Friends Coming from Afar

"Gu Qingfeng! You... make her stop!"

Gu Qingfeng paused slightly. "This venerable one doesn’t recall ever telling you my name. How did you know it?"

"It was the... the Netherworld’s Prefect who..."

"Stop for now."

Gu Qingfeng called off the little corpse demon, allowing Luo Li to finally catch her breath. Her beautiful eyes glared at the two with fury.

"What exactly did your father tell you?"

"If you let me go... I’ll talk. Stop, and I’ll tell you everything."

"He said the Great Contention Era arrived early this time because the Outer Realm Fiends are invading the Cangming Realm. The Heavenly Dao, in self-preservation, initiated the Great Contention Era to select a Heavenly Emperor to face the calamity. Later, they joined forces to divine the reason for the fiends’ invasion—and the divination led to you. They believe you may be the key to resolving the calamity!"

Hearing this, Gu Qingfeng froze completely, as if struck by overwhelming joy.

A single thought filled his mind: Are my fiendish bros coming to meet me in person!?

No wonder the Immortal Divine Emperor mentioned something about fiends back then—so that’s what it was!

"Keh keh keh..." Gu Qingfeng couldn’t suppress his laughter. "This is just too perfect!"

Luo Li watched his near-manic glee with unease, finding it deeply unsettling.

"What... what are you laughing about? This is an invasion by fiends—a cataclysmic disaster! The slightest misstep, and the entire Cangming Realm could be destroyed!"

"Laughing? Haven’t you heard the saying, ‘Is it not a joy to have friends come from afar?’ My dear friends are coming to visit—why wouldn’t I be happy?"

Luo Li was now convinced Gu Qingfeng was a madman. If fiends counted as his friends, what else could he be but insane?

"I’ve told you everything I know. Now let me go."

"Let you go? Dream on."

......

Happy times never last long. A day later.

Gu Qingfeng had obtained a portion of the Samsara Immortal Physique’s essence. He had tried taking it all, but an Immortal Physique was, after all, a manifestation of the Dao itself—unless he killed Luo Li, complete extraction was impossible.

Killing her was out of the question. A girl this unhinged was far too rare to dispose of so easily.

This partial essence was only acquired when he caught Luo Li off-guard in a moment of distraction.

Still, it was enough.

With the vast treasuries of both the Heavenly Court and the Netherworld’s top-tier imperial sects at his disposal, replenishing the rest would be trivial.

After handing Luo Li over to the little corpse demon, Gu Qingfeng went into seclusion to cultivate.

He knew countless people were searching for him outside—perfect timing to lay low and refine his gains.

He produced a branch, its body shimmering gold and translucent, as if liquid light flowed within.

This was the Golden Jade Immortal Branch, a peerless natural treasure, second only to the Elixir of Immortality in value. A single segment like this would spark blood-soaked battles in the outside world, drawing even Heavenly Venerates into the fray.

With a light snap, Gu Qingfeng broke the branch in half. Golden, honey-like liquid oozed out, accompanied by an intoxicating fragrance.

He quickly brought it to his lips, swallowing every drop.

The moment the liquid entered his body, an unimaginable surge of medicinal energy erupted.

He immediately activated the Immortal-Demon Body Refining Art, voraciously absorbing the energy to replenish and strengthen his Samsara Immortal Physique.

Once the Golden Jade Immortal Branch’s power was exhausted, he consumed the Ten Thousand Spirits Blood—a fusion of essence blood from ten thousand rare spirit beasts, another treasure of equal rank.

He used these priceless resources without hesitation. At his level, such treasures were practically expendable.

Three days later.

After depleting a staggering amount of resources, Gu Qingfeng finally completed the Samsara Immortal Physique and successfully merged it into his Chaos Embryo.

Yet, the Chaos Embryo still hadn’t ascended into a true Chaos Body—a frustrating setback.

The Chaos Body was peerless in potential, but its resource demands were absurd. Even with the Immortal-Demon Body Refining Art, most imperial sects would struggle to forge one even if they exhausted their entire wealth.

Still, this gave Gu Qingfeng an epiphany: Immortal Physiques were the finest nourishment for forging a Chaos Body. A single one could drastically shorten the process.

The only problem? Immortal Physiques were rarer than Quasi-Emperors.

Most Quasi-Emperors didn’t possess one. By nature, Immortal Physiques were the domain of Heavenly Emperors—those who had walked their path to its absolute limit, transforming their bodies into manifestations of the Dao.

This was why every Heavenly Emperor inherently possessed an Immortal Physique.

In short: Heavenly Emperors transcended mortality, and so did their bodies—no longer mortal, but embodiments of the Dao, hence "Immortal Physiques."

Later Immortal Physiques were painstakingly reverse-engineered by prodigies over millennia, borrowing from the Heavenly Emperors’ paths through ingenious but roundabout methods.

Of course, among these heaven-defying prodigies was also the Heavenly Emperor.

The Heavenly Emperor was human too, and like any human, he had descendants for whom he naturally sought benefits.

"It seems I’ll have to inquire about which families possess a Celestial Body after leaving here—find an opportunity to borrow one," Gu Qingfeng murmured to himself.

This cycle of the Reincarnation Celestial Body had strengthened his power once more, bringing him to the verge of the Heavenly Sovereign realm.

He could now contend with a One-Star Sovereign.

The Heavenly Sovereign realm was divided into one to nine stars, with each star representing a Law—a Dao. Heavenly Sovereigns had already touched upon the Laws and could wield their power.

When Laws condensed into stars within the body, and nine stars fused to forge one’s own Dao, one became a Quasi-Emperor!

Upon reaching the pinnacle of one’s Dao and bearing the Mandate of Heaven, one ascended as the Heavenly Emperor!

The gap between the Heavenly Sovereign realm and the Heavenly Venerable realm was immense. No matter how many Heavenly Venerables there were, they could never defeat a Sovereign, because while one cultivated raw power, the other cultivated the Laws—fundamentally different.

Only a Sovereign—or a Celestial Body—could defeat a Sovereign, for a Celestial Body was also a manifestation of the Dao.

But now, there was one more exception: Gu Qingfeng.

Having fused with the Reincarnation Celestial Body, he could now wield the Law of Reincarnation—the Dao of Samsara—in its simplest form, granting him the power to rival a One-Star Sovereign.