"Young Lord, please move to the inner hall!"
Bingxuan Ancestor did not rise, still kneeling on the ground, bowing her head and cupping her hands in a respectful gesture, repeating her previous words. After speaking, she began to cough violently.
"Why must you do this?"
Gu Qingfeng could see that Bingxuan Ancestor was extremely weak, even reaching the point of being at death's door. It was no exaggeration to say her life was nearly spent, with only a few days left. But he felt no pity.
Because he knew this old woman, like Wei Qing, was not human. She was a soulless puppet created by Yun Nishang using the Bingxuan Origin as a foundation through great means. The Bingxuan Origin was their life.
The reason Bingxuan Ancestor was at death's door was also because the Bingxuan Origin within her body had vanished.
This old woman bore no injuries. The Bingxuan Origin that sustained her life could not have disappeared without reason.
Thus, there was only one possibility.
She had extracted her own Bingxuan Origin.
First, kidnapping Huode.
Then, extracting her own Bingxuan Origin.
What Bingxuan Ancestor intended to do, Gu Qingfeng could more or less deduce.
He did not plan to follow the old woman inside. Once inside, what awaited him might be a pile of troublesome matters left behind by Yun Nishang.
It might involve karma.
It was just that Gu Qingfeng pondered that before figuring out this karma thing, he did not want to get too deeply involved.
Just as he hesitated, Bingxuan Ancestor's voice came again: "This is a painting left by Her Majesty. Please take a look, Young Lord."
As she spoke, Bingxuan Ancestor took out a scroll. The young girl who had been supporting her immediately took it and delivered it over.
Gu Qingfeng felt rather puzzled. He accepted the scroll, opened it, and found a very ordinary ink wash painting.
However, it was precisely this seemingly ordinary ink wash painting that caused Gu Qingfeng to involuntarily become immersed in it at first glance.
The people present looked at each other, none understanding what Bingxuan Ancestor's words meant.
A painting left by Her Majesty?
Could it be left by Yun Nishang, the founding ancestor of Bingxuan Sect?
But what did this have to do with Gu Qingfeng?
He was not a reincarnated person, nor a soul-possessed reborn individual. His cultivation level was merely at the True Body realm. The two of them could not possibly have any connection.
Why was this?
No one knew.
Everyone was unable to comprehend.
However, some people present were not only unable to comprehend but also harbored immense anger.
Young Master Jingtao was one of them.
Originally, at Bingxuan Sect, when Gu Qingfeng had excused himself and left, the wariness in Jingtao's heart had vanished. Yet, just now, Gu Qingfeng had crippled Yu Dingxing with a single kick, reigniting the wariness that had disappeared. Coupled with Bingxuan Ancestor's respectful attitude toward Gu Qingfeng, his wariness toward Gu Qingfeng grew deeper and deeper.
Of course.
Wariness was wariness.
It did not amount to fear, let alone being so afraid that he dared not utter a word.
He was a man with strong self-esteem, a man who valued face.
Having seen Gu Qingfeng ignore him, the anger in his heart surged wildly. Clenching his fists, gritting his teeth, he spat out each word coldly and furiously: "I! Am! Talking! To! You!"
No one paid him any heed.
That white-robed man seemed not to have heard, standing outside the pavilion, holding the scroll with both hands, his expression somewhat complex as he gazed at the ink wash painting. His indifference, that naturally revealed air of utter nonchalance, made Jingtao unable to endure it any longer.
Especially being ignored again and again.
It made Jingtao furious to the extreme. He stood there, glaring at the white-robed man opposite, his face ashen and gloomy, his lips twitching, his breathing becoming extremely rapid and heavy. Particularly at this moment, with the surrounding crowd whispering among themselves, mostly discussing how Gu Qingfeng's strength was bizarrely powerful, no one paid him any attention.
This greatly wounded Jingtao's self-esteem.
In a fit of rage, Jingtao strode forward, shouting sharply: "Daring to ignore me, Jingtao! Do you truly think I fear you?"
Whoosh!
Brilliant light flashed around Jingtao.
Illusory Foundation, Illusory True Body, Illusory Purple Mansion, Flaming Core, Great Nature Three Illusions One Flaming Spirit, plus a cultivation of Nine-Cycle Golden Core.
"Young Master Jingtao, you must not!"
Instantly.
Two or three old men suddenly flashed into appearance. Everyone present recognized them—they were all senior figures from the Fire Cloud Branch of the Red Gang. One among them was the renowned Transcendent True Person, Elder Hong.
As was widely known, when cultivation reached the Golden Core realm, the next step was to break the core and transform the spirit, which was to condense and manifest the Nascent Soul.
But this step sounded easy; accomplishing it was as difficult as ascending to heaven.
As the saying went, forming the core is easy, transforming the spirit is hard, like climbing to the blue sky.
Since ancient times, those who formed cores were countless. After the great cataclysm, with the aid of spirit pills and formations, forming a core became a hundred times easier.
But those who could condense and manifest a Nascent Soul, achieving the Daozun realm, were exceedingly few. Even in the entire Great Northwest Territory, there were not many.
Most True Persons almost all stopped at the Nine-Cycle Golden Core—perhaps for a hundred years, perhaps a thousand. There were even those who stopped at the Nine-Cycle Golden Core for two thousand years.
But there were also some True Persons who, after tempering their Golden Cores for countless years, could enter the Transcendent realm, causing their Golden Cores to break through nine cycles, advancing to ten cycles, eleven cycles, eighteen cycles, twenty-seven cycles...
Up to the ultimate eighty-one cycles.
Whether one could break through the Nine-Cycle Golden Core and enter the Transcendent realm depended entirely on personal fortune.
However, after breaking through the Nine-Cycle Golden Core and entering the Transcendent realm, the Golden Core would naturally become more refined, and spiritual power would become stronger. But this was only an increase in cultivation level; the realm itself did not improve. Not only did it not improve, but one might also have no hope of further advancement in this lifetime. The chance of becoming an immortal was even more incredibly slim.
Because after the Nine-Cycle Golden Core, each additional cycle increased the difficulty of manifesting a Nascent Soul a hundredfold.
The more cycles the Golden Core had, the more terrifying the difficulty of manifesting a Nascent Soul became. If the Golden Core reached eighty-one cycles, there was basically no possibility of manifesting a Nascent Soul. This was a dead end; once entered, one could only follow this path to the bitter end.
Of course, if one could manifest a Nascent Soul at the Nine-Cycle Golden Core stage, no one would want to enter the Transcendent realm.
Breaking through nine cycles and entering the Transcendent realm was also a last resort.
Moreover, to survive lifespan tribulations, one could only do so. Most importantly, after entering the Transcendent realm, it was not absolutely impossible to manifest a Nascent Soul, just that the chance was slim.
Rather than being stuck at the Nine-Cycle Golden Core for a lifetime, it was better to break through and enter the Transcendent realm. After all, this world was full of various dangers. After entering the Transcendent realm, the Golden Core became more refined, and strength became greater. Even if one could never manifest a Nascent Soul in this lifetime, at least with formidable strength, no one would dare provoke them.
The Elder Hong who had appeared was a Transcendent True Person, with a Sixteen-Cycle Golden Core, having cultivated for over a thousand years. The depth of his spiritual power and the might of his strength were beyond ordinary imagination.
"Young Master Jingtao, this person's strength is bizarrely powerful. You must not act."
Elder Hong and the other two had been invited by Jingtao today to lend Yu Dingxing a hand. They had thought they were contending against the three noble young masters of the Nine-Hua Alliance. What Elder Hong never expected was that a mysteriously bizarre Young Lord Chiyan, Gu Qingfeng, would appear halfway.
Seeing Young Master Jingtao about to confront Gu Qingfeng, Elder Hong immediately rushed out to stop him.
Many say my writing is verbose, full of unnecessary words. I looked carefully yesterday; it might be because I wanted to build atmosphere and was afraid readers would forget, so I repeated important situations several times. This caused the verbosity. Yesterday, I thought for a long time, pondered for a long time. I will try my best to avoid this situation in the future, aiming to be concise and to the point.