After becoming acquainted with the Flower Saint and the Travel Saint, the two saints learned that Li Hao was a member of the Flower and Travel Society.
"Zhantan… I remember that little girl. So it was her who recruited you? She has quite the discerning eye." The Flower Saint chuckled, the butterfly accessory atop her head seemed to flutter as it gently swayed.
"It's fortunate those youngsters are still around. If they were diligently cultivating, they might not have lived this long. Cultivation is competition, and competition means there will be defeats…"
The Travel Saint's eyes revealed nostalgia and reminiscence as she glanced at the towering Heavenly Pillar Palace in the distance. She sighed softly and said, "When we saw the heavens and earth sealed off back then, we were disheartened and stopped cultivating. We arrogantly claimed to see the essence of cultivation, but now, glimpsing the outer heavens here, we are just like them, striving to climb higher, wanting to contend for the Immortal Emperor Dao Legacy. So-called non-contention is just that the enticement wasn't tempting enough…"
Her expression turned somewhat melancholic as she spoke.
Li Hao smiled faintly and said, "There's no need to deliberately pursue it. Just follow your heart. Wanting is wanting; no need to pretend you don't."
The Travel Saint turned her beautiful eyes towards Li Hao, her gaze brightening a bit. A faint smile graced her face, as captivating as fresh snow, "You're right. Otherwise…it would be too pretentious."
The three exchanged a glance and laughed simultaneously.
"According to Elder Wang, you possess an Eternal Dao Heart that resonated nine times with heaven and earth. It's hard to imagine what kind of Dao Heart that is. Your talent must far surpass ours. You have a great chance with this Immortal Emperor Dao Legacy. If you become a nominal disciple of the Immortal Emperor, we can ride your coattails and take a look at the True World."
The Flower Saint said to Li Hao, her eyes sincere, clearly holding him in high regard.
The Travel Saint also held this newly arrived prodigious talent in high esteem. Previously unaware of Li Hao's identity, they felt a sense of urgency, but now they relaxed.
Just as Li Hao was about to speak, a solemn voice from a saint beside them said, "Saint Mu is challenging again!"
The Flower Saint and Travel Saint also looked over immediately. They saw the Saint Mu, whose hair was as white as snow, sitting on a futon in front, slowly rising. His expression was unreadable, but his back looked exceptionally steady, as if he was extremely serious.
He paused briefly after standing up, then flew towards the front of the Dao arena.
In front of the Dao arena, beyond the Heavenly Earth Bell, was a steep black tower further away.
Saint Mu flew to the black tower. The tower door opened automatically, and he stepped inside.
"It seems Saint Mu is feeling a bit stimulated."
"Nonsense, who isn't stimulated? My spear Dao thoughts are all in a mess."
"I wonder if Saint Mu can break the record this time and last longer."
The other saints slightly opened their eyes, staring at the black tower. Many of them glanced towards Li Hao while discussing.
Li Hao's arrival was like a large stone dropped into a calm lake, creating huge waves in their hearts. The shock of the nine Heavenly Earth Resonances was unprecedented.
"They are all very concerned about you."
The Travel Saint chuckled lightly, teasing him, her eyes playfully darting over Li Hao. When it came to being concerned, how could she and the Flower Saint not care about this young man? He was just too astonishing.
Li Hao smiled wryly and didn't say anything.
At this moment, the Flower Saint flicked his finger, and an incense stick appeared, burning on its own, smoke curling upwards.
"This is?"
"To record Saint Mu's challenge time, to see if he can break his previous record and improve." The Flower Saint explained.
Li Hao understood and quietly waited.
When about two-thirds of the incense stick in the Flower Saint's hand had burned, the black tower suddenly opened, and Saint Mu with his snow-white hair walked out, his face somewhat gloomy. He silently returned to the Dao arena.
"Slightly shorter than last time."
The Flower Saint glanced at the incense stick in his hand, flicked his finger, and the incense disappeared. A smile appeared on his lips, "It seems your arrival has disturbed many people's minds."
Li Hao was speechless.
The others also noticed this, shook their heads slightly, glanced at Li Hao again, and then continued to close their eyes and cultivate.
The Travel Saint said to Li Hao, "Don't mind them. Keep up the good work, and we won't disturb you any longer."
Li Hao nodded slightly. When the Flower Saint and Travel Saint prepared to cultivate, he also took out his drawing board and began his own cultivation.
"You're doing this?"
The Travel Saint noticed Li Hao's actions, and couldn't help but stare, then looked at Li Hao in slight astonishment.
Li Hao understood her thoughts and smiled, "Just relaxing my mind first."
"..."
The Travel Saint was a little speechless, but didn't say anything more, only saying, "Then let me see it when you're done. I also have some fondness for this art."
Li Hao nodded.
After the Flower Saint and Travel Saint had both resumed their cultivation, he focused seriously on his painting.
Painting Dao Tenth Grade already possessed his own Saint Dao. His paintings contained thick Heavenly Earth power and traces of the Great Dao. Now as he picked up his brush, Li Hao looked around. If he were to paint the surrounding saints, it would inevitably disturb their Dao and affect their cultivation, which would be somewhat disrespectful.
But besides people, he could also paint scenery.
Li Hao looked at the Heavenly Earth Bell in front of him, his eyes flickering. He immediately began to paint.
On the drawing board, he splashed ink and wielded his brush freely. Between the ink drops, vast Heavenly Earth energy was drawn and condensed. As he outlined, the Great Dao was attracted, gathering in the traces of his brushstrokes.
With just a few strokes, the Great Dao converged, and the outline of a bell vaguely appeared.
As the Heavenly Earth Bell emerged, a sense of extraordinary charm seemed to emanate from it.
Li Hao's gaze became more and more focused, his mind immersed in the picture. The bell under his brush became clearer and more lifelike. Accompanied by a bell chime that suddenly resounded in his ears, Li Hao felt a surging power emanating from the paper. The power directly impacted his mind, and three consecutive bell chimes echoed in his heart!
With each bell chime, Li Hao's primordial spirit seemed to become more refined and stronger.
Unfortunately, his physical body was a Ninth Grade Mixed Origin Divine Bloodline, equivalent to a divine armor, permanently fixed and unable to improve. Otherwise, his physical body would surely have undergone changes as well.
"Hmm?"
The Flower Saint and Travel Saint, not far from Li Hao, both opened their eyes. The other saints also looked over one after another.
Just now during their cultivation, they had suddenly heard a booming sound in their hearts. They initially thought someone was testing the Heavenly Earth Bell again, but upon opening their eyes, they discovered that the aura of the Heavenly Earth Bell was actually emerging beside them. When they turned their heads to look, they saw Li Hao sitting on a futon, holding a brush, the tip of which was condensing countless wisps of flowing Great Dao.
The Great Dao converged and surrounded the young man, and before him, a phantom of the Heavenly Earth Bell floated in mid-air, like a reflected projection.
"This is?"
Everyone was astonished. If they weren't mistaken, was he painting?
"He…"
The Travel Saint's beautiful eyes widened, feeling a trace of surprise. She realized that Li Hao seemed to be entering the Dao through painting. This was definitely not just a simple hobby, and might even be a Dao of Sacrifice.
In front of the cottage, Elder Wang swayed the fan in his hand, the rocking chair gently rocking. He watched the movement at the futon, a hint of surprise in his eyes. Then a smile appeared at the corner of his mouth. That little fellow was truly surprising. He claimed to master the Sword Dao, but he actually also had this Painting Dao ace up his sleeve.
At this moment, Li Hao's brushstrokes didn't stop. As he splashed ink, the Great Dao converged, and the Heavenly Earth Bell also bloomed with brilliant rays of light.
And the Heavenly Earth Bell in front of the Dao arena suddenly seemed to also burst out with dazzling light, echoing and interweaving with the Heavenly Earth Bell Li Hao was painting.
Everyone who saw this scene was inevitably shocked.
Except for Dao Heart testing, the Heavenly Earth Bell had always been still, without revealing any aura. Now it was actually drawn by the phantom painted by Li Hao. This young man's painting was too amazing!
"Is he becoming a Saint through painting? Should we call him the Painting Saint?"
"You might be right. Among the myriad Immortal Daos, there is indeed a Painting Dao. It seems there is indeed a cultivation school of this kind in the True World."
"He is actually becoming a Saint through Dao of Sacrifice. This comprehension is quite formidable. It seems this newcomer is indeed a prodigy."
Everyone focused their gaze, becoming even more serious about Li Hao, and feeling an increasing sense of urgency in their hearts.
Previously, Saint Mu and Saint Ming were far ahead, but they could see their progress, and even had a glimmer of hope of catching up.
But Li Hao's astonishing performance made them feel a strong sense of crisis.
As the misty, brilliant light on the Heavenly Earth Bell dissipated, Li Hao's painting also came to an end. He had unknowingly closed his eyes, his mind immersed in comprehension.
Just now, the painting allowed him to glimpse a trace of Immortal intent.
He also realized the shortcomings of his own Painting Dao.
Being able to perceive shortcomings was a huge step forward. If one couldn't find flaws, that was when one truly fell into a bottleneck.
"Painting… resembling the form, resembling the spirit, neither is the true form. What is the true essence…"
"Immortal Dao true essence…"
"What is the Immortal Dao…"
Many thoughts intertwined in his mind, some confused, some momentarily enlightened, some anxious to grasp but unable to capture.
After a long time, Li Hao slowly opened his eyes and saw the prompt that popped up before him: Painting Dao experience surged by tens of millions, directly filling one-fifth of the experience bar.
Li Hao was shocked. This was the highest single Painting Dao experience gain he had ever received.
He should know that painting saints previously only granted about 300,000 experience.
This was a full ten million!
Moreover, the experience value of Tenth Grade Painting Dao was a level higher than Eighth or Ninth Grade.
The Heavenly Earth Bell before him was very likely not just an Immortal treasure, but something of an extraordinarily high level.
However, the experience required to advance Painting Dao from Tenth Grade to Eleventh Grade was also extremely high. Previously, he cooked corpses for twelve years on the ancient road to fully master Cooking Dao. Now, here, the Painting Dao experience was increasing rapidly.
"Didn't expect you to become a Saint through painting, impressive."
At this moment, the Travel Saint's voice came from beside him.
Li Hao turned his head and smiled. It was indeed fair to say that. Back in the Supreme Heavenly Pride battle, he used Saint blood as ink and the sky as canvas, breaking through to Tenth Grade Painting Dao in one fell swoop, and then using skill points to instantly become a Saint.
"Looking at you, you should be able to pass the first trial soon."
The Flower Saint said, a hint of emotion in his eyes, realizing that Li Hao's talent was truly too strong.
He and the Travel Saint simply exchanged a few words with Li Hao before resuming their own cultivation. As Saints, who would willingly fall behind?
Li Hao also put away the Heavenly Earth Bell he had just painted. He realized that this was no longer just a simple painting, but a Dao weapon with some of the functions of the Heavenly Earth Bell!
If used to test Dao Hearts, it could also test the Heaven, Earth, Xuan, and Huang level Dao Hearts.
But the higher Chaos Dao Heart seemed unable to withstand it.
And this also meant that Li Hao's Painting Dao skills were still lacking.
Li Hao began to paint again, directly using the surrounding heavens and earth as canvas, and the Heavenly Earth energy he casually gathered as ink, and the Great Dao as his brush.
As he painted freely and effortlessly, the second Heavenly Earth Bell appeared again.
The sound of the bell rang, not only echoing in Li Hao's heart, but also in the hearts of everyone around him.
Some saints opened their eyes and saw Li Hao's focused appearance. They knew that Li Hao wasn't doing it intentionally, it was just a natural effect of his cultivation. They immediately set up Dao domains around themselves to isolate the influence.
Soon, the second Heavenly Earth Bell painting was completed. Li Hao vaguely captured some insights, but it wasn't as obvious as the first time.
This time, the bell chimes were still four, but the fourth chime's reverberation was longer.
Li Hao continued to paint the third, the fourth… As paintings of the Heavenly Earth Bell appeared one after another, Li Hao's Painting Dao experience increased rapidly.
In just two days, Li Hao completed seven paintings, and his Painting Dao experience was already full.
But experience was easy to increase, Dao heart was hard to comprehend.
Towards the end of painting, Li Hao felt nothing like he had at first. He knew he needed a turning point, and this turning point couldn't be brought about by continuing to paint repeatedly. It needed some change and unexpected event to occur.
Li Hao stopped painting, got up from the futon, and began to wander around.
Elder Wang saw Li Hao wandering around and beckoned him over, telling Li Hao about places he could and couldn't go.
The area they could stay in wasn't large. The towering Heavenly Pillar Palace in the distance was inaccessible until one passed the trial. The steps outside the Heavenly Calamity Palace could only be stepped on by True Immortals, otherwise, they would be instantly shattered by the Immortal might of the Imperial Palace, and the Saint Dao would perish.
Li Hao was a little bored and asked, "Senior, aren't you bored staying here all the time?"
"Bored?"
Elder Wang smiled and said, "When you've seen all the glamour and bustle, you'll want to find a quiet place, to be alone and stay quietly, doing nothing and thinking nothing. Then you won't feel bored. On the contrary, you'll feel very happy."
Li Hao couldn't yet understand the feeling he described, because he still had many places he wanted to go, many sceneries he wanted to see, and many people he wanted to meet.
"Compared to those old fellows, I'm considered the happiest."
Elder Wang said softly, a hint of sadness flashing in his eyes, but it vanished in an instant, and he smiled again, "Your soul span is too short, less than a hundred years, it's normal to feel bored. Others have been here for a very, very long time."
Li Hao nodded, looking at the fertile fields not far away, a thought suddenly occurred to him, "Senior, how about you teach me farming?"
"Farming?"
Elder Wang was taken aback, seeing Li Hao's gaze, he immediately smiled and shook his head, "Aren't you going to seize the opportunity to cultivate? You said your myriad Immortal Daos elective was Sword Dao, but you've been cultivating Painting Dao for the past few days, and you haven't even touched the Yama Immortal Method, have you?"
"No rush, no rush, cultivation is not mountain climbing, once you reach the peak, you'll be free and at ease in the heavens."
Li Hao said with a smile.
Elder Wang had obviously never heard such a saying, but after thinking about it, he felt it made some sense.
However, that was cultivation of ordinary methods. A peerless prodigy might achieve sudden enlightenment and not need days and nights of hard work, but this was Immortal Dao method. Those who weren't truly talented prodigies found it difficult to achieve sudden enlightenment and could only rely on days and nights of hard work to improve their proficiency and gradually comprehend, breaking through the final bottleneck.
"There are two kinds of people in the world. One kind sees the destination before their feet even move. These are called geniuses. The other kind can only see their toes, trekking a long journey, yet working tirelessly day and night, eventually stepping into the destination by relying on the residual light at their toes. These are the diligent."
Elder Wang said meaningfully, "Those who come and go here were once geniuses, but in the face of the Immortal Dao method, they can only glimpse the residual light at their toes. Without the courage and perseverance to trek a long journey, giving up halfway, they are the third kind—lacking both talent and effort, just a lump of rotten mud resting halfway."
Li Hao understood the advice in his words and smiled, "But there is also a fourth kind of person, who is standing in place, wanting to go nowhere, not wanting to take a single step."
Elder Wang was stunned, seeing the smile on Li Hao's face, that bright feeling, making him feel momentarily dazed.
He suddenly recalled the other's Dao Heart—where the heart directs, the action follows, unity of knowledge and action surpassing Saint Dao.
With such a Dao Heart, it was natural to have such a mindset.
He understood and laughed, "Would this fourth kind of person turn the origin point into the destination?"
"The so-called destination is set by oneself. Some people's destination is crossing a river, some people's destination is climbing a mountain, and my destination is standing still and quietly watching them run in the sunset."
Li Hao said with a smile.
(End of chapter)