Comprehensive Launch

Gu Chengyin's eyes lit up. He immediately took Gu Xiaoli's small hand and said, "Let's go, take me to have a look."

The two navigated through the vast jungle of bookshelves. Gu Xiaoli knew the layout here like the back of her hand; her steps were brisk and precise, without the slightest hesitation.

After weaving through numerous turns, they stopped in front of a row of bookshelves that looked particularly ancient.

Most of the books and scrolls here were dark in color and made of peculiar materials, exuding a strong, archaic aura.

Following Gu Xiaoli's guidance, Gu Chengyin quickly took down an ancient book wrapped in some kind of brown animal skin from the exact spot she mentioned.

"Is this the one?" Gu Chengyin looked at Gu Xiaoli.

Gu Xiaoli nodded.

Gu Chengyin carefully held the book, walked over to a long desk, and slowly opened it under the light of the bright crystal embedded in the desk.

Past the title page were a few lines of a title written in ancient characters.

Gu Chengyin carefully deciphered it and read softly:

"A Brief Examination of the Lost History of the Qingyun Immortal Clan... the Qingyun Immortal Clan?"

Beside him, Gu Xiaoli tilted her small face up, looked at the title, and said in her uniquely calm tone, "The Qingyun Immortal Clan recorded in this book has some connection with the Azure Sword Sect that Sister Yunying comes from."

"I feel that this might be very suitable for your needs, brother."

Although Gu Xiaoli's wording was cautious, Gu Chengyin could hear the implicit certainty in it.

Gu Xiaoli's feelings were built on the cross-referencing of massive amounts of information and logical deduction, making their credibility extremely high.

Moreover, it actually had a connection with Shangguan Yunying's Azure Sword Sect?

Gu Chengyin reached out and rubbed Gu Xiaoli's soft hair, saying in a gentle tone, "Thank you, Xiaoli. You've really done me a huge favor."

Feeling the warm touch on top of her head, Gu Xiaoli's eyelashes fluttered. The corners of her mouth curved up in an extremely subtle arc, and the light in her eyes brightened a little.

After praising Gu Xiaoli, Gu Chengyin focused his attention on the ancient text in his hands.

The pages were made of some specially crafted resilient paper with a strange texture. Although the ink on them was ancient, it was still clear.

The opening described an incredibly glorious ancient family, the Qingyun Immortal Clan, with highly epic brushstrokes.

According to the records, this clan existed in an ancient golden age of the immortal path whose specific era was hard to trace.

It could be said that immortals walked everywhere in the clan, and Mahayana realm experts were as common as dogs. It was one of the absolute pinnacle factions of that era.

And the core inheritance of the Qingyun Immortal Clan was a supreme cultivation method named the Qingyun Art.

The book described in an almost mythological tone that this art was a top-tier Heaven-rank cultivation method that pointed directly to the origin of the Great Dao. As long as one could understand and learn it, they would definitely ascend and become an immortal.

Seeing this, Gu Chengyin's heart trembled violently.

A Heaven-rank cultivation method that guarantees ascending to immortality?

This description was absurdly powerful. In an era where even the Golden Core realm had become a legend, such a record seemed more like an illusory myth.

Immediately after, the book mentioned the connection with the Azure Sword Sect.

It turned out that the Azure Sword Art, which was the ultimate guarding technique of the Azure Sword Sect, was actually just a fragmented sword manual from the Qingyun Art.

The book hinted that perhaps an ancient figure with an affinity to the Qingyun Immortal Clan accidentally obtained this fragmented sword manual, comprehended a superficial fraction of it, and then founded the Azure Sword Sect.

In a sense, the Azure Sword Sect couldn't even be considered outer disciples of the Qingyun Immortal Clan. At most, they were lucky individuals who had inadvertently obtained a scrap of the immortal clan's inheritance.

However, the latter half of the ancient text took a sharp turn.

The reasons for the Qingyun Immortal Clan's sudden disappearance into the long river of history were even more vague, as if they had been forcibly cut off by an invisible power.

There were only some ambiguous words, with no further detailed descriptions.

The once-glorious Qingyun Immortal Clan seemed to have evaporated overnight, leaving behind only scattered legends and this Brief Examination of Lost History written by an unknown author.

Although the doubts in Gu Chengyin's heart grew deeper, he had no time to investigate further at the moment.

He turned to the last page of the ancient text.

The material of this page was slightly different from the previous ones. The color was more of a pale gold, and the texture was smoother and warmer.

The contents recorded on the page made Gu Chengyin widen his eyes.

There were no words.

There was only a string of bizarre, complex symbols brimming with Daoist charm.

These symbols were not any script he knew. They twisted and coiled, looking like runes but not quite, like patterns but not quite, exuding an ancient and desolate aura.

They were arranged on the page in a unique rhythm. Just looking at them made one feel dizzy, as if one's divine sense was going to be sucked into them.

This feeling was just like when he saw the Mechanics Manuscript of Big Shot Qian in his past life.

He completely couldn't understand it, but he knew with absolute clarity that it contained the majestic power of the Great Dao's truth.

Some people even joked, "The Heaven-rank cultivation method is right here, why don't you all learn it?"

In reality, just being able to understand a Heaven-rank cultivation method already made one a dragon among mortals, one in a hundred million.

Just as Gu Chengyin's mind was completely captivated by this string of bizarre symbols, and he tried to use his system-enhanced perception to comprehend even a tiny fraction of its profound mysteries...

A sudden change occurred!

A semi-transparent system pop-up abruptly jumped out in the very center of his vision, blocking the ancient book and everything around him:

[Detected eligible high-dimensional information carrier]

[Analyzing...]

[Confirmed: Original Dao Mark Imprint (Dimensionality-Reduced Record Version)]

[Conditions met]

[System fully activated]

Gu Chengyin's pupils shrank drastically, and his heart seemed to stop beating.

System fully activated?

Could it be that the previous one was just a semi-finished product?

He forcefully suppressed the stormy waves in his heart and focused his thoughts on the newly appeared system interface.

Quickly browsing through the core instructions, a fiery light burst from his eyes.

The core mechanics of this fully activated new system shared similarities with his existing system, but its scope and potential were far grander.

According to the system instructions:

The heavenly book symbols on the last page of the ancient text were the recorded Dao marks of the top-tier Heaven-rank cultivation method, the Qingyun Art.

They had now been analyzed by the system and perfectly integrated into his memory and understanding.

The Azure Sword Art he had previously learned from Shangguan Yunying had now become the sword technique portion of the Qingyun Art.

At the same time, after reaching the Golden Core realm, the fully activated system would no longer be bound to his personal official position and influence.

Instead, it would be tied to the status and influence of the family or sect he founded.

The judging criteria remained the same as before.

The higher the status of the family or sect in the cultivation world, the higher his personal realm would be.

The stronger the influence of the family or sect in the cultivation world, the stronger his personal strength would be.

However, there was an important prerequisite: he must reach the Golden Core realm.

Before the Golden Core realm, it would still be linked to his personal official position and influence.

Moreover, the system was originally intended to fully unlock only after the Golden Core realm.

It was only because it encountered the Qingyun Art that it was activated early.

In these system instructions, Gu Chengyin keenly noticed the crucial points.

The highest known realm in the Great Luo Dynasty right now was Foundation Establishment, but there was a hidden Golden Core realm.

Yet the system spoke of status and influence in the cultivation world.

Could this cultivation world...

not be referring to the Great Luo Dynasty?