Chapter 54: Gilded Outside, Rotten Within
"Phew."
"At last, the sacrificial refinement is complete."
Gu Qing let out a long breath.
After consuming all the precious elixir, the Cosmos Tower had stored his boundless vital blood; with a single thought he could trigger its might.
Killing a Saint Realm opponent was impossible.
But crushing and killing a Venerable Realm opponent would be effortless.
In addition, the Cosmos Tower possessed peerless defense and could perform spatial transposition.
Though he might no longer need those two abilities.
After all, he had the Spatial Divine Pattern.
"With the Cosmos Tower, so long as the Divine Fire Realm does not appear, who can do anything to me?"
His life-preserving means were now at their peak.
Gu Qing's eyes brightened. He silently recited, "System, pull up my attribute panel."
[Name] Gu Qing.
[Realm] Void Dao Realm, First Layer.
[Constitution] Supreme Dao Bone, Chaos Star Body.
[Talent] Innate Dao Seed, peerless since antiquity!
[Fate Pattern] Variable.
[Destiny] Unknown.
[Fortune] three hundred and twenty-one thousand.
[Innate Divine Abilities] Chaos Treasure Vase Seal, Yin–Yang Wheel, Star-Plucking Hand, Chaos Sword Art, Star-Shattering Finger, Stellar Divine Fist.
[Divine Abilities] Annihilating Eight Desolations (minor attainment), Spatial Transposition (minor attainment).
[Magical Treasures] Reincarnation Divine Halberd, Golden Gourd, Spatial Divine Pattern, Sun Mirror, Cosmos Tower.
[Different Flame] Heart of Ice and Fire.
[Innate Spiritual Root] Nine-Colored Soul Lotus.
[Cultivation Method] Chaos Undying Scripture.
"No real changes."
All the precious elixir had been converted into vital blood to refine the Cosmos Tower; the fact that his realm had not dropped was already good.
Gu Qing walked out of the closed-door cave-dwelling.
"What are your plans next?" He Ni asked, her tone relaxed and lazy.
"Hmm…"
"First, refine pills."
"Sell some spirit pills to exchange for spirit herbs and demon beasts."
What Gu Qing needed was too much; it would not be proper to take everything from the Star Temple.
After all, the Star Temple also had to develop, and the disciples needed cultivation resources.
"You can refine pills?" He Ni asked in surprise.
She knew Gu Qing's background.
After joining the Star Temple, he had been busy with cultivation—when would he have had time to study alchemy?
Yet from Gu Qing's tone, it sounded as if he were an alchemy grandmaster.
"I have never refined before, but I searched the soul of a ninth-grade alchemist. Alchemy feels quite simple," Gu Qing replied.
Simple?
He Ni was speechless.
The Dao of Alchemy is also a Dao.
If alchemy were truly that easy, alchemists would already be everywhere.
After all, the cultivation world has quite a few memory-sharing arts.
But the Dao is mysterious upon mysterious, the gate to myriad wonders, beyond naming.
If you attain enlightenment, you attain it; it is not something memory can record.
Many powerhouses, after seizing a body and being reborn, have to start from scratch, unable to restore their former cultivation.
"Senior Brother, you're out."
Su Qingyue happily came forward, her smile brimming with innocence, her bright eyes sparkling.
A little colorful ribbon at her slender waist fluttered; in a moon-white long dress, she moved like a startled swan, as beautiful as a celestial maiden.
"Mm."
Gu Qing gave a light response and asked, "Why are you outside my cave-dwelling? What do you need from me?"
Su Qingyue recounted the matter indignantly.
Chu Yao's foxy eyes half-narrowed as she said, "I suspect he has been possessed, but I am not certain. After all, a great clan like the Jiang family must have soul tablets."
"He was likely possessed. There are innumerable bizarre secret arts in the world; techniques that can fool soul tablets do exist—our Star Temple even has several," Gu Qing replied casually, his gaze thoughtful.
From Su Qingyue's description, Jiang Yu sounded a bit like a protagonist.
And a new-era protagonist with a system, at that.
First, he would lick to an outrageous degree, then fiercely slap the goddess's face.
Afterward, he would whitewash the goddess and make her his simp.
Tsk… a routine—nothing but a routine.
"What should we do?" Chu Yao asked.
"Of course, send him west with one punch."
"Come, I want to see what sort of beast he really is."
Protagonists are his adoptive fathers; his Fangtian Halberd was already ravenous.
...
...
On the other side, over these past few days, Jiang Yu first defeated the Immortal Dao lineages that came to observe, and then climbed the Starlight Avenue's nine thousand nine hundred and ninety-nine levels to reach the summit directly.
The Stellar Dao Bell tolled nine times, shaking the endless starry river.
"He actually reached the summit."
"Even a Supreme Divine Body finds it hard to reach the summit, yet with an apex divine body he reached it in three days."
"Could it be that the Holy Son has a hidden constitution?"
Jiang Yu's feat drew countless astonished gazes.
One should know that even Zhang Yang did not reach the summit, only climbing to over eight thousand levels.
Those who reached the summit in the past almost all ascended to the Immortal Realm.
Those who did not ascend fell due to various reasons.
In other words, does Jiang Yu have the qualifications to become a god and ascend?
"Greetings, Holy Son."
"Congratulations to the Holy Son for ascending the Starlight Avenue."
The disciples climbing the Starlight Avenue saw Jiang Yu descend and saluted respectfully.
"Mm."
Jiang Yu gave a slight response, his gaze calm and unruffled, not even sparing these disciples a look.
He strolled through the void with a detached air, divine radiance surging around him, setting him off like a celestial deity.
Jiang Yu arrived at the Star Grand Hall and offered a disciple's salute to the peerless divine maiden upon the throne.
"Speak. What do you want?"
Jiang Yu replied with a lukewarm hum and asked.
A prodigy who reached the summit of the Starlight Avenue could make one not-too-excessive request of the temple.
Hearing the Palace Lord's indifferent tone, Jiang Yu's mindset frayed a little.
He was so outstanding, with peerless and unparalleled talent—why was Jiang Yu still cold to him?
The request already on his lips to become her disciple was swallowed back in unwillingness.
Jiang Yu's gaze swept the elders in the hall.
The elders likewise wore indifferent expressions, even cold ones; the looks they cast at him were not like looking at a person but more like appraising an object.
Not good… Jiang Yu's heart sank to the bottom, and he even had the urge to flee the Star Temple.
The Star Temple's attitude toward him was already obvious; if he stayed, his life might be in danger.
Tap, tap, tap!
"Paying respects to the Palace Lord and the elders…"
Gu Qing entered the hall with the two women and offered a disciple's salute.
"No need for formalities."
"Be seated."
Jiang Yu's voice was gentle and mellifluous, as if containing a kind of magic that relaxed the soul and made the mind peaceful and tranquil.
"Many thanks, Palace Lord."
Gu Qing voiced his thanks, inwardly astonished that Jiang Yu allowed him to sit below her.
What an extraordinary honor.
One should know that Jiang Yu and Zhi Meng were lauded as the twin peerless prodigies.
In strength and talent, the two were evenly matched.
There was even a rumor that the position of Divine Maiden had originally been Jiang Yu's, except she was tricked by Zhi Meng at the time.
Moreover, the two were mortal enemies.
There was no need for Jiang Yu to treat him this well, was there?
Once seated below Jiang Yu, a faint, ethereal fragrance drifted to him; Gu Qing took a breath, and even his soul felt like it was drifting toward immortality.
So it is you… Seeing this, how could Jiang Yu fail to tell that the Star Temple's monstrous prodigy successor was Gu Qing?
Jiang Yu treated Gu Qing with courtesy and humility.
The elders were warm and amiable toward Gu Qing.
Such a situation was precisely the status he had enjoyed within his clan.
Divine light flowed in his eyes as he tried to probe Gu Qing's background.
Yet he saw nothing at all.
The Star Dao Robe on Gu Qing was an astronomically priced magical treasure; unless he possessed a Divine Eye, he could not ignore its defense.
"System, check his attribute data."
[Name] Jiang Yu.
[Realm] Void Dao Realm, Eighth Layer.
[Constitution] Void Divine Body, Pure Yang Dao Bone.
[Talent] None.
[Fate Pattern] Child of Heaven's Mandate.
[Destiny] Make innumerable enemies; be unrivaled for life.
[Fortune] fifty-two thousand.
"He has an apex divine body and a Pure Yang Dao Bone—how does he have no talent?"
"And why is his fortune so little?"
Gu Qing asked in astonishment.
[Host, before transmigrating he was inferior even to an ordinary person—poverty-stricken and unable to care for himself. What talent could you expect? His present cultivation relies entirely on his sign-in system's cultivation rewards and the boosts from various treasures.]
[His fortune is low because he only transmigrated not long ago, and he has no luck-plundering halo. His entire life relies on his system's cheats.]
Hearing the system's explanation, Gu Qing had nothing more to say.
He glanced at Jiang Yu.
His bearing was detached as he stood, with the courage to remain unflustered even if Mount Tai collapsed before him, neither servile nor overbearing.
Yet he was gilded on the outside and rotten within.
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