Follow the path of Dao from infancy Chapter 1739 Chapter 443: Arriving One After Another

A magnificent and opulent villa sat perched at the peak of Extreme Dao Mountain.

"Only three years remain..."

"The Endless Heavenly Domain is on the verge of opening. Throughout these past three hundred years, my Chaos Law has progressed from three refined paths to eleven. This level is merely comparable to when Junior Brother Haotian first arrived..."

Draped in an elegant dark-gold dress, Di Lingshu’s brow was tightly knit. She had never anticipated that for this upcoming journey to the Endless Heavenly Domain, she would actually need to depend on a junior brother who had joined the Sect much later than her.

"It has been over seven centuries since I came to the Primordial True Realm for my Cultivation. Currently, my average speed for refining the Chaos Law is one path every forty years. The further I progress, the more sluggish the pace becomes. Reaching twenty paths of Chaos Law might eventually require over a century of effort for even the slightest advancement."

She felt a wave of defeat wash over her as she contemplated Junior Brother Haotian’s absurd Cultivation speed.

In the past, her confidence within the Sect was unshakable, yet these last three hundred years had forced her to realize she wasn't at the pinnacle of the ranks. Above her, in addition to the Master Senior Brother and the monstrous Second Senior Brother, there was now a freakish existence like Junior Brother Haotian.

"Looking back at my history, it took me two hundred years to comprehend sixty-nine chaotic stars, and another century to condense them into twenty-three paths of Chaos Law—a total of only three hundred years. But now..."

Di Lingshu let out a sigh, shaking her head gently in disappointment.

"In this same three-hundred-year span, Junior Brother Haotian should have refined twenty-three paths of Chaos Law long ago. While I spent three hundred years of Cultivation just to condense twenty-three paths, he has already refined that many and leaped across an entire major realm..."

"I wonder what sort of preparations Junior Brother Haotian is currently making?"

She shifted her gaze, looking past the courtyard wall in an attempt to glimpse the activity within the small, fenced-in garden.

...

"Dong~"

The soft notes of a zither drifted through the air, mingled with the scent of roasted meat and the sound of laughter.

"Your cooking skills are improving."

Shi Miao sat beside Li Hao’s zither table, clutching a piece of Ancient Demon Flesh. She smiled as she ate, her teeth and lips glistening with grease.

Li Hao gave a faint smile. As the zither music spun from his fingers, the surrounding immortal power condensed into elegant fairy silhouettes that danced gracefully before the strings.

"A single sound compels heaven and earth to dance."

Li Hao spoke the words softly to himself.

Ever since he achieved the thirteenth stage in the Painting Realm, Li Hao had turned his focus toward the Cultivation of musical rhythm.

The courtyard was too cramped for fishing, and carving was a solitary, inward process; he would often become so absorbed that he forgot Shi Miao was there. Only through the zither could he balance his comprehension with an awareness of his environment.

After a century of playing, his experience in musical rhythm had reached its limit. He had fallen into a deep epiphany during this time. When Li Hao finally woke, Shi Miao informed him that sixty years had passed in an instant, causing Li Hao to click his tongue in silent shock.

He had often heard that at higher realms, a moment of comprehension could last for millennia. He hadn't expected it to be literal.

A single trance had swallowed sixty years without him even noticing.

Furthermore, that epiphany hadn't triggered a breakthrough, nor had it allowed him to fully grasp the Music Rhythm Realm, though he felt he was standing right on the threshold.

As his hands came to a rest, the beautiful fairy shadows bowed toward Li Hao before dissolving into a faint immortal mist, scattering like drifting sand away from the strings.

"The thirteenth stage of the mind is truly a difficult peak to scale," Li Hao mused.

A century of meditation hadn't yielded a single stage of progress. Yet, in just a few decades prior, he had raised several other artistic skills from the first to the twelfth stage! The chasm between the twelfth and thirteenth stages felt like an impassable divide; Li Hao could sense a massive boundary between the two.

"The sound of your zither is already capable of affecting space-time," Shi Miao remarked.

While he played, the space-time within the courtyard had rippled and shook alongside the manifest dancers. Sometimes it was serene, other times turbulent—stirring like a sudden storm or slowing to a crawl like a peaceful brook. Because her own mastery over time was profound, she could feel the depth of Li Hao's music clearly.

In a real fight, Li Hao’s zither music would be a terrifying immortal technique capable of slaying enemies.

"The Painting Realm can reverse time... but for musical rhythm, what heart should define the Dao?"

Li Hao’s eyes shifted; he had yet to discover the "world heart" of music. Though he was merely a step away, that step was the most vital of all.

Inside the small courtyard, the years continued to slip away.

Three years vanished in the blink of an eye. For those in the Immortal Monarch Realm, three years was nothing more than a passing moment.

Within the main hall at the peak of Extreme Dao Mountain, Li Hao and Senior Sister Di Lingshu stood before their Master. Gu Mofan, Di Wushè, and the other senior disciples had also sent their incarnations to gather there.

"Junior Brother, three centuries have passed. Surely you have finished refining twenty-three paths of Chaos Law by now?"

The group greeted Li Hao with warm smiles as they appeared.

Li Hao had stunned the entire Primordial True Realm when he first joined the Sect three hundred years ago. Now, they assumed he must have reached the pinnacle of the Immortal Monarch Realm.

"Hmm..."

Li Hao rubbed the back of his head. He had refrained from adding the sixth stage of the Chaos Dao, fearing that the Chaos Immortal Emperor or the Original Immortal Emperor might be monitoring him. He intended to make his move once he entered the Endless Heavenly Domain.

Consequently, his Chaos Law remained at twenty-one refined paths.

Seeing his vague answer, the others simply smiled, choosing not to pry. They assumed Li Hao was just being humble. Since he had already reached twenty-one paths two hundred years ago, they believed his talent would have easily allowed him to refine the remaining two paths despite the increasing difficulty.

The Dao Origin Immortal Emperor cast a glance at Li Hao, making the young man feel as though his very soul was being examined. He broke into a cold sweat; it seemed his true progress in the Chaos Refining Law hadn't escaped his Master's eyes.

However, the Dao Origin Immortal Emperor said nothing about it, simply speaking in a calm tone:

"The Endless Heavenly Domain is about to open. You two will journey there alongside the outer sect disciples. It is a realm of immense fortune, but it is also a graveyard. Once inside, no one can assist you—not even your Master!"