Actually a Gentle Person — On Gu Changge's True Strength
Actually a Gentle Person — On Gu Changge’s True Strength
Meanwhile, outside the Ancestral Hall, Gu Lintian, who was standing guard for Gu Changge, suddenly sensed that something was off about the aura within the hall.
He had sealed off the fluctuations of this place.
Neither he nor anyone else could easily perceive what was happening inside the Nirvana Pool within the Ancestral Hall.
But at this moment, unease rose in his heart.
For a powerhouse of his level, such premonitions from the unseen were always the most accurate.
So, without time to think, Gu Lintian swept his sleeve and immediately opened the doors of the Ancestral Hall.
But before he could even step inside,
a surging wave of Demonic Energy rushed toward him, and his expression couldn’t help but change.
“Not good!”
The thing he feared most had indeed happened. The Nirvana Pool contained countless treasures of creation, which had caused Gu Changge’s Demonic Heart to undergo another transformation, thereby feeding his Demonic Energy.
But clearly, he was still half a step too late.
Judging from the terrifying Demonic Energy within, this transformation was likely a calamity rather than a blessing for Gu Changge.
“Xianer, are you alright?”
Gu Lintian quickly arrived at the depths of the Ancestral Hall and saw Gu Xianer standing by the Nirvana Pool with a dazed expression, tear stains on her face. He asked with some concern.
What he feared most was that Gu Changge would lay a hand on Gu Xianer.
That was exactly what had happened over ten years ago.
Now, if Gu Changge could no longer suppress his Demonic Energy, what would happen? The mere thought sent chills down his spine.
Seeing that Gu Xianer was unharmed now, he couldn’t help but breathe a sigh of relief.
“Uncle, I’m fine.”
Seeing Gu Lintian enter, Gu Xianer also came back to her senses, then said urgently, “Uncle, hurry and check on Gu Changge. His condition right now is very wrong, and also...”
As she spoke, her voice began to tremble again.
“And also, to keep from hurting me, he shattered both of his own arms...”
At this point, without Gu Xianer needing to say more, Gu Lintian also saw Gu Changge sitting cross-legged with his eyes closed on the other side.
Gu Changge’s arms were gone, still bearing five-colored bloodstains, with astonishing divinity interweaving and spreading, his life force surging.
His injuries were already beginning to heal.
At Gu Changge’s level, as long as the Original Soul remained intact, regenerating severed limbs was merely a matter of a single thought.
Injuries like this actually meant nothing to him.
Gu Lintian wasn’t surprised. In his view, Gu Changge’s aura was now very calm, no different from usual.
But he also couldn’t say whether the Gu Changge of now was the same as the Gu Changge of before.
When it came to suppressing the Demonic Energy, there was nothing he could do to help Gu Changge.
“Changge is fine. You don’t need to worry about him. As long as you’re alright, that’s what matters,” Gu Lintian sighed and said to Gu Xianer.
He then noticed the other three Gu Family prodigies who had fainted in the corner. They weren’t seriously hurt, merely unconscious.
However, to be safe, Gu Lintian still made a move and erased their memories of this segment of events.
“Uncle...”
Seeing this scene, Gu Xianer didn’t know what to say. Her mind was now a complete mess.
There were so many doubts and questions. Although Gu Lintian said not to worry about Gu Changge, how could she possibly not worry?
If Gu Changge hadn’t crippled his own arms at the critical moment, wouldn’t she already be dead by now?
All these years, had Gu Changge been fighting against the Demonic Energy this whole time?
On the surface, Gu Changge appeared glorious and unmatched, with no one among the younger generation able to rival his limelight.
But who knew what kind of torment he suffered in secret?
Gu Xianer still clearly remembered Gu Changge’s violent expression just now, as if he wanted to slaughter All of Heaven and Its Thousand Worlds!
Yet even under such emotions, he was still able to maintain his clarity and reason.
Especially just now — everything Gu Changge did to protect her, how could she not have felt it?
Thinking of this, the expression with which Gu Xianer looked at Gu Changge became incomparably complicated — guilt, daze... all sorts of emotions mixed together.
Normally, Gu Changge was awful and detestable, his attitude so cold, hot one moment and cold the next.
But the way he treated her was actually very gentle, very kind.
For a moment, Gu Xianer felt that the truth she had been searching for was right before her eyes.
“Uncle, why did Gu Changge suddenly become like this? You seem to have known about all of this all along.”
Gu Xianer asked. Right now, Gu Changge seemed to be listening to everything as he sat cross-legged there, the injuries on his arms rapidly healing.
She didn’t know what kind of face he would wear when he opened his eyes.
Hearing this, Gu Lintian first glanced at Gu Changge, then looked at Gu Xianer, shook his head and sighed, “It’s exactly as you saw with your own eyes. But as for all of this, it’s better to let Changge tell you himself.”
“This kind of matter, I won’t interfere in.”
The matter of the Demonic Heart was of grave importance. Even if it were to be spoken of, it had to be Gu Changge’s own decision.
As his father, he would not overstep and interfere.
Besides, even if nothing was said, with Gu Xianer’s personality, she would very likely be able to guess it all anyway.
Afterward, Gu Lintian swept his sleeve and took Gu Changge straight away from this place. Some matters still required him to personally question Gu Changge to understand clearly.
“Perhaps this is the secret Gu Changge has been hiding all along.” Seeing that Gu Lintian wouldn’t say, Gu Xianer wasn’t surprised.
She already understood quite well.
This was probably related to the talent Gu Changge was born with, causing his Demonic Energy to run deep, affecting his usual consciousness and actions.
That was why, in his childhood, he had done the deed of digging out her Great Dao Bone.
Later on, as Gu Changge’s cultivation gradually grew stronger, he was able to gradually suppress this Demonic Energy and no longer be influenced by it.
“Perhaps when Gu Changge dug out my Daoist Bone back then, it was to suppress the Demonic Energy. And all these years, guilt grew in his heart, which is why he kept thinking of making it up to me.”
“And he seems to have known that one day he might fail to suppress the Demonic Energy, so he pushed me to cultivate hard, to keep me from being killed by him in the future...”
“He’s clearly such a gentle person, yet he insists on disguising himself with coldness. Gu Changge, how can you be so foolish?”
Gu Xianer murmured softly, thinking of how she had actually talked back to Gu Changge over all sorts of trivial matters before, failing to understand his good intentions.
She couldn’t help but feel somewhat guilty.
It was precisely for these reasons that Gu Changge had been so disappointed in her.
Smart as she was, she quickly sorted out the whole sequence of events.
And today’s incident was clearly a sign of Gu Changge’s Demonic Energy breaking free of his suppression.
If not for Gu Changge suppressing the Demonic Energy with astonishing willpower at the critical moment, she would have been in grave danger, with consequences too horrible to imagine.
“Could it be that the Celestial Bone can help Gu Changge suppress the Demonic Energy...? But after today, given his personality, he probably won’t pay me any mind anymore...”
“He called me a good-for-nothing who can’t help him...”
Gu Xianer suddenly felt a bit distressed and conflicted.
Although she had found a clue, Gu Changge’s Demonic Energy had been deeply rooted since birth — as for how all of this came to be, she knew nothing at all.
In other words, she had actually only grasped the general picture. If she wanted to know more about everything concerning Gu Changge, she would still have to ask him personally.
But based on her understanding of Gu Changge, he would absolutely never tell her.
Even though she already knew his most deeply hidden secret.
“No matter how difficult the process will be, I will definitely help you solve this problem.”
“I won’t give up on you, Gu Changge!”
Thinking of this, Gu Xianer resolved firmly in her heart.
Because she remembered the shifus behind her — what they knew far exceeded her own knowledge, and perhaps they would have a solution.
And there was also Sister Taoyao, of ancient origins and unfathomable mystery.
This kind of matter — even Gu Lintian was concealing it for Gu Changge — was clearly nothing good.
For Gu Changge’s sake, she couldn’t possibly reveal it carelessly either.
But telling her shifus would definitely be no problem.
...
“Father.”
Within the grand and ancient great hall.
Gu Changge, his injuries now fully healed, stood face to face with Gu Lintian.
Gu Changge spoke with a respectful expression, his demeanor showing no difference from how he had been in the Ancestral Hall.
His arms were restored, with no lingering effects whatsoever.
“How did the Nirvana Pool affect you this time?”
Gu Lintian asked, carefully examining Gu Changge. From outward appearances, it was indeed hard to discern anything.
He also didn’t know what effects this eruption of Demonic Energy had on Gu Changge.
Fortunately, he had sealed off the aura outside the Ancestral Hall at the time.
Otherwise, the consequences would have been unthinkable.
Hearing this, Gu Changge replied calmly, “It’s fine now. I underestimated the Demonic Heart’s influence on me, but it has already been suppressed by me.”
Though he said this, inwardly he was actually chuckling softly.
At a time like this, he certainly wouldn’t tell the truth — he might as well fool Gu Lintian along with everyone else.
Demonic Energy? How could something like that possibly affect him?
To make Gu Xianer trust him completely, Gu Changge had put on such a performance — since ancient times, it was always the schemes that won people’s hearts.
When it came to acting, he was confident there would be no flaws.
Everything he did at the time seemed mad, but in fact, every move carried deep meaning. Even shattering his own arms at the critical moment was within his calculations.
Gu Changge knew clearly that if he had struck again at that moment, the powerhouse behind Gu Xianer would definitely have shown themselves.
Of this, he was firmly convinced.
That was why Gu Changge chose this method.
A self-inflicted suffering ploy plus a tragic drama — forget Gu Xianer, even Gu Lintian’s face now carried grief and sighs.
Gu Changge didn’t feel much guilt either. If he didn’t put it this way, it would instead leave behind quite a few hidden dangers.
Anyway, he would pin all this blame on the Demonic Heart.
And from the looks of it now, the effect and results were quite obvious.
Judging by the System’s notifications, the Fortuity points he had gained from Gu Xianer were already approaching ten thousand.
“Xianer will probably ask you about some things. As for the matter of the Demonic Heart, decide for yourself how to explain it. These matters — as an elder, it’s not my place to interfere,”
Gu Lintian nodded and said upon hearing this.
“Rest assured, Father. In the time to come, the Demonic Energy will no longer affect me,” Gu Changge spoke again.
“As for Xianer’s side, I know how to handle it.”
“Since you put it that way, your father is relieved. It’s just that this has been hard on you, all these years...”
Gu Lintian sighed softly. After all, none of these things had been Gu Changge’s own will.
Otherwise, he wouldn’t have done something like destroying his own arms to try to stop himself.
Gu Xianer was clever and bright — surely she wouldn’t wrongly blame Gu Changge.
He also didn’t want to see Gu Changge misunderstood, enduring the groundless hatred of Gu Xianer’s branch all these years. That was no easy thing either.
“As long as the hidden danger of the Demonic Heart remains unresolved, it will always be a big problem.” Gu Lintian recalled quite a few secrets concerning the Demonic Heart.
It was a sign of Miasma.
No matter what orthodoxy or power one belonged to, it would bring unimaginably terrible consequences.
Never mind how glorious Gu Changge’s current position was — once the matter of the Demonic Heart was exposed, even if it wouldn’t make him the enemy of the entire world like the Successor of Demonic Arts, it would still more or less have a huge impact.
Afterward, Gu Changge took his leave and departed the great hall, returning to his own residence.
Along the way, quite a few clan members looked at him with puzzled and strange expressions.
Although Gu Lintian had intervened to handle the matter of the Nirvana Pool in the Ancestral Hall, it was impossible to completely conceal it. The matter was of great importance, and many clan elders were paying attention.
The news of Gu Changge falling into demonic deviation during cultivation also spread privately.
This left many clan members astonished — they never expected that Gu Changge, who possessed the aptitude of a True Celestial Being, would actually harbor an inner demon, one that even erupted within the Nirvana Pool.
The matter caused quite a sensation.
For cultivators to have inner demons was not strange, but it generally only appeared in those who were older and had cultivated for a long time.
Gu Changge was only in his twenties, yet an inner demon had already appeared — what did that mean?
Many clan members wore expressions of sighing, feeling it was very likely that Gu Changge still harbored guilt over the incident of digging out Gu Xianer’s bone back then, a guilt he could not dispel.
Even though he had already returned the bone to his sister, it was still like this. That was why, within the Nirvana Pool, upon witnessing Gu Xianer’s newly reborn bone, stray thoughts sprouted in droves, and he thus fell into demonic deviation.
This explanation gained the agreement of quite a few people, and for a time it spread privately throughout the Gu Family.
The upper echelons also learned of this and felt that the truth of the matter was very likely just so.
But from another perspective, this was actually normal, and it gave them some comfort... If Gu Changge felt no guilt whatsoever over that incident, that would be the real problem.
The matter of an inner demon was also easy to resolve.
In the blink of an eye, several days passed.
The Nirvana Pool incident, like a small interlude, did not continue to cause much of a stir.
Instead, Gu Xianer seized the opportunity to break through to the Partial-Enlightened Realm, her strength soaring, surpassing many young prodigies of her generation in one fell swoop.
Looking across the entire Longevity Gu Family, in terms of cultivation, only a mere handful of people in this generation could firmly suppress her.
Meanwhile, word also spread privately that Gu Changge’s true cultivation had actually already reached the Enlightened King Realm, or even the Quasi-Sacred Realm, only that he had been hiding it from the world all along, never revealing it.
All sorts of claims left many people shocked.
The cultivation of the younger generation was the matter of greatest concern to any power.
And although Gu Changge acted high-profile, in truth very few people knew his real realm.
The strength he displayed on the surface was only faintly a large margin above some Young Prodigies.
But recently, from the mouth of the Saintess of Mortal Palace, Wang Zijin, came word that even she could not see through Gu Changge — if they were to fight, the outcome would be uncertain.
The Sacred Lord Realm assassin who had appeared during this period clearly had the Successor of Demonic Arts behind him.
Wang Zijin’s Quasi-Sacred Realm cultivation also caused a sensation throughout the world. Countless young cultivators were collectively horrified, deeply shaken.
Before this, the Walking Taboo Gu Changge already faintly held the title of number one among his peers, which was enough to drive them to despair.
Like a great mountain pressing down on their heads.
But now, the Successor of Mortal Palace had burst onto the scene, her Quasi-Sacred Realm cultivation leaving people shaken beyond words.
The so-called golden age, with stars shining in brilliant profusion, was nothing more than this.
Hearing such words from her mouth set all four directions clamoring, the whole world in an uproar.
Gu Changge’s true strength, for a time, became the topic of discussion among the various orthodoxies and great sects.
Many people felt that perhaps something had been overlooked in previous events.
The last Successor of Demonic Arts to appear in the world, Ye Ling — since he dared to brazenly infiltrate the Celestial Ancient Continent and make moves against the various Young Prodigies, that surely meant he had something to rely on behind him.
Yet in the end, he still fled gravely wounded at Gu Changge’s hands. Looking at it now, it wasn’t that Ye Ling had been too arrogant and conceited.
Rather, the Gu Changge he encountered was too strong — his cultivation at the time had clearly already reached an unfathomable level.
For a time, the various orthodoxies and great sects all began digging deeper into Gu Changge.
Some even claimed that the methods Gu Changge displayed back on the Celestial Ancient Continent resembled the rules and order that only Sacred Realm cultivators could command.
All kinds of speculation emerged one after another, once again pushing Gu Changge into the eye of the storm.
And the instigator of all this, Wang Zijin, seemingly didn’t feel there was anything wrong at all, believing she had helped Gu Changge boost his fame.
...
“Is this Wang Zijin genuinely stupid, or faking it...”
Within the great hall, hearing this news, Gu Changge’s brows furrowed slightly.
Although his true cultivation had already reached the mid-stage of the Sacred Realm, his surface cultivation had only been raised to the Enlightened King Realm — still far from the Quasi-Sacred Realm.
Gu Changge had originally intended to develop quietly and discreetly, but Wang Zijin just had to take it upon herself to boost his fame.
Yet for Gu Changge, fame was the thing he lacked least right now.
Attracting too much attention — if someone discovered flaws in his schemes, that would be bad.
Moreover, Gu Changge had another goal.
If, at a time like this, one or two ancient freaks emerged into the world, looked down on his cultivation, and came to slap his face and make a name for themselves, that would be even better.
He just happened to lack an opportunity for his next breakthrough.
Those ancient freaks, ancient kings and the like — since they had the gall to seal themselves away, they surely had something extraordinary about them.
By doing this, Wang Zijin was essentially telling those emerging ancient freaks that Gu Changge was not to be trifled with.
“Ruining my plans — I’ll put this debt on your tab for now.”
Gu Changge couldn’t help but narrow his eyes. He understood these routines all too well and had been planning to make use of them.
But Wang Zijin knew of them too, and so she took it upon herself, thinking she could spare Gu Changge some trouble.
Perhaps Gu Changge would even develop some goodwill toward her because of it.
Little did she know, Gu Changge had been planning for those troubles to deliver themselves to his door.
Because in the clashes of the younger generation, life and death were of no consequence — those who died at his hands... their talents, their Sources, wouldn’t they all become things in his pocket?
“Young Master, the matter you instructed has yielded leads. All these years, Xianer-xiaojie’s parents have indeed been trapped within a Dimensional World.”
During this period, Yan Ji, who had been sent by Gu Changge to secretly investigate the matter of Gu Xianer’s parents, had also returned, bringing this news.
“Very good.” Gu Changge nodded.
“Following your instructions, Young Master, I dispatched quite a few people to protect them in secret. However, Xianer-xiaojie’s parents are very powerful, and they noticed...” Yan Ji continued.
“It’s fine. I wanted them to notice — to make them feel that all these years, I’ve spent great effort secretly searching for their whereabouts,” Gu Changge couldn’t help but smile.
He didn’t like doing good deeds without leaving his name.
For something like this, he wished the entire Gu Family could know, so they would understand the painstaking care he took as the Young Master.
Hearing this, Yan Ji somewhat understood, nodding thoughtfully on her breathtakingly beautiful face.
“But why doesn’t Young Master appear in person? And why do it quietly, without letting the Gu Family members notice?”
She was a bit puzzled. For this kind of thing, wouldn’t the effect be better if Gu Changge went himself?
“Because one has to maintain a persona.”
“If I went in person, it would lose its effect — it would even backfire, making people feel I had ulterior motives. That’s why it has to be done quietly in secret. Understand?”
Gu Changge smiled casually and said some things Yan Ji didn’t understand.
Hearing this, her crimson-glass-like eyes revealed a look of bewilderment and confusion, appearing somewhat dazed.
Clearly, she didn’t quite understand the situation of the Longevity Gu Family.
Gu Changge’s words left her even more lost.
But at this moment, she still nodded. “Understood.”
Hearing this, Gu Changge looked at her and laughed despite himself. “Since when did even you, Yan Ji, learn to spout nonsense in front of me?”
“Young Master...”
Being exposed by Gu Changge like this, Yan Ji’s face couldn’t help but flush slightly red.
At the same time, outside the mountain gate of the Longevity Gu Family.
A figure whose face was shrouded in mist, dressed in moon-white robes, had traveled for a long time — even making a trip to the Ancient Ye Family along the way — and finally arrived here.
She looked at the magnificent and vast mountain gate before her and spoke to the Unrivalled Guards before the gate, “Successor of Mortal Palace, here to pay a visit to Young Master Changge. I ask that you pass along the message.”