Gu Xiechen’s mouth fell open in astonishment as he gazed upon the woman.

Her peerless grace, her face capable of toppling nations—the woman was perfection incarnate. She was like a flawless piece of supreme jade, without a single imperfection. She stood half a fist taller than Gu Xiechen, her figure slender, like a weeping willow swaying by the water; her spirit soared, yet she resembled the crescent moon hanging solitary in the high heavens. In the mere movement of her eyes, she captured three-quarters of the world’s charm and eight-tenths of its elegance.

She was clad in a pale cyan palace dress, woven, it seemed, from some unknowable material. The gown layered and heavy, intricate and magnificent, yet as thin as water or a drifting cloud, fluttering and swaying like aquatic plants in a gentle current, lending an illusion that she might be carried off by the wind at any moment.

Several long sashes trailed behind her, also pale cyan. A layer of gentle, moon-white radiance clung to the sashes, from which a chilling cold constantly emanated, stirring the surrounding air into a hazy, grayish-white mist.

An icy, bone-piercing aura diffused outward from the woman’s body. This aura faintly hinted at the essence of the Grand Yin, but was predominantly mixed with impurities like the Nether Profound Qi of the Nine Hells and the Underworld Qi of the Yellow Springs. While these Nether and Profound Qi were types of ultimate Yin energies, they insidiously degraded the quality of the Grand Yin Qi the woman possessed.

“Are you the Undying Heavenly Monarch?” Gu Xiechen frowned and asked again.

The woman, who claimed to be the Undying Heavenly Monarch, shot Gu Xiechen a cold glance. Abruptly, without a word, she lunged forward, delivering a palm strike aimed squarely at his chest. The surrounding grayish-white mist suddenly churned violently. A massive volume of frigid energy coalesced in her palm, forming a palm shadow spanning several feet across. With a shrill sound of air being torn apart, the shadow slammed heavily onto Gu Xiechen’s chest.

Gu Xiechen groaned, flung back over ten li, slamming headfirst into a hundred-zhang tall peak formed of solidified Profound Ice behind him. That Profound Ice seemed to have been frozen for countless years, yet it was impossibly hard. Gu Xiechen, moving like a cannonball, struck the peak, managing only to etch countless sesame-seed-sized cracks across its surface. He himself splayed his limbs wide, blood erupting simultaneously from his seven orifices; this single blow had shattered his body.

The Undying Heavenly Monarch sneered a few times, then drifted soundlessly before Gu Xiechen like a specter. With a single finger, she gently lifted his chin, pinning him against the Profound Ice. After coldly observing him for a moment, she roared, “Return my children, or die!”

Uttering the word “die,” the Undying Heavenly Monarch clenched her other hand into a fist and hammered Gu Xiechen’s body hundreds of times. The body of Gu Xiechen, which had just begun to heal, was again beaten into utter ruin—bones, meridians, and all tissue—as blood plasma sprayed continuously from his ruptured form.

Heh heh heh, Gu Xiechen chuckled wickedly, his Innate Primordial Spirit constantly casting hand seals and incantations, driving the Heavenly Emperor Tribulation Seal Art deep into every part of his body. Having battled Ducat for over a dozen months, Ducat could no longer harm his physical form in the end; the attacks from Kan Hua, Sai Ren, and the others couldn’t even scratch a single hair. His Primordial Profound Yellow Body cultivation method hadn't seen significant progress in some time. But after being beaten by the Undying Heavenly Monarch today, the Heaven and Earth Profound Yellow Qi surged within his damaged body as if injected with a stimulant, constantly repairing and strengthening him.

Keep hitting me! Keep hitting me! The pain was exhilarating, utterly satisfying! Gu Xiechen spat blood with every breath, grinning madly at the Undying Heavenly Monarch. “Hit me. If you beat me into submission, I’ll hand over your children, and then obediently let you kill me.”

Though the statement was contradictory, the Undying Heavenly Monarch’s mind seemed slightly addled; she actually took him seriously. She pressed Gu Xiechen against the Profound Ice with deadly intent, hammering him with both fists like falling meteors, beating his body until bones were cracked and flesh was reduced to mud. Threads of Profound Yellow Qi surged continuously within Gu Xiechen, ceaselessly repairing his flesh. The physical damage inflicted by the Undying Heavenly Monarch was a hundred times heavier than Ducat’s, and the advancement of his Primordial Profound Yellow Body cultivation progressed a hundred times faster.

Thump-thump-thump-thump. The Undying Heavenly Monarch battered Gu Xiechen frantically, like a pile driver, gradually driving his body thousands of zhang deep beneath the ice peak, into the earth below. This Profound Ice, hundreds of times harder than diamond, bore a massive indentation where Gu Xiechen’s body had been rammed—a testament to the sheer force the Undying Heavenly Monarch exerted.

This brutal beating lasted for seven days and seven nights. Gradually, when the Undying Heavenly Monarch’s fists struck Gu Xiechen, there was no longer the dull thud of shattering flesh and bone, but a loud, piercing clang sound, like striking a bronze gong. Gu Xiechen’s body faintly emanated a black and yellow radiance. When the Undying Heavenly Monarch’s fists struck him, large patches of ice crystals sprayed forth from her own fists. This was the chilling energy she had condensed into her blows, violently repelled by the Primordial Profound Yellow Body and instantly solidified into snowflakes.

The mentally unbalanced Undying Heavenly Monarch stared blankly at Gu Xiechen for a moment, then suddenly retracted her fists and retreated sharply backward. She shrieked, “Primordial Profound Yellow Body? How do you possess this divine ability? Who—who are you? Strange, why do I know the Primordial Profound Yellow Body technique? Who is the Supreme Heavenly Emperor? And who are you?”

Faint white light continuously spewed from the Undying Heavenly Monarch’s seven orifices. She suddenly clutched her head, collapsing to the ground with a wretched howl. She struggled desperately, her body twisting wildly on the ground, constantly screaming incoherently, “Who am I? Who on earth am I? How do I know the Primordial Profound Yellow Body technique? Who is the Supreme Heavenly Emperor? And who are you?”

Gu Xiechen gazed deeply at the Undying Heavenly Monarch. Suddenly, his body trembled. Within his Sea of Consciousness, among the countless golden stars orbiting the massive Taiji vortex, one golden star vibrated violently. This star possessed a faint purplish-gold hue, shrouded by subtle white cold light. It was continuously releasing a gentle, delicate female voice towards Gu Xiechen’s Innate Primordial Spirit.

Gu Xiechen was startled, then overjoyed. He immediately mobilized his internal organs, drawing in vast quantities of Grand Yin and Grand Yang energy, stimulating the innate Five Elements energy to transform into a multicolored torrent rushing into his Sea of Consciousness, which his Innate Primordial Spirit promptly swallowed whole. Gradually, wisps of Innate Primordial Spirit energy drifted from the mouth of the Primordial Spirit. Gu Xiechen guided these wisps toward the tiny golden star, slowly merging the star and the Primordial Spirit energy together. A purple light shot out beside Gu Xiechen, followed by a burst of cold white light. Within that light, a slender figure spun rapidly; a True Soul was gradually taking shape.

In less than the time it takes to drink a cup of tea, this True Soul, aided by Gu Xiechen, completely reformed. It was an exquisitely beautiful woman identical in appearance to the Undying Heavenly Monarch standing before him.

This True Soul trembled slightly and performed a bow towards Gu Xiechen, kneeling and offering three deep kowtows. Then, it let out a light, sharp cry toward the sky, carrying a streak of cold light that shot toward the Undying Heavenly Monarch, transforming into a thread of extreme frost that pierced through the crown of her head and entered her body. In the blink of an eye, the struggling, twitching body of the Undying Heavenly Monarch suddenly stiffened. Traces of cold light began to shoot out from her head.

Two voices sounded out of thin air near the Undying Heavenly Monarch. One was the original voice of the Undying Heavenly Monarch, screaming in terror, “Who are you? Why are you forcibly occupying my body?”

The other voice was also female, but infinitely softer and sweeter than the cold, emotionless tone of the Undying Heavenly Monarch. This woman chastised angrily, “My body? This physical vessel is clearly my original form! My Main Spirit has perished, so it is only right and proper that my Divine Fragment take control of my true body, is it not?”

Ya ha! Gu Xiechen clapped his hands and burst into excited laughter.

The flesh of the Undying Heavenly Monarch was, in fact, the true body of a Divine Fragment belonging to a female immortal recorded in the Heavenly Register of the Thirty-Three Heavens!

This female immortal had likely perished in the ancient great war, leaving behind only this physical vessel on this planet. By some twist of fate or fortune, a newly generated spectral entity (Youmei) from the planet’s surface had possessed this Dharma Body and gradually gained control over it, even refining it like a magic treasure until it moved with utter fluidity and perfect responsiveness.

But encountering the rightful original owner of this physical body, the Youmei was bound to suffer a setback. Whether in understanding the body itself, the cultivation techniques practiced within, or the pathways of magical energy flow, the female immortal’s Divine Fragment far surpassed the Undying Heavenly Monarch in every aspect. Reclaiming the body was naturally inevitable.

Gu Xiechen walked up to the Undying Heavenly Monarch’s body, intending to help the female immortal reclaim her flesh and eradicate the Youmei’s consciousness. However, he suddenly heard the Undying Heavenly Monarch’s sharp roar: “Good! You want to seize my flesh? I will fight you to the death!” Immediately afterward, countless rays of sharp, bone-chilling energy, as keen as swords, erupted from within the body, twisting and surging inside the flesh. They gradually converged into thirteen fist-sized Grand Yin Divine Runes, slamming fiercely into the body’s interior.

Before Gu Xiechen could intervene, the thirteen Grand Yin Divine Runes had already merged into the body. The Youmei let out a roar of desperate fury, and the female immortal’s Divine Fragment also let out a shrill scream or two. Streams of blood suddenly erupted from the body’s seven orifices, and vast expanses of cold energy burst from the pores, coalescing into massive white clouds of ice crystals swirling across the sky. The aura erupting from within this body contained an extremely powerful surge of magical fluctuations; this power was a hundred times more potent than the force of a Sixth-Rank Celestial Immortal like Ducat—it had clearly reached the Golden Immortal realm! Gu Xiechen was forced back repeatedly, nearly suffering grievous injury from the shockwave of this magical power. He stared at the body shimmering with white light, his expression inevitably shifting.

Terrifying white cold light continuously spewed forth from the body, transforming into incomparably sharp Gale Winds that swept across the ice field. Wherever the white light passed, the immensely hard Profound Ice was cleaved with deep marks. Sword scars, as fine as a hair but stretching for hundreds of li, radiated outward from this body as the core, spreading across the ice plain. The display was utterly terrifying.

It took a full three days and three nights before the surge of white cold light erupting from within the body gradually subsided, and the level of magical fluctuation it emitted barely stabilized at the standard of a Sixth-Rank Celestial Immortal.

With a soft moan, the woman slowly stood up. She first surveyed her surroundings, then trembled as she bowed deeply to Gu Xiechen: “This servant, Mao E, Ritual Emissary of the Guanghan Palace, greets the Honored Superior.”

Gu Xiechen condensed his magical power in his eyes and scanned Mao E from top to bottom, inwardly sighing with admiration.

Within Mao E now remained only a mass of supremely pure Grand Yin Qi. The degree to which this Grand Yin Qi had been condensed and compressed was a hundred times stronger than that found in the Grand Yin Profound Pearl. All the extraneous, mixed energies like Profound Qi and Nether Qi had been expelled from her body. This mass of Grand Yin Qi now subtly circulated within her, absorbing the surrounding cold energy moment by moment, continuously converting it into Grand Yin Qi for her own use.

With his Dharma Eye, Gu Xiechen saw that Mao E was enveloped by a soft, moon-white radiance, brilliant and dazzling, like the full moon hanging high in the sky, conveying an impression of grand dignity and inviolable sacredness. The Ritual Emissary of the Guanghan Palace—this was an Immortal Official officially registered in the Heavenly Court. Given the importance of the Guanghan Palace within the Heavenly Court’s official hierarchy, the Guanghan Emissary was considered a significant official. Merely observing Mao E’s demeanor and bearing revealed the splendor of the former Guanghan Palace and the magnificence of the ancient Heavenly Court.

If his sensing was correct, Mao E had possessed the cultivation of a true Grand Unity Golden Immortal moments ago. However, the Youmei had somehow employed a mutually destructive technique to forcibly strip away her entire magical cultivation, barely allowing Mao E to maintain the level of a Sixth-Rank Celestial Immortal. This made Gu Xiechen grit his teeth in secret hatred. If he had another Grand Unity Golden Immortal under his command right now... Forget it; overthinking served no purpose. A Sixth-Rank—this was a genuine ancient immortal! Mao E had inherited her original physical body, a true ancient immortal physique. Although her magical cultivation had dropped severely, her foundation was established. Given a little time, restoring her cultivation to the Grand Unity Golden Immortal level would be a matter of course, unlike Xin Jia, Mo Zhuo, or the others who still had to painfully temper their bodies and cultivate their Dharma bodies. Mao E’s starting point was far, far superior to theirs.

“Rise,” Gu Xiechen said, helping Mao E up. He then heard dense footsteps and sounds of air tearing coming from the surroundings. This time, the commotion was even greater than before.

Mao E listened to the sounds for a moment, then smiled faintly. “Honored Superior, these are the Youmei conjured by that audacious demon using the Guanghan Mirror, a secret treasure of the Toad Palace. They were tainted with a trace of Grand Yin Qi, which is why they attained longevity and were able to cultivate the Toad Palace’s Grand Yin Heart Method. Unfortunately, their inherent quality is too base, so although they have cultivated bitterly for countless years, few have managed to achieve true immortality.”

Figures swarmed toward them from all directions. This time, the number of maidens approaching numbered a full million. The few with higher cultivation were close to Celestial Immortal rank—only a few hundred such figures existed. The vast majority were at the Golden Core to Nascent Soul level; very few were even at the Void or Tribulation stages. But the sheer quantity of these maidens was staggering: seventy to eighty thousand on the ground, and two to three hundred thousand circling overhead on large Roc birds, truly creating a sight that obscured the sky and blotted out the sun.

Seeing these maidens, Gu Xiechen nodded with a smile and instructed Mao E to step forward and subdue them.

All the maidens possessed the Youmei body, having been conjured by the Youmei who had possessed Mao E’s body, using the Guanghan Mirror, a secret treasure of the Guanghan Palace. Consequently, these maidens regarded Mao E as their mother. Mao E merely stepped out and uttered a few faint commands, and all the maidens obediently lined up, allowing Gu Xiechen to deploy the Grand Yin Profound Pearl and bring them into the Grand Yin Space.

The number of conjured Youmei on this planet reached over one hundred million. The Youmei who had occupied Mao E’s body—for some unknown reason—had been fixated on guarding this planet since the ancient war, single-mindedly waiting for Youmei to spontaneously arise from the place of Extreme Yin, then using the Guanghan Mirror to conjure them and teach them the unique Grand Yin cultivation methods of the Guanghan Palace.

Over one hundred million Youmei! Although only a million had achieved successful cultivation, Gu Xiechen was so delighted he was dancing with joy. He swiftly collaborated with Mao E to transfer all these Youmei into the Grand Yin Profound Pearl.

Although the inherent aptitude of these Youmei was low, making high achievement difficult, once they absorbed sufficient Grand Yin Qi to transform their bodies into the Grand Yin Physique, their cultivation would, on average, advance by a major realm, and their base aptitude would be vastly improved. Even if achieving great things remained unlikely, cultivating to the Celestial Immortal realm would certainly not be an issue.

Furthermore, all these Youmei were female and possessed the Pure Yin Body. Once beings belonging to the Grand Yin Space naturally gestured within the Grand Yin Profound Pearl, the place of extreme Yin would inevitably generate a trace of True Yang. The beings born in the Grand Yin Space would naturally possess both Yin and Yang properties. Gu Xiechen could select the opposite sex among them to mate with these Youmei and propagate offspring, swiftly increasing the population within the Grand Yin Space. Only when the population within the Grand Yin Space expanded could it stimulate the space to further perfect and restore the original divine abilities of the Grand Yin Profound Pearl.

After annexing the over one hundred million Youmei scattered across the planet’s surface, Gu Xiechen, led by Mao E, proceeded directly to her former residence.

The Youmei that had originally possessed this body, despite possessing immense magical power and divine abilities, was fundamentally just a Youmei without much insight or experience. Her residence was merely a crude mountain cave.

In that cave, Gu Xiechen discovered several secret treasures of the Toad Palace, including the Guanghan Mirror, the Grand Yin Boat, and the Sky Toad Devouring Heaven Sword. However, every treasure was covered in cracks, its physical form heavily damaged.

Seeing these artifacts, Mao E felt as if she had been struck by a bolt of lightning. The Grand Yin Boat and the Guanghan Mirror were one thing; they were the personal artifacts carried by several female officials of the Toad Palace. But the Sky Toad Devouring Heaven Sword was refined from a spiritual bone of the toad that evolved into the Guanghan Palace. It possessed incredibly subtle and profound power and had always been worn by the Master of the Guanghan Palace—Chang’e, ranked as the Grand Yin Star Lord in the Heavenly Court. Now that this sword appeared here, did it mean Chang’e had also perished?

However, Gu Xiechen did not give Mao E the chance to investigate further. He commanded Mao E to collect all the artifacts and retreat into his Sea of Consciousness to be nurtured by the Innate Five Elements energy.

Subsequently, Gu Xiechen employed a grand divine ability, using the Grand Yin Profound Pearl to completely seize this planet’s cold-attribute spirit veins and all mineral veins such as Extreme Azure Glacial Ice. After shattering a massive formation inherently embedded within the planet, he leisurely mounted his light escape and soared away. After absorbing the cold-attribute spirit veins of this planet, the Grand Yin Profound Pearl suddenly gained a new ability: any flying magical artifact it stabilized would inevitably fall to the ground, no matter how powerful it was.

This was an unexpected gain; Gu Xiechen never imagined his luck would be this good.

After leaving this planet, Gu Xiechen encountered no further trouble as he traversed the teleportation arrays, smoothly catching up with Raskov and the others.

Just as he stepped out of a teleportation array and sensed the auras of Raskov and the others, a colossal axe wreathed in raging flames descended upon him from above.

Gu Xiechen flashed backward in fright, instantly activating the Yin-Yang Dharma Robe to shield himself, just as he heard Raskov’s exasperated shout.

Brother Gu, glad you’re still alive! Hurry and help save me! During the turn between summer and autumn, the diet was unclean, leading to sudden gastroenteritis, with excruciating abdominal pain.

Tossed and turned all night, unable to sleep. Pig-head is melancholy, oh melancholy, oh melancholy! Comrades, please smash those recommendation tickets to comfort me!