The sunlight filtered through the gaps in the leaves, casting scattered patches of light onto the grassy ground of the forest.
An Xin sat on a rock beside a clear stream, speaking softly as she taught a group of young disciples. Her voice was calm and soothing, and even the birds perched on the branches tilted their heads as if they were listening intently.
She had been teaching for half the day, showing far more patience than before. A gentle smile remained on her face throughout.
Seeing the Qiankun Sect disciples fully immersed in the Dao techniques, An Xin glanced around, but she couldn't find Gu An anywhere. Even so, she was certain that her master was still nearby.
And indeed, he was.
Not far away, ten zhang away from where she sat, Gu An lay leisurely on a thick branch of an ancient tree, staring at his attribute panel in contemplation.
[Name: Gu An]
[Lifespan: 9,555 / 89,904,572,611]
[Physique: Hunyuan Boundless Physique]
[Cultivation: Measuring the Heavens Golden Immortal Realm (Peak)]
…
A hundred years had passed since the Grand World's remolding.
The process of reshaping the world had been earth-shattering, yet under An Hao and Heavenly Spirit Immortal Sovereign's protection, the beings of the world had felt nothing at all. To them, it had been nothing more than an exceptionally long and heavy dream.
When they awoke, all the great sects discovered that the world had expanded infinitely. Even beings beyond the Heaven and Earth Flying Immortal Realm, when flying toward the outer heavens, were utterly shocked by the vastness of the new universe.
The endless sky, the denser Heavenly Dao aura, the darker cosmic void—everything had changed.
An Hao had gathered all the scattered Worlds of the universe, merging them into a single, unified Heavenly Spirit Grand World.
This new world was at least ten thousand times larger than the previous Heavenly Spirit World.
Before this, countless Worlds had been suffering under the Heavenly Dao tribulations, just like Heavenly Spirit World. Many of them had already fallen, their populations slaughtered because they had no guardian like Dao Sword Sovereign.
Now, after the Grand World's remolding, the universe had become vast yet eerily empty.
With such a boundless world, but far fewer living beings than its true capacity, the Heavenly Dao's tribulation had subsided.
The spiritual energy of the world was now pure and undisturbed. The vision that Sun Immortal Emperor had once proposed was now being fully realized by An Hao. Everything was moving in the right direction.
One particularly noteworthy thing was that after An Hao's sacrifice, his wife and descendants received a great boon of Heavenly Fortune.
In just one hundred years, Gu An had already noticed a peerless genius emerging from the An family, possessing an innate lifespan of eight thousand years.
It was uncertain whether this was merely fate's favoritism or An Hao's lingering will, but in Gu An's divinations, the An family was destined to rise in the next ten thousand years, eventually becoming one of the most powerful clans in the world.
However, Gu An wasn't concerned with others right now.
He was focused on himself.
He planned to comprehensively enhance his Dao techniques, and when he accumulated another two hundred billion years of lifespan, he would attempt to break into an even higher realm.
Although having nearly nine hundred billion years of lifespan seemed like a lot, if he used it for full-scale improvements, it would probably be depleted quickly.
No matter—he had to grow stronger!
Even though Heavenly Spirit Immortal Sovereign had reshaped the Grand World's Dao, and Heavenly Spirit God hadn't perished, meaning that the Heavenly Court wouldn't notice for now, Gu An couldn't afford to slow down.
Once he grew stronger, he would finally deal with Heavenly Spirit God.
With this in mind, Gu An activated Lifespan Breakthrough.
[Lifespan Breakthrough activated. Based on your current cultivation realm, the following breakthrough locations are available for selection:]
[1. Ascend to Yellow Heaven]
[2. Nine Heavens Extreme Sky]
[3. Netherworld Deep Sea]
[4. Path of the Grand Dao]
[5. Eastern Sea Heavenly Palace]
[6. Primordial Emperor Domain]
[7. Xuan You Divine Abyss]
[8. Dao Source Ancestral Tree]
[9. Spirit Mountain]
Looking at the choices before him, Gu An realized that most of these locations were appearing for the first time.
He couldn't help but marvel at how boundless and unfathomable the Grand Dao truly was.
The Path of the Grand Dao connected three thousand Worlds, yet outside these worlds, there were still countless other unknown realms.
Last time, he had chosen to break through in Nine Heavens Extreme Sky, and the experience had left a deep impression on him.
After careful thought, he decided that returning to Nine Heavens Extreme Sky would be the safest choice.
Unlike the other mysterious locations, Nine Heavens Extreme Sky had powerful beings, but their numbers were not excessive.
Decision made, Gu An selected Nine Heavens Extreme Sky as his breakthrough location.
[Teleporting to Nine Heavens Extreme Sky requires consuming 10,000,000,000 years of lifespan. Proceed?]
Proceed!
The moment he confirmed his choice, Gu An closed his eyes, feeling a familiar sense of dizziness wash over him.
A few moments later.
Gu An opened his eyes.
What greeted him was an endless ocean of clouds, stretching infinitely in every direction.
The waves of the clouds rolled majestically, their brilliance flowing like a golden river under the high heavens.
The sky remained unreachable, and no solid land was visible.
Looking around, all he could see was clouds and sky, an eternal, boundless emptiness.
Without hesitation, Gu An activated his Lifespan Barrier and sat down in meditation.
Without wasting another second, he immediately began evolving and refining his power.
Gu An began by enhancing his physique.
Each time, he invested one hundred million years of lifespan, carefully refining his body.
Upgrading from Hunyuan Dao Golden Physique to Hunyuan Boundless Physique had already cost him nearly four hundred million years of lifespan. This time, the expenditure would undoubtedly be even greater.
Without hesitation, he continued spending his lifespan, hundred million by hundred million.
In the end, after nearly five billion years of lifespan, his Hunyuan Boundless Physique evolved into the Hunyuan Reincarnation Immortal Physique.
The moment the system notification appeared, an overwhelming wave of Dao Spirit Energy surged into Gu An's body.
The endless sea of clouds began to churn and roil, though fortunately, the disturbance was not as vast as his previous breakthroughs.
Gu An closed his eyes and fully immersed himself in the transformation.
Half an hour later, his physique had successfully metamorphosed.
The Hunyuan Reincarnation Immortal Physique not only made his body stronger but also ensured that the power of the Grand Dao could no longer control his physical form.
Furthermore, his body was no longer bound by the cycle of reincarnation—even if he reached the limit of his lifespan, his physical body would still endure, allowing him to move through reincarnation freely, like a fish in water.
Gu An opened his eyes and shifted his gaze toward the technique section of his attribute panel.
First, he decided to enhance his primary cultivation method—Great Boundless Free Will Scripture.
With that thought, he immediately poured lifespan into its evolution.
This time, he invested a staggering 3.6 billion years of lifespan.
As a result, the Great Boundless Free Will Scripture evolved into the Grand Dao Sovereign Art, stepping into the realm of true mastery.
Once again, waves of Dao Spirit Energy rushed toward him, accompanied by an endless influx of mystical Dao insights flooding into his mind.
As its name implied, the Grand Dao Sovereign Art allowed its cultivator to dominate the Dao.
After mastering this technique, Gu An could comprehend any Dao at will. Moreover, when facing any Dao-based attack, he would be able to instantly perceive its weaknesses.
Most importantly, this technique enabled him to merge all three thousand Daos into a single force—Sovereign Power.
Half an hour later, Gu An successfully mastered the Grand Dao Sovereign Art.
Without pausing to fully explore its intricacies, he immediately continued enhancing his other Dao techniques.
No matter how advanced a Dao technique was, his lifespan evolution ability ensured that he could master it within half an hour—a massive advantage.
The Great Thousand Free Mystical Void Art evolved into the Sun and Moon Selfless Divine Dao, consuming nearly 5 billion years of lifespan.
This technique helped Gu An conceal his cultivation and aura.
Even those with higher cultivation levels than him would struggle to see through his true strength.
However, if the gap in power was too vast, it might not be entirely effective, which was precisely why he had continuously improved this technique.
The upgraded Sun and Moon Selfless Divine Dao was even more formidable.
It allowed Gu An to completely erase himself from the order of the Grand Dao.
Even if he remained right in front of someone, they wouldn't be able to perceive his existence.
Furthermore, he could convert his aura into celestial bodies like the sun, moon, and stars, achieving flawless concealment.
Another half hour passed, and Gu An had fully inherited the knowledge of this divine technique.
Shifting his gaze, he turned his attention toward his combat techniques, preparing to enhance his offensive capabilities.
But just as he was about to begin, an immense and boundless aura suddenly descended upon the realm.
It was an aura that vastly surpassed the Measuring the Heavens Golden Immortal Realm, causing Gu An's expression to subtly change.
He looked up.
Above him, a colossal azure bird appeared in the sky, its wings stretching endlessly, completely blotting out the sun.
Its shimmering feathers radiated multicolored divine light, making it seem as if a primordial god-beast had descended upon the world.
The ancient and majestic presence of the bird exuded an unfathomable aura, as if it had existed since the dawn of creation.
Even in the Nine Heavens Extreme Sky, this azure bird's size was utterly unprecedented.
It was the largest living being Gu An had ever encountered—so massive that even the sky itself struggled to contain its presence.
Gu An immediately used his lifespan analysis ability to probe the creature.
[Nine Heavens Azure Bird (Supreme Purity Golden Immortal Realm, Early Stage)]
[Lifespan: 218,726,929,702 / 50,000,000,000,000]
Two hundred billion years old!
Fifty trillion years of lifespan!
Gu An's heart trembled slightly.
If he could kill this beast, he could immediately unlock a lifespan ability exceeding a trillion years!
But the four words "Supreme Purity Golden Immortal" made him quickly dismiss the thought.
Even if Gu An possessed the power to slay it, he wouldn't do so.
That simply wasn't his way of doing things.
Moreover, he suspected that the Nine Heavens Azure Bird was not alone.
There was likely an even stronger immortal backing it, possibly the rumored Nine Heavens Immortal Emperor.
Just as Gu An was contemplating the Nine Heavens Azure Bird's terrifying lifespan, the colossal creature suddenly descended from the sky.
It landed a vast distance away—ten thousand miles from Gu An.
For an ordinary mortal, ten thousand miles was an unreachable distance.
But for a being like the Nine Heavens Azure Bird, a single movement of its claws could bring it right to Gu An's doorstep.
This made Gu An instinctively tense up, preparing to teleport away at any moment.
The Nine Heavens Azure Bird folded its wings and settled within the cloud ocean.
Even while crouched, its sheer size was immeasurable, its head towering far beyond the clouds.
Just then, another figure appeared.
A woman clad in flowing white robes emerged, standing atop the Nine Heavens Azure Bird's head.
It was none other than the legendary Nine Heavens Immortal Emperor.
Just like before, Gu An was unable to analyze her lifespan, confirming that this was merely an incarnation of her true self.
Beside her, two other powerful entities stood, radiating immense and oppressive auras.
Gu An immediately stopped his breakthrough process, choosing to pause his evolution.
If they continued to linger in this realm, he would have no choice but to teleport back to Heavenly Spirit Grand World.
For now, he would observe and wait.