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The gate to the Ancient Realm opened.
Gu Yuan changed into a clean, tidy set of white robes, held Gu Xun'er's small hand, and strolled through the Ancient Realm. He used his methods to conceal both their auras, lest any of the Gu Clan detect them and create a disturbance.
Gu Yuan spoke gently, "Xun'er, this is the Ancient Realm—the place where you grew up."
Gu Xun'er shook her head in confusion. She had no memory of anything, not even of Gu Yuan himself. Only after he had bled to confirm their familial bond did she recognize him again.
Hearing his words, Gu Yuan sighed softly. "Xun'er, do you know why you became like this—why you can't remember anything?"
"I don't know," Gu Xun'er replied, pouting. "I want to recall my memories, but my mind is empty. No matter how hard I try, nothing comes to me. Father, please tell me why." Since losing her memories, her emotional age had regressed by several years; everything felt unfair to her.
A trace of relief flickered across Gu Yuan's eyes. "Have I taken you to the Ancient Emperor's domain before? Do you remember that white-haired man?"
Gu Xun'er nodded. "I remember. He was accompanied by a little girl at the time."
Gu Yuan said, "It's because of that man. His strength is that of a Seven-Turn Dou Zun, while you, Xun'er, were only a Great Dou Shi. Because you were no match for him, this happened to you—and your memories are now in that man's hands."
"Then, Father, can't you help me retrieve them?" Gu Xun'er puckered her lips, her large eyes brimming with dissatisfaction. In her mind, Gu Yuan was the only person she recognized, so she clung to him as fiercely as she would have clung to Xiao Yan.
Seeing how grown-up Gu Xun'er had become after so many years—and observing her childish expression—Gu Yuan smiled faintly. "Xun'er, you have already seen that Taixu Ancient Dragon, haven't you? That dragon's strength is roughly on par with mine. If Father intends to retrieve your memories, I must first surpass it."
"Xun'er, your memories were taken because your strength wasn't enough. If you become stronger, then in the future, Father can restrain that Taixu Ancient Dragon. At that point, you can defeat that man and reclaim your memories."
After this explanation, Gu Yuan finally revealed his purpose.
Gu Xun'er clenched her small fist. "Then Father, I will train hard. I want to become as strong as you, so I can reclaim the memories that belong to me!"
"All right. Xun'er, you are the Gu Clan's greatest talent in a thousand years. I am confident you can become as strong as I am." Gu Yuan nodded in satisfaction, then led Gu Xun'er to her residence to retransmit the cultivation technique.
Half an hour later, Gu Yuan stepped out of Gu Xun'er's abode. Inside, Gu Xun'er was sitting cross-legged, fully immersed in her training.
"Despite this encounter costing us a Half-Sage and several Dou Zun experts, and despite antagonizing a Nine-Star Dou Sheng, Xun'er has forgotten everything and continues to train diligently. At least that yields some consolation," Gu Yuan thought, gazing at her with the resigned affection of a father whose daughter had placed him in a bind. Hadn't he sent Xun'er to the Xiao Family to seize that Ancient Jade, only for their efforts to come to nothing—and on top of that, had she not developed feelings for Xiao Yan? The Gu Clan suffered significant losses because of it.
Yet, the root cause lay with Gu Yuan himself: he had dispatched Xun'er to the Xiao Family in hopes of obtaining the Ancient Jade, but they returned empty-handed, and Xun'er fell for Xiao Yan. As one of the Prime Beacons of the entire continent, Gu Yuan had seen it all, understood the Gu Clan's prominence, and thus could not fathom why his daughter—his brightest pearl—would become infatuated with someone from a rural, newly rich family, only for that person to later befall ruin. Such a thing defied logic.
After a deep sigh, Gu Yuan's expression turned coldly sharp. "That Taixu Ancient Dragon… unless I'm mistaken, it must be the long-missing Taixu Ancient Dragon Sovereign. Even accounting for a magical beast's lifespan, it should no longer be in its prime after all these years. Could it be, like the Heavenly Tomb, that time flows differently in the Ancient Emperor's domain?"
He continued: "If time truly flows abnormally here, then we can't afford to wait on the Xiao Family's Ancient Jade. With the Ancient Emperor's domain warping time, I could easily die if I devote my lifespan to this. Xun'er must grow rapidly and reach my level. Otherwise, even if the Gu Clan gathers eight Ancient Jades, we will still struggle to contend for the Ancient Emperor's domain against that Taixu Ancient Dragon—let alone face Soul Heavenly Sovereign as well."
A fierce light ignited in Gu Yuan's eyes—both steely resolve and burning ambition. He had climbed to the peak of the Dou Di realm at the cost of countless lives, and now that he had tasted such power, he hungered for it once more.
Ancient Emperor's Domain
Zi Yan still refused to pay Zhukun any mind. Instead, she took out the pills Qian Renhan had given her and began consuming them one by one.
Once Qian Renhan had restored his Dou Qi, he ventured into the magma sea. With a surge of aura, he seized the partially charred corpse of the Half-Sage who had been pursuing him. As before, he crushed most of the Half-Sage's spirit sea and devoured it.
"That kind of Dou Qi… what is that?" Zhukun said nothing, but his pupils contracted slightly. He could clearly feel that, after devouring that spirit, Qian Renhan's soul force had grown immensely. He was now just one step away from reaching the Celestial realm.
Ancient Emperor Scripture (Upper Volume), Celestial-Grade, Lower Tier
"Ancient Sovereign's Capturing Claw"—a quasi-celestial-grade Dou Technique.
After consuming that soul fragment, Qian Renhan immediately sat cross-legged and began devouring every vestige of the Half-Sage's essence. This Half-Sage, who had overwhelmed him without allowing any retaliation, had been a mid-rank Half-Sage. His reserves included two entry-level Half-Sages and four peak Nine-Turn Dou Zuns. Although part of his essence had been incinerated by the magma, what remained was still more than enough to propel Qian Renhan to Nine-Turn Dou Zun level.
"What kind of power is this?" Qian Renhan thought, astonished. "To be able to devour a soul and use it to bolster one's Soul Force—without corrupting one's personality—while also raising Dou Qi by consuming a realm so vast… and at over ninety-five percent efficiency, with no hollow fluctuations in the cultivation level!"
Zhukun was filled with dread at this revelation. Such an ability surpassed even the second-rank Hellfire, the Void-Devouring Flame. That flame could consume everything to boost cultivation, but to improve Soul Force, one still needed to devour the soul's primordial essence—it could not simply swallow a soul whole.
The only being whose power even approached Qian Renhan's was the ancient Tuo She Sovereign, who had soared through dual breakthroughs by devouring extraordinary flames, surging both cultivation and Soul Force simultaneously. Yet even he could devour only flames.
This human before him, however, had seamlessly fused the full capabilities of both the Void-Devouring Flame and the Tuo She Sovereign's legacy. Such a perfect ability… it was simply unprecedented!
Having finished devouring every last bit of the Half-Sage, Qian Renhan turned his focus to the Ancient Sovereign Scripture itself. Under the world-laws of the Dou Qi Continent, this was the essential technique for breaking through into the Dou Sheng realm.
Celestial-grade cultivation techniques were on an entirely different tier compared to high-level Earth-grade techniques or quasi-celestial Dou Techniques—truly a chasm between heaven and earth.
The key to practicing a Celestial-grade method was an extraordinarily robust body and meridians. Otherwise, the elemental Dou Qi drawn in by a Celestial-grade Dou Technique would rupture one's meridians, causing fatal damage. That was why even Half-Sages only began studying Celestial-grade techniques at their level—only then do their meridians barely qualify.
(End of Chapter)