Chapter 22: The Six Layers of Heaven

  Gu Chen was overjoyed and couldn't help himself, running back and forth in the cave for more than ten steps before finally stopping his body with a lingering aftertaste.

  "With swift wings unfolding, I sprinted forward with all my might, and my speed was no different from that of a Pre-Heavenly Boundary cultivator flying on his sword."

  Ji Yu's cloak was taken down, Gu Chen chuckled and happily patted it twice before putting it back into the Qian Kun ring.

  "Chirp, chirp, cheep, cheep, cheep..." The voice of the Blood Crown Fox sounded from beside him.

  Gu Chen looked down and saw that the Blood Crowned Fox was standing beside him, calling out to him non-stop as it stood up on its hind legs, using its front paws to point here and there.

  After watching for a while, Gu Chen still couldn't understand what Xueguan Hu meant no matter how hard he tried.

  "Hiss, hiss, hissss...!" Seeing Gu Chen's bewildered expression, the Blood Crown Fox cried out even more desperately.

  Gu Chen saw it calling out on one side and pointing to the right side of the cave hall, Gu Chen looked to the right, where there was a passage leading to the Spiritual Medicine Garden.

  "Are you referring to the Spirit Medicine?" Gu Chen asked.

  "Chirp... chirp chirp chirp." The Blood Crown Fox let out a few cheerful cries and nodded its head.

  But just over three seconds later, the Blood Crown Fox shook its head again: "Squeak, squeak squeak, squeak squeak..."

  It's really troublesome talking with a fox. Gu Chen scratched his head and thought for a while, asking: "Are you referring to the spiritual medicine I gave you just now?"

  "Squeak... Squeak squeak squeak." The Blood Crown Fox suddenly became excited and jumped up, nodding its head non-stop.

  Gu Chen saw its excited appearance and asked: "Don't you want to eat anymore?"

  "Squeak squeak squeak." The Blood Crown Fox nodded its head desperately.

  Gu Chen thought to himself, "It seems that this Blood Crown Fox is not only a lazy fox but also a gluttonous one. It's already eaten a bottle of mid-grade Yuan Gathering Elixir and now it wants more? I myself have to go through three days of hard training to slowly absorb and refine the effects of just one bottle... isn't it eating too much?! Moreover, this is a spiritual medicine, can it be casually consumed like that?"

  Just as Gu Chen was about to refuse the Blood Crown Fox, he suddenly thought of the scene where the Sky Devouring Worm was repelled by the Blood Crown Fox's red mist earlier. "There is a Sky Devouring Worm in this cave, and I may not be able to deal with it completely. After collecting all the materials for the Three Extremes Array, I will have to enter the cave again to break the Mustard Gold Vajra Array. If the Sky Devouring Worm wakes up at that time, I'm not sure if I can handle it. This Blood Crown Fox likes to eat spiritual medicine, why don't I feed it with spiritual medicine and let it stay by my side? Next time when I come to the Huantian Cave again, I'll bring it in together! Anyway, I have plenty of barren coins, and I can practice as much Aggregated Spirit Liquid as I want."

  Having made up his mind, Gu Chen smiled and said: "You follow me, I'll give you that kind of spiritual medicine to eat every day, how about it?"

  "Squeak squeak squeak!" The Blood Crown Fox exclaimed excitedly, its expression full of joy.

  "Since you're following me, you have to listen to what I say."

  The Blood Crown Fox nodded, his eyes full of longing.

  Gu Chen said: "I'll give you a name, let's call you 'Xiao Bai' from now on. When I say Xiao Bai, it means I'm calling you."

  "Chirp, chirp, chirp, chirp." The Blood Crown Fox nodded excitedly, apparently delighted with the name.

  Looking at 'Xiao Bai' with a longing expression, Gu Chen naturally knew what it wanted at this moment. He said: "The spiritual medicine I gave you to eat earlier can only be given to you once a day. You've already eaten one bottle today and will have to wait until tomorrow to eat the second bottle."

  The demon beast can refine the spiritual medicine faster than humans, and one day is enough to refine a bottle of medium-grade concentrated spiritual liquid. So Gu Chen gives Xiao Bai one bottle a day. Looking at Xiao Bai's expression, it's definitely eager to eat ten bottles a day, but Gu Chen won't let it waste like that. Although Gu Chen now has a lot of barren coins in hand, eating too fast will not be sustainable.

  "Hmm..." Xiaobai shook his head, seemingly very displeased.

  "That kind of spiritual medicine is not only delicious, but also very useful for your cultivation. You should eat one bottle every day and fully absorb the spiritual energy before eating the second bottle, that way it will be beneficial to you."

  "Chirp." Xiaobai nodded and jumped onto Guchen's shoulder again.

  Gu Chen looked at it for a moment, but this time he didn't shake it off.

  He glanced at the skull, those devouring worms were still sucking on the spine of the skull, seemingly in a state of dormancy. Gu Chen got up and walked to the outside of the cave, took a look, the forest was silent, the sky was full of stars, it was deep in the night, far from dawn.

  His body was confined to this place, and Gu Chen naturally wouldn't sleep. He returned to the cave hall and immediately began to cultivate.

  Outside the cave was pitch black, but Gu Chen still felt that it was safer to cultivate inside the cave. Although there were Sky Devouring Insects in the cave, with Xiao Bai around, they wouldn't dare to come near, let alone disturb him?

  Running the true energy in his body repeatedly, after half a month of cultivation, Gu Chen clearly felt that his true energy had reached the peak of the fifth layer of the acquired realm, and he had already felt the barrier of the fifth layer of the acquired realm. He only needed to break through this barrier, and his cultivation would reach the sixth layer of the acquired realm.

  Gu Zhen sat on the ground with his legs crossed, controlling the true energy inside his body, constantly impacting the five-layered wall barrier.

  At first, the five-layered barrier was like a great mountain, and under Gu Chen's true energy impact, it didn't move at all, as if there was no possibility of breaking through this great mountain.

  However, Gu Chen didn't get discouraged at all. He kept running his true energy to continuously impact the five-layered wall barrier time and time again. If once wasn't enough, then ten times; if ten times weren't enough, then a hundred times.

  Under the repeated impact of the true energy, after an unknown period of time, finally... The five-layered wall barrier began to sway slightly under the impact of the true energy.

  Gu Chen completely forgot about the passage of time, running his true energy to continue impacting again and again. The five-layered wall barrier went from its initial slight shaking to intense trembling.

  Finally...

  A single strand of true energy was like the last straw that crushed a camel, and the entire five-layered wall barrier shattered into four or five pieces under the impact of that true energy.

  A surge of powerful energy suddenly coursed through Gu Chen's entire body, giving him an illusion that he possessed infinite power.

  This is exactly what it feels like to break through in cultivation.

  The Six Realms of Existence...

  Finally broke through to the sixth layer of the Post-Heaven Realm.

  His entire body's skeleton crackled and popped, his physical strength increasing by another level. Through the Heaven Forging Body Technique, his mortal body could at least compare to a postnatal eighth layer cultivator.

  Coming out of the cave, the sky was already very bright.

  After circling outside the cave, it turned out that he had not yet left the yin-yang maze of heaven and earth, but had only passed through the array and walked into the valley where the Huatian Cave was located under the protection of the yin-yang array.

  Xiao Bai sat on Gu Chen's shoulders, and Gu Chen continued to walk into the Yin Yang Maze Heaven Array. An hour later, Gu Chen walked out of the array and appeared in the nearby forest where he and Xiao Bai had rushed into the array yesterday.

  He took out the Qian Kun Chui and put on the Ji Yu Piao Feng, Gu Chen immediately ran towards the direction of Ling Fu Shan. With the help of the Ji Yu Piao Feng, Gu Chen's speed was three times faster than when he used all his strength to chase Xiao Bai yesterday, even though he hadn't used up all his energy yet.

  Only half a time had passed, and Gu Chen had already run over half of yesterday's distance. With the swift wings flapping in the wind, his speed was indeed not much slower than that of a Xiantian cultivator flying with their treasure.

  Suddenly, Gu Chen's rapidly running body came to an abrupt halt, and the swift feathers that danced in the wind instantly vanished, withdrawn into the Qian Kun Ring.

  The Qian Kun Chui was hidden in Gu Chen's sleeve, and no one else could see it.

  A figure appeared in the sky, riding a sword and landing in front of Gu Chen, looking at him coldly.

  Gu Chen looked at the newcomer with a similarly cold expression and didn't speak until after a while: "Uncle Cang Hai."

  The little white on his shoulder felt a bit oppressed by the atmosphere and leaned against Gu Chen's head.

  The eyes of Gu Cang Hai revealed a hint of chill, and he glanced at Xiao Bai before shifting his gaze to Gu Chen's face, saying: "Is this the White Fox that Gu Heng spoke of?"

  Gu Chen nodded and said, "Yes."

  "After spending a night in the Eastern Wilderness, you're actually safe and sound. The calamity that will last for a thousand years is indeed not false." Gu Cang Hai looked at Gu Chen, his eyes didn't even blink once, and his facial expression changed subtly, but it was extremely well hidden.

  However, Gu Chen was not some inexperienced young man. Gu Cang Hai's expression fell sternly on Gu Chen's eyes, and Xiao Bai let out a low hum of unease, nuzzling his head closer to Gu Chen's.

  "He actually wanted to kill me?" Gu Chen's heart skipped a beat, although Gu Canghai had been extremely secretive, but that hint of murderous intent was still seen through by Gu Chen, this 500-year-old old monster.

  Gǔ Cāng Hǎi was hesitant in his heart, he first found Gǔ Chén, in this dense forest of the East Wilderness, there were too many ways to make a person disappear. If Gǔ Chén disappeared forever, it would cut off the bloodline of Gǔ Xián. Without Gǔ Chén, passing on the family legacy to Gǔ Cāng Qióng would be meaningless. Even if Gǔ Cāng Qióng remarried and had more children, they wouldn't be of Gǔ Xián's bloodline.

  So, if Gu Chenyi dies, Gu Xian will no longer have any illusions about Gu Cangyun, and the extinction of Gu Xian's bloodline will be a devastating blow to him. Gu Xian is already old, and he might just give up and hand over the position of clan leader to Gu Cangyue. Even if Gu Xian doesn't give up, he will still be greatly affected, lose hope for life, and possibly hand over the position of clan leader to Gu Cangyue earlier.

  If this is the case, if Gu Chen really disappears this time, it may greatly advance the possibility of Gu Cangyue taking over as the head of the clan.

  ……

  Gǔ Cāng Hǎi's two eyes stared at Gǔ Chén, with a murderous intent occasionally surfacing.

  Gu Chen looked up at the sky and said, "Even Uncle Cang Hai has come out to look for me, so my father must be nearby."

  When Gu Chen mentioned his father, Gu Canghai's heart skipped a beat. "If I can find this place, maybe someone else will too in the next moment. What if I run into Gu Cangtong? Even if I don't run into him, there are many people on the old man's side who have been mobilized. What if I'm seen...? The old man's anger is burning, and won't I only have a dead end?"

  "Haha......right, your dad should be around here somewhere." Gu Canghai chuckled and his murderous intent dissipated.

  "Hmph!" Gu Chen coldly snorted in his heart and said: "Let's go back, Uncle Cang Hai, are you going back by yourself or taking me along for a while?"

  Gǔ Cāng Hǎi threw out the flying sword, and it transformed into a giant sword about 10 feet long, stopping in front of his feet. He stepped onto the flying sword and said with a smile: "Of course I'll take you back together, the clan leader must be waiting for you with eyes wide open, let's go..."

  Gu Chen walked up to Fei Jian's front, got on the flying sword, Gu Cang Hai stirred up the pre-heavenly true energy, the flying sword rose into the air and flew towards Le Shui City.

  Flying up to the sky, Xiao Bai was startled and almost jumped off Gu Chen's shoulders. Gu Chen grabbed Xiao Bai and held it in his arms, standing behind Gu Cang Hai.

  Not long after, Gu Chen appeared on the flying sword of Gu Cang Hai. In the air, several people divided into two groups and flew over with their flying sword artifacts. Gu Chen's father was among them.

  "Chen Er..." The voice, filled with a mix of joy and worry, came from hundreds of feet away.

  "Dad, I'm fine." Gu Chen waved his hand at his father and shouted loudly.

  Ancient Cangqiong stepped on the flying sword and flew to the side of Ancient Canghai, clasped his fists and said: "Thank you, Brother Canghai."

  Gu Chen stepped onto the flying sword of Gu Cangqiong, and Gu Canghai glanced at Gu Chen and his father without saying a word. He then flew his sword to where Gu Cangyue was among that group of people.

  Gǔ Cāng Qiú looked at Gǔ Chén with a glance, and the concern in his eyes was evident.

  "Dad, I'm fine." Gu Chen repeated what he had just said, knowing that this was not a place for a long conversation, so he stopped talking.

  Soon, a group of people flew back to the ancient mansion, Gu Xian and San Lao were already waiting in front of the ancient hall, but Da Lao and Er Lao were nowhere to be seen.

  Gu Cang Yue and his group returned directly to their residence, while Gu Cang Qiong's group landed on the square in front of the main hall. Gu Xian pinched and touched Gu Chen repeatedly before confirming that he had not been injured.

  Gu Chen only said that he chased Xiao Bai too far, until nightfall before catching up to him, then stayed in the tree for a night, and only returned at dawn, without saying a word about everything he experienced this time in Dong Huang.

  The Blood Crown Fox was a rare and mysterious creature, and no one in the Gu family had ever seen it before. As for the small white fox on top of Xue Bai's head, its blood crown had been cut off by Gu Chen long ago, so it didn't have a blood crown anymore and just looked like an ordinary pure white fox.

  When Gu Xuan heard that, he was going to throw the white fox to death, but Gu Chen protected Xiao Bai in his arms and said he liked this white fox. Gu Xuan had no choice but to let him go.

  After staying in the main hall for half a time, Gu Chen followed his father back home and closed the door. Only then did he tell his father about what had happened to him in Donghuang last night.

  Gǔ Cāng Qiú heard Gǔ Chén say that in the Eastern Wilderness, he found a cave mansion left behind by a Tian Hai realm great cultivator. He was shocked and couldn't speak, for within three hundred miles of Lè Shuǐ City, in the mountains and valleys of the Eastern Wilderness, there was actually a cave mansion of a Tian Hai realm great cultivator?

  Of course, what Gu Chen said was slightly different from his own experience. For example, when it came to breaking the array, Gu Chen said that he was trapped by the array until deep into the night, and it was his master who taught him in a dream how to escape the Yin Yang Maze Heaven Array. Similarly, things like the Lingyuan Garden and the Sky Devouring Insect were not mentioned to his father either.

  Lingyuan Garden is currently inaccessible. Gu Chen thought that after opening Lingyuan Garden, he would practice the Xichendan and give his father a surprise. The Nitian Chong, an ancient and strange insect, was something even Gu Cangtian didn't understand. Even in Gu Chen's past life 500 years ago, it was only heard of in legends. How did Gu Cangtian know?

  After talking with his father for a whole morning, in the afternoon, Gu Chen arrived at Nancheng to buy spiritual grass.

  A month ago, I spent over 20,000 yuan to buy Lingcao and refined it into a medium-grade Juyuan Spirit Liquid. It was just enough for Gu Chen to cultivate up to the sixth layer of the Later Heaven. Last night and today, I fed two more bottles to Xiaobai, and the Juyuan Spirit Liquid has been consumed completely.

  This time, Gu Chen is going to buy Ice Dream Grass, Imperial Blood Grass, and Snow Lotus that are all over 150 years old. Now his cultivation has reached the sixth layer of the Post-Heaven Realm, and the seventh, eighth, and ninth layers belong to the late stage of the Post-Heaven Realm. The effect of cultivating with middle-grade Gathered Yuan Spirit Liquid is halved, so he needs to take high-grade Gathered Yuan Spirit Liquid refined from spirit grass over 150 years old.

  Gu Chen still had over 160,000 Argen coins left. In the year 150, the prices of Ice Dream Grass, Imperial Blood Grass, and Snow Lotus were around 1,500 Argen coins each. Buying three stalks of Main Spirit Grass, along with some additional ingredients, would cost around 5,000 Argen coins for a bottle of high-quality Gathered Spirit Liquid.

  Spent 100,000 yuan, Gu Chen bought enough materials for 20 bottles of top-grade Yuan Yuan Ling liquid. The remaining 60,000+ yuan was used to buy materials for 40 bottles of mid-grade Yuan Yuan Ling liquid, which he made for Xiao Bai to eat.