Chapter 388: A New Order

Outside the shack, several gaunt youths with yellowish skin, but eyes fierce as wolves, kicked the shack door open.

They are the descendants of those betrayers from back then, forever living under discrimination and bullying.

"Old thing, hand over the food!"

The leading youth grabbed the third uncle's collar and lifted him up.

"No… there's nothing left, this is the last food I have…"

The third uncle begged in terror, clutching the half piece of black bread tightly to his chest.

"Bullshit!"

The youth slapped his face, splattering blood from his mouth and nose, "I clearly smelled meat just now! You old corpse, you must be hiding something good!"

Saying that, he began to ransack the third uncle's body roughly.

Soon, a piece of roasted meat wrapped in oil paper, still warm, fell out of the third uncle's embrace.

He had risked being beaten today to steal this shredded meat from a butcher's cutting board in the city.

He originally intended to keep it as a gift for his seven‑hundred‑year birthday.

"And you still say there's none!"

Seeing the roasted meat, the youth's eyes reddened; he snatched the meat, shoved it hard into his mouth, chewing while muttering incomprehensibly:

"You old dog, eat meat yourself, let us drink the northwest wind? How the hell don't you just die!"

"Give it back… that is mine… my…"

The third uncle, watching his only hope snatched away, his numb eyes welled with murky tears for the first time; he lunged madly, trying to snatch back the roasted meat.

"Get out of the way!" The youth kicked him to the ground, then pounded him with a flurry of fists and kicks.

"Kill him! Kill this old waste!"

"It's because of those old things that we live in such misery!"

The other youths surged forward, venting all their resentment and despair onto this frail, candle‑lit old man.

The third uncle curled up on the ground, letting the rain of punches and kicks rain down; he ceased resisting, using his last strength to reach out, futilely grasping for the already devoured roasted meat.

At the instant when his consciousness was about to plunge into darkness,

A majesty beyond words, like a heavenly decree, thundered down.

The whole Wanggu City, at that moment, came to a complete standstill.

The wind ceased, the clouds stopped drifting, even time seemed to be paused.

The youths still assaulting the third uncle froze mid‑punch and kick, their snarling faces solidified into a grotesque tableau.

Gu Yuan's silhouette appeared silently above the filthy slum.

He did not look at the assailants, nor at the dying old man.

His gaze calmly fixed on the towering white‑jade statue at the center of Wanggu City.

"Gu."

He whispered.

The voice was soft, yet seemed to cross endless time and space.

Ten thousand miles away, on the Gu Family Divine Island, a cultivation realm carved out for meritorious officials.

A man clad in jet‑black battle armor, aura as heavy as a mountain, already having entered the Seventeenth Realm Saint Domain, suddenly opened his eyes.

He felt the familiar, destiny‑like, irresistible summons.

Without any hesitation, Gu stepped forward, his form instantly vanishing within the realm.

In the next breath, he appeared above Wanggu City, behind Gu Yuan.

"Divine Lord."

Gu knelt on one knee, his voice steady yet unable to hide the excitement and reverence.

In the years since leaving the Twilight Divine Realm, he had witnessed on the Gu Family Divine Island a vast world he had never even dared to dream of.

True Immortals presided, the Heavenly Emperor patrolled the heavens, and campaigns that spanned worlds were commonplace.

And he, once a failure who could not even protect his own tribe, was now granted the supreme technique, enjoying endless resources, even fortunate enough to hear the Gu Family ancestors speak personally.

In just a few years, he leapt from a mere ninth‑level human elite to a Seventeenth Realm Saint, a power comparable to a stronghold in the Primordial Immortal Realm.

He knew all of this was because of the man before him.

"Rise."

Gu Yuan did not turn, his voice still flat.

"Thank you, Divine Lord." Gu rose slowly, standing respectfully beside him like the most loyal shadow.

Gu Yuan's gaze finally left the white‑jade statue, falling onto the filthy slum below, onto the third uncle curled on the ground, barely breathing.

"This is the clan member you once fought to protect with your life."

Gu Yuan's tone revealed no joy or anger.

Gu followed his gaze; when he saw the third uncle's face smeared with blood and despair, his ancient‑well‑still eyes involuntarily trembled.

He fell silent.

Indeed, this was his former clan member.

He had thought that after he left, they would live peacefully, would reflect, would repent.

Yet he did not expect that human evil ran deeper than he imagined.

Once the seeds of betrayal and cowardice are sown, they sprout even uglier fruit.

Not only did they not repent, they blamed their misfortune on others, swinging the slaughter knives toward the weaker.

"Divine Lord, I…"

Gu opened his mouth, wanting to say something, yet not knowing where to begin.

Should we ask the Divine Lord to intervene and punish them? Or should we plead on their behalf?

"I ask you,"

Gu Yuan cut him off,

"If today I entrust their lives and deaths to you to decide, what would you do?"

Gu's heart jerked sharply.

He looked at the faces below—some snarling, some numb, some terrified—and in his mind flashed images of his parents being devoured by an evil god, and of himself being forced to drink poison and kneel under his clan's pressure.

A cold murderous intent rose uncontrollably from the depths of his heart.

But in the end, he slowly shook his head, his voice hoarse: "They... are not guilty enough for death."

"Oh?" Gu Yuan finally turned, for the first time looking him straight in the eyes; in his deep gaze was a hint of inquiry, "Why?"

"They are cowards, they are scum, but their crimes stem from ignorance and timidity. True evil lies in those so‑called gods who treat all things as fodder and toy with the fates of living beings at will."

Gu's eyes were clearer than ever before,

"Eradicating them won't change anything; it would only make me become like them, a person who swings a slaughtering blade at the weak."

"What I aim to do is not revenge, but to follow the Divine Lord and establish an entirely new order in which such tragedies will never occur again."