The reunion with Tian Hao unexpectedly allowed An Xin to sense the power of the Immortal Emperor's Eye. She closed her eyes, focusing her heart and mind on understanding it.
Far away in the Qiankun Sect, Gu An, who was drinking, also noticed this development.
Gu An had a unique sensitivity to the Immortal Emperor's Eye. He felt both pleased and curious.
Could it be that the fortune of a Heavenly Immortal could stimulate the power of the Immortal Emperor's Eye?
Wait a minute.
Could the Immortal Emperor's Eye be a path to reaching the Heavenly Immortals?
Is this why the Heavenly Court fears the Immortal Emperor's Eye?
Gu An speculated, but he couldn't be sure, as he had never personally encountered the Heavenly Court.
"Brother Gu, what are you thinking? Why aren't you drinking?"
A cultivator sitting across from Gu An asked with a smile. He was a recent friend that Gu An had made in the Qiankun Sect, named Guan Qiu.
They were drinking buddies, not concerned with each other's cultivation progress. If they met, it was always for wine and pleasure, chatting about light topics like the beauty of life and the seasons.
Guan Qiu wasn't exactly handsome, but his cheerful personality and radiant smile made it easy for him to connect with others.
Gu An smiled back and said, "I was just thinking about the Courtesan you mentioned. When will she show up in the city?"
Guan Qiu laughed and shook his head. "This is the Qiankun Sect, where could we have such a place as the red-light districts? If you're interested, I'll take you to the Imperial City next time. The nobles in the human world certainly know how to enjoy themselves."
The two continued chatting on this topic for a long while.
Finally, Guan Qiu stood up to leave. "I have to go out on a mission again. Saving the suffering and helping the needy. I might not be back for several years."
He was just an ordinary low-ranking disciple of the Qiankun Sect, and for him, several years was a long time.
Gu An wished him well and watched him leave.
After Guan Qiu left, Gu An drank alone, his gaze passing through the window as he admired the scenery on the street.
Even within a large sect like the Qiankun Sect, cultivators of all levels were still striving for their own fates.
When Gu An was drinking earlier, he saw that Guan Qiu would face trials on his journey, even being tortured by demonic cultivators to the point where life was worse than death. However, he didn't stop him.
Guan Qiu would meet Golden Extreme God during his darkest hour, which would change the course of his life.
Gu An had already met countless drinking buddies in the Qiankun Sect. Many had already entered reincarnation, and some had even forgotten him. Among these friends, Guan Qiu was very ordinary, but because of Golden Extreme God's arrival, he would walk an extraordinary path full of legends.
"Brother Guan, the road ahead is perilous, but the night will eventually pass."
Gu An raised his bowl of wine, muttering to himself, then poured the wine out of the window.
This action marked the end of their karmic relationship.
It wasn't that Gu An intentionally wanted to sever ties, but rather that from now on, Guan Qiu would no longer be his drinking buddy. He would never have that bright smile again.
"Who's that? Why are you spilling wine down there?"
A beautiful female disciple shouted angrily, covering her head and looking up, but she couldn't see Gu An's figure anymore.
The cultivators passing by on the street glanced over at her, but no one approached to strike up a conversation.
On the other side, Gu An walked through the mountain forest, humming a little tune as he walked, preparing for his breakthrough in lifespan.
It was time for a breakthrough!
As his thoughts settled, a series of prompts appeared before his eyes.
[You have activated the Lifespan Breakthrough function. Based on your current cultivation realm, the following breakthrough locations are available:]
[1. The Path of the Great Dao]
[2. The Fallen Divine Realm]
[3. The Abyssal Dao Sea]
[4. The Nine Heavens of the Celestial Pole]
[5. The Dao Source Ancestor Tree]
[6. The Spirit Mountain]
[7. The Taiqing Deep Realm]
[8. The Ethereal Immortal Court]
[9. The Primordial Great World]
Gu An hesitated as he looked at the options presented before him: Spirit Mountain and the Ethereal Immortal Court.
Should he return to his former place as Yongsheng, just to see how things had turned out?
After a moment's thought, he discarded the idea. Since becoming the leader of the Celestial Thief Immortal Sect, Yongsheng might already have drawn the Heavenly Court's attention. It was too risky to take such a step now.
His attention shifted, drawn to the Primordial Great World.
The words "Primordial" and "Great World" were enough to show this place was extraordinary.
In the mythology of ancient China, "Primordial" symbolized the beginning of all things, representing the ancient and the origin of the universe.
There were even theories that Primordial existed before the Chaos itself.
Perhaps this was the place to go?
Gu An hesitated for a moment, then made up his mind.
[Teleporting to the Primordial Great World will consume 10,000,000,000 years of lifespan. Do you wish to continue?]
Ten billion years of lifespan was nothing to Gu An now.
Without hesitation, he agreed.
Then came the familiar discomfort, the sensation of his senses being stripped away.
After a while, his senses returned, and he opened his eyes.
What greeted him was the vast expanse of the universe, suffused with a faint purple mist. Stars, continents, and magnificent nebulae could be seen stretching out before him.
He immediately activated his lifespan barrier and began observing the Primordial Great World.
With the barrier in place, his mind was at ease.
A sweeping glance revealed the universe gave off an overwhelming sense of boundlessness. Even someone as strong as the Great Heavenly Luo Immortal like him couldn't see its end at a glance.
The stars and continents here didn't show any signs of life; everything felt eerily dead.
Could this be a desolate Great Thousand World?
Gu An thought curiously, but as he sensed the spiritual energy drifting through the universe, he felt that such energy should be enough to give birth to life.
The Dao laws here were complete and even more concentrated, making it the place with the most profound Dao laws he had encountered among all the worlds he had visited.
Born in such a universe, even if life were just awakening its intelligence, the power they possessed would be at a level that even beings in the Celestial Great World could never reach in their entire lives.
Gu An watched for a long time but saw no signs of life. He decided to stop and then opened his personal attribute panel.
[Name: Gu An]
[Lifespan: 82,002/2,014,000,089,137]
[Physique: Hunyuan Reincarnation Immortal Physique]
[Cultivation: Perfected Heaven-Opening Grand Luo Immortal Realm]
...
Without realizing it, he was already 82,002 years old.
Thinking back on the past, Gu An felt a bit emotional.
Could the old friends he met back at the Tai Xuan Sect ever have imagined that he would reach such heights in cultivation?
Two trillion years of lifespan were the foundation for Gu An's breakthroughs!
He immediately began investing his lifespan into his cultivation, starting with a hundred billion years of lifespan.
[You have cultivated for one hundred billion years using your Dao mastery, forcefully attempting to break through to the Wondrous Truth Grand Luo Immortal Realm. You begin the tribulation. You could not endure the Unruly Great Heaven Tribulation and failed to transcend.]
[You have cultivated for two hundred billion years using your Dao mastery, forcefully attempting to break through to the Wondrous Truth Grand Luo Immortal Realm. You begin the tribulation. You could not endure the Unruly Great Heaven Tribulation and failed to transcend.]
The prompts kept dropping down.
A hundred billion years of lifespan could only allow him to try the breakthrough ten times, and unsurprisingly, it ended in failure.
Gu An sighed in his heart that his lifespan was becoming increasingly difficult to use effectively, but when he looked at the words "Wondrous Truth Grand Luo Immortal," his heart was filled with anticipation.
As long as he could succeed in the breakthrough, no amount of lifespan spent would be too much!
He changed the number of years he was investing and decided to put in one trillion years of lifespan!
How bold!
Although he had not succeeded yet, Gu An already felt the aura of a Wondrous Truth Grand Luo Immortal. At least, that's what he thought in his heart.