Gu Xin'ao's story had not actually ended after that battle.
After his battle with the Green Emperor, who had yet to attain the Dao, Gu Xin'ao did not lose heart. Instead, he created another great method of transformation through his broken body, restored himself to his peak, and continued cultivating.
Not long afterward, the Green Emperor attained the Dao, merged with the Heavenly Heart Imprint, and began suppressing the myriad Daos.
Under the suppression of the Green Emperor's Great Dao, no matter how Gu Xin'ao cultivated, he could not take that final, crucial half-step. In the end, he died when his lifespan ran out, filled with boundless regret.
After his death, Underworld experts unearthed the body of this supreme powerhouse and refined it into a battle slave.
Relying on physical strength alone, it could battle ordinary peak Quasi-Emperors.
In later generations, Little Pine, having become a Quasi-Emperor, came from the Central Land with the Divine Mark Purple Gold Pagoda above his head in search of his master, Ye Fan. There, he encountered the Underworld army, which released this Supreme from the recent ancient era.
Using the Dragon Roar Dao Shout of Great Emperor Fuxi in conjunction with Gu Xin'ao's Dao armament, Little Pine awakened this supreme being. The latter turned on the Underworld army, wiping out hundreds of thousands of yin soldiers and yin generals with a single palm strike.
From then on, the Supreme battle slave, having developed a measure of intelligence, followed Little Pine into the Heavenly Court.
After the elders revealed the origins of the so-called Pine Pagoda, they did not take away this strongest Quasi-Emperor weapon, forged by someone on the verge of attaining the Dao, from Little Pine. This was his personal fortuitous opportunity.
Grandmother Yao had always treated Ye Fan as her own