23: Terrifying talent, submitting to the Fierce Blade Dynasty

Time ticked by second by second. The powerful energy within the medicinal liquid was slowly absorbed by Gu Jixiao's Spiritual Root.

And the grade of the Low Grade Spiritual Root was slowly increasing.

Medium Grade, High Grade, Extreme Grade, only stopping after ascending to Immortal Grade.

The moment Gu Jixiao opened his eyes, streaks of Lightning Tribulation gathered above the palace, obscuring the sky and sun, appearing incomparably terrifying.

Inside the imperial court, the civil and military officials all looked up at the sky, their expressions extremely shocked.

With such an aura, could it be that Your Majesty is about to achieve a Breakthrough?

Before they could react, they saw Gu Jixiao shoot up into the sky, one man and one sword, fearlessly gazing at the heavens.

This was his Lightning Tribulation for breaking through to the Saint Realm.

"Come, let me test the might of this Lightning Tribulation."

Gu Jixiao's tone was extremely calm as he pointed his sword toward the firmament.

It seemed Gu Jixiao's words had angered the Heavenly Dao, and in the next moment, a bucket-sized bolt of lightning violently descended.

Gu Jixiao was completely unafraid; with one sword strike, the lightning was split in half.

In the sky, the Lightning Tribulation continued to fall one after another, but Gu Jixiao blocked them all, appearing incredibly composed and effortless.

"My Realm was solidified with the System's help, cultivated for a full one hundred thousand years, so naturally, it is incredibly powerful."

Gu Jixiao swung his sword again, and the tribulation clouds were directly cleaved apart.

Streams of golden radiance emanated from Gu Jixiao's body. Seen from afar, he resembled a Saint from the dawn of creation.

This was the sign of stepping into the Saint Realm.

"Congratulations, Your Majesty, on breaking through to the Saint Realm!"

The moment Gu Jixiao achieved his Breakthrough, Li Xuan and the other ministers excitedly stepped forward to offer congratulations.

Looking at each of them, their faces were filled with undisguised excitement.

One must remember that His Majesty was only thirty years old now.

Achieving the Saint Realm at the age of thirty—looking back since the Ancient Heavenly Dynasty was established, no Emperor possessed such terrifying talent.

Even the former Emperor had only barely broken through to the Void Refining Realm at the age of thirty.

A thirty-year-old Saint might even reach the Supreme Realm.

"All you beloved ministers need not be so surprised; it is merely a trivial matter."

Waving his hand to signal them to withdraw, Gu Jixiao returned to his sleeping quarters.

After sitting down, Gu Jixiao impatiently began to examine his current situation.

He closed his eyes and extended his Divine Sense to probe the condition within his body.

Gu Jixiao then saw the state of his internal body.

In his Dantian, there was a golden, dazzling staircase.

And atop the staircase, there was a small golden figure.

As Gu Jixiao concentrated his spirit and controlled the small golden figure, the figure began to climb the staircase.

As soon as the figure reached the second step, Gu Jixiao sensed an incomparably pure power emanating from the staircase, feeding back into his Dantian.

"This is the Dao of Ascension to Sainthood?"

Gu Jixiao thought secretly.

The so-called Saint, upon breaking through to the Saint Realm, would condense a Heaven-Reaching Saint Dao within their Dantian.

And within the Heaven-Reaching Saint Dao resided the Saint's Incarnation.

One only needed to control the Saint's Incarnation to climb the Saint Dao; with every step ascended, a certain amount of Saint Dao feedback could be obtained.

Steps one to three were Early Stage Saint, four to six were Middle Stage, seven to nine were Late Stage, and ten steps meant Perfection.

And upon stepping onto the eleventh step, one was considered to have broken through to the Great Saint Realm.

The entire Saint Dao consisted of a full thousand steps. Upon completing the ascent of the thousand steps of the Saint Dao, one would have mastered a complete Saint Dao and thus break through to the Supreme Realm.

Gu Jixiao concentrated his spirit and controlled the Saint's Incarnation to climb the Saint Dao. In no time, it ascended to the tenth step.

"So, I have broken through to Peak Saint?"

Gu Jixiao was somewhat skeptical. What about the saying that the Saint Dao was extremely difficult to climb, where countless people could only ascend one step over many years?

Why was it so easy for him?

Of course, this was also because Gu Jixiao had successfully supplemented his internal Spiritual Root up to the Immortal Grade.

However, after the Saint's Incarnation climbed to the tenth step, Gu Jixiao felt a powerful resistance strike him.

He estimated that he wouldn't be able to climb to the eleventh step and break through to the Great Saint Realm in a short time, so Gu Jixiao didn't waste any more time.

With the System, who would honestly Cultivate?

After withdrawing from his Cultivation, Gu Jixiao realized that a full half a month had passed.

"Hiss, no wonder they always say that Great Experts meditate in seclusion for years; time passes so quickly."

Gu Jixiao was slightly surprised.

But it was normal; if the time spent in seclusion wasn't long, what would be the use of having such a long Lifespan?

Standing up and stretching his limbs, Gu Jixiao opened the panel to look at his current situation.

[host: Gu Jixiao]

[Realm: Saint Perfection]

[Spiritual Root: Immortal-Grade Spiritual Root]

[Physique: Mortal Physique]

[Imperial Dynasty: Ancient Heavenly Dynasty, Note: Your Imperial Dynasty is not yet strong enough; please strive to make your Imperial Dynasty renowned throughout the world]

[prestige value: 520114514]

[Items: None]

"prestige value has exceeded five hundred million? It seems Li Xuan and Chen Guchuan worked quite hard."

Gu Jixiao thought secretly.

Moreover, the prestige value was currently soaring at a visible rate. With just some time, it would likely break one billion.

But this Mortal Physique was a bit of an eyesore. When he had time, he should ask Wu Tianxie for some methods to shape an Acquired Physique.

On the Heavenly Saint Continent, some Cultivators possessed powerful Physiques from birth.

Powerful Physiques had various mysterious effects that could greatly enhance a Cultivator's strength.

According to Gu Jixiao's understanding, Physiques were divided into Innate Physiques and Acquired Physiques.

The so-called Innate Physique was one possessed from birth.

The Acquired Physique was a powerful Physique shaped later through Cultivation, utilizing various Heaven And Earth Treasures as aid.

However, both types shared one common characteristic: they only had four levels.

Spiritual Body, Saint Body, Immortal Body, and Divine Body.

I wonder what the highest level of Acquired Physique the methods in Heavenly Treasure Pavilion can shape.

"Achoo, who is mentioning me?"

Inside Heavenly Treasure Pavilion, Wu Tianxie couldn't help but sneeze.

That feeling of alarm always made him feel like he was being targeted by someone.

But he dismissed it as his imagination; he was a Peak Quasi-Emperor. Who in the world would mention him, who would dare covet him?

Just an illusion.

Inside the Dayan Dynasty.

"Old Ancestor, I have submitted to the Fierce Blade Dynasty, and the Fierce Blade Dynasty is willing to offer protection to our Dayan Dynasty."

"But the prerequisite is that the Fierce Blade Dynasty requires the Dayan Dynasty to offer ten portions of Low Grade spiritual liquid annually."

Xu Fengnian knelt before Xu Fengyuan and recounted his submission to the Fierce Blade Dynasty.

Hearing this, Xu Fengyuan's expression became somewhat grim.

But after a long pause, he finally sighed deeply.

"Although ten portions of Low Grade spiritual liquid is quite a lot, it is ultimately much better than losing all dignity and being annexed by the Ancient Heavenly Dynasty."

"Agree to it."

"Yes, Old Ancestor!"

Although the Dayan Dynasty was a Fifth-Rank Dynasty, after deducting all annual expenses, it could only reserve about twenty portions of Low Grade spiritual liquid at most.

The Fierce Blade Dynasty was demanding half of that immediately, clearly certain that the Dayan Dynasty would not refuse.

But even so, it was much better than being completely swallowed by the Ancient Heavenly Dynasty.