Chapter 560: Disciple of Tianyang
The battle ended. Shen Wuji's eyes dimmed as he cast one last look at Li Hao, then turned and walked off the arena, defeated and dejected.
Losing to Li Hao—a youth with a Nine-Sequenced immortal Mark and not even a hundred years of soul lifespan—shattered his pride completely. If Li Hao had lived for a thousand years, he could've consoled himself with that. But now, even that sliver of comfort was gone. It was pure and total defeat—his skills were simply inferior.
"Young Master!"
The Gu Shen Clan elder rushed over. Seeing Shen Wuji's defeated look, his heart trembled with unease. He feared Shen Wuji's dao heart would collapse and that he'd fall into despair.
Geniuses shine like unsheathed swords, but once the blade dulls, its brilliance vanishes.
"I'm fine."
Shen Wuji's voice was hoarse. He said nothing more, simply lowering his head in silence.
Compared to his earlier arrogance and pride, the current Shen Wuji looked like a peacock stripped of its feathers. But he wasn't broken. His spirit hadn't collapsed. Instead, he had become more withdrawn, and something new, sharper, began to awaken in his gaze.
As a top genius, he was crushed inside, but this battle hadn't destroyed him. His dao heart remained intact. What had changed was his inner world—deeper, sharper, and no longer as flamboyant.
The elder couldn't know what his young master was thinking. All he could see was his silence and worry deeply. Yet this kind of defeat was also a rare opportunity—one every cultivator must eventually face. No one is undefeated forever. Falling early can lead to earlier awakening.
Whether one can rise again from failure depends solely on personal will and strength.
"Hm? That boy… the Supreme is calling him over?"
The elder's tone shifted to surprise.
Shen Wuji, still in silence, paused and looked up.
There was only one person left in the arena who could stir something in his heart—Li Hao.
None of the other geniuses, not even from the great clans, held a place in his mind comparable to this boy. Only the two Supreme disciples and the one from the Di Clan could compare.
On the arena, as Li Hao began to withdraw his strength and prepare to leave, a soft voice echoed in his mind.
"Child, come here."
It came from the Supreme shrouded in clouds.
Li Hao looked up toward the Supreme and met his gaze—serene, calm, unreadable. But the instant their eyes met, Li Hao felt as though he had fallen into a deep ocean or a swamp. His primordial spirit began to detach, his consciousness scattering.
His pupils contracted. A chill ran through him.
'So this is the power of an immortal Emperor?'
Just a glance from this man made him feel like he was going mad.
That pair of Emperor's eyes held a terrifying soul force. Though there was no direct attack, just looking into them caused a kind of spiritual collapse.
It was like peering into an abyss—just standing at the edge made his head spin, as if he'd fall in.
Though unsure why he was being summoned, Li Hao still flew toward the cloud-shrouded Supreme.
Maybe it was due to his performance in the battle? The Nine-Sequenced immortal Mark might've caught the Supreme's attention. That seemed plausible.
"Hm?"
Up in the mist, Chu Emperor and the others noticed Li Hao flying toward the Supreme and looked surprised. Then they exchanged glances, quickly realizing what this meant.
'Has the Supreme taken a liking to him?'
It made sense. This tournament was meant for geniuses to shine, to gain recognition and seek mentorship from powerful beings. That was the real goal behind earning fame.
While Tianzong sects were powerful in each immortal kingdom, even they couldn't compare to royal clans—especially when it came to cultivation resources. If one could gain multiple masters, it meant access to more power and deeper backing, enough to push their talent to the absolute limit.
"Congratulations, Chu Emperor. Looks like your future son-in-law is about to become a disciple of a Supreme."
Nearby, the Tianzhao Emperor chuckled. Though his words sounded like praise, they carried a teasing undertone.
Chu Emperor's expression darkened slightly. If Li Hao had been born into a royal clan, becoming a Supreme's disciple would've been a great benefit. But as just a future son-in-law… it wasn't a binding tie. For cultivators, a dao partner wasn't necessarily for life. He himself had countless consorts, bonded over ages with various saintesses and geniuses.
He knew all too well: a mere marriage wouldn't be enough to tie down someone like Li Hao.
"This is good. Perhaps the Yanchu Immortal Dynasty will gain the Supreme's favor as well. I hope you'll spare some reinforcements to help us fight back the ancient demons."
Jin Emperor smiled faintly. His words sounded like congratulations, but carried a subtly ambiguous undertone—both polite and distant, impossible to read.
Chu Emperor remained silent, only watching Li Hao's back. He understood the hidden message in Jin Emperor's words.
By now, Li Hao had reached the Supreme.
At the mountaintop, countless spectators gasped.
"Look! Hao Tian is in front of the Supreme!"
"He was summoned, no doubt! No one would dare approach otherwise!"
"Does this mean… the Supreme is going to take him as a disciple?!"
"Surprised? With Hao Tian's talent, becoming a disciple of the Supreme is only natural."
Countless people stared at the scene in awe, their faces full of envy. Although shocked, after witnessing Li Hao's performance in the previous battle, it all felt justified—like this outcome was only natural.
In the crowd, Jianxin and Mingyue's eyes changed slightly. They exchanged a glance, then rose and flew toward their master.
If this youth really became their master's disciple, he would become their junior brother.
Back in Dameng Jiuyuan Sect, the sect master and Li Tiemu were both stunned. They looked at each other, speechless.
None of them had expected this, yet it somehow felt reasonable. So much so, they weren't even sure how to react.
"The Supreme wants to take Little Junior Brother?"
"This…"
Yuexi and Guyan were both frozen. A moment later, complex emotions flickered in their eyes, but they genuinely felt happy for Li Hao.
Becoming a Supreme's disciple was an incredible stroke of fortune. However, this also meant that the gap between them and Li Hao would only grow larger. Whether they could even still call him "junior brother" in the future was unclear.
Amid the commotion and waves of envy, Li Hao cupped his hands and bowed slightly toward the Supreme.
The Supreme's gaze remained unchanged from beginning to end—calm as still water, unreadable. His voice was steady as he spoke:
"Hao Tian, is it? Your talent is remarkable. Where do you come from?"
Li Hao's eyes flickered slightly. He replied in a low voice, "Junior comes from Yanchu."
"You were not born in Yanchu."
The Supreme said quietly, his tone colder now.
Li Hao froze, then looked up at the Supreme. He saw only a pair of imperial eyes like twin abysses, casting down on him with vast majesty. Just being looked at made him want to kneel.
But his dao heart was eternal. He remained clear-headed even under that pressure, inwardly alert.
'Did the Supreme see through my origins?'
It was likely. A Xian Emperor was the pinnacle of cultivation in the true realm—an existence beyond imagination. Any disguise was probably meaningless before such power.
Besides, there was no shame in his origin.
He calmly replied, "Junior comes from the false realm of Tianyang."
As his clear voice rang out, the surrounding clouds seemed to slow. The once-buzzing mountaintop fell into sudden silence. The waves of shock and envy vanished in an instant, replaced by only a few scattered whispers of disbelief.
Li Hao frowned slightly, confused. He looked up, but the Supreme's expression was still perfectly calm, betraying no emotion.
Then he glanced around—and noticed that all the emperors, save for the Chu Emperor, were staring at him with peculiar looks.
On the ground, sect leaders and elders from the various celestial sects wore shocked, vaguely understanding, and deeply conflicted expressions.
'Did I say something wrong?'
"What's going on?"
"What happened?"
In the crowd, some young cultivators asked the elders around them. But most of the elders remained silent, their eyes dark with complex emotions.
"What is this Tianyang false realm? Why haven't I ever heard of it? Just the name alone made everyone turn pale!"
"You haven't heard of it because that was ten thousand years ago…"
An old man looked down at his descendant and replied, his voice full of ancient sorrow.
"Chiying."
Just then, the Supreme spoke a name.
A red-clad figure on the mountaintop reacted immediately. Her eyes shifted as she stood up and flew over, landing beside Li Hao and bowing.
"Master."
Li Hao looked over and recognized the woman—it was Chiying, the same person who had once rescued him during the ancient demon invasion of the Tianyang false realm.
He had long known she was a disciple of this Supreme, though not a direct one.
"You brought back a group from that Tianyang false realm back then. Was he among them?" the Supreme asked calmly.
Chiying nodded.
She had already reported everything to her master back then. He had unusually shown interest and asked for details, which she had provided in full. Of all those people, the one who had left the deepest impression was Li Hao. She had seen his potential even then—but she never imagined that in just a few short years, he'd appear on the battlefield of the Southern Domain tournament and defeat the strongest clans, shining so brightly.
What's more, he had the Nine-Sequenced immortal Mark—something even she hadn't achieved.
After confirming it, the Supreme quietly studied Li Hao, then said:
"You've mastered Qing Tian, Hui Guang, Wan Ying—all forbidden immortal techniques—and you're from the Tianyang false realm. If I'm not mistaken, you're a disciple of that 'Sin Immortal' Tianyang, aren't you?"
The first part sounded fine.
But by the end, Li Hao was stunned.
He looked up at the Supreme before him. Facing that pair of imposing imperial eyes, he asked with uncertainty, "Sin Immortal?"
At that moment, the emperors of the various celestial empires, including the Chu Emperor, showed changes in their expressions. They all realized something was off—and quickly understood the true reason why the Heavenly Palace Supreme had summoned Li Hao.
"I suspected as much when he used those immortal techniques earlier…"
Yuan Zun, the Empress, narrowed her eyes slightly as she stared at the youth's back. There was no shock in her gaze, only the faintest trace of sorrow—subtle and unnoticed by anyone.
The Tianzhao Emperor turned his head to look at the Chu Emperor, his eyes carrying a deeper meaning.
"You truly didn't know?"
The Heavenly Palace Supreme watched Li Hao's confusion without emotion. Calmly, he said:
"Ten thousand years ago, when the ancient demons ravaged the true realm, we Xian Emperors joined forces to strike back. But in that moment of crisis, someone abandoned the front lines. Because of that betrayal, the defensive line collapsed, and the ancient demons flooded in. Our Southern Domain was devastated. These past years, I've continuously drawn on the power of the Heavenly Dao to mend the realm, barely preserving the current state."
His voice was slow and even, each word clear and precise. The sound spread across the mountaintop—and was echoed across every celestial city in the Southern Domain.
The story of the Heavenly Palace Supreme's deeds was something every person in the Southern Domain grew up hearing. It was why the Heavenly Palace was revered across the region. He was the one who paid an enormous price in that war to keep the Southern Domain safe.
The other great domains were left in ruins. After the war, it was also this Supreme who helped the Southern Domain's major clans rebuild, reestablishing the current ring of peace.
Though their reach today was far smaller than in the days of prosperity ten thousand years ago, the current state—with a greatly reduced population and the ancient demons occupying most of the starfields—was already the best outcome the people could hope for.
"What is the Supreme trying to say? Desertion on the battlefield? Is he talking about…"
"That's right. Remember the pursuit eight thousand years ago?"
"Yes. The old forbidden event. When they accounted for past sins, the ten immortal techniques once famous throughout the Southern Domain were all branded as forbidden and lost."
"Come to think of it, the techniques Hao Tian used just now looked exactly like those lost ten immortal techniques. He really is that Immortal Emperor's disciple!"
"A descendant of the Sin Emperor, and he dares show up to the Southern Domain tournament? He's not afraid to die?!"
"You can't say that. The one who made the mistake was that Immortal Emperor, not him. He's only a hundred years old—how could he be responsible for those old debts?"
In the cities, many among the older generation let out long sighs, their eyes complicated. None of them had expected that this breathtakingly brilliant prodigy was the disciple of that very Immortal Emperor.
But in Yanchu's various cities, certain obscure figures stared at the sky with silent fury. Their hands clenched tightly into fists.
Some were beggars on street corners. Others were brothel madams in dark alleys. Still others were old women beating clothes by the river. But if one traced their lives back through the flow of time, one would discover they had looked exactly the same tens of thousands of years ago. Their neighbors had changed over and over, yet they remained unchanged.
In ancient times, they had once been clad in golden armor, commanding great armies and sweeping across the battlefield with unstoppable might. Now they were destitute, but utterly different from the people around them.
Hearing the Supreme's words, they clenched their fists tighter. Veins bulged on their foreheads. The fury that had lain dormant for tens of thousands of years was now boiling up from their chests like an erupting volcano. Their eyes burned like beasts ready to devour.
They stared hard at the sky—not daring to look directly at the Supreme's image, but locking onto the clouds around him.
Even with such burning hatred, none of them dared look into those imperial eyes.
Not out of fear or submission—but because a direct gaze filled with rage, even from millions of miles away, would be instantly noticed by that Supreme.
"…?"
At the edge of the clouds, Jianxin and Mingyue had just arrived at their master's side. Upon hearing his words, they both paused. Then, they turned to look at the youth.
As sharp as they were, how could they not understand what their master meant?
This was something he had mentioned to them shortly after they became his disciples. Back then, it had filled them with righteous anger. They had never expected that the one they despised—the Sin Immortal's disciple—would one day stand before them.
"Desertion?"
Li Hao looked at the Heavenly Palace Supreme, momentarily stunned. He had never heard Wang Lao say anything about this.
When he received his inheritance, the imperial palace was nearly empty. Only the soul remnant of Emperor Luo Li remained. Most of the treasures had long since been used up.
There weren't even immortal stones left for him—only three debt notes!
That kind of poverty was proof enough that his long-dead master had burned everything in that war.
But now this Supreme claimed that his master had abandoned the battlefield?
"Supreme… could there be some mistake?"
Li Hao asked cautiously.