If I become a saint, a celestial official will summon me to raise horses.

Chapter 909 Enlightenment from the Beginning
Why ascend to heaven?

Li Ya never expected that the first problem he would face after arriving at Zhongtian would be so direct.

He paused for a moment, then said, "I came for the destiny of immortality, I came for the Great Dao."

The red-robed man who called himself Fang Qiu looked down at him and said, "Immortal opportunity? You ascenders all say that there is an opportunity to become an immortal in this world, but we who were born and raised here have seen great beings preaching the Dao, but we have never seen any so-called immortal opportunity."

Figures appeared at the edge of the pit; they were all transformed demons, the weakest of whom was a Primordial Golden Immortal.

Li Ya was secretly shocked. When the Three Thousand Great Worlds were in chaos between immortals and demons, Zhongtian had just been established. In just a few years, Zhongtian had already cultivated such a foundation.

No wonder this realm can become the center of the Heavenly Dao.

After the initial shock, Li Ya felt a surge of anticipation.

Only such a world would be worthy of his painstaking efforts to come here.

"Since this is your first time here, do you have somewhere to go?" Fang Qiu asked, staring at Li Ya.

Seeing that he meant no harm, Li Ya replied, "No, I still need to learn more about Zhongtian."

For some reason, Li Ya felt an inexplicable fondness for Fang Qiu. He now understood why: Fang Qiu's physique was too similar to his junior brother Gu.

He even suspected that Junior Brother Gu was in Zhongtian, and that this demon was imitating Junior Brother Gu's appearance to transform into human form, so he decided to spend some time with Fang Qiu.

Fang Qiu immediately extended an invitation, saying, "Why don't you come and sit on my mountaintop?"

"Thank you for the invitation, fellow Daoist."

Li Ya smiled and raised his hand to bow to Fang Qiu.

His ascension naturally attracted Gu An's attention.

Gu An, who was far away at the Wushi Dojo, heard Li Ya's thoughts and secretly praised his senior brother Li for being so clever, as he had guessed everything.

Unfortunately, Li Ya soon abandoned this speculation.

After talking with Fang Qiu, Li Ya learned that Fang Qiu's transformation was not based on anyone's reference, and that Fang Qiu had no master, which forced him to abandon this guess.

It seems to be quite a coincidence.

Perhaps it was because he missed his junior brother Gu so much that he made such a guess. Thinking about it carefully, the image of his junior brother Gu in his mind had become blurry.

Encountering Fang Qiu after ascending to heaven is not a good thing for Li Ya. Fang Qiu invited him with hidden ambitions. Fang Qiu wants to learn about other worlds. The two will have conflicts and even become enemies. This will be Li Ya's first hardship after arriving in Zhongtian.

Gu An will not interfere, because Li Ya will escape alive.

As for Fang Qiu, he didn't care at all. He had only met Fang Qiu once and they had no relationship whatsoever.

Over the long years, Gu An has touched and seen countless living beings, but few have been able to enter his heart.

Li Ya's arrival signifies that the Heavenly Dao has opened the path to ascension from the Three Thousand Great Worlds to the Central Heaven.

Those who ascend to immortality have experienced the mortal world and are deeply cunning. They will exacerbate the development of Zhongtian and make the situation in Zhongtian even more chaotic.

The gods who oversee the heavens have established palaces in the sky. They look down upon the evolution of the world and find the actions of the ascendants merely amusing.

The Heavenly Dao also has requirements for those who ascend; at the very least, it will not allow beings that disrupt the balance of the Central Heaven to ascend. Therefore, those who ascend can influence the Central Heaven, but they cannot dominate the winds and clouds of the Central Heaven.

Even within the same realm, beings in the Middle Heaven can still outpace those who ascend, forcing the ascendants to recognize reality and the difference between immortals and mortals.

Every year, Zhongtian produces exceptionally talented individuals, and prodigies emerge from nowhere to proclaim their power.

Those high-spirited ascendants, after experiencing setbacks, began to curb their arrogance.

The autumn rain was continuous, and the mountain forests washed by the rain were shrouded in mist. Gu An sat in a small pavilion halfway up the mountain, enjoying the rain. On the table were fine wines and fruits, which were prepared by the Ghost Mother of the Ephemeral Flower.

A figure walked along the mountain path outside the courtyard. He suddenly stopped and turned to look at Gu An.

This person is none other than Wu Xie. After arriving in Zhongtian, Wu Xie did not stop cultivating. His cultivation level increased rapidly, and he is now almost at the level of a Hengtian Golden Immortal. He is still the most radiant disciple in Wushi.

Wu Xie looked at Gu An inside the pavilion and remembered what Gu An had said to her back then.

Am I really that boring?

Wu Xie had doubted himself more than once. He thought about it carefully and realized that he really had no other interests besides cultivation. When he talked with his fellow disciples, they only talked about cultivation.

He used to think that cultivation was the most important thing, but after coming to Zhongtian, his belief wavered.

Cultivation is indeed important, but the path of cultivation is never about arduous seclusion.

Especially after the patriarch instructed them to adapt to their mortal identities, more and more disciples began to find new ways to attain enlightenment.

Working in the fields allows one to observe the ways of the earth.

Cutting down trees to build a building allows one to hear the principles of feng shui from all directions.

Painting landscapes allows one to appreciate the vitality of all things.

Over the years, Wu Xie has also been thinking about what kind of mortal identity he should have.

He wasn't passing by this place because he was after the patriarch. After all, no one in the temple could detect the patriarch's aura or karmic connections. He just happened to be passing by.

However, upon seeing the figure of the patriarch, he suddenly wanted to talk to him and ask for guidance.

The patriarch seemed to have no problem with him, but he wasn't interesting enough. If he had any questions, he could ask the patriarch, and the patriarch wouldn't refuse, right?

Just as Wu Xie was hesitating, Gu An's voice came: "Since you want to ask, then come on."

Wu Xie was shocked. How could his thoughts have been guessed?
But when he thought of the legends surrounding his patriarch, he felt relieved.

The patriarch is a being even more powerful than immortals and gods. What does it matter if he can see through people's hearts?
Wu Xie immediately walked towards the pavilion, went straight to Gu An's side, and bowed.

"Sit down."

Gu An looked at Wu Xie and gave him a kind smile.

Wu Xie was also infected by his smile and completely let go of her burden.

Before Wu Xie could speak, Gu An took a book out of his pocket and placed it in front of him. Wu Xie stared at it intently and read out the title of the book: "Journey to the West?"

"While the weather is nice, you should take a look first."

Upon hearing Gu An's words, Wu Xie immediately picked up Journey to the West.

He had long heard that the patriarch liked to read, but not scriptures; rather, he read miscellaneous books from the mortal world. He had tried to read them himself, but he couldn't calm his mind.

This time, when Wu Xie opened Journey to the West, he felt inexplicably calm, without the impatience of the past. He calmed down and was quickly attracted by the contents of Journey to the West.

After Wu Xie finished reading this book, Gu An took out another one. Without asking any questions, Wu Xie picked up the book and started reading.

And so it went, day after day. Gu An kept changing books, and Wu Xie was also reading them carefully, but he read them very quickly.

The autumn rain continued, and white bolts of lightning appeared in the thunderclouds on the horizon, illuminating the distant mountains, as if a red light was shining at the edge of the world.

Gu An turned his head to look, muttering to himself, "So, in the end, he couldn't hold back anymore?"

He saw the Heavenly Emperor descend to earth.

The Heavenly Emperor came to Zhongtian not to scheme against the Heavenly Dao and its fortune, but to target him.

It seems the Heavenly Emperor foresaw that Gu An would come to Zhongtian.

(End of this chapter)