Cultivation Begins from Infancy - Chapter 466

Volume 3 - Chapter 141: Hanhai Tower, The Surge of Dao Domains

This form of compressed experience was something Li Hao had encountered before in the realm of Chess Dao. With his current Chess Dao skill, when facing opponents of the second or third rank, he would only gain sparse amounts of experience.

When the rank disparity was too vast, the experience would be significantly reduced, as there would be no real gain from the exchange.

Sometimes, he would receive only a token "1" point of experience.

Fortunately, although experience fluctuated, the Land of Saints was not lacking in powerful figures. The accumulation of Painting Dao experience remained swift. From the ninth to the tenth rank, requiring five million experience points, a single saint could yield three to four hundred thousand points. Battling ten saints would bring him close to completion.

If he fought semi-saints, he could gain forty to fifty thousand experience per person.

At this moment, painting the Canghai Emperor had netted Li Hao over forty thousand experience points.

Previously, when Li Hao painted Yao Zu, he had received fifty thousand experience points. Whether this was because the Canghai Emperor fell short of Yao Zu, or because reaching the ninth rank in Painting Dao compressed the experience gained compared to when he was at the eighth rank, remained unclear.

Regardless, the Canghai Divine Dynasty claimed to have ten semi-saints under its service. If Li Hao could paint them all, he could accumulate four to five hundred thousand experience points.

If he painted them repeatedly, squeezing every bit of wool from the sheep, he might even gather over a million points.

As he continued painting, Li Hao also noticed the disparities in strength among the semi-saints. However, he couldn’t help but wonder how much experience he would gain if he painted himself.

Li Hao had tried self-portraits before in his alchemy courtyard, but no experience prompts appeared.

It seemed to function similarly to playing chess against himself—no experience was awarded. Exploiting the system’s loopholes this way was impossible.

Otherwise, he could paint himself after every increase in strength, achieving a form of self-sufficiency.

The Painting Dao experience from Chi Guang was only about fifteen thousand points shy of what the semi-saints provided. This was equivalent to the gap between Chi Guang and Yunshang Woman, surprising Li Hao. The Fire-type Divine Ability Chi Guang had demonstrated earlier clearly wasn’t his true strength.

Chi Guang had concealed his power well, clearly not intending to expose his abilities prematurely for a small amount of incense offerings.

After all, the upcoming Supreme Heaven's Chosen Tournament was the true stage. Revealing too much early on could lead to leaked information, resulting in significant losses.

“Qingfeng Benefactor also knows the Painting Dao?”

The Canghai Emperor was somewhat astonished when he saw Li Hao’s paintings. With his vast knowledge, he immediately recognized that Li Hao’s works were of masterpiece quality, capable of becoming timeless classics. Such achievements could not be attained simply by mimicking with a warrior's physical strength but rather stemmed from the subtle essence imbued within them.

Without extensive, painstaking research, it would be nearly impossible—unless Li Hao was a natural genius in Painting Dao.

Chi Guang, Yunshang Woman, and another individual glanced at Li Hao's paintings. Initially, they thought he was joking when he mentioned painting, but he had produced several masterpieces.

“This painting contains the rhythm of Dao!”

Yunshang Woman's eyes narrowed. She could tell the paintings were anything but ordinary.

Chi Guang took one look and raised an eyebrow, a hint of disdain flashing in his eyes.

The paintings were indeed remarkable, but that only made them laughable. Here was someone with talent who, instead of focusing on cultivation, wasted time on trivial side paths like this, squandering his potential.

Nearby, the royal court’s chief painter was stunned when he saw Li Hao’s work, his eyes filled with shock.

As someone deeply versed in Painting Dao, he understood better than anyone the profound level Li Hao's works had reached. For mortals, achieving such mastery would be an unattainable lifetime goal, and even he himself had not touched this realm. Yet, this young warrior had already stepped into it.

The realm of painting that entered Dao was the supreme pinnacle in his heart.

He now looked at Li Hao with genuine respect and admiration.

Li Hao painted casually, refraining from infusing his paintings with power. With his Painting Dao at the ninth rank, his works already carried formidable lethality, far beyond being mere objects of admiration.

After the master craftsmen finished measuring Li Hao and the others, Li Hao mentioned his earlier request: cultivation techniques.

Seeing Li Hao’s eagerness, the Canghai Emperor smiled and called over the crown prince. “My son, take Qingfeng Benefactor to visit the Hanhai Tower.”

The crown prince, a man of regal bearing, responded with a warm smile that felt like a spring breeze. “Qingfeng Benefactor, please follow me.”

It was then that Chi Guang and the others realized Li Hao had another request besides the Ten-City Region.

Chi Guang raised an eyebrow. He had not expected the other party to have such a demand, especially since top-tier cultivation techniques held even greater value to the royal family than a princess.

A cold smirk appeared in Chi Guang’s heart. How shortsighted the Canghai Divine Dynasty was!

Chi Guang had never demonstrated his full strength. Fire-type Divine Abilities? They were but surface-level techniques. His true abilities were yet to be revealed, and he did not plan to unveil them before the battles of the Canglan Realm.

To reveal his full strength before stepping out of the Canglan Realm would be a failure in his eyes.

His true goal was never the qualification to leave the Canglan Realm but to claim the top spot among the 33 Heavens!

At that time, the Canghai Divine Dynasty, offering incense power from an entire nation to revere him as an honored guest, would still be but a small presence among his followers. Chi Guang sneered inwardly but had no intention of rejecting the incense offering. For saints, the more incense power, the better. Wars among saints often arose over its acquisition.

Humans fight for dignity, while even Buddhas seek incense offerings.

Some saints, though not supreme, commanded immense reverence due to their abundant incense offerings.

With the court matters concluded, Li Hao followed the crown prince to the Canghai Divine Dynasty's treasure trove of cultivation techniques, the Hanhai Tower.

The Hanhai Tower stood tall and majestic, guarded by two Daoist Dragon Demons. As Li Hao approached, he couldn’t help but think of Song Qiumo back in the mortal realm. He wondered how she was faring now as the Guardian Spirit Beast of the Great Yu Divine Dynasty.

“Benefactor, please enter and make your selections at your leisure. I will wait for you outside,” the crown prince said with a smile, treating Li Hao with utmost courtesy.

Li Hao nodded slightly. Earlier, when he had painted, he had also created a piece for the crown prince. The painting had provided a surprising 18,000 Painting Dao experience points, on par with the Yunshang Woman. This alone was enough to show that the crown prince was a monstrously talented cultivator, though his aura appeared to be that of an ordinary Dao Law Realm practitioner.

Uninterested in the political intrigue within the royal family, Li Hao gave a polite bow and entered the Hanhai Tower.

Inside, the tower was stacked with cultivation techniques like mountains. Li Hao’s divine sense swept through the collection, casually flipping through the techniques. He noticed that, similar to the Sword Tower, these techniques were protected by restrictive seals.

These seals mainly served to block access to deeper content and prevent memorization or replication by individuals with exceptional memory, such as those in the Three Immortal Realm.

To Li Hao, however, these restrictions posed no obstacle. Just as he had in the Sword Tower, he began recording each technique into his interface.

As the list of techniques on his interface grew, countless streams of information flooded his mind. However, this time, Li Hao refrained from cultivating directly within the Hanhai Tower.

With the lessons learned from the Sword Tower, he suspected this tower might also be a hidden weapon of the Canghai Emperor.

...

A full day passed, and Li Hao had successfully recorded all the techniques within the Hanhai Tower.

The number of techniques here rivaled that of the Sword Tower, but their quality was inferior. The number of supreme Dao-level techniques and Divine Abilities was less than a fifth of what the Sword Tower contained.

Even so, the Hanhai Tower’s collection was a treasure trove for Li Hao.

The next day marked the Hundred Strong Battle, but Li Hao was unconcerned. He selected three techniques from the Hanhai Tower as a pretense, removed the seals for the crown prince, and took them with him. With this done, he began his journey back to Ji Dao Mountain.

Chi Guang and Yunshang Woman had already returned earlier. When Li Hao arrived at Ji Dao Mountain, he found that as a benefactor of the Canghai Divine Dynasty, he had been granted a private courtyard for seclusion and preparation.

The courtyard was guarded by royal soldiers, ensuring that no one would disturb Li Hao during his meditative cultivation.

Inside the courtyard, Li Hao set up a barrier before sitting down to cultivate. He began practicing the techniques he had recorded earlier. Many of these were related to saber and spear arts, which Li Hao did not specialize in. While the interface allowed him to reach the entry level for these techniques, he had no intention of investing points to advance them. Despite having some spare skill points, his supply wasn’t abundant.

Moreover, a single offensive technique was sufficient.

In battles between masters, the decisive factor was often a single lethal move. Everything else was mere setup.

As he practiced the body refining techniques and Sword Dao techniques, Li Hao’s Dao Domain steadily grew, reaching 180 layers!

However, he still hadn’t reached the limit of his Dao Domain, proving his earlier assumptions wrong.

“Could the limit be 360 layers?”

Li Hao’s eyes gleamed with determination. If this were the case, it would align with the maximum number of 360 soul condensations for Soul Fusion Heaven and Earth.

The thought filled him with renewed drive. He was eager to discover what would happen upon mastering a Dao Domain at its peak.

After all, the Dao Domain was the strongest tool in the Fourth Pillar Realm. The difference between having one and not having one was as vast as heaven and earth.

Although a few prodigies, such as Jiang Lichen, could use Sword Dao to break through Dao Domains, such individuals were rare. Within the Fourth Pillar Realm, achieving a Sword Dao level of seven or even eight segments was the mark of an exceptional genius.

In the Sword Ancestor Holy Land, many saintly heirs in the Dao Law Realm had only reached the eighth level of Sword Dao, and their sword intents varied greatly in strength.

Even among those at the eighth level, differences in power were immense. For instance, Haoyue Holy Son’s Sword Dao far surpassed that of his peers.

...

Li Hao did not pause, continuing his cultivation.

His Dao Domain steadily increased in stability, breaking through to 200 layers by dusk!

...

Li Hao estimated that with the remaining techniques, he could cultivate another 20 layers, reaching a total of 220 layers. This was the extent of the Canghai Divine Dynasty’s foundational techniques.

Of course, the dynasty’s most secretive and forbidden techniques weren’t stored in the Hanhai Tower. However, such techniques were exceedingly rare, numbering at most ten.

The next day, the Hundred Strong Battle was held on Ji Dao Mountain.

Before the matches began, Li Hao continued cultivating in his secluded courtyard.

His Dao Domain grew to 210 layers, with enough techniques left to add another 10 layers.

“If the limit of a Dao Domain is truly 360 layers, I’m still far from it. These remaining 140 layers will have to come from the techniques of the major sects and first-class factions…”

Li Hao’s eyes sparkled. If he could analyze the techniques of the various top-tier sects in the Canglan Realm, his Dao Domain would surely reach its peak!

Unlike the other contestants, Li Hao wasn’t focused solely on winning the Supreme Heaven's Chosen Tournament. His ultimate rival was the Void Saint!

To claim first place, he needed strength to contend with saints. Without such power, he risked being assassinated by the Void Saint during the top-ten matches.

While others only needed to worry about competing with their peers, Li Hao had to guard against a saint-level opponent.

“If I can master the Dao Domain to its peak, my strength should rival that of a semi-saint…”

Li Hao’s gaze flickered. He hadn’t tested his full strength in a long time.

Since his Dao Domain grew from over 50 layers during his training in the Sword Tower to its current 210 layers, he couldn’t predict the destructive power of fully combining his Dao Domain.

Back when his Dao Domain was at 97 layers, he had already noticed it could affect space itself. Simply by activating it, he could shatter laws and solidify the Great Dao!

Now, it was undoubtedly even more terrifying.

Moreover, if he mastered the Dao Domain to its peak, he would possess the power of the Eight Extremes Realm!

...

“Are you daydreaming?”

On the battle platform, Li Hao’s opponent, seeing his vacant expression, frowned and sneered coldly.

Li Hao snapped out of his thoughts and saw a luxuriously dressed young man with an extraordinary bearing. Offering a polite smile, he said, “Apologies, I was lost in thought.”

“Hmph.”

The young man snorted, unwilling to waste words. As soon as the formation stabilized, he charged at Li Hao with his spear.

Li Hao raised his hand, summoning a gust of autumn wind that swept forward like a blade.

Boom!

Sword qi sliced out like a flash of light, shattering the young man’s momentum. His spear trembled violently, and the gathered aura collapsed instantly. A deep sword wound appeared on his chest.

Struggling to his feet, the young man looked at Li Hao in fear. What kind of sword qi was this?

He had sensed an overwhelming aura of death but realized at the last moment that Li Hao had held back.

His expression shifted from pale to red as he recognized he had faced an extraordinary prodigy.

“Consider it my apology,” Li Hao said with a slight bow. After the referee announced the result, Li Hao stepped off the platform and returned to mulling over his Dao Domain.

Though the match had ended swiftly, the audience was in an uproar.

“Prince Luo Jia lost—defeated in an instant!”

“He had two great ultimate techniques but didn’t even get a chance to use them.”

“That’s nothing. Didn’t you watch the earlier battles? Qingfeng Benefactor crushed a genius with a 20-layer Dao Domain during the previous match. His opponent’s Dao heart shattered, and they withdrew before even making it into the top hundred!”

...

Several well-dressed figures watched from the crowd. One of them, a fan-wielding youth, looked at his cold-faced junior sister and chuckled.

“Qingyi, don’t let these fools’ words get to you.”

Li Qingyi snorted but said nothing.

...

The Hundred Strong Battle would continue until only the top ten remained, which was why Li Qingyi had returned to observe the matches. She wanted to see if anyone could force Li Hao to reveal more of his abilities.

Having recognized Li Hao as a potential rival in the Canglan Realm battles, she had come to gather intelligence on his techniques rather than for entertainment.

“He’s as decisive as ever. Does he plan to rely solely on his sword techniques to reach the end?”

Another elegant youth sighed.

“With his swordsmanship, he’s qualified for the top ten, maybe even the top spot,” another agreed, clearly impressed.

The fan-wielding youth shook his head. “Top ten, perhaps. Even top three isn’t impossible. But first place? That’s unlikely unless he has other hidden skills. Without them, claiming first will be difficult.”

“Hmm?”

Li Qingyi looked at him quizzically.

The fan-wielding youth smiled. “There’s news that a peerless prodigy from Nanrong Nation’s Huaguang Cavern, named Chi Guang, is participating. Compared to the Buddhist Sect’s Twin Prodigies, he’s only slightly inferior.”

“Is he that strong?”

The group was stunned. To be compared to the Twin Prodigies of the Buddhist Sect was no small matter.

...

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