Chapter 305: Dao Comprehension
As the imperial edict spread across the nineteen provinces, Li Hao returned to the Heavenly Gate Pass in Liangzhou.
The familiar walls and flags greeted him, but the news had not yet reached the stationed soldiers, who remained unaware of recent events.
Li Hao quietly returned to the small courtyard without alerting anyone.
Inside the courtyard, a young girl practicing swordsmanship sensed his presence and looked up with surprise and joy.
"Young master, you're back!"
Beside her, Sword Demon Jiang Lichen glanced at Li Hao, his eyes narrowing slightly.
In such a short time, he could sense that Li Hao's aura had become even more restrained, like the vast, unfathomable expanse of the starry sky, carrying a quiet strength capable of moving the heavens.
Li Hao looked at Ren Qianqian, the young girl who was fifteen, a year younger than him, but who had now unexpectedly stepped into the Heavenly Master realm.
"Did you teach her?" Li Hao asked, looking at Jiang Lichen.
Jiang Lichen shrugged. "I can't teach the heart of a Heavenly Master. She comprehended it herself, probably from being around a freak like you for so long."
Ren Qianqian blushed slightly at this. She had followed Li Hao with the goal of surpassing her father and becoming a Heavenly Master, but she had achieved that goal in just two short years.
Now, her talent and strength ranked among the top five on the Qian Kun list, and that was only because she kept a low profile, focusing on cultivation without seeking conflict.
Li Hao nodded and smiled at Ren Qianqian. "Now that you've achieved your goal by staying with me, do you still want to continue following? You're young, and this is the time to go out and explore the world."
Ren Qianqian quickly shook her head. "No, I want to keep cultivating. I want to stay with you, young master, and see the view from the mountaintop."
Li Hao sighed. "But I don't want to climb the mountain. The view from the top is always the same, but the scenery at the foot of the mountain is ever-changing."
Ren Qianqian paused, then quickly replied, "Then I'll stay at the foot of the mountain with you, watching the smoke rise from the human world."
"You've got a way with words," Li Hao chuckled.
Ren Qianqian's cheeks flushed red.
Li Hao didn't push the matter further. Instead, he scanned the area with his divine sense, but he couldn't find any sign of Old Feng. Surprised, he asked, "Where's Old Feng?"
By now, Ren Qianqian knew Feng Boping's true name and identity. When she heard Li Hao ask, she quickly replied, "Senior Feng suddenly seemed to regain his senses after you left, like a different person. He told us he had to leave and asked me to tell you that he would be waiting for you in the Land of the Saints."
"Hmm?" Li Hao was taken aback. This seemed too sudden.
But then he remembered what had happened in the River of Death.
Had Old Feng gone to the Land of the Saints?
"Your old friend is likely a saint's incarnation, reincarnated for cultivation," Jiang Lichen said. "While rare, it's not unheard of. There have been similar cases in Dayu over the past few thousand years—prodigies who rose quickly, only to disappear just as suddenly."
Li Hao fell silent. The powers of a saint were beyond the imagination of ordinary people.
But the world was vast, and there would be opportunities to meet again.
Still, it was one less familiar face in the mortal world.
Li Hao looked around the courtyard and asked, "What about the other two?"
He was referring to Ying Xiaoxiao and the old man at the tea stall.
"I heard they went to gather slaughter and resentment energy," Jiang Lichen replied. "Is there war again outside?"
Li Hao nodded. "The imperial palace was nearly destroyed."
The Heavenly Gate Pass had not received the imperial court's call for reinforcements, as it had been quickly overrun by demons. The soldiers stationed at the border had no idea what had happened.
Although Dayu's communication system was fast, the vastness of the territory made it difficult to relay messages in time.
Ren Qianqian was shocked, her eyes wide. The imperial palace—her highest symbol of power and stability—had almost been destroyed.
Jiang Lichen, on the other hand, merely raised an eyebrow. "Since you're back, I assume the trouble has been dealt with?"
"Yes," Li Hao replied. "But many members of the royal family were killed. Aren't you planning to go and check?"
Jiang Lichen's eyes flickered, but he remained indifferent. "I have no children to care for, no lover or wife. There's nothing to check on."
Li Hao could see that Jiang Lichen had a story behind his words, but he didn't press the issue. Some burdens couldn't be lifted with a few words.
As Li Hao settled back into the small courtyard, the edict spread across the provinces, sparking intense discussion. Meanwhile, Li Hao took Ren Qianqian to a demon-infested lake hundreds of miles outside the pass to fish.
Much to Li Hao's disappointment, perhaps because he had killed so many demons before, nothing came of his day spent by the lake except for eating four or five oranges.
It seemed the demons had been scared away, leaving him empty-handed.
He didn't use his divine sense to probe the lake's depths—his pride as a fisherman dictated that he rely on his fishing skills and knowledge of the waters. Using divine sense would be no different from casting a net, and that would take away all the satisfaction.
As dusk approached, Li Hao returned to the small courtyard, carrying a demon he had killed in the mountains.
"Tonight, we'll have roasted demon pig," Li Hao announced.
"Young master, did you catch this while fishing?"
"Yes."
"But this looks like a mountain demon."
"It's amphibious."
"Oh…"
After a simple meal, Li Hao refilled his 180 chess pieces.
Late at night, he went to the mountaintop where he used to sit with Old Feng, bringing a small jar of wine. He drank alone, watching the cold moonlight.
When the jar was empty, Li Hao flipped his hand, revealing the golden paper from the River of Death, which recorded his merits.
Li Hao focused his mind on the golden paper, soon entering the merit treasury.
Inside, countless treasures floated like golden spheres, ready to be exchanged for merit.
Li Hao examined the Power of Fate Reversal. Although extremely useful, akin to a second life, it held little value now that he faced Dao Comprehension realm opponents who could obscure the heavens.
He browsed further and found that, besides Extreme Dao Divine Power, Heaven and Earth Meridians were also available for exchange.
However, Heaven and Earth Meridians required 30,000 merit points, while Divine Power required 10,000.
There were no Heaven and Earth Dharma Aspects, and the other extreme realms were also absent.
The selection was limited. While these items might be precious to others, making their blood boil with excitement, Li Hao found himself merely picking and choosing.
One item, the Dao Comprehension Fruit, caught his eye. It could aid in Dao comprehension, though success wasn't guaranteed.
Li Hao decided to exchange for one, not to use it for martial cultivation, but for culinary Dao comprehension.
He had reached the eighth stage in physical Dao, and to progress further, he needed to attain Dao comprehension. The same was likely true for culinary Dao, which had reached its bottleneck. Using the Dao Comprehension Fruit in this context would make the breakthrough easier.
However, he first needed to reach the eighth stage in culinary Dao; otherwise, the fruit's success rate would drop.
He also noticed that items like Heart of Poetry and Heart of Carving, similar to the Heart of Sword, could be exchanged for just 100 merit points each.
Without hesitation, Li Hao exchanged for them.
Unfortunately, there was no option to exchange for "Entering the Spirit" abilities, which left Li Hao somewhat disappointed.
If available, he could have elevated his chess Dao, fishing, and other skills to the "Entering the Spirit" level, allowing him to break through the seventh stage in swordsmanship, body technique, and more.
Currently, Li Hao's attributes were as follows:
Physical Dao: 8th stage
Imperial Dao: 7th stage
Body Technique: 6th stage
Swordsmanship: 6th stage
Fist Technique: 6th stage
In terms of artistic skills:
Chess Dao: 6th stage
Music: 4th stage
Poetry and Calligraphy: 3rd stage
Carving: 3rd stage
Culinary Dao: 7th stage
Painting: 7th stage
Fishing: 5th stage
Remaining skill points: 1.
With the Heart of Poetry and Heart of Carving, his poetry and carving skills immediately broke through to the 4th stage, allowing him to continue accumulating experience until reaching the 6th stage.
His skill points increased to 3.
After many battles, Li Hao realized he hadn't taken the time to settle down and cultivate properly.
He decided not to rush into using the Dao Comprehension Fruit. Instead, he focused on accumulating experience in culinary Dao.
In the following days, Li Hao could be seen returning from the wilderness each day with a demon, hosting feasts for the entire city.
The soldiers of the Heavenly Gate Pass enjoyed gourmet meals made from demons, filling their tables with delicacies.
Li Hao took on the role of a chef, fully dedicating himself to his cultivation.
Months passed.
As he continued to cook demon kings, the Heavenly Gate Pass became a culinary capital, attracting people from all over.
With the war over and most of the top demon forces outside Dayu wiped out, Emperor Yu's secretive Star-Moon Academy gathered the remaining demons into the largest demon force.
While the kingdom was under Emperor Yu's control, so too were the demons beyond the pass.
After years of turmoil, the provinces finally began to recover, and peace allowed commerce and travel to flourish. Many people traveled for leisure, and the Heavenly Gate Pass saw numerous visitors, including Li Hao's friends and students from the Tangong Academy.
In the small courtyard, Xi Yan, disguised as a girl in a red dress, accompanied Li Hao.
Song Qiumo also arrived. Li Hao had mentioned her to Emperor Yu, and now she enjoyed the status of the Guardian Beast of Dayu, with a temple built in her honor. Her token allowed her to freely travel across the kingdom.
Meanwhile, in Li Hao's spatial realm, the Candle Flame God and his wife were absorbing the Buddha's relic. The relic contained a fusion of Buddhist and demonic power, which perfectly suited the dual existence of the Candle Flame God and his wife. As they absorbed it, their bodies began to merge into a large sphere, awaiting a mysterious awakening.
As for Li Qianfeng, whose cultivation had been crippled and left in Li Hao's spatial realm, Li Hao had him returned to the Li family, putting an end to that old grudge.
As Li Hao continued to cook with demon king-level ingredients, the demon kings outside Liangzhou were all but exterminated. He had to venture into the Great Wilderness to catch more.
In less than six months, his culinary Dao finally reached the pinnacle of the 8th stage.
Without hesitation, Li Hao ascended a solitary peak once he reached this bottleneck. He then exchanged for the Dao Comprehension Fruit from the merit treasury.
The Dao Comprehension Fruit was like a piece of emerald-green glass, with intricate patterns on its surface. Inside, it radiated a brilliant light and emitted a unique fragrance.
Li Hao gazed at it for a moment before taking a bite and swallowing it down.