Follow the path of Dao from infancy Chapter 1819 - 476: Musical Rhythm Thirteen, Sixth Final Realm (2)

"Father, your reinforcements made it possible; without them, Xueyao couldn’t have traversed the Southern Domain to come back to the family."

The Ancient Demon, her eyes mirroring the clarity of autumn waters, murmured in a gentle tone.

Should Li Hao be present, he’d at once identify that voice as Mi Xueyao’s, the Ancient Demon he had encountered in the past.

"Xueyao has done exceptionally well; the restoration of our five-clan alliance owes much to her efforts. With the Gate of Reincarnation now partially rebuilt, the remaining five clans resist joining us. But after we seize the Eastern Domain and set up reincarnation in this place, they’ll have no choice but to align."

A massive figure responded, his tone gravelly like grinding stones, laced with a subtle amusement.

"The Ten Thousand Clans of the True Realm have indulged in comfort for far too long; it’s high time they tasted fear again."

Yet another figure declared in a steady voice, a cold detachment seeping from his statement.

Nearby, other Ancient Demons of diverse sizes stayed quiet; these were elite powerhouses within the Ancient Demons or bearers of royal blood from various clans.

They harbored no compassion for the True Realm’s Ten Thousand Clans, treating them as mere livestock, akin to a pond teeming with common fish, varied yet ultimately insignificant.

"The Evil Mirror Emperor and the Poison Corrosion Emperor have now advanced; we should move to claim another city. The Old Dragon King from the Ancestor Dragon Court ought to have regained his strength, so stay vigilant, as Emperors from other domains won’t sit by passively. This marks our second war declaration in ten thousand years!"

The Ancient Demon with the stone-like voice announced solemnly.

His form was encased in menacing bones, differing from typical Ancient Demons; fleshless and skeletal, his structure was rugged, some bones honed sharp like weapons.

Beyond the bones, numerous chains protruded, evoking deadly armaments—iron hooks, serrated blades, spiked maces, and more.

The mere glimpse of his fearsome physique induced a choking dread.

As though endless torment awaited, a descent into inconceivable agony.

He hailed from one of the top ten royal lineages among the Ancient Demons, the Bone Punishment Clan.

Flanking him stood several experts of the Bone Punishment Clan, varying from compact to colossal; one prodigy of royal blood featured chains across its frame, tips barbed sharply, with spider-like legs curving like scythes at its back, agile and unnervingly sinister.

In contrast to the Bone Punishment Clan, Mi Xueyao, clad entirely in black, appeared almost "graceful and alluring."

As part of the Yama Clan, she resembled the Human Race most closely among the Ten Clans.

"Shatter the Eastern Domain!"

Mi Xueyao’s father, the Yama Emperor, uttered in a low, resonant voice.

Hearing her father’s command, Mi Xueyao’s eyes drifted, fixing on the undulating pass before them, a city reduced to wreckage, strewn with bodies, while surviving warriors mounted a feeble defense, soon to serve as sustenance for their forces after the fight.

All at once, an image surged into Mi Xueyao’s thoughts for no clear reason.

The Human Race... she had felt indifference toward them initially, lacking the disdain of fellow Ancient Demons, regarding humans as vermin.

Yet at the edge of an Immortal Dynasty in the Southern Domain, a human rescued her, and they shared months together... those vermin proved capable not just of cries and conflict, but of dignified poise and serenity.

Recalling that young man, she remembered his astonishing culinary talents, drawing power from Ancient Demon ingredients to swiftly bolster the Divine Soul.

Upon her return, she consulted numerous elite chefs from the Ancient Demon Clan, but discovered their kind cared little for flavors, prioritizing raw materials and straightforward preparation.

Even the finest royal cooks produced refined dishes, yet none could pull power from Ancient Demon meat to strengthen the Divine Soul.

She later turned to Human Race master chefs, yielding comparable outcomes; the top ones merely offered slight Divine Soul nourishment from an Immortal Monarch Realm Ancient Demon, a scant benefit that proved impractical.

Centuries had slipped by, and she remained unaware of that young man’s location, how many Ancient Demons he had devoured, or the heights his Primordial Spirit cultivation had achieved.

From the conclusion of the Southern Domain conflict, she hadn’t glimpsed the youth again, having lost his trail, and journeyed back to her kin in solitude.

"Maybe he’s attained the Perfect Immortal Monarch Realm by now..."

She whispered to herself inwardly, her lips twitching into a faint smile, aware that the youth prepared meals from his own kind, though her clan scorned not only the Ten Thousand Clans but fellow Ancient Demon lineages, deeming themselves the pinnacle of nobility and supremacy, with scant regard even among their own.

Perhaps their bloodline was inherently devoid of feelings.

That very trait fueled their dominance, overwhelming the True Realm’s Ten Thousand Clans.

"Advance, while Jianlong Pass fell to our sudden assault, the following one won’t yield easily, but we’ve laid our groundwork in advance."

A colossal figure intoned icily, his frame dark as a burned cadaver, with ebony flames dancing in the crevices of his flesh, emitting no warmth yet evoking a chilling burn, a blur of searing heat and bitter cold.

"You all, take your armies ahead!"

The Yama Emperor commanded.

The figures around him inclined their heads.

Mi Xueyao dipped her head slightly too, "Father, your daughter will proceed!"

"Stay alert, guard against aid from other domains."

The Yama Emperor advised softly.

Mi Xueyao nodded, her form blurring as she darted forward with speed.

...In Dragon Gate City.

Dragon Shield Seventh Floor, First Level.

In Peak Spring, Li Hao gradually parted his eyes, his irises a dull silver-gray, appearing empty but brimming with boundless, pristine silver radiance.

"Sound..."

Following a hundred years of deep meditation on the Extreme Dao, coupled with a decade of seclusion in Dragon Gate City.

At that instant, Li Hao achieved true insight.

Musical Rhythm Dao, flawless integration!

The Dao teaches that supreme virtue resembles water, nourishing everything without striving.

Water flows softly, but solidifies into the keenest edge.

Sound proves even more formidable; it slips through water currents and stone barriers.

What halts water might not impede sound; as rhythm and oscillation, sound exists in all, and upon resonance, it propagates freely.

"Musical Rhythm... seeps into every existence, breaches the void, slices through all barriers, delving straight to the soul’s core!"

"Flawless integration, breaching all, Heavenly Sound Void..."

Li Hao murmured softly.

Before him, a system alert appeared.

[Mastered ‘Void Realm State of Mind’, Musical Rhythm Dao advanced to the Thirteenth Stage!]

The bindings shattered, a torrent of realizations surged into his mind, as Li Hao remained immersed in the spring, sensing a link to the whole mountain; the Void Realm Dao of Musical Rhythm transformed him into a vibration, infiltrating all, weaving into heaven and earth, intimately tied to every element!

This sensation echoed the essence of Transform to Immortal!

Transform to Immortal fuses the body with heaven and earth, awareness scattering within, a delicate equilibrium between substance and dissolution.

Li Hao had seized the Immortal Transformation Extreme Realm, and within this Void Realm State of Mind, his perception intensified, as if the Transform to Immortal experience swelled ten or a hundred times over.

He had once vaguely brushed the profoundest depths of heaven and earth, that immense intent.

That signified Celestial Venerable!

Transform to Immortal marks the pinnacle, Celestial Venerable the ultimate boundary!

In this moment, with Li Hao grasping the Void Realm State of Mind of Musical Rhythm, his awareness blended endlessly into heaven and earth, like the mightiest tone grazing the cosmos’s innermost core.

He had earlier scarcely perceived the might of Celestial Venerable, sensing it hazily, but now he detected it vividly: at heaven and earth’s deepest layer lurked a power, akin to yet distinct from the Heavenly Dao he encountered on the Heavenly Ascension Road.

On the Heavenly Ascension Road, Heavenly Dao reigned supreme yet pulsed with vital sentiments.

Yet here, Celestial Venerable embodied the cosmos’s fundamental laws, the order governing all, icy, transcendent, stripped of feelings, aloof and immense, unyielding.

"What... is this being?"

A tremor coursed through Li Hao’s frame.

This Celestial Venerable rivaled Heavenly Dao in stature, emotionless, yet oppressively ultimate.