Awakening Hong, War God Palace

"War God Li Qingxu, the Dojo Master requests your presence."

Before Li Qingxu could even head downstairs, a black man dressed in a red robe sought him out.

"Hong has business with me?"

Li Qingxu was somewhat puzzled.

"Yes. The Dojo Master did not specify the details; he only instructed me to invite you back."

The black man in the red robe spoke with a respectful expression.

Though he was confused inside, he dared not ask.

The young man before him, Li Qingxu, could address the Dojo Master by his name, and the Dojo Master had even sent him personally to issue the invitation.

He understood very well what that implied.

"Fine, let's go."

Li Qingxu nodded and strode toward the elevator.

Only one night had passed; could it be that Hong had already comprehended the Nine-Layer Dao Diagram of the Secret of Movement?

Ten minutes later, at the top floor of the Limit Dojo headquarters.

The door opened automatically, and as Li Qingxu stepped inside, it closed once more.

Outside the door, there was no one; in fact, there was not another soul on this entire floor.

"Well? Did you have a breakthrough?"

Li Qingxu asked curiously.

Hong sat cross-legged on a cushion, as if in deep meditation, remaining motionless while staring at the diagram suspended in the air above the room.

"Hmm, there is a glimmer of progress, but it seems I am still lacking just a little bit."

Hong nodded.

He felt as though he were standing right at the threshold; if he could only push that door open, he could step inside in a single stride.

Yet, it felt as if something were missing, and he remained unable to push that door open.

Thus, he had sent someone to invite Li Qingxu back.

"Oh?"

Hearing Hong say this, Li Qingxu became instantly interested.

Had Hong already fully comprehended the Nine-Layer Dao Diagram and was now just one step away from mastering the Secret of Movement?

He knew the difficulty of comprehending the Secret of Movement. Back on the Holy Cliff, he had required both a Bodhi Leaf and an Undying Tree Leaf just to memorize the nine diagrams and grasp the true meaning of the first five layers.

However, even if Hong pushed that door open, that would only be the true beginning.

Once the Secret of Movement reached great success, it would involve the domain of time, allowing one to briefly interfere with or pause the flow of time, possessing a fraction of the power of the Laws of Time.

The Law of Time in this world was a supreme law, while the Law of Light that Hong would comprehend in the future was merely one of the eight lower laws subordinate to the Law of Time.

But when Hong voiced his inner confusion, Li Qingxu realized what Hong meant by "lacking a little bit."

He wasn't just lacking a little; he was still standing outside the threshold of the very first layer of the Nine-Layer Dao Diagram.

Still, to reach this point in only one night, Hong's comprehension was already extremely high.

He lacked the divine treasures of the Shrouding the Heavens world to assist him; he was relying purely on his own intellect to force his way through.

"Have you forgotten your Light Domain? Use the experience you gained from comprehending the Light Domain to pry that door open."

"There are three thousand paths to the Dao, yet all lead to the same destination."

Especially with those final eight words, Li Qingxu channeled the Dao Scripture, producing the sound of a Dao chant.

"All paths lead to the same destination... a domain?"

The corners of Hong's mouth parted slightly, as if he were asking a question or perhaps questioning himself.

When he was contemplating this diagram, his subconscious had shielded all his past experiences, attempting to comprehend it with a mind devoid of distractions.

Because he had heard Li Qingxu say that their paths of cultivation were different, he feared his own cultivation experience would interfere.

But now, Li Qingxu's Dao chant was like a sudden enlightenment, completely waking him up.

In an instant, the room plunged into darkness, to the point where even the sunlight from outside the windows could not shine in.

Only the diagram above the room continued to emit a golden glow, as if it had transcended the constraints of his Light Domain.

"So, this is the true secret technique!"

A brilliance flashed in Hong's eyes, his tone filled with pleasant surprise.

The original diagram changed its appearance before his eyes.

It seemed to form a layer of 'Heaven' hanging there, and vaguely, he felt as though he could see another layer of hazy Heaven above that one.

What he had called standing at the threshold was, in reality, not even touching the entrance to the first layer of this secret technique.

Moreover, he felt a premonition that above that hazy second layer, there should be even more!

"Your comprehension is truly extraordinary."

A flash of admiration crossed Li Qingxu's eyes.

Hong sat cross-legged in the center of the Light Domain, where streaks of black light flickered in and out of existence, rotating around him and generating sonic booms.

He was using his own Light Domain to outline, contemplate, and understand the Dao intent contained within the First Heaven.

Seeing that Hong had already fallen into a deep state of cultivation, Li Qingxu left the room.

Because he had been granted prior authorization by Hong, Li Qingxu could enter any of the dozens of rooms on the top floor of the headquarters.

Furthermore, his own resting and cultivation chambers were also on this level.

In the audiovisual room, Li Qingxu leaned back on the sofa, holding a deep blue helmet in his hands.

For ordinary War God fighters using this Consciousness Sensor at home, the most important thing was to take care to protect themselves.

This was because once the deep blue helmet was put on, one's consciousness would enter a Virtual Space; if someone were to sneak in and assassinate them at that moment, it would be troublesome.

However, such a situation had almost never occurred, though the manual still warned users to be careful about their physical safety.

This Consciousness Sensor helmet also had security features that could detect whether anyone had entered the surrounding area.

Yet, he was not worried in the slightest; after all, this was the headquarters of the Limit Dojo, and specifically the top floor exclusive to Hong.

If someone could still sneak in here, then Hong might as well step down as Dojo Master.

"Swish!"

Li Qingxu put on the helmet directly and entered the War God Palace within the Virtual Space.

As his consciousness dimmed and then instantly recovered, he appeared in a quiet, oversized room.

By visual estimation, the area of this room exceeded 1,000 square meters, and in the very center of the room was a large circular bed with a diameter of three meters.

In front of the bed was an indoor swimming pool 10 meters wide and 20 meters long.

The bed, the pool, the desk and chairs, the luxurious dining table, the lounge chairs, the cultivation area with a yoga mat, and more—the vast, empty room of over 1,000 square meters was divided into many areas in an orderly fashion.

"Interesting. It even contains Hong's mental consciousness; was it constructed with him as the foundation?"

Li Qingxu stood in place, sensing his surroundings.

Unfortunately, it was too low-level; there was not a shred of realism, and the upper limit of the power of one's conscious form was fixed.

Suddenly, a flash of golden light crossed his body, and his aura surged instantly, only to return to its original state a moment later.

"Beep! Beep!"

"Warning! Attack detected..."

"Check error, execution normal."

Abruptly, three electronic voices rang out within his room.

"Welcome, War God Li Qingxu."

An electronic voice sounded once more.

In a special secret chamber at the headquarters of the Limit Dojo, a group of men and women dressed in white robes watched the warning text appearing on the screen, their expressions changing instantly.

"What is going on? The execution of the War God Palace has never had an error. Investigate!"

An old man issued the order.

"Report, it is the consciousness of a War God that suddenly exceeded the limit value of the War God Palace. The intelligent system thought it was attacking it."

"Exceeded the limit? A joke. This value was set based on the Dojo Master's mental consciousness. Could it be that someone has surpassed the Dojo Master?!"

"The warning originated from No. 3516, which is a new space just constructed by the intelligent system."

"Check who broke through to become a War God and entered the War God Palace."

"It is... War God Li Qingxu."

In an instant, the room fell silent.

They all thought of a rumor within the headquarters: a young man named Li Qingxu had been brought back personally by the Dojo Master and arranged to stay on the top floor of the headquarters.

One had to know that even the Dojo Master's three personal guards did not have the qualifications to live on the top floor of the headquarters, but were instead on the floor below.