Chapter 151: Chapter 112: No Longer Surnamed Li
The palm seal failed to hit Li Hao, and Li Tian Gang’s angry expression suddenly froze.
The sword seemed like countless petals fluttering before his eyes, actually causing a moment of confusion.
Blossoms on the Other Shore.
This Sword Intent actually affected him!
Shock appeared in Li Tian Gang’s eyes, but after all, he possessed a divine soul at the peak of the Three Immortal Realms. Though his realm had fallen, his state of mind was incredibly strong, and he quickly regained his composure.
With a metallic clink, a cold light suddenly lanced towards him.
The shock in his eyes turned instantly into towering fury.
“Beast!!”
With a roar, Li Tian Gang’s divine soul wielded a knife and swiftly plunged down in a slash.
But Li Hao was closer, and his sword was faster!
Li Tian Gang just managed to dodge slightly, the sword’s edge grazing his shoulder and creating a sound like clashing metal, leaving a bloody hole through his flesh!
The Three Immortal Realms consist of the Unperishing, the Indestructible, and the Unwithering!
Upon reaching the “Indestructible Realm,” one can render their flesh undying and impervious to blades with a single thought!
It was only because Li Hao wielded a Divine Weapon that he could penetrate his body; had it been a lower-grade weapon, it would have been impossible to injure Li Tian Gang.
With this kind of strength, warriors of the Three Immortal Realms could roam unhindered in frontier battles, decapitating enemies amidst tens of thousands alone!
If it were a Grandmaster of the Grandmaster Realm, although formidable in single combat, once surrounded by an army, they could be shot to pieces in an instant, reduced to minced meat!
Especially the armies trained by the Divine General Mansion, not even a Grandmaster could stand against them!
With blood flowing from his shoulder, Li Tian Gang’s eyes bulged with shock and anger as he stared at Li Hao. But in a flash, he raised his hand and, before Li Hao could withdraw his sword, he seized the blade in a streak of lightning.
In terms of killing experience, Li Tian Gang was honed on mountains of corpses and seas of blood, his body nearly acting on instinct!
At that moment, despite the risk of his palm being slashed, he fiercely smashed his fist towards Li Hao’s chest.
Li Hao swiftly let go of his sword, but instead of retreating, he clenched his sword hand into a fist and, with a roar, unleashed the Half-Step Invincible Fist!
This punch broke the rules of Half-Step Invincible Fist; he instantly fused a Sword Intent, using his arm as a sword, and struck a harmonious blow of fist and sword!
The domineering punch and sharp Sword Intent struck Li Tian Gang’s palm hard. His rough palm, fan-like, attempted to grasp Li Hao, but the Sword Intent within the fist penetrated deep into his bones, causing his arm to crack, and he couldn’t help but stagger back.
After the clash, both sides were shaken back.
“Heavenly Human Realm!”
Li Tian Gang stared at Li Hao in shock, finally realizing that during that brief moment, Li Hao had kicked open the gates to heaven and stepped into the realm of a Grandmaster!
His moves were no longer conventional, unrestrained, unpredictable.
Li Hao’s gaze was ice-cold. Glancing at the sword in his hand, as a swordsman, losing one’s sword was considered a disgrace. Had it been another swordsman, they might have chosen to tough it out and take Li Tian Gang’s palm strike, preferring severe injury over releasing their grip.
But he had never had the consciousness of a swordsman since childhood.
Sword or fist, whatever could attack, he would use that.
Weapons are external. The self is core.
Thinking this, Li Hao’s consciousness became even more lucid and calm. Though he had just stepped into the Grandmaster Realm and his state of mind had broken through, he had not yet established his own Grandmaster’s path.
At this moment, however, he had already touched upon it.
There were no rules in the world, no constraints, because of people, rules existed.
But what about this world?
The sun, the moon, the stars, all things, rivers, flowers, grass, trees.
They were each different, but they lived in harmony, complementing each other.
The true merging is not about imposing rules; it’s about fitting perfectly — what one lacks, the other provides.
Not one-sided yearning!
Perhaps, that “half-step” Elder Li spoke of was just like this.
To achieve one’s own half-step is enough!!
Li Hao’s eyes suddenly burst with a fierce light, as a multitude of martial arts and cultivation techniques converged in his mind.
“The heavens, the earth, all things, every scene, why should I be confined!”
“There are countless rivers in the world, but in the end… all streams return to the source!!”
Li Hao had found his path, though it was just the first step.
But at that moment, he already knew which direction to take!
A massive and formidable aura began to coalesce within him. Without a sword in hand, though he could still release Sword Qi, without the enhancement of a Divine Weapon, he couldn’t reach his strongest killer move.
Therefore, Li Hao chose the fist.
His fist was also at the Sixth Stage, no less formidable than the sword!
Looking into those eyes filled with shock and fury, Li Hao felt an urge to shatter them with his fists. He let out a roar to the sky, the ground cracking beneath him, a terrifying might causing the ground to sink all around him as he integrated numerous martial arts into his fist.
He charged forward fiercely, his punches like mountains and rivers!
The prototype of this punch was still the Half-Step Invincible Fist, but it only had a semblance of the original form.
“How audacious!!”
Li Tian Gang also snapped back to reality, his eyebrows seemingly ablaze with divine flames: “I’ve repeatedly shown leniency, yet you persist in your folly!!”
His body surged with a terrifying aura, the might of the Three Immortals erupting. At the same time, he suppressed his severe injuries, temporarily stimulating the power of the Unwithering Realm.
His previously injured body showed signs of temporary recovery, his realm seeming to rise!
This action would leave even greater damage afterwards, but the aura Li Hao released forced him to do this.
He wanted to completely crush Li Hao’s stubborn bones, even if he was a Grandmaster!
“Tiangang!!”
Li Qingzheng and others arrived on the scene and seeing this, couldn’t help but howl in grief and anger.
Li Tian Gang fused numerous peerless techniques, comprehended their principles, and created his own top-notch palm technique, which at this moment burst forth like the vast and mighty sun.
Endless golden light shone, casting the nearby streets into a dim shadow.
Li Hao’s eyes were bloodshot red, and the cultivation technique within his body rapidly revolved, unleashing the traits of the Seven Stars Igniting, which doubled his power with its next cycle!
Even though there were aftermath issues, and he would be drained afterwards, at this moment he couldn’t care less.
“Aaaaahhhhh!!!!”
Li Hao’s hair stood on end with fury, his body erupted with dazzling true force, the fusion of law images, the enhancement of object-controlling divine power, everything converged into this one punch!
He charged towards the glorious golden palm that carried a killing aura, like a moth to a flame, reckless of the consequences.
Then, he was engulfed by divine light.
With a booming sound, the heavens and earth seemed to shake.
Terrifying cracks appeared in the streets, and the violent force tore apart the surrounding buildings.
Li Qingzheng quickly took action, transferring the people inside those buildings to prevent injuries.
The golden divine palm suddenly burst and dispersed.
The crowd looked on eagerly, with such a momentum, apart from Li Qingzheng, Li Xuanli, and Li Fenghua, no one could intervene, unless it was Lin Wujing.
But at this moment, he merely watched like a spectator, his eyes filled with astonishment, gazing intently at the scene.
As the golden light of the divine palm shattered, Li Tian Gang couldn’t help but spit out a mouthful of fresh blood, his violent punch’s residual force tore his clothes to shreds, revealing his strong and burly upper body. After all, his attire was not battle armor, and with the exception of his trousers, his upper body was exposed.
Numerous scars covered his entire body, ghastly like earthworms; these were the countless injuries left from his battles at the frontiers.
Even having reached the Three Immortal Realms, with an indestructible body, to accumulate so many injuries still showed how fierce the past fourteen years of battle had been, and how many times he had fought!
In contrast to his garments exploding, in another place, Li Hao’s figure was flung backward like a cannonball.
The punch that had gathered all his strength, ultimately didn’t reach Li Tian Gang’s vicinity before being dispersed.
Only stopping after hundreds of meters, Li Hao’s body came to a halt, his eyes revealing shock. Although he had just entered the Grandmaster Realm and hadn’t had enough time to settle in, he had hastily condensed all his cultivation techniques, failing to reach the true peak.
But that punch was already the strongest force he could muster at the moment!
Yet, he was still defeated!
The difference in realms, coupled with the fact that Li Tian Gang was an entity that surpassed top genius talents, made the gap too wide!
Li Hao turned his head, only to see that terrifying figure enveloped in ferocious killing intent, stepping forward, as if a god emerging from fierce flames!
The shadow of death loomed over him, Li Hao gritted his teeth, turned, and crawled towards the distance, then mustered an object-controlling force to flee far away!
“Come down to me!!”
Li Tian Gang roared furiously.
His aura climbed, barely reaching the level of the middle stage of the Three Immortals.
With thunderous might, a crushing force struck down from above Li Hao’s head, knocking him from the sky, his spine seeming to break.
Li Hao crashed to the ground, yet he did not give up, crawled out of the deep pit, and charged into the distance once more.
But Li Tian Gang’s figure appeared abruptly as if he had teleported, closing the distance and striking out with a palm.
Li Hao was sent flying, his ribs shattered, breaking inch by inch, his internal organs damaged, and blood spurted from his mouth as if squeezed out, also gushing from all seven apertures.
His eyes and nose streamed with blood, a desolate and terrifying sight.
“To kill your brother, to murder your father, do you truly wish to become demonic?!”
Li Tian Gang’s gaze was icy cold.
Li Hao struggled to prop himself up, a thought telling him that he absolutely could not fall, he could not fall in front of this man!!
Seeing those defiant eyes, Li Tian Gang’s gaze turned furious, “No matter how talented you are, what does it matter? Don’t forget your last name— you’re a Li!”
“You are a member of the Li Family!”
“Every person you see from the Li Family has given their life for the clan, what about you, what have you contributed?”
“Everything you enjoy, every meal you eat, every grain of rice, every servant attending to your needs, they all belong to the Li Family, all the result of everyone’s life-and-death struggle for glory and wealth!”
“It is the soldiers bleeding on the frontier, it’s your first uncle, second uncle, third uncle, fourth uncle… they paid with their lives!”
Li Tian Gang advanced step by step toward Li Hao, his eyes flashing with a captivating glow, “You feel wronged, indeed, your father wasn’t there for you, I’ve wronged you, but has your food, clothing, and shelter ever been lacking?”
“Do you know how many boys there are whose parents died in battle the moment they were born, should they feel wronged too?!”
“You say you ingested poison pills, let’s assume for the sake of argument that it’s true, so what?!”
“You didn’t die, you are still alive, with such talent, do you still need to care about that portion of Divine Blood?”
“You could have asked me for justice, but you thought to kill their widows and orphans? Have you thought about your dead second uncle, his heroic spirit dissipated, can he rest in peace?!”
Finally, Li Tian Gang stood before Li Hao, looking down from above at the young man covered in wounds:
“Tell me, what right do you have to be so recklessly unrestrained?!”
“Is it because you cultivated your power with the resources of the Li Family?!”
As Li Hao listened to the other’s angry shouts, he tried to forcefully hold back the blood spurting continuously from his mouth, and the crushing pain of his shattered ribs and damaged internal organs from that one palm strike.
But the more he tried to hold back, it seemed the more blood surged forth.
He spat out the broken pieces of his organs from his mouth, looked up at the other, and his eyes revealed a smile mixed with fierce savagery:
“Why say so much, why don’t you just kill me? Then I won’t be a Li anymore!”
When he heard the other say, “let’s assume for the sake of argument that it’s true, so what,” Li Hao no longer wished to waste another word with him!
He didn’t even bother to say that he had not enjoyed any cultivation resources apart from food and clothing!
But why bother explaining, explanations were pointless to the person before him!
At that moment, even a strange sense of relief washed over him, including gratitude toward his second mother who he had resented for over a decade!
Grateful that she ruined the Divine Blood within his body!
He even felt a deep hatred and revulsion for the blood of the man before him that flowed through his veins!