Cultivation Begins from Infancy - Chapter 345

Volume 3 - Chapter 70: A Sword Clears the City - Part 1

The thunderous roar of rage that echoed across the heavens and earth left everyone in shock. Faces full of disbelief turned toward the distant horizon.

However, the distance was too great for them to see anything. This fact alone indicated that the one who had spoken possessed an incredibly terrifying strength, with senses far beyond their comprehension.

"Who is it?"

"Who is shouting?"

"Could it be reinforcements for our Li Family?"

Within the city, all the soldiers were alarmed. The roar was deafening, proof that the individual behind it wielded immense power.

Even the fleeing civilians on the streets heard it. They were dumbstruck, feeling as though the voice came from a divine being above the heavens, unleashing an enraged roar as it looked down upon the mortal world.

"This voice… could it be that child? Impossible. He’s already dead..."

He Jianlan and Li Hongzhuang were deeply shaken, their eyes widening slightly. The voice was so familiar yet subtly different from what they remembered.

But that form of address—it was something only the younger generation used for Li Muxiu. And among the younger generation, only that child had such a close relationship with him.

Could it be… a miracle?

Their blood surged wildly, a mix of excitement and nervous trembling. They didn’t dare believe it, nor did they dare look away.

Yet they strained their eyes, peering desperately into the distant horizon.

...

In midair, Long Jue Shen and Feng Lingxiao, who had been ready to strike, froze.

"Reinforcements from the Li Family?"

They could sense the fury within the voice, an attempt to intimidate them. However, as they extended their senses toward the source of the voice, they found nothing.

It was too far, beyond their range of perception. Didn’t that mean this person’s strength exceeded their own?

The two exchanged a glance, both seeing shock in each other’s eyes. A moment later, their killing intent surged.

"Strike fast!"

They had to eliminate Li Muxiu before the situation escalated, avoiding any further complications.

At this moment, Li Muxiu, who was completely exhausted and resigned to his fate, also heard the sudden shout.

The sorrow within the voice, coupled with the familiar form of address, made his body, which had already given up on survival, tense slightly.

His eyes, which had been shut tight, opened once again.

Was this an illusion? To hear the child’s voice before death…

But that child was already dead. He had heard it from the couple themselves, seen it with his own eyes—killed by the Abyssal Saint, without even the chance to enter the River of Death like an ordinary person. Utterly annihilated.

Moreover, when he revisited Tianmen Pass to investigate, he heard that Li Hao’s avatar had shattered and disappeared at some point.

The destruction of the avatar was proof that Li Hao’s true body was no more.

Yet now… was he imagining things?

Li Muxiu’s gaze focused, seeing Long Jue Shen and Feng Lingxiao rushing toward him. Their dao domains were rapidly expanding, attempting to crush him before they even got close.

But Li Muxiu could no longer muster the strength to maintain his dao domain to resist them.

Even if that child were alive, there would be no reason for him to come back…

The Li Family owed him far too much…

Li Muxiu thought bitterly as he watched the approaching dao domains. He wanted to fight back, but his body felt like it was falling apart. He could only await the momentary agony that would end his life.

As the dao domains loomed closer, it felt as though time suddenly slowed. A blazing light, as radiant as divine fire, erupted before Li Muxiu’s eyes.

Half of the fearsome dao domain attacks were abruptly erased!

Behind the dao domains, however, Long Jue Shen and Feng Lingxiao’s Sacred Heart Treasure attacks followed closely. The overwhelming assault obliterated all light and shadow in an instant.

Yet, at that moment, the world suddenly fell silent.

The Sacred Heart Treasures, which had been hurtling toward Li Muxiu with earth-shattering force, struck a crimson figure standing before him instead.

With a deafening explosion, the heavens and earth shook violently!

Every ounce of the violent onslaught and raging winds was blocked, unable to reach Li Muxiu. A golden-haired youth stood unwavering in the fiery light, towering before Li Muxiu like an immovable mountain.

His golden hair fluttered in the air, and the intense divine fire surrounding him scattered under the impact of the two Sacred Heart Treasures, sending sparks flying in all directions. Like a blade heated to a glowing red, hammered repeatedly by iron, it emitted a dazzling brilliance.

Yet his feet did not retreat an inch. With his body alone—his chest as a shield—he withstood the full force of the furious attacks.

Li Muxiu stared blankly, momentarily dazed.

The youth’s back was both familiar and unfamiliar. His once despairing heart trembled violently, his eyes widening inch by inch. The speculations and thoughts flooding his mind made him afraid to believe, afraid to disturb the scene, fearing it was all an illusion conjured by his dying consciousness.

And then, the youth slowly raised his head. His golden hair, like flames, danced wildly as his eyes burned with an indescribable fury. He glared at the two astonished faces before him and roared:

"How dare you!!!"

With a sudden gust, the ground below surged as if swept by a mighty wave, scattering dust and debris in all directions. The immense force rippled outward like a hurricane, dispersing everything in its path.

In that instant, Long Jue Shen and Feng Lingxiao halted abruptly.

"A dao domain… Could he be…?"

"Impossible!"

They stared in disbelief at the youth before them, his body bathed in a divine, fiery glow. His powerful and perfectly proportioned figure stood like an indomitable wall of gold, blocking their path.

What shook them to the core wasn't the dao domain energy radiating from the youth, but the fact that he was using his physical body to withstand the Sacred Heart Treasures' assault.

What kind of monster was this?

"Kneel!"

The youth's single word seemed to resonate across realms.

A five-layered dao domain burst forth instantly, and the several hundred meters of void in front of him shuddered as though pressed down by an unimaginable force, causing the ground to quiver violently.

Long Jue Shen and Feng Lingxiao had barely reacted when the dao domain enveloped them. Hastily, they tried to deploy their own dao domains to resist, but they were once again struck by an unexpected shock.

Their dao domains were locked within their own bodies, unable to extend at all!

Without the dao domain's protection, the overpowering force within the youth's dao domain crashed down upon them. With two heavy thuds, the leaders of two top-tier demonic forces plummeted to the ground, slamming into it with a tremendous impact.

Their entire bodies, from head to toe, down to each strand of hair, were immobilized by an overwhelming power. They could not move an inch!

This vast, boundless force far exceeded their capacity to resist. It felt as though it could effortlessly crush them, as easily as squashing a bug.

Long Jue Shen and Feng Lingxiao were filled with unparalleled horror. In thousands, even tens of thousands of years, they had never been this helplessly fearful. The abruptness of the youth's arrival and his sudden overpowering presence had completely shattered their perceptions.

Moments ago, they hadn't even detected his approach, yet in the blink of an eye, he had crossed their sensory limits, appearing directly in front of them with unimaginable speed.

Li Hao gazed down at the two immobilized demon leaders. Though flames still burned in his eyes, the icy rage within him prevented him from ending their lives immediately.

He turned around, facing the city behind him, and extended a gentle hand to lift Li Muxiu’s frail form.

Seeing the old man’s broken arms, his body half-severed, Li Hao’s fierce expression softened, and a hint of moisture gleamed in his eyes.

When Li Hao turned to face him, Li Muxiu’s eyes, which had been gradually widening, finally opened fully, trembling with realization.

The face before him was different from the one in his memories, but those eyes and the emotion within them left him with no doubt—this was the child who had made him weep so many times.

The child who had once fished by the lake with him.

The child who had shared roasted meat in the Tingyu Pavilion.

His body shook as he choked out, "Is it really you, Hao'er? Am I seeing things? I almost… couldn't recognize you..."

Li Hao had been reborn from the depths of the abyss with the power of heaven and earth. His appearance and voice had both changed somewhat, yet those closest to him could still see a trace of his past self.

"It’s me, Second Elder."

Holding the battered form of Li Muxiu, Li Hao lowered his head, his voice laced with bitterness and sorrow. "I’m sorry I came too late."

Youzhou and Liangzhou were nearby, yet on that snowy day when he had left the Li Family for Tianmen Pass, the journey had taken him five days.

Returning now, with Candlefire God racing full speed across Youzhou and Liangzhou, it had still taken half a day to arrive.

Once he had entered Qingzhou, Li Hao had seen devastated cities and desolate lands. Many city walls were already overrun by demons. He instantly knew that Qingzhou City was on the verge of falling; otherwise, with the strength of the Li Family’s military, they would never abandon these towns or their people unless they were desperately stretched thin.

So he hadn’t stopped to free those cities occupied by demons. Instead, he had pushed Candlefire God to exert its undying power and sprinted ahead, barely making it in time.

Luckily, he had his Flying Slash technique, which doubled his range. Just now, he had activated the full power of his nine-layered dao domain, pushing it to the extreme and continuously shifting his attack range by displacing the air, allowing him to perform consecutive short-range teleportations. Only in this way had he managed to block the two deadly strikes in the nick of time.

Hearing Li Hao's words, Li Muxiu finally accepted that this was indeed the child he had longed for and dreamed about countless times.

"You would still call me Second Elder…"

Li Muxiu's eyes filled with tears. "But I failed to protect you, Hao'er. You suffered far too much, and it was my own incompetence…"

Li Hao understood what Li Muxiu meant. Fragments of past memories flickered through his mind, but he shook his head slightly, reining in his sorrow. Taking a deep breath, he spoke:

"Second Elder, rest now. Heal your body. Xiyan, help take care of him for me."

Xiyan obediently responded, "Yes, your Second Elder is my Second Elder too."

Extending from Li Hao's wrist, Xiyan rooted herself into the ground, producing a slender crimson tendril that gently touched Li Muxiu’s wounds, transferring energy to help him heal.

Li Muxiu noticed that Xiyan was a demon, but he felt no fear, allowing her to treat his injuries.

At that moment, the silhouette of Candlefire God came charging up. Moments earlier, Li Hao had burst forth to protect Li Muxiu, moving so quickly that he left Candlefire God far behind.

When he saw Candlefire God, Li Muxiu’s pupils shrank slightly. Although the Taixu Realm had been secluded for a millennium and its master seldom appeared, Li Muxiu had encountered him before and recognized him immediately. It was the ruler of the Taixu Realm!

“Second Elder, don’t be afraid,” Li Hao reassured, gently placing Li Muxiu on Candlefire God’s back.

Li Muxiu froze, quickly realizing that Candlefire God held great reverence for Li Hao, devoid of any hostility.

Could it be… that Li Hao had subdued it?

The thought made his heart tremble. This was the ruler of the Taixu Realm…

After safely placing his elder on Candlefire God’s back, Li Hao turned to face the vast city.

His aura continued to surge like a burning deity, his gaze icy, radiating an aura of sovereign dominance as though he alone commanded the heavens and earth.

In that moment, though he stood outside the city, he became the sole, blinding light in the heavens and earth.

Within the city, aside from the demonic forces still storming the walls, the elder demons battling inside abruptly stopped, horrified as they looked at the youth.

This youth’s single word had subdued two demon leaders, shattering their perception and striking terror into their hearts.

Aside from these demon kings, He Jianlan, Li Hongzhuang, and others in the city were also left staring blankly at the youth.

The youth’s face was as beautiful as a god’s, but his brows held a coldness as harsh as frost, carrying an intense killing aura.

His appearance seemed familiar, yet they dared not acknowledge it. Only this youth could have stood in such a way before Li Muxiu. It felt as if they were witnessing a miracle.

Could it be… that he really wasn’t dead?

"Who is that?"

"I don’t sense the Li Family’s aura on him, but he’s incredibly strong—unimaginably strong!"

"A dao domain… and not just one. His physical body withstood the Sacred Heart Treasures’ attack. Could this really be happening?"

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