The giant axe collided with the entity, releasing a burst of intense energy as if it were about to destroy the universe.
Gu Ningyun held her breath.
At the distant horizon, the first ray of light appeared.
It was white, yet it did not seem like white.
The entity split in two; one side rose, while the other sank.
The energy from the collision of the giant axe and the entity spiraled, converging with that initial ray of light to evolve into a formless, colorless lotus.
Gu Ningyun blinked.
As if perceiving her, the lotus suddenly flew out from the depths of the universe, the very center of existence.
Like a formless, colorless shooting star that lacked presence yet was impossible to ignore, it sank into the space between Gu Ningyun's brows.
Her consciousness went black. When she woke again, she was standing by a river.
It was called a river, yet there was no water in it.
To say it was not a river would be wrong, for it flowed forward like water, never turning back.
As she walked along the riverbank, endless images came flooding in.
There were mortals, Daoist cultivators, demon beast cultivators, and demon cultivators.
There was the ancient past, the present, and the future.
Her consciousness flickered, and she appeared in another void.
It was so empty that, aside from herself, there was only darkness.
There was nothing, and nothing could be sensed.
She did not know where she was, what place she occupied, or what time it was.
Until a familiar long river appeared out of thin air at the horizon.
At the starting point of the long river, a giant held a giant axe and swung it horizontally.
Simultaneously, a voice carrying an ancient aura echoed.
“Opening the heavens and the earth, proving the Dao through strength.”
Then came countless images and voices.
A woman with a human head and a snake's body used yellow clay and water to mold one clay figurine after another.
The sky collapsed, and floods overflowed. The woman held five-colored divine stones to plug the rift.
“Creating humans and mending the heavens, the Dao of Creation.”
A man with a human head and a snake's body held a net containing fish, surrounded by several people.
These people looked almost identical to the clay figurines in the woman's hands.
Behind the man floated a flame, a zither, and countless complex patterns.
“Establishing order, the Dao of Governance.”
An old man carried a basket on his back, a medicinal herb in his hand.
“Tasting a hundred herbs, the Dao of Salvation.”
...
The images flickered faster and faster until the order could no longer be distinguished and the specific scenes became blurred.
Only countless different voices echoed in her ears, sometimes simultaneously, sometimes overlapping.
“Dao of the Human Emperor.”
“Dao of Life and Death.”
“Dao of Yin and Yang.”
“Dao of Common Lives.”
“Dao of Music.”
“Sword Dao.”
“Alchemy Dao.”
“Array Dao.”
“Talisman Dao.”
“Artifact Dao.”
“Confucian Dao.”
“Dao of Painting.”
“Dao of Poetry.”
...
These scenes flickered for an unknown amount of time, and these voices rang out for just as long.
Until the long river suddenly vanished, and all the images and voices dissipated at once, as if they had never existed.
Everything returned to silence.
Gu Ningyun remained immersed in the shock of what she had just witnessed, unable to regain her senses for a long time.
Until a voice thundered.
It sounded like all the previous voices speaking in unison.
It came from the ancient past, the present, and the future.
“You may follow any Dao; you may follow many Daos at once.”
“But while following these paths, you can also forge your own Dao.”
“It was your Dao that awakened Me.”
“It was your Dao that resonated with Me.”
“I have sensed your Dao.”
“You... what Dao do you follow?”
The boundless darkness fell silent for a moment.
A familiar voice drifted from the surrounding darkness, yet it also seemed to come from within her heart.
“You... what Dao do you follow?”
It was her own voice.
What Dao did she follow?
Her consciousness felt both clear and hazy.
It was as if there was a seed, yet she could not make it sprout.
The myriad voices merged into one again.
“Go now. We shall meet again.”
Her consciousness went black. When she woke again, Gu Ningyun could hardly keep her expression steady.
When did she break through to the peak of Qi Refining level twelve!
Moreover, her foundation was solid, her spirit energy and star power were condensed, and there was not a single thing amiss.
Her Ren and Du meridians and twelve primary meridians were all exerting force. Her spirit energy and star energy had already formed a momentum that was completely unstoppable, drilling into her body through her three hundred and sixty-one acupoints.
Seeing the dual-colored energy sphere in her dantian becoming more and more condensed, she realized that if she didn't stop it, she was going to achieve Foundation Establishment right now!
Foundation Establishment was a major hurdle; she couldn't be so reckless.
Cultivating step by step from Qi Refining level one to level twelve, moving steadily and honing her strength to the limit each time—and only then breaking through from level twelve to Foundation Establishment—was called a Perfect Foundation Establishment.
Breaking through from level nine to Foundation Establishment all at once might seem solid, but in reality, taking such a large leap would certainly not be as condensed as a steady approach.
She wasn't at the end of her lifespan, where she would return to the underworld if she didn't break through immediately.
Stability was key!
With a thought, Gu Ningyun pushed her cultivation techniques to their limit, and the speed at which spirit energy and star energy circulated through her meridians slowed.
In the next instant, the speed was picked up again by the energy entering through her three hundred and sixty-one acupoints.
The Dao Rhyme gradually faded as auspicious clouds rolled across the horizon.
Daoist Lord Yi Guan's divine sense swept over her.
The little girl's face shifted from ethereal back to lively.
This was the return of her consciousness.
He jumped down from the courtyard wall and grabbed Gu Ningyun's wrist to probe her. “The peak of Qi Refining level twelve.”
With a wave of his hand, the azure vortex above the small courtyard immediately dissipated.
He then raised his brush and wrote a complex character for “Disperse.”
The character flew toward the original position of the azure vortex, exploding like starlight as if it had struck something.
An Innate Star Body was just as rare as a Dao Insight.
Star energy was invisible, untouchable, and imperceptible to ordinary people.
There were only two ways for ordinary people to come into contact with it.
The first was if the possessor of the Innate Star Body converted it into star power and used it through a corresponding technique—for example, using star power to attack.
The second was to use array patterns, talisman pens, or other mediums to draw in star energy for arrays or other purposes. The person drawing the energy could perceive or even use it during the process.
Fortunately, he had entered the Confucian Dao and had some special encounters.
Otherwise, he would not have been able to sense the star energy, let alone disperse it.
Given the momentum of that star energy vortex, the little girl would have been forced into a hurried Foundation Establishment.
In cultivation, faster was not always better.
If one took too large a leap and achieved Foundation Establishment too hastily, a potential that was once as deep as an infinite abyss could be cut in half on the spot.
With the two vortexes gone, the pressure around her suddenly lightened.
When Gu Ningyun opened her eyes, she saw an elegant and handsome immortal standing before her.
The immortal's aura was inscrutable. He wore a Xiaoyao cloud-patterned white outer robe with a white cloud-patterned sash, and a golden identity jade token flashed at his waist.
【Xiaoyao Immortal Sect | Inner Sect | Book Peak | Yi Guan】
The honorific names of the various Peak Masters were listed in the most prominent positions on the platforms of their respective peaks within the Xiaoyao disciple identity jade tokens.
Gu Ningyun had visited the Book Peak library many times, so she naturally recognized the name of Daoist Lord Yi Guan.
Realizing that her body had suddenly lightened and her cultivation had successfully stabilized at the peak of Qi Refining level twelve, she stood up gracefully and gave Daoist Lord Yi Guan a standard junior's salute.
“This disciple thanks the Daoist Lord for his protection and assistance.”
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