Chapter 387: Next, the Twilight Divine Realm

Gu Yuan slowly opened his eyes; the immortal formation inside his cave dwelling had completely fallen silent the moment his gaze swept over it, as if expressing submission to its master.

He did not feel joy over the surge in his cultivation; instead, he fell into a deeper contemplation.

He recalled the words his grandfather Gu Cangsheng had spoken in the bamboo forest.

Two paths.

One, to plant the "self" into the world, become the sole Heavenly Dao, and walk the pure path of devouring.

The other, to grow together with the world, give birth to a new Heavenly Dao, and walk the unknown path of symbiosis.

"Grandfather, perhaps both of the paths you spoke of are right, but…… they are also not my path."

Gu Yuan murmured softly, his voice echoing in the vast cave dwelling.

He extended his hand; in his palm, a strand of golden faith power and a strand of gray-purple chaos origin slowly surfaced.

"My Dao is not to become the Heavenly Dao, nor to walk alongside it."

"But…… I am the world, and the world is me."

"Every world I have experienced will become a brick and tile of my Divine Kingdom; every being I guide will become a citizen of my Divine Kingdom; their faith forges my throne, their karma perfects my laws. This is not devouring, but unity."

"I need not replace anyone, nor nurture anyone, for from the beginning, the Heavenly Dao of this Divine Kingdom is merely an extension of my own will; it is affectionate, for it bears the joys and sorrows of myriad peoples; it is ruthless, for it follows the supreme rules I have set."

At this moment, Gu Yuan's state of mind was unprecedentedly clear.

The thin paper barrier that had blocked the way between the sixteenth and seventeenth realms quietly dissolved the instant he fully comprehended his own Dao.

If he wished, he could step out at any moment and instantly become a saint.

But he did not.

His foundation, still insufficient.

The Profound Heaven Continent is merely a beginning.

The territory of his Divine Kingdom is still too barren.

"The next…… Twilight Divine Realm?"

He took a step forward, his form vanishing within the cave dwelling.

……

……

Twilight Divine Realm.

But the Twilight Divine Realm of today has long since been transformed into a human realm.

The sky is no longer that eternal crimson blood moon, but has been replaced by a vaster, more boundless chaos canopy.

Above the canopy, the illusory shadow of a world tree that reaches heaven and earth flickers in and out; as its three thousand leaves sway, they shower down pure primordial essence and immortal substance.

The earth is no longer that desolate, cracked gray-brown; spirit veins personally planned by Gu Xuan Ce wind like coiling dragons beneath the soil, nourishing this scarred land.

The once twisted, aberrant vegetation has been uprooted, replaced by spirit herbs and immortal medicines transplanted by the Gu Family from various vassal worlds.

In the air, the stench of scorched feathers and the bloody odor have long since dissipated, leaving only a refreshing medicinal fragrance and earthy aroma.

Upon the former white-bone wasteland, brand-new cities rise from the ground.

The planning of these cities comes from the Gu Family's foremost formation masters; each city itself is a massive offensive-defensive formation, linked by earth veins and sharing fortune.

Gu Yuan's divine sense silently blanketed the entire world.

He saw the millions of beings rescued from crystal stone prisons, now dwelling and thriving on this newborn land.

The Gu Family did not forcibly interfere in their lives; it merely enacted the most basic laws, established the most basic order, then left them to develop freely, occasionally casting captured demonic beasts from other worlds into designated areas and, through special means, accelerating their mutation.

But merely changing the environment is enough to cause this world to undergo a tremendous transformation.

Among newborns' cries, the proportion innately possessing spirit roots is over a hundred times higher than before.

What was once seen as a heavenly moat of cultivation threshold is now, for many, merely a small slope one can step over by lifting a leg.

Gu Yuan's gaze finally fell upon the Divine Realm Gobi, the former site of the Wind Tribe.

There, it is now one of the largest human strongholds of the Twilight Divine Realm, named Lookancient City.

At the city's center stands a towering white jade statue that reaches the clouds, silently upright.

The statue depicts not a Gu Family ancestor, nor Gu Yuan himself, but a man holding a broken blade, his eyes resolute.

It is Gu.

The city's residents, young and old, make it their first act each morning to come before the statue and offer a strand of sincere faith from the heart.

They have not forgotten who, in the darkest times, used his own flesh and blood to prop up a trembling sky for them.

And at the edge of Lookancient City, near the waste-treatment formation, lies a slum perpetually reeking of sour rot.

Several shacks built from discarded materials stand out starkly against the prosperous cityscape around them.

Inside the shack, a ragged old man reeking of foul odor curls up in the corner, clutching tightly to a half-moldy black loaf of bread, warily watching the outside.

His cloudy eyes are filled with fear and numbness.

He is precisely the great-uncle who, in the Wind Tribe, once incited the people to betray Gu.

Since Gu followed the Gu Family away, the members of the Wind Tribe who had participated in the betrayal have become the object of universal scorn among all rescued peoples of the Yellow Death Divine Realm.

They have been deprived of the right to reside in the new cities, forbidden to learn any new cultivation arts, and can only live like street rats in the shadow where everyone shouts at them.

No one actively harms them, but the omnipresent contempt and isolation are far more painful than blades upon the body.

The clan elders who once shouted "for the tribe" have either already died in regret and despair, or gone mad, kneeling daily before Gu's statue, kowtowing in repentance while cursing the great-uncle, saying it was he who led them astray.

The great-uncle also tried to resist, roaring more than once at those who despised him, saying he too had acted for the tribe back then, and that Gu himself had forgiven them.

All he got in return were colder glances and a light remark: "Gu is Gu, we are we."

Yes, Gu could forgive them, for that is his benevolence.

But others have no duty to forgive a pack of cowards who betrayed their hero.

Gradually, the great-uncle also resigned himself to his fate.

He no longer roared, no longer defended himself, merely like a stray dog, clinging to life on the edge of this city that prospered because of antiquity.

He didn't even dare to hope for others' forgiveness; he only wished to survive.

Yet even surviving had become a luxury.