Too fast!
Too sudden!
And too insane!
It was so fast that Qing Ning couldn't react at all.
So sudden that Qing Ning's thoughts froze, her body like a statue, mouth agape in shock.
So insane that it left her at a loss, her face filled with horror, her eyes brimming with countless terrors.
Yes!
Terror.
She didn't know who this person was.
She didn't even know his name, let alone his cultivation level. She only knew he was somewhat strange, so strange that he didn't emit the slightest trace of spiritual aura.
But she never could have imagined that this person's physical body was so formidable—so formidable that a single slap made Huang Yao bleed from all seven orifices, and a single kick sent Li Qiandong vomiting blood from his mouth and nose, unable to even stand up.
When Mu Zibai attacked, his flying sword was casually wiped out by him, and with one slap, Mu Zibai instantly lost all combat ability.
Too formidable, too brutal!
This was the foremost Head of the Twelve Courts of Yunxia Sect! And in less than three breaths, he had been beaten unconscious, injured, and defeated by a few slaps. What made Qing Ning even more unable to believe it was that the Color Spirit Guard Mu Zibai had summoned...
...had also been shattered by a single slap from him.
That was a Color Spirit Guard!
The Color Spirit of a colorful foundation!
With such a Color Spirit Guard from a colorful foundation, even a True Being who had established their true body couldn't do anything to Mu Zibai.
That was truly the case.
Qing Ning had established her true body and had sparred with Mu Zibai before. She knew very well how impregnable Mu Zibai's Color Spirit Guard was.
But now...
Now it had been shattered by a single slap from this person. Even more terrifying was that this person hadn't used any spiritual power at all—just the strength of his physical body...
If she hadn't seen it with her own eyes, Qing Ning would never have believed it. Even now, witnessing it firsthand, she still couldn't accept this fact.
At this moment.
That person.
That man in white robes stood quietly before her, like a towering peak, like a solitary sword. His cold, handsome face held an indifferent expression. His pair of dark, deep eyes were calm—calm as an abyss, as a silent sea. No joy, no sorrow, no worry, no care. Nothing at all, as if everything that had happened here had nothing to do with him.
He seemed more like an outsider.
And beneath his feet, Mu Zibai—who moments ago had been like an elegant young master, proud and self-assured—now lay on the ground like a dead dog, naked, head bloodied. Using all his strength, he slowly sat up, lifted his head, his face deathly pale, his expression terrified as if he had seen a ghost. He opened his mouth, wanting to say something, but was choked by blood, coughing incessantly.
"I am...
I am...
from the Mu family. My father is Mu..." Before he could finish, Gu Qingfeng kicked him.
"You!
How dare you touch me...
My father...
My master..." Thud!
Another kick.
Climbing up from the ground, Mu Zibai was afraid. Truly afraid. Looking at Qing Ning in the distance, he cried out, "Qing Ning...
save me..." Before his words faded, another kick landed.
For every sentence he spoke, Gu Qingfeng delivered a kick.
"Fellow Daoist...
he...
he knows he was wrong...
please...
please let him go."
True Being Qing Ning pleaded for mercy. Even though she knew all of this was Mu Zibai's own fault, Mu Zibai was, after all, her friend. She couldn't stand by and watch him die.
"Wrong?"
Gu Qingfeng shook his head, his expression blank, his tone indifferent as he replied, "He wasn't wrong. Not knowing gratitude only shows poor character—that's not a mistake. Competing for ownerless items is understandable—that's not a mistake either."
As he spoke, Gu Qingfeng kicked him again.
Seeing that Mu Zibai was already losing consciousness, Qing Ning begged, "Fellow Daoist...
I beg you, forgive him. He really knows he was wrong."
"Whether he knows he was wrong or not, I don't know, nor do I want to know."
Gu Qingfeng kicked him again, saying lightly, "As for forgiveness, that's up to the heavens. It has nothing to do with me. I'm just doing what I want to do, what I should do."
Gu Qingfeng was not a Bodhisattva; he had no compassionate heart.
He was not a Buddha; he possessed no kindness.
Nor was he a sage; he did not practice tolerance or forgiveness.
He was just a person. An ordinary person. From the day he began cultivating five hundred years ago, he had thought this way. Even after later ascending to the peerless throne of Immortals and Demons, and even to the Nine Nethers Emperor's throne, he still considered himself an ordinary person. He had never changed, not in the past, not now, and not in the future.
He was simple. He was pure.
If you hit me, I hit you back.
If you try to kill me, I kill you.
If you make me feel depressed and unhappy, then I'll beat you until I feel better. It doesn't matter if you're a man or a woman, old or young. It's all the same.
Only after kicking Mu Zibai until he was covered in wounds and completely unconscious did Gu Qingfeng stop.
He then began picking up the fragments of Purple-Gold Heavenly Shining Crystal again.
After collecting them, he opened a Stone Gate and left.
Just like that, he left?
Yes.
Just like that, he left.
It was only long after Gu Qingfeng had departed that Qing Ning, still standing there dazed, managed to regain her senses. In all her life, she had never encountered such a bizarre and incomprehensible person. Looking at Mu Zibai, Huang Yao, and Li Qiandong—all three paralyzed and unconscious on the ground—Qing Ning didn't dwell on it further and hurriedly began treating their injuries.
...
Cultivation.
What is being cultivated?
And what path is being walked?
In the past, Gu Qingfeng believed that cultivation meant cultivating immortality, walking the Dao, cultivating the Immortal Dao.
After ascending to the throne of the Immortal Dao, he believed that this so-called cultivating immortality and walking the Dao was complete nonsense.
Later, he believed that cultivation meant cultivating demonhood, walking the Dao, cultivating the Demonic Dao.
After ascending to the throne of the Demonic Dao, he believed that cultivating demonhood and walking the Dao was also nonsense.
Later still, he believed that cultivation meant cultivating the heavens, walking the Dao, cultivating the Heavenly Dao.
After ascending to the Nine Nethers Emperor's throne, he believed the Heavenly Dao was also nonsense.
Having experienced much, Gu Qingfeng pondered that all these—Immortal Dao, Demonic Dao, Heavenly Dao—were all nonsense. The only thing that wasn't nonsense was a Dao-heart.
That thing was the foundation.
Especially after being judged by the Immortal Dao, the Demonic Dao, and the Heavenly Dao, he was even more certain of this.
The Dao-heart Gu Qingfeng cultivated was simple and pure. It was called Great Freedom.
Do whatever feels free.
What is Great Freedom?
Be happy when you want to be happy, be angry when you want to be angry.
Laugh when there's something to celebrate, vent when there's anger to release.
That is Great Freedom.
Three little brats came looking for trouble, making him unhappy. After beating them up, his anger had mostly subsided. So, he continued wandering through the Cave Dwelling. Finding the last array eye of the Great Bright King Six-Seal, he collected the Purple-Gold Heavenly Shining Crystal fragments inside, then arrived at a hall.
This hall was no different from the others in the Cave Dwelling. However, Gu Qingfeng hesitated before a Stone Gate.
He knew that behind this Stone Gate was the strangest place in this Cave Dwelling. Earlier, when his divine sense had swept through every part of the Cave Dwelling, it was only the area behind this Stone Gate that he hadn't probed.
Gu Qingfeng reckoned that behind this Stone Gate lay the very foundation of this Cave Dwelling.
And he was almost certain—no, completely certain—that the monster sealed by the Great Bright King Six-Seal was likely hiding inside.
The mechanism on the Stone Gate was broken—forcibly destroyed. The Stone Gate was also slightly ajar. It must have been the work of that monster.
After a moment of contemplation, Gu Qingfeng opened the Stone Gate and walked in.