Follow the path of Dao from infancy Chapter 1857 Chapter 494: Creation Carving Destiny (2)
Previously on Follow the path of Dao from infancy...
In Li Hao's view, the Life Sea resembled a tiny pool where tadpole-shaped creatures kept appearing, each displaying unique forms that looked like bizarre tiny bugs.
These tiny bugs possessed their own minds, which Li Hao was able to detect. A handful among them, boasting more potent energy, exhibited the liveliest thoughts. He could feel their eagerness to venture out and their wonder toward the world beyond, yet they remained trapped by the barriers Li Hao had formed for them.
"Their development moves at such a sluggish pace. Were it any other Immortal King Realm expert, they could nurture the beings within their domains, employing them as tools to refine their personal Cultivation Technique and Tao... yet I lack the patience to await their maturity."
Li Hao gazed upon these entities emerging from the Life Sea and let out a quiet sigh within.
To evolve into reliable fighting forces, these beings must keep advancing in cultivation and multiplying over time. Right now, they linger in the primitive Barbaric Wilds stage.
Li Hao pulled his focus away from these small creatures and resumed his deep study of the Carving Arts.
"The core of Carving..."
"All things can be shaped through carving..."
"He started as mere wood, and I transformed him into a human or an animal."
"Time leaves creases on the faces of living things, a form of carving that bestows..."
"Bestows... life?"
Li Hao delved deeply into this realization, his gaze sparkling repeatedly as he tuned out the entire external world.
Time flew by in an instant, marking thirty years gone.
Within the realm, a youth positioned himself in a cross-legged stance, clutching a wooden sculpture in his grasp.
The sculpture depicted a Little White Fox, endearingly innocent, its elongated fox eyes holding an innate seductive charm.
Just like that boy from long ago, beneath the starry sky and moonlight, sharing his solitude only with the Little White Fox.
"Imbuing wrinkles through the passage of time, or strength, both stem from the power of carving."
"Yet at its root... it's about reshaping their very Creation!"
The youth whispered softly to himself.
That Little White Fox had crossed paths with him, evolving from an injured wild cub to residing in the famed Divine General Mansion, where it enjoyed opulent days ever since.
Endless transformations arise in life across the vast span of years.
While the shifts brought by time prove impossible to command, those induced by carving... deliver true Creation!
"Life Carving Blade, Creation Realm!"
Li Hao's eyes snapped open, drawing in what seemed like endless starlight that danced within them, the glow of Tao enlightenment shining through his mindset, his Divine Soul utterly pure in that instant, as though brushing against the fundamental source of heaven and earth.
[You have comprehended the thirteen-stage Carving State of Mind, Creation Life Carving!]
With the panel's alert ringing out, a torrent of understandings surged into Li Hao's consciousness.
In that very moment, visions of endless carving methods unfolded before him, weaving through eras, across countless lives, wielded by the mysterious Time Blade to shape all existence—carving flora and fauna, carving avian and terrestrial creatures alike.
All is subject to carving, all receives endowment, forging a Creation!
"Ah, so this is the truth..."
Li Hao whispered, a spark of profound insight lighting his eyes; this captured the true spirit of carving.
Bestowing upon all things what they originally lack, for those shaped, it equates to Creation!
"One slash births a world; one carve forms a life; engrave the laws into marks, turning everything into mere puppets!"
Right then, Li Hao grasped the profound origin of carving at last.
Yet shortly after, a new idea surfaced in his thoughts: having touched the origin via the thirteen-stage carving, what might the fourteenth-stage Carving Arts entail?
Something transcending the granting of Creation, delving even further into... Carving Arts?
Confusion clouded Li Hao's eyes, pulling him into what felt like an endless, bottomless vortex, vast and remote beyond measure, too intimidating to approach or even fathom.
After some indeterminate time, Li Hao regained his composure, sensing a chill as sweat drenched his robes.
Given his fresh attainment of the thirteenth-stage mindset, delving into the fourteenth stage's trail felt akin to plummeting into abyssal depths.
In his estimation, the fourteenth stage aligned with the Immortal Emperor Realm.
Was it perhaps an Emperor Road?
"At present, the Physical Body Dao, Control Dao, and Sword Dao have all been embedded; only the Body Path and Fist Skill await."
"I'll start by advancing the Body Path!"
For Li Hao, boosting the Fist Skill held little value, since it pertained to offensive techniques that overlapped heavily with Sword Dao.
However, elevating the Body Path promised immense gains, enabling swift mastery of various supreme Immortal King techniques.
"Once embedded, reversal becomes impossible; I'll need to venture into the Heaven Tower time and again until all four Realm Hearts stabilize, granting me a moment's respite."
A deeper gravity filled Li Hao's gaze.
He had poured exhaustive labor into the prior three Realm Hearts, and now, ideas for harmonizing four eluded him entirely.
Should he apply the stabilization approach for three Realm Hearts to arrange the four into a balanced formation, might that secure them?
Li Hao mulled over this, sinking into contemplation.
As he remained absorbed in his musings, a gentle voice suddenly drifted to his ears:
"Whoever hears these words, pause your current pursuits; I will expound the Tao Collection over three years, and grasp whatever you can from it—this serves as your cultivation too."
Li Hao identified it as the Star Empress's voice, and upon opening his eyes to survey around, he saw surrounding realms fading away, exposing the figures within, each turning toward the Heaven Tower's location with expressions of astonishment and delight.
"Tao Collection?"
Li Hao recalled one of the elite resources he had traded for earlier, the Tao Collection.
As a cornerstone treasure of the Dao Clan, even in its incomplete form, absorbing it permitted perfect comprehension up to the Ten Layers across the myriad Tao of All Heavens for cultivation!
The value of such an item was beyond question.
"An Immortal Emperor lecturing? And it's the Tao Collection!"
"This stands as the sacred text of the Dao Clan—does even the Star Empress possess it?"
"No surprise there; an Immortal Emperor holds omniscience, though the deepest secrets might elude her, or binding pacts could bar her from sharing them freely."