"I've lived for the better part of my life, and it's not like I haven't heard about my own reputation. It's either 'heinous crimes fill the heavens' or 'wickedness of the highest order,' either 'sins that blot out the sky' or 'committing every evil imaginable.' I'm either the sinner of this Great Dao or the criminal of that Great Dao. 'Bringing calamity upon all living beings,' 'threatening heaven and earth'—every kind of evil name under the sun, whether deserved or not, I've shouldered them all."
Gu Qingfeng stood up, stretching lazily, and continued, "The funny thing is, you actually say that if I kill these little brats, it will damage my prestige?
I'd like to ask you, since I'm already a fellow whose sins blot out the sky, why the hell would I care about prestige or no prestige?"
Gu Qingfeng picked up the wine pot, poured himself a cup, and said, "This is like telling a demon who kills without blinking and treats life as worthless grass to cherish the grass in front of him. Have your heads been squeezed by a door, or have you all been cultivating for so many years only to have it all go to the dogs?"
"Are you all so desperate for fame you've gone mad?
Don't you even want your lives anymore?
Or do you really take me for some merciful Buddha?"
At this moment.
No one dared to speak.
Everyone was frozen in fear, at a loss for what to do.
Especially Mo Baiyu and the others.
They had originally thought that since Gu Qingfeng claimed to be You Di and had agreed to give them pointers, he would naturally show restraint and stop at the appropriate point. After all, the dignity of You Di was there; harming juniors like them would damage his prestige.
Only after hearing Gu Qingfeng's words did they realize that while the name You Di indeed shook the Great Desolate, his prestige was built entirely on heinous crimes—bloodthirsty brutality, killing without mercy, cold-blooded ruthlessness, treating life as worthless grass, and so on.
This made Lixin Xianzi really want to laugh out loud.
She laughed at the ignorance of Mo Baiyu and these people, and she laughed at the ridiculousness of the Immortal Dao seniors who followed Mo Baiyu and his ilk.
Who didn't know that You Di had overthrown the Immortal Court in the mortal realm back in the day, slaughtering countless immortals?
Who didn't know that You Di had burned the Nine Heavens Immortal Dao, leaving mountains of bones in the Nine Heavens? Who didn't know that when You Di went mad and demonic, he destroyed countless worlds and killed innumerable living beings? Who didn't know that in a fit of rage, You Di had gone on a killing spree, slaughtering his way through various heavenly domains, turning the Great Desolate into a river of blood, filling the Myriad Heavens and Worlds with wandering ghosts and lonely souls?
Faced with such a You Di whose sins blot out the sky, these ignorant fools actually hoped he would show restraint and stop at the appropriate point? Those old seniors following Mo Baiyu actually said that killing them would damage his prestige?
Was there anything more laughable in all heaven and earth?
Just as Gu Qingfeng had said, this was like telling a demon who kills without blinking and treats life as worthless grass to cherish the grass in front of him. Have your heads been squeezed by a door, or have you all been cultivating for so many years only to have it all go to the dogs?
What was this if not the greatest irony?
What was this if not the biggest joke!
Unfortunately.
Unfortunately, Mo Baiyu and these people had been so preoccupied earlier with how to make themselves famous that they completely forgot that You Di was not a heroic figure from the Ancient Era, but an evil overlord who burned the Nine Heavens, cleaved the firmament, turned the Great Desolate upside down, and ended the Ancient Era!
Only after hearing Gu Qingfeng speak did they realize this. Their once brimming confidence completely vanished like smoke in the wind. Each of them was scared witless, their faces ashen, barely able to stand steady.
"Although I never fight idle battles, since you've all brought things to this point today, I can't very well refuse you face. Want to make a name for yourselves?
Today, I'll grant your wish. I'll let you become truly famous once and for all."
"Of course, since you've called me 'Great Old Master,' I can't let you call me for nothing. Today, whatever abilities you have, use them all. Use as much as you're capable of. Today, I'll let you fight to your heart's content, fight until you're full, fight until you're stuffed. If you manage to kill me, that's your skill. Before you've had your fill of fighting, I guarantee I won't lift a hand in retaliation!"
"How about it?
That one 'Great Old Master' wasn't called in vain, was it?"
"Come on, don't just stand there!
Make your move."
Make a move?
Who dared make a move?
Every single person in the venue, without exception, dared not move. Mo Baiyu and the others, scared out of their wits, couldn't help but retreat.
"What's this? With just this much courage, you still want to make a name for yourselves?"
"Y-You Di, Great Old Master!"
Elder Jin, suppressing the fear in his heart, knelt down with a thud and said respectfully, "Bai Yu and the others are young and ignorant. They offended you in a moment of folly. We beg... we beg Great Old Master not to hold it against them!"
After saying this, he urgently ordered Mo Baiyu to kneel and apologize. Although Mo Baiyu was terrified inside, making him kneel to someone whose identity as You Di wasn't even confirmed was something he absolutely could not do.
Seeing Elder Jin kneel, Shangguan Feixing and the others were also frightened, but they didn't kneel like Elder Jin. Instead, they immediately positioned themselves protectively beside Upper Immortals like Fuying and Yunzhou, just in case.
Mo Baiyu shouted, "Everyone, don't be afraid! He can't possibly be You Di!
Absolutely impossible! If he really were You Di, the Three Thousand Great Daos would have exterminated him long ago. How could they allow him to run rampant here?"
Shangguan Dong also shouted, "That's right!
He's not You Di at all, just a fraud impersonating You Di!"
"I'll say it one more time. Today, whatever abilities you have, use them all. Since you've called me 'Great Old Master,' I'll let you fight your fill. Before you've had your fill, I guarantee I won't lift a hand in retaliation!"
Gu Qingfeng sat in his chair. His ordinary, unremarkable face showed neither joy nor anger, very plain, as plain as a blank sheet of paper, devoid of anything. He simply drank his wine by himself and said, "I'll count to three. After three counts, if no one has made a move, then I'll have to make my move."
"One!"
When Gu Qingfeng started counting, everyone panicked and kept retreating. Some, in their fear, had even begun to flee. But for some reason, when Gu Qingfeng counted the first number, everyone had a feeling—a feeling as if the originally clear sky suddenly lost its great sun, and the world plunged into darkness.
It really was that kind of feeling.
Yet strangely, there was no sun, no great sun, no light in the Great Desolate to begin with. They didn't know why, but it felt as if light had suddenly been lost, plunging them into endless darkness.
Even stranger was that everyone could still see clearly. The Myriad Heavens and Worlds and the Xuantian Secret Realms still floated in the Great Desolate like stars in the night sky, not disappearing.
Their eyes could still see, their spiritual sense could still detect, yet they felt as if the light within their inner world had been extinguished.
What kind of feeling was this?
No one knew.
They also didn't know where this feeling of lost light came from!
"Two!"
When Gu Qingfeng's second count fell, the people in the venue experienced another feeling.
A feeling of utter stillness within their inner world.
They could hear nothing.
Only deathly stillness, deathly silence.
The eeriness was that their ears could clearly still hear, and their spiritual sense could still detect.
They similarly didn't know where this feeling of silence came from.
"Three!"
When Gu Qingfeng counted to the third number, everyone felt as if the sky was collapsing and the earth was splitting, as if they were falling into an endless abyss.