Three hundred years passed in a flash.
Gu Qing put away the Celestial Pearl and stepped out of the Space-Time Shuttle. The World-Destroying Divine Thunder arrived right on schedule.
Looking at the sky full of World-Destroying Divine Thunder, Gu Qing simply ignored it, letting the bolts crash down, shattering his body and scattering his soul to the winds.
Yet the next second, Gu Qing's body instantly reformed. Where he stood, Chaos Qi pervaded the air, exuding the Law resonance of immortality and indestructibility.
Gu Qing circulated the Chaos Indestructible Scripture and directly devoured the World-Destroying Divine Thunder, his cultivation soaring rapidly.
Even after the World-Destroying Divine Thunder shattered Gu Qing's Dao Body once more, Gu Qing couldn't be bothered to reassemble it.
The sky full of Chaos Indestructible Qi seemed to come alive, madly devouring the World-Destroying Divine Thunder.
This was the innate Divine Ability that came with the Chaos Indestructible Dao Fruit — all-encompassing: Chaos could become all things, and all things could return to Chaos.
Gu Qing could transform into any form — into eternal indestructible Chaos, into the Guixu of all transformations — or he could become heaven, earth, and all creation.
As Gu Qing refined the World-Destroying Divine Thunder, he experienced the wonder of the Chaos Indestructible Dao Fruit.
The Chaos Indestructible Great Dao carried indestructible divine nature. Even heaven-destroying, earth-shattering World-Destroying Divine Thunder couldn't erase it in the slightest.
His Dao existed independently outside of heaven and earth, a self-contained system, commanding the Chaos Indestructible Great Dao.
"Hundreds of years of bitter cultivation — it was truly worth it." Gu Qing was wild with joy.
To prove such a heaven-defying Chaos Indestructible Dao Fruit — forget hundreds of years, even tens of thousands, even millions of years would be worth it.
He Ni's pupils trembled.
She wasn't surprised that Gu Qing had attracted the World-Destroying Divine Thunder. After all, Gu Qing was that heaven-defying.
If Gu Qing couldn't attract it, who else could?
But she couldn't believe that after being obliterated by the World-Destroying Divine Thunder — body destroyed, soul scattered — Gu Qing could be reborn with a single thought.
That was a cultivator's divine soul.
To have one's soul destroyed by World-Destroying Divine Thunder and still be reborn — this simply overturned everything she knew.
Even more absurdly, Gu Qing wasn't weakened in the slightest. Instead, he'd grown even more powerful.
Didn't this mean that no matter what powerful enemies Gu Qing faced in the future, he would only grow stronger with every battle — forever immortal and indestructible?
"This defies all reason..." He Ni shook her head slowly, feeling as though she were in a dream, that none of it was real.
After all, even an Immortal Emperor — transcendent above all Daos, true spirit having jumped free of the River of Fate, outside the Five Elements, beyond the cycle of reincarnation, untainted by karma, a single proof eternal, a single thought everlasting — even an Immortal Emperor could be slain.
Yet Gu Qing, with only a Heavenly God Realm Dao Fruit, had obtained a Dao Fruit more heaven-defying than an Immortal Emperor's.
Gu Qing hadn't expected the Chaos Indestructible Dao Fruit to be even more terrifying than he'd imagined.
As long as a single thought remained, he was an eternally indestructible existence.
And no Divine Ability, technique, or Law could erase his Dao or divine consciousness.
"All thanks to the Chaos Indestructible Halberd Jiang Yu gave me. Otherwise, I'd never have been able to comprehend the true essence of Chaos Indestructibility."
Gu Qing was filled with gratitude toward Jiang Yu.
His understanding of Jiang Yu's abilities had reached a new level.
She could casually hand him a great opportunity for proving the Dao.
In the past, he'd truly been deceived by Jiang Yu's gentle exterior and those eyes that looked at everything — even a dog — with deep affection.
Jiang Yu was simply powerful beyond his imagination.
After surviving the tribulation lightning, Gu Qing had already broken through to Heavenly God Realm Stage Two.
He had to admit, the World-Destroying Divine Thunder was a good thing, containing terrifying life-force energy.
His own consumption was thousands or tens of thousands of times that of an ordinary cultivator. This wave of World-Destroying Divine Thunder had saved him who knew how many billions of Primordial Yellow Mother Qi.
He Ni stared at Gu Qing, dazed, as an aura of invincibility washed over her.
Gu Qing had already been powerful enough — like a deity plucking the moon from the ninth heaven. After condensing his Heavenly God Realm Dao Fruit, he was even more terrifying, like a natural-born myth of invincibility.
Every gesture he made radiated invincibility.
Gu Qing gave a low sound of acknowledgment, looking at her pink lips, her fair and tender face.
Unspeakable sounds soon echoed through the Space-Time Shuttle.
"I'll be going now."
"Once I've gathered some Time Stones, I'll bring Yan'er to find you."
He Ni's beautiful eyes brimmed with reluctance.
She had already survived the Immortal King tribulation lightning, but she'd spent these years guarding Gu Qing's side and comprehending the mysteries of the Celestial Pearl. She hadn't had time to search for Time Stones.
It was worth mentioning that she had already comprehended the Chronos Sword Formation, but to make it unleash its maximum power, Time Stones were essential.
Gu Qing playfully tugged at both her cheeks with a wicked grin: "Now you know how good I am? Still planning to run off while pregnant?"
"I won't run." Hearing this, He Ni's face flushed crimson.
This was without a doubt the greatest stain on her life.
What nonsense about leaving the father and keeping the child.
It had really made her suffer.
Rumors truly were unreliable.
Gu Qing stroked her hair, woke Yan'er, and the family of three enjoyed a blissful month together.
Before Gu Qing left, He Ni took out a hundred drops of Time Marrow and stuffed them into his hands.
She had picked these up.
There was no helping it — when luck came, not even a door could stop it.
"Waaah, I want Daddy..." Seeing Gu Qing about to leave, Yan'er immediately started bawling, rolling around in her mother's womb.
He Ni tried coaxing her for a while but couldn't calm her down, so she had no choice but to cast a sleeping spell.
She rubbed her flat belly and murmured, "Be good, Yan'er. Once Mommy finds some Time Stones and refines the Chronos Sword Formation, I'll take you out to find Daddy."
Placing the Celestial Pearl beside Xian'er, Gu Qing carried out a giant egg covered in divine patterns of the Great Dao.
The moment the giant egg appeared in the outside world, heaven and earth changed color, and dark clouds gathered thickly.
That's right — this giant egg was Zhi Meng.
The Ruyi Space had a ten-to-one time flow ratio. After thousands of years of baptism by the Heavenly Thunder Pearl, Zhi Meng had successfully fused with it. Her spiritual foundation had completely transformed into that of an innate goddess commanding the Great Dao of Thunder.
Moreover, Zhi Meng had fused the Dao Fruit she had cultivated with the Thunder Dao Fruit, and her cultivation had already broken through to Profound God Realm Stage One.
The moment she emerged into the world, it was as if the cosmos had birthed an innate divine sacred — naturally, she had to face a lightning tribulation.
As for the Profound God Realm tribulation lightning, there was no need at all. During the process of fusing with the Heavenly Thunder Pearl, Zhi Meng had directly mastered the Profound God Great Dao.
Since she hadn't yet been born at the time, there was naturally no need for a tribulation.
The Purple Firmament Divine Thunder soon crashed down, but its power was simply too weak — it didn't seem like Purple Firmament Divine Thunder at all, more like a perfunctory tap on the shoulder for Zhi Meng's sake.
It didn't even crack the eggshell.
After the Purple Firmament Divine Thunder, auspicious clouds and purple qi drifted over from the horizon in majestic procession, nearly filling the entire star region in a display of tremendous grandeur.
The auspicious clouds rained down the essence of the Great Dao, while the purple qi contained pure life force.
After absorbing them, Zhi Meng's cultivation rapidly broke through to Profound God Realm Stage Three.
"An innate goddess, indeed..." A hint of envy showed in Gu Qing's eyes.
Innate goddesses were the darlings of heaven and earth, born with great fortune.
One need only look at Zhi Meng's tribulation to understand — that wasn't a tribulation at all, but a celebration from heaven and earth.
And the boundless auspicious clouds and purple qi could directly help Zhi Meng advance two stages and stabilize her realm.
After all, at the Profound God Realm, one had to devour the immortal energy of an entire star river just to recover a tiny fraction of spiritual power.
From this, one could see just how vast the essence of the Great Dao contained within those auspicious clouds and purple qi was.
Gu Qing thought of himself. Although he too had transformed into an innate spiritual foundation.
But Gu Qing knew very well that he was not a creature of this world, and therefore couldn't earn the heavens' recognition. What awaited him was the World-Destroying Divine Thunder.
He was an existence that heaven and earth could not tolerate.
The plundered fortune didn't help him much either. For all his searching and scrambling, he still didn't gain as much as He Ni did just by moving to a different spot.
Zhi Meng burst forth from her shell. Blue hair flowing, water-blue eyes gleaming, she appeared both bewitching and sacred.
Her aura was imperious and proud, her presence transcendent and otherworldly, like a goddess gazing down from the ninth heaven.
Gu Qing's pupils trembled. He stared at Zhi Meng without blinking.
He genuinely hadn't expected that after Zhi Meng's transformation into an innate goddess, her appearance would change too.
But this was normal.
Many cultivators who practiced special attribute techniques underwent changes in both appearance and personality.
Let alone Zhi Meng, who was fundamentally remaking herself, mastering the Great Dao of Thunder. Change was only natural.
Looking at the breathtakingly beautiful, proud and bewitching Zhi Meng, Gu Qing found it hard to look away.
All of Zhi Meng's changes had hit his aesthetic preferences perfectly.
It would be even more perfect if she grew a pair of fluffy ears.
"Silly disciple, don't you recognize your master?"
Zhi Meng laughed softly, every expression radiating peerless elegance, like an invincible goddess.
Gu Qing snapped back to reality and smiled, "Congratulations, Master, on mastering the Profound God Great Dao and becoming the innate divine sacred of the Nine Heavens Immortal Realm. From now on, great fortune attends you, and nothing is forbidden."
This heaven-shattering fortune was well-deserved.
If it had been anyone else, even if they'd dared to risk the nine-deaths-to-one chance of fusing with the Heavenly Thunder Pearl, without Zhi Meng's formidable state of mind, failure would have been almost certain.
Thus it was: one step at a time, the Dao has no shortcuts.
Everything Zhi Meng had achieved today was the accumulation of countless hardships. Only after obtaining the Heavenly Thunder Pearl was she able to perfectly digest the opportunity within it.
Hearing these words, Zhi Meng's bewitching blue eyes quietly studied Gu Qing in silence.
"What is it, Master?" Gu Qing was puzzled by her gaze.
Zhi Meng withdrew her thoughts. "Let's go. Let's find Jiang Yu."
Everything she had now was because of Gu Qing.
Although she had decided to protect Gu Qing forever, the future was too distant. She had always believed in living in the moment — whether it was repaying a debt of gratitude or settling a score.
So she'd wanted to give something back to Gu Qing. But after thinking it over, Gu Qing already had more treasures than she could count. Her only option was to capture Jiang Yu and offer her to Gu Qing as a concubine.
Gu Qing had a vigorous constitution — he would surely love this gift.
With that thought, Zhi Meng beckoned with her hand and collected the eggshell.
These eggshells were supreme treasures, containing divine patterns of the innate Great Dao. They could be used for artifact forging or given to others to comprehend the Great Dao — their uses were limitless.
"Alright!" Gu Qing knew full well that Zhi Meng was up to no good where Jiang Yu was concerned.
But he was heading to the Star God Sect to find Jiang Yu anyway. He couldn't just skip it because of one remark from Zhi Meng, could he?
Boarding the Space-Time Shuttle, Gu Qing asked Jiang Yu for a set of coordinates, and the shuttle soared off, leaving everyone behind as it traversed time and space.
After hesitating again and again, Gu Qing said, "Master, could you please stop causing trouble for Jiang Yu?"
You're no match for Jiang Yu. She's just playing with you.
He didn't dare say that last part out loud.
After all, Jiang Yu had strictly warned him never to reveal the secret.
Besides, no matter how fiercely the two of them fought, Jiang Yu wouldn't take Zhi Meng's life.
On the contrary, it would spur Zhi Meng to chase after Jiang Yu's footsteps like an eagle — that was a good thing.
The only pity was his poor master, being played in the palm of Jiang Yu's hand.
"Don't worry. I'm not going to fight her. She's no longer worthy of being my opponent." Zhi Meng smiled, her tone carrying the proud satisfaction of one who had finally vindicated herself.
She had already broken through to Profound God Realm Stage Three. In her eyes, Jiang Yu was no different from an ant — no longer worthy of being her opponent.
Zhi Meng didn't believe that Jiang Yu had obtained the same opportunity she had and broken through to the Profound God Realm too.
That was impossible.
The Profound God Realm wasn't that easy to break through.
And Innate Spirit Treasures certainly weren't cabbages.
Jiang Yu had probably been driven off in a fury, and given her bleeding-heart nature, she must be struggling every step of the way in the secret realm.
After all, Jiang Yu only had Heavenly God Realm cultivation. She hadn't even converted her immortal energy — her combat power was low.
In the Dawn Dusk Sea secret realm, filled with killing, Jiang Yu would have trouble even converting her immortal energy, let alone raising her strength.
The thought of Jiang Yu possibly brawling with fierce beasts or other cultivators over a low-grade immortal spirit herb — and losing — bitterly and miserably scouring the land for cultivation resources every day... Zhi Meng felt utterly elated.
She had competed with Jiang Yu for an entire lifetime. Even though Jiang Yu had always been one step ahead, hadn't she ultimately been defeated by reality?
Zhi Meng had taken a disciple, and now she had everything.
"What a pity I can't transmit news back to the lower realm yet," Zhi Meng said with some regret.
She and Jiang Yu had been evenly matched for so many years. To suddenly surpass Jiang Yu and yet be unable to announce it publicly — it felt like wearing splendid clothes at night. The frustration was unbearable.
Once she mastered a method of communicating with the lower realm, she would immediately send the news back, so the people down there could see how wretched and incompetent their once peerless and transcendent goddess had become.
Gu Qing simply watched Zhi Meng posture in silence and couldn't be bothered to persuade her further.
After all, Zhi Meng's grudge against Jiang Yu had been building for years. A few words from him weren't going to resolve it.
As her good disciple, the only thing he could do was watch his master get slapped in the face by Jiang Yu, break down completely, and then step forward to gently comfort her wounded heart.
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