Purple Mansion's Secret — Certain Death, and a Touch More Humanity
Purple Mansion’s Secret — Certain Death, and a Touch More Humanity
Very quickly, everything that had happened today in the Hengyue Mountain Range spread throughout the entire Beyond at the first opportunity, triggering an unimaginably massive uproar.
It was no different from a great earthquake.
Every Cultivator who learned of it all stared with wide, horrified eyes, frozen in shock where they stood, unable to react for a long time.
The whole sequence of events, every detail of what had transpired, spread to every corner at an unimaginable speed from the mouths of the many Cultivators who had witnessed it firsthand — as if the news had grown wings.
One piece of news after another, each explosive, each unbelievable, as if it were all a dream.
First, Gu Changge had rushed to the Hengyue Mountain Range, located Heavenly Monarch Ziyang, fought him, and suppressed him.
The mysterious man who had attempted to assassinate Saintess Ziyan that day had also fled amid the chaos, his whereabouts ultimately unknown.
Then, a host of Purple Mansion experts tore through space and descended, their leader none other than a Sacred Emperor Realm being, attempting to rescue Heavenly Monarch Ziyang.
The sheer arrogance and domineering attitude of it left every Cultivator and prodigy who witnessed it deeply shaken.
In the process, a peak Sacred Lord Realm expert of Purple Mansion stood up for Heavenly Monarch Ziyang, making a move in an attempt to teach Gu Changge a lesson.
Unexpectedly, Gu Changge struck back and left him gravely injured. Had that Purple Mansion Sacred Emperor not intervened to save him, the man would undoubtedly have died miserably on the spot.
After this, the Purple Mansion Sacred Emperor, humiliated and enraged, cast aside all honor, bullying the weak with his superior power, and directly attacked Gu Changge.
But in the next instant, a mysterious expert appeared, striking with overwhelming force — a single strand of Sword Qi pierced through his brow, annihilating his soul, and he perished on the spot.
A Sacred Emperor had fallen — and in such a shocking manner, no less. It truly left everyone aghast.
In an instant, tremendous waves were stirred.
Every orthodoxy and faction was shaken to its core.
One had to know, the Beyond had not seen a battle between Sacred Emperors for many years, let alone the fall of one.
Aside from... the normal Five Immortal Decays, it had been rare to hear of any orthodoxy’s Sacred Emperor passing away in meditation.
And today, Purple Mansion’s Sacred Emperor had fallen — as if opening a new precedent for this era.
Many Cultivators had a premonition that the Beyond would not know peace in the days to come. Something big was about to happen.
With such a thing having occurred, Purple Mansion was furious and would never let the matter rest.
And behind Gu Changge stood the Longevity Gu Family, whose foundations were mysterious and unfathomable — even the most ancient clans and great sects held them in deep dread.
An expert suspected to be at the Emperor Realm was now at Gu Changge’s side, protecting his safety.
This further demonstrated the Longevity Gu Family’s attitude toward... this matter — domineering and forceful.
So what if it was a Sacred Emperor? They didn’t care in the slightest, striking to kill directly.
Heavenly Monarch Ziyang’s relationship with the Successor of Demonic Arts was anything but shallow; Purple Mansion’s actions were no different from standing together with the Successor of Demonic Arts.
Many orthodoxies began to deliberate.
This included the Ancient Ye Family, the White Tiger Clan, Sky Emperor Mountain, and other orthodoxies and factions — all of whom had once had successors fall victim to the Successor of Demonic Arts’ vicious hands, bearing irreconcilable hatred toward him.
They had been worrying over their inability to find any trace of the Successor of Demonic Arts, with nowhere to vent their fury.
Purple Mansion’s actions were no different from slapping all those orthodoxies hard across the face, instantly provoking public outrage.
Among the great orthodoxies, higher-ups began to confer, planning to join the Longevity Gu Family in a crusade against Purple Mansion, to restore justice to the world.
For a time, the entire Beyond felt like a storm was brewing — the wind filling the tower before the tempest.
The True Immortal Academy, at this juncture, also hastily issued orders for all disciples out on training expeditions to return to the Academy, lest they be dragged into the conflict.
The prodigies still in the various ancient empires also withdrew one after another, halting their trials, for they sensed that wherever Gu Changge was, there would be no peace for some time to come.
Meanwhile.
Purple Mansion was anything but calm.
Mountains ringed the land, clouds and mist coiled about, and vast stretches of purple qi extended endlessly, displaying majestic grandeur in full.
Within a resplendent palace at its center.
Many figures with terrifying auras stood tall, their features blurred, shrouded in Chaos Energy, deliberating over matters.
Liu Ziyan’s face carried a cold edge as she stared fixedly at the white-bearded, white-robed elder above, unable to hold back from demanding, “Great Elder, what you are doing now is no different from pushing all of Purple Mansion into a pit of fire, burying it in the abyss.”
“Purple Mansion has already provoked public outrage. The other orthodoxies and factions are deliberating on a crusade. Instead of thinking about how to resolve this, you’re even planning revenge.”
“Is such conduct truly meant to send Purple Mansion to its grave?”
The white-bearded, white-robed elder sat upright in the center of the great hall.
His eyes were deep and vast, like a boundless starry sky, within which all manner of scenes evolved — truly mysterious beyond measure.
Behind him, a majestic and heavy aura rose and fell, like worlds rumbling as they turned, terrifying beyond compare.
Hearing her words, he merely glanced at Liu Ziyan with calm indifference and shook his head. “You don’t understand. Ziyang bears the future of our Purple Mansion on his shoulders. He cannot be lost.”
“If something happens to him, our Purple Mansion’s Fortuity will be severed within a hundred years. Right now, our Purple Mansion’s only chance lies with him. A hundred years from now — whether we ride the clouds and transform into a dragon, or decline into ruin — a choice must be made.”
The many figures behind him, hearing this, remained indifferent and calm, without the slightest ripple — as if they had long known of this matter.
Hearing these words, Liu Ziyan still gritted her teeth and said, “In that case, Great Elder, why did you make a move to place my father under house arrest? Now, throughout Purple Mansion, anyone who raises even the slightest voice of resistance is suppressed by you.”
“Is this the reason you speak of?”
Her words rang out... forceful and resonant, carrying righteousness, and filled with anger and unwillingness.
She had never imagined that upon returning to Purple Mansion, she would be met with such a situation.
Just as Gu Changge had said, her father had been placed under house arrest, and all of Purple Mansion now heeded the Great Elder’s word alone.
Any voice that dared to object had been thrown into the dungeons.
The Great Elder’s cultivation was unfathomable. Back when her father was still just an ordinary disciple, he was already Purple Mansion’s Great Elder, looking down upon all living beings under heaven, watching the white clouds turn to grey dogs for who knows how many tens of thousands of years.
If the Great Elder made a move, even though her father was now Purple Mansion’s Sect Leader, he would have no chance of resisting at all.
“Liu Ming is short-sighted. He sees only what is immediately before him and does not understand the Variables of the distant future.”
“Let him reflect in confinement for a while. He will come to understand. Once this matter is resolved, Liu Ming will still be the Sect Leader. Nothing will change.”
The Great Elder’s expression remained utterly unchanged as he spoke indifferently.
“Now that the great orthodoxies are joining forces to crusade against us, with you stubbornly insisting on your own course — never mind a hundred years, we couldn’t even last a single year...”
Liu Ziyan still gritted her teeth, her beautiful eyes full of unwillingness.
Why could the Great Elder not understand such a simple truth?
“Men, escort the Saintess down to rest. For the time being, the Saintess should focus on her cultivation in peace. You need not worry about matters within the sect.”
However, the Great Elder did not let Liu Ziyan finish her words. He waved a hand and had her led away, his expression still calm and indifferent.
“Great Elder, regarding the Longevity Gu Family...”
Then, after Liu Ziyan had been led away.
A terrifying being with blurred features, standing off to the other side, spoke up. As his eyes opened and closed, billions of divine rays interwove within them, mountains and seas rose and fell, suns and moons collapsed, as he asked with a probing tone.
“The Longevity Gu Family has stood for ages and is indeed mysterious, with foundations that cannot... be underestimated. But since our Purple Mansion came into existence, we have endured countless tribulations without falling, weathered endless storms through the ages — a snap of the fingers across a thousand autumns and ten thousand ancients — when have we ever known fear?”
“Of Gu Changge’s slanderous actions, the Longevity Gu Family cannot possibly be unaware, yet they have not intervened in the slightest. With such shielding of their own, what face do they have to call our Purple Mansion protective of its own?”
“The blood of our Purple Mansion’s Sacred Emperor cannot be shed in vain.”
Hearing this, the Great Elder’s expression clearly darkened considerably, and then he spoke indifferently, deciding to seek justice for their fallen Sacred Emperor.
“Yes.”
Hearing this, the several terrifying beings all grew solemn, now clear on the Great Elder’s stance.
Then their figures flickered, directly opening Space Tunnels and departing from this place.
Their cultivations were all at the Sacred Emperor Realm, far stronger than the Sacred Emperor who had previously rushed to rescue Heavenly Monarch Ziyang.
Now that they had received their orders, they would naturally begin making arrangements — and at the same time, they had to find a way to preserve Heavenly Monarch Ziyang’s life.
Otherwise, everything would be for naught.
“A hundred years from now, if Purple Mansion no longer exists in this world...”
“What does it matter if the heavens change?”
After everyone had left, the Great Elder sighed faintly, his expression turning... quite cold and ruthless.
Then, with a wave of his sleeve, he rose from where he sat, swept through the void, and arrived at a rather gloomy cave dwelling.
Here, divine radiance surged forth, and three-colored mists — white, black, and grey — pervaded the air, roiling vast and boundless, appearing all the more bizarre.
A strange figure — robed in loose garments, limbs stiffened, face withered and gaunt, eye sockets sunken, skin like scales, with white fur growing on parts of its body — sat cross-legged here.
It seemed to have long since lost all vitality, utterly motionless.
“Fellow Daoist, I must trouble you to divine once more.”
“Facing this calamity from the Longevity Gu Family, how much chance of survival does our Purple Mansion have?”
The Purple Mansion Great Elder, arriving here, also wore an expression of gravity and wariness, fearing contamination from contact.
But thinking of something, he still pondered for a moment before speaking his inquiry.
Very few people knew that Purple Mansion’s development to this day was inseparable from the strange being within this cave dwelling.
Even Purple Mansion’s founding ancestor, back in the day, had relied on this strange being’s divination to find a land of fortuitous opportunity, where he attained the Dao and subsequently founded Purple Mansion.
Hearing this, the strange being’s eyelids fluttered, as if about to open, but its eyelids were as heavy as the boundless azure sky itself — it could only force open a tiny slit.
Seeing this, the Purple Mansion Great Elder’s expression grew heavier. In the past, the strange being’s eyes could still open somewhat, but now, even prying them open had become difficult.
If its eyes could no longer open at all, that would mean it had no strength left for divination. After all, how could a power that peered into the Heavenly Path be wielded lightly? The... backlash upon the strange being’s body was the finest proof of that.
Thinking of this, the Purple Mansion Great Elder could not help but sigh.
Back then, it was based on this strange being’s divination that, through various secret arts, they had summoned the heroic souls of experts from the Forbidden Epoch.
In the end, they paid tremendous prices, even burning away Purple Mansion’s Fortuity, so that Heavenly Monarch Ziyang was born with innate wisdom, accompanied by the Chaos Dao Bone.
He had poured far too much of his heart’s blood into Heavenly Monarch Ziyang — not only for Purple Mansion, but also for himself.
If Heavenly Monarch Ziyang could attain the Dao before his own passing, then Purple Mansion would surely prosper for another ten million years, and he could pass away in peace.
If he could not.
Then before his death, he could only employ a heaven-defying Forbidden Technique, seizing Heavenly Monarch Ziyang’s lifespan and everything else through Body Possession, living another life to carry on Purple Mansion’s legacy.
Were it not for the debt of gratitude the strange being owed Purple Mansion’s founding ancestor, how could it possibly have aided him so many times?
And it was precisely for this reason that Heavenly Monarch Ziyang could not be lost — even if he truly had colluded with the Successor of Demonic Arts.
“Ten...”
At this moment, the Purple Mansion Great Elder, his brows tightly furrowed, suddenly heard the words spoken by the strange being — utterly indistinct, impossible to make out without straining to listen.
“Ten out of ten?”
The Purple Mansion Great Elder’s face lit up with joy, and he could not help but ask.
However, upon hearing the next few words, his face abruptly turned deathly pale, drained of all color, and his entire body nearly froze stiff where he stood.
“Ten... deaths and no life.”
......
“Aunt Qing.”
Elsewhere, in the Black Tortoise Empire, within a quiet, deserted side hall.
Gu Changge stood by the window, hands clasped behind his back, robes fluttering, gazing up at the distant mountains like dark ink, a faint smile on his face. “For today’s matter... I must thank you for your trouble.”
In the void before him, a blurred figure emerged, breathtakingly graceful.
Her features could not be seen clearly, as if she stood within another world.
Her azure robes were like dark mist, her hair danced in the wind, and her eyes were tranquil and serene — like warm, limpid jade, and like the bright, flawless moon.
“It was no trouble.”
“A mere Sacred Emperor — what qualification did he have to act so insolently?”
The azure-robed woman shook her head, her voice as lovely as the music of the heavens, carrying a power that soothed the heart and mind.
“Several years apart, and Aunt Qing remains as breathtaking as ever. Now even Sacred Emperor Realm experts are annihilated with a snap of your fingers.”
Gu Changge smiled, casually striking up a conversation with her.
Aunt Qing — her original name was Gu Qingyi.
By true seniority, she was not actually of the Gu Family’s current generation at all; her lineage could be traced very far back.
She was an ancient freak of the Gu Family, one who merely happened to emerge in the same era as Gu Changge’s father.
When she came into the world, Gu Qingyi was actually much younger than Gu Changge’s father.
For this reason, she was regarded by Gu Changge’s father as a sworn younger sister and was much cared for.
And so, Gu Changge called her Aunt Qing.
As for why she became Gu Changge’s guardian.
That, when told, was actually quite a winding tale.
Back when Gu Changge first revealed his brilliance at the age of three, his radiance eclipsed all of the Gu Family’s peers.
Even those clansmen a few years older than him appeared utterly dim by comparison.
In the process, many of the Gu Family’s elders were moved, feeling that with such promise at such a young age, Gu Changge’s future achievements would be limitless.
Selecting a guardian was naturally a matter of paramount importance.
However, to everyone’s surprise.
At the time, Gu Changge stated only that he needed no guardian to sweep through all under heaven unhindered. For a three-year-old child to speak such words so plainly truly shocked everyone in the Gu Family.
Some felt that Gu Changge, young as he was, was rather arrogant and conceited — after all, no matter how stunning a prodigy might be, they would encounter dangers before they fully matured.
A tall tree catches the wind; what is too rigid breaks easily.
But the matter could not be argued against Gu Changge, and even his father could do nothing about it.
Yet in the end, beyond everyone’s expectations, Gu Changge suddenly requested that Gu Qingyi become his guardian.
Whether in talent or cultivation, Gu Qingyi was immensely powerful, but no matter what, there was no way she would become the guardian of a three-year-old child.
Yet, against all odds, she actually agreed.
The matter caused quite a stir at the time, leaving many Gu Family disciples green with envy.
After all, Gu Qingyi was breathtakingly peerless beyond question — some even asserted that she would attain the Dao before Gu Changge’s father.
Many elders speculated that Gu Qingyi had agreed out of regard for Gu Changge’s father.
But in truth, Gu Changge knew full well that back then, he had simply coveted her Source, intending to scheme for it slowly in the future.
As for why Gu Qingyi agreed — perhaps his father was part of the reason.
But the greater reason was likely that Gu Qingyi seemed to have sensed something.
For she possessed an Innate Nine Orifices Immortal Heart, which was no secret among the Gu Family’s upper ranks.
“You haven’t called upon me for several years. I thought you had already forgotten this guardian of yours.”
Hearing this, Gu Qingyi merely spoke calmly, as if a thousand autumns and ten thousand ages, as if seas changing into mulberry fields, would not stir the slightest change in her eyes.
Her figure was hazy, like drifting light, like leaping shadow, in another boundlessly distant world.
“Is Aunt Qing blaming me?”
Gu Changge still wore a smile.
Honestly, Gu Qingyi was the first person he truly could not see through — including her thoughts and her cultivation alike...
He even suspected that Gu Qingyi had already reached a very deep level within the Emperor Realm, not far from attaining the Dao.
However, Gu Qingyi paid no heed to his teasing, merely shaking her head.
“You seem different from before, somehow.”
“Oh? In what way?”
Gu Changge raised an eyebrow in mild surprise.
“There’s a touch more of a human flavor about you.”
Gu Qingyi said.