This earth-shattering, furious roar shocked everyone. They couldn't help but look towards the distant horizon in astonishment.
However, the distance was too great, and their eyes could not discern anything. This, in itself, was indicative of the terrifying power of the one who had shouted. Their senses were completely outclassed.
"Who is that?"
"Who is shouting?"
"Is it a powerful ally of the Li family?"
Within the city, all the warriors were stirred. The shout was deafening, indicating an extremely powerful being.
The fleeing commoners on the streets also heard it and were bewildered. The voice seemed to belong to a god high above, looking down upon the mortal realm and roaring in fury!
"That voice... Could it be that child? No, he's dead..."
He Jianlan and Li Hongzhuang were shaken, their eyes widening slightly. The voice was too familiar, yet it didn't quite match their memory.
However, only a junior would address LiMuxiu in such a way, and among those juniors, the one closest to Li Muxiu was that child.
Could it be... a miracle?
They felt their blood rushing and their bodies trembling with excitement and nervousness. They dared not believe it and didn't dare to look.
Yet, they strained their eyes, gazing towards the distant horizon.
In mid-air, Long Jue Shen and Feng Ling Xiao, who were about to attack, were also stunned.
Reinforcements for the Li family?
They could sense the anger in that voice, an attempt to intimidate them. But compared to this strong emotion, when they tried to perceive the source of the voice, they couldn't see anyone.
The distance was too great, beyond their perception. Did this mean that the person was even more powerful than them?
The two glanced at each other, seeing the shock in each other's eyes, followed by a rapid surge of killing intent.
They must act quickly!
They had to take advantage of this unexpected event and finish off Li Muxiu before any more complications arose.
At this moment, Li Muxiu, exhausted and ready to accept death, also heard the sudden shout.
The sadness in that voice and the familiar way of addressing him caused his body, which had already relaxed in acceptance of death, to tense up once more.
His eyes, which had already closed, opened once again.
Was it an illusion? Even at the brink of death, he could still hear that little brat's voice.
But the child was dead. He had heard it from the couple themselves and had seen it with his own eyes. The child had died in the mouth of the Yao Saint, not even given a chance to enter the River of the Dead like an ordinary person. He had completely dissipated.
And when he had gone to investigate Tianmen Guan again, he had heard that Li Hao's clone had also collapsed and disappeared at a certain moment.
The destruction of the clone was proof that Li Hao's main body had perished.
But now... Was he just imagining things?
In front of Li Muxiu's eyes, he saw Long Jue Shen and Feng Ling Xiao rushing towards him, their dao domains rapidly extending. Before they even got close, they attempted to envelop him with their domains and crush him.
But at this moment, Li Muxiu could no longer muster the strength to resist with his own dao domain.
Even if that child were alive, there was no reason for him to have come...
The Li family owed him too much...
Li Muxiu thought bitterly, gazing at the approaching dao domains. He wanted to resist, but his body felt like it was falling apart, and he could only wait for the pain to end in an instant.
Just as the dao domains were about to engulf him, time seemed to slow down suddenly. A brilliant light, as fierce as divine fire, blossomed before Li Muxiu's eyes.
The two terrifying dao domain attacks were abruptly erased by half!
But right after the dao domains, Long Jue Shen and Feng Ling Xiao's Saint Heart Supreme Treasure attacks arrived, smashing down and instantly obscuring all light and shadow.
At that moment, the world suddenly fell silent.
The Supreme Treasure, which was supposed to land on Li Muxiu, whistled with the force of tearing the heavens and splitting the earth, but it suddenly struck the crimson figure standing in front of Li Muxiu.
A loud, intense, and fiery boom reverberated.
The world trembled! All the violent offensives and howling gales were blocked by a golden-haired youth who stood like an unshakeable, majestic peak before Li Muxiu, ensuring that not a trace of the attack reached him.
The youth's mountainous figure stood in the midst of the fiery radiance, a crimson golden light. His golden hair billowed, and the intense divine fire that enveloped him was sent scattering by the impact of the two Saint Heart Supreme Treasures, like sparks flying from a heated sword struck by a hammer.
Yet, his feet did not retreat even half a step. Relying solely on his physical body, his chest took the brunt of the two Supreme Treasure attacks, filled with wrath!
Li Muxiu stared blankly, his mind somewhat dazed.
The silhouette was both familiar and unfamiliar, causing his heart, which had already despaired, to tremble violently. His eyes widened bit by bit, and the speculations in his mind made him afraid to touch them, afraid to disturb them, lest everything was but a dream, an illusion in his dying moments.
At this moment, the youth slowly raised his head, his golden hair, ablaze with anger, fluttering like flames. His eyes burned with indescribable fury as he glared at the two astonished faces before him:
"How dare you!"
A gust of wind seemed to roll up ten thousand feet of dust from below, and a mighty force swept through, like a hurricane, blowing away all the dust.
At the same time, Long Jue Shen and Feng Ling Xiao's figures abruptly stopped.
"Dao Domain... Who are you?"
"Impossible!"
Long Jue Shen and Feng Ling Xiao were incredulous, their faces filled with shock and horror as they stared at the golden youth before them. His crimson-gold body, with its perfectly balanced proportions, resembled a golden wall that they could not surpass.
What shocked and terrified them was not the dao domain emanating from the youth, but the fact that he had blocked the attack of the Saint Heart Supreme Treasures with his physical body?!
What kind of monster was this?!
"Kneel!"
The youth slowly uttered a single word.
The fifth-level Dao Domain instantly suppressed everything, and with a loud bang, the hundreds of meters of void in front of him were completely crushed. The ground seemed to be pressed down by some invisible force, shaking violently.
Without their Dao Domains to resist, the overwhelming might of the youth's Dao Domain instantly affected them. With two loud thuds, the two pinnacle leaders of the demon forces, who were at the very peak of their power, fell straight down, slamming violently into the ground.
From head to toe, even their hair, they were covered and suppressed by a force that left them completely immobilized!
That force was vast and overwhelming, beyond their imagination and their ability to resist. It could easily take their lives, as effortlessly as squashing an insect.
At this moment, the shock and terror in the hearts of Long Jue Shen and Feng Ling Xiao were indescribable. Their eyes were wide with disbelief, and for thousands, even tens of thousands of years, they had never felt so bewildered and frightened. All the sudden changes were too abrupt, and the appearance of the youth was too sudden!
Earlier, their senses hadn't even detected the youth, but in an instant, he had crossed the limits of their perception and appeared before them. This speed was simply unimaginable!
Li Hao's eyes, burning with flames, remained fixed on the two demons who were pinned to the ground and unable to move. However, the icy anger in his heart prevented him from ending their lives so easily.
He turned around, his back facing the entire city, and with a surge of power, he gently caught Li Muxiu's falling body.
Looking at the tragic state of the old man, with his arms broken and half his body slashed apart, Li Hao's eyes, filled with rage, became slightly moist.
As Li Muxiu saw Li Hao's face, his slowly widening eyes widened further in shock.
There were some differences in his facial features compared to his memories, but those eyes and the emotions within them instantly confirmed his identity. This was the child who had made him shed tears countless times.
The child who had accompanied him fishing by the lake.
The child who had eaten roasted meat with him in the Rain Listening Tower.
His body trembled as he rasped, "Is it really you, Hao'er? Am I just seeing things? I almost didn't recognize you..."
Li Hao had reshaped his physical body using the power of the world after emerging from the abyss, and his appearance and voice had undergone some changes. However, those who knew him best could still see traces of his former self.
"It's me, Er Ye (Second Master)
."
Li Hao hugged his tattered and broken body, lowering his head as he grit his teeth and said with sorrow, "I'm sorry I didn't make it in time!"
Yu Province was very close to Liang Province. On that snowy day when he had left the Li Family, it had taken him five days to reach Tianmen Pass in Liang Province.
Now, returning from Yu Province and passing through Liang Province, with Candlelight Spirit rushing at full speed, it still took half a day to get back.
Ever since entering Qing Province, Li Hao had witnessed the devastation of the cities and lands along the way. Many of the battlements had already been occupied by demons, and he immediately realized that Qing Province City was in imminent danger. Otherwise, with the Li Family's military might, they would never have abandoned these cities and their people unless they were overwhelmed themselves.
Therefore, he hadn't even stopped to liberate the occupied cities, instead urging Candlelight Spirit to rush ahead with undiminished speed, barely making it in time.
Fortunately, he possessed the Flying Segment attribute, which doubled his attack range. With the simultaneous eruption of his Ninth Level Dao Domain, pushing his power to the extreme, he continuously performed air displacement at the limit of his attack range, essentially performing consecutive flashes. This allowed him to barely block those two deadly attacks at the last moment.
Hearing Li Hao's words, Li Muxiu finally confirmed that this was indeed the child he had thought about day and night, the one who had never left his mind.
"Are you still willing to call me Er Ye..."
Li Muxiu's eyes welled up with hot tears as he said, "But Er Ye failed to protect you and let you suffer so much. Er Ye is so useless..."
Li Hao understood what he meant, and scenes flashed through his mind, but he shook his head slightly, reining in his sorrow. Taking a deep breath, he said, "Er Ye, rest and recuperate for now. Xu Yan, take care of Er Ye for me."
"Yes, your Er Ye is my Er Ye as well."
Xu Yan obediently agreed and extended from Li Hao's wrist, taking root in the ground nearby. Then, she stretched out a red tendril, like a soft little hand, and gently touched Li Muxiu's wounds, infusing him with her power.
Li Muxiu sensed that this was a demon, but he didn't feel afraid and allowed her to heal his injuries.
At this moment, Candlelight Spirit's figure rushed over. Earlier, Li Hao had burst out with extreme speed to block the attack for Li Muxiu, leaving Candlelight Spirit far behind.
Seeing Candlelight Spirit, Li Muxiu's pupils contracted slightly. Although the Grand Master of the Grand Void Realm had secluded himself for a thousand years, rarely showing himself, others might not have seen him, but Li Muxiu had. He recognized him at a glance—this was the Grand Master of the Grand Void Realm!
"Er Ye, don't be afraid," Li Hao said as he placed Li Muxiu on Candlelight Spirit's back.
Li Muxiu froze, and he immediately sensed the deep reverence and lack of hostility from Candlelight Spirit towards Li Hao.
Could it be that he had already been tamed by Li Hao? This thought made his heart tremble. After all, this was a Grand Master of the Grand Void Realm...
After settling the old man on Candlelight Spirit's back, Li Hao finally turned to face the massive city.
The surging aura emanating from his body remained unrestrained, like a blazing deity. His gaze was icy, exuding an arrogant and domineering aura as if he were the only one under the heavens.
At this moment, standing outside the city, he was the only shining light that captured everyone's attention.
Within the city, aside from the demon tide still charging on the walls, the demon elders from the two factions who had been fighting suddenly stopped, their eyes filled with shock as they looked at the youth.
The youth's single word had just suppressed the two leaders of the demon forces, shattering their understanding of the world and filling them with dread.
In addition to these Demon Kings, people like He Jianlan and Li Hongzhuang within the city were also stunned, their eyes fixed on the youth.
The youth's face was divinely handsome, but his eyebrows were cold and sharp like frost, exuding a strong killing intent.
"Who is that?"
"He doesn't have the aura of my Li Family, but he's incredibly strong, stronger than I could have ever imagined!"
"A Dao Domain cultivator, and he's cultivated more than one type. How can his physical body withstand a Saint Heart Supreme Treasure? Is this for real?"
In mid-air, the lingering souls of many Li Family ancestors were also shocked by the sudden appearance of the youth on the battlefield. Their faces were filled with astonishment, awe, and joy, but mostly confusion.
When did the Great Yu Divine Dynasty cultivate such a monstrous genius?
"Who is he? How did my Li Family come to be acquainted with such a figure? If we knew we had such an ally, there would have been no need for us to leave the ancestral hall."
One of the lingering souls of the Li Family ancestors asked.
Beside him was a young man, who stared blankly at the golden figure and said:
"That should be... Brother Hao."
"Brother Hao?"
This ancestor's lingering soul looked at the chubby boy, confused by the intimate way he addressed the youth. Could they possibly know each other?
However, aside from their age difference, the gap between their cultivations seemed ridiculously huge. How could they possibly be acquainted?
"It's him, it can't be wrong. He's calling out to Second Master, so it must be him..."
Nearby, Li Wushuang murmured as she gazed at the youth. Despite the changes in his appearance, that imposing aura and the reddish-golden body remained the same. She knew that this person had returned!
Her eyes welled up with hot tears as she exclaimed, "As I thought, that little insect was really him..."
High in the sky, Song Yufeng also spotted the youth, and his eyes lit up with excitement.
Previously, the Li Family had even held a funeral for the youth, so it was impossible for them to be lying. This had even led him to doubt if he had mistaken the identity of the little insect he had seen earlier, thinking it wasn't Li Hao.
After all, when a person dies, their name is removed from the Merit Roll.
But the little insect's name was still on the Merit Roll.
And the Li Family wouldn't joke about something like this.
Amidst all these contradictions, he had doubted his own judgment, but now he felt so happy that he wanted to laugh out loud.
Undoubtedly, the Merit Roll couldn't be wrong. It wasn't something mortals could tamper with. People could make mistakes, and it seemed the Li Family had erred. Perhaps they had only seen an illusion of the youth's death!
No matter the reason, that proud son of heaven was still alive. He wasn't just the pride of the Li Family, but also one of the top powers of the future Great Yu Divine Dynasty!
"He seems to have already reached the Dao Domain. What a little monster..." Song Yufeng exclaimed in delight, then couldn't help but marvel.
Not far from him, the Water Qilin came to a stop. Its eyes, a watery shade of blue, seemed to overflow with water as it gazed at that figure.
"Who is that...?"
Ji Qingqing looked on from a distance, feeling a vague sense of familiarity but mostly strangeness.
At this moment, Li Hao's gaze swept across the entire city, his divine sense shrouding and covering all of Qingzhou City.
After all, this entire city only spanned a hundred li in size. Although it was a massive city, even an ordinary Four Establishments cultivator could easily cover such a distance with their divine sense, let alone Li Hao.
His gaze passed over some familiar faces, and seeing that they were still alive and well, a weight seemed to lift from Li Hao's heart. He gave the Water Qilin, who was staring at him, a brief smile.
Subsequently, his gaze fell upon the golden lingering souls, which draped over the Li Family members like feathered robes. This sight reminded him of the scene at the Mortuary River in Dragon City, and he immediately understood what had happened.
The elder Demon Kings seemed to be intimidated and did not dare to act rashly.
However, the demon tide surrounding the city continued to rage, relentlessly assaulting the city walls. Some had already broken through the gaps in the army's formation and poured into the city, chasing after the fleeing commoners and wreaking havoc.
Li Hao's eyes turned cold, like frost, as he raised his hand. The Tendons of Heaven and Earth extended, and in an instant, he gathered all the power within a few hundred meters, like a whale sucking in water, into his palm.
This power continued to condense, transforming into a sword qi that was dozens of meters long, dazzling and icy. It seemed to reach straight up to the heavens, causing the world to pale in comparison.
As the sword qi condensed in Li Hao's palm, more sword qi split off from it and flew up into the sky above Qingzhou City, filling the air and forming a sword-filled canopy.
The vast expanse of this sword formation and the sheer number of swords caused the hearts of all the Demon Kings and demons within the city to freeze.
Among them was White Divine Lord, who had participated in the Battle of Liangzhou. His face turned deathly pale.
At this moment, he finally came back to his senses. Although the youth's appearance had changed, that feeling was unmistakable.
That boy... was the terrifying boy from Liangzhou!
"It's Hao Tian, it's that Hao Tian General!!!"
Fear and despair filled White Divine Lord's eyes as he recognized the youth.
During the Battle of Liangzhou, he had personally experienced the might of this youth. In the final battle, he had chosen not to join forces with the others to besiege the youth, and that decision had saved his life.
But now, the youth had returned, and he had become even more formidable, growing at a speed beyond imagination!
Their Palace Master had been suppressed, and the Dragon God of Dragon Gate had also been subdued.
Moreover, White Divine Lord recognized the Candlelight Spirit. That master of the Grand Void Realm actually stood obediently by the youth's side, seemingly having submitted to him.
"Run!!!"
A strong desire for self-preservation made White Divine Lord scream in despair as he turned and fled. At this moment, he didn't care about the other demons or his status as a Saint Palace elder. All he wanted to do was escape.
Escape from here, escape from Qingzhou, escape from Great Yu!
White Divine Lord's terrified scream also snapped the other Demon Kings back to their senses, and their hearts trembled.
Hao Tian!
Since the Battle of Liangzhou, this name had become infamous among the demons.
It was almost like a reflex!
He was that human Hao Tian, that monstrously talented warrior!
"Didn't he die...?"
A Demon King looked at the sword qi that filled the sky, feeling the profound and boundless power as if it were an abyss or a sea. He felt like he had even lost the courage to flee.
No one answered, and there were no solutions.
Only the ever-increasing sword qi, like countless eyes, coldly overlooked the numerous demons and monsters.
As the Demon Kings fled, these sword auras instantly chased after them at an unimaginable speed.
The sword qi rained down like dragons, rushing towards the fleeing Demon Kings and soon taking their lives.
White Divine Lord knew that Li Hao's attack was bizarre, and he dared not resist it with his physical body. He roared and unleashed his full power, revealing his true form and employing demon techniques to destroy these sword auras.
However, the sword qi formed a sword dragon, and its momentum was far more ferocious than what he had encountered in Liangzhou. As the sword dragon roared with fangs and claws, it instantly tore through his demon techniques and struck him, leaving him with no chance to escape.
White Divine Lord's pupils contracted, and he suddenly realized a terrifying fact. The boy's attack was extremely bizarre and impossible to touch, but now that the boy had stepped into the Four Establishments realm and achieved the Grand Dao realm, he naturally also mastered the Dao Heart realm's Dao Charm traction.
In other words, once locked on, the attack would definitely hit its mark.
Unless he could sever the Dao Charm!
But obviously, although he had this ability, it was extremely taxing, and he could only do it once or twice. Moreover, there were too many sword auras to count, and he simply couldn't block them all!
Most importantly, in this vast battlefield, amidst this boundless sword rain, the boy actually managed to infuse each sword aura with Dao Charm traction. What a terrifying Divine Will was this?!
Bang!
The sword auras rained down like hail, striking the body of White Divine Lord. He roared in defiance, but the sword auras tore his flesh apart, and it was still not enough to kill him. However, his struggles soon ceased as if his spine had been abruptly yanked out.
His soul seemed to be plucked away, and the power within his body rapidly diminished.
"I..."
White Divine Lord's eyes widened, the light fading from them as they reflected intense unwillingness and fear. Once again, he experienced the terror of the boy's attack.
But he no longer had the chance to reverse his fate.
Plop!
As White Divine Lord's body fell, most of the other Demon Kings met a similar fate. In the air, they were chased by sword auras that formed long dragons, and soon they plummeted to their deaths, their lives snuffed out.
Previously, these two elder leaders of the two great demon factions, who had made the entire Li family and even the Li family ancestors willing to burn their souls in battle, were now like panic-stricken flies, fleeing in all directions. However, they all met their demise one after another, none able to escape Li Hao's attack range. Once they approached the edge of the city, they instead faced even more ferocious attacks!
These Demon Kings, who had been so overbearing before, now cried out in despair and begged for mercy, offering to submit to Li Hao and become his mount or slave. Yet, they still couldn't escape their fate of being slaughtered.
A rain of swords, a bloody massacre—this was what greeted those who had fought valiantly.
The names called out by these Demon Kings were well-known to everyone.
Initially, there was some uncertainty, but now, everyone was sure of the boy's identity.
"Hao'er..." He Jianlan and the others had tears welling up in their eyes.
Who would have thought that at this most perilous moment, it would be Li Hao who returned to save them?
That boy, who had once walked out of the Li family, now saved all of Qingzhou City with his own power.
At this moment, the demon tide outside the city continued to press forward, wave after wave. The demons at the front had already been scared stiff, but those at the back, whose senses weren't as sharp, still obeyed their orders and charged forward.
Li Hao's eyes swept across the scene, and then the sword in his hand slashed towards them.
It seemed like an effortless flick of the wrist, but that sword aura, under the traction of the Dao Charm, transformed into a startling sword radiance and slashed down on the vast demon tide outside the city.
This sword was like a finger pressing down from the heavens, and the demon tide was like ants, instantly pressed into a gully. The ground cracked open, and where the sword aura struck, countless demons perished, their bodies obliterated and ceasing to exist.
And the sword aura that was slashed out did not dissipate but instead transformed into countless sword lights that shot into the demon tide, piercing through them with extreme speed.
Bang, bang, bang...
One after another, the bodies of the demons fell, pierced through by the sword lights. They didn't even have time to react before their souls were extinguished.
This demon tide, which stretched for dozens of li, crumbled at a visible rate under these flying sword lights.
Li Hao retracted his palm and looked down at the two demon leaders lying on the ground before him.
"Don't kill me, I can also be your mount!" Feng Lingxiao quickly pleaded.
The oppressive Dao Domain weighing down on him made him feel like a chicken on a chopping block, unable to resist at all.
Long Jue Shen, on the other hand, gritted his teeth. As a dragon god, he had an intense desire for life after cultivating for countless years. However, his dragon clan dignity would not allow him to beg so pathetically.
"Even if you kill me, my Heavenly Abyss Dragon Clan will never let you off." Long Jue Shen stared at Li Hao, his tone resolute.
"Who gave you the guts to make such a desperate move? Who is backing you?" Li Hao looked down at them, his eyes cold and devoid of emotion.
Feng Lingxiao hurriedly said, "I'll tell you, it was the Three Desolates God who forced us to do this. Our Saint Palace originally had no issues with the Great Yu Divine Dynasty, and thousands of years ago, we had an agreement with the previous emperor to stay out of each other's affairs. We were forced into this situation."
"Three Desolates God?"
Li Hao's eyes flickered slightly as he recalled sensing a strange power in the air when he expanded his Dao Domain earlier. It was true Dao power, and he had felt it before from the cultivators of the Hearing Dao realm in the Ji family.
Only someone of the Hearing Dao realm could command these top demon factions, causing the real person of the Qian Dao Palace to become as still as death.