Chapter 384: Descend Again to Xuantian

"So that's how it is…"

Gu Yuan lifted his hand, watching a strand of golden faith energy swirling in his palm intertwine and merge with a strand of gray‑purple chaotic origin, ultimately forming a deeper, more domineering brand‑new power.

He finally attained enlightenment.

The path he had taken before had always been borrowing.

Borrowing the system's power to traverse myriad worlds, borrowing his grandfather's power to suppress strong foes, borrowing the Gu Family's power to rampage without restraint.

He was like a child standing on a giant's shoulders—seeing far, standing high, yet everything beneath his feet never fully belonged to him.

His inner world seemed boundlessly vast and self‑consistent in its laws, but in the end it was merely a hollow skeleton.

Until this moment, the Emperor Seal returned to its place, and the embryonic Divine Nation began to appear.

Only then did he truly find his own Dao.

It was neither simple devouring nor cold domination.

It was unification.

He completely and wholly merged every world he had traversed, every being he had saved, every strand of qi he had seized, into his own Divine Nation.

Making them part of the Divine Nation, part of his great Dao.

"My world should not be merely a cold tool for cultivation; it should have its own past, its own stories, countless vibrant lives thriving within it, love and hate and grudges."

Gu Yuan rose, and the layered immortal arrays within his cave instantaneously, silently transformed into primordial spiritual energy, which he inhaled into his body.

"Then, let the beginning of everything start anew from the very place where it began."

His gaze seemed to pierce endless spacetime, settling on a relatively tiny world cloaked by the vast celestial light of the Gu Family's Divine Island, quietly hovering on one side of the island as an "outer‑gate annex."

Xuantian Continent.

It was the place of his first vacation, and also the first puzzle piece on his Divine Nation's map that needed to be restored.

"Ascension…"

Gu Yuan murmured softly, a faint curve lifting the corner of his mouth.

In ordinary worlds, ascension is a strong one breaking the world's barriers to reach a higher‑level plane.

His ascension, however, is to package the entire world together with its billions of lives and carry them away, merging them into his Divine Nation.

At that thought, Gu Yuan no longer hesitated.

He took a step forward, and his form instantly appeared at the outermost edge of the Gu Family's Divine Island, within the void shrouded by the Celestial Star Great Array laid out by Gu Xuan Ce.

That Great Yin Divine Dynasty World, refined by Gu Cangsheng into a crystal‑like sphere, was being linked by countless thick spirit‑vein chains, continuously siphoning the Divine Island's celestial qi to mend its own shattered Heavenly Dao.

Not far from it, another continent wrapped in a thin world barrier appeared far more tranquil.

It was indeed the Xuantian Continent.

Since the last Dark Turmoil was quelled by the Gu Family's Heavenly Spear Corps, the Xuantian Continent has served as a vassal world of the Gu Family, relocated in whole to the vicinity of the Divine Island.

Over these years, under the Gu Family's intentional or inadvertent resource bias and nourished by the dense, indissoluble material of the Ancient Immortal Realm, the Xuantian Continent's Heavenly Dao laws have been greatly restored, its spiritual energy density now more than ten thousand times stronger than before.

The beings on the continent also ushered in an unprecedented golden age.

Yet, it was still ultimately too slow.

The world tier of the Xuantian Continent capped their ceiling.

Even with abundant resources and ideal environment, the strongest to date have never birthed a True Immortal Realm.

"It's time to give you a new heaven."

Gu Yuan extended his right hand, and within his palm the ancient bronze Emperor Seal slowly materialized.

He did not employ any earth‑shaking magic, merely attaching a strand of his divine thought onto the Emperor Seal, gently pressing it against the thin world barrier of the Xuantian Continent.

"Bzz—"

A distant bell, as if from the primordial chaos, rang out, centered on Gu Yuan and booming outward.

It was not a sound but a higher‑level decree from the lord of the Divine Nation.

The Xuantian Continent's world barrier, upon touching the Emperor Seal, did not shatter but melted away like ice and snow.

A radiant divine bridge, built from pure golden faith power, stretched from Gu Yuan's feet across the void between the two worlds, directly linking to the core of the Xuantian Continent's Heavenly Dao.

In an instant.

The entire Xuantian Continent's winds and clouds changed hue.

Xuantian Continent, Zhongzhou, New Luoyang Imperial City.

Since the Dark Turmoil subsided, Xuantian Empress Luo Bingyao established her capital here, governing diligently; in less than ten years, this former ruin rose anew as a grander, more prosperous megacity, and she herself became the Xuantian Continent's first cultivator of the Supreme 18th Realm.

She is now advancing toward the 19th Realm.

She does not not know that the Gu Family has a path to ascension, enabling rapid immortalization.

Yet Luo Bingyao knows even better all that she possesses.

Life, opportunity, strength… all were bestowed by that young master Gu.

By his side, what he needs is not a quickly achieved True Immortal, but a steadfast right‑hand.

For this, Xuantian Empress Luo Bingyao has her own plan.

She aims to become a Heavenly Emperor Realm, a rarity even in the Ancient Immortal Realm.

With the stature of the Heavenly Emperor Realm, step into the True Immortal Realm!

Let Young Master Gu know… his investment was not wrong!

……

At this moment.

To the east of the imperial city, atop a peak whose spiritual energy was so dense it turned into tangible mist.

This place is today the foremost human pride of the Xuantian Continent, the cultivation cave of the Emperor‑Body Li Chengqian.

Deep within the cave, inside a secret chamber.

Li Chengqian sat cross‑legged, his whole body suffused with golden qi and blood like a dragon, and behind him coalesced into a majestic Human Emperor phantom that stood between heaven and earth.

His eyes were tightly closed as he struck at a completely new realm.

Five years ago, he was merely a boy whose family had been destroyed and who fled in panic.

Had it not been for that god‑like Young Master Gu casually bestowing half a vermilion fruit, he would have long died under the claws of the dark turmoil.

It was precisely that half vermilion fruit that laid the supreme Dao foundation for him.

Later.

The Profound Heaven Continent borders the Primeval Immortal Realm.

Spiritual energy revived, and the laws reappeared.

Li Chengqian's Human Emperor physique finally ushered in its true outbreak period.

Then later.

Moreover, as one of the first cultivators of the Profound Heaven Continent, he fortunately stepped onto the vast, boundless Sanqian Zhou, which is countless times larger than the Profound Heaven Continent.

Storming secret realms, entering the Dao Discussion Assembly…

Relying on the favor of Young Master Gu's half vermilion fruit, he advanced all the way with triumphant vigor—breaking the Dao, lighting the lamp, entering the divine!

In just a few years, he had already stepped into the Ninth Realm Domain!

And the domain he cultivated was called… the Love Gu Domain.

For any member of the Gu family, everything they deserve and should have—within the domain, the higher their status and the more numerous they are, the greater the boost to themselves!

Even if it weren't for fear that the Gu family would object, Li Chengqian even wanted to change his name to Li Aigu…

Now, he is only one step away from entering the Tenth Realm.

"Break!"

Li Chengqian suddenly flung open his eyes and let out a low shout from his mouth.

The Human Emperor phantom behind him burst forth with radiant light, an aura of looking down on all under heaven, supreme and solitary, exploding violently.

Crack!

A certain shackle within his body shattered at the sound.

Void God Realm! Achieved!

His deity… naturally is Gu Yuan!

Li Chengqian rose, feeling the unprecedented surging power within his body, and a smile of genuine joy appeared on his face.

"I, Li Ai… oh no, Li Chengqian, have finally not failed the Young Master's favor from years ago."

His gratitude toward Gu Yuan in his heart had long surpassed everything.

In his view, everything he possesses was granted by that Young Master.

The sole purpose of his cultivation in this life is to continually grow stronger, so that one day he may follow behind that Young Master, even if only as the lowliest guard, and feel content.

However, just as he was high‑spirited and preparing to leave seclusion to report good news to the Empress…

The heavens and earth suddenly underwent a drastic change without any omen!

Boom—!

The entire Profound Heaven Continent began to tremble violently.

It was not an earthquake, but a far more terrifying upheaval originating from the very foundations of the world.

Above the Heavenly Dome, daylight vanished and stars disappeared, replaced by an endless expanse of chaos radiating seven‑colored rosy light.

An indescribable, supreme pressure far beyond his comprehension slowly descended from that chaos.