Follow the path of Dao from infancy

Li Hao, sword in hand, chased after the three Demon Kings who had fled beyond Heavenly Gate Pass, vanishing into the distance a hundred miles away.

Li Hao hurried to Song Qiumo's side and saw her azure dress drenched in blood. Her shoulder blades displayed several exceedingly deep claw marks. At the moment, she was weak and pale, but was staunching her blood and stabilizing her condition, seemingly without the threat of losing her life.

"What happened to you?"

Seeing Li Hao approaching like a divine demon, Song Qiumo was startled. She struggled to steady her breath and quickly said,

"Is this some kind of secret technique?"

Even as she asked, she had never seen any secret technique that could cause such a transformation.

Moreover, the aura radiating from Li Hao's body was so oppressive that even she felt overwhelmed, as if the entire sky above was about to come crashing down with his every move.

Seeing that Song Qiumo was safe, Li Hao managed to slightly restrain the raging killing intent in his heart. Her words also reminded him of his situation, and he quickly reined in his strength, stopping the influx of Immortal Qi and the borrowing of the earth's energy.

But as easy as it was to say, his body had already been collapsing and deteriorating. Now, as he forcibly blocked the flow of the earth's power, his pores seemed to have broken open, and his body couldn't close up like a released floodgate!

Li Hao crouched down, biting down hard on his teeth. His eyes reddened with bloodshed, knowing that if he couldn't control himself, what awaited him was complete disintegration, becoming nothing more than a breeze in this world!

He did not want to die!

Yet the pain of collapsing and tearing apart assaulted him from all over his body.

The endless power of the earth seemed intent on crushing his bones, pulverizing his flesh, and grinding his viscera and entire body into dust, eventually merging him with the earth and sky!

"Aaaaah!!"

Li Hao let out a bestial roar, his vocal cords already torn asunder; his voice was a blood-curdling scream of sorrow and agony.

Song Qiumo, sensing that something was terribly wrong with Li Hao's condition, showed a panicked expression on her weak and pale face, and urgently asked, "How can I help you?"

But Li Hao was already unable to speak.

Seeing this, Song Qiumo could only attempt to manipulate her own power, transforming it into a soft sheet of water encircling Li Hao, hoping to heal and delay the disintegration and collapse of his body.

However, the soft deep water, which possessed healing powers, accelerated the disintegration of Li Hao's body upon contact.

At this moment, he was in an excessively saturated state. The more power he absorbed, the faster his body disintegrated.

Then, Feng Boping, dragging his injured body, rushed over. On seeing this scene, he paused for a moment but then promptly realized something:

"Quick, cut off this part of the world!"

Song Qiumo was quick to respond. Upon seeing that her power was useless, even worsening Li Hao's pain, she swiftly withdrew her energy.

Upon retracting it, she was horrified to notice that some of her power had been savagely and dominantly absorbed by Li Hao.

At Feng Boping's shout, she swiftly collected her thoughts, took a deep breath, and redirected the part of her power used for self-healing, joining forces with Feng Boping to form a barrier cage to trap Li Hao within.

But what shocked both of them was that after their barrier cage was formed, it did indeed slow down the disintegration of Li Hao's body, yet their barrier began to tremble and shake as if it was slowly disintegrating!

Even their barrier power was being absorbed by Li Hao!

This outcome stunned both of them. It was their very own power that was being plundered!

Not even demons were this terrifying, unless it was a Great Demon beyond the Four Stands Realm, draining them as a ghost would a mere mortal.

And Li Hao's behaviour at the moment was just like that.

While they were shocked, Li Hao was biting down hard, using every ounce of his strength to control his body. The barrier formed by Feng Boping and Song Qiumo joining hands had an effect, momentarily interrupting the power of this part of the world.

Although power continued to pour incessantly into Li Hao's body, it was no longer as turbulent as before.

Li Hao groaned low, continually suppressing his body and the Immortal Qi within, transforming the power absorbed into his body and dispersing it from another part.

Such rapid circulation was possible, fortunately, because he had opened enough major channels within his body, aided by the Yin and Yang Dual Pulse, which barely allowed him to transform part of the vast and immense power of the earth and sky, reducing the rest of the damage to his body significantly.

In the extreme agony of being torn apart, Li Hao was attempting to bring both his body and mind to a state of calm.

Only then could he trigger the property of "laying low", allowing his body to slowly heal.

This was a self-healing power comparable to the Undying Realm.

But with the pain of being torn apart in both flesh and Divine Soul, the peace of mind Li Hao sought was excruciatingly difficult, utterly elusive!

He clenched his teeth tightly, closed his eyes in pain, clenched his fists, and hunched over on the ground like a curled-up shrimp.

He felt the wind between heaven and earth and thought how nice it would be if that gentle breeze could whisk away the pain from his body.

But the wind merely brushed by lightly, taking nothing with it, leaving nothing behind.

Would he just die like this?

Li Hao couldn't help but wonder.

He thought of the brilliant courtyard under the starry sky, of the many faces that had seen him off on both sides of the road when he left the resplendent Divine General Mansion.

He thought of the little white fox, of Ren Qianqian, of Feng who had just shielded him, a fist-sized hole gaping open in his chest, and also of Song Qiumo, pale and weak.

Scalding tears fell like beads of sweat from his face.

Li Hao breathed slowly, thinking of the tranquility he had felt at the peak of the snowy mountain when he perceived the essence of the world.

He knew that merely resisting and converting was not enough; he needed to guide and transfer this energy out.

Just like a snowflake in the cosmos, rising with the wind and falling when it ceases.

His breathing, initially deep, became rapid, then gradually transitioned from rapid to slow.

His tightly curled body was slowly relaxing until he finally sat down on the ground.

The body that had swelled to four or five meters slowly shrank back down.

But as his skeleton and flesh contracted and reverted to their original form, his cracked skin was ragged, and his body was drenched in blood, like a blood-soaked figure.

Song Qiumo gazed intently at him, silent, her delicate hand buried in the snow, clenching tighter bit by bit.

Within her clear, stream-like eyes, deep anger and intent to kill gradually emerged.

Feng Boping, seeing that Li Hao seemed to have stabilized, let out a slight sigh of relief. At this moment, the barrier he had set up with Song Qiumo had fallen to pieces, riddled with holes.

The power of the universe continued to pour into Li Hao's body, but upon reaching his surroundings, except for a little that entered, the rest swirled around like a whirlwind, transferring elsewhere after revolving.

On the face of the young man, bathed in a sea of blood and with skin flayed open, Feng Boping saw the pain slowly recede, revealing a sense of tranquility amidst his features.

Feng Boping couldn't ease his heart, on the contrary, his eyes moistened, and a single tear trickled down.

If it weren't for the boy's departure from the glorious and noble mansion, how could he have encountered such peril and faced the Great Demon King of the Frontier Pass at such a young age?

He wondered how many people in that mansion would genuinely feel sorry for the boy if they saw this scene.

The energy of the universe whirled past, picking up the snow and the dead leaves within it, but near Li Hao, it formed a hurricane-like force, encircling him.

And there, in the eye of the hurricane, sat Li Hao, his face becoming more tranquil and peaceful, his torn skin still seeping blood. Yet gradually, the bleeding started to cease.

The attribute of concealing one's prowess and biding time activated at this moment. In that hellish torture, Li Hao achieved inner peace and relaxation.

His breathing grew smoother and longer.

The broken flesh all over his body seemed to scab over.

Below him, the snow was dyed red.

Time passed, unknown how long.

Li Hao slowly opened his eyes, and what met his gaze were the concerned expressions of Feng and Song Qiumo. Li Hao revealed a faint smile, "I'm alright."

"You were nearly dead, and you say you're alright!"

Feng Boping clenched his teeth slightly, wanting to lift his hand and knock hard on Li Hao's head, but he held back. His tense body relaxed at this moment, and he sat down with a thump next to him.

Song Qiumo gazed deeply at Li Hao, remaining silent without saying a word.

Li Hao raised his hand, dispersing the energy of the world swirling around him. At this moment, he had already controlled the runaway Immortal Qi within his body, no longer borrowing from it.

The turbulent energy of the world also settled down, like autumn leaves falling in the breeze.

"I've involved you both."

Li Hao looked at the two, and now all three were severely injured and in a sorry state.

"Don't talk nonsense, once we recover from our wounds, we'll take the fight to them!"

Feng slightly bared his teeth, and now that he had relaxed, he flipped his palm and took out some medicines from within his robe, pouring out bottles and jars, and picking and stuffing them into his mouth.

Though these medicines were extremely precious, they couldn't take immediate effect, as they required time to be absorbed.

Still, they could make one recover in just a day or two if taken after a big battle.

"Exactly." Song Qiumo also took her own healing medicine and swallowed it, responding softly to Feng Boping's words.

Li Hao nodded. Today's score, of course, could not be settled so easily.

"Little Mouse."

Feng Boping tossed some medicines to Li Hao, but Li Hao didn't catch them and just shook his head; he was immune to these medicines, and they wouldn't work on him; he could only rely on himself.

Luckily, his special attribute of concealing prowess surpassed these medicines, and if he could step into the Immortal Realm of the Undying, combined with this attribute, he felt his self-healing ability would reach unimaginable levels.

Just as Feng Boping was about to speak, a sudden whooshing sound approached rapidly from afar.

The three of them looked up, their expressions changing dramatically. In the distant horizon, the three Demon Kings that had fled were returning!

"Looks like you're all not in great shape, haha!"

Wan Shan, the Demon King, charged ahead, his eyes revealing a ferocious killing intent and joy.

Seeing the trio's condition, Li Hao needn't be mentioned, looking like a bloodied figure as if his skin had been peeled off.

The other two seemed like flickering candles in the wind, still unable to adjust.