It was night, under a dark moon.
High above the Cloud End.
A man in white robes sat cross-legged in the void at this very moment.
His sleeves fluttered sharply in the fierce winds of the Cloud End, his black hair dancing wildly across his stern face.
After hiding the Yunxia Sect, Gu Qingfeng had shared a few drinks with Huode before directly leaping up to the Cloud End to cultivate.
All cultivators knew that the winds above the Cloud End were extremely savage. These were the natural order's fierce winds, also known as the natural order's black winds. Not only were they immensely powerful, but also highly unstable. Forget Golden Core adepts; even Nascent Soul adepts could have their physical bodies instantly torn to shreds if they weren't careful.
Of course.
This was the case for other cultivators.
For Gu Qingfeng, he didn't even spare a glance for these so-called fierce winds. There was no special reason for cultivating above the Cloud End; it was purely a habit.
Back when he cultivated in this world, he had offended too many people. Cultivation couldn't be disturbed, and most importantly, he feared being hunted down by enemies. Thus, he had no choice but to cultivate above the Cloud End. Over time, this habit had formed.
Now, after being judged by the Heavenly Dao and awakening in his homeland, stepping onto the Cloud End to cultivate again brought a rather nostalgic feeling.
Since his awakening, he had never truly cultivated properly. This was the first time.
At this moment, he was meticulously examining his physical body.
His physical body—whether skin, bones, tendons, meridians, blood, or even his internal organs—had all been tempered by the Nine Underworlds Flame in the past, making it a supreme physique. Previously, during his Foundation Establishment, the Great Natural Order had bestowed upon him the Endless Multicolors, imbuing his skin, bones, tendons, and blood with the breath of the natural order's multicolors.
When he first established his foundation, he had used his own Nine Underworlds breath as the basis, forming what could be called a Nether Flame foundation.
Although the Great Natural Order had bestowed the Endless Multicolors, altering his foundation somewhat, Gu Qingfeng had always sealed it with his Nether Flame.
As he carefully inspected his foundation, he discovered a serious problem.
The breath of the natural order's multicolors within his foundation seemed to contain life, actually growing autonomously, and the speed of its growth was astonishingly fast.
Simultaneously, his physical body and spiritual power were also influenced by the natural order's multicolors, becoming increasingly formidable.
For others, this might be a heaven-sent boon.
Even for Gu Qingfeng, it was the same.
After all, a stronger foundation meant his physical body and spiritual power grew along with it.
And this was while he had been sealing the natural order's multicolors with his Nether Flame. Once he opened the seal, allowing his physical body and spiritual power to fully merge with the natural order's multicolors, even Gu Qingfeng himself didn't know to what extent he would grow.
No one disliked becoming stronger.
Gu Qingfeng was no exception.
It was just that this Endless Multicolors thing ultimately belonged to the Mother of Nature, part of the laws of the Great Natural Order.
Among the Three Thousand Great Daos, not a single one was easy to provoke.
Gu Qingfeng had already provoked the Immortal and Monster Daos, and the Heavenly Dao. He really didn't want to go and provoke this damned Natural Order Dao.
He didn't seek trouble, but trouble from the Natural Order Dao came knocking anyway.
And it even shoved this Endless Multicolors into him.
What exactly this thing was, Gu Qingfeng still hadn't figured it out.
Without overthinking, he immediately entered his Sea of Consciousness.
Every person, and indeed any living being between heaven and earth, possessed their own Sea of Consciousness.
The existence of the Sea of Consciousness was a kind of spiritual world.
Everything about a person existed in the Sea of Consciousness in a spiritual form: various memories, various spiritual breaths, various experiences—even thoughts you had conceived could be found within the Sea of Consciousness...
The mysteries of the Sea of Consciousness were endless.
And unimaginable.
Gu Qingfeng's Sea of Consciousness was chaotic...
Various spiritual breaths, various spirits, various thoughts—Judgment Breath, Throne Breath, Immortal and Demon Breath, Nine Underworlds Breath, along with the Spirit of Fearlessness, the Spirit of Great Freedom, all sorts of random thoughts—it had everything.
Extremely chaotic, like countless billions of stars densely packed together.
At this moment, within his chaotic Sea of Consciousness, something like a violet-tinged flame seemed to be burning.
This was the Nether Flame foundation he had established.
The Nether Flame blazed fiercely, much more vigorous than when he first established his foundation. Within the Nether Flame, one could faintly see various colors also burning inside. They resembled multicolored hues, but even more like a lotus of countless colors, blooming boundlessly.
This was the multicolors the Great Natural Order had forced upon him.
Gu Qingfeng considered himself fairly knowledgeable about the Natural Order Dao. Although before the Great Calamity, the natural order didn't have this so-called colored spirit, after such a long period of contact and given his understanding of the natural order, he more or less could grasp the profound mystery of the natural order's colored spirit.
The so-called colored spirit was nothing more than the profound colored mysteries within the Natural Order Dao.
Some said the Natural Order Dao had nine layers of color.
Others said eighteen layers.
Still others said twenty-seven layers, and some even said eighty-one layers.
But Gu Qingfeng knew that the profound colors within the natural order were endless. As long as you had the destiny, forget nine layers, forget eighty-one layers—even nine thousand nine hundred and ninety-nine layers were possible.
But what the hell was this lotus of multicolors?
Why was it constantly evolving, transforming, blooming endlessly?
What exactly was this thing?
Unclear.
Unknown.
Gu Qingfeng pondered for a long while but couldn't figure it out. In the end, he simply gave up thinking. He directly left his Sea of Consciousness, assumed a stance, and began condensing his true body.
When he had annihilated the avatar of the Immortal Edict Bearer earlier, he had already opened all the acupoints in his body. If he wished, he could condense his true body at any time.
With a single thought, the billions of acupoints throughout his body opened once more. Each acupoint was like the Nine Heavens, yet also like the Nine Underworlds; like the explosion of heaven and earth, yet also like the dawn of chaos, containing infinite mysteries, infinite principles, infinite Dao treasures...
Whoosh!
Gu Qingfeng's physical body instantly became ethereal and blurred, condensing and coalescing, then igniting with violet-tinged flames.
At that moment, above the Cloud End, beneath the firmament, dark clouds gathered, fierce winds roared. The Great Natural Order was moved, undergoing an abnormal change.
Boom! Rumble!
Crack!
As the dark clouds gathered, they were accompanied by rolling thunder and interspersed with ancient lightning.
Whoosh!
On Gu Qingfeng's condensing and coalescing physical body, one color appeared, then another...
Nine colors...
Eighty-one colors, eight hundred and eighty-one colors, eight thousand eight hundred and eighty-one colors, eighty-eight thousand eight hundred and eighty-one colors...
"Here it comes again!"
The reason Gu Qingfeng had previously halted his cultivation at the ninth level of Foundation Establishment and not condensed his true body was precisely because he feared the Great Natural Order might play some trick again. As expected, it was happening.
He immediately summoned his Nether Flame, burning it wildly. A series of crisp crackling sounds erupted as the Nether Flame incinerated the natural order's multicolors. But the more he burned, the more the natural order's multicolors evolved. He burned as much as he could, and the natural order evolved just as much, endlessly, unable to be completely burned or exhausted.
"Damn it all!"
Gu Qingfeng cursed angrily, then withdrew his Nether Flame.
Last time, during his Foundation Establishment, he had already tried to contend with the Great Natural Order.
Unfortunately, he failed.
Although his Nine Underworlds Flame was one of the ancestral flames between heaven and earth, it was ultimately finite. The profound colors of the Great Natural Order, however, were endless. He simply couldn't win against it.