A deafening whale cry resounded in Gu Yuan's mind. A colossal creature, its body capable of eclipsing the heavens, leaped from the boundless sea, exuding an aura that could overturn everything. This was Gu Yuan's "Overturning Sea" intent, representing the power to subvert all.
Then, above the boundless sea, it transformed into an endless starry sky. Streaks of meteors, trailing resplendent light, blazed across the firmament and plunged into the deep sea, their descent accompanied by earth-shattering roars.
The transformations within Gu Yuan's mind did not cease. A figure reaching from earth to sky appeared above the deep sea, emanating an aura of suppression. In its presence, the deep sea grew calm, the meteors vanished, and all things were directly subdued.
Yet, the changes continued. The Five Elements Divine Lords, who had been suppressing Gu Yuan's internal organs, erupted with five-colored divine light. This light manifested upon the figure that spanned the heavens and earth within Gu Yuan's mind, ultimately forming a Five Elements Divine Halo above its head. This halo radiated pure, five-colored divine light, rendering the towering figure as majestic as a god or demon.
Gu Yuan's soul also burst forth with divine radiance. The form of a great sun, previously obtained in the world of Guoshu, unleashed waves of golden light.
That great sun transformed into a beam of golden light, directly entering the back of Gu Yuan's manifested martial dao will, merging with the Five Elements Divine Halo.
The great sun instantly fused into the Five Elements Divine Halo, finally radiating a golden light ten thousand feet wide.
Meanwhile, Gu Yuan's other intent, the intent of suppression, transformed into a square imperial seal, which quietly hovered in the hand of the figure spanning earth to sky.
Finally, the ancient behemoth whale was slowly lifted by currents of air, circling the figure that spanned earth to sky in mid-air, and swimming around it.
Gu Yuan understood that this was likely his Dharma Idol.
As energy continued to gather, and the power of his soul Dharma Idol continuously radiated outward, with the ceaseless infusion of worldly energy, the soul Dharma Idol within Gu Yuan's mind began to project outward, appearing behind Gu Yuan. However, because Gu Yuan had not cultivated his martial intent for long enough, only the figure spanning earth to sky could manifest. The surrounding phenomena did not appear. The figure's appearance bore an eight-tenths resemblance to Gu Yuan himself.
Feeling the presence of the Dharma Idol behind him, Gu Yuan closed his eyes slightly. When he opened them again, his perspective was looking at the back of his own head. Looking down at his hands, he realized he had shifted his viewpoint to the Dharma Idol.
Experiencing this peculiar phenomenon, Gu Yuan controlled his physical body, and was able to open his eyes again. His physical body could also see through the eyes of the Dharma Idol, sharing the perspective.
Returning his viewpoint to himself, the Dao Fortune Heavenly Map within his mind began to glow golden. He immediately understood; it was time to invite a god.
At that time, he had invited the Ziwei Great Emperor. Then, with the help of the Martial Ancestor, he had dispersed the Ziwei Great Emperor's divine essence, but his destiny god remained vacant. Although he did not need it now, he felt something was missing.
At that time, the heavens were without a master, telling him to invite himself. Inviting oneself was better than inviting anyone else.
But at that time, Gu Yuan did not know how to invite his own divine essence into it. Only now did he understand that one needed to reach the Dharma Idol realm, where one's will manifested externally, forming an external god, before one could invite a god into their destiny.
Closing his eyes, he summoned the Dao Fortune Heavenly Map in his heart. The Dao Fortune Heavenly Map immediately burst forth with golden light. The figure spanning earth to sky, which was suspended in the soul space, then transformed into a stream of light that entered the Dao Fortune Heavenly Map.
Gu Yuan felt a slight tremor in his mind. His connection with the Dharma Idol became closer and more integrated. The two could switch seamlessly, like his own clone, far more refined than the Dharma Idol described in the Martial Ancestor's inheritance.
*Hoo!*
Gu Yuan opened his eyes, feeling the peculiar connection between himself and the Dharma Idol. Was this inviting his own god into himself? It was indeed different from inviting another's god.
Looking behind him, his Dharma Idol felt more agile, and its body became more solidified. Such a change would only occur after his martial intent broke through, but Gu Yuan had achieved the same effect simply by inviting his god into his destiny. Moreover, Gu Yuan discovered that this Dharma Idol would continue to grow stronger as his own strength increased. This meant he truly possessed a clone.
This unexpected information shocked Gu Yuan. He hadn't expected to so haphazardly gain a clone, and one with 80% of his strength. Unlike other clones that required splitting his soul, Gu Yuan could freely switch perspectives between the two bodies. Furthermore, even if this clone were damaged, it would only require some soul power to repair, making it far superior to ordinary clones.
With a thought, the Dao Fortune Heavenly Map reflected himself.
[Dao Lord]: [Gu Yuan]
[Destiny God]: [My Dao Dharma Idol]
[Destiny Trait]: [Martial Dao Supreme Saint]
[Realm]: [Dharma Idol Realm]
[Destiny Numbers]: [Primordial Chaos Body (Gold)], [Martial Dao Supreme Saint (Gold)], [Devouring Heaven and Earth (Crimson)], [Formation Dao Prodigy], [Endless Vitality (Crimson)], [Upholding Heaven and Earth (Purple)], [Turning Misfortune into Blessing], [Martial Skill Mastery (Azure)], [Unrivaled (Azure)], [Avoiding Danger and Seeking Auspiciousness (Azure)], [Never Missing the Mark (Azure)], [Blade Dao Master (Azure)]
Seeing his Destiny God change to "My Dao Dharma Idol," meaning his own Dharma Idol, Gu Yuan frowned slightly at his Destiny Numbers. With a thought, he issued a command to the Dao Fortune Heavenly Map.
He still had some residual energy. He hadn't collected any recently. For him, his current Destiny Numbers were sufficient for now. When he reached the battlefield of the myriad races, he expected to find golden residual energy, at which point he would directly exchange all his Destiny Numbers for golden ones.
Immediately, two golden lights erupted from the Dao Fortune Heavenly Map. Gu Yuan's displayed Destiny Stars began to merge slowly, and his residual energy began to decrease.
[Turning Misfortune into Blessing (Purple)] and [Avoiding Danger and Seeking Auspiciousness (Azure)] began to fuse, finally transforming into a purple star that hovered quietly around Gu Yuan's Destiny God.
[Destiny Number Fusion Successful. Please Dao Lord, review.]
Gu Yuan's consciousness touched the newly formed purple star, and information flooded into his mind.
[Heavenly Fortune (Purple)]: [Greatly enhances one's luck.]
Gu Yuan was currently in the stage of Dharma Idol fusion. His perception of heaven and earth was extremely keen. He sensed a subtle, unseen energy falling upon him, as if his luck had grown stronger, as if he had absorbed the luck of others.
Gu Yuan's eyes lit up slightly. He seemed to have discovered a way to continuously increase his fortune without absorbing the luck of others.
This method was to continuously seek out fortune-related destiny numbers, imprint and merge them, and absorb them. In this way, the luck of others whom he had killed could be integrated into the Dao Fortune Heavenly Map, allowing him to accelerate the unsealing of the Dao Fortune Heavenly Map's energy, laying the foundation for his deductions on the Great Dao.
Gu Yuan pondered his future plans, then withdrew from the space of the Dao Fortune Heavenly Map. Looking at the steadily solidifying Dharma Idol behind him, Gu Yuan closed his eyes and began to circulate formations, channeling worldly spiritual energy towards it with all his might.
Finally, the grand Dharma Idol began to greedily absorb the spiritual energy that the formations provided. The entire Dharma Idol emanated a powerful aura.
...
After a long while, Gu Yuan opened his eyes. The colossal Dharma Idol, a hundred meters tall, behind him also opened its eyes, golden light flashing within them. He felt the immense power contained within the Dharma Idol behind him, and sensed a faint, almost imperceptible rejection from this world.
Gu Yuan smiled, a truly joyous smile.
A vast power swept across the entire Tianyuan Mountain Range. Gu Yuan now understood why the Dharma Idol realm was said to be the realm with the largest span in martial dao cultivation.
At the edge of the formation enveloping the Tianyun Mountain Range, Brother Niu and Wang Ye, who were trembling from experiencing the formation's power up close.
With their exceptionally sharp eyesight, they saw Gu Yuan's hundred-meter-tall Dharma Idol. Their faces were filled with awe. Wang Ye looked at Gu Yuan's hundred-meter-tall Dharma Idol, turned to Brother Niu, and asked with amazement, "Brother Niu, is this a realm attainable by humans?"
Brother Niu nodded, "Yes, this is a realm attainable by humans, and one can reach even higher. However, you need to seize the time to cultivate and break through to higher realms. His current realm is the highest in this world. He can't break through any further here. Perhaps at some point, he will break through to a higher world and leave this one."
"But remember this, Wang Ye, without unwavering determination, you will never reach such heights. Therefore, the path of cultivation places the utmost importance on one's mindset, followed by talent. Along the cultivation path, there are many heavenly treasures that can alter talent, but I have never seen any that can change one's mindset. I hope you can temper your resolute and tenacious mindset, and only then can you reach this height of humanity."
As Brother Niu spoke, his eyes held a complex emotion as he looked at Gu Yuan's hundred-meter-tall Dharma Idol. He too wished to possess such heavenly power, but his realm had not yet reached its limit. He still needed to cultivate quietly in this world, or rather, to follow the son of destiny beside him and "shear some wool."
He was destined to never catch up to Gu Yuan's pace, for they were simply not on the same level. He suspected Gu Yuan was likely a heavenly prodigy of the human race, otherwise, he wouldn't have such an astonishing formation to aid his breakthrough.
He glanced back at the great formation that had sealed them off in the Tianyuan Mountain Range, and Brother Niu let out a long sigh.
Upon hearing Brother Niu's words, Wang Ye fell into deep thought. He recalled the group who had pursued him earlier and the incredibly powerful vortex of energy. He had rushed in without hesitation, disregarding any danger. Seeing that this human had broken through to such a realm, he guessed those people had likely met a peaceful end.
He was fortunate that he had heeded Brother Niu's words and had not been blinded by the mere bit of energy before him. Otherwise, there would have been his corpse at the feet of that man.
His heart was also filled with reverence for this man. Merely by using this magical formation, he had drawn all the worldly energy contained within the vast Tianyuan Mountain Range, solely for his own use.
Putting aside the consequences of such an action, the mere technique alone was enough to inspire his profound admiration for this man.
Gu Yuan opened his eyes. He had absorbed all the energy into his Dharma Idol. He felt that his realm had transitioned into an extremely miraculous state. The subsequent cultivation method involved continuously tempering his will and then filling his Dharma Idol.
"With a thought, heaven and earth move." This was Gu Yuan's current realm.
Sensing the two figures at the edge of the formation, a thousand miles away, Gu Yuan shook his head. To him, these two were now like air. He could make them perish with a snap of his fingers.
Sensing a change in the atmosphere, Gu Yuan looked up at the sky. The clear, active blue sky and white clouds directly above him were now shrouded by wisps of dark clouds.
Gu Yuan understood. This was his heavenly tribulation approaching. He had reached the limit of this world, and the world's energy could no longer sustain the energy he required. Therefore, a passage would soon open, allowing him to ascend to the upper realm.
*Rumble...*
The roar of thunder manifested within the dark clouds.
A vast expanse of dark clouds enveloped the area where Gu Yuan was located. Gu Yuan felt no fear, but rather excitement.
For heavenly lightning was a force of extreme yang and extreme rigidity. Gu Yuan intended to absorb it to enhance the lightning power within his body, his seismic space, and even to temper his physical cultivation and increase his physique.
Gu Yuan's hundred-meter-tall Dharma Idol slightly raised its hand, stirring up large currents of air. It pressed down lightly, and a colossal palm print appeared on the ground.
Feeling the power of his Dharma Idol, Gu Yuan's lips curved into a smile.
It had truly not disappointed him.
The heavenly lightning above his head symbolically discharged a few bolts, as if sensing that the energy of the entire Tianyuan Mountain Range was depleted, with its source pointing to Gu Yuan. It instantly became furious, and countless roars of thunder erupted.
The heavenly lightning's energy instantly multiplied several times. What was this? This was settling old and new scores together.
Although he was not afraid, the heavenly lightning above his head, due to the limitations of the Heavenly Dao's own rules, did not surpass his tolerance. Therefore, no matter how much came, he could withstand it, and his physique was already incredibly strong.
While he could not yet achieve the level of "dripping blood reborn," even severed limbs could be reattached easily as long as it wasn't beyond a certain time. When he broke through to a higher realm, Gu Yuan's physical cultivation might even achieve the true great divine ability of dripping blood rebirth.
Gu Yuan stood up and began to activate the blood energy within his body. The blood energy spread out, erupting from the Dharma Idol behind him, gradually dyeing Gu Yuan's hundred-meter-tall humanoid Dharma Idol a blood-red color, as if it were made of real flesh and blood. The Dharma Idol clenched its fist, and countless bolts of lightning converged in its hand, forming a hundred-meter-long lightning spear.
The Dharma Idol's arm exerted force, accompanied by an incomparably vast roar, tearing through the air, and colliding with the condensed dark clouds in the sky. It then exploded, transforming into countless bolts of lightning that blasted open a section of the clouds.
*Rumble...*
This time, the heavenly lightning was truly enraged!