Gu An looked at his remaining 25 million years of lifespan and took a deep breath.
Ancestors of Huaxia, please bless me!
With newfound determination, Gu An directly invested a staggering ten million years of lifespan in one go. He had never been so extravagant before.
[You cultivate Qi for 60,000 years. Using your profound mastery of the Chaos Taiyuan Sacred Art, you forcefully attempt to break through to the Wondrous Mystical Spirit Immortal Realm. You begin transcending your tribulation. You fail to endure the Profound Void Six Paths Supreme Dao Tribulation and fail to ascend.]
[You cultivate Qi for 120,000 years. Using your profound mastery of the Chaos Taiyuan Sacred Art, you forcefully attempt to break through to the Wondrous Mystical Spirit Immortal Realm. You fail to endure the Profound Void Six Paths Supreme Dao Tribulation and fail to ascend.]
Sixty thousand years per tribulation attempt!
Gu An found it tolerable. After all, when breaking through to the Unrestrained Primordial Immortal Realm, each attempt had consumed fifty thousand years. For a higher realm, an additional ten thousand years per tribulation attempt seemed reasonable. It indicated that the Primordial Causal Body and the Chaos Taiyuan Sacred Art were already making a significant impact.
Would this investment of ten million years yield a breakthrough?
Gu An's mind raced as countless notifications popped up before him like a torrential flood. He had never seen so many prompts in his life.
Failure!
Failure!
Still failure.
Gu An, almost instinctively, began measuring the length of the notification bars, trying to gauge any progress. But no change meant no success.
In the end, ten million years of lifespan evaporated without yielding results.
Unlike breakthroughs in physique or techniques, which enhanced one's understanding of Qi and universal laws even if unsuccessful, failing to ascend in cultivation brought no benefits. A failure was simply that—a waste of lifespan.
Those ten million years felt like they had vanished into thin air.
Gu An stared at the meager 15 million years of lifespan left on his panel, his heart sinking in unease.
Ten million years—he'd need to cultivate crops for twenty years just to recover that!
Trying to console himself, he thought about the elders in the Heaven and Earth Flying Immortal Realm who often needed tens of thousands or even millions of years to progress a single minor layer. "If they can endure, why can't I?"
Spend!
Spending large amounts would eventually lead to success!
Deciding not to go all-in with another ten million years, Gu An cautiously invested five million years instead.
Failure notifications continued flooding the screen!
By the time the five million years were consumed, Gu An was no closer to success.
"Another five million!"
This time, his lifespan dropped to a meager five million years. This drastic reduction made him feel fleeting and fragile, as if death was imminent.
Sigh, from extravagance to frugality—it's hard to adjust.
Gu An lamented internally, closing his eyes, only to be bombarded by yet another series of failure prompts when he peeked.
Two consecutive failures had now consumed twenty million years of lifespan!
It dawned on him that if he hadn't strengthened his physique and techniques, this breakthrough might have cost over thirty million years instead.
Grinding his teeth, Gu An made another cautious investment of one million years.
[You cultivate Qi for 730,000 years. Using your profound mastery of the Chaos Taiyuan Sacred Art, you forcefully attempt to break through to the Wondrous Mystical Spirit Immortal Realm. You endure the Profound Void Six Paths Supreme Dao Tribulation and successfully ascend to the First Layer of the Wondrous Mystical Spirit Immortal Realm.]
[You cultivate Qi for 830,000 years. You ascend to the Second Layer of the Wondrous Mystical Spirit Immortal Realm.]
[You cultivate Qi for 930,000 years. You ascend to the Third Layer of the Wondrous Mystical Spirit Immortal Realm.]
[You cultivate Qi for one million years. Your cultivation strengthens.]
Finally, success!
Before the breakthrough, he noticed that the recovery time between tribulation failures had shortened—an unusual phenomenon.
Letting out a deep sigh of relief, Gu An smiled triumphantly.
Though he had spent over 21 million years of lifespan, he had finally succeeded in advancing to the Wondrous Mystical Spirit Immortal Realm!
Gu An now contemplated the 100,000-year cost for each minor layer within this realm. It felt oddly inexpensive.
Without hesitation, he poured more lifespan into his cultivation, rapidly reaching the Ninth Layer of the Wondrous Mystical Spirit Immortal Realm. This cost him an additional 1.03 million years.
Reaching the Fifth Layer required 200,000 years per increment. From the Eighth Layer to the Ninth Layer, the cost jumped to 300,000 years!
In total, 22.03 million years of lifespan had been consumed!
"I need to observe how much time real-life Wondrous Mystical Spirit Immortals require to ascend a single layer," Gu An muttered to himself. "If it's fewer years than me, I can live with it. But not by too much, or I won't accept it!"
For now, Gu An decided to avoid contact with other immortals. At less than two hundred years old, he didn't feel ready to mingle with centuries-old—or even millennia-old—elders.
"Too much of a generational gap," he thought wryly.
As these thoughts swirled in his mind, Gu An endured the ferocious influx of Earth's spiritual energy into his body.
This upheaval far surpassed the disturbances caused by his physique or technique enhancements. The entire world trembled.
An infinite horde of Spectral Wraiths erupted, blotting out the skies as they fled, their mournful cries echoing across the heavens.
The sheer clamor was so grating that even Gu An found it noisy. Yet, he focused his mind, steadfast in completing his breakthrough.
This ripple effect began extending into other realms, disrupting their fragile balance.
In one small realm nestled in the wilderness, a figure flew out from the forest.
A woman clad in a violet robe with a small ghost perched on her shoulder appeared. She was none other than the Second Cave Master of the Seven-Star Spirit Realm.
Her brows furrowed tightly as her divine sense spread out to scan the entire realm. Yet, she found no source for the disturbance.
"Mother, previously, there was a similar spiritual energy collapse over the sea. Why is it now happening in the Supernatural Realm as well? Is this a sign, or someone's doing?" the little ghost asked cautiously, his gaze darting around nervously, as though sensing a dreadful force looming nearby.
After a long pause, the Second Cave Master finally spoke, "I'm not certain, but it's not just this realm. The spiritual energy collapse is affecting other realms as well. This means the phenomenon isn't targeting us specifically."
The little ghost hesitated before continuing, "I heard that the Spectral Wraith King Tian Wuchang was shattered by the Sword Master of the Dao. Mother, could it be that he has infiltrated this realm?"
The Second Cave Master's face darkened, and without a word, she vanished from sight.
At the shoreline, Tian Wuchang stood trembling in front of the stone stele.
Turning to face the ominous monument, he asked through gritted teeth, "Realm Lord, are you sure nothing is amiss?"
As his voice fell, figures began to materialize around the stone stele, each one exuding an aura no weaker than Tian Wuchang's. In total, eight figures appeared.
The nine Spectral Wraith Kings had gathered.
A woman with a human face and serpentine body spoke first. "Realm Lord, all the spiritual energy across the realms is collapsing, drawn by an unknown force, and we can't trace it."
Her enchanting face twisted into a frown, her eyes glinting with malevolence.
The other Spectral Wraith Kings spoke one after another, their tones filled with unease.
"Could it be the transcendent beings of the Bitter Sea Buddhist Sect?"
"The Bitter Sea Sect would be easier to handle; what if it's the Sacred Court of the Immortals?"
"Unlikely. Aside from those who have transcended the heavens, who could cause such a massive upheaval?"
"If they don't play by the rules, what are we supposed to do?"
"Let the Realm Lord decide. He must have insights beyond ours."
As their murmurs ceased, all eyes turned to the stone stele.
The surface of the stele began to seep blood, and a pale hand emerged, its razor-sharp nails resembling ghostly claws.
Next came a head, sparse white hair hanging limply. The figure of a naked man with bloodless skin covered in writhing black runes emerged. The runes slithered across his body like malevolent worms, evoking a visceral sense of dread.
This was the Lord of the Supernatural Realm.
As soon as he appeared, all nine Spectral Wraith Kings knelt on one knee, bowing respectfully.
The Lord of the Supernatural Realm stepped onto the ground, black armor forming over his body. The armor resembled overlapping serpent scales, with a dark red crown coalescing on his head. Two dragon souls writhed within the crown, straining against their bindings.
He opened his eyes, revealing blood-red irises devoid of pupils.
"Be seated. I will investigate this matter," the Lord of the Supernatural Realm commanded in an indifferent tone.
At his words, the Spectral Wraith Kings let out a collective sigh of relief and sat down one after another.
The moment they did, an overwhelming divine sense swept through their ghostly forms, sending chills through their cores.
Could it be that the Realm Lord had recovered his full power?
These Spectral Wraith Kings were all at the ninth layer of the Heaven and Earth Flying Immortal Realm , with one foot in the Unrestrained Primordial Immortal Realm. Yet, under the Realm Lord's scrutiny, they felt utterly insignificant.
Meanwhile, within the lifespan barrier.
Gu An opened his eyes, his gaze piercing through the horizon with a hint of wariness.
Even with the lifespan barrier in place, he could sense the divine sense of a Unrestrained Primordial Immortal Realm sweeping through the realm.
And this wasn't an ordinary Unrestrained Primordial Immortal Realm!
No wonder so many sects had failed to conquer the Great Rift of the Broken Sea.
Even reaching the Heaven and Earth Flying Immortal Realm usually meant leaving the mortal world behind, let alone stepping into the Unrestrained Primordial Immortal Realm. Until today, Gu An had never encountered a true Unrestrained Primordial Immortal Realm.
He steadied his mind and focused on breaking through.
Endless spiritual energy poured into his body, while the heart technique of the Chaos Taiyuan Sacred Art churned within him, pushing him toward a higher realm.
He could feel his soul undergoing a profound transformation.
What was the essence of the Wondrous Mystical Spirit Immortal Realm?
Gu An was eager to find out.
The cliff beneath him trembled violently, cracks spreading along its surface. Gu An remained unbothered—at worst, he'd fall into the abyss, and the lifespan barrier would follow him.
During his wait, countless Spectral Wraiths darted across the sky, seemingly scouring the realm. Occasionally, a Wraith would pass overhead, and Gu An tensed.
He silently prayed that no Spectral Wraith would intrude upon his barrier.
If one did and exposed him to the Unrestrained Primordial Immortal Realm's notice, he'd have no choice but to kill it.
But something told him that the Unrestrained Primordial Immortal Realm wasn't alone, and any conflict might have wider repercussions.
The Great Rift of the Broken Sea spanned countless sects and seas, and some of these sects were known to have formations capable of warding off the scrutiny of Unrestrained Primordial Immortal Realms.
Yet even so, only Heaven and Earth Flying Immortal Realms dared to confront the Spectral Wraiths directly, suggesting that some unseen force restrained the Unrestrained Primordial Immortal Realms from acting freely.
Gu An pondered these mysteries as he awaited his breakthrough.
Time ticked by, each second feeling like an eternity.
Finally, nearly an hour later, he succeeded.
He ascended from the ninth layer of the Unrestrained Primordial Immortal Realm to the first layer of the Wondrous Mystical Spirit Immortal Realm.
An explosion of spiritual energy surged into his body, causing his soul to leap from his flesh.
Boundless spiritual energy tempered his physique, while the rules of heaven and earth converged upon his soul, placing it in a state of profound transformation.
The "spirit" in Wondrous Mystical Spirit Immortal referred to the soul.
An endless torrent of creation's truths flowed into Gu An's mind, immersing him in a vast ocean of insight.
It was an ocean formed from the rules of the heavens and earth.
Creation.
Truth.
Gu An lost himself in the experience, his soul seemingly on the verge of breaking through its cocoon and being reborn.
His divine sense evolved alongside his soul, revealing countless visions of the cosmos.
This was the beginning of something extraordinary.