Demonic Immortal Emperor's Aura

Subsequently, Gu Changyuan also visited the Gongsun, Xuanyuan, and Shangguan celestial families.

Because the Xuanyuan family had suffered fewer losses in the ancient imperial court wars than the others, the last surviving members of the Dugu family had taken shelter within the Xuanyuan secret realm.

Upon arriving at each celestial family’s secret realm, Gu Changyuan’s first task was to exchange intelligence.

Then, as expected, he extended an invitation for them to join the Heavenly Court.

Since the Zhuge family had already agreed to join, the other four families were less hesitant about Gu Changyuan’s invitation.

Among the five families, the Zhuge family’s ability for celestial deduction was the strongest. If Zhuge Xuanji believed joining the Heavenly Court was the right choice, then that choice would most likely not be wrong.

This was not blind followership—it was trust.

Countless years of cooperation and countless life-and-death struggles had forged a bond among the five families that transcended interests, almost like the ties of blood.

After a brief deliberation, three of the families agreed to join.

The family with the least hesitation was, of course, the Dugu family.

More than ten thousand members of the Dugu family had fallen, leaving fewer than fifty people. The vast majority had perished in battle against the imperial court.

From their peak of prosperity ten thousand years ago to their current tragic state, the Dugu family’s blood had nearly run dry.

Of the remaining fifty, half were young descendants—the last embers of the Dugu bloodline.

The arrangements for the five families were similar to those of the Zhuge family:

The young members would go to the Heavenly Court, while the Immortal Emperors and Immortal Kings marked by the imperial court would continue to hide in the secret realms.

Having settled everything, Gu Changyuan returned to the Heavenly Court.

Days passed, one after another; years passed, one after another.

Thus, eight years went by.

During these eight years, a great event occurred in the Nine Heavens Realm.

The Heavenly Dao of the Nine Heavens Realm suddenly bestowed a celestial blessing upon the Sacred Land of the Heavenly Beings.

The spiritual veins of the Sacred Land surged several times in power due to this blessing, and the spiritual energy rose accordingly.

The Celestial Demon Pavilion and the Heavenly Demon Sect were also affected.

Though they were not the direct recipients of the blessing, the changes in the Sacred Land influenced the distribution of spiritual energy and the rhythm of the Heavenly Dao throughout the Nine Heavens Realm. As a result, the spiritual veins of both the Celestial Demon Pavilion and the Heavenly Demon Sect grew to varying degrees.

While not as dramatic as the Sacred Land’s transformation, it was enough to excite the disciples of both sects for a long time.

Gu Xing’er, Jun Anshi, and Jun Mukong also successfully ascended during these years.

Over these eight years, other disciples from the three major powers who had reached the peak of Tribulation Transcendence also ascended one after another—from the Sacred Land of the Heavenly Beings, the Celestial Demon Pavilion, and the Heavenly Demon Sect.

Their arrival increased the Heavenly Court’s population from less than a thousand to several thousand. The mountain peaks, once empty, now had bustling pavilions; the training grounds, once sparse, were now filled with figures.

With the gradual settlement of the five families of the Central Continent and the Star Clan, the entire Heavenly Court was far livelier than it had been at the beginning.

The Heavenly City was also under continuous construction and improvement during these years.

The five designated vassal families dared not slack off, and the elders sent by the Heavenly Court conducted inspections every so often.

Whenever problems were found, they were pointed out immediately and had to be resolved within a set time. If not, those responsible were replaced.

Now, the Heavenly City was no longer the filthy, chaotic city it had been during the Lan Yu Celestial Sect’s era.

The streets were wide and flat, lined with rows of shops.

Order had been reestablished in the city, with strict laws and clear rewards and punishments.

The Heavenly City changed every day—a new street here, a tower there, an additional layer of formation patterns on the city walls the next day.

Gradually, the Heavenly City became a frequent destination for the Heavenly Court’s disciples.

Not for missions or official business, but for leisure—shopping, eating, and having fun.

The city gates bustled with a constant stream of people, a lively scene.

Thus, another two years passed.

A full decade had gone by, and the Heavenly Court operated in an orderly manner without attracting attention from other powers—especially the imperial court.

This was exactly the effect Gu Changyuan had wanted: low-key development, silently amassing strength. By the time the imperial court realized what was happening, the Heavenly Court would be too large for them to handle.

After Jun Anshi ascended to the Heavenly Court, though she longed to quickly search for Xuan Xu, she understood that the Heavenly Court could not yet draw the attention of too many other powers.

The Heavenly Court needed time—time to accumulate strength, time to wait.

So she restrained herself, devoted herself to cultivation day and night without rest.

She was waiting for the moment when she could openly seek him.

Over these ten years, the cultivation feedback from over a dozen Immortal Emperors remained in a state of "ongoing feedback" and had not yet reached Gu Changyuan.

This wasn’t because of a system malfunction; it was due to the Immortal Emperors’ cultivation being so vast that ten years was utterly insufficient.

Back in the Nine Heavens Realm, even the feedback from Zhuge Dancheng and others took about twenty years to complete. Later, upon reaching the Immortal Realm and unsealing his cultivation, that feedback had pushed him directly to the Immortal King realm.

For Immortal Emperors, the feedback naturally takes much longer—ten years is far from enough.

Another calm and peaceful day arrived.

The sun shone warmly; the sky was clear and cloudless.

The Heavenly Court’s disciples trained as usual, and the Heavenly City operated normally. Everything was as ordinary as ever, so tranquil that it made one want to doze.

Gu Changyuan lay as usual on his rocking chair in the backyard of the Heavenly Palace.

He had been lying there all morning and planned to continue until the afternoon.

Then—

Two powerful bloody auras appeared without warning above the Heavenly Court.

The moment those auras emerged, the entire sky of the Heavenly Court changed color.

Gu Changyuan sprang to his feet.

As rose, his right hand was already raised, fingers spread, and several beams of spiritual light shot from his palm, precisely embedding into the cores of the various defensive formations across the Heavenly Court.

“Hum—”

Multiple defensive grand formations activated simultaneously.

Gu Changyuan hovered in the air, his gaze locked onto the sources of the two bloody auras.

He could sense their cultivation levels—both were Immortal Emperors.

If this had been back in the Nine Heavens Realm, the sudden appearance of two Immortal Emperors’ auras might have worried him.

But now, as an Immortal King, he did not believe he would lose to an Immortal Emperor.

As a last resort, he could summon other Immortal Emperors for help.

Furthermore, the auras did not feel like those of the imperial court’s Immortal Emperors, nor did they seem hostile—more like they were passing through.

Still, Gu Changyuan did not let his guard down.

The auras of these two individuals clearly came from a path of blood and corpses—their murderous intent was not cultivated but earned through slaughter.

Moreover, their presence carried the traces of demonic energy.

The appearance of the two bloody auras naturally drew the attention of all the Heavenly Court’s disciples.

They looked up and saw their master already hovering above the Heavenly Court.

Gu Changyuan’s thirty-three disciples also stepped forward, their expressions stern, ready for battle.

Gu Changyuan raised his right hand slightly, and nine swords instantly materialized above the Heavenly Court, poised to counter any potential danger.

It was then—

A female voice resounded across the entire Heavenly Court.

The voice was crisp and bright, carrying a tone of pleasant surprise that seemed to say “I didn’t expect to find this here.”

Though it was not loud, it had incredible penetrating power—it broke through the three layers of defensive formations, pierced the edge of the nine-sword formation, cut through the stagnant air above the Heavenly Court, and clearly reached every listener’s ears.

“Oh? The Nine Swords Formation?”