Here.
Myriad beings filled the sky.
Stupas manifested an illusory world.
The Myriad Phenomena continued their worship.
The gray smoke around Gu Qingfeng grew increasingly frenzied, permeating the entire void.
Previously, being enveloped by the Myriad Phenomena Stupas had brought Xuanyuan Wan and the others endless shock and awe—a shock that shook their hearts and an awe that humbled their souls. Whether shock or awe, they were powerless to resist.
However, now, shrouded by the billowing gray smoke, there was no longer any shock or awe, only fear—a deep, profound fear.
Within the gray smoke, that madness, that tyranny, that savagery, that absolute dominance, swept over every inch of their flesh, every acupoint, every sinew and bone, every meridian. Their entire beings suffered endless terror, a fear that utterly consumed them like a force that could topple mountains and uproot trees.
As the gray smoke grew denser, the worship from the Myriad Phenomena Stupas intensified.
What was different was this: previously, Gu Qingfeng's aura had been that of the Golden Core stage. Now, it had transformed into the Nascent Soul stage, and it was even more sinister than before.
What kind of Golden Core was his, to be so evil?
And why did it so resemble a Taiji Golden Core?
Why would the Myriad Phenomena Stupas worship it?
Wait!
Resemble a Taiji Golden Core?
Xuanyuan Wan, suspended motionless in the void, seemed to realize something. She speculated inwardly: Gu Qingfeng had personally destroyed his body's infinite multitude of Taiji Golden Cores not long ago, yet shortly after, he gestated a new body full of them. These definitely did not appear out of thin air; they must be related to this evil Golden Core within Gu Qingfeng.
Xuanyuan Wan had never been sure whether Gu Qingfeng possessed a Purple Mansion, as she could not detect one. She had previously thought he likely did not. But now it seemed Gu Qingfeng did have one—she simply had been unable to detect it.
Not only that.
Within his Purple Mansion, he must be nurturing something akin to a Taiji Spring. Otherwise, how could he conjure an infinite number of Taiji Golden Cores in the blink of an eye? Perhaps only when something like a Taiji Spring appeared would the Myriad Phenomena Stupas filling the sky worship it?
Yet Xuanyuan Wan did not know what terrifying thing Gu Qingfeng was nurturing within his Purple Mansion!
She could not even imagine what could gestate an infinite number of Taiji Golden Cores.
Could it truly be a Taiji Spring?
Xuanyuan Wan did not know; she herself had no real concept of what a Taiji Spring was.
The only thing she knew was that regardless of whether what Gu Qingfeng nurtured in his Purple Mansion was a Taiji Spring or not, this thing had now grown into a Taiji Nascent Soul, and it showed no signs of stopping. In other words, it would not be long before it grew into a Taiji Primordial Spirit.
Xuanyuan Wan tried to imagine.
If Gu Qingfeng's body truly nurtured a Taiji Spring, and if his infinite multitude of Taiji Golden Cores were truly gestated from that Taiji Spring, and Gu Qingfeng used those infinite Taiji Golden Cores to gestate the ancient, unknown taboo of the Myriad Phenomena Stupas...
Then, if that Taiji Spring...
If it grew into a Taiji Primordial Spirit...
What would it become?
Xuanyuan Wan dared not think further. It was too terrifying.
Especially feeling that frenzied dominance, that tyrannical savagery within the gray smoke, she experienced for the first time in her life what true despair felt like.
"Chaotic mutation, Taiji Yin-Yang, beings and stupas, Myriad Phenomena worship..." Pudu, who hailed from the Western Heavens and represented the Buddhist Dao, was also frozen in the void. Gazing at the Myriad Phenomena Stupas, feeling the terror of the gray smoke, he seemed to realize something and cried out tremulously, "Gu... Gu Benefactor, no matter... no matter what terrifying existence you nurture in your Purple Mansion, no matter what you are gestating now, I beg you... I beg you to stop immediately... Beings and stupas, Myriad Phenomena worship—this surely heralds the emergence of an ancient taboo!"
"I said I didn't want to make trouble," Gu Qingfeng said, looking toward the eastern sky, his tone calm and composed. "It was you who held the butcher's knife to my neck, forcing me to make trouble. Now you tell me to stop? Where were you earlier?"
"Save your words for the Immortal Dao and the Heavenly Dao. And... if something terrible happens in the future, don't blame me. Blame the Immortal Dao and the Heavenly Dao. Your Buddhist school emphasizes cause and effect, and I myself believe in cause and effect. The cause sown today, I believe, will surely bear fruit for all of you in the future."
"Heavenly Dao! Immortal Dao!" Having witnessed everything that transpired today, Pudu naturally understood what Gu Qingfeng meant. He could be said to utterly despise the Immortal Dao and the Heavenly Dao now. Lifting his head, he glared at the sky and roared in fury, "Heavenly Dao, Immortal Dao, you bunch of petty, shameless hypocrites!"
Pudu was seething with rage, yet powerless. He had intended to plead with Gu Qingfeng, but at that moment, he suddenly noticed that the Nascent Soul aura around Gu Qingfeng had vanished. No more gray smoke billowed from his body, and even the worshiping Myriad Phenomena Stupas had stilled.
Not only that.
At this moment, space itself seemed to solidify, and time appeared to cease its flow.
Everything, everything, was frozen in this place.
Pudu knew it was too late. It was over. Overwhelmed by despair and terror, he knelt down in the void.
Silence.
Stillness.
Absolute stillness.
Boundless stillness, endless stillness.
Fear!
Terror!
Also absolute terror!
Boundless terror, endless terror!
Evil!
Malevolence.
Sky-filling malevolence swept over them like a tidal wave—similarly absolute, boundless, endless malevolence.
Suddenly.
A roar of ultimate evil and terrifying might erupted, shaking Pudu, Xuanyuan Wan, and the others until their seven orifices bled, their flesh blurred and twisted. It shook the great void until it warped and changed. Crack! A fissure split open!
Crack! Crack!
One fissure after another appeared, filling the sky in the blink of an eye. With a deafening boom, the entire void seemed to explode.
Awooo—
This roar was like a cry from a sacred ancient god, a howl from a furious ancient demon, a solemn chant from an ancient Buddha, and the roar of a primordial beast from the era of chaos.
No one knew what was happening.
That single roar just now had not only shaken Xuanyuan Wan and the others until their seven orifices bled, but also shattered their meridians, scattered their minds, cracked their Purple Mansions, damaged their Primordial Spirits, and terrified their souls, nearly annihilating their spirits entirely.
By the time they regained their senses, the shattered void was healing with frantic speed.
No one is unafraid of death.
Xuanyuan Wan and the other Great Dao cultivators were no exception; even Pudu, the eminent monk from the Western Heavens, was the same. That single roar had nearly reduced them to ashes. They did not know what terrifying existence Gu Qingfeng had gestated, and at this moment, they no longer wanted to know. They only wished to leave this place, to get as far away from this individual as possible.
But that was merely a wish.
They could not move. They dared not move. They could not even feel their own bodies anymore. They drifted like lonely ghosts in a desolate wilderness, simply floating there.