Above the heavens, dark clouds gathered, churning like raging waves in an endless torrent, with flashes of lightning and peals of thunder within, like azure dragons roaring in a furious sea.
This was the Heavenly Might, and also the Heavenly Authority.
The Heavenly Might was vast, the Heavenly Authority overbearing.
Boom—Crack!
The sound of Heavenly Thunder rang out, piercing through heaven and earth, shaking the myriad realms of the Great Wasteland, shaking all living beings, and shaking Gu Qingfeng who stood there.
"Don't think this puny sound of Heavenly Thunder can intimidate me!"
In mid-air, Gu Qingfeng swept his furious gaze around and roared: "Let me tell you, even if the Sacred Bell were to ring today, it wouldn't affect me in the slightest!"
As his words fell, Gu Qingfeng shook his body. In an instant, radiance bloomed like a flower of life, and a vast breath of life erupted forth.
Life radiance!
Life radiance that blotted out the sky and covered the earth!
Life force.
Boundless life force.
Life!
An endless stream of life.
The originally deathly silent Lingluo Realm transformed in an instant, as if spring had returned to the earth and all things revived—a truly miraculous sight.
Everyone could feel the sacred life present here, whether it was the Ancestral Patriarchs lurking in the shadows or those hiding in various worlds—none were exceptions.
On Blackwater Mountain, the Old Beggar excitedly stood up from his chair. Within his shocked expression, his eyes were filled with disbelief, and even the cup of Dragon Cauldron fine wine in his hand seemed to tremble with excitement.
"How is this possible!
This kid actually…
Has he even…
Even comprehended the Path of Life?"
The Path of Darkness was a Forbidden Great Dao, the Path of Silence was also a Forbidden Great Dao, the Path of Absolute, the Path of Slaughter—all were Forbidden Great Daos.
The Path of Death was the same, and the Path of Life was too.
Originally, Gu Qingfeng comprehending the four Forbidden Great Daos of Darkness, Silence, Absolute, and Slaughter had already shocked the Old Beggar immensely. He never expected Gu Qingfeng to have even comprehended the Path of Death—a taboo among taboos. And now, what made him even more unable to believe was that Gu Qingfeng had not only comprehended the Path of Death but also the Path of Life.
Others might not understand, but the Old Beggar who emerged from Guixu knew that the Path of Death and Path of Life weren't just Forbidden Great Daos—calling them taboos among taboos wasn't an exaggeration.
If Gu Qingfeng had only comprehended the Path of Death alone, it wouldn't have made the Old Beggar's hand holding the wine cup tremble with excitement. But yet Gu Qingfeng had comprehended both the Path of Death and the Path of Life. These two Forbidden Great Daos were polar opposites, like fire and water being incompatible, like the Nine Heavens and the Nine Nethers, like immortals/buddhas and demons/monsters, like darkness and light—they were destined natural enemies, part of the natural order of all things in heaven and earth.
Since ancient times, making fire and water coexist wasn't difficult.
But making yin and yang merge was as difficult as ascending to heaven.
Precisely because they were opposing natural enemies, throughout history, immortals remained immortals, and demons remained demons.
If one cultivated both immortal and demonic paths, merging yin and yang, it would be defying heaven, forcibly changing the natural order of all things in heaven and earth—most couldn't escape the fate of death.
This isn't to say that immortal and demonic cultivation couldn't coexist, or that yin and yang couldn't merge. Throughout history, there weren't none who successfully cultivated both immortal and demonic paths, nor those who touched both darkness and light. But looking across the history of the Great Wasteland through many eras, such heaven-defying individuals were absolutely few and far between.
However.
This was only regarding yin and yang.
The relationship between the Path of Death and the Path of Life was far more complex than yin and yang. Comprehending both the Path of Death and Path of Life was like reversing heaven and earth, confounding black and white, making time flow backward—the difficulty involved was something even the Old Beggar couldn't imagine.
He also couldn't understand how Gu Qingfeng had managed to comprehend both the Path of Life and the Path of Death, and how he managed to control both life and death.
In the Old Beggar's view, this was simply impossible.
"He…
How on earth did he do it?"
The Old Beggar's voice came through. Lady Blackwater also shook her head—clearly, she didn't know either.
The Old Beggar thought and thought, unable to make sense of it. Even if he racked his brains, it was useless. The more he thought, the more incredible it seemed; the more he thought, the more unbelievable it became.
Lady Blackwater said: "Don't speak. Just watch."
"Watch what?
Watch what, damn it? What is there left to watch?"
The Old Beggar said with a tone of bitter amusement: "This kid has a body full of Forbidden Great Daos. What do you want me to watch?
Watch those Ancestral Patriarchs continue testing him?
Test what, damn it? This kid has even comprehended both the damn Path of Life and Path of Death. How are they supposed to test him?"
"The Path of Absolute makes this kid undefeatable. Absolute force is indestructible—you can't block it, you can't defend against it. You attack him, but this kid's physical body is unbreakable—you can't assault it, you can't breach it. What are you supposed to fight with?
However you fight, you can't win."
"You can't defeat him, and you can't kill him either. He's comprehended the Path of Death—he's already within the Great Dao of Death itself. He's already dead. A dead person—how are you supposed to make him die again? You simply have no way to make a dead person die a second time."
"And now it's even better—this kid has also comprehended the Path of Life. Infinite life force, endless life, an unceasing stream. To put it bluntly, even if those Ancestral Patriarchs exhausted themselves to death today, they still wouldn't be able to test anything out. Even with attrition tactics, taking turns one by one, they still can't outlast him!"
"And…" The Old Beggar frowned and said: "Having watched this show for so long, the more I watch, the more something feels off. The more I watch, the more I feel this kid's existence isn't just mysterious and bizarre—his methods are also wicked to the extreme, and the schemes he plays are terrifyingly deep, one layer nesting another, calmly dragging these Ancestral Patriarchs into the quagmire."
Speaking at this point, the Old Beggar couldn't help but pity those Ancestral Patriarchs lurking in the shadows, and also felt frustrated for them, saying: "Can't kill him, can't defeat him in a fight—what to do? Fall back to the next best option: test him, slowly wear him down to death. But who knew he'd comprehend the Path of Life? Now they can't even wear him down."
Sighing, the Old Beggar continued: "Give up?
They've already lost so many people. Giving up would mean all previous efforts were wasted, and who knows when they'll get another opportunity as good as this. But if they don't give up, damn it, no one has any confidence in their hearts—no one knows what price they'll have to pay to test this kid's depths."
"Alas!!"
The Old Beggar picked up the Dragon Cauldron fine wine and took a gulp, saying: "First they played the trick of 'empty hands trying to get something for nothing' (trying to get something for nothing). Seeing they couldn't catch the wolf, they switched to 'you can't catch a wolf without risking the child.' Now they've thrown in a few children, and still haven't catch the wolf. This damn…"
"As long as they're willing to throw in children, they'll eventually catch the wolf."
Lady Blackwater said: "The question now is how many children these Ancestral Patriarchs are prepared to throw in to catch Emperor You, this wolf!"
"Throw in how many children?"
The Old Beggar said disdainfully: "Today, however many they throw in will die. This damn wolf is an abyssal wolf—however many children they throw in, damn it, they still won't fill that endless abyss."