Cultivation Begins from Infancy - Chapter 346

Volume 3 - Chapter 70: A Sword That Cleanses the City - Part 2

In midair, the ancestral spirits of the Li Family, witnessing the sudden appearance of the young man on the battlefield, were all struck with astonishment. Their expressions reflected shock, awe, and above all, a deep confusion.

Since when could the Great Yu Divine Dynasty nurture such a prodigious genius?

“Who is that? How could our Li Family have formed ties with someone of such caliber? If we had known, there would have been no need for us to step out of the ancestral shrine,” one of the remnant souls of the Li Family's elders murmured.

Next to him stood a plump young boy, who stared blankly at the golden figure in the distance and mumbled, “That... should be... Brother Hao.”

“Brother Hao?” The elder’s remnant soul glanced at the boy. The way he addressed the figure so intimately suggested a connection between them. But aside from their age difference, the disparity in cultivation levels was so vast that any sort of relationship seemed improbable.

“It’s him... It must be him! He’s calling out to Second Uncle; it has to be him...” Li Wushuang murmured to herself. Gazing at the young man, despite his changed appearance, his aura and the crimson-gold body remained unmistakable. She knew—it was him. He had returned!

Tears welled up in her eyes, rolling down uncontrollably. He wasn’t dead. He had come back!

“I knew it! That Chong Er is truly him...”

High above, Song Yufeng also spotted the youth, his eyes brimming with a radiant gleam.

The Li Family’s earlier announcement, along with the funeral they held for the youth, could not possibly have been fabricated. At one point, even Song Yufeng had doubted whether the Chong Er he had encountered was truly Li Hao. After all, the Merit Ranking never made mistakes, and it still listed the name "Chong Er."

Yet, the Li Family’s actions were no joke, leaving Song Yufeng in a whirl of confusion. But now, he was overjoyed to the point of wanting to laugh aloud.

Without a doubt, the Merit Ranking could not be wrong—it was not something mere mortals could manipulate. If there had been a mistake, it must have been the Li Family’s. The youth never truly died; perhaps what they had seen was merely a false illusion of his demise.

No matter the reason, this unparalleled genius was alive. Not only was he a prodigy of the Li Family, but also the hope for the Great Yu Divine Dynasty’s future!

“It seems he has already reached the Dao Domain... Truly a little monster...” Song Yufeng exclaimed in awe, his initial joy giving way to amazement.

Nearby, the Water Qilin halted its movements. Its watery blue eyes brimmed with emotion as it gazed at the figure.

“Who is that...” Ji Qingqing murmured, watching from a distance. She felt a faint sense of familiarity, yet he remained a stranger to her.

By now, Li Hao’s gaze had swept across the entire city. His divine sense encompassed all of Qingzhou City, covering every inch of its expanse. Though this was a vast city spanning a hundred li, even an ordinary cultivator at the Fourth Pillar Realm could traverse such a distance with a single thought, let alone someone like him.

As his gaze passed over the familiar faces within the city, Li Hao let out a subtle sigh of relief, feeling a weight lift off his chest. He briefly locked eyes with the azure Water Qilin and offered her a faint smile.

Then, his eyes fell upon the golden remnant souls draped like feathered robes over the members of the Li Family. The sight reminded him of the scene at Dragon City’s River of Death, and he instantly understood.

At the same time, the demon elders and kings seemed paralyzed, too intimidated to make any rash moves. However, the waves of demon hordes surrounding the city continued their frenzied assault, breaching the weakened military defenses to wreak havoc inside, chasing after civilians and causing widespread destruction.

Li Hao’s gaze turned icy, his eyes gleaming like frost. He raised his hand, and the Earth and Heaven Meridian surged forth. In an instant, the power of heaven and earth within a radius of several hundred meters gathered into his palm, drawn together like water being sucked by a whale.

This massive energy condensed rapidly, forming a sword aura dozens of meters long. Its brilliance pierced the heavens, dimming the light of the world.

As the sword aura took shape in his palm, countless more sword auras branched off, soaring into the sky above Qingzhou City. In moments, they arranged themselves into a dense array, forming a heavenly canopy of swords.

The vast scale and sheer number of swords immobilized every demon king and demon within the city.

Among them, some demons who had fought in Liang Province paled in fear, particularly the infamous Bai Shenjun.

At last, Bai Shenjun recognized him. Though the figure’s appearance had changed, the aura was unmistakable.

That youth... was the terrifying young warrior from Liang Province!

“It’s Haotian—it’s General Haotian!!” Bai Shenjun’s eyes filled with terror and despair.

During the Battle of Liang Province, he had witnessed the youth’s terrifying power firsthand. By avoiding direct combat against him in the final confrontation, Bai Shenjun had managed to save his life.

But now, that same youth had returned, more formidable and fearsome than ever. His growth was beyond imagination!

Their palace master had been subdued, the dragon god of the Dragon Gate was defeated, and the Bai Shenjun had even noticed the once-mighty Candlefire God—a ruler of the Void Realm—standing obediently by the youth’s side as though he had submitted to him.

“Run!!” Driven by a primal desire to survive, Bai Shenjun let out a desperate scream before turning tail and fleeing, abandoning all thoughts of honor or responsibility. His only thought now was to escape Qingzhou, to escape the Great Yu Divine Dynasty entirely.

Bai Shenjun’s cries of terror and despair shook the other demon kings out of their stupor. Their hearts trembled as the name "Haotian" echoed in their minds. Since the Battle of Liang Province, this name had become a thunderous symbol of dread within the demon race.

Haotian! The young warrior of the human race, a monstrous prodigy elevated to the rank of a War God! His name was spoken among demons like an instinctive reaction to fear.

“He... wasn’t he dead?” a demon king muttered, staring at the countless sword auras densely packed in the sky. The overwhelming power that radiated from these swords made even the idea of escaping seem futile.

The Li Family had long since declared his death. The demons had taken this as fact, but now the sight before them shattered their beliefs. What was this, if not a nightmare made real?

No answers were forthcoming. The only response was the continuous emergence of more sword auras. Like countless pairs of cold, unfeeling eyes, the sword energy gazed down at the demon horde.

As the demon kings began to flee, the swords in the sky surged forward at unimaginable speed. They fell like rain, moving like a celestial dragon, mercilessly pursuing the retreating demon kings.

Bai Shenjun, knowing that Li Hao’s attacks were extraordinarily strange and unavoidable, roared furiously as he unleashed his full strength. Transforming into his true form, he used his demonic arts to try to destroy the oncoming sword energy. However, the sword energy in the form of a dragon was far more ferocious than what he had encountered in Liang Province. The dragon’s fangs and claws shredded his demonic arts with ease, striking him directly.

Bai Shenjun’s pupils contracted as a terrifying realization struck him—Li Hao had advanced to the Fourth Pillar Realm, and not just any realm but the Supreme Dao Domain, giving him control over Dao Rhythms. This meant that any attack once locked onto a target was bound to hit unless one could sever the Dao Rhythms themselves.

Although Bai Shenjun had the ability to counteract Dao Rhythms, the enormous energy consumption made it unsustainable. He might have been able to block one or two strikes, but the sheer number of sword energies descending upon him was beyond his capacity to stop.

...

The battlefield was vast, and the torrential rain of swords unrelenting. Bai Shenjun, roaring and struggling as the sword energies pierced his body, managed to survive for a short while. However, before long, his strength ebbed away as though someone had plucked the spine from his body. His soul seemed to be dragged from him, leaving his body limp and powerless.

“I...” Bai Shenjun's eyes widened in despair. His gaze dimmed as unwillingness and terror filled him. He once again experienced the terrifying inevitability of Li Hao's attacks.

But this time, there would be no chance for him to reverse his fate.

Thud!

Bai Shenjun’s lifeless body plummeted to the ground. Other demon kings suffered similar fates, pursued by the relentless sword energy dragons in the sky. They too fell one after another, their auras extinguished.

The two major demon forces that had once driven even the Li Family’s ancestral spirits to ignite their remnant souls in battle were now reduced to a pitiful state. Fleeing in all directions like panicked insects, they were cut down without mercy. None could escape the range of Li Hao’s attacks. Any attempt to approach the city’s borders was met with an even fiercer onslaught.

The once-mighty demon kings, who had terrorized the city, now wailed and howled as they fell. Some even knelt in submission, begging to become Li Hao’s servants, willing to toil like beasts under his command. Yet, even such pleas could not spare them from annihilation.

A rain of swords and a sea of blood painted the battlefield. The ferocity of the scene left everyone in the city speechless. Those who had fought desperately to protect the city stared in stunned silence.

The name the demon kings had shouted reverberated in their minds—Haotian.

Though some had hesitated to believe it, the scene before them left no room for doubt. The youth was indeed Haotian.

“Hao’er...” Tears welled up in He Jianlan’s eyes, along with many others. They hadn’t expected that, at the city’s most perilous moment, it would be Li Hao who returned to save them.

The youth who had once stepped out of the Li Family was now a lone warrior saving all of Qingzhou City.

...

Outside the city, the waves of demon hordes continued to press forward. Though those at the front were paralyzed with fear, those further back, unaware of the calamity ahead, obeyed orders and charged relentlessly.

Li Hao’s gaze swept across the battlefield with a calm intensity. Raising his hand, he unleashed the sword energy in his palm, slicing it toward the incoming horde.

What seemed like a casual strike birthed a magnificent sword light. Under the guidance of Dao Rhythms, the sword aura transformed into a blinding arc that cleaved through the massive demon tide outside the city.

The strike resembled a celestial god pressing a finger onto an ant colony. The horde disintegrated, leaving a deep chasm in the ground. Within the area touched by the sword light, countless demons were obliterated, their forms reduced to nothingness.

The sword aura did not dissipate after landing. Instead, it fragmented into countless smaller beams of sword light, weaving through the ranks of the demon horde.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Demons fell one after another, their bodies pierced before they even realized what had happened. The massive demon tide that spanned several dozen li disintegrated under the relentless barrage of sword light.

Li Hao lowered his hand, his cold gaze settling on two demon leaders pinned beneath him.

...

“Don’t... don’t kill me! I can serve as your mount!” Feng Lingxiao pleaded desperately. His body trembled under the suppression of Li Hao’s Dao Domain, feeling as helpless as a chick on a butcher’s block.

In contrast, Long Jue Shen gritted his teeth. As a dragon god who had cultivated for millennia, his desire for life was overwhelming, but his pride as a member of the Dragon Clan would not permit him to beg.

“Even if you kill me, the Tianyuan Dragon Clan will never forgive you,” Long Jue Shen declared, meeting Li Hao’s gaze directly. Though he knew submission would grant him life, he would rather die with dignity than endure a lifetime of humiliation.

Not all creatures could bow to death.

“You dared plot against the Great Yu Divine Dynasty. Who gave you the courage to gamble everything so recklessly?” Li Hao’s cold, emotionless voice reverberated as he looked down at them.

“It was the Three Wild Gods!” Feng Lingxiao cried out, scrambling to save himself. “They forced us into this! The Sacred Palace always maintained peace with the Great Yu Divine Dynasty, upholding an agreement made with the previous emperor thousands of years ago. We were left with no choice!”

“The Three Wild Gods?” Li Hao’s eyes narrowed slightly. When his Dao Domain expanded earlier, he had sensed a strange, residual energy in the air—a genuine Dao Force. He had encountered a similar sensation before, from the Dao-Seeker experts of the Ji Family.

To command such top-tier demon forces and render the real person of Qiandao Palace utterly still, it could only be a Dao-Seeker...

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