In the year 1000 of the Tianlong era, during the spring, a major event occurred on the Dragon Mystique Continent.
A celestial being descended.
On the Dragon Mystique Continent, martial artists held the highest respect, and strength was imperative. But even the strongest martial artist couldn't leave the Dragon Mystique Continent unless they achieved immortality.
Countless centuries passed and the Dragon Mystique Continent hadn't yet seen any mortal achieve this mythical status. Therefore, the yearning for immortality gradually became a legend, no one believed that martial artists could become celestial beings anymore.
However, when a true celestial being descended upon the mortal world, it rippled through the entire Dragon Mystique Continent.
In the early spring of that year, auspicious signs filled the sky above Dragon Mystique Continent, spanning countless miles.
Surrounded by a mist of celestial energy, the immortal being set foot onto the mortal world. With each step, flowers of fortune bloomed; with every seven steps, a divine force repressed the dust beneath.
At that moment, the strongest beings within the Dragon Mystique Continent couldn't withstand the heavenly force and knelt in worship.
Though this stunning sight only lasted for ten breaths, it sent a surge of fervor through all martial artists on the Dragon Mystique Continent.
"So it is possible to become an immortal!"
"To witness an immortal in my lifetime, I could die without regrets!"
"Immortality isn't a myth, it's real. The ultimate goal of a martial artist is to become an immortal!"
"The immortal has descended. We don't know where she's gone, but she must be on the Dragon Mystique Continent. Let's seek out this immortal and find favorable opportunities!"
The world's families, Divine Dynasties, ancient lineages, and major sects of the Dragon Mystique Continent were the first to begin the trend of seeking the celestial being. They searched every place abundant with spiritual essence, fearing they might miss the chance of crossing paths with the celestial.
Before long, this wave of seeking the celestial being caught on everywhere. No place that vaguely resembled the celestial realm was overlooked.
Where the immortal has gone has become the subject of speculation for many.
A day has passed. We are now at the outskirts of Wei Yu city, in Qing Li Kingdom, on the Dragon Xuan Continent.
Wearing a white robe, Gu Ziqing was standing before a large tree, watching a grey-white bead in his hand with a complex expression.
"Three thousand crystal beads."
He gave the bead a gentle shake.
The three thousand tiny crystal beads in the grayish-white bead started to move with the shake, possessing a somewhat dreamlike quality.
"A single crystal bead equals ten years. With three thousand of these, we are speaking of thirty thousand years."
Holding the bead, he looked at the sky and sighed deeply, "This time-space bead not only drained all the immortal power from my body, but also took away thirty thousand years of time from me. I, Gu Ziqing, have returned to my youth."
...
After cultivating for thirty thousand years, he finally reached the peak of immortality.
Gu Ziqing, after undergoing many hardships in the mortal world and then stepping into the realm of the immortals, reached the status of a revered immortal through sheer perseverance and good fortune.
Unanticipatedly, a hole leading to the boundary of the immortal realm quietly opened. Gu Ziqing happened to be passing by when he found a bead within the hole.
Any hole may contain great dangers. When he first laid eyes on the bead, it never occurred to him to touch it.
But when he felt the power of the space-time emanating from the bead, he was drawn to it.
If he could control the power of space-time, would that not mean he could go back to the times he could no longer return to?
It was this thought that made him grasp the Spatial-Temporal Orb.
An unexpected incident occurred.
The Spatial-Temporal Orb surprisingly started suctioning Gu Zi Qing's celestial power.
Not only that, it also drained the years from Gu Zi Qing's life and transported him through the temporal ancient path to his youthful days.
He had traveled back to the past.
Gu Zi Qing neither felt angry nor sad, he simply wondered at the capricious hand of fate.
"Well, let's just treat it as a dream of 30,000 years."
"If I, Gu Zi Qing, hadn't possessed the desire to return to my younger days, I wouldn't have obsessively touched the Spatial-Temporal Orb."
"Traversing the ancient path of time, the moment I came from the celestial world to the mundane world, was probably the last time I used my celestial power before returning to my youth."
When descending to the mundane world, he was drained to the last bit of his celestial power by the orb, yet it shook the entire Dragon Xuan Continent.
He pocketed the Spatial-Temporal Orb and smiled, "Cultivating for 30,000 years and doing it all over again, is not difficult."
His smile gradually turned cold, "My loved one and I underwent calamity together. I managed to ascend successfully, yet my loved one was attacked by an ancient family living in the Nine Heavens during her ascension and plummeted to doom during the calamity!"
This was the pain he could never forget in his lifetime.
"This time, I, your highness, will not wait for the ascension to celestial world. I will advance and kill in the Nine Heavens. The accounts due, even if they are 30,000 years apart, should be settled!"
Taking a deep breath, he sat cross-legged on the ground and began cultivating.
Having lived for thirty thousand years, he mastered the control of his emotions and had a clear understanding of the current situation.
His immortal energy within was utterly drained by the Time-Space Orb, making him no different from an ordinary human. At the moment, the most pressing matter was to resume cultivation and regain his powers. Otherwise, everything he said earlier would be empty arguments.
In order to cultivate, one must first have a cultivation method.
Gu Ziqing, who had cultivated for thirty thousand years, had seen all sorts of cultivation methods, and had collected countless top-level methods.
He began to filter through the cultivation methods in his mind.
The "Stellar Emperor's Scripture" that I acquired from an ancient ruin in the immortal world is unique, let's choose you."
Compared to other Emperor's Scriptures, the "Stellar Emperor's Scripture" may be of the lowest grade. However, its cultivation process is the most stable, and the foundation it lays is unmatched by any other Emperor's Scripture. It also contains a unique body refining technique.
Guided by the principle that "great trees come from tiny sprouts; a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step," Gu Ziqing made a particular choice of this scripture.
In the past, I chose a low-level, shoddy cultivation method which resulted in an unstable foundation. Starting from the innate realm, the further I ascended, the harder it became. I was always worried about an unstable foundation and the birth of heart demons. A slight carelessness could lead to demonic possession and ultimately, the loss of life and Dao.
Especially during the breakthrough of the final realm, if I hadn't obtained a special magical instrument that forcibly stabilized my crumbling foundation, I would've died long ago."
With internal sighs, he had already decided that in this life's cultivation, he would build a solid foundation, and every realm had to be perfected.
He began to cultivate according to the path laid out in the "Stellar Emperor's Scripture."
Soon, spiritual energy from all directions gathered towards his body like rivers and mountains. At the same time, the force of the stars rained down from the sky, pouring into his body.
The "Stellar Emperor's Scripture" has a unique body refinement method, enabling the cultivator to absorb the power of the stars.
The power of the stars forged the body. In the "Stellar Emperor's Scripture," three major realms related to body forging were delineated.
The "Innate Holy Body" is the first realm of body refining in the "Stellar Emperor Scripture";
The "Galaxy Holy Body" is the second realm of body refining in the "Stellar Emperor Scripture";
The "Stellar Ancient Body" is the third realm of body refining in the "Stellar Emperor Scripture" and also the last realm within the Emperor's Scripture.
Gu Zi Qing practices the "Stellar Emperor Scripture", which not only allows her to absorb spirit energy, but also forge her body utilizing the power of the stars.
However, it is daytime now, and the power of the stars is scarce. When night falls, the power of the stars will increase.
In the Dragon Xuan Continent, the levels of warriors are categorized into acquired, gas condensation, innate, golden core, sea of qi, entering the path, spiritual power, yin and yang, and nirvana- nine major realms. Each major realm is divided into four stages: initial, middle, latter, and perfection.
To quickly and steadily improve one's realm, the quality of the cultivation method plays a vital role.
The grades of cultivation methods are categorized into mortal, terrestrial, imperial, and emperor levels.
Most people practice cultivation methods of the terrestrial level or below, which restricts their highest attainable realm to the innate stage.
As for the methods at the imperial level or higher, obtaining them isn't easy. Only top-notch noble families, ancient divine dynasties own them, and these are inherited secrets, not to be leaked out.
The method Gu Zi Qing practices is the Emperor's scripture, specifically the "Stellar Emperor Scripture", which comes with a special body refining technique. Whether in terms of advancement speed or reinforcing her foundations, it ranks among the pinnacle in the continent.
As for body refining, no force on the continent yet realizes that the physical body too can become sacred.
"Innate Holy Body", the body enlightens the spirit and absorbs spirit energy naturally, harmonizes with the heaven and earth, jumps directly into the realm of innate, becoming a pure and unblemished Innate Saint.
"Galaxy Holy Body", coexisting with the galaxies in the sky, with an unbreakable physical body. As long as the galaxies exist, the body remains. The realm jumps directly into the Path Entering Stage.
The "Stellar Ancient Body", can open the eyes of the starry sky, peer into the ancient Stellar Path, even glimpsing the Fairyland beyond the Stellar Path. The realm directly reaches Nirvana, where one can shatter the void with a flick of a hand, ready to ascend to the fairyland at any time.
This is the vast potential of physical cultivation.
At this instant, not only is Gu Ziqing advancing his spiritual state by absorbing the spiritual auras, but he is also refining his physical body, progressing along the path of achieving sanctity of the mortal coil.
With the double enhancement of power, it is understandable that every time his realm elevated, a significant increase in strength is to be expected. He believed that once he reached the pinnacle, he could kill immortals without himself being one.
A day passed, and he opened his eyes calmly, "The progress of physical refinement is slow, but there's no hurry. It's a gradual process. On the other hand, the Emperor's Scripture truly deserves its reputation as the top cultivation method among humans. After a day of cultivation, my abilities have made huge progress, and I am now at the peak of the Postnatal State."
Reaching the peak of the Postnatal State is equivalent to reaching the limit of a regular human's physical potential. In the mortal world, it is regarded as standing at the pinnacle of the martial arts world, the endpoint of an ordinary human, the first realm of a martial artist.
Although a mortal might reach it through hard self-cultivation without relying on any methods, only the best among them could attain such a realm after fifty years.
Yet even such extraordinarily gifted martial artists who stand at the zenith wouldn't be able to withstand a single punch from Gu Ziqing.
Because the Postnatal Realm he achieved through Emperor-level cultivation methods, be it at its foundation or its strength, could not be achieved by any cultivation methods below royal rank.
The former's postnatal state is as strong as a tiger, flawless, while the latter's postnatal state is as weak as a cat, full of flaws.
The two are as different as heaven and earth.
After some thought, he executed a secret technique to hide his own realm from others' detection.
In this manner, even martial artists with two higher levels than him couldn't see through his realm, unless he deliberately exposed it.
"Postnatal State, the starting point of mortals, there's no need to rush."
In this lifetime, he wanted to live without regrets.
The status of immortals is inviolable, as are the immortals' family and lovers.
If anything goes against his will, he would crush it;
If anything brings him joy, he would enjoy it.
"Roar!"
A familiar yet alien roar came from the forest ahead, causing Gu Ziqing to pause, then smile: "Isn't this the formidable Three-tails Demon Fox I encountered when I ventured deep into the mountains at the age of thirteen? I remember, it was precisely this Three-tails Demon Fox that almost killed me, but also changed my fate."
