117: Chapter 117 Could she be the reincarnation of the Wisdom Gu?

Gu Yan pointed his fingers like a sword, and a ray of spiritual light shot into the haotian mirror.

The mirror surface trembled slightly, ripples spreading across it.

Within the haotian mirror, images flashed by rapidly.

A moment later, the mirror image suddenly froze.

The scene locked in place.

Gu Yan stared intently.

It was a Sect shrouded in Immortal Qi, with magnificent palaces and towers, and clouds roiling in the distance.

At the main entrance stood a towering archway with three large characters carved upon it: Ascension Platform.

This was the place in the Immortal Realm specifically designated to receive those ascending from the Spirit Realm, managed by the Kunlun Sect of the Immortal Realm.

The Kunlun Sect... The name sounded somewhat familiar.

The image zoomed in further.

In a certain palace deep within the Ascension Platform, a woman in red sat cross-legged.

The woman possessed an otherworldly beauty and a cold, aloof temperament, with faint Immortal Spiritual Qi swirling around her.

It was none other than Ning Hongye, who had just ascended.

Formerly the Kunlun Mysterious Maiden of the Spirit Realm's Kunlun Sect, at the Tribulation Crossing Peak, she had now attained the position of a Human Immortal.

Gu Yan looked at the familiar Face in the mirror, and a memory flashed through his mind.

Back in the Azure Wave Sect, the evil body had once shared a past with this woman.

At that time, she liked to call the evil body Senior Brother and even gifted him Magic Treasures and Cultivation Techniques.

The scene in the mirror continued.

Opposite Ning Hongye stood an old man with white hair.

The old man's aura was as deep as the sea; he was clearly a Peak Golden Immortal.

Behind the old man stood several Elders of the Kunlun Sect, each with a displeased expression.

The old man looked at Ning Hongye and said in a deep voice: "Hongye, the fact that I have come to speak with you personally is me giving you Face."

"Saint Lin Fan of the Shangqing Sect possesses extraordinary talent. His bone age is not even eight hundred, yet he is already a Ninth-Level Human Immortal, just one step away from becoming an Earth Immortal."

"Such a good match is something countless women in the entire Immortal Realm would beg for."

"Since you ascended to our Kunlun Sect and are a Disciple of our Kunlun lineage, naturally, I must make plans for you."

Ning Hongye listened quietly, her expression devoid of joy or sorrow.

After the old man finished speaking, she slowly opened her mouth: "I appreciate the Old Ancestor's kindness, Hongye accepts the sentiment."

"However, Hongye already has a Dao Companion, so I must respectfully decline this request."

The old man frowned.

"A Dao Companion?"

He looked Ning Hongye up and down, then sneered: "Your primordial yin remains intact; how can you have a Dao Companion?"

"Do not try to use such excuses to put me off."

"Old Ancestor, please look clearly; Hongye's primordial yin is indeed intact."

"But Hongye has established a contract with that person to be his Dao Companion for life, a bond that will not change even in death."

"This contract is in the heart, not something that can be changed by the Physical Body."

Hearing this, the old man's expression grew slightly solemn.

He stared deeply at Ning Hongye and said in a deep voice: "A contract?"

"What kind of contract? And with whom was it established?"

Ning Hongye shook her head: "It is not convenient for Hongye to disclose this person's name."

"As for the contract... if the Old Ancestor does not believe me, you may attempt to divine it."

"Everything Hongye has said is true."

The old man stared at her, silent for a moment.

Then, he closed his eyes.

His aura surged as he began to divine the Heavenly Dao.

Everyone in the hall held their breath, not daring to make a sound.

A moment later, the old man opened his eyes.

His brows were tightly furrowed.

He could not divine it.

He had divined absolutely nothing.

That so-called Dao Companion, that so-called contract, seemed not to exist in this world at all.

Yet Ning Hongye stood right there; her expression, her tone, and her attitude did not look like she was lying.

The old man was filled with shock and suspicion.

Ning Hongye watched his changing expression and breathed a sigh of relief inwardly.

As expected, he could not divine it.

It was just like it had been for her back then.

The first time she met the person named Lin You was in the Azure Wave Sect.

At that time, she used secret techniques to investigate his origins, but she could find nothing.

His past was a blank slate, his future was a fog, and his Karma was so tangled it was impossible to divine.

A person like this was either trash or... a great power reincarnated.

Lin You was clearly not the former.

After she left the Azure Wave Sect, she had not stopped paying attention to what followed.

The two Nascent Soul Old Ancestors of the Azure Wave Sect failed their Breakthrough to the Soul Transformation Stage.

Yet Lin You's cultivation progressed by leaps and bounds, from Golden Core to Nascent Soul, and finally, he sat on the throne of the Sect Master.

The first thing he did upon becoming the Bibo Sect Master was to Seal the entrance to that Mortal Realm.

She had personally gone to check it.

The entrance to that Mortal Realm, along with the teleportation array, had disappeared without a trace.

With her strength at the Tribulation Crossing Peak, she was completely unable to sense any traces.

It was as if... that Mortal Realm had never existed.

How could this be?

She scoured ancient texts and read countless secret records until she finally found a possible explanation.

Reincarnation of an Immortal Emperor.

Legend has it that when existences at the Immortal Emperor level reincarnate to re-Cultivate, they Seal their own Dao domain, turning it into an independent world.

Within that world, they are the sole Dominator.

The reincarnated body Cultivates within that world, avoiding the scrutiny of the Heavenly Dao and avoiding the entanglement of Karma, allowing them to recover their strength at the fastest speed.

Such things had happened in the history of the Immortal Realm.

If this was the case, everything made sense.

Lin You... no, she should call him the evil body.

He must be the Reincarnation of some Immortal Emperor.

That Mortal Realm was his Dao domain.

He cultivated there to avoid the eyes and ears of all the great powers, quietly recovering his strength.

And the Magic Treasures and Cultivation Techniques she had given away back then were likely, in his eyes, nothing more than... children's toys?

Ning Hongye thought of this, and a bitter smile appeared at the corner of her mouth.

But what of it?

She had established Karma with the evil body.

She had called the evil body Senior Brother, and he had acknowledged it.

She had given the evil body things, and he had accepted them.

That was enough.

As for what the evil body's true identity was, whether he was an Immortal Emperor or an ordinary person, it did not matter.

What mattered was that she needed a shield.

A shield that even a Peak Golden Immortal could not divine.

Now, this shield had indeed come in handy.

Ning Hongye looked at the frowning Old Ancestor opposite her, her heart as calm as water.

She knew the Old Ancestor could not possibly divine anything.

Just as she had been unable to divine anything back then.

That existence was simply not something a Golden Immortal could pry into.

...

Supreme Creation Small Luo Grotto-Heaven.

In front of the Hall of Longevity.

Gu Yan looked at the scene in the haotian mirror, the corner of his mouth twitching slightly.

Good grief.

This Ning Hongye was actually this clever?

Reincarnation of an Immortal Emperor? A sealed Dao domain? Avoiding prying eyes?

How did she come up with all of this?

Gu Yan was silent for a moment, then muttered a sarcastic remark: "Could she be the Reincarnation of a Wisdom Gu?"

Of course, that was just a passing comment.

But one had to admit, while Ning Hongye's deductions were not entirely correct, they were close enough.

Gu Yan put away the haotian mirror and shook his head.

This Ning Hongye certainly knew how to leverage influence.

But since she had borrowed it, let her borrow it.

In any case, for him, having one more bit of Karma didn't matter.

Moreover... back in the Azure Wave Sect, she had indeed treated the evil body well.

That Cultivation Technique, those few Magic Treasures—though they were given away casually, they still carried a bit of sincerity.

Gu Yan pondered for a moment longer and murmured: "Ning Hongye... Kunlun Mysterious Maiden... Kunlun Sect of the Immortal Realm..."

Wait, that Old Ancestor was only a Peak Golden Immortal; how could his divination allow him to sense it?

Gu Yan's gaze sharpened.

Ever since he acquired the Form of No-Self and No-Form · Red, neither the Great Dao nor the Heavenly Dao could perceive his existence, let alone the divinations of those Cultivators.

What did this mean?

It meant that the Old Ancestor was not simple.

At the very least, his methods of divination were far beyond those of an ordinary Golden Immortal.

Gu Yan became interested.

"Let me see, you Peak Golden Immortal Old Ancestor, what exactly is so extraordinary about you."

The haotian mirror appeared once more, and the image continued to flow.

It was still that palace, still those people.

The Old Ancestor was sitting at the head, his brows tightly locked, clearly still troubled by the matter he could not divine.

Gu Yan pointed a finger, and the scene in the mirror zoomed in suddenly, locking onto the Old Ancestor.

The divination began.

A moment later, a strange look flashed in Gu Yan's eyes.

So that was it.

This Old Ancestor, named Ning Daoxuan, was one of the Grand Elders of the Kunlun Sect.

With Peak Golden Immortal cultivation, he had remained at this Realm for thirty million years.

For thirty million years, he had never attempted to break through to the Immortal King level.

It was not that he could not.

It was that he would not.

He cultivated an ancient technique called the Nine Transformations Returning to One Mysterious Technique.

The most profound aspect of this technique was that it allowed for nine compressions at every major Realm, polishing the Foundation until it was incomparably solid, before breaking through.

The Golden Core Stage was like this, the Nascent Soul Stage was like this, the Soul Transformation Stage was like this, the Tribulation Crossing Stage was like this, the Mahayana Stage was like this, and so were the Human Immortal, Earth Immortal, Heavenly Immortal, and Golden Immortal stages...

Now at the Peak Golden Immortal stage, he had already compressed it eight times.

Only one last time was needed to reach the Nine Transformations and achieve Perfection; at that point, breaking through to the Immortal King level would result in a Foundation so profound that it would be far beyond that of an ordinary Immortal King.

He even had a chance to challenge the legendary Immortal Emperor Realm.

This was the reason he had delayed his Breakthrough for so long.

What he wanted was to be an Immortal Emperor, not an Immortal King.

Thirty million years of suppression had resulted in terrifying combat power.

Gu Yan saw through the haotian mirror that although this Ning Daoxuan was only a Peak Golden Immortal, seven Immortal Kings had already died at his hands.

The most spectacular instance was thirty million years ago, when he was only at the seventh turn of the Golden Immortal stage, yet he had single-handedly killed two powerful experts at the second level of the Immortal King stage.

That battle had shocked the entire Immortal Realm.

From then on, no one dared to underestimate this Peak Golden Immortal Old Ancestor of the Kunlun Sect.

Now that he was at the eighth turn and near Perfection, just a hair's breadth away from the ninth, his combat power was even more unfathomable.

Gu Yan looked at the seemingly ordinary old man in the mirror and calculated silently in his heart.

No wonder his divination could make him sense it.

For such a figure, his mastery of divination was naturally far beyond his peers.

Although he still could not divine him, the fact that he could make him feel like he was being pried into was already extremely rare.

"This old brat is truly a damn talent."

To achieve the Immortal Emperor status, he suppressed his Realm for thirty million years.

Sarcasm aside, Gu Yan did not plan on doing anything.

After all, Ning Hongye's affairs had little to do with him.

He didn't mind her using his evil body's name, the evil body, as a shield.

Even if Ning Daoxuan could not divine anything, at most he would be suspicious and would not really do anything to Ning Hongye.

After all, an existence that even a Peak Golden Immortal could not divine—if it were real—was definitely not someone the Kunlun Sect could afford to provoke.

Ning Daoxuan had lived for so many years; he would understand this logic.

As for how Ning Hongye would fare in the future...

Gu Yan shook his head.

That was her own Karma, her own choice.

What he needed to do now was to Cultivate.

To break through to the Ninth Level of the Human Immortal stage as soon as possible, and then break through to the Earth Immortal stage.