Fruit of the Fire Departure Dao

Wang Hao slowly curled his five fingers inward.

The power of the first eight palms.

At this moment, it completely converged in his palm.

“The ninth palm.”

“Prison the Heavens.”

“Overturn the Earth!”

All the space within the Eclosion Hall.

Instantly solidified.

More than thirty thousand meditation cushions tore free from the floor.

They carried tens of thousands of ascenders into the air.

In the next instant.

The floor of the great hall flipped over with a deafening roar.

Like an upside-down world.

It descended from above, crushing everything beneath it.

Rumble!

The entire Eclosion Hall.

Was pierced straight through by a golden palm seal.

All of Lihuo Immortal Venerable’s remaining body.

All his memories.

All his false selves.

Were covered by the Immaculate Kindling at the same time.

His screams continued for a full ten breaths.

Then the flames went out.

A crimson Dao Fruit covered in cracks.

Hovered before Wang Hao.

The Immortal Realm Guide Stele revealed the information.

【Lihuo Dao Fruit.】

【Degree of decay: 99%.】

【Residual consciousness within: none.】

【Not fit for consumption.】

The silver-haired youth had just opened his mouth.

But after seeing the final line of information.

He silently closed it again.

Wang Hao put away the Dao Fruit.

Then turned to look across the entire great hall.

The power of the two purple lightning dragons had already been exhausted.

Taixuan Heavenly Immortal’s Northern Darkness Immortal Domain was more than half shattered.

Withered-and-Blooming Heavenly Immortal’s left arm was wrapped in human skin.

He was burning it with Withered-and-Blooming Dao Fire.

Star-Fishing Heavenly Immortal had lost his right eye.

Longevity Earth Immortal’s chest had been pierced through.

Seven-tenths of Crimson Mother Heavenly Immortal’s infant arms had been broken.

More than a dozen unfamiliar faces had appeared on Faceless Heavenly Immortal’s face.

Of the eighty-seven immortals.

Thirteen had lost their ability to fight.

Six had undergone varying degrees of corruption.

Three had died completely.

The remaining partially corrupted ascenders.

Had all been subdued.

Some were bound by Imperial Dao chains.

Some were nailed to the walls.

Some had been reduced to nothing but a still-speaking head.

Wang Hao took out a blank register.

He opened to the first page.

“Begin the registration.”

A head hanging from the ceiling of the hall roared:

“I am a Golden Immortal!”

“Release me!”

Wang Hao looked up.

“Realm.”

The head answered arrogantly:

“Golden Immortal!”

The Immortal Realm Guide Stele revealed the information.

【Sixth layer of the Earth Immortal realm.】

【Condition: partially corrupted.】

Wang Hao wrote in the register.

“Sixth layer of the Earth Immortal realm.”

“Falsely reported cultivation.”

“Severe contamination.”

“Execution deferred.”

The head roared furiously:

“I really am a Golden Immortal!”

Wang Hao added another line.

“Mentally unsound.”

“Prone to boasting.”

Nearby.

An ascender whose body had been half transformed into a centipede asked in a trembling voice:

“After registration.”

“Will you spare our lives?”

Wang Hao glanced at him.

“That depends on your performance.”

“If the intelligence you provide is useful.”

“You may atone for your crimes by rendering meritorious service.”

The centipede ascender hurriedly said:

“I know where the Ascension Bureau is!”

Another person nailed to the wall, reduced to a sheet of human skin, shouted:

“I know where the Immortal Treasury is!”

“The Ascension Reception Bureau’s treasury hasn’t completely rotted away yet!”

An ascender who had been reduced to nothing but a heart refused to be outdone.

“I know where three complete Dao Fruits are!”

“I can lead you there!”

Wang Hao’s writing hand stopped.

He looked up at the heart.

“Three?”

The heart beat forcefully.

“That’s right!”

“In the deepest part of the Eclosion Hall!”

“Three ascenders who refused Eclosion are sealed there!”

“They aren’t dead!”

Wang Hao took out the intelligence obtained from his sign-in.

Then looked at it again.

【Three Dao Fruits that have not yet completely decayed.】

He closed the intelligence register.

Then gazed toward the deepest part of the Eclosion Hall.

There.

Three bronze immortal coffins were wrapped in countless tendrils of flesh and blood.

They trembled gently in time with the sound of a heartbeat.

At the deepest part of the Eclosion Hall.

Three bronze immortal coffins hung silently in midair.

Countless tendrils of flesh and blood coiled around them, like three enormous pythons binding the coffins tightly.

Every time the sound of a heartbeat rang out.

The entire great hall trembled with it.

Boom!

Boom!

Boom!

The heartbeat did not come from the people inside the immortal coffins.

It came from the Eclosion Hall itself.

As though this great hall were not a building at all, but a hollowed-out heart.

The three immortal coffins were three coffin nails driven into that heart.

The ascender who had been reduced to a single heart was bound in the corner by Imperial Dao chains.

He beat frantically.

“That’s the place!”

“Those three coffins contain three ascenders who refused Eclosion!”

“Their Dao Fruits have not decayed!”

“They’re still alive!”

Wang Hao did not approach immediately.

He looked up at the enormous head suspended from the ceiling.

The head claimed to be a Golden Immortal, and even now its mouth had not stopped moving as it remained bound by chains of lightning.

“Release me!”

“I am a Golden Immortal!”

“How dare a mere Earth Immortal show me disrespect?”

Wang Hao lowered his head.

“You say you’re a Golden Immortal?”

“That’s right!”

“Then why are you hanging there, tied up by Us?”

The enormous head froze.

“This was intentional.”

“You intentionally let yourself be hung up?”

“Indeed. I am currently comprehending an entirely new method of cultivation.”

Wang Hao nodded.

“I understand.”

The enormous head breathed a sigh of relief.

“Good that you understand. Now hurry up and undo the chains!”

Wang Hao took out the blank register and wrote several lines in it.

“Sixth layer of the Earth Immortal realm.”

“Falsely reported cultivation.”

“Mentally unsound.”

“Condition severe. Recommend continued suspension for observation.”

The enormous head: “…”

Nearby, the centipede ascender could not help lowering his head.

His shoulders trembled slightly.

Wang Hao swept him with a glance.

“What are you laughing at?”

The centipede ascender immediately raised his head.

“I’m not laughing.”

“The corners of your mouth have split all the way to your ears.”

“That’s a normal physiological condition caused by my corruption.”

Wang Hao pondered for a moment.

“Register it.”

“Unsightly smile.”

The centipede ascender’s face darkened.

Only half of his body remained human; the other half had completely transformed into a centipede covered in eyes.

At a time like this, he still had to be judged for the ugliness of his smile.

It was simply too cruel.

The silver-haired youth poked his head out of the New Heavenly Son Sword.

“Master, these people don’t seem very bright.”

Wang Hao said:

“It’s not that they aren’t bright.”

“It’s that after being taken apart into pieces, they don’t have enough brains left to use.”

The silver-haired youth thought seriously.

“Then should we put them back together?”

“No.”

“Why not?”

“Because I don’t know how.”

The silver-haired youth suddenly understood.

“So Master also has things he can’t do.”

Wang Hao gave him a look.

“There are many things I can’t do.”

“For example?”

“For example, digging you out of the sword.”

The silver-haired youth immediately shrank back inside.

“Master, there’s danger ahead.”

“Weren’t you just asking to come out and eat something?”

“I was merely reminding you that danger and food often appear together.”

Wang Hao ignored him.

His gaze fell upon the three immortal coffins.

At that moment, the Immortal Realm Guide Stele revealed a new line of text.

【Core seal of the Eclosion Hall.】

【Three ascension Dao Fruits that have not yet completely decayed.】

【Condition of the Dao Fruits: stable.】

【Recommendation: Do not open the immortal coffins directly.】

Wang Hao raised an eyebrow.

“Recommendation: do not open them.”

The broken body of the Ascension Herald was still stuck in the doorway.

Upon hearing those words, it suddenly let out a sharp laugh.

“Do not open them.”

“Eclosion has already begun.”

“Everything within the seal is a source of contamination.”

“If you release them, the Immortal Realm will face a new disaster.”

Wang Hao turned to look at it.

“You say they cannot be opened.”

“Then We insist on opening them.”

“That is simply a matter of Our temperament.”

The smile on the Ascension Herald’s face gradually stiffened.

“Ascenders must not violate the laws of the Immortal Realm.”

Wang Hao walked to the first immortal coffin.

“Your so-called celestial laws have already turned the Immortal Realm into this hellhole.”

“If I still listened to you, wouldn’t that make me look like I have no mind of my own?”

The Ascension Herald struggled to his feet.

“Stop!”

“Stop!”

“Stop immediately!”

Wang Hao raised his hand.

The New Heavenly Son Sword slowly slid from its sheath.

Pure Kindling burned quietly along the blade.

He did not strike the immortal coffin. Instead, he slashed at the fleshly tendrils wrapped around it.

Hiss!

The sword-light descended.

One of the fleshly tendrils was severed.

Black-red filth gushed from the wound and splattered onto the ground. In an instant, a dense patch of eyes sprouted from it.

Those eyes all turned toward Wang Hao.

“Your Majesty.”

“Your Majesty.”

“Come back.”

“The lower realm needs you.”

“They are waiting for you.”

The voices came from every direction.

There were old men.

Children.

Women.

And countless voices Wang Hao had heard before.

They were the voices of the people of Great Xia.

The Imperial Dao River slowly emerged behind him.

The faith of a billion living beings surged without end.

Within it, familiar faces appeared one after another.

They knelt on both banks of the river.

Calling out the same title.

“Your Majesty.”

Wang Hao’s footsteps paused for a moment.

He saw the imperial capital of Great Xia.

He saw the Golden Hall.

He saw the civil and military officials standing outside the hall.

He saw young men cultivating in the city.

He saw the common people who had lost their families during the wars, yet still placed their hopes in the emperor.

They looked up at him.

Waiting for him to return.

Waiting for him to continue being the emperor of Great Xia.

So long as Wang Hao was willing, this Imperial Dao River could exist forever.

With the faith of a billion people, he could continue to possess boundless power.

He could make Great Xia the strongest nation in all the myriad worlds.

He could sit upon the imperial throne and watch every enemy submit before him.

This was everything he had gained in the lower realm.

It was also the one thing he could never bring himself to abandon.

Wang Hao remained silent for a moment.

Then he suddenly raised his sword.

He slashed at the Imperial Dao River.

Boom!

Silver sword-light swept across the void.

That Imperial Dao River, which stretched across heaven and earth, was forcibly cleaved apart.

Countless streams of faith poured through the crack.

It was as though a river of stars had collapsed.

The Longevity Earth Immortal’s expression changed violently.

“Retired Emperor!”

“What are you doing?”

Wang Hao did not answer.

Within the Imperial Dao River, the people’s voices grew even clearer.

“Your Majesty!”

“Don’t abandon us!”

“We need you!”

“You can’t leave!”

Every word was like a blade.

They stabbed into Wang Hao’s imperial soul.

The shield formed from the power of faith within his body began to condense on its own.

It seemed that the moment he suffered even the slightest injury, it would block every attack on his behalf.

Wang Hao looked at that shield.

Then he said in a low voice:

“I know.”

“You are willing to give me your strength.”

“And you are willing to place me upon the imperial throne.”

“But if I keep relying on you…”

“Then I will forever be nothing more than the emperor of Great Xia.”

“Not Wang Hao.”

He had never been a saint.

He liked power.

He liked ordering others around.

He liked sitting high above the world, watching others look up to him.

But Wang Hao understood perfectly well that if a person was left with nothing but a title, that title would sooner or later become a cage.

In the lower realm, he had been an emperor.

When he arrived in the Immortal Realm, he had thought he could still rely on Great Xia’s imperial majesty to run rampant.

But only now did he understand.

The Immortal Realm did not acknowledge some emperor from a lower realm.

The only thing it acknowledged was strength.

And those ancient existences entrenched in the darkness.

The title of Great Xia’s emperor was no protective talisman here.

It was a banner planted above his head.

The higher the banner flew,

the easier it was for his enemies to find him.

“I will return.”

Wang Hao looked at the Imperial Dao River.

“But not now.”

“If I can’t even make it out of the Immortal Realm…”

“Then returning would only mean leading all of you to your deaths.”

He tightened his grip on the New Heavenly Son Sword.

“From this day forward…”

“I will no longer borrow your strength.”

“This emperor’s destiny…”

“I don’t want it anymore.”

Boom!

The Imperial Dao River shattered completely.

The faith of a billion people transformed into countless streaks of golden light. They passed through the shattered dome of the Ascension Hall and scattered toward every corner of the Immortal Realm.

The imperial phantom behind Wang Hao gradually became transparent.

The crown.

The dragon robe.

The Heavenly Son Sword that represented imperial authority.

All of them dissolved into specks of light and vanished.

Only a young man in black robes remained.

He stood alone in the Ascension Hall.

The silver-haired youth poked half of his body out from the sword.

“Master.”

“Are you still an emperor now?”

Wang Hao returned the sword to its sheath.

“I used to be.”

“And now?”

“Now I’m a fugitive.”

The silver-haired youth froze.

“That changed quickly.”

“The Immortal Realm is efficient.”

As soon as the words left his mouth, all the fleshly tendrils on the second immortal coffin suddenly opened their eyes.

Countless pupils rotated in unison.

A deep voice emerged from within the coffin.

“You should not have severed the Imperial Dao.”

Wang Hao looked toward the coffin.

“Why not?”

“The Imperial Dao was your protection.”

“Without it, the Immortal Realm will discover you.”

“They’ve already discovered me.”

“That was only the Ascension Hall.”

“Soon, the entire Immortal Realm will know.”

Silence filled the immortal coffin for a moment.

“You carry the aura left behind by an Immortal Emperor.”

“By severing the Imperial Dao, you have instead made them even more certain.”

Wang Hao’s eyes turned cold.

“Who?”

From within the first immortal coffin came a hoarse voice.

“The surviving offices of the Immortal Realm.”

“The Ascension Office.”

“The Heavenly Patrol Office.”

“The Office of Suppressing the Strange.”

“And…”

The third immortal coffin began to shake violently.

A pale hand suddenly reached through the gap in its lid.

“The Immortal Emperor’s Mausoleum.”

Wang Hao’s pupils contracted slightly.

He had never seen those words in the intelligence he had obtained through sign-ins.

It was not that the Immortal Realm had never possessed an Immortal Emperor.

Rather, the Immortal Emperor had already died.

But the dead Immortal Emperor had evidently still left something behind.

Perhaps it was even searching for a new successor.

The chains on the first immortal coffin began to snap.

A hunched old man slowly sat up from within.

He had no skin on his body, only a layer of withered flesh.

Yet at the center of his brow floated a crystal-clear Dao Fruit.

“My name is Gu Changfeng.”

“I ascended eighty thousand years ago.”

“I refused to undergo ascension.”

“I have been sealed here ever since.”

A white-robed woman stepped out of the second immortal coffin.