Plop.
Ripples spread across the pond's surface. The crystalline fishing line, gleaming with a luster like jade, dropped straight into the water.
Ling Yuling watched as Gu Changge repeated his old trick, casting the fishhook with the severed arm attached back into the pond. She remained silent.
She didn't know where Gu Changge had obtained this severed arm so full of divine substance, but it was obvious that the Taixuan Ancestral God he had just mentioned was absolutely a genuine ancient deity who had survived from the Innate Era to the present.
In this current era, true Innate Beings were already nearly extinct, let alone an Innate God who could be called an Ancestral God.
One must know that Ancestral God was not merely a title; it was an existence far more powerful than cultivators of the Ancestral Dao Realm.
Even at her peak, she could not claim a sure victory against an Innate Ancestral God.
And an Innate Ancestral God who could survive to this day was definitely far stronger than an ordinary Ancestral God. When had Gu Changge encountered and battled such an Ancestral God, leaving behind one of their arms?
Moreover, Gu Changge's actions today truly baffled her.
She had thought Gu Changge was simply spending his days leisurely in this courtyard, paying no heed to the affairs of the outside world.
But now it seemed Gu Changge was still orchestrating and plotting a chess game she could not understand.
"Just now, you already startled the big fish. If you cast the same bait again, will it still work?" Ling Yuling couldn't help but ask softly.
"Fish are very foolish creatures. As long as your bait can attract them, no matter how many times they are startled, they never learn. They will still charge at it without hesitation," Gu Changge said with a faint smile.
Ling Yuling nodded thoughtfully, then shook her head.
Probably in all the world, only Gu Changge could so casually call an Ancestral God a fish.
"It seems you plan to move against the Divine Dao Civilization?" Ling Yuling asked.
Gu Changge said lightly, "The Alliance of Righteous Unity won't last much longer. Although the Divine Dao is now in decline and retreat, the number of Ancestral Gods hiding in the shadows is actually not small. If these Ancestral Gods cannot be used by me, then they cannot be allowed to block my path either."
Ling Yuling fell silent.
Gu Changge gazed at the pond before him, mist churning yet still crystal clear, his eyes deep and profound.
He was using this severed arm of the Taixuan Ancestral God as bait to fish for deities. It wasn't because he couldn't find the Taixuan Ancestral God's whereabouts, but simply because he didn't want to alert the snake by startling the grass, rousing the other Ancestral Gods.
Those Divine Kingdoms and deities might be hiding, concealed within boundless spacetime, but it wasn't actually difficult for Gu Changge to find their locations.
However, doing so could easily make those Ancestral Gods sense it in advance and become wary, which would be detrimental to his many subsequent plans.
Coincidentally, he had this arm of the Taixuan Ancestral God in his hands, which gave him some other ideas.
The Taixuan Ancestral God had been willing to abandon this part of his divine origin in order to escape back then. To recover it later, he would need at least hundreds of epochs of long accumulation.
Innate Gods were not as harmonious with each other as cultivators imagined. On the contrary, their slaughter and competition were even more brutal and intense. Any Innate God who could survive from the Innate Era to the present could not be simple.
In ancient times, there had been eras where immortals and gods coexisted, as well as eras where the Divine Dao system dominated and ruled the universe.
In those times, the gods divided the Authority of Heaven and Earth, condensed it into Divine Authority, and then subdivided that Authority, each performing their own duties.
Powerful deities sat high above the clouds, overlooking all worlds, reaping the power of Divine Authority from weaker deities. The weaker deities could only spread faith throughout various worlds and universes, condensing their Divine Authority, and strengthening themselves.
The Divine Authority of a powerful deity was precisely the coveted sustenance that weaker deities dreamed of.
The Divine Authority of an Ancestral God—who knew how many deities in the shadows coveted it?
Having survived from the Innate Era to the present, the Taixuan Ancestral God certainly had mortal enemies.
If those enemies were to learn that his origin was now damaged and his strength not at its peak, they would surely be tempted to act.
Even those Ancestral Gods who normally had no grievances with him would find it hard not to be tempted. After all, this was part of an Ancestral God's Divine Essence.
When the Taixuan Ancestral God was powerful, those deities naturally dared not invade. But now his origin was damaged, no longer at his peak.
At a time like this, his Divine Authority was the object they coveted most ardently.
No matter how weak or strong, as long as they caught a whiff of the scent and saw the right opportunity, they would swarm like sharks.
The bait Gu Changge was using for fishing wasn't simply to lure the Taixuan Ancestral God.
He intended to make the Divine Dao Civilization collapse and disintegrate. This bait was merely the initial primer.
The pond's surface returned to calm.
After brewing tea for Gu Changge, Ling Yuling also took her leave. The war between the Heaven-Slaying Alliance and the Alliance of Righteous Unity still required her to oversee the overall situation.
The high-ranking members of the Heaven-Slaying Alliance all regarded her as the Deputy Alliance Leader. Although this title had not been formally recognized by Gu Changge, it had already become an accepted fact within the Alliance.
And beings like Mu Fuguang, Tong Xian, and the other Taboo Existences currently only followed Gu Changge's orders. Beyond that, they heeded no one else's commands and submitted to no one.
Only Ling Yuling had the means to keep them in check.
The emergence of the War Merit Tower had made those Taboo Existences begin accumulating and fighting for war merits. But this also caused them, at times, to act without regard for the bigger picture, thereby affecting the entire battlefield.
This also led to the higher-ups of the Alliance of Righteous Unity entering the fray, retaliating without regard for consequences, resulting in the deaths of many cultivators and unnecessary sacrifices.
After Ling Yuling hurriedly departed, the courtyard returned to its quiet once more.
"The Crescent Moon Sect is indeed somewhat special. Not only did a power that even surprised me appear there, but even that girl Xian'er showed up there. This doesn't seem to be a coincidence."
Gu Changge gazed at the pond's surface, a thoughtful expression visible.
Naturally, he hadn't summoned Chen Yi out of idle boredom.
Chen Yi's identity was somewhat special. She was an elder of the Crescent Moon Sect and had also shown kindness to Gu Xian'er.
Therefore, Gu Changge intended to run an experiment on her.
Currently, within the entire Vast Expanse, very few knew of his relationship with Gu Xian'er. Even those who had followed him for quite some time, like Mu Yan, Ling Yuling, and the White Bone Ancestor King, were the same.
If someone wanted to investigate him through Gu Xian'er, he would inevitably sense it.
But who exactly knew of the connection between him and Gu Xian'er?
Those who knew of their connection would not possibly investigate him through Gu Xian'er.
It was like an unsolvable loop.
But it was precisely because this was an unsolvable loop that Gu Changge sensed something amiss.
Gu Xian'er appearing at the Crescent Moon Sect was not a coincidence or an accident.
A power that surprised him had emerged in the Crescent Moon Sect.
And Gu Xian'er, who had a connection with him, had very coincidentally appeared there, and even more coincidentally came into contact with that power.
Everything in this world follows the trajectory of fate.
To make so many coincidences happen, one only needed to gently pluck the fate trajectories of those things, causing them to intersect and touch.
"The Power to Restrain Heaven..."
"Truly surprises me. Could it be they intend to use Xian'er against me?"
"Let's see what other coincidences there are."
Gu Changge retracted his thoughts. After pondering for a moment, he gently waved his hand. The void before him blurred, transforming into a circular mirror. Within it was reflected the face of a peerlessly beautiful, noble, and dignified woman.
It was Ji Hanjing, who had used the Supreme Treasure of Civilization as her true body to cultivate a human form.
At this moment, she was seated within a vast and majestic palace, adorned with a phoenix crown and feathered robes, her face veiled behind hanging mian beads. Her expression was cold and authoritative, like a peerless empress overlooking the world, looking down upon all living things.
Within this palace, officials knelt prostrate, kowtowing to the ground.
Several elders dressed in dragon robes even chanted greetings to their Progenitor, showing the utmost respect.
The desk before Ji Hanjing was piled high with layer upon layer of ancient texts and scriptures.
Her jade-like face was cold. Her slender, pure hand held one of them, her eyes moving gently as she seemed to flip through and read, silent, as if wanting to understand the current era as quickly as possible.
"It seems things are going even more smoothly than I imagined. The Weiyang Immortal Dynasty occupies the legitimate lineage of the Radiant Ancestral Court. Now that a living princess of the Radiant Ancestral Court has appeared, they will naturally do everything they can to claim kinship and bluff their way through."
Gu Changge watched this scene, his expression one of keen interest.
Everything before him was within his expectations and plans.
After Ji Hanjing broke out from the Dao source within the ruins of the Radiant Ancestral Court, she was, under the observation of various orthodox powers, invited back to the Weiyang Immortal Dynasty by several old imperial uncles.
And those ruins of the Radiant Ancestral Court were also protected by many experts dispatched by the Weiyang Immortal Dynasty, forbidding any orthodox power from approaching.
If those ruins were unowned, the various powers would naturally have reason to fight over them. After all, fortunes were decided by heaven, possessed by the virtuous.
But who knew that within those ruins, there was actually an ancient figure sealed in a Dao source, suspected to be a person from the era of the Radiant Ancestral Court.
Now, the various orthodox powers naturally had no reason to snatch them anymore, especially right under the noses of the Weiyang Immortal Dynasty.
So, the mysterious woman sealed within the Dao source was also naturally invited back to the Weiyang Immortal Dynasty by several old imperial uncles.
Afterward, through the investigation and research of various orthodox powers, as well as cross-referencing with various ancient texts, the identity of that mysterious woman was ultimately confirmed.
A genuine princess of the Radiant Ancestral Court, a former Sage who led the fight against the Black Calamity Catastrophe, the daughter of Zhong Jun!
Such an origin was terrifyingly immense, making the eyelids of everyone in the imperial clan of the Weiyang Immortal Dynasty twitch with shock and horror.
One must know, this was a genuine ancestor in the truest sense, with a seniority no one could match.
In terms of bloodline, every member of the Weiyang Immortal Dynasty imperial clan was her descendant.
This news shook all sides, causing a huge uproar.
No one had expected that after countless years, after countless epochs, the princess of the former Radiant Ancestral Court would reappear in the world in such a way.
And this also plunged the Weiyang Immortal Dynasty into a somewhat awkward situation.
Because those familiar with the history of the founding of the Weiyang Immortal Dynasty knew that its founder, the Weiyang Emperor Lord Jiang Yun, did not bear the surname Ji. The surname Ji was the imperial surname of the Radiant Ancestral Court.
The predecessor of the Weiyang Immortal Dynasty was the Great Yang Ancient Kingdom.
The last Emperor Lord of the Great Yang Ancient Kingdom was called the Yang Emperor.
The Yang Emperor was brutal and without Dao, fatuous and debauched, indulging in wine and lust. During his reign, he created pools of wine and forests of meat, killed innocents indiscriminately, persecuted loyal subjects, and ruled with tyranny. All clans suffered deeply, their bitterness unbearable.
At that time, the biological father of the Weiyang Emperor Lord Jiang Ming was a feudal noble of different surname in the Great Yang Ancient Kingdom, named Jiang Sheng.
Jiang Sheng's ancestry carried a trace of imperial bloodline. If speaking of bloodline connections, he actually shared some origins with the imperial family of the Great Yang Ancient Kingdom at the time.
Jiang Sheng, dissatisfied with the Yang Emperor's tyranny, led troops in rebellion and later died in battle at Jiu Yin Mountain.
The Weiyang Emperor Lord Jiang Ming inherited his father's cause, receiving the mandate of heaven and divine weapons descending from the sky. Later, with the assistance of his father's old followers, he united the feudal lords and various clans, ultimately breaching the imperial capital of the Great Yang. The Yang Emperor committed suicide in the great hall. Thus the Great Yang Ancient Kingdom was destroyed.
Subsequently, the Weiyang Immortal Dynasty was established upon the ruins of the Great Yang Ancient Kingdom, replacing it, and a new calendar was born.
The surname Jiang also replaced the surname Ji, becoming the imperial surname of the Weiyang Immortal Dynasty.
Now, the Weiyang Emperor Lord was stationed at the Alliance of Righteous Unity and had no time to attend to matters here in the Weiyang Immortal Dynasty.
This left everyone in the imperial clan of the Weiyang Immortal Dynasty, including many ministers and related clans, not daring to show any disrespect or negligence before this ancestral figure. Nor did they know how to handle this matter, let alone how to face her.
For the descendants surnamed Jiang to call a person surnamed Ji their ancestor? If word got out, wouldn't others laugh? It would only make them a laughingstock.
"The causes and effects, the historical records—I have learned of them all. You need not be anxious and tense. The Radiant Ancestral Court has long ceased to exist. Whether it is the Great Yang Ancient Kingdom or the Weiyang Immortal Dynasty, in my eyes there is not the slightest difference."
"The same goes for the surnames Ji and Jiang."
Within the palace, Ji Hanjing closed the ancient text in her hand. She swept an indifferent and authoritative glance over the many ministers below, then her gaze swept over the group of old imperial uncles of the Weiyang Immortal Dynasty.
And her words made everyone breathe a long sigh of relief, as if a weight had been lifted from their hearts.
They had been worried that this ancestor placed too much importance on bloodline and would be angered, venting her wrath.
But in a sense, whether it was the Great Yang Ancient Kingdom or the Weiyang Immortal Dynasty, both were far too distant from the era of the Radiant Ancestral Court.
Their descendants' bloodlines had long thinned to an unknown degree.
Even if a descendant of the Great Yang Ancient Kingdom's imperial family stood here, they probably wouldn't be much different from them.
"Where is Jiang Yun?" Ji Hanjing asked indifferently.
"Reporting to the ancestor, the Emperor Lord is currently stationed at the Alliance of Righteous Unity, controlling the overall situation and resisting the incursions of the Heaven-Slaying Alliance. He has no time to attend to the Weiyang Immortal Dynasty. Currently, many affairs within the dynasty are handled by the State Preceptor, the Grand Chancellor, and others." An old imperial uncle stepped forward and answered with trepidation.
Facing Ji Hanjing's gaze, a layer of cold sweat involuntarily appeared on his forehead.
As a member of the imperial clan of the Weiyang Immortal Dynasty, it was his first time feeling such terrifying authority, as if he were facing an empress who looked down upon all worlds.
This ancestor, in both seniority and strength, was terrifyingly frightening.