At the center of heaven and earth, three qi merged as one.
With the aid of the Giant Sun Will, the dense qi currents nearly enveloped Tai Bai Yun Sheng in a cocoon of energy!
He stood within it, every injury on his body already gone, his entire physical form, soul, and spirit continuously ascending.
He reflected on his life, scene after scene flashing through his mind at lightning speed.
The profound mysteries of the Great Dao flowed through his heart, spiritual insights bursting forth one after another. The cultivation difficulties that had once shackled him were resolved, one by one, in perfect clarity.
In this moment, heaven and earth seemed like an impartial teacher, imparting all their knowledge to Tai Bai Yun Sheng without reservation.
But the secrets of heaven and earth were far too vast and boundless. The more Tai Bai Yun Sheng learned, the more he felt his own insignificance.
He could only start from his Dao of Time, deepening his understanding and expanding outward from there.
His comprehension of the Dao of Time reached the pinnacle of his entire life!
Learn from nature!
Humans are the spirit of all creation. Gu are the true essence of heaven and earth. Gu Masters who use, refine, and raise Gu are, in truth, engaged in a ceaseless process of communication, exploration, and learning from heaven and earth.
At the moment of ascension, a Gu Master no longer needs to rely on Gu Insects to indirectly comprehend heaven and earth — instead, a direct communion with heaven and earth is established.
This precious opportunity for communion, throughout an Immortal Gu Master's entire existence, would likely occur only this once.
Peak of the Fifth Transformation — that is the endpoint of an ordinary Gu Master. But the Sixth Transformation Immortal Gu Master transcends the mundane, marking the beginning of a new existence as an Immortal Gu Master.
At this critical starting point, the achievements reached by each Immortal Gu Master, and the potential accumulated for the future, all differed.
"What a wondrous experience… a pity my reputation qi has run out…" Tai Bai Yun Sheng said with lingering regret, his face etched with disappointment.
His reputation qi had already been completely depleted — and this was only because the Reputation Immortal Gu had helped. Otherwise, it would have been even shorter.
The qi cocoon dissipated. In midair, Tai Bai Yun Sheng's figure reappeared.
The three qi had fused and compressed into a primordial tri-colored qi sphere, condensing at the location of what had originally been his Empty Orifice.
With this, the second step of ascension — Qi Absorption — was complete.
Next came the final step of ascension: Gu Release!
Tai Bai Yun Sheng, with utmost gravity, produced three Gu — River As Before, Mountain As Before, and Human As Before.
These three Gu were his most essential insects, the ones he knew best of all. Among them, Human As Before was his Life Gu.
"We've finally reached the most critical moment…" Tai Bai Yun Sheng first cast his Life Gu directly into the primordial tri-colored qi sphere within his body.
BOOM!
A thunderous ringing erupted in his ears. Tai Bai Yun Sheng's entire body shuddered violently.
The tri-colored qi sphere, originally intertwined and ceaselessly rotating, erupted the instant Human As Before broke in — like a lit fuse igniting explosives. The primordial qi sphere detonated in a violent explosion.
Without destruction, there can be no rebirth. From death, new life springs forth!
To ascend from mortal to immortal — the moment was now!
This single explosion was truly ineffable. It blasted forth a miracle of life, blasted open an entirely new world!
The mortal orifice had shattered. The Immortal Orifice was born.
What a fine Immortal Orifice — inside, the sky was a crystal-clear blue, and the earth a barren wilderness of golden stone!
The Immortal Orifice was like a newborn infant. It craved nourishment urgently, unleashing an overwhelmingly powerful suction force outward.
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh…
Heavenly qi and earthly qi poured frantically into Tai Bai Yun Sheng, flowing straight into the Immortal Orifice.
Inside the Immortal Orifice, the territory expanded rapidly. One million mu, two million mu, three million mu…
And the flow of time, originally at a one-to-one ratio, continuously climbed — to one to ten, one to twenty…
The qi surged in relentlessly, and the Immortal Orifice grew increasingly unstable.
Tai Bai Yun Sheng then cast in River As Before and Mountain As Before, stabilizing the situation.
The Immortal Orifice's area continued to expand, and in the unseen depths, it also drew upon a tributary of the River of Time, allowing the time-flow ratio to climb steadily.
Throughout this process, Tai Bai Yun Sheng continuously inserted more Gu, always maintaining the Immortal Orifice's stability.
Five million mu, six million mu, over seven million mu!
One to thirty, one to thirty-one, one to thirty-two, one to thirty-three!
Reaching this point, the Immortal Orifice had grown to its limit, as if it had eaten and drunk its fill, coming to an abrupt halt.
But overhead, celestial radiance and heavenly qi still cascaded down. Below, golden earthly qi continued to surge upward.
At this stage, the speed at which the Immortal Orifice absorbed the two qi slowed. What had been ravenous gulps now became leisurely sips.
The two qi flowed into the Immortal Orifice like clouds of azure and gold, filling its entirety.
Within the dense currents of qi, immortal essence began to condense.
These were precisely the Green Grape Immortal Essence of the Sixth Transformation Immortal Gu Master — a full thirty-six drops generated.
In the sky above, the tribulation clouds began to gradually recede. On the ground, the calamity dust slowly dissipated.
But within the Immortal Orifice, the misty remnants of heavenly and earthly qi remained, refusing to scatter.
They gathered around the Gu — Human As Before, River As Before, Mountain As Before, and the rest — thickening the qi mist around these insects until it formed qi cocoons.
The two qi merged. Heaven and earth resonated as one.
Within certain qi cocoons, individual Gu began to undergo some ineffable, mysterious transformation.
"Now is the moment." A Gu Recipe flashed through Tai Bai Yun Sheng's mind.
This Gu Recipe was purely theoretical, derived from the old beggar's Immortal Gu Master inheritance — a theoretical extrapolation left behind by the Gu Master who created the inheritance.
Tai Bai Yun Sheng could not guarantee that this theoretical Gu Recipe would succeed.
But he had absolutely no path of retreat.
His lifespan was nearly spent, on the verge of exhaustion. After ascending to immortality, his senses had reached an entirely new plane — especially his perception of time, which had improved the most, becoming precise down to every single breath.
This novel enhancement brought him little joy before plunging him into silent pressure, even dread.
Because he could feel, with bone-deep certainty, that the time left for him was truly not much — like a tiny puddle of water baking under scorching sunlight, his lifespan no more than the thin film of moisture clinging to its surface.
He had once schemed to obtain Life Span Gu, but the plan had failed due to Fang Yuan's covert interference. His experience in the Blood Dao Hall had since become a knot in his heart.
Now his only hope lay with the Human As Before Gu.
According to the theoretical Gu Recipe, refining Human As Before Gu to the Sixth Transformation would allow him to cast it upon himself.