Gu Qingfeng left.
Before departing, he had also robbed Chu Jiaohong clean of all her treasures, leaving not a single item behind. Everything that could be taken, and even things that shouldn't have been taken, were all snatched away.
Only Chu Jiaohong remained, sitting alone and despondent in the desolate ruins, her spirit utterly broken.
Regret?
To say she didn't regret it would be a lie.
To be honest.
If she hadn't run into Gu Qingfeng this time, with her own strength, she could have broken the Seal herself. It would have just meant waiting another hundred or eighty years. Since she had already been Sealed for so many years, she didn't mind waiting that extra century or so.
But fate had played a cruel joke on her.
It made her run into Gu Qingfeng.
The very man who had taken advantage of her Sealed state to humiliate her back then.
She knew Gu Qingfeng's identity was mysterious and his strength formidable.
Yes.
She knew.
She had even guessed he might be more mysterious and powerful than imagined.
Out of caution, initially, she hadn't planned to seek Gu Qingfeng's help, precisely fearing his strength might exceed expectations.
But when she discovered Gu Qingfeng was about to leave Yanluo, in the end, she couldn't hold back and decided to seek his help—or more accurately, to seek revenge on Gu Qingfeng for the humiliation he had inflicted upon her back then.
And the result?
Not only did she fail to get her revenge, but all the various treasures she had painstakingly accumulated over the years, and even the Fragment Crystal Core she had risked her life to snatch from the Wudao Mountain back then, were all robbed from her.
At this moment.
Chu Jiaohong felt the urge to cry.
She truly wanted to cry.
Because back then, it was precisely for snatching that Fragment Crystal Core that she had been Sealed. If not for the Fragment Crystal Core, she would never have been Sealed here for a hundred thousand years. But she didn't regret doing it. If given another chance, she would still snatch the Fragment Crystal Core.
During these hundred thousand years of being Sealed, she had done only one thing: studying the Fragment Crystal Core from the Wudao Era. She understood clearly, and had deeply experienced, the value of that Fragment Crystal Core. It was absolutely a key to unlocking the Wudao Era. Compared to that, being Sealed for a hundred thousand years was nothing.
Now the Fragment Crystal Core was gone.
In other words, she had been Sealed for a hundred thousand years for nothing.
Being Sealed for a hundred thousand years for the sake of the Fragment Crystal Core was one thing.
But now that the Fragment Crystal Core had been snatched away by someone else, being Sealed for a hundred thousand years for nothing—Chu Jiaohong simply could not accept such a tragic blow.
She was furious!
Her rage soared to the heavens!
She hated!
Hated to the very marrow of her bones!
But it was only rage, only hatred.
She could only be this angry, this resentful.
What else could she do?
Take revenge?
How could she take revenge?
That fellow's Physical Body was even more indestructible than indestructible. She had exerted all her strength and couldn't budge it an inch.
With what could she take revenge?
What made Chu Jiaohong feel even more terrified was the Great Spiritual Might that Gu Qingfeng had unleashed.
A single raised finger, a finger that extinguished the firmament, like the sun and moon falling, like twilight arriving, like darkness descending, like death enveloping everything.
Enveloped by such a terrifying, peerless Great Spiritual Might, forget about resisting, forget about enduring it—Chu Jiaohong's soul was still trembling from the fright even now. She had never seen such a horrifying Great Spiritual Might before. It was terrifying, truly like the judgment of doomsday, or like a dark verdict, like the silence of death, like the endless hells. It truly was, as Gu Qingfeng had said, the Twilight of the Gods.
What to do?
Chu Jiaohong didn't know what to do either.
She just sat slumped on the ground, her mind a complete blank.
...
On this day.
The sky was clear for ten thousand li, the wind gentle and the sun beautiful—the weather was exceptionally fine, just like Gu Qingfeng's mood, pleasant and joyful.
Fei Kui had long since driven the double-headed lion-tiger carriage away from the Kingdom of Yanluo and was now heading towards the most bustling Divine Land of this world.
Gu Qingfeng lay reclined inside the carriage, one leg crossed over the other, his head resting on a soft pillow. He sipped his wine, hummed a little tune, and played with a thumb ring in his hand.
The thumb ring was beautiful, its entire body a deep crimson, resembling a Vermilion Bird, vivid and lifelike.
This thumb ring was what he had snatched from Chu Jiaohong's hand. It was a storage thumb ring, containing countless treasures of all kinds. Gu Qingfeng gave it a rough look. All sorts of strange and exotic treasures were there, and they were all first-rate, top-notch items. Any single piece taken out would absolutely be a treasure among treasures. It was no exaggeration to say that the collection inside Chu Jiaohong's storage thumb ring might very well surpass the combined wealth of the so-called Four Great Families, Seven Great Sects, and the Yanluo royal family put together.
Gu Qingfeng reckoned that when the Wudao Mountain emerged in the early ancient era, this woman Chu Jiaohong must have made a fortune off the dead, taking advantage of the chaos to loot many fine treasures from various sects. Not to mention other things, Gu Qingfeng even found several texts belonging to the Shangqing Sect inside the ring, and there were even a few Immortal Court tokens from the damned Immortal Court.
If this were in the past, Gu Qingfeng would have been so happy he couldn't sleep, laughing even in his dreams.
But now.
He wasn't particularly interested in these miscellaneous items. For one, he had seen too many over the years. For another, he had no use for them himself.
His Physical Body had been tempered countless times by the Nine Nethers Ancestral Fire, fused with various fortunes, and had been Judged by various Judgments time and again. By now, its immunity had reached a monstrous level. No spiritual elixirs, no innate treasures, no fortunes could do anything for it.
It was absolutely hard enough, and absolutely strong enough.
Whatever immortal arts, whatever supernatural abilities, hitting his body felt like nothing at all. Even if a heavenly Dao Judgment descended, for Gu Qingfeng, it would be little more than an itch.
It sounded strong.
And in fact, it really was strong.
But precisely because his Physical Body was so powerful, even Gu Qingfeng himself couldn't shake it. If not for this, after awakening for so many years, he wouldn't have remained in such a weakened state.
It wasn't because he was lazy.
Nor was it because he wanted to be this way.
It was because he was also at a loss when it came to his own Physical Body. With his current abilities, if he was willing, he could heal anyone else's injuries no matter how severe. If someone lost their Physical Body, he could even reshape one for them. If someone lost their soul, he could even help reshape their soul.
But that only worked for others.
When it came to his own Physical Body.
All he could do was stare helplessly.
Take this, for instance.
Nine years ago, after his Nirvana rebirth in the Great Northwest, whether his cultivation was still there or not, he himself didn't know. It was said a Tai Chi Myriad Forms had gestated.
But now there was still no movement.
And then there were the Myriad Lives' Floating Slaughter, the Ancient Taboos—he had no damned idea what was going on with them either.
Oh well.
Gu Qingfeng was already used to it, and couldn't be bothered to tangle with them.
He didn't care either. Having already fused with the Original Sin Blood that even the Three Thousand Daos feared, why the hell would he care about those broken things?
What to do?
Nothing to do.
Take one step at a time, live one day at a time. When he couldn't walk anymore, he'd stop walking. When he couldn't live anymore, he'd stop living.
This had always been Gu Qingfeng's attitude towards survival.