Chapter 564

……

Above the Nine Heavens, in the depths of Chaos.

Zixiao Palace.

Hongjun slowly opened his eyes.

His gaze seemed to pierce through endless time and space, seeing on the Great Wasteland earth those faces—some excited, some greedy, some solemn, some contemptuous.

Finally, his gaze fell upon the Heavenly Court, within Donghuang Palace.

Upon the white-robed youth lying on the jade bed, as if fallen into eternal slumber.

"Somewhat interesting."

On Hongjun's face, for the first time, appeared a trace of extremely faint ripples.

He originally intended to use the Three Light Divine Water to turn Taiyi, this aberrant number, into a target drawing firepower.

He calculated that inevitably, a great power would be unable to resist the temptation and secretly strike at Taiyi.

Taiyi would not die, but Di Jun would inevitably go mad and vent his wrath upon the entire Wasteland.

At that time, the flames of the Quantity Calamity would be completely ignited.

But he did not expect that the other party would actually, by relying on his own prestige as Ancestor of the Dao, turn it into an opportunity to promote the Yao Clan.

"After all, it is merely a petty way."

The ripples in Hongjun's eyes quickly subsided, restoring the tranquility of an ancient well with no ripples.

In his view, this is nothing more than children playing house.

As long as the great trend does not change, as long as the Saint Position remains in his hands, as long as the method of severing the Three Corpses remains under his control.

No matter how you toss and turn, in the end you are merely a chess piece on his board.

……

……

Gu Yuan's Meditation Spot.

Gu Yuan sat cross-legged on his jade meditation mat, slowly opening his eyes.

In those deep eyes, it seemed as if billions of stars were born and perished, three thousand years of Dao rhythm flowed and turned, ultimately all returning to tranquility.

"The method of proving the Dao by severing the Three Corpses..."

Gu Yuan spread his palm, and thread upon thread of profound Dao runes reassembled in his palm.

He was deducing this supreme method originating from another mythological source.

This method is indeed exquisite and unparalleled.

It cleverly bypasses the cultivator's problem of insufficient accumulation, by severing their own obsessions and entrusting them to innate spiritual treasures, leveraging the treasure's own connection with the Heavenly Dao to pry open the power of the entire world, thereby achieving the purpose of merging with the Dao.

This is a clever but shortcut method.

In the Wasteland world, any innate spiritual treasure is evolved from the primordial fragments after Pangu opened heaven and earth, and is itself a part of the Heavenly Dao's laws.

When a cultivator entrusts their good, evil, and obsession—the Three Corpses—into it, it is equivalent to actively putting a shackle originating from the Heavenly Dao upon their own soul.

The more severed, the tighter the shackle.

When the Three Corpses are completely severed, the day of achieving sainthood through merging with the Dao is precisely the time of completely becoming a puppet of the Heavenly Dao.

"Alas..." Gu Yuan curled the corner of his mouth into a playful smile.

In Gu Yuan's Meditation Spot, the Heavenly Dao is the Heavenly Dao, but there is no spokesperson called Hongjun.

The Supreme Immortal King Artifacts and Immortal Emperor Artifacts here, although they also contain the Great Dao's laws, their laws are pure and have not been controlled by any supreme will.

The Three Corpses severed here, the incarnations severed here, will be purely one's own power, not subject to any external will's constraint.

"But, this method also has flaws."

Gu Yuan rubbed his chin, a hint of contemplation flashing in his eyes.

First, the requirements for the entrusted object are extremely high.

It must be an innate object containing the complete Dao Origin, namely a treasure of the level of Supreme Immortal King Artifact or higher.

Moreover, one treasure can only bear one corpse.

To sever three corpses, one needs three Supreme Immortal King Artifacts.

For the vast majority of cultivators, this is an impossible task.

Even Gu Yuan needs to think of a way.

Second, the construction process is time-consuming and labor-intensive.

Severing corpses is not as simple as chopping off with one stroke.

It requires the cultivator to have an extremely profound understanding of their own "good," "evil," and "obsession," and to be able to actively detach them from the divine soul origin.

This process is extremely dangerous; a slight carelessness may lead to the risk of spiritual soul tearing and Dao heart collapse.

"It seems I need to find someone to test the waters first."

Grandfather?

Giant Head cultivation level, sufficient is sufficient.

But...

"Grandfather is the family's top beam, cannot use him for experimentation."

Father? No, father is in seclusion, impacting the Giant Head Realm.

Gu Zhan? Gu Xue Dao?

Gu Yuan shook his head.

These two, one is a pure body cultivator, one is a killing-path Dao prover, their dispositions are too pure, unsuitable for this method requiring mind games.

Luo Bingyao? Yue Xianzi?

Their cultivation realms are still too low; forcibly severing corpses would be harmful and of no benefit.

As for the others...

"They all fall short."

Gu Yuan shook his head.

"Forget it, this matter is not urgent."

Gu Yuan temporarily set aside this thought.

While he was pondering,

In the Great Wasteland, under Xiao Ai's acceleration, a hundred years passed.

Gazing at the scene before him, Gu Yuan couldn't help but curl the corner of his mouth into a smile.

"Being able to accelerate a hundred years—is this truly a real world?"

The Great Wasteland world.

Inside Donghuang Palace, a hundred years drifted by, feeling like nothing more than a long, dreamy slumber.

When Gu Yuan opened his eyes again, a hundred years had already passed since the Second Lecture of the Purple Cloud Palace.

During these hundred years, he claimed to be in seclusion due to primordial spirit depletion, outwardly stating he was resting under the protection of the Donghuang Bell.

Meanwhile, Emperor Jun strictly carried out the plan he had originally set.

The news of the "Discourse on the Dao Grand Assembly" had long spread to every corner of the Great Wasteland.

Countless mighty ones awaited with eager anticipation.

During this period, as Gu Yuan had predicted, many who presumed themselves to possess vast divine abilities readied themselves, clenching fists and rubbing palms in anticipation.

Yet some attempted to infiltrate the Heavenly Court and steal that bottle of Three Light Divine Water.

A scattered cultivator versed in spatial laws transformed into dust, seeking to silently enter Donghuang Palace, only to crash headfirst into the light barrier of the Zhou Tian Star Dou Great Array and be instantly refined into flying ash.

A demonic path giant, using supreme demonic technique, contaminated a minor heavenly deity of the Heavenly Court, intending to use it as an internal agent; however, the moment that deity stepped within a hundred li of Donghuang Palace, it was exposed on the spot by the patrolling demon sage Bai Ze, along with its master, both captured, hung at the Southern Heaven Gate, and incinerated by true solar fire for seventy-seven forty-nine years, resulting in the annihilation of both soul and spirit.

Even a Daoist from the Western Teaching, unwilling to give up, transformed into an insignificant mosquito or fly, hoping to fly into the treasure vault to investigate.

But before getting close, he was struck by a palm condensed from North Ming Divine Water by the treasure vault guardian, Youshi Kunpeng, slammed into the Nine Nether Earth Evil, and barely managed to crawl out.

After repeated incidents, the entire Great Wasteland came to know.

The Heavenly Court is not to be provoked.

Donghuang Palace is even more a forbidden zone among forbidden zones.

"Younger brother, you've awakened."

Emperor Jun's voice echoed from outside the hall as he pushed the door open and entered, his face filled with uncontainable joy.

After a hundred years of time, his cultivation had become increasingly profound and unfathomable; the aura of quasi-saint within him had been restrained to the utmost, as if he could sever a second corpse at any moment.

"Elder brother." Gu Yuan rose from the jade bed, sitting up with just the right measure, revealing a hint of post-slumber confusion.

"The hundred-year period has arrived; the Three Lectures of the Dao Ancestor commence today." Emperor Jun walked to the bedside, supporting him, "Elder brother has already prepared the carriage and palanquin; we shall now set out."

"Thank you for the trouble, elder brother."