The vast Beyond will no longer have any place for them to stand — the remnants of Bandit Thirteen
The vast Beyond will no longer have any place for them to stand — the remnants of Bandit Thirteen
In the days that followed, a piece of earth-shaking news suddenly spread from the True Immortal Academy, as if it had grown wings, swiftly sweeping across every region and startling the entire Beyond.
Countless sects and powers were shaken to their core.
The Reincarnation of the Mortal One of this era had finally appeared.
And it was no one else — it was Gu Changge.
The moment this news broke, it set off a massive uproar, causing an earthquake of shock. Many Cultivators simply could not believe it.
One had to know, the most dazzling figure in the Beyond at present was none other than Gu Changge.
And no one had expected that the Successor of Mortal Palace would suddenly announce such a thing.
Gu Changge was actually the Reincarnation of the Mortal One — was it real or fake? Everyone’s hearts trembled. Just how brilliant and dazzling was Gu Changge? It could no longer be described with simple words.
Even the identity of the Reincarnation of the Mortal One was, at most, icing on the cake for him.
Then again, from another perspective, even if the Reincarnation of the Mortal One were someone else, at this point no one could block the brilliance of Gu Changge’s radiance.
Gu Changge being the Reincarnation of the Mortal One — in the eyes of many, it seemed like a perfectly natural matter.
Of course, that was only what ordinary Cultivators thought. As for the various sects and powers, they felt this was more like a collaboration between the Mortal Palace and Gu Changge.
After all, the Successor of Mortal Palace’s announcement of this news was far too sudden — before this, not the slightest whisper of it had been heard.
Most likely, the Mortal Palace had failed to locate this era’s Reincarnation of the Mortal One, but out of various considerations, they intended to have Gu Changge temporarily assume the identity.
And there was no one more suitable than Gu Changge.
For Gu Changge, this was hardly a losing deal either, so he simply reached an agreement with the Mortal Palace. Otherwise, how could such a coincidence exist in this world? The powers and sects harboring such thoughts were actually not few in number.
Of course, knowing was one thing; saying it out loud was another. The various sects shared a tacit understanding on this matter — no one would be foolish enough at this juncture to offend Gu Changge and the Mortal Palace.
The True Immortal Academy was also thrown into an uproar because of this.
“The Reincarnation of the Mortal One?”
“What are Gu Changge and the Mortal Palace up to?”
The King of Six Crowns, Jun Yao, frowned. He did not believe Gu Changge had anything to do with the Reincarnation of the Mortal One.
In his view, this was more like the Mortal Palace borrowing Gu Changge’s might to manifest its presence among the myriad spirits of the Beyond.
And Gu Changge, in turn, could make use of the Mortal Palace’s transcendent status.
It was a mutually beneficial arrangement.
After the incident with Heavenly Monarch Ziyang, Jun Yao knew full well that Gu Changge was no good person.
Nowadays, clashes among his peers were unavoidable, and Gu Changge bore the title of number one of the younger generation, which put considerable pressure on him.
Within the True Immortal Academy, the reactions of the many Young Prodigies were actually much the same as Jun Yao’s.
Meanwhile, upon learning of this news, the Elders of the Mortal Palace also rushed to the True Immortal Academy with skeptical attitudes, intending to verify its authenticity.
Regarding this, Gu Changge naturally had no hesitation whatsoever — he directly revealed his Nirvana Azure Lotus Body.
A vast and boundless life force surged skyward like an ocean.
Amidst the shining divine radiance, an azure lotus swayed within, connecting heaven and earth, with endless Chaos Qi cascading down.
The hearts of the Mortal Palace Elders trembled, and they no longer had any doubts.
Just as Gu Changge had said before, what the Mortal Palace needed now was not the Mortal One as a person, but the identity itself! Even if they had other thoughts, they would forcibly suppress them.
With this identity, there wasn’t much impact on Gu Changge either. The Mortal Palace had no shortage of resources, but at present, resources were the thing he lacked least.
Time flew by, and in the blink of an eye, half a month passed.
After devouring a considerable amount of Sacred Emperor Source, Gu Changge’s cultivation finally broke through to the Sacred King Realm.
Of the two hundred and six bones in his body, more than half had transformed into Bones of Absolute Detachment.
Under his evolution, the Inner Universe within his body also developed from an embryonic form toward the path of completeness — the transformations of Qian and Xuan, endlessly generating life, carrying quite an aura of the Six Paths of the heavens.
During this period, quite a few things happened in the Beyond. The most shocking of them was that the Thirteen Bandits of the Chaotic Star Territory had been completely annihilated, with no survivors.
The Thirteen Bandits, who had run rampant across the Chaotic Star Territory for millions of years, could be called notorious.
Not only were they vicious and domineering, but they were also extremely hard to hunt down, slippery as loaches.
Many sects and merchant caravans had suffered losses at their hands.
Yet now, in less than half a month, a terrifying army had marched in and wiped them out with overwhelming force — bloodshed soaring to the heavens, the sounds of slaughter shaking the world. It truly stunned countless people.
That battle was fought so fiercely that the Astral Rivers along the way were stained with blood, corpses piled up in heaps, Ancient Battleships shattered, their fragments scattered in all directions — a scene of utter devastation.
The heads of the Thirteen Bandits now hung outside the Chaotic Star Territory as a warning to others.
Afterward, Cultivators investigated the cause.
It turned out that some time ago, a secret treasure Gu Changge had sent to the Heavenly Arms Domain for refinement had emerged into the world. Because the phenomenon it caused was so astonishing, it caught the eye of the Thirteen Bandits, who sent people to attack and seize it.
Thus, Bandit Thirteen offended Gu Changge, which brought this calamity upon them and got them thoroughly exterminated.
This matter left many Cultivators trembling with fear, yet at the same time they couldn’t help but clap in delight.
At the end of the day, it was a case of reaping what one sows — why would the perfectly fine Bandit Thirteen go courting death? Of course, for Gu Changge, this matter was nothing more than an insignificant little episode.
After dealing with Bandit Thirteen, the secret treasure he had sent to the Heavenly Arms Domain for refinement was also delivered to him.
He named it the Hongmeng Purple Mirror. From its appearance, it looked like a page of an ancient scripture — archaic and natural, its entire body wreathed in purple radiance. Chaos Purple Qi cascaded down from it, exuding astonishing Daoist charm, interwoven with a profound aura like that of the Great Dao.
It was a deduction-type secret treasure.
The main refining materials were the Chaos Dao Bone, the Chaos Purple Qi Seed, and Heavenly Monarch Ziyang’s Foreseeing Eye.
Beyond that, the divine materials used were too numerous to count — extravagance in the extreme.
Aside from Gu Changge, no second person in the Beyond possessed such audacity to refine a secret treasure like this.
“Deducing a fragmentary glimpse of the future shouldn’t be difficult. Beyond that, it has other uses — it can obscure heavenly secrets and track karma...”
Gu Changge’s eyes narrowed slightly, wisps of golden divine light flickering as he refined the treasure.
Its functions surfaced in his mind.
Just as he had anticipated — deducing the future, obscuring heavenly secrets, tracking karma... even reversing the cosmos.
Soon, the refinement was complete, and Gu Changge began testing its functions. As hazy purple qi cascaded down, the Hongmeng Purple Mirror began to glow, circulating a mysterious fluctuation.
Faintly, Gu Changge saw ripples spreading across the archaic, natural page like the surface of a lake, then radiating outward.
Smooth as a mirror.
Immediately after, images began to emerge upon it.
Amidst a desolate, ruined star territory, massive and heavy continents floated, covered with countless star remains and Ancient Battleship fragments.
Corpses littered the ground, thick blood-reek drifting across the sky — it was clear a terrifying great battle had just taken place here.
“This place is... the Chaotic Star Territory...”
Gu Changge narrowed his eyes. He had only tried to deduce the karma connected to himself.
Yet the Hongmeng Purple Mirror had shown him scenes of the Chaotic Star Territory.
Could it be that the karma tied to him lay within the Chaotic Star Territory? Just as Gu Changge was pondering this—
The scene within the Hongmeng Purple Mirror shifted. A blind middle-aged man in purple robes sat in a wheelchair, his lower limbs seemingly entirely crippled, being pushed along as he tore open the void and swiftly fled the Chaotic Star Territory.
Judging from the situation on the battlefield, this purple-robed middle-aged man should have been someone on Bandit Thirteen’s side. Taking advantage of the chaos when the great battle erupted, he had hastily fled the battlefield, and his whereabouts were now unknown.
“Who exactly is this man?”
Gu Changge narrowed his eyes. Soon, the images within the Hongmeng Purple Mirror faded. If he wanted to activate it again, he would have to wait another half month.
After putting away the Hongmeng Purple Mirror, Gu Changge summoned a follower.
“Greetings, Master. What are your orders?”
The newcomer said respectfully.
“Go investigate — among Bandit Thirteen of the Chaotic Star Territory, which remnants managed to escape.”
Gu Changge pondered briefly, then spoke indifferently.
He was somewhat curious about the identity of that blind middle-aged man.
He suspected that the reason Bandit Thirteen had attacked the caravan responsible for transporting the Hongmeng Purple Mirror was absolutely inseparable from that blind middle-aged man.
There had to be something special about that blind middle-aged man.
At the same time, he sent a message to Yin Mei, having her help him search for secrets related to Bandit Thirteen.
And very soon, a piece of news that piqued Gu Changge’s interest came back.
“Behind Bandit Thirteen, there was actually a mysterious mister hidden all along?”
“In that case, this escaped blind middle-aged man should be that mysterious mister.”
“I just wonder whether he’ll be connected to a Fortuitous One.”
Gu Changge unhurriedly tapped the tabletop, then lightly crushed the Jade Tablet in his hand.
At present, there were quite a few matters laid out before him.
But the most important was still raising his strength. Devouring ordinary Sacred Emperor Source could hardly help him anymore.
As for Sacred Emperor Source of the Sacred Emperor Realm, that was far too difficult to obtain, because Sacred Emperors were the foundation-level existences of every race — they would not easily reveal themselves, let alone be killed and have their Source devoured.
That path was somewhat arduous.
So, only those with special constitutions and great Fortuity, or Fortuitous Ones, could be of use to him.
And regardless of whether they were Fortuitous Ones or people of great Fortuity, their cultivation could not be too low.
Otherwise, even if he devoured their Source and cultivation, it would be of little help to Gu Changge.
Qin Wuya and Chu Hao — although both were at the Sacred King Realm, Gu Changge had other plans for keeping them around.
As for that blind middle-aged man, since he could be connected to Gu Changge, even if he wasn’t a Fortuitous One, he should at least be a person of great Fortuity.
Therefore, Gu Changge subsequently issued orders, dispatching the forces behind him — the Longevity Gu Family, the various Ancient Immortal clans, the Skyward Schloss, the Primal Celestial Temple, and other powers — to hunt down this man with full force.
For a time, the entire Beyond was in an uproar; countless Cultivators and sects were stunned.
No one had expected that, to hunt down the remnants of Bandit Thirteen, Gu Changge would mobilize such an enormous force — it was downright horrifying and terrifying.
Then, Yue Mingkong also coordinated with Gu Changge’s orders — the Unrivaled Celestial Dynasty dispatched numerous troops and began searching everywhere! Everyone couldn’t help but shudder, chills running through their entire bodies. The means Gu Changge employed to deal with those who offended him were enough to make anyone tremble.
The vast Beyond would no longer have any place for the remnants of Bandit Thirteen to stand! How terrifying and despair-inducing was that? Even if they fled to the Overworld, there would be no path to survival...
:Just one chapter tonight, writer’s block is killing me, I need to sort out my thoughts.