**Boom!**
A massive cauldron, vast and boundless, churned with primordial mist within its maw, making it appear unfathomably deep—like a boundless cosmos.
Indeed, within it, countless star rivers and blazing suns flickered, embedded in the depths of the chaotic mist, amplifying its grandeur and majesty.
“This cauldron…” Shi Hao’s eyes blazed with divine light. He was witnessing this scene through the Little Rascal’s spiritual perception.
It was the same cauldron he had seen before, but now it was even more astonishing. It had manifested its true form, submerged in the cosmos as if capable of devouring entire galaxies.
Every time he saw this cauldron, Shi Hao felt uneasy, as if some extraordinary fate bound them together—an inescapable karmic entanglement.
“That woman!”
Suddenly, Shi Hao noticed a woman in white standing behind the cauldron, her beauty unparalleled. Her hands formed mystic seals as she sent the cauldron hurtling forward.
Her figure was indistinct, her face obscured by a bronze mask streaked with tears and blood—an image so haunting it sent shivers through his soul.
“It’s her!”
Shi Hao had once followed the disciples of the Celestial Deity Academy into the ruins of an ancient battlefield, where he had encountered a supreme being from antiquity attempting to slaughter the geniuses of the present era. But then, from the downstream flow of the River of Time, a peerlessly graceful woman had intervened to stop him.
This was that very woman—she was the one controlling the cauldron!
“Hmm? There are others!”
Shi Hao spotted three more blurred figures—all men. One of them stood atop a massive bell, unleashing waves of temporal ripples that surged like an ocean, pouring into the cauldron ahead.
They were the ones propelling the cauldron forward at terrifying speed.
The cauldron was drenched in blood, evidence of some unimaginable battle. It had pierced through the barriers of worlds, traversed the River of Time, and endured countless assaults—yet it still charged forward relentlessly.
**Boom!**
With one final tremor, the cauldron vanished, and the Little Rascal snapped back to awareness.
Strangely, Shi Hao had not seen the woman seated within the cauldron in her spiritual vision—only those behind it. It was inexplicable.
The visions they had perceived were different!
“This makes no sense!” the Little Rascal yelped, bewildered by the discrepancy.
“Think again. What else did you see? What did you hear?” Shi Hao pressed. This anomaly was too significant to ignore.
“I… I forgot.” The Little Rascal looked sheepish. Whatever she had experienced, it had slipped from her memory, as if erased by some profound force.
“Try harder!” Shi Hao’s expression darkened.
“There were voices… accompanying the cauldron. It glowed, and the sounds were faint, as if echoing from the edge of the world. It was saying… something about a person…” She clutched her head, straining to recall.
“It was speaking to me. It said there was someone who walked over the corpses of countless beings, crossed the ruins of myriad realms, traversed the abyss of darkness, drifted across the Boundary Sea, and dispelled the ancient horrors and omens. It was a lonely journey… a solitary battle. They wanted to know everything about that person…”
Tears welled in her eyes as she spoke. “I should remember more… I was so sad then. I heard something important, but now… nothing remains.”
The harder she struggled to retrieve the memory, the more it eluded her, until only chaos remained.
Shi Hao attempted to delve into her consciousness, but he found nothing—only a haze where the power of time had erased all traces.
Cao Yusheng offered to help, but Shi Hao shook his head.
“Forget it. The past was overturned, yin and yang were disturbed, time itself was twisted. Those imprints couldn’t last. We won’t see them.”
The most crucial factor was that those memories defied the River of Time—they were contradictions to existence itself.
“Are you still going into the Immortal Vale?” Shi Hao asked.
“No point. Since you’ve already taken all the opportunities, why bother?” Cao Yusheng grinned shamelessly.
Shi Hao distributed some of the Divine Warding Bamboo’s essence and gave Cao Yusheng a single Netherworld Fruit before they departed. Along the way, they encountered Gu Jianyun and others, to whom Shi Hao also gifted some of the divine liquid.
“That man is Huang!”
As they left the Immortal Vale and reached the mountain peak, murmurs of recognition spread. Everyone knew him.
The golden floating temple at the summit had vanished, and all traces of the War God’s imprints had dissipated.
“Young man, won’t you reconsider joining the Immortal Academy? That is where true metamorphosis awaits,” an elder from the Immortal Academy urged.
“Without a perfect ancient seed, there’s little meaning in going,” Shi Hao replied.
“Then come to the Sacred Academy,” a senior from the Sacred Academy offered.
Shi Hao smiled bitterly. The Sacred Academy’s elders had long since decided—the blood of the Heavenly Horned Ant and other Ten Evils had already been allocated. What would he gain by going?
All the great opportunities had been seized by the chosen prodigies. Even if he joined, no resources would be spared for him.
The final divine chances, reserved for the heirs of the Eternal Families, were already claimed.
“Farewell, elders!” Without hesitation, Shi Hao descended the mountain at incredible speed.
“Incredible… This mountain has 100,000 steps, each exuding pressure enough to crush a Celestial Deity. Yet he descended so effortlessly. Just how strong is his body?” an elder gasped.
Even in their youth, none of them could have matched such a feat.
Some now regretted their decisions. Letting such a prodigy languish in the Celestial Deity Academy, left to fend for himself—was it not a waste?
“The decision-makers will likely regret this. I have a feeling—Huang’s potential surpasses even our wildest expectations. He may outshine even the chosen seeds we’ve nurtured!” one elder muttered gravely.
Shi Hao had taken days to ascend, but his descent was swift as lightning. The mountain’s pressure no longer affected him, his body tempered by the Divine Warding Bamboo’s essence and his enlightenment.
He departed without looking back, heading straight for the Celestial Deity Academy.
On the mountain, discussions continued.
Many young geniuses had returned to the summit.
“Such a pity. Not only did we miss the most ancient Divine Warding Bamboo, but we didn’t even see an ordinary one.”
“Don’t be ridiculous. There are only a few Divine Warding Bamboos here—even the youngest is tens of thousands of years old. There’s no such thing as ‘ordinary.'”
“Did Huang really obtain the essence of the most ancient one? That’s unimaginable! It’s said that few have ever laid eyes on that bamboo throughout history.”
Envy and resentment festered among them.
“Even if Huang obtained the ancient bamboo’s essence, so what? He may be invincible at the Celestial Deity Realm, but that doesn’t guarantee dominance in higher realms. Without a supreme seed, how can he compete?”
“Exactly. He won’t be the protagonist of this era. Without a flawless seed, he’ll be overshadowed by others.”
“In the battles of sect masters, we may never see his name again. His fate is sealed.”
“Let’s see if he can still stand above the rest in the next great realm. If not, he’d better stay hidden—or his enemies will come for him!”
Many sneered, especially those who had once been crushed by Shi Hao’s might.
Shi Hao was well aware that many awaited his downfall, knowing he lacked a suitable Dao Seed.
“**The Path of the Flesh—begin now!**” he murmured.
Days later, he returned to the Celestial Deity Academy to seek the Great Elder.
The academy was quieter now, its finest talents having departed for the Immortal or Sacred Academies. Only those deemed unworthy remained, leaving the vast grounds desolate.
“You’ve done well,” the Great Elder praised his journey.
At the foot of a spiritual mountain, the Great Elder had prepared medicinal pools and cauldrons boiling with radiant herbs, their fragrance intoxicating.
“The time required is uncertain—anywhere from months to over a decade,” the Great Elder warned solemnly.
“I understand.” Shi Hao nodded, resolved.
He presented the Divine Warding Bamboo essence and Netherworld Fruit, knowing they might still be needed.
“Are you nervous? The world watches, waiting to see how you fuse your Dao Seed—and how far you’ll go.”
It was true. The moment Shi Hao secluded himself, word would spread.
Many anticipated his failure, eager to witness his decline.
Even that very day, news leaked.
The Eternal Families and the academies’ elites all received word.
“Huang is entering seclusion. Will he rise again—or fall?”
“Invincible at the Celestial Deity Realm—but what comes next?”
“The moment of truth has arrived. Will this be his downfall… or his ascension?”
Whispers of anticipation and malice filled the air.
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