb it, but now it seemed that he had crossed some kind of threshold, and he could barely manage to refine the energy of the saint's flesh and blood!
However, the process was extremely slow, like drawing out silk from a cocoon.
But Li Hao endured his sadness and focused all his attention on cultivating the True Demon Spirit Devouring Technique. He knew that only by doing so would he have a glimmer of hope and not waste its sacrifice.
A falling piece of flesh struck Li Hao, pushing him deeper into the blood lake. He stopped struggling and sat cross-legged within the lake, devoting himself entirely to refining and absorbing the energy.
However, his absorption speed seemed to be unable to keep up with the erosion, and his bones were slowly peeling away, shattering into pieces.
His body was gradually wearing down, shrinking more and more.
But the bloody light coiling around his head was becoming increasingly dense and profound...
...
...
In the vast sea of wilderness, a figure appeared as if by teleportation, only to disappear just as quickly.
His long, pale hair billowed in the air as he stood there, clad in a simple ancient robe. A grave expression marked his face.
His eyes fixed on the pitch-black abyss below, as if piercing through to its very bottom, where the churning blood lake and the disintegrated body of Wen Ren Ji could be seen.
"Has that stubborn obsession finally dissipated?"
The elder's eyes narrowed as he recalled how Wen Ren Ji had once attacked the Saint Ancestor. However, out of consideration for the time she had spent by the Saint Ancestor's side, he had only crushed her consciousness instead of erasing her completely. He had then sealed her residual obsession within this physical form.
If he had not done so, her obsession might have been absorbed by the River of Death, merging with the most terrifying aspects of that river.
Such an outcome would have posed a threat to all living beings, and for Wen Ren Ji herself, it would have meant eternal suffering without release.
Yet, now, that residual obsession had vanished.
Had the obsession found fulfillment and dissipated on its own, or had she transcended and departed?
He scrutinized the blood lake, sensing the toxicity of the blood that possessed strong corrosive and destructive properties. He could also perceive the crumbling remnants of the laws that Wen Ren Ji had cultivated lingering on her decaying body.
As these laws crumbled, they became chaotic, and what remained was only the original source of the laws, which caused indiscriminate harm.
Although he did not touch it, he could discern that the path Wen Ren Ji had cultivated was that of aging.
Merely approaching this place, even hovering above the blood lake, would cause rapid aging and withering.
It was precisely because of the terrifying nature of her laws that, at the end of that great battle, when Wen Ren Ji had exhausted her strength, her physical body had completely deteriorated in such a putrid manner.
For other saints, their bodies could remain intact for tens of thousands of years, let alone succumb to rot.
"Who awakened her?"
The elder frowned, a hint of confusion clouding his mind. The Saint Ancestor was his grandfather, and he recalled that his grandfather had sealed this entity away long ago. Yet, for countless years, there had been no incidents, and now this sudden outburst had him perplexed.
His gaze shifted to one of the chains hanging by the edge of the abyss, and with a wave of his hand, he summoned the figure clinging to it.
A shadowy figure flew towards him, its hair as white as snow and its body barely clinging to life.
However, as it moved away from the abyss, its vitality gradually returned, and it exclaimed in astonishment, "Third... Third Patriarch!"
This figure was none other than Ji Yunyue, who had not perished. Earlier, she had let go of Li Hao's hand, not wanting to burden him, but instead of attacking her, the Demon Saint's tendril had pursued Li Hao.
Apparently, it was Li Hao's saintly aura that had drawn the Demon Saint's attention.
This had allowed Ji Yunyue to cling to the chain and survive.
"What happened? Did you awaken her?"
The elder asked with a furrowed brow, not recognizing the elderly woman before him but knowing she must be a descendant of the family.
Hearing the Third Patriarch's question, all the sadness in Ji Yunyue's heart poured out. She had witnessed the toppling of the Abyssal Tablet, an event that had left her enraged and heartbroken.
After all, the tablet was the essence of the Ji family, and those damned criminals had discarded it without a second thought!
She wished she could go up there and slaughter them all.
"Third Patriarch, please save our Ji family's essence! He was swallowed by that Demon Saint, and I don't know if..." Ji Yunyue pleaded.
"Essence?"
The elder was taken aback, and his expression shifted slightly as his thoughts raced, immediately deducing the cause. It seemed likely that the essence had awakened Wen Ren Ji.
Most of the Ji family's essences possessed sacred bones, and only with sacred bones could one possibly influence Wen Ren Ji. However, no one had anticipated such an occurrence in the past.
Moreover, the essences of the Ji family held an esteemed position and would not typically venture into such a perilous place. It was akin to a favored prince refusing to visit a prison.
"That Demon Saint is already dead."
The elder, noticing Ji Yunyue's anxious state, said, "Apart from you, there are no other survivors, unless he's in the blood lake. However, the aura of the laws within the blood is concealing everything, making it impossible to discern. But..."
"But what?" Ji Yunyue asked anxiously.
"But if he truly is in the blood lake, even a Dao Enlightenment Realm cultivator would find it challenging to endure. He would have struggled his way out long ago. Otherwise, soaking in that blood for so long would undoubtedly result in death," the elder explained as he glanced at the abyss, his brow furrowed.
"Wen Ren Ji's residual obsession should have obtained the sacred power from his sacred bones, allowing her to transcend and disappear, abandoning this physical form. Or perhaps her obsession has been fulfilled, causing her to dissipate on her own," he continued.
"Third Patriarch, that child does not possess sacred bones," Ji Yunyue quickly interjected. "He only has the mark of a saint."
"The mark of a saint?"
The elder was taken aback, his eyes narrowing slightly. "Could the faint aura of sacred power I sensed a few days ago have been when he received the mark of a saint?"
"Most likely," Ji Yunyue replied.
"Then it's even more unlikely that he survived. Without sacred bones, what realm is he in?" the elder inquired.
"The Three Immortals Realm," Ji Yunyue answered, quickly adding, "But he created a myth! He defeated Ji Xuanshen, who possessed sacred bones, and shattered his domain with just the Three Immortals Realm. If this child were to step into the Four Establishments Realm, I dare not imagine how powerful he would become!"
"Three Immortals shatter a domain?"
The elder's eyes narrowed further, and he asked intently, "Are you certain? Did he possess some sort of holy treasure?"
"No, he relied solely on his own strength," Ji Yunyue replied. "He has opened up four extreme realms, one of which should be the Land Immortal Realm, allowing him to burst forth with unimaginable power for a short period."
"Land Immortal..."
The elder paused, realization dawning on him. He, too, had entered this extreme realm.
"So that's how it is..."
A hint of emotion flickered in his eyes as he gazed down at the rippling blood lake in the abyss. Regret and anger laced his voice as he said, "So, he truly is an exceptional genius, perhaps even capable of reaching the Saint Realm. But how could you let him come to this place?!"
"He's of mixed blood," Ji Yunyue explained, her voice filled with sorrow. "His mother was imprisoned here for secretly marrying into an outsider clan. He came here to rescue her... Third Patriarch, please save him. Perhaps he's still alive."
Mixed blood... The elder was taken aback, having initially thought that the absence of sacred bones was unfortunate enough, but now it seemed there was more to the story.
He looked at Ji Yunyue's tear-stained, aged face, his brow furrowed in concern. It was only now that he realized the attraction Wen Ren Ji had felt towards the sacred power, and blaming these people would serve no purpose.
"Third Patriarch!"
The group on the island, who had been on the verge of clashing with Ji Yunyue, was taken aback by the sudden appearance of the elder. Their faces paled, and they immediately knelt on the ground.
Upon seeing Ji Yunyue, the anger that had reddened Ji Yunqing's face dissipated, and he didn't even bother to greet the Third Patriarch. Instead, he urgently asked, "Fourth sister, what about Le Ping?!
"He fell into the abyss!" Ji Yunyue sobbed in response.
The joy and excitement that had just risen in Ji Yunqing's heart now plummeted once more, like a resounding drumbeat in his chest, leaving his mind in a daze.
Ji Yunyue had come with Li Hao, so they should have been connected by a chain. But while Ji Yunyue had survived, the child had not?
"Third Patriarch, please save Le Ping! He is our Ji family's Dao seed, a peerless genius who must not die!" Ji Yunqing suddenly realized the gravity of the situation and hastily knelt down to plead.
"Third Patriarch, please save my son!" Ji Qingqing also knelt down at almost the same time, her voice filled with emotion.
Li Tiangang also sensed the immense power of the elder before him, realizing that just his ability to hover above the abyss was terrifying in itself.
He quickly knelt down as well, banging his head on the ground. "Please, senior, save my son. I, Li Tiangang, am willing to be a cow or a horse for the Ji family..."
"There's no hope," the elder interrupted, his gaze sweeping over the group before settling on the Abyssal Tablet.
With just a glance, he quickly pieced together what had transpired, and his eyes turned icy.
"Hmph!"
The elder let out a cold hmph but didn't say anything further. With a wave of his hand, he swept everyone into his sleeve world.
Then, with a flick of his wrist, he summoned the two Abyssal Chains that were dangling into the abyss, causing them to fly upwards as if pulled by an invisible force.
With another wave of his hand, he righted the tilted Prisoner Island, pushing it back into place above the abyss. The two Abyssal Tablets shot straight up, their chains rattling, and reinserted themselves into the island.
Once Prisoner Island was restored to its original state, the elder glanced at the abyss, a somber expression on his face.
Without lingering further, he took Ji Yunyue and placed her into another sleeve world before turning and vanishing with a teleportation.
After three breaths, his figure reappeared on the summit of the Sacred Mountain, having crossed tens of thousands of miles in but a few moments.
With a flourish of his sleeves, he released the group that had been on Prisoner Island, letting them fall to the ground.
From his other sleeve, he released Ji Yunyue.
Ji Daoxin's figure swiftly flew towards them, appearing with a series of teleports before the elder. He bowed and said, "Third Patriarch."
"Prisoner Island has encountered trouble. The Demon Saint sealed by the Saint Ancestor has awakened and devoured the Dao seed," the elder said coldly. "How could you let someone from our Ji family go to such a place? Couldn't you have sent someone to bring his mother here to the Sacred Mountain instead?"
Hearing the anger in the Third Patriarch's words, Ji Daoxin froze, taken aback by the weight of the news.
Trouble at Prisoner Island? He had only vaguely sensed some disturbances there, given the great distance.
"The... the Dao seed was devoured?" Ji Daoxin's eyes widened, and he looked at Ji Yunyue, his voice trembling. "Is... is the child dead?"
Ji Yunyue's tears flowed as she nodded. "He fell into the abyss and was eaten by the Demon Saint."
Ji Daoxin's pupils shook, and he found it hard to believe.
Seeing the sharp gaze of the Third Patriarch, he quickly composed himself, his expression turning somber as he lowered his head. "I had intended to wait for the Wild Sea to calm down before sending someone to bring his mother back. But the child couldn't wait and saw his mother's suffering through the Observation Mirror. He insisted on going himself..."
The Third Patriarch's face grew even more solemn, but he could understand the sentiment.
However, when Ji Daoxin's words reached Li Tiangang and Ji Qingqing, their faces paled, and Ji Qingqing's body began to tremble as she broke into heart-wrenching sobs.
"Third Patriarch, where is that Demon Saint now?" Ji Daoxin asked urgently.
"It's already gone. For now, it's unclear whether it has transcended and become a Saint or if its obsession has dissipated," the Third Patriarch replied coldly.
"What about the child's remains?" Ji Daoxin's eyes also showed a hint of sorrow. In terms of talent alone, the child was undoubtedly one of the top geniuses of the Ji family in tens of thousands of years. How could he have perished so miserably?
And to think that he had met his end in the Ji family's secret realm—it was utterly absurd!
"The Demon Saint's flesh and blood have rotted into a lake, with the power of the Dao raging upon it. There's no way any remains could have survived; they would have been obliterated," the Third Patriarch said, his face grim. "I have yet to truly step into the Saint Realm, and even I would be affected by it. How could a child possibly withstand it? Even if there were a one-in-ten-thousand chance, I would be willing to search for him, but now, there isn't even a sliver of hope."
As he finished speaking, he looked at the group below, his eyes icy. Turning to Ji Daoxin, he said, "Ask them for the specifics. You can handle the matter as you see fit."
With that, he flicked his sleeves and turned to leave, teleporting away without another word.
Upon hearing the Third Patriarch's words, including Ji Daoxin, everyone's faces turned ashen.
Not even a one-in-ten-thousand chance? Obliterated without a trace?
Li Tiangang and Ji Qingqing were both pale as sheets.
The news of Li Hao's demise spread throughout the Ji family, shaking the entire clan.
In recent days, Li Hao's fame had shone as brightly as the sun in the secret realm, known to all. Any tidbit of information related to him would be seized upon, let alone the news of his death.
"What?"
In a certain cave abode, Ji Xuanshen, who had been cultivating, stood up abruptly upon hearing his father's joyous tone as he spoke.
"He's dead?"
"That's right," the middle-aged man said with a sense of awe. "They say he had the mark of a Saint upon him, which awakened the Demon Saint sealed beneath Prisoner Island. He was then devoured by the Demon Saint!"
The man shook his head, his eyes filled with emotion. "I've lived for hundreds of years, and only now do I learn that there was a Demon Saint sealed beneath Prisoner Island. They say it was a Demon Saint slain by the Saint Ancestor, who sealed it away out of sentiment. Who would have thought that it would end up helping us so greatly!"
"Now that the child is dead, you are once again our Ji family's Dao seed!" He looked at his son, his eyes shining with pride and a hint of reverence.
"They say that heaven is jealous of the extraordinary, and I truly believe it now. That child's fate was too shallow to bear the weight of our Ji family's favor. The mark of a Saint upon him only brought disaster, tsk tsk..."
"Enough!" Ji Xuanshen abruptly cut him off.
With anger in his eyes, Ji Xuan Shen glared at his father, "He only earned the position of Dao Seed by dying at my hands. Do you think I want it that badly?!"
The middle-aged man was bewildered, "But...but he is still the Dao seed..."
"A caged bird does not understand the ambition of a soaring griffin!"
Seeing his father before him, Ji Xuan Shen's eyes flashed with contempt, his face cold as he said:
"You should leave now. I need to meditate!"
"..."
The middle-aged man glanced at him, a bitter smile on his face as he turned and left.
"I was looking forward to another battle after I reached the Realm of Enlightenment..."
Ji Xuan Shen returned to the Dao platform, his face gloomy. Although he felt aggrieved after being defeated by that young man, he now had an unprecedented motivation to cultivate.
With this intention, he felt that he had already faintly touched the Realm of Enlightenment.
The battle with that young man had allowed him to vaguely glimpse his own Dao.
But now, that young man was dead.
"Damn it!"
In anger, he slapped the Dao platform, cracking it.
The news of Li Hao's death caused a huge stir, and countless people rushed to the outside of the Hall of Discussion, eager to find out more.
Ji Daoxin, Ji Tianchao, and the other War Gods and elders all arrived to interrogate everyone who was present at the scene.
After learning what had happened, they were all astonished, including Li Tiangang, who was stunned and looked at his wife in shock.
The criminals were terrified and tried to shift all the blame onto Ji Qingqing, claiming that they were giving her a chance and that she had not stopped them.
Facing everyone's accusations, the grief-stricken Ji Qingqing was too distraught to argue. The choice she had made at that moment left her indefensible.
"You...how could you..."
Ji Yunqing and Ji Yunyu were also present, but they only now learned of the whole story, and they were so shocked that they almost fainted.
"That child had a future ahead of him! How could you be so heartless?!" Ji Yunyu stomped her foot.
Ji Qingqing trembled all over, her eyes blurred with tears as she choked, "I didn't want to choose. If I could, I would rather give my life for his. But there was no such choice, and I didn't know what to do. My husband and I have faced life and death together, side by side for over a decade. I...I couldn't betray him."
"Then can you bear to betray that child?!"
Ji Yunqing was furious and shouted at her niece, "Don't you know that child risked his life to come to our Ji family for your sake? He is of mixed blood, and he came here at the risk of his life!
"For you, he endured humiliation and fought against the proud sons of heaven. He never intended to inherit the position of Dao seed in our Ji family. It was only because of you that he risked his life in battle. How could you be so heartless?!"
"If not for him, you would never have been able to atone for your sins, and your husband would never have been able to stay alive in our Ji family!"
Ji Qingqing froze, turning to look at Li Tiangang. "Wasn't it you who brought him here?"
Li Tiangang had put aside his shock, and his wife's words struck him like a dam bursting, filling him with grief, powerlessness, and mostly, self-loathing. If he hadn't stepped on that chain, there wouldn't have been such a choice.
"I came to find him. He rebelled against the Li family, and I wanted to bring him back..."
Li Tiangang turned away sadly, unable to face his wife.
"He rebelled against the Li family?"
Ji Qingqing was stunned.
Li Tiangang didn't want to go into the details of what had happened. He only said, "After the Yanbei campaign, we had some disagreements. It was my fault. I shouldn't have been so hard on him. I came here to find him because I was afraid something might happen to him..."
Ji Qingqing asked in a daze, "But didn't you tell him the name we chose for him? Weren't you two on good terms?"
"Hao'er is very smart. He remembers things from when he was just a few months old. I never told him, but you must have mentioned it to him, and he remembered," Li Tiangang said, his eyes reddening.
Ji Qingqing's face drained of color as she suddenly recalled how she had hugged the child and whispered to him before the Yanbei campaign. That was the only time she had mentioned that name.
The child...had remembered.
Then he must have remembered the other things she said as well.
Ji Qingqing's tears flowed, and she covered her mouth, unable to imagine what the child must have felt when he fell, with the hopes he had carried. How desperate and hopeless he must have been.
"It's all my fault. It's all my fault..."
She sobbed uncontrollably.
Ji Daoxin and the others looked at them with anger and powerlessness. No matter how much they scolded them now, it was too late.
Ji Daoxin ordered that all the criminals on Prisoner Island be put to death, including the old madman.
When he heard that he was to be executed, the old madman didn't cry or beg for mercy. Instead, he laughed and laughed as if he had truly gone insane.
Some elders angrily proposed that Li Tiangang should also be put to death, and Ji Qingqing should be imprisoned on Prisoner Island again.
This suggestion gained quite a bit of support, but there were also those who disagreed, pointing out that although the child was dead, he was still the Dao seed of the Ji family and had died with that identity.
Since that was the case, his parents were also of noble status, and it would be hard to convince the public if they were executed or imprisoned.
After a heated debate, Ji Daoxin finally made the final decision.
The couple was expelled from the Ji family and was never allowed to set foot in it again.
Li Tiangang was spared because he was the father of Li Hao, and the situation was complicated. Li Tiangang was not the direct culprit, so his life was spared.
However, without Li Hao, Li Tiangang, as an outsider, had to be completely cut off from the family.
Ji Qingqing was also stripped of her identity as a member of the Ji family. Although she was not the main culprit, she had indirectly caused Li Hao's death.
When the Dao seed was in danger, failing to protect him was a grave sin!
Time flew by.
"Has our clan's fortune truly declined?" Ji Daoxin murmured, standing above the abyss with a gloomy expression.
It was hard to believe that such a peerless genius, albeit a mixed-blood one, had appeared out of thin air like a wonderful gift, only to perish so suddenly.
Ji Tianchao remained silent, feeling more regretful about the boy's temperament and their brief interactions than his incredible talent.
He had also failed to fulfill his older brother's request, and he knew the Third Patriarch would be deeply saddened by this news.
...
...
Deep within the tranquil blood lake, at the bottom of the abyss, a tiny skull, no larger than an infant's fist, floated in the sanguine waters.
Aside from the skull, the rest of the body had completely vanished.
At this moment, flickers of crimson-golden light emanated from within the skull.
The True Demon Spirit Devouring Technique was still operating, constantly refining and absorbing the minuscule traces of power that Li Hao's consciousness drew from the blood lake, like threading a needle.
Time seemed irrelevant to him, and Li Hao couldn't afford to stop for even a moment, or eternal darkness awaited him.
Several days later, the skull was eroded further, shrinking to the size of a thumb.
Li Hao's consciousness had become extremely weak, but he persevered nonetheless.
The white bones drifted aimlessly, gradually diminishing until they were no larger than a bean.
Li Hao's spirit was squeezed into this tiny space, and he knew that his chances of survival were slim. However, instead of giving up, he chose to burn his spirit, sacrificing himself to maximize the speed of absorption.
As his spirit burned like a candle within the tiny bone, the rate of absorption increased significantly.
Suddenly, with a thunderous boom, the bottleneck that had been hindering him was shattered.
An unimaginable vigor surged into the white bone.
Li Hao felt as though he had entered a mysterious state, a sensation he was very familiar with, having experienced it upon reaching other extremes.
He suddenly realized that by breaking through this bottleneck, he had achieved the Three Immortality Realm!
Even though only a tiny bone remained, Li Hao felt that as long as he had this boundless vigor, he could regenerate even from a single drop of blood!
Apart from this vigor, his spirit seemed to have undergone some sort of refinement, allowing it to merge completely with the bone.
As long as a fragment of his body remained, his spirit could reside within it, and with a single thought, he could regenerate from a drop of blood!
Immortal, indestructible, and ageless—these were the Three Immortality Realms.
Now that he had reached this realm, Li Hao named it the Undying Realm!
The Three Immortality Realms were about refining the physical body to its utmost limits, allowing for bloodline inheritance, invincibility in battle, and the ability to unleash hidden potential within the body for a short duration.
This realm was about forging the body to its peak, where a single drop of blood could contain one's spirit, and with a thought, one could be reborn!
In other words, unless Li Hao was completely pulverized into nothingness, he could not be killed!
Compared to the survival capabilities of the previous Three Immortality Realms, this was a qualitative leap!
At this moment, as Li Hao's thoughts turned, the vigorous power within the white bone exploded, causing the bone to rapidly grow, regenerating hair and flesh.
In the blink of an eye, a head emerged from the blood lake.
However, Li Hao halted the process at this point.
Having reached this realm, his control over his physical body had become extremely precise.
He could sense two extremely weak auras within his body.
These two auras belonged to Li Tiangang and Ji Qingqing, remnants of their bloodlines.
A wry smile appeared on his face.
Amidst the howling winds and snow, the young man was forced out of his home.
He held the Twin Flowers aloft, only to be struck down into the abyss by a broken lock.
The Chi Xue Teng Yao Wang, who had silently wrapped its tentacle around his little finger in a promise to never leave his side, had quietly helped him along the way.
Its final whispers, urging him on as he approached the limit, had brought him back from the brink of death.
He smiled, withdrawing his power.
His body rapidly deteriorated, the white bones disintegrating until only a single drop of blood remained.
However, even within this tiny drop, the faint traces of Li Tiangang and Ji Qingqing's bloodlines remained.
Li Hao took a deep breath, knowing that what he was about to do was extremely risky, and even with his Undying Realm cultivation, there was a chance he might perish.
Yet, he chose to go through with it.
"From now on, I am who I am. With my heart, I perceive the heart of the heavens, and with the heart of the heavens, I prove my heart!"
Li Hao's spirit erupted, and with his formidable will, he severed the two bloodline auras within the drop of blood.
A complete split!
The separated half of the droplet quickly vanished.
However, this act was akin to suffering another devastating blow at the brink of death.
He was constantly teetering on the edge of extinction.
But Li Hao's will had never been stronger or more resolute!
His once nebulous Dao heart had solidified in this moment.
With my heart, I perceive the heart of the heavens!
With mountains and rivers, I forge my bones!
With the sun, moon, and stars, I sculpt my flesh!
With the supreme Daoist laws, I forge my blood!
"I am who I am, and I am Haotian, the Supreme Lord!"
A power akin to the rumbling of mountains and oceans erupted from that half-drop of blood, causing the serene blood lake to tremble and churn with dark currents!
The drop of blood, unaffected by the corrosive blood lake, shone with a dazzling crimson-golden light. The blood coalesced, like a sentient being, coiling with the will of the supreme Daoist laws, and surged out of the blood lake!
Above the abyss, boundless radiance gathered, and flesh and bones regenerated!
A perfectly proportioned body took shape, and a head rose, lifting its face to the sky. An aura that seemed to stand on equal footing with the heavens emanated from this young man.