Heavenly Gate, Heavenly Gate

When Gu Mo arrived at Tiansheng Lake Shore with Gu Chundong and Red Clothes, the sight before them already looked like the end of days.

Tiansheng Lake was like a boiling Giant Pot. Violent hurricanes whipped up hundreds upon thousands of enormous Water Tornadoes, roaring straight into the sky and connecting with the low-hanging, churning masses of dark clouds, like Giant Pillars holding up heaven and earth.

Deafening thunder exploded within the cloud layer. Pale Lightning Snakes tore apart the dim Sky Curtain, and every flash illuminated the terrifying scene below—the surging waters, muddy waves blotting out the sky.

The several great rivers connected to Tiansheng Lake were now rising at a frenzied, visible pace. Turbid river water carried broken wood and stones, letting out deep, dreadful roars as it battered the embankments with savage force. Even the earth trembled faintly.

The air was saturated with dense moisture and an Aura of Destruction that caused palpitations.

"The grand formation has been activated! It's at the lake bottom!" Red Clothes said.

"You wait here. I'll go down and take a look."

Gu Mo did not hesitate in the slightest. His aura erupted with a boom, and he shot toward the violent Lake Heart like a meteor strike. Though he had not deliberately activated the Dragon God Skill, Dragon's Trait made moving through water no different from moving across land. Wherever he passed, the raging currents were forcibly parted into a path.

He sank into the dark, freezing lake bottom, his Divine Sense fully spread out like the most precise probe, sweeping over every inch of the lake bed.

Very soon, a fissure that was crazily swallowing lake water appeared within his perception. Its powerful suction even began to distort the surrounding currents.

Gu Mo flashed forward and charged into the fissure without hesitation.

Beneath the fissure stood an Underground Palace on the verge of collapse.

Freezing lake water was crazily pouring in from all directions, producing deafening roars.

Countless exquisite, floating Formation Disks emitted shrill hums. Their light flickered uncertainly, like dying stars.

The entire Underground Palace groaned and twisted. Rubble constantly fell from the ceiling, while the water level rose swiftly.

Gu Mo spotted Tie Tou at once. There were also more than a dozen people with Tie Tou. Their condition was strange. Though they were nearly submerged, they acted as if they did not notice, still endlessly repairing the formation.

"Puppet Technique!"

Gu Mo saw at a glance that their Divine Senses had been controlled.

Immediately,

Gu Mo stepped over to Tie Tou and the others. He used Nascent Soul Power, splitting it into threads that precisely pierced their Seas of Consciousness. The Dao Heart Seed Demon Great Technique circulated, and those Mental Imprints were like ice snow meeting the blazing sun—instantly stripped away and crushed by tyrannical force!

"Urgh..."

Tie Tou was the first to grunt. The emptiness in his eyes instantly cleared, only for his face to turn deathly pale at the sight before him. "Gu... Great Hero Gu!"

"Go!"

Gu Mo gave a low shout. Powerful inner force formed a gentle protective barrier that instantly enveloped all the weapon forgers who had just broken free from control.

He grabbed the still-dazed Tie Tou with one hand and swept out a vast surge of force with the other, rolling up everyone else. They turned into a brilliant streak of light, charging against the lake water pouring backward, forcibly breaking through the Underground Palace ceiling and bursting out of that destructive vortex!

Splash—!

Gu Mo emerged from the water with everyone in tow and landed steadily on the mountain.

The gale howled, making it nearly impossible to stand firm.

Looking out, Tiansheng Lake was like a primordial beast that had broken free of its shackles. Its surface rose at a horrifying speed, while the connected great rivers churned with muddy waves that reached the heavens, roaring as they continuously battered the dams. Huge stones groaned beneath the pounding waves, and cracks visibly spread across them.

Tie Tou was still somewhat dazed, but when he saw the upheaval of Tiansheng Lake, he hurriedly said, "Great Hero Gu, that man... he activated a grand formation. I don't know what kind of formation it was. We were controlled and made to handle affairs for him. That grand formation connects the whole lake and several great rivers.

"Now it looks like that man wants to draw several rivers together here. This lake's dam cannot hold. Once it collapses, Qingyang City will probably be completely flooded..."

"I know. Don't panic."

Gu Mo waved a hand, took one step, and flew directly through the air toward the dam.

At this moment,

Gu Chundong and Red Clothes from the mountaintop on the other side also flew over swiftly.

"Brother, can you break that formation?" Gu Chundong asked.

Gu Mo said, "I can break it, but it no longer means much. It would only prevent Wang Qingping from ascending. As for this water, the flow of those rivers has already been altered. Even if the formation is broken, the river water will still keep coming this way."

"But stopping Wang Qingping's ascension would still be a good thing!" Gu Chundong said.

Gu Mo chuckled. "Not necessarily."

"What do you mean?" Gu Chundong asked in confusion.

Red Clothes said from the side, "My lord likely wants to use Wang Qingping's ascension to see the Heavenly Gate, and at the same time, locate White Jade Capital."

"Correct," Gu Mo said. "I have always suspected that something is wrong with ascension. It is not just the Inner Demon—the Heavenly Gate itself also has a problem. But this Heavenly Gate has always hidden from me, and I could not find it. Today is the perfect chance to take a look.

"Besides, Wang Qingping still has no idea that there is a White Jade Capital restriction in his Nascent Soul. According to White Jade Capital's restriction, once someone ascends, it will appear and pull them back to the human world. I can use this chance to see the Heavenly Gate and find White Jade Capital as well."

Gu Chundong suddenly understood. "So that's how it is. Wang Qingping suddenly seems so miserable. The Heavenly Gate has a problem, White Jade Capital wants to take him away and erase the Consciousness Restriction, and you want to kill him too, Brother. Tsk, tsk, tsk. He practically violated Heavenly Law!"

Gu Mo sneered. "One hundred and sixty years ago, he used Earth Vein Power to seal himself and caused floods to spread, leaving living beings devastated. Today, for the sake of ascension, he is using the same old trick again. It would not be wrong to say he violated Heavenly Law."

As he spoke, Gu Mo stepped to the edge of the dam. Facing the towering floodwaters that were about to breach it, he took a deep breath. The boundless Frozen Ice True Qi within him circulated madly, drawing upon the Origin Qi of Extreme Yin and Cold between heaven and earth.

"Seal!"

Gu Mo slammed his palm onto the dam beneath his feet!

Buzzz—!

A terrifying chill visible to the naked eye erupted instantly from his palm like a silver-white Frost Tide.

Wherever the chill passed, the lake water crashing against the dam gave off piercing cracking sounds and instantly froze solid.

A wall of mysterious ice several zhang thick, harder than refined steel, rose from the ground along the dam like the bulwark of a frost giant from legend. As the lake water roared higher, the ice wall madly condensed and grew upward in tandem. The clash of ice and water created a breathtaking spectacle before the dam—on one side stood a boiling, roaring flood beast threatening to swallow the sky; on the other, an Ice Crystal Great Wall rising in majesty, radiating ancient cold.

In an extremely short time,

Gu Mo had forged a defensive wall through his own strength, preventing the dam from collapsing and stopping a flood disaster.

Gu Chundong frowned tightly. "But this is not a long-term solution. You cannot stay here forever!"

Gu Mo waved a hand. "Once this matter is dealt with, notify the authorities to dig drainage channels quickly. I can gradually release the water on this side, while on the other side, they can ask professionals to redesign and restore the flow of those rivers. It should not cause too much trouble."

Just then,

Boom! A tremendous explosion rang out.

A purple bolt of lightning so thick it was beyond imagination tore through the heavens and struck precisely upon the vortex at the Lake Heart. Then came a second, a third... countless terrifying bolts carrying the aura of destruction and rebirth, like the scourges of gods, relentlessly bombarded the same spot.

At the heart of that lightning storm, a blurred figure rapidly rose. It was Wang Qingping!

His eyes were tightly closed, his face twisted by unimaginable pain, yet the aura radiating from him frantically rose and transformed beneath the tempering lightning.

His physical body shuddered violently within the lightning. His skin cracked inch by inch, only to Heal and regenerate at high speed beneath the vast energy.

A phantom identical to him, yet more condensed and pure, radiating an immortal brilliance, was struggling bit by bit to emerge from the top of his head!

"Ha... Aaaah—!"

With a roar that seemed to rise from the deepest part of his soul, that phantom finally broke free from the shackles of the physical body!

At that moment, Wang Qingping's Nascent Soul completely condensed into form. Brilliant light shone from it, crystal clear like a glazed jade treasure, while his physical body rapidly fell into the lake.

He floated above lightning and raging waters, rosy clouds circulating around him and auspicious radiance spreading in countless streams. An ethereal yet powerful pressure belonging to an "Immortal," one that stood above the mortal world, swept across heaven and earth!

"It's done! Hahahaha! I did it, I did it!"

Wang Qingping's Nascent Soul threw back his head and laughed wildly, high-spirited and nearly crazed.

He felt an irresistible Guiding Force pulling him out of the human world.

He lowered his head. His gaze pierced through the storm and precisely locked onto the small figure standing on the dam, one whose aura could not be ignored—Gu Mo.

An expression of utter mockery and delight curled across his lips. His Nascent Soul trembled, and his voice pierced clearly through wind and thunder into Gu Mo's ears. "Gu Mo! Do you see it? This is ascension! Everything in the mortal world is nothing but drifting clouds and smoke! I will wait for your ascension in the heavenly realm. I hope that when the time comes, you will still possess some of today's arrogance. Do not disappoint me! Hahahahaha!"

Before his words had faded, his dazzling Nascent Soul ceased to be under his control. It became a streak of light, not simply rising upward, but as though guided by an invisible giant hand. It instantly crossed the barrier of space and shot toward some unseen point beyond the nine heavens.

"Heavenly Gate, Heavenly Gate, come see me!"

Wang Qingping roared hysterically, as though ten thousand thunderbolts had exploded. His entire being brimmed with high spirits.

At the same time, the vast Water Element Power accumulated within Tiansheng Lake and several great rivers transformed under the final guidance of the Ascension Grand Formation into an enormous water-blue beam of light that pierced straight into the clouds!

Boom—!

The sky seemed to have been punched open into an enormous hole by the light beam and Nascent Soul Power together!

Endless dark clouds spun madly, forming a terrifying vortex that covered the entire sky.

At the center of the vortex, lightning and thunder abruptly fell silent, replaced by an extraordinary sight that calmed the heart while filling it with boundless awe.

Colorful rosy clouds poured down from the vortex's center like a waterfall, illuminating heaven and earth. Heavenly music drifted through the air, faint and indistinct, ethereal and empty, as though it came from ancient eternity.

Countless golden runes circulated and vanished within the rosy clouds, outlining a vast, solemn phantom of a Heavenly Gate that radiated the aura of eternal immortality...

The Heavenly Gate was formed of pure energy. Its doors were tightly shut, carved with unfathomable patterns as though they contained the ultimate secrets of the universe.

Its mere phantom appearance made all energy between heaven and earth grow docile, and even the raging floodwaters seemed to calm for an instant. A vast, sacred aura that transcended the mortal world spread outward.

"The Heavenly Gate! It's the Heavenly Gate! Hahahaha! I, Wang Qingping, shall knock upon the Heavenly Gate today!!"

Wang Qingping's Nascent Soul bathed in colorful rosy clouds, so excited he was nearly mad. Filled with endless ecstasy and expectation, he charged without hesitation toward the sacred and solemn phantom of the Heavenly Gate, like a pilgrim rushing toward his final destination.

He stretched out a hand and devoutly "knocked" upon the doors forged of light.

Buzzz—!

The Heavenly Gate opened in response to his "knock," and he hurried inside.

However, after passing through the curtain of light, his soul nearly fled in terror, because the perfect heavenly realm he had imagined—Immortal Qi swirling around jade towers and palaces, immortal cranes dancing through the skies—did not appear.

The instant the doors opened, an indescribable aura of coldness, chaos, viscousness, endless madness, and malice surged out like a tangible torrent of filth, instantly staining even the sacred rosy clouds with an eerie darkness!

Beyond the gates was not the Immortal Realm.

It was a twisted, writhing dark void beyond all description, and at the center of that darkness floated a... massive pale Giant Eye covered in blood threads, so huge that it blocked his entire view of the Heavenly Gate!

That eye was unimaginably enormous. Within its pupil seemed to spin countless shattered stars and fragments of crazed souls, while thick Dark Yellow matter like pus flowed from it. What made one's scalp go numb was that countless slick, pale tentacles covered in suckers and strange patterns instantly reached out from the dark void around the Giant Eye.

Those tentacles writhed and danced, giving off a nauseating stench and a terrifying pressure powerful enough to freeze the soul.

It was as though they had been waiting for a long time. With greedy hunger, they lashed toward Wang Qingping's Nascent Soul the instant he entered the Heavenly Gate.

"No—!! What the hell is this thing?!"

Wang Qingping's ecstasy instantly became boundless fear and a howl of despair. The brilliant light of his condensed Nascent Soul seemed so tiny and fragile before that Giant Eye and those tentacles. He struggled madly, unleashing all the strength of an Ascension Realm Nascent Soul in an attempt to break free, but it was futile. Instead, he was dragged onward.

At that critical moment!

A terrifying pulling force suddenly came from behind him. The source of that force was utterly unfamiliar, as though ropes had suddenly emerged from within his body. Tyrannical and absolute, they sought to drag him back into the human world, and truly tore apart several of the tentacles wrapped most tightly around him!

In a haze,

He saw a restriction deep within his Nascent Soul.

It was an aura he had nearly forgotten.

"White Jade Capital?!"

In his despair, Wang Qingping seized upon this sole chance of survival.

Before this,

If he had learned that White Jade Capital had placed a restriction within his Nascent Soul, he would have hated White Jade Capital to death. Yet now, he was incomparably grateful. He immediately followed the power of White Jade Capital's restriction, activated his Nascent Soul Power, and tore apart several more tentacles.

However, the Giant Eye seemed to have been enraged.

More tentacles surged crazily from the darkness like endless Nightmare Serpents, winding around him layer upon layer. The broken tentacles sprayed disgusting mucus, only to regenerate instantly.

Though White Jade Capital's restrictive pull was powerful, it could not completely drag him back from this terrifying abyss!

"Roar—!"

The Giant Eye let out a terrifying shriek without sound, yet one that shook the Nascent Soul. More tentacles wound around Wang Qingping and tightened, seeking to drag him completely into that abyss of eternal madness.

The Heavenly Gate began to close, intending to seal away this blasphemous scene.

Just as the Heavenly Gate was about to shut completely and Wang Qingping's Nascent Soul was about to be wholly devoured!

Screech—!

A blade flash!

A blade flash blazing with demonic flames and cleaving through Chaos Radiance appeared without warning!

It did not come from within the Heavenly Gate, but from... the human world!

From outside the Heavenly Gate that was about to close!

That strike contained the purest destruction in the world and tyrannical Demonic Nature. Black demonic qi surged like tangible raging waves, and wherever its edge passed, space shattered inch by inch like fragile glass.

"Break!"

With a cold imperial decree, the Demonic Blade that seemed capable of severing eternity slashed viciously onto the Heavenly Gate that was about to close completely!

Crack—

A thunderous sound of breaking erupted!

That sacred Heavenly Gate forged of light, symbolizing eternal immortality, was actually... forcibly cleaved open by this strike from the mortal world, leaving behind a huge fissure burning with black demonic flames!

"Hiss—!"

The Giant Eye behind the gate emitted a pained and furious shriek.

The countless tentacles wrapped around Wang Qingping, upon coming into contact with that tyrannical Demonic Qi Blade Intent, broke and melted one after another like ice snow tossed into a furnace! The binding force suddenly loosened.

Wang Qingping seized that one-in-ten-thousand chance. Activating Nascent Soul Power, he transformed into a dim streak of light and flew backward from the fissure cut open by the Demonic Blade in utter disarray.

Still shaken, even his Nascent Soul had become illusory and unstable. Having survived the calamity, he looked beyond the fissure.

Only to see

Gu Mo standing before the cleaved crack in the Heavenly Gate, holding a long blade burning with blazing flames.

Demonic qi swirled around him. He looked like a Demon God returned from the Nine Netherworlds, his cold gaze piercing through the fissure and staring directly at the twisted, writhing darkness beyond the gate and that terrifying Giant Eye.

Clearly, that heaven-shaking strike which had cleaved the Heavenly Gate and severed the evil god's tentacles had come from him!

At this moment, within Gu Mo's eyes, which seemed capable of seeing through all falsehood,

He could clearly see the "thread" connecting Wang Qingping's Nascent Soul to White Jade Capital, as well as...

Beyond the Heavenly Gate, that terrifying Giant Eye filled with chaos, madness, and greed—and deep within that Giant Eye, an ancient, evil imprint formed from countless twisted runes.

"So this is the Heavenly Gate!"

"Gu Mo!"

At this moment, Wang Qingping was overwhelmed with panic. Behind him was the bizarre Heavenly Gate, before him stood Gu Mo, who could injure the Heavenly Gate itself. It was truly a wolf in front and a tiger behind. He hurriedly shouted, "There is no life-and-death enmity between us. You and I can join forces to deal with that monster. I—"

"That won't be necessary."

Gu Mo reached out, and streams of demonic qi shot through the air like chains. This was a martial art he had modified based on the Myriad Leaves Flying Flower Stream. In an instant, Wang Qingping was bound, and demonic qi seeped into his Nascent Soul.

Wang Qingping roared, "Gu Mo, have you gone mad? That monster is the Heavenly Gate—the Heavenly Gate! At a time like this, you are still doing this? Do you want us to die together? Do you still think you can deal with that monster alone?"

"What is impossible about that?" Gu Mo said.

Wang Qingping cursed loudly, "Who the hell do you think you are? What are you supposed to be? That is the Heavenly Gate that has existed since ancient times! Do you think you are so remarkable? You want to face it alone? Why not say it ran away at the sight of you? You—"

Bang.

At that moment, the Heavenly Gate closed.

The lintel Gu Mo had split was still swaying back and forth. Then the Heavenly Gate transformed into a streak of light and fled directly away.

Clean.

Decisive.

Without the slightest hesitation.

Wang Qingping: "??"