Questioning Heaven, Desiring the Way

Several days went past.

After witnessing how Gu Suihan had created this place that looked more like a part of heaven itself with just one thought, these young maids felt even more reverent toward him. They felt great fear.

There were many cultivators in this world, and powerful ones at high levels of cultivation were too many to count. But these girls were merely ordinary maids. They were already very deferential when they saw cultivators at Foundation Establishment or even Qi Activation. They had never seen what a cultivator at Gu Suihan’s level could do.

Such people could only be admired from afar since these maids would never get there. Their respect for powerful cultivators was immediately pushed to the maximum. So, even though Gu Suihan hardly went out and barely even walked the grounds, lazing around all day like a rich man’s son, the maids were still afraid of him and careful around him. They were afraid that Gu Suihan would turn them to dust if he were to be the slightest bit unhappy.

One day, Gu Suihan was lying in the yard, eating spiritual fruit while being attended to by his maids. All of a sudden, the clouds and mist around the house trembled. Qi billowed, and formation lines became clear. A howling wind suddenly started blowing violently in this pretty place that had enjoyed good weather all this time. The harsh, cold winds suddenly weighed heavily on the place, causing all the maids to tremble and lose consciousness immediately. Gu Suihan was the only one left chewing his fruit slowly.

“My fellow cultivator, you’ve gone against the rules,” a majestic voice echoed within the house. A human-sized figure who looked like he was made from azurite and shone with a golden glow suddenly appeared within the yard.

“That’s YOUR rule.” Gu Suihan smiled and suddenly brandished his saber with great force before the figure could react.

“Why, you…” The figure didn’t expect Gu Suihan to suddenly launch an attack. This situation never even crossed his mind. To him, even if Gu Suihan were extremely powerful, he would have to behave himself because he was in someone else’s territory.

To his surprise, Gu Suihan’s line of logic wasn’t normal. His very first attack was a killing move that carried enough power to make sure the opponent died in one move. So, the figure quickly retreated. He hadn’t considered this possibility, which was his own fault, so he had no choice but to admit defeat for now. Retreating for the time being was the intelligent thing to do.

Insisting on fighting with this guy for the sake of his own pride was definitely a dumb idea. Any living creature that had managed to cultivate to this level would prioritize their survival over their pride. What was pride anyway? If they ended up dead, then they would have nothing.

“You barged in here, and now you want to leave?” Gu Suihan immediately realized that the other party was trying to retreat. He cackled and made a hand seal with one hand. A muffled humming noise suddenly resounded, and a ferocious wave of qi rose rapidly like the ocean as the formation that had been silent for a long time was instantly activated.

Smoke and dust flew into the air, runes shook, dao lines rotated, and a murderous air shot into the sky.

In the blink of an eye, the merciless blade of the saber was already within a meter of him. Black violent, and fiendish qi swirled around it, the howls of vengeful ghosts and the cries of wronged souls echoed in his ear like the wind, causing his mind to shake a little. He paused in his footsteps and felt a pain in his chest.

He couldn’t help but stumble backward. His golden glow weakened and swirled rapidly as he absorbed it back into his body in an instant. But the blackened, reddish 15-centimeter-long wound on his chest was like a leech, wriggling slowly and refusing to heal.

“You! I’m second in line to the god in this domain!” yelled the godly spirit when he saw Gu Suihan raise his saber to attack again. He let out a yelp and shot several spells at Gu Suihan to defend himself.

“Where is that fellow?” asked Gu Suihan in a sinister voice as he pulled out the ancestral tablet.

It was obvious what was really happening. The troublemaker didn’t dare to come out, so he had asked the god of the temple to send someone out here to take the tablet back and press down on Gu Suihan’s arrogance at the same time.

“He…he’s waiting inside the temple,” the godly spirit finally admitted after some hesitation.

“Since he doesn’t want to come, you will do.” A thought came to Gu Suihan’s mind, so he put his saber back in its sheath and flung the tablet onto the table. The laws of nature flashed nonstop in his eyes, which got rid of every spell that the other party threw at him. He raised his finger in an exceptionally domineering manner and pointed at the seat in front of him. “Sit down!”

“My fellow cultivator, if you have something in mind, please go ahead and say it.” The other party was relieved that Gu Suihan wasn’t attacking him anymore, but he stared warily at Gu Suihan as he spoke cautiously, afraid this might be a trap.

All cultivators were capable of changing their moods faster than one could flip through the pages of a book.

He had suffered at the hands of a cultivator who had seemingly shown friendliness before, so he wasn’t falling for the same trap. There were some really nasty cultivators who knew some frightening spells. They could carve the spells onto such normal-looking chairs, but anyone who sat down on the chair would lose control of their body and would become a sitting duck.

For example…Gu Suihan did that to Mo Yuluo before too. He had carved a formation into a tea table. That was really nasty and completely impossible to foresee.

“I’m fine if you’d rather remain standing.” A disappointed look flashed unnoticeably in Gu Suihan’s eyes, but his expression did not flinch. He continued to pour tea out with a steady hand. “You should know that it won’t take me a lot of effort to kill you.”

The other party’s expression changed dramatically when he heard Gu Suihan’s insanely arrogant words. But his lips trembled as he eventually nodded slightly.

The exchange earlier hadn’t lasted for long, but he could clearly feel the great difference in level between himself and Gu Suihan.

“Origin Core cultivator, my ass! This young man is obviously a monster at Nascent Change! How dare you lay a trap like this for me!” cursed the godly spirit inwardly. He was cursing at the Wei family ancestor’s spirit for convincing him to confront Gu Suihan.

“But I didn’t do that. Do you know why?” asked Gu Suihan in an indifferent voice, disregarding the changing expressions on the other party’s face.

“Because…you want to strike a deal?” asked the godly spirit cautiously after thinking about it for a moment.

“Not bad, you’ve got some brains.” Gu Suihan gave him an approving look, then flicked his fingers to send a cup of tea flying toward the godly spirit. He said in a leisurely manner, “I can give this thing to you. But based on my observations, you’ve clearly been set up by him and nearly died, so I’m not sure if you’d end up giving this back to him at all. I just want to know - have you ever thought about…replacing him?”

His voice was light and gentle, like a little trickling stream.

His expression was void of emotion and warmth, like the ice and snow high up the mountains.

These two aspects were completely different and contradictory, yet they seemed perfectly normal on Gu Suihan.

His words hit the godly spirit like a bolt of lightning, turning his entire world upside down. He nearly lost control of his own mind.

He wasn’t an idiot nor a fool. Neither was he some clueless child with poor knowledge of the world.

He understood what Gu Suihan was driving at immediately. And of course, his heart was inevitably tempted by the prospects!

“Are you sure Gu Suihan is here?”

Thousands of miles away, You Hantian and Su Yuqing stood side by side and looked into the distance.

“I’m sure you know a thing or two about how much power the Dongfang family has,” Su Yuqing responded to You Hantian’s doubts without much emotion.

“Why did you come looking for me?” You Hantian switched the topic and turned to look at the other man.

Su Yuqing had now fallen to Nascent Change stage. The sword hanging on his belt no longer moved intelligently like a living creature. It was now as quiet as a dead animal. It made no sound and gave off no energy.

Su Yuqing’s expression shifted slightly and there was a hoarseness and tiredness in his voice, “Because…I understand the power of the Dongfang family all too well. Working with him is as good as teaming up with a tiger. The chances of success are too low.”

“He’s an Immortal, for crying out loud.” You Hantian wasn’t buying it.

“He USED to be an Immortal. The Dongfang family has more than one Immortal.” Su Yuqing’s almost wooden face reflected a tinge of despair. Those at the Immortal stage were people who could lord it over an entire domain. He couldn’t fight someone at that level.

“He’s a very mysterious character sitting on a ton of trump cards. He’s the type who makes backup plans for backup plans. How are you so certain we can work together?” You Hantian continued to question Su Yuqing.

“Because…he used to be an Immortal!” Su Yuqing’s voice contained a little passion as well as greed.

Su Yuqing did have a pretty good plan in mind, actually. Instead of working with a crazy, not Immortal yet Gu Suihan to fight the Dongfang family, a family powerful enough to reign supreme in a domain, it was better to find someone else to work with and gobble Gu Suihan up instead.

As for why he didn’t choose to work with the Dongfang family, the reason was simple. He was only at Nascent Change, so his position in the family was too far down, and nothing he said carried any weight. Even thinking about asking someone from this family to work with him was ridiculous. It was safer and more reliable to work with You Hantian instead.

Moreover, since You Hantian had interacted with Gu Suihan and found out who Gu Suihan really was because of that, Su Yuqing was pretty sure You Hantian would be tempted by the prospects of a not too difficult victory.

“Very well. What are your plans?” You Hantian gave up trying to ask about Su Yuqing’s rationale and asked about something else instead.

“Pretend to play along, then bite them in the ass,” replied Su Yuqing calmly, saying the words that he’d wanted to say for a long time.