Mystic Sky Immortal Dynasty.

Inside the Immortal Palace.

Gu Qingfeng sat cross-legged on the Chaos Meditation Mat in the center of the secret chamber.

Before him, a black wooden box hovered in the air.

The lid had already been opened, and within lay a Chaos-colored Enlightenment Tea Tree Leaf, emitting a dreamy, star-like radiance.

The void around the leaf continued to naturally manifest the phenomena of the world's birth and death, and the Dao's reincarnation.

"Chaos Spirit Root Enlightenment Tea Tree!"

Gu Qingfeng murmured softly, a glint of solemnity in his eyes.

Even with his current state of mind, such a Supreme Treasure inevitably stirred his emotions.

He took a deep breath and adjusted his condition to its peak.

Then.

He reached out and gently picked up the Enlightenment Tea Tree Leaf.

As he touched the leaf, it felt warm and peculiar, both as hard as jade and as soft as flowing water.

More mysteriously, the instant the leaf touched his fingertips, Gu Qingfeng felt his Divine Soul, and every strand of consciousness, begin to tremble violently.

It was not a tremble of fear, but of resonance!

Resonance with the Dao!

Without hesitation, he slowly placed the leaf into his mouth.

"Buzz—"

The moment the Enlightenment Tea Tree Leaf touched his tongue, it was as if time in the secret chamber stood still.

The next moment.

An indescribable and terrifying power erupted suddenly from the leaf.

It was not an impact of energy, nor a turbulence of laws, but a more essential, more primal torrent of Dao Rhythm.

Gu Qingfeng's sea of consciousness trembled violently at this moment.

"Boom—"

In the midst of the void, it seemed as if the Three Thousand Great Paths manifested simultaneously.

Gold, wood, water, fire, earth, yin-yang, time-space, life-death-reincarnation, cause-effect-fate—various Dao laws descended like tangible chains from the depths of the void, penetrating the sea of consciousness and linking to the Divine Soul.

Moreover, an endless river of the Great Tao, a daoyun long river, emerged above the sea of consciousness.

The river had neither beginning nor end; the water was composed of countless Dao runes, each drop carrying a True Intent of the Dao.

As the river surged, worlds were born and grew, then reached their zenith and declined, civilizations rose to glory within, only to sink into silence and extinction.

And Gu Qingfeng's Divine Soul Consciousness, at this moment, stood above this daoyun long river.

He looked down, gazing at the surging river, the rise and fall of myriad Daos.

An unprecedented enlightenment welled up from his heart.

"So this is the true Dao—"

He murmured to himself.

In past cultivation, countless esoteric mysteries of the Dao, countless unknowable yet unknowable marvels of the Dao.

At this moment, they naturally became clear, like snow melting in spring.

There was no deliberate contemplation, no painstaking deduction.

Everything followed naturally.

As if he was always meant to understand these, but had been shrouded by some kind of fog, and now the fog had cleared.

"Whoa—"

Within the daoyun long river, the power belonging to the Netherworld Path became exceedingly clear.

Gu Qingfeng's Divine Soul Consciousness involuntarily sank into it.

In an instant, he seemed to transform into the Netherworld itself.

He saw the source of the Yellow Springs River Water—the purest Power of Deathly Silence in Chaos, with each drop harboring the power to end everything.

He touched the foundation stone of the Naihe Bridge—it was the transformation of countless souls' obsessions from past lives; the deeper the obsession, the more solid the bridge.

He felt the True Intent of the Eighteen Layers of Hell's torture—it was not merely torment but the cleansing of sins through extreme pain and the balancing of Chaos' order through ultimate evil.

He even glimpsed the core of the Six Paths—it was the manifestation of the Reincarnation Path, existent since the dawn of Chaos, determining the rebirth destinies of all living beings.

Everything was vividly clear.

He was no longer a cultivator but became a part of the Dao.

Merged with the Dao, walked with the Dao.

This was—Body and Dao Integration!

True Unity of Heaven and Man!

...

Time lost its meaning at this moment.

It might have been just a fleeting instant, or tens of thousands of years might have passed.

Gu Qingfeng was thoroughly immersed in this mysterious and profound state, forgetting himself, the outside world, life and death, everything.

All he remembered was the Netherworld Path.

The Dao is me, I am the Dao.

...

Who knows how much time passed.

Maybe it was ten years, maybe a hundred.

At a certain moment.

Gu Qingfeng's Divine Soul Consciousness suddenly detached from that state of integration with the Dao.

It was like surfacing from deep seas, returning from dreams to reality.

"Hoo—"

He slowly opened his eyes.

Deep within his pupils, the shadowy reflections of yin-yang reincarnation appeared, with the True Intent of the Dao naturally nurturing.

Within his pupils, sometimes the flow of the Yellow Springs was visible, at times the shadow of Naihe Bridge, sometimes the scenery of the Eighteen Layers of Hell; eventually, all eerie phenomena were completely retracted, returning to a profound calmness.

In the secret chamber, an invisible wave spread out.

He slowly stood up, the bones throughout his body emitting crisp sounds, every inch of his flesh seemingly tempered by the Great Tao, exuding a faint Chaos radiance.

"Middle Stage of Nine Tribulations."

Gu Qingfeng softly uttered these four words, finally showing a hint of amazement on his calm face.

He had broken through.

Truly broken through.

After merely three hundred thousand years in seclusion, he went from the Nine Tribulation Early Stage to stepping into the Middle Stage of Nine Tribulations.

Moreover, his foundation was incomparably solid, without any sense of emptiness, as if this realm was what he had earned through eons of harsh cultivation.

"One leaf from the Enlightenment Tea Tree can have such miraculous effects!"

Gu Qingfeng's heart was shaken.

He initially thought, if this leaf could help him break through the bottleneck and touch the threshold of the Middle Stage of Nine Tribulations, it would be its limit.

He did not expect that not only would he break through in one fell swoop, but he would also stabilize directly at the middle stage level.

"Truly worthy of the Chaos Spirit Root!"

He sighed again.

If not for this leaf, relying solely on his hard cultivation, who knew how many years it would take to break through from the initial to the middle stage.

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