You should know, the demons holding grudges against the Li Family have accumulated countless over the past thousand years.
From the moment he stepped out of the Li residence, the news had already spread. Such sensational events, the grudgeful demons would naturally be the first to know.
Along the way, his figure was under the watchful eyes of countless demons.
It was Feng who shielded him from all of this.
That day’s sky filled with heavy snow, yet not a single flake landed on the young man fleeing from home—it was all blocked by that lean and withered figure.
This kindness, Li Hao found hard to express with words.
At this moment, Li Hongzhuang also returned to the campfire.
She looked somewhat exhausted. After releasing the Unwithering Strength, she couldn’t use it again in the short term unless she forcibly went against her blood flow, but that would cause permanent hidden injuries and become a barrier to reaching higher levels.
It seemed like an ability that depleted resources, yet its effects were extremely powerful. Not only could it save lives in critical moments, but it could also greatly enhance combat power.
Equivalent to having two lives.
Moreover, in the Unwithering state, her strength never dried up, flowing endlessly, allowing her to freely execute some extremely exhausting peerless techniques, each move a deadly strike, and her combat power could surge manifold!
“How did you manage it? Did Li He distract one for you?”
Li Hongzhuang sat down and immediately asked, still skeptical and disbelieving that Li Hao could kill two Immortal Great Demons on his own.
“You’re overthinking it.”
Li Hao said indifferently.
Unless it was a life-and-death situation, Li He wouldn’t make a move. He knew what that man in town was thinking, trying to use the cruelty and danger of the Heavenly Gate Pass to force him to return, to bow his head, and to change his temperament and personality.
But if he changed his temperament, would he still be himself?
He had been like this since birth, in both his past and present life, for decades.
If they couldn’t stand it, then there was no need to see each other.
After all, which true father would dislike his own child?
And besides.
He had said he would rather die outside than die in that courtyard.
Li Hongzhuang sized up Li Hao, observing the young man’s calm and composed face, unperturbed by the changes, and aside from the demon blood that stained him, he seemed hardly injured.
At the Heavenly Human Realm, to slay an Immortal without a scratch—would the seventh brother even know about this?
Even in the Divine General Mansion, accustomed to geniuses, such a feat if spoken aloud might not be believed by many!
“Can you roast meat again?”
Li Hongzhuang suddenly asked.
Li Hao raised an eyebrow and glanced at her, just as he heard a rumbling sound coming from her stomach.
Li Hongzhuang’s face, however, showed no embarrassment, and she said indifferently, “I just released the Unwithering Strength, which consumed some of my body’s energy. This is quite normal.”
So it seemed even a Three Immortals Peak would be a glutton… Li Hao muttered to himself but didn’t refuse. After the battle ended, with demon corpses strewn everywhere, he looked around and selected two.
Then, borrowing Ren Qianqian’s spare sword, he quickly cleaned them, removing the innards and blood, flinging them outside the encampment.
He chose parts that were both fatty and lean, marinated them with salt and other seasonings, reignited the campfire, and began to roast the meat over the flames.
Too bad, my Cooking Art hasn’t reached Spiritual Awakening, my experience points… Li Hao sighed inwardly, holding the two sharp fangs in his hand, an idea suddenly struck him.
Could sharpening these fangs into a sword be considered a Carving Artistic Skill?
Although he hadn’t thought of deliberately enhancing his Carving Skill before, if he could incidentally gain some carving experience, he could accumulate three Skill Points even before advancing to a deeper State of Mind in carving.
If that were the case, mastering one more Artistic Skill at the Spiritual Awakening level, his movement technique could advance further.
With that thought, Li Hao immediately called for a stone and started to grind the boar demon’s fangs on it.
“What are you doing?”
Li Hongzhuang asked, puzzled.
Li Hao replied, “I’m missing a sword, trying to see if I can fashion one out of this.”
“…Even if you were to grind this stone to dust, it’s unlikely to wear down this demon fang,” said Li Hongzhuang.
“Do you have a method?”
“You ran away from home without even bringing a sword?” Li Hongzhuang couldn’t help but express her incredulity.
Wandering Jianghu unarmed, that’s something only second uncle would do.
But he is, after all, a master of boxing!
With just a finger, he can break swords, chop through knives, penetrate precious armor, and outmatch all weapons.
Li Hao couldn’t be bothered to engage with her any further; it seemed that none of these martial artists had any insight, always bringing up the most inconvenient topics.
However, Li Hongzhuang’s words did hold some truth; grinding his teeth on that broken stone wasn’t effective at all.
Li Hao thought for a moment, his gaze landed on Li Hongzhuang’s sword’s edge, but he quickly dismissed the idea.
He scanned the surroundings and soon found the bodies of two Heavenly Human Realm Great Demons. He searched their bodies, removed their sharp claws, teeth, and horns, and brought them back to the campfire.
Using a beast’s horn, Li Hao began to rub and etch the boar demon’s tusks.
As he employed his immense arm strength with continuous friction, gradually the horn and the boar’s tooth both began to show signs of wear, their shapes starting to change.
[You have gained an understanding of the Carving Arts]
[Carving Experience +18]
[Carving Experience +21]
Messages leapt out in front of him, recording this new artistic skill followed by a stream of carving experience points one after another.
Indeed… Li Hao thought with a surge of surprise.
Before long, his carving experience had risen to 100 points.
The Carving Arts advanced from the 0th Stage to the 1st Stage, earning him an additional skill point.
What a pity, his movement technique had just reached the third stage and needed a state of mind to continue improving.
For now, Li Hao could only save them up to use later; if he suddenly achieved a cooking-related spiritual awakening, he could even use them on his already sixth stage Physical Body Path, stepping into the Three Immortal Realms in one fell swoop.
“You really are stubborn,” Li Hongzhuang said, shaking her head upon seeing Li Hao’s relentless effort, and commented, “This kind of grinding is useless.”
“I know.”
Just as his Carving Arts had advanced to the first stage, a flood of basic knowledge about carving had emerged.
Li Hao was also aware of how foolish his previous attempts at grinding looked, understanding how complex the task of polishing was, especially with such hard materials.
The best method for carving would either be an extremely sharp carving knife or softening the material.
Forcing a grind was simply being hard-headed.
The only method to soften the tusks at the moment would be to use fire.
Ordinary flames might not even suffice, as the tusks contained the concentrated energy and natural patterns accumulated over centuries by the beast, making them impregnable.
Luckily, Li Hao, with a cooking-related state of mind, had conceived a Fire System Skill, the Zixiao Palm.
The technique contained extremely scorching flame power, its intricacies likely of an upper-tier cultivation technique level.
All this was thanks to the “Ignite” insight that came with the Cooking Arts at the sixth stage.
However, Li Hao hadn’t learned any palm techniques himself.
Boxing and palm techniques were distinct, like swords and sabers. Li Hao didn’t have enough skill points, and since it’s better to master a few than dabble in many, he practiced boxing and not palm techniques.
This was his only palm technique, used primarily for igniting fires for cooking.
At this moment, Li Hao absorbed energy from the surroundings into his palms, which instantaneously turned a dark purple hue, shrouded with intense purple flames.
The fire covered part of the tusk, slowly roasting it.
“The cultivation techniques you learn are quite varied,” Li Hongzhuang noted with a slight raise of her eyebrows.
She had glimpsed a bit of her second uncle’s influence in Li Hao’s boxing technique earlier, recognizing it as a top-notch peerless technique.
In addition, Li Hao’s swordsmanship was also impressive.
The speed of his movement technique during the chase was at the peak of the Grandmaster Realm within the Heavenly Human Realm.
And now, he surprised her with palm techniques, and even his cooking smelled delicious…
How did this kid’s mind develop? At just fourteen, where did he find the energy and time? Could it be he started cultivating inside Auntie Seven’s womb?
While roasting the monster’s fangs with his palm, Li Hao asked Li Hongzhuang,
“You know the location of the lairs of the Great Demons that attacked tonight, don’t you?”
“Hm?”
Li Hongzhuang paused slightly, then said, “What, do you actually intend to take out their lairs?”
“Is there a problem?”
Li Hao asked, puzzled.
“…”
Li Hongzhuang had nothing to say, of course, there was no problem. If it were possible to destroy them, not only would he want to go personally, but she would also like to flatten them.
In the past, when she was stationed here, she couldn’t leave, otherwise, once the demons invaded and she was not there to protect them, the soldiers, even with the help of several deputy generals, would not be able to withstand attacks from the three Immortal Great Demons.
After all, Cangya City had been breached before, and there were no defensive Array walls left, leaving it completely defenseless. The divine might of just the three Immortal Great Demons was enough for the army to handle.
“You’ve just arrived, and I haven’t had the chance to tell you about the demon forces outside Heavenly Gate Pass,” she said.
Li Hongzhuang began drawing on the sandy ground in front of the campfire with her sword.
She had not intended to discuss this with Li Hao since he was just a child.
From the information she had received from Li He, she already knew that her Seventh Brother was planning to abandon Heavenly Gate Pass. After all, the reinforcements sent over the years had been dwindling, and no one bothered to repair the broken walls.
If it weren’t for the fact that this was Dayu territory, land that their ancestors of the Li Family had opened up, they wouldn’t have defended this place to death.
Sending this child over for what they called a handover was merely a way of telling them that it was fine to give up this place.
Incidentally, they wanted this genius son, who had conflicts with her, to lower his head and experience the peril of the demons.
Only, she was quite sure her Seventh Brother hadn’t anticipated that on just the first night of his arrival, her monstrous child would single-handedly slay two of the Immortal Great Demons that had plagued this place for years!
This battle achievement, if discussed at other Frontier Passes for rewards and promotions, would probably warrant a first-class special merit, and if he didn’t already hold a noble title, he could be directly crowned as a third-class earl!
“The three demons you saw tonight, each belongs to a mountain territory ruled by a Demon King,” she said.
Li Hongzhuang drew a circle with her sword: “This is our Cangya City.”
As she said this, she laughed self-deprecatingly; there was nothing left around them that could be called a “city.”
“Three thousand miles to the east from here is the remote town of Northern Cold Country,” she said.
“Between them, right here, there is a mountain range, the first stronghold of the demon forces outside the territory.”
Li Hongzhuang drew a small circle, her expression growing solemn:
“That is Longshan Taoist Temple, inhabited by a ten thousand-year-old True Dragon that calls itself the Dragon Lord!”
“It’s a Great Demon from the Four Stands Realm!”
Hearing her words, Li Hao’s eyes narrowed slightly, staring at the circle in front of the sword tip.
“This is forbidden territory; no matter what happens, do not set foot here,” she said seriously. “Under normal circumstances, the Dragon Lord will not leave Longshan Taoist Temple, nor will it attack Heavenly Gate Pass because if it does come, it would be violating our territory!”
Li Hao nodded slightly, recalling the conversations he’d had with his Second Uncle while fishing.
These Great Demons from outside the Frontier Passes didn’t dare to invade recklessly.
Why not?
The answer was simple: they had all been personally warned by the elder generation of each Divine General Mansion.
It was like the ancient treaty agreement signed between Dayu and the Demon Kings of the Four Stands Realm.
Don’t listen?
Either the older generation of the Divine General Mansion would take action, or, it would be the Immortal from Gan Tao Palace.
They dared not disobey.
This majestic and ancient royal dynasty, though now aged, still retained a deterrent force and presence that commanded respect in all directions.
As for why they only issued a warning and didn’t directly slay the Great Demons, that’s another matter.
The number of these Great Demons is not small, they are just not united. If warned individually, they would remain wary, but if a mass slaughter occurred, agitating the rest who might band together in response, it could cause heavy casualties for Dayu.
Ultimately, it comes down to Dayu no longer having the power to completely exterminate all surrounding demons.
After all, among these demons, some have become particularly troublesome to handle.
The Immortal of Gan Tao Palace spends most of the year seated in the Yuzhou Imperial Capital and seldom steps out, wary of some demons that might sneak in and launch an attack on the Imperial Capital!
At this moment, Li Hongzhuang reiterated the rules and agreements regarding trespassing of the Four Stands Realm’s Demon Kings to Li Hao, and then said:
“Even though these Four Stands Realm Demon Kings seem obedient and don’t dare to invade rashly, the military strength of our dynasty is fading, and Mo River has tied up the resources of Tianzhao Divine General Mansion for seven to eight hundred years, making these demons grow restless again.”
“They themselves do not dare to take risks easily, fearing retaliation and execution, but they frequently condone other demons under their command to probe our defenses.”
“Thus, even if the imperial court asks, it’s just a pointless verbal dispute, so we have to endure it!”
Li Hao nodded, continuing to listen.
He had previously asked his Second Uncle why the Four Stands Realm Great Demons didn’t dare to invade and suggested the older generation could be stationed at the Frontier Passes for stability.
However, the reply he got was that there weren’t many elders in the Four Stands Realm.
Moreover, apart from these like-registered old Demon Kings that had been warned, every few or a dozen years, there would still spontaneously appear other Four Stands Realm Demon Kings.
They came from far-off places or cultivated in the deep mountains and forests, unfamiliar with Dayu.
When they wandered into Dayu territory, they often acted unrestrainedly, some rampaging through cities and lands, and if not stopped in time, were even capable of devouring half a state.
The elders needed to deal with these demons, and for those who had already violated the territory and caused mass casualties, there was no point in warnings—they had to be executed to set an example, leading to inevitable great battles.
Many of the old generation in the Divine General Mansion had died for this reason.
Seeing that Li Hao was only listening without any questions, Li Hongzhuang raised an eyebrow and proceeded to speak on her own:
“Although the Dragon Mountain Taoist Master cannot step into the realm, if you rashly appear on its territory, it will have a reason to kill you, so you must absolutely not get close.”
“The Chi Hu Jun you saw tonight is actually the steed of the Dragon Mountain Taoist Master.”
Li Hongzhuang’s eyes turned chilly as she said, “These demons of the Four Stands Realm do not move themselves but allow their demon subordinates to repeatedly invade and test us. Once injured or defeated, they directly flee back. If you rashly pursue and kill them, you might instead get caught and eaten by it.”
A steed? Li Hao’s expression turned strange.
A True Dragon Demon King with a tiger as a steed?
Dragon riding a tiger?
No wonder the Tiger Demon had chains on it, probably constraints like a saddle, which have also become its weapon for attacking and killing.
“Aside from the Dragon Mountain Taoist Master, the second Demon King is here, to the north.”
Li Hongzhuang drew another circle on the ground, but it was much larger in scope and closer to the camp:
“This is the Wan Demon Mountain Range, where there is a Demon King who has cultivated for a very long time. We call it the Wan Shan Demon King.”
“This Wan Shan Demon King and the Dragon Lord have comparable strength. It’s unclear who is higher or lower, but if we encounter it, death is certain.”
“But it too is registered and has been warned. The Six-Tusked Zhe Pig you just slaughtered was one of its fierce generals.”
She then drew another circle to the south:
“There is a solitary peak here, but within a five hundred mile radius, no one dares to set foot, not even demons dare rashly enter.”
“Inside is the third Demon King, the Sacred Mountain Demon King!”
Li Hongzhuang glanced at Li Hao and said, “You might be somewhat familiar with the origin of this Demon King. It once cultivated in the Holy Palace in Northern Yan, mastering the Peerless Techniques of the Holy Palace’s demon race, and seemed to have been one of the elders there. It has since left, and hundreds of years ago took a mountain here and declared it to be the Sacred Mountain.”
“Your father fought against the Holy Palace for over a decade. The situation in Northern Yan must be extremely complicated. I also don’t know much, but it’s truly fortunate that your father was able to return.”
Li Hao said nothing, his face expressionless.
He heard the hint in Li Hongzhuang’s words: The war in Northern Yan was tough.
The other party probably thought that his conflict with that man was because the man had been at war for many years and had not returned home, leaving him bearing resentments and misunderstandings.
About this, he neither explained nor did he need to explain anything.
“Has the Northern Cold Country trespassed?”
Li Hao asked.
Li Hongzhuang slightly frowned, seeing that Li Hao didn’t continue her topic, and she sighed softly in her heart.
As Li Hao’s aunt and the seventh brother’s younger sister, of course she hoped for father and son to resolve their conflicts and reconcile.
But for now, it seemed there was no effect.
She didn’t dwell on it any longer and refocused on Li Hao’s question, saying:
“The Northern Cold Country wouldn’t dare to offend openly, but they do like to play little tricks in secret, like worshipping the Dragon Mountain Taoist Master, secretly sacrificing numerous living beings every year, to probe us.”
At this point, her expression turned ice-cold.
Li Hao frowned, sacrificing living people to demons; in Dayu, only some extremely backward villages and towns would do this.
Mortals offer sacrifices to demons in exchange for protection or demonic strength to exploit their neighbors.
If the matter was exposed, the Monster Suppression Department would handle it, executing all involved.
But now, other major nations were using these despicable methods against Dayu.
Indeed, in the face of war, all means are exhausted to the extreme.
After Li Hongzhuang finished speaking, Li Hao also had some understanding of the situation outside the Heavenly Gate Pass.
“The Chi Hu Jun and Six-Tusked Zhe Pig you killed last night are likely to be furious. They may attack again soon, perhaps even tomorrow.”
Li Hongzhuang’s eyes showed no retreat, but instead, a cold killing intent surfaced.
Li Hao nodded slightly and asked, “So do they usually reside in the Demon King’s lair, without their own dens?”
“Of course not,”
Li Hongzhuang said, “The Dragon Mountain Taoist Master is a thousand miles away from here, and it would take a lot of time for it to travel back and forth. Besides, which general likes to stay under the master’s watch every day? They all have their own lairs outside, where it’s more convenient for them to mate, eat, and drink.”
Li Hao’s gaze flickered as he said, “Then do you know the locations of their lairs?”
“Do you really intend to wipe out their lairs?”
Li Hongzhuang asked in astonishment.
Li Hao nodded, “Since I’ve killed them, I might as well kill them all.”
He spoke calmly, but Li Hongzhuang’s eyes narrowed at his words, and soon a cold face revealed a smile:
“Well said, you’ve got the killer instinct!”
She promptly drew two circles on the ground with her sword: “Scouts have checked before, it seems in these two directions, roughly three to four hundred miles away, you can check it out, but don’t go too far, otherwise, if you enter demon territory and get detected by the Demon King, even gods won’t be able to save you!”
Li Hao looked at the crude map she drew, noting down the directions.
At this moment, the fang in his hand was also heated enough.
He immediately retracted the blazing flame in his hand and began to polish the fang with the horn.
[Carving experience +24…+19…+35…]
A series of experience prompts appeared as Li Hao seriously polished.
After half an hour of flame roasting, combined with the horn and brute force, the progress of polishing the fang increased rapidly.
Perhaps due to the rare material of this demon pig’s fang, the experience prompt continued uninterrupted, occasionally delivering large amounts of experience.
When the roast was ready, Li Hongzhuang picked it up and began eating.
Meanwhile, Li Hao continued to polish, his Carving Arts suddenly showing a prompt—he had accumulated 500 experience points and advanced to the second segment!
In the blink of an eye, he gained two Skill Points.
Li Hao couldn’t help but sigh, “Gaining Skill Points in the Carving Arts really is straightforward.”
However, he guessed that it had something to do with the quality of the pig’s tusk. If he were to carve ordinary wooden plaques, he estimated the experience points would probably only increase by 1 or 2 points.
To verify this, Li Hao paused his polishing half way through and, when reheating the pig’s tusk for the second time, began carving on a tree stump seated with one hand using a beast horn.
With his second-stage Carving Arts, he was already capable of fine carving, lifelike in detail.
He carved a little figure wearing dungarees on the spot, but it only granted him less than 20 experience points.
Stinginess itself.
It seems carving really does relate to the quality of the materials, just like with his painting and fishing, the greater the difficulty, the more experience he gained.
Time quietly slipped by.
As the bonfire dimmed, Li Hao finished his third polishing, and the originally curved long pig’s tusk had been honed into a somewhat sharp crescent moon shape.
But compared to a sword, it was still lacking, barely qualifying as an oversized broadsword with an extremely blunt edge.
It might not guarantee a kill if swung, but it would most likely be lethal if used to bludgeon.
At the base of the tusk, Li Hao carved out a circular hole for easy gripping in the palm.
He instructed Ren Qianqian to not wander around the campsite, and to take good care of the little white fox while he was away.
And he himself casually shouldered the crescent-shaped pig’s tusk sword and walked outside the campsite.
“You’re going tonight?”
Li Hongzhuang returned to the small mound, and seeing Li Hao’s actions, she couldn’t help but be stunned.
It was still deep into the night, the early hours of the morning.
“Better now than to let them get away,” Li Hao said with a smile. For safety, he had taken the opportunity to rest while honing the tusk sword, and now he felt seventy to eighty percent recovered.
“…”
Li Hongzhuang was somewhat speechless, having not expected the young man to be more enthusiastic about slaying demons than herself.
“Then take care,” Li Hongzhuang said. Li Hao had managed to slay two Great Demons and return unharmed, and although he was only in the Heavenly Human Realm, his combat ability was already at the level of the Three Immortal Realms. With Li He watching over him, she felt relatively at ease.
After all, if one in the Three Immortal Realms still needed to be looked after like a child in swaddling clothes, that would be utterly laughable.
Li Hao nodded and then leaped into the air, disappearing into the night beyond the campsite.
…
…
Rushing winds roared as Li Hao traversed mountains and valleys in the dark.
His Divine Soul burst forth from the top of his head, roving under the moonlight, surveilling in all directions.
Occasionally, when he spotted lingering lesser demons, he effortlessly struck them down.
Heading in a straight line in one direction, he left the wilderness outside the pass, crossed forests, and scaled several mountains, traveling three hundred li through the night.
Eventually, Li Hao smelled the strong stench of blood.
On the ground here, there was plenty of fresh blood, as well as the limbs of demon creatures.
He glanced at the remains where there were three bodies of slain demons, their flesh mangled and torn as if they had been injured and then devoured by their own kind.
Li Hao looked ahead, his gaze following to a mountain top surrounded by various remains, the stench of blood wafting over to him.
Without hesitation, he swiftly flew towards it.
“Madam, please restrain your grief. Mr. Black Scale has already gone to Longshan Taoist Temple.”
Within the large cave hollowed out from the mountain, the light of a fire flickered, casting several ferocious shadows on the cave walls.
“Shut up, you cowards! If you had covered the retreat for our lord, how could he have died?”
A female’s roar echoed from inside the cave.
A momentary silence fell within the cave.
Suddenly, a breeze brought sounds into the cave.
“Who?!”
The shadows on the cave wall were startled, and soon after, two of the shadows shrank as figures turned around the corner and approached closer to the cave walls, causing their shadows to diminish.
“To still linger here, quite brave indeed,” said a calm voice.
In the moonlight at the cave entrance, Li Hao came carrying the pig’s tusk sword, and behind him, bathed in the cold moonlight, was a hillside strewn with demon corpses.
Their deaths were gruesome, with their bodies split open, killed with a single strike.
“It’s you!”
One of the figures, a brawny man with a leopard’s tail, turned pale with bulging eyes filled with horror.
He recognized the face of the young man; their leader had been killed by him!
Flee!
After the shock, the thought to flee instantly surfaced in his mind, and his body transformed, attempting to escape to another part of the cave.
But a Sword Qi suddenly cleaved through the air, and petals seemed to materialize all around.
How could there be flowers in the cave?
Then, the body of the middle-aged figure split open, collapsing onto the ground with the petals; its body was torn to pieces in an instant.
Whoosh! A Divine Soul rushed out from its body in utter terror, but before it could escape, another Sword Qi passed by, obliterating the Divine Soul instantly.
Seeing this, the other demon didn’t wait to speak, instead fleeing deeper into the cave as well.
Two minutes later.
Li Hao was sitting deep inside the cave, a giant bonfire built from several tree stumps before him.
Next to the bonfire lay four demon corpses, lifeless.
He was flipping through two Cultivation Techniques, which he recorded onto his panel, and then said to the robust woman kneeling before him:
“Got any other Cultivation Techniques?”
“No, there’s no more,” the robust woman trembled, revealing deep fear in her eyes.
In front of this youth, they didn’t even have a chance to escape; the Sword Qi was invisible, seemingly ignoring distance, able to arrive in an instant.
“You mentioned that under the Dragon Mountain Taoist Master, there are six others with a cultivation level comparable to your lord?”
Li Hao frowned slightly. Six Immortal Realm demons, if they were to attack at the same time, Li Hongzhuang and the others would likely have been gone long ago.
