Chapter 278: The Power of Immortals and Gods
"Rebirth from a drop of blood?!"
Seeing Li Hao regenerate from a mass of blood mist, the Buddha Lord's pupils contracted slightly. His always composed expression showed a slight change. This technique seemed akin to the Dao Law Realm.
In the Dao Law Realm, one could recover from the brink of death with a single thought. However, Li Hao's display was purely the power of his physical body!
The main difference was that the Dao Law Realm required active release, while Li Hao's was passive.
Could a mere physical body reach such a level? The Buddha Lord's eyes became solemn. He had already sensed Li Hao's terrifyingly strong physique, but this exceeded his expectations.
He himself was in the extreme divine power realm, having spent centuries mastering over a hundred body refining techniques, tempering his body to a terrifying level comparable to the dragon kings of the great wilderness. But he still seemed far from Li Hao's current state...
"Supreme Venerable Body!"
Li Hao's flesh and blood condensed, displaying the effects of numerous body refining techniques. These techniques consumed a great deal of his body's energy, but his body was on the verge of 'transcending into an immortal,' merging with the heavens and earth, with endless power. His recovery was even stronger than the unfallen state.
The unfallen state stimulated one's own power to restore its original strength, while transcending into an immortal not only provided infinite power but also constantly accepted more power beyond its original limits.
Swish! Li Hao stepped forward, causing a gust of wind, his body disappearing in an instant.
"Hmm?!"
The Buddha Lord's eyes narrowed, instant movement? Dao rhythm guidance? Boom!!
Suddenly, a punch appeared before him, crashing down like a giant inverted peak.
The Buddha Lord's body plummeted, colliding with the base of the spirit mountain.
Before the dust could rise, Li Hao's body had already followed, striking into the dust. The ground continuously shook with violent tremors, dozens, hundreds of times!
The earth cracked, nearby peaks trembled, and the buildings on them loosened and collapsed.
Many Buddhist disciples hurried from afar, horrified by the dissipating dust, unable to see the figures but only hear the terrifying sounds.
Boom! Suddenly, the Buddha Lord's figure was thrown out, flying into the sky. Li Hao instantly appeared behind him, delivering a fierce leg whip.
The Buddha Lord's body shot out, but this time, before crashing into the mountain, he stabilized himself mid-air.
He erupted with vast Buddhist light, spreading out like a golden glass ocean, sweeping across the heavens.
"If you had ten more years, you could be invincible in the world, but you don't have those ten years!"
The Buddha Lord's eyes shone with killing intent. After merging with Mo Luo, his demeanor changed. His eyes no longer held that gentle smile, now showing emotions like joy, anger, sorrow, and joy, though deeply restrained.
Both Buddha and demon.
"Die!"
The Buddha Lord spoke, and Dao force released from him, instantly enveloping Li Hao, easily bypassing his fifteen-layer domain.
The domain's rules seemed meaningless before the Dao force and laws, completely different levels of power!
This was the gap between the Dao Law Realm and the Four Standing Realms, like heaven and earth!
The merciless law covered his body. Li Hao tried to control himself, but he felt like he was being torn apart, not by power, but by laws, a force beyond his current reach!
At that moment, Li Hao deeply felt the gap between the Dao Law Realm and the Four Standing Realms. But he didn't panic or retreat; he took the final step! Ultimate transcendence!
Boundless heavenly power surged into him, breaking through the limit he was nearing!
With a thunderous roar, Li Hao felt his mind buzz. His flesh, blood, and consciousness seemed to merge with the heavens and earth.
His intense killing intent and anger seemed to disperse into the heavens, leaving a state of intense yet calm killing intent.
In the Dead River of Dragon City, Li Hao had once experienced ultimate transcendence. That brief moment gave him the confidence to fight now, having truly touched that great power! That was... the power of immortals and gods!!
Boom! Li Hao raised his hand, brushing away the tearing laws like swatting away flies.
A strange tearing sound echoed from the void.
His body, constantly reborn in the extreme transcendence, remained unscathed. This was the true secret of the Three Immortals Extreme Realm, maintaining this state! "What is this..."
The Buddha Lord was stunned, his eyes momentarily clear, bewildered.
Even he had never seen such a strange situation.
He was sure Li Hao was only in the Four Standing Realms, but now Li Hao's aura made him feel awe, even surpassing the Saint Realm he aspired to...
What power was this?!
Swish! Li Hao's body disappeared again.
The Buddha Lord's face changed, reacting instantly, his eyes scanning everywhere.
He could capture Dao rhythm and see the trajectory of the great Dao, but Li Hao's body seemed to vanish.
No Dao rhythm, not displacement! Pure physical speed?
Impossible?! Boom!!
A sonic boom, with searing airwaves from friction, crashed in from the side.
The robe's Buddhist light appeared, the seven-colored halo flashing, but it was pierced instantly!
In a split second, the Buddha Lord hurriedly raised his hand, his palm blocking, head retracting, but his hand was punched through, his body knocked into the spirit mountain.
Li Hao's body instantly pursued, flashing continuously.
"Great Brightness Technique!"
The Buddha Lord roared, dazzling light erupting from him, Dao force spreading, forming a protective layer around him.
His robe dimmed, torn by Li Hao's punch.
Boom! Li Hao's punch landed on the Dao force around the Buddha Lord, unable to destroy it, the force resilient as a sponge, unable to be pierced.
The Dao force's recoil hit the Buddha Lord, making him spit golden blood, his face filled with rage.
If Li Hao's movement was guided by Dao rhythm, he could sever it!
But Li Hao's movement had no trace, unpredictable, terrifying.
"Great Dao Hong Tian, I am indestructible!"
The Buddha Lord clasped his hands, eyes wide with anger, seeing that the Dao and laws were ineffective against Li Hao.
The great Dao laws were easily severed by that faint yet terrifying aura on Li Hao. If not for the indestructible Dao force, he would have been defeated.
Since the Dao Law Realm's methods couldn't kill Li Hao, he would strengthen himself.
"I am the Venerable Buddha, suppressing all demons!"
"Heaven lend me thirty thousand strength, I shall bring peace for ten thousand years!"
The Buddha Lord's voice echoed, his body radiating brilliant Buddhist light. A towering heavenly figure appeared behind him, a giant Buddha with eyes like revolving suns and moons, compassionate, overlooking the world.
As this heavenly figure appeared, the Buddha Lord's body instantly disappeared, merging with the figure's chest.
The heavenly veins behind the figure operated, absorbing power from the surrounding mountains, all converging into the figure.
"That's... the Buddha Lord's figure!"
"Amitabha, Amitabha..."
"Buddha bless, Buddha bless..."
Far away, countless disciples of the Infinite Mountain saw the giant Buddha figure, both shocked and awed, hurriedly bowing and chanting.
Li Hao looked up at the towering figure, his eyes showing astonishment.
This Buddha Lord was indeed a prodigy, having cultivated to the Four Extremes Realm, powerful even among the ancient saint races' war gods! And the heavenly figure realm was one of the most difficult among the Four Extremes Realms. Higher realms could still be retraced, but the heavenly figure required cultivating the heavenly soul early on!
Without the heavenly soul, one couldn't progress.
This required not only immense power but also a broad and heroic spirit comparable to ancient saints.
"Die!!"
The figure's eyes opened fully, revealing cold killing intent, no longer compassionate.
Li Hao's eyes gleamed, a vast aura emanating from his back. His heavenly figure also appeared.
Vast heavenly power surged into the figure, bearing several times more power than his body.
Li Hao's body merged with the heavenly figure.
The figure seemed to burn and tear, bearing too much power, unable to sustain long, the tearing power like divine flames.
Two towering figures stood in the heavens, facing each other, killing intent raging like ancient giants, exuding an awe-inspiring aura.
"Roar!"
Li Hao roared, grabbing a nearby mountain peak, lifting it like a club, smashing it down on the Buddha Lord.
The Buddha Lord's gathered palm also struck, suppressing like a blazing sun, friction with the air igniting divine flames, pressing down.
The two auras clashed, the impact sweeping away nearby disciples.
Boom!!! The heavens seemed to thunder, like the chaos at the beginning of time, exploding with endless light.
The mountain shattered, fragments flying like meteorites.
The giant Buddha palm was also torn apart. Li Hao's other fist, like a rising dragon, struck with a force of thousands of tons, piercing the Buddha Lord.
The towering heavenly figure collapsed, crashing into the spirit mountain, splitting it.
Boom! Li Hao's foot stomped, the giant figure's movements slow but powerful, each punch and kick drawing heavenly power, with destructive force.
The Buddha Lord's figure was pierced, the chest shattered, the divine flames extinguished.
At that moment, Li Hao emerged from his figure, a silver light flashing, instantaneously charging into the Buddha Lord's figure.
Within the figure's head, the Buddha Lord's body was coughing blood, his aura fluctuating violently. Before he could react, Li Hao's body arrived, punching his face.
The Buddha Lord's Dao power surged out, covering his face, but in the next moment, this power was shaken and struck back against his own head, causing it to explode on the spot.
Dao power cannot be destroyed; it can only dissipate.
What Li Hao did was not to destroy the Dao power but to destroy the Buddha Lord.
With the Buddha Lord's death, his Dao power naturally dissipated into the heavens and earth.
Bang, bang, bang! Dozens of punches were thrown out, all isolated by the Dao power, unable to directly hit the Buddha Lord.
But the force was too strong. The combined power of his near-invincible punch and the ultimate transcendence only needed to vibrate through the Dao power to shatter the Buddha Lord's body.
"Die..."
Even in the tattered body, a faint consciousness was still transmitted. Immediately after, surrounding Dao power converged, and laws suddenly descended.
But in the next moment, Li Hao waved his hand, and a trace of divine power within him surfaced, tearing all these laws apart.
The ultimate transcendence, merging with heaven and earth, allowed a trace of pure divine power to be born within his body.
It was precisely this trace of divine power that gave Li Hao the ability to kill the Buddha Lord across realms. Otherwise, just the Buddha Lord's great Dao power could have directly killed him without any resistance.
Dao power transcends the power within Li Hao's body; it's a qualitative change. Even though Li Hao can easily suppress those in the same realm, in the face of true Dao power, he is still like an infant. This is the difference in power.
Whether it is the Four Standing Realms or the Three Immortal Realms, they all harness the natural power of heaven and earth, like water, while Dao power is like condensed solid matter, like a stone.
No matter how violent the water, it cannot break the stone.
Dripping water wears away the stone, but that is an extremely prolonged process, equivalent to a Dao Law Realm standing still without resisting, allowing the Four Standing Realms to attack endlessly, only then causing harm.
The higher the martial realm, the greater the difference between each stage, making the possibility of defeating a higher realm increasingly unlikely.
In the early stages, a Tongli Realm practitioner could rely on divine weapons to slay a Zhoutian Realm, even contend with a Jihun Realm. But as the realms progress, the qualitative changes become more pronounced.
Just like the Three Immortal Realms, in an ambush or assassination, it is still possible to kill a Daoxin Realm.
After all, the physical strength of the Daoxin Realm, compared to the Three Immortal Realms, has improved but not undergone a qualitative change.
However, the Dao Law Realm is truly on another level.
If not for cultivating the Tianren Realm and the Three Immortal Realms to the extreme, Li Hao would not be able to cross this chasm and would surely be defeated.
"You drew me here, your goal achieved. Now, are you satisfied?"
Li Hao looked coldly at the shattered, bloodied Buddha Lord on the ground.
"The demon star descends... Pity... The incense I accumulated over two thousand years remains unused. The sea of suffering in the world, people are difficult to save, I am powerless..."
The Buddha Lord's voice was weak.
"If there is no Buddha, where comes the demon? If there is no other shore, where comes the distinction of the sea of suffering? If you truly wish to save the world, how could you not pity the weak? Sacrificing one person for the sake of the world, would you not sacrifice hundreds, thousands? How are you different from the demon?"
Li Hao's eyes were cold, his entire aura gathering again, and his primordial spirit emerged from his back.
Seeing Li Hao's primordial spirit, the Buddha Lord knew he could not escape.
Without a primordial spirit, he might have used his own to flee. But facing Li Hao's, he had no chance.
"You could never understand the grand aspirations of my Buddha Sect. The world sinks into the sea of suffering; how many are worth saving? My Buddha only saves those suffering from hardships, not those who seek suffering themselves. You don't understand the difference."
The Buddha Lord chuckled faintly, seemingly disinterested in discussing these truths further. He asked, "How many extreme realms have you mastered?"
His eyes showed a hint of complexity as he spoke.
He had walked this path for over two thousand years, yet he had not caught up to this youth in a few decades.
Though he spent most of these two thousand years planning for the Buddha Sect and accumulating incense, this defeat was still hard to accept.
His greatest regret was that the incense he had accumulated over two thousand years, meant to achieve sainthood, was now useless.
Hearing the Buddha Lord's words, Li Hao sneered, naturally not answering.
"Whether Buddha or demon, let the people judge. You collude with demons, with nobles, trying to gain fame and fortune by their hands. Now you force me to break the laws of Dayu. If I truly break with the Dayu Divine Dynasty, do you think it will be good for those who believe in you?"
As Li Hao spoke, his primordial spirit attacked.
This was not a question that needed answering, but an accusation.
The Buddha Lord was silent. Originally, if he could kill Li Hao, his actions would naturally be justified.
"You are young and reckless, disloyal and unfilial, lawless. What use is your extraordinary talent? I stepped into the Taiping Dao Realm long ago, already having the power to challenge the Dao Law Realm. But without incense, I cannot achieve sainthood. If I cannot become a saint, all is in vain. Below saints, all are ants!"
"You are also an ant, just the one jumping the highest for now. Your path is already at an end. You cannot become a saint. In the end, you will be nothing but ashes."
The Buddha Lord's primordial spirit floated out from his broken body, burning with intense solar essence, attacking Li Hao's primordial spirit.
The two primordial spirits fiercely clashed, divine flames scattering. Li Hao's primordial spirit, empowered by a trace of divine power, struck like a blade, inflicting deep wounds on the Buddha Lord's primordial spirit with each blow.
A trace of divine power was like an ultimate blade, capable of severing the sun, moon, and stars. Besides Dao power, even laws could be cut!
Bang! The Buddha Lord's primordial spirit was torn apart, its aura wilting, its Buddhist flames flickering weakly, on the verge of extinguishing.
"I will wait for you in the Dead River, watching you sink forever!!"
The Buddha Lord roared, his primordial spirit utterly shredded by Li Hao, scattering like sparks into the heavens.
The scattered solar essence was rapidly absorbed by Li Hao's primordial spirit, transforming into golden flames, enhancing his primordial spirit's might.
The Buddha Lord's presence was completely eradicated. This top-tier powerhouse, who had sat in Dayu for over two thousand years with followers across nineteen provinces, fell at the threshold of sainthood, at Li Hao's feet.
With the amplification of fifteen layers of domain, Li Hao sensed that as the Buddha Lord's primordial spirit dissipated, a faint remnant soul seemed to drift away.
Rather than dissipating, it seemed to sink into the heavens.
Into a deeper space, unseen.
If not for the fifteen-layer domain, his enhanced perception wouldn't have caught even this faint remnant soul.
"Is it sinking into the Dead River..."
Li Hao's eyes gleamed. If the soul is a condensation of the three souls and seven spirits, then the soul's destruction means the three souls and seven spirits are gone.
In the mortal world, these are called ghosts.
Humans die and become ghosts; ghosts die and become jian, the remnants in the Dead River.
Mortals cannot see ghosts, just as warriors find it hard to see jian, unless in the Dead River's special environment.
This might be heaven's mercy on mankind.
The principle of "heaven's virtue in life."
"If I could layer my domain more, I might fully perceive the jian..."
Li Hao's eyes gleamed. If so, could it completely block reincarnation? The higher he cultivated, the more abilities he discovered. For instance, now, under the fifteen-layer domain, he could temporarily obscure destiny. Previously, even those Buddhas with the power to reverse fate couldn't use it.
Ji Yunge had once said that the Dao Law Realm could temporarily obscure heavenly secrets, and the power to reverse fate in the Four Standing Realms was an absolute life-saving opportunity. But in the Dao Law Realm, it could be thwarted once!
This also showed the vast gap between the Dao Law Realm and the Four Standing Realms!
"Unfortunately, it was too fast. I don't know which Dead River this Buddha Lord was detained in. If found, he could be completely destroyed..."
"Given his obsession, it's unlikely a common Dead River. He might have reincarnated directly. If so, past karma should disappear. The Shenjiang Mansion's records mention no instances of memory-carrying reincarnation..."
Li Hao's eyes flashed. Regardless, in this world, the Buddha Lord was truly dead.
He glanced at the blurred bloodstains on the ground. Had he reached the Three Immortal Realms, the Buddha Lord would not have died. But unfortunately, he only cultivated the first four extreme realms.
Picking up the broken cassock, although this treasure was now dim and damaged, it was the strongest treasure Li Hao had encountered, feeling different from the Sacred Heart Treasure he had seen before.
Li Hao stored it, planning to visit Wanqi Tower to determine its level. Wearing it, the Buddha Lord seemed untouchable by even Taiping Dao Realm experts, which was quite astonishing.
After storing the cassock, Li Hao crushed the remaining bloodstains, revealing a golden relic inside.
Li Hao picked it up, seeing a black mist on one side, seemingly from the previous Mo Luo's aura.
The Buddha and demon had merged but not completely.
"Attempting to achieve sainthood in one step, and almost succeeding..." Li Hao's eyes gleamed. Though the Buddha Lord was much older, his grand ambition made him a remarkable figure.
The relic contained potent energy, akin to a divine pill.
Li Hao stored it in his spatial ring, uninterested in using it for his cultivation.
Then, Li Hao's domain shrank, enveloping him, condensing its power, blocking the heavens.
As the heavenly power calmed, Li Hao gradually returned from the ultimate transcendence to normal.
His various extreme realm powers receded, and Li Hao retrieved a set of clothes from his spatial ring, surveying the scene. The spirit mountain was collapsed, the Buddha Lord's heavenly figure long gone, and the surrounding mountains were in ruins from the battle.
Li Hao's figure flickered, arriving before Zhuhuo Shen, seeing Feng Lao still in his maimed state, feeling a stabbing pain in his heart.
"No way to heal?"
Li Hao asked Xiyan.
Xiyan hesitated. "He's poisoned, a strange toxin I can't remove. It might cause his body to collapse."
Li Hao's face darkened. Who could have expected such vicious poison in this Buddha Sect's territory?
Just like the vicious pill that could destroy divine blood, also held by this Buddha Sect.
"If healing is impossible, I'll reverse his fate!"
Determination flashed in Li Hao's eyes. He released the reversed fate energy from his body, transferring it to Feng Lao.
"This is reversed fate energy!"
Xiyan exclaimed, rushing to him.
Jiang Lichen hurried over, sword in hand, eyes shining with awe and excitement at the battle between Li Hao and the Buddha Lord.
He hadn't expected Li Hao to hide so much during their previous duel.
If Li Hao had fought with full strength, he wouldn't have stood a chance.
"What are you doing?!"
Seeing Li Hao transferring reversed fate energy to Feng Boping, Jiang Lichen's excited expression turned to shock, shouting.
Li Hao said nothing, concentrating on the transfer. Soon, the reversed fate energy entered Feng Lao, activated by Li Hao.
The reversed fate energy dissipated, vanishing into the unseen.
Feng Lao's body seemed to change.
Earlier, the scattered battle energy seemed drawn to this ruined spirit mountain.
But it didn't gather around Feng Lao; it gathered at the ruined Buddha hall.
Li Hao focused, his awareness spreading. Soon, he found a deep wooden box beneath the shattered purple-gold lotus platform.
Li Hao retrieved it, opening the box to reveal three golden pills, like relics.
A sense of destiny filled his mind. Li Hao realized, driven by reversed fate energy, that these pills could restore Feng Lao.