The ultimate ten-thousandfold return: Gu Changqing broke through to Primordial Unity Golden Immortal!

The divine statue in the Ruined Temple trembled.

It was not the clay body shaking.

Rather, the system notifications within Gu Changqing were threatening to drown his divine soul!

On Peach Mountain.

Yang Jian shattered the Heavenly River Grand Formation.

Nezha descended in his demonic body.

Li Jing knelt, and a hundred thousand naval soldiers suffered a crushing defeat.

Scene after scene flowed along the two threads of master-disciple karma, appearing clearly in the depths of Gu Changqing's divine soul.

Gu Changqing sat cross-legged within the divine statue, his gaze fathomless.

"Not bad."

"Neither of these disciples disappointed me."

Yang Jian walked the path of strength.

The Divine Elephant Suppressing Prison Force was peerlessly domineering. The Hell Furnace devoured and refined all things. Meeting the Heavenly Court's army head-on, he only grew stronger with every battle.

Nezha walked the path of the demon.

The Self-Manifestation Technique severed karma directly, reshaping his demonic body through resentment. With his very first move, he tore open Li Jing's Dao heart and forced the Heavenly Court's military marshal to kneel before everyone.

One crushed his enemies head-on.

The other assaulted their hearts and shattered their souls.

With these two standing together, they were no longer mere trouble for the Heavenly Court.

They were a calamity!

The corners of Gu Changqing's mouth lifted slightly.

"Li Jing certainly delivered a generous gift."

"If he hadn't smashed the temple and severed the soul, this stick of incense formed from Nezha's resentful soul and karma might never have caught fire."

The thought had barely passed.

An icy system notification suddenly thundered out!

[Ding! Your disciple "Nezha" has successfully cultivated the "Self-Manifestation Technique," reconstructed his self-manifested demonic body, and descended upon Peach Mountain!]

[Your transmission of the Dao has dealt a fate-overturning blow to Nezha's predetermined destiny!]

["Super Ten-Thousandfold Critical Hit Return" triggered!]

[Ding! Your disciples "Yang Jian" and "Nezha" have joined forces to rout the Heavenly River Sea-Covering Grand Formation, severely damaging the Heavenly Court's military structure!]

[The Heavenly Court's prestige has suffered. The karma of the Investiture of the Gods has undergone a drastic divergence!]

["Tribulation-Level Ten-Thousandfold Critical Hit Return" triggered!]

Boom!

Boom!

Boom!

The system notifications rang out one after another.

Even Gu Changqing's divine soul trembled slightly at that moment.

Tribulation-level?

This was the first time it had appeared.

The next instant.

An indescribable torrent of cultivation poured into the divine statue out of thin air!

[Congratulations, host! Obtained: one hundred million years of pure cultivation!]

[Congratulations, host! Obtained: "Divine Elephant Suppressing Prison Force: Law Domain" (beginner)!]

[Congratulations, host! Obtained: "Self-Manifestation Technique: Demon Lord True Form" (phantom)!]

[Congratulations, host! Obtained: Supreme Acquired Spiritual Treasure-Thirty-Three Heavens Exquisite Pagoda (replica)!]

[Congratulations, host! Obtained: Heavenly Emperor Divine Position Fragment!]

[Congratulations, host! Obtained: several residual traces of tribulation destiny from the Chan Sect, Interception Sect, and Western Teachings!]

[Congratulations, host! Obtained: a wisp of a Chaos Demon God's origin of resentment!]

[The system has automatically concealed all related karmic traces!]

At last, a gleam appeared in Gu Changqing's eyes.

This wave of rewards was richer than any he had received before.

Especially that final line.

The system had automatically concealed the karmic traces.

That was the crucial point.

The waters of the Primordial World ran far too deep.

Saints sat high above the nine heavens, while Hongjun had merged with the Dao within the Purple Heaven Palace.

He did not want those beings fixing their sights on him so early.

Rumble!

One hundred million years of pure cultivation surged into his divine embryo.

The patterns on the dark-gold divine statue instantly lit up.

The temple's broken beams and pillars groaned beneath an unbearable burden.

With a thought, Gu Changqing acted.

His Divine Realm pressed down.

Every manifestation was forcibly sealed within the Ruined Temple.

From outside, the Mountain God Temple looked as dilapidated as ever.

Ash lay thick in the incense burner.

The divine statue remained silent.

Yet inside the statue, heaven and earth had been overturned.

The barrier of the early Golden Immortal stage shattered instantly.

Mid-stage Golden Immortal.

Late-stage Golden Immortal.

Peak Golden Immortal.

Boom!

The torrent of cultivation smashed open the gate to Taiyi in a single stroke!

Gu Changqing's divine soul became fully solid.

His consciousness seemed to have escaped the clay body's shackles, allowing him to perceive clearly every current of law flowing through heaven and earth.

The wind moved.

The earth veins settled.

Incense burned.

Karma entwined.

All these things, once indistinct and elusive, now became clear.

Early Taiyi Golden Immortal.

Mid-stage Taiyi Golden Immortal.

Only when he approached the late Taiyi Golden Immortal stage did the torrent of cultivation slowly subside.

Gu Changqing exhaled.

At that moment, he could feel that a single thought would let him tear open the void and suppress an entire expanse of mountains and rivers.

An ordinary Golden Immortal would now struggle to last more than a few breaths before him.

In cultivation and combat strength alone, he had truly entered the ranks of the Primordial World's foremost immortals and gods.

Even against most of the Twelve Golden Immortals of Chan Sect, he now had the confidence to contend with them head-on.

And that was merely his cultivation.

More important were the techniques.

"Divine Elephant Suppressing Prison Force: Law Domain."

It elevated his understanding of "strength" from simple explosive power to the level of a domain.

Once unleashed, it would suppress all arts within its bounds.

An enemy's magical power, divine abilities, and magical treasures would all be constrained by the laws of strength.

This was precisely the core insight returned to him after Yang Jian swept through the Heavenly Court's grand formations.

"Self-Manifestation Technique: Demon Lord True Form."

A hazy black figure faintly appeared behind Gu Changqing.

The shadow had no face.

Yet it exuded a pressure that reached straight into the depths of the Dao heart.

It was the phantom of the self-manifested Demon Lord.

Once unleashed, it could draw upon an enemy's resentment, hatred, fear, and greed to stir their inner demons and disrupt their divine soul.

Li Jing had knelt.

Not simply because Nezha was stronger than him.

But because too many debts of sin lay hidden within their father-son karma.

Nezha had merely brought that debt fully into the open.

Gu Changqing raised his hand.

A Thirty-Three-Story Pagoda slowly appeared in his palm.

The pagoda was golden from top to bottom.

Soul-Suppressing Runes were branded on every story.

Though a replica, it had already reached the level of a Supreme Acquired Spiritual Treasure.

It specifically subdued

primordial spirits, remnant souls, and inner demons.

"Nezha nearly crushed Li Jing's pagoda underfoot."

"And the system supplied me with a better one."

Gu Changqing smiled faintly.

Then his attention fell upon the Heavenly Emperor Divine Position Fragment.

It was a fragment of a golden seal.

After it merged with his divine embryo, Gu Changqing could clearly feel that the foundation of his divine position had grown more stable.

Incense and vow power also became easier to gather.

At the same time, however, his ties to the greater currents of the Primordial World deepened.

The benefits were immense.

The risks were no smaller.

Gu Changqing's gaze remained calm.

"So I still can't rush to reveal myself."

"A Primordial Unity Golden Immortal is powerful."

"But in the eyes of a Saint, that still amounts to little."

Finally, that wisp of a Chaos Demon God's origin of resentment slowly merged into his divine soul.

In an instant.

Countless resentments, obsessions, and hatreds surged like a tide from ages long past.

It was a trace of the unwillingness left behind when a Chaos Demon God perished.

Gu Changqing did not succumb.

He steadied his divine soul with the Divine Elephant Suppressing Prison Force, then refined the resentment with the Self-Manifestation Technique.

A short while later.

That wisp of origin grew completely still.

Gu Changqing's understanding of the Self-Manifestation Technique soared with it.

He could even faintly sense that, in the deepest reaches of the Primordial World, certain ancient powers that had long since perished still left behind undying traces.

Those things could not be touched yet.

But someday, they could.

Gu Changqing slowly opened his eyes.

Within the Ruined Temple, the dark-gold divine statue fell silent once more.

"Exhilarating."

"I certainly didn't take these two disciples for nothing."

His gaze pierced the void and fell upon the Thirty-Three Heavens.

Within the Lingxiao Treasure Hall.

Haotian had already risen to his feet.

The Heavenly Emperor's Edict shook the heavens.

The gods of the Thunder Department, Dipper Department, Fire Department, and Plague Department were hurrying toward Lingxiao.

The auras of the Five Directional Guardians were also slowly awakening in the distance.

Farther still.

An ancient Dao resonance rippled faintly from the direction of the Jade Void Palace.

Daoist Randeng.

The deputy sect leader of the Chan Sect.

Wielder of the Qiankun Ruler.

If he entered the fray, this would no longer be merely a feud between the Heavenly Court and Yang Jian.

Gu Changqing's gaze shifted slightly.

"Haotian can't sit still anymore."

"Good."

"The muddier the water, the bigger the fish."

He knew full well.

The greater the uproar Yang Jian and Nezha caused, the stronger the Heavenly Court's response would be, and the further the karma of the Investiture of the Gods would veer off course.

And the returns he received would grow all the more terrifying.

This deal was guaranteed profit.

Still, Yang Jian could not charge straight into the Lingxiao Treasure Hall yet.

With Haotian personally leading the expedition, he was bound to have the Heavenly Court's authority bolstering him.

Strong as Yang Jian was, his foundation was not yet deep enough.

He needed further tempering.

Especially in the arts of bodily transformation.

Yu Ding Zhenren's Eight-Nine Arcane Art still held value for Yang Jian to study.

With a thought from Gu Changqing.

Two strands of divine sense followed their master-disciple karma, crossing the void in an instant.

Above Peach Mountain.

Nezha was devouring and refining the remnants of the Heavenly River formation.

Black-and-crimson Demonic Qi churned in billowing waves.

His other-transformation demon body grew ever more solid.

Suddenly, Nezha's movements paused.

Gu Changqing's voice rang out within his sea of souls.

"Daoist Randeng of the Chan Sect will arrive shortly."

"That Qiankun Ruler in his hand looks rather decent to your master."

The demonic flames in Nezha's eyes instantly flared.

He lifted his head to look west, his mouth spreading into a grin.

"Daoist Randeng?"

"I'll remember that name."

"If Master likes it, that ruler belongs to Master."

Elsewhere.

Yang Jian was clenching his fists, gazing toward the Thirty-Three Heavens.

Sixty divine elephant particles thundered within his body.

He was already prepared to confront Haotian's imperial chariot.

Just then.

Gu Changqing's voice also reached the depths of his mind.

"Do not pursue a cornered foe."

"Haotian will bring the Heavenly Court's authority with him on this expedition. Your foundation still needs tempering."

"Yu Ding has not gone far."

"He possesses an arcane body-refining art that could offer some benefit to your path of the flesh."

"Go and discuss the Dao with him."

Yang Jian's gaze sharpened.

His master had spoken. He would not hesitate.

The killing intent surrounding him slowly receded.

Then Yang Jian turned and looked beyond Peach Mountain.

There.

A streak of Jade Purity escape light had barely flown a few hundred li when it suddenly froze in midair.

Yu Ding Zhenren stood atop the clouds, his expression grave.

He had intended to return to Kunlun and report the events at Peach Mountain to Yuanshi Tianzun.

But just now, an invisible strand of divine sense had swept over him.

It held no killing intent.

Yet it had forcibly halted his escape light.

Yu Ding Zhenren's heart sank slightly.

He knew.

The being within that Ruined Temple in Guanjiangkou had finally turned his attention toward him.

The next instant.

Yang Jian stepped forward.

The void trembled.

He appeared before Yu Ding Zhenren.

Yu Ding Zhenren tightened his grip on his horsetail whisk, shielding himself with Jade Purity Immortal Light.

"Yang Jian."

"Do you mean to bar my way?"

Yang Jian looked at him, his voice calm.

"You helped me find the Array Core earlier, Daoist. I will remember that."

Yu Ding Zhenren's expression eased a little.

But Yang Jian's next words made his heart lurch.

"However, my master said you possess an arcane body-refining art that has a karmic affinity with me."

"Today, I would like to ask you to lend it to me for a look."

Yu Ding Zhenren's pupils contracted slightly.

The Eight-Nine Arcane Art!

He had never mentioned it.

Yang Jian should not have known about it either.

Yet that mysterious master had exposed his core inheritance in a single sentence.

Yu Ding Zhenren said gravely, "This art is a secret inheritance of Jade Void. It cannot be lightly imparted to anyone who is not a Chan Sect disciple."

Yang Jian's gaze remained calm.

"I will not join the Chan Sect."

"Nor will I take you as my master."

"I only want to borrow the art for a look."

Yu Ding Zhenren's expression grew uglier still.

Those words were even more blunt than outright robbery.

Yet Yang Jian spoke with complete candor.

He was not asking to be taught.

Nor was he seeking a master.

He was merely obeying his master's orders, coming to claim something useful to him-

Something for his own use.

In the distance.

Nezha rested the Fire-Tipped Spear on his shoulder, his face alight with excitement.

"Senior Brother, want me to lend a hand?"

"If this old Daoist won't hand it over, we'll show him what it means for fellow disciples to discuss the Dao."

The corner of Yu Ding Zhenren's eye twitched.

Yang Jian alone already placed him under immense pressure.

With Nezha added to the mix.

He feared he truly would not make it out of Peach Mountain.