169: Chapter 169 Taixu’s enlightenment!

Gu Changsheng was in no hurry.

He walked along the stone bridge, each step steady.

Within a hundred steps, ripples suddenly appeared on the lake surface.

The ripples spread from beneath the bridge, the lake water churned, and a figure emerged from the water.

It was an old man in Daoist robes with a white beard hanging down to his chest, cloudy eyes, and a face full of wrinkles.

The old man stood on the lake surface, staring at Gu Changsheng, and spoke slowly.

"Who are you?"

Gu Changsheng glanced at him and did not stop his pace.

"An illusion."

As soon as he spoke, the old man's figure rippled like water and vanished from the lake.

Gu Changsheng continued forward.

After another hundred steps, the lake surface churned once more.

This time, a young woman emerged; she was exquisitely beautiful, dressed in robes as white as snow, with pleading in her eyes.

"Young Master, save me..."

The woman reached out her hand, grasping toward Gu Changsheng.

Gu Changsheng didn't even spare her a glance and walked directly past her.

The woman's figure likewise dissipated.

Along the rest of the way, the lake surface continued to churn, and figure after figure emerged.

There were old and young, men and women; some pleaded, some threatened, and some tempted him.

Gu Changsheng ignored them all.

His Dao Heart was as steady as a rock; these illusions didn't even have the qualification to make him frown.

The stone bridge was very long and winding; it took him a full hour to reach the end.

The Lakeside Stone Pavilion was right before his eyes.

The stone pavilion was not large, measuring no more than three zhang across, with four stone pillars supporting a circular roof and a stone platform in the center.

On the stone platform sat a lotus.

The lotus was translucent and crystal clear, its petals a pale green, with a faint red light glowing at the pistil.

As the red light pulsed, the air was tinged with a faint blood-red hue.

"taixu mirror-heart lotus."

Gu Changsheng stopped outside the stone pavilion, staring at the lotus.

He had seen records of this item in ancient books.

taixu mirror-heart lotus, a spiritual item of heaven and earth, can reflect the human heart and temper the Divine Soul; it is a treasure that countless Cultivators dream of.

But this item has a fatal flaw.

It pulls people into illusions, forcing them to experience countless lives within the illusion until their Divine Soul completely collapses or they break through their limits.

Just as Gu Changsheng stepped into the stone pavilion, the red light of the lotus suddenly flared up.

The red light surged like a tide, instantly engulfing him.

Everything went black.

When he opened his eyes again, the surrounding scenery had completely changed.

He stood before a towering mountain gate, upon which four large characters were carved: Daoxuan Immortal Sect.

"Gu Changsheng, congratulations on passing the assessment and officially becoming the Saint of the Daoxuan Immortal Sect."

A voice came from behind him.

Gu Changsheng turned his head and saw an old man in an Elder's robe looking at him with a smile.

"From today on, you are the future of the Daoxuan Immortal Sect, and all the Sect's resources will be tilted in your favor."

As the old man spoke, he pulled a Jade Talisman from his sleeve and handed it to him.

"This is the Saint Token; with it, you can mobilize all the forces within the Sect except for the Sect Master."

Gu Changsheng took the Jade Talisman and looked down at it.

The Jade Talisman was warm, its surface carved with complex Dao patterns and emitting a faint spiritual light.

"Thank you, Elder."

He spoke calmly.

The old man smiled and turned to leave.

Gu Changsheng stood in place, gripping the Jade Talisman, his brow furrowing slightly.

"An illusion?"

He looked up and scanned the surrounding scenery.

The mountain gate, the palaces, the Disciples, the Elders... everything was so real, real to the point that even the fluctuations of Spiritual Qi in the air were perfectly accurate.

"Interesting."

Gu Changsheng was in no hurry to break the illusion.

He wanted to see exactly what this taixu mirror-heart lotus wanted him to experience.

In the following days, he Cultivated in the Daoxuan Immortal Sect according to his identity as the Saint.

The Sect provided him with the best resources, the strongest Cultivation Technique, and the top Masters.

His cultivation base soared, breaking through from the Wufa Realm to the Celestial Phenomenon Realm, and then from the Celestial Phenomenon Realm to the Myriad Laws Realm.

In just a hundred years, he stood at the Peak of the Eastern Region.

Countless Sects bowed to him, and countless Prodigies held him in awe.

He became the Dominator of the Eastern Region.

Another hundred years passed, and he met a woman.

The woman was exquisitely beautiful with an ethereal temperament and a cultivation base that was not weak; she was the Saintess of another Holy Land.

The two fell in love at first sight and became Dao Companions.

On the day of the wedding, the entire Eastern Region celebrated.

Gu Changsheng stood on the high platform, looking at the dense crowd of guests below, a smile appearing at the corners of his mouth.

"This is the life I want."

He turned his head to look at the woman beside him.

The woman was also smiling, her eyes curved into crescents.

"Husband, we will always be happy like this, won't we?"

"We will."

Gu Changsheng held her hand, his voice gentle.

Time continued to flow.

His cultivation base grew higher and higher, breaking through from the Myriad Laws Realm to the Guixu Realm, and then from the Guixu Realm to the Return to One Realm.

He stood at the threshold of a Quasi-Emperor.

But no matter how hard he tried, he could not take that final step.

He tried countless methods, entering seclusion for a thousand years, traveling through ten thousand worlds, and comprehending the Heavenly Dao.

But that threshold was like a wall, firmly blocking him.

His Lifespan began to drain away.

His Dao Companion turned to ash in his arms, his Disciples died of old age before him, and the Sect decayed before his eyes.

He stood alone on the mountain Peak, watching the world beneath his feet collapse bit by bit.

"Why..."

He looked down at his wrinkled hands.

"I have clearly reached this step, so why can I still not become an Emperor?"

No one answered him.

At the moment his Lifespan was exhausted, he lay on the bed, staring at the ceiling.

"What am I missing..."

As soon as he finished speaking, his eyes suddenly widened.

"State of Mind!"

He suddenly sat up, and the surrounding scenery shattered like glass.

The illusion was broken.

Gu Changsheng stood in the stone pavilion once more, still gripping that Jade Talisman.

No, the Jade Talisman had already vanished.

He looked down at his palm; it was empty.

"So that's how it is."

Gu Changsheng looked up at the taixu mirror-heart lotus on the stone platform.

"The secret of becoming an Emperor is not about Cultivation Techniques or resources, but the State of Mind."

He finally understood.

The so-called secret of becoming an Emperor was to use the taixu mirror-heart lotus to let a person experience countless lives in illusions, tempering a perfect State of Mind without any flaws.

Only with Perfection in one's State of Mind can one avoid being swallowed by a Heart Demon when becoming an Emperor.

The red light of the lotus flared up once more.

The red light was even more intense than before, like a gaping bloody maw, instantly engulfing him.

Everything fell into darkness again.

This time, what he was to experience was the Second Life.