Everlasting Immortal Firmament

Emperor Kong rushed into the second layer of hell.

“Halt!” Kong Xuan roared ferociously, flinging a beam of six-colored divine light towards the second layer of hell.

Boom!

Suddenly, a dragon claw appeared and shattered the six-colored divine light.

“Kong Xuan, I am your opponent!” Ao Ying said coldly.

Far away, Vairocana suddenly narrowed his eyes when he saw something happening in the distance. Now, he no longer wanted to waste time with the five Jiang Gautamas, planning to attack with everything he had.

However, he suddenly saw the distant Gu Hai wiping his forehead with a finger.

Most people would take this minor action as something for Gu Hai to open his heavenly eye. Only Vairocana knew this was a signal to wait, one Gu Hai had arranged with him beforehand.

Wait?

Vairocana felt slightly startled. Although he did not know what Gu Hai planned, he did not rush to attack with full force, merely putting in more effort.

Boom!

Vairocana sent one Jiang Gautama replica flying, apparently now using his true strength. However, he still delayed.

Gu Hai’s saber strike showed no effect.

Buzz!

Up above, Mister Starless controlled the stars again, forming another saber of stars and swinging it down on Gu Hai.

“Humph! You are seeking death!” Gu Hai glared and soared into the sky with his saber.

Boom!

A loud report rang out, and space shattered again.

When Mister Starless flung out his sleeves, more stars appeared. Now, it looked like a storm of stars sweeping towards Gu Hai.

“I don’t care who you are. All who obstruct my Han Imperial Dynasty’s business will die!” Gu Hai rushed into the sky.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Gu Hai’s saber clashed with the saber of stars many times, creating increasingly stronger spatial fluctuations. Countless stars surrounded the two, quickly revolving around them and forming what looked like an immense whirlpool. The flurry of spatial fragments in that whirlpool made things appear chaotic. Soon, it veiled the scene within from view.

“Your Reverence!” Kong Xuan cried out anxiously.

However, Ao Ying continued blocking Kong Xuan, preventing Kong Xuan from leaving.

Rumble…!

Continual explosions came from the star storm. To everyone else, Gu Hai and Mister Starless were fighting an incredibly intense battle.

No one would expect that a lone star was hovering quietly in the center of the storm. Gu Hai and Mister Starless were above this star, but instead of fighting, they calmly stood facing each other.

Mister Starless knelt. “Gu Ming has been unfilial. Greetings to Father!”

“Gu Ming? Is it really you? Why are you in the Huang Heavenly Dynasty?” Gu Hai asked, feeling emotional.

“This child went to the Yan Heavenly Dynasty with Third Elder Brother. Later on, a faction chose this child, equipping me with some skills. However, that was not this child’s wish. After joining the Huang Heavenly Dynasty, this child had to change his name, so this child took on the name of Starless. Sun, moon, and stars; without stars, only the sun and moon are left. The characters for ‘sun’ and ‘moon’ together form the character for ‘Ming.’ I could not move freely, only able to meet Father today,” Mister Starless said somewhat excitedly.

[TL Note: The Chinese character for “sun” is 日, and the Chinese character for “moon” is 月. When combined, they form 明, which is the character for “bright” and transliterated as “ming.”]

Gu Hai helped Gu Ming up and carefully looked him over. Eventually, he nodded. “If your mother saw your current accomplishments, she would feel gratified.”

“Father, this child is incapable. I’ve failed to save Mother after all these years!” Mister Starless said bitterly.

“It’s fine. Father will save your mother. Why is your group here today?” Gu Hai asked.

“Ji Dihong wants to snatch Third Elder Brother Gu Tang’s souls so he can hold them hostage against Father in the future,” Mister Starless said with hate on his face.

“Oh? Find Little Tang’s souls? Despite controlling the eighteen layers of hell, even Jiang Gautama does not know where Little Tang’s souls are. How would Ji Dihong know? Emperor Kong went to find Little Tang just now?” Gu Hai’s face sank.

“Yes. Ji Dihong has many strange talents working for him, including a person called Cangjie. Cangjie can divine the position of anyone in the world. It was Cangjie who divined the position of Eldest Brother when he was near Spirit Mountain City. Later on, Emperor Kong leaked Eldest Brother’s location to Jiang Gautama. Now, Cangjie has divined Third Elder Brother’s position. His divination is precise, a shocking thing to hear about,” Mister Starless said in awe.

“Cangjie? Divine the position of anyone in the world? How can this be possible? Even the Six Paths Immortal cannot do it despite controlling the world!” Gu Hai exclaimed.

“It’s true. Unlike the Six Paths Immortal, Cangjie is only capable of divination. Furthermore, if this child is right, he is a lifespan cultivator,” Mister Starless said gravely.

“Lifespan cultivator? Aren’t there only eight lines of inheritance for lifespan cultivation? The four cardinal direction inheritances cultivate life, and the four season inheritances cultivate death. Could he be…,” Gu Hai said with some confusion.

“Cangjie is not from those eight lines of inheritance. Those eight lines are only the known lines of inheritance. Actually, lifespan cultivation is not limited to those eight. This child was fortunate and is also now a lifespan cultivator,” Mister Starless explained.

“Oh?” Gu Hai said in surprise.

“Lifespan cultivation is Fuxi’s inheritance. Although Fuxi died eight hundred thousand years ago, this child feels he will return. His return to life should have something to do with the lifespan cultivators. Father, be careful,” Mister Starless explained.

Gu Hai nodded.

“Father, Ji Dihong is an especially distrustful person. He is thorough in everything he does, so he will not rely on only my group. You saw Ao Ying, Emperor Kong, and myself, but this child guesses he had sent more people, who are currently hidden. Rather than letting the hidden backup obtain Third Elder Brother’s souls, we might as well let Emperor Kong get them,” Mister Starless explained.

“Are you saying there are hidden people monitoring us?” Gu Hai asked.

“Yes. I wonder where Father found Vairocana? To think he is so powerful? Anyway, how could Ji Dihong only send the three of us? Even if the three of us remained hidden to make things easy, Ji Dihong would not feel assured. Furthermore, even I don’t know Third Elder Brother’s location, only Emperor Kong does. You can see how cautious Ji Dihong is,” Mister Starless said seriously.

Gu Hai looked at Mister Starless. “Come back to the Han Nation with me after this.”

Mister Starless shook his head. “Father, forgive me. This child cannot leave the Huang Heavenly Dynasty just yet. This child still has some things to do.”

Gu Hai gazed at Gu Ming for a while. Eventually, he nodded and did not force the issue.

“Father, this child sent Emperor Kong ahead to retrieve Third Elder Brother’s souls to prevent Ji Dihong’s other group from getting them. This child is confident of getting Emperor Kong to pass me Third Elder Brother’s souls to take a look. At that time, I can do a swap. Father, please help me,” Mister Starless said seriously.

“Oh?”

“I recall Father has replicas of Third Elder Brother’s souls?” Mister Starless said, looking at Gu Hai.

Gu Hai did have replicas of Gu Tang’s souls. Jiang Gautama had used them to trick him.

“That’s right. They are with me.” Gu Hai nodded.

“This child fears harming Third Elder Brother’s souls if we fight Emperor Kong for them, so we cannot use force. I request Father to pass me the fake souls. I’ll swap them for Third Elder Brother’s souls when there is an opportunity. Furthermore, I should be able to hide this from Cangjie with my methods,” Mister Starless said.

Looking at Gu Ming, Gu Hai nodded. “You are still as careful as before. Here, take this.”

Whoosh!

Gu Hai waved, and a jade box appeared in his hand. Blue energy seemed to be flowing in the jade box.

“Many thanks, Father!” Mister Starless immediately accepted the box.

“Father, leave Third Elder Brother to me. I’ll have to trouble Father with Mother’s matter,” Mister Starless said seriously.

“I will do my best for your mother.” Gu Hao nodded.

“Also, Father, be careful of Jiang Gautama, especially in the second layer of hell. Jiang Gautama’s lair is there,” Mister Starless said worriedly.

“Oh?” Gu Hai said.

“Father has seen Second Elder Brother already, right? I heard Second Elder Brother is the reincarnation of the Spirit Mountain Holy Land’s good Gautama. However, has Second Elder Brother told you exact details about the Spirit Mountain Holy Land?” Mister Starless asked.

“The exact details? I don’t think so.” Gu Hai frowned.

“That’s because Second Elder Brother himself does not know. He is just the personality split of the Gautama Heavenly Demon’s earthly soul, which later reincarnated. The earthly soul split into good and evil. The evil earthly soul reincarnated into Jiang Gautama, and the good earthly soul reincarnated into Second Elder Brother, Gu Han. These are the good and evil Gautamas, but that is not all to the Gautama Heavenly Demon,” Mister Starless said seriously.

“Oh? Are you saying there are other Gautamas?” Gu Hai exclaimed in shock.

“This involves the cultivation direction after reaching the consummation of the Upper Heavenly Palace Realm. The Gautama Heavenly Demon chose the same method as the Six Paths Immortal, separating his spiritual and physical souls. The Six Paths Veritable Lord eventually formed ten bodies. Jiang Gautama did the same. However, I heard from Ji Dihong that something went wrong with his cultivation—or perhaps it was actually meant to be so? In any case, he ended up forming bodies for only his spiritual souls. The heavenly soul became Heavenly Gautama, the mortal soul became Mortal Gautama, and there’s the earthly soul, which is the good Gautama and the evil Gautama,” Mister Starless explained.

“That means there are four Gautamas. Besides Gu Han, there are three others: Heavenly Gautama, Mortal Gautama, and Jiang Gautama?” Gu Hai narrowed his eyes slightly.

“Yes. Heavenly Gautama and Mortal Gautama have never revealed themselves. Second Elder Brother probably knows of them but does not know what they cultivate. Those two never interacted with the good Gautama or the evil Gautama until Jiang Lianshan allied with the evil Gautama. They started plotting together only after that. They probably ostracized Second Elder Brother, but I don’t know the details,” Mister Starless explained.

“Oh? Besides Jiang Gautama, there’s the unknown Heavenly Gautama and Mortal Gautama in the second layer of hell too?” Gu Hai said with a sullen expression.

“Yes! Furthermore, Ji Dihong does not know much about this secret. This is all part of Jiang Lianshan’s scheme,” Mister Starless explained.

“Jiang Lianshan’s scheme?”

“Yes. According to Ji Dihong, the evil Gautama reincarnated as Jiang Lianshan’s son as proof of loyalty. Jiang Lianshan stopped guarding against the evil Gautama only because of that. Then he placed his tools for defying Heaven with Jiang Gautama,” Mister Starless said while recalling.

“Jiang Lianshan’s tools for defying Heaven? What do you mean?” Gu Hai asked.

“For example, the divine blood replication belonged to Jiang Lianshan. When Jiang Lianshan was alive, Jiang Gautama could not use it; Jiang Gautama was able to do so only after Jiang Lianshan died. I heard there’s also an important treasure for defying Heaven. Jiang Lianshan hid it with Jiang Gautama. While Jiang Lianshan was alive, Jiang Gautama could not use it. Now, however…” Mister Starless frowned.

“Why store them with Jiang Gautama?” Gu Hai asked in confusion.

“That Heaven-defying treasure’s aura is too intense. Jiang Lianshan feared it would startle the Six Paths Immortal. If he had to suppress it alone, he would have to split his attention and could not deal with other things. That was why he allied with Jiang Gautama. Heavenly Gautama and Mortal Gautama would help Jiang Lianshan suppress the aura of the Heaven-defying treasure. Of course, at first, it was just suppressing and not using. Now that Jiang Lianshan is dead, perhaps they can use this Heaven-defying treasure,” Mister Starless said gravely.

“Divine blood replication? There’s also a Heaven-defying treasure? Jiang Lianshan prepared them to defy Heaven in the future?” Gu Hai narrowed his eyes slightly.

“Yes. Heavenly Gautama and Mortal Gautama are also in the second layer of hell. So, Father, you have to be careful,” Mister Starless explained.

Gu Hai finally understood why Long Zhanguo had said Jiang Gautama’s Spirit Mountain Holy Land was just the tip of the iceberg.

Heavenly Gautama and Mortal Gautama? These two were each a complete spiritual soul, equal to the combined good and evil Gautamas. Next was Jiang Lianshan’s hidden Heaven-defying treasure and the divine blood replication. The divine blood replication could already replicate five Jiang Gautamas. Could the Heaven-defying treasure be even more powerful?

“This is also why Ji Dihong won the fight over the Divine Dao Shaman Canon yet still refused to clash head-on with Jiang Gautama. Father, you must be careful. If it is not feasible, never force it. Take the long approach with Mother’s matter,” Mister Starless advised earnestly.