After Han Dong left, Gu Qingfeng continued with his routine of drinking wine and basking in the sun. Ouyang Ye, bored out of her mind, repeatedly warned Gu Qingfeng to stay at the manor recently. After a mix of coaxing, deception, and threats, she finally settled down to enter seclusion, focusing on refining her beloved Cloud-Color Sword.
Of course.
To prevent Gu Qingfeng from leaving, Ouyang Ye activated every Formation she could before entering seclusion. Only after sealing the manor inside and out, layer upon layer, did the little girl feel satisfied enough to begin her secluded refinement.
As for Gu Qingfeng.
He simply went about his business as usual.
It wasn't that he couldn't leave; if he wanted to, how could these few small Formations possibly hold him?
The reason he didn't want to leave was quite simple.
That utterly evil and mysterious heart within his body had inexplicably become restless again.
His Purple Mansion was a world unto itself, like a miniature universe, filled with violet-azure flames.
At its center, that evil heart was beating violently, surrounded by a pervasive, malevolent aura.
Influenced by this evil aura, the Seed of Nature, which originally bloomed with boundless colorful spirits, also seemed to grow agitated, releasing an endless stream of life energy that grew purer and more sacred by the moment, like a fountainhead of life itself.
At the same time.
That originally lifeless, gray Lonely Star Tear also seemed affected by the evil aura, as if 'dead yet revived,' emitting a faint radiance, full of mystery and eeriness, terrifying like an eye of death.
Whoosh!
The Fire of the Nine Underworlds wantonly blazed, growing more vigorous and overbearing, as if declaring its hegemony to the special existences within the Purple Mansion.
Was the influence of the Evil Heart only this?
No.
If it were merely this, it wouldn't be enough to make Gu Qingfeng dare not act recklessly.
The truth was, after the Evil Heart suddenly fell into chaos, the endless Golden Cores within the acupoints throughout his body were also affected and began to swell, each Golden Core growing at an astonishing rate.
However.
This wasn't the most troublesome part. When the Evil Heart suddenly fell into chaos, his mind, for some unknown reason, was also affected.
Originally, his mind was as still and silent as a boundless dead sea; even if the sky collapsed, it wouldn't stir a single ripple. But now, the silent dead sea suddenly roared like a ferocious sea dragon, savage, violent, evil, and ferocious.
Why was this happening?
Gu Qingfeng did not know.
Even with five hundred years of cultivation, having successively ascended to the peerless Immortal Devil King's throne and the Nine Underworlds Emperor's seat, contending with the Three Thousand Great Daos, he still couldn't figure out what was going on.
He only knew that the Evil Heart was formed from the convergence of his Fire of the Nine Underworlds, the Seed of Nature, and that Lonely Star Tear—three unknown existences. To be precise, it contained both the incinerating aura of the Fire of the Nine Underworlds and the life energy of the Seed of Nature, as well as the deathly aura of that Lonely Star Tear.
Thinking back carefully, before this Evil Heart coalesced, that Lonely Star Tear had once experienced a violent upheaval, and that time it had also affected his mind.
Could it be that because the Evil Heart also contained deathly aura, its upheaval also affected his mind?
He wasn't sure, and he truly couldn't figure it out.
As the Evil Heart beat more and more fiercely, the influence on the Seed of Nature, the Lonely Star Tear, and his Fire of the Nine Underworlds grew increasingly intense.
This gave Gu Qingfeng quite a headache.
Back at the Yunxia Sect, when the Evil Heart first raged, he had no choice but to summon his Asura Killing Intent to suppress it.
This Asura Killing Intent was something Gu Qingfeng rarely summoned unless absolutely necessary, because it complemented his Avici Unending Evil Asura soul. In other words, once he summoned the Asura Killing Intent, his Avici Unending Evil Asura would inevitably be affected, and then...
Perhaps he could suppress the Evil Heart, but he would release an Evil Asura that would give him an even bigger headache.
That wasn't the main issue.
If luck was bad and he lost his mind, transforming into an Evil Asura, then things would really blow up.
But watching helplessly as the Evil Heart grew more and more violent, not suppressing it wasn't an option either. What was even more frustrating was that not only were the three existences—the Seed of Nature and the Lonely Star Tear—affected, but his endless Golden Cores were also severely impacted, swelling and circulating violently.
Each Golden Core, as if stimulated, was growing at an unbelievable speed.
At this rate, it wouldn't be long before they gestated Nascent Souls.
If they were just ordinary Golden Cores, it wouldn't matter, but his endless Golden Cores were all Supreme Ultimate Golden Cores.
These things were hailed as Golden Cores with the potential for True Destiny and the qualifications for Human King. One could imagine how powerful the Nascent Souls they gestated would be.
One was like this.
And Gu Qingfeng possessed an endless number of them.
The reason Gu Qingfeng had created this endless number of Supreme Ultimate Golden Cores was solely to guard against the Three Thousand Great Daos, and also to threaten and warn them. His meaning was clear: he wanted to tell the Three Thousand Great Daos, 'I won't provoke you, so you'd better not provoke me. Dare to mess with me, and I'll go inherit the True Destiny and then ascend to Human King.'
Threats were threats, warnings were warnings.
Gu Qingfeng had no interest in so-called inheriting True Destiny, and even less interest in becoming Human King.
Since Heaven and those Great Dao rulers hadn't passed judgment yet, he couldn't be bothered to stir up trouble.
Moreover, Gu Qingfeng understood the principle of a cornered beast fighting back. Those Great Dao rulers might tolerate his endless Supreme Ultimate Golden Cores, but that didn't mean they could tolerate endless Supreme Ultimate Nascent Souls. If he really pushed them into a corner, he wouldn't have an easy time either.
Time passed bit by bit.
Gu Qingfeng still didn't summon his Asura Killing Intent to suppress it. He simply observed silently, enduring the influence brought by the Evil Heart.
He wanted to see if he could withstand it without summoning the Asura Killing Intent for suppression.
He also wanted to see just how great this thing's influence was.
What he most wanted to know was what this thing, raging so inexplicably, actually wanted to do.
That night.
The moon was dark, the wind high.
Gu Qingfeng still lay reclined on the swing in the garden. His handsome face now grew increasingly pale, beads of sweat forming on his forehead. His eyes were closed, his expression seemingly calm, but his brows were slightly furrowed.
At this moment, his Purple Mansion was already in complete chaos.
The evil aura of the mysterious heart.
The incinerating aura of the Fire of the Nine Underworlds.
The life energy of the Seed of Nature.
The deathly aura of the Lonely Star Tear.
Four extreme, terrifying, different auras devoured, resisted, and fought each other, none willing to submit.
But their struggle was truly taking a heavy toll on Gu Qingfeng.
He picked up the wine pot and poured himself a cup. Just as he raised the cup, suddenly—crackle, pop—a series of crisp sounds rang out. The endless Supreme Ultimate Golden Cores throughout his body seemed about to break free from his various acupoints.
"Get back inside!"
Gu Qingfeng focused his will, then raised the cup and drank.