Chapter 118

Gu Zhan's voice wasn't loud, but each word felt like a heavy hammer, smashing hard into the hearts of everyone in the Wind Tribe.

Dawn broke.

Yeah, the demon wolf that had tormented them for countless generations is dead.

Yet they felt no warmth at all; instead, they were chilled to the bone.

"Immortal… Immortal Sir…"

The High Priest was the first to react, scrambling out of the crowd and plopping down on his knees before Gu Zhan, tears streaming as he cried out:

"Thank you, Immortal Sir, for saving our lives! My Wind Tribe will worship you for generations and erect a longevity tablet for you!"

Third Granduncle also reacted, throwing aside his cane, kneeling and kowtowing: "Immortal Sir, have mercy! Immortal Sir, have mercy!"

Seeing this, the others also fell to their knees one after another.

For a moment, the sounds of kowtowing and gratitude blended together, as if those who had just forced Gu to die had nothing to do with them.

Gu stood where he was, watching this absurd scene.

He felt as if an invisible giant hand had clenched his heart tight, pain so great he could barely breathe.

He wanted to laugh, but couldn't.

He wanted to cry, but his tears had long since dried up.

Gu Zhan looked down at the group kowtowing like garlic-crushers, feeling only disgust.

"Shut up."

He furrowed his brows and spoke in a deep, muffled voice.

His voice wasn't loud, yet it sounded like an invisible command.

The entire tribe fell silent in an instant, everyone trembling as they lay on the ground, not daring to breathe.

Gu Zhan ignored them, turned his head to Gu, pointed at the group, and asked:

"Kid, this bunch that sold you out—what do you want to do with them?"

Gu instinctively looked at those who were once his tribesmen.

As his gaze swept over them, they all lowered their heads in unison, daring not to meet his eyes.

Their bodies trembled, fear written all over their faces.

What to do with them?

Gu's mind was a blank.

Kill them?

But among them were elders who had watched him grow up, and comrades he had once risked his life to save.

Spare them?

Yet the ugly faces they had just shown, the vicious words they had spoken, still echoed clearly in his ears.

"I…" Gu opened his mouth, but it felt as if a wad of cotton blocked his throat, and he couldn't utter a word.

"He's hemmed and hawed—really not like a man."

Gu Zhan clicked his tongue, a little impatient.

He despised this indecisive nature the most.

"Forget it, I can't be bothered with your petty affairs."

Gu Zhan said, preparing to turn and leave.

He had only come to exterminate a worm, with no interest in acting as a judge.

"Please wait!"

Gu suddenly spoke up, stopping him.

Gu Zhan halted his steps, turned his head to look at him.

Gu took a deep breath, as if he had made some kind of resolution.

He walked over to the broken sword he had discarded, bent down, and picked it up again.

Then, step by step, he walked toward the group kneeling on the ground.

Seeing Gu approach with his sword, the crowd let out a stifled gasp and sobs.

"Gu… what are you going to do?"

"We know we were wrong, please forgive us!"

"We were forced too! We just wanted to survive!"

The High Priest and Third Granduncle were even more terrified, their faces turning pale as they kept backing away.

"Gu! You can't kill us! We're your elders!"

"Do you forget who fed you when you were little? You ungrateful white-eyed wolf!"

Hearing those words, Gu's steps halted.

He lifted his head; in his dead‑gray eyes, a flicker finally appeared.

He looked at Third Granduncle's fear‑twisted face and spoke hoarsely:

"I haven't forgotten. I still remember that during the great drought, you gave me half a roasted sweet potato, so I have always respected you, treating you like my own grandfather."

"But just now, it was also you who stepped forward first, urging me to die."

He then turned his gaze to the High Priest.

"High Priest, most of my abilities were taught by you. You taught me to be honest, brave, and to sacrifice everything for the tribe."

"But just now, it was also you who personally brought that bowl of poisoned wine."

Gu's voice was calm, without anger or resentment, only a heartbreaking weariness.

"I have done everything you taught me."

"But what about you?"

The High Priest and Third Grand Uncle were questioned into speechlessness, only able to open their mouths uselessly, unable to utter any sound.

"Alright, stop acting out this melodrama here."

Gu Zhan couldn't bear to watch any longer; he shouldered his giant axe and walked over, grabbing Gu's shoulder in one motion.

"Do you really think they know they're wrong?"

Gu Zhan shook his head, not continuing, but instead said: "Kid, I ask you—do you want revenge?"

Gu remained silent.

"'Do you want it or not? Give me a straight answer!' Gu Zhan shouted."

Gu's body trembled violently as he gripped the hilt of his knife tightly.

A long time passed.

He squeezed out a single word from between his teeth.

"'Want.'"

"'That's right!'"

Gu Zhan grinned, slapped his shoulder, and said, "Repaying grudges and avenging wrongs—that's what real men ought to do."

He turned around, pointed his axe at the High Priest and Third Grand Uncle, his eyes icy as if looking at two corpses.

"'Traitors have no right to live.'"

Gu Zhan's gaze swept over the ordinary clanspeople shivering with fear.

Immediately after, he swung his giant axe fiercely.

There was no blade light, no strong wind.

Pfft!

Pfft!

Two soft sounds.

The High Priest's and Third Grand Uncle's heads, like two rotten watermelons, shot up into the sky and flew far away.

Blood stained the faces of the clanspeople kneeling behind them.

Screams rose and fell.

Gu Zhan, however, acted as if it were a trivial matter; he retrieved his axe, shouldered it, and said to the utterly dazed Gu, "Kid, killing someone—your hand will shake the first time, but after many kills, you get used to it."

"'Whether others live or die is up to you.'"

Having said that, he turned and strode off into the distance.

Gu stood there blankly, staring at the two headless corpses, then glanced at the distant, overbearing silhouette.

Finally, his gaze fell upon the clanspeople so terrified they lost control of their bowels and bladder.

He slowly raised the broken sword in his hand.

Just then.

Several streams of light descended from the sky, landing beside Gu Zhan.

Leading the way were Gu Yuan and Gu Lin Tian, followed by Gu Linjiang and Gu Xue Dao, among others.

"'Battle Uncle, the commotion isn't small.'"

Gu Yuan looked at the bloody scene before him, his face expressionless, merely asking lightly.

"'Hey, Young Master, Family Head, how did you two come here?'"

Gu Zhan saw the two and quickly bowed, saying, "Just dealt with a minor matter—killed a few oblivious pieces of trash."

Gu Lin Tian merely glanced over and then lost interest.

To him, such mortal grudges were no different than ants fighting over food.

His gaze fell upon this land that had just been purified.

"'Yuan'er said the laws here seem a bit different, so we came to check.' Gu Lin Tian furrowed his brow slightly."

Gu Yuan also sensed it.

This Gobi Desert, after the magic wolf's death, the evil and chaotic aura had dissipated.

But the air was filled with… a strange, indescribable flavor.

It was neither spiritual energy nor the immortal substance of the celestial realm.

It was a power tinged with a sense of decay and depravity.

"'Dad, do you feel… this world… is a bit fake?'"

Gu Yuan suddenly spoke.

"'Fake?' Gu Lin Tian was a little confused."

"'Exactly, it's fake.'"

Gu Yuan organized his thoughts: "It's like… a painting. On the surface, mountains are mountains, water is water, but in reality, they're all painted with the same pigment."

The laws of this world—whether fire or ice, life or death—their roots all seem to point to the same thing.

Gu Yuan said this, closing his eyes.

The World Tree sapling within his body trembled slightly.

A faint, imperceptible connection, following the earth's meridians, stretched toward an extremely distant direction.

There.

Through the World Tree he sensed an immensely vast, profoundly deep, black-hole-like devouring of everything… the source.

That source shares the same origin as the aura of the black-robed envoy from before.

But it is a hundred million times stronger!

"Found it."

Gu Yuan opened his eyes, a glint of sharp light flashed in his eyes.

"Dad, this world hides a great secret."