Chapter 319: Flying Ascension Approaching, Seeking to Knock on the Heavenly Gate

Gu Mo sized up the spirit body of Wang Qingping before him and said, "No wonder. I was wondering why you're merely parasitizing Zhu Zixiong's spiritual sea instead of directly controlling him as a puppet, choosing instead to play tricks and impersonate Gongsun Jue. It seems you're willing but unable."

Gu Mo chuckled lightly and asked, "What's the matter? Can't your true spirit move?"

He said this because Gu Mo realized that the spirit before him was not a complete one, but merely a split-off clone. Though it wielded spiritual power, its strength was limited.

"You truly live up to your reputation as a cultivator of mental secret arts," Wang Qingping said. "Your understanding of spiritual power is indeed extraordinary. You can not only detect me but also discern my current state."

Wang Qingping floated slightly forward, looking down at Gu Mo. "Young man," he asked, "how did you manage to guess my identity?"

Gu Mo replied, "Because your Wang family's bloodline is incredibly potent. Even after so many generations, the resemblance between your appearance and Wang Dongli's is still quite noticeable."

"So I couldn't be his father or grandfather?" Wang Qingping asked, puzzled.

Gu Mo shook his head slightly. "You carry the aura of the Three Flowers Gathering Spirit Art," he said. "While theoretically it can be cultivated to the Ascension Realm, its difficulty is immense. Throughout the Wang family's history, apart from the founder, no one has achieved significant success with it."

"Hmm?" Wang Qingping paused, slightly startled. "No, that's wrong. How do you know about the Three Flowers Gathering Spirit Art? Wang Dongli never told you that our family's inherited martial art was originally named the Three Flowers Gathering Spirit Art!"

Gu Mo was also stunned. "How do you know Wang Dongli hasn't told me?" he retorted. "Do you have a clone on Wang Dongli? Impossible. If you had a clone on him, there's no way I wouldn't have detected it..."

As he spoke, Gu Mo recalled Wang Dongli mentioning that morning how he was tormented by multiple dreams. Suddenly, a realization struck him. "You tampered with the Three Flowers Gathering Spirit Art that your Wang family inherited, didn't you?" he said. "The Wang family's curse isn't a bloodline curse, but one tied to your martial art!"

Wang Qingping looked at Gu Mo. "Indeed," he said, "anyone who can become the greatest in an era is truly extraordinary. How about this, young man? We have no past grievances or recent enmity, and I have no desire to make an enemy of a genius with boundless potential like yourself. Let's call it quits today, shall we?"

Gu Mo shook his head slightly. "Do you think you're in a position to negotiate with me?"

Wang Qingping chuckled lightly. "Young man," he said, "you don't know your place. My reluctance to fight you is merely to avoid unnecessary complications. Don't tell me you think I'm afraid of you? Even as a mere clone, I am still an Ascension Realm cultivator. Your mental secret art is decent, barely allowing you to access spiritual power, but that's as far as it goes. You..."

Slap!

Gu Mo raised his hand and slapped Wang Qingping across the face.

The slap sent Wang Qingping flying, causing his entire spirit body to waver violently.

Wang Qingping's words died in his throat, replaced by a look of utter bewilderment. "You... used me? No, did you just use me? No, you..."

Gu Mo stepped forward, extending his hand and directly grasping Wang Qingping's neck.

The smile on Wang Qingping's face instantly twisted into one of abject terror.

At that moment, he snapped out of his confusion, utterly convinced that Gu Mo had indeed used him just now, and was now choking him with his bare hand.

"Physical body... how is this possible..."

In that instant,

Gu Mo unleashed the Dao Heart Demonic Seed Grand Art, channeling his mental power to envelop Wang Qingping. Streams of demonic energy, like fine threads, penetrated Wang Qingping's spirit, causing strange, unsettling fluctuations.

Wang Qingping's eyes soon became vacant.

Gu Mo slowly asked, "Who are you?"

"Wang Qingping."

Gu Mo asked, "What exactly is the Wang family's curse about?"

Wang Qingping replied, "The Three Flowers Gathering Spirit Art that the Wang family now practices was specifically created by me to achieve longevity and evade inner demons. I carved it onto a stone tablet, imbued with my own spiritual power. To cultivate the Three Flowers Gathering Spirit Art, practitioners must observe the stone tablet. Once they do, my spiritual power invades them. Since the Wang family are descendants of the Peacock Spirit Race, their bloodline contains spiritual energy. This spiritual energy remains constant across generations, allowing my spiritual power to seamlessly merge, leaving no discernible difference. Over time, my spirit completely replaces the cultivator, and they become my spiritual clone. The spiritual energy in the Wang family's bloodline can also convert vital energy into spiritual power, allowing these clones to continuously grow and nourish my main spirit body, thus sustaining its eternal life. Theoretically, as long as the Wang family lineage continues, I can live indefinitely."

Gu Mo chuckled lightly.

Wang Qingping's theory was, in fact, flawed. Firstly, the Wang family's Peacock spiritual energy would undoubtedly weaken with each passing generation, thereby diminishing his spiritual power. Secondly, due to their single-heir tradition, any accidental death, premature demise, or inability to cultivate would mean no spiritual power to sustain him.

However,

Gu Mo, feeling a bit disturbed, said, "So, according to you, your son is you, your grandson is you, and your great-grandson is also you..."

Wang Qingping replied, "Their first half of life is their own; the second half is mine."

Gu Mo stated, "Historically, members of the Wang family would become disoriented and eventually die from vital energy depletion. This wasn't due to the Peacock spiritual energy, but because their spirits gradually transformed into you. During this process, you would slowly erode their original consciousness, leading to their disorientation and eventual madness. Later, in your pursuit of spiritual power, you would continue to drain their vital energy until their death."

"Yes," Wang Qingping said.

"Why exactly did you do this?" Gu Mo asked.

Wang Qingping explained, "Because of inner demons. Over 160 years ago, I reached the Half-step Ascension Realm. While preparing for my ascension, I witnessed a cultivator who had ascended before me being devoured by inner demons right before the Heavenly Gate. I was terrified. I searched through countless ancient texts but found no method to counter inner demons, so I dared not ascend. However, I was already very old then; without ascending, I would simply await death. I was deeply afraid; I didn't want to die, yet ascending meant certain death. In my panic, I stumbled upon a discovery: my spiritual power could merge with my son's spirit. In that moment, I found a way to survive.

"I modified the Three Flowers Gathering Spirit Art, renaming it the Spirit Nurturing Art, and tampered with it. The deeper one cultivated, the closer their spiritual power would become to mine. Ultimately, the cultivator's spirit would completely become my clone. So, I traveled to the extreme northern lands to find a piece of ten-thousand-year-old glacial ice. I then triggered a flood, creating a convergence point for ley lines, and set up a formation. Using that glacial ice as a guide, I sealed my physical body and main spirit within it. Meanwhile, I controlled my clones, feeding stored spiritual power back to my main body every few years, allowing me to remain in an undying state at the Half-step Ascension Realm. I am waiting, certain that one day I will either witness the inner demons depart or discover a method for ascension."

Gu Mo now understood why Wang Qingping was immediately designated a six-star wanted criminal as the leader of the Heavenly God Society. Back then, this man had caused floods and altered terrain, setting up formations, and heaven knew how many lives he had ruined.

Gu Mo then asked, "Why do you control the Heavenly God Society?"

Wang Qingping replied, "Because the ley line power in the frozen place where my main body is sealed is nearly depleted. I need to create a new convergence point for ley line power, and setting up the required formations demands a vast amount of energy. My original plan was for Wang Dongli to control the Yunzhou martial arts world, gathering various energy-rich heavenly treasures and resources from it. So, I began guiding him to use spiritual power, and under the guise of bloodline spiritual energy, I taught him formidable martial arts, allowing his skills to advance by leaps and bounds.

"However, at that moment, I encountered Zhu Zixiong, and a sudden inspiration struck me. I realized a shortcut: I could utilize the characteristics of the Gluttonous Divine Art to absorb enough internal energy for the formation. This would be far more time-efficient than having Wang Dongli become the martial arts alliance leader. Coincidentally, I had once seen and even learned the Gluttonous Divine Art on Penglai Island. So, I exploited Zhu Zixiong's loyalty to Gongsun Jue, deceiving him into working for me and establishing the Heavenly God Society. To remain undetected, I had the Heavenly God Society operate in the shadows, constantly stirring up conflict and discord everywhere. They would then absorb internal energy amidst the chaos, using the disputes as excellent cover.

"However, what I never anticipated was the sudden disappearance of the inner demons. These demons meddle with the minds of highly cultivated practitioners, myself included, but now they are gone. I knew my chance had come. Unsure when the inner demons might return, I had to seize this opportunity to ascend. So, I instructed the Heavenly God Society to do everything possible to plunge Yunzhou into chaos, absorbing enough internal energy amidst the turmoil."

Gu Mo asked, perplexed, "Since you're about to ascend, it means you no longer need the ley line power to seal you, nor do you need so much internal energy to set up the formation. Why then do you still require the Heavenly God Society to absorb internal energy everywhere?"

"I need it even more," Wang Qingping declared. "Now that I'm ascending, I must break through from the Half-step Ascension Realm to the true Ascension Realm, which requires leveraging cosmic power. Therefore, I need an even grander formation. Previously, it was to seal me with ley line power to ensure my immortality. Now, it's to harness the power of heaven and earth, propelling me directly into the Ascension Realm in one swift surge. At this crucial moment, not even the slightest amount of power is superfluous. That's why I've accelerated the merging process with Wang Dongli's spirit. Unlike his father, whose spirit took me several years to fully integrate, I intend to complete the merge with Wang Dongli within ten to fifteen days.

"I just never expected the Heavenly God Society to make such a colossal blunder by attempting to kill Wang Dongli, leading to their exposure. This forced me to command them to operate openly and absorb internal energy on a massive scale. But it doesn't matter. Exposure is exposure. The energy required for ascension is now almost fully prepared; I can ascend at any moment."

Gu Mo asked, "Many master blacksmiths have gone missing in Yunzhou City recently. Was that your doing?"

"Yes," Wang Qingping confirmed. "Because I am ascending, the original formation for gathering ley line power has been transformed into a Heaven-Ascending Grand Formation. This requires crafting new array disks and array cores with extreme speed and precision, which necessitates the most skilled blacksmiths."

Gu Mo quickly asked, "Are they still alive?"

Wang Qingping nodded. "They are alive," he said. "All those individuals are controlled by my spiritual power and are diligently working for me. Whether they live or die has no impact on me, so there's no reason to deliberately kill them."

Gu Mo asked, "Where is your main body now?"

"Beneath the Heavenly Born Lake," Wang Qingping replied.

"Heavenly Born Lake?"

Gu Mo was momentarily stunned. This lake was precisely the large one situated beneath Old Master Wang's tomb.

Just two days prior, Gu Mo and Du Sha had attended a funeral there, and they had even discussed how it was a spot of excellent feng shui. However, that lake had been formed over a century ago by a massive flood, and the imperial court had expended great effort to contain it, ultimately naming it Heavenly Born Lake.

Gu Mo suddenly understood. "So, Old Master Wang's tomb was deliberately placed there."

Wang Qingping nodded. "A few years ago, I began preparing a new convergence point for ley lines. I pretended my mental state had improved and built the tomb there. In reality, I was secretly controlling puppets to transport the original formation materials out, planning to move my main body once the new formation was complete. It turned out to be a wasted effort; everything I moved out was secretly moved back in. Now, my Heaven-Ascending Grand Formation is right beneath Heavenly Born Lake."

Gu Mo then asked, "Are you from the Peacock Spirit Race? And what brought you to the Qian Kingdom?"

Wang Qingping replied, "I hail from the Peacock Spirit Race, specifically the Kong clan of Changping Commandery in the Yong Kingdom. We are the Peacock Spirit Race, who for generations revered the Seven-Colored Peacock and lived secluded in the mountains. However, about two hundred years ago, the Emperor of Yong Kingdom learned of the Kong clan's unique bloodline talents, grew avaricious, and launched a massacre, which led to the clan's utter destruction. I don't know how many escaped back then. I returned later, but by then, the Yong Kingdom had already fallen. I only managed to find and slaughter some descendants of the Yong Imperial family, which offered some release for my anger, but I found no news of the Kong clan."

Gu Mo asked, confused, "Don't you worship the Seven-Colored Peacock? When the Kong clan faced extermination, did the Seven-Colored Peacock not protect you?"

Wang Qingping replied, "According to our clan records, over five hundred years ago, the Seven-Colored Peacock was besieged and severely wounded. It then departed the human realm, returning to the Divine Mountain to heal, and has not appeared since."

"Where is the Divine Mountain?" Gu Mo asked.

Wang Qingping replied, "I don't know. The location of the Divine Mountain is known only to successive clan leaders. I was not the clan leader at the time, so I was not privy to that information."

Gu Mo nodded slightly. He had now learned everything he wished to know.

Immediately, he withdrew his technique.

The next moment,

Wang Qingping's clone awoke from its puppet state, looking at Gu Mo with a heart full of panic.

Although he had just been mind-controlled by Gu Mo, he clearly remembered everything he had done and said, fully aware that he had been under Gu Mo's control.

However, after the initial panic, he quickly composed himself and said, "Very well, very well. Truly worthy of being the 'Number One Under Heaven'. No wonder you're so fearless. So you've already reached the Half-step Ascension Realm."

Gu Mo was speechless. "Can't you guess something bigger?"

Wang Qingping scoffed, "What, you're going to tell me you've reached the Ascension Realm? If you had, would you still be standing here in your physical body? The Ascension Realm is uncontrollable; one is bound to face the Heavenly Gate. Young man, you can't fool me with that."

Gu Mo: "..."

Wang Qingping continued, "However, it's a pity, young man, there's something you might not yet know. The moment you appeared to intercept Zhu Zixiong, I realized he wouldn't be able to deliver the internal energy in time. While my main body isn't critically short of this small amount and can ascend at any moment, your interference is quite irritating. So, to compensate, my main body has already forcibly controlled Wang Dongli to unleash a massacre at the Dongli Sect. Your sister and your maid are the first targets; I hear both are Grandmasters, so their internal energy must be substantial. By now, they've probably been drained to death."

Wang Qingping smiled, looking at Gu Mo. "Do you regret it? Are you in pain? This is the price for not knowing your place and meddling in others' affairs, hahahaha!"

Gu Mo looked at the arrogant, smug Wang Qingping, then mused, "Perhaps, the one suffering right now is that other clone of yours."

Wang Qingping frowned. "What do you mean?"

Gu Mo chuckled lightly. "Before my maid became my servant," he said, "she had another identity. That identity was..." As he spoke, Gu Mo stepped closer and whispered into Wang Qingping's ear, "The Great Island Lord of Penglai Island."

Wang Qingping's pupils widened instantly.

Gu Mo added, "Also, do you know why the inner demons disappeared?"

"W-why?"

"I killed them."

Wang Qingping trembled all over, his eyes filled with disbelief and terror.

Gu Mo gently pressed out a palm, placing it on Wang Qingping's chest.

In that instant, Wang Qingping's form shattered into a wisp of mist and vanished.

Immediately after,

Gu Mo then walked towards the unconscious Zhu Zixiong. After waking him and extracting specific information about the remaining cultivators of the Gluttonous Divine Art, he killed him with a single palm strike.

[System Message:] Five-star wanted criminal eliminated.[System Message:] Received five-star reward: Max-level Divine Saber Slash.Claim?

After claiming the Divine Saber Slash, Gu Mo took a single step, and his figure instantly vanished.

Within the Dongli Sect, the afternoon sun cast a lazy glow upon the courtyard.

Gu Chudong and Hongyi were seated at a stone table, conversing softly.

"Sister Hongyi, can you ascend?" Gu Chudong asked.

Hongyi, holding her teacup with a serene expression, replied, "Yes, I can. However, according to Master's martial arts theory, both the physical body and the spirit must ascend, with the body ascending first, and the spirit following. So, I must wait for my physical body to ascend before my spirit can."

Gu Chudong asked in surprise, "Sister Hongyi, can your physical body also cultivate?"

Hongyi replied, "Yes, it can. In truth, I'm not so different from a human. My physical body is a genuine human body, born from a mother's womb, and my spirit is also a simulation of a human spirit. The sole distinction is my lack of emotions. This is the greatest flaw of the White Jade Capital. The reason a perfectly human physical form has yet to appear is precisely due to the absence of generated emotions."

Gu Chudong asked curiously, "What would happen if emotions were generated?"

"Then I would be a true human," Hongyi said.

Gu Chudong: "..."

"Sister Hongyi, you said you're not very different from a human, so can you have children?"

Hongyi: "???"

Gu Chudong grinned. "I mean, you know, do the deed and then have a baby. Can you do that?"

"Yes."

"Really?" Gu Chudong asked excitedly. "Then will the baby you give birth to have emotions?"

"That... I can't answer that!"

Gu Chudong scratched her head, about to speak again,

A figure suddenly appeared at the courtyard gate: it was Wang Dongli.

Gu Chudong rose and walked over, asking, "Sect Master Wang, is something the matter?" As she spoke, her brows furrowed slightly, and she asked, confused, "Why did you remove those silver needles from your head? They were helping you control your emotions..."

Gu Chudong's words abruptly stopped. She clearly saw that the expression on Wang Dongli's face was not the vacant look of someone disoriented, but a cold, sinister, and intensely malevolent smile.

That smile instantly made Gu Chudong's hair stand on end.

"Sect Master Wang?" She stood up warily, taking a step back.

Wang Dongli remained silent, the sinister gleam in his eyes intensifying. His form abruptly surged forward like a phantom, fingers splayed into a claw, moving with a sharp tearing sound through the air, striking directly at Gu Chudong's throat.

His speed was astonishing; the air shrieked in the wake of his claw.

However,

Gu Chudong reacted with lightning speed. Her footwork was as swift as wind; with a slight pivot, she instantly retreated, evading the deadly claw. Her figure floated backward, her eyes wide with shock and uncertainty. "Sect Master Wang, this is reality, not a dream! Control your emotions!"

Hongyi had already flashed to block Gu Chudong, her gaze sharp as a blade, fixed on Wang Dongli. "Something's wrong," she said. "This isn't mere irritability or disorientation... It's as if he's being controlled!"

"Hehe..." Wang Dongli emitted a chilling, grating chuckle, his voice hoarse and distorted, utterly unlike his own. "If you want to blame someone, blame your brother Gu Mo for meddling and enraging me!"

Before his words finished, Wang Dongli's aura suddenly surged, and an utterly terrifying suction force erupted from him as its center!

The Gluttonous Divine Art.

In an instant, the courtyard's atmosphere shifted dramatically.

A fierce wind rose from the ground, swirling dust and fallen leaves. The flowers and trees in the courtyard withered and shriveled at a visible rate, and the stone tables and benches trembled violently, as if about to be torn away by an unseen force.

A vast, greedy, black-hole-like power, seemingly capable of devouring all, firmly locked onto Hongyi and Gu Chudong, intent on forcibly draining their essence, internal energy, and even their life force.

"Meddling always comes at a price. I shall ascend first today and await Gu Mo in the Heavenly Realm."

As his words fell,

Wang Dongli increased his power, and in an instant, his domain enveloped the area, unleashing a mighty surge of devouring force.

However,

Though their robes billowed, Hongyi and Gu Chudong remained utterly motionless.

The expression on Wang Dongli's face instantly froze, replaced by confusion. "Why can't I absorb them?"

Hongyi took a single step, her figure seemingly defying spatial distance, instantly appearing less than three feet in front of Wang Dongli. She lightly raised her bare hand; seemingly casual, it contained an indescribable, irresistible, immense power. She gently pointed a finger at Wang Dongli's glabella, letting out a soft "Oh?" as she said, "Body snatching? A spirit?"

Wang Dongli was slightly startled, clearly not expecting this woman to instantly discern his presence. He immediately realized he had met a formidable opponent and prepared to strike.

But Hongyi was faster. She transformed her finger into a palm and struck downwards.

A dull, soft thud, as if an invisible bubble had been popped.

"Boom—!"

Wang Dongli was sent flying backward, but simultaneously, a translucent, distorted spiritual phantom flew out from the depths of his spiritual sea!

The spiritual phantom was now filled with shock and horror.

This was the spiritual clone of Wang Qingping, which had already merged more than halfway with Wang Dongli's spirit. At this moment, Hongyi forcibly ripped it from Wang Dongli's spirit. The spiritual phantom's eyes were filled with horror.

Although he couldn't fathom why Gu Mo's maid possessed such formidable spiritual power, he reacted swiftly. Without a moment's hesitation, he transformed into a faint streak of light, attempting to tear through space and flee with astonishing speed.

"Trying to run?"

Gu Chudong snorted coldly, a fierce killing intent in her voice.

The instant Wang Qingping's spirit attempted to flee, she unleashed a strike with the Gouchen Demonic Saber she had been gripping tightly.

Shing—!

The saber's hum was not particularly loud, yet it carried a soul-tearing sharpness, like a death knell echoing from the Nine Netherworld!

The saber light burst forth!

That was no ordinary saber light, but a blood-red crescent, condensed to the extreme, as if forged from the deepest despair and purest demonic energy!

Where the saber light passed, space groaned under the strain, light twisted and vanished, and all colors in the courtyard instantly faded, leaving only a chilling dark red and dead silence. Dozens of demonic shadows seemed to materialize between heaven and earth, as if the entire world had been seized by demonic energy.

Heaven and earth paled, all things fell silent!

With the demonic saber unleashed, gods and ghosts alike trembled in fear!

This was the demonic saber that Gu Mo had helped Gu Chudong forge, based on the purest source qi of demonic stones in the world.

At this moment, Gu Chudong's figure merged with the saber light, transforming into a blood-red streak that tore through the sky. Moving faster than thought, it precisely struck the fleeing spiritual phantom!

Wang Qingping's spirit sensed a fatal threat and let out a terrifying shriek, desperately burning its spiritual power to resist.

However, in the face of Gu Chudong's strike—which poured all her essence and vital energy into it, pushing the demonic saber's intent to its absolute peak—his struggles seemed utterly pale and powerless.

"Demon—!"

The mournful roar abruptly ceased.

The blood-red saber light, like a blade through fragile glass, swept through the center of the spiritual phantom without resistance.

Shred!

There was no earth-shattering explosion, only a soft sound like tearing silk. The spiritual phantom, representing a wisp of Wang Qingping's clone, shattered, disintegrated, and vanished silently the moment it encountered that terrifying saber intent, condensed to its absolute peak, like thin ice tossed into the blazing sun!

Faint specks of spiritual light scattered, then were utterly pulverized and swallowed by the lingering blood-red saber intent, transforming into primordial nothingness, leaving not even a trace.

In the courtyard, the furious suction vanished, and the distorted space returned to calm. However, the suffocating dead silence and the dark red afterimage of the saber light seemed seared into the air, lingering for a long time.

Wang Dongli's physical body, deprived of its support, slumped softly to the ground, unconscious.

Gu Chudong stood with her saber sheathed, its tip angled toward the ground. She was breathing slightly heavily, her small face a little pale, but her eyes were filled with shock. "Sister Hongyi, I really can kill spirits!"

Hongyi stood beside her, calmly observing the dissipating specks of spiritual light. "It's not surprising," she said. "The saber art Master taught you is the most demonic saber in the world. The demonic energy it generates is a substance on the same level as the Ascension Realm. Moreover, your demonic energy is forged from the source qi of demonic stones. Even though you haven't reached the Ascension Realm, the power you wield is on the same level as a spirit's."

Gu Chudong grinned.

Gu Mo descended from the sky.

Sensing the lingering demonic energy and spiritual power in the air, he said, "It seems Wang Qingping's clone has been killed by you."

Gu Chudong quickly asked, "Brother, what exactly happened? Why was there a spirit in Sect Master Wang's spiritual sea that we never detected before?"

Gu Mo explained, "The reason you couldn't detect it is because this spirit was originally Wang Dongli's own..."

Gu Mo then briefly recounted how he had captured Wang Qingping's spiritual clone.

"The Wang family's curse isn't from the Peacock spiritual energy, but from the Three Flowers Gathering Spirit Art, originating from their ancestor, Wang Qingping," Gu Mo explained.

After hearing this, Gu Chudong exclaimed in shock, "He's... that twisted? His son is him, his grandson is him, and his great-grandson is also him..."

Gu Mo nodded slightly. "I think it's twisted too," he said. "But right now, we need to rush to Heavenly Born Lake to rescue Ironhead."

Hongyi suddenly spoke. "Master," she said, "I also saw something else in my divination at that time."

Gu Mo raised an eyebrow. "Are you talking about... a flood?"

Hongyi nodded. "You killed one of Wang Qingping's clones, and Miss Chudong just killed another. Your side severed the connection between the clone and the main body, so Wang Qingping's true form is unaware of what happened. However, we did not sever our connection, so he is very much aware. Therefore, Wang Qingping must know we have the ability to stop him, and he will certainly activate the Heaven-Ascending Grand Formation early to ascend. If my deduction is correct, his so-called 'borrowing cosmic power' involves mimicking the legendary flood dragon transforming into a true dragon, using the might of rivers to ascend. That's why I saw a flood in my divination."

Gu Mo frowned. Heavenly Born Lake connected to several major rivers; if its banks were breached, the resulting flood could inundate the entire Qingyang City in a very short time.

"Let's go, to Heavenly Born Lake!"

Immediately, Gu Mo, disregarding Wang Dongli lying on the ground, transformed into a streak of light and shot through the air towards Heavenly Born Lake.

At this moment,

At the bottom of Heavenly Born Lake, beneath the surging waters, lay an underground palace—a peculiar space formed entirely of intensely cold profound ice. Throughout the palace, visible white ice mist condensed, swirling fiercely between the dome and the four walls, like an invisible ice storm silently roaring.

At the core of the underground palace was a colossal, heart-stopping formation.

This formation was not etched into the ground but suspended in mid-air, composed of countless incredibly precise array disks and energy crystals shimmering with various lights.

Dozens of individuals were constantly