The Second Hundred Million Years!

After making up his mind, Gu An stared intently at the system prompts.

One after another, they popped up—all failures!

With each tribulation now coming every two million years, a hundred million years only gave him fifty chances. He had previously experienced two to three hundred failed tribulations before succeeding, which made him all the more anxious.

In the end—every single attempt failed!

Two hundred million years of lifespan burned through. A hundred failed tribulations.

Gu An etched the name of the Heavenly Tribulation into memory: Taiyi Divine Origin Cataclysm.

Although he hadn’t further upgraded his divine powers or techniques, he felt like he was already powerful enough across the board.

“This Taiyi Divine Origin Cataclysm… it’s no joke,” Gu An muttered internally, impressed despite himself.

Then, he threw in another hundred million years of lifespan.

Failure.

Failure.

Failure.

Gu An looked at his Lifespan Barrier—it hadn’t even consumed much yet—and somehow, it felt like it was silently mocking him.

“Again! Another hundred million!”

He gritted his teeth. Calmness was no longer an option.

The system prompts popped up faster than before.

Still failure.

Four hundred million years of lifespan gone. Two hundred tribulations. All failed.

Gu An couldn’t help but think of Dragon Zhan. How many years of lifespan had he spent to break through?

Although Gu An had inherited Dragon Zhan’s memories, he couldn’t see the prompts Dragon Zhan received or hear his inner thoughts. He could only experience Dragon Zhan’s life as a spectator. That was why Gu An could still be sure he was the original soul—he hadn’t lost himself.

Dragon Zhan had never told anyone about his ability to seize lifespan, nor did he ever speak openly about his lifespan, so Gu An didn’t know how much he had.

But from what Gu An remembered, Dragon Zhan had also experienced a lot of frustration while attempting to break through to Dao Fruit Realm, so he probably failed many times too.

Gu An took a deep breath, cleared his mind, and continued pressing forward.

He still had six hundred million years left. As long as he could succeed, it was worth it. Lifespan was just a number—he could always accumulate more!

Besides, he was luckier than Dragon Zhan. The latter had only awakened his lifespan-seizing ability at the end of his life.

Gu An was only 419 years old.

His life was still full of possibilities!

All he had to do was avoid getting as cocky as Dragon Zhan!

“One more hundred million!”

Gu An committed again. As soon as the prompts finished displaying, he dumped in another hundred million without hesitation.

He didn’t overlook his Attribute Panel—he still had 400 million years remaining.

Another failure.

Gu An had to stop and cool his head.

“One more two times,” he told himself. “If I can’t break through within another 200 million years, I’ll call it off for now. I can’t ignore the lifespan cost of the Lifespan Barrier when breaking through.”

Last time it had cost him 50 million years. This time it would probably be double.

“Do it.”

One hundred million years.

Gu An’s gaze turned icy—but a flicker of something flashed across his eyes.

[You cultivated for 48 million years via Spiritual Absorption. You leveraged your mastery of the Eternal Great Infinity Art to forcibly break through to the Dao Fruit Realm. You survived the Taiyi Divine Origin Cataclysm. Breakthrough successful. You have entered the early stage of the Dao-Hidden Free Soaring Immortal Realm.]

[You cultivated for 85 million years. Your cultivation advanced to mid-stage Dao-Hidden Free Soaring Immortal Realm.]

[You cultivated for 100 million years. Your cultivation advanced.]

Breakthrough—success!

Sub-realm stages were no longer divided into nine layers, but rather: early stage, mid-stage, and so on.

Clearly, the Dao Fruit Realm was a major realm, like the Mortal Realm or the Nine Heavens of the Immortal Dao.

Dao-Hidden Free Soaring Immortal!

This was the very realm that Dragon Zhan had reached—only to be slain by the Extinction God Emperor the moment he attained it.

Dao Aura surged toward Gu An as he noticed the lifespan cost ticking rapidly on his Lifespan Barrier.

He still had 300 million years left. He kept investing steadily—not in huge chunks, but gradually.

Late-stage Dao-Hidden Free Soaring Immortal Realm.

Peak of Dao-Hidden Free Soaring Immortal Realm.

Stop.

Just two small sub-stages had cost him 120 million years.

He now had 180 million years of lifespan remaining.

“…Shouldn’t drain me completely, right?” Gu An muttered uneasily.

If things got desperate, he could always cancel the Lifespan Barrier. He wasn’t going to just sit and wait to die.

As enormous Dao Aura flooded into his body, the Oblivion Domain once again fell into turmoil.

This time, it wasn’t just Dao Aura surging—even the cosmic Dao Laws were shaking.

In an instant, all living beings fighting or wandering nearby scattered in fear.

The disruption from this breakthrough dwarfed the one before. Even Divine Soul Immortals panicked and fled.

Gu An closed his eyes and immersed himself in his transformation.

His Dao Seed began to absorb Dao Aura—even the Dao Laws themselves flowed into him, especially those related to Karma, Destiny, Soul, and Reincarnation.

Reincarnation Laws had always existed, but they weren’t nearly as complete as the myths from his past life.

Reincarnation would absorb souls and cycle them back into new lives, but the process was untraceable and uncontrollable.

Gu An focused all his thoughts on his Dao Seed, which was still gathering his personal Dao.

A cultivator’s Dao resembled the cosmic Dao Laws, but with subtle differences.

It was more like a unique type of power—cast similarly to divine abilities.

Once his Dao Seed bore Dao Fruit, Gu An would be able to wield his personal Dao in battle—higher-level combat with more versatile means.

The Dao-Hidden Realm would also allow the Dao Fruit to give birth to his first Innate Divine Ability!

This divine ability could not be passed on. It could only be used by him!

As he pondered what his Innate Divine Ability should be, Gu An also considered his Supreme Immortal Treasure. If the two could be used together, it would be ideal.

Since he loved writing, he decided to craft a pen. Thus, his divine ability should be pen-related.

An idea quickly took shape. As it did, Dao Aura and Dao Laws surged into his body with increasing intensity.

The resulting phenomenon quickly alarmed the entire Heavenly Spirit Great Realm.

Grandmasters stationed at the outer light layer were startled, all standing up.

“It’s happening again. This time it’s even stronger than before!”

“What the h*ll is going on? Why are even the cosmic Laws and spiritual energy going berserk?”

“No way to trace the source.”

“We’d better be careful. This has to be related to the Heaven Demons!”

“One crisis after another. Could this be the legendary Epoch Cataclysm?”

While they speculated, two figures silently appeared above them—unnoticed.

They were both Free Soaring Immortals, one from the Immortal Dynasty, one from the Holy Court.

The Immortal Dynasty’s cultivator was Ancient Immortal Emperor, white-haired with a youthful face, dressed in white robes and surrounded by a radiant glow. In the cosmic void, he looked otherworldly.

“Is this a breakthrough… or a formation?” he asked, brows furrowed.

The Holy Court’s cultivator, called Sacred Ancestor, wore a dark robe, his long black-and-white hair flowing faintly. He gave off tremendous pressure as his gaze peered into the void.

“Neither,” Sacred Ancestor said softly, his tone complicated. “It feels more like a Dao Law itself is… influencing the universe.”

The two Free Soaring Immortals fell into silence.

After a long pause, Sacred Ancestor turned to Ancient Immortal Emperor. “You’re not planning to interfere in our juniors’ struggle, are you?”

Ancient Immortal Emperor turned to him. “As long as you keep your word, I’ll keep mine.”

Sacred Ancestor smiled and nodded. “Let the younger generation fight. We’re meant to comprehend the Dao. If the Heaven Demons really do attack and the Heavenly Spirit Great Realm faces annihilation—then we’ll act.”

Ancient Immortal Emperor had no objections. He cast a meaningful glance back at the Heavenly Spirit Great Realm.

“How many lifetimes does Holy Heaven have left?” he asked.

Sacred Ancestor shook his head. “No idea. Years ago, he stopped trusting me. Chose instead to follow the Dao alone.”

Ancient Immortal Emperor stayed quiet, gaze returning to the Oblivion Domain.

Boom!

Inside Gu An’s body, the Dao Seed fully transformed into Dao Fruit. He had officially reached the Dao-Hidden Realm!

Simultaneously, the Dao Fruit began to emit Dao Patterns—the manifestation of his Innate Divine Ability!

Gu An named it: Eternal True Word.

This divine power was based on Karma and Destiny, using written characters to determine life, death, and fate.

It held the mystery of “Words become Law.”

Gu An continued pressing forward toward mid-stage Dao-Hidden Free Soaring Immortal!

He opened his eyes and checked his Attribute Panel. Seeing he still had 130 million years of lifespan, he felt relieved.

The Lifespan Barrier shouldn’t drain him completely.

Half an hour passed.

His cultivation reached late-stage Dao-Hidden Free Soaring Immortal Realm!

Just one step away from peak.

The power difference between early and late stage was enormous—not just in quantity, but also quality.

Gu An felt more powerful than ever.

He even sensed the universe couldn’t bind him anymore—he could easily leap beyond it.

But he held back.

He sensed terrifying beings lurking beyond the universe—perhaps even the Extinction God Emperor or the Black Profound Emperor were waiting for him.

He looked into the distance.

His Divine Sense expanded without form, reaching far.

It swept across the Oblivion Domain, detecting numerous powerful beings. While there were still Divine Soul Immortals and Free Soaring Immortals, they were few and very far apart—comparable to how scarce Free Soaring Immortals were in the entire Heavenly Spirit Great Realm.

Traversing those distances, he saw another Great Realm.

He didn’t linger, moving onward.

Over time, he saw three more Great Realms, all surrounded by the Oblivion Domain.

When his Divine Sense neared its limit, he quickly withdrew it and focused on his breakthrough.

The nearest Great Realm to the Heavenly Spirit Great Realm was extremely far. Even a Divine Soul Immortal would need years to arrive, and there were twisted space zones along the way—not something you could just fly through.

Gu An turned his focus inward, observing his Dao Fruit.

He had a hunch: when the Dao Fruit blooms, it would open up an entirely new domain.

He looked forward to that day.

Just then, Gu An sensed something.

He looked up.

From deep within the darkness, a pair of gigantic eyes appeared. He’d seen them once before during a previous breakthrough.

He hadn’t expected them to return.

The entire Heavenly Spirit Great Realm wasn’t even as large as the pupils of these eyes.

That’s how massive they were.

Gu An locked his gaze on the eyes, trying to see through them.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep