There Was Never a Choice From the Start, An Ran Ferried to the Beyond
There Was Never a Choice From the Start, An Ran Ferried to the Beyond
“Hand over the Immortal-Killing Gourd, and I can guarantee to spare their lives.”
Gu Changge spoke again. With a stretch of his hand, Lu Luo at his feet was seized and lifted up.
Lu Luo’s face was pale, her entire body’s magic power sealed—she couldn’t even seek death by suicide.
He knew that this mysterious Immortal-Killing Gourd required special methods to subdue.
If he was too forceful, it would flee, burrowing straight into the depths of the earth, impossible to track.
Otherwise, Gu Changge could have simply snatched it by force.
With Lin Wu’s current ability, there was no way he could stop him.
Even if a miracle occurred and the protagonist’s halo erupted, it still wouldn’t work.
“Let go of... our xiaojie.”
Granny Lu Cui of the Green Clan gritted her teeth, her face ice-cold, unable to hold back her shout.
She simply could not stay calm. Lu Luo, who had been the treasured jewel of the Green Clan since childhood—when had she ever suffered such humiliation?
“Grandma, don’t worry about me. You are no match for him.”
Lu Luo’s face was white; she felt like she could barely breathe.
Even so, she remained stubborn and did not beg for mercy.
But this expression of hers made Lin Wu’s heart sting with pain, and the other young prodigies all fell silent one after another.
“My patience is not very good.”
Gu Changge shook his head slightly, his tone flat. “And I don’t like repeating myself.”
Lin Wu’s expression shifted between dark and light, deeply conflicted and struggling.
The preciousness of the Immortal-Killing Gourd went without saying.
It was a Supreme Treasure that had shone brilliantly during the wars against the Beyond.
Countless supreme experts of the Beyond had their heads severed by it, their corpses buried in the Boundary Marker Sea.
If he handed it over to Gu Changge just like this, how could he be willing? But if he didn’t, Lu Luo would surely be killed by him.
He had personally witnessed Gu Changge’s ruthlessness—he could suppress and kill even the terrifyingly talented supreme experts of their realm without batting an eye.
What in this world could he not do?
“Lin Wu, don’t worry about me. The Immortal-Killing Gourd cannot fall into their hands, especially not Gu Changge’s.”
“Otherwise, no one will be able to keep him in check.”
Lu Luo’s face was resolute. Enduring the fear in her heart, she tried to persuade Lin Wu.
But before she could finish her words—
Gu Changge grabbed her chin, and with a kacha, dislocated it. The pain turned her face white and made her body tremble.
Yet Gu Changge’s expression barely changed, cold and without a ripple.
In his eyes, a beauty without value was no different from a skeleton.
“Next time, it won’t be her chin that gets dislocated.”
Gu Changge said indifferently.
Pain surged in Lin Wu’s heart; he wished he could roar at the heavens.
Especially seeing Lu Luo’s pained appearance, his heart trembled—he simply could not harden it.
“You... you let Lu Luo go, and I’ll hand over the Immortal-Killing Gourd to you.”
“But you must swear on your Dao Heart, otherwise I won’t believe you.”
Lin Wu’s heart was full of pain and hatred. He forced himself to calm down—he could not act impulsively at this moment.
Everyone’s expression changed upon hearing this. Lu Luo felt both moved and sorrowful; she never expected Lin Wu would actually agree.
“This is not... the time for you to negotiate terms with me.”
“You don’t have that qualification.”
However, Gu Changge did not agree, still shaking his head slightly.
“You... don’t push things too far.”
Lin Wu gritted his teeth, nearly mad with hatred.
The steady state of mind he had cultivated over so many years simply could not remain calm at this moment.
This was the first time he had encountered such a terrifying opponent, one who made him feel so powerless and despairing.
Before this, no matter what dangers he encountered, he could always turn misfortune into blessing, turning peril into safety.
But this time was clearly the greatest crisis he had faced since he began cultivating.
Just then, the hot-tempered elder of the Ancient Huo Family suddenly shifted his gaze, looking up toward the heights of this space.
“This is...”
He was somewhat shocked—he had not expected to sense the aura of that heavy treasure.
“If anything happens to us here, none of you will leave this space either.”
“Our realm has already activated the heavy treasure, the Mirror of Heaven and Earth, gathering the energy of a hundred thousand star domains. If there is the slightest disturbance here, the Mirror of Heaven and Earth will descend with a devastating strike.”
“Everyone, including you, will be buried here.”
“Our lives are worthless—dying doesn’t matter to us. But someone like you, dying just like this... you surely wouldn’t be willing, would you?”
For a moment, his heart suddenly settled, gaining confidence. He spoke to Gu Changge with a cold sneer—after all, death awaited either way.
If they could drag Gu Changge down with them, it wouldn’t be a loss.
Given Gu Changge’s strength and status, he was absolutely unmatched in the Beyond.
If he perished here, it would be a devastating blow to the Beyond.
And for the Eight Wastelands and Ten Domains, it would be a heartening, momentous event.
“The Mirror of Heaven and Earth?”
Hearing this, the people of the Eight Wastelands and Ten Domains were shaken.
Including Lin Wu, whose heart trembled violently as he suddenly remembered something.
That was a Supreme Treasure, the crystallization of the painstaking effort of countless ancestors of the Eight Wastelands and Ten Domains. Its forging alone took millions of years—its divine might was vast and utterly terrifying.
Under a single strike, all living beings would vanish into smoke and ash.
Even a true True Daoist would not dare claim they could withstand one of its blows head-on; they would avoid it with dread.
With the Mirror of Heaven and Earth’s power, destroying this place would not be difficult.
So at worst, everyone would be buried here together.
With Gu Changge accompanying them in death, what more could they be dissatisfied with?
“The Mirror of Heaven and Earth... so this is where your confidence comes from?”
“But where did you get the confidence to think it can kill me?”
Hearing this, Gu Changge merely smiled faintly.
Since he dared to show himself in the territory of the Eight Wastelands and Ten Domains, he naturally did not fear being jointly targeted by all of them.
A strike from the Mirror of Heaven and Earth was indeed powerful, but to think it could kill him—that was simply laughable.
“Even if you don’t die, the people behind you absolutely cannot escape death.”
Lin Wu said coldly, believing that someone like Gu Changge definitely had a weakness.
He couldn’t possibly care about nothing.
Wasn’t there a blue-dressed woman right before them, someone of his own clan?
“Do you think I would care about that?”
Gu Changge still shook his head, his expression somewhat mocking, as if he had just heard something utterly foolish and ridiculous.
“Fine. I’ll hand the Immortal-Killing Gourd over to you.”
Struggle and conflict showed on Lin Wu’s face, a war raging between heaven and man in his heart. In the end, he could only speak with dejected unwillingness.
Just as Gu Changge had said, he currently had no qualification to negotiate terms.
“Rest assured, I keep my word. When the time comes, I will naturally let you all go.”
Gu Changge remained calm and unperturbed, unsurprised.
He had long known Lin Wu would yield.
As a Fortuitous One, Lin Wu was, after all, a man of sentiment and loyalty.
But compared to the so-called greater cause of the Eight Wastelands and Ten Domains, that sentiment seemed insignificant.
Then, gritting his teeth, Lin Wu hesitated no longer. From his bosom he took out a palm-sized, yellowish translucent gourd.
Wisps of purple mist flowed across its surface, sharp as Sword Qi.
It continuously drifted out from the gourd’s mouth, then continuously flowed back in.
From its appearance, it was quite extraordinary, with profound fluctuations interweaving.
In a trance, everyone seemed to see a divine sword stained with endless slaughter and blood, ready to burst from its sheath at any moment.
“So this is the... Immortal-Killing Gourd of the Eight Wastelands and Ten Domains?”
The people of the Beyond were also shaken, their gazes involuntarily drawn to the yellowish gourd.
Before this, they had only heard the legends of this gourd.
In the wars against the Eight Wastelands and Ten Domains, the Immortal-Killing Gourd had shone brilliantly.
Many supreme experts had been decapitated by that flying sword that never missed its draw of blood, losing their lives and being buried in the Boundary Marker Sea.
“Here.”
Lin Wu tossed the Immortal-Killing Gourd to Gu Changge.
He didn’t dare play any tricks, because Lu Luo was still in Gu Changge’s hands—the other party could snuff out her life at any moment.
“How straightforward.”
Gu Changge smiled and caught the Immortal-Killing Gourd. A black Grand Rune immediately sank into it.
At that moment, he could clearly feel the terrifying resistance coming from within.
Though it had been thrown over by its newly acknowledged master Lin Wu, it still resisted, unwilling to accept Gu Changge as its master.
This thing truly deserved to be an innately born object, containing astonishing spirituality, possessing the Talent to Attract Good Fortune and Avoid Bad Luck—knowing whom to follow to avoid enslavement.
Gu Changge did not plan to refine it now. After sealing it with special methods, he tossed it directly into his Storage Ring.
After doing all this, he looked at Lin Wu with great interest.
“Now it’s time for you to honor your promise.”
Lin Wu stared at him with extreme wariness, fearing Gu Changge would go back on his word.
“Rest assured, I naturally keep my word.”
Gu Changge waved his hand, and the Restrictions that had fallen upon Huo Rong and the others were all lifted at once.
However, when his gaze fell upon Lu Luo, he stopped.
“What do you mean by this?”
Seeing this, Lin Wu froze, then, confused and furious, his heart filled with unease. “Are you going back on your word?”
“I guaranteed I would spare their lives, but I never said I would let her go.”
Gu Changge’s tone still had not the slightest fluctuation or change.
Lu Luo was also stunned, and then deep despair surfaced in her eyes.
“You despicable, shameless—”
Lin Wu was both shocked and enraged. He never imagined Gu Changge would release everyone except Lu Luo.
The others were also shaken and incomparably furious.
“If you want to save her, then come find me at the Boundary Marker Sea half a month from now.”
Gu Changge’s expression showed little ripple. He glanced up at the boundless sky, sensing the vast fluctuations gradually enveloping from above.
Then, with a wave of his sleeve, boundless golden mist surged up, transforming into a great golden road that tore through space, carrying everyone away from this place.
“Lu Luo!”
Lin Wu gritted his teeth, his eyes reddening, his hatred practically surging to the heavens.
Especially seeing that despairing expression on Lu Luo’s face as she was taken away by Gu Changge.
His heart felt as if it were being twisted by knives, as if torn by thousands of cuts.
“Put down our xiaojie!”
Granny Lu Cui roared, gritting her teeth as she gave chase, swinging her Green Serpent Staff and unleashing streaks of divine radiance, trying to rescue Lu Luo.
However, Gu Changge didn’t even turn his head, as if he hadn’t heard at all.
Ah Da at his side swept out with his spear, like heavenly punishment descending from the sky.
Rumbling black divine light flooded over like stars, making her whole body shake violently. She spat blood and was sent flying backward, nearly exploding.
And at the very instant Gu Changge tore through space, a terrifying and vast world-destroying pressure descended from the firmament, transforming into endless pillars of light about to bombard this region.
“The Mirror of Heaven and Earth has awakened—it intends to bury us here together with the enemy!”
Someone from the Eight Wastelands and Ten Domains realized what was happening, their face changing drastically, feeling the dread of facing the majestic might of heaven itself.
“What a ruthless heart!”
Many were furious, feeling indignant.
The Cultivators of the Eight Wastelands and Ten Domains intended to sacrifice them to keep Gu Changge and his people here.
Unfortunately, Gu Changge’s reaction was too fast. The moment he sensed that aura, he had already torn through space and left, not lingering at all.
“What a pity—his reaction was just too fast. He left just like that, and even took Lu Luo xiaojie with him.”
Someone sighed. The vast fluctuations in the high sky were now slowly dissipating, ultimately never descending.
The awakening of the Mirror of Heaven and Earth required the support of massive amounts of energy. Seeing that Gu Changge had departed, it clearly would not waste such a strike.
“Lu Luo!”
Lin Wu howled at the sky, heart-rending and lung-splitting, fists clenched tight, hair bristling with rage, eyes red like a beast’s. “Gu Changge, one day I will surely cut you down!”
He raged at his own weakness and powerlessness.
If only he were a bit stronger, he wouldn’t have had to watch helplessly as the one he loved was taken away.