Follow the path of Dao from infancy

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Boom!

In Dragon City, inside a certain tavern.

A figure suddenly flew out, shattered the railings, and tumbled onto the street.

There was a sword wound on their chest, but what spurted from the wound was not fresh blood, but a dark demonic aura. Upon hitting the ground, their body quickly reverted to its original demon form, twitching conspicuously.

However, before its true form was fully revealed, a stream of Sword Qi swept in like an autumn breeze, brushed past its body, and the trembling figure suddenly stilled before collapsing dead.

In front of the railing, Li Hao and Li Xiaoran arrived.

The demon that had died in the street was like a droplet of ink falling into a lake, causing the surrounding civilians to spread out, not daring to come close.

Li Hao glanced at the progress of his task. The exploration mission had not increased, but the Mo River's completion degree had risen by 0.001 point.

To kill a Heavenly Human Realm demon and only receive such minimal progress had startled Li Hao.

By that rate, wouldn't it mean that 1,000 Heavenly Human Realm demons would only equate to 1 point of Mo River completion degree?

Now, he had been working on his [growth] task for 13 years, and the Mo River's completion stood at 7.2.

"According to the pace of the task, surviving here seems more difficult than hunting demons."

"Normally, that would be the case. If outsiders were to come here to clear the stage without the Li Family bloodline or be reborn into an ordinary family, they might have already been assassinated by the demons in the city."

"Having talent exposed makes one prone to demonic scrutiny, yet without revealing talent, one cannot get cultivation resources—difficult indeed!"

"Moreover, it's even possible to be directly reborn into a neighbor's house that's a demon's dwelling, which would be starting off on one's knees."

"If it weren't for Fourth Elder, I would have almost been assassinated at the banquet earlier."

Li Hao's eyes flickered. Although he had not personally fought against demons up till now, he could already feel the difficulty of the Mo River task.

No wonder the Grand Tao of Peace Realm only barely had a chance to clear the level.

If it weren't for this Mo River, which resulted in the appearance of Dragon City due to detaining Li Tianzong, it might have been even more dangerous and unpredictable.

"Hmph, this demon was just providing intelligence for the demons outside the city, a mere henchman."

Li Xiaoran coldly snorted after glancing at the dead demon.

Li Hao knew that the situation within the Mo River was ultimately different from the outside. There were more demons and stronger ones too, making even the city safe in only a few places.

Outside, in any major city with a Divine General Mansion stationed, life was usually peaceful and secure, where demon attacks on people might not occur even once in several decades.

Organized demons dared not approach, and unaffiliated demons lacked the capability. They could only rely on humans intimidated by demons or those who had allied with demons, to infiltrate the cities and probe for intelligence about the Divine General Mansion—and they did so with extreme caution.

Yet this Dragon City was riddled with demon strongholds.

This was the third they had destroyed.

And they had only been out for half an hour.

Li Hao leaped gracefully from the railing, raised his palm and pressed it against the demon's body. The Cultivation Technique within his palm circulated, drawing out a trace of life essence from its flesh.

This bit of life essence, refined by the Cultivation Technique's operation, was condensed into his own flesh and blood, bringing a slight enhancement to his physical body.

This Cultivation Technique was an extrapolation of myriad Body Refinement arts called the Ten Thousand Blood True Demon Skill, developed by Li Hao.

Its grade surpassed that of peerless skills, derived from the Seventh Stage of the Physical Body Path and contained extraordinary power.

The mere name bore the scent of Demonic Qi, integrating numerous demonic and some taboo Body Refinement techniques, such as the Infant-Eating Skill, Fetal Fist, and so on, ultimately blending and extrapolating to form this one.

It builds one's body through the consumption of life essence and blood.

One technique succeeded, a myriad of corpses withered!

Li Xiaoran, noticing Li Hao cultivating, had a flicker in his eyes upon recognizing this extremely sinister technique. However, he did not stop him, knowing that anything that could strengthen oneself in the Mo River was not a problem.

Moreover, having seen the struggle for power at court, the righteousness of Jianghu warriors, and the enmity of demons and others, he understood that the technique itself was secondary; it was the person who wielded the technique who mattered.

While some evil techniques could muddle the mind and drag people into the darkness of bloodlust, the skill Li Hao was cultivating seemed only to be ferocious and cruel, with no apparent effect on Li Hao's temperament as of yet.

Furthermore, stepping into the Grandmaster Realm, Martial Arts became core, and Cultivation Techniques merely aided, their impact on oneself limited.

The two then continued to the next location.

Inside the city, two figures leaped from place to place—a teahouse, a theater stage, a secluded wealthy merchant's compound, and an ordinary farmhouse.

Wherever they went, they left behind the corpses of demons.

The weakest of those demons they had slain was also of the Fifteen Li Realm!

Li Hao felt increasingly burdened as he was more and more aware that the upcoming battle of Dragon City would be exceedingly brutal and difficult!

And there was also the Candle Flame God and Lu Yuan.

Thinking of them, a hint of murderous intent appeared in Li Hao's eyes, knowing that if he could make use of the Mo River to kill those two Great Demon Kings, it would be the best outcome.

Inside a certain mansion in the city.

A wealthy old master was listlessly sipping tea when suddenly a servant came to report:

"Master, the twenty-seventh young madam has given birth again."

"Given birth again?"

The pot-bellied wealthy master's eyes brightened.

Next to him, the butler's eyes also revealed a gleam as if swallowing saliva in secret. He said:

"Congratulations, Master, you can whet your appetite once more."

"Haha, quick, bring the child here."

"The midwife has already brought the child over."

The servant respectfully reported, his own eyes gleaming with anticipation.

Soon after, a midwife walked swiftly in, holding a swaddled infant, and respectfully said, "Master, it's a plump and healthy child."

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