A thousand enlightenments in one night, starting from being a menial apprentice.

Chapter 474: Celestial Phenomenon
Chu Qiushan glanced at the dejected Ge Rushong and sighed, "Rushong, with your status, why would you attack a junior?"

A look of confusion welled up in Chu Qiushan's eyes.

He had already read the documents on the Taihe Tower incident after they were sent to the sect, but Yang Sixian had not yet had time to report to him about Pei Du and Jiang Zhe's siege and killing of Duan Rong.

In Chu Qiushan's opinion, although Ge Rushong's actions in the Taihe Tower incident were presumptuous, the most he would do is to be removed from his position as the director of the Tongzhengshisi, and he might even be able to retain his position as an elder in the Council of Elders.

Therefore, he was somewhat puzzled as to why Ge Rushong suddenly took action and wanted to kill Duan Rong personally.

When Zhu He saw Chu Qiushan talking, he stood aside and said nothing, just looking at Ge Rushong expressionlessly.

Hearing this, Ge Rushong sneered and sighed to the sky. Then his eyes turned cold and he glanced at Chu Qiushan and Zhu He and said, "Master Chu, old thief Zhu, the winner is the king and the loser is the bandit. No need to say more!"

"I admit defeat this time! But if you want me to surrender, don't dream about it!"

After Ge Rushong finished speaking, his sleeves and hair moved without wind, and the ripples in the space above his head surged violently...

Zhu He frowned and said coldly, "Ge Rushong, both you and I are in the early stage of the Cave Nether Realm. I don't think I can beat you in terms of cultivation. But Sect Master Chu is in the middle stage of the Cave Nether Realm. If the two of us join forces, how can you win? Why do you want to humiliate yourself?"

"Zhu He, stop being so hypocritical. Haven't you humiliated me enough?" Ge Rushong said angrily. As he spoke, he stretched out his big hand to grab the air, and the ripples in the space above his head spread out like waves, covering Zhu He.

Zhu He glanced at Chu Qiushan beside him, and seeing that Chu Qiushan had no intention of attacking, he raised one hand, with ripples surging in his palm, grabbing the ripples in space that were coming over.

At the moment when Ge Rusong and Zhu He were fighting, Duan Rong suddenly moved and stood not far from Chu Qiushan. Chu Qiushan glanced at Duan Rong but did not speak.

Duan Rong knew very well that since Chu Qiushan was the person with the highest cultivation level in the field, the safest place was next to him.

When Ge Rusong saw Duan Rong suddenly flash to Chu Qiushan's side, his eyelids could not help but twitch. However, this was a matter of life and death, so he did not dare to hesitate any longer. Suddenly, his sleeves trembled, and something seemed to fly out of his sleeves.

No one knew what that thing was. As soon as it flew out, it emitted a flickering firefly. In the flickering, it emitted a faint golden light, which actually enveloped Zhu He and Chu Qiushan in the golden light.

Because Duan Rong had just flashed to the side of Chu Qiushan, he was also enveloped by the golden light.

Everything happened in a flash. Zhu He and Ge Rushong were fighting. Ge Rushong's sleeves were shaking. Chu Qiushan and Zhu He thought that he was going to attack Zhu He. By the time they noticed that something flew out of his sleeves, it had already been covered by the golden light.

Looking at the thin, flickering golden light surrounding them, Chu Qiushan and Zhu He were both shocked.

"It's actually the Mani Pearl!?"

Zhu He stared at Ge Rushong through the golden light with a cold expression and said, "So it was you who killed Elder Chu!"

Ge Rushong laughed twice and said, "It's an old story..."

Chu Qiushan also had an unsightly expression. Ripples surged in his palms, and he slapped the thin golden light. A palm print bulged out on the golden light, which trembled for a while, but it was still firmly shrouded, with no signs of damage or ruin.

Ge Rushong sneered, "Master Chu, although you are in the middle stage of the Cave and Dark Realm, this Mani Pearl is a treasure that Elder Chu accidentally found in the ruins of the ancient battlefield of gods and demons. Its defense is as solid as a rock. How can it be so easy to break it?"

Chu Qiushan heard this, but his face was cold, and he continued to slap the thin golden light one palm after another. With his palm power, one palm print after another appeared on the golden light cover, like playing whack-a-mole, one appeared and the other disappeared.

Ge Rusong's face changed. Although he used the Mani Pearl to trap Chu Qiushan and Zhu He, he couldn't say how long they would be trapped. After all, although Chu Qiushan was the leader of the sect, he hid in Changliu Mountain and practiced Xuan cultivation. If nothing happened, he would never show up. After all these years, it was hard to predict what level his cultivation had reached.

Ge Rushong knew that he couldn't stay here any longer, so he prepared to leave. Before he left, he glared at Duan Rong who was standing beside Chu Qiushan.

If this kid hadn't been smart and hadn't just dodged to Chu Qiushan's side, if he wanted to trap Chu Qiushan, he would have to cover this kid in the golden light.

Otherwise, he was also prepared to cover Chu Qiushan and Zhu He with the Mani Pearl, and then kill Duan Rong with his own hands in front of Zhu He, so that the old thief Zhu He would watch his beloved disciple die in his hands with his own eyes, which could be regarded as a tit-for-tat.

However, it now seems that this plan can no longer be implemented, and his own life is more important.

Ge Rushong suddenly turned into a ray of black light and soared into the sky.

At the moment when he was flying high into the sky, a figure suddenly jumped out from the dense forest on the other side of the valley, and streaked towards the sky like a black light.

Two black rays of light crossed each other in an instant above the sky, like two meteorites colliding.

Duan Rong was shielded by a thin golden light, looking at the changes in the sky with a focused look.

Chu Qiushan and Zhu He naturally also noticed the changes in the sky outside, but they both kept moving their hands and continued to slap the golden light shield with their palms.

Ge Rushong fell to the ground with a bang, blood splattered from the corner of his mouth, and his face turned pale. "Gu Daoling!?"

A handsome middle-aged man was seen hovering in the air, looking at Ge Rushong with a clear expression, and said calmly: "Elder Ge, we haven't seen each other for so many years, why are you in such a hurry to leave?"

"You old villain Zhu He, how dare you plot against me like this!?" Ge Rushong shouted with bloodshot eyes, turning his head to glare at Zhu He in the golden light shield.

He naturally knew that Gu Daoling was Zhu He's junior fellow apprentice, who had been practicing in the Observatory Tower of Shenyun Mansion, not caring about worldly affairs. Decades had passed, and many people had almost forgotten his existence.

Seeing Ge Rushong furious, Gu Daoling's eyes suddenly moved, and he pointed in the air. A strange ripple visible to the naked eye hit Ge Rushong's dantian at lightning speed.

At that moment, Ge Rusong was stunned. He did not feel any pain, but he could clearly sense that Gu Daoling had just injected a law of power into the cave of his dantian. With that external force, he suppressed the surge of the law in his cave.

At this moment, he could not even sense the existence of his own Dongming.

Although he has reached the Cavern Abyss Realm, if he cannot mobilize the laws within the Cavern Abyss, he will be almost useless.

At this time, Gu Daoling slowly landed from mid-air.

Ge Rushong looked at Gu Daoling with horror. To be able to suppress the surge of laws in his cave with the power of a law, what level of cultivation did Gu Daoling reach?

Although Duan Rong's eyes widened inside the golden shield, he could not understand this level of battle. He only knew that Gu Daoling pointed his finger into the air, and Ge Rushong was hit by his air wave, and then stood there like a wooden chicken. He had no idea that Ge Rushong's cultivation had been suppressed by Gu Daoling, and he was equivalent to a useless person.

Gu Daoling glanced at Ge Rushong, who was dumbfounded, and then slowly walked past him. He looked at Chu Qiushan and the others who were trapped in the thin golden light, raised his eyes slightly, and stared at the flickering bead that emitted the golden light shield. Gu Daoling's eyes clearly flashed with a strange color, but he quickly suppressed it, and slowly walked to the golden light shield, ready to help Chu Qiushan and the others break through the shield.

Gu Daoling had just walked in front of the golden light shield and had not yet made a move, but Chu Qiushan stretched out both hands and slapped the thin golden light in front of him.

The golden light shield suddenly lit up and then disappeared. The next moment, the flickering Mani Pearl stopped flashing and fell from the top of Chu Qiushan and the others' heads.

Chu Qiushan stretched out his hand and the fallen Mani Pearl flew into his hand.

Duan Rong had long been curious about the bead, so he took this opportunity to take a quick glance at it. It seemed to be a dark-colored stone bead, and at first glance, it looked nothing special.

As soon as he got the Mani Pearl, Chu Qiushan hid it with his sleeves.

A hint of disappointment flashed in Gu Daoling and Zhu He's eyes almost at the same time.

Duan Rong's eyes turned and he saw the expressions of the two men. These two men were old monsters with deep thoughts, and they could not hide their covetousness for the Mani Pearl.

It can be seen that the Mani Pearl is indeed an extraordinary thing. Otherwise, with Chu Qiushan and Zhu He's cultivation, they were trapped by the pearl for such a long time even though they joined forces. This is enough to show the extraordinaryness of this thing.

Chu Qiushan only glanced at Ge Rushong who was not far away, then turned to look at Gu Daoling and said, "So Junior Brother Gu is here. I am really shortsighted and didn't notice it before."

As Chu Qiushan spoke, he glanced at Zhu He beside him.

Zhu He looked a little embarrassed.

He asked Chu Qiushan to come here to be a witness, but he also wanted to plot against Chu Qiushan.

The reason why Zhu He dared to do this was naturally because Chu Qiushan and Yang Sixian were both gentlemen. As the saying goes, it is better to offend a gentleman than to offend a villain.

Even if he offended Chu Qiushan and Yang Sixian, they would not settle accounts with him later, let alone make trouble for him behind his back. At most, he owed them some favors. Moreover, although he had calculated, it was an indisputable fact that Ge Rushong killed the sect's direct disciples.

However, the opponent he faced this time was Ge Rushong, who was also in the early stage of the Cave Nether Realm. Zhu He suspected that Chu Qiushan blamed him for his calculations and was unwilling to take action casually. Zhu He was afraid that something might happen when he and Ge Rushong fought, so he asked Gu Daoling to ambush nearby and act when the time was right, in case of emergency. Anyway, he had such a cheap junior brother, so he might as well use him.

Gu Daoling said, "Master Chu, I am being rude. This was my senior brother's idea. He ordered me to hide in the dense forest and wait for the right opportunity to strike."

Zhu He was stunned and glared at Gu Daoling. This junior brother was really rude. He sold out his senior brother right away without even a moment's hesitation.

What Chu Qiushan cared about was not etiquette, but the fact that Gu Daoling was hiding in the dense forest and even he didn't notice him. Moreover, just now, Gu Daoling used the power of one finger to suppress the surge of laws in Ge Rushong's cave. He knew he couldn't do such a thing.

"I haven't seen you for decades. Has Junior Brother Gu advanced to the late stage of the Cave Netherworld Realm?" Chu Qiushan's eyes moved as he asked tentatively.

When Zhu He heard Chu Qiushan's question, his expression changed slightly. Because Zhu He was only in the early stage of the Cave Nether Realm, he didn't really understand the difference between the middle and late stages. When he heard Chu Qiushan's question, he looked at Gu Daoling in surprise. He had always thought that Gu Daoling was in the middle stage of the Cave Nether Realm.

Gu Daoling smiled slightly and said, "Three years ago, I observed the celestial phenomena at night and gained something by chance, and then I made a breakthrough."

“Breakthrough!?”

Gu Daoling said it calmly, but Chu Qiushan and Zhu He almost screamed out at the same time.

Gu Daoling nodded.

Zhu Hexi said: "You kid, you made a breakthrough, but you didn't even tell your senior brother. You're still hiding it from me..."

Gu Daoling's eyes moved slightly. Zhu He's tone and expression showed that he was truly happy for him.

Chu Qiushan, however, looked at Gu Daoling with gloomy eyes. Decades had passed, and Gu Daoling had actually broken through the predicament and advanced to the late stage of Dongming Realm, while he had struggled in vain for decades and was still trapped in shackles, with no way to see a breakthrough.

Chu Qiushan sighed deeply and said, "Congratulations, Junior Brother Gu! Junior Brother Gu, you just said that you broke through the shackles by observing the celestial phenomena at night and gaining some insights?"

Gu Daoling said: "That's right!"

The elders and old masters in Taiyi Sect all knew that Gu Daoling was staying in the Star Observation Tower of Shenyun Mansion and not caring about worldly affairs. They all thought that he was tired of the various disputes in the sect. Moreover, the elders and old masters in the sect all knew that he had always had a bad relationship with the sect's ancestor Lu Yinlin, and the two often quarreled when they met.

Who would have thought that Gu Daoling was actually practicing the method of observing the stars in the Observatory?
Chu Qiushan raised his head and looked at the bright moon and sparse stars in the sky, and sighed: "Could it be that there is really a method of cultivation hidden in these stars?"

Gu Daoling said: "There is something mysterious in the stars."

Chu Qiushan looked at Gu Daoling, his eyes moved, and said: "Could you trouble Junior Brother Gu to explain the profound meaning of the astrological method you have realized?"

"If Master Chu is willing to listen, then of course I can." Gu Daoling smiled faintly and said, "When there is murderous intent on the ground, dragons and snakes will rise from the land; when there is murderous intent in the sky, the stars will change strangely. The ancients had a poem saying that suddenly there was a madman sharpening his knife at night, and the imperial star was swaying and the Mars was high. There are also thousands of signs in the celestial phenomena. Can it be seen? Can it not be seen? Although Daoling has a superficial understanding, it is difficult to go deep, and he often falls into a state of confusion in the virtual dream of the galaxy."

As Gu Daoling spoke, a solemn look flashed across his eyes.

Duan Rong stood there, listening to Gu Daoling's words, staring blankly at the sparse stars in the sky. The cold light of the stars and the moon seemed to fall into the depths of his eyes... He murmured and repeated Gu Daoling's words. "Can I peek at it? Can I not peek at it?..."

Chu Qiushan was also stunned when he heard this. Gu Daoling spent decades comprehending the celestial phenomena to enter the Dao. How could he understand it in a short time? "Junior Brother Gu has no one to rely on, but he came up with his own ideas. He can comprehend the celestial phenomena to enter the Dao. He is truly a rare talent!"

Chu Qiushan's words were sincere praise. You should know that even the sect ancestor Lu Yinlin did not approve of Gu Daoling's cultivation method. Otherwise, the two would not have quarreled as soon as they met. Although the sect ancestor opposed it, Gu Daoling insisted on his own way, and finally broke through the gate, broke through the shackles, and advanced to the late stage of the cave and dark realm. If he made further progress, he would have the opportunity to achieve the Nascent Soul.

Gu Daoling heard this, but his face was bitter. "The Great Dao is invisible. The deeper you go, the harder it is to find it!"

Gu Daoling sighed as he spoke. His behavior this time was not just a pretense, but in the three years since he entered the late stage of the Cave Nether Realm, he gradually understood why the ancestor Lu Yinlin was so fiercely opposed to him.

Over the past three years, he gradually understood some of what Lu Yinlin said, and also gradually realized why Lu Yinlin opposed his method of cultivation.

The path he chose is really too illusory...

(End of this chapter)