Chapter 177: The Dragon King and the Demon Venerable, the Father-in-law and the Son-in-law

"I am about to break through to the Heavenly Human Realm!"

On this day, Gu Jiangming looked at Wang Qinghe, Jiu Jiu, and Liu Moran before him, then looked at the two brothers, Gu Nianmo and Gu Shengxi, who were continuously helping Gu Mingyue pick food, and spoke these words with a serious expression.

Although the cultivation of Gu Jiangming's entire family had already reached the Grain Avoidance Realm, the Gu family would still get together for a casual meal every ten days or half a month.

Only at these times could Gu Jiangming see Liu Moran, Jiu Jiu, and Wang Qinghe not being so at each other's throats.

In reality, it was mostly Liu Moran and Jiu Jiu at each other's throats; Wang Qinghe could not compete with Jiu Jiu in the Shushan Era, and could not compete with Liu Moran in this era, so most of the time she just maintained the posture of a gentle beauty.

Liu Moran was determined to subdue Jiu Jiu and become the mistress of this household herself.

But Jiu Jiu's cultivation was already a cut above Liu Moran's, and on top of that, Liu Moran's own disappointing son had almost become a sister-obsessed brother; Liu Moran wanting to challenge Jiu Jiu for the position of the main wife was truly lacking in follow-through.

It was not just Gu Nianmo; Gu Jiangming had also discovered that his two sons were just like him, showering Gu Mingyue with endless doting.

Not to mention that every time Gu Nianmo returned from being out, he had to bring back some novel trinkets; just take Gu Shengxi, who clearly possessed the Supreme Bone, yet the time he spent in closed-door cultivation had never exceeded three days.

According to Gu Shengxi's righteous words, if he could not see his younger sister for three days, he had no heart for closed-door cultivation at all.

And before anyone knew it, Gu Shengxi was already fourteen years old, and Gu Mingyue was ten years old.

Gu Shengxi and Gu Nianmo had both inherited Gu Jiangming's looks; just from their appearance, both were outstanding in bearing, like fine young gentlemen from a painting.

As for Gu Mingyue, although she was only ten years old now, she had grown into a delicately carved and jade-like girl.

Jiu Jiu did not need to compete with Liu Moran or Wang Qinghe for anything at all; not only was her own strength the greatest, but the sons of Liu Moran and Wang Qinghe both doted on their younger sister, Gu Mingyue, to the heavens.

In this situation, Jiu Jiu simply did not know how she could lose, alright?

"If you break through to the Heavenly Human Realm, your divine ability shouldn't be suppressed anymore, right?"

Hearing Gu Jiangming's words, the three of them stopped their secret skirmishing for a moment, but before Jiu Jiu could speak, Liu Moran spoke a step ahead of her.

She was talking about Gu Jiangming's Merit Karma Fire.

Within the Four Wilds and Eight Desolations today, who did not know that this era was surnamed Gu, and that the most famous divine ability of the Gu Clan Supreme, Gu Jiangming, was his Merit Karma Fire?

This name was not chosen by Gu Jiangming, but was a name unanimously recognized by all the Heaven and Earth Enlightenment in the world.

"It is not that simple; at most, it will only allow me to live for a few more years."

"Merit is gathered from the living beings of the Human Dao, and Karma Fire is born from the sins of Heaven and Earth; the fusion of these two will only exert an increasingly stronger pressure on my body."

"Even if I break through to the Heavenly Human Realm, perhaps I will only have ten thousand years left to live."

Gu Jiangming slowly shook his head; the closer he got to the Heavenly Human Realm, the more Gu Jiangming was able to understand the power of the Heavenly Human Realm.

Not to mention anything else, once at the Heavenly Human Realm, Gu Jiangming would be able to drive the Four Thousand Bureau; in fact, according to Gu Jiangming's current perspective, the Gu Jiangming who drove the Four Thousand Bureau back then had only reached the Heavenly Human Realm.

But the Gu Jiangming of that time could not last long after driving the Four Thousand Bureau before he perished.

Ten thousand years is naturally an unimaginably long time for mortals, but ordinary Heaven and Earth Enlightenment can live for forty-eight thousand years, not to mention that these Heaven and Earth Enlightenment have other means to extend their lives and delay the process of their own transformation into the Dao.

If I could break through to the Supreme Realm, I would be the Dao, and the Dao would be me; I could already live for ninety-eight thousand years.

According to Gu Jiangming's calculations, if there were truly someone in the world who could break through to the Heavenly Human Realm, and break through to the Heavenly Human Realm in the normal way, their lifespan should be four hundred and eighty thousand years.

After four hundred and eighty thousand years, a Heavenly Human would also face the Five Decays of Heaven and Human, and subsequently perish and dissipate into the Dao.

Ten thousand years of time—Gu Jiangming had never lived to such a long age in his several Reincarnations; for Gu Jiangming, ten thousand years was already an inconceivable time node.

"Before breaking through to the Heavenly Human Realm, I need to go and resolve my final Heart Barrier."

"If this hurdle cannot be broken, I cannot make my state of mind complete, let alone break through to the Heavenly Human Realm."

Gu Jiangming looked at the three of them, Jiu Jiu and the others, and then frankly threw out his problem.

As for what kind of state of mind problem it was...

That was naturally Long Xi!

Having agreed on four wives, if one was missing or one was lacking, his, Gu Jiangming's, state of mind would not be considered complete.

On the other side, Wang Qinghe, Jiu Jiu, and Liu Moran looked at each other, a flash of suspicion flickering in their eyes.

They actually felt that Gu Jiangming was finding an excuse for his next actions, but they had no evidence.

"There are still some existences hidden in the shadows of this world; you also know that my Dao is Great Harmony for the world. If I cannot break through to the Heavenly Human Realm, I do not have much confidence in my heart when facing those Old Monsters."

"Take the Qilin Clan for example; the strength of Zhou Kai can be called the Ascension Realm."

"Although Zhou Kai has always been in the Qilin Clan and has never made any unusual moves, if Zhou Kai were to cause trouble, even if our whole family went together, we would not be the opponent's match."

"I need to break through to the Heavenly Human Realm, and only with the Heavenly Human Realm can I protect you well in this era!"

Gu Jiangming pretended not to see the suspicious expressions in the eyes of the three, just speaking his reasons to himself.

Although his heart was divided into four, he, Gu Jiangming, was still a good man who cared about his family and cared about his wives!

But while Gu Jiangming was talking to himself over there, Liu Moran and the others remained silent from beginning to end.

Everyone had come to this era with their memories; to say they did not know about Long Xi would be impossible.

Liu Moran had investigated Gu Jiangming in the previous era, so she naturally knew of Long Xi's existence.

And Wang Qinghe had also experienced the previous era and had also heard of Long Xi.

As for Jiu Jiu, that went without saying; in the future, she had even moved into Gu Jiangming's home with Long Xi.

In the future, she, Jiu Jiu, had to fight Long Xi for a man; in the past, she, Jiu Jiu, had to fight Liu Moran for a man. Liu Moran suddenly felt that her trip this time had been in vain...

At the dinner table, Gu Shengxi and Gu Mingyue were still in a carefree state.

It was Gu Nianmo, on the contrary, who understood at this moment that he might be getting a fourth concubine-mother.

It was just that what Gu Nianmo was struggling with was whether, after his fourth concubine-mother arrived, she would give him a younger sister or a younger brother?

Gu Nianmo's gaze lingered on Gu Shengxi and Gu Mingyue for a moment, and he finally determined that it was indeed better to have another younger sister.

When Gu Shengxi was younger, he knew how to let himself hold him and knew how to follow behind his butt calling him 'older brother'.

Now that he had grown up, Gu Shengxi only knew how to fight with him for their younger sister! The second half of this meal was spent by everyone in silence; even the carefree Gu Mingyue and Gu Shengxi sensed that today's atmosphere seemed unusually wrong.

After the two of them finished their meal in a hurry, Gu Shengxi took Gu Mingyue and slipped away.

As for Gu Nianmo, after a slight hesitation, he finally decided not to get involved in such matters concerning his concubine-mothers.

And it was after this meal that Gu Jiangming did not linger for even a moment, simply turning into a stream of light and flying straight toward the direction of Donghai.

Gu Jiangming did not conceal his tracks, and while the many Heaven and Earth Enlightenment experts active between Heaven and Earth were puzzled as to why Gu Jiangming had left Beidi, they did not think too much of it.

As for taking advantage of Gu Jiangming's absence to plot against the opportunities on the three children of the Gu Clan...

The Heaven and Earth Enlightenment experts who had not yet gone into seclusion or slumber did not have this thought; after all, over the past ten years, Gu Jiangming had used this method to fish for them several times.

There are always those lucky but daring fellows between Heaven and Earth who, upon seeing Gu Jiangming leave Niankong Villa, would naturally try to find ways to make a move on Gu Nianmo and the other two.

But in the past ten years, every single one of these fellows who made a move perished without exception.

As for those Heaven and Earth Enlightenment experts still alive, even if they were given more courage, they should really ponder whether this might be another fishing operation by Gu Jiangming, the fishing Supreme.

On the contrary, only Zhou Kai of the Qilin Clan woke up from seclusion at this moment.

The territory of the Qilin Clan is too close to Beidi, so close that Gu Jiangming and Zhou Kai have clashed with their Qi alone more than ten thousand times over the past ten years.

Gu Jiangming was probing the upper limits of Zhou Kai's strength bit by bit, while Zhou Kai held the mindset of exchanging pointers with Gu Jiangming.

At the very least, Zhou Kai knew at this moment that after Gu Jiangming left and returned, it would be about the time Gu Jiangming completely mastered the Supreme Realm.

By that time, perhaps it would be the moment for a life-or-death battle between him and Gu Jiangming!

It is just that Zhou Kai was not yet prepared; he could indeed temporarily exert the strength of the Heavenly Human realm in Beidi, but that was a form of overdrawing for the Qilin Clan.

Furthermore, Zhou Kai had not yet figured out how to deal with Gu Jiangming's Merit Karma Fire.

Even if Gu Jiangming reached perfection, Zhou Kai still needed to prepare things capable of countering the Merit Karma Fire.

Meanwhile, in the Donghai Dragon Palace, Long Xi was staying in her bedchamber, bored to death.

Ever since Gu Jiangming broke through to the Supreme Realm and became famous in the world, the old Dragon King's mindset had changed, but in the end, he still did not lift the order confining Long Xi.

This left Long Xi able to move only within the Dragon Palace, but for Long Xi, she had seen the scenery of the seabed for too long and was already sick of it.

"Why don't you come to find me?"

"Is it because you don't have memories of me?"

"Or is it that in this era, I have no fate with him at all?"

In Long Xi's bedchamber, Long Xi sat alone before the vanity, and in a moment of trance, she seemed to see the figure of Gu Jiangming.

It was not that she had never thought of sneaking out of the Dragon Palace, but the old Dragon King's strength was not flashy, yet he possessed a strength that somewhat surpassed the Heaven and Earth Enlightenment experts.

On a test out of eighty points, the old Dragon King had achieved eighty-two or eighty-three, not yet the true Supreme Realm of eighty-five points.

This was related to the old Dragon King's own path of cultivation, and it was also the predicament faced by all Heaven and Earth Enlightenment experts who had barely broken their limits.

Although they had done one or two points better, they had to spend a long time grinding for every single point of improvement.

And Long Xi's strength was merely that of a Heaven and Earth Enlightenment expert; the old Dragon King's sensory ability within the Dragon Palace was simply too strong, and even if Gu Jiangming was terrifyingly powerful, the old Dragon King was still unwilling to let his own cabbage go out to find a pig...

Especially after learning that Gu Jiangming had at most eight hundred years left to live, the old Dragon King completely dismissed the idea.

He also craved a grandson with natural anomalies, but craving did not mean he would push his own daughter into a sea of fire; not to mention that he, the old Dragon King, also had the possibility of stepping into the Supreme Realm, and even if there were no such possibility, he would not want to see what Long Xi would become after Gu Jiangming perished eight hundred years later.

The old Dragon King, as a father, truly had his heart broken for Long Xi.

It was just a pity that looking at his daughter's appearance, it was clear that his daughter was unwilling to accept his good intentions.

"Hum..."

Long Xi was here staring blankly at the mirror, while at this moment, above the Donghai, a burst of Qi belonging exclusively to the Supreme Realm suddenly arrived.

Gu Jiangming still wanted to handle the matter with the Dragon Palace peacefully; after all, as a son-in-law, attacking the door without a word was a bit unreasonable...

Throughout the Four Wilds and Eight Desolations, anyone above the Nascent Soul Realm visiting others without cause must first reveal their Qi.

This is to tell the host that a guest has arrived.

It was just that Gu Jiangming's Qi was truly too terrifying; even though Gu Jiangming only slightly revealed his own Qi, at this moment in the Dragon Palace, there was no telling how many shrimp soldiers and crab generals had their legs go soft in an instant.

The Qi of a Supreme, as long as it contains the slightest bit of malice, is impossible to resist for anyone below the Nascent Soul.

"Red Lotus Demon Venerable?"

Accompanied by the revelation of Gu Jiangming's Qi, the old Dragon King's face in the Dragon Palace became incomparably ugly at this moment.

Although the old Dragon King had never figured out when his own cabbage had made contact with Gu Jiangming, this Red Lotus Demon Venerable, and even appeared to have feelings for the Red Lotus Demon Venerable.

But feeling Gu Jiangming's Qi at this moment, the old Dragon King knew even with his butt that the wild boar from outside had come to root up his own cabbage.

As the vast ocean rolled to both sides, revealing a path, an old dragon also manifested his true form at this moment; the old Dragon King's body was over a hundred zhang long, and time had brought the old Dragon King not only old age but also a sense of weight! Compared to the Human Race and even those ordinary races on the land, races like the Dragon Race and the Qilin Clan are born with much longer lifespans.

The moment Gu Jiangming saw the old Dragon King before him, Gu Jiangming had already initially felt that sense of the weight of time on the old Dragon King.

In Gu Jiangming's perception, this old Dragon King's age had likely already exceeded forty thousand years.

And looking at the vitality within this old Dragon King, this old Dragon King likely had tens of thousands of years left to live!

It was not that Gu Jiangming intended to explore the old Dragon King's age, but Gu Jiangming's train of thought had wandered slightly; he was wondering, just how old was Long Xi?

Or rather, was the old Dragon King old in age but not in spirit? "Red Lotus Demon Venerable, why have you come into my Dragon Race territory?"

"My Dragon Race has long resided in the sea, and from beginning to end, we have never participated in the slaughter of you land races; the Dragon Race has no feud with you Human Race!"

The old Dragon King looked at Gu Jiangming before him, his dragon eyes, the size of houses, filled with gravity; only by truly facing this Red Lotus Demon Venerable could the old Dragon King feel just how powerful Gu Jiangming was.

It was just that at this moment, the old Dragon King still held a trace of wishful thinking in his heart.

He hoped in his heart that Gu Jiangming was probably, perhaps, maybe not here for his daughter Long Xi, right? (End of chapter)