"Hahahaha!
'Just this is enough'—what a fine line that is."
Gu Qingfeng raised his cup with both hands and drained it in one go, using the gesture to express his admiration for Ren Tianxing. "Old Ren, I truly admire that indomitable, never-say-die spirit of yours. Really, your willpower is the most resolute I've ever seen. Truly remarkable. Come, let me toast you three more cups."
Gu Qingfeng wasn't just being polite; he genuinely admired Ren Tianxing's unyielding will. Once Ren Tianxing set his mind on something, no matter how difficult the path ahead, he would charge forward without a second thought, never stopping until death claimed him.
Gu Qingfeng was different.
He knew full well he lacked perseverance, let alone a will as firm as bedrock.
If he set his mind on something and the path ahead was fraught with difficulties, he might give it a try. But if he couldn't break through, he'd likely be too lazy to keep trying.
Ren Tianxing, on the other hand, would grit his teeth and charge ahead even if he couldn't break through, even if it meant leaving his life behind.
What left the deepest impression on Gu Qingfeng was that time they climbed the Celestial Ladder.
Back then, when Gu Qingfeng climbed the Celestial Ladder, he only made it halfway before he was as exhausted as a dog. Even though he still had the strength to continue, he simply couldn't be bothered, so he gave up.
It must be known that the Celestial Ladder tested not one's strength, nor one's cultivation realm, but one's Dao-heart.
During the ascent, one would encounter three calamities, six disasters, and twelve tribulations.
However.
That was only for ordinary people climbing the Celestial Ladder.
For those like Gu Qingfeng and Ren Tianxing, whose bodies were steeped in sin, ascending the ladder would bring down not just various tribulations, but also various judgments, various heavenly condemnations, and so on.
In other words, while an ordinary person might easily reach the first step of the Celestial Ladder, for a sinner, reaching that first step was not only fraught with difficulties but also carried the risk of death.
Gu Qingfeng still remembered clearly to this day: when he first set foot on the first step of the Celestial Ladder back then, heavens, judgments rained down from the sky in unison. He endured the judgments, gritted his teeth, and climbed for a while before simply giving up.
The sin upon Ren Tianxing might not have been as much as Gu Qingfeng's, but it was certainly no small amount. Climbing the Celestial Ladder also brought him various judgments. However, unlike Gu Qingfeng, Ren Tianxing, by the later stages of his ascent, had lost all his cultivation, exhausted all his fortune, was bleeding from all seven orifices, and in the end, even his physical body disintegrated. Yet he still did not give up. Even when his soul was on the verge of collapse, he continued to advance step by step up the ladder, relying solely on his indomitable will.
Witnessing that scene back then, Gu Qingfeng admired Ren Tianxing from the bottom of his heart.
"Brother Gu, you jest. In terms of mental fortitude or willpower, I, Ren, am far inferior to you."
Ren Tianxing said solemnly, "I have said before that Brother Gu is the person I admire most in my life, bar none. That statement still stands today."
"Oh ho, Old Ren, after all these years apart, when did you learn to speak such pretty words?"
Gu Qingfeng laughed heartily. "But these pretty words make me feel quite comfortable inside, hahaha!"
Beside them.
Huode, who had remained silent all this time, was utterly perplexed. He thought and thought but couldn't figure out what about Gu Qingfeng was worthy of such admiration from the renowned Weiyang Demon Emperor, who even claimed Gu Qingfeng was the person he admired most between heaven and earth.
Huode could be said to have watched Gu Qingfeng grow up; he knew him better than anyone. He was well aware of all this fellow's flaws: lazy and gluttonous, a habitual womanizer, lacking in both refinement and bearing. His speech was peppered with 'your mother' this and 'your grandfather' that. He had no proper posture whether standing or sitting, possessed neither a bodhisattva's compassion nor a hero's righteous spirit. Even if he wasn't utterly wicked, he was a thorough scoundrel and ruffian.
Apart from his mother's terrifying strength, there wasn't a single thing about this fellow worthy of admiration.
Especially when sitting next to Ren Tianxing, the contrast was stark.
Ren Tianxing sat upright in a cross-legged position, solemn and unsmiling. Setting aside his cultivation and fortune, and his imposing aura that commanded respect without anger, even a blind man could tell he was a formidable figure not to be trifled with.
In contrast, Gu Qingfeng was also sitting on the ground, but he was leaning against a large rock, legs crossed and shaking, head drooping, eyes narrowed to slits, munching on immortal pills and sipping his little cup of wine.
Who could imagine this fellow was the Nine Underworlds Emperor who once roamed heaven and earth and shook the Great Desolate in the Ancient Era? Anyone who didn't know would think he was some little hooligan from the mortal world.
In fact, Gu Qingfeng really was just such a person. Not only did Huode think so, but even Gu Qingfeng himself considered himself a hopelessly vulgar man.
Similarly.
Ren Tianxing also considered Gu Qingfeng a vulgar man.
However.
He felt the vulgarity on Gu Qingfeng was more a kind of free-spiritedness, a kind of fearlessness, a kind of carefree ease, a kind of unrestrained freedom.
Back when Gu Qingfeng climbed the Celestial Ladder, gave up halfway because he found it tiring, some said he lacked willpower.
But Ren Tianxing knew: Gu Qingfeng didn't lack willpower; he simply didn't want to contend. That was all.
If Gu Qingfeng wanted to contend, Ren Tianxing dared to assert that no one in the Ancient Era could contend with him.
Others might not know.
But Ren Tianxing knew perfectly well. In terms of willpower, he and Gu Qingfeng were worlds apart.
It was truly so.
Take, for example, the struggle for the Nine Underworlds Imperial Seal back then.
Ren Tianxing was also one of the many contenders for the seal back then. Not only that, he was the first to seize it. However, after seizing it, he gave it up. Not because he wanted to, but because he simply couldn't withstand the Nine Underworlds Ancestral Flame contained within the seal. Burned by the Nine Underworlds Ancestral Flame, his soul was nearly reduced to ashes. Moreover, there were many powerful experts participating in the struggle for the seal at the time.
Even if he seized it, he couldn't withstand the siege of so many experts.
However.
When Gu Qingfeng seized the Nine Underworlds Imperial Seal, he endured the burning of the Nine Underworlds Ancestral Flame and stubbornly refused to let go.
If that were all, it still wouldn't be enough to earn the profound admiration of a peerless Demon Emperor like Ren Tianxing. The truth was, after Gu Qingfeng seized the Nine Underworlds Imperial Seal back then, he not only endured the burning of the Ancestral Flame but also fought alone against numerous powerful experts.
Those who participated in the struggle for the Nine Underworlds Imperial Seal back then were all top experts of the Great Dao: this Patriarch, that Matriarch; this Great Lord, that Lady; this Demon Emperor or Monster King, that Fiend Emperor or Fiend King, and so on. Each possessed unfathomable strength.
To seize the seal from their hands was already no easy feat. Yet after Gu Qingfeng seized it, he fought alone against so many experts, truly earning Ren Tianxing's utmost admiration.
What Ren Tianxing admired most was that the first thing Gu Qingfeng did after seizing the Nine Underworlds Imperial Seal wasn't to flee, but to fuse with the seal on the spot.
To this day, Ren Tianxing still remembered clearly: back then, Gu Qingfeng fused with the Nine Underworlds Imperial Seal while simultaneously resisting the encirclement and suppression of numerous Great Dao experts. That battle was terrifying to the extreme; even recalling it now made Ren Tianxing's heart tremble with lingering fear.
Gu Qingfeng back then was simply too insane. By the end of the battle, many of the Great Dao experts were dead, destroyed, injured, or perished.
And Gu Qingfeng's own physical body and soul were both shattered in the fight, leaving only a wisp of spiritual willpower struggling to hold on.