After leaving the mausoleum, Gu Qingfeng followed behind Ouyang Ye while gazing at the surrounding scenery. This had once been his hometown; he faintly remembered it being a scattering of villages, but now it had transformed into a series of mountain ranges.
Whether it was due to the passage of history or the Calamity, he did not know.
Looking into the distance, many of the mountain ranges were shrouded in a faint layer of multicolored light. These were likely protective formations. Through the formations, he could vaguely make out ancient-looking manors perched on the mountainsides. Since the mountains had formations enveloping them, it was reasonable to assume there were spirit veins beneath them.
Gu Qingfeng knew that after the Calamity, as if the heavens and earth had been reborn, all things would surely recover. He just hadn't expected the recovery to be so vigorous, with even his once-barren hometown now giving birth to so many spirit veins.
As he walked, Ouyang Ye ahead suddenly stopped, turned around, and glared at Gu Qingfeng with displeasure. "Why are you following me!"
Gu Qingfeng pondered for a moment, then asked with a smile, "Little girl, are you a disciple of the Yunxia Sect?"
"What if I am?"
Clearly, because Gu Qingfeng had spoken ill of Lord Chixiao earlier, Ouyang Ye now regarded him with extreme distaste, her words saturated with intense anger.
"If that's the case, then the Elder Huode you mentioned in the mausoleum must be Elder Huode, right?"
"And then!"
Ouyang Ye's response remained cold.
"And then?" Gu Qingfeng raised an eyebrow slightly. "Little girl, here's the thing. I'm an old acquaintance of your Yunxia Sect's Elder Huode. Could you take me to see him?"
"Old acquaintance? Ha."
Upon hearing 'old acquaintance,' Ouyang Ye laughed. She asked with keen interest, "When exactly were you an 'old acquaintance' of Elder Huode?"
"When?" Gu Qingfeng thought carefully. The specific timeframe was a bit hazy. He replied, "A long time ago... roughly a few hundred years?"
Hearing 'a few hundred years,' Ouyang Ye couldn't help but chuckle. She crossed her arms and looked Gu Qingfeng up and down, laughing, "Judging by your appearance, you can't be more than twenty-something, can you?"
"Miss, since you are a cultivator, you should know that forming a Golden Core allows one to retain eternal youth."
"Oh, really? However... I can't sense any trace of a Golden Core aura from you. Forget Golden Core aura, I can't even feel the slightest wisp of Spiritual Power emanating from you. How dare you claim to be an expert who has formed a Golden Core?"
"My Cultivation Level is ruined..."
"Oh? How was it ruined? Tell me."
"That... is a bit complicated. It's hard to explain in a sentence or two!"
"Complicated? I think you just can't make up a story!" Ouyang Ye suddenly flared up, shouting angrily, "Do you really think I know nothing? It's true that forming a Golden Core grants eternal youth, but if the Golden Core is destroyed, even if you can save your life, the organs of your fleshly body will wither! You don't understand anything, yet you imitate others pretending to be a senior expert? You're a damned liar!"
"This..." Gu Qingfeng couldn't refute it, because that was indeed the truth. It was just that his situation was a bit special. He could only falsely claim he had met Elder Huode a few years ago.
But who would have thought that as soon as the words left his mouth, Ouyang Ye sneered, "Damned liar, next time before you try to scam someone, do your basic homework first! Elder Huode hasn't left the sect for nearly a dozen years. I warn you, earlier in the mausoleum you showed disrespect to the Monarch. I took pity on you and didn't take action. If you keep following me, don't blame this young lady for being impolite!"
Gu Qingfeng sighed inwardly, genuinely feeling a bit helpless.
He looked around. Mountain ranges were everywhere, and he truly couldn't remember where the Yunxia Sect was located.
Since this girl had already labeled him a fraud, Gu Qingfeng couldn't be bothered to argue further, figuring he'd ask someone else later.
"Honestly, it's been nearly a hundred years since the Calamity passed, yet those frauds haven't decreased. On the contrary, they've become more numerous. They either pretend to be senior experts injured in the Calamity or great powers who have reincarnated. They either claim to have lost all their cultivation or to have lost their memories after reincarnation..." Ouyang Ye quickened her pace. She had seen plenty of such liars and couldn't be bothered to deal with them. What surprised her was that the damned liar behind her was still following.
"How outrageous!"
Ouyang Ye's anger instantly flared. Without even looking, she flicked her fingers, sending a streak of light shooting toward him.
In her mind, that damned liar looked utterly weak and exhausted. Receiving this wisp of her Spiritual Power would surely send him rolling on the ground in pain. But to her astonishment, when her wisp of Spiritual Power shot over, that damned liar just gave a light wave of his hand, and then...
And then there was no 'then'...
Her wisp of Spiritual Power inexplicably dissipated.
How was that possible!
Ouyang Ye wondered if her eyes were playing tricks on her. Unconvinced, she flicked out another streak of Spiritual Power light. To her shock, that damned liar once again merely waved his hand, and her streak of light instantly dispersed and vanished!
How could this be!
This damned liar didn't have the slightest fluctuation of Spiritual Power emanating from his entire body; he wasn't a cultivator at all. Moreover, his aura was so weak. How could a casual wave of his hand cause the Spiritual Power she had summoned to dissipate!
Gu Qingfeng looked at her, a playful smile on his lips. "Miss, I haven't provoked you, have I? Why are you attacking me?"
"Damned liar, who are you!" Ouyang Ye demanded, both startled and suspicious.
Gu Qingfeng shrugged, smiling faintly. "I already told you earlier, but you didn't believe me."
"You damned liar! This young lady wants to see what skills you have today!"
With a cold snort, Ouyang Ye leaped into the air. Like a bolt of lightning, she arrived in an instant, sweeping a leg toward him. Opposite her, Gu Qingfeng neither dodged nor evaded, standing right where he was. As Ouyang Ye attacked, he gently raised his arm. *Slap!* He caught Ouyang Ye's ankle, chuckling, "Little sister, your cultivation's not bad..."
With that, Gu Qingfeng casually let go. Ouyang Ye retreated, standing there stunned, her pretty face filled with shock. She simply couldn't understand how this stinky beggar before her, who clearly had no cultivation, could so effortlessly block her Thunderbolt Leg technique.
Without further thought, Ouyang Ye continued her assault, unleashing various martial arts techniques one after another. Yet, it was useless. No matter how profound the moves she executed or how powerful the Spiritual Power they contained, Gu Qingfeng effortlessly deflected them all with casual gestures.
Gu Qingfeng watched her, a teasing smile curling at the corner of his mouth. "Your martial arts attainment is also quite decent."
"How infuriating!"
Ouyang Ye leaped again, throwing punches. But the more she fought, the more alarmed she became; the more she fought, the more incredulous she felt inside. She sensed that this stinky beggar was like a towering mountain; even if she exerted all her strength, she couldn't budge him an inch!
Gu Qingfeng, who looked utterly weak and disheveled, stood there lazily, using one hand to casually deal with Ouyang Ye's attacks. He laughed, "Miss, isn't that enough? Even if I really were a liar, you don't need to be so relentless, do you? If you keep attacking, I'll have to fight back..."
"What can you do even if you fight back!" Ouyang Ye refused to yield.
Indeed!
Since childhood, she had been exceptionally gifted, with outstanding aptitude and remarkable comprehension. In everyone's eyes, she was a heaven-favored prodigy. Whether in cultivation or martial arts attainment, she was among the best of her peers. Today, she couldn't even handle a stinky beggar who looked utterly weak. How could she accept this!
With an angry shout, the powerful Spiritual Power within her body circulated, and azure light erupted wildly around her. As her hands danced chaotically, surging Spiritual Power swept toward him like a tidal wave.
Gu Qingfeng shook his head, feeling a tad helpless. As he raised his arm, he threw a punch!
With a thunderous boom, the overwhelming force Ouyang Ye had unleashed instantly collapsed and vanished. She grunted, her entire body sent staggering backward. She retreated more than ten meters before finally steadying herself, staring at Gu Qingfeng in utter terror and shock. "How... how is your physical strength so formidable!"
Seeing the girl's utterly horrified expression, Gu Qingfeng chuckled happily, joking, "Can't help it. Who told me I was born with Heaven-Given Strength?"
Heaven-Given Strength?
Ouyang Ye stared at him, her heart filled with both shock and suspicion. She had once heard elders from her sect mention that some people with special constitutions, due to their extraordinary bones, possessed unimaginable strength from birth. But she had only heard about it and never encountered it. Could it be that this stinky beggar before her was the legendary possessor of Heaven-Given Strength?
"Who exactly are you?" Ouyang Ye frowned deeply, her gaze fixed intently on this disheveled-looking stinky beggar before her. No matter how she thought about it, she couldn't figure out why this fellow's physical body was so strong. Could he truly be born with Heaven-Given Strength? No!
That couldn't be possible. If he possessed Heaven-Given Strength, he must have a precious constitution. And if he had a precious constitution, he would surely be a heaven-favored prodigy. Yet this fellow, with his disheveled hair and wretched appearance, didn't look at all like the legendary possessor of a precious constitution.
"Who am I? That's a rather complicated question."
Gu Qingfeng casually plucked a wild fruit from a nearby tree and tasted it. Perhaps finding the flavor agreeable, he plucked a few more, replying, "How should I put it, little sister? You could say there's a bit of connection between us."
"Cut the nonsense! Don't flatter yourself! This young lady has no connection with a damned liar like you!"
"Little sister, to tell you the truth, I was once a disciple of your Yunxia Sect too. Well... 'disciple' isn't quite accurate. When I sought apprenticeship back then, your Yunxia Sect considered my aptitude poor and my spiritual root lacking, so they didn't accept me... They wouldn't even let me be an outer sect disciple. I begged and pleaded, and seeing my pitiful state, they finally let me work as a laborer for a while. Later, I was even expelled by your Yunxia Sect."
The reason Gu Qingfeng remembered the Yunxia Sect so vividly was precisely because of that rejection. It made him realize for the first time in his life that innate differences existed between people, and he experienced firsthand the unfairness of the cultivation path—the so-called aptitude and spiritual root.
"Really?" Ouyang Ye was somewhat skeptical, but only skeptical. After all, the Yunxia Sect had many disciples, and she didn't know them all, let alone a mere laborer. She asked, "Why were you expelled when you were a laborer at our Yunxia Sect?"