Follow the path of Dao from infancy Chapter 1783 Chapter 460: One Step to Heaven (Part 2)

Li Hao shot a brief look at the group, his eyes gliding across Chi Yuan and his companions, his gaze tightening a touch. He itched to strike, yet an abrupt hunch stirred deep inside him. Raising his sight to the peak of Tianlu, he felt as if something lay in wait for his approach.

"Don't bother me anymore."

He offered no further words, just dropped that line, and then bolted forward in a flash, abandoning the others in his dust.

As Li Hao departed, the assembly snapped out of their trance-like stupor. The sturdy middle-aged figure next to Luo Ningshuang regained his composure too, drawing in a heavy breath before murmuring: "Is this the personal heir of that Dao Origin Immortal Emperor?"

Luo Ningshuang remained a bit stunned. Were it not for Li Hao's aura still marking him as an Immortal Lord, she might have thought he'd already surged past to seal the king.

After a short hush, the group abruptly remembered they stood on Tianlu.

"Hurry, hurry, pursue him!"

Chi Yuan snapped to attention as well, shoving aside his clash with Luo Ningshuang and the rest. Should Li Hao claim the summit, their shot would vanish entirely.

"If failure's not on your mind, join forces to halt him!"

Chi Yuan bellowed in fury while charging ahead.

The remaining pair voiced no protests, and Luo Ningshuang along with Xue Consort, catching on quick, trailed right after, staying mum on Chi Yuan's call.

"You wish."

Only Su Wanyi snapped back with icy disdain.

Chi Yuan shot Su Wanyi a venomous glare, and as they pressed upward, faint murmurs arose from the Dao patterns etched into the earth above.

Those murmurs drifted like ghosts, laced with a subtle Dao rhythm, dragging their pace to a crawl. A few wore lost expressions, as though snared in a dreamlike trap, frozen where they stood.

Up ahead, Li Hao, racing onward, caught the faint echoes too. With each step higher, the voices sharpened, knitting his brow as he advanced, until abruptly a silhouette emerged before him, ambling leisurely along Tianlu.

Li Hao probed with his divine sense, spotting that the figure was the dark-cloaked young man he'd glimpsed in the Ninth-layer Heavenly Domain, the one who'd eyed him from the lakeside once.

Noticing the stir from below, the black-robed youth twisted around, spotting Li Hao's approach without a flicker of shock, merely stating evenly:

"Didn't expect anyone to vie with me for Tianlu this round."

Li Hao's eyes narrowed, fixing on him: "Who are you, an Emperor reincarnation?"

"You've heard of me?"

A spark of surprise lit the black-robed youth's gaze, clearly caught off guard that his name had spread, even after keeping such a subdued profile in this reborn life.

Li Hao shook his head: "I don't know you, but I've already bested reincarnations of Quasi-Emperors. Only Emperor reincarnations could push this far, I'd wager."

At Li Hao's logic, the black-robed youth went quiet, as if chuckling softly to himself. His lips curved faintly as he dropped his gaze, then added: "Fascinating deduction. And you, are you one too?"

"I'm not."

"You don't strike me as one either."

The black-robed youth dipped his head, his stare holding an odd violet-emerald tint, dancing like firelight, before widening in wonder as he remarked:

"Soul age barely a few centuries, so youthful."

Li Hao locked eyes with that piercing look, grasping why haste gripped him after slaying the Chaos Ancient Clan amid the fray with the Chaos Red Demon Clans. Lingering here longer might let the black-robed youth seize the peak.

"You're an Emperor reincarnation—why chase the Dao Heavenly Heart proof? Why not just reclaim the Emperor Road outright?" Li Hao pressed.

"Reclaiming the Emperor Road might restore my past life's heights, but refining the Heavenly Heart could propel me beyond," the black-robed youth replied steadily.

Li Hao arched a brow, staying composed, yet voicing a question that had long simmered:

"Do Immortal Emperors truly vary? Isn't Immortal Emperor the ultimate realm?"

"Nothing in existence matches perfectly. Two blooms may resemble each other, but never duplicate. "

The black-robed youth tossed out lightly, "If that's true for flora, imagine for Emperors. Else, why did the Great Emperor perish? Your master, the Dao Origin Immortal Emperor, ranks elite even among them, wielding two Emperor Roads—the latter one downright terrifying, brushing forbidden might."

With those words, he shook his head grinning, then tacked on: "Still, that wasn't enough to sway the ancient clash's end. The Ancient Demon Clan brandished a Reincarnation Fragment—even Emperors steer clear of its bite."

"Two Emperor Roads?"

Li Hao pondered his master, jolted, then connected it to the Extreme Dao Chaos he'd inherited.

The primary Emperor Road had to be forging the Dao Origin Immortal Seal!

The secondary one must be this Extreme Dao Chaos.

It could bolster the base, shatter the ultimate realm's chains.

"So, can a Great Emperor forge several Emperor Roads?"

Li Hao caught on fast—Great Emperors aren't equal, and his master stood as a powerhouse.

"If talent suffices."

The black-robed youth eyed Li Hao, apparently done schooling on fundamentals, and strode on, declaring:

"Your potential shines bright, but crossing me this lifetime spells your doom. This chance to claim the Dao Heavenly Heart slips from your fingers—back off!"

Li Hao noted the commanding presence rolling off the foe's form, laced with a trace of Emperor's Might. Though the rival held Immortal Lord rank, he dwarfed the Divine Venerable Li Hao had clashed with before.

"Perhaps it's you who's met calamity in me?"

Li Hao murmured, his voice soft.

"What?"

The black-robed youth's brow creased, wheeling back, Emperor's Might swelling alongside crackling thunder in his serene gaze, boring into Li Hao.

Li Hao held his ground, meeting the stare head-on, and declared: "Since you're here, let's clash and see!"

Catching the blaze of battle intent in Li Hao's eyes, the black-robed youth grasped his resolve at once—the fight couldn't be dodged.

His mouth twisted into a frosty smirk, as he taunted: "Fine then, witness the zenith of the Immortal Monarch Realm!"

He lifted his arm, and in a heartbeat, a fierce Chaos Law surge erupted, cloaking him in layers of cause and effect plus fate, rooted in a timeless void like a torrent of eras, his form elusive, beyond the grasp of causality or destiny.

Li Hao's gaze sharpened, recognizing it as Chaos Infinite Law!

This foe had forged 24 Chaos Laws too, hitting Chaos Infinite heights!

True enough, an Emperor reincarnation—how could such a being lack command over fate's threads?!

Tension coiled through Li Hao, hitting him that this black-robed youth outshone the so-called Emperor remnants or faded souls he'd faced earlier, those mere echoes reborn again and again. No, this was a genuine heir, bearing an Emperor's full Divine Soul!

Not some crumbling Primordial Spirit faltering at Endless Heavenly Domain's crest.

"Twist cause into effect, rewind time to strike down!"

The black-robed youth intoned lowly, his upraised palm blooming with a deadly causal domain, swiftly morphing into a torrent of causal force that swallowed Li Hao whole.

This force bored through veils of space-time, seeking to end Li Hao in bygone moments.

Yet Li Hao unleashed his own Chaos Infinite Law, sheathing his frame, while unseen Sword Qi whipped out, severing the invading causal tide.

Spotting Li Hao's command of Chaos Infinite Law, astonishment flared in the black-robed youth's eyes: "Fate veiled from you—how did you pierce and grasp it in just centuries?"

Li Hao had no time for chatter, instead pressing his palms together to summon a Cause and Effect Thunder Sword between them.

Chaos Infinite might wrapped around him, the 24 Chaos Laws unfolding in tiers, stacking fully before fusing into his Only Me Swordsmanship.

Chaos Infinite, Sole Sword Annihilation!

As Li Hao's blade beam erupted, the emptiness tore wide, bizarre visions blooming across Tianlu, every one of the Ten Thousand Dao Laws emerging only to crumble.

One stroke loosed, laws crumbled, cause and effect snuffed out.

This supreme slash made the black-robed youth's pupils contract, stunned beyond measure at such might from an Immortal Monarch!

He flung up his hand in haste, unleashing a Domain Artifact from his grip, which swelled into Realm Power swiftly—yet Li Hao's sword rent it apart.

At Chaos Dao's Seventh Stage, beyond wielding Chaos Infinite Law, Li Hao's insight into the 24 Chaos Laws eclipsed the Immortal Monarch level, letting him weave Chaos Realm Power!

Boosted by the blade's Chaos Realm Power, the Domain Artifact shattered outright, the strike landing true on the black-robed youth!