Starting Immortal Cultivation from a White Dog

Gouchen Xingjun shook his head and stopped thinking about it.

At this moment, he sensed that some of the power in his Dharma form had dissipated, and time was running out.

He raised his head, his gaze seemingly piercing through the layers of celestial river waters and the vast starry sky, looking towards another direction of the Azure Heavenly River, towards the area where the Mars Palace was vaguely located.

His eyes instantly became incredibly complex, filled with longing, affection, sorrow, and relief—a complex mix of emotions.

He knew his father was there.

He is in seclusion in the Mars Palace, and may even be paying close attention to everything happening outside.

He had been to the Yinghuo Star Palace and spent an extremely long time cultivating there, which was also his most cherished memory.

He knew that his father had been secretly watching over him and his mother, and had been silently protecting them.

Throughout his childhood, he faced several life-or-death situations, and it was always his father who came to his rescue.

Even in the years to come, it was only to save him and his sister that his father was forced to reveal his identity prematurely.

Thinking of all the memories in the future...

He felt a heavy weight in his heart.

"If it weren't for him and my sister, my father wouldn't have had to reveal his identity so early, and perhaps he wouldn't have suddenly disappeared..."

He really wanted to return to Mars Palace immediately and see his father, whom he hadn't seen for many years.

He had countless thoughts and words he wanted to express.

But he couldn't.

Reason fiercely suppressed the impulse.

“If I go to the Mars Palace in person, even just get close, given my current state of resonance with Gouchen Star, I will easily leave an indelible mark. Those ancient beings who are deep in the Heavenly Court and spying on the Three Realms may very well follow the clues and deduce the exact location of the Mars Palace... That will bring my father tremendous trouble, or even death!”

He couldn't let his father be exposed prematurely.

Therefore, he could only gaze at it from afar, across the endless void and the Milky Way.

Involuntarily, images of fighting alongside my father over the next few hundred years surfaced in my mind.

By then, his father had risen again, possessing great power and profound wisdom. He supported him and fought against powerful enemies together, acting as a father, teacher, and friend.

But later, after his identity was exposed, his father mysteriously disappeared. No matter how hard he searched or how much power he used, there were no more clues. It was as if he had completely evaporated from the Three Realms...

Thinking of this, Gouchen Xingjun felt a sharp pang of sorrow and pain in his heart, and his eyes even became hot.

His lips moved slightly, and he murmured softly to the empty starry sky in a voice only he could hear.

"Father... your child... misses you."

I know you are right there, so close yet so far away, and we can never meet.

This is perhaps one of the cruelest jokes of fate.

Forcibly suppressing his surging emotions, Gouchen Xingjun took a deep breath and felt the power rapidly flowing out of his body.

"Time is almost up."

He took one last deep look in the direction of the Mars Palace, as if his gaze was meeting that of the man gazing at the same spot.

Then, he resolutely turned around and took a step forward.

Starlight paves the way, the void folds and turns.

He returned to the Ten Thousand Mountains and the Palace of Immortality.

……

Outside the Immortal Palace.

Bai Qian remained standing in the same spot, with the Sea-Stabilizing Pearl floating in front of her, her expression dazed, as if she had not yet fully recovered from the series of earth-shattering events that had just occurred.

Before long, that familiar yet unfamiliar figure reappeared before me. Looking at the increasingly dim and blurred starlight imperial robe on his body, I felt an indescribable sadness welling up in my heart for some reason.

When Gouchen Xingjun's gaze fell on his mother, it instantly became incredibly gentle. All the imperial majesty and the desolation of the starry sky melted away, leaving only the tenderness of a son looking at his mother.

He could clearly sense that his physical form was nearing its limit. The power from the future was rapidly fading, and the anchor that sustained his existence was about to break.

In the little time he had left, all he wanted was to stay by his mother's side.

"Mother, your child has returned."

Gouchen Xingjun smiled, his voice slightly hoarse and weary.

Bai Qian suddenly snapped out of her daze and rushed forward, "Chen'er! How...how are you?"

Gouchen Xingjun gently shook his head, his tone still gentle, "Mother, I am fine. Let your child... lend you one last helping hand."

Without waiting for Bai Qian's response, he raised his hands, whose starlight was already somewhat scattered, and formed an incomparably profound magic seal that drew upon the power of the stars in the heavens.

"The Emperor of Gouchen granted a pardon, the stars shifted and the power was bestowed upon him."

"Buzz!"

High above, the radiant Gouchen Star trembled violently once more. A torrent of starlight, condensed to its extreme and resembling a tangible purple-gold liquid, descended from Gouchen Star and, regardless of distance, poured directly into Bai Qian's brow.

Bai Qian let out a muffled groan, her body trembling violently.

"Mother, don't resist it! Accept it!"

A sense of panic rose in Bai Qian's heart, as if she were about to lose her son. She couldn't accept it, but when she opened her eyes, she saw the almost pleading look in her son's eyes.

Her heart skipped a beat, and she closed her eyes.

Gouchen Xingjun extended a finger and touched her brow with the tip.

The gentle yet vast power, like a starry sea, flowed continuously into Bai Qian's limbs, bones, and soul, like a warm spring current.

Her aura began to rise at an alarming rate!
Originally, the Taibai Star, which was merely supported by the third heaven within its body, was violently shaken and its starlight surged under the nourishment of this power and the pull of Gouchen's authority, and it actually began to rise upwards on its own.

The fourth heaven, the fifth heaven...

It advanced with unstoppable momentum and finally anchored steadily in the sixth heaven.

Although not as powerful as the ninth level of Gouchen Star, he was already a strong star god.

Her magical power increased wildly, and her understanding of the Taibai Sword Dao emerged as clearly as if enlightened.

The Taibai Dividing Light Sword automatically unsheathed half an inch beside her, emitting a pleasant, clear sound. The sword's blade shimmered with light, and its quality seemed to be improving.

Her long-standing cultivation bottlenecks shattered one after another, allowing her to break through directly from the Fiend God Realm to the peak of the Star God Realm. Moreover, her foundation was incredibly solid, her stars were stable, and she was only half a step away from becoming a Great Sage.

Moreover, at this time, Venus also gained a portion of Gouchen's authority and power, becoming even more unfathomable.

In just a dozen breaths, Bai Qian underwent a complete transformation.

When she reopened her eyes, her gaze was clear and deep, and she was surrounded by pure and dazzling sword light. The sword light protected her body and only extended a thousand feet above her head, making her a completely different person from before.

However, when she looked at her son, there was no joy in her eyes; she was completely overwhelmed by immense panic.

The image of Gouchen Xingjun before me was so transparent that it was like a reflection in water, and its outline was almost impossible to see.

The imperial robes and crown had long since disappeared, revealing Bai Yaochen's original appearance and clothing. However, his face was completely bloodless, his breath was extremely weak, his eyes were unfocused, and his body was swaying precariously.

"No...no...Chen'er!"

Bai Qian's eyes reddened, and she rushed forward to support him.

Gouchen Xingjun was extremely weak. He barely managed to stand, looked at his mother with tears in her eyes, and forced a pale but satisfied smile.

His mother had always been an extremely resilient woman. Even in the hundreds of years that followed, he almost never saw her shed a tear, except for the day his father disappeared.

He raised his almost transparent hand and gently wiped away the tears from his mother's eyes, his movements as tender as if he were touching the most precious treasure in the world.

His gaze was fixed on his mother's face, as if he wanted to etch her image into the deepest part of his soul.

Then, he spoke softly, with a hint of cautious anticipation, his voice hoarse, "Mother..."

"Can you... hug me?"

This sentence, so simple, seemed to drain the last of his spirit.

His eyes began to glaze over, and his body swayed like a candle flickering in the wind.

Bai Qian's tears flowed like a river bursting its banks.

The immense sorrow in my heart finally erupted.

Without any hesitation, she opened her arms and, with all her might, tightly embraced her son's fading, light body.

The touch of an embrace is warm and real, yet it carries a heartbreaking sense of unreality.

Gouchen Xingjun gently rested his head on his mother's shoulder, took a deep breath of her familiar scent, and revealed a pure smile on his face that was filled with immense peace, happiness, and a sense that all regrets had been resolved.

This smile shed the emperor's majesty, the star lord's loneliness, and the vicissitudes of five hundred years, as if it had transformed back into that simple and adorable puppy-headed boy who loved to snuggle up to his mother.

He closed his eyes contentedly.

then……

Bai Qian suddenly felt her arms go empty.

That warm body, that faint breath, that last weight... vanished in an instant.

It was as if everything that had just happened was just a brief and beautiful dream.

She remained frozen in the embracing posture, her arms wrapped around the empty air.

Through her tear-blurred vision, only tiny specks of crystalline starlight, shimmering with the last rays of starlight, drifted from her bosom and between her fingers, slowly rising into the air and disappearing.

And at her feet, on the ground.

A puppy, about a foot long, with pure white fur, curled up in a ball, fast asleep with its eyes closed, lay there quietly.

Its breathing was even, its belly rose and fell slightly, and it had no powerful aura, only pure and fragile life fluctuations.

The Gouchen Star Lord who just slew the Dragon King, destroyed the navy, and killed Hou Yi, shaking the Three Realms, seemed to have never existed.

High in the heavens, the light of the Gouchen Star gradually faded and returned to calm.

As Bai Qian sensed the vast magical power and supernatural abilities within her body, and the dazzling Taibai Star in the sixth heaven, tears welled up in her eyes and slid down her fair cheeks.

The wind gently blew across the Palace of Immortality.

The warm sunlight shone down, illuminating the sleeping white puppy and Bai Qian, who stood there blankly, tears streaming down her face, as if she had lost her soul.

Silence.

……

Mars Palace.

Wu Tian felt a strange palpitation, as if some unknown cause and effect had intersected with him for a moment.

The golden crow image above his head appeared uncontrollably, its three feet treading lightly, and the illusory river of time flowing around him emitted a clearer splashing sound than ever before.

Through the hazy shimmering water, through the planet Mars, through the endless Milky Way and starry sky...

His gaze was forcibly drawn to the depths of the Azure Heaven River.

In a daze, he saw a figure dressed in a purple imperial robe and wearing a crown of stars, slowly sheathing a long sword.

At this moment, he suddenly turned around and looked back at this place.

His gaze seemed to traverse the vast galaxy, meeting hers.

Two pairs of eyes met, facing each other from a distance.

Wu Tian was trembling violently.

He couldn't see the figure's face clearly; the shimmering light of the star-studded crown and the majesty of the imperial robes obscured everything.

In that fleeting glance, he sensed no hostility; rather, there was an indescribable complexity in the other person's eyes.

There was a deep longing, a filial affection, and a trace of... a sorrow that seemed like a farewell.

In particular, there was a faint aura that he found familiar emanating from the other person.

"who is he?!"

Wu Tian blurted it out.

However, in the next instant...

The starlight faded, and the person vanished without a trace.

The feeling that had made his heart pound receded like the tide, disappearing without a trace, as if everything just now was merely a baseless illusion generated during cultivation.

Only the lingering ripples of light around the Golden Crow's image proved that something extraordinary had indeed happened.

Wu Tian stood there motionless for a long time.

A huge, empty sense of loss swept over him without warning, making it hard for him to breathe.

He had never seen that figure before, and knew nothing about it, so why... did his heart ache so much? It was as if he had lost something extremely important, something connected to the very source of his bloodline?

He gazed at the desolate Milky Way and the rushing Milky Way outside the palace, and for the first time felt that the silence of the Mars Palace was so cold and long.

After a long time, Wu Tian slowly came back to his senses, forcibly suppressing the sense of loss and sorrow that had arisen from nowhere in his heart.

"In any case, it's a good thing."

"With the destruction of the Dragon King of the East Sea and his 100,000 sailors, no one should dare to make a move against the Palace of Immortality for a while."

"This will give me enough time to cultivate."

He suddenly remembered the Sea-Stabilizing Pearl left behind by the Dragon King of the East Sea after his death. Just now, the Star Lord Gouchen killed the Dragon King of the East Sea and 100,000 water soldiers with a single sword, which even alarmed the Heavenly Court. Wu Tian naturally witnessed that sword strike as well.

"If we could obtain the Sea-Stabilizing Pearl from Bai Qian, then..."

A fiery glint flashed in his eyes. "With Moang's Dragon Pearl and the Sea-Stabilizing Pearl left behind by the Dragon King of the East Sea, it's more than enough for me to cultivate my dragon bloodline to the level of a god in a short time."

"Only then will we truly have the capital to establish ourselves in the Three Realms."

"If I don't become a god, any Tom, Dick, or Harry in the Heavenly Court will dare to bully me."

The thought of that disgusting General Lei Gong made him feel nauseous.

"First, digest Moang's dragon pearl, then try to find Bai Qian and see if we can get our hands on the Sea-Stabilizing Pearl left behind by the East Sea Dragon King."

With that thought in mind, he withdrew his gaze and stopped paying attention to the outside world.

The Jade Claw Flood Dragon had grown to several tens of feet in length. It held the dragon pearl in its mouth, inhaling and exhaling the essence of its bloodline. Its body flowed with golden light, shimmering in the Milky Way and creating waves. (End of Chapter)