Chapter 130: Such a Founding Emperor

As expected of my great-great-grandfather; if he can sit, he will never stand, and if he can avoid doing something himself, he certainly won’t lift a finger.

Gu Weiyu looked down at Chu Xingyun from her elevated position, her right hand gripping the Thunder Hidden Sword tightly. Truth be told, she had never actually killed anyone with her own hands before; the previous encounters with Sanshui and Yan Qing had been resolved through the use of lethal formations. And as for Wei Wuji, she wasn’t even sure herself if he was dead or alive.

She couldn’t help but close her eyes for a moment. When she opened them again, her gaze was filled with steely resolve. The world of cultivation had always been one where the strong reigned supreme; hoping to win without drawing blood was easier said than done.

Gu Weiyu raised her sword, and with a swift motion, drove it deep into Chu Xingyun’s chest.

*Squelch.*

As the sound of the Thunder Hidden Sword piercing flesh reached her ears, Gu Weiyu instinctively shut her eyes and pulled the blade from his body. Warm liquid sprayed out, splattering onto the hem of her skirt like blooming plum blossoms. Gu Weiyu hurriedly performed a cleansing spell to remove the blood from herself and her sword.

Not far away, Gu Qingzhou leaned lazily against a giant rock, glancing at Gu Weiyu with a casual look before muttering under his breath, "It’s better to use brute force. One strike with a brick, and they're reduced to mush. So much simpler!"

The golden brick, showing a surprising amount of sentience, rubbed against Gu Qingzhou as if currying favor.

Gu Weiyu: "..."

Lost in a state of cultivation deviation, Chu Xingyun seemed to have lost all sense of pain. He simply sat there, dazed, muttering to himself.

"Xinniang, don't leave..."

"Xiaoqing, I have failed you..."

In a daze, Gu Weiyu seemed to hear Chu Xingyun murmuring confessions. Perhaps he did have regrets deep down, but it was a pity he was simply too selfish.

Chu Xingyun slumped to the side, blood trickling from the corner of his mouth. Her strike had pierced his heart, extinguishing his life force; there was no way he could survive.

"The storage bag..." Gu Qingzhou nudged his chin toward Chu Xingyun’s waist.

Gu Weiyu’s mouth twitched, but she knelt down and retrieved Chu Xingyun’s storage bag.

"Check it," Gu Qingzhou added, his conciseness maddening.

Gu Weiyu resigned herself to the task and used her divine sense to break the restrictions on the bag. When she peered inside, she couldn't help but be shocked. "This—"

The storage bag looked unassuming, but she hadn’t expected it to be overflowing with spirit stones. A rough estimate suggested there were at least ten thousand of them!

Gu Weiyu handed the bag to her ancestor. "Great-great-grandfather, look—"

Gu Qingzhou took it and gave it a cursory glance. He didn't seem surprised at all, as if he had known all along.

"I will keep these spirit stones for now; they will be useful," Gu Qingzhou said calmly.

Gu Weiyu nodded; she had no particular plans for the spirit stones.

"By the way, Great-great-grandfather, there is a third-tier Nightmare beast here," Gu Weiyu suddenly remembered, recalling what Xiaoshu had told her, and decided to mention it.

"A Nightmare?" A smile appeared on Gu Qingzhou’s face. "Nightmare horns are excellent treasures. Since we are here, let us go and pay it a visit!"

Gu Qingzhou cast a faint glance in a certain direction, rose gracefully from the rock, and led Gu Weiyu deeper into the mist.

At the bottom of the abyss, amidst the hazy fog, a red dress flickered in and out of sight. A beautiful face emerged from the mist. She walked slowly to the side of the giant rock and gazed into the distance with a hollow expression. Chu Xingyun lay there in his white robes, his hair disheveled and his appearance wretched. His eyes remained wide open, as if still harboring some deep, lingering resentment.

"Yunlang—"

A whisper lingered in the mist, mournful and lingering... A slender hand reached out and slowly closed Chu Xingyun’s eyes.

"Was it us who were wrong in the beginning..."

***

Gu Weiyu stood in the mist, watching with starry eyes as Gu Qingzhou batted away the third-tier Nightmare beast with a casual smile.

"My great-great-grandfather is simply too cool!"

Gu Qingzhou waved at Yili, who was currently displaying its divine power. "Yili, return."

Gu Weiyu walked to Gu Qingzhou’s side, stole a glance at the unlucky Nightmare beast that had been knocked unconscious by Yili, and reached out to poke the large brick. "Great-great-grandfather, why is it called Yili?" She had always been curious about this.

"Yili means that one force can conquer ten thousand techniques," Gu Qingzhou said slowly.

In truth, it was mostly because Gu Qingzhou was too lazy to engage in all those complicated schemes or practice fancy sword moves. In his view, what couldn't be solved with one brick? If it didn't work, then use two! If that still didn't work, then three... Besides, there was nothing quite as satisfying as slamming a brick into someone’s face—it was just that simple and crude.

However, these were things that could only be understood intuitively and not put into words. Otherwise, if his third younger brother found out, he would surely lecture him about "leading the younger generation astray."

Gu Weiyu felt as if she had been inspired, her eyes landing brightly on the Thunder Hidden Sword. The sword seemed to sense its owner’s deep "malice" and couldn't help but shudder three times, emitting a crackle of lightning and thunder.

"Alright, go and finish off that Nightmare."

Gu Qingzhou found a flat spot, took a wooden couch out of his storage space, and lay down on it with practiced ease, remaining motionless.

Gu Weiyu pouted. Her great-great-grandfather only knew how to exploit her as "child labor"! But with him around, it seemed all she was good for was running errands.

Gu Weiyu pulled out a dagger and skillfully plunged it into the neck of the Nightmare beast. Perhaps due to the pain, the unconscious beast twitched as if it were about to wake. Gu Weiyu raised her hand and slapped the beast’s head, knocking it completely senseless.

Warm blood spurted from the wound, and Gu Weiyu hurriedly used a prepared jade bottle to collect it. This was the blood of a third-tier Nightmare beast; it would likely have unexpected effects when used for drawing talismans.

"Great-great-grandfather—" Gu Weiyu collected the blood, horn, and fur, and carefully presented them to Gu Qingzhou.

"Hmm, your technique is passable." Gu Qingzhou reached out, took the blood, and stored it away. "You can keep the horn and the fur yourself."

Gu Weiyu was extremely surprised; the most valuable part of a Nightmare beast was its horn.

"You can use this horn to forge a soul-based spiritual tool in the future. It is most suitable for you."

Gu Qingzhou said it nonchalantly. He had hunted the Nightmare beast mainly for the sake of the girl, Ayu.

Hearing this, Gu Weiyu couldn't help but mutter in her heart, *Xiaoshu, do you think Great-great-grandfather has known you were in my sea of consciousness all along?* If he hadn't known her trump cards, he certainly wouldn't have said that, would he?

"Let’s go." Gu Qingzhou stood up, waved his long sleeves to put away the couch, and walked toward the cliff on the other side of the abyss.

Gu Weiyu silently tucked the items into her storage ring and followed her ancestor as they climbed up the cliff of the abyss. Before long, the two of them reached the top.