Just as the old patriarch forced me to my death, I achieved the unity of Dao and fruition.

After the Battle of Bailianchuan, Gu Changjin's reputation reached the very top of the Western Wilderness.

In the past, various sects called him Lord Gu Dao because he was a deity incarnation.

Now, calling him the leader of the alliance is more acceptable.

The Western Wilderness Alliance truly unleashed unprecedented power in Gu Changjin's hands.

The seven major sects stopped bickering with each other, the smaller sects dared not feign compliance, and the cultivation families were busy contributing manpower and money.

The independent cultivators, on the other hand, were eyeing the rankings of cultivation achievements, wishing they could rush to the front lines.

The entire Western Wilderness cultivation world was like a dilapidated house that was originally leaking everywhere, but Gu Changjin used the demon race as a nail to forcefully nail it into a solid board.

At this moment, Gu Daojun, who was revered by all cultivators in the Western Wilderness, was sitting in the cultivation room behind the Xuan Yang Sect, taking stock of his gains.

"That's about it."

Gu Changjin tapped the stone table lightly with his fingertips.

At this point in the play, the situation has stabilized.

The Mountain-Shaking Demon Ape retreated to the borderlands, where they continued to fly the demon race's banner.

On the Western Wilderness Alliance side, the pressure from the demonic calamity allowed them to continuously gather manpower and resources.

With both sides pulling and tugging, a stalemate was created.

As long as the Western Wilderness isn't truly breached, and the demon race isn't completely extinguished, the Dao Alliance can continue to function.

Gu Changjin flipped his hand and took out a crimson jade token.

The jade token was placed in my palm and felt slightly warm.

It was the Crimson Jade Token that was obtained from Lu Huaizhen.

This thing, I thought before, was just a token to enter the Crimson Abyss Secret Realm.

Looking back now, it seems even more complicated than it appears.

The Crimson Abyss Secret Realm is rumored to be a hidden paradise left behind by an ancient deity.

Judging from the information gleaned from the Mountain-Shaking Demon Ape and the Silver-Eyed Ancient Ape, this secret realm is clearly a crucial link in the demon race's plan.

What's even more interesting is that the Crimson Abyss Secret Realm is not simply located in the Western Wilderness.

Its location is elusive, seemingly hidden in some special spatial interlayer.

As long as you possess the Crimson Jade Token, you can be guided into the secret realm when it opens.

This also means that it's not just cultivators from the Western Wilderness who can enter.

In the Central Continent's Great Luo Heaven Domain, any other pioneering cultivators, or even some hidden forces, could potentially enter as long as they possessed an order.

With the opening of the Crimson Abyss Secret Realm this time, it seems the demon race is planning to sabotage it.

Gu Changjin narrowed his eyes.

"The Crimson Abyss Secret Realm, a spacetime turbulence, located in the Central Plains."

"Is the demon race trying to use this to tear open a path?"

He didn't rush to conclusions.

But one thing is certain.

Before the Crimson Abyss Secret Realm truly comes to life, the demon race dares not fully expose itself.

They must reduce their presence.

Everything must be maintained as a mere facade of "borderland calamity".

Therefore, the Western Wilderness Alliance is currently very safe.

It's safe, at least until the demons truly reveal their true intentions.

Gu Changjin put away the Crimson Jade Token, in a good mood.

He then began to refine the gains he had made during this period.

The large batch of innate spiritual objects that Daoist Wan Gu sent last time were of extremely high quality.

After the Dao Fruit is refined, it directly condenses into the Five Threads Returning to the One Source.

Furthermore, after the Battle of Bailianchuan, various sects began to offer up various treasures in order to "progress".

After all, why was the Taoist of Ten Thousand Bones able to become the vice leader?

Because he prefers progress.

Don't the other elders, sect leaders, and clan chiefs want to improve?

miss you.

I miss it so much.

So, one by one, all sorts of strange and magical items that were kept hidden away were brought up.

Some are ancient tree roots struck by lightning, some are red jade marrow nurtured in the earth's fire, and some are broken demon bones passed down from ancestors.

There are also some people who don't even know what they are, only that their aura is ancient. They can't understand them if they keep them, but giving them to Gu Daojun might change their future.

Gu Changjin accepted them all.

Useful skills are refined, while useless skills are stored away and converted into other skills.

In addition, the Mountain-Shaking Demon Ape plundered the things sent by the demon race and the border sects, and forcibly put together the Five Threads Return to One Source.

Ten strands in total.

Gu Changjin did not save.

He poured all of it into his own cultivation.

boom!

The Xuanming Guixu Cave Heaven trembled within his body.

The Blackwater River was several times wider than before, and the Ruins of Return were even more deep.

The edge of the cave continued to expand outward, and the foundation of the newly promoted Nascent Soul cultivator, which was originally somewhat weak, was forcibly solidified by the Dao Source of Guiyi.

Inside the grotto, the Taoist in black opened his eyes.

The phantom of the Bashe snake coiled behind him, its aura growing increasingly terrifying.

Mid-stage of the Nascent Soul realm.

Late stage of Nascent Soul transformation.

The surge in popularity only gradually subsided after reaching the late Nascent Soul stage.

Gu Changjin opened his eyes, a flash of black starlight passing through them.

The entire cultivation room seemed to be suppressed by a cave, and the array patterns on the stone wall lit up silently, only to be swallowed up by the aura of the void in the next instant.

"Late stage of Nascent Soul transformation."

"good."

Gu Changjin examined himself.

Late stage of the Nascent Soul stage in the Dharma Cultivation realm.

The body cultivation is still in the early stage of the Divine Transformation stage.

However, his physical foundation comes from the bloodline of the ancient Bagu snake, and if a real fight were to break out, he would be far superior to ordinary cultivators with divine bodies.

The problem is that he clearly got stuck after reaching the late stage of the Nascent Soul realm.

It's not as simple as a lack of resources.

Rather, it was the uncertainty of the future and a sense of unwillingness on one's part.

Transforming into a spirit is like opening up a real grotto-heaven within the body.

The cultivators had their own little world.

This grotto can suppress enemies, store spiritual objects, and nurture supernatural powers.

But it is still real in essence.

It relies on the physical body, the soul, and magical power, as well as on the real world of the main universe.

So what makes the Nascent Soul stage so powerful?

I have a hidden paradise that can suppress you.

But returning to emptiness is different.

Returning to emptiness does not mean making the grotto disappear.

Instead, it allows the grotto to move from being real to a coexistence of reality and illusion.

The grotto is no longer just a physical space, but can reflect the void, project heaven and earth, transform into a Dharma form, and hide in nothingness.

In the blink of an eye, the grotto-heaven can be real or illusory.

In reality, it suppresses all things; in illusory, it is omnipresent.

This is what is meant by returning to emptiness.

Gu Changjin's problem lies here.

His Xuanming Guixu Cave Heaven is already substantial enough.

It is even stronger than many late-stage Nascent Soul cultivators.

But he didn't know how to let the grotto-heaven shine into the void and become the foundation for returning to the void.

The True Scripture of Blood River Returning to the Void does indeed contain a chapter on returning to the void.

But that was a blood-based technique he devised on the spot, used to lure people in, gather alliances, and prepare backup plans.

It works.

But it's too ordinary.

That's about the limit.

If he were to truly use this method to return to the void, he would be somewhat disrespectful to his own Dao attainment.

Moreover, the last time he was able to step into the Void Return realm in the Nine Provinces World, frankly speaking, it was because the Heavenly Dao of the Nine Provinces gave him a push.

That was the outside world helping him; the main world wouldn't be so kind, and the main world's level is clearly several levels higher than that of Kyushu.

"The path to this realm is temporarily blocked."

"Then let's find the way through him and me."

Gu Changjin looked up, his gaze falling into the depths of his sea of ​​consciousness.

The Dao Fruit trembled slightly, and countless Dao traces flowed around it.

Some are like sword light, some like demonic shadows, and some are hidden deep in the mist, exuding completely different auras.

He needs a new version of himself.

Ideally, it should lead to a return to the void, or a higher level of self.

With a thought, Gu Changjin sent the radiance of his Dao Fruit sweeping across the many Dao traces.

He quickly spotted a faint but strange phantom.

It was a desk, the dim light of a study lamp illuminating the room, and the daylight outside the window was pale.

The desks were piled with books, test papers, and draft paper.

A boy was lying face down on the table, with several sheets of paper covered in messy handwriting next to him.

There were ink stains on the paper, blurred by water, like tears or spilled water.

The room was empty, with only the wind moving the curtains.

The boy remained motionless, half his face buried in his arms, his fingertips already turning slightly blue.

Gu Changjin's lips twitched.

"No, this child looks like he's already dead."

The radiance of the Dao Fruit flows, but the thread of destiny has not yet fully unfolded.

But Gu Changjin already had a bad feeling.

next moment.

His consciousness was drawn into the Dao traces.

Gu Changjin suddenly opened his eyes. Before he could fully process the feeling of his mind going blank, a flood of memories rushed in.

Gu Changjin was silent for a moment. Through the mirror on the table, he saw a deep gash on his temple, and it seemed that he could see grayish-white brain matter through the gash.

"No wonder my mind felt blank..."

"And... there are quite a few elements in this memory."