"You owe quite a few debts in this world, kid."
Huode rubbed his chin and said, "Can you ever repay them all?"
"I'll do my best."
"Do your best?"
Huode shook his head, glanced at Gu Qingfeng, and said, "Some debts can be repaid, but some cannot be repaid, and some can never be cleared, especially those emotional debts you owe. What could you possibly use to repay them? Even if you were willing to repay, would they even accept it?"
"Whether they can be repaid or not, I must repay them. Whether they can be cleared or not, I must try..." Gu Qingfeng sighed deeply. "Whether I repay or not is my business. Whether they accept it or not is their business."
"You should weigh this carefully. Back when you were cultivating in this world, you truly let down far too many women..." At this point, Huode couldn't help but feel indignant on behalf of the women Gu Qingfeng had hurt. "Kid Gu, I've always wanted to ask you a question."
"What question?"
"Are you still as much of a philanderer as you were back then?"
Before he could finish speaking, Huode noticed Gu Qingfeng shooting him an unfriendly look, but he didn't mind at all. "What? Weren't you a philanderer back then?"
"I've explained to you many times, don't believe the rumors. Many things aren't as the outside world claims. I don't know which scoundrel fabricated such outrageous stories about me, even coming up with those 'Twenty-Four Counts of Philandering Heartbreak.' If I ever find out who did it, I won't let them off!" Just thinking about those rumors gave Gu Qingfeng a headache, especially the so-called Twenty-Four Counts of Philandering Heartbreak, which made him both angry and amused.
According to those Twenty-Four Counts, he was portrayed as a complete, unrepentant heartbreaker who roamed freely among flowers, a fickle scoundrel who seduced women only to abandon them without a second thought—irresponsible, lacking integrity, toying with emotions, playing with women... Every kind of filthy accusation was piled onto his head, making Gu Qingfeng wish he could find the rumor-monger and tear him to pieces.
"Even three-year-olds know about your little scandals. Stop trying to deny it."
"Forget it. I can't be bothered to explain to you."
"Even if some of those things back then were unintentional on your part, there's one point you can't deny, can you? They all started because of you. After you left back then, each of them was heartbroken. Some had drastic personality changes, others became depressed and melancholy. Some collapsed completely, others descended into madness... Even if you don't repay them, after all these years, you should at least go see them, visit them!"
Huode's words struck a chord with Gu Qingfeng.
Many things back then truly weren't done intentionally. Some were unintentional, some were unavoidable. There were coincidences, there was helplessness—it was all very complicated.
Just as Huode said, there was one point Gu Qingfeng had to admit: all these things started because of him. Whether it was intentional or unintentional, unavoidable or helpless, pursuing those distinctions now held no meaning.
The dusk faded, and night fell.
The starlight was brilliant, the night moon beautiful.
Gu Qingfeng gazed at the starry sky and the moon, drinking his wine, and said, "Do you still remember the name Feng Zhuyue?"
"What a stupid question!" Huode rolled his eyes again. "Feng Zhuyue is the renowned Queen of our Great Northwest Frontier. How could I forget her!"
During the Ancient Times Era, this world produced many legendary women of peerless elegance and talent, and Feng Zhuyue was one of them.
The Great Northwest Frontier had always been exceptionally chaotic since ancient times. It was a notorious border wasteland known to all, and a famous place of exile during the Ancient Times Era, filled with all kinds of evil cultivators, demons, monsters, and ghosts—a true melting pot of the three teachings and nine schools, where dragons and snakes mingled.
Back then, many major sects tried to establish dominance here, but all ended in failure.
Not just major sects—even the Immortal Court tried several times to subdue the Great Northwest, but also returned empty-handed.
Throughout the Ancient Times Era, it wasn't that no experts had ever ruled the Great Northwest, but such rule was always short-lived.
About five hundred years ago, an extraordinary prodigy emerged in the Great Northwest Frontier. In an era of scarce resources and thin spiritual energy, relying on her heaven-bestowed aptitude and peerless comprehension, she soared straight to the top. With her transcendent cultivation and strength, she challenged all the experts of the Great Northwest single-handedly, crushed the major sects of the frontier, subdued the demons of the Great Northwest with her Fenghua peerless charm, and made the ghosts of the frontier submit with her unparalleled power. She founded the Zhuyue Dynasty, established order in the frontier, and ruled the Great Northwest.
This prodigy was none other than Feng Zhuyue, the Queen of the Great Northwest Frontier, and one of the lords of the era recorded in the Ancient Annals of Storm and Clouds.
Gu Qingfeng murmured the name Feng Zhuyue, his thoughts seemingly drifting back over four hundred years.
Back then, he was just a brash young man. Because he had cultivated eighty-one Golden Cores, because his personality was too arrogant and unruly, and because he seized resources, killed, and plundered treasures, he was being hunted down by various major sects and forces.
Back then, Feng Zhuyue had not yet founded the Zhuyue Dynasty. She was still just the successor of the Yao Yue Palace in the Great Northwest, still just a newly risen prodigy of the Great Northwest Frontier.
Back then, Gu Qingfeng's whereabouts were exposed. He was surrounded and hunted by over a thousand experts from the ten major sects and forces of the Great Northwest Frontier. Although he fought his way out with his eighty-one Golden Cores, he was left on the verge of death. On his escape route, he encountered Feng Zhuyue.
She was the one who saved Gu Qingfeng and brought him back to Yao Yue Palace for treatment. To help him evade pursuit, Feng Zhuyue kept Gu Qingfeng by her side.
From then on, Gu Qingfeng lived under an assumed name, serving as an attendant to Feng Zhuyue in Yao Yue Palace.
He served for two years.
Two years wasn't particularly long, but it certainly wasn't short either. It was definitely enough time for a young man and woman to develop feelings for each other.
However, back then, it wasn't Gu Qingfeng who fell in love, but Feng Zhuyue.
Back then, although Gu Qingfeng had favorable feelings toward Feng Zhuyue, they were only that—favorable feelings. He knew his status was lowly and unworthy of Feng Zhuyue. Moreover, he was entangled in troubles and unwilling to drag others down. More importantly, back then, Gu Qingfeng had a promise with Hongxiu, so he naturally wouldn't form a Dao companion with another woman.
After learning of Feng Zhuyue's feelings back then, Gu Qingfeng prepared to leave.
However, fate played its tricks.
Gu Qingfeng's identity was exposed.
The result was predictable.
Experts from the major sects of the Great Northwest Frontier all came knocking, even surrounding Yao Yue Palace over the matter of Feng Zhuyue.
To avoid implicating Feng Zhuyue, Gu Qingfeng had no choice but to step forward and sever his own cultivation to settle the matter.
It was said that after that, Feng Zhuyue became depressed and melancholy, never leaving her quarters again. She went into seclusion for ten years. The first thing she did after emerging was to kill—slaughtering every single person who had hunted Gu Qingfeng back then, leaving none alive.
After emerging from seclusion, Feng Zhuyue went looking for Gu Qingfeng, and not just once.
Gu Qingfeng wasn't unaware at the time, but he kept hiding. Later, when he could hide no longer, he did something he still deeply regrets to this day.