Ancient Life Arises, Great Harmony's Order is Set, Xuan's Many Paths Born

"..."

This time, Gu Xingyun's true self remained silent for even longer.

His gaze dropped downward.

Below, heat waves roiled, and visible distortions rippled through the air.

The sea of lava formed earlier by the torrent of divine powers, spanning nearly a hundred li, still remained.

Fortunately, he had previously set up several bewildering and sealing grand formations in this area, and during this time had also arranged several confinement-type grand formations for that outsider. Thus, the nearby mortals had yet to notice the changes here.

At the very center of the lava sea, the ancient, weighty Profound Cloud Spirit-Splitting Tower stood quietly. The "forbidden runes" formed by its densely arranged hollow apertures were dim and lightless.

Gu Xingyun could not help recalling the day, many years ago, when he had initiated the ritual.

"Cang Metamorphic Ascension"...

By then, he had harvested the entire world clean.

Not only had he cultivated the Spirit Herding Self-Nourishing Cang True Scripture to perfection, he had also used the Profound Cloud Spirit-Splitting Tower to extract the world's origin and refine every cultivator in existence above the Golden Core realm.

He had thought that the ritual would surely allow him to transform and ascend into a more perfect existence.

At first, the ritual had indeed proceeded smoothly.

Throughout the ritual, he had truly felt himself changing—a transformation toward a higher level!

Yet just as the transformation was about to succeed, when the ritual had reached its final step, he suddenly felt his "transformation and ascension" come to an abrupt halt.

It was as though he could not integrate the parts of himself that had transformed, and also as though the ritual itself was "incomplete." The sensation was difficult to put into words.

In short, the final stage of the ritual continued, while his transformation and