Dao Platforms.

Aside from the First Dao Platform—which is the root—every subsequent platform is formed by piling up mountains of resources.

Spiritual Qi and Pills are easy enough to assimilate. But when it comes to Heavenly and Earthly Treasures, the process becomes inefficient. A cultivator must use special techniques to refine these raw materials, extract their essence, and then guide that energy into the Dantian Qi Sea to build the platform.

This is common knowledge. It is the immutable law of cultivation.

Constructing a Foundation Establishment Dao Platform takes time. Growing it to its peak takes even longer. And the biggest bottleneck is the refining process.

Worse, it is wasteful.

During the extraction process, the “source” of the treasure inevitably leaks away. Some materials are born specifically for Artifact Forging; trying to convert them into pure cultivation essence results in a massive loss of energy.

This inefficiency has plagued cultivators throughout history. Even the lofty Supreme Venerables and the pampered prodigies of the Sacred Lands cannot escape this reality.

Gu Xiu had always followed the prescribed steps. He had walked the orthodox path.

Until now.

If a Dao Platform is built by absorbing materials… why can’t I just use Artifact Forging techniques to forge the platform directly?

If this worked, the construction speed would be exponential. More importantly, he could preserve 100% of the material’s source essence.

Gu Xiu wasn’t the first madman to think of this. History was littered with geniuses who had attempted this shortcut, only to fail miserably.

The reason was simple: Artifact Forging was just that—forging artifacts. The three stages of Melting, Fusing, and Awakening were designed to blend materials into a weapon, not to refine them into a state absorbable by a human Dantian. These were two parallel lines, destined never to cross.

But Gu Xiu was different.

He possessed the Divine Record of Artifact Forging.

In the past few days, the Book of No Regrets in his Dantian had fully absorbed the knowledge, transforming into the Book of Artifacts. While he couldn’t instantly master the entire book, he had completely mastered the introductory Divine Record.

And within that record lay a technique that defied mainstream logic.

“Perhaps… I can try this.”

Gu Xiu was a decisive man. Once the thought took root, he didn’t hesitate.

He tossed the chunk of Earth-Cold Iron Gold into the air. Supported by his Qi, the metal hovered before him at eye level.

Gu Xiu formed a seal with his left hand, channeling the technique from the Divine Record.

Hum.

The world in Gu Xiu’s eyes shifted.

The mundane metal block vanished, replaced by a dense cluster of flickering lights—white, cyan, and gold.

The Divine Record stated: All things are composed of Dust. Gather the Dust to give form; scatter the Dust to destroy the object. Refine the Dust, and you forge an Artifact!

These lights were the “Dust”—the fundamental source code of the material.

Gu Xiu raised his right hand high above his head, fingers curling around the handle of an invisible hammer.

“Shatter Dust!”

He brought his hand down.

CLANG!

A sound like metal striking metal rang out, though the Earth-Cold Iron Gold barely trembled.

But in Gu Xiu’s spirit vision, the result was catastrophic. Under the blow of the invisible hammer, the bonds holding the “Dust” together shattered. Countless motes of light erupted outward, trying to scatter into the void.

Gu Xiu didn’t give them the chance.

“Gather Dust!”

His left hand formed a new seal.

Instantly, the fleeing particles froze and reversed course. Instead of returning to the metal, they swirled in front of Gu Xiu like a swarm of obedient fireflies.

Gu Xiu struck three more times.

Clang! Clang! Clang!

When the last speck of light had been stripped away, he deactivated his spirit vision.

The Earth-Cold Iron Gold looked unchanged. Even a Spiritual Qi scan would show nothing amiss.

Gu Xiu reached out and gently squeezed the metal.

Crumble.

The rock-hard ore disintegrated instantly, turning into a pile of useless, grey-white sand that slipped through his fingers.

Dust scatters, and the object is destroyed.

Ignoring the pile of waste sand, Gu Xiu reactivated the technique. Before him, the harvested “Dust” floated like a miniature galaxy, shimmering with starlight. It was breathtaking.

In standard Artifact Forging, this would be the moment to “Condense Dust into Artifact.”

But Gu Xiu wasn’t making a sword. He was making a foundation.

His fingers danced, weaving a vortex of Qi. Guided by the suction force, the river of starlight flowed into his chest, diving straight into his Dantian Qi Sea.

Boom!

The moment the Dust entered, the Immortal Gate Stone—which had already triggered the “Material Harmony” resonance—acted like a starving beast. It devoured the energy voraciously.

As the Dust merged with the stone, the once stubborn, unyielding material turned docile. Gu Xiu barely had to guide it.

The Immortal Gate Stone began to evolve.

It stretched, flattened, and morphed, driven by an earth-shattering power.

Gu Xiu’s eyes lit up. He immediately dumped the entire contents of Niu Xifang’s stolen stash—hundreds of pounds of Earth-Cold Iron Gold—onto the floor.

He went to work.

Shatter Dust. Gather Dust. Absorb.

The speed was terrifying. Compared to the traditional method of slowly refining essence, this was like drinking directly from a firehose.

Inside his Dantian, the transformation accelerated.

Half a day later, the Immortal Gate Stone became a perfect square slab.

One day later, complex grid lines etched themselves onto the surface—vertical and horizontal, crossing like the streets of a divine city.

Two days later, an ancient Immortal Charm began to radiate from it.

By the third day…

The unassuming stone had vanished. In its place sat a magnificent Five Elements Immortal Chessboard.

A pedestal formed beneath it. On the four vertical walls of the platform, intricate relief sculptures manifested, depicting the primal forces of Metal, Wood, Water, Fire, and Earth.

It was an artifact. It was a foundation.

It radiated a pressure that was not just Immortal, but something… older. Something that carried the weight of the Great Dao, capable of severing the line between mortal and divine.

“Complete!”

Gu Xiu shouted.

The Five Elements Immortal Chessboard slammed down onto the second layer of his Dao Platform.

Thud!

The impact was silent, but his soul shook. Just like the first Indestructible Dao Platform, this third layer pulsed with an aura of eternity.

The Third Foundation Establishment Dao Platform… was forged!

The moment it settled, Gu Xiu’s Dantian Qi Sea—already vast as a starry ocean—exploded outward again. It expanded violently, as if even his infinite capacity was struggling to contain the weight of this single chessboard.

…

While Gu Xiu forged his path, the outside world descended into chaos.

The Celestial Gate, which had appeared sporadically before, now manifested as thousands of phantom images flickering madly across the sky.

The Central Continent, the Eastern Wasteland, the Northern Abyss, the Southern Borderlands, the West Desert…

Every corner of the world looked up in terror.

The sky seemed to boil. Powerful cultivators felt a primal dread, shivering as if a World-Ending Tribulation was imminent.

In the sacred halls of the Ancient Sects and Divine Dynasties, the Supreme Venerables—the strongest existences in this realm—stared at the heavens with furrowed brows.

They saw what the commoners could not.

The Celestial Gate wasn’t attacking. It was defending.

Every time the gate flickered, it was slamming shut against a microscopic crack in the void.

“The Celestial Gate stands guard, separating Immortal from Mortal,” a Supreme Venerable whispered, his voice trembling. “For it to act like this… are the Immortals of the Upper Realm trying to force their way down to destroy us?”

“There is an Immortal… who is enraged.”

“Did someone in this world pierce a hole in the sky? Who could have offended the Upper Realm to this degree?”

“This is the Celestial Gate Chaos,” another ancient voice declared, eyes burning with ambition. “The legendary Great Contention Era has arrived.”

“Pass down the order! The Sacred Land re-emerges today!”

“Our Divine Dynasty has waited five thousand years. The time to rise is now!”

The world would not sleep tonight.

Some cowered in fear; others rubbed their hands in eager anticipation. But everyone shared the same realization.

The Immortals were angry. The Gate was active.

The era of chaos and opportunity had begun.

Outside Falling Rain Valley, Shi Siling watched the sky with a pale face. She was a Peerless powerhouse, a being who stood at the apex of this world. Yet, beneath the flickering Celestial Gates, she felt as insignificant as an ant.

Suddenly, movement caught her eye.

Deep inside the valley, the phantom of the white jade butterfly—which had remained motionless for days—twitched.

It flapped its wings.

…

As the world shook and omens filled the sky, a figure walked up the steps of the Heaven-Asking Pavilion within the Azure Mystic Sacred Land.

His expression was terrifying. His face was covered in a layer of frost so cold it seemed to freeze the air around him.

He stepped into the hall and looked at the woman sitting there.

“Senior Sister,” he said, his voice dripping with suppressed violence.

“I want to ask you.”

“Gu Xiu…”

“Where is he hiding?”