This sword strike lit up the firmament and tore through the cosmos.
Boom!
Boom!
Hundreds of millions of sword rays burst forth, shattering countless great stars into dust.
All who watched felt their scalps crawl and chills seep through their bodies.
Tongtian's heart jolted as well, and he inwardly clicked his tongue.
"Is this brat trying to overturn my Golden Ao Island?"
Despite his laughing rebuke, Tongtian's face brimmed with gratification.
This sword strike already carried the power of laws and order.
Compared to before, the difference was like that between clouds and mud.
As he spoke, Tongtian swept his great hand through the air. Boundless saintly might surged forth, shielding all of Golden Ao Island and its hundred-odd thousand Interception Sect disciples from that terrifying sword intent.
Immediately afterward, an even more eye-popping sight emerged.
Gu Changqing's sword strike stretched beyond the cosmos, directly drawing forth ten thousand torrents of chaos that came rolling in with thunderous roars.
Mystic light of the Great Dao erupted, so dazzling that none could look upon it directly.
As that brilliant immortal light flowed into it,
the Great Dao Golden Lotus, which had already bloomed to the eleventh rank, began to revolve once more.
Its final rank slowly unfurled at last!
A twelve-rank bloom!
At that moment, the Great Dao Golden Lotus attained an unprecedented state of perfection.
Great Dao divine patterns flowed, suffusing the heavens and earth of the Primordial World.
Quadrillions of Living Beings and Mighty Experts from every quarter turned their gazes toward it.
Every face bore an expression of utter shock.
On Golden Ao Island, Tongtian had long since been left completely dumbfounded.
"A twelve-rank bloom... the supreme Great Luo!"
"Does... does such a thing truly exist?"
Tongtian murmured to himself.
Excitement!
Ecstasy!
He understood Gu Changqing's intention.
That world-shaking sword strike had broken the shackles of the Primordial World, earning Gu Changqing the direct attention of the Great Dao.
And with his unfathomable mastery of the Sword Dao, he had completed the final rank of his three flowers above the head.
With that, Gu Changqing had opened his path to proving the Dao.
Karmic obstacles, the unseen heavenly mandate, and all such things could no longer restrict his path ahead.
In other words, as long as he did not perish along the way,
then proving the Dao of primordial unity and attaining a saint's cultivation would be a certainty, as natural as water flowing into a completed channel.
"Ha ha! Good, good, good!"
"My disciple Changqing, unmatched throughout eternity, illuminating all the heavens!"
Tongtian laughed heartily, repeating "good" three times, a clear sign of his overwhelming delight.
To illuminate all eternity was even higher praise.
Just then, two more towering rays of Sage Light descended.
Laozi and Yuanshi, the two saints, suddenly arrived on Golden Ao Island.
"Third Brother, was that twelve-rank bloom caused by a disciple of your Interception Sect?"
"Could it be that our martial nephew Duobao has broken through? But that shouldn't be possible... given Duobao's origins and talent, he should reach at most the eighth or ninth rank."
The moment they arrived, Laozi and Yuanshi spoke impatiently.
Their words carried both uncertainty and profound astonishment.
Hearing them, Tongtian turned toward Laozi and Yuanshi.
"Heh, your senses were correct, elder brothers."
"Today, it was my disciple Changqing who achieved Proving the Dao of Primordial Unity while utterly drunk."
"Heh, this brat has to shake heaven and earth every time."
Despite those words, the pride in Tongtian's eyes was plain for all to see.
At his reply, both Laozi and Yuanshi froze.
"Oh? It was our martial nephew Changqing?"
Laozi was greatly surprised.
He had already thought Gu Changqing extraordinary.
But now, it seemed he had still underestimated him.
A monster!
A monster in every sense of the word!
For a moment, Laozi gazed at that drunken, swaying figure in the distance, his expression growing several degrees more solemn.
Beside him, however, Yuanshi's expression turned rather ugly.
"It was him?!"
Yuanshi's expression shifted darkly.
Back at the Demon Court, the Twelve Golden Immortals under him had only just made an enemy of Gu Changqing.
And today, Gu Changqing had forcefully proved the Dao of Great Luo.
Moreover, Gu Changqing was not merely the first disciple of the Human, Chan, and Interception Sects to become a Daluo Golden Immortal.
His twelve-rank bloom also left Yuanshi deeply shaken.
This was supreme talent capable of overshadowing an entire era.
Compared to him, even the Twelve Golden Immortals lost their luster.
Displeasure stirred in Yuanshi's heart.
"Hmph. He has no sense of restraint."
"This twelve-rank bloom today has shaken heaven and earth."
"By now, who knows how many powerful figures are lurking in the shadows, eyeing him like hungry tigers?"
Yuanshi gave a cold snort as he spoke.
His words brimmed with unmistakable jealousy.
Hearing this, Tongtian's face immediately darkened.
My disciple has only just broken through, and you're already talking about other Mighty Experts eyeing him like hungry tigers?
Isn't that cursing Gu Changqing?
Tongtian declared in a ringing voice:
"With me here, if anyone dares harm my disciple Changqing,"
"then they had best not blame me for hunting them to the ends of the earth. I swear I will never rest."
Tongtian's words were supremely domineering and incomparably fierce!
Countless Mighty Experts watching in secret felt their hearts pound with fear.
From this moment onward, Gu Changqing was Saint Tongtian's inviolable reverse scale.
Daring to harm him in the slightest would be no different from declaring war on Saint Tongtian.
It seemed they would have to treat this Fifth Personal Disciple of the Interception Sect with due seriousness from now on.
Meanwhile, on Golden Ao Island,
Gu Changqing walked up to the Three Pure Ones, drinking as he went.
He had also heard Yuanshi's earlier words.
Thus, he looked at Yuanshi through bleary, drunken eyes and chuckled.
"Heh heh, Martial Uncle Yuanshi is absolutely right!"
"I never imagined a simple breakthrough would draw so much attention from everyone."
"In the future... hic... when my senior brothers of the Twelve Golden Immortals prove the Dao of Great Luo, I'm sure they'll know to keep a low profile."
Hearing Gu Changqing's "drunken ramblings," Tongtian could not suppress his laughter.
This brat truly has a sharp tongue. He knows exactly where to jab Yuanshi where it hurts.
Even if the Twelve Golden Immortals cultivated for another million years, they could never achieve a twelve-rank bloom.
Would they even need to keep a low profile over that?
Besides, as Yuanshi's own brother, Tongtian understood his temperament better than anyone.
Yuanshi had always cared most about saving face.
If even one of the Twelve Golden Immortals could achieve a twelve-rank bloom, Yuanshi's tail would probably stick all the way up to the Thirty-Three Heavens.
Unfortunately... Yuanshi would never have that chance.
Tongtian valued and adored his disciple Gu Changqing all the more.
Thus, even though Gu Changqing was openly taking veiled jabs at Yuanshi, Tongtian did not reprimand him.
At Gu Changqing's words, Yuanshi felt as though a fishbone had lodged in his throat.
"You..."
He was choked with anger, yet had no answer.
Only after a long while did he finally force out a sentence.
"Hmph! My disciples are no concern of yours!"
With that, Yuanshi glared at Gu Changqing.
Then he turned and stormed away in fury.
Beside them, Laozi watched with helplessness written across his face.
Yuanshi was simply too competitive. Even against a junior disciple, he insisted on determining who stood above whom.
The trouble was that every verbal clash ended with Yuanshi getting the worst of it against Gu Changqing.
Coupled with Yuanshi's narrow-minded nature, this would only deepen the conflict between the Chan and Jie Sects.
As for Gu Changqing,
he was unbothered as he watched Yuanshi leave in anger.
Shaking the Wine Gourd in his hand, Gu Changqing murmured to himself:
"Mmm... this breakthrough nearly used up all my fine wine."
"Looks like... it's time to find more good vintages."
Before you continue