The Bloodsha was forged back in the day when countless Chixiao People, led by their Monarch, offered their own Blood Spirits, fusing them into a body of sha, swearing an oath to the heavens, using blood as their gang—a fearless, dauntless Bloodsha Gang.
The Dragon-Elephant was a spirit conceived and nurtured from the Blood Spirit of the Great Treasury Dragon-Elephant back then—a fierce, violent, and savage Dragon-Elephant Spirit.
When the two combined, merging into one, the resulting Bloodsha Dragon-Elephant was absolutely an unrivaled, overwhelmingly domineering existence. As long as one possessed the Bloodsha Dragon-Elephant, their mind and spirit would never crumble; whether in will or spirit, they feared nothing.
And indeed, this was the truth.
For many years, no matter how formidable the pressure or how great the fortune they faced, relying on the Bloodsha Dragon-Elephant, the Chixiao People never feared. To this day, as long as a Chixiao person did not wish to yield, no one could force them to submit. If they so chose, even in death, they would never bow their heads.
But now...
The Chixiao People had not only yielded, they had bowed their heads, and they had even knelt.
The Bloodsha Dragon-Elephant, hailed as fearless, savage, and peerlessly domineering, had become so docile before Gu Qingfeng—docile as if seeing its master, filled with reverence and excitement.
Although there were many in the world who impersonated the Monarch, each one a master capable of reaching heaven and earth with vast supernatural powers, not a single one of them could make the Bloodsha Dragon-Elephant show reverence. Yes, not a single one. Whether those few from the Southern Sea or that one from the Yanluo Kingdom, none had ever made the Bloodsha Dragon-Elephant show such reverence, such excitement.
Why was it only before this white-robed man that it behaved this way?
It was well known that the Great Treasury Dragon-Elephant had only one master: the Chixiao Monarch, Gu Tianlang!
Under the vast heavens, only the Monarch could make the Dragon-Elephant Spirit show reverence.
Could it be... that the person before them was truly the Chixiao Monarch?
They did not believe it.
They did not know.
They could not be sure.
Tan Tong and the group of Chixiao People from the Mingyu Branch were so terrified they knelt on the ground, their bodies trembling uncontrollably. They kept telling themselves that the Chixiao Monarch was dead, that the person before them could not possibly be him, that there was nothing to fear.
Yet...
The reverence and excitement displayed by the Bloodsha Dragon-Elephant only made them more afraid, more terrified.
Just then, Gu Qingfeng's voice suddenly rang out.
"I don't want to say anything more than necessary. For the sake of past sentiments, I won't kill you today. I'll even leave your Nascent Soul Dharma Aspects intact. But..." Gu Qingfeng sat in his chair, head tilted back, eyes closed, fingers pressing against his forehead. His mood seemed quite foul, and his tone was no longer as light and casual as before; it had turned cold—a still, silent kind of cold. His words shifted: "You must hand over the Bloodsha Dragon-Elephant to me."
What!
Tan Tong and the other Chixiao People jolted violently. When they looked up, their faces were deathly pale, covered in cold sweat.
"I've said it before: there's nothing wrong with pursuing wealth and honor. There's nothing wrong with paying homage to the Immortal Court. But you cannot carry the Bloodsha Dragon-Elephant with you to pay homage to the Immortal Court. The Bloodsha was forged from the Blood Spirits of countless Chixiao brothers and the Great Treasury Dragon-Elephant. There's nothing wrong with looking forward, nothing wrong with not living in the past. But whether you look forward or forget the past, don't forget your roots. And never forget gratitude. That's the basic principle of being human."
Opening his eyes, he raised his cup and drank. Gu Qingfeng's expression softened considerably, no longer as darkly cold as before. His eyes also seemed less sharp. "I will not allow anyone to defile the Blood Spirit of the Great Treasury Dragon-Elephant, nor will I allow anyone to trample upon the dignity of those Chixiao brothers who died back then."
He paused, then added, "I've said what needed to be said, and even what didn't need saying. If you have even a shred of conscience left in your hearts, hand over the Bloodsha Dragon-Elephant yourselves. Do not let down the fact that the Great Treasury Dragon-Elephant died protecting you back then. Consider it giving an account to those fallen Chixiao brothers."
Hand over the Bloodsha Dragon-Elephant?
Tan Tong and the others would never do such a thing.
The Bloodsha Dragon-Elephant was crucial to them, long since inseparable from their very beings. To them, it was like their limbs—an indivisible part of themselves. Handing it over would undoubtedly be like giving up half their lives. They might still live afterward, and it might not hinder their cultivation, but in this Present-Ancient Era where fortunes flew everywhere, they simply could not imagine how they would survive without the protection of the Bloodsha Dragon-Elephant. How would they pursue so-called wealth and honor?
"I...
We...
We cannot hand over the Bloodsha...
The Bloodsha Dragon-Elephant."
Tan Tong forced down the fear in his heart, responding with a trembling voice. Though he took several deep breaths, trying to appear composed, his body still trembled uncontrollably.
"I'll say it one more time, and it's the last time. For the sake of past sentiments, I won't kill you today. However, you must hand over the Bloodsha Dragon-Elephant to me!"
Gu Qingfeng, who had just slightly calmed down, seemed to grow still and silent again. In an instant, it felt as if the entire world had sunk into an endless darkness filled with deathly silence and desolation—a feeling that evoked fear and terror from the depths of one's soul.
"You!
You...
Who are you!"
Tan Tong was so terrified his features began to contort, his mouth twitching, his body shaking violently. "Gu...
Gu Tianlang is dead...
He died three hundred years ago. You can't be him...
It's impossible...
Impossible..." As Tan Tong was speaking, Gu Qingfeng, who had been sitting in his chair, suddenly stood up. His indifferent expression turned cold and severe; his previously placid eyes became domineering and absolute. A rolling, frenzied killing intent flashed in them. He raised a hand, pointing at Tan Tong, and roared furiously, "Hand it over! Otherwise, I'll make sure you die without even a cycle of reincarnation today!"
Whoosh!
If Gu Qingfeng's earlier stillness had felt like the entire world sinking into an endless darkness of deathly silence and desolation...
Then now, with his furious roar, it was as if the sun had plummeted, dusk had fallen, and darkness came sweeping in, followed by the heavens cracking and the earth splitting.
Boom!
Within the grand hall, over a hundred elders of the Mountain-River Branch were shaken by this roar, collapsing to the ground and fainting. On Fengxu Mountain, tens of thousands of disciples suffered the same fate—all shaken rigid, falling unconscious.
Thud!
Old Man Fengxu, Grand Elder Luo Yi, Heng San, and over a dozen other Chixiao People from the Mountain-River Branch were also shaken to their knees. Liu Yue's mind scattered, her body going limp as she collapsed to the ground.
As for Tan Tong and the others from the Mingyu Branch, they were shaken until their flesh was mangled, rendered unrecognizable, lying in pools of blood, only breathing out but not in—already half-dead.
Awooo!
The roar of dragons and the fury of elephants sounded.
Perhaps sensing Gu Qingfeng's rage, thirty or forty Bloodsha Dragon-Elephants rushed out.
That's right!
Thirty or forty! Among them were not only the Bloodsha Dragon-Elephants of Tan Tong and the over ten Chixiao People from the Mingyu Branch, but also those of Old Man Fengxu and the over ten Chixiao People from the Mountain-River Branch. Even the one within Liu Yue, passed down to her by her grandfather, was uncontrollably forced out from her body.
Awooo!
After the thirty or forty Bloodsha Dragon-Elephants rushed out, they tossed their heads within the grand hall, emitting roars of dragon-elephant fury.