The ten thousand years spent roaming the Great Desolate had not only made Huode increasingly confident and satisfied his self-esteem like never before, but also made him feel life was more and more interesting as he lived on.
Thus,
Huode became complacent.
He swelled with pride.
He pondered that even if there was still a certain gap between himself and Gu Qingfeng, that gap definitely wouldn't be too large. If luck was good, perhaps it wasn't impossible to reclaim the self-esteem he had lost to Gu Qingfeng back in the day.
However,
Ever since accidentally encountering Gu Qingfeng on the Xuantian Vessel, the longer he spent in contact with him, the more Huode discovered that Gu Qingfeng's existence was unfathomably profound, and the gap between them was simply unimaginable.
Huode finally realized that the self-esteem he had lost to Gu Qingfeng back then probably had no hope of being recovered in this lifetime. He accepted it, he admitted defeat, he resigned himself to fate, and he no longer hoped to reclaim that damnable self-esteem from Gu Qingfeng.
He figured that if he kept struggling, not only would he fail to recover the self-esteem lost back then, but it was also unknown whether the self-esteem he had painstakingly rebuilt over ten thousand years could even be maintained in front of Gu Qingfeng.
Back then, he had been so demoralized by Gu Qingfeng's blows that his spirit nearly collapsed. Having experienced it once, Huode had no desire to go through it a second time.
Truth be told,
Huode was not a competitive person by nature, nor was he someone who had to reclaim some self-esteem, much less someone who had to show off in front of Gu Qingfeng.
In the past, Huode might have been unable to swallow this grievance, feeling very unwilling and unconvinced.
He felt that everyone was human, all pure men with two shoulders carrying one head. Why could Gu Qingfeng act with reckless abandon in the Great Desolate, enjoying the finest food and drink every day, with so many beauties pining for him? The fame he had forged was so great that it not only shook the Three Thousand Great Daos, but was also known throughout the myriad realms of the heavens. He died, came back to life, died again, and even without any cultivation or destiny, he was still terrifyingly formidable.
And what about himself?
Toiling hard for most of his life, he ended up with nothing—no fame, no strength. The key point was that he was still a lonely old bachelor. If he didn't know Gu Qingfeng, it would be one thing, and this matter wouldn't have become a thorn in Huode's heart. But the problem was he had watched Gu Qingfeng grow up and understood him better than anyone else. Precisely because of this, Huode could not get over this hurdle no matter what, and he could never swallow this grievance, feeling that Heaven was truly unfair.
Of course,
That was only in the past.
Ever since learning that Gu Qingfeng was a being of Original Sin, Huode felt that Heaven was still fair, and that all living beings were equal. Although the Heavens had given Gu Qingfeng formidable power, they had also pushed him into a mysterious, unknown, and terrifying abyss of Original Sin. This Original Sin was both the target of all and something intolerable to Heaven and Earth.
Huode had once wondered: what if he were to walk Gu Qingfeng's path?
Surrounded by beauties, possessing immense strength, running rampant across Heaven and Earth—it sounded very impressive. But behind this impressiveness was struggling between life and death time and again, wavering between good and evil time and again, feeling guilt between Dao and virtue time and again, losing oneself between madness and insanity time and again.
Huode knew he simply couldn't bear it, couldn't withstand so many repeated bouts of pain and torment. If it were him, he would have collapsed long ago.
Huode also knew that the burden Gu Qingfeng carried was too heavy, so heavy it far exceeded imagination.
Even so, Gu Qingfeng still acted as if nothing was wrong, either drinking or sleeping, idling about leisurely and carefree. This couldn't help but make Huode admire him. While admiring him, he also felt deep worry for Gu Qingfeng in his heart. The reason he wanted to prove himself in front of Gu Qingfeng again and again wasn't because he felt Gu Qingfeng looked down on him, but purely because he wanted to know exactly how big the gap between them was, and whether he could be of help when the time came.
Unfortunately,
The gap was simply too vast.
So vast that Huode didn't know how to bridge such a huge gap.
Sighing mournfully, Huode secretly swore in his heart that he would definitely cultivate diligently in the future, striving to improve his own strength. That way, if this kid ever found himself in danger, even if he couldn't help with major matters, he could at least lend a hand with minor ones.
Suddenly,
Dazzling radiance bloomed in the distant sky. As the radiance flickered, it formed a pattern that looked like a banner. Immediately after, another pattern condensed and took shape. One pattern after another appeared in the air.
Both Gu Qingfeng and Huode knew that these patterns forming in the air were all Message Talisman Images.
In the Great Desolate,
Various grotto-heavens, blessed lands, and Xuantian secret realms, whether families or immortal realms, large or small forces, almost all possessed their own exclusive Message Talisman Images.
This thing was similar to a banner, serving as a symbol. Beyond that, it had an even more important function: to summon one's own people. Once a Message Talisman Image was activated, one's own people would definitely rush over upon seeing it.
Watching as seven or eight different Message Talisman Images appeared in the distant sky in a short time, Huode asked curiously, "Looks like they've discovered some treasure. This broken place is just an abandoned, barren realm. Forget spiritual energy, there isn't even a breath of turbid qi. What treasure could they possibly find?"
Inside the barren realm, everything was a grayish darkness. There was neither sun nor moon, nor stars, not even the natural world. It could be described as barren to the extreme, utterly lifeless and devoid of any vitality. It was impossible for any Heavenly Treasures to be nurtured here.
Gu Qingfeng rubbed his chin, also quite curious. "Let's go take a look."
After different Message Talisman Images appeared one after another in the dark sky, people from all directions rushed toward that area. A closer look revealed, good heavens, there were at least several thousand of them.
When Gu Qingfeng and Huode arrived, a group of people were darting about chaotically in the mountain forest, as if chasing something. They were all enveloped in immortal energy, holding immortal weapons, unleashing various immortal techniques and sword arts.
At this moment,
A violet-blue shadow was darting chaotically through the mountain forest at incredible speed. The violet-blue shadow looked over two meters long, resembling a fox, but it was no ordinary fox. It was a fox with three eyes and six tails.
"Good heavens!
It's actually a Three-Eyed, Six-Tailed Fox, and a Violet-Blue Shadow Fox at that!
No wonder so many people are fighting over it!"
Huode had, after all, roamed the Great Desolate for nearly ten thousand years. Although he hadn't made any great name for himself, he knew quite a bit about various Heavenly Treasures and rare, exotic beasts. He clearly understood that for Spirit Foxes, two tails made them a treasure, three tails made them a rarity, four tails were enough to earn the title of 'rare exotic beast,' and as for a six-tailed Spirit Fox, that was already a Great Desolate treasure.
Moreover, this Spirit Fox wasn't just a six-tailed one; it actually possessed three jade-green eyes. This was the legendary Violet-Blue Shadow Fox, not only of noble bloodline but also descended from an extraordinary ancestor!