"Ah, right, speaking of the Nine Underworlds..." Gu Qingfeng rubbed his chin and asked, "Who is the current Nine Underworlds Emperor?
"Reporting to Great Master, since you, there has been no second Nine Underworlds Emperor. At least, none has appeared yet. We... haven't heard of one either."
"Is that so...
That is rather strange."
At the end of the Ancient Era, the Heavenly Dao descended its Judgment, judging all sins across the myriad realms.
Gu Qingfeng possessed the Peerless Immortal-Demon Throne, plus a Nine Underworlds Imperial Seal, and had even nearly become the Lord of Demons and Monsters. He could be said to be guilty of heinous crimes, the primary target of the Heavenly Dao's Judgment. With nowhere to hide, Gu Qingfeng could only withstand it head-on. After suffering the Heavenly Dao's Judgment, although he perished and was reborn, the Peerless Immortal-Demon Throne, the Nine Underworlds Imperial Seal, and his Destiny had all mysteriously vanished.
Back then, Gu Qingfeng didn't know so many secrets and truly believed the Judgment descending at the end of the Ancient Era was the Heavenly Dao judging all sins.
Only later did he gradually come to understand: the Judgment descending at the end of the Ancient Era was indeed the Heavenly Dao's Judgment, but the mastermind behind it was not the Heavenly Dao—it was Fate.
The so-called 'judging all sins' was merely an excuse. In reality, it was an opportunity to eliminate those who posed a threat to the impending new era. In other words, to eradicate those who might trigger the Great Calamity of the Current Era.
Such as those of Original Sin, those of Falsehood, those of No-Dao, those of Variables, and so on.
And Gu Qingfeng was both a person of Original Sin and a person of Falsehood, simultaneously a person of Variables, and could be considered half a person of No-Dao. He occupied almost every single threat category.
Therefore, even if he had lived honestly and dutifully during the Ancient Era, he would still have faced Judgment in the end.
Regarding this.
Gu Qingfeng was long accustomed to it. He held no resentment in his heart. Not only that, he could even somewhat understand the Heavenly Dao and Fate descending Judgment to purify heaven and earth. If it were him, he would also nip all threats in the bud. Back in the day, his modus operandi had always been: either don't act, or once you act, kill until it's utterly clean—precisely to prevent the families of those people from seeking revenge later. Since you kill, eradicate the threat completely, saving future trouble.
What damned good and evil, what damned morality, what damned masses of living beings—all nonsense.
If this was Gu Qingfeng's stance, how much more so for the Heavenly Dao and Fate?
To the Heavenly Dao and Fate, these masses of living beings were but fleeting clouds, mere ants.
As the saying goes: Heaven and earth are not benevolent, treating all things as straw dogs.
If it were otherwise, that old adage wouldn't have been passed down since antiquity.
The only thing that puzzled Gu Qingfeng was this: since the Heavenly Dao and Fate had stripped him of his Nine Underworlds Imperial Seal back then, given their nature, they would surely have descended a new Nine Underworlds Imperial Seal. Moreover, the candidate would undoubtedly be a pre-cultivated Tribulation-Bearer they had long prepared.
After all, the number of Heavenly Mandates was limited, and the Nine Underworlds Imperial Seal was one of the more significant ones among all Heavenly Mandates.
In the impending Great Calamity, the Heavenly Dao and Fate would naturally arrange for someone favorable to them to occupy this position first.
Hearing that even after ten thousand years of the Current Era, the Nine Underworlds Imperial Seal had still not appeared—this somewhat surprised Gu Qingfeng.
Could it be because of the Nine Underworlds Ancestral Flame?
Speaking of the Nine Underworlds Ancestral Flame, Gu Qingfeng couldn't help but want to laugh.
If asked what the greatest benefit he gained from attaining the Heavenly Mandate of the Nine Underworlds Imperial Seal was, the answer was definitely the Nine Underworlds Ancestral Flame.
Back then, the first thing he did after attaining the Nine Underworlds Imperial Seal was to refine the Nine Underworlds Ancestral Flame. After refining it, he then used the Nine Underworlds Ancestral Flame to frantically temper his physical body. He didn't stop until the vigorous Nine Underworlds Ancestral Flame was exhausted and his body was tempered to the point of being indistinguishable from the flame itself.
When the Heavenly Dao descended its Judgment, Gu Qingfeng realized the Heavenly Dao intended to strip him of his Heavenly Mandate. So he decided to go all the way and directly refined the seed of the Nine Underworlds Ancestral Flame. At the time, Gu Qingfeng thought: go ahead and take my Heavenly Mandate. I'll refine the seed of the Nine Underworlds Ancestral Flame. Even if another Nine Underworlds Imperial Seal emerges in the future, it will only be an Imperial Seal in name.
Because the Nine Underworlds Ancestral Flame was the source flame of the Nine Underworlds.
Without the source flame, only an empty-shell Nine Underworlds Imperial Seal would remain. It would have the name of a Heavenly Mandate, but not its substance.
Gu Qingfeng pondered that if, after ten thousand years of the Current Era, the Heavenly Dao and Fate still hadn't descended the Nine Underworlds Heavenly Mandate, it was most likely related to the seed of the Nine Underworlds Ancestral Flame.
As for whether the Nine Underworlds Ancestral Flame was still on his person.
To be honest.
Gu Qingfeng himself didn't know.
After the end of the Ancient Era, when he perished and was reborn in the mortal world, the seed of the Nine Underworlds Ancestral Flame seemed to still be with him. Later, the Great Natural Order forcibly gave him a Multicolored Seed. Then, when he encountered the Great Dao Turbulence, a Great Dao Seed descended. It was these three seeds that caused him to inexplicably forge a Taiji Golden Core, and later, relying on this Taiji Golden Core, he concocted the Myriad Beings' Floating Slaughter and the Myriad Phenomena' Worship.
Whether his Myriad Beings' Floating Slaughter and Myriad Phenomena' Worship even existed anymore, Gu Qingfeng didn't know. As for the seed of the Nine Underworlds Ancestral Flame from back then, that went without saying.
Often, some things couldn't be pondered too deeply.
The more you thought, the more terrifying it became.
For example, that Multicolored Seed the Great Natural Order had forcibly given him back then.
Gu Qingfeng hadn't known back then what kind of seed it truly was.
Even now, he still didn't know.
When the Great Natural Order forcibly gave him that Multicolored Seed, he thought the Great Natural Order had revived in the Current Era, wanting to contend with the other Great Daos, and thus sought to win him over.
Now, thinking about it carefully, the matter probably wasn't that simple.
Others might not know.
But Gu Qingfeng was aware: the Great Natural Order was one of the Three Thousand Great Daos, yet it did not belong to the Three Thousand Great Daos. In a sense, the Three Thousand Great Daos were all within the Great Natural Order, including the Heavenly Dao.
Some said the Great Natural Order was the embodiment of Chaos, the embodiment of Heaven and Earth, and the nurturer of the Three Thousand Great Daos.
Therefore, the ruler of the Great Natural Order had been revered since antiquity as the Mother of the Great Natural Order.
Unfortunately.
Since the Primordial Era, the Great Natural Order had been in a state of 'grave injury,' and its injuries grew increasingly severe. In the Primordial Era, spiritual energy was still abundant, rich, and relatively pure. But by the time of the Antiquity Era, the spiritual energy within the Great Natural Order had begun to gradually thin and become turbid. By the Ancient Era, the Great Natural Order was in a state of near-death coma, causing the myriad realms to become desolate. Forget about pure spiritual energy; even a mouthful of turbid spiritual energy was extremely rare.
As for why the Great Natural Order had been declining day by day.
Rumors were varied. Some said it was because the No-Dao Venerable of the No-Dao Era slaughtered all the Great Daos and even buried the sun, moon, heaven, and earth. Although heaven and earth were later reborn, the source of heaven and earth was left weak and feeble, causing the Great Natural Order to decline day by day.
Another rumor said that during the No-Dao Era, the Human Dao ruled the masses of living beings, and the Great Natural Order ruled heaven and earth.
Later, the Heavenly Dao and the Immortal Dao, in order to replace the Human Dao and the Great Natural Order, colluded. The Immortal Dao suppressed the Human Dao, replacing it to rule over all living beings. The Heavenly Dao suppressed the Great Natural Order, replacing it to rule over heaven and earth.