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"If we manage martial artists like enlisting them into the army, managing their meals, their livelihood, and cultivation resources will lead to a huge expense. It's too big of a burden when there's no war, and we can't just disband them once again.

Once they are disbanded, these martial artists will cause chaos everywhere, potentially becoming bandits and a scourge to the people.

Therefore, the Royal Court needs to utilize martial artists to eradicate demons but also must control their numbers. Balancing these two is a complex issue that involves countless brilliant strategies and tactics, which are too numerous to fully describe."

"All things resemble Yin and Yang, but maintaining balance is difficult,"

Li Hao said.

Governing the world is not his forte; that requires understanding people's hearts.

And once you completely understand people's hearts, life becomes inevitably dull.

He could endure the loneliness of drinking alone, but he could not endure a dull life.

Hearing Li Hao's words, Xia Linglong's eyes flickered with thought, and then she looked deeply at the young man and whispered softly, "Haotian General, please, you can look inside as many days as you wish, as long as you promise it will never be disclosed."

"I will not fail this trust from the Head of the Xia family,"

Li Hao responded.

He then walked into Lingyuan Pavilion.

The pavilion was filled with manuals of cultivation skills, similar in setup to Listening Rain Tower.

He did not delay much, swiftly flipping through the books, one by one, and collecting them into his panel.

Originally, he selected cultivation skill manuals selectively for storage, but now he didn't have much time to deduce which were completely redundant, so he decided to store first.

Besides taking up names, there was no downside to storing them in the panel.

Since the battle in Qingzhou City where he killed the incarnations of the two Desolate Gods, Li Hao had been on high alert; although he was now in the Grand Tao of Peace Realm, within the Dayu Divine Dynasty, there were only one person overtly and possibly no more than three covertly, who could defeat him.

But those two original Desolate Gods were in the Tao Comprehension Realm!

Yet, they'd delayed their attack on the Dayu Divine Dynasty, instead using demonic forces from other realms to restrain, likely planning to remain hidden if it were not for his intervention.

If they truly wanted to invade the Dayu Divine Dynasty, they only needed to kill Emperor and slaughter the Imperial Family to directly nest in their place, starting with attacks from the Imperial Capital, and destroying the five Divine General Mansions; this would be the optimal route.

If they hadn't done so, it wasn't from stupidity, but inability.

It might be because the True Person from Gan Tao Palace was too powerful, or perhaps the unseen strength within the Dayu Divine Dynasty deterred them, still needing external forces to draw them out.

Now, having killed those two incarnations of the Desolate Gods, they would surely see him as a thorn in their side; merely facing the incarnations was horrifying enough, and Li Hao wasn't sure he could win against their true bodies, thus increasing his strength would provide him a better chance.

At that moment, as he collected every book on cultivation skills, the Body Refining Techniques were no exception, Li Hao stored them all in his panel.

From the Eighth Stage Physical Body Dao, he extrapolated the Body Refining Techniques, upgrading the low to mid-grade skills to superior, and superior ones to peerless, then merging them to create more superior skills.

As each cultivation manual was collected, a stream of information flooded into Li Hao's mind, but with his current physical strength, he could easily assimilate it.

Dozens, hundreds, thousands of books!

Every cultivation manual in Lingyuan Pavilion was collected by Li Hao as he wandered through, storing them all in his panel.

Among these techniques, Li Hao discovered most were oriented towards Refining the Spirit and Object Control.

There weren't many Body Refining Techniques; Swordsmanship, Fist Skill, and Knife Skill type techniques also weren't plentiful.

Li Hao had heard before that the five Divine General Mansions each had their specialties; the Li Family studied diverse skills, the Xia Family specialized in refining the spirit, and the Wang Family had bizarre cultivation techniques, adept in cultivating avatars and controlling puppet mechanisms.

In the Divine Traveling Realm and the Fifteen Li Realm, people from the Xia Family were generally stronger than those from other Divine General Mansions.

Their strongest Divine Spirit Cultivation Skill was nearly on par with the Imperial Family's.

The same was true for their Object Controlling Qi Circulation Skills.

This gave Li Hao an unexpected pleasure, feeling he had come to the right place.

As multiple Divine Spirit Cultivation Manuals were collected, quickly assimilated by his Seven Stage Imperial Path, the energy of his Divine Soul started to climb slowly, then more rapidly.

Immediately, Li Hao enveloped himself with the Dao Domain, isolating any aura, and began cultivating cross-legged on the spot.

His Divine Soul manifested behind him, like a golden War God, his whole body burning with flames, refining his Divine Soul.

The top peerless Soul Refining Skill from the great families could refine the spirit up to twenty Li.

The Royal Family's top Soul Refining Skill, however, extended to thirty Li.

Originally, Li Hao possessed three top Soul Refinement Skills from the Li Family, plus Feng had helped him steal the Number One Spirit Refinement Skill from the Royal Family, allowing his Divine Soul to cultivate up to an extent where he could Divine Travel fifty Li.

Now having cultivated to the Four Stands Realm, his Divine Soul naturally strengthened, allowing him to effortlessly travel out to a hundred Li.

However, this distance relied on his Dao Thoughts, as well as the shaping of the Divine Soul during realm advancement; setting aside these enhancements, his limit in the Divine Traveling Realm was still fifty Li.

And to extend the limits of the Divine Traveling Realm to its maximum, Li Hao guessed, required at least a hundred Li.

At this moment, as multiple Soul Refining Skills extrapolated, Li Hao cultivated on the spot, his Divine Soul forming seals, enveloped by Divine Fire. Explore more stories with freewebnovel

This was all confined within the Dao Domain, even the temperature didn't escape.

As he continued his cultivation, Li Hao's Divine Soul also transformed, absorbing the roaming lunar energy of the heavens and the earth, refining and repairing his spirit.

Soul Refining Cultivation, similar to demons ingesting the essence of the sun and moon for their cultivation, but while most demons, aside from those with special talents, could only absorb moon essence—because it was gentle while solar essence was fierce and could burn the spirit when absorbed—Li Hao now, with his enhanced Divine Soul, absorbed both solar and lunar energies, his Divine Soul ablaze with an intensely hot Divine Yang flame, exuding a terrifying aura.

Only the impact of divine souls allowed Li Hao to easily ignite the souls of others.

As his divine soul condensed and its connection with his physical body tightened, Li Hao experienced an illusion, perhaps believing that if he cultivated the Divine Travel Realm to its limit, just the immortality of the divine soul could grant everlasting life!

Normally, when the physical body was destroyed, the divine soul would be fragile, needing to quickly find a host, else it would be exposed in the open air and consumed by the burning sun.

But now, Li Hao's divine soul absorbed Sun Essence for cultivation and began to fear the scorching sun no more.

After a long while,

As he integrated various Divine Spirit Cultivation Skills, Li Hao's divine soul rapidly improved, and soon, he entered a mysterious state, his soul seemingly transformed, reborn from its old shell.

Behind him, the golden flames that once adorned his divine soul surged into his body, turning the soul completely golden and solid to the touch.

"This is..."

Li Hao's eyes flickered open, and with a thought, his divine soul burst forth, rushing out of the Dao Domain and directly through the dome of Lingyuan Pavilion, standing tall in the sky.

Bathed in the sunlight and moonlight, his divine soul shone brilliant gold. What was once ethereal now appeared as a golden true form.

With a sudden burst of power, the divine soul vanished, slipping into a layer of illusory space - a seam within reality.

After a moment, the divine soul reappeared.

Li Hao tried repeatedly and soon understood that he had reached the Extreme Realm of Divine Traveling, and along with increased powers of the divine soul, even if his physical body died, the soul could exist for a long time.

Moreover, the soul could traverse the cracks in space, places beyond the reach of the Tao Heart Realm, unless someone from the Grand Tao of Peace Realm intervened, using their Dao Domain to force it out.

To know, these were abilities inherent to the Divine Travel Realm, which was truly terrifying.

"Bathed in the sun and moon, capable of Divine Traveling through the Great Void, moving through the cracks of nothingness..."

Li Hao pondered and named this ultimate limit of the Divine Travel Realm as Primordial Spirit.

At this moment, his divine soul indeed had transformed, becoming different from ordinary souls. Li Hao felt that only in an evenly matched battle could he appreciate more benefits of the Extreme Realm of Divine Traveling.

But for now, just being able to traverse the Great Void, where only the Dao Domain could force it out, was already extraordinarily exaggerated.

Had he mastered this ability earlier, merely using the divine soul to assassinate enemies would make him nearly untouchable beneath the Grand Tao of Peace Realm.

To know, this was a level reachable only in the Divine Traveling Realm.

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Li Hao retracted his divine soul and continued his cultivation.

The cultivation of the Soul Refining Skills didn't cease with the achievement of the Primordial Spirit. Li Hao's Primordial Spirit continued to grow stronger under these techniques.

Li Hao had known for a while that there should be an End Realm beyond the Extreme Realm.

That would be the true limit.

But reaching it might be ten times harder than the Extreme Realm.

The Extreme Realm was already difficult enough, with few of the prodigies from the Ancient Holy Clan being able to reach it, let alone the End Realm.

Time flew by.

After a long time, Li Hao's cultivation of the Primordial Spirit finally came to a halt. The various skills had maximized their enhancements to the Primordial Spirit.

Li Hao extended his Primordial Spirit out of Lingyuan Pavilion, appearing outside the city in the blink of an eye. Then he crossed mountains and rivers, racing under the sun and moon. The scorching sunlight that once could burn the soul now felt merely warm upon him.

The essence of the sun was more concentrated and more potent than the moonlight, constantly nourishing the Primordial Spirit.

"It's said that only certain ancient Demon Kings with extraordinary bloodlines have the innate ability to absorb and exhale Sun Essence, whereas other races, including most of the Dragon Clan, can only cultivate using moonlight."

Li Hao thought to himself. The soaring speed of his Primordial Spirit was far greater than his physical body, meaning he could swiftly slay most enemies with his soul alone, without his body having to move.

After wandering four or five hundred li, Li Hao began to feel a chill, the connection between his Primordial Spirit and his physical body weakening. It was a peculiar sensation; as his body grew cold, the world around him seemed to change too, like seas that were both real and illusory, washing over him.

Continuing forward was like venturing deeper into that seemingly phantom sea. To become lost there would be terrifying.

"With just the Primordial Spirit, the body cannot be completely abandoned." Li Hao mused to himself.

His Primordial Spirit began to return.

The hundreds of li flew by quickly, and upon returning to his physical form, Li Hao stretched his body lightly before resuming his cultivation.

This time, it was the Object Control Qi Circulation Skill.

The Fifteen Li Realm was named so because the divine soul could control objects from a distance of fifteen li in a single breath.

This was the limit for most without great resources.

A distance of fifteen li at full force was a combat speed, not a usual state, like when traveling in the Fifteen Li Realm, one could burst forth at full power, moving objects to fifteen li away, but only in a brief surge, perhaps exhausting after two or three consecutive tries.

The Imperial Manipulation Method, however, could be cultivated up to twenty-five li.

Other top-tier methods reached twenty li.

Fifteen li and twenty li might only differ by five li, but in combat, this gap represented a qualitative change.

Five li meant the difference between being unstruck and being slain before one's opponent could act.

This advantage was why the warriors of the Imperial Bloodline could dominate all sides; in the Fifteen Li Realm, their twenty-five li control speed could almost effortlessly annihilate others at the same stage.

Previously, Li Hao's cultivation reached forty li, and after absorbing various techniques in Tianji Tower, it reached eighty li.

With his realm improved and his divine soul strengthened, his control speed became even faster.

As he blended together various Object Manipulating Qi Circulation Skills, Li Hao's Primordial Spirit flew out again, pinching up a speck of dust off the ground outside Lingyuan Pavilion and controlling it over a hundred li away.