Chapter 510: Temporal-Spatial Origin City
Li Hao estimated the time. Since arriving at the Five Elements Origin City, it had been five years. Including the half-year spent on the Heavenly Dao Bridge, nearly six years had passed. Less than a year remained until the Southern Region Battle. He had initially thought he would stay in the Five Elements Origin City for only one or two years, but unexpectedly, a single session of cultivation and comprehension had taken an entire year.
'I wonder if Gu Yan and the others have entered by now, and whether it's still feasible to capture the Great Dao Origin on the Heavenly Dao Bridge,' Li Hao pondered. He had intended to reserve some time to discuss painting techniques with the Dream Master, but it seemed that was no longer possible. With the remaining time, Li Hao planned to visit the Temporal-Spatial Origin City once more.
"Haotian, these are our Origin Divine Leaves. Keep them well," said the Metal Element Origin Divine Tree, aware that Li Hao was about to depart. It did not try to persuade him to stay but handed him five Origin Divine Leaves from the divine trees.
"In times of crisis, they can summon our Dao Thought Avatars to shield you from disaster, possessing power equivalent to the tenth level of the Immortal Lord realm!" the Metal Element Origin Divine Tree stated solemnly.
Li Hao was slightly taken aback, looking at the five Origin Divine Leaves, each radiating different divine auras, feeling a warmth in his heart. Along this journey, he had not only witnessed many beautiful sights but also encountered many people who stirred his emotions.
"Then I won't stand on ceremony," Li Hao said.
"You are our hope; there's no need for formalities," the Metal Element Origin Divine Tree replied with a smile.
Li Hao accepted the five Origin Divine Leaves and, after expressing his gratitude, took his leave. The Metal Element Origin Divine Tree did not attempt to detain him, only bidding him farewell.
Flying through the Five Elements Origin City, Li Hao soon arrived beside the Water Element Origin Divine Tree. He saw Boya Xuejian sitting cross-legged on a branch at the top of the tree, eyes closed in meditation. The water element aura emanating from her was extremely intense. Li Hao's expression grew serious. At this moment, he had reached the peak of the fourth level of the Water Element Origin, yet he could faintly sense that Boya Xuejian was even stronger.
'Truly a formidable individual,' Li Hao thought to himself.
He then circled around to other divine trees in the Origin City, scanning the area. Beneath these divine trees, he saw some familiar faces from the Yan Chu Immortal Dynasty, individuals he had previously encountered in the Ancient Immortal Realm. Some were even members of the Yan Chu royal family, though none ranked within the top ten.
"Hmm?" After a full circuit, Li Hao did not see Jin Fengling, whom he had previously encountered, and couldn't help but feel puzzled. But he quickly surmised the reason. It had been four years since their last meeting; Jin Fengling had likely left the Five Elements Origin City long ago to comprehend the Temporal-Spatial Origin.
Given Jin Fengling's cultivation level, he was among the top tier of geniuses participating in the Southern Region Battle. Seeking further advancement by comprehending the Temporal-Spatial Origin would be a more strategic move. Perhaps his visit to the Five Elements Origin City was merely to fulfill the agreement regarding the divine tree's Dao fruit.
With these thoughts, Li Hao did not linger and quietly departed from the Five Elements Origin City. Stepping through the spatial vortex outside the city, he reappeared on the Heavenly Dao Bridge. However, the bridge was even more crowded than when he had last been there.
Li Hao was surprised but soon noticed that many of these figures, like himself, were at the True Immortal realm. He realized that individuals from other layers had gradually arrived to compete for the Great Dao Origin. The top-tier geniuses who had directly reached the ninth layer were nowhere to be seen.
Scanning the area, Li Hao saw only unfamiliar faces. He swiftly descended from the Heavenly Dao Bridge, extending his divine sense below, but did not detect the presence of Gu Yan, Yue Xi, or other members of the Great Dream Nine Abyss Sect.
'Over five years have passed; they should have completed the trials of the Chaos Secret Realm and arrived here. Could they be blocked outside the ninth layer?' Li Hao's eyes flickered with thought. Recalling that Chu Tianhuang had gone to assist them, he immediately moved through the crowd, returning to the Origin Reception City.
Upon reaching the city, Li Hao quickly located the residence of the Grand Tutor of the Yan Chu Immortal Dynasty. The old, weathered courtyard was quite conspicuous, and Li Hao soon arrived to find the Grand Tutor leisurely brewing tea and playing chess alone.
"Hmm?" Sensing Li Hao's presence, the Grand Tutor looked up in surprise. "Why have you returned?"
"Senior, I seek your assistance," Li Hao promptly said with a respectful bow.
The Grand Tutor chuckled, "Just speak plainly. I'm here to look after you youngsters."
"I have some friends who might be in other layers of the Origin Secret Realm, but I'm not certain. Could you help me locate them, or have you perhaps seen them?" Li Hao inquired politely.
The Grand Tutor laughed, "Such a small matter. I thought you wanted me to capture the Great Dao Origin in the Temporal-Spatial Origin City for you!"
He released the chess piece in his hand and clapped, "What do your friends look like?"
Li Hao immediately raised his hand, using immortal energy to sketch the appearances of Gu Yan and the others, including Lin Qingying, in the air.
The Grand Tutor glanced at the image, and a glimmer flashed through his eyes. He said to Li Hao, "Kid, it seems your Dao comprehension has improved a lot over these past few years."
Li Hao was startled. He had only casually sketched with immortal energy, without using any actual Dao origin—yet it had been detected?
"Improvement is a good thing, what's there to be nervous about?" the Grand Tutor chuckled. Then he added, "I remember those few friends you mentioned—they're all quite talented. If the Southern Region Battle were delayed by a few hundred years, they might very well rise into the top tier."
"You've seen them?" Li Hao was surprised and breathed a sigh of relief. "Do you know where they are?"
"They've already gone up to the Heavenly Dao Bridge. As for which Origin City they chose, I don't know," the Grand Tutor said, shaking his head.
Li Hao was stunned. He hadn't expected Gu Yan and the others to already enter an Origin City. But he hadn't seen them in the Five Elements Origin City—could they have gone to the Temporal-Spatial Origin City? Or perhaps the Form and Command Origin City? Or even the more commonly chosen Chaos Origin City?
Then again, Gu Yan's sword Dao talent was exceptional. Choosing the Chaos Origin City made sense, since sword Dao was located there. Moreover, the Great Dao origins in the Chaos Origin City were much easier to capture—just grabbing a random Dao origin could lead you directly to it.
"Thank you, Senior," Li Hao quickly expressed his gratitude and dismissed the immortal energy portrait before him.
"You're planning to go out to greet them? Are they that important to you? Every moment in the Origin Secret Realm is extremely precious—you don't have much time left," the Grand Tutor advised.
Li Hao nodded and said, "This junior will take his leave."
"Go on," the Grand Tutor waved his hand, not delaying Li Hao. But just as Li Hao was about to leave, he suddenly recalled something and said, "Wait a moment, kid. The first time you came here, did you move one of my chess pieces?"
Li Hao paused and turned back. "I couldn't help myself when I saw it—I was itching to try."
"I knew it!" The Grand Tutor's eyes lit up, but then he looked regretful. "If time weren't so tight, I'd definitely make you stay and play a round. Since I came here, it's been ages since I played a proper game with Elder Yuan. I haven't found a worthy opponent."
"You mean Elder Yuan Xinggang?" Li Hao asked.
"You know him? Oh, of course you would. You're from the Yan Chu Immortal Dynasty—how could you not? Did you play against him?" the Grand Tutor asked, intrigued.
Li Hao shook his head. "I haven't had the chance yet."
The Grand Tutor looked a little disappointed. "You're still young, but your skill in chess..."
He seemed to want to say something, but suddenly came to his senses. He slapped his forehead and said, "Go on then, don't waste time here."
Li Hao clasped his hands in farewell, then instantly soared out of the courtyard, returning to the Heavenly Dao Bridge.
Since Gu Yan and the others had already entered an Origin City, there was no need for Li Hao to hold onto the Great Dao origins he had. He arrived at the Heavenly Dao Bridge and saw immortal arts constantly exploding across the bridge, packed with people. Even outside the bridge, many people had gathered, all waiting for their turn.
Those who couldn't last long on the bridge soon fell off to rest below.
"These Nine Sequence Dao origins are too hard to capture. Do we have to go to the Chaos Origin City?"
"I've only been here for half a year—I still want to try. If I can comprehend even a little of the Nine Sequence Dao, I could swap in a Nine Sequence imprint!"
Many were whispering below the bridge, brows furrowed in frustration. Some had even simply sat cross-legged at the bridge's base to cultivate—the flow of Dao origin here far surpassed the outside world, making it a sacred place for training.
Li Hao didn't linger. With a surge of fourth-level spatial Dao origin, he tore through the void and shot onto the bridge.
"Why isn't he queuing?"
"Arrogant! We'll teach him a lesson when he comes down!"
The people waiting to ascend the bridge were immediately angered by Li Hao's action, their faces filled with indignation.
But very soon, their anger turned to astonishment.
"Why aren't any immortal spells attacking him?"
"He doesn't seem to be getting hit at all!"
"There's spatial-temporal Dao aura around him—who is this genius?!"
A commotion erupted below the bridge. Everyone was shocked. To walk the Heavenly Dao Bridge unimpeded at the True Immortal realm while mastering temporal-spatial Dao was exceedingly rare. Only the earliest Nine Flower Imprint geniuses had been known to manage this.
As the crowd buzzed with excitement and confusion, Li Hao paid them no attention. Most of these True Immortals had common backgrounds—it would be a waste of time trying to sell Dao origins to them. He directly took out a spatial Dao origin to activate the gateway to the Temporal-Spatial Origin City.
The remaining Dao origins, Li Hao planned to refine. Besides serving as keys to Origin Cities, Dao origins could be absorbed to enhance one's Dao attunement and deepen one's comprehension.
In moments, Li Hao's figure was pulled into the passage to the Temporal-Spatial Origin City and disappeared from the Heavenly Dao Bridge.
The onlookers below the bridge were all wide-eyed in shock. That True Immortal at the ninth stage had actually captured a Great Dao origin the moment he stepped onto the bridge, and when the passage opened, the aura had resembled a split in time and space—it was unmistakably the long-coveted Temporal-Spatial Origin City!
"Who is that? A True Immortal ninth stage? Did I see that right?"
"This Southern Region Battle might just produce a truly monstrous genius!"
"We'll find out during the battle. But he went too late. I heard some other True Immortals went to the Temporal-Spatial Origin City a long time ago, and they're almost done now!"
...
In the Temporal-Spatial Origin City.
As Li Hao arrived, he saw the entire layout of the Origin City during his transmission through the passage—it was actually a twin city.
One half of the city was cloaked in a multicolored glow, divine light cascading through the sky in dreamy hues. The other half was a silvery gray, flowing with deep, starlike mercury-colored streams, forming what looked like swirling vortexes of liquid silver.
"Time and space are separated here," Li Hao murmured, eyes gleaming as he sensed the distinct auras radiating from the twin halves of the city. He landed at the central boundary where a wide plaza stretched between the two halves. On the left was Time, and on the right was Space.
The plaza was empty and silent. Li Hao glanced around and then flew toward the left, toward the City of Time.
As expected, within the City of Time, many figures were gathered around a towering divine tree.
This divine tree radiated multicolored light and stood tall as though it reached into the heavens. On its leaves flowed crystalline fragments of time, shimmering and vanishing in an instant.
Within those fleeting visions, Li Hao occasionally glimpsed ferocious figures of ancient demons, silhouettes of mighty human emperors, countless immortal armies charging through the True Realm, and banners flaring amid sky-spanning flames.
He also saw a massive mountain and various races of the True Realm gazing up from its base—each leaf revealed a buried fragment of the past.
Just sweeping his divine sense across it left Li Hao shaken. Even without cultivating, just watching the leaves of the Time Origin Divine Tree allowed one to glimpse countless buried moments from time long past.
Before the tree, several figures were seated. Li Hao counted around twenty to thirty.
Among them, he saw many familiar faces.
Chu Tianhuang, and also the royal princess who had once tangled with him—Chu Yueli.
More unexpectedly, he also saw Xing Lan.
She too had come to the Temporal-Spatial Origin City.
But the biggest surprise was seeing Yue Xi. She sat quietly before the Time Origin Divine Tree, dressed in snowy white robes like a moon palace immortal, serene and ethereal.
Li Hao hadn't expected Yue Xi to arrive at the Temporal-Spatial Origin City. On the Heavenly Dao Bridge, the competition for a temporal-spatial Dao origin was incredibly fierce. Either she had a special method, or her luck was astronomical, managing to catch a temporal-spatial origin just as it appeared.
"Those who came to the Temporal-Spatial Origin City must all be here to comprehend time. Space may be powerful, but without fate, time reigns supreme," Li Hao mused silently.
He could imagine that the Space Origin Divine Tree must be relatively desolate by comparison.
Besides Chu Tianhuang and Yue Xi, he also spotted several individuals he had sold temporal-spatial origins to—other geniuses from different immortal dynasties with strength rivaling Chu Tianhuang's.
Li Hao descended and walked toward the Time Origin Divine Tree.
Around the tree, a natural protective radiance pulsed like a barrier, preventing approach. Like the other divine trees, it would only lower its defenses during a "spiritual eruption," allowing cultivators to climb.
At the moment, seven or eight figures were already on the tree, scattered across various branches at different heights.
Li Hao estimated that only a few months remained until the next spiritual eruption.
He was in no hurry and wandered nearby.
The others were all deep in cultivation, isolated by their Dao domains, and no one noticed his presence.
Li Hao then walked over to check the Space Origin Divine Tree. As expected, only three people were there—it was clearly deserted.
"Space's prestige has been completely overshadowed by Time," Li Hao sighed, shaking his head before turning back toward the Time Divine Tree.
With a few months left to wait, and nothing pressing to do, he expanded his Dao domain at the edge of the divine tree and began painting with focused detail.