Nuclear-powered Sword Immortal

The matter of the Li family did not affect Gu Jinlai in the slightest.

At this moment, his entire mind was completely devoted to reading the classics of the Honorable Daoist Mansion.

As he flipped through a volume of classics, his originally lacking foundation was rapidly being enriched.

Time passed quickly; already, two hundred years had flown by.

…

"Immortal Golden Immortals, Immortal Venerables, and Great Powers all belong to the same realm, and the transformation brought by this realm is not in cultivation but in foundation."

In the Star Palace, Gu Jinlai examined a jade scroll detailing the Immortal Venerable: "Compared to Immortal Golden Immortals, Immortal Venerables can gain some advantage with a Composite Immortal Technique; for a Great Power compared to an Immortal Venerable, the difference is entirely in the foundation. If we set aside the differences in spirit level and foundation, Great Powers may not be much stronger than a Great Immortal Venerable."

He finally understood why among the Three Emperors and Five Sovereigns, the five Great Immortal Venerables can be mentioned alongside the three Great Powers.

Any among Emperor Yan, Emperor Bai, Emperor Qing, Yellow Emperor, and Black Emperor actually isn't much inferior to those Great Powers with shallower foundations.

Two against one is somewhat exaggerated.

But three people joining forces to resist a Great Power who has just ascended isn't out of the question.

Just like a Supreme Golden Immortal, Supreme Golden Immortal, and newly ascended Immortal Golden Immortal.

Similarly, the difference between Immortal Golden Immortals compared to Golden Immortals who can live tens of millions, hundreds of millions of years, relying on the foundation accumulated through age advantage, effortlessly defeating Great Dao Golden Immortal, mirrors that between Great Powers and Great Immortal Venerables.

Immortal Venerables cannot escape the cleansing of the Daoist Ancestor.

Yet hardly any cleansing by a Daoist Ancestor exceeds ten billion years.

Moreover, Immortal Venerables often master several great daos, making them more prone to cleansing than Immortal Golden Immortals, resulting in few Immortal Venerables living beyond a billion years.

While Great Powers can escape the cleansing power of the Daoist Ancestor through "Silent Annihilation," thus reincarnating and living again, living on for hundreds of millions, billions, or even tens of billions of years.

When living to a certain degree, the three thousand great dao virtually hold no secrets for them.

The immortal techniques circulating in the marketplace are meticulously studied, mastered thoroughly.

Those daring to challenge Great Powers with Immortal Venerable techniques, before even unleashing them, Great Powers already leverage their rich memory and experience, summarizing dozens of countermeasures.

Considering the disparity in divine sense, immortal artifact differences...

In such circumstances, when the two clash, Immortal Venerables naturally get killed effortlessly by Great Powers.

"Lifespan extending over tens of millions of years makes Immortal Golden Immortals capable of mastering several great daos, even refining the Divine Sense to the Thirteenth Rank, Fourteenth Rank, or Fifteenth Rank, but a lifespan extending over tens of billions of years lets Great Powers almost uncover all mysteries of the Immortal Dao, making this cosmic realm hold no secrets for them anymore."

Gu Jinlai concluded: "Only the mysterious and unpredictable Heart of the Cosmic can slightly pique their interest."

Hence, Great Powers flock to delve into the Heart of the Cosmic for research, resulting in few being seen outside.

Gu Jinlai looked at these classics.

Finally, he gained a detailed understanding of the so-called Hundred Epoch Immortal, Thousand Epoch Immortal, Immortal Venerable, Top Immortal Venerable, Great Immortal Venerable, Great Power.

The core of Hundred Epoch and Thousand Epoch cultivation resides in the application of one's own great dao, or more precisely, the mastery of immortal techniques.

Gu Jinlai simply understood that the Hundred Epoch Cultivation Venerable mastered a perfect top-grade immortal technique, while the Thousand Epoch Cultivation Venerable mastered a perfect top-tier immortal technique.

By the time one becomes an Immortal Venerable, it would be a Composite Immortal Technique.

The difference between a Top Immortal Venerable and a regular Immortal Venerable is negligible. It merely involves the incorporation of more complex and varied great daos in the Composite Immortal Technique, coupled with the additional advantage of a Fourteenth Rank Divine Sense over a Thirteenth Rank Divine Sense.

In actual life-and-death combat, a regular Immortal Venerable facing a Top Immortal Venerable does not necessarily have no chance of survival.

The same holds true for Top Immortal Venerables facing Great Immortal Venerables, if a Great Immortal Venerable dares underestimate the opponent, they might capsize in the gutter.

"Increasingly feeling the limits of the cultivation system coming into view."

Gu Jinlai sighed.

When an Immortal Venerable faces a Thousand Epoch Cultivation Venerable, relying on the advantage of Composite Immortal Techniques, they are capable of defeating many opponents at once. If they can leverage guerrilla tactics, no number of Venerables would be enough.

But regarding Immortal Venerables versus Top Immortal Venerables, Top Immortal Venerables versus Great Immortal Venerables...

The gap is getting smaller and smaller.

It's almost like the difference between provincial-level athletes and national-level athletes; in a hundred-meter race, should the national-level athlete so much as catch a minor cold, the provincial-level athlete could come from behind and win.

"Throughout these years, I've comprehended numerous great dao, next I can select a few or tens of them to elevate to the Golden Immortal level."

Gu Jinlai remarked.

That is why he only chooses a few or ten great dao for elevation, as having too many great dao significantly increases the probability of cleansing.

Despite Gu Jinlai believing that, relying on Qingguang, he has a high probability of elevating his Spirit Level to the Sixteenth Rank, which is the Annihilation Realm.

Yet…

That should be the limit for Qing Lian.

If one's true body possesses a couple dozen great dao, they might be forced to annihilate once every hundreds of thousands of years, or even tens of thousands of years, not to mention any unforeseen events that might occur in that period. The annihilation process alone, to full awakening, would waste considerable time.

Thus, not even Great Immortal Venerables, let alone Great Powers, would master too many great dao.

After all…

"Silent Annihilation is not pretending to be dead, but truly dying once. Those whose Spirit Level reaches Eighteenth Rank, standing at the highest peak, may fare better, but ordinary Great Powers' Silent Annihilation is actually a reincarnated cultivation, dying and being reborn, living another life. Within that, dangers abound, and even Great Powers, unless utterly necessity-bound, would not attempt it lightly,"

Gu Jinlai remarked.

Reincarnated cultivation, perilous to the extreme, sometimes may only unlock the Puzzle of the Fetus at the Immortal Golden Immortal Realm.

The process might take thousands or tens of thousands of years.

Being killed prior, however, means truly dying.

Of course, any Great Power begins Silent Annihilation, they do so with full preparation before being reborn from death.

And so-called full preparation…

"Using Supreme Immortal Devices and Creation Divine Artifacts to protect oneself, and specially creating a world where its laws and order operate almost entirely according to their design, so as to pass through their weakest period and avoid dying prematurely…"

Gu Jinlai's expression was rather peculiar when he saw this information.

He thought of Blue Star…

And of Qing Lian.

He always felt…

This scene was very familiar.

Blue Star, a small star in a remote Star Domain, yet it harbors an ancient cultivation civilization that seemingly has been annihilated for ages, and even contains hypotheses about the spirit level beyond the Eighteenth Rank, the Three Saints Realm.

Plus Qing Lian, a treasure so powerful that it's likely at the level of a Great Power, ten times out of nine…

He had a strong suspicion, could it be…

Was Blue Star deliberately crafted by a Great Power for their Reincarnated Body?

Just that the Great Power's reincarnation process met with an accident and already perished, so over the long years, the cultivation system was severed, even the mysterious Supreme Treasure Qing Lian fell into dormancy, ultimately landing in his hands?

"There is a high possibility."

Gu Jinlai muttered to himself.

Moreover, various divine attributes Qing Lian displayed align well with a Great Power.

The biggest characteristic of a Great Power compared to an Immortal Venerable lies in their extremely rich knowledge.

They have studied the operations of the Three Thousand Great Dao thoroughly.

They are fully aware of the variations of numerous immortal techniques.

Thus, all of Gu Jinlai's cultivation techniques, secret techniques, and immortal techniques can be enhanced through Qing Lian.

"Supreme Immortal Skill, also known as Composite Immortal Technique, Supreme Immortal Technique, yet above this, there exists Supreme Immortal Technique, which does not refer to some stronger immortal technique. In reality, it is a variant of the Supreme Immortal Skill, Supreme Immortal Technique, which Great Powers created through rich experience and extreme understanding of immortal techniques. It can break through and counter everything, including Supreme Immortal Skill!"

Gu Jinlai observed Qingguang in his spiritual world.

And the light spheres surrounding Qingguang.

Could it be…

Qingguang, is some kind of Supreme Immortal Technique!?

When he exterminates one cultivator after another bearing Karma, isn't it actually the process of this Supreme Immortal Technique absorbing some energy, then being activated by Qing Lian, ultimately releasing this Supreme Immortal Technique?

Gu Jinlai watched the Qing Lian swaying slightly under the encirclement of over two million strands of Qingguang. He felt he was getting closer and closer to the truth.

"Blue Star… the place of Silent Annihilation left by a Great Power, Qing Lian, is the treasure left behind to help him grow rapidly…"

He believes in this guess about 80 to 90 percent.

At this moment, a light suddenly flashed in his mind.

He suddenly thought of himself.

Those extraordinarily bizarre experiences.

The extraordinary divine sense talent of the Gu family's lineage.

Especially him…

Born in such a small place on Blue Star with a population of less than ten billion, yet possessing a divine sense talent three times that of ordinary Immortal Golden Immortals.

From a probabilistic perspective, this is almost impossible.

For a moment, an unprecedented suspicion surged into his heart.

"Is there a possibility… that I am that Great Power!?"

When this thought came up, Gu Jinlai was not excited. Instead, his heart was chilled.

After painstakingly breaking through steps to reach this point, if one day he were told he is not himself, but the reincarnation of someone else…

It would be unbearably terrifying.

After a while, his gaze returned to the book.

Even for a Great Power who just broke through to the Sixteenth Rank spirit level, they can awaken the Puzzle of the Fetus the latest when entering the Golden Immortal Realm. Those Great Powers with a spirit level of Seventeenth Rank might awaken as soon as they complete the reincarnation and reconstruction.

And those with Eighteenth Rank spirit level have hope of skipping this stage, completing Silent Annihilation at the cost of a period of weakness, avoiding Daoist Ancestor's purge.

Although he has yet to achieve Immortal Golden Immortal, his spirit level has reached a level comparable to the Thirteenth Rank of an Immortal Venerable.

Given how Great Powers emphasized the foundation of the spirit, he should have already awakened if he truly is some Great Power reincarnated.

"Immortal Golden Immortal."

Gu Jinlai said.

In two hundred years, he has viewed almost all the Immortal Inheritances in the Honorable Daoist Mansion. Whether he understood them is not important; at the very least, the knowledge and information have accumulated thoroughly in his mind.

With this knowledge…

He finally filled the gap where his foundation was insufficient.

"Almost time to break through to Immortal Golden Immortal."

After saying this, Gu Jinlai took out a Communication Jade Token and sent it to Qin Yiren.