Gu Chengming confirmed he wasn't seeing things.
But did that name really have to be so absurdly long?
"Primordial," "Immeasurable," "Myriad Qi Dao Source True Sovereign," "Nine Heavens Ten Lands," "Universe's Sole Honored Imperial Merit"…
Each part sounded impressive enough on its own. Strung together, the whole thing was almost impossible to look at without laughing.
Setting that doubt aside, Gu Chengming shifted his attention to the other descriptor.
CG: Locked.
If he was being honest, he wasn't entirely confident about this. Unlocking the Huiyuan Sword Art CG had cost him no small amount of effort last time.
But the CG was just sitting right there — as a veteran visual novel player, was he really going to resist unlocking it?
That said, compared to the Huiyuan Sword Art situation, this one should go a lot more smoothly.
After all, the CG being unlocked was directly tied to Hundred Bones Resonance itself — it probably wouldn't cause some drastic personality overhaul.
Besides, from what he'd watched of Hundred Bones Resonance's performance in the illusory realm, its personality hadn't really changed that much.
He was still thinking that when —
[Hundred Bones Resonance / Status: Primordial Immeasurable Myriad Qi Dao Source True Sovereign, Nine Heavens Ten Lands, Universe's Sole Honored Imperial Merit]
[Hundred Bones Resonance lets out a roaring laugh. This Sovereign's intuition was right all along! Between life and death lies both great terror and great fortune! Little Gu — you used to barely give this Sovereign the time of day. Now that this Sovereign's divine art has reached perfection, do you still dare question me?]
Gu Chengming: "?"
That attitude was… a bit unhinged.
Still, he probed carefully: "Sovereign Bai, when did you emerge from closed-door cultivation?"
That address — "Sovereign Bai" — delighted Hundred Bones Resonance immensely.
[Hundred Bones Resonance thinks: Sovereign Bai — yes! Excellent! This title speaks directly to this Sovereign's heart! Little Gu, you truly have an eye for these things. From this day forward, this Sovereign shall take you soaring through the Nine Heavens and Ten Lands, sweeping all before us through the ages — none shall ever dare humiliate you again!]
Right at that moment, the Flowing Cloud Moon-Following Sword Art — which had been silent this whole time — suddenly sent a pop-up.
[Flowing Cloud Moon-Following Sword Art looks at the two of you with undisguised contempt.]
[Flowing Cloud Moon-Following Sword Art thinks: Two idiots.]
The instant that pop-up appeared, Gu Chengming felt the whole world go quiet for a moment.
A brief, awkward silence followed.
[Hundred Bones Resonance erupts in fury upon hearing this!]
[Hundred Bones Resonance roars: Outrageous! What gives a mere junior's sword art the right to insult this Sovereign and Little Gu?! This Sovereign has already attained the Supreme Dao — and you, a stray dog that knows nothing but bitter resentment, dare bark madly in this Sovereign's presence?!]
[Flowing Cloud Moon-Following Sword Art: Heh.]
Flowing Cloud Moon-Following Sword Art seemed to lose all interest in arguing with an idiot and vanished with that single derisive sound.
— Holy shit.
Gu Chengming stared at that exchange and felt genuinely unsettled. Old Bai hadn't actually become an emperor, had it?
Before, whenever Flowing Cloud Moon-Following Sword Art insulted it, Hundred Bones Resonance would furrow its brow and retreat behind Gu Chengming.
Now it was going toe-to-toe with Flowing Cloud Moon-Following Sword Art — and driving it away?!
That had Gu Chengming burning with curiosity about the absurdly-named "Primordial Imperial Merit," and he immediately pulled up the new CG detail page.
[Hundred Bones Resonance CG / Primordial Imperial Merit: Derived from Hundred Bones Resonance's experiences within the illusory realm, fused with its own extreme conviction in the principle of "destruction as the precondition for rebirth."]
[Effect (Active): When activated, the host receives the blessing of "Primordial Imperial Aura." During this period, the host's physical defense is doubled and the host gains the special status: "Sovereign."]
[Duration: 30 minutes]
[Cooldown: 3 days (reduced as CG unlock level increases)]
[Current Unlock Level: 0%]
Gu Chengming drew a sharp breath.
Setting aside the impressively cryptic "Sovereign" status for a moment — just the "physical defense doubled" effect alone was enough to convey the sheer power here.
In the cultivation world, defensive measures typically relied on protective spiritual artifacts or spiritual energy shields. A technique that directly augmented the physical body and base defensive attributes was extraordinarily rare.
As for the "Sovereign" status — while Gu Chengming wasn't entirely sure what it did specifically, the name suggested a positive buff: probably something like enhanced intimidation or mental resistance.
And this was just the initial state at 0% unlock!
If the unlock level rose later — cooldown shortened, duration extended, maybe even the defense multiplier increased…
Gu Chengming decided to test the effect immediately.
"Sovereign Bai — aid my cultivation!"
He recited the activation silently in his mind and switched on [Primordial Imperial Merit].
In an instant, a faint tremor ran through Gu Chengming's body.
A warm, gentle current surged up from his dantian and quietly spread through every inch of his meridians.
He lowered his gaze to his open palm. The outline of his knuckles seemed inexplicably harder than before; beneath the skin, his flesh and blood carried a quality like metal and stone — dense and solid, settled between his bones without any sense of brute aggression.
At the same time, a feeling of nobility and the bearing of a supremely powerful being rose from somewhere deep inside him.
A sparrow under the eaves flapped past. He lifted his gaze.
The same small courtyard it had always been. Old bricks mottled with yesterday's moss.
But when the wind swept past his ears, he distinctly heard something — like warhorses at a frontier pass trampling frost-dust to powder, like a vermilion brush held poised above imperial documents and never quite brought down, like the soft rustling of ten thousand ten thousands of garments brushing together as their wearers bowed their heads.
He opened his mouth, intending to remark that the effect was, indeed, impressive.
But the moment his voice came out, what he actually said was:
"This meager power… though it falls far short of even one ten-thousandth of this Sovereign's full might at the peak — it will have to do for now."
— Holy shit? What am I saying?
Before he could even process that, Hundred Bones Resonance in his mind immediately picked up the thread.
[Hundred Bones Resonance says with warm approval: Excellent, Sovereign Gu! So you have finally awakened the memories of your past life? Back in those days, you and I fought together atop the dam between the worlds — none dared call themselves supreme in our presence. What glory those days were!]
"Indeed. This boundless heaven and earth is nothing but a toy in this Sovereign's palm; the stars that fill the sky, nothing but specks of dust in this Sovereign's eye. Sovereign Bai — with the two of us joined together, what great feat could possibly elude us?"
Listening to those words come out of his own mouth, Gu Chengming sighed inwardly.
— Alright, nothing else to say — at least the body is still under control.
Hundred Bones Resonance was beside itself with excitement, as if it had finally found a kindred spirit.
[Hundred Bones Resonance: Well said! We of this caliber ought to fight heaven and earth alike — seize every moment!]
"Indeed. This Sovereign harbors precisely that intention. Let us see whether any immortal above the Nine Heavens dares descend to do battle!"
He paced back and forth in the courtyard with his hands clasped behind his back, spouting a new line of grandiose dialogue with every step.
Things like: "If the Great Dao stretches open like the sky, why am I the only one barred from it? Laughable! This Sovereign IS that sky!"
Things like: "Thirty years on the east bank, thirty years on the west — do not presume upon… hrm, this Sovereign who is already without equal."
And Hundred Bones Resonance played the perfect hype-man from within his sea of consciousness, the two of them feeding off each other in perfect call-and-response.
At long last, the thirty minutes came to an end.
"Oh thank god…"
Gu Chengming sucked in a deep breath, and finally spoke a sentence of normal human language.
[Hundred Bones Resonance says, still savoring the feeling: Invigorating! Truly invigorating! Sovereign Gu, exchanging discourse with you on the Dao has this Sovereign feeling its realm loosen by several degrees! It seems a return to the peak is not far off!]
Gu Chengming was about to make a snarky remark when several notification lines appeared before him.
[CG "Primordial Imperial Merit" has ended.]
[CG Unlock Level +5%]
[Current Unlock Level: 5%]
[Unlock Reward: Cooldown reduced to 2 days and 23 hours.]
Sovereign Bai…
Gu Chengming let out a long sigh.
[Hundred Bones Resonance: What are your orders, Sovereign Gu?]
"Let's talk about something else next time."
[Hundred Bones Resonance considers this briefly. Very well. Since Sovereign Gu commands it, next time we shall discuss how to reshape the cycle of reincarnation and forge a new heaven and earth.]
Gu Chengming: "…"
Over the next few days, Gu Chengming did some research.
The "Sovereign" status, as it turned out, appeared to have no actual effect beyond forcibly hijacking his speech system.
Fine. He could live with that — at least there was still the doubled defense.
Moreover, based on his experience unlocking the Huiyuan Sword Art CG, the technique would remain in its "CG state" until the CG was fully unlocked.
In other words, this "Sovereign Bai" would in all likelihood be accompanying him until the progress bar hit one hundred percent.
Though honestly — maybe because the original Hundred Bones Resonance had already been eccentric enough — Gu Chengming found that the current version, beyond the change in title and a somewhat more inflated ego, was not fundamentally any different from before.
If anything, now that it had the clear persona of "Sovereign Bai," it was easier to work with.
Just say a couple of lines like "Great Sovereign, your might knows no bounds" or "sweeping through the ages unchallenged," and it would be happily chattering away for half a day.
As for the unlock method, this time it was refreshingly straightforward.
All he needed to do was activate the "Primordial Imperial Merit" state and it would unlock five percent of the progress.
And with each additional activation, the cooldown would shorten accordingly.
Gu Chengming did the math. At this pace, as long as he was diligent enough to sneak off somewhere private and activate it once a day, it would take just over a month to fully unlock the CG.
"One month…"
Gu Chengming gazed at the old tree in the courtyard and made a silent vow:
"For this one month, outside of absolutely necessary outings, I am not leaving this courtyard one single step!"
Meanwhile, at Qingfeng Gate, atop a peak wreathed in drifting cloud and mist.
Zhao Wuji sat at his desk, a scroll of sect reports in hand.
"These disciples — they get harder to manage every single year."
He set the report down and rubbed at his throbbing temples.
The report laid out, in meticulous detail, how certain entrance disciples from the past few days had exploited a rules loophole to aggressively milk the sect for every resource they could get.
Could you really do something like that so blatantly in broad daylight?! Complete idiots!
A nearby attendant disciple, reading the mood carefully, offered up a cup of spirit tea and murmured:
"Elder Zhao, please calm your anger. The Enforcement Hall has already dealt harshly with the ringleaders, and the disciples who participated have all been placed in confinement. Order has been restored, and the disciples all know they were in the wrong."
"Know they were wrong? Hmph. I'd say they know they were wrong and have absolutely no intention of changing — they'll pull the exact same thing next time!"
Zhao Wuji accepted the teacup and took a small sip. The heat of his irritation subsided slightly.
His gaze swept across the report once more, and came to rest on the one name among them that had not participated in the resource grab.
This Gu Chengming, though — his character truly is exceptional. No wonder he ranked first in the Dao-heart evaluation.
This earned the disciple a few more marks of goodwill in Zhao Wuji's eyes.
In truth, ever since the last competition, Zhao Wuji had never quite stopped thinking about Gu Chengming.
He was certain that the killing intent he'd sensed through the Spirit-Drawing Formula that day had not been his imagination.
This boy had a resilient character and real talent. If he let hatred drive him to cultivation deviation, or led him astray, it would be a tremendous waste.
Zhao Wuji let out a quiet sigh.
He thought of a disciple he had taken on a hundred years ago.
That child had been just as brilliant, and had just as deep a family grudge to bear.
For the sake of revenge, the child had cultivated day and night without rest, even going so far as to practice forbidden arts — and in the end, during one breakthrough attempt, had suffered cultivation deviation, his meridians shattering inch by inch until they killed him.
Now, looking at Gu Chengming, he felt as though he were seeing that child again.
"Enough — since fate has put him in my path, I can't simply stand by and do nothing."
Zhao Wuji set down his teacup, rose to his feet, and instructed his attendant disciple:
"Go — prepare a generous gift and come with me to Huiyuan Gate."
The attendant disciple blinked. "Elder Zhao is going to look for Elder Ren?"
"Mm." Zhao Wuji gave a single nod. "There are matters I need him to verify for me."
Huiyuan Gate. Ren Wencai's mountain residence.
When Zhao Wuji explained his purpose — that he wished to retrieve Gu Chengming's background dossier — Ren Wencai's very first reaction was:
— This old schemer is trying to steal my disciple!
"Martial Brother Zhao, isn't this stepping a little outside proper procedure?" Ren Wencai settled back with a composed air and spoke in measured tones. "Retrieving a disciple's private background information without just cause — I'm afraid I cannot oblige."
Every alarm bell in his head was ringing at full volume.
Gu Chengming was a seedling he had his eye on. He hadn't formally taken him as a disciple yet, but in his heart the boy was already stamped with the mark of "Huiyuan Gate."
Zhao Wuji showing up on an otherwise uneventful day to dig through someone's personal records — this could only mean trouble.
Zhao Wuji could only sigh inwardly and force himself to explain patiently:
"Martial Brother Ren misunderstands. I simply noticed this boy's character was out of the ordinary, and wished to verify a few things. I give you my word — I have absolutely no intention of taking him as a disciple."
Only after Zhao Wuji had given repeated assurances — nearly going so far as to swear a Dao oath — did Ren Wencai reluctantly and skeptically relent, pulling Gu Chengming's dossier from the sect's confidential archives.
The results of the investigation, however, left him even more bewildered.
The dossier contained only a sparse few lines:
[Gu Chengming. Orphan. Wandered among common folk from a young age; later brought back by a sect administrator who encountered him during a journey. Background is clean. No family connections. No records of enemies or feuds.]
Far too clean.
Clean as a blank sheet of paper.
"This…"
Zhao Wuji's brow furrowed deeply.
A background this spotless only made the orphan in question look more suspicious.
It deepened his suspicions about Gu Chengming considerably.
Could he be the sole survivor of some cultivation clan that had been wiped out? Or was he carrying some secret he could tell no one?
He returned the dossier to Ren Wencai and said in a low, measured voice:
"Many thanks, Martial Brother Ren. I have what I need."
After leaving Huiyuan Gate, Zhao Wuji did not fly directly back to Qingfeng Gate.
He paused in midair, his gaze turning toward the residential area where the disciples lived.
"Since the dossier turned up nothing — I'll just go take a look in person."
Zhao Wuji made up his mind.
He intended to use Gu Chengming's strong performance in the competition — and the fact that he alone had refused to go along with the resource-grabbing scheme — as a pretext to pay the disciple a visit, and quietly probe for information in the process.
If the boy really did have some unspeakable difficulty, perhaps there was something he himself could do to help.
The night had grown deep. Only a few scattered stars hung in the ink-dark sky.
Outside Gu Chengming's small courtyard, a cluster of old trees rustled softly in the night wind, casting dappled shadows on the ground.
Zhao Wuji drew to a stop and raised his hand, about to knock on the gate.
At that moment, a low murmuring voice drifted from inside the courtyard. The voice was not loud, but in the stillness of late night it came through with remarkable clarity.
"In this life, now that this Sovereign has descended into the world once more, it is only fitting to sweep through all ages past and present…"
Outside the courtyard wall, Zhao Wuji's hand — poised to knock — froze in mid-air.
His brow creased slightly. A flicker of bewilderment crossed his eyes.
Descended into the world once more? Sweep through all ages? Where on earth did those strange, brazen words come from?
Could this young man be up at this hour not sleeping, but reciting some lost ancient tome?
Yet among the texts in the sect's Scripture Library, he couldn't recall any text with an ego quite this enormous.
Zhao Wuji withdrew his hand and stood with his hands clasped behind his back, making no sound. He did not move to interrupt.
His instincts as an elder told him that right now was not the moment to startle the snake in the grass. He steadied himself, held his breath, and continued to listen.
"Haha, Sovereign Bai, now you're just having me on."
The voice inside shifted register, going vague and oddly lilting, as though imitating a conversation with someone else — an awkward, off-kilter effect.
"A mere Heavenly Dao dares obstruct me? Once this Sovereign recovers full strength, I shall assuredly cut a path up through the Nine Heavens and bring every last immortal crashing down…"
The expression on Zhao Wuji's face shifted from its initial puzzlement to something increasingly strange.
What on earth was any of this? "Every immortal crashing down" — and who in the world was this "Sovereign Bai"?
Zhao Wuji had lived more than a hundred years, traversed the cultivation world far and wide, and had his share of knowledge about the secret lore of the major sects — yet he had never once heard such a title.
"This kid… could he have sent his cultivation qi the wrong way and cooked his own brain?"
Zhao Wuji mulled it over quietly.
If it were the confusion of cultivation deviation, it usually manifested as incoherent rambling and loss of awareness — but judging by the tone of what he was hearing, the logic seemed surprisingly coherent.
For no reason he could quite identify, even as his rational mind insisted this was just a disciple talking nonsense, the confident, haughty monologue issuing from the other side of that wall in the vast, empty quiet of deep night left Zhao Wuji with a faint chill creeping up his spine.
"Had that red-haired old freak not interfered, this Sovereign fears the Great Dao itself would have been ground down to nothing…"
Another utterance drifted from within the courtyard, its tone carrying an unmistakable note of wistful, rueful reminiscence.
This was getting more and more outlandish by the second.
The corner of Zhao Wuji's mouth twitched. He had been on the verge of pushing the gate open to see what was happening inside — but the moment his hand actually touched the door, he hesitated.
If Gu Chengming had genuinely fallen under the sway of some unknown malicious entity, barging in rashly could provoke an unpredictable reaction, and that would be a much worse situation to deal with.
And besides — listening to that tone of voice, it really was as though an entirely different person were speaking.
"No. This is too strange, and far too serious. If it were mere delusion it would be one thing — but if this involves a body-seizing or deep-rooted heart-devil, I alone cannot determine that. I need to consult Old Ren about this!"
Zhao Wuji made the call instantly. Without daring to knock even once, he turned on his heel and shot toward Huiyuan Gate like a bolt of light.
Atop Huiyuan Gate's main peak.
Ren Wencai was just settling into meditation when his door was thrown violently open by sheer brute force — the newcomer was none other than the ordinarily composed and steady Zhao Wuji.
Facing Ren Wencai's bewildered, suspicious stare, Zhao Wuji dispensed with any pleasantries and, with a grave expression, laid out everything he had just heard and seen outside Gu Chengming's courtyard.
Living nine lives in reverse, sole dominion over all the ages, cutting a swathe through the Nine Heavens and Ten Lands.
This wild, outlandish account left Ren Wencai completely at a loss, his brow knotted in confusion.
As a cultivator of the fourth realm, he knew well enough that the cultivation world was full of the strange and the impossible — the theory of body-seizing and reincarnation was not without basis. Yet the terms "Sovereign Bai" and "sole dominion over all the ages" that Zhao Wuji was describing were simply too over the top.
Compared to actually believing that his own disciple was some reincarnated ancient emperor — an absurdity so extreme he couldn't stomach it — a more practical and more alarming possibility surfaced quickly in Ren Wencai's mind: cultivation deviation.
In his assessment, Gu Chengming had perhaps let his focus slip after the competition, or perhaps his obsessive drive had gone too deep for too long, causing his Dao-heart to falter and a heart-devil to slip in through the crack.
After all, the classic signs of a heart-devil taking hold were precisely this: confusion of the mind, grandiose delusions, even severe hallucinations of being utterly invincible.
And the stronger the Dao-heart, the more bizarre the manifestation of cultivation deviation tended to be.
Zhao Wuji quickly arrived at the same conclusion. In the glance they exchanged, the tension of the moment rapidly transformed into mutual anxiety for the disciple's safety.
Whether it was a body-seizing or a heart-devil delusion, Gu Chengming's current state was precarious — there was no room for even a moment's delay.
With that thought, neither elder hesitated a moment longer. They immediately resolved to go together and investigate.
If it was a heart-devil, there was still a chance to pull him back. And if it truly involved some ineffable, unspeakable presence, the two of them working together should be able to handle it.
In the darkness of the night, two streaks of escape-light sliced across the sky, bearing straight for Gu Chengming's courtyard.
One incense stick's time later.
Gu Chengming's small courtyard received its visitors.
At this moment, Gu Chengming had just finished today's session of "Primordial Imperial Merit" cultivation and was lying back in his chair, basking in the rare, blissful clarity of the post-session afterglow.
Knock knock knock.
A knock came at the door — with a certain urgency to it.
Gu Chengming's heart gave a small lurch.
Who comes calling in the middle of the night?
He forced himself upright, straightened his somewhat disheveled robes, and walked over to open the courtyard gate.
Creak —
The gate swung open.
Standing outside was not Jiang Lu, but two familiar and authoritative faces.
The two elders were looking at him with a remarkably complicated expression.
"Elder Ren? Elder Zhao?"
Gu Chengming stood there in a daze, instinctively cupped his hands in a bow. "This late at night — what brings both elders here to…"
Ren Wencai did not speak immediately. Instead he first swept a strand of his divine sense over Gu Chengming's body, and only once he had confirmed there was no trace of malevolent energy did he let out a quiet breath of relief.
But he still fixed Gu Chengming with a penetrating stare and asked, testing the waters:
"Chengming — it's so late. You haven't gone to sleep yet?"
"Ah… this disciple was just cultivating and was about to turn in." Gu Chengming answered honestly.
"Cultivating?"
Zhao Wuji, standing to one side, couldn't help cutting in: "Cultivating what, exactly? Could it be… a technique for sweeping through all the ages?"
"…"
Gu Chengming went silent.
So that's why they came.
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