“Junior Brother Ding, this is just an ordinary image. Did you really think you could pick it up?”

At that moment, Bian Yifei glanced over and sneered.

However, his laughter froze in his throat.

His expression twisted from mockery to shock.

The white jade wine cup—which was clearly an illusion, impossible to touch—solidified the instant Gu Xiu’s fingers brushed against it. He lifted it effortlessly.

The moment it entered his hand, the ordinary cup erupted with blinding golden light.

Golden Immortal runes surged from the vessel, drilling into Gu Xiu’s body.

“This is… the Formation Disk recognizing its master!”

“How is this possible? Why couldn’t we pick it up?”

“Impossible!”

The three Azure Mystic disciples stood dumbfounded, jaws agape in disbelief.

But the impossible continued. The moment Gu Xiu claimed the cup, his figure vanished into thin air. Before the trio could react, a violent black tornado materialized, sweeping them away in an instant.

Gu Xiu was oblivious to their fate.

He stood upon a staircase paved with white jade. Each step radiated the profound Dao Rhyme of ten thousand things and a boundless Immortal majesty that made him feel utterly insignificant.

“Where is this…” Gu Xiu murmured, raising his head.

At the end of the heavenly steps, high above the Ninth Heaven, stood Heaven’s Gate!

The Ascending Immortal Ladder!

When a Mahayana Supreme Sovereign passes the Ascending Immortal Lightning Tribulation, Heaven’s Gate appears in the firmament, and the ladder descends. At this point, the cultivator is no longer a Supreme Sovereign, but an Ascending Immortal!

Once they cross the ladder and push open the gate, they ascend to true Immortality.

And at this very moment, at the end of the ladder, Heaven’s Gate was pushed halfway open.

Standing before the gate was a woman in a green skirt, holding a paper umbrella.

She gazed through the opening for a long moment.

Then, she turned around.

She began to walk down the heavenly steps.

The gate trembled violently. Boundless Immortal energy surged from behind it, trying to pull her back.

But the woman did not pause. Her eyes were calm as still water as she took step after step downward. With each step she took away from the gate, the jade stairs behind her shattered inch by inch, dissolving into dissipating Immortal energy.

She was abandoning ascension. The Ascending Immortal Ladder was collapsing into ruins.

The woman paid no heed to the destruction behind her. She walked until she stood before Gu Xiu.

Though she seemed unable to see him, she spoke toward his position. “Thank you for believing in me.”

“Is this the ‘hiding an Immortal’ you spoke of?” Gu Xiu asked.

“By abandoning ascension, the Heaven’s Gate collapses and the ladder shatters. Even an Immortal can no longer spy on this place.”

“All to wait for me?”

“Yes, and no.” The woman smiled faintly. “Do you know what I saw just now at that gate?”

Gu Xiu shook his head, then remembered she couldn’t see him. “What did you see?”

“I saw that the place was wonderful. But it lacked one thing.”

“What?”

“Him.”

Gu Xiu thought of the murals and the lingering image in the backyard. After a moment of silence, he asked, “You never waited for him?”

“Yes.”

“Is there no way? Even though you have ascended?”

“There is one way. Though it is not truly a way.”

“What is it?”

“Providence.”

Providence? Gu Xiu raised an eyebrow. He had suffered five hundred years of torment for this elusive concept, yet he still wasn’t sure if it truly existed.

“I did not step through the gate, so I cannot know if Providence is real,” the woman said. “But this is the only method I can think of.”

“You want my Providence?”

“No.” She shook her head. “I only hope a person with great Providence can help me do something.”

“How?”

“Take me…” She paused, then uttered four heavy words. “Grind my bones to dust and scatter my ashes!”

Gu Xiu froze.

“I pushed open half the gate,” she explained. “I did not gain eternal life, but I became indestructible. This indestructibility cannot be broken by ordinary means. Perhaps a person of Providence can try. I will set up a great formation here. The indestructible power within my ashes might… bring him back.”

“But even if he returns, you will no longer exist,” Gu Xiu said.

The woman fell silent for a long time. Finally, she smiled. “He said he would come back to drink my pine flower wine. I brewed many jars. If he can drink just one sip, I will be satisfied.”

Gu Xiu looked at her deeply. “I can help, but whether it will work…”

“If it works, I will be content.”

“And if it doesn’t?”

“If it doesn’t…” She tilted her head, glancing at the lonely little courtyard below the ladder. “The pine flower wine is yours.”

She had waited so long, just for him to return and drink a sip of wine. If he returned, she would be happy. If not, she would have no regrets.

Gu Xiu pondered for a long time before nodding. “I will fulfill your request.”

“Thank you.” She bowed slightly.

“Might I ask Senior’s name?” Gu Xiu asked.

“Name…” She seemed to think for a moment, then smiled. “I haven’t used it in years. But he liked to call me Rain Lotus.”

Gu Xiu nodded, committing the name to memory.

As they spoke, the ladder beneath their feet began to tremble violently, cracks spreading rapidly. The place was collapsing.

“Calling you here was partly to hide the Immortal, and partly to give you a gift,” Rain Lotus said, suddenly turning around.

She struck out, grabbing at the crumbling Heaven’s Gate.

A surge of terrifying Qi retaliated, attacking her. She snorted coldly, her eyes flashing with ice. She retracted her hand swiftly while blocking with her paper umbrella.

Boom!

A roar from the firmament slammed into the umbrella, shaking it violently.

Rain Lotus ignored it. Her hand was bloodied, but in her palm lay a piece of jade carved with supreme Immortal patterns.

A fragment of Heaven’s Gate!

She had torn it from the sky itself.

Without a word, she pointed the Heaven’s Gate Stone at Gu Xiu’s Dantian.

In an instant, the stone shot into his body, settling directly onto his second-layer Dao Platform. It faintly began to form the foundation of a third layer.

As the stone entered Gu Xiu, the terrifying attack on Rain Lotus ceased.

Blood trickled from the corner of her mouth, but she smiled, her spirit high. “Although I didn’t see him behind the gate, I did see some interesting things.”

“Heaven’s Gate separates Immortal from mortal. This stone has the same effect. Use it to forge your Dao Platform. I imagine it will make certain people stomp their feet in frustration.”

Hmm? Gu Xiu’s eyelids twitched. She had seen something specific behind the gate.

“Don’t ask. If I speak, it will bring heavenly calamity upon you. I can only remind you of one thing.”

“Immortals.”

“Can also be trampled upon!”

With that, the Ascending Immortal Ladder shattered completely.

A gentle force wrapped around Gu Xiu, carrying him away from the ruins and out of the realm.

At the same time, in another location…

Jiang Xun of the Azure Mystic Sacred Land, who had been comatose, suddenly snapped his eyes open.

His gaze was filled with venomous hatred.

He had an intuition.

He had been played!