Gu Qingfeng might lack compassion, but that didn't mean Huode was the same.
Perhaps it was his age, or perhaps it was all he had experienced, but Huode was unwilling to watch these arrogant, ignorant fools march to their deaths. That wasn't the important part. What mattered was that he didn't want Gu Qingfeng to unleash a massacre. This kid had only recently been judged by the heavens and stripped of everything. Now that he was finally enjoying some peace, it simply wasn't worth it, didn't make sense, and was completely unnecessary for him to stir up major trouble again because of these idiots.
Unfortunately, he knew Gu Qingfeng never thought that way.
This kid had never feared heaven or earth. His nature was aloof and solitary, his temper explosive. He would never compromise or swallow his pride. If it weren't for that, he wouldn't have been judged by the Immortals and Demons back in the day.
What was even more unfortunate was that while Huode sincerely wanted to persuade them, everyone just saw him as a joke.
After regulating their breathing, Elder Jin Yu of the Fenghui Sect took the lead in activating his message talisman. Immediately after, the representatives from the Three Caves and Five Mountains, along with the ten great elders who had recovered somewhat, also activated their talismans the moment they could, notifying their respective sect masters and ancestral patriarchs. One by one, they vowed to tear Gu Qingfeng to pieces.
Huode sighed. He had said all he should have said, and even things he shouldn't have. Since these people were determined to seek death, he couldn't be bothered to waste any more effort. After finishing a pouch of tobacco, Huode was just about to leave when suddenly, the peak of Liuren Mountain exploded. Immediately after, a figure shot out from the mountaintop.
It was an old man with disheveled hair, bloodstains on his clothes, looking utterly wretched. As he appeared, spiritual power surged wildly around him—a sign of a Golden Core with eighty-one circulations. He laughed uproariously as he charged toward them, arriving in an instant and landing atop the pavilion. Only then did everyone see clearly that the old man was none other than Old Master Shi Tong.
"Master?"
Seeing Old Master Shi Tong, Great Manor Lord Feihe immediately stood up. Renshen and the other disciples of Liuren Mountain also cried out as if seeing a lifeline, "Grandmaster! Quickly activate the guardian formation and slay that evil demon surnamed Gu!"
"Evil demon?
Hahaha!
Evil demon?"
Unbelievably, Old Master Shi Tong grinned and roared with laughter, acting completely deranged. His face twisted and contorted, seeming excited, angry, bewildered, and even letting out a pained roar.
In that instant.
Another figure shot out from the mountaintop. It was a young man.
Dressed in pristine white robes, his black hair casually draped over his shoulders, his cold, handsome face held an indifferent expression. His dark, profound eyes were as still and silent as a black hole's abyss.
It was none other than Gu Qingfeng!
Seeing Gu Qingfeng, everyone present paled in terror. Their barely stabilized minds were thrown into chaos once more, and the spiritual power they had just recovered through regulation scattered and vanished from fright.
When Gu Qingfeng appeared, it was as if dusk had fallen. The entire Liuren Mountain became shrouded in a somber, lifeless, and boundless silence.
He stood with his hands behind his back. Without any visible movement, he was already there.
His hand rose, his palm descended, striking directly onto the crown of Old Master Shi Tong's head. With a deafening crash, the pavilion collapsed. Old Master Shi Tong immediately sprayed blood from his nose and mouth, the spiritual power around him instantly dispersing. The old man was slammed down by Gu Qingfeng, collapsing into a seated position on the ground.
"You surnamed Gu!
How dare you injure my master! I'll fight you to the death!"
Whoosh!
Feihe's eyes turned crimson. Disregarding the fear in his heart, he madly circulated his Golden Core and charged forward.
At that moment.
Gu Qingfeng didn't even glance at him, simply sweeping his arm sideways. Feihe grunted, the spiritual power around him scattering as he was sent flying horizontally.
"Cough!
Cough!"
Feihe stood up, then vomited a mouthful of blood with a retch. Gu Qingfeng's move hadn't taken his life, but it had pulled him back from his loss of reason.
"You surnamed Gu! My master has no grievance or enmity with you! Why did you injure him!"
Everyone else faced Gu Qingfeng in utter silence, not daring to speak. In the entire Liuren Mountain, only Feihe stood forward. Renshen and the others simply didn't have the courage.
"Gu...
Gu Qingfeng, this is Old Master Shi Tong! You can't do this!"
Seeing Gu Qingfeng about to harm Old Master Shi Tong, Shui Yunruo also stepped forward, trying to persuade him. "I know you're not an evil demon. You have even less reason to harm Old Master Shi Tong."
Lan Feier also glared, shouting, "Gu Qingfeng!
Old Master Shi Tong is the Monarch's Teacher! If you kill him today, it won't just be the Chixiao people from the Fengyun and Huoyun branch halls who come later—it will be the entire world, all the Chixiao people under heaven! By then, even if you flee to the ends of the earth, there will be nowhere for you to hide!"
Gu Qingfeng paid them no heed. He didn't even spare them a glance. He simply stood with one hand behind his back, the other still pressed against the crown of Old Master Shi Tong's head.
The old master trembled violently, his face twitching and contorting as he struggled fiercely. Gu Qingfeng's five fingers moved, weaving spiritual incantations that condensed and manifested. Then, he performed some unknown technique on the old master, who gradually grew calm.
"This...
Kid Gu, what in the world are you doing?"
To be honest, when Huode saw Gu Qingfeng slam his palm onto the old master's head, he was also startled. But he knew the old master was Gu Qingfeng's benefactor, and Gu Qingfeng was someone who repaid kindness. He would absolutely not harm the old master. But if he wasn't harming him, then what exactly was this kid doing?
"Instead of staying in Yunxia Sect, what are you doing here?"
Gu Qingfeng's faint voice came. Huode grinned wryly and replied, "This old man was also invited by the old master to attend the banquet, alright? Who knew you'd be here, kid... But, Kid Gu, what exactly are you doing?"
"Someone planted a Gu Insect in the old master's Heart-Mind."
Heart-Mind?
Gu Insect?
Hearing this, Huode's heart skipped a beat. He knew the Heart-Mind was extremely important to every cultivator—as important as the brain itself. Once the Heart-Mind developed a problem, the divine sense would inevitably scatter, consciousness would be affected, and the spirit would become disordered. At that point, no matter how great one's abilities, they would be unusable.
"The old master has been kind and generous to others his whole life, broad-minded, always helping people. Even when you caused so much trouble back then, kid, he never held it against you. Which bastard was so vicious as to plant a Gu Insect in the old master's Heart-Mind?"
Gu Qingfeng shook his head, saying nothing.
Earlier, when he had taken action here, he had already noticed the Gu Insect in the old master's Heart-Mind beginning to act up. However, Gu Qingfeng hadn't intervened immediately. After all, it was a Gu Insect within the Heart-Mind—this wasn't something to be rushed. He needed to wait for the right moment to expel it. As for who exactly planted the Gu Insect in the old master's Heart-Mind, that was a question probably only the old master himself knew.
"You surnamed Gu!
Release my master at once!"
Feihe clenched his fists, eyes bloodshot, grinding his teeth in anxiety and fury.
"Feihe, didn't you hear just now?
Someone planted a Gu Insect in the old master's Heart-Mind. Kid Gu is helping the old master expel it."
"What a joke! Would he be so kind-hearted?"
Feihe originally hadn't believed Gu Qingfeng was an evil demon. However, now he had already mentally labeled Gu Qingfeng as one.
Right at that moment, an angry roar echoed from the sky.
"Who dares to be so bold as to touch our Huoyun branch hall's people!"