Gu Mo studied the Nascent Soul Body of Wang Qingping before him and said, "No wonder. I was wondering why you all parasitized Zhu Zixiong's Sea of Consciousness instead of directly controlling him as a puppet, and why you had to play god and impersonate Gongsun Jue. So it turned out you had the will but not the strength."
Gu Mo chuckled and said, "What, your Nascent Soul true body can't move?"
He said this because Gu Mo had discovered that the Nascent Soul before him was not complete. It was merely a split-off Nascent Soul avatar. Though it wielded Nascent Soul Power, the Nascent Soul itself was limited in strength.
"As expected of someone who cultivated Spiritual Secret Techniques. Your understanding of Nascent Soul Power is truly blessed by heaven—you not only discovered me, but even saw through my condition."
Wang Qingping drifted slightly forward, looking down at Gu Mo as he asked, "Young man, how did you guess my identity?"
Gu Mo said, "Because the power of your Wang family bloodline is very strong. Even after so many generations, the resemblance between you and Wang Dongli is still visible."
"Then couldn't I be his father? Or his grandfather?" Wang Qingping asked doubtfully.
Gu Mo shook his head slightly and said, "You carry the aura of the Three Flowers Gathering Spirit Art. Though the Three Flowers Gathering Spirit Art can theoretically be cultivated to the Ascension Realm, it is exceedingly difficult. Throughout the Wang family's generations, apart from its founder, no one has achieved much with it."
"Hm?" Wang Qingping froze slightly. "No, that's not right. How do you know about the Three Flowers Gathering Spirit Art? Wang Dongli never told you that the original name of our Wang family's inherited martial art was the Three Flowers Gathering Spirit Art!"
Gu Mo was stunned as well. "How do you know Wang Dongli never told me? Do you have an avatar inside Wang Dongli? Impossible. If you had an avatar in Wang Dongli, there's no way I wouldn't have noticed..."
As he spoke, Gu Mo recalled Wang Dongli mentioning that morning how he had been plagued by layered dreams. Suddenly, Gu Mo thought of something and said, "You tampered with the Three Flowers Gathering Spirit Art inherited by the Wang family, didn't you? The Wang family's curse isn't in their bloodline—it's in their martial art!"
Wang Qingping looked at Gu Mo and said, "Sure enough, anyone who can become Number One Under Heaven in an era is no simple person. How about this, young man? You and I have neither old grudges nor recent enmity. I have no wish to make an enemy of a genius with limitless potential like you. Let today's matter end here. What do you say?"
Gu Mo shook his head slightly. "Do you think you're qualified to negotiate terms with me?"
Wang Qingping chuckled. "Young man, you truly do not know the height of heaven or the depth of earth. I don't wish to fight you only because I don't want unnecessary complications. Do you really think I fear you? Even if I am merely an avatar, I am still an Ascension Realm cultivator.
"Your Mental Secret Method is not bad. It barely allows you to touch upon Nascent Soul Power, but that is all. You..."
Slap!
Gu Mo raised his hand and slapped Wang Qingping across the face.
The blow sent Wang Qingping flying, making his entire Nascent Soul Body tremble violently.
Wang Qingping's words came to an abrupt halt. Filled with bewilderment, he said, "You... hit me with your hand? No, you just hit me with your hand? No, you..."
Just then,
Gu Mo stepped forward and reached out, directly seizing Wang Qingping by the throat.
The smile on Wang Qingping's face changed instantly, replaced by utter terror.
At that moment, he finally snapped out of his daze. He had truly confirmed it—Gu Mo had indeed struck him with his hand, and now Gu Mo had grabbed him by the throat with that same hand.
"A physical body... How is that possible..."
In that instant,
Gu Mo deployed the Dao Heart Seed Demon Great Technique, driving his Spiritual Power to envelop Wang Qingping. Threads of demonic power pierced into Wang Qingping's Nascent Soul like strands of silk, their sinister power rippling within him.
Before long,
Wang Qingping's eyes became vacant.
Gu Mo slowly asked, "Who are you?"
"Wang Qingping."
Gu Mo asked, "What exactly is the Wang family's curse?"
Wang Qingping said, "The Three Flowers Gathering Spirit Art passed down by the Wang family today was specifically created by me to seek immortality and evade the Inner Demon. I engraved the Wang family's Three Flowers Gathering Spirit Art upon a stone tablet, attaching my Nascent Soul Power to it.
"Cultivators who wish to practice the Three Flowers Gathering Spirit Art must study the stone tablet. Once they do, my Nascent Soul Power invades them. Since the Wang family are descendants of the Peacock Spirit Race, their bloodline contains Spiritual Energy. No matter how many generations it passes through, that Spiritual Energy remains the same and does not change. Thus, the Nascent Soul Power is inherited through one continuous line and can fuse completely, leaving no discernible difference.
"Over time, my Nascent Soul completely replaces the cultivator, and they become my Nascent Soul avatar. The Spiritual Energy in the Wang family bloodline can also transform the power of blood and qi into Nascent Soul Power. The avatar can continuously grow stronger and nourish my Nascent Soul true body in return, preserving the true body's longevity.
"In theory, so long as the Wang family lineage never ends, I can live forever."
Gu Mo gave a soft laugh.
Wang Qingping's theory was actually flawed. First, the Wang family's Peacock Spiritual Power would certainly grow weaker with each generation, and their Nascent Soul Power would weaken as well. Second, due to bloodline issues, the Wang family passed down through a single heir in every generation. Should an heir die young by accident or be unable to cultivate for some reason, there would be no Nascent Soul Power for him to draw upon.
However,
Gu Mo only found it perverse and said, "According to you, your son was you, your grandson was you, and your great-grandson was you as well..."
Wang Qingping said, "For the first half of their lives, they were themselves. For the latter half, they were me."
Gu Mo said, "The Wang family members of every generation gradually lost their minds, then eventually died when their blood and qi collapsed. It wasn't because of Peacock Spiritual Power, but because their Nascent Souls were gradually becoming you. During that process, you slowly ground away their original consciousness, which was why they became confused and descended into madness. Later, for the sake of Nascent Soul Power, you continuously absorbed their blood and qi until they died."
"Yes," Wang Qingping said.
"Why exactly did you do this?" Gu Mo asked.
Wang Qingping said, "Because of the Inner Demon. More than one hundred and sixty years ago, I reached the Half-step Ascension Realm. As I prepared to ascend, I personally witnessed a cultivator who ascended ahead of me get devoured by an Inner Demon before the Heavenly Gate.
"I was terrified. I searched through countless ancient texts but could find no way to deal with the Inner Demon, so I no longer dared to ascend. But by then, I was already very old. If I did not ascend, I could only wait to die.
"I was afraid. I did not want to die, but ascending was a road to death as well. Just as I was flustered, I accidentally discovered that my Nascent Soul Power could fuse with my son's Nascent Soul. In that moment, I found a way to survive.
"I modified the Three Flowers Gathering Spirit Art and renamed it the Nurturing Spirit Art, tampering with it in secret. The deeper one cultivated it, the more similar their Nascent Soul Power became to my own. In the end, the cultivator's Nascent Soul would completely become my avatar.
"So I went to the Far North Land and found a piece of Ten Thousand Year Cold Ice. Then I caused a flood, creating a place where Earth Vein Power converged. I laid down a formation and used that piece of Ten Thousand Year Cold Ice as the catalyst to seal my physical body and Nascent Soul true body within it.
"I controlled my avatars and, every few years, had the stored Nascent Soul Power nourish my true body, allowing me to remain Undying and Unperishing in the Half-step Ascension Realm. I waited. I believed that one day, I would either wait for the Inner Demon to leave or find a method of ascension."
Gu Mo understood why Wang Qingping, as the president of the Heavenly God Society, had immediately been rated a six-star wanted criminal after being exposed. Back then, this man had caused a flood, altered the terrain, and laid down formations. Who knew how many people he had killed?
Gu Mo then asked, "What did you control the Heavenly God Society for?"
Wang Qingping said, "Because the Earth Vein Power in the Frozen Land where my true body was sealed was nearly exhausted. I needed to create a new place where Earth Vein Power converged, and setting up a formation required a vast amount of energy.
"My original plan was to have Wang Dongli control the Yun Province Martial World and gather all kinds of energy sources and heavenly treasures through the Yun Province Martial World's strength. So I began guiding Wang Dongli in the use of Nascent Soul Power. Using bloodline Spiritual Energy as a pretext, I taught him martial arts and ultimate skills, allowing his martial arts to advance a thousand miles a day.
"However, at that time, I encountered Zhu Zixiong. In a flash of inspiration, I thought of a shortcut. I could make use of the Taotie Divine Skill's properties to absorb enough inner force to serve as the energy needed for the formation. It would save far more time than making Wang Dongli the Martial Arts Alliance Leader.
"As it happened, I had seen the Taotie Divine Skill on Penglai Island and learned it myself. I used Zhu Zixiong's loyalty to Gongsun Jue to deceive him into working for me and establish the Heavenly God Society.
"To avoid being noticed, I had the Heavenly God Society remain hidden in the shadows, stirring up discord and conflict everywhere. Then they absorbed inner force amid the chaos, while the conflicts helped conceal them perfectly.
"But I never expected the Inner Demon to suddenly disappear. The Inner Demon had tampered with the minds of all highly cultivated practitioners, myself included, yet now it had vanished.
"I knew my opportunity had come. I did not know when the Inner Demon might return, so I had to ascend while I had the chance. Thus, I had the Heavenly God Society do everything possible to throw Yun Province into chaos, absorbing enough inner force amid the turmoil."
Gu Mo asked doubtfully, "Since you intend to ascend, that means you no longer need Earth Vein Power to seal yourself, nor do you need so much inner force to set up a formation. Why are you still having the Heavenly God Society absorb inner force everywhere?"
"I need even more," Wang Qingping said. "Now that I am going to ascend, I must break through from the Half-step Ascension Realm into the Ascension Realm. I need to borrow momentum, which means I need an even greater formation. Before, I needed Earth Vein Power to seal me and ensure I would not die. Now, I need to borrow the grand momentum of heaven and earth to help me charge forward in one burst and enter the Ascension Realm.
"At this moment, not even the slightest bit of power is too little. That is why I accelerated the fusion of Wang Dongli's Nascent Soul. For his father, it took me several years to completely fuse his Nascent Soul. But Wang Dongli? I intended to finish the fusion in ten days or half a month.
"I simply did not expect the Heavenly God Society to make such a colossal blunder. They actually planned to kill Wang Dongli and ended up exposing themselves, forcing me to let the Heavenly God Society openly commit crimes on a massive scale to absorb inner force.
"But it does not matter. So what if we have been exposed? The energy required for my ascension is nearly ready. I can ascend very soon."
Gu Mo asked, "Many Weapon Forging Masters have gone missing from Yunzhou City recently. Was that your doing?"
"Yes," Wang Qingping said. "Because I am ascending, the formation that originally gathered Earth Vein Power was changed into a Flying Heaven Grand Formation. I needed new Formation Disks and Formation Eye Pestles forged as quickly as possible. The requirements were extremely precise, so only the finest weapon forgers would do."
Gu Mo hurriedly asked, "Are they still alive?"
Wang Qingping nodded. "Alive. I controlled all of them with Nascent Soul Power, and they have been obediently handling affairs for me. Naturally, they are all alive. Whether they live or die makes no difference to me, so there was no need to deliberately kill them."
Gu Mo asked, "Where is your true body now?"
"Beneath Tiansheng Lake," Wang Qingping answered.
"Tiansheng Lake?"
Gu Mo froze slightly. That lake was precisely the great lake beneath Old Master Wang's burial site.
Two days earlier, Gu Mo and Du Sha had gone to attend the funeral. The two had even discussed how it was a place of excellent feng shui. Yet that lake had been formed by a massive flood over a century ago, and the imperial court had spent an enormous price to contain it, naming it Tiansheng Lake.
Gu Mo came to a realization. "So Old Master Wang's grave was deliberately chosen to be there."
Wang Qingping nodded. "A few years ago, I had already begun preparing a new place where Earth Veins converged. I pretended that my health had improved and built a grave there, but in truth, I was secretly controlling puppets to move the materials from the original formation out from within it. I planned to move my true body away once the new formation was ready.
"But it was all for nothing. The things I moved out were secretly moved back in again. Now, my Flying Heaven Grand Formation is beneath Tiansheng Lake."
Gu Mo asked again, "Are you from the Peacock Spirit Race? Why did you come to Gan Country?"
Wang Qingping said, "I am from the Peacock Spirit Race. The Kong Clan of Changping Commandery in Yong Country was the Peacock Spirit Race. For generations, we served the Seven-Colored Peacock and lived in seclusion among the mountains and wilds. But around two hundred years ago, the emperor of Yong Country learned that the Kong Clan possessed bloodline gifts blessed by heaven. Greed arose in his heart, and he slaughtered us on a massive scale. The Kong Clan was exterminated.
"I do not know how many people escaped alive that year. I returned later, but Yong Country had already fallen by then. I only found the descendants of Yong Country's imperial family, slaughtered them all to vent my anger, and learned nothing of the Kong Clan's whereabouts."
Gu Mo asked doubtfully, "Didn't you serve the Seven-Colored Peacock? When the Kong Clan faced extermination, didn't the Seven-Colored Peacock protect you?"
Wang Qingping said, "According to the family tree, more than five hundred years ago, the Seven-Colored Peacock suffered a major injury during an encirclement and suppression. It then left the human world and returned to the divine mountain to recover, never appearing again."
"Where is the divine mountain?" Gu Mo asked.
Wang Qingping said, "I do not know. Only the clan heads of each generation knew the location of the divine mountain. I was not the clan head back then, so I had no right to know."
Gu Mo nodded slightly.
He had already learned everything he wanted to know.
At once, he withdrew his power.
The next moment,
Wang Qingping's avatar awoke from its puppet-like state. Looking at Gu Mo, his heart was full of panic.
Though Gu Mo had controlled his mind moments ago, he clearly remembered everything he had done and said. He knew that Gu Mo had controlled him.
But after his panic, he quickly calmed down again and said, "Good, good, good. What a Number One Under Heaven. Truly worthy of the title Number One Under Heaven. No wonder you are so fearless—it turns out you have already reached the Half-step Ascension Realm."
Gu Mo said speechlessly, "Can't you guess a little bigger?"
Wang Qingping sneered. "What, are you going to tell me you're in the Ascension Realm? If you were in the Ascension Realm, could you still stand here with your physical body? The Ascension Realm cannot be controlled. You would inevitably see the Heavenly Gate. Young man, you cannot fool me with that."
Gu Mo said, "..."
Wang Qingping continued, "However, what a pity, young man. There is something you may not know. The moment you intercepted Zhu Zixiong and revealed yourself, I knew Zhu Zixiong would likely be unable to send the inner force over in time.
"Though my true body does not lack that little bit now and can ascend at any time, your appearance has been quite unpleasant. So, to make up for it, my true body has already forcibly controlled Wang Dongli into starting a massacre at the Dongli Sect. Your sister and that maid of yours are the first to bear the brunt. I hear both are Grandmasters, so they must possess quite a lot of inner force. By now, they have likely already been drained to death."
A smile appeared on Wang Qingping's face as he looked at Gu Mo. "Do you regret it? Are you in pain? This is the price of not knowing the height of heaven or the depth of earth, of meddling in other people's business. Hahahaha!"
Gu Mo looked at the proud and arrogant Wang Qingping, pondered briefly, and said, "Perhaps the one in pain now is that avatar of yours."
Wang Qingping frowned. "What do you mean?"
Gu Mo chuckled. "Before that maid of mine became my servant, she had another identity. That identity was..." As he spoke, Gu Mo stepped forward and leaned close to Wang Qingping's ear. "The Great Island Master of Penglai Island."
Wang Qingping's pupils suddenly contracted.
Gu Mo added, "Also, do you know why the Inner Demon disappeared?"
"W-why?"
"I killed it."
Wang Qingping's entire body trembled, his eyes filled with disbelief and terror.
Gu Mo lightly pressed out a palm, placing it against Wang Qingping's chest.
In an instant, Wang Qingping's figure shattered and transformed into a wisp of mist that vanished.
Then,
Gu Mo walked over to the unconscious Zhu Zixiong, woke him up, obtained the detailed information about the remaining scum who cultivated the Taotie Divine Skill, and then killed him with a single palm strike.
[Five-Star wanted criminal killed] [Obtained Five Star Reward—Max-Level Divine Blade Slash] [Claim?]
After claiming the Divine Blade Slash, Gu Mo took a single step, and his figure instantly disappeared.
Within the Dongli Sect, the afternoon sunlight lazily spilled across the courtyard.
Gu Chundong sat beside Red Clothes at a stone table, speaking softly with her.
"Big Sister Red Clothes, can you ascend?" Gu Chundong asked.
Red Clothes held a teacup in her delicate hand, her expression calm. "I can. But according to the master's martial arts theory, both the physical body and Nascent Soul must ascend, with the physical body ascending first and the Nascent Soul afterward. Therefore, I need to wait until my physical body ascends before my Nascent Soul can ascend."
Gu Chundong asked in surprise, "Big Sister Red Clothes, can your physical body cultivate too?"
Red Clothes said, "It can. In truth, I am not greatly different from humans. My physical body is a real human body, born from a mother's womb. My Nascent Soul was also produced by simulating a human Nascent Soul. The only difference is that I lack emotions.
"This is White Jade Capital's greatest drawback. The reason sufficiently perfect Human Bodies have never appeared is precisely because they have not developed emotions."
Gu Chundong asked curiously, "What would happen if emotions developed?"
"Then one would be a real person," Red Clothes said.
Gu Chundong said, "..."
"Big Sister Red Clothes, you say you are not that different from humans. Then can you have children?"
Red Clothes said, "??"
Gu Chundong grinned. "You know, heave-ho, heave-ho, and then you give birth to a little baby. Can you do that?"
"Yes."
"Really?" Gu Chundong asked excitedly. "Then would the baby you gave birth to have emotions?"
"I... cannot answer that!"
Gu Chundong scratched her little head and prepared to speak again.
Just then,
A figure suddenly appeared at the courtyard gate. It was Wang Dongli.
Gu Chundong rose and walked over, asking, "Sect Leader Wang, is something the matter?" As she spoke, she suddenly frowned slightly and asked in confusion, "Why did you remove those Silver Needles from your head? They were helping you control your emotions..."
Gu Chundong's words abruptly stopped, because she clearly saw that Wang Dongli's face bore no blank confusion of someone out of his mind. Instead, it held a cold, sinister smile saturated with malicious intent.
That smile instantly made every hair on Gu Chundong's body stand on end.
"Sect Leader Wang?" She rose warily and took a step back.
Wang Dongli remained silent. The sinister gleam in his eyes intensified as he suddenly lunged like a ghost. His five fingers curled into claws, accompanied by a sharp sound of breaking air as they went straight for Gu Chundong's throat.
He was astonishingly fast. Wherever his Claw Wind passed, the air let out a piercing shriek.
However,
Gu Chundong reacted with incredible speed. Her movement technique was like the wind. With a tap of her foot, she instantly retreated and evaded the fatal claw. Her body drifted backward as uncertainty filled her eyes. "Sect Leader Wang, this is reality, not a dream. Control your emotions!"
Red Clothes had already flashed in front of Gu Chundong. Her gaze was sharp as a blade as she tightly locked onto Wang Dongli. "Something is wrong. This does not seem like simple emotional instability or mental confusion... It is like he has been controlled!"
"Hehehe..." A teeth-grating strange laughter escaped Wang Dongli's mouth. His voice was hoarse and distorted, wholly unlike his own. "If you want someone to blame, blame your brother Gu Mo for meddling in other people's business and angering me!"
Before his words had faded,
Wang Dongli's aura suddenly surged. A terrifying force of suction erupted from him like thunder!
Taotie Divine Skill.
In an instant, the courtyard's winds and clouds changed color.
A fierce wind rose from level ground, sweeping dust and falling leaves into the sky. The flowers, grass, and trees in the courtyard withered at a visible rate. Even the stone table and stools shook violently, as though an invisible power were trying to tear them away.
An immense, greedy black hole-like force, as if capable of devouring all things, firmly locked onto Red Clothes and Gu Chundong, seeking to forcibly extract their Essence, Qi, and Spirit, inner force, and even the source of their lives.
"Those who meddle in other people's business must always pay a price. I will ascend first today and wait for Gu Mo in the heavenly realm."
As his words fell,
Wang Dongli increased his power. In an instant, a domain spread forth, and vast devouring power surged and churned.
However,
Both Red Clothes and Gu Chundong had their robes billowing, yet their bodies remained utterly motionless.
The expression on Wang Dongli's face froze instantly, replaced by confusion. "Why can't I pull them in?"
Just then,
Red Clothes took a step forward, her figure seeming to ignore the distance of space as she instantly appeared less than three feet before Wang Dongli.
She lightly raised her delicate hand. Though it appeared casual, it contained an indescribable, irresistible and boundless power. One finger drifted toward the center of Wang Dongli's forehead, and she gave a soft sound of surprise. "Body Seizing? Nascent Soul?"
Wang Dongli was slightly startled. He clearly had not expected this woman before him to see through his existence at a glance. He immediately realized that he might have encountered a formidable opponent and prepared to strike.
But Red Clothes was faster. Her finger became a palm, and she brought it down in a single strike.
A muffled, soft sound rang out, as though an invisible bubble had been punctured.
Bang—!
Wang Dongli flew backward, but at the same time, a translucent and endlessly twisting Nascent Soul phantom flew out from the depths of Wang Dongli's Sea of Consciousness!
That Nascent Soul phantom was now filled with shock and horror.
This was also the Nascent Soul avatar that Wang Qingping had fused with Wang Dongli's Nascent Soul by more than half. At this moment, Red Clothes forcibly peeled it away from Wang Dongli's Nascent Soul.
Wang Dongli's eyes were filled with terror.
Though he could not understand why Gu Mo's maid possessed such powerful Nascent Soul Power, he reacted swiftly. Without the slightest hesitation, he transformed into a dim streak of light and tore through space to flee, swift as a startled swan.
"Trying to run?"
Gu Chundong snorted coldly, killing intent icy and fierce.
The instant Wang Qingping's Nascent Soul fled, she swung the Gouchen Demon Blade she had kept tightly gripped.
Clang—!
The blade cry was not loud, yet it carried a soul-rending sharpness, like a funeral bell from Nine Netherworld Hell!
The blade light flashed!
It was not ordinary blade light, but a blood-colored crescent condensed to the utmost extreme, as though formed from the deepest despair and pure demonic qi!
Where the blade light passed, space groaned beneath its burden. Light was twisted and swallowed, and every color in the courtyard instantly faded, leaving only a heart-pounding dark red and a deathly silent black.
Dozens of demonic shadows seemed to appear between heaven and earth, as though the entire world had been controlled by demonic qi.
World Loses Color, and all things fell silent!
When the Demonic Blade emerged, gods and ghosts alike were startled!
This was the Demonic Blade,
The Demonic Blade Gu Mo had helped Gu Chundong forge using the purest Demonic Stone Origin Qi in the world as its foundation.
At that moment, Gu Chundong's figure fused with the blade light, becoming a blood-colored streak that tore through the heavens. Though launched later, it arrived first, striking with flawless precision at the fleeing Nascent Soul phantom!
Wang Qingping's Nascent Soul sensed the deadly threat and released a horrific shriek, desperately burning Nascent Soul Power in an attempt to resist.
But before Gu Chundong's strike, into which she had poured all her Essence, Qi, and Spirit and pushed the Demonic Blade's intent to its ultimate limit, his struggle appeared so pale and powerless.
"Demon—!"
The piercing roar came to an abrupt halt.
The blood-colored blade light swept through the center of the Nascent Soul phantom without the slightest obstruction, like cutting through the most fragile glass.
Sizzle!
There was no earth-shaking explosion, only a faint sound like torn silk.
The Nascent Soul phantom representing a wisp of Wang Qingping's divided soul was like thin ice cast into a blazing sun. The instant it came into contact with that terrifying blade intent condensed to the extreme, it silently shattered, collapsed, and vanished!
Dim fragments of Nascent Soul light drifted apart, only to be completely ground up and devoured by the lingering blood-colored blade intent, transformed into the most primordial void without leaving even a trace behind.
In the courtyard, the violent suction force vanished and the distorted space returned to calm. Yet the suffocating deathly stillness and the lingering shadow of dark red blade light seemed branded into the air, refusing to disperse for a long while.
Wang Dongli's physical body lost its support and crumpled limply to the ground, unconscious.
Gu Chundong sheathed her blade and stood still, its tip angled toward the ground. She panted softly, her little face slightly pale, but her eyes were full of shock. "Sister Red Clothes, I really can kill a Nascent Soul!"
Red Clothes stood beside her, watching the dispersing Nascent Soul light spots with an indifferent expression. "It is not strange. This blade technique Master passed on to you is the most demonic blade technique in the world. The demonic qi it produces is itself material of the same level as the Ascension Realm. What is more, your demonic qi was forged upon Demonic Stone Origin Qi. Though you have not reached the Ascension Realm, the power you wield exists on the same level as a Nascent Soul."
Gu Chundong grinned.
Just then,
Gu Mo descended from the sky.
Sensing the lingering demonic qi and Nascent Soul Power in the air, he said, "It seems Wang Qingping's avatar was killed by you two."
Gu Chundong hurriedly asked, "Brother, what exactly is going on? Why was there a Nascent Soul in Sect Leader Wang's Sea of Consciousness? We never noticed it before."
Gu Mo said, "The reason you could not detect it was because that Nascent Soul originally belonged to Wang Dongli himself..."
Then,
Gu Mo briefly explained how he had captured Wang Qingping's Nascent Soul avatar.
"The Wang family's curse did not come from Peacock Spiritual Power. It came from the Three Flowers Gathering Spirit Art, from their ancestor Wang Qingping," Gu Mo said.
After hearing this, Gu Chundong said in shock, "He... is that perverse? His son is him, his grandson is him, and even his great-grandson is him..."
Gu Mo nodded slightly. "I think it is perverse too. But right now, we need to rush to Tiansheng Lake and save Tie Tou."
Red Clothes suddenly said, "Master, I saw something else in the hexagram symbol."
Gu Mo raised a brow. "You mean... a flood?"
Red Clothes nodded. "You killed one of Wang Qingping's avatars, and Miss Chudong just killed another. On your side, the connection between the avatar and the main body was severed, so Wang Qingping's main body does not know what happened. But on our side, it was not severed, so he knows very clearly.
"Therefore, Wang Qingping definitely knows that we have the ability to stop him. He will surely activate the Flying Heaven Grand Formation in advance to ascend. If my deduction is correct, his so-called borrowing of heaven and earth's great momentum is to imitate the Flood Dragon Transforming into Dragon of legend, using the force of rivers to ascend. That is why I saw a flood in the hexagram symbol."
Gu Mo frowned. Tiansheng Lake connected to several great rivers. If their banks burst, the resulting flood could drown all of Qingyang City in an extremely short time.
"Go, to Tiansheng Lake!"
Without further delay, Gu Mo did not even spare a glance for Wang Dongli lying on the ground. He transformed into a streak of light and shot through the air toward Tiansheng Lake.
At this moment,
At the bottom of Tiansheng Lake, beneath the surging waters, stood an Underground Palace—an extraordinary space formed from frigid mystic ice. The entire Underground Palace was filled with visible white ice mist, surging fiercely between its dome and walls like an invisible ice storm roaring soundlessly.
At the heart of the Underground Palace was an enormous formation that inspired palpitations.
This formation was not etched into the ground, but floated in midair. It was formed from countless exquisitely precise Formation Disks and Energy Crystals gleaming in different hues.
Several dozen people were continuously inspecting the formation. Among them was the Tie Tou Gu Mo had been searching for, meticulously checking the formation's operation.
Countless Energy Beams shot out from the Formation Disks, interweaving in the air into a vast and intricate light net before finally converging at the formation's central core—
There was no Formation Eye Pestle there, but rather an enormous, fully translucent Ten-Thousand-Year Cold Ice Jade Stone, as large as a small hill!
The Cold Ice Jade Stone emitted an eternal, ultimate chill. Its interior was not entirely transparent, but held a profound ice-blue radiance, like a frozen galaxy. Within the core of that massive Ice Crystal, a human figure could clearly be seen sealed away.
It was Wang Qingping's main body.
He was not seated cross-legged, but floated at the center of the Ice Crystal in a nearly sleeping posture. He wore an ancient, strangely styled azure robe, its hem seemingly frozen in time, utterly unmoving.
His face did not look old. Instead, it retained the contours of a middle-aged man. Beneath that deathly stillness shell, an immense Nascent Soul fluctuation powerful enough to make souls tremble passed through the Ice Crystal, tightly linked to the roaring Ascension Grand Formation outside.
On that frozen face, eyelids that had remained shut for countless years suddenly trembled slightly. Then, in a daze, they abruptly opened.
"What rotten luck."
Wang Qingping muttered, "I had thought Gu Mo merely possessed profound cultivation and relied on a Mental Secret Method to deal with that avatar. Now it seems that is not the case. Both his maid and younger sister possess such powerful strength. This Gu Mo is absolutely not simple; he must be Half-step Ascension Realm as well. I have been sealed away for years. If they join forces, I fear I will not be their match. Had I known, I would not have been greedy for that last bit of energy and would have stopped directly."
At this time, the ice rapidly melted.
Wang Qingping floated out from within it. Looking at the operating Flying Heaven Grand Formation, he gave a light laugh. "Still, it does not matter. Now that no Inner Demon blocks my path, once I ascend, I will immediately Knock on the Heavenly Gate and enter the Heavenly Gate. A mere Gu Mo will not be able to affect me!
"Heavenly Gate, Heavenly Gate—one hundred and sixty years have passed.
"Today, I, Wang Qingping, Knock on the Heavenly Gate!"
Before you continue