The immortal Calamity.
The final Calamity a cultivator must overcome before ascending to immortality.
Hundreds of years ago, Gu Yuanqing had reached the void immortal peak and fully nurtured his true Dao source seed, but for various reasons, the time had not been right for him to become an immortal.
First, he wanted to perfect his Dao foundation further.
Second, as Li Miaoxuan had said, once he became an immortal, if he did not go to the immortal realm, his immortal body would lack Immortal Spiritual Qi to nourish it. Corroded by Mortal Turbid Qi, it would instead suffer damage to its Dao foundation.
Third, there was Li Miaoxuan. Although neither had mentioned it, they shared a tacit understanding. He knew that once he became an immortal, the day Li Miaoxuan faced her Calamity would not be far away.
When the North Spring Realm had transformed, Gu Yuanqing had still harbored a sliver of hope that the realm it connected to would be the immortal realm.
In that case, all their worries would have unraveled like bamboo beneath a blade.
But ultimately, it had connected to the Fa Yuan Realm, returning everything to square one.
Gu Yuanqing could not possibly leave the North Spring Realm. His roots lay here. Leaving would not necessarily sever his Dao path, and with his perfected foundation, he might still go very far, but every step forward would certainly be arduous.
Setting everything else aside, cultivation techniques alone would cost him countless hours of effort. After all, his techniques had been deduced through Dao Yan. Perhaps no cultivation technique in the world truly suited Gu Yuanqing, who cultivated the myriad Daos.
Today, however, he could wait no longer.
He could use the North Spring Realm to continue suppressing his cultivation, but Li Miaoxuan could not