Questioning Heaven, Desiring the Way

The godly spirit left, taking the ancestral tablet belonging to the ancestor of the Wei family away with him.

Because a formation had been set up while they spoke, nobody knew what he and Gu Suihan said to each other.

But when the godly spirit left, his eyes were brimming with excitement, passion, and a little murderousness.

“I’ve got to increase the strength of my cultivation. These spiritual stones are nowhere near enough. I’ve got to find a way to get more resources.”

Gu Suihan didn’t bother about the maids on the floor who had lost consciousness and sat at a table to think. He couldn’t fight a giant like the Dongfang family at his current level of cultivation. He’d definitely die if he tried. Just the power they had revealed was enough to make Gu Suihan stay far away from them.

Such powerful factions would definitely have much more hidden away. It didn’t take a genius to know how complicated this situation could be.

“But compared to these things, I’m even more curious about what all of you are so afraid of,” murmured Gu Suihan with a curious look in his eyes.

Several days went by. Gu Suihan continued to laze about in his residence and didn’t look the slightest bit worried.

The reason was simple. The ones who were worried were the Dongfang family and Su Yuqing. Not Gu Suihan. The former had something to worry about, a problem at hand. But Gu Suihan had nothing to worry about and had no attachment to anybody or anything.

“Wait, something’s not right. Why have you disappeared?”

One day, Gu Suihan sat in his study and was reading some random historical records when he suddenly felt something tug at his heart, and he instinctively began a divination process. His handsome face immediately tensed up as he uttered these words in disbelief.

He had been unable to detect any signs of life from Marahu. In fact, he couldn’t detect that little world either, as though it had disappeared into thin air.

“You…have disappeared too.” He focused his energies and went through the same process, only to find that he couldn’t detect the Huangquan Evil Ghost either. He had a bad feeling about this.

Marahu was a devil at a level of cultivation almost equivalent to Divine Soul, yet he had been wiped out for no reason. This didn’t make sense at all. If something terrible happened, he could have just escaped into the Devil Abyss. It was impossible for him to be wiped out without any warning.

Thanks to his scheme, the Huangquan Evil Ghost had replaced the will of that world and had become one with that world. Yet, he couldn’t detect any signs of its existence now.

“What…what in the world changed?” Gu Suihan narrowed his eyes. They were like two long swords, sharp and terrifying. As he thought about all the possibilities, his mind quickly arrived at You Hantian and the rest. “What…what did all of you do?”

He didn’t know what You Hantian, Marahu, and the rest had planned after he had left. Back then, given his level of cultivation, the fact that he managed to stay alive was already a miracle in itself. He didn’t dare to stick around and find out more.

But he didn’t expect this to happen at all. It was as though…a big change had occurred.

“The empire found out?” He thought hard about it but threw this possibility out quickly. If the empire had noticed what they had done, You Hantian and the rest would have been reduced to ashes by now. But he had just made some calculations and was sure that You Hantian was still alive and kicking.

“I’ve given you the time, but you ignored it…”

Gu Suihan chuckled as he slowly got to his feet and took down the saber hanging on the wall. The laws of nature spun inside his eyes, and runes appeared as he calculated You Hantian’s position immediately. He took a step forward as though he had entered into the void, disappearing in an instant from the study.

He couldn’t wait any longer. The sudden changes he had discovered made him feel very unsettled. At his level of cultivation, his heart should be as unmovable as a frozen lake, and he would not have flinched even if the sky came down. But the fact that he could sense an upheaval in his veins and his mind was no longer as steady meant that something major that could threaten his life had happened.

“I didn’t think you would appear so quickly. I just got here, and I’ve already run into you.”

You Hantian raised his head to look at Gu Suihan, who had appeared in front of him suddenly. His heart shuddered slightly, but he kept a straight face and poured the young man a cup of wine.

You Hantian was dismayed. He had underestimated Gu Suihan, after all. It had only been a few years, but Gu Suihan had managed to get back to Nascent Change already. Damn it, he thought. Why didn’t Su Yuqing tell me about that?

“We can talk about the other matter later. Right now, I want to know – what did all of you and Marahu do after I left?”

Gu Suihan’s face was tense and he looked murderous. His calm demeanor was filled with indifference, his long black robe swayed gently in the wind and gave off wisps of almost solid violent qi. The wisps were like dragons and snakes that darted in all directions. The sinister air he gave off seemed to weigh a ton, pressing down heavily on Zhan Wuchang, You Hantian and the rest, forcing them to remain where they were, unable to move.

“Why do you ask?” asked You Hantian puzzledly.

Deep down, he breathed a huge sigh of relief. He had initially thought that his partnership with Su Yuqing had been exposed and Gu Suihan was here to confront him about it. He didn’t expect Gu Suihan to ask him about something that had never even crossed his mind.

“The Lower World…is gone,” said Gu Suihan quietly as he kept his eye on everyone’s expressions.

“What?!” Zhan Wuchang, Zhou Lingfeng and the rest exclaimed in shock, with looks of disbelief written all over their faces.

Their first instinct was to look at You Hantian. They wanted to hear what he had to say about that.

But You Hantian’s expression shifted as well. He murmured to himself in a low voice, “The empire found out?”

Had they been found out?

They had no idea.

But after giving it a little more thought, they reached the same conclusion as Gu Suihan and eliminated this possibility. Like what Gu Suihan had thought, if they had been found out, they would all be dead by now. They wouldn’t be sitting here and drinking wine leisurely.

“You’re sure about that?” asked You Hantian as he emphasized every word. He even leaned forward and stared straight into Gu Suihan’s eyes, as though he was trying to confirm something.

“I’m very sure. That’s why I’m here.”

Gu Suihan’s expression didn’t change at all, as though he were some ancient mountain or a rock at the bottom of the ocean. They felt a chill down their spines.

The Lower World had disappeared.

Great Elder Lu paused to think for a while before finally glancing at Gu Suihan, then threw Zhan Wuchang a look.

“Let me go check,” they both said at the same time before disappearing from the room.

“Damn it.” It was You Hantian’s turn to feel irritated. These two pieces of trash had actually decided to be like two tortoises retracting their bodies into their shell and had chickened out. At the same time, he couldn’t fault them for doing this.

On the contrary, Gu Suihan seemed to have discovered something after keenly observing the slight change in You Hantian’s expression as well as the oddly wary actions of Great Elder Lu and Zhan Wuchang.

“That’s…very interesting.” Gu Suihan looked intently at You Hantian. He was now sure that You Hantian had no idea that this had happened. It was going to take a little more thinking and investigating to find out who was behind this. At the same time, it seemed like You Hantian was secretly plotting something.

“Very interesting?” asked You Hantian without thinking.

“I’m looking forward…” Gu Suihan didn’t elaborate further. He chuckled as he evaporated the wine in his cup, turned the cup over and put it down on the table. An icy, haunting breeze blew through the room and he disappeared.

He’s discovered it.

You Hantian’s pupils constricted as the anger and hatred in his heart boiled over like a river flooding its banks.

Playing such games with a monster who had lived for centuries was a very risky thing to do in the first place. One had to be extremely careful and make sure you didn’t slip up. If the other party noticed even the slightest crack or had the slightest suspicion, then the already low chance of succeeding would become even lower than before.

“Could it be that you two…”

You Hantian gripped his cup of wine tightly and glared furiously at where Zhan Wuchang and Great Elder Lu were seated earlier. A murderous intent filled his heart like a greedy demon.

“You…were too ambitious,” said Zhou Lingfeng in a low voice. He wanted to kill Gu Suihan too. That man was the one who wiped out his entire sect, so of course he hated Gu Suihan. But he respected and feared Gu Suihan much more than he hated him.

Who was Gu Suihan?

He was an Immortal who stood at the top of the path of cultivation. A powerful being who could trample the world and move freely in the void.

Gu Suihan wasn’t as powerful as he used to be right now, but the tactics and techniques he knew and used were not anything that a Nascent Change ant like himself could even dream of.

They were like a small group of ants trying to challenge an injured python. They weren’t even at the same level in the first place.

An old proverb described man’s greed like the bashe snake eating an elephant. The phrase was used to describe those with unrealistic dreams.

But unlike humans, the bashe snake was an ancient beast with mythical powers, so it could eat an elephant without any problems. It wasn’t unrealistic at all.

What was he? An ant! In fact, to Gu Suihan, he was probably worth less than an ant. Yet, this ant wanted to fight back!

“Too ambitious? Look, in this world, the bold ones get to eat and the timid ones starve. How can I just take this lying down? How?!”

You Hantian gnashed his teeth and his expression was twisted. His tone was sinister, and his low hissing contained a tinge of an indescribable loneliness.

“As the saying goes, a fallen phoenix is worse than a chicken, a dragon swimming in shallow waters get teased by the shrimps. Are you sure…you’re like the nine-headed chicken of ancient times? Or the great demon from the past, the heavenly turtle-backed shrimp?” Zhou Lingfeng’s tone was stern and it was clear what he was implying. After he said those words, he got up and left.

But old sayings were just sayings. They should not be taken seriously.

No matter how fallen a phoenix was, it was still a phoenix. No matter how frail a dragon was, it was still a dragon. The weak ants just focused on mocking and laughing at how those who were once strong and powerful had fallen to their level, not realizing that once the phoenix and dragon had strengthened themselves again, these ants…were going to suffer a fate worse than death.