Compared to before, Gu Jinlai’s cultivation, Spirit Level, and equipment have all markedly improved.
Space, Destruction, Devouring, coupled with the relatively unused Power of Dao, augmented by the Thirteenth-Rank Divine Sense, he is undoubtedly at an Immortal Venerable Level in terms of battle strength.
Moreover, with a series of Immortal Immortal Instruments such as the Fantian Ring, Void Flow, Silence Returns to Destruction, Lonely Night, the strength he can unleash is substantial.
And within the Star Prison of the Hidden Dragon Star Domain, he even seized an Immortal-level weapon from those Divine Spirits—a Heavenly Light Mirror.
This specially crafted Immortal Artifact possesses astonishing effectiveness in searching for Divine Spirits, so even if some Divine Spirits do not partake in transactions, as long as they appear in this meteorite belt with ill intentions, Gu Jinlai will still be able to seek them out. ʀᴇᴀᴅ ʟᴀᴛᴇsᴛ ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀs ᴀᴛ novel※fire.net
In pursuit of efficiency, within just ten years, under Gu Jinlai’s "summons," these Divine Spirits came in waves upon waves.
During this period, Gu Jinlai wielded three Immortal Immortal Instruments—Void Flow, Silence Returns to Destruction, and Lonely Night—moving from the eastern side of the meteorite belt to the western side, then from west to north, without closing his eyes even once.
In just ten years, the Divine Spirits he exterminated numbered in the hundreds!
Though Gu Jinlai sought trade targets limited to ordinary Divine Spirits and Divine King levels, among the hundreds exterminated, he still eliminated six Divine Emperors!
Ten years is a very brief time scale for Divine Spirits and Immortals.
Even if measured by an average lifespan of tens of millions of years, ten years for them is less than an hour in a mortal’s concept.
Would there be doubts if a mortal lost contact with friends for an hour?
Not to mention an hour—ten hours, a day, three days—perhaps no one would even react.
Mortal’s ten hours, a day, three days, undoubtedly equates to hundreds of years in the life scale of Divine Spirits.
Gu Jinlai sat on a meteor, habitually gasping for breath.
Though his energy state life form at this moment had no need for breathing, he still retained this human habit, manifesting his toil and hardship through this act.
"Although ten years might equate to less than an hour for an Immortal, even an hour of high-intensity combat is unbearable for any mortal."
Gu Jinlai sat on this meteor with a diameter of less than a hundred miles, but his gaze was focused on the spiritual world.
The number of Divine Spirits he had slain totaled five hundred eighty-nine.
He remembered with precision and clarity: among these five hundred eighty-nine Divine Spirits, ordinary Divine Spirits numbered four hundred sixty-two, Divine Kings one hundred twenty-one, Divine Emperors six.
Such a massive number of Divine Spirits caused his Qingguang accumulation to soar to twenty-six million four hundred thirty thousand.
"It should be about enough."
Gu Jinlai had previously slightly comprehended the Innate Star River Map; he estimated that if he could settle down, spending ten years, tens of years to thoroughly master this Cultivation Technique, he could reduce the consumption for advancing his Spiritual Realm to the Fourteenth Rank from thirty million Dao to fifteen million Dao.
But due to his exceedingly busy schedule during this period, killing Divine Spirits or searching for Divine Spirits, he lacked enough time to thoroughly study this Great Power’s legacy.
To ascend to the Fourteenth Rank...
He still needs over twenty million Dao of Qingguang.
"I can’t afford to be too conservative; time is money... no, time is Qingguang. I need to eliminate enough Divine Spirits before the Ten Thousand Gods Realm realizes, preferably accumulating Qingguang up to one hundred million, or one hundred fifty million would be ideal!"
Having one hundred fifty million Dao of Qingguang, he could return to the Fire Cloud Palace to settle down, further elevating his Spiritual Realm to the Fifteenth Rank, reaching the peak of the Eternal Life Dao, and it shouldn’t be beyond reach.
If there’s still some left over, perhaps he could enhance his accompanying Immortal Techniques.
With mastery of several Supreme Immortal Techniques, should any Great Powers discover certain secrets about him and react sinisterly, he could still contend.
At least, preserving his life and withdrawing entirely wouldn’t be an issue.
Upon such a thought, a full twenty million Dao of Qingguang surged forth and evaporated.
The next moment, Gu Jinlai’s Divine Sense seemed directly stripped away, suddenly detaching from the body and floating toward the center of the universe.
There, the Three Thousand Great Dao intertwined as one, ceaselessly turbulent.
The closer to the center, the more intense the intertwining of the Three Thousand Great Dao became, the interference and honing on the Divine Sense increasingly apparent.
Like compressing one star and three thousand stars within the same space, approaching the core, the impact and influence on the Divine Sense became strikingly evident.
At the moment of impacting the Fourteenth-Rank Divine Sense, Gu Jinlai felt as though he stood in a domain entirely saturated with Dao.
And within that domain saturated by Dao, faintly visible were figures...
To call them figures isn’t precise.
They had no specific form, yet when they appeared within Gu Jinlai’s perception, they were indeed towering figures.
Each figure seemed like the source of the world.
Each figure unfolded infinite time and space.
They used their own bodies to hold aloft the vast, boundless cosmos, condensing it into a starry sky filled with billions of stars.
Gu Jinlai’s Spirit shook intensely.
Immortal Venerable, could this level witness the Daoist Ancestor!?
Gu Jinlai suddenly realized.
All along, he harbored doubts.
The purification by the Daoist Ancestor actually transpired in an instant.
Barely at the moment of the Daoist Ancestor’s purification, all Immortal Golden Immortals adhering to this Dao would be entirely wiped out, unable to transmit any Divine Thought fluctuation.
But if the Daoist Ancestor’s purification truly occurred instantaneously, how could those Great Powers anticipate annihilation beforehand?
The Immortal Venerable can already vaguely glimpse the shadow of the Daoist Ancestor, and the great powers will undoubtedly see more clearly.
Spring is known first by the ducks as the river warms.
The ominous signs that the Immortal Golden Immortals cannot sense, the great powers will insightfully detect first and swiftly proceed to the prepared reincarnation site to enter Silent Annihilation.
Gu Jinlai stands in a place where he can vaguely "see" the shadow of the Daoist Ancestor.
The power of Dao here has already been condensed to the extreme.
He allows the washing of the Three Thousand Great Dao, persistently enduring.
Not knowing how long has passed, an unprecedented feeling of weakness surged in his heart.
He realized that this was his Divine Sense reaching its limit.
Yet precisely as the weakness emerged, he found his adaptability to the Three Thousand Great Dao had climbed to a new level.
Although this adaptation was not enough for him to stand firm while glimpsing the shadow of the Daoist Ancestor amidst the wash of the Three Thousand Great Dao, it undoubtedly took a crucial step forward.
"Middle stage of Eternal Life Dao Realm! Fourteenth Rank Divine Sense!"
Gu Jinlai understood in his heart.
His Spirit Level had broken through to Fourteenth Rank.
With a thought, his mind and consciousness flew directly from the heart of the Cosmic, where he could glimpse the shadow of the Daoist Ancestor, across endless time and space barriers, returning to his body.
Gu Jinlai reopened his eyes.
He perceives the changes brought by his Fourteenth Rank Divine Sense...
"Now, I feel more assured."
Gu Jinlai nodded with satisfaction.
With his Spirit Level elevated, he glanced again at the various trophies in his Storage Immortal Artifact...
Though most of the Divine Spirits were not their True Bodies, there are still many Divine Spirits confident in themselves.
Considering the massive number, at this moment, he had seized sixteen additional Immortal Immortal Instruments.
Including the ten pieces acquired from the Star Prison, he now has twenty-six Immortal Immortal Instruments to trade.
What an astounding number!
Furthermore, for most Divine Spirits, Supreme Immortal Artifacts are the standard, and he seized even more of these, enough to arm an entire legion.
With these Immortal Immortal Instruments, his assets at this point, even compared to those Immortal Venerable, are quite impressive.
"That’s still because I targeted mainly ordinary Divine Spirits and Divine Kings, not attacking Divine Emperors or Divine Kings; if battling Divine Emperors and Divine Kings, almost every kill might yield one or two Immortal Immortal Instruments."
Gu Jinlai grew more and more expectant.
Time waits for no one.
Although at this moment he feels tired and weary, nonetheless...
No matter how hard, he must persevere.
He has to execute the next step before the Ten Thousand Gods Realm react.
With this thought in mind, Gu Jinlai quickly divided a sense, entered the Ten Thousand Gods Realm through the Divine Origin Plate.
Despite ten years being merely an hour’s impression for the Divine Spirits, the number of this demise was ultimately too many.
Although the number of Divine Spirits in the Ten Thousand Gods Realm is six digits, the ones actively participating in it for years are merely tens of thousands, a drop of one percent, or even one in fifty, has already raised alarms among the perceptive.
But since they can’t pinpoint the issue, they can only practice caution, intending to stay indoors to avoid unforeseen disasters.
"Using the guise of trading to invite more Divine Spirits into traps will be difficult now."
Seeing this, Gu Jinlai couldn’t help but feel somewhat regretful.
Maybe he can still trick ten, eight, or even dozens of Divine Spirits, but the investment of time and energy will definitely be greater.
This does not align with his intent to swiftly eliminate Divine Spirits and weaken the forces of the Ten Thousand Gods Realm.
After pondering for a moment, Gu Jinlai quickly devised a plan.
He took out a Communication Jade Token, promptly sending it to the Domain Master of the Ashen Star Domain.
This Domain Master named Chi Rong, hailed from the Fire Cloud Palace and was a direct disciple of the Black Emperor, with a cultivation of Five Thousand Epoch.
However, his cultivation took nearly thirty million years, and he fears he won’t survive the next Daoist Ancestor purge, having limited potential compared to Qin Yuyan.
"Domain Master Chi, I have just slain dozens of Divine Spirits; based on my questioning, it seems there are more Divine Spirits infiltrating the Ashen Star Domain with a significant action, please dispatch personnel for investigation and purge within the Ashen Star Domain."
After sending this message, he received a reply from this Domain Master of the Ashen Star Domain almost immediately: "Dozens of Divine Spirits!? Junior Brother Gu, are you alright?"
"I’m fine, but you must expedite your actions."
"Glad to hear you’re alright."
Chi Rong quickly responded, "Thank you, Junior Brother Gu. We sensed movements years ago but were uncertain; now with your evidence... we will mobilize the army and request support from nearby Star Domains!"
"Good, do it quickly."
Concerning the Divine Spirits, Chi Rong certainly dared not be careless.
Soon, the legions stationed in the Ashen Star Domain began mobilizing under the leadership of numerous Immortal Golden Immortals.
One after another, starships took off, accompanied by the Power of the Space Avenue and Flowing Light Path fluctuations, obscuring the sky.
Gu Jinlai waited for a period, estimating that the Immortal Golden Immortal mobilization around various places was almost complete. Then, he re-entered the Ten Thousand Gods Realm using the Divine Origin Plate and immediately sought out the God Emperor Leize: "Something terrible has happened! My identity is exposed, and I’m being hunted by Immortal Golden Immortals, please Emperor Leize, bring reinforcements quickly!"
After speaking, he promptly added, "If God Emperor Leize assists me, I am willing to offer ten Immortal Immortal Instruments as a reward!"