Beyond Divine Grade

Gu Fang tilted his head back, staring at everything in the sky as he listened to the sharp intakes of breath around him.

On the testing platform...

Only Gu Fang and Gu Mo remained standing. Gu Qingyang and the others had all dropped to one knee due to their bloodlines trembling, yet it did nothing to lessen their shock.

They could feel the pressure radiating from the flames that filled the sky, and they had witnessed that fellow's clash with the clan chief earlier.

Yet such an enemy...

Had been defeated by the Ancient Emperor in a single move.

They had always heard tales of the terrifying strength of the Emperor Realm, but only after seeing it for themselves—even if it was merely the tip of the iceberg—did they realize...

Their previous understanding had truly been like looking at the sky from the bottom of a well!

"Nihility Devouring Flame, a Nine-star Battle Saint and the strongest expert in the Hall of Souls aside from Hun Tiandi, died just like that?"

Gu Fang stared at the rain of fire filling the heavens and muttered in astonishment.

"Died? If something born of heaven and earth like Nihility Devouring Flame could die so easily, that would be a joke."

Just as Gu Fang finished muttering, an illusory figure appeared beside him. A calm voice unique to an elder spoke those words.

At his words, Gu Mo turned in shock, then immediately bowed. "Gu Mo of the Ancient Clan greets the Ancient Emperor."

Gu Qingyang and the others also promptly lowered their heads in salute.

"This junior, Gu Fang, greets the Ancient Emperor!"

Though shocked, Gu Fang likewise bent forward in greeting.

"Mm."

The Ancient Emperor examined Gu Fang, a smile on his illusory figure. "Not bad. I never expected someone to truly achieve this kind of bloodline—the same as mine, a perfect Rule Bloodline."

"Rule Bloodline?"

Hearing this unfamiliar term from the Ancient Emperor, Gu Fang murmured in confusion.

"You do not need to know that. You only need to know that a Rule Bloodline is a bloodline superior to a Divine Grade bloodline. You will sense its benefits once you truly reach the Battle Saint realm."

Boom!

Just as the Ancient Emperor finished speaking, an explosion rang out in the sky, drawing Gu Fang's gaze upward...

At that moment, Gu Fang saw...

The scattered rain of fire across the sky gathering toward the center. As it converged, an illusory black flame gradually took shape.

It was Nihility Devouring Flame.

"It really didn't die?" Gu Fang exclaimed in shock at the sight.

"Get lost!"

The Ancient Emperor raised his head and spoke to Nihility Devouring Flame. "You have three breaths. Three, two..."

After the Ancient Emperor spoke, Nihility Devouring Flame no longer dared to gather those tiny fragments of its origin. It shot madly toward the edge of the Ancient Realm.

The Ancient Emperor could not kill it, but Nihility Devouring Flame had no desire to experience that again.

Being forcibly torn into thousands upon thousands of pieces—the pain had been etched into its very bones, driving the flame mad.

"What remains is this mess."

The Ancient Emperor looked at Gu Fang. "If I relied solely on this wisp of true spirit, it might indeed be somewhat troublesome. But with the aid of your Rule Bloodline, it is nothing at all."

As his words fell, the Ancient Emperor's illusory figure shattered, and every fragment surged into Gu Fang's body!

The moment it entered, Gu Fang could feel... new pathways opening within his body. The process was unbelievably swift; in almost an instant, they had all been completely opened.

"Feel it carefully. This wisp of my true spirit can only act once.

"Emperor-tier Cultivation Method, Luo Tian Yuan Huo Jue!"

As he spoke, Gu Fang felt his body float upward, shooting into the sky.

As his body rose, Gu Fang could sense more and more things, as though everything in the world lay within his grasp.

"So this is the Emperor Realm?"

"Feel it carefully. Do not be distracted!"

Hearing the Ancient Emperor's rebuke, Gu Fang immediately focused his mind.

The next moment, Gu Fang felt himself merge with the entire Ancient Realm. He could sense everything, and naturally, every spy preparing to self-destruct.

"Time Stop! Space Shift!"

With those four words, every person on the verge of self-destruction fell into frozen time, then vanished from where they stood.

They...

Had been cast into the endless void.

"So this is the power of rules?

"Nihility Devouring Flame's final trump card, which could have caused immense harm to the Ancient Clan, was resolved so easily?"

As Gu Fang experienced it, only two words remained in his heart: utter shock.

"It is not as simple as you feel it is. You will understand in the future. While there is still a little time left, let me give you a meeting gift!"

When he finished speaking, the Ancient Emperor controlled Gu Fang's right hand and raised it. When it reached shoulder height, the tiny fire spirits of Nihility Devouring Flame, scattered across the heavens, frantically gathered toward it.

In the end, they all converged in Gu Fang's palm.

Part of the shattered fire spirit origin of Nihility Devouring Flame, ranked second on the Heavenly Flame Ranking.

Once they had all gathered, the Ancient Emperor controlled Gu Fang's left hand and raised it. As Gu Fang's left hand lifted, the testing platform below began to tremble. A passage slowly opened at its center.

A golden flame floated out and landed in Gu Fang's palm under the Ancient Emperor's control.

The origin flame of Golden Emperor Burning Heaven Flame, ranked fourth on the Heavenly Flame Ranking.

"Elemental Fire Fusion!"

At the Ancient Emperor's command, the remaining fire spirit fragments of Nihility Devouring Flame collided with Golden Emperor Burning Heaven Flame. They were then all drawn into the pathways and began circulating along the route of Luo Tian Yuan Huo Jue.

Gu Fang could feel...

Both Golden Emperor Burning Heaven Flame and the fragments of Nihility Devouring Flame were resisting, but their resistance was so powerless at this moment.

Before a true Dou Emperor—even merely a wisp of a Dou Emperor's spirit suppressing them—they...

Were nothing.

Gu Qingyang and the others watched Gu Fang in the sky below, their eyes filled with envy. Golden Emperor Burning Heaven Flame...

The true Golden Emperor Burning Heaven Flame—it was an origin flame!

Not the child flame they had fought over before!

How could the two compare? It was like they had fought to the death over a single fruit, while Gu Fang had simply uprooted the entire tree.

At this moment, Gu Fang was the one uprooting the tree.

And he was fusing them without suffering in the slightest, making them so jealous they were practically splitting apart.

The two Heavenly Flames moved through the pathways, eventually almost completely merging into one.

Even before using it, Gu Fang could already sense the violent power contained within.

"Complete."

The Ancient Emperor looked at the dark golden flame in his hand, his tone full of satisfaction. With a wave of his hand, space twisted, and his arm reached into it...

If anyone had been in the void, they would have discovered that all the turbulent spatial currents within a range of ten thousand zhang had vanished. More precisely...

They had all fallen into the Ancient Emperor's hand.

They condensed into a black, longan-sized...

Spirit Gathering!

Seeing this, Gu Fang's shock became impossible to put into words. Wasn't a Spirit Gathering a treasure born of heaven and earth?

It could be made like this?

Yet the Ancient Emperor seemed unconcerned by Gu Fang's astonishment. He stored the Origin Flame within the Spirit Gathering, then placed it into his lower abdomen.

"Alright, this is all I can do for you. Luo Tian Yuan Huo Jue can contain and absorb all kinds of flame fragments, gathering them into Origin Flame and using ten thousand flames to nurture the Origin Flame.

"When the Origin Flame reaches completion, even if my true body were here, it would have to avoid it.

"Now, with Golden Emperor Burning Heaven Flame as the source of the Origin Flame and fragments of Nihility Devouring Flame as support, no matter what flames you absorb in the future, even the third-ranked Purifying Demonic Lotus Flame will pose no threat.

"Grow quickly. Do not disappoint my expectations."

After saying that, the Ancient Emperor withdrew from Gu Fang's body. His illusory form slowly melted into the void. "If one day your strength breaks through to Battle Saint, remember to go to the far north..."

Before the Ancient Emperor could finish, he left this world.

Leaving only Gu Fang suspended in midair.

Gu Fang frowned, pondering the Ancient Emperor's final words, but before he could understand them, the intense sensation of weightlessness and the howling wind of his rapid descent jolted him awake...

Only then did Gu Fang remember...

He was still in midair.

More importantly, with his strength as a Dou Master, he could not even form Dou Qi Wings, much less walk through the air.

From this height, if he fell naturally, he would be severely injured even if he survived!

Thinking of this, Gu Fang raised a hand to the sky and roared:

"Yutu, save me!!!"