Volume 3 - Chapter 397: Sixth Layer of Form Dao, Realm and Domain (Part 3)
Su Muqing stepped out of the main hall. The first thing she saw was the youth sitting calmly outside the entrance. Her eyes instantly turned cold.
Li Hao noticed her at last and paused his game, looking up in silence.
Soon, Su Wanqing approached, bringing with her the fresh, delicate fragrance of a young maiden. The scent drifted gently across the courtyard. She turned to Su Muqing and said, “Sister, shall we go?”
“Mm.”
Su Muqing nodded.
Seeing that the two were heading out, Li Hao immediately rose to follow.
“I’m going to an art exhibition. You plan to come too?”
Su Muqing was furious. Her hopes, already thin, seemed to die entirely.
Li Hao nodded. “I told you—wherever you are, that’s where I’ll be.”
“You!”
Su Muqing was livid.
Su Wanqing said to Li Hao, “Most of the attendees will be women. Are you sure you want to come?”
“Yes.”
Li Hao answered without hesitation.
Su Wanqing was speechless. She suddenly realized that her words, meant to dissuade, might have the opposite effect on an ordinary man. She silently placed a hand to her forehead.
“Hmph, if you must come, then come. But remember, Father only granted you rights within the Su Residence. Outside, you’re nothing. If someone stops you, don’t blame the Su Clan.”
Su Muqing sneered.
Su Wanqing immediately understood her sister’s intent and nodded slightly.
The two said nothing more. With a burst of speed, they took off—clearly trying to leave Li Hao behind.
But Li Hao's body blurred. Immortal energy surged as the sixth-level Form Dao origin made his physique extraordinarily resilient. At full speed, he barely managed to keep pace.
There was no denying the two women were peerless talents. Su Muqing was at the sixth level of the Immortal Lord Realm, Su Wanqing the fifth. Their cultivation surpassed Li Hao by a full four or five tiers. Moreover, they practiced the Su Clan’s top-tier movement techniques, passed down from Immortal Emperors—techniques capable of defeating opponents several realms above their own. To shake off most cultivators of the same level would be child’s play.
Yet as they sped away from the Su Residence, both were astonished to find Li Hao still keeping up.
“So fast… and such a solid foundation!”
Su Wanqing’s pupils shrank. She was shaken. Her view of Li Hao shifted once more.
This couldn’t be the result of merely relying on spirit medicine to break through—this youth was far from ordinary.
Su Muqing realized this too. Her expression darkened, but after hearing her sister’s comment, her shock quickly turned to cold contempt.
“Hmph. A solid foundation means nothing if his Dao Heart is weak. I bet he hasn’t even reached the level of the Chaotic Dao Heart!”
She sneered. With talent like his, yet choosing to cling to her and ride on her status? It could only mean his Dao Heart was flawed. Her disdain deepened—he felt more and more like a scoundrel in gentleman’s clothing.
As the women continued to accelerate, Li Hao had to reveal more of his strength. The power of the Dao Source Immortal Seal coursed within him. Fortunately, with his Form Dao origin at the sixth level, his immortal body concealed the fluctuation of the seal.
Eventually, they reached the northern side of Gusu City, arriving at a lakeside pavilion.
The setting was serene and beautiful. The lakeside scenery was picturesque, and at its center floated a vast cluster of pavilions—an artistic paradise.
A formation barrier surrounded the lakeside, forming a separate domain created by an Immortal King. Without permission, no one could enter.
Su Muqing and Su Wanqing arrived first. Seeing Li Hao still behind them, Su Muqing sneered and pulled Su Wanqing quickly into the domain.
The guards at the gate recognized the pair. On Gusu Imperial Star, there were few who didn’t know these two—unless they were outsiders.
Just as the two women entered, Li Hao’s figure tore through the sky like a sharp sword piercing the void, descending swiftly.
Although he had restrained his aura, some power still leaked out in his pursuit.
A guard at the gate greeted him with a polite smile.
“Young Master, please present your Dragon Scroll invitation.”
“Invitation?”
Li Hao looked toward the lake, but the two women were already out of sight. Their auras had been completely blocked by the formation. His gaze sharpened.
“I don’t have one,” he said softly.
The guard’s smile froze. He clasped his hands apologetically. “Then I’m sorry. Without an invitation, I can’t let you enter.”
Li Hao frowned, recalling Su Muqing’s earlier words. She was here to appreciate paintings.
His gaze swept the lake. Though he could only glimpse the pavilion, paintings drifted in the air beyond it. Each was vivid, lifelike—beasts, spirits, and fierce figures that seemed to perform their former deeds with ferocious realism.
She liked painting? Li Hao was momentarily dazed, recalling how that girl, in her final moments, had asked him to paint her.
Fate’s threads wound on—still tightly interwoven.
“Young Master…”
The guard called again, pulling Li Hao from his thoughts.
“I can paint,” Li Hao said. “Better than many of the works in that lake. Could you let me in?”
The guard was taken aback. His expression changed subtly. The paintings in the lake, though not the highlight of today’s exhibit, were not ordinary works. Their placement alone signaled their pedigree.
“I… I’m afraid I don’t have the authority. I only know that without an invitation, entry is forbidden.”
The guard looked troubled.
Just as Li Hao was about to speak again, a gentle yet frosty voice came from behind him.
“You called the paintings in the lake ordinary?”
Li Hao turned.
Behind him stood a woman with snow-white hair, dressed in an exquisitely tailored robe of translucent gauze. Her hairpins shimmered with immortal treasures, radiating the aura of the Great Dao. Her dress was adorned with immortal crystals—graceful and luxurious.
“You are?”
Li Hao asked, puzzled.
At her side stood two maidservants glaring at him with restrained fury.
But the woman’s expression remained calm.
“You said your paintings surpass those out there,” she said. “Why not come in and prove it?”
A challenge in the Painting Dao? Li Hao was surprised, but not afraid.
“Do you have a spare invitation?”
The woman didn’t respond. She simply walked past him, raising her sleeve and revealing a golden token engraved with a coiling dragon.
The guard was stunned. He nearly lost his composure and immediately stepped aside.
“Come.”
The woman said.
Her maidservants shot Li Hao vicious glares, their expressions fierce despite their beauty—making them oddly charming.
Li Hao let out a small sigh of relief and followed.
“May I ask your name? Are you a fellow practitioner of the Painting Dao?”
The woman led the way, her tone indifferent.
Li Hao didn’t mind the coldness. “My name is Haotian. Thank you for your help.”
“Up ahead is the main pavilion on the lake. Young Master Haotian, please wait there. Soon, I will come to see your painting skills for myself.”
She paused and pointed toward the grandest building at the lake’s center.
Li Hao followed her gaze. The path to the pavilion was lined with floating paintings, as if leading toward an exhibition hall. Su Muqing was likely inside.
“Very well.”
He agreed instantly. “May I know your name?”
The woman didn’t answer. Instead, her voice turned colder.
“If your painting skills don’t live up to your boast—if your works are beneath those you called ‘ordinary’—then you’ll learn my name soon enough. And don’t expect any second chances.”
Li Hao was taken aback by the chill in her words. His expression grew serious.
He said no more. Nor did she. With a flick of her robe, she departed with her two attendants.
Once they were gone, Li Hao headed straight for the lake’s central pavilion.
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