When Yang Jian walked out of the Jade Void Palace.
Utter silence reigned before the mountain gate.
The horsetail whisk in Guangchengzi's hand froze in midair, his expression darkening to the extreme.
Taiyi Zhenren's hand, which had been gently stroking his beard, stopped as well.
Yu Ding Zhenren gazed at Yang Jian, his eyes filled with emotions too tangled for words.
He had entered the Saint's minor chaos.
And come out alive.
That alone said everything.
Yuanshi Tianzun had acknowledged Yang Jian's Dao!
The Chan Sect disciples who had hoped to see Yang Jian suppressed all lowered their heads, even softening their breathing.
Yang Jian did not look at them.
He walked straight to Yao Ji and Yang Chan, the sharpness in his eyes fading until only warmth remained.
"Mother, Chan'er, everything is all right now."
Yao Ji's eyes instantly reddened.
She seized Yang Jian's hand, her voice trembling. "Jian'er, were you hurt?"
"No."
Yang Jian shook his head and said softly, "Martial Uncle has bestowed a Yuqing Grotto-Heaven in the rear mountains of Kunlun, called the Purple Cloud Palace. You can cultivate there in peace and shelter from the tribulation."
Yang Chan lifted her little face. "Brother, are you coming with us?"
Yang Jian stroked her head.
"I still have things to do."
Yang Chan's eyes reddened, but she did not cry.
She already knew that the road her brother walked was harder than she had imagined.
Yang Jian turned to Yu Ding Zhenren and bowed with his hands clasped.
"Martial Uncle Yu Ding, sorry for the trouble, but please look after my mother and sister."
Yu Ding Zhenren hurried forward.
As he looked at Yang Jian, a jumble of emotions stirred in his heart.
This youth should have been his disciple.
Yet now, Yang Jian had punched his way into the Jade Void Palace with his own fists and emerged from a Saint's trial.
He no longer needed anyone to arrange his destiny for him.
"Rest assured."
Yu Ding Zhenren said earnestly, "As long as I am here, nothing will happen to the Purple Cloud Palace."
Yang Jian nodded.
Led by Yu Ding Zhenren, Yao Ji and Yang Chan headed toward Kunlun's rear mountains, looking back three times with every step.
Only when their figures vanished deep within the Jade Purity Immortal Light did Yang Jian withdraw his gaze.
He could feel that strand of Yuqing fortune rising and falling within him.
Rather than suppressing the power of his primordial chaos gods and demons, it was slowly being refined into his flesh and blood by the strength god-demon acupoint.
From this day onward, though he had not entered the Chan Sect, he bore a partial karmic bond personally acknowledged by the Jade Void Palace.
If the Heavenly Court wanted to move against him again, it would have to weigh Yuanshi Tianzun's stance.
"Martial Uncle Guangchengzi."
Yang Jian suddenly spoke.
Guangchengzi stiffened, then slowly raised his head.
The atmosphere before the mountain gate tightened once more.
Every Chan Sect disciple watched the two of them.
Yang Jian's expression remained calm.
"Today's dispute at the mountain gate ends here."
Guangchengzi's gaze darkened slightly.
Yang Jian continued, "You upheld the Jade Void law; I fought for my own destiny. Today's victory and defeat have been decided. Our grievances can end here, but our paths of the Dao may still be debated."
With those words spoken.
Yang Jian lingered no longer.
He stepped forward, dark-gold vital energy bursting through the sea of clouds as he became a streak of light shooting straight out of Kunlun.
Guangchengzi stood where he was, silent for a long time.
The phantom of the Heaven-Flipping Seal had been shattered by three punches.
The Jade Void Glazed Lamp had been forced back by a single sentence from his master.
Within the Saint's minor chaos, Yang Jian had also passed the trial.
He had lost this dispute at the mountain gate utterly and completely.
After a long while.
Guangchengzi let out a quiet sigh.
"A contest between paths of the Dao..."
Yu Ding Zhenren gazed in the direction Yang Jian had departed, and a thought suddenly arose in his heart.
During the Investiture of the Gods Tribulation, the Chan Sect might never again be able to control this chess piece.
Above the East Sea.
The Four Seas Unification Formation had already shattered.
Countless tons of seawater lay subdued, and the ruins of the Dragon Palace had sunk to the seabed.
Nezha stood on the sea's surface, his spear hanging at his side.
Dao patterns of the Qiankun Ruler flowed along the shaft. A speck of Yuqing Dao fire burned dimly at its tip, while blue, red, white, and black water vapor wound around its tassel.
The Four Seas Dragon Kings lay collapsed in the mud, their scales dull and their breaths faint.
Ao Guang looked up at Nezha. All his former majesty had vanished from his draconic eyes, leaving only terror.
He could clearly feel that the East Sea's water veins no longer fully obeyed his commands.
The demonic mark between the youth's brows was like a nail driven into the vital point of the Four Seas.
Nezha looked down at them.
"Submit."
His voice was icy.
"Or die."
Ao Qin, Ao Run, and Ao Shun all remained silent.
Ao Guang's claws trembled. At last, he lowered his head.
"We... submit."
As those words fell.
The Four Seas water veins trembled in unison.
Countless aquatic beings prostrated themselves on the seabed, not daring to raise their heads.
With a single spear, Nezha had ground the Dragon Race's dignity into the mud.
The corners of Nezha's mouth rose.
The Four Seas Dragon Kings had knelt.
The water-vein wedge his master wanted had been driven into the Dragon Race's vital point.
As for that old creature deep within the Sea Eye...
Nezha raised his eyes toward the deepest reaches of the East Sea.
There, an ancient draconic might still surged.
A gold-scaled dragon claw lurked in the darkness, yet had still not truly struck.
Demonic flames danced in Nezha's eyes.
"Once I've fully refined this spear, I'll drag you out too."
The next moment.
He turned toward Guanjiangkou and knelt on one knee upon the sea.
"Your disciple Nezha has fulfilled his mission!"
His voice traveled along the Four Seas water veins, resounding through the east, south, west, and north.
The Four Seas shook.
The Dragon Race bowed its head.
Guanjiangkou.
Within the dilapidated Mountain God Temple.
Gu Changqing sat cross-legged deep within the divine statue when the System Panel before his eyes suddenly lit up.
Blood-red radiance shone across the entire Divine Realm, making it tremble.
[Ding! Your disciple "Yang Jian" has successfully passed Yuanshi Tianzun's trial, gained the protection of Yuqing fortune, settled Yao Ji and Yang Chan safely, perfected his Dao heart, and resolved a major karmic bond!] [Ding! Your disciple "Nezha" has successfully subdued the Four Seas Dragon Kings, used his body as a furnace to smelt the Qiankun Ruler and Randeng's Dao fire, reshaped his primordial demonic body, and imprinted his master's lineage upon the Four Seas water veins!] [Your two disciples have each driven a crucial wedge into two major powers of the Primordial World: the Chan Sect and the Dragon Race!] [The main course of the Investiture of the Gods Tribulation has undergone an earthshaking deviation!] [Triggered: Ultimate · Tribulation-Level · Ten-Thousandfold Critical Hit Return!] [Settlement commencing!]
Boom!
A terrifying torrent of rewards instantly poured into Gu Changqing's body.
The entire Divine Temple trembled soundlessly.
At the edges of the Divine Realm, primordial violet patterns spread layer upon layer, firmly confining every extraordinary phenomenon within a hundred li.
[Congratulations, host! You have obtained: one billion years of pure cultivation!] [Congratulations, host! You have obtained: introductory insights into the second level of the "Primordial Chaos God-Demon Prison-Suppressing Body"!] [Congratulations, host! You have obtained: fragments of Yuanshi Tianzun's Saintly Dao laws!] [Congratulations, host! You have obtained: insights into the Heavenly Dao Stone's destiny!] [Congratulations, host! You have obtained: a strand of the foundational fortune that anchors the Chan Sect!] [Congratulations, host! You have obtained: authority over the Dragon Race's Four Seas water veins, ethereal!] [Congratulations, host! You have obtained: a strand of a Chaos Demon God's karmic essence!] [Congratulations, host! You have obtained: a supreme-grade innate spiritual treasure, the Hongmeng Measuring Heaven Ruler!]
Within Gu Changqing, the bottleneck at perfected Primordial Unity Golden Immortal instantly shattered.
The Great Luo gate burst open with a thunderous roar!
In an instant, ripples stirred across the River of Time and Space.
A figure that should have been reflected throughout all heavens was about to emerge, only to be forcibly pressed back into Guanjiangkou by the system and the Primordial Divine Realm.
Those who attained Great Luo left their mark across all heavens; time and space could scarcely bury them, and ten thousand tribulations could scarcely wear them away.
Yet Gu Changqing's traces had been forcibly concealed.
No one knew.
No one could divine them.
Early-stage Daluo Golden Immortal!
Mid-stage Daluo Golden Immortal!
Late-stage Daluo Golden Immortal!
The torrent of cultivation continued to surge.
Gu Changqing did not allow the power to pile up into an unstable foundation. Instead, he activated twenty godfiend acupores, repeatedly tempering his foundation beneath their grinding force.
Strength, space, time, transformation, devouring, suppression, slaughter, immortality, karma, furnace...
The original ten acupores thundered.
The ten new godfiend acupores also lit up one after another beneath the scouring force of the Saintly Dao laws and the authority over the Four Seas water veins.
The twenty acupores linked together, forming a great cycle of primordial chaos gods and demons.
His divine body leaped directly from the level of a low-grade innate spiritual treasure to that of a mid-grade innate spiritual treasure.
His flesh alone was now enough to withstand a Quasi-Saint's strike head-on!
Only upon reaching perfected Daluo Golden Immortal was that vast cultivation fully refined into his body.
Gu Changqing slowly opened his eyes.
Deep within his pupils, stars were born and extinguished, and karma flowed.
He raised his hand.
An ancient ruler appeared in his palm.
Primordial violet qi coiled around its length, with heaven and earth engraved at one end and time and space suppressed at the other.
The Hongmeng Measuring Heaven Ruler.
Gu Changqing grasped the ancient ruler, the corners of his mouth lifting slightly.
"Only now am I truly qualified to place a piece on the board right under the Saints' noses."
Before, he could only hide.
Now, he would still hide.
But hiding and fearing were now entirely different things.
Just then, the system notification sounded again.
[Ding! Congratulations, host, on advancing to Daluo Golden Immortal and completing a milestone objective!] [Main quests updated!] [Quest 1: Seek out the dog of Heavenly Mandate, subdue Xiaotian, and activate the "Divine Pet Return" module!]
The instant the notification ended, Gu Changqing stirred his divine sense.
Outside Guanjiangkou, a black dog's faint yet stubborn flame of life was fleeing frantically through the mountain wilderness.
Behind him, demonic auras pursued him relentlessly.
Gu Changqing's gaze shifted slightly.
"Xiaotian Dog..."
The system notifications continued to appear.
[Quest 2: Storms gather over Great Shang, the Human King's fortune wanes, and disciples of the Interception Sect are about to enter the mortal world. Place your first seemingly idle piece on the board in Chaoge City.] [Quest 3: The Heavenly Mandate Twin Stars, Yin Jiao and Yin Hong, are about to meet with calamity. Both bear the Human King's bloodline and the intertwined karma of the Chan and Interception Sects, making them pivotal nodes in the Tribulation. Host, please intervene at the appropriate time.]
Gu Changqing's gaze pierced the void.
The next instant.
His gaze fell upon the mortal capital.
Chaoge.
Above the royal palace, the Human King's fortune flickered between light and darkness.
Two young flames of life had been silently entwined by a wisp of tribulation aura.
Yin Jiao.
Yin Hong.
Gu Changqing lightly tapped the Hongmeng Measuring Heaven Ruler in his palm.
"The true blood-soaked game of the Investiture of the Gods has begun."