The Mysterious Gu Qingyi, Heavenly Monarch Ziyang's Final Use
The Mysterious Gu Qingyi, Heavenly Monarch Ziyang’s Final Use
The palace was utterly silent.
In the distance, mountain ranges rose and fell like dark-painted eyebrows, wreathed in curling mist—a sight of breathtaking beauty.
Even further away, multicolored rays of auspicious light could be seen soaring into the sky, haze flowing and streaming, illuminating the heavens in magnificent splendor.
When Gu Qingyi spoke those words, her gaze seemed to drift slightly, as if she had remembered something.
However, her figure had not truly appeared in this space—it was as though an entire expanse of mountains and seas separated her from Gu Changge.
Her features were blurred, her robes fluttering gently; even Gu Changge could not make out her expression.
“Is Aunt Qing saying that I wasn’t human before?”
Hearing this, Gu Changge was not surprised in the slightest. He walked over to the table, picked up the white jade teacup resting on it, leisurely blew across its surface, and then asked with an unhurried smile.
“No.”
“You were never human to begin with.”
Gu Qingyi turned her head to look at him, her gaze piercing through layer upon layer of space to land upon his face. She shook her head slightly, her voice utterly devoid of emotion.
“......”
“It seems Aunt Qing truly does have quite the opinion of me.”
Gu Changge chuckled.
Although he had long since become familiar with the way she spoke, hearing it like this still felt somewhat strange.
For the average person, having a conversation with her would genuinely kill the conversation dead.
Then again, considering how few outsiders Gu Qingyi had ever interacted with—spending most of her time in secluded cultivation—he didn’t mind it.
With a temperament like hers, could one really expect her to get along well with others?
That said, within the entire Gu Family, even his own parents did not understand him the way Gu Qingyi did.
It was a strange intuition.
That was why Gu Changge had asked Gu Qingyi to remain with the Gu Family, relieving her of the duty of being his guardian.
On one hand, he worried that a guardian’s presence would interfere with some of his schemes and plans.
On the other hand, it was because Gu Qingyi understood him far too well. Having her watching him from the shadows always made Gu Changge deeply uncomfortable.
Gu Qingyi had accompanied him since he was three years old. Though most of the time she never showed herself, merely hiding in the shadows.
Yet she knew every single move Gu Changge made.
It was only later that Gu Changge made the request for Gu Qingyi to stop serving as his guardian.
Just like now—Gu Qingyi’s true body was not actually in this space at all, but an immeasurable distance away.
Slaying a Sacred Emperor Realm expert was, for her, little more than a single thought.
Just how powerful she truly was, even Gu Changge did not know.
“But the way you are now... it’s quite good.”
Then, Gu Qingyi spoke again, her figure growing ever fainter as she walked toward the distance.
As she walked, her skirt and sleeves fluttered, her bare feet whiter than snow, her dark hair like painted ink—and in the blink of an eye, she had vanished without a trace.
Gu Changge stared blankly for a moment as she disappeared, then shook his head, not taking it to heart.
Gu Qingyi’s thoughts were something he could not fathom, but from her, he had never sensed any threat.
Gu Qingyi was someone he could trust.
Then his figure flickered, and he left the palace, heading toward the dungeon where Heavenly Monarch Ziyang was being held.
Next came the preparations for dealing with Purple Mansion.
Not that it warranted anything like an Immortal War or an Immortal Tribulation—after all, Purple Mansion was far from worthy of the Longevity Gu Family taking it so seriously.
Before that, Heavenly Monarch Ziyang still had some use to him.
Furthermore, powers and orthodoxies such as Sky Emperor Mountain, the Ancient Ye Family, the Endless Fire Kingdom, and the White Tiger Clan were, just as he had anticipated, currently discussing how to crusade against Purple Mansion.
Gu Changge felt he wouldn’t even need to expend many methods—relying solely on the forces of the Celestial Ancient Continent should be more than enough.
The Black Sky Hawks, the Divine Crocodile Clan, the Ancient Teng Serpents, the Celestial Ancient Dragon Clan... the strength of these races was not to be underestimated.
He had already issued orders for these clans to send their people over. When the time came, he would first find a way to have Sky Emperor Mountain and the other powers take the vanguard, and then he would send his grand army pressing in, charging straight into Purple Mansion’s mountain gate—reaping all the profits like a fisherman snatching the catch.
Gu Changge could also take the opportunity to see whether Hei Yanyu had been training this army according to his requirements during this period.
Meanwhile, in a boundless expanse of space an immeasurable distance away.
A breathtakingly beautiful woman in azure robes seemed to walk out of the void itself. She stood atop a mountain peak, gazing down at the sea of clouds swirling beneath her feet.
It was as if she were the only person in this entire space.
Layer upon layer of cloud seas stretched out, water and sky merging into a single line. Looking into the distance, the heavens seemed reflected within the mist.
Vast and lofty.
Gu Qingyi let out a faint sigh. In that instant, her gaze seemed to pierce through infinite space, incomparably complex.
“Immortal Palace...”
“A single palm strike annihilating the Eight Thousand Continents, leaving no one in the Nine Heavens and Ten Realms...”
“Will it happen again?”
......
Deep within the Imperial Capital of the Black Tortoise Empire.
Underground.
Inside a dim, damp dungeon.
A purple-robed man covered in blood had been thrown here, surrounded by moss-covered walls that exuded a permeating stench.
“Gu Changge...”
At that moment, the purple-robed man let out a furious roar, jolting awake from unconsciousness.
The sound was horrifying, like the desperate howl of a beast driven to the brink of death.
The tearing pain of his wounds, the agony of his broken bones, made Heavenly Monarch Ziyang grit his teeth, his face pale, bean-sized beads of cold sweat covering his forehead.
Having lost his Chaos Dao Bone, he could no longer even heal injuries of this degree.
A terrifying power—strange and eerie, capable of devouring everything—was gnawing away at his magic power and his soul.
His Spiritual Palace teetered on the verge of collapse, his soul light dimming, as if it were about to shatter.
“Gu Changge... this feud between us will only end in death!”
Heavenly Monarch Ziyang couldn’t help but let out a low growl, his fists clenched so tightly his knuckles turned white.
Then, noticing his current surroundings, his face sank like still water, and he forced himself to calm down.
He felt as though he had had a very long dream.
He had become a lonely, wandering ghost, drifting between heaven and earth, until somehow, he had seen the ruined, collapsed mountain gate of the past.
He had seen Purple Mansion swallowed by flames, reduced to calamity ash.
He had also seen his Eldest Senior Brother Qin Wuya and his Little Junior Sister Dao Xian—their expressions terrified, their bodies covered in blood, as if trying to tell him something.
But in the end, he couldn’t make out what they were saying.
The flames devoured everything.
Then he had been jolted awake by the pain, and everything he had seen in the dream was drenched in blood.
Heavenly Monarch Ziyang felt that what he had seen was the future about to come to pass.
His sect, his family and friends—all of them would suffer Gu Changge’s vicious hand, and no one would be spared.
This filled him with boundless fury, a hatred that drove him mad, yet he was tormented by his own weakness and powerlessness, sinking into deep unease!
“Awake?”
At that moment, a soft chuckle came from beside him, causing Heavenly Monarch Ziyang’s expression to change drastically.
He whipped his head around, pupils contracting, his expression instantly turning incomparably hateful and ice-cold.
“It’s you!”
“Gu... Chang... ge!”
His teeth clenched tight, practically spitting those three words out from his throat, carrying a sky-surging hatred and fury.
From within the darkness, a figure stepped out—tall and slender, his handsome, refined, and elegant face bearing a faint smile.
“Did Fellow Daoist Ziyang sleep well? Though from the looks of it, you seemed to be having a nightmare.”
“I suppose when you’ve done too many guilty deeds, even your sleep won’t be peaceful.”
Gu Changge laughed casually. Seeing this, the jailer following behind him hurriedly brought over a stone stool and placed it behind him.
Hearing this, Heavenly Monarch Ziyang’s expression grew even colder. He said nothing, staring at him icily, as if wishing he could grind Gu Changge’s bones to dust and scatter his ashes.
However, Gu Changge had no intention of sitting down. He waved his hand, dismissing all the jailers.
Only then did he take his time sizing up Heavenly Monarch Ziyang’s current state.
“What a pity. Compared to your Eldest Senior Brother Qin Wuya, you’re still far inferior.”
He shook his head with some regret.
At the end of the day, Heavenly Monarch Ziyang was not a Fortuitous One—at most, he could be considered a person of great fortune.
So no Fatum-clearing drop rules could be triggered on him.
This left Gu Changge somewhat regretful. Such fine leeks, gone to waste.
Heavenly Monarch Ziyang didn’t understand Gu Changge’s words, nor did he know the purpose of his visit now.
His heart held only fury and hatred. If looks could kill, he would have slain Gu Changge ten million times over by now.
“Gu Changge, there was no enmity or grudge between us—why would you harm me like this?”
Heavenly Monarch Ziyang couldn’t help but roar in anger.
Gu Changge wore a smile and shook his head. “Fellow Daoist Ziyang, you can’t put it that way. It was clearly you who moved against me first—how can you call that ’no enmity or grudge between us’?”
As he spoke, an object suddenly appeared in his palm.
Crystalline and translucent, even the bone and blood within clearly visible, wisps of purple qi mist coiling and drifting within it—profoundly mysterious, as if it could evolve all the worlds of the heavens.
“The Chaos Dao Bone...”
Seeing this object, Heavenly Monarch Ziyang’s expression grew even colder, his body trembling uncontrollably, his fury reaching its absolute peak.
This was something that had accompanied him since birth.
When Chaos descended from the heavens and Dao sounds filled the air, golden lotuses had bloomed and taken root in the void, and within a radius of ten thousand li, auspicious omens had filled the land.
Relying on the Chaos Dao Bone.
He had once swept through and suppressed an entire era, invincible against all—even ancient freaks awakening from other eras had fallen to his hand.
In this era, had he not encountered Gu Changge, how could he have ended up in such a wretched state?
And now, even his Chaos Dao Bone had been dug out by him!
The mystery and power of the Chaos Dao Bone could even allow a Cultivator to control the power of evolving worlds.
Gu Changge examined the Chaos Dao Bone in his hand. Honestly speaking, this thing was far inferior to the Absolute Detachment bone he could exchange for in the System.
The preciousness of the Chaos Dao Bone lay in the Chaos Great Dao contained within it.
It could transform into Chaos, Primal Beginning, and Primordial Origin.
Of course, the innate Principles of Dao within this Chaos Dao Bone were not complete—at most, they were merely embryonic fragments.
His purpose in taking it out was only to test whether Heavenly Monarch Ziyang’s Foreseeing Eye was connected to the Chaos Dao Bone.
However, aside from Heavenly Monarch Ziyang’s expression growing colder and angrier, there was no other reaction from him.
“It seems it has nothing to do with the Chaos Dao Bone.”
“Then it must be related to the Chaos Purple Qi Seed.”
Then, Gu Changge waved his sleeve.
With a hum, a seed entwined with purple qi suddenly appeared in the void.
As if incomparably heavy, it bobbed up and down, containing some terrifying power.
Though it had not awakened, it still carried a soul-stirring, heart-palpitating aura.
One had to know that back then, this Chaos Purple Qi Seed had been enough to contend against a Sacred Emperor Realm artifact—and that was without Heavenly Monarch Ziyang even activating it.
If it were fully awakened, it could probably rival a true Immortal Seed.
“The Chaos Purple Qi Seed...”
Seeing this scene, Heavenly Monarch Ziyang gritted his teeth, his voice trembling uncontrollably—from extreme fury and unwillingness.
The Chaos Purple Qi Seed was a divine treasure of Purple Mansion.
Back then, even he had spent a very long time to fuse with this Dao Seed, failing several times along the way.
Moreover, the Chaos Purple Qi Seed was not a docile thing.
On the contrary, it was incomparably violent.
Had he not possessed the Chaos Dao Bone, he likely couldn’t have even approached it, let alone fused with it.
Afterward, relying on the power within the Chaos Purple Qi Seed, he was able to wield the Foreseeing Eye and peer into scenes of the future.
It could be said that the Chaos Purple Qi Seed and the Chaos Dao Bone were indispensable to everything he had achieved today.
The memories of his past life, by contrast, had become something of a useless chicken rib.
In any case, he had been fused with the Chaos Purple Qi Seed for many years. Though he could hardly activate it fully, he could still sense its many emotional shifts.
Alarm, fear, terror...
These were the emotions the Chaos Purple Qi Seed was currently transmitting to him.
In Gu Changge’s hands, the Chaos Purple Qi Seed had actually become docile, utterly terrified, as if facing some peerless monstrous fiend.
This was something previously unimaginable.
One had to know that even when facing Purple Mansion’s Great Elder, whose cultivation reached the heavens, the Chaos Purple Qi Seed would never produce such emotions—it had even shown considerable disdain.
Yet before Gu Changge, it was more obedient than a kitten, trembling and shuddering.
What exactly was on Gu Changge’s body?
“It seems your Foreseeing Eye is indeed inseparably linked to the Chaos Purple Qi Seed.”
Gu Changge smiled, having noticed Heavenly Monarch Ziyang’s reaction and changes.
At the center of Heavenly Monarch Ziyang’s brow, that purple divine mark faintly glowed, strange fluctuations spreading out from it, as if it could reflect all things.
“Gu Changge, what are you trying to do?”
At this moment, Heavenly Monarch Ziyang’s expression changed drastically, vaguely guessing Gu Changge’s intention.
His expression turned incomparably horrified, his face paling, even sinking into despair.
Gu Changge had not only dug out his Chaos Dao Bone.
Now he wouldn’t even spare his Foreseeing Eye.
“If the two are refined together, perhaps a secret treasure could be forged—one that could help me deduce the future.”
Gu Changge narrowed his eyes, speaking to himself, utterly indifferent to Heavenly Monarch Ziyang’s terror-stricken expression.
Weng!!
Drawn forth by the Chaos Purple Qi Seed, a mysterious power emerged. Faintly, fragments of time fluttered about, radiant and resplendent.
A river appeared, bearing the traces of ages—mountains and seas reduced to ash, lightning withered dry...
From the void came a strange humming tremor. Divine Chains of Order interwove, forming a sharp long blade that fell with a puchi!
“Ahhh...”
Heavenly Monarch Ziyang let out a miserable scream. No matter how powerful one’s will, such pain was unbearable.
The next moment, he passed out directly.
Gu Changge waved his sleeve, and a wooden box appeared. He placed the Foreseeing Eye—glowing with hazy radiance—inside it and took it away.
After that, he paid no further heed to whether Heavenly Monarch Ziyang lived or died. For the time being, he wouldn’t die anyway—before the experts of Purple Mansion arrived, Heavenly Monarch Ziyang could not be allowed to die.
After all, he needed to give Purple Mansion an illusion—no, a hope.
A hope that they could rescue Heavenly Monarch Ziyang. Otherwise, if they learned he was already dead, they certainly wouldn’t expend enormous costs clashing with the various orthodoxies.
......
Outside the dungeon, Gu Xianer had long been waiting there.
After rushing back to the Black Tortoise Empire, she had not followed the other disciples back to the True Immortal Academy.
She had to give Qing Xiaoyi and Qing Feng an answer—until she found Qing Xiaoyi’s whereabouts, she could not be at ease.
Although Gu Changge had told her to rest assured, saying Qing Xiaoyi would be fine.
Gu Xianer was still very worried. Until she saw the girl with her own eyes, she simply could not put her mind at rest.
Now, seeing Gu Changge come out, she felt somewhat curious, but still did not ask, merely saying flatly, “Just now, I seemed to hear Heavenly Monarch Ziyang screaming...”
Gu Changge smiled, his expression perfectly composed. “It’s nothing. I just asked him about Qing Xiaoyi’s whereabouts, but Heavenly Monarch Ziyang refused to admit anything to the death. I had no choice but to employ some other methods.”
Hearing this, Gu Xianer suddenly understood. She nodded, her eyes falling upon him as she asked, “So did you get any clues?”
Gu Changge replied offhandedly, “Although Heavenly Monarch Ziyang is stubborn and refuses to admit anything, at this point, it’s no longer up to him whether he admits it or not. Rest assured, I already know Qing Xiaoyi’s whereabouts.”
“After abducting Qing Xiaoyi, Heavenly Monarch Ziyang did not immediately hand her over to the Successor of Demonic Arts. He seems to have other plans.”
Hearing this, Gu Xianer nodded again, and the breath in her heart finally eased.
She had actually guessed Heavenly Monarch Ziyang’s purpose.
After all, Qing Xiaoyi possessed the incomparably rare Celestial Demonic Physique, whose Source was exceedingly precious. Heavenly Monarch Ziyang could use Qing Xiaoyi to strike a bargain with the Successor of Demonic Arts.
Naturally, he wouldn’t hand her over so easily.
“As long as Qing Xiaoyi is alright.”