Azure Profound Sect, Purple Bamboo Peak!
Gu Changge leaned back on a long chair crafted from thousand-year-old purple bamboo. His plain white robe draped casually over the ground, while his thoughtful gaze fell upon Lingxi, who was cultivating not far away.
The young girl wore a tight-fitting martial outfit, sitting upright and cross-legged on a bluestone platform. Spiritual energy flowed around her like a gentle stream.
As she circulated the Heaven Devouring Dao Art, a faint trace of golden imperial aura occasionally leaked from the depths of her sea of consciousness. It condensed into faintly discernible patterns in the morning light. That was the unique mark belonging to Empress Lingxi of the Tianlan Great World. Even after reincarnating, the imperial sharpness in her bones could not be concealed.
Gu Changge slowly took a bite of a spirit fruit. The sweet juice melted in his mouth, but his eyes gradually grew profound.
He recalled the scene he had previously glimpsed with his Divine Eye of Insight: after Lingxi reached the peak of the Great Emperor realm in her previous life, in order to pursue a higher realm, she used her supreme imperial body to forcefully shake the realm barrier, forcibly tearing open a rift within the violent space-time storm.
However, just as she was about to step into the legendary Immortal Domain, a dazzling golden blade of law light suddenly slashed out from the rift.
That was absolutely not the ordinary repulsive force of a realm, but a chilling killing intent containing deliberate targeting. It instantly pierced through her imperial body, nearly causing even her immortal divine soul to completely dissipate.
"A peak Great Emperor is capable of withstanding realm storms, so how could she fail to block a single law from the Immortal Domain?"
At the same time, he thought of his own master, Daoist Zizhu!
The world barrier was so sturdy that a peak Great Emperor had to rely on a powerful imperial body and supreme mighty force to open a spatial rift. Yet, his master had traversed the great worlds merely by relying on the Chaos Realm Crystal.
But if the Chaos Realm Crystal truly possessed such power, why was it left behind in a secret realm of the Xuanhuang Great World? And why was it coincidentally found by his master?
Clouds of doubt rose in Gu Changge's heart as his fingertips unconsciously stroked the smooth skin of the spirit fruit.
According to the cultivation logic of the Xuanhuang Great World, cultivators at the Great Emperor realm had already touched the essence of the world's rules. Even if the laws of the Immortal Domain were stronger, they should still have the power to contend with them, rather than being killed in a single strike.
No, this question must be solved. In case he went to the Immortal Realm in the future and encountered a similar situation, it was better to figure it out in advance.
He subconsciously called out to the system in his mind, his tone carrying a bit of inquiry, "System, analyze the reason why Lingxi was slain by the laws of the Immortal Domain in her previous life. Why were the laws of the Immortal Domain so abnormally violent?"
"Ding! This system is a sign-in system and only provides services related to sign-in rewards. It does not accept consultations for 'a hundred thousand whys'. The truth of the world needs to be explored by the host yourself. Please do not rely on the system."
The mechanical notification sound rang out in his mind, carrying its usual business-like tone.
Gu Changge raised an eyebrow. "You always drop the ball at crucial moments. Other than giving away cultivation bases and imperial weapons, you act just like an accountant who only knows how to slack off."
Complaints aside, he was not the least bit angry.
With his cultivation at the peak of the Great Emperor realm, he did not need to rely on the system to answer his doubts anyway. Since the system refused to speak, he would investigate it himself.
Gu Changge slowly closed his eyes, and the imperial might that was originally restrained around him quietly dispersed.
There were no earth-shattering phenomena, only a very faint wisp of azure light spilling from between his eyebrows. Like a stone thrown into a calm lake, it rippled outward in invisible circles, spreading along the spiritual energy veins of Purple Bamboo Peak at a speed imperceptible to the naked eye.
This wisp of divine sense easily broke through spatial restrictions, sweeping across the various states of the Eastern Region in an instant and heading toward the other great regions.
In just a few breaths, Gu Changge's divine sense had become like an invisible yet incredibly dense giant net, entirely enveloping the mountains, rivers, and all living beings of the entire Xuanhuang Great World.
At first, he did not notice any abnormalities. Although the concentration of spiritual energy in the air was not as rich and vast as recorded in the ancient era, it still maintained a basic, stable circulation. Cultivators from the major factions were still breathing and cultivating step by step, and everything seemed to be in perfect order.
But when he focused his perception on the deeper level of the world's origin, his brows slowly furrowed.
In his perception, the origin of the Xuanhuang Great World should have been a boundless, majestic ocean of energy with vibrant dao resonance, beating powerfully like a heart. It was the foundation of life that supported all cultivators in breaking through their realms and maintained the operation of the world.
Yet at this moment, that ocean of origin actually presented an unsettling state—it was evaporating at an extremely slow speed!
It was not a sudden loss, but rather as if its life force was being continuously extracted by countless invisible, fine needles.
Every time a trace of origin power was stripped away, it carried a faint, indescribable sense of exhaustion. The originally bright and vibrant light of dao resonance also grew dim, its vitality greatly diminished.
This was just like a towering ancient tree. It might look lush and leafy on the outside, but its inner roots were being quietly gnawed away by borers, its life force slipping away bit by bit.
Right at this moment, his divine sense swept past an extremely secluded sect forbidden ground in the Central Region.
There was an old cultivator with completely white hair at his temples and deep wrinkles. He had been stuck at the peak of the Great Sage realm for thousands of years. At this moment, he was burning his remaining lifespan, doing his utmost to assault the barrier of the Quasi-Emperor realm he had dreamed of.
Vast spiritual power surged through his dried-up meridians, drawing upon the surrounding world's origin power in an attempt to nourish and temper his foundation, which had already developed cracks.
However, the origin power surging into his body carried a distinct sense of sluggishness. Like rusted gears, it was difficult to perfectly fuse with his own power.
In the end, he fell short of success at the last stage. The powerful backlash force caused him to cough up a mouthful of dark golden sage blood. His aura instantly withered, and his eyes were filled with despair and unwillingness.
This scene, like the final piece of a puzzle, made Gu Changge instantly understand!
The reason no one in the Xuanhuang Great World had proven their dao to become a Great Emperor for tens of thousands of years was not at all because the cultivators of this realm lacked talent or comprehension. Rather, it was because a problem had long since occurred with this world's origin!
The continuous loss of the origin led to a massive decline in the world's carrying capacity.
The origin power required to communicate with and absorb at the Great Emperor realm far exceeded that of any other realm. Now that the origin's vitality was insufficient and its total amount was continuously decreasing, it was like a piece of increasingly barren land that could no longer nurture towering trees.
Even if someone with stunning and brilliant talent touched the threshold of the Great Emperor realm, they would fail due to the lack of sufficiently powerful and vibrant origin power to support them. They might even cause their dao foundation to shatter and die a Dao-vanishing death from forcibly assaulting the realm!
Gu Changge suddenly opened his eyes. The depths of his eyes no longer held lazy indifference; instead, a sharp light that pierced through eternity flashed past.
Where exactly was the life origin of this world—which had nurtured countless living beings and carried eternal legends—flowing to?
And who possessed such heaven-defying means to continuously extract the foundation of a great world without making a sound?
He stared at an invisible point in the void, his gaze bottomlessly deep, as if wanting to pierce through layer upon layer of spatial barriers and endless planes to directly reach the hidden source of the truth.
An incense stick of time later, Gu Changge withdrew his divine sense, his expression somewhat gloomy.
"It seems," he muttered to himself in a low voice, his tone calm yet carrying an unquestionable decisiveness.
"I need to find some time to personally pay a 'visit' to these neighbors who don't understand the rules and have unclean hands."
ts me of treason?" "Correct. The host must return to the capital and gradually build up influence." "Wait—I have half a million soldiers, and you want me to go back to the capital to 'build influence'?" "Host, you are currently the Northern Garrison General, loyal to the Great Xia Dynasty." "Of course I am loyal to Great Xia! Absolutely loyal!" "But you keep referring to yourself as 'We'..." "Never mind the details! Summon all the regional commanders and military officers! We suspect treacherous officials are manipulating the court! They shall march with Us to the capital and purge the corrupt!" "......"
s + Rent Collection Wealth】 At the start, he inherited a rundown house in the urban village from his grandfather. The house had no tenants, but the moment he was diagnosed with a terminal illness, a self-proclaimed empress from the Tianxuan Continent arrived as his first tenant. Ye Chuan soon discovered that with every new tenant moving in, not only did he receive massive daily payments, but he also obtained unique items related to their backgrounds. 【Acquired Bai Qianshuang’s related item: Tiger Strength Pill—dramatically enhances physical power!】 【Acquired Bai Qianshuang’s related item: Deer Blood Pill—significantly boosts vitality!】 …… From that day on, all sorts of bizarre tenants began appearing in the house: the empress from Tianxuan Continent, an apocalyptic sorceress from the Magic Realm, a mysterious scientific girl who fell through a spacetime rift… Every single day, he received strange, powerful items and endless money. Then one day, he suddenly realized—he had become invincible. Enough, enough! Stop giving me more!
ive and Ruthless] Before his transmigration, Ye Xuan was playing a game called "Severing Emotions to Attain the Dao." The game's core wasn't about leveling up by fighting monsters, but about conquering various "bad women" with wicked personalities and cold, fickle natures. There was only one method to conquer them: stay unwaveringly by their side, then die at a critical moment, driving them to madness after losing the protagonist. The higher their level of regret, the higher the player's score. To dominate the server, Ye Xuan conquered all the bad women. In the early stages, he showered them with boundless tenderness, only to choose to sacrifice himself for them later, making them weep bitterly and drown in regret. Among them were: Xia Lengyue, the unfaithful immortal wife who chased after powerful men and discarded her husband like trash. Ye Qingcheng, the Demonic Venerable of the Joyous Union Sect, who appeared pure and innocent but was, in reality, promiscuous. Wu Lingxiao, the Empress of the Great Xia Dynasty, who lusted after men and loved maintaining a harem. Bai Qiangu of the Endless Demonic Sect: a bloodthirsty mass murderer. However, when the protagonist transmigrated into the game world, he made a horrifying discovery. Eight hundred years had already passed. The bad women he had conquered had now each become deities and revered ancestors. Faced with the endless stream of toxic women coming for him, Ye Xuan could only rely on his god-tier acting skills to carve a path of survival through this world of treacherous women.
nd fell into a coma while saving his younger sister from an out-of-control car. He became a vegetable. No one knew that his consciousness had crossed into a world of cultivation. Over the course of sixty years, he began as the lowest kind of mine slave, struggling to survive amid mountains of corpses and seas of blood. By sheer chance, he eventually obtained the complete memories of a fallen Immortal King. Alchemy, medicine, formations, feng shui, physiognomy, artifact forging… Every great inheritance of the cultivation world was now his. But when he opened his eyes again, he discovered that ten full years had passed in the modern world. To pay for his treatment, his father had sold the family’s shop and house, leaving himself covered in lasting injuries and illness. His mother had cared for him day and night, and more than half of her hair had already turned white. His younger sister, who had been only fifteen back then, was now twenty-five. To help repay the family’s debts, she had been forced to lower her head and put on a smiling face in places of glittering lights and endless revelry. Only then did Chen Xuan understand that what he had lost was not merely ten years. He had lost the life his entire family was meant to have. The good news was that he had brought back the memories of an Immortal King’s entire lifetime. The bad news was that his soul had returned alone—his cultivation had not come with him. Spiritual energy was scarce, resources were depleted, and the modern world still had firearms, surveillance, capital, and laws. If he wanted to protect his family, break free from everyone’s control, and become truly invincible beneath the heavens, he would have to start all over again.
